playfullfellow

I can see where this sentiment comes from but we must also look at corporate influence in our universities. I have read a few articles in regards to companies like coke and pepsi putting their vending machines in schools at a rather large price. Does this have any influence on the standards of the school? Well, yeah it does, it puts more money in the cofers which in turn is less money that has to be charged in tuition fees but does it influence what is taught at that school? Probably not. PSE schools have been taken over by special interest groups like every other part of our society that are constantly protesting about this and that and taking schools to court over issues. How much does it cost to have a team of lawyers scrutinizing every aspect of a course before it might be offered out of fear of hurting someones feelings? What about all the insurance a school has to carry because they get sued everytime someone gets a booboo or their feelings are hurt. All of this crap adds to the cost of a PSE. If we could do away with this civil liability crap, then we could offer a PSE at true market cost and demand. That is where you get a lot of the bureaucratic bs we see. For sure we see a lot more bureaucratic bs when the government is involved but special interest groups are also culprits.

Yeah yeah, I know I am centrist but I like it that way. I like to look at things from every angle before I make up my mind as to where I stand. I have been reading the posts and there have been some genuinely interesting interesting ideas floated around. I like the idea of seeing more trades developed in high school. I went to school where there was a big emphasis put on learning a trade in school. The majority of students took shop class and learned the basics of a trade. Why can we not let the students who don't wish to attend college or university start to earn a certificate while they are still in high school? If someone has developed the basics for a trade during high school, at least they can get into a better paying job than macdonalds once they leave school. This way they also do not have to be in an apprenticeship program for as long to get to the next pay level or getting their journeyman papers. There has been some comparison with Germany here but has anyone looked at what they have done in Denmark? They have made every type of labour job an apprenticeship type program. You want to be a waitress, well you learn as you earn. To make better wages, you have to keep increasing your level of skill. Even a waitress or waiter ( not to be sexist) learn about business management, money skills and many other skills dependant on their ambition levels. It has absolutely nothing to do with their social status. People pay no fees for this but the theory is that people start earning wages and paying taxes right away thus putting money back into the cofers plus you get properly trained people with skills. College and University is free but the grade standards are pretty tough. The system weeds out the not so smarts pretty quick so it is the best qualyfied kids who get to continue on. As far as I can remember, there is also a limit of how many years you can be in University unless you are doing research or upgrading. The ysytem is not perfect but everyone gets the same chance based on their skills and not on their social standing. It is expensive but Denmark has produced some very smart ideas and in many areas are world leaders in research and developement.

I can't really say that I would mind paying a portion of someones higher education. I do have a problem with paying for someones education to take a course in say something like studying some sort of artsy fartsy course. I also do not agree with career students. Why the heck should I pay for someone to stay in school for the next 15 years just to keep taking a bunch of inane courses with never intending to get a job. I have no problem with people taking courses that will enable them to get a paying job. We definately need more people in the trades around Canada but finding young (or older) people who actually want to break a sweat and get calusses to make a living is getting increasingly harder. But I guess this has a lot to do with parents too, I keep telling my kids to get an education so they won't have to bust their backs like their old man does.

It boils down to that a lot of people drive like morons, whether they drive a small car, SUV or truck. I have to drive around 30 k's to work every day and the speed limit is 100 most of the way. The range of speed you see every morning is between 90 and 140. It is the same all around town. People think the speed limit signs are to be ignored and every vehicle is an indy car. It doesn't seem to matter to much whether someone is driving a small car or larger truck, they speed. We all know that most vehicles have optimal gas milage up to around 100. I know people who drive identical vehicles to mine and they get around 50-100 less k's to a tankful than I do because they drive like a bat outta hell. I wouldn't mind paying a higher gas tax if the money went back into roads like it is supposed to but we all know that the money would go to a pay raise or larger pensions for these smart politicians we have. Let's hit the people who drive like morons a little harder because we all know they waste more gas than the peope who follow the posted limits.

The main problem is that a lot of people don't think outside of the box anymore. They really only care about what they see in the mirror each day. Also, the education system does not do an adequate job of teaching a variety of history anymore. People also need to get out there and experience the world. I know plenty of young people (in their 20's) who have never been more than 4-5 hours away from where they were born and raised. I do agree that others conceptions of a specific region can lead to a bit of fun if you string them along for a while. As for people in Alberta wearing cowboy hats all the time, well I think I was 12 when I gave mine up but it is still a very strong image of Alberta's history and heritage. I think they still have the porker races at the Stampede MS and that is one of my favorites too. Got to love those little piggy's.

