Molly

I get a kick out of that claim... can't do anything 'til he gets a majority. Whoever would have thought that Stephane Dion was so powerful... powerful enough to MAKE those Conservatives break every promise they've ever made, and to govern from the opposition benches. And Ignatief? Must be some sort of superman!

...just like he gave up on so many other promises, and principles, and ideals, and.... I honestly think these will backfire. (I look forward to it, in fact. ) About the last thing folks who are short of cash and worried want to hear is politics over productiivity, mean-minded self-centredness- gutter politics- instead of hope. Harper was almost beginning to look a little less like a smirking bully, and the Conservatives a litte less bloody-minded, but no. Leopards don't change their spots. Way to lead there, Stepehen, old buddy. Way to show off your tin ear!

Is it true for you? Were you presented with dark moths and finch beaks (or similarly weak examples) and told that it was a display of 'evolution in front of your eyes'? Yes or no would suffice.

Overall literacy has improved? I can't agree with that at all. Perhaps reduced expectations have made standards easier to achieve... Anecdotally... my own children hated having me review their homework, since I was the only person they dealt with who demanded accurate spelling, decent grammar, and defensible punctuation. The number of young people I've dealt with- my childrens peers and associates, friends and neighbours- whose literacy skills were poor to non-existent, convinces me that there is something seriously wrong with the way good old readin' and writin' are being presented. When a young woman, upon recieving her high school diploma, enrols in a library-offered basic literacy program; when a 15 year old baby-sitter can't read a story to a toddler; when I am begged for my services as a tutor for a grade 7 student because he can't read any of his textbooks; when it comes as an epiphany to the 8-year-olds I'm helping that letters are actually representatiions of sounds.... these things do not suggest 'improved overall literacy' to me.

Just out of curiousity... how true is this? How 'many' of us were presented with darkened pepper moths, and/or drought -affected finch beaks, or similarly weak examples, and taught that these changes display evolution 'in front of our eyes'? (I'll set aside bacterial resistances, because that actually can be a pretty good example of evolution in action, though I cannot recall it being offered to me.) His statement is not true for me-- and it's not for lack of opportunity since I took more biology classes than all but a very few laymen-- but is it true for others?

The coalition was not a great thing. Voting confidence in the piece of crap on offer was worse by far. An election was a very bad idea, too. He chose the least awful option. (And Harper and clan are the ones who created that choice between bad, worse, and completely unacceptable.)

Dunno about that, Argus. One says: I do X. The other says: I am fully committed to Y. X is reprehensible, EVIL, and I'll do everything in my power to expunge it from the face of the earth!-- and so you select that one. They go through crude motions- some posturings, maybe a non-binding letter of intent, or a crude caricature of Y, or even some over-the-top proposal of Y to the rediculous extreme.....but at the first sign of resistance, or even minor criticizm, or inconvenience, throw up their hands, abandon Y completely, and do XXXXX. Then defend that action by claiming that the other guy made them do it, and besides, since the other guy does X, then XXXXX is perfectly within the rules, completely justified, the only possible course, and what's it to you? (You evil X-doer, you.) Over and over, issue after issue. It gets painful to watch after a while.

I'm a definite 3-R's afficionado-- competence there opens the door to all other competencies-- and so, I am also worried. While it is possible to come out of the system here with an extraordinary education, it is also possible to go through the motions, complete the necessities, and be granted the same credentials while having recieved an apallingly deficient education. IMO, that's a very, very big problem. It is a terrible disservice to students to move them on without firmly establishing competence enough to face the next step. That applies from the first day of juniour kindergarten to the last day of those extra years of high school, spent picking up a few more credits.

Is it not equally delusional for a nation to think it can get ahead globally while stubbornly insisting on the use of a single language? I find it unfortunate that we have thrown away so much of our potential polyglot. We are an export nation, yet force our customers to accommodate OUR language limitations! We wish to participate in world affairs, yet must recruit translators among the civilians of the nations we enter. How very foolish!

Yep. Even though it is time to set it far enough aside (but not forget it ) to move forward, that part's wrong. The sky DID fall. 'Global events' DIDN'T do it.

"But when one tries to grasp how the distinct species, as against varieties, are generated--by what mechanism they separate--a pause to reflect is warranted. Darwin's random variation and natural selection may well offer the best available narrative, the most compelling theory. Yet something seems missing--for example, any sense of what propels life's forms toward a progressive complexity, rather than toward a simplicity of design that would guarantee survival come what may." A strange POV... to seek chaos within percieved order, rather than seeking order within the chaos. "Progressive complexity" is itself a doubtful concept. The question is rendered nonsense until it is defined, and then shown to exist. That could be someones lifetime of labour, and still fail!

