"JetsGo, JetsGone."

That's old news. The Winnipeg Jets hockey team have been gone for years! Ha, ha!

Mark's views are definitely anti-Martin. More comments on the idiocies of Stephen Harper please?

I thought Hunter was killed by White House spooks because he was working on a child sex slavery wheel the White House was one spoke of.

And who would have thought Ernst Zundel would get more press than Michael Jackson once it was proven once and for all Jackson is simply too friendly?

Belinda, Belinda, Belinda.
What a reminder of that old whore I remember.
She sleeps anywhere that has a cot.
Obviously money can't help you from being homeless.
Fits right in with the Lieberals.

witty, sardonic summation of the utter ridiculousness that passes for meaningful news

well-done

Ron, you continue to belittle others to build yourself up. It's getting real old. Here's some old sayings you might have heard in the past, saying that speak for themselves, largely uncontested.

"The way we treat ourselves is largely known by how we treat others."

"Treat others as you would treat yourself"

Both sayings are quite interesting. The first saying says we treat ourselves the same way as we treat others, regardless of how conscious we are of it. The second saying says, "be conscious of it." (All this stuff is probably over your head, Ron, but, someones got to try.)

So, the question should be asked... do you treat yourself the same way as you treat others? You know, just run down people you've never met (and ignorantly, I might add) because they didn't vote your way...

When you piece it together, Ron, you are either a whore or a hypocrite, just another dork with double standards. (and don't give me that "we're both fools who know nothing", blah blah blah crap, save the we stuff and speak for yourself, cause that too, is getting old.)

In noting the party that you loudly support with such stupid retorts of which you and your fearless leader continue to become more and more alike, I'll be my usual, self loving, honest self. Belinda's no whore. She just woke up one morning realizing she was lying next to one and did something about it.

Not only that The Brain, but ron continues to reveal himself as an equal opportunity bigot. To the list that includes homosexuals, people of Arab descent, and First Nations, we can also add women. Keep promoting the conservatives Ron, it is of my opinion that the more you speak, the more people will turn away from that party.

rotlin:

There's also a vid clip of Jon Stewart's appearance on that twerp Tucker Carlson's (he's since left, or was pushed)CNN show I found on the net somewhere.

I was a bit disappointed in Stewart in that appearance, although he was successful pushing Carlson to reveal what a "dick" (as Stewart called him) Carlson is!

Stewart would have been more effective if he'd
dropped the slightly tiresome holier than thou straight man for more of his biting humour and cutting irony.
George Carlin would have done a much more effective job!

Belinda , our slut hero meets Tucker.
He says that he wants to f... her.
She first acts coy.
Not sure of this boy.
But soon hops in bed with this mucker.

I should have got credit for my " money can't help you from being homeless " quote. It's another original.

Hey the brain, whats really sad is this ron irwin guy calls himself a christian, not very christlike in my opinion in fact the more christians I meet in person and the more I read their crap on boards like this the disgusted I become with these slef serving opportunist!

Keep up the good work ronnie you are making people not only sick of right wing christians but angry at them, this is good maybe more people will start calling for the removal of tax free status from politically active churches putting forth the american style politics of the extreme right!

There once was a creep named Harper.
Who hated the Canadian Charter.
Notwithstanding, No Way!
He doesn't quite say
How he'll put that gay marraige to slaughter.

Hey Ronnie... How do you know for sure Goodale's a crook? Perhaps the Torys bugged his office and then passed out the information. They seem to know a lot about how everything went down, for some reason. You gave Gordo the benfit of the doubt, another Liberal, regarding his drinking and driving. Why the double standard?

Ron calls himself a Christian?

Let's see how far he gets reading into this site:
http://www.evilbible.com/Murder.htm

Eddy, I never called Goodale a crook. And a Federal Liberal is a liberal. A Provincial Liberal is somewhat conservative.
The Liberal Party of Canada is organized crime completely.

With Rons case, its kind of sick really. I'm certain he's clings to this disconnected belief, "I said so, so it must be true!" 99% of the time, the accusor is the guilty one. It's just the way it is.
All of Ronnies whore talk is a real nice projection. Maybe he'll start paying for it (if he isn't already), maybe get some freebee kicks by disciplining young boys due to his "moral authority". Maybe he'll get violent. He'll likely be proud of his behavior right to the end until one day, it all emplodes.
In the end, Rotten Ronnie will blame everyone else except himself or try running everyone else down to his own lower levels until it begins... until it all gets too old. And Ronnie gets old... and nobody likes a dirty old man. We all know the rest. Ronnie gets beat up or thrown in jail or both, and gets to smear Christ through his own sterling "Christian" example of moral behavior. What a loser. It makes me think I need a life when I take 5 minutes of my life to comment on this dipshit flake.

commentor: Ron Erwinposted: 7 Hours AgoBelinda , our slut hero meets Tucker.
He says that he wants to f... her.
She first acts coy.
Not sure of this boy.
But soon hops in bed with this mucker.
I should have got credit for my " money can't help you from being homeless " quote. It's another original.
--------------------------
I've read some real stupid stuff on this site, but this is right up there with the worst.

I'm no Liberal and by God I find it offensive to try to malign a woman who happens to have crossed the floor from the Conservative side to the Liberal group. If you don't like what she has done in politics, gives no reason to insult her and call her names.

If the majority of folks, who vote in her riding arn't pleased with her, they would remove her. I sort of think she will win. Calling her nasty names must hurt her somewhat, no matter how hard she works to ignore such insults, but shows us all that some folks simply prove again they are sort of stupid.

Let us remember the time the Conservatives showed a distorted picture of Cretien( every one knew he had a physical condition that affected his face) and asked. Do you want this man to represent you. Some one had the smarts to get it off the air rather quickly, and say we are sorry.

By Gosh folks voted for him in big numbers. So keep the crude comments in your little mind. You gain no points by using them.

The only point I'll give Ron is that he's right about the difference between the federal Libs and the BC Libs. I used to vote for the provincial Liberals back when they had no chance and were truly a 'liberal' party. Gordo took over and they became the defacto Socred party, a very conservative one. I resent that they use the 'Liberal' name.

To the editor and/or Mark:

Thankyou for removing Ron Erwin's barbaric and tasteless post. As much as we all appreciate freedom of speech, a certain level of conduct must be respected. It is, in fact, entirely about respect and while it is unfortunate that certain posts need to be censored, I'm glad that the editors and writers of this site are well aware of this fact.

We have one last day to reflect on this years progress/regress. While some posted articles on the Tyee have been opinionated and biased, with little proof offered to back up certain arguements, other articles have been well researched and fact based, sometimes, even, by the same formerly opinionated authors.

The Tyee post comments give writers the necessary feedback required to mature in their craft, as well as their own humanity. It is likewise, with those who also post comments on the tyee. The formats we are using now, are becoming more and more utilized in school systems today, with student online interaction and web information as a necessary component to advanced learning. Our universities are beginning to take certain courses (particularly in education training and phycology) to the same levels that the Tyee has already established in developing journalism.

Although we might often forget, interaction, be it positive or negative, forces everyone involved to dig deeper until someone comes out with the needed facts, presented in their proper sequence. The rants and differing levels of commentary by participants that comment on all articles, as well as other commentary, challenge a good journalist into becoming great, by forcing them to shore up their own intel with all bases thoroughly covered.

Journalists are just as much, if not more so, researchers as they are writers. We have certain obligations, as well as responsibilities to what we report as being accurate. Potential is obviously a prerequisite to being an excellent journalist. So is experience. We are all a work in progress, individually and collectively and so, as much as certain posts need to be removed... we also need to understand the importance of giving participants a second chance.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while we shouldn't condone certain posts (or even articles) that have been put up by commentators and writers this year... (and I'm thankful when they are appropriately addressed) these same negative responses have a certain way of flushing out the truth.

It is with truth that journalists, researchers, or simple fans alike, quicken the maturity of their own lives and crafts. This truth regarding the power of truth will not change. Nor will the truth change regarding the good wills it takes to evolve on all levels of life, be it professional, or otherwise. Hope, faith, and love flourish in the fertile grounds of good will. I cannot think of a better New Years Resolution, than to make a committment to good will itself on all levels and in the year to follow, so that our future will be better than our past.

To management, staff and all of its participants, a Happy New Year to you all.

Brain, I don't know how you managed to have enough influence with the Tyee's masters to have a post removed that was online for hours.
Nor do I know how a simple put down of Beleinda Stronach, a slut in politics, should garner such a momentous response.
But all I can say to you is FU gently and I think you are the biggest bag of wind I ever read.
And who's Mark and what's hapening ?
Belinda met a man named Tucker
Who said he wanted to f... her.
Not knowing this boy
She did play coy
But got in bed with this mucker.
That, as far as I can remember is what I posted.
If this gets censored because The Brain ( drain ) complains, then I will go away if that's what The Tyee wants.
But I am sure some kind of mistake has been made by Mark ??? or someone.
Afterall my other lymiric, which is equally sarcastic is still posted above.
To think that brainless has been up all night with the sole purpose of censoring a simple comment is revealing.
Why don't you join the CRTC you stupid , long winded loser ?

hey ronnie do you really think you can afford to insult a billionaire like this, your friends in the conservative party would dump you like a hot potato if this ended up in the courts.

The folks at the Tyee know you crossed the line and that your attacks are cowardly and nasty, not to mention the fact that they probably saved you some major legal fees! So much for christian etiquette and morals eh!

While on the topic of sl_ts in politics you seem to have forgotten the history of sellouts your party of choice has, are they not sl_ts to a foreign government willing to make trade deals that threaten our soveriegnty? It is my opinion they have do and will!

The federal liberals campaign to the left and govern to the right making the same deals as mulroney, they critisized N.A.F.T.A., said they would get rid of it and two weeks after gaining power they signed it! Nice, say one thing to get elected and do another when in power, come election time and they do it again, it is no wonder people have no respect for politicians, the media are no better!

It is also my opinion that harper is stooping pretty low grabbing photo ops with veterans in legions when he could be annoying legion members who are not supporters of harper at a time when they need young people to get involved! I for one will not be signing up for 06 if this nonsense continues!

It was mulroney that first screwed with my fathers veterans benefits and martin continued it, I remember when mulroney got into power corporations were paying 41% of taxes in Canada, when he left they were only paying 14%, can we really afford to keep giving these corporate welfare cases more, lets not forget martin gave them a 4.7 Billion dollar break on top of all that his first month in power!

Thanks for the link Bobb999, very interesting!

Better men than Erwin have been banned from the Tyee for repeated postings deemed inappropriate.

By insisting on re-posting his scurrilous tripe after Tyee webmasters have previously removed is begging to be banned!

He deserves to be banned, for abusing the privilege we are all granted in being invited to read fine articles and to post comments here.

Some people apparently forget that the Tyee is
not a public facility (or a public toilet) to be used and abused at a whim.
It's a privately owned and operated site that
very generously offers the services it does, free to the public.

Those who take the site for granted and abuse their privileges deserve to be banned!

we do need the odd right wingnut on here so we can rationaly dispute their views but this ronny erwin guy is just nasty, he calls himself a christian and yet he is cowardly in his attacks on people he does not agree with!

I for one would not miss him or his diatribe of mostly useless rhetoric! There is little if any fun in debating with such a neo-con!

ursus:

Your point about Libs governing from the right
suggests to me that it's desirable that Layton's NDP holds a balance of power post election, assuming we get another Lib minority.
That should keep Martin's gang from straying too far into Mulroney's or Harper's territory.

I'm glad you appreciated that "Evil Bible" site!
Someone posted it on a Yahoo discussion board yesterday which is where I first saw it.
Regardless of ones views on religion, people could benefit from awareness of what the Judeo-Christian tradition comprises, warts and all.

ursus:

I hadn't read your post about Erwin when I wrote my prior post.

The thing about Erwin now is not his politics but rather that he's refusing to accept that the Tyee has the right to set standards for conduct here. If people are allowed to post defamatory statements about others, the site potentially even risks being sued by anyone so defamed or libelled! This is potentially even more likely when the defamed person happens to be a billionaire, not a pauper!

I'm aware of only a few cases, over the past year or so, of the Tyee removing posts or banning privilege abusers, which is to say they are pretty darn tolerant here.

Erwin is showing contempt for the Tyee and its staff, refusing to abide by Tyee standards. He deserves to be escorted off the premises, so to speak, and banned henceforth, in my view.

Check again Ron. Gordo is no Conservative. His Cabinet is predominately filled with high ranking Liberals like Carole Taylor. Why would he surround himself with Liberals if he was a Tory?

it really is an eye opener, never realized how violent and evil these people were and in some respects the followers still are violent and evil, willing to do whatever it takes to force their ways on others. Strange that people would except such violent teachings from their religous leaders and orders from those who claim to have the ear of god to go out and murder people, rape and pillage. Sa

I would like to see Layton with more seats then he has now and it really doesn't matter who is in the PMO's office as they are all the same in my opinion, my only concern is that either martin or harper have a majority, I like it when they have to work for their money and can't sell us off to their corporate masters, many of them foreign owned!

