Cartman

I do not watch much television and you do not know what I watch. You are judging me without knowing me. Is this sentiment religiously inspired? My ideas on religion do not come from television, but from books, news and personal experience. I certainly never claimed to be an expert on religion (though I have done some reading on the subject). But then again, most religious folks in Canada are not very knowledgeable about religion either. According to Bibby (the only person to systematically collect information on the effects of religion in Canada), the Project Canada 2000 National Survey indicated that amongst Christians, only 42% could answer correctly "who denied Jesus three times", only 44% could correctly identify "the name of the sacred book of Islam" and only 46% could identify "the first book in the Old Testament". When you sarcastically refer to me an expert, you do not sound very religiously inspired. This should also not be a big surprise either since the same national surveys carried out every five years since 1975 have indicated that there is essentially only one area where religion speaks with a fairly loud voice in peoples' lives - the area of personal morality, especially sexuality. Religious Canadians tend to be far more opposed to premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexuality, abortion and pornography. In addition, when considering things like happiness, prejudice, anxiety, hope and fear, religious and non-religious people demonstrated little or no difference. Here, let me sum it up for you. The most credible source on the effects of religion in Canada demonstrates that collectively, religious Canadians do not possess much religious knowledge, they appear to be no more happier or hopeful than others but they do appear to be more concerned about sexuality. Therefore, I can confidently say (scientifically) that religion has nothing to offer me except the ability to judge other's morality. Sorry, not interested. What really bothers me is when some self-declared religious people (including people on this forum) make claims about marriage being between a man, a woman and God. That is fine if you are married in a church, but not when you go through the effort to keep "God" out of your life.

Do you have a link Eureka? I would like to see the article. Perhaps there are alternatives to a specific national day care program, but the main point is that the government should do something about it. I am not sure if the Quebec system is nec. the way to go. At least the feds. altered mat. leave for the better.

I believe in labeling rules, but they do not always work. When France wanted to label US beef because of drug residue and growth hormones, the US took them to court WTO and won. France was ordered to stop their labeling procedures or face sanctions.

Oops, I mean when bad apples sell harmful products. Just want to make sure.

Sorry Caesar, I have lived in Van/Burnaby/MapleRidge (I admit it ) and I will take Calgary's weather any day of the year, any year. Can't stand the low sky, rain, wind and darkness (or the mess when it does snow) in activistland (BC). On the other hand, it was too hot here today, even in shorts.

What!? There is an argument about this issue? If corporations can make a simple change in production to ensure the health of everyone, then why not do it? To those opposed, do you have a sense of why government even exists? At least Hugo sincerely believes that government should not exist at all, but I doubt even s/he would expect it to take a nonchalant attitude towards known harm. Corporations that sell food products are expected to sell a legitimate and safe product. You cannot just go out there and knowingly sell poisoned food. If government stops corporations from doing so, they are not being overly restrictive, because all corporations accept this responsibility and benefit from it. In fact, they rely upon it to sell their products and profit. If a bad apple does make profit in such a situation, then it hurts legitimate sellers. In the very least, no corporation will be hurt by such a regulation. And finally, it does nothing to diminish choice. I doubt many Canadians will be protesting to demand trans-fats in their food.

I don't know how anyone can argue against a national day care program these days. MS is 110% right (I mean correct...sorry Maple ) on this issue. Many families require women's incomes to make ends meet. That is the reality folks. Most career minded women can: A. Rely upon their husbands/partners to take 50% of the responsibility (time and $$) to raise children (not gonna happen guys/partners because we generally "help out" as well as work as breadwinners); B. Pay privately for child care which is now terribly expensive especially for single-parent families; C. Give up any ideas of competing with others in the marketplace; or, D. Not have children at all. Really, what would you decide given these choices? Seems to me that most career minded women have "chosen" the latter and I do not think that it is an accident that so many have made similar choices. So, let's not pussyfoot around like our politicians do (especially Liberals) on this issue. Make the choice. Either we rely upon immigration with its ebbs and flows as a permanent source of population sustenance or we support pro-natalist policies. I prefer the latter. I am a nationalist and a statist and I believe that we should rely upon internal growth (all forms) as much as possible. It seems odd to me that we require 200,000 to 300,000 new Canadians each year, but have not yet put in place institutions to allow everyone to sustain our numbers. And I am getting real tired of saying over and over that we CAN pay for our welfare state. Right now the federal government does not even know how to spend the surplus that exists. They act as though it is their money. Think independently; the government has charged you too much for services rendered and now wonders what it should/will do with the extra money! Either demand an in-store credit (my preference) or a refund, but at least make a choice. Both alternatives have ramifications.

Maple Syrup is indeed a valuable contributor to this forum. Even if you disagree with him/her, the reality is that everyone reads his/her posts and responds to them. To me, this suggests that there is credibility to the information enclosed in these posts. It is, however, easy to get off topic and I suspect that the posts drew attention from Greg because they consumed considerable space (pics). Everyone is guilty of this including myself. After taking courses with Ed Webking with his lefist ranting and Peter McCormick's PC worship, I am sure Greg is very aware of tiresome off-topic discussions . A gentle reminder every now and then though is in order.

As August has said, people forget the Cold War. The US needs a M. East boogeyman esp. since the USSR fell apart. They are not hard to find. Taliban Qadhafi Khomeini (or anyone since the Shah) Saddam Osama Not sure why the Saudi's/Pakistani's are exempt. Why are they are all tyrants? If they catch Osama and everyone in Al Qaeda, will this be the end of M. Eastern boogeyman concept?

