tango

The Friesians prize their language and descent from the ancient Friesian people http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/The-Netherlands.html Thanks for solving a riddle for me. Scot ... not so sure While the Latin word Scoti[17] originally applied to a particular, 5th century, Gaelic tribe that inhabited Ireland[18][dubious – discuss] and later in history became confused with the Gaelic language until the 15th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_people And here http://books.google.ca/books?id=kgLOAAAAMA...els&f=false it says the Scots (vagabonds) were an amalgamation of the Cymric Picts and Dalriadic Gaels (Ireland). I agree respectful is the key. b-c took issue with the words in an article I posted. I think I'm a Gael.

bush_cheney ... BUTT OUT.

Really Argus? Can you provide a link to verify that those are Omar's feelings?

What about your ancestors, Mr Can? Did they get to vote? Why should new immigrants not get to partake in democracy, when old ones did? What you want to do is destroy democracy, imo.

Well I'll take their advice about what to call them before yours, b-c, and Indigenous Peoples, Nations or people it is. The irony of Canada is that we accept refugee Indigenous people from other countries, pushed off their land by corporations and corrupt colonial governments. Meanwhile we do the same thing to Indigenous people of Canada (Kanata). Indigenous Peoples have international organizations and common causes so it makes sense to me that in Canada too, they want to identify themselves as such.

I totally agree, and that's why I refer to them as Indigenous Peoples. The article I quoted uses Aboriginal, and that's because the Canadian government has chosen to use that word: Sec 35 "Existing Aboriginal rights are hereby recognized and affirmed". I believe the government uses 'Aboriginal" to try to separate Canada's Indigenous Peoples from the worldwide movement - eg, at the UN - to prevent them from organizing successfully. Canada's Indigenous people are supposed to think they are better off and don't need to be activists. (sick joke) Canada has always tried to suppress the rights and activism of Indigenous Peoples: “First Nations is interesting. There’s very, very little written on First Nations human rights activism. There’s this weird period between 1910 and 1969 where First Nations were not terribly politically active.” You might wonder why this might be the case. And unless you’re up to speed on graduate-level Canadian history, you probably won’t guess the real reason. It wasn’t simply because First Nations were poor, or displaced, or lacked support (though these reasons obviously contributed.) It was because Aboriginal activism was explicitly against federal law. “In the early 20th Century, Aboriginal groups formed organisations to basically call for better conditions on reserves and call for education rights and things like that,” Clement explained. “Sometime in the early 1920s, the federal government essentially criminalised and put in the Indian Act that Aboriginal groups could not form political associations and they were also not allowed to litigate land claims…That lasted until about 1969.” http://restructure.wordpress.com/2009/08/2...ism-until-1970/ This is a small part of what we have to hear. I sure hope our governments, and all Canadians are listening during the Truth Commission.

Hopeful news! http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/685511 George Lawrence is proof positive that good things sometimes come to those who wait. For more than 15 years, he has battled a proposed garbage dump in Tiny Township, just northwest of Barrie, home to some of the best and most productive farmland in Ontario's food belt. A recent surge in local councillors' support has come in time for this week's county council vote on the matter. He didn't do it alone, of course. Lawrence, now in his first term as deputy mayor of the rural township, was part of a close-knit group of farmers, environmentalists and residents who opposed the Site 41 facility in their quietly polite way. They could learn tomorrow if they have won a one-year moratorium on the project that they say will pollute the Alliston Aquifer. Scientists say it contains some of the world's purest drinking water. YES!! Some County Councillors are changing their minds! It only takes one to change the 16-15 vote that approved the dump!! Looks good for tomorrow's vote. THIS DUMP WILL NEVER OPEN !!! 9am - County Council meets with the community/protesters at County office. 11 am County Council meets to consider a moratorium. They'll probably make some excuse to go 'in camera'. Warden Tony Guergis takes his last shot ... and boy is he p'd! As for dump critics, Guergis dismissed them as NIMBYs who do not know what they are talking about. "Just because the public is against it doesn't mean they're informed on the issue. We're now going into round 20, just to appease the public." Just to appease the public, eh Tony. That would be the "public" who democratically elected you to represent them, right ?!?! Tiny pathetic dictator wannabes should not run for public office: That's not the way democracy works.

