Below is a quote from the National Citizens coalition, an organization that has been around since the late 60's to lobby for American corporate interests or ambitions to increase or penetrate their market share. They successfully campaigned for U.S. oil corp. ownership of Alberta's resources in the 70's against Trudeau's energy policy, of which was more into spreading the wealth across Canada, a socialist notion that didn't fair too well for Albertan's who ran towards the brainwashing of the NCC and their notion that American investment (and ownership of which the profits head south) was Alberta's "best option" instead.

At one point in '75, the NCC had 77 billion in corporate market cap board members behind their organization. One can only imagine how much power is behind them today, or what they contribute to the Conservative party since Harpers challenge and reversal of a bill in 2001 through the courts that initially allowed the names of organizations and corporations that donated to political parties to be held public .

The NCC's agenda is for U.S. corporate profit, pure and simple, funded from U.S. oil and insurance corp's, along with Republican agenda's that include international economic market expansion (a polite expression for U.S. ownership) of our Canadian economy. This agenda might also include political control of our military spending with enough control over the governing party, even in a minority government, if the leader of the party was on board with the NCC’s agenda. Enter Stephen Harper.

To top it off, we have the Republican "shrub", Harper, our U.S. puppet plant robot, complete with NCC strings, as Harper was president of the NCC for 5 years, from late 1997 to late 2001.

morefreedom.org

This site has gone through changes, isn't racist like it once was, or as "puritan", but for the most part, the NCC's agenda has not changed. Weaken Canadian governance through changes in the law, institutions, anything that creates deregulation and privatization of all crown corps, boards, and public healthcare to increase U.S. market share.

But for us to complete a sellout we need to have crooked politicians who make money on the side, or are pure traitors at heart. Bribes, directorships, overseas accounts, however it happens, it happens. Enter David Emerson's 7 directorships (one from the Campbell gov’s sale of BC gas to Teresen which has since been bought out by Morgan Kindle which Carlyle now owns a chunk of) as a proven past in being a sellout traitor to American corps, is an excellent choice of crooked for Harper's sellout schemes.

It shouldn't be a surprise to see Emerson give the U.S. forest lobby and Republican party over a billion dollars that should have been ours over time, or see Harpers jacked up military spending and billion dollar arming border guard boondoggles.

I could go on about Stephen Harpers gun toting, warmongerin', red neck racist, religious nutter, war profiteering, Israel foreign policy lovin', corporate sellout empire ass kissin' fascist for certain individual rights ways, but one thing is transparent as glass... the Republican Stephen Harper has got to go. :-)

well said, brain. When I look at the photo that accompanies this article, it is hard to tell the two apart, bookends.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061127/hedges

Per Frank "Great, I'm so happy spreading democracy has been put down and we can go back to dealing with dictators like Saddam and the Taliban."
Not only did the US deal with dictators such as Saddam and the Taliban, they actively supported them. Saddam was the US's man, they were happy to support his rise to power. Don't you remember the infamous Donald Rumsfeld handshake with Saddam? The US armed Saddam for years.
I think you need a history lesson Frank!

Steve has got to be feeling very uncomfortable now that the winds have changed south of the border. That the Americans resoundingly rejected conservatism-in-action is hardly good PR for Harper's philosophy. It's going to be entertaining to see him try to spin this one.

Now that the adults are in charge of Congress, Canadians are not going to want to experiment with Harper's failed ideology.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Mr. Dobbin and the Tyee. It is so important that straightforward thinking and analysis be shared. We have a very opportune moment in history at this time to discuss the awful legacy of Bush, Harper & Blair, the 21st century's disaster of neoconservative ideology run amok. We need to build momentum to try as hard as we can to rescue demoncracy from a near death experience.

Worrywart:

Well I have been working on that with Frank, but I think that Frank preferrs "social studies" to HISTORY.

the brain
much appreciate your corporate analysis skills. Did you get my message the other day?

Dobbin:

Incorrect.

The Democrats will push for departure from Iraq.

Once the Iraq, draw-down begins, the opposition will also commence their own re-positioning of forces.

The Democrats have already gone on record as saying that they believe in the goals of the mission in Afghanistan. (though those 'goals' have moved around a lot since the original 'mission' OP Enduring Freedom:A) This support for the mission in Afghanistan will mean more troops going to the region certainly.

Will it mean the kind of real economic support that will be needed?

Will it mean a true reconciliation of the families of those killed in the past 5 years of action?

Will it include some real pressure against Pakistan to get the supply lines to the Taliban cut off?

Will such posturing bring the risk of expanded conventional war between India and Pakistan back onto the table? (US support for India and economic war against Pakistan) What about the risk of nuclear conflagration in that region?

By pouring more of the military action into Afghanistan, without materially changing the operations on the ground, things like following information supplied by "Northern Alliance" Afghanistan nationals as to what targets to attack with air power. Things like burning the poppy crops willy-nilly and expanding the economic collapse of many families. Things like ONLY supporting the Karzei government by using bombs, bullets and tanks.