Are people in other parts of the country not aware of "starlight tours"? http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/aborigin...lighttours.html Rather than going through the trouble of jailing members of First Nations, Sask. police believe they should leave them at the edge of cities to "walk it off". Racism is the problem, but the police blame bureaucracy.

This coming from someone who is leaving Canada because taxes are too high?

Neal F. Posted on Nov 12 2004, 04:06 PM Whatever. November 11th we are paying tribute to the noble soldiers who died or endured permanent psychic scars for our freedom and then on November 12th you are complaining about taxes!? Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. If this is all that your citizenship means to you then I say "smell ya later". Have fun paying privately for all the things our taxpayers currently provide you. Just make sure you repay the Canadian government for the bus ticket when you return.

This is an extremely good point (the former) for so many reasons. I am curious though, why do you think another generation will appreciate its importance? (I don't think August was specifically referring to you barbarosa).

What his father did. Isolate Iraq and allow the weapon's inspectors to complete their job. Are you saying that George W. Bush is a hero and George H.W. Bush did the wrong thing?

What I find really funny is that the right wingers here seem to think that lefties are actually upset that George W. Bush beat out George W. Bush's clone. Sorry to disappoint, no tears here. Before the election, Eureka said it best. If Bush wins, he will have no Democrat to scapegoat or blame for the screwed up economy. And hey, since his re-election, my Canadian/Euro portfolio has been a rockin! The exchange alone ensures that. Thankfully, I pulled out most of my American content years ago. Keep screwin' it up down there Bush, 'cuz I'm making out up here.

Funny, I was gonna say that Theory is far more than "doctrine". The former requires that it be evaluated by scientific testing and possibly disproved. Doctrine is non-disproveable.

Marriage in Canada has been changed and for good reasons (Currie, 1989, p.275). "Until the twentieth century a man could not be convicted of rape upon his wife as long as the ordinary relations of marriage subsisted, illustrated by the case of R vs. Clarence (1888). This case was reserved for consideration of all judges. In the final decision, the majority supported the general proposition that a husband can never commit rape upon his wife because the wife cannot retract the consent which by law she is deemed to give her husband upon marriage...until 1983 the Canadian Criminal Code defined rape as forced sexual intercourse with a person other than one's wife". No law should be set in stone; change is a constant. If you want to be married by a church, then go ahead 'cuz I won't stop you. I really don't care. But my marriage as defined by the Canadian state has absolutely nothing to do with God so please, keep your mits off of my marriage and stop trying to define it in relation to God. I don't care about "God's" laws, I care about Canada's laws.

I highly doubt they will form gov't here anytime soon. Alberta has a history of electing right-wing gov'ts (although Socreds were a little of both at times). You do realize, however, if they elect 5 or more MLA's, I expect you to buy me a Coke. (10+ ...I wanna Duff).

Ignoring the Spanish PM just goes to show once again, that Bush is terrible at international coalition building. So much for the man of "integrity".

I thought most of the problems were caused by Windows. This surprises me as does the fact that you use Firefox. Any problems with it?

I guess I just assumed that voting for the NDP was beyond your comfort range. I never really thought you would vote for a weak opposition party (no offense). The PC's do need an opposition. I am surprised that we have heard of no scandals (like the sponsorship program) since they have held power for so long.

I think they are pretty inept. I figured they might shake things up but not really. Things are relatively good in Alberta so nobody really cares about this election. It looks like voter turnout is going to be very low. I don't even think that the PC's are doing much because this is a non-election. When you drive around Calgary, there are hardly any signs out and of these, there are a few PC's and just as many Social Credit and Alberta Sep Party signs.

Hmmm...not a bad idea. I live in Southern Alberta and there are a lot of religious folk pretending to convert people. I say pretending because I highly doubt they actually convert very many. If I want religion, I can look them up in the phonebook. Why bother people at home? Why bother them in parks? In the summer, it happens pretty much every second or third weekend or so. I put up a sign in my window so that adults don't push their unwanted crap on me, but it is too high for most kids to read. It is a shame that I have to put a sign on my door in the first place and it is a shame that some kids may not ask me for donations etc. because of this "moral" religious behaviour. Next time I go to the park and see them coming, I will approach them first and politely offer a copy of "The Communist Manifesto" and invite them to our communist lecture series.

Thanx a lot Kimmy. I fell off my chair and spilled my coffee when I read this. Are you sure you wrote this or is this a practical joke by a friend? C'mon, admit it "Kimmy".

Normally, I keep my views on religion to myself, but since there has been so much legitimation of discrimination based on religion lately, I feel justified in sharing them. I have a very negative perspective on religion, I admit it. It is so irrational that parents have to brainwash children into believing it because if they have the choice in adulthood, they reject it. Why is it that if you talk to God, you are praying; but if God talks to you, you have schizophrenia? If I have an imaginary friend in adulthood, I am suspected to be mentally ill, but if I say I am speaking to God, I am just fine. Why is it that killing people in the name of mainstream religion is "holy", but taking one's life to reach God is cultish? I see no difference between cults and mainstream religion. I suspect that every mainstream religion began as a cult. Marx was right. Religion is the opium of the masses. You don't need to believe in God to behave properly and ethically. In fact, it is a scary thought that you have to fear God in order to behave properly. Hatred and discrimination is not created only by religion, but they sure seem to go together quite nicely. Same sex marriages are wrong. Why? Because God supposedly says so. Let them hide their relations in shame. Abortion is wrong. Why? Because some mystical being supposedly had someone write as much. Make it illegal. Taking someone off of life support when they are suffering a violent and painful death is wrong even if they beg for it. Why? It is written in a book. Force them to suffer for what might feel like an eternity. I am really sick and tired of hearing religious zealots trying to convince me that their ideas hold water.