Good points about thetyee Bobb999, and haskel, there is no difference between a liberal and a conservative in my opinion one just campaigns to the left to get votes then acts like a slightly restrained conservative.

Everything mulroney set out to do was accomplished by the liberals, for example again N.A.F.T.A.! Haskel do you consider falcon or coleman to be liberals, I would say most of the real liberals have left gordo with the exception of ferril collins.

It is conservative policy to privatize and throw people out on the streets and yet both gordo and martin are doing this while giving republican style tax breaks to the rich and corporate friends who hardly need handouts! Liberals?

emmerson came from the corporate world and he is not liberal in my opinion, wasn't he the one behind the restructering of B.C. Ferries and ceo of canfor when they were using pesticides on their TFL which could end up in the drinking water of people living on or near the Buckly river or the Skeena? More conservative then liberal which is a flag of convenience for these people!

He has a few Torys in the cabinet, but Gordo's crew is predominately Liberal. I just wanted to show Ronnie that those he worships provincially are the same gang he tars a feathers federally. The irony is just too rich.

Mark is very funny, sometimes too poignantly so. The line about shootouts in Toronto and Vancouver stung; a mean bite. But it's true.

Wonderfully funny article. I laughed out loud.

Hard to pick a favorite, but "Walter Cronkite wept at the realization that this means America's most trusted news anchor is now Jon Stewart." is priceless.

Thanks for the smile.

I am in agreement. Mr. Erwin is generally insulting to those who post ideas on this site, as opposed to the moronic repetition of pet phrases like, "refighting the last election", etc. He seems to be specifically insulting to women, taking it upon himself to gear his language to mud level whenever a woman is named in a story or identifiable by her posted identity here. Let's hope that this particular identifiable group takes it upon themselves to get rid of the idiot. Mr. Erwin can take his free speech to some other corner soapbox and remain equally free. No one needs him here and he has nothing new to say, just new depths of derogatory comment to plumb it seems.

How about getting off the screen for a few hours (or months), Ron, and going to make the world a better place? You owe Belinda Stronach and many other women an apology. You could start there.

cuinn; perfect lefty post. free speech is wonderful until you disagree with it. you people are unbelievable. pretentious, self-righteous and absurd.

And the perfect "right" response, Elliot: unread and full of platitudes you stole from the left. Free speech came from us self-righteous sorts. Go back and read your friend's postings before you comment. No ideas, repetitive blather... kind of like your accusation here. Read something in the new year, eh? Or at least go back and read your friend's postings before you defend him.

Or don't you like women?

As a few folks have mentioned, this fellow with the lousy opinion of women really has a place in the world, out behind the woodshed getting a few thumps for his stupid insulting comments.

Ms. Stronick has a couple of children. Just because she entered politics is no reason to call her rotten names. We hope they don't hear or see the sort of muckraking about their parent.

It would be interesting if some party decided to sue the person making comments on line that defame some other person. Especially a person whos father had mega bucks to do the legal thing.

If my daughter was in politcs and some idiot started calling her names that are crude, I figure I'd be going over to sort him out, legally of course.

Hopefully the Tyee will cut him off before more folks simpy go elsewhere to talk politics.
Wanting a particular party to win an election is one thing but let's not get down in the sewer as this one fellow is trying to take us.
So lets keep political discussions out of the gutter.

And a Happy New Year to us all.

To Ron Erwin:

The CRTC could use some help. Thats not a bad idea! As for the rest of your ideas and slurs, Ron...

The suspicion you had about me having something to do with a removed post makes me laugh the hardest... I suppose if I was some kind of Tyee Guru God, it wouldn't be to hard to get your I.P. address so the fun and games could really begin! 8-D It would be wise to begin with asking yourself why your post was pulled in the first place.

Ron, you strike me as dumb (and at the same time, egotistical) enough to actually use your own name next to those so called harmless opinionated posts of yours. My only advice to you is, "sometimes the best way to get out of the hole your in is to stop digging".

In case you hadn't noticed, holes don't have to be 6 feet deep to serve a purpose. I'm a little busy myself, to start filling holes so that noone else gets hurt falling in, but... I can't say that about certain elements of the rest of this country, who have been known to react in messy fashion towards a blatant sexist bigot like yourself.

It's interesting that you would consider yourself to be totally safe with the remarks you've posted on the Tyee. Bashing female/billionaires and former C.E.O's of multi-billion dollar corporations... there is a legal (and possibly occupational and physical) threat against you concerning your remarks (which, I will say, the Tyee has wisely done something about). I can't say that a billionaire who steps down from a muli-billion dollar C.E.O. post to take a cabinet post in human resources for 6 figures, someone who I believe is acting in the best interests of this country, is hardly the kind of person who'll stoop to your level, Ron. What I am certain of, is that there are some thousandaires who would, or worse.
As for the rest of your comments:

Up all night? It took me 20 minutes.

Thanks for wishing me gentle sex (I do prefer it from time to time) and I do appreciate that wind remark... quite spiritual, although its unfortunate that you aren't evolved enough to know why.

By the way, Mark is Mark Leiren-Young, you know, the guy who posted the article itself, if this makes any difference to you, (man, this guy is slow) and one last thing with anyone concerning Belindas motives. Why would any billionaire C.E.O get into federal politics, especially to take on a human resources cabinet position? Does anyone really think its still for the money? To all of those who watched PC's bash her with the same demeaning talk as Ron... its easy to recognize sore losers when you hear them. Isn't it?

Amen, brain - and sorry about that last comment Elliot. No need to squeeze another brown marble from your tight little conservative mind. What I meant to call you was a misogynist. You and your other woman-hating friend Ron.

Those of us with daughters don't need you dumping more crap in their path.

Elliots quote: "free speech is wonderful until you disagree with it. you people are unbelievable. pretentious, self-righteous and absurd."

Elliot, c'mon. Do you really think a certain degree of censorship isn't necessary to protect the human and life rights and freedoms of others? Freedom of speech and expression is a dual edged sword. Perhaps you condone racism, sexism, agism and all of those other "ism" out there, and their teachings to support your built in need to exercise free will at everyone elses expense. You won't find many people agreeing with your comments, except maybe Ron.

brain; you forgot fattism.

There are alot of "isms", Elliot. You've got me splitting a gut pointing out that one.

8-) Buddha winks, smiles, and cheers, dude. Hope you have yourself a Happy New Year!

Brain, There once was a woman Belinda.
Who wandered around Lac le Biche
She's a beach
You stupid organ, did you tell daddy on me yet ?
Get rid of this virus/worm please.

The Brain is brain dead. I am sorry to report tat this " mommy girl " will report you to daddy. Oh what a pussy.

Don't ban Ronnie, even the simplist will be able to see the enemy.

It's the year in review and what do we get? Lot's of posts about Ron. Seems like a fitting summation of the year.

Could we have a collective resolution in 2006 to not let Ron hijack any more threads?

Happy New Year.

Brain, if this was a spoken conversation we could only hope Ronnie was as dumb as he is ignorant. Rarely do I respond to his comments(because I also believe he is too simple to be taken seriously) although sometimes I do enjoying poking him with a sharpen stick/tongue.

Happy New Year to all! I look forward to reading all of your opinions throughout the coming year.

to Blonde Pitbull:
After some back and forth banter, we can probably stop using the word hope. He really is that dumb. While he might be harmless to most, his greatest enemy is still himself, something that I took a bit of time (and pleasure) to point out. Nice name. Female? Single?

To Bobb 999, Ursus and now Verso:
I would love to get into a discussion over the website you posted, Bobb 999, although it hardly suits this article. The most unfortunate two problems with the website listed are short and not so sweet:

http://www.evilbible.com/Murder.htm

The first is that the Living Bible (of which there are over 40 million in circulation thanks to Billy… I guess when they go for 40+ buck a pop, one could say there was good money in it for him) is a poorly written, often inaccurate paraphrase of more accurate works of the past. In my opinion (and its only my opinion), its about 70% accurate with the correct interpretation of old scriptures from Hebrew/Greek to English. In other words, its one of the poorest bible versions I have ever seen to quote, which this website uses. (It ranks right up there with many Christianized puritan cult versions)

The second is that there is a common rite of passage that relates to death in most valid religions. You know, the old spirit must die so that a new one can be reborn. Death is about transformation from one life to another. It is about complete change where there is no going back, except to remember lessons learned. To naturalize the intended spiritual meanings of death is to see first hand why so many fools have murdered "in the name of Christ" in the past. This old, dark age tech is what we are seeing now with Islamic violence. The religions I’ve found that include such death rites of passage are: Christianity, Judaism, Tao (offshoot of Buddhism), Islam, Shamanism in various native religions throughout the world, especially the Americas, Hinduism, along with more ancient, but now less popular religions such as Druidism, Tibetan Buddhism and Zoroastrianism.

There are other religions that I have missed, there are so many, but by population and notoriety, these are the ones that have stood out the most to me. All religions of merit have their various cults and are subject to violence by leaders who would naturalize the spiritual versions of death to suit their own needs, almost always for power and control.

As long as anyone goes to your suggested site knowing these facts, Bobb999, there is no harm done, but most people who aren’t believers in God, or those who are spiritually naïve or ignorant, are unaware of these facts. If I was young and/or agnostic and thought of all religions as bad because of the historical and present violence… The rites of spiritual death are only known, really, to those who seek out the truth in their religions, and especially the religions of others to find out who their brothers and sisters are, as spiritual death is one of several prerequisites to validating the merits of each religion when explored separately. It is definitely a prerequisite to those who want peace, especially world peace within humanity itself.

There is always more to add, but it deserves to be in a book. My own New Years Eve resolution, (especially so, now that last year is dead) is to finnish the book I've been working on for some time now, hopefully by spring, a book that covers the way to world peace as one of several major themes, among others, such as dietary treatments for disease, and healing in all respects, specifically from an environmental approach, be it natural, mental, emotional or spiritual.

It is likely why I'll be seen only spiradically on the Tyee from here on in, so good luck with your ideas and posts, thanks for the exchanges with you all, as I've learned from them all, and may you all treat each other respectfully and wisely with love and kind in the coming New Year.

Female? Yes. Single? Depends on how you define it, I guess, but no, not at this point in time. But time changes everything I've learned. He's the one who gave me the handle and no one who knows me disagrees. I quite like it, too, makes me smile every time.;-)

Brain:

If you peruse the extensive discussion boards at http://www.evilbible.com, you'll see that, just as at the Tyee, a diversity of views is represented,
including those defending Christianity as well as other religions.

The site's operator is a professed athiest, but he is tolerant of other views as far as the site debates are concerned.

I'm not yet familiar enough with the site to know if others have voiced your points about death/rebirth or questioning use of the Living Bible translation. If not, the site will be happy to accomodate you!

I today posted there, speculating as to why the "big 3" middle eastern religions have such a strong violent streak, not necessarily found in other religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism , Jainism to name a few.
I also opined that other, particularly some Asian religions, appear to be more sophisticated than the big 3 typically are,
sophisticated in that ultimate reality is viewed as a transcendent principle beyond gender, and beyond diety.

I study Taoism and my own personal daily practise derives from Taoist Yoga.
Taoism arose independently about the same time as Buddhism
(Lao Tzu and Buddha lived at approx. the same time in the 5th Century BCE).
So, Taoism is not an off shoot of Buddhism, per se, although there was so much cross-pollinating and cross-influencing of each other as the religions developed, that I can see how someone
could get the idea that one might be an off shoot of the other!

In China, Buddhist writings sometimes would refer to the "Tao" and use other Taoist terms. Similarly, Taoist writers would sometimes use Buddhist terminology.

And in Japan, Zen arose, which Alan Watts describes as being a blend of Indian Buddhism and Chinese Taoism.

Gee,I wonder if Erwin's going to get his own small taste of symbolic "death" by getting himself banned, "ceasing to exist" at the Tyee?!

I loved your evilbible post Bobb999. Did you ever read Bertrand Russell's, "Why I am not a Christian"?

I seem to recall some guy back east trying to have the bible banned under our new hate crimes law and I was disappointed that they threw his case out. I mean, they even have a god that counsels genocide in there.

A lot of us really hate to waste our time reading stuff by some rather dense bigot. Humour is one thing, mean, ugly comments aern't humour.
The turkey should leave and find some group that think he is smart.

There is free speech, but there are laws as well. Human Rights codes exist. a large number of men and women are serving this country in many ways, including a number who are away from their families over the holidays in some nasty places. The militray women and men serve to guarantee freedom of speach among other things. Politicians serve because they want to make things better. The cop stopping traffic last evening would rahter be home but he snagges a bunch of drunks who might have done bodily harm to others. I think you get the drift. So lets consider the feeling so others.

Talk policy, crack a few non sexttis, jokes and keep it at that.

It wouldn't take more tnat one person sending this whole line of articles to Stronicks web site, if that hasn't happend so far.

The Tyee might get into a court battle for not keeping an eye on the few crazies that write under their banner. That would be bad because the on line paper sefves a purpose.
A complaint to Human Rights might get the guy into paying a large fine for being such an ass. The Charter exists, as does the Human Rights Code. In my non legal opinion this character might well get legally thumped.

