overthere

I don't want any government of Canada to have the will or ability to cripple a reasonable national military capability. The notion that national security is a very high priority, and must be adequately funded, should be part of our national character, and be supported by all parties. That is what happens in , for example, countries like Australia. They take it seriously there, all parties. Decisions are nmot political there, they are financial. And they find the money. I never want to be dependent on the goodwill of our allies, which is effectively where we are today, and where we will be in future decades. A national 'review' is just yet another poltical circlejerk to delay what must be done.

It would not have made the slightest difference if the aircraft were full of water and in the air and en route once the fire was establsihed-and the wind was blowing hard. Once established, there is no possibility of extinguishment or control, It becomes a fight to save infrastrcuture. If there is no buildings at risk, fires like this are not fought at all. I agree that investigations now will center on whether or not the amount of damage to Fort McMurray was appropriate in the circumstances. Oh, and fires are much more easily detected if they are caused by lightning, since all strikes are monitored and recorded and communicated, nearly in real time. But this one was not lightning, and it is harder to predict when a person does something stupid or criminal, and starts a fire..

It is an absolute certainty that at some point a massive earthquake will devastate the Lower Mainland in BC. It could be in 10 minutes, it might be in 1000 years. But it is a certainty. It will probably be accompanied by tsunami and major flooding. In your world view, should the population of Vancouver be moved to high ground right now? If not, why not? I am sorry that you have never seen and don't understand forest and grass fires. They can and do move as fast as the wind blows. This must be a difficult time for you. Alberta sends its best wishes.

The Crown is saying he has not committed a crime.

Did anybody nominate Naomi Klein yet?

In keeping with my suggestion that you avoid the frenetic pace of the big cities, spend a day or two tops in Delhi, and limit Agra to a day trip. The touts are ferocious there. A couple of wonderful spots in Rajasthan(which is adjacent to Delhi and Agra that don't make the tour packages: Udaipur is a cool smaller city, perched on the edge of a big lake. Get a room with a lake view, worth the extra $5. The center has streets too narrow for cars, which adds greatly to its charm. There is an immense Raj era palace that is worth a tour. Houyr flight from Delhi Ranakpur is a Jain temple complex in rural Rajasthan. stunning place, and still used as temple. It is halfway by road between Udaipur and Jodhpur, and driving lets you see the 'real India', the rural part. From Jodhpur (also an interesting though decrepit place) you get the overnight train to .... Jaisalmer, which is a small city perched on the edge of the Thar desert. I don't know why, but this market town with a large old fort charmed the pants off me. It was corny as it gets, but I took a jeep ride far into the desert, then went further by camel. I expected little, but had a wonderful day and evening in a place not so many get to. I love this kind of place, and India is full of them. Back to Jodhpur fly to Delhi, home if you like.

Stop saying 'behind schedule' and 'delayed' and 'reallocated' and 'postponed' and 'moved'. These words are not in the 2016 Canadian Lexicion of Approved OttawaTalk.. The defence funds have been 'REPROFILED'. It means 'we haven't borrowed them yet and never intend to unless World War 3 breaks out and somebody beats us to the blankie supply role'.

I withdraw my comment that Trudeau better hurry up and get here before the cameras go home. I forgot- how could I- that our leader travels with an entire national TV and radio network at his disposal.

'Innocence' is not part of any legal language in Canada. There is only guilty or not guilty, and Ghomeshi didn't get close to either in this case, since charges will be dropped entirely. If the Crown finally had some actual evidence, they would have proceeded. Ghonmeshi admits nothing with signing of a peace bond. It is a 'peace bond', and likely it will apply to the former complainant too. She'll have to stay away from him too, which seems to be a major problem with Ghomeshis accusers. Now Ghomeshi will get back to work on getting some money refunded on this, he'll have to prove malicious intent of the prosecution in pursuing charges all the way to a verdict. The Crown case is weakened because they did not drop the whole dogs breakfast after the first and second fiascos in Trial 1. Carrying it all the way to a foregone conclusion might cost them at least his very hefty legal bills. It looks spiteful at best. My guess is that a few months there will be a quiet annnouncement that a settlement has been reached.

