ceemes
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Posts posted by ceemes
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I was stationed at CFB Calgary....hated the place with a passion...the city that is.......and found Edmonton not much better......no ocean, hot and dusty in the summer and freezing in the winter.....bugger that....I'll take Vancouver's rain over Edmontons snow any day of the week.
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A right-winger attacks global warming
One can not attack something that does not exist. They merely expose the myth of global warming which was concieved in the outer edges of the leftwing lunatic fringe, a cesspool of corruption known as the UN. The purpose this scam being to transfer jobs and wealth from the west to the despot run, and failed socialist backwaters of the world. A scheme far larger than the oil for palaces racket that they've recently been caught at.
Right.......and the moon is made of green cheese.......
Baby, global warming is a FACT pure and simple. Winters for the most part are cooler, less snow is falling, hell I drove to Penticton to visit my mother for Christmas, and there was bugger all snow on the mountains and the roads were bone dry all the way there. This is very unusual for this time of the year and does not bode well for the up coming summer forest fire season in BC.
But go ahead, continue denying the evidence, burn fossile fuels like there is no tomorrow, consume and spend at an ever increasing rate.....after all, you probably only have between 40 to 60 years left in your alloted lifespan and should be dead before the real hardcore impacts of global warming hit.
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Jesusland? why doesnt the united states of canada get delaware?Actually, I find the concept of the United States of Canada rather arrogant and ignorant of those Americans who are against the current neo-con administration. Last time I looked, we were a Dominion with Provinces, not a Republic with States.
Personnally I feel that if a US State such as Vermont wishes to suceed from the Union and join Canada, fair enough....but it and its people had better be ready to adopt Canadian political traditions such as a Parliment and as a Province. If they can't leave their US baggage behind them, then they may as well stay with the Union.
As it is, I strongly doubt that any US state will leave the union, no matter how repeliant Bush & Co are.
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Of the 'big four' drugs; alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and heroin, only alcohol destroys brain cells. Yet it is the only one that is legal!
You forgot one in your list. It should be "the big FIVE" including Nicotine.
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Do you really believe that bullshit about how the U.S. is the "last remaining superpower"?
Well, traditionally the term "superpowers" referred to either the U.S.A or the U.S.S.R. Since the latter doesn't exist anymore, I can't really see how one can quibble with the notion that the U.S. is the sole remaining superpower of the two.
I also don't think China, the EU or Russia can be considered contenders for superpower status.
It all depends on how you define the term "Super Power".
If you consider that having numerous nuclear weapons and ICMB to deliver them to any point on earth qualifies a nation to be Super Power, then Russia still rates, as does the UK and France.
If you consider economic power to be the qualifier, then both the EU and China rate.
If you consider both to quailfiers, then again both China and the EU rate.
It all depends on how you parse the term.
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There was another site I looked at that did talk of the role of the RAF. Interesting the different perspectives.
Yet another about Sherman tanks explains the superiority of the new Shermans at that time. The Germas later regained technological superiority but lost it still later in the war with a newer version of the Shermans - the Firefly, I think it was called.
The Sherman was far from the best tank of WWII, both the Germans and the Soviets producted better tanks in the terms of crew protection and firepower.
The American version of the Sherman was vastly undergunned compared to later German designs. The only two things that the American versions had going for it was speed and numbers. Still, it a gun fight between five Shermans and one Tiger, you could count on four of the Shermans being wiped before the fifth could get behind the Tiger and put a shell into engine.
A few British and Canadian Regiments were lucky enough to be equipped with the Firefly varient that mounted the British 17 pounder gun, a gun that had the range and ability to punch through the best German amour of the day. Sadly for American crews, the US Army refused to adopted a "British" gun and stayed with the 75MM peashooter.
The Shermans were known as either ZIppo's or Ronson lighters by Allied crews because of their habit of readily burning when hit. To the Germans they were called Tommycookers.
The Sherman was the classic American tank of WW2 used by all Allied nations under the lend-lease scheme. The prototype model was first built in Feb 1941, by the autumn of 1942 the tank was in full production and the shermans saw action in Oct 1942 at the battle of Alamein with British forces. The Sherman became the most widely produced Allied tank of the Second World War with total production running to 48,071. It was not one of the best tanks of the war being inferior to the best of the Soviet and German tanks in armour and firepower at times gaining it the nickname the 'Tommycooker'. Despite this it was simple, rugged, easy to fix and quite fast for its time with a top speed of 24mph (38km/h). The early versions had a 75mm gun but later (1944) British versions called the Firefly mounted a powerful 17pdr gun. -
Ceemus, do you consider the Chinese living in China people or not? If the Chinese regime attacks and murders millions of Chinese, should we ignore that? What in Beijing in 1989?