Ms. Stronick ,as a person running for re election will ignore him till after the election. The other women who read the stuff he comes up with, will remind themselves of other women who end up in shelters to protect theselves from other control freaks.

If she wins or loses, she won't forget. I personally wouldn't want to have a senior minister keeping an eye on my ranting.

So I guess it's time to leave the Tyee chat line, until this weirdo gets cut off.

But before I go lets be very democratic and either vote him off, or leave him on.

I vote he goes and stays away. What do you think. Pretending such folks arn't around is voting for them to stay.

What a way to start a new year.

I dunno, DPL. Ron kinda makes me laugh. I mean, who takes him seriously, anyway? I've noticed people seem to get most upset when he uses sexual imagery.

Enjoyed the article immensely.

We should not belittle environmental issues since we all have to breathe. I therefore support Paul Martin's raising those issues with G.W.Bush, but Martin was severely lacking.

Since many hostile to the U.S. do not differentiate between Canadians and Americans, Martin was obligated to raise the matter of our neighbour's illegal war against Iraq.

That suggestion may not earn me a magnum of champagne from Mr. Martin, but a six-pack of Canadian would be quite acceptable. None of that American piss - thank you very much!

To Bobb999: Thanks for the input, especially the clarity on Tao. It's hard to find people who are extensively versed in Tao, here in North America and I must confess, I am weak in some area's myself in terms of what Asian religions truly represent, along with their history, but I am headed there. I would be happy to hear any book and author recommendations you might have on the subject.

I can't necessarily agree with you fully on Asian religions being more sophisticated at this point, but their teachings are definitely more simplistic, and as such, are much harder to confuse or manipulate by cult leaders who profess violence. In this sense, simplicity is much more sophisticated, than, say, the teachings of Moses or the apostle Paul, who, in their complexities, open the door to those who would exploit their teachings for their own sexist or violent purposes, especially through doctrines already falsely institutionalized in terms of false interpretation of language and scripture.

For me, it has always been most to least, and simple to complex in terms of what needs to be discerned most safely and quickly, as there is a proper sequence to the way knowledge should be revealled. Moses tried explaining it with a simplistic story of Adam and Eve and the apple, but unfortunately, as it is with many analogies, it goes over most peoples heads.

I didn't look extensively into the website you referred to, just the first page, and as such, assumed things that I probably shouldn't have, other than what was implied on the first page of the website. I'm glad you've responded quickly to my post and as such, I'll take another look.

You've also peaked my interest on yoga and various forms of Asian meditation. Again, any books/websites you could direct me to, would be warmly appreciated.

As for Ron's fate, its likely that he will get banned, and hopefully show up with another name, as we can learn from bad examples as well as good ones. Who knows? Maybe a name change will do him some good. You know... fresh start and all. Then again, witnessed positive change is often good for us all, and most certainly, inevidable.

I agree somewhat in your view that Asian religions are more sophisticated in that ultimate reality is viewed as a transcendent principle beyond gender, and beyond diety. Our own views of reality will always be somewhat obscured by our own limitations of existence. Even though a diety or God, as most put it, is subject to these same restrictions on how reality is viewed in theory, there is a certain wealth of experience that goes with the territory.

I can only speak for myself, but... the principles we both speak of were always there, waiting to be discovered by anyone who cares to look and follow, including God. I have chosen my own origins to my reason for existence as my teacher and I am very thankful to have drawn waters from such a well.

One last note on why I only partially agree with your view. I've had feedback from the diety of so called dieties or the one diety, the holy of holies that matters most. As it was explained to me several years ago, albeit third hand information... God is subject to holy principles and ultimate reality, but not transcended by them. I can only infer that God IS, as far as human spiritual potential goes, our own ultimate reality. With this information I recieved years ago, I'll just have to trust and take God's word for it (albeit, third hand, of which I must offer a humble apology). It's worked for me so far...

To Truman: I agree. Ron is hard to take seriously, but... he takes himself seriously and as long as he's willing to drag people's names in the mud where they don't belong, its up to certain individuals to put him in his place. I certainly know no one appointed me to do it, (ah, I was bored) but Ron is still a human being (albeit, one that makes absolutely no sense, drunk at 3 a.m., never mind 3 p.m.) and has rights, even though he might not respect the rights of others. I guess what I'm trying to say in long winded fashion, is that double standards just dont work. They never have. Its obvious that they don't work for Ron, and they won't work for us. Ah, what am I doing telling you this, Truman, you already know this stuff.

DPL:
As far as votes go, DPL, I'm partial to the Tyee making the judgement call on this one. It is top down after all, and the Tyee, like everyone else, will sink or swim on their own merits. They've already censored a post over a holiday... it should protect their legal interests enough.

As I've said on earlier posts as well, there is nothing wrong with being wrong on most things in this world. Honest individuals are continually capable of fallacies. They just aren't capable of lies and perhaps the most damaging lie of all is to not admit when we are wrong.

To Blonde Pitbull:
Good luck with your relationship, and best wishes.

To Skepticool:
Sunday morning... American football... Isn't molson owned by Coors now? I'm not that proud. Catch yah all.

Hi Brain. Okay, I have a confession. Ron sometimes makes me laugh. Do you think I'm a bad person?

You're breaking me up, Truman. :-) I have a confession as well. He makes me laugh too. If only I could ever take him as seriously as he takes himself... good or bad is often relegated to our own opinions. I still love yah, buddy, and favor you as being one of the good ones.

Hey, DPL. If you're one of those keenly interested in posting these blurts on Belinda's website...

To Belinda Stromach: You're hot and sexy, babe. Billions of bucks... a couple of kids... blonde hair... you've got the kind of baggage this single, childless cat is interested in. I'm liberal enough, if you are. Call me. Please!

Im not a Ron fan but I feel he has as much right to make a statement as the next person, Belinda is a target,her entrance onto the political scene opened her life to ridicule and praises, it just so happens that Ron offers ridicule towards her rather than praise, I sure don’t see any big deal with what he has said , in fact I believe more was said of Belinda by politicians and the media shortly after her jump.(the one from conservative to liberals)
In addition, I am not a Stockwell Day fan or supporter, some of the comments that I read about him on this site I feel were far more demeaning than what Ron has said about Belinda, but nobody jumped on the band wagon to ridicule those comments, nor any mention of censoring them was ever mentioned. I guess it all depends on whose ox is being gored that draws some ire from some folks, if every one of us were on the same wave length, these comments would be of no interest or value to read, in fact it would be down right boring.

I think you're right, Woody. I once called Grewal, the Conservative a little p-ke and I don't think I got bleeped. Of course, I haven't really gone back to the archive and looked.

It's grey area we are in. What can we say ? I know that we can say anything.
Perhaps The Brain resents this, after all he works for the CRTC on loan from the CBC.
He is our daddy.
He will try to get us spanked by our nanny.
Gay Muslim terrorists, driving around in gas guzzling SUV's, married to each other,contributing to Global Warming, Haliburton regional manager in Iraq, planning an attack on Iran, jew hating, Sadam loving, Bush hater, Jack Layton performing fellatio on all of South America, Paul Martin out on a TAX FREE sex cruise, boys only 14 allowed. It's The Charter Stupid. A Liberal policy conference at a swingers club. fellow finds his friend raping his seven year old daughter in Winnipeg, beats the crap out of the guy, and now he's the criminal. long long winded, Brain Drain. Bathist rapist loving father figure. Toronto mayor is gay. No wonder guns are rampant. Bath houses are where you go to get a gun. I'm not supposed to remember Marc Lepine was a Muslim from Morocco who was not representative of any Canadian, but we are all still paying for his name change. And then we get THE BRAIN, give me a break.
Oh I forgot that abortion , capital punishment and mercy ??? killing are murder.
And I am Ron Erwin who reads The Drudge Report, listens to Rush on the radio. Hates the CRTC and anything liberal. Perhaps hate isn't the right word. Maybe I should say makes my skin crawl with flesh eating worms.
Worms I call " The Brain "
And read the polls, your Lieberals are going down the toilet like the piece of poo that they are.
Long live choice and freedom you dweeb.

to Woody:
It all depends on the wave, Woody. Would white exist without black, or vice versa? One thing is for sure and that is that there is presently a lot of grey. One thing is highly predictable. Everything that the human race is possibly capable of in terms of what is bad for this world, is likely to happen, if it hasn't happened already on smaller scales and that, to be sure, is something that simply wasn't meant to be. The spilt blood of victims lying in the ground speaks for itself.
As for Stockwell Day, I personally found it to be an eyeopener for any opposition leader of any nation, especially Canada, to have a belief in the worlds age as being 6 to 7,000 years old. I mean, people are prone to mistakes and all, but Stockwell was no kid at the time. A lost confidence in his leadership was warranted, but, as you say, a lost confidence in those who voted for him, along with those who went overboard criticizing him is also warranted.

To this day, I haven't heard of Stockwell changing his mind on his oh, so young earth stance. If he has, great. If he hasn't, well, what voter in their right mind could support someone who looks at the origins of Earth's timelines, especially Moses own teachings in this way? Its absurd. The only thing I can give Stockwell Day credit for is his own honesty in speaking his mind with his beliefs, but I can't give him much credit in what those beliefs of his actually are, or especially were.

History repeats itself only if we let it. I'm hopeful that we won't make the same mistakes by voting in Stephen Harper, but the polls are suggesting that we haven't learned. Look at what the latest so called "scandal" is suggesting. Its election time, two parties strongly accuse the finance minister or PMO of leaks with no proof other than market speculation and a call to the RCMP to investigate and the media has the nerve to call it scandal? And the voter has the dimwitted capability of buying into it as the polls suggest? I'm hopeful that we as an electorate, are smarter than this, but hope is a weak word and as such, I'm often forced by logic to replace it with skepticism.

The best I can do on my end is encourage EVERYONE to vote, hoping that true democracy still works regardless of media hype and political slurs, with the simple reminder that Elections Canada's voter registration number is 1-866-545-0618. A simple call to this number ensures a high probability that your voices will be heard and counted on Jan. 23rd.

hey brain like your posts, yoga, tai chi, martial arts, reiki and the five tibetans would change our world in a very positive way, more of the non violent religions are what we need if this planet is to survive! Save a bundel in healthcare!

If people learned a little more respect for themselves and others as humans I feel they would be less inclined to follow the likes of bush into a lose lose situation like iraq!

The scandal called Ralph
It's real and is not going away anytime soon.
The SES Research polls already reflect a shift towards Mr. Harper in the leadership views of Canadians.
And why not ? He is what he is, a made in Canada conservative, responsible, honest, intelligent, and unbrainlikeable. This will propel him to the PMO, oh what a wonderful world we live in. Finally an end to liberalism and a way out of this twisted criminal government we endure daily.
Would positive exist without negative ?
Just ask The Brain, he thinks he knows everything.

To Ursus: True that, dude! Something's come up, I'll look for you later.

To Ron:
It is the charter, stupid, a charter of rights that you fearlessly have no respect for other than to exercise your so called brand of freedom of speech at everyone elses expense(and if thats not a sign of your true intelligence, I don't know what is). We can say anything? Truth is, we can't and you are about to find this one out the hard way, not because I said it, but because the charter of rights says it.

Something's come up, poor waife (defined as parentless one), so you'll just have to continue your usual bitter, self centered rants without me there, fearless one.

you folks still think ronnie is funny? It is time he got turfed, he does not present a good debate for the dark side just a lot of stupid hateful useless rhetoric!

What do you expect from someone who admits he listens to an extreme right wing zealot!

Stupid is as stupid does!

ursus, re. turfing ronnie. I'm not sure turfing people who say things you don't like is a very good way to go. Maybe from your living room, but not from a blog. He's a right-wing guy and I find him very interesting. I wonder what makes him tick.

He seems to be against everthing that smacks of social consciousness or sentimentality. I don't get it. To me. He's very strange. So what, though? A lot of people think I'm strange, I bet. I'd hate to vote him off the blog. That would be a kind of tryanny, don't you think. So far he's found a lot of colourful ways to tell us he thinks we're full of crap, but a lot of us do that regarding our perceived opponents.

Now whether the Tyee decides that they don't want foul language on the site, that's another matter--and totally within their right.

I broke a rule once by copying longish quotes from a newspaper and it was axed. All and good. There's rules all over the place.

However...I don't feel totally confident about my opinion on the censuring question. If Ron just comes on in order to upset people and derail thoughtful commentary, there might be a good argument for getting him off.

The Brain says " something's come up " I really find that HARD to believe.
But I do believe that tomorrow you will see one last attempt by The Lieberals to scare you, to strike fear in you, to desperately try to convince you, implore you, cajole you, bribe you, brainwash you,strike fear in you and lamely try to say once again that they are the only shining light to lead you away from Republican Bush like, American, extreme right wing, christian right, jew loving agenda that you may be foolishly entertaining like half of Canada is right now.
The twits think we are that stupid. Half of us are not.

Ron, what do you mean by the phrase, "Jew loving agenda"?

