kimmy

Anybody else watch tonight's installment? I thought the part where he kills the black bear with his bare hands was quite exciting. The part where he heals the lepers was quite touching as well. I dunno. I'd been told we were going to see "a different side" of Trudeau. But it doesn't seem to be. We see Trudeau: smarter than everybody else. Trudeau: great thinker. Trudeau: champion of freedom and liberator of the oppressed. And of course, Trudeau: chick-magnet. None of this seems to break new ground, and nothing in Part 1 took a challenging approach to Trudeau's history. The opposite, if anything: for instance, can you look at Quebec opposition to conscription in World War 2 without looking at French-English relations in Canada? The movie tries to. I did enjoy Jean Chretien's cameo as Maurice Duplessis, however. -k

Ever since that Muslim filly drew in things got awfully quiet around here. I expect the silence on the subject is because the only people Canadians find less interesting than Intellectuals are Urban Hipsters. I remember once, a long time ago, when the newspaper ran a poll about its comics section. Some comics received considerable support from the readers. Some received little support and were dropped. But one comic in particular received a response that surprised the editors. That comic was called "Shoe", and it was about a crusty newspaper writer and his nephew and their acquaintences. The writer and the rest of the cast happen to be talking, clothes-wearing birds, but that's neither here nor there. The point worth mentioning was that the readership let the editors know that it hated "Shoe" with the intensity of a white hot sun. The editors were taken aback. Their response (to paraphrase) "...we never imagined that people hate Shoe this much. We always thought a comic about life in the newspaper business was a good idea. Maybe that's because we're in the newspaper business. Apparently the rest of you don't agree." Another example of the theme was the World Series of Baseball a few years ago that pitted the Mets against the Yankees. The American media, being largely centered in New York, was convinced that the "Subway Series" would captivate the whole country. After all, everybody's fascinated by New York. And it was a huge TV ratings success... in New York. Everywhere else, it was a ratings disaster. It wound up being one of the lowest-rated World Series of all time. So what's this got to do with "Beautiful Minds"? Well, my point (and I do have one ) is that a back-patting contest for writers and media-darlings is probably of keen interest... to other writers and media-darlings. To the rest, it's probably a lot less interesting. Sounds good to me. Anybody with the gonads to critique Islam deserves some credit. -k

If CSIS becomes aware of Canadians who have participated in the Iraq insurgency, I would hope that they'd be extradited to Iraq to stand trial there. -k

How does it impact lower income people more than the rich? Lower income people spend proportionately more of their income on food and rent, which are GST exempt. At any rate, the thread debating the merits of the GST should be easy enough to find if one wishes to review the arguments made there. I do not think people were willing to look at it rationally, particular given the grandstanding of the opposition and the senate. ...which they didn't realize until after they were elected? uh-huh.A 6-week election campaign is not sufficient time to educate a gullible public. I give the Liberals credit for educating the public in this respect. After 12 years of the Liberals the voting public has been strongly immunized against campaign promises that seem too good to be true. In the post-Chretien era, politicians know that their campaign promises will be viewed with the utmost skepticism and cynicism. Chretien made his change to the post in 1994. Why did we not see any evidence of these "teeth" until 2001? I think the answer to that is easy and obvious. We did not have an auditor general with a stomach for the job until Sheila Fraser took office in 2001. How is it functioning, exactly? Howard Wilson was Ethics Counsellor ™ for 10 years. What is his legacy? Where is his body of work? His primary accomplishment was to be so miserable that the post was overhalled and rebranded as Ethics Commissioner. ™Bernard Shapiro has been on the case for a year and a half now. During that time he's let Judy Sgro's people have a hands-on role in their investigation and let her brandish around a leaked (and edited) letter proclaiming her innocence. And he's leaked details of investigations into 2 Conservative MPs. And publically admited he doesn't understand his own post and that he's "learning as he goes along." (doesn't that sound like something Dubya would say?) When you've got even gentlemanly old Ed Broadbent publicly blasting you, you're probably doing a crappy job. What is this guy doing to convince me that the position is responsible or independant or useful? Only by accident. Only because they have been caught red-handed more than any previous administration.You say over and over "I'm not a Liberal" "I'm not a Liberal" "I'm not a Liberal" "I'm not a Liberal" "I'm not a Liberal" "I'm not a Liberal" "I'm not a Liberal" and yet you seem willing to go to unprecidented lengths to apologize for these clods. -k