This is an awesome essay about seeking peace among cultures. The beginning is about Obama's speech in the middle east, not quoted here but worth reading. The ending part is about Canada http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDi....aspx?e=1712743 ... If stories are the starting point for understanding a people, then place is the starting point for understanding their stories -- Moses, Jesus and Mohammed prayed together in the same land in which God created Adam and Eve. As the sign at the entrance to the Ziibiwing Heritage Centre of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe in Michigan says, "All creation myths are true." ... In this regard, Canada is a difficult country. Most of our mythologies come from somewhere else. They are all as true as anyone else's, but here is not their birthplace. And the languages we use to tell them (French, English, Polish, Greek, Chinese, Urdu, Yoruba, Tamil and a whole lot more) are also rooted in lands other than North America. Those whose stories and spirit and languages do come from this place are Aboriginal, literally "from the beginning." Aboriginal peoples are our Other. Even more so than the French for the English or the English for the French, for both have been dealing (and not well) with Turtle Island peoples for 400 years. And now Chinese, Jamaicans, Tamils, Indians -- the real ones, from India -- are also not dealing very well with Turtle Island peoples. Turtle Island is what Aboriginal peoples call North America -- the source of their stories, spirit and language. The name itself, Turtle Island, has its origins in Aboriginal myths. If President Obama is onto something -- if we can begin to understand the Other from their mythologies -- then we must ask, how well do we know the stories at the heart of Aboriginal culture? For their myths -- those stories that define a people -- are very different from ours. There is, I think, more that separates us from First Nations than from Muslim nations. But that's all the more reason to start with the stories of Turtle Island. "How well do we know their stories" is not an idle question. We are about to hear their stories yet again -- from the new Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Shawn Atleo, and from residential school victims during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings. Some of what they tell us we won't want to hear. But listen we must and, this time, try to understand them from their point of view -- from the point of view of Aboriginal culture. I hope the media is prepared to do as good a job in teaching us about Aboriginal culture as they have been about Muslim culture. We all know stories about land claims and Aboriginal rights because the media has reported the facts of the disputes; but do we understand what it is about Aboriginal culture that sets First Nations so at odds with the rest of Canadian society? We know about residential schools and we know that they have done harm, but do we know why? What is it, exactly, about Aboriginal ways of raising children, of seeing the world, of knowing the spiritual, of relating to one another and to the land that was so damaged by residential schools? And why is it that our governments' policies and practices continue to offend and seem to have no effect on the well-being of Aboriginal peoples? I suspect the answer lies somewhere in our separate mythologies. All myths are true, but they are not all the same. Perhaps giving people the room to be different by starting with their stories as they wish them told is to let peace settle upon us all. You can read more essays by David McLaren at http://mclarenathome.spaces.live.com/ Article ID# 1712743 Submit content "giving people the room to be different" ... and respecting traditional stories, traditional ways, traditional lands. Case in point ... How many of us know that we live on Turtle Island (North America)? It is time for us to put aside our preconceived notions and just listen.

Well it seems the options of Khadr's kids were pretty limited while their father was alive, and momma's no peach either: Brother Abduraham "Okay, the first time I went to training I was 11 and a half years old. I remember that. My brother was 12 and we went to Khaladan," Abdurahman says. "We took the first course, which is the assault rifles course. We stayed in the course for two months and then we went back to Pakistan. And then since like, I could say since '92 until 2003, I've been to Khaladan like five times. I took an assault rifle course, explosive-making course, snipers, pistols… and a course that includes all of these." ... "I like my son to be brave. I mean as I was telling you, if I was in Canada, I would like my son to be trained to protect himself, to protect his home, to protect his neighbour, to really fight to defend it. I would really love to do that, and I would love my son to grow with this mentality," Maha says. ... "You would like me to raise my child in Canada and by the time he's 12 or 13 he'll be on drugs or having some homosexual relation or this and that. Is it better?" Maha says. "For me, no. I would rather have my son as a strong man who knows right and wrong and stands for it even if it's against his parents. It's much better for me than to have my child walking on the streets in Canada taking drugs or doing all this nonsense." ... The rebellious behavior of Abdurahman in the bin Laden training camps became increasingly embarrassing for his father. There were intense arguments between father and son. ... "Three times my father himself tried to get me to become a suicide bomber," Abdurahman says. "He sat me down with the al-Qaeda scholar, he sat me down with, you know, the person to train people to become suicide bombers. He sat me down with these two people and tried to convince me to become a suicide bomber. He's like, you know, you'd be our pride in this family, you'd be our pride, you know, if you do this. But I was totally against it. I was like I believe in fighting, you know, someone on the ground and he shoots me and I shoot him, you know. But I don't believe in blowing myself up, killing innocent people. I don't, I just don't believe in that… I just see that he [my father] really believed in it. And he wanted me to believe in it too." So ... that's what they do with the kids who rebel: make them become suicide bombers. Some choice Omar had.