Turfing Ronnie...Hmmmm, well I'm for freedom of speech even if I don't always agree....but little comes out of him worth listening to...he'd say the same about me and others on this site, so... well I think I'll stick to ignoring him for as long as he is around.

hey truman I respect your view point whether I agree with you or not, but then I don't recall you calling a female politician a slut.

In my opinion christie clark is gordo in a skirt, I can't stand her but, I would never call her a slut, irwin has the same option so enough already!

ursus, I've been giving it a lot of thought and so was examing why I like to come on. I'd say it's because I'm vain enought to think I have something interesting to say--and I might learn something. I have learned quite a bit, including changing my mind in regards to whether HIV is the cause of AIDs--or not.

I notice when Ron is on he usually becomes the issue, like he's becoming now. And I guess that's his intention. So I conclude that he enjoys getting people upset or annoyed at least as much as he wishes to inform or to learn. Actually I don't think he believes he's going to learn anything and he know's noone's buying his beliefs.

As you can see, I'm obviously conflicted on this especially because it's about freedom of speech. But, I wish he'd cut it out because he's kind of diminishing the value of the discussion, and other's enjoyment of the site.

I don't necessarily disagree with your point of view on the Ron issue, though.

those of you who remember hombre and sleepswithangels will no doubt agree that there always must be a line drawn between free speech and censorship. where to draw that line is, of course, the problem we all face. this editor has been quite rational and reasonable to date, but i do question the disappearance of a couple of posters who were not crude or obscene but did post views obviously contrary to those of the tyee's. ultimately it's the courts who decide where the line is and their decisions must reflect our changing culture. anyone remember the bill vanderzalm case? it's not very likely that the cartoonist would be found liable of an intentional tort in our new liberal world. right or wrong?

Even though I share Bobb999's disgust of Ron Erwin's comment and understand that disgust (since Bobb999's posts always display a certain honour and integrity in them) I don't agree with censorship so I say let Erwin remain as a symbol of all that the Harperites are desperately trying to hide from public view.

Ronnie isn't exposing anyone but himself and the ultra right-wing, anti-Canadian, so-called Christian agenda of the so-called Conservative Party of Canada.

Ronnie's opening his old, worn, CRAP trenchcoat and showing us exactly who they all really are: traitors, misogynists, religious zealots...all with a pretty sleazy, disrespectful, and unbelievably juvenile take on sex.

Button up your coat, Ronnie... yours and the Conservative Party's shameful naughty bits are in full view. What a disgusting sight!

been watching ctv on the goodale affair and frankly they need to rename it as the conservative television station, they have monty solberg on their spewing his rhetoric, another politician I distrust pretending to be part of the solution, I remember what the conservatives did for us!

So much for unbiased reporting oh well guess I will turn ctv off until after the election!

lynn; sounds like you're the one who should open up. your view of the cpc is about as bigotted and narrow as can be. typical leftist garbage again: if you don't agree with it demonize it. grow up girly.

"oh well guess I will turn ctv off until after the election!" perfect. as a good lefty i'm not supposed to like what the neo-con nazi imperialist industrialist bastards are saying so i'll turn them off.

groan they have christie clark on ctv now as a spokesperson for the federal liberals!

it is off now and staying off, I want the facts so I can come to my own conclusions I don't need some overpaid teleprompt reading biased suit giving me his slant on a story, is he a member of a political party, why else would he be so biased.

I know you right wingnuts would be all over them if they were biased towards your leader, as you should be.

"is he a member of a political party, why else would he be so biased." he's probably just asking tough questions, as he should. but perhaps he realizes that this gov't, possibly the most corrupt and inept in our history, has to go, for the good of everyone in our nation. if the libs get another mandate after all these crimes they'll be even more arrogant than they were under trudeau, the fool of fools.

Do you ever read your own comments? Or does "typical leftist garbage" not fit your own view of what constitutes narrow and bigotted?

The Conservatives will never go anywhere as long as they appeal to you. Your only hope is that the Lie-berals self-destruct.

Which they seem to be doing.

32%(Libs) to 30%(Cons) to 18%(NDP) according to Decima. Works for me, whichever of the front-runners wins means it'll be a minority. Good.

As for Trudeau, good PM. If he was running now he'd proably win in a landslide.

Elliot, hmmmm.... let me guess. Member of the BC Young Liberals? Hired, like all those writing under your ET handle to keep an eye on us lefties here on Tyee.

Hey, but you're not really a Liberal, as there are no longer any Liberals left in the Gordon Campbell Liberal Party. Even those so-called star candidates are all pretense. They just like to look the Liberal part ....it's easier at cocktail parties that way...you know...self-image and all.

Nope, you BC Liberals are much closer to Harper and his lust for all things American...his callous disregard for his own country...almost embarassed by it.... especially our strong Canadian belief in a strong social infrastructure.

You must be so conflicted, Elliot, at Federal election time... a BC Liberal sheep ( is there any other kind?) in wolves' clothing...voting for Harper - your true BC Liberal soul-mate.

Grow up 'girly'? lol Just don't address us as 'listen sister'! lol Come on now Elliot. Aren't you doing the same thing to Lynn, you accuse her of doing?

When Ron says 'jew loving agenda'he is trying to imply that those against the rise of corporatism, the god of privatization, fascism and the invasion of a sovereign country are anti-semites. Of course, this is not true as most readily shown by the many jews who not only are 'lefties', but are actively fighting this movement. It's a dumb ploy used by some on the radical right to shut up 'lefties' and those questioning the policies, lest they be accused of racism.

Why are we all fighting today?

Ron, do you think you could apologize for calling a woman politician a 'slut and move on? Maybe the words were out of your mouth before you had time to think? It's the kind of pejorative comment that says more about the speaker than the object. Did you say the same thing when Dr Martin switched parties? I do think there should be a law that requires one to step down if they run under one party and switch though.

As far as the 'courts' go, a public figure hasn't much hope at keeping opionion about them quiet, slurs and all. One is kind of fair game. Especially, elected 'servants, with the exception of a calculating lie, such as so-and-so stole money in 1996 at this specific place, from so-and-so etc.

Brain, a good book is "A Path With Heart:A guide throught the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life". by Jack Kornfield. He was a buddhist monk and has some good meditation tapes too. This is about 'insight meditation'. Perhaps you know it already.

There are a lot of books on Taoism. Of course there is Le Tao Te Ching I like reading Iona Teegarten. She started Jin Shin Do which is a type of body work based on accupressure and Reichean pyschology There are probably a lot of good articles about Taoism on the web. Organized chinese culture has been around for thousands of years longer than our Western one. Confusism is interesting as well. Perhaps we could use some of that these days.

There are many types of Buddhism. Most influenced by the culture they originated from. Buddhism is like Catholicism in that they appropriate a lot of local culture into the practice of religion.
Pema Chodron is a good author as well.

confucianism not confusism. lol are not is... etc

Yes, Lynn. It is a small consolation for having this stupid election that the 'Campbell Liberals' are not lock stepping in agreement of all things for a rare change.

Thanks for the book recommendations, Redrivergirl. All of your recommendations are new to me. It's high time I put the library card back into action and checked out the wares of others. Just felt some peace wash over me... where have you been?

Jack and Iona's last names... lol. Do you think it might've helped them to be just a touch more sensitive and aware along the way? Thanks again for the tips, Redrivergirl. Good to hear from you, as always.

That is an interesting idea about their names, Brain. lol Teegarten is her married name, I think. The book focuses on the form of acupressure she designed with a basic explaination of Taoism.

Kewl, redrivergirl. I'm looking forward to its exploration. I'll definitely give it a go, and thanx again.

lynn; much too old to be a young liberal. in fact i voted for the socialist hordes in '91, (and have felt embarrassed ever since) but please please please don't tell anyone.

Truman Green, You asked about a part of my statement that said " jew hating " . Of course it was in the context of the liberal view of foreign affairs vesavi ' Americans gone wild in the middle east '
Some of the liberal/left supporters don't know that they are unwittingly supporting an anti-Semitic agenda.
I mean the American Democratic Left movement, because of their hatred of Republicans and George Bush, don't know how to justify their support for a Sadams and Talibans without blaming ( demonizing ) the Jews for their so called occupation of Gaza and whatever.
Canada in 2005 went out of their way to admit that in their relations with the United Nations had not been giving Israel a fair shake in our influence with this body.
So when I threw that statement in " jew loving " I was saying that the conservative threat is not ' jew hating ", but the liberal thinking , although they might not realize it, in order to be trendy and hate America, may be racists.

.

I agree, Frank. There is a bigger picture to consider - and it is about saving this country.

redrivergirl: Good to read you again.

And nighty-night Elliot.

Lynn, I know most NDP'ers would vote Liberal as their 2nd choice but I gotta say I dislike the lyin' and cheatin' Paul Martin Libs so much that if the NDP didn't exist I'd vote for Harper. I really don't think I can take 4 more years of Paul Martin.

If Martin operatives are allowed to continue to have personal websites maybe the Libs will soon be in free fall and for once Lib voters will go NDP to stop the Cons. That would be a nice change.

Ron, I asked you a question and you tried to answer it. I studied your answer I believe that your logic is quite dubious. Firstly, is it fair to say that the "American Democratic Left Movement" supports Saddam and the Taliban?

If this is not correct, your claim that they don't know how to justify their support without blaming the Jews would also collapse.

Can you let me know when Canada "went out of their way to admit that they had not been giving Israel a fair shake at the United Nations?"

You also claim that the "liberal thinking"...hate America.

What evidence do you have for this? Wouldn't you say that Americans, in general, whether on the left or the right, are a pretty patriotic bunch?

I honestly tried to understand your logic, and I believe I have at least a half decent brain.

Unfortunately, I don't get it.

Brain:
You asked about books I like on Taoism.
Taoist yoga techniques, up until recent years,
have not been nearly as available to the masses as have Indian yoga methods. One thing that attracted me to the Taoist ones is I like the holistic approach. Physical and emotional health are very much part of it. Most
Asian disciplines that focus on energy flows
(Tai Chi, Chi Gong, other martial arts, I'd guess Reiki too) have been either influenced by Taoist ideas about energy (Chi), or are just considered to be practical branches of Taoism itself.
To red river girl's picks I would add the ones
I use for my own practise.
Mantak Chia I believe is the guy that, through his books, tapes,and instruction workshops, has
made available to the public, all the techniques that previously were shrouded in secrecy.

The advanced practises known as "Internal Alchemy" have been, until recently, available (to both East and West)in the form of historical texts written mostly in the the most opaque symbolic language, so that the uninitiated would be kept in the dark! You were expected to find a teacher to unveil the secrets.Here and there were only a few writings that were more expicit.

Anyway, I suspect Mr. Chia has opened up to view traditional practical Taoist teachings more than anyone else, from the elementary to the advanced, in great detail.

I found his slim first book "Awaken Healing Energy Through the Tao" an excellent starting point, followed by the thick "Awaken Healing Light of the Tao".
If you happen to live in Vancouver,the V.P. Library has at the least his first book.

Or, perusing shelves at Banyen is a good way to see what's available and what catches your fancy.

Another book I found informative as a broad overview of all branches (there are lots) of Taoism is "The Shambhala Guide to Taoism", by Eva Wong, who herself is a practitioner of Taoist arts.

The I Ching book of divination is an interesting blend of Confucian and Taoist thought. Many people, including psychologist Carl Jung, swear by it as an oracle that does appear to address your questions!

Some people divide Taoism into "Philosophical"
and "Practical".
Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu are the two most important of the early Taoist philosophers.
You won't find much in the way of practical techniques in their works. Their work is more suggestive, expressing an attitude to take to life (Chuang Tzu does this with a lot of humour
in his writing).

A whole lot of mythology, rites,and techniques developed after the early guys.
Eva Wong says the practical teachings are just philosophical Taoism put into practise.

In a prior post I said something about Zen I'll correct. I should say Zen originated in China where it was called "Ch'an" Buddhism. It got exported to Japan where the name was mispronounced or changed to "Zen".

I'll alter my claim, you took issue with, about some Eastern religions being more sophisticated, because,
out of Christianity, Judaism and Islam there
emerged mystical strains that also took a sophisticated view: Kabbalists, Sufis, and Christians like Meister Eckhart and others.

In the Asian religions, mystics were
valued, while among the "big 3" (J,C and I), mystics were often persecuted and killed. Very "unsophisticated"!

Is Erwin still here?
...I thought I'd caught a glimpse of a clock with Erwin's name on it that seemed to be winding down, ticking slower and slower... as if Erwin's time at the Tyee was nearly up!
To those (Lynn and others)who argue that Erwin had the right to post his comments:

The issue, in my view, is not whether what he wrote is acceptable or not.
The important point is he refused to accept the Tyee's warning of removing his post. By re-posting it, he was in effect contemptuously thumbing his nose and saying to the Tyee webmaster : "I don't care about your rules. I'll do whatever the Hell I want to on your site, see?"
The offence was in the re-posting. That's why he deserves to go.

Truman: No, I never have read any of Bertrand Russell's critiques of Christianity. I know he was famous as a scientist and as an agnostic (athiest?).

