tango

Apparently it isn't: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2005Jan11.html Or listen to Army Col. Stuart Herrington, a military intelligence specialist who conducted interrogations in Vietnam, Panama and Iraq during Desert Storm, and who was sent by the Pentagon in 2003 -- long before Abu Ghraib -- to assess interrogations in Iraq. Aside from its immorality and its illegality, says Herrington, torture is simply "not a good way to get information." In his experience, nine out of 10 people can be persuaded to talk with no "stress methods" at all, let alone cruel and unusual ones. Asked whether that would be true of religiously motivated fanatics, he says that the "batting average" might be lower: "perhaps six out of ten." And if you beat up the remaining four? "They'll just tell you anything to get you to stop." Show me one important fact revealed through torture? Some of the attitudes expressed here remind me of abusive parents: They don't accomplish their goals either - quite the opposite.

The public service? Make the civil service independent of politics and political patronage to start. It's ridiculous that political zealots lacking life or professional experience can trash the careers of any and every public employee they choose, right to the top ... ridiculous and a horrible waste of money. Government? Implement proportionate representation with all politicians accountable to constituents first, BEFORE the party. Reduce the power of existing entrenched political parties with a multi-party system. Create a citizens watchdog group (of non-party members) and a set of public standards for performance of all political entities, and have the watchdogs review and report on politicians' performance independently and frequently and publicly. Similarly, create a set of standards for citizens involvement and democratic responsibilities as well, for public education about what our responsibilities are. It's no accident that our political systems are so profit-oriented to the detriment of democracy and efficiency: It's because we are not holding them to account well enough. Just some initial thoughts ...

A little story: Once upon a time in Ontari-ari-ario, little Mikey made a little blooper: - Ministry reports (one of which was mine) indicated that almost half of the people working for school boards were non-teaching staff. - Mikey and his whiz-kid political hacks and sharpies trumpeted: ALMOST HALF OF THE EDUCATION BUDGET IS NOT SPENT ON CLASSROOMS!!! - Mikey and the hackers won the election and set about their goal of hacking and slashing the education budget, succeeding only in destroying critically important programs. WHY? Because half of the staff (bodies) did not equal half of the budget, as they portrayed it. Large numbers of those 'bodies' were lunchroom supervisors, crossing guards and other auxiliary staff working only a few hours per week for minimum wage, low paid part-time clerical staff, etc. - so-called "administrative" costs: It takes 2 to 12 of these 'bodies' to equal one teacher salary. The administrative "half" of the budget Mikey's kids thought they had to play with simply did not exist ... and Mikey's cuts were deep and had a huge impact on classrooms in Ontario. Mikey and the whiz kids - some now in Ottawa - likely knew the truth, and likely intentionally misled the voters. However, it's also possible that they are that stupid ... and they may still be that stupid, or that ill-intentioned ... in Ottawa. (Case in point: Guy Giorno) The moral of the story is: When some politician or hack tells you there is huge 'administrative' waste ... check their figures and their interpretation, because it is likely a mistake, a myth, or a scam. In 25 years in public employment, the only large scale waste I have seen was caused by political whims and pressures and regime changes: Well researched and effective programs under development for years are shelved because some politician doesn't like the "optics", or it belonged to a previous regime. Other expensive, useless programs are rammed into place without due diligence because they have good "optics" or lucrative political 'connections'. This is accomplished by the flood of political hacks that invade the civil service after every election, to tell the professionals how to do their job so the political "optics" are good. Cross them and you are history. It isn't public employees who waste the most money or implement ineffective programs: It's politicians, in the interests of their own careers and their corporate handlers - ie, for profit, not for the 'public good'. As I have seen it. And I would happily swear an affidavit on this topic!

