fellowtraveller

License? I don't have or need any stinking license.

Yeah, whatever. What Canada has to its advantage is depth, more than anybody else they can ice 18 skaters that are overall better than anybody elses 18. Their challenge for Sochi will be goaltending. Brodeur wil be too old and Luongo is not good enough. Of course, that assumes that the NHL allows their players to go, that is far from certain.

Only about 40% of all voters voted. The students are outnumbered and they have pissed off the wrong people: the people who actually pay for their education right now and in the future.Charest has leverage right now, he should call an election over this. He has an enormously appealing foundation.

The Headchopper is - as I understand it- is not a threat if he takes his meds without fail for the rest of his life. I don't have a problem if that can be guaranteed. The only way to guarnatee it is if he takes it under supervision by police or medical authorities, and straight back to confinement if he misses any appointments. That may mean he wears a tracking device too.

Charest next move should be to call an election, now. He'll win. The 'who gives a shit' sector that usually stays home will come out in droves and they'll vote for him. The sheep will look up, and they won;t like seeing heavily subsidized students and unionists with selfserving agendas running the show. Why? Because the sheep pay for it all. If the govt caves on the tuition increase, it all comes out of the pockets of taxpayers anyway. Charest can run a campaign on that, and win. The 'who gives a shit' sector stays home unless they are angry or afraid. It just happened in Alberta, where the PCs were reelected by those who normally stay home on election day because they feared the alternative of WildRose. In Quebec, Joe and Martha Sixpack are both afraid and angry. They don't like seeing violence on the street, and they really don't want to pay any more taxes to support those people on the street. He'll win if he acts now.

Looks like that won't hold now, the starters have been absolutely hammered lately too. No pitching, no defence, may be a very long season again. They need to find a replacement for Eric Thames now. It isn't Davis.

Which ignores the lawsuit that Pat Martin (prominent NDP) is facing right now from the owner of the company he Edmonton he slandered over Robocalls. Martin may have to refinance his house 11 times too when that bunfight is over. He was even given an opportunity to apologize, but waited too long. Renewing your mortgage 11 times in 30 years is not so unusual, though most folks would have it paid off by then. After all, the normal mortgage term is five years in Canada. Refinancing from a $58K debt to a $300k debt at age 57 when steadily employed is not usual for anybody with any financial acuman. He'll pay several hundred thousand dollars for a house worth $65k. Maybe that is not an unusual mindset for public money, but not for personal money.

In reality, he smeared the reputation of somebody in public and paid for it. It was not the truth. If it were the truth Mulcair would have demonstrated same and paid nothing. Now, it is Pat Martins turn. Oh, and refinancing 11 times in 30 years is not usual at all.

Are you still wanking on about your strawman?Are you pretending to teach me something I know, common knowledge for anybody over 14? How wonderful for me, I am not forced to join the union! But I am required to pay the dues and abide by terms of employment negotiated by some asshole you love. In your world, I enjoy the benefits negotiated by your brothers and sisters. In mine, I am forced to be underpaid for my services and denied any negotiating options due to your actions. We can all get laid off together, somehting to look forward to. I don't need or want your heavyhanded paternalism.

How would they have avoided their debt crisis, since they don't collect taxes and enjoy a huge, unaffordable social contract obtained by their own actions? No, that is not true. Look at it this way: for every financial winner, there is a financial loser. In this contect, the economic contect, Greece looks to be losing although the 'crisis' is far from played out.Now, who is the winner? Who benefits from a lower value Euro? IMO, the EU itself is all about money, lots of money. But... its future is not looking so rosey now. The Eurozone is a merged monetary policy that has been profitable for some, but the next step- the big big one- is fiscal policy and I don't think any of the players that profit now from the monetary policy are prepared to give up the soveriegnty that would follow with a merged fiscal policy. That only applies to a stated joint fiscal policy- and aren't we seeing Greece as an example of a de facto joint fiscal policy? Isn't that really what the Greeks are upset about, the loss of control over their financial future to a larger political force? In any case, they can bluster all they like, but they are not going anywhere. The EU and Eurzone will weather this little storm. It is less clear if they'll survive the threat posed by Spain and Italy- both with much larger economies.

