Shwa

That is a somewhat specious position isn't it? Ascribing the rights and freedoms of a group of people in a few blocks of a city in a sensitive situation as the rights and freedoms of all the rest of the people who were/are not within those few blocks? Perhaps it would be better for you to compare downtown Toronto during the G20 with, I dunno, say Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. Or would such a comparison seem unfair to you?

That you are implicating your demograpic in your idiocy. I know lots of mainstream-Christian-heterosexual-English-speaking-Canadian-who-believes-in-all-the-values-traditions-this-country-was-built-on and they are not like you at all. Most of them are thoughful, tolerant, open minded among other positive attributes. You, on the other hand, seem to be another dusty old Internet crank desperate for some results from the cocktail of geritol and viagra. Get a room.

Show me one post of mine where I have that message on "every post" I make. English speaking maybe, but not too sound in the English writing department. Obviously. And, since you have previously proven that the criteria by which abnormal is defined are you now advocating that all other mainstream-Christian-heterosexual-English-speaking-Canadian-who-believes-in-all-the-values-traditions-this-country-was-built-on are abnormals? I don't think they would appreciate the sentiment, but if that is how you admit you see things, well, ok.... Oooo, now I am an Indian! Where do I sign up for the tax rebate?

You know Leafless, when you post you commit the textual equivalent to that old saying, "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." What you are really saying is that "alot of people...are abnormal" which, by the criteria you selected, includes you. On this basis, it is easy to concur with your opinion. You are indeed ABNORMAL.

Interestingly enough, your opinion points to a simple white/black type argument and ignores all the range or degrees in between. We do - by and large - allow people to speak their mind except in situations that prove harmful to others. As it ought to be.

Easy to say by someone with no nose.

Fair enough, but don't ignore mine: In what "posts" do I incline to "these people" as "political prisoners?" Can you point this out for me please? Thanks!

In what "posts" do I incline to "these people" as "political prisoners?" Can you point this out for me please? Thanks!

"...what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul." - Principal from Billy Madison, 1995

Via a report from the U of T DIFA program. Here, let me Google that for you. I went to the AGO Office first, but realized that their reports were somewhat older and you wouldn't go for that. Plus, their search function is brutal. They way I figure if there is going to be Gov 2.0, let Google crawl the site and provide the search function. But seeing how much the Canadian Government has a boner for Micro$oft, it will likely be Bing.

Come on, MLW is varied and wonderful. I don't have time to do your homework. Agreed. But it doesn't matter how accessible the reports are, how easy they are to be found and understood if people don't take the time to actually look for them. Or read them. Or realize that some of the reporting is, ummm.... politically composed. The funny thing is, why would a department selectively self-report crappy performance data? Have you asked yourself than one yet? Union Carbide would never do that. GM didn't until it was forced to the brink financially. Interesting... But of course you will find that advocating for a complete scrapping of the public service for apparently poor HR practices is the ticket to ride. Maybe the Liberals should use this as a plank in an effort to disguise how awful Igantieff really is. I haven't figured it out, I read about it in a Noam Chomsky book. The average baseball fan is fairly intelligent or at least intelligent enough to be able to compile or otherwise understand and appreciate statistics. Imagine that brainpower focused on the efficiency of government. Or the health system. Or fighting poverty. However, most of them would prefer to watch baseball games. Chomsky didn't direcly relate this to hockey in Canada. But I am sure you can. Every citizen has a stake in their government and their hiring practices. I am saying most likely won't or don't care enough to make any sort of practical or useful difference. Some will complain, some will write letters, some will bitch about it at the supper table. But most will just change the channel so they don't have to listen to it. Is there a hockey game on?

So you missed the part in my previous post where I said, "If you read Ottawa newspapers..." Then there is the typical underreporting of crime. Then there is the notion that reported crimes are only those that are caught and could likely be more. (unless you are of the belief that all criminal acts are reported) Extrapolate those sorts of concepts to the idea of fraud, theft, unauthorized access, etc., into the notion that this might play into reporting in the governments and I get suspicion. What do you get? Have a look at the Receiver General Public Accounts for 2009 Here is the PDF for Volume III, Additional Information and Analysis. Use the PDF search function and search for: fraudulent Enjoy!