Half of them were non-Jewish Poles, systematically eliminated - intelligentsia/professional class ... democide: The Soviets arrested and imprisoned about 500,000 Poles during 1939-1941, including former officials, officers, and natural "enemies of the people," like the clergy. This was about one in ten of all adult males,1 and murdered. But those the Soviets only arrested and inprisoned were lucky. They also murdered about 65,000 Poles in this terror.2 In one notorious massacre, in incredibly cold calculation, the NKVD-the Soviet secret police--systematically executed possibly 14,471 former polish officers, including political leaders, government officials, and intellectuals.3 Some 4,254 of these were uncovered in mass graves in Katyn Forest by the Nazis in 1941, who then invited an international group of neutral representatives and doctors to study the corpses and confirm Soviet guilt.4 Then there were the Soviet deportations. During 1939 to 1941 the Soviets deported 1,200,000 Poles deported to the Soviet Union for forced labor or resettlement, of which perhaps 146,000 died. This number does not include those shot for failing or straying out of line during deportation, or disobeying an order.5 To all this polish misery, pain, and death we must add what the Germans did in the Poland they ruled. They shot former politicians, and government, cultural, professional, and intellectual leaders, or sent them to die in concentration camps. Just in the city of Bydgoszcz, for example, Germans murdered about 10,000 non-Jewish civilians in four months of occupation. And from 1939 to 1941, they deported en mass about 1,600,000 Poles, including 400,000 Jews. About 700,000 Poles were sent to Germany for forced labor,6 many to die there. And the most infamous German death camps had been located in Poland. Overall, during German occupation of pre-war Polish territory, 1939-1945, the Germans murdered 3,900,000 to 6,400,000 Poles, probably about 5,400,000, including near 3,000,000 Jews.7

No kidding! I guess in the adrenalin-choked haze of political one-upmanship, it doesn't occur to Harper that Parliamentarians are supposed to set an example! The only people who don't apologize when racial slurs are pointed out to them are white supremacists: They insist it is their right ... just like Poilievre and Harper.

The man chose to conceive a baby when he had sex without adequate protection. It's the man's choice to take that risk, and to be responsible for supporting the child to adulthood. EVERY TIME!! I swear, I'm going to invent a chip implant so that every time a young man gets an erection, he hears a baby go WHAAA WHAAA WHAAA! Maybe he'll remember what sex is about, eh? Might have second thoughts about that cheapo outdated condom, eh? Might just stop blaming the woman, eh? It takes TWO to get pregnant, and if a man doesn't want to deal with the consequences (being a Dad, paying support for 18 years), HE SHOULD NOT TAKE THE RISK!

The average age of the respondents has slipped into the mid-life range, where men buy themselves motorcycles and younger women, while women look after the finances, college kids and Elders.

Selection based on qualifications required for the job is one thing, and qualifications can include knowledge and comfort in the culture and language(s) served. Where discrimination arises is when qualifications are equal or better, and discrimination is the only basis for refusal to hire. They are fine distinctions, but important ones, and the work of the commissions is necessary to make those distinctions, imo.

The kid from Keswick was not from China. Does your post make any sense Oleg? Perhaps to no one but you, eh? Charges dropped, kids already had apologized to each other, racist principal stirred the pot, cops too, but finally good sense prevailed. Not so Oleg.

Fortunately, smarter heads than lictor-the-white-supremacist are dealing with this issue: http://www.thestar.com/gta/crime/article/633589 The Newmarket Crown attorney's office has withdrawn assault charges against a Keswick teen after a schoolyard fight sparked by racial slurs. "Our office has determined that there is no reasonable prospect of conviction and it would not be in the public interest to continue the prosecution," assistant Crown attorney Amit Ghosh told justice Peter Eourque. "The charge is to be withdrawn." In a prepared statement, Ghosh told the court both boys apologized to each other after the incident, in which the accused broke the other teen's nose, and neither had had any prior difficulties with each other before the incident. "While statements reveal (the accused) has not been a victim in the past of any bullying or hate-related comments, this verbal provocation and the assault upon him cannot be ignored when assessing the reasonable prospect of conviction," Ghosh added.

