Molly

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.h...4a5&k=20265 "Along with extreme traditional beliefs, there are deeper mental health issues that need to be considered, Muhammad said. Quite often, people who are willing to kill members of their own family to restore some notion of honour are doing so, not just because they believe it to be right based on culture, but also because they are mentally ill in some way. "Somehow, it gets ignored," Muhammad said, citing a lack of understanding in the West and the lack of mental health personnel in developing nations as part of the problem."

Who says they aren't?

Riiii-i-i-ght. "However, unemployment will continue to rise, he said."

Well, that's a pretty good example of false and convoluted logic.... I object to political micromanagement (that is inevitably partisan). That's pretty much the opposite of preserving the right of politicians to exclusive say...

I'm not so dumb, Dobbin, as to assume 'unilingual' = 'anglophone'.

Not to my mind. It's hard to think well of politicos who demand that their butts recieve lip marks; hard to think well of abuse of the system. It's common as grass, but sleazy to the core.

LOL Reminds me of one fellows assessment of the Amway spiel: "Surely, someplace along the line, somebody has to sell some soap!"

A few months ago, that was arguable... but it's sure as heck politicized to the eyebrows now.

You know... I actually doubt that popular wisdom, that only a comfortably, fluently bilingual leader is electable in Canada. We are unlikely to see another unilingual Prime Minister, simply because the parties will carefuly weed them out, preventing them from being offered to voters- consider them unqualified- but language spoken is the least of my concerns. Philosophical consistency, truth, managerial chops-- all matter much more than linguistic facility. I daresay the best people are being passed over, in favor of those who deliver a mediocre message in both languages. It would be interesting to see how the voters would react to a solid message that actually required all that translation apparatus we have in place. They might respond to the message, instead of the medium.

Good post, Tango. However... it does have to be noted.... psychopathy/sociopathy are also on that list of disabilities. It's learned behaviour, but very possibly self-taught.

I'd be happy to see public insurance in Ontario. The present system now is ... frankly, broken. I note that our 'cheapest option' is a company in which SGI is heavily invested... so my Ontario premiums serve to reduce the cost of insurance in Saskatchewan.

Buzzing like it is over those guys from Barrie? Your persecution complex is showing.

You do, however, VOTE for what YOU believe in, rather than for some surmised concensus. As an individual, I am well within my rights and reasonable conduct to dismiss as unfounded/misguided those views that seriously disagree with my own. Why, if I believe someone is entirely wrong, from motivation through action, would I offer even patronizing support to their mission? The only support I could offer (read: failure to oppose) would be based on not giving a rip about their issue, or the trade of something more valuable to me. ...hence my willing tradeoff of fiscal conservatism. (Too late, though. The Conservatives ditched that all on their own.)

It's all a matter of how one balances those priorities, Argus. You might be tepidly pro-choice, but it's not particularly important to you. Not important enough to sacrifice any other priorities. I'm a fiscal conservative, but I'd campaign NDP before I'd put up with (insert expletive)s who would undermine that fundamental right. For instance.

The logic of that rates right in there with Patrick Browns assertion that the arrest for gang-rape, of a couple of members of the local provincial Tory Constituency Association was Liberal takeover-style plot. Sure. They recruited a volunteer to infiltrate the executive, be elected president, and then commit a particularly egregious criminal act, so as to embarrass them for a couple of weeks... and it worked like a charm. How Machiavelian! Now we have Harper conspiring to have the Queen bestow honours on a retired Prime Minister, so as to embarrass the Liberals. They are tricky, those Conservatives. Will the dirty partisan tricks never cease? They become baser, and more intricate every day. Tin foil hats all round.

When talking about those bases of support... for the secondary parties, they rely on relative satisfaction with the status quo. (Counterintuitive as that may seem.) When people don't have their tails in a knot, or see an intense necessity for change, then they have the luxury of fracturing vote, and giving the nod to secondary parties and independents. When they are very upset or see large risks, then they coalesce around the idea of making a national difference, and vote strategically for one of the two primaries.

