Bush may have had it right...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbarry\";p=\"70483)</div>

Yup, wars solve a lot of problems. We are the rebel alliance, seeking the overthrow of the evil empire and its emperor (whether its Hitler, King George III, Saddam, Assad, who was that thug in Hati?)

 

Jesus said to love your brother as yourself... he didn't say to love only certain brothers.

He also said that when slapped, offer the other cheek.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Robert Taylor\";p=\"70473)</div>

I did not say he was a US President. I said he was an American President. Jeff was the President of the CSA. Do you know what that A stands for?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxygene\";p=\"70453)</div>

I never once in my post said 262K jobs were not good. I called them "meager". But thanks to the corporate owned media, that wants Bush to continue in his quest to dismantle the entire 20th century, this job growth gets spun as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Rich Americans will thrive in "Bush world", like they did in the 19th century, but regular Americans and by that I mean the rest of us, will pay dearly over the next 20 years.

 

ok, first, of course it's good to add jobs... that's always a good sign... however, with all the jobs that have been lost under this administration, they'd several more months of growth like that just to not have a record as bad as herbert hoover.... they'd need years of months like that to even come close to touching the 1990s..... but hey... it's easy to put good spin on any kind of job growth at this time...

now for the implication that war has solved things.... yes there have been a few good things come out of war, but the examples cited are a bit on the inaccurate side.

for one, the United states of America was created by the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, before the war was over...

war ending slavery is arguable at best... technically, yeah, but jim crow laws sprouted up in all over the south in reaction to the emancipation proclamation, so really conditions were not much better for former slaves... plus there were other undercurrents at play during the civil war, economics being one...

um, nazis are still around and actually growing in popularity in some areas, so war didn't really end that...

i take it by mentioning genocide, the jewish holocaust is what is being referred to.... yes, that was something good that came out wwii, however, the reasons for the war dealt more with power and territory, and the u.s. got involved in europe for largely economic reasons... (japan was a different story)

but genocide still exists, most notably today in darfur, sudan and in the recent past in rwanda, and good call for whomever brought up the point about the indians of america, which we effectively displaced, and took there land, and managed to massacre in large numbers those we didn't managed to kill with our strange european diseases accidentally... we've been terrible and tyrannical to the indians of america, ever since columbus first set foot in the americas...

baathism? oh it still exists.... baathism is a political party comprised mostly of sunni muslims, and while the iraqi baathist party has been (at least temporarily) quieted, the baathist party is still alive and well around the middle east...

and i'm guessing that by fascism ending, mussolini's fascist regime was ko'd by wwii is what was meant... but fascism is still around... albeit most forms of fascism don't tend to associate themselves with the word 'fascism' seeing that it's a very negatively loaded word...

for my 2 cents, i sincerely hope this is the last c-student president we ever have.... knowledge is power, ignorance is bliss... no joke that... and anyway, i prefer to put my faith in leaders that base their policies on reality and not ones who attempt to mold reality to fit their policy ideas... :wink:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxygene\";p=\"69816)</div>

There was an anti-American Pro Syria demonstration in Beirut today. 500,000 people demonstrated in FAVOR of the status quo in Lebanon.

According to my friend at work who was born there, Syria and Lebanon have been in negotiations for over 5 years to set up Democratic elections and withdraw the Syrian troops. Also according to my friend, the numbers demonstrating may be closer to 1 million people. ALL PRO SYRIAN, ANTI AMERICAN.

I did some internet surfing today and found very little information about this massive pro Syrian demonstration. And when I did find it, it was always in small print.

Yet the anti Syrian demonstrations that Bush is using to suggest that "Freedom is on the March" always got major coverage. And those anti Syrian demonstrations amounted to about 6000 people. Could that be because it didn't fit with the White House's talking points?

Again, our US media is corporate owned and they have and will spend billions to put the elite back in total control of the USA, and make the rest of us peasants again. And the duping continues.

Someone on PriusChat loves Canadafreepress.com. From the looks of that site, the duping is in Canada too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DanP\";p=\"70465)</div>

Really? Hmm. To you perhaps not.

