kimmy

Canada is apparently full of old-people who still think they can "Rock and Roll All Night and Party Every Day." Should be quite a scene. Imagine all those original 1977 vintage KISS t-shirts stretched to breaking across beer-guts. -k

http://www.theprovince.com/Naughty+pics+si...3161/story.html Dumb, maybe. But is this really the sort of thing that should disqualify someone from public office? Practically everyone has been photographed doing something embarrassing at some point, whether it be young people clowning around at a party or whether it a drunk fifty year old standing on a chair singing "Freebird" with his necktie tied around his head at his niece's wedding reception. Now that there is a camera in every cell phone, we are raising a generation whose entire lives are recorded in photographs. And now that social networking is as ubiquitous as e-mail, it is likely that many of those photographs will be available to the public. If this standard continues, at some point the only people able to run for public office will be people who had no friends and never got invited to parties. -k

In BC, much of the Trans Canada that isn't 4 lane is in mountainous areas where just building 2 lanes was a monumental challenge. You'd be talking about literally drilling more tunnels straight through mountains, and blasting millions of tons of rock away. The cost would be unbelievable. Just the cost of improving the safety of the two lane route through mountainous regions has been exorbitant; there remain many areas where the safety of the existing route is unsatisfactory. You'd also be talking about major construction through some of Canada's most beloved National Parks and Provincial Parks. I drove my mighty Reliant on the Trans Canada when my family returned west from Ottawa about 8 years ago, and I recall that the route around the Great Lakes was filled with similar obstacles (though on a smaller scale.) I recall that we set out from Ottawa and spent our first night in Nipigon, and slept in Brandon the following night. I don't believe it is the shortage of lanes that diminishes road travel between east and west, I believe it is the sheer length of the trip. -k

Students Unions are nothing like labor unions. The percentage of students who are involved in student body politics is miniscule. Student Councils are breeding grounds for future NDP candidates, but serve little other function. If a club being unpopular is sufficient reason to bar it from campus, should the Campus Communists also be shut down? The Campus Dungeons And Dragons And Star Trek Club? -k

Grow up.Governments generally budget money for arts and culture without micromanaging how it is spent. When governments take a hands-on role in deciding which projects should get funded or get denied, they create the appearance of partisanship and get accused of bias and censoring dissenting views. The Harper Conservatives were in considerable controversy last year for exactly this reason, as you'll recall. Elected officials, smart ones at least, keep at arms from the process of deciding which specific projects deserve money, because the results can always come back to bite them in the ass. As for barring pro-life/anti-abortion clubs from campus, it's not a budget issue. You look like a fool attempting to suggest it might be. No Students Union is going to sit there and pretend they have money to fund the Manga-Anime Otaku Baka Bukkake Club but didn't have any left for the anti-abortion club. If you look at Students Unions that have done this, such as (again) Carleton, they have taken the position that anti-abortion clubs violate the rights of female students. -k

The topic was designing policies to appeal to women voters, not attempting to recruit more female candidates. Nonetheless, I highly doubt that the women who reach the House of Commons are in any way intimidated or "put in their place" by the men. They have to be bloody tough to make it to Parliament Hill; they're not going to turn demure once they get there. -k

Pathetic, yet predictable response from you. "uh-oh, people are talking about something terrible that Muslim fundies did. QUICK! Let's try and change the subject to Judaism!" Golly! The women... are they executed?! These extreme Jewish fundamentalists... have they formed a military movement? Are these Jewish extremists out attacking people who don't conform to their views? Are they attempting to seize control of a country? Are Canadian troops in combat against these extreme Jewish fundamentalists? Are Canadian politicians being implored to reach a peaceful settlement with these extreme Jewish fundamentalists? Yeah, greeeeaaaatt analogy, buddy. -k

Students Unions deciding which clubs should and shouldn't be funded is exactly the same kind of "democracy" as governments pulling funding from artists and productions that don't share their views. Are you the sort of person who opposes censorship except in cases where somebody is saying something you don't agree with? My favorite example of political correctness run amok on campus is the one where the Carleton student's union decided to cancel the cystic fibrosis charity event because CF is not an "inclusive" illness. -k

But were they moderate Taliban? -k

You don't understand how "brown" got into this? People are wondering if the left's compulsive need to stick up brown people is the explanation for why they're willing to overlook so much that is ugly in conservative Islam. -k

