Scotty

I seem to have a vague memory which says the federal government can take over matters which are in the provincial sphere of responsibility in the event they declare it to be in the national interest to do so..... If not, I'd think the provinces would, once they realize how their health care costs are basically taking over their budgets, see the sense of giving it over to the feds.

Well, I can certainly see how that would be problematic for the individuals concerned, but would it not make society a better place, in the end?

Now I realize we're all raised with the notion that violence is no solution to our problems. But I think we all know it certainly CAN be. An I'm thinking that allowing people to kill dysfunctional members of society, or those who are non-productive, or even merely irritating, would produce a tremendous improvement in the quality of our society and the individuals who reside within it. Just think of all the irritating, annoying, stupid people who make life difficult being eliminated from our society! Would that not result in a major improvement? Oh I grant you there'd be some unfairness on an individual level, what with the inevitability of idiots shooting people for no good reason, or just because they enjoy it. But such people would certainly wind up being targeted themselves and removed from society. So on a macro scale this wouldn't really be an issue. And so the end result would be all the weakling and fools would be removed, and what would be left are strong-minded, careful people with quick reflexes who know how to behave and how to take care of themselves! This could not help but have a tremendousy positive affect on the cohesiveness of our society. People would probably stop driving slow in the passing lane, too.

The rules don't say that once you quit the government you become a national pariah and can't make use of the same services all Canadians make use of. Ie, do you think every single meeting a cabinet minister, or for that matter, his underlings, or officials in his department hold is solely due to political influence? These people meet with their constituents - and by that I mean people involved in that area they represent, all the time, every day. It doesn't necessarily mean there's any political influence at work.

I would agree we should have done it then. But as you recall, we didn't, and in fact, the Brits then released the guy Khadaffi gave to them in exchange for oil contracts. Seems a little odd to be going in and bombing him now.

Why is that our problem? A bunch of people don't like their leader? So? Let them get rid of him - or not. If that's our business why isn't it our business to go into Ivory Coast? Or Darfur?

I personally don't see why the world is all upset and why it's interfering in what appears to mostly be an internal civil war, mostly a tribal war at that. So what if Khadafy is a dictator? All the local leaders are dictators and we call many of them friends. Some civilians died? So? Civilians always die in civil wars and I don't see the UN rushing to aid one side or the other. I didn't see the UN rushing into Sudan despite the far higher death toll. Anyone ever hear of the African world war? I bet not. I don't remember the UN putting a lot of jets in there to put a stop to things despite millions of deaths. Second Congo War And speaking of wars in Africa, where is the UN with its jets and bombing in the Ivory Coast? Civilians are dying there right now and there aren't any roaring fighter jets intervening. The Other African War

We do, do we? And how do "we" know that? The government's own statistics show average waiting periods, at least in Ontario, which is far from the bottom of the pile, of 6-12hr across the province. I've personally experienced 10hr waits with others on three occasions, all for broken limbs. A friend from Quebec spent much of the day and night at a hospital across the river trying to get her son, who had a high fever, seen. She finally gave up and came across to our side. I meant what I said. Arguing the quality of health care with a zealous, `rah-rah` booster of Canadian health care isn't worth much effort since nothing, absolutely nothing will ever convince them we don't have the finest, most shining, most perfect system the planet has ever or will ever know. I'm curious, as an aside, why do you hate obese people? It's not that I approve or really understand how people get that obese. But clearly you have a real hate for them, to the point you don't give a damn if they die or not. In any event, it was the first I came across, and since it mentioned years, which flatly contradicted your statement that no Canadian waits years for necessary surgery, I thought it more than adequate. Wait times

Have you considered the possibility that if you're being 'tagged' often, it's not the Liberals or the Tories at fault?

No, what I'm saying is I follow important elements of politics, not the crap the dedicated followers spend so much time and energy over.