......... 'Xcuse me for thinking that's a pretty provincial sort of observation. Movies and commercial radio? If you are looking for stagnant, that's where you'll find it, all right. Listen to the street music. Check out what's happenning in the nearest high school, musically and artistically. Those kids are wa-a-ay ahead of you.

Ah! There, WIP! Stated clearly. Well done.

In your opinion. The Cadman thing was just cheap and sleazy and predictable. The Emerson thing was an upending of the very foundations of democracy--- more than just misrepresentation, it was a, sniggering, smirking "F*** you!" to the citizens of Canada, an act of bloody treason, and people should be in jail for it, not in government. The smugness over having gotten away with it should dispell any illusions that they bear integrity, if, of course, one might actually bear such illusions anyway, given their apparent unfamiliarity with any principle but their own hands on the reins of power. ... and I await the rest of the O'Brien story. If these guys are 'the cleanest in recent memory', it's only by virtue of being too slippery for muck to find purchase.

(Cue 'Twilight Zone' music.)

That's a bit of a crock, Jerry. As a poor low-life employee, you pay less than half as much provincial income tax as mostof the rest of Canada. And job creation? Does this mean you finally have enough warm bodies to do the jobs that need doing? That must be a RELIEF! And you aren't paying small taxes because you are doing without, either. Program spending in Alberta is higher than in any other province, even though, where the real biggie, healthcare, is concerned, you are demographically young.

So... let me understand this: Darwin had it all wrong.... and so holds a position of high stature and intense inspirational influence among the modern ID crowd. That line of thinking ... worshipful discipleship to 'got it wrong' ... really shouldn't surprise me, but Betsy, you live in a very strange world.

There is a degree to which I wonder who, exactly is being convenienced by the use of credit and debit cards. Transactions cost me the same or more than they did before I did all the work myself, saving the banks the trouble of having staff and infrastructure. Groceries and other goods cost the same or more than they did before I saved them the trouble of holding and managing that much cash, or even providing enough staff to collect my money and bag my purchases. Goods cost the same or more than they did before retailers conspired with bankers to track detailed information on my every purchase.... I operated entirely without any credit cards until very recently, when it became clear that I could neither book a plane ticket, nor check into a hotel using mere money. ........ obviously it's nice to be able to do a deal without carrying a roll of $20's, or having to drop by a bank to get them, but the benefit accruing from them is, I suspect, to a far larger extent, going to the retailers and banks than it is to me.

(Aw, shucks...)

A deadly accurate illustration!

You are just grimly determined to be 'the ugly American' today, aren't you? Tell me more about Canadian obligations to world freedom later, maybe after your own nation comes up with a coherent defininition of the word 'torture'.

There are several things that you aren't getting here, Betsy. First among those is your insistence that evolutionary theory has somehow been proved wrong. That is a falsehood-- a rediculous falsehood. An absurdity beyond response... even beyond the scope of the sneering 'flying spagetti monster' ridicule. It... is ..an... asinine.... statement, that undermines any other thing that you have to say, to the point of outright dismissal. Second is your assumption that the theory of evolution, and religious belief are antithetical. For the most part, they aren't in conflict at all. They ARE in conflict only if those religious beliefs are so very restricted that they cannot be reconciled with observable phenomena. (If that's your situation, then that's your problem, not Darwin's, not Dawkins' and not ours. Observable phenomena will not be changed to reconcile with your religious beliefs.) Atheism and evolution are the answers to two entirely unrelated questions. Thirdly, entertaining the speculative notion of a designer, or even taking note of patterns is NOT acknowledgement of validity for the demoninationally motivated, politically manipulative deceit that titles itself ID. To propose it is to make a logical leap equivalent to taking an offhand reference to the possible existence of dogs as evidence that the speaker owns a three-legged Schnauzer named Pete.

Whoa! JBG, I LIKE that quotation, find a lot of truth in it, and an apt description of the Canadian reality. So it doesn't satisfy your Yankee sensibilities, and overwrought definitions of patriotism? Can't believe that anyone would reject 'the American way', and find their own? Well tough noogies, and get stuffed on your way to customs. Don't forget your passport... or better yet, DO forget your passport.

As much as I'd like to see the affiliations removed, Machjo, your argument is based in 'ad absurdum'. Party affiliation is far from irrelevant, even if it can change.... just as party policy is far from irrelevant, even if it may be ignored. Consistency is not a virtue, to be sought at any cost, for its own intrinsic value. (ie... consistently WRONG.) It is very nearly the opposite of pragmatism, compromise.... If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I can and I do. Anything that takes even such a miniscule amount of power away from parties, and puts it back in the hands of representatives (and thus their constituencies) is worth consideration. Parties are an artificial construct, and have no bottom-line committment to anything except self perpetuation. They are not a worthy body to control so much, without having an effective counterbalance.