It is true that totalitarian societes held regular elections. The monumental difference is/was that there is/was only one name/party on the ballot.

Seems that to some such difference is so subtle that it is virtually negligible.

To others, it is a difference worth dying for. Go figure.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(newk\";p=\"70671)</div>

The moment I heard this on PBS this morning I knew this will make quite few folks very happy. ANTI-AMERICAN = GREAT!

 

All those against free speech please exit right... far right.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius04\";p=\"70684)</div>

Oh, so you think Prime Minister Paul Martin, elected by the slimmest of minorities, is a wonderful man, do you?

I suppose you think the $20 billion taxpayer dollars given to EDC (Export Development Corporation, a Crown Corporation) each year to effectively help foreign countries compete against Canadian workers is ok?

I suppose the Chinese takeover of the Athabasca Tar Sands is fiction? How about the broken health care system?

And despite the fact that nobody can really find this "surplus" in the budget, the Liberal Government keeps loudly boasting about being the only country with a huge budget surplus. How much spent on health care? Beats me. How much on our crappy roads? Beats me.

There have been recent newspaper editorials heating up the "brain drain" issue again. In case you didn't know it, a lot of educated professionals and college graduates here in Canada are packing up and moving to the United States for better opportunities.

A recent Winnipeg Free Press editorial mentioned the "chronic inability of the Liberal government to create any high paying technical and skilled jobs." The doctor shortage here is real, as a lot of fresh MD's like the idea of working in the United States. So is the "shortage" of programmers, engineers, the list goes on.

The reason publications such as The Western Standard and The Canada Free Press are growing in popularity in Western Canada - even in Ontario (Horror!) - is that folks here are sick and tired of the constant media manipulation especially from the Crown Corporation CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corporation). All the news the Liberal Party Of Canada sees fit to print.

Here is something you may not know: A Liberal MP from Mississauga, Carolyn Parrish, made the following comment to camera crews on Feb 26, 2003: ""Damn Americans--I hate those bastards."

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2003/weinreb031003.htm

I don't recall an American congressman, senator, or President *ever* talking about Canada that way. Though after that, I wouldn't blame them one bit for substituting "Canadians" for "Americans" and using the same quote. Her "apology" was featured on a CBC "comedy" show where she then stomped on a doll that looked like Dubya.

She was *not* fired for that. She *was* fired for not listening to her new boss, Prime Minister Paul "I don't pay a nickle of income tax" Martin.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/weinreb010705.htm

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/20...rish041118.html

If you don't like Canada Free Press, try The Underground Royal Commission:

http://www.theurc.com

Sorry I disappoint you by not being a "typical" Canadian. I suppose I had better start watching the CBC, call Americans "bastards," and perhaps figure out how to dip into the honey pot at one of Paul Martin's holding companies.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman\";p=\"70756)</div>

Oh, so you think Prime Minister Paul Martin, elected by the slimmest of minorities, is a wonderful man, do you?

I suppose you think the $20 billion taxpayer dollars given to EDC (Export Development Corporation, a Crown Corporation) each year to effectively help foreign countries compete against Canadian workers is ok?

I suppose the Chinese takeover of the Athabasca Tar Sands is fiction? How about the broken health care system?
[/b][/quote]Everything you say that is wrong about Martin could be true, but that still does not mean that Canadafreepress cares one iota about the interests of regular Canadians.

IMHO, any so called media outlet that gives a wacko like Ann Coulter a prominent place in their enterprise is part of the duping of the people so the corporations can totally retake control. They want it back like it was in the 19th century and with GW Bush, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Now they are working on the Canadians.

And liberals certainly do pass bad laws. But when liberals pass laws that hurt "regular" people, they do it by mistake. When conservatives do it, they do it by design.

 

Well, that sucks. I always thought that Canada was culturally superior to the US--- more progressive, less oppressive, etc. Your health care system may be broken, but hey, at least you HAVE one.

Perhaps I'll move to one of the Scandanavian nations in my dotage...

 

Actually, The Economist Magazine did a study of the best place to live in the world. US Magazines do this all the time by setting up a bunch of criteria that can be measured in an objective way, and then finding out what city scores the best.