It's doable if you set a tight and specific itinerary. The usual way to get around India is by their immense train system, but you would not have time. Luckily there are more and more small airports opening, and domestic fares are pretty cheap. If you travel intercity, trains are possible but you are then bound by a schedule, and buses are... an adventure. I often hire a taxi for intercity travel, or to get somewhere small- not expensibve and A to B on your schedule. You could fly into Kochi or perhaps Mumbai and take it from there. There are a couple things near either/both worth the trip. Ellora and Ajanta are (for me) jaw dropping Unesco World Heritage sites. Same for Hampi, which is inland from Mumbai. The backwaters of Kerala are very good, as are the Keralan hill stations and Wyanad areas. In Tamil Nadu, the temple complexes in Madurai, Trichy and Thanjavur are worth a visit.

Agreed. Media interest is already waning, he'd better get on that jet ASAP before a cameraman departs. Maybe he could offer to expedite approval of an export pipeline, which would go a bit further to securing the Canadian economy and Fort Macs future than selfies and blankies for everybody. I don't care for Wildrose policies and by extension Brian Jean, but his actions are entirely characteristic of his background. He has spent a lot of time in the bush, including having had a trapline. He hunts and fishes, so sleeping in a tent would not be at all unusual for him.

Three times, most recently in 2013 for about 2 months. It is a top 3 global destination for me. People love it or hate it, and there is no doubt which side I am on. This is an abiding analogy of India, for me: You know how dogs like to hang out a car window with the wind blasting their sensitive nostrils, giving them a sensory overload? That is India for Western people: colour, heat, smells, sights, sounds in overabundance . Control that to your level of tolerance, and you will get it/be richly rewarded. Or be overwhelmed, and get on the next flight out. My mode is to avoid the biggest cities for the most part. They are chaotic, loud, polluted. But the smaller cities, country life, extraordianry variety of culture, and the truly astonishing hertiage sites are all amazing. India has cultures that were old when Europe was still huddled in caves. It is really cheap, the food is great, and it has everything from Himalayas to desert to jungle. It is far too large and diverse to see in one shot, so you have to limit and plan activities. The climate is a factor in trip planning, you do not want to be in Rajasthan in summer or the north in winter. If you like one week vacations, it is too far away, too big and too different. Maybe give it a miss until you have both more experience in Asia, and more time. If I had to pick a place for a couple of weeks, I'd suggest the South- Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The hill stations in Kerala have a self conscious nickname with the locals. They sheepishly call it 'Eden'. It is not as absurd as it seems.

Osha is not the kind of timid virginal woman that Ramsay is used to raping, but he does not know that. He should pay close attention to his ribcage, he might notice the handle of a knife sticking out from it one morning. And how can Rickon be in mortal danger? Even the psycho Ramsay will realize he is worthless as a flayed corpse, he's much more valuable as a pawn in dealing with the threat of Jon Snow. The young Umber refused to kneel........that matters.....

The cost of an enormous cast is certainly a growing factor. If Peter Dinklage or Maisie Williams or Kit Harington or several others say they are going to require a couple million per episode to continue...... And one or more of them will do that.... It has killed series before, it can easily collapse under its own weight. The series has always had enormous location costs, and it would not be so difficult to reduce those expenses. But the cast costs can only spiral up. If you are right about only 15 more episodes, and I hope you are, they must be in production now.

The resource companies used to invest in Canada, but not now. Why would they welcome the level of formal hostility they get now? The economy is kind of an important thing too, but I certainly would not expect you to agree.

Yet other projects elsewhere are proceeding. Why would BC be singled out? Can you think of a reason? I can. And Christy Clark(BC Premier) has belatedly come up with one too.

The cause of forest fires is almost always known with certainty. There are only two root causes: lightning and humans. All ground lightning strikes in Canada are detected, recorded and monitored in close to real time. This is the current system https://www.ec.gc.ca/foudre-lightning/default.asp?lang=En&n=D88E34E8-1 All strikes were also tracked long before the current system, which was founded in 1998. This system has more sophisticated reporting and covers North America. There was no lightning associated with this fire, or none reported yet, so..... almost certainly caused by humans.

The federal government has virtually no role at this point in coordination or suppression or evacuation or evacuee support activities , though Goodale and Trudeau will continue to bleat on and many will believe them because.... they must believe in The Saviour and His Disciples. They will have an opportunity soon for phot ops and more pretend, and eventually to actually help out if the Feds so choose. But not now. The insurance industry is nearly disaster-proof. What will happen is that premiums everywhere will simply go up to cover losses anywhere. The word 'loss' is a transient event for insurance companies, it is rarely permitted on a balance sheet.