WTF MS? Hire a bloody security guard and rely on insurance. I see planet MS is a better place to live than planet Earth because reality is that people can't afford that kind of crap. At least not to the level you are talking about. And I sure as hell am not rich, I am low/middle income. Have you ever taken out insurance for tools? I highly doubt it. Come back to reality and face facts, people can't afford the type of life you dream of. BTW, the police did find my vehicle the same day and no they did not find my tools but they are doing a pretty good job as far as I am concerned. I guess I can always hire you as a security guard but I doubt you would hack it because you would pee your panties if anyone ever did try to break into a job sight and steal stuff.

In a very small way I might agree with you here MS but I would much rather be allowed to deal with someone who steals my stuff on my own terms. They wouldn't steal again, thats for sure but that would go against your theory on violent crime which I do agree with should be tougher. Now, please explain to me how your system of decriminalized theft would work? I gather since it is not a crime anymore, the police would have to get involved so how would we find our stolen stuff? In other words, I would have to look myself for the several thousand dollars worth of tools that were recently stolen from me and if by chance I do find them, then I would have to take the scumbags to court myself? Can you just imagine the frikien chaos that sort of system would create? Obviously you have not been the victem of theft yet MS or you would have a totally different view on the matter. This year has cost me over 6000 dollars so far due to theft. That is 3 months of work for me to make that up plus I still have to pay my other bills. I am tired of working my ass off so some out of work idiot just steals my stuff from me.

Nah, I think most Albertans have gotten over the election and are getting on with their lives. Why bitch, no one listens anyways.

Get real TAK, I couldn't care less whether he is gay or not. I just don't like the guy and his arrogant attitude. I feel he got preferential treatment because of who he is which is wrong.

I don't know about this MS. There seems to be plenty of jobs around for people who want to work and it is just not flipping burgers at Rotten Ronnies. With most companies I have worked for both in agriculture and construction had the trickle down effect. The more money the company made, the more moeny we made. This was doen throught profit sharing bonuses and cost reduction bonuses. We did not need a union or government help to negotiate these terms. In my company, we all get paid exactly the same amount with the exception of myself, I put the capitol on the line to buy materials so I get an extra 5% to cover the companies butt in case of non-payment of a job. If this money is still there at the end of the year, then it gets paid out to everyone equally as a bonus. If a company does not make a profit, what's the incentive to put your money on the line? Industry has come a long way since the 1800's and we have plenty of employee protection rules out there. Anyways, if you feel a company treats it's employees unfairly, go somewhere else to work. Don't expect the government to wipe your nose everytime it gets runny. We as a nation have to more proud of the fact that we are Canadian. This BS of looking at what is wrong with our country all the time does absolutely nothing to build a better country. We have to look at what makes Canada work and the expand on that. We also have to get over this bloody regional negativity all the time. Let's just face the facts that each province is unique and has it's own needs. Why don't we let each province do it's own infrastructure so they can look after the areas they feel needs looking after? Ottawa is sucking the life out of Canada and thrives on these regional splits. This is where they buy their votes. Canada is a very unique country because we are so large and have very distinct regional differences. How can we apply any blanket policies across the country? No matter what you try and do, you will piss someone off. Lets start saying that we are not from the same mold and start promoting Canada as a very diversified country with distinct areas that can be developed to meet demands of just about any industry in the world. Canada could very well be one of the richest countries in the world if we could ever get over this bloody internal fighting and squabbling and start building ourselves as unique and different. Even though I disagree with you most of the time MS, you do bring up interesting points and as with any debate, I respect your opinions. I come from a country that was a socialist country, cradle to grave policy. It did not work there and will not work here. The government needs to get out of our hair and let us build Canada as a diversified country. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world not because of government interference but rather industrial skill. If this means out sourcing the building of 3 ferries, so be it. The BC ship building industry will have to sit back and look at why this happened and change things so this does not happen again.

The sentence is a crock of crap as far as I am concerned. I know teenagers who have done less and gotten more of a punishment than that idiot did. Stress my Aunt Fannies butt. We all deal with stress everyday and don't go and steal 50,000 dollar rings. Get real MS, he should have received at least 500 community hours and a suspended sentence plus a couple of years probation. At least that way he wouldn't be able to get free trips to other countries because he would have a criminal record. BTW, theft is theft, 50 bucks or 50,000 no matter how look at it. Just out of curiosity, how many times has he done this without getting caught?

