Scotty

That would only be relevant if the Liberal party had then gone on to change its position regarding the registration of rifles and shotguns. It hasn't. Instead it's defended the registry and insisted it be kept alive. So the Liberals are continuing to wear the ridiculous farce which is long-gun registration.

I see no evidence the registry cuts down on crime...

If the networks are allowed to say no to May why don't they say no to Duceppe? He has no business being in the debate either, and just makes it more difficult to hear the people who English Canadians are interested in learning about.

Horrifying? Are you Swedish, by chance?

Fourteen year old quotes, most of which I completely agree with. So?

Pretty much my feeling. Whether global warming is or is not being aided by CO2 emissions I didn't see anything which indicated the idiocy of Kyoto or its followup had much chance of affecting that one way or another. As for secretive - we're in a minority government situation, which means the government going to be ultra guarded about all the messages it sends out, and all the information it lets the opposition have, regardless of who the prime minister is or what party is in charge.

The UN's chief envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, blamed Friday's violence in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif on the Florida pastor who burnt the Koran on 20 March. "I don't think we should be blaming any Afghan," Mr de Mistura said. "We should be blaming the person who produced the news - the one who burned the Koran. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from offending culture, religion, traditions." BBC News Staffan de Mistura is a Swede. I am reminded of when I was looking for cites a month or so back and came across multiple stories about how Sweden had become the rape capital of Europe, and this being attributed by many to Muslim immigrants. The Swedish authorities were bending over backwards to do nothing about this. The arrest rate for reported rapes was tiny, and neither the Swedish government nor the Swedish mainstream media were showing concern about the rise in rape rates. The reason apparently being they were so exquisitely politically sensitive, so desperate to bend over backwards to not offend any of the 'newcomers' that they didn't even dare defend their own women. I thought then that Swedish men are so far removed from their Viking ancestors they've become a joke. Swedish men have no balls. If you slap a Swedish man in the face he'll burst into tears, run away, and then come back tomorrow to apologize for provoking you.

Crazy religious fanatics? Yes, because some of the crazy religious fanatics did 911, and because crazy religious fanatics have conducted ten thousand terrorist acts since then, we tend to be very wary about crazy religious fanatics. Crazy religious fanatics, you see, sometimes become crazy, violent religious fanatics.

The people protesting the mosque aren't murdering anyone. That makes it at least slightly different, wouldn't you think?

I've never liked the idea that because someone is unreasonable, crazy or violent, we need to adjust our behavior so as to not insult or inflame or upset that person. Let's just keep burning korans, a few dozen every day, and eventually, they'll get tired of rioting (those still alive) and settle down and begin to shrug it off. Do the same with pictures of Mohammed Draw pictures of him on a donkey or pigs body, do it a lot, and eventually the crazy people will get used to it and just shrug it off.

I disagree. They have 'some' influence in a minority government, but not nearly as much as if those MPs were in the governing party. Quebec, during Mulroney and Trudeau's time had sixty to seventy government MPs. Now the most they'll have is a dozen or so. And again, since the majority of their seats are going to the BQ that means less reason for the real parties, the ones that might take power to woo Quebec with all sorts of promises and bribes. So far Ignatieff is the only one who's offered Quebec any bribes, that being the hockey arena in Quebec city.

Is your friend's name Kelly McParland? I responded to all 30 policy questions by indicating no opinion whatsoever, choosing either “neither agree or disagree” or “about the same as now” on each of 30 questions. On questions about the parties and leaders, I picked the lowest score available when asked about trustworthiness, competence or suitability for the job. In other words, I indicated I have no opinions at all, and think the parties and their leaders all stink. In conclusion, the “educational tool” reported I was closest to the Liberal Party, and furthest from the NDP. The Big Red Tent for People With No Clue

You suggested he would reinstate corporate donations. Clearly, your assumption was this would benefit the Tories, but history shows it would benefit the Liberals. They are the party which used to get its money from corporation donations, and from those tent thousand buck a plate dinners. The Tories have always relied on a broad base of support from their membership contributing small sums.

Yeah, but it's all picayune stuff. If after five years in office the worst you can say about the guy is he's arrogant, well...

Let me ask you a question then: Should we do away with foster homes and put children without parents into orphanages the way it was done in years past? For it seems that the powers that be, those in charge of looking after children, are under the impression that even a shallow version of a homelife with parents is better than an institution. Apparently some feel they're mistaken.