No, there had to be a starting point. That would be Mulroney. If he worked in Mulroney's office the RCMP would have done a background check on him and presented it to Mulroney. And his criminal history wasn't as distant then. He should never have been allowed into the PMO at that time. However, I can see where having worked there for years he'd have been accepted by Clark and Harper without additional checks. Or if they knew, well, it was twenty five years ago.

Hmmm, given the plethora of 'erotica' on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and other mainstream ebook sites, do you suppose they'll have to switch to an xxx domain?

Would you care to speculate why virtually every one I see on TV comes across as a slimy, dishonest, self-serving dullard eager only to make themselves look good? I don't remember the last time I heard a politician advance a cause or case and thought he or she was being honest. Hell, I don't remember the last time I even thought one was smart. You think these people would all be making more money elsewhere? I have considerable doubt.

I assume he was presented as a capable guy who worked in Mulroney's office and did a great job for him. Did Harper know that he was disbarred and went to jail twenty five years or so ago? I dunno.

Don't care. Don't care about the Tory ads either. Ads don't do much for me either way. To get my vote a party has to demonstrate it has a higher likelihood of providing reasonably competent, reasonably honest government than its competitors. Attractive, innovative, visionary, or at least clever policies I can support would be advantageous but are not necessary - or usually present. By this standard, which I think many Canadians share, the Tories are presently out front.

What happens all the time is people waiting 10 hours to have broken limbs set. Six seconds of googling brought the following: The survey response rate was 85%. All centres determined whether patients were eligible for bariatric surgery based on the National Institutes of Health criteria. Patients entered the queue as “office contacts” and moved through the queue, with the exit point being completion of the procedure. In 2007, a total of 6783 patients were waiting for bariatric surgery and 1313 procedures were performed in Canada. Assuming these trends are maintained, the calculated average waiting time for bariatric surgery in Canada is just over 5 years bariatric surgery wait 5 years

Self-sacrificing? A self-sacrificing politician? A large proportion? What do you consider large? 1%?

Ontario increased health care funding by about $9 Billion under McGunity. Some much-watched waiting lists have declined but others have increased. It has not resulted in any dramatic improvements. If we take this as a model for the country, increasing health funding by $30 billion across the country would also not result in dramatic improvements. We'd have to look at something like a $60-$100 billion annual spending increase to be reasonably sure we'd get marked improvements.

Do you really think people are going to ERs to wait for 10 hours for sniffles? Ignorance.

What cut she got is not really anyone's business but the company's. Her past is likewise nobody's business. Whether Carson or his girlfriend would have profited by sales to the government is also irrelevant. The only issue is whether Carson was lobbying before the 5 year limit was up. That is the only illegality being alleged.

Why? Aren't politicians pretty much all slimy lawyers without morals? Why would they have a problem with one of their own?

The government's own statistics show that it IS the entire system. Waits to get into ERs exceed 10 hours in many places. Waits for tests or important surgery can be months, even years (current wait time for an MRI in Ottawa is over one year). The wait time for a bed in an acute care facility is 231 days - which is one of the reasons hospital beds are filled with sick elderly people.

Hey, I mocked the judge as much as anyone. But the transcript does tend to show a different story. And the 'she asked him if he was going to kill her' was something the judge himself used in his decision to sweep away the man's defense that she never said no. The judge is looking a lot more intelligent and part of this century in the transcripts than in the original story.

The ex-hooker is not the story, though of course, all the papers have mentioned her, some with pictures. But how the profits of the company were structured is irrelevant, as is her history and age and alleged bustyness. The only question in play is did the former insider lobby the government before the 5 year limit. That's it, that's all.

Another take on the judge's decision now that transcripts are out. If you read the ruling, all 88 pages of it, it provides a much more complex perspective. You may still not agree with the Judge’s decision to award Mr. Rhodes a conditional sentence—although, the Judge points out that for sexual assault cases such orders are “not infrequently utilized” (or at least they weren’t until the government began outlawing conditional sentences, which happened after this incident). But you will find a stunning disconnect between assumptions the media took for granted, and the reality of the case. Distortions of the Dewer rape ruling