The thread title sounds like something that could get you arrested, if done indiscreetly. I am under the impression that the Liberals already have a lead among female voters; those not already on board might not be the sort for whom a national daycare program is a deciding factor. We're not a monolith... One policy that women from coast to coast would rally behind would be taking away Oleg's computer. Please consider bringing it up at the next town hall. -k

It certainly won't hurt Ghomeshi or the CBC. Nobody has any sympathy for spoiled celebrities and their diva antics. Ghomeshi gets a bunch of publicity from this. I notice that as of this week he's on at 10am rather than 2pm; not sure if that's a promotion in radio-land. -k

He was "disappeared" by sinister forces (aka, Charles.) -k

You just keep parading around the same tired old strawman. Nobody dismisses all Muslims as terrorists. Why are you claiming otherwise? How predictable that this topic would get derailed with charges of "racist! Bigot!" How predictable that somebody would be along to derail the topic with "oh yeah well look what the IDF did!!" -k

Shocking, but not the incident I recall. The incident I was thinking of was years ago. -k

http://www.jihadunspun.com/IslamUnderAttac...les/pseudo1.htm http://www.jihadunspun.com/IslamUnderAttac...ive/jtfo01.html -k

As I said earlier (post #14) I don't believe that "without parole" is appropriate in a situation like this. But your comment wasn't that he should not be held without parole. Your comment was that he should not be held responsible at all, because of his age: "He was not responsible for his actions because Quantel Lotts was a 14 year old kid. Not an adult, a kid." I am open to the idea that in the case of Quantel Lotts, there may have been mitigating circumstances. However, I reject the idea that 14 year olds, in general, can't be held responsible for their actions. If someone doesn't understand concepts like death and murder by age 14, it's because they're completely psychotic. Just off the top of my head... some time ago, two English boys, aged (I believe) 14 and 15, lured a much younger boy to a vacant yard, tortured him, and finally smashed his head open with a brick. If I were in a position to decide such things, I would require the strongest possible evidence of their rehabilitation before I would ever consider letting those two see daylight again. I am not sure I could ever be adequately convinced that it was safe to let them back out among unsuspecting society. I would question the sanity of anyone who did not likewise feel grave doubts about unleashing them on society again. -k

Eyeball's post seems to indicate he believes that imprisoning a 14 year old is never justified. I don't care to discuss the specifics of this case, I am interested in this blanket assertion. I feel there could certainly be situations where a 14 year old could be too dangerous to be allowed free ever again. -k

Are all 14 year olds the same? Can they all be rehabilitated? Is there just no chance that a 14 year old might be too dangerous to be allowed to return to society at large? I certainly don't know the specifics with regard to this particular 14 year old, but to suggest that it's always wrong to imprison a 14 year old strikes me as somewhat naive. -k

This attack could only be shocking to somebody who doesn't actually understand what the Taliban represent. Nobody who is aware of the Taliban is shocked. Are you surprised that the Taliban would target women like this? She herself wasn't surprised: as your article mentions, she discussed the possibility of being killed with a friend shortly before her death. Clearly, she was a very brave person. -k

The evidence is her own "Jihad Unspun" website, which aside from fundamentalist content, has also been cited for regurgitating content from militant websites. Who wishes her dead? I condemn the Taliban because they're barbarians and idiots. Killing this woman would further prove as much. -k

The left do not align themselves with Islamists or conservative Muslims. Rather, the left apologize for them, rationalize their behavior, or deny that it even exists. "oh, that's just one Imam..." "oh, they're probably just mad about the attack on Gaza..." "oh, they're probably just reacting to racists..." "oh, this is being blown out of proportion because they're brown... if white Christians did something like that, people wouldn't think it was a big deal." "oh yeah, well the Israeli Defense Force did something way worse last month..." (etc.) I think most who've been around this forum for a while will recognize all of that. -k

"Come on, guys, she's white... that must mean she's worth at least a few bucks, right? Come on, make us an offer. We'll throw in some babaganoush..." -k

He is not disparaging strong women. He is stating that there is nothing shocking or surprising about this. Sadly, he is correct. -k

He might be the thing holding the party back. He might be the only thing holding the party together. He might be both. While it certainly appears they're not going to grow further with him at the helm, I don't know what the party's future looks like without him. More center-minded voters might be willing to consider the Conservatives if somebody with a less social-conservative reputation were leading, but Harper's social-conservative street-cred might be the only thing keeping the right wing of the party from heading off on its own again. Harper's eventual successor is going to have a huge challenge, and (like it or not) huge shoes to fill. But you do agree that Dion's devastating loss was a blessing for the Liberals, right? -k