I don't feel an obligation to prove to you that water is wet. Not even as an intellectual exercise. The fact that children do better under their parents care than in an institution setting populated by constantly rotating strangers is so self-evident I can't but wonder how anyone sane would even question it. Certainly I don't regard the question with sufficient respect to bother researching citations about it. If people want to worship snails or postulate that Ramadama the space alien watches over us, or that children should be in institutions where they'll be happy, well, they can feel free to do so.

Yes, I know some people I make jokes about too.

They only won by less than 500 votes, against an already partially disgraced Rahim Jaffar last time around. But until the oil sands announcement it certainly looked like the NDP were going to try very hard to hang onto it and hope to even pick up more. And as for Quebec, Quebec likes to flirt, but it rarely rewards you with much. Quebec might have surpassed the Liberals in popular support, but that support is spread all across the province and likely won't amount to much in the way of actual seats. Liberal support is concentrated around Montreal and Tory support around Quebec city.

Are you kidding? Lots of successful businesses and industries in Canada get federal subsidies and credits of one kind or another. The oil industry is nothing different in that regard. And if Layton is against such subsidies, I'd like to see him announce in Quebec that there'll be no more subsidies for Quebec's Aerospace industry, and particularly for Bombardier. The oil industry right now is Canada's economic engine, like it or not. It funnels billions and billions into our economy and into the tax coffers of the federal government so it can pay for daycare in Quebec. Don't think Albertans don't know it either. To have federal politicians attack that industry to please Quebec environmentalists must be galling.

My perception is that the violent sub-culture of Scotland, which is not unique to Glasgow, is the result of a variety of issues. Not the least of these issues is the stultifying culture of leftist political correctness which has taken over Scotland over the past couple of decades. Well-meaning, knowledge-free social science types from the Labour Party have tried to impose a dainty, European code of behaviour on Scottish men whose cultural value set required a certain machismo. Rowdy young Scottish men used to be kept in line by older Scottish men who would give them a boot up the arse when they acted up. That doesn't happen now. Violent youth are 'listened to' and 'guided' while the system takes a 'holistic approach to intervention' on their behalf. Discipline used to be enforced by the rod and fist, now it's not enforced at all, really. Rowdy students are simply expelled to go and fight in the streets and neighbourhoods. My father, who was born in Dundee, says the problem is there are no real men left in Scotland, just 'pussies'. All the men left for Canada and the U.S.. Thus there's nobody there to show the boys how to behave.

No coincidence he made his big attack on the oil sands in Quebec, where his party has overtaken the Liberals as number two. He clearly has hopes of picking up at least a couple of seats in Quebec, but has he sacrificed the NDPs one seat in Alberta, along with any chance of more? I don't have to be an Albertan to figure out how him attacking the province's biggest industry to please Quebecers - who benefit from those same oil sands - is likely to play among Albertans.

The belief in the superiority of parents as caregivers is pretty universally accepted in our culture (and all other cultures). As such, I feel no particular need to defend it, especially in the complete absence of evidence to contradict it. So far? You. Then again, maybe that's just my 'prejudice' speaking. Perhaps not, but widely held beliefs can't be successfully challenged without evidence and a reasonably coherent theory against them, neither of which have been presented.

I wouldn't agree on 'nothing' but let's face it, Quebec's influence was in having 75 seats potentially up for grabs. That's no longer the case. In all likelihood, in most elections now, you don't have more than 30 seats up for grabs, at most. And many of them, at least for the Liberals, are solid anyway. So what's at stake? A dozen seats? Are you going to piss off BC, which has 36 seats up for grabs to please Quebec now? Even Atlantic Canada has a lot more seats up for grabs than Quebec. Quebec has reduced its importance. The longer it insists on parking the great majority of seats with the Bloc for election after election, the less hope the federalist parties will have of prying those seats lose with various forms of bribery, and, consequently, the less effort they will put into trying to do so.

Except that for the last thirty years the lions share, by far, of corporate donations went to the Liberal Party. It is the elimination of corporate and high dollar donations which has put them into such a monetary bind. To be blunt, no matter what you've always assumed, the rich have long supported the Liberals, not the Tories.

This being the exception, then? What've you produced but hot air? I don't have any personal prejudices but I'm starting to get that you do. Let me guess, put your kids in daycare, right? My belief that parents raise kids better than institutions is hardly unique. It's actually fairly widespread. Why you're going off on it as if nobody's ever offered that opinion to you before is somewhat confusing unless your reaction is coming from guilt and self-doubt...