Hey guys! Here's the way it works ... Every time you have sex, you take a chance on having a baby and having parental responsibility forever after. That's life! If a man wants a woman to have an abortion aand she doesn't want to, or a man wants the woman to have the child and she doesn't want to ... that's life! It's your responsibility: deal with it! Until a man can carry a foetus to term all by himself ... it's the woman's decision to do what she wants with her own body. And until a man takes full responsibility for the consequences of his own actions - conceiving a baby - woman will have to chase them for support. They shouldn't have to do that: It's your responsibility as much as hers to raise that child.

I look forward to the day we ALL block the roads to demand the gov bring our soldiers home from combat in Afghanistan. If you don't want your own freedoms curtailed, don't complain about the freedom of others to protest.

He deserves, and will get, a fair hearing in court, either here or the US or both. Army guy, you need to brush up on the rules of engagement: Omar was, and will be tried as, a child soldier with no power over what he was told to do.

Not at all. Paul (Saul of Tarsus) was a Roman and was responsible for the Romans usurping the true Christianity. It was just a power and money grab that continues today. Christ's movement was destroyed, and in its place 'Christianity' was taken over to become a tool of the powers that be to subjugate and enslave the people to fill the coffers of the churches and the wealthy. Omar Khadr is a kid who was abused by his father and forced to become involved in a war while still a child. No comparison.

There is no neverending language bitch-fest in Canada, bc: Only here on the right-wing mapleleafweb where a few language-disabled males like to make an issue of it, fuelled by Machjo who persistently posts a new thread about it every few days, pushing the scummy Fraser Institute agenda. It's a non-issue.

Tilt left for beer, right for liquor! Oh I can see this working!

How does that fit in with your 'Christian charity' Mr C? You do know that it's people with attitudes like that that allow fascism to grow? Allow leaders like Hitler to take root? You do know that all of what you say is a violation of democratic principles? You do know that you are not superior to any other human being, eh? Isn't that the Christian belief? You do know that your extremist, Xian superiority opinions are extremely hypocritical, eh ? How do you reconcile your nasty anti-immigrant opinions with your version of Xianity? Must be a real struggle for you. Just curious. Frankly, in your shoes I'd have to give up either the Xianity or the bigotry.

Yes, it will, just as many other countries do, including the US. Get over it.

OK, that is good ... so for once I will laugh at something 'Angry' Stephen Taylor said. It's certainly not looking good for Dhalla: Caught in two major blatant lies! http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...PStory/National OTTAWA and TORONTO -- A caregivers' advocate threatened to call the police on Ruby Dhalla the day before the Liberal MP returned the passport and other personal documents belonging to a Filipina caregiver hired by the Dhalla family, the Commons immigration committee heard yesterday. The testimony of Agatha Mason, executive director of Intercede, a support group for immigrant caregivers, contradicts that of Ms. Dhalla, who denied allegations that she withheld passports of foreign caregivers, mistreated them and did not pay any overtime. Ms. Mason said caregiver Richelyn Tongson called to tell her how she couldn't get her passport, birth certificate and marriage licence back from the Dhalla family despite repeated requests over three months. Ms. Tongson also told of slave-like working conditions in the home. "I gave her [Ms. Dhalla] clear directions that she was breaking the law and she has 24 hours in which to return the documents. I remember that clearly," Ms. Mason said. "And, as far as I remember, the documents were returned the following day." Ms. Dhalla insists that it was her brother, Neil Dhalla, who employed the women and she told the committee that, when Ms. Mason called her at her Ottawa office, she redirected the call to her brother in Mississauga. "In fact, it was the opposite," Ms. Mason said. "I had a conversation with her brother and I was directed to her." This is where not being a slave to one party comes in very handy: I delight in the fall of corrupt politicians of any party.

No. It's your proposition and up to you to find something to support it. The Fraser Institute does not qualify, in my experience. My point is official bilingualism is working just fine to provide services to people, and that's necessary in Canada. Similarly, in the US it is necessary to provide federal services in Spanish. There simply is no issue to discuss.