The charge is that the Liberals campaigned under a promise they never had any intention of keeping. I don't see that showing a "fallacy in the Liberal position" was possible. Short of a time machine, I see no way that the PCs could have shown the Liberals had no intention of scrapping the GST. People here have recently argued that the GST is a regressive tax; they came away looking quite foolish. What watchdog are you crediting Chretien for creating? If it's the auditor general, you're mistaken. Chretien arrived on the scene over a hundred years too late to take credit for that accomplishment. If it's the "independent ethics counsellor", then "lapdog" might be a more apt description than "watchdog". Typical of Chretien's "achievements", creating the "independent ethics counsellor" was meaningless except for creating public perception. One of the few issues that all 5 parties agreed on during the day-- Alliance, PC, NDP, BQ, and Liberals outside of Chretien's circle-- is that Howard Wilson was a joke. Paul Martin deserves some modest amount of credit for attempting to amend the ethics post to be more like what the Red Book originally promised, however Bernard Shapiro's performance in the job has so far inspired little confidence. -k

The Globe'n'Mail article says: It is likely that countries like Mexico and Turkey finished ahead of us simply by having no nuclear reactors, far fewer automobiles per capita, little need to heat their homes at any time of the year, and little heavy industry requiring large volumes of water. (as an aside, what's wrong with water consumption, anyway? After we consume it, does it not wind up right back in the natural water cycle? I don't see a problem.) It is unavoidable that Canadians will use more energy than those in warm climates. Heating and transportation costs in our country will almost certainly be higher than for any other country on that list, and always will be, because of geography. I am almost certain that it's not your "8 glasses a day" that is dragging down Canada's performance in the water conservation category. It is our economic activities. Manufacturing requires large volumes of water. Oil production requires large volumes of water. Pulp and paper requires large volumes of water. Many of our large-scale power-generating technologies involve steam-driven turbines, I believe. Our agricultural industries use large amounts of water. Our food processing industries use large amounts of water. Short of returning to a subsistence economy, I'm not sure what possible remedy there is to these activities. It appears to me that this study is not so much a critique of environmental preservation, but of economic activities. That is not necessarily to say that Canada is golden in these categories, but I would at least like to see apples compared to apples. For instance, I'd be interested to see how Canada's pulp and paper industry compares to its counterparts in other countries. I'd be interested in hearing a study of how efficient Canada's home heating is compared to that in other countries. If our pulp and paper industry is wasteful and polluting compared to its counterparts in other countries, then so be it, criticism is justified. If our home heating is inefficient compared to other countries, then criticism is justified. But if this report is ranking us lower because we have to heat our homes and because we produce pulp and paper (etc), compared to countries that do not have to heat their homes and do not produce pulp and paper (etc) then the producers of the report should be embarrassed. -k

Everyone! Don your Kimmy Hats! There is much to be done! -k

"The proper study of mankind?" Study of mathematics and the natural world seems to have been present at universities for as long as there have been universities, and certainly long before the 1920s or whenever it was that you went to school. Universities have been dumbed down to keep the "plebes" happy? Society was much more enlighted back in your day?Oh for sure. The world was undoubtedly far wiser back when... ...only a tiny fraction of the population received more than a basic education. Apply X theory at Y time is really all you need to know. I guess we have a different notion of what "rote memorization" means. To me, "rote memorization" means that if you had a piece of paper with the information you're expected to memorize written down on it, then you should be able to get 100% on a test. However, I know that students in applied mathematics disciplines such as physics, statistics, and engineering are generally given formula sheets during exams. In fact, I know that many exams in these disciplines are, in fact, "open book", meaning that you can bring as much reference material as you wish to the exam. Why? Because the test questions are such that no amount of reference material will help anyone who doesn't fundamentally understand the material. In other words, someone with a tremendous gift for memorization but poor understanding of the subject would find himself utterly lost. ...but in other applied mathematics fields the same process is just rote memorization? -k

I don't recall a Francine Fox... are you referring to Mme Ducros? I think that in fact, Parrish being kicked out of the Liberal caucus wasn't a result of her anti-Bush comments, but of her anti-Martin comments.Recall that Parrish was evicted only after the tirade where she said that she would not obey Martin's requests to tone down her behavior because she had no respect for Martin or his authority. She basically dared him to take action against her, and he had no choice but to respond. If Parrish had not publically challenged Martin's leadership, I doubt he'd have taken action against her. -k

If this is about "masterkush" and "Mary Jane", it's because they were the same person masquerading as two. And frankly somebody who gets their information from rense.com is somebody we can do without. -k

I think I'm starting to understand why the Rhinoceros Party disbanded. -k

My back is so messed up I can hardly sit up to type, and I'm so hopped up on painkillers that I can hardly think straight, but I have to ask, what in the bloody hell is wrong with you people? Are you on drugs? You're high right now, aren't you. Come on, Monty. Rense.com is not radical. Rense.com is paranoid, deranged, delusional, and psychotic. Rense.com is where radicals go when they suffer massive head injuries. What the hell happened to my message board? I leave you people alone for just a couple of days and the place fills up with mental cases. It's enough to make me miss Onlythetruth... at least his ravings were amusing, what with the space-angels and so on. -k

