overthere

another dodger and mover of goalposts. Teamwork is awesome!

You introduced the falsehood about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, then dodged the issue when directly challenged.. I'm not going to dignify your evasion by helping you dig new holes for your relocated goalposts.

"feticide"??? A favoured term with hardcore prolifers btw......You know, rhymes with homicide and suicide and matricide and.....all the modes of human death. Here is the harm in what you propose. Prolifers cannot gain any traction in Canada largely because there is no 'law' permitting or denying abortions in Canada. There are no rules codified, no legal conditions under which abortions may occur, no requirement for an ultrasound tech to reveal or not reveal the sex of a fetus. Contrast with the US, which has had an endless, relentless stream of regulation, laws, rules, procedures and codes associated with abortion. The issue in in front of courts at all levels and in all jurisdictions forever. Abortion litigation is quite literally an indiustry in the US. When you pump the tires of regulation here and succeed, you provide a crack in the formerly impervious shield of the non-law that has enabled abortion on demand in Canada, with virtually no litigation in Canada . There is no law, thus there are no lawsuits. And you can absolutely bet your ass that prolifers will exploit that wee crack to the absolute maximum of their well funded souls. That is why. Why do you wish to enable the prolife lobby?

Two out of three guesses: who established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission? Hint: it was the same fascist monster who delivered an official apology to indigenous peoples regarding residential schools. Bonus question: which fascist delivered the apology to those of Japanese ethnicity in internment camps?

I am noting that if you refuse to fund abortion because of a persons ethnicity, it is then reasonable to deny coverage for many other reasons: obesity, smoking or any self inflicted health situation . Universal coverage cannot also be selective coverage. I did not address the morality. My opinion on the contents of a persons womb is none of my business and not relevant. .

But you have to admit that the uber-right fascist Harper dismantled the entire socialist health system, and the entire socialist system of public education- and don't forget how he repealed abortion on demand and banned same sex marriage. Canada has one of the narrowest political spectrums of any developed cpontry. The notion that Harper or the Cons are right wing by any international measure is laughable. However, it does follow the script that to demonize people you first have to pretend they are demons.

I expect the Dutch will follow the German model of evangelical eco responsibility and buy their electricity from coal fuelled plants in Poland. My favorite part of LEAP (today) is: "High-speed rail powered by renewables and affordable public transit can unite every community in this country "... Umm, have they looked at A MAP? Well, no the authors have not looked at a map of Canda, where very few communities are served by rail of any sort, and even fewer served by conventional passenger rail. Then I realized that the authors have looked at a map: of the the Toronto subway system, because that is their life experience. Some things never change in this country.

Both Colabello and Smoak have been crap at the plate so far. Given that EE is in the lineup every nigh as DH or 1B, and Smoak is easily the best fielder at 1B..... the Jays should send Colabello to Buffalo to get 4 or more at bats every game. If his game returns, he can step back into the platoon role with Smoak. He is not going to get better with spot duty and occasional at bats in the bigs.

He is a far tougher out now than before, when he was nearly automatic. If he keeps hitting the ball hard, they'll start having to finesse him. If he really has improved at the plate, that means a higher OBP and sets the table for the start of the lineup. Bad news for opponents. But does not address their weakness, pitching. When is Travis back? I think at this point he has lost his job.

It is not off topic, it was an example of where the abortion argument is headed if you apply means tests, or deny an abortion based on ethnicity.. Fat people and smokers don't really cost more or less. The fatties seek attention when their hearts and lungs start to fail. Smokers seek attention when that persistent cough comes up bloody and they get diagnosed with cancer. Just like everybody else that doesn't eat too much or smoke, smokers and fatties get 95% of the total health care obtained in their lives- in the last two years of life. Its just that they get it a bit earlier, and they weren't getting any maintenance anyway, so the overall cost is not much greater if any greater.

It is one of those daily compromises we all make in the enjoyment of what we have in this society. Some think that the obese should be cut off all health care.

Speaking of numbers, Rachel Notley is presenting her first full budget today. I wonder if she will have a big fat new line item "Couple Billion for Quebec Basic Income Guarantee"?

Because the US govt is becoming increasingly protectionist, and will oblige foreign/domstic builders with US factories(and those will surely grow in number as they close Canadian and other plants) to source US parts. Like expensive batteries from Tesla Corp.

When will Trudeau Jr apologize in the Commons for the sins of Trudeau Sr in The Rape of The West? As reparations he could give Alberta some of its own money back.