A quick google provides the following information: 1/ http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2010-A...10-APP-1-19.pdf For example, in 2008, more than 2.2 billion web pages were viewed on www.irs.gov, and more than 39.2 million taxpayers checked their refund status by accessing "Where's My Refund?" in English or Spanish on the IRS website. Hmm ... seems the US gov does provide Federal services in two languages. It's not a perfect model of melting-pot unilinguality after all! 2/ Many countries have more than 1 official language. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0855611.html What's your beef machjo? This topic is getting just a bit overworked. Is this your research for the Fraser Institute? I'm a researcher too. Fraser Institute falsified the data on their first education study. It was worse than crap: It was blatant lies and numbers manipulated to tell the propaganda story that was pre-determined and in no way derived from the data. They ignored the cautions and caveats put on the data by the agency that produced it, and blatantly falsified it. The Fraser Institute is a collection of political hacks who hire unqualified and unethical number crunchers to tell them what they want to hear. Don't expect me to take them seriously. The Fraser Institute is a racist blight on the face of the earth, and an embarrassment to REAL professional researchers.

Wente, Adler and their corporate-social climbing compadres do not speak for all Canadians as they presume to, and especially not for the people who live in downtown Toronto. Downtowners are very accepting of such disruption. Yonge St and College are closed or delayed for protests about once a week, and everyone stops to look and see what the issue is, and claps or waves at the protesters. Nobody ever claps for the daily invasion of 905 SUV's ! I'll bet the people complaining about disruption are corporate types from the 905, living their high blood pressure lifestyle and blaming the world for their angst, which actually comes from unfulfilled greed. leave your friggen car at the station, and take the subway, whiners!! The rest of the time we have to put up with your pollution spewing commuter traffic in a city where that isn't really necessary. Protesters in the streets are a welcome clean air alternative to 905 SUV's !!

Is the U.S. high on legalizing pot? Posted By MINDELLE JACOBS Posted 2 days ago Canada has been terrified of liberalizing our drug laws for fear of angering Uncle Sam. But ironically, the United States is now closer to legalizing pot than we are. While the federal Conservatives in the Great White North are poised to bring in mandatory jail time for producing and selling illicit drugs, the sweet smell of drug reform is wafting across America. Wouldn't that be a weird buzz? Canada as the uptight, anti-pot zealot and America as the laid-back, rational progressive. In some states, the simple possession of marijuana has been effectively decriminalized (although more than 800,000 Americans were still arrested for pot possession last year). And in Alaska, possession of a small amount of weed in your own home is legal. Thirteen states allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes. And a California legislator has introduced a bill to legalize the adult use of pot. He proposes a $50-an-ounce tax which would bring in an estimated $1.3 billion for the state, which has a staggering multibillion-dollar deficit. Last week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger acknowledged that it's time to debate whether to legalize and tax marijuana. Meanwhile, in Canada, the Conservatives' proposed amendments include a mandatory six-month jail sentence for growing even one pot plant for the purpose of trafficking. And our medical pot regulations are so complex -- thanks to the constant tug of war between the government and the courts over how the scheme should be run -- that no one really has a clue how it's supposed to work. It's enough to make you want to head to the rec room to partake in the consciousness-altering substance of your choice. A number of factors have converged to prompt the U.S. to seriously consider drug reform, says Bruce Mirken, of the U.S. Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates the legalization and regulation of pot. Mainstream figures in politics and the media are talking about it, polls support legalized pot and there's an increasing realization that Americans' taste for drugs is fuelling the ultra-violent drug cartels in Mexico. More than half of Americans surveyed in a recent poll commissioned by the conservative O'Leary Report, for instance, support legal pot. "This is an issue where, all along, the public has been two or three steps ahead of the politicians," says Mirken. "The public will basically drag the politicians kicking and screaming into the 21st century." more ... ... once Harper and Giorno and the rest of the paleo-cons are gone, of course. That shouldn't be long now! Legalize, regulate and tax it ... millions to be made! I'm sure even the hardliners would kick into their customary greed mode if they saw the bottom line!