I perceive the Bali bombings as just another Muslim country with zealots blowing people up. -k

Applied mathematics is rote memorization. That is an utterly laughable comment. -k

A link to a free copy of the article he references: http://www.bioedonline.org/news/news.cfm?art=1773 The article is quite interesting, and the conclusions that B-Max has drawn from what it actually says are also somewhat interesting. -k

I thought the idea of a political party headquartered in an outhouse was, you know, a statement, a metaphor, something like that. Never did I imagine that it would capture the imagination of the voting public the way it has, or that such a cool campaign bus would be discovered. -k

A significant number of the homeless on east hastings come from Alberta. Perhaps we should send them back? Vancouver's weather and situation as a port city makes it very attractive to people who have problems paying rent on a regular basis. Undoubtably. I just mention it as a stop for the brave or the curious, not as an indictment of BC's social policies. I certainly found it to be an eye-opening and sobering experience. -k

You can do better than that. I understand how much of this kind of thing is personal preference. Mine just happen to be for communities that have strong sense of identity and direction, vibrant culture and a positive atmosphere. Alberta's city's are prety bereft of ant of thos ethings IMO. I will mention climate, first off, because that's one of the most frequent complaints about Calgary and especially Edmonton, and one of the easiest to address. My experience in Ottawa showed me that climate means a lot more than average daily temperatures. Ottawa is a miserable shithole during the summer and early fall, as humidity and heat combine to make life miserable. During the winter, Ottawa gets rain as frequently as snow, and the temperature rises and falls above the zero mark frequently, with the result of creating puddles of standing water then freezing it. The entire city becomes a skating rink, so they heavily and frequently salt every horizontal surface in town. When dry, the sidewalks and roads have a chalky white layer of salt on them, and when wet, this salt gets sprayed everywhere-- onto vehicles and clothes. It's quite simply disgusting. People always talk about how great winter on the coast is. After experiencing winter in Vancouver, I personally did not feel it lived up to the hype. True, it's a lot warmer. However, I found that it was almost constantly drizzling or raining, and almost continually dark outside as heavy cloud blankets the place for so much of the winter. And when the temperature is just a few degrees above freezing, with so much water and humidity in the air, it penetrates your clothing and chills you in a way that dry air doesn't. I find that it is easy to dress for cold and snow, but very difficult to dress for nearly-freezing rain. I found that the non-stop cold wetness and non-stop darkness was depressing. As you say, it's a matter of personal preference, but I much prefer our bright, cold, dry winter to Vancouver's dark, wet, somewhat less cold winter. I suspect that many prairie dwellers who get the chance to spend winter on the coast discover that it's not as great as they imagined it would be. Of course, there's more to "quality of life" than climate. You mention "strong sense of identity and direction, vibrant culture and a positive atmosphere" ... I'm not actually sure what you mean by much of this. A positive atmosphere? I find the atmosphere here highly positive... people generally seem to have tremendous optimism for the future. Can you give me a better description of what positive atmosphere you see elsewhere that you don't see here? Identity... I somewhat suspect that by identity, you actually mean old buildings, certainly a weakness for Edmonton and Calgary. If you mean something more compelling, I'll ask you to elaborate. Vibrant culture... well, larger centres certainly have more prominent and visible cultural symbols. Older centres certainly have more prominent and visible historical symbols. We're well behind the nation's leading communities on both of those fronts, I'll certainly agree. However, if the notion is that people elsewhere are more cultured and sophisticated, I'm skeptical. I am of the view that lack of class is as universal as stupidity. Edmontonians look around our city and find it full of mulleted, jean-jacket wearing laborers and tradesmen, or look around Calgary and see it is full of effete "urban cowboys," and recognize this as the exact opposite of culture. What they don't realize is that Ottawa and Vancouver are equally filled with urban thug wannabe types. I'm sure that the same can be said for Montreal or any other big city that people imagine to be more sophisticated than our little burg. You might not have noticed it while you were touring museums and art galleries and so-on (ie, visiting) but you notice it when you're travelling to and from school or work (ie, living there.) You don't get a chance to meet Ottawa's large population of dumb-asses when you're bumping around the National Art Gallery or Museum of Civilization, just as you don't meet Edmonton's mullet population when you're at the Winspear Centre or Edmonton Art Gallery. But spend a year living someplace, going to school or work, doing the things normal people do... and I'm confident that you'll come to agree with my believe in the widespread universality of the dumb-guy mentality. Ottawa has many nice things. The Parliament Buildings and the National Art Gallery and the Rideau Canal and the ice-sculptures during Winterlude and the people who build inukshuks in the shallows along the Ottawa River during the summer, and many lovely old buildings. And if you cross the river you can visit the Museum of Civilization and Gatineau Park and you can see the whole valley all aglow with red and gold maple leaves during the fall. Lots of lovely things to see. But is this the stuff that quality of life is made from? The big tourist attractions were things that I visited once or twice while I lived there, but not really stuff that affects your day to day life. I could have been just as enriched if I had visited Ottawa for a week or two and seen all of these things. I enjoyed jogging along the canal in summer and skating on it in winter, but there are lovely parks here to jog in and skate at as well. Direction? I believe that Ottawa has exactly the same direction as Edmonton. It is a city of people determined to earn enough money to move to a bigger house in the burbs. Urban sprawl and big box stores. Once you're outside of the city centre, both cities look an awful lot the same. If you were dropped into a neighborhood outside city centre, I doubt you could tell which city you were in, except by the type of trees. Ottawa has more European luxury sedans and fewer shiny new pickups, but aside from that, it's a lot alike. Vancouver's worse than either, because that valley is running out of places to stack up all the people it now houses, and they're all getting pretty surly as they try to commute to work at the same time. I'm skeptical that Edmonton's direction is anything unique among Canada's major centres. If Montreal is doing something remarkable that the rest of us aren't, I'd be interested to hear it. -k