I think Liberal Red camo is more appropriate

I'll parrot the traditional baseball meme: good pitching beats good hitting. The Jays still need to leverage their roster into improving the pitching. One thing that is excellent on the Jays (barring serious injury) is their defence. Going through it position by position, they have only a couple of minor weaknesses. Thole is at best OK on defence other than catching the knuckler. His offence is weak, so the Jays are lesser threats when he hits. The defence at first is great when Smoak plays, average at best with EE and Cola in there. The rest of infield, outfield and catcher range from really good to really great. And that maters because baseball is a subtle game. The Jays are going to win big and l,ose big, but evn those games as well as close ones often hinge on small , defensive events. A relay missed or made, a double play not turned, a baserunner advances or holds up...... Definitely an advantage for the Jays lineup. When is Travis back. With the way Goins is playing and hitting.... what a tough but great choice the Jays have ahead..... Is Goins for real at the plate? Is he the Kevin Pillar of 2016?

Once again, defunding abortion runs into a 'unintended consequences' situation. The SC rulings have noted that abortion is a medical procedure. which means that for the most part each province has a choice to list or delist it as procedure that they fund. It is a crucial definition. Though voluntary, reproductive choice is considered to have consequences far beyond the 30 minutes and $400. It is not analagous to other 'voluntary ' procedures. For example, vasectomies are covered in AB, vasectomy reversals are not. Breast reductions are covered, breast enhancements are not. The choice of all provinces to fnd or not fund is theirs, but they have all chosen to pay. This does not necessarily signify that every government in province in every era supports abortion or more correctly the right to choose. But to defund this medical procedure introduces some very serious unintended consequences. If you defund, that means that abortions are only available to those that can afford it. That does not exclude Ijndo-Canadian selective abortions, they'll just buy what they want. It does exclude the poor from getting an abortion at all. An option is to introduce means tests, but that again has unintended consequences. Does it violate the Canada Health Act , which requires universal access to medically necessary services? I know- different provinces have different services listed, but this one has been clearly defined by the SC. What if a province starts to means test people seeking abortions, and only funds those for poor people? Aside from the same problem with the SC, and the Canada Health Act, it can easil;y become a slippery slope of means testing all health related diseases, injuries and activities. Is that what we want?

The discussion comes to this for me: you cannot have it both ways..... Our culture has concluded and the majority of Canadians believe that abortion on demand is the right of a woman. The reasons for that demand are not restricted by ethnicity. This right is defined and enabled by the legal stance(Supreme Court) that abortion is a medical procedure, which leads to public funding of the procedure. At the same time, our federal govt has for decades promoted and enabled a policy of multiculturalism, whereby we accept many(but not all) of the cultural practices of immigrant groups. We also specifically exclude some practices such as genital mutilation, tribal facial scarring of children, and honour killings. This is an example of a culturally accepted mulitcultural practice running head on into the right of a woman to control her body/reproductive activity.. It is a classic example of 'unintended consequences'. The fetus has no rights , because it is not considered a human in Canadian law. With our background of tolerance for pretty much any cultural practice that does not harm humans, how then can we exclude gender selective abortions. How would anybody even know that the abortion is gender selective? It is nominally an irreconcilable situation. You cannot legislate different rules for uteri depending on the origin of the uterus. The options are to ban all abortions, or do nothing. The first is impossible, the second has a probable outcome that will limit the problem. The outcome stems from the reality that immigrants are- with certainty and at differing rates- assimilated into our social democratic system. In 20 years there will be several thousand more young men than young women in the Indo-Canadian ethnic group. The majority will be heterosexuals, the majority will be seeing mates. That means they will be obliged to seek those mates outside their won community, due to a serious shortfall in eligible women. Where will they find them? Two sources, and the first is the traditional arranged marriage with women they have never met from India. The second is with Canadian women from other ethnicities. I have no doubt that in increasing numbers the second choice, other ethnicities, will easily prevail. These boys are born and raised here, and the influence of a lifetime of being Canadian first and Indian second will win out. And once they marry outside their community, or even inside it, the practice of selective abortion dies a quick death. Of course, the practice will be sustained somewhat by new Indian immigrants, but it is equally true that times are changing in India too.

I know a few people who are CDN citizens but not residents, for tax purposes. It is not hard to do, but you do have to accept being out of country for long periods, like entire winters spend in tropical paradises. They aren't foreign assets if you are not resident.

Maybe one or two good seasons is all that Cecil has in him. He looked to be out of baseball a few years back when he had butterball physique. Like I said many times: the Jays have suspect pitching. Storen has been pretty bad so far too.

No it is guaranteed for the Oilers. Because Toronto. That is likely a good deal for the Leafs on Rielly. I'm not sure why they'd want to commit to Khadri for 6 years. I guess they need some players with NHL experience, and have to reach a minimum cap .

Yes. I am not concerned about the ethnicity of a uterus, and cede control to the owner of the uterus to do with it as she sees fit.

That is a particularly awkward analogy since neither Islam or 'us' existed 1500 years ago.

When you are both willing and eager to run a deficit of any size, there is no need to limit the shopping list to healthcare vs warships.

Our species are pack animals and very tribal. Sport affiliations, nationalism, politics, clubs, families and of course religions are all manifestations of our biological imperative to belong. Herd safety.....