You don't need a bill in the house in order to hire enough staff to address the current backlog and speed up the process. The lack of adequate staff looks like obstruction- an attempt to make the situation look even worse than it is, to make a political case. The charge of racism is an easy one to make, since the Alliance/Reform/Tories (I don't include the PCs in that list.) provide plenty of evidence for it without being prompted.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/columnists...137471-sun.html This opinion piece captures my first take on it. A bit strenuous, perhaps, but touches on all the things that make my brow furrow over it. Everyone seems light on stats, and the ones they do use are grabbed from all over and thus hopelessly inconsistent, but for both nations, the number of refugee claimants as a portion of the tourists who arrive here is stunningly high-- so the abuse is obvious. The extraordinarily short notice on visa requirement is... a doubtful tactic. Yes, notice would precipitate a bunch hurrying to get under the wire, but to put so many people who who already have travel arrangements made in such a bad position is stunningly unwelcoming. I'd think twice about planning to visit any nation that had done such a thing to others, in fear of being caught up in the same sort of debacle... so the impact on tourism will likely extend well beyond Mexico and Czechoslovakia. I note the complaint that Canada creates its own backlog by dragging feet about staffing boards... aka obstruction, to magnify the problem... And the whiff of racism is as undeniable as the abuse of the system.

Well, Bill... you remember those occassions, and would tease the folks involved given half a chance, wouldn't you? I would. But, ... exactly. ** it happens, and while it's good ammo while trading shots, means nothing. Two things I will clearly remember about this one, though: firstly, the hyper-awareness that those aren't European names. The resident racists stood up and counted themselves in almost instantly. And even those with gentler attitudes chalk the very election of these guys up to ethnic background. The second is todays revelation over it, in which Patrick Brown is making of himself a very large horses patoot by claiming it's all a Liberal plot. From the Examiner: "This episode will hurt the Liberals more than any other party, " said Brown, who called the Barrie Examiner yesterday about what he termed unfair media reports. "This is a Liberal takeover that has left a blemish on the PC name," he added. They've been beat up badly- it's not fair, it's not just and it's not an accurate reflection of the situation." Liberal takeover! Does he truly expect anyone to believe that this was the doing of those evil Liberals, (with their horns and their fangs)? What a weenie! What a maroon!

As serious as it is, it's also bloody hilarious! The riding association is suffering because some incredibly wretched choices in local leadership were made. And now they are doing/have done what they have to do to fix it. In the meantime, they are miserably embarrassed, and will spend years living it down. And every single person who remembers it for more than a month has an appropriate context for it... that it means next to nothing about the folks who are so embarrassed by it, but that it's great fun to watch them squirm at the mention of it.

Oh, my.

It struck me that Craig Oliver used the word 'vicious' to describe that accusation. Now, Oliver has always seemed to me to be as unabashedly Tory as Mike Duffy... Has he ever used that word, 'vicious' to describe any other leader, or any other Canadian political conduct? The Conservatives seem to regularly earn words and phrases like that as descriptors.

LOL Keep throwing stuff out there, Bill. There must be a silver lining to it somewhere!

For pity sake, Argus, how far 'round Cape Horn do you plan on reaching to try to find an example to make a point that doesn't amount to a hill of beans anyway? Okay... http://www2.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/ne...05-95fd3fca6a90 Pay close attention to the last part of it... the part that points out what the man was specifically supposed to represent- the exact opposite of the opinion he exhibits in the tape. Then pay attention to where it was filmed.... yes at a party among political allies, during a campaign. That would be a party at which he was present only because of his public role and identity. And then in addition.... read carefully how the tape happened to become public. Yes, those self same party hacks left it in an office that the NDP was to immediately occupy, thus delivering it directly, with no middlemen, to their political opponents. Not to the press who likely would have just rolled their eyes and trashed it, but to their political opponents, to make an issue out of it. If your lowly backbench MP is stupid enough to tell extremely tasteless jokes, and stupid enough to do it on camera, and stupid enough in his choice of half a dozen trusted friends that one of them would make such an attempt to betray him by giving that tape to the press, then the intelligence of the press is actually still likely to save him.

Senators are appointed to reflect more or less equal regional representation, for long terms of office-- appointed by the governor General upon recommendation by her advisor, the Prime Minister, when vacancies arise. (Which means that the Prime Minister chooses.) It's.... something of an anachronism, but it works. It takes away a great deal of the partisanship from the senate (though by no means all of it). It ends up being a very true 'house of sober second thought'.