The conservatives can make whatever decisions they want about who to let in, jump the queue however they like, thanks to their recent legislation. However, Is this the direction their preferences take? I don't know. For sure it would be purely to benefit the business community. Perhaps some of the business owners here can comment on that. College or university. That's kinda cool. International students pay big tuition and would also have to have their own means to survive one year. If they can hack college, show they have the English language skills, they can probably work successfully. Sounds like a very reasonable approach to me. Congesting our roads? We all do that. Well ... not exactly a 'failed state' yet. Beer, well that's catastrophic of course, and I don't know why ... cept ours is sure better than that love-in-a-boat* they call beer! *(f'n near water) Oil ... we don't have any refineries, so that's the cost of shipping and refining and shipping back, I guess. And maybe they own the oil rigs and oil rights in the first place so we have to buy it from them too, and profits all along that chain are theirs. This is wandering from the topic, but it's all relevant to Indigenous people since it's their natural resources. It's not like we brought the oil with us from Europe! As Indigenous people say: "How did 'your' oil get under my land?

Well I guess you weren't really bothered by being referred to as a 'child killer' at all, were you? Unh ... psychopaths don't oleg. Good points! And of course Cheney creates terrorism so he gets the business How do you identify them wulf? sniff test?

That's called a personal blog, oleg. You can get one of those elsewhere. Then nobody reads your stuff unless they choose to go there. Some personal journaling never hurts!

Toronto is a Liberal town, but largely in the conservative sense. Lots of the guys in the shorts are conservative too. BC Tax strikes a harmonious chord Business owners expect advantages even if they're short on specifics By Lena Sin, The ProvinceAugust 23, 2009 Council of Forest Industries CEO John Allan sees the HST as a significant boost for the troubled forestry sector, perhaps saving it as much as $140 million through credit claims. Council of Forest Industries CEO John Allan sees the HST as a significant boost for the troubled forestry sector, perhaps saving it as much as $140 million through credit claims. Photograph by: Arlen Redekop, The Province, The Province Mike Bohonos admits he was horrified when the provincial government first announced the introduction of a Harmonized Sales Tax. But after weeks of talking to accountants and other businesses, the controller for Jenner Chevrolet in Victoria has come around to seeing its advantages -- even if he can't quite quantify them yet. "I would say after the initial shell shock, I'm probably more in favour of it," Bohonos says. The family-run car dealership is among the thousands of businesses in B.C. expected to reap cost savings from the HST. But a lack of understanding of the new tax has left even some businesses confused about how they will benefit. Under the proposal, the provincial sales tax and federal goods and services tax would be harmonized into a single 12-per-cent tax, effective July 1, 2010. Proponents of the HST, including the B.C. Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of B.C., explain there are two main benefits to the move: - First, businesses will save on administrative costs. Instead of dealing with two taxes -- the five-per-cent GST and seven-per-cent PST -- businesses will save time and money by having paperwork for just one. - Second, businesses will see costs reduced by claiming an HST credit for all goods purchased for the operation of their business. Currently, businesses can only claim a tax credit on the GST paid for "input" resources, with no mechanism to reclaim the PST they pay on "inputs." In total, the B.C. government claims an estimated $1.9 billion of sales tax will be removed from business inputs. ... http://www.theprovince.com/business/strike...1789/story.html ON PETERBOROUGH -- A federal Conservative MP may be distancing himself from the controversial harmonized sales tax, but Premier Dalton McGuinty says he couldn't have done it without the Stephen Harper government. McGuinty said yesterday his government made the decision to proceed with a 13% harmonized federal and provincial sales tax. "But what made it more feasible was the agreement that we entered into with the federal government to provide us with financial support which we intend to pass onto our families and our small businesses to help them adjust to the single sales tax," McGuinty said. "So we initiated it, I think that's fair to say, and we had a good productive conversation with the federal government that enabled us to move ahead." Ottawa gave the McGuinty government $4.3 billion which is being used to send out $1,000 rebates to most families and $300 to most individuals, and also to lower personal and small business taxes. The HST will extend the 8% PST to many items and services not previously subject to the tax, such as home heating fuel, lawyer and accountant fees and inexpensive shoes. Conservative MP Larry Miller wrote in Sun sister paper the Owen Sound Sun Times last week that residents in his riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound had been raising "many concerns" with him about the HST, which goes into effect on July 1, 2010. "First, I want to make it clear that this was a change initiated by the province of Ontario and was not a decision made by the federal government in any way," Miller says in his opinion piece, From The Hill. "Mr. McGuinty must not only commit to maintaining as many exemptions as possible, he must also commit that the change to the new tax system will be revenue neutral." PC Bill Murdoch, who represents the same area provincially, said the federal Conservatives are trying to pretend they had nothing to do with the HST, which is going over very poorly in his riding. ... I'll take the rebate!