They use things like freedom, crime rate, lifespan, access to health care, access to cultural things like museums, clean air, literacy rates and college grad rates and un-employment rates, mean incomes ...you get the idea.

The top place to live? Ireland. Ireland was followed by Switzerland, Norway and Luxembourg. All but one of the top 10 were European countries and that non European one was Iceland. The continent's major industrial powers of France, Germany and Britain finished 25th, 26th and 29th respectively. The USA was 13th.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius04\";p=\"70781)</div>

Well, since you suddenly appear to know more about Canada than Canadians, let me clue you in on something.

From the time that Paul Martin was Finance Minister, in the early 90's, the transfer payments to every Province for health care went from 50% to under 15%. He slashed tens of billions of dollars from health care funding. The remainder is now made up by deficit spending in every Province.

And while Paul Martin was Finance Minister the net income to average Canadians remained flat. There has been *no* income growth in Canada in over 10 years.

And while Paul Martin was Finance Minister he dreamed up this mysterious budget "surplus" by fiddling numbers around in EI (Employment Insurance), though nobody has been able to verify this. See, there is no legal requirement for full disclosure up here.

If you bothered to look around at The Underground Royal Commission, you will also have learned (All verified BTW) that the tens of billions of dollars shovelled into regional "economic development corporations" cannot be audited or traced. Nobody can say with any certainty exactly how "economic development" occurred because there hasn't been any.

You will also learn that over one billion dollars for "Human Resources Development" mysteriously vanished. Hmm, where did it go? This money was supposed to be used to retrain industrial workers who lost their jobs in the 90's. Well, they're still getting Unemployment Insurance and still wondering why the h*** they haven't been "retrained."

How about the $2 billion "National Firearms Registry" that was only supposed to cost $10 million? It *still* doesn't work. It certainly didn't prevent the recent shooting deaths of 4 RCMP officers in Alberta by a known kook. This guy had a lifetime prohibition from owning firearms. How did he get hold of firearms? Gun control my a**!

The widows and parents of the slain officers are pointing fingers - directly at Paul Martin's government. Especially this bulls*** over "legalizing" marijuana.

Guess how the Liberal Government under Paul Martin as Finance Minister magically "eliminated" the budget deficits? They did "arm's length" paper transactions into "Crown Corporations" which are *not* counted under GDP, GNP, or regular government budgets.

These "Crown Corporations" received transfers of hundreds of billions to hide the debt. See, a "Crown Corporation" is fully exempt from Access To Information rules (Like FOIA in the United States), and this is something the Auditor General Of Canada has constantly complained about. If she isn't careful, the Liberal Government may soon eliminate the office of Auditor General:

http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca

http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/other.nsf/...410agobs_e.html

http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports.ns...Document#chhd3a

We saw the growth of political parties like The Reform Party (Later the Canadian Alliance, recently absorbed by the Progressive Conservative Party) as direct opposition to the Liberal Party bulls*** of sucking up the resources of the entire country to put into the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal. Especially in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, folks are so sick and tired of it they could scream.

But we have no voice. See, there *is* no truly representative vote here. Indeed, the Liberal Party rearranged Voting Regions before the last election to ensure an even greater disparity between huge urban areas like Toronto and the rural areas.

Our Senate isn't elected, it's appointed by the ruling government. It's a lifetime appointment too, which further serves to entrench the powers of the ruling government.

This is also why we see counterpoints to the Liberal-controlled CBC and Liberal-friendly CTV/Bell Canada in publications like The Western Standard and Canada Free Press.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius04\";p=\"70781)</div>

Oh, give me a break! Are you serious?? The Liberal Party "means well but makes mistakes" but the Progressive Conservatives are all Evil henchmen with an ulterior motive??

Ok so now you feel the Liberal Party of Canada did all that bulls*** by *mistake*? I guess I have to clue you in on something else: under the Liberal Party, corporations here in Canada have benefited greatly from relaxed consumer protection laws, increased secrecy, increased government handouts (I think I mentioned the $20 billion per year Export Development Corporation), and increased misinformation from the CBC and Liberal-friendly media like CTV/Bell Canada.