Truman Green
Let me quote Ciny Sheehan the darling of the political left in the US
" My son joined the Army to protect America, not Israel. "
This is typical of the American Left. They hate both the US and Israel.
This is quite common knowledge if you follow US politics. Just Google any combination of words like Democrat, anti Israel . You will find lots of information. As far as Canada's position on Israel in the UN, again Google Canadian position on Israel at the UN. There are dozens of links available.
There are of course right wing Jewish hating groups like KKK and fringe organizations in Idaho etc. but they are routinely decried and disassociated by conservatives, but the US liberal left has done nothing to disavow themselves from the Jew haters. Just visit moveon.org and you will see just how wacky the American liberal left is.

Ron, you're equating disagreement with the policies of a country (Israel) with being anti-Jewish. Its like saying you vehemently disagree with Tony Blair and therefore you must hate white people.

It requires a pretty big leap of logic.

Good point Frank. But I have a problem with the reasons why some American lefties disagree with Israels policies. Up until recently ( Afghanistan and Iraq ) it was the only true democracy in the region. The only true friend Israel had was the USA, and no matter who was in power they felt comfortable that the administration would be pro Israel.
They kind of fear the Democrats getting into power because they have to appease their far left faction ( see moveon.org )
The only reason I mention any of this is because our lefties may not know what they are supporting when they worship the Anti Bush, anti American heroes.

Gordo engineered the Deyas needle exchange while he was Mayor of Vancouver and closed down many court rooms and the work camp prisons as soon as he became premier. If he's not an all out Liberal, what kind of Tory does that I ask?

Check your Bible Ron. The very foundations of Christianity indicate that the Jews should be protected at all costs. Bush is only following his god.

Ron, yes being the only democracy in the region is a good thing. The only open society etc. But its the origins of the country many of us have a problem with.

Kind of like if the UN decided that all the moslems living in the west needed their own homeland so they gave them Manitoba. I wouldn't care how wonderful a country they had, I would only care about the origins and the treatment of the original inhabitants (Canadians). Wouldn't be an anti-moslem thing although I would imagine I would eventually move along that path.

Regardless of Israel's democratic and western society, the problems surrounding their origins still cause problems. There was just no reason to go carve up somebody else's land. If any one country deserved to be carved it was Germany.

Either you are unbelievably ill informed, or you are pretty nasty, Ron.

You're trying to shut liberals up about the fascist policies of the b admin in typical fascist fashion by blaming the left for what the right is really doing. Pretty vile.

I don't find Cindy Sheean's comments 'jew-hating'. (if indeed she made them) I don't know what her belief system is. I don't know if she is anti-Israel, or not and neither do you. Perhaps she sees the PNAC document designed by those who have power in the B admin, which talks about using the US military for Israel's best interests as reason for her comments. I don't know. Some people see what is best for one country perhaps isn't best for another. Does that make them anti the other country? What I do know is that coming from the fascist haters on the right, accusing others of racism, ignoring the many Jews who against this disgusting, horrible, wicked philosophy of greed, is priceless. I also know the 'right' executed a nasty attack on Ms Sheean. She a mother who lost her son. Dispicable and grotesque.

What the administration is really doing is spreading monopoly capitalism and fascism.

Anyone who is part of this massive spread of suffering and that includes those in Canada who are betraying the public trust and betraying their country is horrid indeed.

Last night on the radio, (American station) I heard a man call in and say about this 'freedom' that the b admin is spreading...

When Americans talk about freedom they mean FDR's version.

Freedom from fear.
Freedom of religion.
Freedom of speech.
Freedom from want.

The 'freedom' B is exporting is non of those things. In fact it is the opposite. They are spreading monopoly capitalism to make themselves rich.

They also talked about how the US is thinking about invading Iran. Well, Iran has a real army and will provide a real fight. They say that this will mean that the b admin is planning on unleashing terrible weaponry on them. They certainly can't fight them in a 'normal' way. This is as wicked as anything under the sun and the Canadian 'right' ought to be deeply, deeply, ashamed of itself.

Don't forget, it is innocent people and innocent children who pay the price for this wickedness.

People in Israel are being victimized by these neo-con 'policies' just as the people of all democracries are being victimized. You think there's no Jewish 'left' in Israel? Wrong!

Frank: I hear you about the corruption of the Liberals...and I agree, let them free fall... but I gotta say I would swim across this cold little inlet in January and walk barefoot for miles across a bay of barnacles (at low tide :-)) and then back again.... before I would ever vote for Harper. I hate the puritanical repression of these american wannabees more than anything.

And I'd swim it breast-stroke just to upset Mr. Harper. :-)

Ron, the lefties who disagree with Israel's policies just think that the Palestinians are not getting a fair shake, and haven't since Britain abdicated in Palestine. Think refugee camps!

It's a huge stretch to say they're pro-Saddam or pro-Taliban or Anti-American or anti or pro Jewish, don't you think?

The truth is, and every intellectually honest person knows it, that the Palestinians have every bit as much right to former Palestine as do Jewish people.

This is what causes war, and the guy with the best friends and the best weapons usually wins.

Your point that Israel is the only democracy in the region is bang on, of course. But so was Canada a democracy when it was putting all those native kids in residential schools and allowing all that abuse. Not to mention America while it maintained slavery.

I know Lynn, my hand might be shaking too hard to fill out the ballot too.

But I see now that Ipsos-Reid is saying the Cons are now a point ahead of the Libs and I think that's great.

Just to explain myself, you can't keep the Cons out of power forever, the Libs may be the natural governing party but its always the Cons people elect when they think the Libs have been in power too long.

So a Conservative minority gov't would be a good thing because its not a majority. In that situation the Cons would be no worse than the Paul Martin Liberals. I notice today ol' Paul is saying there will be more tax cuts if elected. This guy is as right-wing as Harper but he's smoother and always talks from the left while he's cutting money for kids.

The Liberals are a big tent party and have their own left and right factions within it. PM is definitely on the right within the Libs and the people he's surrounded himself with are, in my opinion, unfit to honestly run the accounting for even a corner grocer. They're liars and cheats who will stop at nothing apparently to grasp power, just look at all the irregularities within that party when Martin was forcing Chretien out.

It was them and Paul that slashed money for medicare in the mid-90's among a kazillion other right-wing policies like worrying more about debt repayment when we have huge social issues that need attention. And I do believe if PM had been PM we would have signed on to Iraq. Paul Martin is only a nationalist during election campaigns.

Nope, in my opinion, if the Libs win this the Cons will win the next one anyway and it will be a majority when they do. I don't want to wait that long for the Liberals to dump Martin and his cronies and get a new leader and I don't want Harper to ever have a majority. So, if Harper wins now he won't have a chance against a new, and probably more left-wing, Liberal leader in 4 years and with a minority he won't be any worse than Martin.

Its a far better scenario than Martin winning a majority now, Harper winning one in 4 years and then Ignatieff winning one after that .

The above great responses to Ron... are the very reason I think Ron should stay.

Instead of silencing, the best answer is always more free speech.

I agree Frank, a Liberal majority would be a disaster, but so would any 'new-Conservative gov't.

I don't buy that their election is inevidible. More and more people are awakening to what is going on. Critical mass dictates people who espouse 'market' ideology haven't anywhere to go but down.

I also agree Martin is a 'market fundamentalist, but he has to keep the 'left-leaning liberals under that tent from mutiny and abdication. The New-Cons don't have that problem. They don't have anything but radicals in their party.

Also, Martin is more likely with his family tradition of political life to shift as the wind does rather than insisting on driving the country over the cliff.

Personally, I will vote NDP. In BC most ridings are between those two parties and to vote liberal in most ridings is a vote for the cons. Even though Global today tried to mislead the public about it in their story about the poll numbers and juxtaposing a story of a riding in the interior. I hardly watch them anymore and very rarely listen to CKNW after all these years. They have become so typical and so boring. Propaganda isn't real after all.

Frank and lynn,you guys are going to probably be reading Michael Ignatieff's New York Times piece, "Who Are Americans to Think That Freedom is Theirs to Spread," sooner or later. You can get the whole thing by googling the title.

Not a really nice man!

RRG, there's one thing the neo-cons in the Cons have over the neo-cons in the Libs, and that is a few of the old Reformers who will actually agree with the NDP on electoral and parliamentary reform. Pro-rep and abolishing the Senate might be something the two parties could agree on. You know the Libs will never implement either.

I did believe this once but no longer.

Also, I do think a Cons gov't is inevitable at some point. The Libs simply will not rule for ever and as current polls show, once the Alliance got their wish and merged with the PCs they became the default 2nd choice for many Canadians. Its just a case of waiting for the Libs to fall.

Truman, I read that, he is a scary guy. When the Libs elect a new leader I want them worrying more about their left flank than their right. Otherwise Ignatieff would have a good chance and then maybe Canada can become a country that tortures people too.

A very good point, Truman.
Personally, I don't know enough about the conflicts. And, it is exceedingly difficult to get clear as in most blood fueds, or domestic disputes. Other than knowing at one time Jews and Arabs peacefully co-existed and have a lot of common ground in other ways than land.

And, believing firmly, in all people's rights to physical and emotional safety and clean adequate housing, life-enhancing food, education, health care and opportunity, my policy beliefs follow. That is my bottom line.

Redrivergirl, I think it was you who reminded me a few weeks ago that I should check the politics in my riding before deciding that I should vote Liberal to block the Conservatives. Thanks.

I did believe this once but no longer.

You could very well be correct, Frank.

I am against changing our system at this time and so that isn't a factor for me...for the moment. I wouldn't mind abolishing the senate though as it seems to have evolved into nothing more than a reward factory for favours rendered. I could be wrong about that though, I haven't looked to deeply into it.

too deeply, yikes!

You're welcome, Truman. :-)

I'm not sure where I learned that. Probably from one of the wise posters here.

Haskelposted:Gordo engineered the Deyas needle exchange while he was Mayor of Vancouver and closed down many court rooms and the work camp prisons as soon as he became premier.

True: Gordo did shut down court houses:

In no way had he anything to do with the DEYAS needle exchange. John Turvey got it started when Gordo was still trying to sell suits in his men's store down by the Bridge. It was runnng back when Claude Richmond was the socred minister

DEYAS saves a lot of lives so don't atribite theri work to Gordo. We lived in the neighborhood and my spouce was on the board of directors of DEYAS at the time. And no we weren't Socred either

http://www.asiucsb.org/asiissues/blogfiles/jun_2_2004.htm

Sorry for the delay. The third and last article is from where these paragraphs come from. The issue is so complex. I admire those that are thinking deeply and with empathy for their 'enemies'. It's something I often don't do when thinking about the radical right!

Bolding mine.

I've often seen this in Jewish people. I don't know any Arab people.

By 'this' I mean trying and often succeeding in thinking about others with empathy and the issue with complexity.

Peace in the world is possible.

Perhaps when making money from war is no longer allowed.

A really good insight, Frank. Okay, I see your strategy... preventing the probability of a Harper majority in the near future. Now that would be the end of Canada as we know it. Not that Martin isn't doing a pretty good job of this himself.

I agree completely with your assessment of him. Smoother is a good choice of word to describe his edge over Harper in style... he's bottled with the same right-wing content as you say...just more appealing for the public to swallow.

Still, I couldn't vote for Harper. Nope, I'd just have to burn my ballot - something sweet and innocent like that. :-)

Now the thought of Ignatieff winning ever is really scary. (Thanks for the article suggestion, Truman)...I'd just have to drift out to sea on a little raft or something...'course I'd take all my favourite books and music with me as I'd probably be gone for awhile.

I did that once as a kid, in my slightly rebellious period... but seriously miscalculated... and took way too much stuff so the raft wouldn't float. I was home in time for supper. :-)

Ah, I love this quote, lynn, and I'd send you a medal if I could. Here's the prairie boy version: I'd rather douse my Case in diesel and drive it through a prairie fire so I could shovel silage in a silo without a vent.

Ron E-- approximately sixty posts back you mentioned Marc Lepine in your post, here is some info you could have included with that post.

Gamil Rodrigue Gharbi born to Algerian Liess Gharbi and former nun Monique Lepine.Oct 26 1964

More about Marc Lepine
http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/crime/spree-killers/marc-lepine/

There's absolutely no way anyone can vote for a minority government. If everyone thinks that way, it'll be a majority for one of them. If everyone is thinking they don't want the Libs in a majority, they probably won't vote for the Libs, and then we'll see a Con majority. We only have one vote each. For it to be a minority Lib gov't, there are going to have to be enough people voting Lib.

On Ron Erwin:

I love reading posts by people I disagree with. I find it interesting to listen to different viewpoints and find out how people come to their conclusions on any given topic. I often go to the Fox News website just to see how they interpret a particular event. Ron Erwin, unfortunately, is a different story.

He is an individual who seems capable of only extreme rhetoric, bigoted comments, and name-calling, all without any sense of logic, intelligence, or class. I think Ron Erwin has every right to say what he wants, however, I wonder why the Tyee is giving him the forum to let his tongue go like he has.

It is the Ron Erwin's that will destroy this forum. How many people do you think read an article on the Tyee, are interested in it, and then go to read the comments, see a Ron Erwin post, and are so disgusted that they give up on the Tyee altogether. If the Tyee wants to become one of those boards that are so unmoderated that basically anything goes, you can count me out. It has gotten to the point that I visit the Tyee less and less ... and I even have a Tyee shirt!