Now then, which government is truly more violent: the US government or the Chinese government?
I agree with you that the Chinese government is not a major threat to western civilization. But nonetheless, it has been an extremely harsh and violent regime that is slowly changing.
In the West, how should we encourage this change?
I know many people both professionally and personally from and in China.
Things there are changing, the China of 1989 is not the China of 2004 or even 1999.....and as bad as 1989 was, it was minor compared to the Moa years.
China is a nation undergoing radical and profound changes, changes in my books for the better. Whereas the US is also undergoing radical and profound changes, changes I fear for the worse.
I would say with all honestly, the US government is more violent to its not only to its own people but also to people throughout the world.
Consider if you will that within the US, the middle class is shrinking and in China it is growing.
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Back to some semblance of being serious.....
A lot of points have been raised here, from heroism, to jingoism, to friendly fire, to under-training of troops.
But it seems that many have ventured into the territory of whether or not any soldier is heroic.
My spin is simple.
A soldier does not become a hero when he gets shot. He does not become a hero after committing some daring deed in battler.
To me, a soldier becomes a hero the moment he enlists, provided he enlists under the full knowledge and expectation that he may indeed be called upon to give his life for his fellow troops, his countrymen, his country.
Those few who enlist just because they expect to get a good education through the military, and don't expect to ever go into battle are a slightly different story.
But their time to prove their own heroism comes if and when they a called upon to go into a war zone.
They do not need to prove their courage to me, or to you, only to themselves.
Some have bailed out because they never expected to be called upon to fight, and when the time came, for some reason or other, they refused to go.
But I will give the benefit of the doubt to anyone who enlists no matter what their reason, because the bottom line is this; they have answered the call. They are in the forces, prepared to do their duty, to protect their homeland. They are the shield behind which we all stand safe and secure.
They have not the luxury to choose where they are sent, nor have they the power to determine the quality of their own training,
In this they are pawns to higher powers.
But the fact that they stand ready is, in and of itself, enough to warrant our respect.
I salute anyone who has enlisted.
I enlisted and served for a number of years, including one peacekeeping tour in a hell hole......
I salute those that also serve and especially those soldiers who refuse to obey an illegal order or refuse to participate in an illegal war or invasion.
All soldiers have a moral responsibility to refuse such orders.
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Actually, at El Alamein, there were only 300 Shermans out of a total of 1000 allied tanks. Also, the Shermans were known as Ronsons, or Zippo's, because they burned readily when hit.
The American Shermans were more often then not outgunned by their German opposits, in fact both the British and Canadian tanks corps retro fitted heavier guns onto their Shermans inorder to met the German superiority in guns. The US in typical Anglophobic style refuse to accept the better British guns for their undergunned Shermans when offered.
If you read the Battle El El Alamein, you will see that it was mainly a defensive battle on the part of Commonwealth forces who were dug in behind massive minefields and supporting anti tank guns with interlocking fields of fire.
Where Monty got it right was refusing to get caught in an after action chase of Rommels forces after they were beaten by the UK defences. Later, as the Germans regrouped, RAF air power came into play and destroyed much of Rommels remaining armour and transport.
I had an uncle there as well serving with the RAF.
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Well Argus; manufacturing is not a major export business in this country; Logging, mining and oil are. So, we will welcome China with open arms unless the Americans learn to obey international trade laws.
China is the biggest threat to world peace today so let's make sure we sell them all of our uranium too. That ought to piss off those disobedient Americans.
Bullshit.....how many countries has China invaded and occupied....one.....Tibet......and that was back in 1950. How many wars has China engaged in since then? Two, first was during Korea when threatened by that idiot numbnuts MacArthur at the Chosen Reservor and then , Vietnam in 1979, a very short lived punative war after which the Chinese withdrew.
Want to compare that to the US record during the same timeline?
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Yes, I was reading the New York paper. Seems the Americans are getting worried that Canada could find a very willing market for our oil in China. Canada is the major supplier of oil to the USA. Perhaps that is why Bush has been making a show of being more civil to Canada these days.
That's not all that is heading to China from Canada....BC lumber is in great demand there. There was a piece on Global yesterday (12/23/04) about BC firm's building so-called "Streets of Dreams" there. Seem's that private home ownership is waaay up in Communist China and one of the ultimate status symbols for the emerging middle class is to one a detached western style home.
BC lumber, construction firms, designers and HVAC firms are starting to rake it in.
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Ceemes, Logic would follow that we can replace a hell of a lot of trucks with one train.... The bat swings both ways..
It already has......its called intermodal transportation........where truck trailers are placed on rail flat cars for the greater part of their journey across the country..