This approach will only draw every fundamentalist muslim from everywhere into the region, guaranteeing 10-30 years of more warfare and converting much of the Afghan countryside into the modern equivalent of 1970's Beruit!

With Afghanistan as the only place to get a shot at an American soldier they will come, in ever increasing numbers.

In the 1979-1989 Soviet Afghan experiment, they too went in with 5000-7000 troops at first, then 4 year in they expanded to 40,000-60,000 troops. Finally at the end they had further expanded to over 100,000 Soviet troops, with and ANA (of that time) in excess of 100,000 more troops available.

These numbers did not work.

Why do we think that they will do it now?

All is right with Dobbin's world. Nancy will charm the Congress; fifty-one senators will vote as one; Iran will be spared; corruption is ended; the media are re-born; Bush is emaciated; Harper is doomed; medicare will thrive; labour will prevail; the military will be starved; and no doubt right-wing ideologues everywhere will prostrate themselves before right-thinking left-wing ideologues. Will someone at The Tyee please stop confusing wishful thinking with analysis? Giddyup, Dobbin!

Interesting note:
Herr Harpo's favourite book this summer was a biography of Joseph Stalin .
Figures .

Will someone at The Tyee please stop confusing wishful thinking with analysis

So, uh, do you think the U.S election was good for Harper?

worrywart and murdock,

Glad to see you guys want to go back to that. I think its great dictators have friends and supporters like worrywart and murdock.

Frank,

If you do not think the the Robotic Freak-of-nature Harper is a Rupublicanique neocon wannabe, My suggestion is that you take a moment to compare the look and feel of the Canadian Conservative and US Republican websites. It's as if the same webmaster developed them.

Neocons are basically selfish creatures that are allergic to the concept of community based thinking. They are inward looking, blinder wearing, polluting self-serving idealogues and there is no way in hell that mainstream Canadians deserve to be subjected to the embarassment of this PM and his Rona-witch side-kick for 30-odd% of the popular vote!

Frank,

You seem to think that by having our children bleed for others that the world will somehow be made 'right'?

I do not agree.

I do not think that by our going 'over there' with our righteous attitudes and killing some others that happen to not agree with the 'right' ones that we have chosen is any better than negiotiating with the 'so called' dictators.

It was the supports that Saddam got early on that kept him strong, when other voices - that opposed Nasser, could have removed him, while he was small and weak.

But no the US needed someone to counter-balance the loss of the Shah of Iran. So enter Saddam, when he became a liability, like all guard dogs tend to become in their later years, when the decide that scraps from the masters table are not enough and that the masters' childrens' meals would be better; then that dog gets 'put down'.

So you, Frank, would have our children die for the sake of Karzei's governance?

I certainly hope you are contributing those children and grand-children into the pyre when Karzei turns out to be the next Saddam...

Yea, the same way cigarettes are good for cancer victims .

At least now the former presidential and congressional "reign of error" will be accountable to some kind of legislative opposition. But don't expect too many changes in foreign policy although the bluster may be gone. The American public still wish to see some kind of justification for all the bad news out of Iraq and the Democrats are only seemingly more benign. They have a pretty sordid history of warmongering in this deeply religious, militaristic and conservative society to the south of us.

I'm trying hard to think what Mr. Mair could mean by Mr. Harper's "hardline neo-con agenda". Could it be the elimination of tax loopholes for the wealthy? Or the implementation of a national child-care benefit? It may be that Mr. Harper has continued with the Liberal war in Afghanistan, but aside from this, I'd like to get a complete list the "neo-con" policies he has implemented. Maybe a definition of "neo-con" would be helpful, too.

Frankfurter,

"Glad to see you guys want to go back to that. I think its great dictators have friends and supporters like worrywart and murdock."
How did you possibly assume my comments supported Saddam?

"Maybe a definition of "neo-con" would be helpful, too."

Nazi-lite!

Booker, perhaps the question should be reversed: do I think the U.S. election was bad for Harper? No. Bear in mind that the election was no more a smashing victory for the left than was our federal election a smashing victory for the right. These were not massive electoral swings. They were indicative of the mood of the electorate at a certain point in time. They do not guarantee that that mood will be sustained. While the Opposition and opposition have great fun styling Harper as a right-wingbat, it's not a given that such a characterization will stick. Harper obviously is smart enough to understand that the largest of all possible polls has shown that an American electorate is unsettled with the gunslingers. One might expect him to act accordingly going forward. If so, he will have learned something and thus benefitted from the U.S. election. In that sense it should be a positive for him. He's a virtual unknown in the U.S., so it's unclear to me how the Congressional swing will do him any dirt.
No doubt this forum will enlighten me.

Worrywart:

It is the normal response to the us-vs.-them attitude that folks like Frank have.

You are either with him, or you are one of the 'enemy', with the definition of that 'enemy' moving so fast as to make light have to work up a sweat...

worrywart,

Well, if you're against anyone removing brutal dictators from power I think its safe to assume you don't think they should be removed.

murdock,

And you seem to believe that the world will turn into a paradise of Sovereign Individuals if we support thugs instead of remving them from power.

NeoCon as defined by wikipedia...

