kimmy

I've read nothing to support the claim that the $1B was to protect jobs at Thompson. The link I provided earlier explains that the $1B is a loan that is intended to expand Vale operations and finance projects that will use Canadian goods and services. If you've got something to support your claim, please provide it. Is it always "union busting" when people are laid off, or is that also spin? -k

I was pretty miffed that Daft Punk didn't get a motion picture score nomination for "Tron", because the Tron soundtrack is brilliant, a highlight for an otherwise terrible film. But it more than made up for that when I found out that one of my musical heroes, Trent Reznor, won the Oscar for composing the soundtrack for "The Social Network". Just saw "The Social Network," and really liked it. Jesse Eisenberg, fresh from laying the beatdown on the walking dead in the epic awesomeness of "Zombieland", stars as Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. Fans of Facebook might be interested in the story behind it (although this isn't a documentary...) but at its heart this movie is really just a character study, and it really works well in that respect. Eisenberg makes Zuckerberg into a guy who you simultaneously like, dislike, admire, and pity. You'll want to "unfriend" him many times during the film. He's an antisocial drip who, as one of his adversaries puts it, "doesn't have 3 friends to rub together." He really only has one friend, and betrays him. It's ironic that the guy behind the ultimate social networking tool is, essentially, a loner who created this phenomenon as an experiment, almost a virtual ant-farm. To paraphrase a proverb, "He has no friends, who has 500 million friends." I liked this movie. Eisenberg is terrific. As for the soundtrack... it fits the movie, but I liked the Tron OST a lot more. -k

Chemtrails are easily dispersed with your orgone cannon. If you can't disperse chemtrails by pointing your orgone cannon at them and releasing your inner orgone energy, it probably means that your orgone power is low. You can cure this by sleeping in an orgone accumulator for a few nights. If you don't have one already, you can find instructions on how to build one very easily. If you find that you still can't disperse chemtrails with your orgone cannon even after sleeping in your orgone accumulator for about a week, it probably means you're out of alignment, which makes you unable to absorb orgones properly. Being out of alignment isn't healthy, because aside from being unable to accumulate orgone energy, it also puts your chakras off balance with your chi. Luckily, I can help. Email me, and I can sell you some alignment crystals for a very reasonable price. These are high-quality crystals that I've personally found from natural sources here in BC. They're not cut by machines, which tends to disrupt the chi. Let me know if you'd like to buy some alignment crystals. I'm here to help. Life is too short to let another day go by with your orgone energy out of alignment. -k

What about those lucky residents of places in Saskatchewan and Ontario and Newfoundland that will have jobs because of the 10 billion dollars that Vale is investing in Canadian operations over the next 5 years? Don't they matter? Why not? Is it because Michael Moore didn't do a sound-bite on their behalf? -k

The claims in your original post remain unsubstantiated. The claim "feds give $1B to Vale to kill jobs in Thompson" appears to be a FauxNews-esque misrepresentation of the facts. The blond woman in your video says (2:50 to 3:05) that workers are being redeployed into the mining operation. The billion dollar loan was to facilitate expansion of facilities, not to close the Thompson smelter. By the way, some people seem to be portraying this as "evil multinational doesn't care about Canadian workers". But let me ask this: what makes you guys so sure that the Thompson smelter would be in any better shape if Vale hadn't bought out Inco? To recap, this is a smelter and refinery that's too old to meet upcoming environmental regulations, has to import ore to keep operating, and is losing its supply of ore in 2013. How likely is it that Inco would have kept this smelter operating either? Do you think the people who will be employed at the new $2.8 billion mill that Vale will be building in Labrador are going to be receiving some benefit? Do you think the people who will be employed when Vale puts $3.4 billion into upgrading and expanding their operations in the Sudbury area will be receiving some benefit? Do you think the people who will be employed by Vale's new potash operation in Saskatchewan will be receiving some benefit? Are the people employed by Ford and GM plants receiving some benefit? Why don't we tell those Yankees to take their damned autoplants out of Canada? I think a lot of Canadians receive the benefit of having jobs to go to each morning. -k

