legamus

i'd like to hear opinions from people who have read books from these two (especially chomsky).

the only opinions that matter about iraq are the iraqi's and i've not seen any reliable figures either way. the only problem i had personally was the false information and motives provided for the invasion.

to be honest, i'll be more than a little surprised if these poll numbers hold up until whenever the election is. regardless of whatever your traditional political affiliation is, it is undeniable that the current government has been caught pretty much stealing tax dollars on a pretty massive scale (it is pretty massive isn't it?) and is borderline abusing its power. the simplest and most objective explanation i can see is that they've been in power too long and have grown complacent. the solution is that they need to be removed. i think that is what we saw happen in ontario and the electorate took care of it. that is why i'll be almost shocked if conservative numbers don't improve. what the heck is the point of having a right to vote if people use that right to let their governments do to them what they did when they didn't have that right?!?

...which explains why i've voted alliance or conservative in every election i've been old enough to vote for.

did i say either of those things? slavery has been around in every civilization i can think of. when was it based on skin colour? in rome? no. in greece? no. to my knowledge it never was - correct me if i'm wrong. also, i know there are racist people everywhere. my perception, and i wouldn't be surprised to be shown wrong, is that it is a recent thing that people hate others based on morphology. in the past, i get the impression that people were wary of anybody outside their own particular group so hate wasn't based solely on race, or what others looked like. the question was 'what are the roots of racism?'. i don't know. but to my knowledge, the first time that a group of people was discriminated against based on skin colour, which makes it an extremely broad group, was when someone noticed that in the states, slaves were black, slave-owners were white. the only other example i can think of is the hatred towards jews that everyone seems to have exhibited but that isn't racism since judaism is a religion. finally, before like the 18th century or something 'racism' couldn't really have existed since no one had thought of the artificial divisions of race yet. so maybe the real answer lies with the people who thought this whole 'race' thing up and the answer to the roots of racism is europe

hey cgarrett i have a question for you. do you think everyone should have the same income? what are your ideas and ideals for the distribution of wealth?

yeah, i pretty well agree with that - it sounds reasonable to me.

my experience with unions is limited to a few personal examples but i think they demonstrate why unions are not always viewed favourable a buddy of mine is a welder. he's worked at privately owned, small shops most of his life. thru a contact, he got a job at a big unionized plant. he loved it because he said it was a joke - you work half as hard for more money. a family friend worked in some sort of a printing shop that was unionized and got lambasted for 'working too hard' and making others look bad. i think unions are a necessity. but i also think there is a problem when they get too powerful. and if u think those two examples above are isolated or something, you really need to have a look around. just my two cents to add understanding why not everyone is an enthusiastic 'unions are greatest' supporter.

prejudice based on something as stupid as skin colour i think is a relatively recent thing, stemming from slavery in the states. prior to that the different racial groups interacted economically and while they may not necassarily have liked each other they didn't use race as a reason to dislike. the british, for example, hated the french but it wasn't because of what they looked like. this hatred based on appearance is an extreme of stupidity that i think has only really manifested itself in the last 300 years or so.

so you think our laws are tough enough moderate centrist? while i don't doubt the prisons are tough, what i do question is the severity of the sentences, especially when the accused is a multiple offender. (sorry, no stats - it's just the general impression i've felt reading articles over the last couple of years - so and so did this; he's already served time for this and this. usually sexual offences.)

you've forgotten to point out the inevitable freeloaders to what you are describing - those who feel they should be getting back but don't do anything. if something could be put in place to eliminate that then i'd listen more seriously otherwise i've always thought opinions too far left to be utopian. i'm heavily biased, though, because my family had to run from the commies in '81.

thank you for the responses. i am now completely in favour of scrapping this useless person because spending that many millions of dollars on nothing practical just isn't justifiable. (mostly i'm bitter because my paycheck was smaller than i thought it'd be because of the tax and i don't want the stupid gg spending millions while i'm struggling to tank up my car)

i think the korean guy got impeached because he publicly stated which party he was leaning towards in up-coming parliamentary elections and i guess he isn't allowed to do that in his position. he then refused to apologize which infuriated the legislature.

what in the hell is the role of the governor-general? i keep reading these astronomical figures of what she spends and i wanna know what she actually, you know, DOES!! (i apologize if this question is so dumb that i should be embarrassed for asking it).