Vancouver is unquestionably a better place to *visit* than Calgary... there are many lovely things to see and neat things to do in Vancouver. Visit the lovely waterfront. If you want a startling dose of reality, visit East Hastings Street, but don't stop moving. Go skiing in Whistler. See if you can find a movie or TV production filming downtown. Visit Granville Island. Visit Gastown. Then get on a plane and be glad that you were just visiting. -k

"The Grass Is Always Greener" syndrome. -k

My dad, hardly a lefty or an enviro-weenie, mentioned that when he was a young man he visited the mountain national parks and stopped at the Columbia Icefield, which at the time came right up to the highway. He said that last time he was there recently, the glacier had receded a considerable distance from the highway. I mention this anecdote because I suspect that the long-term growth or retraction of such a large glacier is probably a reliable (and easy to demonstrate) measure of climate change. -k

Having lived in Vancouver and Ottawa, I can safely say that we're more blessed than we realize. -k

While people are increasingly tolerant of possession of small quantities of marijuana for personal use, I see no evidence to suggest that Canadians are tolerant of organized crime, of smuggling, or of large-scale drug trafficking operations. If you want to get into the logic of marijuana legalization, that's outside the scope of this discussion. For the record, I support the idea of legalizing marijuana, at least in principle. Seizure of property for trafficking an almost harmless plant is appropriate, however? Seizing assets accumulated through and/or used in criminal enterprise is appropriate and logical. It's still a large-scale criminal enterprise. The merits of the product being smuggled are beside the point. Sure, if there was a compelling case to be made for prohibiting such activities. Sadly, there is not. We don't even tolerate smuggling of legal products such as (tobacco) cigarettes. I think its safe to say that anyone big enough to do a meaningful level of trafficking doesn't really care if his or her official assets are at risk. Why would that be?Also note that as we are most often talking about organized criminal ventures, seizing assets is not just punitive, but also prevents those same assets from being turned over to associates to allow the continuation of criminal activities. As has been mentioned repeatedly, there will be no precident set. If the situation were reversed-- if American criminals had been apprehended in Canada breaking Canadian law, and we were the ones going to be stuck with the tab of incarcerating them for a long stretch of time, I think it would be a perfectly reasonable thing to request that the criminals' US assets be sold to pay some of the costs that will be borne by Canadian taxpayers. I have no problem with the reverse being done, either. As expressed in our laws, and by our elected officials, yes. Polls showing increasing support for decriminalization or legalization don't change that, though they might eventually. In the meantime our elected officials and law enforcement agencies continue to take marijuana grow-ops and smuggling operations seriously.If it were legalized, the marijuana industry could be run by friendly, easy-going entrepreneurs instead of by hard criminals. But for the time being, it's still run by hard criminals. There have been literally dozens of murders in the Vancouver region in connection with the drug trade in recent years. And while selling marijuana to Americans sounds harmless enough, I have read recently that Vancouver dealers are swapping marijuana for hard drugs to sell in Canada. I agree that a modernization of our drug-laws is needed, but until that happens this is still an industry of criminals that are causing harm in our communities, and should be dealt with accordingly. -k

I'm not particularly wild about Alberta handing out money when there are public expenditures that need more funding. I'm even less wild about the federal government doing it when aside from public expenditures that need more funding, they also have a huge accumulated debt. -k

With the lid down at all times, I presume... A lid? Hopefully, after some party fundraisers we will be able to afford some accoutrements for the party HQ. But remember, "If everyone is paper hogs, we'll go back to catalogues!" -k