Nobody will trade with Greece if the payment is in drachmas, and how is Greece going to obtain hard currency to pay for essential imports? Oh, and much of what Greece exports is agricultiral, and Europe will of course be closed to Greek exporters by agreement. No question they'll be pooched. They will not leave, because they simply cannot afford it. Oh, and given their serious, chronic mismangement of their own economy, they wouild be in this position long ago if it were not for being propped up by the EU., Of course, certain members of the EU benefit from Greek financial issues, so their woes are far from being bad news for, say, German exporters who love love love a lower value Euro.

I guess you don't understand what is required to establish a business.Hint: it takes capital investment, not just ongoing operating costs like labour and materials. Oh, and the return on your labout investment is called a salary or wages. If you also want a big chunk of the profits on top of that, you'll have to do more than just work for 40 hours a week and you'll have to do more than just complain. You'll have to cough up a proportionate chunk of the capital, and there is no return guaranteed.

I see. You are not a relativist, but an absolutist. Therefore, you must then believe that all human cells are precious, since every human cell can conceivaby be cloned into a human being. How do you feel about the unregulated slaughter of potential humans that occurs every day in barber shops and nail salons? Should we be bombing pharmacies that sell condoms? Should the word spermicide be changed to reflect the true nature of the product- homicide?

Betsy, you don't seem to differentiate between a fertilzed egg and a child outside the womb. Why is that?

You are forced to join unions in Ontario? How despicable. In Alberta, you are forced to pay union dues no matter how useless they are and confrontational the situation may be. All workers -not just members- are also forced to submit to the shitty agreements negotiated by self serving union leaders. It is a disgrace.

Only works if labour comes up with 45% of the capital too, otherwise they are getting a massively disporportionate slice. If anybody wants to take a big chunk of profit, they have to also take a big chunk of loss. Are you willing to work for nothing some years in the hope of getting extra other years- after also investing your life savings?

limits on hours worked, safeworking conditions and overtime pay are all leguislated where I live ad have no connection to union membership. Is it different where you are?If ypou support the rights of humans to collectively bargain, do you also support the right to refuse to be part of a collective bargaining unit, have the right to refuse all group negotiated wages/benefits and have the right to negotiate your own?

What if what they figure out for their workforce is to lay off many and reduce wages and benefits to a few remaining? Would you support that?

The value of a nations currency is not in the control of the nation, and particularly not when the economy is small and the debt is large. The relative value of any currency is as measured against others and by others, not something that Greece can dream up on their own.If Greece adopts the drachma it will be worthless inside and outside the country, and the results for Greek citizens will be catastrophic. They have no reserves to carry the country for a few days, much less a few years. They will have to pay cash for every import- Euro cash, not shiploads of worthless drachmas, and how will they get those Euros? And no, they cannot unilaterally rewrite the terms of their loans. Hey, I want to buy a boatload of essential pharmaceuticals to keep my aging Greek families alive and I will pay you with sticks and pebbles. No.

Your premise is just silly. 1) International loans specify the currency of repayment, the debtor doesn't get to repay n worhtless currencies of its own choice. All iof Greeces current lans are paid in hard currencies, and Greece will be required to repay inn hard currency 2) If Greece adopts the drachma again, obviousy it will be worht F*CK ALL. Nothing. Sero. Anywhwerre, inside or outside Greece. Nobody is going to lend Greece anything, because they have no ability to repay- you may have noticed that at least, that Greece is having trouble paying its debts now. If Greece moves to the drachma, their economy is massively screwed- unabl;er to pay back loans they now have, unable to get new loans, unabloe to pay civil servants in anything but a worthless currency thsat will undoubtedly suffer runaway inflation. The won't leave the Euro unless forced out because they simply cannot face what that means internally, and they won't be forced out because the implications of Eurozone failure are far more important than a few hundred billion Eurpo in bad loans..

Not true, the middle class in Canada is a relatively new force in the economy as well as being a relatively new force period, and they create nothing as it is simply a descriptor of relative wealth.The real creator of jobs is small business, and the reason for that is that they are risk taking and able to adapt quickly to s shifting econmy. We will adapt to new global economies, because we are educated, literate and the country has resources. Our economy has managed to survive structural change nuimerous times. Note that 90% of all Candians lived in rural areas just six or seven generations ago, and that adaptation was far more profound than what we face now. That doesn't mean that everybody in Ontario gets back that great job in a factory.

You intend to convert wind and solar energy into water stored in dams in other countries? I am starting to suspect you are a little short on the actual workings of electrical generation and transmission.

Wilks came close to having a Bev Desjarlais type future

every so often, this place provides a laugh-out-loud moment. Thank you for your valuable contribution in that regard.