They aren't even working the main fire with air support. There is no point. Do you think this is their first rodeo, or their 100th? And how many 85,000 hectare fires did it extinguish?

Why can't they acquire an arm now? It is quite some time to the trade deadline. Osuna has been good. The rest of the bullpen: worst in the AL, maybe in MLB. The inherited hitters stat is very telling- it means that when it matters, the bullpen fails. Also telling is that instead of all those expensive veterans, Gibbons goes often to his AA player, Biagini. Wow. Complete inability to even try small ball is only one aspect, situational hitting is another indication that they are not going anywhere, again. Even if their bats all come back to life, they will still need to win close games against good pitching and they really struggle with that. It isn't the players fault, they need their manager to a) show them how to bunt for example they need their manager to call for a bunt. Hit and run. and FFS : advance the runners. Good teams don't constantly get runners at first and second, then never get them over even one base. The Jays do it far too much. Waiting for that 3 run homer, all day every day. I reckon Gibbons is afraid of his vets, won't tell them to choke up, and slap the ball.

One of them, Heather Bishop, is representing the LGBTQ community. Her politics are far, far to the left of the NDP. Luckily for Justin, we know there won't be any NDP Senators. Oops, sorry, there won't be any Liberals Senators either, just plain folks who are appointed by apponted Liberals, who will then briefly pretend to be nonpartisan, then vote as they are told to vote. Now that is the kind of electoral reform that The Waldo can get behind! Transparency!

Saunders is not Reveres replacement. Storen was traded for Revere. It looks like the reason he was demoted(twice) in Washington, and then traded, is because he has lost some pace and is getting hit hard, his WHIP is not close to adequate. The Nats paid some of his salary too, which to me is an alarm bell in itself. Any comment on my two reasons the Jays won't be a championship team: bullpen and their singleminded, inflexible style of play?

Lol.....a wonderfully representative group of Canadians, for sure. How many are associated with the Trudeau Foundation? How many millions of our dollars does it take to simply appoint 25 compliant Liberal flunkies? One thing for sure, it won't take too long, Trudeau has an agenda and Labelle will have a strict timeline to rubber stamp his folks.. Oh right, 'transparency' and a pretense of consultation and then - by golly!- we get the same old same old: Liberal Senators that won't be called Liberals.. How proud you must be of Your Prince, Waldo.

Less than 100% is less matter of claiming success than some good fortune. Look, I know you don't like Notley but a fire of this nature didn't vote for or against her. Having 5 more or 100 more air tankers won't make any difference in putting out or controlling this or any large fire. There will be never be enough money, and in any case it is completely impossible to extinguish every blaze as soon as it starts.What doomed the situation was the presence of fuel and the wind direction/speed. It wasn't poltical, until now.

Incorrect. I acknowledge that you worship The King and His Court on the Rideau, but I reserve the right to not join you on bent knee. I see it has affected your ability to read and comprehend what others write, and to rationally observe and assess actual actions on the ground, not pixels on a screen.. This has little or nothing to do wth Notley. She is person I do not generally admire, but I acknowledge that she personally and her administration generally has done a good job of coordinating the essential work this week. Nobody known has died, it looks like everybody affected has gotten the essentials, the first responders continue heroic work to save as much of the city as possible. Well done So who made that happen? Who coordinated the operations? Who is responsible for that win in a week of loss? To hear Ralph Goodale bleat on endlessly on the (surprise!) CBC national network feed, he and his colleagues had something to do with that response. It was- obviously- minimal at best. The coordination role of national firefighter resources........ AB asks, other provinces respond. Or don't. The RCMP are nominally a federal force, but they are paid for and directed by the people who employ them under contract: towns. cities, municopalities. The DND input(and there is a large base not far from FM at Namao) is very limited, they do not have the equipment or training to come in any numbers. Yet on and on Ralphie bleats, he and his boss would never miss an opportunity for screen time of this magnitude. Ottawa has a minor role for now, and yet Goodale pretends a central involvement right nwo with many govt departments. Its quite sickening, really. Ottawa does have a large role to play, but not now. Nobody in Alberta expects it to amount to much once the cameras aren't rolling, but there will be something. Why do you applaud the Liberal grandstanding at a time like this?