2010 is Going to be Harpers year!

[ToadBrother]

It simply comes down to choices...and there is only one that Canadians

have and that is Harper,with Parliament prorogued until March the silly Afghan detainee nonsense will quietly go away and the economy is getting better day by day......Harper chances as a sitting Majority PM later this year have never been better!!

I just gotta ask. Are you paid to be a cheerleader, or do you happily leave your brains at the door?

[wulf42]

I just gotta ask. Are you paid to be a cheerleader, or do you happily leave your brains at the door?

as opposed instead of being like the leftie taliban cheerleaders that we see on here so often??

Edited January 5, 2010 by wulf42

[Jerry J. Fortin]

as opposed instead of being like the leftie taliban cheerleaders that we see on here so often??

So your idea of a real leader is Harper, and you support him. That is fine

[ToadBrother]

as opposed instead of being like the leftie taliban cheerleaders that we see on here so often??

Haven't seen too many people cheering the Taliban on, but that's a bit of a non sequitur. Surely your political philosophy isn't simply defined by "what the Left isn't". I mean that would be simplistic to the point of stupidity.

Honestly, I have no idea why people latch on to politicians the way you evidently do.

[Alta4ever]

Yup that's what i was thinking. His interest lies in those of his backers: those with money and lots of it. (not an uncommon occurrence)

Whats wrong with people having money and why does the amount they have matter to you?

[wulf42]

Haven't seen too many people cheering the Taliban on, but that's a bit of a non sequitur. Surely your political philosophy isn't simply defined by "what the Left isn't". I mean that would be simplistic to the point of stupidity.

Honestly, I have no idea why people latch on to politicians the way you evidently do.

Well for one big thing Harper is all for beefing up our Military, as a former member that happens to be a very important issue for me.. years of cut backs in the past have hurt our military and its ability to fight in conflicts ie: (we didn t even have desert camo uniforms at the start of the Afghanistan mission).Other issues i consider important is the Tory view on toughing up against crime with longer sentences for violent criminals and scrapping the Young offenders act! Little maggots having been getting away with too much for too long......some of these so called children are 200lb steroid pumped up violent 16 year olds and we should treat them as such and charge them as adults and none of this time served 2 for 1 garbage! And then of course there is the Gun Registry, the left wants to make criminals out of farmers,hunters and target shooters.....utter nonsense. Yeah i support Harper for all the above reasons at least the man has vision to change this country into something better and safer and just maybe give Canada a Military backbone again (by the end of WW2 we had the 4th largest Navy in the world) not today unfortunately!

Edited January 5, 2010 by wulf42

[Michael Hardner]

Well for one big thing Harper is all for beefing up our Military, as a former member that happens to be a very important issue for me.. years of cut backs in the past have hurt our military and its ability to fight in conflicts ie: (we didn t even have desert camo uniforms at the start of the Afghanistan mission).Other issues i consider important is the Tory view on toughing up against crime with longer sentences for violent criminals and scrapping the Young offenders act! Little maggots having been getting away with too much for too long......some of these so called children are 200lb steroid pumped up violent 16 year olds and we should treat them as such and charge them as adults and none of this time served 2 for 1 garbage! And then of course there is the Gun Registry, the left wants to make criminals out of farmers,hunters and target shooters.....utter nonsense. Yeah i support Harper for all the above reasons at least the man has vision to change this country into something better and safer and just maybe give Canada a Military backbone again (by the end of WW2 we had the 4th largest Navy in the world) not today unfortunately!

Your post makes sense, except for the 'safer' part. The fallacy is that toughening up laws will make things safer, but a lot of the time the changes made are done so for political reasons. We used to argue with the Mike Harris types that his 'boot camps' weren't going to end youth crime. Guess what. They didn't.

[ToadBrother]

Your post makes sense, except for the 'safer' part. The fallacy is that toughening up laws will make things safer, but a lot of the time the changes made are done so for political reasons. We used to argue with the Mike Harris types that his 'boot camps' weren't going to end youth crime. Guess what. They didn't.

More to the point, one look at the US system suggests three-strikes-your-out rules, harsher sentences and higher incarceration rates do not in fact lead to reductions in crime.

[Martin Chriton]

More to the point, one look at the US system suggests three-strikes-your-out rules, harsher sentences and higher incarceration rates do not in fact lead to reductions in crime.

I'm curious. While this is a bit of a tangent from the OP what proof do you have that light sentences are better?

Posts like yours normally point to an apples-to-orange comparison of something like Canada vs USA where which are vastly different (e.g.: one example is the amount of illegal immigrants in the US vs Canada but that's one of many fundamental differences).

[Smallc]

Well, most countries (those in Europe) with shorter sentences have even less violent crime.

[Martin Chriton]

Well, most countries (those in Europe) with shorter sentences have even less violent crime.

Ok, if that's the "proof" folks are using then they lets hope they aren't ever put in charge of anything.

[Smallc]

So other than real life, what proof would you like? Locking people up doesn't really solve anything. Fixing the root of crime does.

[bush_cheney2004]

So other than real life, what proof would you like? Locking people up doesn't really solve anything. Fixing the root of crime does.

So all convicts should be released? Do you understand the reason for prison sentences?

[Smallc]

I didn't say anything like that. I said that locking people up doesn't solve anything. It's a band-aid. Putting a band-aid on an infected soar may cover the problem, but it doesn't really fix it.

Edited January 6, 2010 by Smallc

[bush_cheney2004]

I didn't say anything like that. I said that locking people up doesn't solve anything. It's a band-aid. Putting a band-aid on an infected soar may cover the problem, but it doesn't really fix it.