What I am asking you is to define "1 standard deviation of comparable service" and then relate that to replacing the public service with a mish-mash of private services and corporations. Fairly straight forward stuff Michael. I mean, you proposed quantifying government services, so please, do. O course. And the planning of planning also requires planning. Then there is the requried planning of the planning of planning plan. That requires donuts. Nope. I told you that if you cannot find the data you are looking for, then an ATI request might be an worthy route. Nope. You didn't ask. I supplied because you said you couldn't find any. I don't believe Argus gave a damn either way, so there was no "we" in this, it is just you. Nope. The reports are extensive enough to satisfy most stakeholders; the performace indicated there is room for improvement; and who knows the steps actually taken for most of that data. Might need an ATI request to find out. Nope again Michael. My "cute story" was in response to your fantasy notion that the public service should be scrapped in favour of some vague mish-mash of private services and corporations. Everybody wants a philosopher king, but the devil is always in the details isn't it? There you go - implicating me in your opinion. Poor form bud. You may wish to contact your local MP or MPP and see what they have to say about your ideas. At least, in that way, there will be some weight to your argument other than usually light guy-on-the-internet-said type premise.

Very Cool!!!! I asked if MagicBall could be used as the substitute for human interpretation of rights and freedoms and it replied, "You may rely on it." I think you have found the answer!

In modern parlance, "information workers." http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rpp/2010-2011/inst/nar/nar01-eng.asp

Apples and oranges. I am not advocating scrapping CRA because .0725% of employees are caught snooping the taxation databases. And I wasn't criticizing your myopia, I was merely pointing out that you shouldn't blame it on the object of your gaze. But at least you admit to it and that's a good start.

Computers programmed by dolphins?

Excellent point, which leads me to understand 'politics' as a human social enterprise that overlaps between two spheres of human life - the private and the public. I cannot think of a situation in these modern times where a person can completely divorce their private and public lives, especially when it comes to those elements that inform their morals and ethics. Even with the most impressive of PR spin machines, private stuff gets out despite any public performance. In fact, it is an industry of sorts. So the other side of the question is then, should we - as the public - disallow, ignore or otherwise minimize any religious undertones to another's political peformance?

What a curious twist of logic. According to your thinking, if we look at "history" to see how the "losing side" is "usually...treated" we see that the natives get "completely free" this and that. Which would clearly indicate that we did not win and they did not lose. You unravelled your premise and contradicted yourself within four short sentences. Well done!

But what is that? You sound more like a civil servant than anyone else what with the big ideas, but the vagueness on the details. If you want to see where a govt project overruns cost, look at the details. It's all in the planning... Remember, it is a fallacy to blame your myopia on the object of your gaze. The price of silly dreams is free Michael, have at them at your leisure. When I was a kid, I had a large box full of all kinds of toy soldiers. I fought the War of 1812 many times on my back lawn or in the sandbox and the British won every battle. It didn't change the history books, but it was hours and hours of fun.

Why a cruise ship when you have all those secret underground war rooms looking to make a few bucks on the rental? I am sure there are plenty of Soviet-era nuke proof underground bunkers available for cheap. They could deck it out like the war room on Dr. Strangelove and have a retro Cold War dress day. It would be fun for everyone.

Do you mean when they are charged, before they are tried or after they are convicted? Or are you referring to prison reforms or political prisoners?

29 of 40k employees is about .0725%, so it is a very small group. Most of the the access was limited and any damage contained. However the potential for damage could be much larger AND those 29 are only the ones that got caught. I suspect the actual percentage of unauthorized access is much higher. There is also much unauthorized access to accounts and personal information in other large data holding departments such as Border Services, Employment Insurance and Pensions, etc. The problem here is that CRA staff could access those records since it is difficult to lock individal records in a database. If it is a system you have access to already, to do your job, all you need is a SIN to do anyone elses. Sometimes if you read the Ottawa newspapers, they will have the names of employees that were actually charged with a crime. Otherwise, if there is internal discipline you will likely never hear any names or much detail other than an audit report.

So do you think that child victims of sexual assault should be identified in the media or do you think it is the media's responsibility to govern itself in that respect? You see, I am getting the sense that you are no longer talking exclusively about the Canadian levels of government, but society in general.

Which are... what?