I am not really sure what your point with this thread is MS aside from the fact that a foreign country may be using a bogus Canadian passport so it's operatives can travel more freely around the world. Well, this sort of stuff goes on everyday all over the world and it is not just foreign governments that use bogus passports but also criminals. So why are you picking on the Mossad?

They should dicrimalize small amounts of marijuana. Why ruin a persons life for a bit of weed? I know people who smoke it once in a while and I know people who smoke it a fair bit. Aside from the guys that are stoned 24/7, I have not seen much long term ill effects. Besides, letting the personal users off with just a fine or losing their weed if they have too much would clear up a lot of space in our legal system. The police have far more important issues to deal with everyday.

Times have changed Caesar, I personally think that men have gotten more involved in raising the kids and family life. I think that overall, the family life has been shot to hell with people wanting to keep up with the Jones's. It is not just the man of the house but the woman, if she works, faces the same pressures. I have my hectic times and my chaos times, no in betweens, at work but I put in a very big effort to be involved in everything my kids do and how they cope with life. Family decisions are mutual and we all work towards being a semi-normal family. We teach our kids respect and that they have to work towards things they want in life. We also hug our kids and spend time with them everyday, no matter how crappy a day we have had. People seem to opt for smaller families because of all of the other stresses in life. And we have also fallen into the trap of believeing that it is more proper to have a smaller family to prevent over running the world with people. There are hundreds of excuses but in reality, it is none of our business as long as people are happy and do a good job raising their kids.

Driving a small car in some instances may be a viable solution but most areas of Canada are long distances away from a large center. Not very many people want to ride in a tin can for 4-5 hours. As a person who relies on his vehicle to haul around my tools and supplies, a compact car would not do the job. If the government took more in taxes, they would just piss it away on more useless programs as Caesar says. Tax money from gas taxes is supposed to go back into road construction and infrastructure but almost 80 percent of it goes into general revenue. I would not really care to pay the taxes if the money was used in a positive manner and helped to rebuild our pothole infested roads.

No big shock here either. I wonder what other promises they will back off on now? Hmmmmmmmmmm maybe if we would have voted in more Liberals like some have suggested around here, that might have helped. NAH, then they would not do anything at all until just before the next election. Again, the Liberals prove to be puppet masters, everything has a few strings attached to it.

I like your way of thinking IMR. The problem is not with the guns themselves but rather the person who is on the business end of a gun. It also boils down to a total lack of repsect for what this gun can do to another human. We will always have whacko's who turn a gun on another to kill them. This is also a lack of respect for human life. These people will take a human life no matter whether they have a gun, knife or 2x4. As for accidental accidents with a gun, a lot more people get hurt or killed on stairs, ladders, bathtubs, etc. every year. As for any idiot that keeps a loaded gun in the house where kids have access to them should be put away. We already had lots of proper gun storage rules in place before the registration laws that severly penalized people for being dummies. I understand a lot of people dislike guns but as with any tool, properly used they are safe. We have to emphasize much more on teaching people who wish to own a gun the proper use of a gun. We also need to teach our kids proper repsect for human life.

I know of 2 specific cases, once the police showed up at a friends house to question his 16 year old kid about a traffic violation he and a friend were involved in. The police had checked the gun registry, 2 guns were registered at the home. 4 police cars showed up, 8 officers and the first question they asked was where the guns were kept. This was for a minor traffic offence that the kid may have been a witness to. Needless to say, the kid was scared crapless and has developed somewhat of a dislike towards the police. The second involved an older person who was involved in a dispute with another person. Nothing violent, no threats were made but the one person lodged a complaint with the police. The police also did a gun registry check and my friend has 3 guns registered, all used for hunting. 3 cars, 6 officers showed up just to question him. Needless to say, he was irked at the whole situation and is pretty disappointed with the whole system now and wishes he had never registered his guns.