Prison sentences aren't suppose to "fix" anything either. BAND-AID® sales are still quite strong.

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[Smallc]

[blueblood]

I didn't say anything like that. I said that locking people up doesn't solve anything. It's a band-aid. Putting a band-aid on an infected soar may cover the problem, but it doesn't really fix it.

Locking up people solves the problem of that person not being able to do more harm to society. The only thing that can fix that person is the person himself. If they think jail sucks really bad, then chances are they will be persuaded into not doing crime anymore. However there is a problem that jail doesn't suck in Canada (free workouts, satellite TV, a community to belong to...)

However the revolving door justice system fails too in that there are more violent crimes and the repeat offender problem. The offender is not buying into the fact that he needs to change. The Canadian system is like forcing someone to go into drug rehab when the drug addict doesn't think they have a problem (which leads to rehab being a waste of time).

[Martin Chriton]

So other than real life, what proof would you like? Locking people up doesn't really solve anything. Fixing the root of crime does.

If you re-read my comment, I didn't actually say either approach was better What I did I say was a direct comparison between US and Canada and US and Europe are invalid and shows ignorance.

One thing I will say is those arguing for a tougher deterrent in the US are often those that are those pushing for stronger protection on the southern boarder (root cause for some crimes). However, there is obviously more differences then just illegal immigration.

IMHO you need both a strong deterrent and you also need to address the root cause.

Anyways, some of the differences become more obvious once you have lived in both Countries. I lived in Canada during my younger years and have since relocated to Calif where I've spent the last 5 years. I've also spent considerable time in Europe.

[Smallc]

IMHO you need both a strong deterrent and you also need to address the root cause.

I couldn't agree more. We do a bit of both now, but we have to do better at both. We have to lock up the right people and fix the problems that cause crime so we can lock up fewer people later and save money.

[William Ashley]

.... we didn t even have desert camo uniforms at the start of the Afghanistan mission ...

How many deserts are there in Canada? Also isn't afghanistan mountainous?

toughing up against crime

what is the result of that?

scrapping the Young offenders act!

Why was it made, and when did youth justice originate?

Gun Registry

are farmers,hunters and target shooters so poor or stupid they can't afford to register their gun? How are they paying for bullets? If they don't have enough to register? I think the real problem here is management of the registration - gun store owners should send lists of buyers to the solicitor generals office and leave it at that. Meanwhile police, commissioners, csis etc.. should investigate to insure the guns are purchased and recorded lawfully. Every gun bought and sold should be accounted for. Law abiding citizens shouldn't care if the secret police are keeping tabs on them. While I do think that gun laws are counter productive to freedom, I don't think a registry is bad if you are already setting guidelines on who can buy them. If I can't own one, I don't want someone I don't like to own one.

give Canada a Military backbone again (by the end of WW2 we had the 4th largest Navy in the world) not today unfortunately!

What is the need, why not just build some nuclear weapons and delivery systems, seems more to the point. Sadly many Canadians arn't interested in being carear soilders anymore. Although I think that there are lots of joint use, I think that the military could be developed doing it mindful of tax dollars (1000 soilders cost 150 million dollars) they need to generate income or insure some better provision for how much they are costing tax dollars - that is each tax paer is paying around $75 for every soilder or about 7.5 cents per soilder, that's not counting heavy equipment.

How much do you want to pay out of pocket for the military $1000's, that there is

what 13333 soilders? how about $3000's of tax dollars that there is 40,000? your 100,000 is what $8000 out of pocket of every Canadian tax payer? How many soilders do you want? Many people don't even earn more than 20,000$ a year, do we really need an army of people to kill muslims half way around the world, while we can barely afford to feed ourselves?

The real answer to a larger Canadian military is reviving the militia and making it voluntary, and making weapons available for purchase by the militia for use in training, that is they fund their own training, and supply thier own equipment. Not only would this keep the gun nuts happy but it would insure oversight and listing of the real gun nuts out there, and give them a cause, while defending the public, and implementing a larger emergency response after the professional reserve. Perhaps even given former full and reservists a place they can go, and potentially a point the members legion could congregate and develope their own training, with support from the DND. Mindful any citizen or permanent resident could join, and take part in training exercises with oversight eg. approval for training operations, providing grounds on closed military bases, or providing other forms of oversight support or training and lessons from members of the forces who volunteer their own time in the militia - "old" equipment could be liquidated to them etc... or surpluses sold to them. No health requirements etc.. free to join, pay your own way.

Edited January 6, 2010 by William Ashley

[Guest TrueMetis]

How many deserts are there in Canada? Also isn't afghanistan mountainous?

1, it is in BC a mountainous area.

[wulf42]

I didn't say anything like that. I said that locking people up doesn't solve anything.

Sure it does!! it keeps them off the street so they can t reoffend and hurt someone else........it's not rocket science.

[wulf42]

How many deserts are there in Canada? Also isn't afghanistan mountainous?

Canada belongs to Nato meaning we could be deployed anywhere in the world, yes including the desert like we are now right? Afghanistan is mountainous /desert terrain you must have see news clips on tv??

[wulf42]

are farmers,hunters and target shooters so poor or stupid they can't afford to register their gun? How are they paying for bullets?

I really don t even know what to say to that comment, it doesn't even make sense the point is they shouldn t have to register it doesn't change a thing......gang bangers still carry their Tech-9's and Baretta's and are not to concerned about registering.

Edited January 6, 2010 by wulf42

[Smallc]

Sure it does!! it keeps them off the street so they can t reoffend and hurt someone else

It removes the problem from society, but it doesn't solve the problem.