Considering the amount of discussion on this topic, I think people do "give a damn" one way or another. No anti-US sentiment here. I'm impressed with the US soldiers who've stepped up to defend him. I also think that the US would be very relieved if Canada stepped up and brought him home: I think they know now that they don't have evidence against him, and they are embarrassed about keeping a kid incarcerated so long without trial. Omar's life is toast either way, it's true. But perhaps there is hope he'll follow his brother's footsteps: http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/alqaedafamily2.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/alqaedafamily8.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/alqaedafamily6.html http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/khadr/alqaedafamily6.html

Keep faith with Ontario's far north Toronto Star EDITORIAL Aug 23, 2009 04:30 AM Premier Dalton McGuinty says his government is building a "new respect and working relationship" with First Nations. Yet chiefs of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) territory – seething over new planning legislation for the far north – are now threatening to "exercise full and exclusive jurisdiction" over traditional lands. NAN, which represents most of the people who live in the northern boreal region (the northernmost 40 per cent of our province) increasingly feels betrayed by Queen's Park for failing to deliver on its promises to First Nations. When Ontario was updating the antiquated mining act, the aboriginal minister of the day said "there will be no situation where exploration will take place on traditional territories ... without the consent of First Nations." The changes, introduced in May, required far more consultation and cooperation with First Nations. Now, natives are understandably disappointed to learn they will not get any clear power to veto attempts to stake claims on traditional lands. Last year, McGuinty made Canada's largest conservation commitment by pledging to permanently protect at least half the northern boreal region – 225,000 square kilometres of traditional NAN territory. The Premier said it would empower First Nations and ensure their communities benefited from development on the remaining land. Yet, the legislation – which passed first reading in June and underwent hurried committee hearings this month – is such a disappointment to First Nations that NAN chiefs are vowing to fight it. The bill requires the creation of land-use plans before development can take place. But the government controls the process, the money to create a plan and the final approval of a plan. This does not feel like the "true partnership" First Nations were promised. Indeed, it is a continuation of the old paternalistic relationship. It also goes against the advice of the government's own advisory council, made up of environmental and industry representatives. The council called for a planning board, jointly appointed by First Nations and the government, to manage the region. The province should consider including this in amended legislation to ensure it delivers on its stated vision of protection, and economic development, for Ontario's far north. It would also go some way to bringing First Nations back into the fold. If the government unwisely continues to ignore the views of those who have long called this region home, there is little hope the province's legislation will succeed in meeting its goals. MORE ... http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/684888 So the new mining act doesn't seem to protect Indigenous communities from the disastrous environmental effects of mines, because they cannot say no. Neither can we: If someone wants to prospect on your land, you cannot say no. They can cut down trees for access, drill test holes, etc and there is nothing you can do. Unfortunately, it seems that this attempt to improve the Mining Act really hasn't changed a thing.

http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/council-ca...top-dump-site-4 Excellent podcast of leaders of Dump Site 41.

If a US or Canadian court does not find Omar guilty of anything, will people accept that?