Corporations in Canada *love* the Liberal Party, as they can get away with *way* more than they used to. Have an unsafe product or unreliable product in your house? TFB! Live with it!

At least under Brian Mulroney - admittedly not the brightest PM we ever had - U.S/Canadian relations were exceptionally sound and we both benefited. Look at all the auto worker jobs created in Ontario.

Under The Liberal Party Of Canada, relations between our two countries are at about their lowest point. Relatively minor trade disputes (Softwood lumber, beef, etc) have been blown all out of proportion thanks to PM "Mr. Dithers" (The Economist calls him that, it fits too) pis**** on Americans with one sentence, then whining about why we suddenly have these trade disputes.

If Dubya had half a brain, he *should* start accepting phone calls from Dithers. He could answer the phone, make a loud reply that rhymes with "Duck Shoe," and slam the receiver down hard enough to blow out Dither's ear.

I find it somewhat Ironic that "liberal" Americans blindly trust the Liberal Party Of Canada, despite a former Liberal MP referring to Americans as "bastards." I suppose self-loathing Americans welcome that "refreshing" name calling?

Or would you have been a bit more concerned if MP Carolyn Parrish had specifically referred to Former President Bill Clinton as a Bastard? Sorry to burst your bubble, but she was referring to *all* Americans as Bastards, with the full support of the Liberal Party Of Canada.

It was only when she went off the deep end and began to attack her leader Martin that she had to go. Even the Party Whip couldn't shut her mouth, she was totally out of control. I guess a little bit of power and media attention really went to her head.

But it was ok at long as she was spouting garbage about our closest ally (At least they used to be) and largest trading partner (Wonder how long that will last?).

You have to understand why the Liberal Party allowed, even encouraged, this American bashing. It's a wonderful way to get the average Canadian all fired up, and more importantly to take their minds off *real* Canadian issues: lack of income growth, failing health care, absurd taxes, failing infrastructure, neverending Liberal government scandals, etc etc.

I bet if Dubya were to comment on a State Of The Union by referring to us as "those Canadian Bastards" the entire world would have a tizzy fit. And the average Canadian would rise up in arms ... no wait a minute, due to "gun control" they couldn't.

So I find it very interesting that an American citizen is defending indeed embracing Prime Minister Paul "Mr. Dithers" Martin, while most Canadians outside of the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal would love to see him booted out.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(snarfo\";p=\"70788)</div>

Canada is a nice country with mostly nice people. It's just being sucked dry and run into the ground by a bunch of amoral crackpots (Liberal Party Of Canada).

Oh, we *have* a health care system? Where?? I must have misplaced it ...

Folks around here have to wait over a month now for a "routine" non-emergency x-ray.

Both of my parents receive Social Security with the Medicare deductions. Anything serious, I drive them to the Twin Cities or Rochester. Canadians with money don't f*** around but head South for health care.

The "free" health care covers less and less as time goes on. I'm currently paying $115 a month for supplemental coverage to cover things that used to be "free." Nothing is "free" they get it out of your pocketbook one way or another.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius04\";p=\"70796)</div>

The Canadian Liberal Party government was royally pis*** off at their ranking, somehow expecting a Numero Uno like the UN used to give them.

The average Canadian responded with a comment that rhymes with "Duck Shoe" and wondered why the h*** the health care lines were longer again.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman\";p=\"70855)</div>

Actually, I think my post made it quite clear that I did not know that much about Canadian politics. But after reading canadafreepress a little, I feel I know a good deal about them.

Martin could be the devil incarnate but that would have zero to do with what canadafreepress is.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jayman\";p=\"70855)</div>

Never once have I called conservatives evil. Indeed, I think most of them care very much about their respective countries, though I do think some care more about their respective profits than their countries. Personally, I think GW Bush is very religious and very patriotic. But I also think he has the "plantation owner" mentality. By that I mean I think he believes that the backbone of the country is within it's elite and or ruling class. Such as the CEO's and the "captains of industry". And to him, he sees the rest of us as the hired help.