Problem is, rail lines are static, you just can't move them from point to point at a whim........even in Europe which has an extensive rail system and intermodal capabilities, they still need heavy trucks to move goods and commodities to their final distribution sites....be it the local corner grocer or the giant box store sitting at the edge of town.
As I said before, damn near every commodity we use, be it a critical necessity or a useless dodad travels by truck somewhere along its trip down the supply/distribution chain.
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MS, more and more you are making me think you are a complete and utter raving loon.....
Pitiful useless comments from someone who has no substance to their arguments, so has to resort to personal putdowns. How sad!
The citizens of the country pay for the roads and have always paid for the road system. The road system is highly subsidized by all Canadians. It is a sop to the transportation industry through their secret lobbyists working in the dark corridors of power in Ottawa and the provinces. Please check your facts before you start blurting out nonsense.
I suppose the people of North Vancouver and their municipal representatives who are debating the issue tonite are all nuts as well, eh!
Son,
I make my living in the trucking industry, have done so for many a year both as driver and as management. And I can say with all honesty, without trucks and trucking, this country or any other country would come to a rapid and grinding halt.
Everything, and I do mean everything from the most important commodity to the most meaningless dodad travels by truck sometime along its trip down the distribution chain.
Truckers and trucking companies pay more then your average joe blow car driver in the way of road taxes, fuel taxes and what have you. The roads and highways of our nation are the arteries of the country, trucks and truckers are the blood cells that carry the goods that life depends on.
And we are not just talking profits here, coz lord knows its damned hard to turn a decent profit in the trucking industry at the best of times, but the very nessecities of life. Without trucks and trucking, we would soon be back in the stoneage.
If you really want to stop the carnage on our highways, improve the overall ecological situation, then look to replacing the biggest polluter going and the biggest cause of accidents on the road....the automobile commuter.....demand rapid transit that actually goes where it is needed and when it is needed....you can replace 40 plus cars with just one bus you know.
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MS, more and more you are making me think you are a complete and utter raving loon.....
Ban big rigs from the Highways? Brilliant....and how pray tell do you expect to get goods to our mills, shops, hospitals and schools.....or our goods to port?
Bullying? My god man, have you any idea how foolish that is? The trucking industry pays more then its fair share in taxes and tolls, tax and tolls that go into building and maintaining the very highways you would deny them the use of.
Truckers are for the most part very pofessional, dedicated to safety. Trouble is, the average joe blow car driver are not. The majority of accidents between trucks and cars can be attributed to errors and mistakes made by the car driver.
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Why would Islam need a country? Islam is a religion and not a "people". Muslim's like Christians, Jews, Buddhist, Doaist, Hindu's or whatever come in all shapes, sizes and colours. Personnally I know a few white Muslim's and Hindu's and recently I met an Arabic Christian.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world and the fastest growing. If the growth trend of Islam continues, and there seems to be no reason it shouldn't, then Islam is expected to become THE MOST POPULAR religion in the world by the middle of this century.
Here is an interesting site with tables of religions, their numbers and growth rates. It also explains what each religion is about, their core beliefs, rites and whatever.......suggest those who rail against all Muslim's and Islam pay it a visit and educate yourselfs.......
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Politics Part One:
Democracy is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man. How's that again? I missed something.
Politics Part Two:
Autocracy is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men. Let's play that over again, too. Who decides?
Lazarus Long aka Robert A. Hienlien.
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Should Canada field a military force as massive as the US? The answer is simple, no. Canada does not have the population base (read as both manpower and tax base) to support such a force during peacetime nor does it have the collective political will.
However that being said, Canada could with ease field a military force equal to if not superiour to the US if it were to substitute quantity for quality. In many ways, the Canadian Armed Forces is already doing this, although not on the scale that is truly required.
The American approach to military matters is two fold, high tech sexy equipment matched up with sheer numbers of men.
Trouble is the more high tech and sexy the tools, the more things can go wrong with it. Case in point, the mighty Abrams tank is according to US press releases, the most powerful tank in the world. However, what is not well known that the any individual Abrams in the field is likely to be down because of a fault within one of its many systems. According to some US Military reports, during Desert Storm anywhere from between 25% to 40% of the Abrams fielded were down at any one time.
Also as has been shown on TV lately, even the Abrams for all its high tech-ness and sexy-ness, is still a sitting duck for a well concealed Iraqi irregular armed with an RPG.
Canada is still using the old reliable Leopard 1 which though dated is still a good MBT. Indeed, there is an exercise held every year where the best of the US tankers armed with the M-1 Abrams compete head to head with the best of the Canadian Tankers using the Leopard, and for the most part the Canadians using old technology win. The last recorded win by the US that I know of was in 2001 and then, they only won by a few points scored in night machine gun action.