Registering your weapons is just like anything else in this country, some will do it some won't. Registering your vehicle is mandatory but a lot of people don't. The main reason you register your vehicle is so you have license plates to indentify you when you do something wrong. Registering your weapons is mainly for the purpose of the police to check to see if a residence has any registered weapons there. If there is, how do you think the police respond to even minor offence calls? They show up in force, thinking the worst will happen. So people are labeled a possible danger even before the police arrive. Mandatory registration is going to do nothing to alleviate the crimes caused by guns. A criminal is NOT going to register his/her gun. In all reality, how many guns that were used in a crime were actually non-prohibited weapons? I have no problem with people having to get permits to buy or own a gun. All people wanting to do so should take a mandatory course. Most gun owners have no problem with this course but they do not believe gun registration will lessen crime in any way, which is what it is supposed to do. As I have stated before, this money could be better spent on more policing and we could our laws against violent criminals.

MS, could you please back this statement with facts? I know the NEP falls into the NDP rhetoric of taking from the rich and giving to the poor but the NEP did not do that. It took from the west and gave it to the east. You obviously did not live in Alberta during the 80's to witness thousands of people lose everything they had worked hard for. Unemployment skyrocketed, business failures were an everyday occurence and wage levels were set back several years. 60 billion dollars was taken from one province in the span of 3 years and given to the east. If this was such a good plan, then how come it was so short lived? It was a very disasterous program of Trudeaus hatred of the west, remember the Trudeau salute to the west? That pretty well sums up how the west has felt ever since the early 80's. Yeah, maybe Alberta should get over it but there are still plenty of people around that had to start their lives over completely because of the NEP, people who lost everything, family, home and livelyhood. Yep, really good program, give your head a shake MS and face reality.

Caesar, you make it sound like most men are woman beating scumbags. Yeah, there are neanderthal scumbags like that around and they should be taken behind the woodshed and given some of the same. I also know a lot of men who are very compassionate people. Over the years I have met a few women who have had an abortion and they really struggle with the decision they made. Some are older women and some are younger. I think some sort of counselling before hand would be good, let's show people there are other viable options. As for men forcing the woman to have an abortion, I would like to see some stats on this if there are any. I doubt there are any but it might be interesting to see if we men are the neanderthals that we are portrayed all the time. As for the counselling turning to preaching, well that would depend on the counsellor, wouldn't it? But how come this is not part of the initial interview at the abortion clinic when the woman goes there? Why are they not represented with other options at that point? Well, the clinic might lose a customer and the fees they can charge.

Fortunately I have never been in a position where abortion was one of the choices given. Before we had kids of our own, I was prochoice. Once we had kids and felt the joy and pride they bring to ones life, I was split on the decision. Abortion is here to stay wether we like it or not. Why aren't we focusing changing the system a bit. Why are prochoice people against a woman getting counselling on alternative measures to abortion? That is what I can not understand, where is the harm? I am not saying we limit abortion but seek out alternatives where possible. Once through a counselling session, then the woman can decide. There are hundreds of good people who would love to adopt a child. Why should men not have a say? The child carries half of our genes. I know it is the womans body but why do men not have a choice if they are willing to accept all responsibility?

Because most good people are not liars and cheats. As for the chief making the statements that he did, well he is only human. He just went through hell for several months building a case against a scumbag. People tend to get much more emotional when there is a child involved, especially when a child is brutalized and killed. What would your feelings be in such a case MS? You speak very loudly for the under priveliged here, would you not do the same in public? Or are you just a closet rebutalist? I do agree with you there should be repurcussions against the chief if the case fails because of his remarks but not a resignation. If we all had to resign everytime we made a bad judgement in our work, then the unemployment lines would be miles long. Besides, if they have an air tight case, then the scumbag will be found guilty.

We should just do away with the CRTC, it is an antiquated system that just sucks up more money. We have plenty of anti-hate legislation that if some one is truly offended or disturbed by airways comments, then there are plenty of legal routes to follow. Just out of interest, what does the CRTC cost us every year to run? I am sure the money could be better spent somewhere else.

I didn't mean to be insulting in anyway, I guess it came across the wrong way. As for how I know, you mentioned in an earlier post about working across the street from a private school in a cleaners. I may be just a construction worker, but I don't have limited skills, I can read quite well and have a fairly decent memory. I do applaud you for being a stay at home Mom, we did the same until our kids were in school. Anyways, back to the topic. There are plenty of professions that are way over paid for the type of work that is required and on the flip flop, many underpaid people. In the case of sports stars and stars in general, it is the publics own fault for falling into the hero worship trap. If people quit spending their hard earned money on expensive tickets and the latest sports fashions, maybe the prices would drop and hence, the wages would have to follow suit.