ELMVALE – The Stop Dump Site 41 group is demanding an immediate retraction of a media release sent out yesterday afternoon by the “Office of the Warden and CAO of Simcoe County,” namely Tony Guergis and Mark Aiken. “This release is inflammatory, libelous and racially stereotyping,” said Kate Harries, a spokesperson for the Stop Dump Site 41 protest. “It also shows a lack of respect for the court, in that it uses the words of Justice Peter Lauwers to bolster a fabrication.” The County release says that a “dozen individuals wearing black bandanas over their faces have informed onsite staff that they will allow safe exit from the North Simcoe Landfill but that re-entry will not be permitted.” “I have confirmed with Constable Heidi Fisher of the OPP’s aboriginal relations team (ART) that this did not happen,” Harries said. “She said she called through to her staff sergeant to say that the information in the release was not correct.” http://stopdumpsite41.ca/?p=740 Well, the County just had to play the race card! Shows how desperate they are to push ahead with the dump. One has to wonder why, when the County still has 10 years of capacity. Who has a private stake in this? Or are they just that boneheaded they don't want their constituents to tell them what to do?

Neither of those are from the Jan 2009 court reports. Find out what was said under oath in court.

Privacy Commissioner gives county second warning Author: Laurie Watt, STAFF Date: Aug 21, 2009 The Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian issued an order to Simcoe County to take all steps – including legal action – to obtain the hydrogeological data at the core of the Site 41 controversy. Friday afternoon, the IPC issued its second order related to a two-year-old appeal from longtime anti-dump activist Steve Ogden, who has served on the Site 41 Community Monitoring Committee. “When institutions embark on ventures that will have major implications to the public, as is the case with Site 41, they must plan up-front to include access to information of public interest,” said Cavoukian. “I cannot stress enough the importance of freedom of information. If citizens are to participate meaningfully in the democratic process and hold politicians and bureaucrats accountable, they must have timely access to this type of information.” IPC adjudicator Colin Bhattacharjee said the county “ is continuing an unacceptable pattern of conduct in which it is deliberately disassociating itself for key records relating to the environmental integrity of Site 41, despite the fact these records were created by (consulting firm) Jagger Hims with taxpayers’ money. ... http://www.collingwoodconnection.com/colli.../article/143692 Hmm ... County is pushing it down to the wire. As well as taking a vote on Tuesday about a moratorium on the dump, they will also have to make a decision about a response to the FOI Commissioner. The county has since indicated in a letter to the IPC that it is not willing to take any additional actions to obtain the data. Cavoukian has described the county response as "completely unacceptable." The IPC order issued yesterday says that in failing to obtain the records from Jagger Hims, "the County has failed to comply with the initial order." The IPC order is clear: The county must obtain the data. Once it has done that, it must decide whether to provide it Ogden. The county has 30 days to decide. If it chooses to refuse, Ogden can appeal that decision to the IPC. The latest development has prompted Midland Mayor James Downer to question whether there ever was a Modflow. "It makes one wonder if it ever existed," he said. "If there really is a Modflow, let us see it. The taxpayers are paying for it, they have a right to see it." http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/ArticleDi....aspx?e=1711077 No kidding! What's the big secret, Warden Tony??

That was his older brother Abdullah. Is that one of the charges against him? I knew I'd get that wrong. It was one of those game things. google ... news from the pretrial, Jan 20 or so. I don't think so.

Well well! Environmental activist and former U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader is appealing to Ontario's premier to halt construction on Site 41, a controversial landfill project. In a passionate letter to Dalton McGuinty dated today, Mr. Nader says he was surprised at the vehement local uproar against the dump being constructed about 40 kilometres northwest of Barrie, Ont. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nation...article1259043/ The County will take its vote on a moratorium on Tues (25). If they don't do the right thing, then it's time for the Ministry of the Environment to act and shut it down. This may help a bit.

Yep ... segregated 'homelands' here on mlw. And one for Palestinians too, of course! There! We've solved that contentious and repetitive Israeli-Palestinian issue! We won't let them talk to each other! And one for women, one for men ... one for younger adults, another for 'mature' adults ... yup ... heck ... lets just each have our own thread and talk to ourselves!!

Define "idiot" please? And why disenfranchise 'worthy' people? Only about 60% of us vote anyway. I don't think fewer voters is the answer.

I believe big brother was a terrorist, and that is quite funny. Omar? A terrorist since 10 years old? Personally, I think he was probably more of a liability. His brother Abdurahman, I respect.