In my opinion, if the Tyee wants to become a serious media oulet in BC, they need to do something about moderating the comment sections better. Otherwise, it will be the same six or seven people posting back and forth to each other like many other boards.

Thanks, cuinn, and I loved reading yourprairie boy version as well. :-)

oops...sorry, getting sleepy...should read "prairie boy version" :-)

Woddy, good work, the fact that all Canadian men are stuck with this mans legacy is telling.
I have always been afraid if the Liberal Intelligentsia. They are truly SCARY.

To Bobb999: If you are still there, thanks for the time and info. It's refreshing to hear from someone with your insights and knowledge. I'll keep an eye out for you here, and in other places. Redrivergirl, appreciated your commentaries as well.

I have a different fear. I think if Harper forms a minority government this time, he'll govern moderately because he has to. The following election, he'll use that "moderate" record to run for a majority. If he wins that majority, then we'll see the real Harper.

I can't vote for a Harper led conservative party, not now, not ever.

If Martin Luther king and others could hear what was being passed as free speech today they would turn over in their graves. It is actually quite simple, people have a right to make arguments and have opinions based on their life experience, people have a right to disagree and people have a right to not respond
. What people do not have a right to do is break the law in doing so, comments that are violent and threatening racist bigoted etc are not needed and should not be tolerated at any cost.They devalue the forum and should not
be passed as free speech but should be treated like anyone who breaks the law. We have clear laws both written and unwritten on how to treat those who act badly. We have laws in society that govern public speech so others
cannot get hurt in the process, their are many ways to express an opinion or idea without advocating harm to others or utter belligerence. The tyee is forum is like a bar , a private place where folks can talk openly to each other But if you think of a bar situation their is always that one drunk stupid guy walking around shouting off his mouth and looking for trouble, the people in the bar can ignore him or waste time confronting him, or he gets to out of hand
and gets tossed out, maybe for good if he's a repeat offender and can't grow up.

People can respond to folks like Ron if the like but he is a clown and he is only here to antagonize anyone at any expense, although it is very temping to point out what a dork he is just ignore him as his only goal is to direct the conversation in non productive directions. The fact that folks like him exist show just how important these forums are, lets have action based forums and not explain ourselves to clown's like Ron

"If I had my way I would have nuked the entire country"

Ron's quote of the Iraq war, the guy is a nut job just here to play games, don't play with him.

If any other situations we would have nothing to do with this kind of person , so why waster your energy here.

BTW their are ways to confront stupid comments and its very effective and has a cost to the outlet. Check it out. Don't let the MSM get away with racism or hateful comments.

http://www.cbsc.ca/english/complaints/howto.htm

We must not get sucked into this mediocrity by the MSM, they keep telling us that it will be a minority gov and nobody cares etc, they are actually trying to kill voter turnout. Don't take this election for granted if we see a Harper majority it could roll back the clock 30 yrs for this country. We cannot let it happen, many do not vote so make sure you bring some folks to the polls with you, if you bring out only 5 people you are doing
a great service, remember many ridings including mine were only won by a few hundred votes.

Lets take things serious and get the vote out, unless you want a BUSH government in Canada, lets find ways and ideas to get the vote out, find a way to help out.

Stuart---( if we see a Harper majority it could roll back the clock 30 yrs for this country)
Explain how and why this will occur,love to hear the spin you will attempt to put on this ridiculous remark.

Glad you asked Woody,

The how is easy, our system is built only to function on a total dictatorship model.
A majority government can basically do as it wishes both provincially and federally. Sometimes organized citizens can make the dictatorship of the day be moderate or back off and sometimes a tired and lazy public cannot, so lets recap, a majority can do great harm if given the chance and has in the past, citizens can fight back but its much
more effective to fight to keep them out of power than to fight with them in power.

As far as rolling back the clock, the Federal Conservative Party (notice they removed the work progressive from their name) emulates the leadership style of Gordon Campbell and company and the Old style camp of Mike Harris,
many have said so at the party the BC libs threw them while in town,
'
If you follow Steven Harper and his record on what he has said and done he is the equivalent of the US replican party and is a social conservative and is a pure neo con .

Canada is a respected nation world wide and viewed as a humane place where international laws are upheld, we do not want to be more American, we are proud of who we are and not ashamed of Canada like Harper. Harper will deliver Canada into deep integration with the US , he wants to standardize are military, tax system, social systems and environment and government policies, in short make the tax system more regressive for the poor and middle class while rewarding Canada's most beautiful and cutting programs and social fabric to pay for it, it would love to have giant ghetto's and segregation like the US.

I quote

"“We should have been there shoulder to shoulder with our allies. Our concern is the instability of our government as an ally. We are playing again with national and global security matters.'' (Canadian Press Newswire, April 11, 200“

Check out the mind of Steven Harper and get ready for the hard right turn.

http://www.canadiandemocraticmovement.ca/displayarticle378.html

This BUSH like thinking my dear frinds is called rolling back the clock(Ron Erwin like behaviour) unless your a right wingnut.

Stuart, I wish you would stop speaking for Steven Harper, you don't have a clue.
He wants to reduce GST from 7% to 5%, he wants to give parents with children under 6 a $1,200.00 per year allowance for daycare.
I am conservative, and I can tell you that you are merely making it up as you go.
That's okay though, you are being totally ineffective anyway. Nobody believes yous scary tactic this time.
Most people have warmed up to Mr. Harper.
What axe are you grinding anyway, there is no hope for your Toronto NDP Party anyway.
But please carry on with your lies. I don't know how you live with yourself lying all the time. I would be guilt ridden.

True, Turvey did get the DEYAS needle exchange going. But Gordo provided the zoning. Whether or not the creature saves lives is debateable. Afterall, if the junkie is intelligent enough to go to DEYAS for a syringe why can't he buy his own?

Stuart, the Cons won't turn the clock back 30 years. Harper and Martin aren't that different at all when it comes to policy.

Look, the Liberals have lied constantly during election campaigns. They wrap themselves in the flag and spout from Mao's red book every campaign and then when they're elected they forget all that.

Right now the right is ascendant within the Liberal party and it makes them no different than the Cons except that at least there are still some Reformers who will side with the NDP on the subject of electoral and parliamentary reform.

You could just as easily have written this regarding Paul Martin's Libs. They've had 12 years and except for Chretien keeping us out of Iraq what have they done that would appease a left-wing voter?

The GST reduction and the $1,200 a year to help with kids will do more for poor families than anything the Libs will do. Because they've promised child care for 15 years and it never happened. They've also promised GST reductions and tearing up NAFTA and to protect medicare etc. They're liars. If you want left-wing policies there's only one party that will deliver them.

I think the Libs are simply trying to scare NDP voters by making Harper out to be a monster. Don't fall for it, vote NDP.

Oh course that's what their trying to do but in BC it will not work, everyone knows its a 3 way horse race here.

I am an NDP supporter , I was just making a case to get the vote out. It seems that to many people are talking about a minority gov and I think we should not focus on imagined outcomes or polls but get busy.

Martin in no left winger for sure but it seems that way when sitting by Harpers side, You say their policies are not that different , well we don't really know as Harper has never had power, judging from his comments and his shameful unpatriotic appearance on FOX media regarding Iraq I beg to differ, Harper is for elitist Canada and his leadership
will be similar to Gordon's in BC.

Lets dismiss some BS, a 2 penny cut to the GST really only benefits the wealthy, such a tiny savings is only effective on big ticket items like boats and luxury cars etc. You would have to spend in excess of 40 K to see any real benefit,

and the 1200 a year day care only benifits those wealthy enough to have have one parent stay home, this 1200 will be saved by gutting away public daycares that are more universal and accessible to all income brackets. See how far 1200 goes to paying for private care vs. a universal system, once again healthy and wealthy.

hey frank good points, gordo promised he wouldn't sell B.C. Rail and he did, he also promised more transparency and this is one of the most secretive governments we have had in 30 years, ask any honest reporter how long it takes if and when they get info back from their f.o.i. applications, it also costs a lot more now thanks to gordo.

My point is neo cons always promise one thing and do another once they get elected, harper is no different, to find out what he really is all about look at his speeches when he was a lobbyist for the corporate sector or some of the speeches that have been made to the americans.

Liberals campaign to the left and govern to the right, conservatives keep a lot of information to themselves until they are in power then try to control the amount of info the public gets and their friends in media help them every bit they can.

ursus, I can't argue with anything you said. Harper's NCC appearances and speeches should be Liberal ads.

I don't want to see a Cons government but they only have a 1% lead so that would mean a minority. I just don't think a Con minority would be any worse than a Lib minority. Neither can get any legislation passed without help from other parties. And I think the Cons would be much more willing than the Libs to make electoral reforms in return for support on some bills.

The Libs never fix anything because they benefit from being the party in power most of the time.

If Martin loses the Liberal knives will be out and that will be the end of our very very rich PM. I think the next Liberal leader will come from the other wing of that party especially if NDP voters don't vote Liberal, make the popular vote look as bad as can be for all those Lib delegates to think about when they're on their convention floor.

Stuart, the GST is a regressive tax, its Mulroney's baby. Its no friend of the poor. Any reduction helps the poor more than the rich because a higher percentage of their income is subject to it due to spending patterns.

And of course i don't argue with either of you guys about Harper's secret agenda. We all know he's not telling us everything he'd do. He didn't enter politics to reduce the GST.

Just to add, in 4 years Martin and the Libs will be polling around 25% as they fail to deliver on their promises once again and because people are tired of looking at them after 17 years. The Cons will then sweep to power in one of those landslides Canadians give them when they're fed up with the Liberals. Think Mulroney and Diefenbaker's electoral wins here. 200 seats wouldn't be beyond reason.

Or, they win a minority now, force the Libs to re-evaluate and voila, you have another Joe Clark scenario. Gov't eventually falls, a new, more-left-than-Martin, Liberal gov't takes power and Canada is spared neo-con policies from either party till sometime after 2020.

How could Canada survive going any further to the left than we already are ?
This is not the way to run a country that participates and competes with the World.
We don't have freedom of choice, surely freedom of choice is in the Charter somewhere.
I mean if Section 15 can be interpreted by the Liberals to guarantee gay marriages, then you can find whatever you want in this document.
I'll find it, and we can then toast the CRTC, CBC, Wheat Marketing Board, Inter provincial trade restrictions, freedom of professionals and trades persons to work anywhere in Canada, Dairy Marketing Board, Dept. of Northern and Indian Affairs, LCBO etc.
What a stupid idea it would be to add more layers to this mess.

See what I was saying, deep integration, check out Ron's dream Canada, no regulations, no restrictions whatsoever over the market, no restrictions over media content and ownership,

Ron can you sing God Bless America for us, I know you want to.

The rest of us can take a shower,

I'm sure Harper will happily add a new beuracracy to oversee bulk water sales to the US too Ron. Guess you'll be split on that one.

But as long as he's in a minority position he can only govern, he can't rule or do anything harmful.

Anyway Ron, why doesn't Harper tell all those farmers that will be voting for him that he wants to get rid of all the subsidies and marketing boards that protect them? I'm sure they'd love to hear they'll be competing directly with the heavily subsidized farmers in the rest of the world. I'm sure we can find a better way to spend the money.

Good one Frank, we all love Ron

The CRTC's mandate

Our mandate is to ensure that programming in the Canadian broadcasting system reflects Canadian creativity and talent, our linguistic duality, our multicultural diversity, the special place of aboriginal people within our society and our social values. At the same time, we must ensure that Canadians have access to reasonably priced, high-quality, varied and innovative communications services that are competitive nationally as well as internationally.
Yea what a waste of time right Ron, what Canadians need is more US TV for higher prices. I know Bill O'Reilly on 24/7 is a dream of yours. You US stripes are showing again.

ronnie you spew "I'll find it, and we can then toast the CRTC, CBC, Wheat Marketing Board, Inter provincial trade restrictions, freedom of professionals and trades persons to work anywhere in Canada"

I have news for you pal Alberta is the most protectionistic province in the country, I have two trades and in order to work in Alberta I have to have an Interprovincial TQ but an albertan can weld in B.C. with a B Pressure an alberta ticket, hardly any better then the PWP 7 the BCP 100 which is the B.C. equivelent or any other ticket in Canada!

I have the Alberta B Pressure and the Saskatchewan ticket right now so I know what I am talking about! ALBERTA IS THE WORST PROVINCE IN CANADA FOR BEING PROTECTIONISTIC YET THEY WANT TO BRING IN FOREIGN WORKERS WITH NO APPRENTICESHIP???????

ursus--- says hardly any better then the PWP 7 the BCP 100 which is the B.C. equivelent.
Hardly better but it is better. You make it sound that in order to weld in Alberta that a B pressure is a requirement, when in actuality if you wish to weld in a fab or machine shop a standard TQ will suffice. A "B"pressure is speciality ticket.
How good is your ticket in Quebec?
You stated you have two trades tickets,what is the second one?
If Alberta is so protectionists and obviously you don't approve of their trade rules why do you bother to work there when there is all kinds of work in B.C. You fibLibers sure like to try to pull the wool over peoples eyes

I'm just curious, if the Libs win a minority government, do you think Harper will be ousted? And Mackay become the new Cons. leader? Then we have once again, for the umpteenth time, another attempt to re-vitalize what has now morphed into the present Conservative government...another attempt for them to be the new improved kid on the block.