I don't think there was an attempt to represent middle America, or even the people of the Ozarks, as a whole. It's a story about a family... a really miserable one. Not rural America as a whole. Winter's Bone creates an incredible sense of a people and a culture and a place. I have no idea whether the movie is really a fair representation of life in the Ozarks... but it's not a documentary. A movie like this only works if you can become emotionally invested in the characters. For me, that was easy, and I found it to be very entertaining as a result. If you don't believe in Ree Dolly and don't care what happens to her, then her story's certainly not going to be interesting. -k

Since last time I posted in this thread, I've tried Highland Park 12 year and Basil Hayden Kentucky bourbon. The Highland Park was pretty nice, but not something I'd put on my "must buy again" list. Basil Hayden is ok, but I liked Buffalo Trace better. -k

I'm well aware that many are of the opinion that Sun TV needed this change to make good on their plans for the style of broadcasting they've said they want to do. That's a valid opinion. So why the literalism? Because GWiz makes two claims of fact that are demonstrably false: Both bolded items are claims of fact, not opinions. And both are wrong. I doubt it, actually. I think one could operate the worst sort of "yellow journalism" imaginable without ever publishing anything that was provably false (some on the left have complained that this already happens in Canada.) I actually don't think this is going to be much an obstacle at all for Sun TV, even if their intentions are exactly as sinister as the lefties believe. -k

I saw the title and read it as "Shwa wins three CTV stations". Global nearly pulled the plug on their affiliate in my community in 2009 when they were in dire straits. I don't know if they'd have gone "dead air" or acted as a repeater for Vancouver programming. I imagine they'd have done the latter if it had been possible to keep their broadcast license without spending anything on local content. If they had pulled the plug, I'm not sure it would have been that great a loss. Their local content is so scant that I don't think people would miss it if it was gone. This community has grown immensely in the last couple of decades, and yet the local broadcaster isn't able to maintain the presence they used to. At this point there are some local paper publications that do a better job, and the handiest source of local news is an independently run website that has a couple of reporters. They do a surprisingly good and thorough job considering the resources they have. -k

Not necessarily a disaster or a crisis. But generally we don't set out to find solutions unless we perceive there to be a problem, yes? That might be a useful piece of information, but... Nonsense, Shwa. I'm proposing a scenario that counters your suggestion that somebody who has a job must be "integrated". If somebody has his nieces and nephews living in his basement and working full time for his business and they never talk to anybody outside the family, those nieces and nephews could be considered employed, but don't think anybody would suggest they're "integrated", so employment alone isn't adequate. Set the bar low enough and practically everybody is "integrated". Adopting employment as your chief metric might be an example of doing just that. All of this is pretty meaningless without an agreement of what "integrate" actually means. "Working for us" is also pretty vague. -k

Good old Smitty. -k

Here's what you said earlier: So where'd the CRTC say that SunTV's approval is withdrawn? hmmm? -k

Can we infer from the number of environmental initiatives we've undertaken that the environment is in great shape? Can we infer from the number of programs available to assist unemployed Canadians that unemployment in Canada isn't a problem? I think the inference you're making is a stretch, Shwa. Since Keung or his editor posit the MIPEX index to represent something that it clearly doesn't, no. Maybe this idea has some merit. However, the idea that we're not doing as well at "integrating" young Canadians into society doesn't actually demonstrate that we're any more successful at integrating immigrants. I believe the figure was a 10% unemployment rate. I think you're well aware that a 10% unemployment rate doesn't mean that 90% are employed, as the unemployment statistic only includes those who are actively looking for work. I'd also offer that having a job doesn't necessarily make one "integrated". If someone is working for their uncle's business and never meets anybody outside their family, are they really "integrated" in any meaningful sense of the word? Complaints on the subject are probably overblown. However, you started this thread saying that this study was a great shut-up to those who say immigrants aren't integrating. And it turns out that the study at the heart of this claim doesn't actually measure how well immigrants are integrating at all. If your great shut-up to the anti-immigrant crowd is to point out that Canada has the 3rd-most immigrant-friendly policies in the world, I'm not sure that will actually make them shut up. It would probably make them complain louder. I'm not sure examining policies and looking at the number of immigrants being accepted is a good measure of integration. In fairness, at least Swedish immigrants have not engaged in mass rioting the way the French immigrants have. -k