That's why he can do so much to further the aims and wishes of that ruling elite and he can do it with a good conscience. Indeed, governments through all of history have been organized around the needs of the rich and powerful so Bush is only doing what has always been done.

However, in the 20th century, at least in the USA and Canada, for the first time in world history governments started to care more about the needs of the masses and not the needs of the rich and powerful. Through progressive taxation, ever more regulation to limit the rich and powerful, and government programs to help the masses, "regular" people got empowered by that change like they never did in history.

Personally, I think all that regulation and progressive taxation worked. In the 20th century the USA saw a bigger growth in country wide prosperity and progress than the world had ever seen, and more quickly than had ever before happened in world history. But we weren't finished. There was still disparity in both our countries so we still had a way to go.

But no, that would not happen. All that progressive taxation and regulation burderned the rich and powerful. So they started back in the 1960's setting up think tanks and taking over the US media and setting up news outlets like canadafreepress and fox news all in a concerted and quite successful effort to dupe the American, and maybe the Canadian people, to vote in members of congress and a President who will take the USA back to the 19th century.

Yes, liberals have made tons of mistakes and some of them may even be "evil", but liberals focus on the needs of the common man and part of that focus requires some restrictions on the rich and powerful.

And as far as I'm concerned, focusing on the needs of the masses worked. The 20th century in the USA proved it.

So conservatives are not evil, they are just wrong. (Except for Ann Coulter, she is evil.)

As the USA returns to focusing on the rich and powerful to the detriment of the "common man", we will return to 19th century progress rates. But what I forsee is that over the next 10-20 years, as the EU grows and maintains a mainly "liberal" focus, the EU will blow right past the USA. And if not the EU then India, and if not India, China. God help us all if China truly sets its' people free in a 20th century USA kind of way. We'll all need to speak Chinese by 2095.

And by the time "regular" Americans (and Canadians) realize how much they have been duped by corporate media like fox news, it will be too late.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius04\";p=\"70910)</div>

Well, I suppose the Crown Corporation CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), the Liberal Government-friendly CTV (Owned by the giant legal Canadian telecomm monopoly Bell Canada), and the Toronto Globe And Mail (Also owned by the giant legal Canadian telecomm monopoly Bell Canada) are more to your liking?

You seem almost worried that Canada Free Press and The Western Standard are exposing such things as the Chinese takeover of the Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, ironically funded with Canadian taxpayer dollars.

The above-mentioned Liberal Friendly publications had to belatedly mumble something about that, then they quickly dropped it. I suppose as long as Toronto and Montreal benefit, to h*** with the rest of Canada.

I suppose you're also bothered that Canadians, especially in the Prairie provinces, are showing a bit more backbone when it comes to how their Federal Government carries on? Not all of us are bleating Socialist sheep.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius04\";p=\"70930)</div>

Once again you've confused the American definition of "liberal" with the Liberal Party Of Canada. I suppose that is a common mistake, but you had better do a bit more research.

By your definition of what a "liberal" is, the closest thing we have up here is the NDP party. The one thing I will grant them, is when they went against the BMD, they did so in a *very* polite and factual manner.

You didn't have a political grandstander like former Mississauga Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish calling every American a Bastard. That actually backfired on the Liberal Party, as especially a lot of cattle farmers out here cringed about the implication on beef sales to the United States.

Whether it was a kook like Trudeau, a nasty person like Chretien, and now a billionaire shipping tycoon like Martin, the Liberal Party has nothing to gloat about. Quite the opposite, they drove a stake between Ontario and the Western provinces that has somehow become more bitter as time goes on.

I will agree with you that the 21st century will belong to the Chinese. They have hit that "secret recipe" of absolute control over their people with just enough "freedom" to turn them into consumers. The implications should frighten you, as their energy needs will absolutely skyrocket.

I don't agree the 21st century will belong to the EU, or even that they will surpass us. When you factor their unemployment, debt burden, and flat to negative population growth, the implications are troublesome.

I like Europeans and have many friends in the UK, Switzerland, and Sweden. They worry about these issues and so do I.

In the long run, the "Walmart Effect" is going to dramatically flatten our income curves. So we had better start taking classes on Mandarin Chinese.