They are just going to continue to morph until they win, like a malignant cell.

My real worry with Harper is the hidden American influence backing him...determined to get him into power...and determined to keep him there. I know Martin has those American ties as well but it just seems the Americans would prefer Harper and that is what is so dangerous in a Harper win.

Lynn not intending to be offensive here, the only reason your fearful of change is due to the libs being in power and control for so long they have people programed not to trust or believe in any one but them.
Their like a bad smoking habit,people are fearful to quit but once they do, they wonder, why did they put up with that filthy habit for so long.

Israel almost did not exist, the Arabs and the Palestinians had no intention of following the UN mandated two state solution and thought they could easily crush the upstart Israelis. The majority of Palestinians left voluntarily, because they thought the fighting would be over in a couple of weeks, well they guessed wrong. Every inch of Israel has had Jewish blood spilled on it and that is why they are not interested in giving it up. The Palestinians have shown a remarkable ability to snatch defeat for the jaws of victory. Did you ever notice the patch that Araft wore on his shoulder? It showed a map of Palestine and there was no room for Israel, that was his end goal and the end goal of most of the Middle East. The Pals are going to have to let go of the “right of return” It may not be nice or fair, but there is no way that Israel is going anywhere else.

Just recently Iran called for Israel to be wiped off the map. The Israeli’s are far from perfect, but they are a damm sight better than their neighbours. They are the only country other than Jordon (sort of and at least they offer citizenship to Pals in the West Bank) that has relinquished any territory. The Arab governments also don’t give a damm about the Palestinian/Israeli issue and merely use it to distract their population from their own screwups. Also Israel is the only country in the area to actually care how it treats people and agonizes over issues. The reason the Media report stuff in Gaza and West bank is because they can, in the rest of the Middle East they will end up in prison or in a Wadi with a bullet in the back of the head. Look what is happening in Central Africa and compare to the media reports from Gaza. Central Africa makes Israel/Palestine look like a schoolyard fight.
Frankly the Israelis and the Palestinians should tell the ME and world to piss off and work together.

I take no offense, woody. I'm not afraid of change... but I am of quicksand :-) which is what I think Harper will be. With Martin, Canada will sink at a slightly slower rate, that's all.

Great pretenders...and dangerous...both of them.

I wouldn't vote for either one of them.

Stephen Harper’s attendance at the 2003 Bilderberg meeting has much significance, as it indicates that the global ruling class has placed its long-term bets on Harper.

And that is what I am fearful of.

I agree, Lynn. Hopefully, Martin will get in, in a minority gov't with increased NDP seats. If we can stay the monopoly capitals until the chickens come home to roost over the border which should be during the next year and a half, a lot of suffering will be averted.

Ideally, I would like to see the NDP in, for they are who we were twenty years ago before the attack on our way of life and what we stand for began.

the B Pressure is just that a pressure ticket, if you weld on pressure vessels or piping like I do it is required, how is it better then the PWP 7? Alberta btw might be adopting the B.C. Apprenticeship program!

When the B Pressure expires the renewal test is the f3 f4 which is easy compared to the PWP 7, I do not consider the B to be a specialty ticket, the Inconel ticket yes, and chrome or titanium!

I can weld in Quebec, just have to do the tests! Anyone who welds for the building trades has to have all the tickets to work on boilers piping etc, the tickets are Provincial and the Interprovincial allows us test anywhere in Canada! My other trade is Ironworker!

Alberta will not recognise any other Provincial ticket or TQ but B.C. will allow a B Pressure in B.C., whats with that.

Most of us work in Alberta because we can make more money, tradesman are leaving B.C., I am not talking about people who build houses but people who are qualified to build pulp mills boilers refineries etc.

gordo has been very succesful at bringing down wages here and Alberta is crying for highly skilled trades people and the wages reflect that, more money to be made there, doesn't mean I have to live there, and we supplied Alberta with jobs for years!

Most of the fab shops don't pay as good as field work, many are nothing but sweat shops and where is there all kinds of work in B.C. for pressure welders? I am not talking about 15 dollars an hour either!

The fact seems to be that we Provinces have all kinds of vested interests to protect.
To protect our family and homes from being washed away from us.
Is not local power superior to a statist central power master when we can obviously see that we know what is good for us in our area.
Or is it a global contest to see who can nationally come to the table with a collective vision to compete and WIN because we are innovative Canadians that have pr oven during the Second World War that we are warriors that can fight with anyone ?
I think we all speak out of both sides of our mouths on these matters, but ( oh the ever but ) I have more hope in more hop in a change of leadership from a pragmatic intelligentsia from Ontario to a more practical leadership based on a more universal Canadian proactive view from the rest of Canada.
It won't be SCARY.

Colin, nice to see you posting again. Always appreciate your input.

Anyway, on Israel, I don't have a dog in this fight so I'm just a bystander. But it seems to me the problem is not the Palestinians. Its somebody deciding to give someone else's country away.

I look at it as to how I would feel if the US and UN decided to give Canada away. Fighting back for my own country makes me a terrorist? Wearing a patch on my shoulder of a map of the old Canada with no room for the newcomers makes me intransigent?

France lost Alsace-Lorraine in 1870, they didn't forget nor did they say oh well, the Germans have a right to it. They got it back in 1919.

I would think everything I did to get my country back is justified no matter how barbarous. The French Resistance wasn't a ladies debating club either.

Now how come you guys tell us the Cons aren't scary yet don't believe us when we say a federal NDP gov't wouldn't be scary :)

What the UK has learned with the IRA is that you cannot occupy a country and win it over with force or brutality, the more brutal you are the more recruits you make and the more you increase the insurgency, the most dangerous
people on earth are the ones with nothing left to lose, those people who are not paid military personal but people not willing to roll over.

The only solution is Peace, Peace and courage from normal citizens who dare to oppose their militaristic leaders and people with the courage to reach out. People who are willing to count the dead children on both sides, people who still have humanity left in them and do not look at the world as a strategic map, the empire is falling folks and the people of this world are rejecting this old school way of thinking.

The old powers stand alone in this world and the entire continent is going left at an alarming rate, the US dept is reaching record levels and the US military is spend on a failed occupation, this country could never stomach a open pro American gov for a long period of time, and Colin people like Svend because he speaks up on uncomfortable issues while others in his class never cross the line, I am so proud of our soldiers as a
compliment to the UN and not end up US lackies as Harper would have them. BTW the NDP wants to improve the incomes and standard of living for soldiers.

ursus where isn't there work in B.C.? Im aware of a young ticketed carpenter whose pay scale is in the $45-$50
per hour pay scale,plus perks, not seasonal either, year round, that’s probably around your pay scale,.Which incidently, Im in favor of working people getting a good and decent wage
I did not state that you should live in Alberta.
Lynn in order to end this Liberal “culture of entitlement” we have to vote in anyone but the Liberails,Im not at this point of time advocating which of the others to support, Conservative, N.D.P. or Greens, Im not sure myself who I will support, but for sure it won’t be the Liberanos.

We have been voting for COKE or Pepsi for the last 125 yrs now, folks may want to try something new.

Frank

Well I remember being in the Alsace in the 80’s and the French were still “occupying” it with French troops stationed on German soil, it’s so mixed there that the Germans have a very francophone accent and the French have a more guttural accent.

The Palestinian never actually had a country, it was always controlled by someone else, in fact one can argue that Jordon is a Palestinian country that is being controlled by the Hashemite’s.

The UN offered a solution and the Arabs/Palestinians decided on a military solution to their “problem” so I don’t have much sympathy for them. Previous to the UN mandate both sides did some unpleasant stuff to each other. Here is a link for background

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_UN_Partition_Plan

Frankly I think Israel should have given the Pals, Gaza and a big chunk of the Sinai after 1967 and kept most of the West Bank.

The Jews learned the hard way that any state is better than no state, the Palestinians would rather hold onto to their dream then to have a state. But they are not alone in Delusion, the Arab world seems remarkable adept at it. Ask Egyptians how they “won” the 1973 war. Part of the problem seems to be that anyone who lets go of the fantasy and starts to work out real solution and talks to the Israelis ends up dead.

The biggest problem facing the Pals is their brain-drain. I have meet quite a few Palestinians who have left, all are bright and well educated. The Pals need to ditch the armed struggle, invest in education infrastructure. Turn Gaza into a business centre along the lines of Singapore or Hong Kong. Then the Israelis will want to work with them.

The problem with this area is simple, two very different people who don’t trust each other and don’t want to share both want to live in the same house. There is no “nice and fair answer” to this problem, no matter what happens somebody will suffer.

I'm with you Stuart and redrivergirl, time to try something different than COKE or Pepsi...I just wish the NDP had a little more fizz. :-)

Which is my general complaint, federally and provincially,...this is their moment and they don't seem to want to take it on....they should be loudly blasting Pepsi and COKE for their Made in America corrupt brew. Our country's sovereignty is at great risk here and they seem unable to effectively and passionately articulate that.

Still, they have my vote...and Layton certainly deserves recognition for the progressive social legislation he wrenched out of Martin.

woody: I agree with you in ending the Liberal culture of entitlement...but don't worry Harper has every intention of wearing the same arrogant crown... The American Royal Court of Global Entitlement is just waiting in the wings to help their favourite Canadian minion assume the throne.

Colin, the Palestinians may not have had a state but they had been continuously living there under the Ottomans and then LoN mandate. There had been no Jewish state there since the Romans destroyed it.

My house is not a country either but if tomorrow someone else moved into it I wouldn't agree to share or get along and if the authorities wouldn't do anything about it I'd commit terrorist acts until they were dead.

So what is the justification for the Israelis to move there and take over at all? For the Palestinians to even contemplate being happy with their treatment at the hands of the Israelis there would have to be justification. Saying we had a country here 2000 years ago is not going to cut it. The natives of Canada in fact have a better justification for demanding non-natives leave. There's a brain drain because the Palestinians are a conquered people who refuse to submit to their conquest. There will be no economic development as long as there are terrorists exploding bombs and helicopters retaliating with missile strikes. It doesn't matter if economically the Palestinians would be better off to work with the Israelis, its a red herring. Cooperation does not flow from the barrel of a gun, nor from building walled settlements and erecting military checkpoints.

When Napoleon invaded Spain and occupied it for 6 years the Spanish people didn't think how wonderful it was to be conquered by a more advanced nation and how this could mean more economic opportunity, they fought back using terrorist methods. Its just natural. Perhaps after 50 years they would have accepted the conquest and there wouldn't be a Spain. Same with Alsace, the French weren't forced to fight for it, they could have just accepted reality.

The only solutions for the Palestinians are to continue to fight back, forever if necessary, accept they lost their homes and either live on the worst land on the fringes of Israeli society or leave altogether.

I'm sure there are Palestinians in all 3 groups and I have to support all 3 decisions as legitimate responses.

Brain:
Hey,you're welcome.
...Invite someone to talk about things near to their heart and it can be hard to shut them up!

On Erwin: He's received a reprieve? Darn. The Tyee is too kind this time.

Something about the specter of a Harper gov't
that's occurred to me lately regards some
frightening judicial and related decisions that could come out of a Conservative gov't.

For instance, I imagine Marc Emery is concerned about the prospects of a new Conservative External Affairs Minister. Emery faces extradition to the US for selling mail order marijuana seeds (a practise our Cdn system no longer deems suffiently serious to warrant arrests anymore under Cdn laws).

How do you think Emery would fare under an External Affairs min. under Harper, who has
been beating the drum for stiffer penalties for
drug violations? And if the portrait of Harper as "friend to the US" has validity,I'm sure he'd be happy to extradite Emery just to please the Bush admin.!Polls suggest a majority of Cdns oppose the extradition of Emery...Unfortunately, the same stats may not apply to Conservative voters' opinions on the subject.

Imagine Harper's potential take on cooperating with the US in other controversial too areas such as "extraordinary renditions" of supposed terrorist suspects: letting CIA planes refuel
here while transporting suspects through Cdn. air space en route to being tortured in some
middle eastern or east European country.

Not to say Martin's Libs' behaviour has been exemplary (eg. the Arar case), but I can picture things only worsening under Harper.

The more I contemplate a Harper win, the more worried I become.

hey woody I don't know what the union sector carpenters are getting but it is probably closer to 35 for the total package, both the union and non-union sector in B.C. are getting minimum in overtime premiums which is where we make our money! When we go to Fort McMoney we work lots of hours, I have worked many 24/ 4 schedules tho I don't prefer them, specially when it is -40 or -50 with a wind blowing on night shift, not nice!

That is 24 days on 4 off, 24 on 4 off, my preference is 18/3, not interested in anything less to be honest, if I am going to be away from my family and home then I am going to do it for the most money I can make with my qualifications! Australia is crying for trades as is most of Europe from what I have read, Northern Africa is quite interesting, they are paying a lot of money for skilled trades in some countries!