The CRTC decision being discussed refers to rules regarding the deliberate broadcast of "news" that is known to be untrue (hence the reference to "fake news".) Nothing at all to do with Sun TV's license. Don't you feel silly that someone had to explain this for you? Figured as much. I honestly couldn't care less about Fox News. I've never watched it, don't plan on watching it, and don't plan on watching Sun TV either. Based on what you've shown in this thread, I'm guessing it came from Clown College. Stick with the tour, Jack. Homeboy thinks that the CRTC pulled Sun TV's broadcast license. Want to help him out with that? -k

Those guys totally wrock!! I was once listening to "The Ongoing History of New Music" radio show where Alan Cross related a hilarious story about encountering Al Jorgenson at a music festival. It ended with Cross saying "...and I had a great time. Although, I was a little nervous each time I peed for a few days afterward." -k

It appears to be a comprehension gap. I think GWiz honestly doesn't understand what the headline "CRTC ditches bid to allow fake news" is actually referring to. -k

Should we go through the various "media bias" threads and count how many people think CTV and Global are corporate/conservative mouthpieces? You can decide for yourself how significant they are. -k

Are you affiliated with the Central Party of Canada (CEN) by any chance? -k

That's a pretty important question to this whole debate. -k

Find me one shred of information that claims that Sun TV's license was contingent upon this rule change. You can't. It isn't. -k

I'm betting you remember most of those. I vaguely remember the Oilers' wins in 1988 and 1990, although I was very young at the time and it didn't really have much significance. 2006 was especially exciting for me, because I was dishing out drinks in a Whyte Ave pub at the time. -k

Quite simply, the "MIPEX" index doesn't rank how we're doing at "integrating newcomers" at all. It ranks policies. (you can easily verify that by checking the Migration Policy Group website that I linked to earlier.) Canada is deemed to have the 3rd most immigrant-friendly policies. No claim at all is offered as to how newcomers are actually integrating in Canada. It's misrepresentation to say that the MIPEX makes such a claim. That "information" didn't come from MIPEX, it came from either Nicholas Keung or the editor who wrote that headline. Immigrants are integrating really well, except for the ones who aren't. It seems to me we did a thread not too long ago where we discussed that question at some length. You presented a StatsCan paper that argued that recently-arrived visible minority immigrants were hard done-by. As I recall the numbers said that recently-arrived visible minority immigrants have significantly higher unemployment rates than the population at large. By the way, I don't have a "side" here, other than to point out that the information being presented here doesn't support the claim that is being made. Swedish immigrants are integrating great, except for the ones who aren't. The test of how well Sweden is integrating immigrants isn't how well they're coping with Finns and Norwegians, any more than the test of how Canada is doing is how well we're "integrating" Brits and Aussies. -k

I know exactly how you feel. But at least we had 2006... -k

Wrong. The CRTC approved the Sun TV license change months ago. No conditions needed. Nope, pretty much completely wrong. There are some who claim that Sun TV won't work without this rule change, but that's an opinion and not a regulatory requirement of any sort. -k

I didn't offer an opinion either way. I pointed out that Michael's logic was ridiculous. I recall your enthusiasm for semantics, so I'll just point out that it's entirely accurate to say that the opening post of this thread claims "Canada ranked 3rd in integrating newcomers". If you don't wish to associate yourself with that claim, maybe choosing a sharper title for your thread might have been a good idea. Google's your friend. It's already been mentioned. I won't go into details. Maybe there really isn't a problem. Maybe there isn't a problem yet. Maybe within a few years and a few more freighters full of Tamil Tigers we'll be as negative as the Americans and Europeans. I don't really know. All I know for sure is that your previous comment was inane. -k