gordiecanuk

Iggy's speech was more than long enough, I don't think espousing views on limiting one's freedom to yell 'fire' in a crowded theatre would have made it any more relevant. There's no disputing the man's intellect, that's for sure.

I think you're missing a fundamental reality, the weathier countries in the world are the ones with the lowest birth rates....The poorest nations on the other hand, lots of kiddies. So obvioulsy its not a question of wealth. Canadians have a far greater capacity to provide for children than parents in the 3rd world. This is a complex issue, but I would argue that the higher our standard of living climbs...the fewer kids Canadians will be having.

With our birth rate the hope of a 'stable, youthful, demographic' is a pipe dream. We'll soon have roughly 1/3 of our population at retirement age. If we're looking for senior citizens to drive our collective prosperity there won't be any. Unless we're talking about outlawing all abortions and removing birth control products from the shelves...then we're going to have to look as seriously hiking immigration levels.

Any thougts on the Liberal leader's speech? Obviously it won't appeal to hard core dogmatic Conservatives or Dippers...but then the success of the Liberal party has always been in staking out the middle ground. It seems to me that Iggy does a decent job of just that....appealing to both wavering NDP and Conservative supporters.

Clean and plentiful energy? But not cheap...Home values will continue to increase over the longer haul, but we're going to see them sliding over the next 2-5 years. Those who can afford it will be living longer and (perhaps) healthier.

With the way the economy is going seniors are going to have little choice but to continue working...as many already do. Flaherty's 50 Billion deficit (current stab in the dark by Mr. MaGoo) is going to mean increased taxes and decreasing levels of government service in the years ahead. Add to that rising energy costs and decreasing home values and you're gonna see lots of 70 year olds asking "do you want fries with that"?

I doubt they're battling for Jewish votes, less than .25% of the elctorate...a more logical assumption is that they're looking to get positive news and editorial coverage in CanWest media properties.

Why the fixation on Israel anyway? There are plenty of conflicts around the world, and Canada's Jewish population isn't that big...we have about twice as many Muslims in this country. In fact we probably have about as many members of the Jewish faith as Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists.

Sadly after watching this bit juvenile attempt at humour....it reflects an all to common viewpoint among some Americans, I've had the misfortune to meet a few of this ilk. Tapping into this mindset isn't hard, stop reading the paper...just glance over the headlines, there...now you're informed. Put books on your bookshelf, but don't bother reading them. Create the aura that you're informed on world issues, then spout off whatever ignorance you want.

Harper and Flaherty know the score, they merely appear incompetent. That's why Stevie broke his own fixed election date law, he knew what was coming. The economic update joke was fudged in November because the Tories figured there was a good chance we'd be heading to the polls again, and they didn't want the real story out in advance of the vote.

Ni How Mah? China eh? I guess that explains it.

Anyone who is still listening to Jim "Mr. Magoo" Flaherty gets what they deserve. If he hadn't pretended there was no recession coming back in November I might be inclined to listen to him...

I'm just following your line of logic guyser, you said it was gonna happen anyway...so why have laws. Maybe you don't view a 20+ week old viable fetus as a baby, I do....hell even Henry Morgentaler does. And with incest and pedo...there isn't anyone or anything dying. Like you say...its gonna happen anyway right?

Where is this buffet of which you speak? I know I could have as many dates as I want...its just that I don't like giving my CCard # out beforehand.

Wikipedia isn't the best source, given that users can update articles...With that being said Pro-Choice advocates like ARCC (Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada) say that "most" LTA are due to serious health issues, while some are due to teenagers being in denial or because of a woman in an abusive relationship. Morgentaler gave an interview to CTV back in 2004 and echoed the sentiments regarding teenagers in denial.

You make a good point guyser, and trying to enforce laws is expensive to boot. We should just leave things the way they are...or maybe even get rid of the laws we have on the books for things like pedophilia and incest...I mean it's not like the laws we have are preventing people from doing it anyway.

The current situation in Canada...of no laws regulating abortion what so ever...is totally the fault of the Pro-Life lobby. Yeppers, Pro Life...not a typo...because of the extreme fringe's insistence that life is "sacred" from the point of conception. A woman finds herself pregnant as the result of incest or rape? To idealogue prolifers...that's too bad, but no abortion allowed. In light of that intransigent (sp?) view, when the courts struck down existing abortion legislation, no politician will touch it now. And so now we're on the other extreme. Already have 3 girls and hoping for a boy? Pre-Sex screeing says you're having another girl...no problem though, abort her and try again for a boy, its just a fetus. What's that dear, you got pregnant and didn't want to face up to it...you were in denial? Okay...doesn't matter that the fetus is over 20 weeks and completely viable, there's no law to prevent you from having an abortion. Is that a cleft pallatte? Hey...if the kid isn't gonna be perfect get rid of it. I am pro-choice, but I think its gone way to far...especially when public dollars are funding the procedures and private clinics don't keep any statistics.

Did you just say "Woman who believe that removing their ownly real wealth as a human creature - which is offspring...is by choice are unaware they are but cattle and controled as such". I sincerely hope you weren't being serious with that comment....I thought All In The Family and Archie Bunker were off the air.

Obama is almost totally pro-choice...having just signed FOCA, (Freedom of Choice Act). The only restriction he favours is in the case of late term (post 20 wks) abortions where the mother's life is threatened.

Just blogged on it...apparently rejected by CNN and NBC. Powerful message imo, regardless of one's take on the issue or one's politics.

This thread is going to be here for a long long time...we're going to be stuck in Afghanistan forever, we can just keep changing the definition of victory to justify all of our dead.

General McNeill (not 100% sure of the spelling) the former US general in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan said there would have to be something like 400K soldiers in Afghan if proper counterinsurgency methods were being used...and even with Obama ratcheting up US troop levels, they're still nowhere close to that. The Soviets had close to that number at the height of their occupation...and were still forced to withdraw. All this for a f***ing natural gas pipeline, and now the US is cutting deals with countries like Uzbekistan, ugh. So much for the humanitarian side of the mission.

Mission accomplished...Iraq has seen its WPM eliminated, the war was won before it even started. The U.S. just installed a new government to replace the one they had previously propped up.

Sharp commentary moonbox, very sharp. Harper is playing his cards close to his vest now...as is Iggy. Dion was a weak leader and Harper stomped all over him...idealogues are easy targets. Iggy is far more pragmatic (like Harper) so this is gonna be political junkie heavean for at least the next year.

The afternoon? You wouldn't get 1/2 way through the list!