From what I have seen of the non-union sector they like to pay a few very well to manage/supervise and pay the rest as little as possible, one of the last jobs I worked on in B.C. a few years ago was both union and non-union on the same site which is fairly common and the kids I talked to were quite unhappy with their wages, in fact last I heard one had signed up for an apprenticeship with a union.

The union building trades were considered closed shop because you used to have to apprentice to get in, or have a tq in a related trade, then you worked as a probational journeyman for so many hours. I don't really know how it is in B.C. now as I have no interest in working here, partly because of the changes made to WCB!

Construction can be very dangerous and if a person has to fight for years to get money out of WCB why work here when you can work in a much safer environment like the Tarsands Projects where it is at the other extreme from most jobsites in B.C., very very safety conscious with minimul injuries considering the man hours!

Just of the press of the US occupation and success of the elections in Iraq, occupation is a crime and has never been effective , people get in the way . The old way of thinking is coming to an end, look the left was
right about Iraq, F**ck the military spin success stories, this is the vision of a conservative success, we are seeing the corrupt regime falling apart in the US now. Tom Delay and others are falling.

"
In addition to the 30 deaths, the Muqdadiyah attack wounded at least 36 others, according to an official at the interior ministry. It occurred after assailants fired mortars on the mourners, forcing them to take cover in the cemetery, The Associated Press reported. A bomber wearing an explosive vest then blew himself up among them. The cemetery was strewn with body parts and tombstones were covered with blood, news agencies reported.

. Around Baghdad today, Iraqi security forces set up checkpoints to search for Mr. Jabr's sister. But in Khadhamiya, a large Shiite district, a stationary and unmanned car bomb ripped through an Iraqi police patrol at about 10:30 a.m., killing at least five and wounding 15 others, the interior ministry said. It was unclear how many victims were police officers.

Insurgents detonated at least three other bombs throughout the city, but it is not known how many casualties they caused. Also today, gunmen killed a senior official of the Iraqi oil ministry as he drove through the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amariyah about 8 a.m., interior ministry officials said. The attack also killed the official's son and wounded their driver.

And yes Lynn, Layton should come out with a strong platform, a hard stance on justice and sovereignty issues, start playing like a winner and not someone looking for a few extra seats, people respond to strong leaders.

Frank
I understand your point, however the Palestinians are unlikely to win and the 2nd infitada has been a dismal failure. They are worse off then when they started. Sharon dumped Gaza which is useless to Israel in order to consolidate their hold on the West bank. Most of the jobs which were available to Palestinians in Israel are now being done by other nationalities. In fact some of the biggest employers in Gaza were the settlers.

Hamas is certainly more organized than Fatah, but once in firm control, I doubt they will be willing to leave when the population tires of them.

It is a disputed point as to how many Palestinians lived in the area prior to WWII. Ottoman census records were not terribly accurate by that time. There was apparently an attempt to resettle Palestinians into the area to increase their claim when they realized that the area was to be carved up.

The one thing I came to realize while reading about this area is that both side have claim and counter claim, both sides twist the numbers and facts to the point that it becomes very difficult to find the truth. I take figures and claims form both sides with a large bag of salt.

Stuart
I don’t agree with your assessment of Iraq, but agree that Layton is playing the lame duck, I think he is playing the type of game which may work in Toronto City council, but does not work on the national stage.

The NDP under another leader could be seeing a significant raise in popularity, but Jack leaves people cold, I hear that statement from people all the time.

Colin, fair enough, like I said this isn't my area so I can only stand on principle, I can't get into the minutia of it all.

On principle I think creating a Jewish state on someone else's land was a terrible idea, unless it had been Germany's.

I would imagine that this will not be solved by any diplomacy, it will take at least a hundred years before Palestinians will be able to forget and move on. And even after saying that its been even longer since the natives here lost their land and in spite of being educated and working among the "conquerors" in all time the wounds are not completely healed.

Wow some rather shallow thinking comments here...

First the liberal party of Canada is not leftwing, let's get that clear right now. Their actions speak to that. They are clearly to the left of Conservatives, which of course is not hard as most of them are so far rightwing.

The NDP, Liberals and Conservatives have all had their kicks at the can. The Mulroney years brought us the Chretien years. Both were just as corrupt, inept and pathetic in outcome.

The NDP has a so-so record at best in provinces where it formed the government. In BC of course their policies and inability to get things done brought us the equally lousy BC Liberals.

Why are Canadians such gluttons for punishment? Why do they continually reward failure by voting for the same three parties? Each election the big three promise to fix this and that, and when the next election comes around they once again claim they are the party to fix the same things they promised to fix last time. It's insane and really not needed.

We already see the vote blocking taking form in Canada with people holding their noses and voting to block either the liberals or conservatives.

Elections should be like job interviews. Would you rehire someone you let go before? Would you not seek out new voices, new ideas and try fresh faces? Of course you would. So this election, drop the big three as they don't deserve our support.

Vote Green, CAP, CHP, independent or one of the other small parties. Give them the chance to shine or sink.

Fair comment Colin, I don't like assessments, I only see what's happening on the ground, their were allot of conservatives that praised Reagan and still do but if you ask anyone who lived in Central America they would describe the decade of hell and repression. Terrorism and anti US sentiment has never been so high,
even in ally countries like Canada , I went to a US junior hockey game and folks just showed up to booo the American kids, kind of scary to see so many angry Canadians. In a European poll 82% of people said that BUSH is the biggest threat to global security.

I think Jack and the NDP should lay out a bold platform, a platform that speaks to the masses and not get negative just separate yourself from silly COKE and Pepsi parties trying to wooo us with 1% cuts to GST and daycare etc, the Libs and Con are teetering around 30 - 33 % while the NDP sit around 15 - 18 %, if
Jack came out hard everyday with a new promise this thing could get interesting. It's like he only thinks he can get to 20%, I say go for it.

If he wins he wins, if he loses he does not have to worry about the platform , but he will have pushed Paul Martin to the left to buy votes.

I am writing the NDP platform, imagine if Jack said the following .

I am dreaming of a New Canada where everyone shares equally in our wealth and prosperity.

Where the min wage is enforced at 12 per hour from coast to coast ,
Where small to midsize business has the lowest tax rate in the G8
Where health and education are free and accessible to all.
Where we find savings in regulating the skyrocketing cost of drugs.
Where are military are paid and equipped properly to the standards they should be.
Where our military has a proud tradition of supporting only UN sanctioned missions.
Where we will never enter illegal wars and occupations and we will pull out of Haiti
etc
Where we will maintain control of our natural resources and energy and not sell out our future and sovereignty.
Where muti nationals will be required to manufacture in Canada or pay higher tax rates on imports if off shoring our good paying jobs.
Where we will build local economies and not ship our products half way around the world
Where we will have a constitutional ban on water exports and protect our natural environment by converting to green energy.

Just watch Canadian CEO's and the Fraser Pimpstituate line up to complain and boost his popularity

Stuart, It's lucky for the Toronto NDP that you are not writing their policies.
The 15% they are polling would drop to 2%.
Your ideas would lower our standard of living to that of an African nation.
You can't possibly really believe that these washed up socialistic ideas would work in our Global flat earth.
Canadians would reject a party with ideas like yours, even more so than they already have.

Ron, did you actually read his list? There's nothing in there that would cause economic collapse at all. They're not even that socialist, historically speaking, they're well within the range of "capitalism with a human face".

As for public support, I think Stuart's platform is pretty good. I would like to add raising the basic personal exemption to about $20,000.

Stuart,

If he wins he wins, if he loses he does not have to worry about the platform , but he will have pushed Paul Martin to the left to buy votes.

I am writing the NDP platform, imagine if Jack said the following .

I love this.

This is the only sane way before us. Canada can do this because we have the natural resources to do so.

I hope you email it to the NDP. I think it is what they stand for in actuality. Most Canadians would love a platform that actually did these things.

I think Australia's min wage is 12 and they have 6 weeks vacation every year, although, they are experiencing the same attack right now as we are. Like Canada they had a strong infrastructure and prosperity. We have suffered living so close to the US. All other industrial nations have far more generous societal benefits than we, with the exception of the US.

Well done. Someone needs to put that on a t-shirt, Stuart, and give it to Mr. Layton. (including Frank's suggestion of raising the basic personal exemption to about $20,000). :-)

I agree, redrivergirl. I just wish someone, somewhere... running in this bland election.... would say what Stuart has written out loud.

great idea frankie-boy. will you show us the location of your moneytrees now?

The current polls show a trend that I am happy with.
The Liberals stalled a month ago. The NDP get their usual weak support.
The Greens are rising in Ontario.
The Conservative are slowly but surely solidifying a base of support everywhere.
SES Research in partnership with CPAC are giving us very up to date polls that seem to reflect a sense of optimism about the Conservatives fortunes.
There is another site ( thanks to Working Man ) called Nodice that has the same results.
They don't poll the same people everyday, so there seems to be a trend.
Maybe this is it, I know polls fade in accuracy at the end, but so far I'm happy.

Elliot, Harper and I have one growing together. Now which one on the list do you think would break the bank? Your boy Harper after all, says he agrees with many of them.

Ron, do you really think people will stay mad at the Libs for 3 whole weeks? Its only corruption you know? Since when do Canadians care about that longer than a week? Somehow you have to avoid seeing a Liberal get arrested, that boosts the popularity of those types at the federal and provincial levels.

it works for svendo.

and premier drunko and premier's relative-o and premier's buddy-o and his finance minister-o and deputy premier-o and Basi-o and Virk-o

Thanks for the support guys and gals, the fact that Ron Erwin hates my platform means it
probably appeals to 98% of Canadians.

On a more serous note, this election counts , I will fire of an email to the NDP asking for
some bold platform statements etc, why the hell not, the Green party released an entire platform of its own. . No more of this lets elect a few more NDP MLA's crap, lets make bold statements and see where the chips fall. In the last election if the NDP secured about 1-2% more of the vote we would have secured about a dozen more seats nation wide.

I think folks are so scared of conservatives they vote Liberal as an alternative as they feel their the only party that can win etc, this is so wrong. Struggle is about fighting and losing and fighting and losing and fighting and winning. Look across all South America at what's happening and even Mexico is about to go left, Most Canadians
reject conservative values and vote against them. We just need to erode maybe 10-12% away from the Liberal camp and we win, we just need to show Martin as the Neo Con he is , so theirs your choice, vote for the extreme
right party , the right wing party or the center left party,

Another untapped resource is the people who don't vote at all say 25-30 %, people don't vote because they don't see a reason to, the more different and unique you are the more folks will see a reason to come out and vote.

Lets get busy and find ways to get the vote out, this forum should be about new ideas and creative ways to resist the corporate hold of the media, I sometimes have fun with certain people but come on folks , don't feed bread to the dogs, there lost and need out help. The only way to help certain folks is to not pander to them.

My riding was won by a conservative by only 122 votes, now imagine if I handed a list of say 500 - 1000 voters to the MLA and said hey Dawn Black, I will advise all these 1000 voters to put an X by your name IF

You sing of on my list of realistic demands , if she refuses to sing of on the list tell her you will take you list elsewhere, if she signs of on the list make her accountable to it , if elected.

you're changing the world stuey-boy. one lefty flake at a time.

sometimes have fun with certain people but come on folks , don't feed bread to the dogs, there lost and need our help. The only way to help certain folks is to not pander to them.

In the end they will just say thank you.

Check out the rich get richer article, then ask the MSM and CanWest why they missed this, lets start a newsletter, what CanWest missed today.

http://www.haveyouhadenoughyet.com/

Hey anyone want to go on a Ferry ride.

Taking a ferry straight from Vancouver harbour to Nanaimo via one of Glen Clark's fast ferries is only a year away. Maybe.

So says Steve Frasher, CEO of Washington Marine Group, which built the ferries for Clark for plenty and then bought them back from Gordo for peanuts. Frasher has been studying the posibilities. He concluded "the fast cats were not damaged goods, that people would in fact give them another chance despite all the demonization that occurred around the time of the elections," according to a story in the Province Daily Sportsmag.

The company is checking out locations in Vancouver harbour, where it would have to build its own docks. Target date to begin service might be December 2006 or early 2007.

Stuart, you should be an NDP worker. Hell, that's why I donate, in the hope there's people like you working for them.

Frank said

Thanks Frank, I appreciate the comment. I also donate and try to get the vote out in my own way. I talk to as many people as possible , email officials, put up signs, challenge the media and attack them via CRTC etc, I am always
looking for new ways to resist . What do you mean when you say NDP worker, I am looking to for your opinion on how you see me as being most effective, I really appreciate and value your feedback and ideas.
I have many but can always use a few more, What does an NDP worker look like.

What I mean is I think the party needs active people like you working within the party. Obviously I know nothing about you but I assume you're young and don't have kids etc.

Are you a member?

Not that young and have 2 kids, I have contributed but am not a official memeber.

Kids too? My god Stuart! Where do you find the time?

I suddenly feel like I need a nap... the arthritis you know.. damn whippersnappers