The other problem is with quantity. There is a saying that too many cooks spoil the soup and the same can be said about having a too big of a military. Training standards drop as does the quality of the recruits.
Although the Canadian Armed Forces is suffering from a critical manpower shortage in both the Regular and Reserve Forces, it is still not easy to enlist. Whereas in the American Armed Forces it is damn near impossible not to be accepted. The US Armed Forces approach is that almost any warm body will do and the Canadian approach is not every warm body is good enough, preferring quality over quantity.
Another difference between the CAF and the US Armed Forces is promotion. In the US Armed Forces, especially in the Army, rank seems to be given away like prizes in a Cracker Jack box. In the CAF, rank has to be earned the hard way, through trade training, leadership courses, time in and a proven ability at leadership. When I first became a Juniour NCO, (Corporal) I was working with US Sergeants who had less TI (time in) then I had sack time. It is hard to take a 19 or 20 year old US Sergeant with a year or two of TI seriously when you are a 22 to 23 year old Canadian Corporal with 4 to 5 years of TI under your belt.
The CAF does suffer from a number of serious problems, namely it is under-funded, ill-equipped and undermanned. Mind you as I have stated many times in the past, this is not unusual for the CAF, in fact it has been a problem ever since Confederation and every Government, be it Liberal or Conservative has done its fair share of damage to the CAF. I have my own ideas on what is good about the CAF along with how the CAF could be improved and if there is any interest, I would be very willing to debate them on a different thread.
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What you are forgetting, is that the current Liberal Parliament is in a minority position. If they were to lose a “Free Vote” on the Same Sex Marriage” issue, it could be seen as a vote of non-confidence, thereby triggering a new election.
As long as any sitting Government is in a minority position, you can be sure that any and all house votes will be whipped votes and not free votes. That’s just the way it is and has always been.
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Okayyyyy.....either you are attempting to be funny in a satirical manner MS, or you have finally gone of into the very very deep end.
Sadly, I think he is entirely serious.
He rarely puts a lot of thought into these things.
Yeah....that's my take as well........odd little dude, but you have to admit, he is damn good for starting interesting threads
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Okayyyyy.....either you are attempting to be funny in a satirical manner MS, or you have finally gone of into the very very deep end.
As it is, there are law already on the books that address knives, certain type such as flick knives and switch blades along with knives with blades over a certain lenght have already been prohibited in Canada and pocession of said prohibited knife can be a felony offence.
As it is, most knives are little more then tools and not weapons.
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I figure he is siitting safely and comfortably beside the pool at a certain ranch in Crawford, Texas.....awaiting the next time he is needed to play the big bad boogieman....
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"5 million on Black" is a reference to the gambling game of Roulette. It is a game of chance where a wheel spins, and the ball comes to rest on a slot with a color (black or red) and a number, with odds corresponding to the probability of your bet. The implication seems to be that the Campbell government's "careful fiscal planning" is nothing of the sort, and that their "reinvestment in the economy" is not based on solid planning.
-kimmy
It is also a comment on how the Campbell Government, like its NDP predecessers rely heavily on the income generated by gambling in BC.
It is also a comment on how the Campbell Government broke their promise not to expand gambling in BC.
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The sad fact of the matter is, we as a race on the planet earth do produce more then enough food to feed each and every human being alive a good and balanced diet. Trouble is, that abudance is not shared equally amoung us all.
We in the industrial north consume more then we actually need of all the earth resources, food, energy or what have you.
One just has to look at the obesity data of North America to see the truth of that. Or just take a look into any one of our many many supermarkets, or showrooms.
Much of what we consume does come from the have not nations, produced cheaply and sold here cheaply, and yet those same products, especially food stuffs are often well out of the financial reach of those that produce them.
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I would imagine Cotler has it in his back pocket, although it looks like it will be early in the new year for it.The government will have to submit legislation.everyone knows the courts will bring about same-sex marriage if the government doesn't anywayI believe there is a way to get around the judiciary. Use the "Notwithstanding Clause."
I haven't seem any recent national polls on the issue of same sex marriage. Anyone out there see any lately?
approx 71% pro civil unions and a 50/50 on the legal use of the term marriage according to global tonight.
Global Warming
in Federal Politics in Canada
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Jr, not all that long ago, Lake Okanagon would freeze solid in the winter. They used loaded rail barges as ice breakers to create a passage, and when the ice was too thick, they blasted it with dynamite....that was the norm......except in the past three decaded, that lake has not froze...indeed, you are lucky to get freezing along the shoreline.
But please, keep denying the evidence......like I said, you most likely will be dead and cold before the full impact hits us....pity your grandchildren and their kids will have to pay the price.