Neoconservatism is a political movement, mainly in the United States, which is generally held to have emerged in the 1960s, coalesced in the 1970s, and has had a significant presence in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

The prefix neo- refers to two ways in which neoconservatism was new. First, many of the movement's founders, originally liberals, Democrats or from socialist backgrounds, were new to conservatism. Also, neoconservatism was a comparatively recent strain of conservative socio-political thought. It derived from a variety of intellectual roots in the decades following World War II, including literary criticism and the social sciences.

Irving Kristol,[1] Norman Podhoretz[2] and others described themselves as neoconservatives during the Cold War. Today, however, the movement's critics use the term more often than supporters [citation needed]. In fact, some people described as "neocons" today say that neoconservatism no longer exists as an identifiable movement.

Many associate neoconservatism with periodicals such as Commentary and The Weekly Standard, along with the foreign policy initiatives of think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Project for the New American Century (PNAC). Neoconservative journalists, pundits, policy analysts, and politicians, often dubbed "neocons" by supporters and critics alike, have been credited with (or blamed for) their influence on U.S. foreign policy, especially under the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

And yes murdock, in your world we'll all soon have unbreakable encryption which will lead to the end of nation-states and we will all move to our villas in Tuscany and Provence every year safe from government taxation and schooling. There will be no bad guys in the world because they'll be safe from taxation too and as we know, in your view government taxation and union membership is the root of all evil.

Frank says,

It always amazes me how these right wing non-thinkers live in a world of absolutes! Black & white - good and evil. This may have something to do with thier limited capacity to comprehend complex issues - like the world we live & the history of US foriegn policy.

Frank's simplistic responses unfortunately support my theory that right-wingers generally have very limited intellectual comprehension and react on basic issues only.

To quote Nelson Mandela "The man does not think right" - (as quoted on G. W. Bush)

If you don't have an answer to what I say working slog, ignore my post. If you've just joined the Tyee because you want to make personal attacks we don't need your words of immense wisdom.

But I do love your quoting wikipedia, you and murdock, our resident right-wing libertarian, will get along well together.

working slog

It might surprise you, but Frank is about the furthest thing from right wing that you could find.

He happens to think, like a lot of progressives, that we could do a lot more for our fellow men and women around the world.

I think Afghanistan has has its wells poisoned by the stupidity of the program and the neglect of the United States, but I'm with Frank's general sentiment about good people not sitting on their hands when they can help effectively.

Search back through the archives for some more of Frank's posts - he's no neocon.

Working Slog, so everyone that doesn't agree with your perspective is a neo-con?

Let me count the ways Herr Harpo has screwed Canada .
Softwood lumber capitualtion .A billion plus to the US to play with .
Bribing single moms to stay home for a whopping $388.00.net per year .
Insane justice measures that will never pass constitutional muster.
These A-holes are incapable of wrtiting decent passable legislation .
A non- existenet'Green Plan' that is no plan at all .
Changing the mission in Afghanistan from support to combat and extending the mission by two years with 6,hours of debate .
Yea, these morons are intelligent alright and they have done for bull shyte what Stonehenge did for rocks .

Oh,yea Frank is one of the best read writers here on Tyee and I appreciate all I have learned from this' gentleman' and believe me he epitomizes the word .
Frank is no neo-con anything .
His vision is much clearer than that .
I think you owe Frank an apology mister .

"Well, if you're against anyone removing brutal dictators from power I think its safe to assume you don't think they should be removed."
Were did I write that brutal dictators should not be removed?
My feeling is that the United States should have never supported Saddam's rise to power in the first place, and then provide further ongoing military assistance. A democratically elected government preceeded Saddam in Iraq. Read some history Frank you sound like a school kid.

worrywart:
You need to spend a little time boning up on a couple of literary devices called irony and satire.

Hannibal:
Have you seen Chantal Hebert? I think she's almost suggesting Rae will win the Liberal leadership; what do you think?

Frank,

please, please do not let your frustration in getting the argument across take you down the mud-filled, sh*t stained road that History1 has trod these past few weeks.

http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

http://www.netiquetteforums.com/

I try not to get into the whoflungpoo arguments, I try to stick with materials that will help to explain my position on a subjet.

I am neither right nor left, I will admit to libertarian ideas, but not so much so that chaos is the result.

working slog, welcome to the bloggosphere!

I try to look at this place as a text-version of a collection of bar stools, or some comfy chairs in a quiet corner of a pub. We chat, we discuss, we argue (sometimes calling names) but in the end all we can do is expand our awareness thru conversation with others.

Perhaps the way argument, in a Socratic, sense was supposed to be.

Remember that if you fling poo in a plastic bag at a running fan, it will come back at you!

To see what a discussion can turn into take a look at:
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/10/16/OperationBackfire/
or
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/11/01/MacDonald/

see if you can follow History1's logic?

Yea, Alci . Sure sounds like it to me .
Only weeks ago Chantel was saying that Iggy was the one to beat.
His missteps have cost him support in Quebec .
At the least this is a very interesting contest .
Hope Rae does manage to pull it off as all those disaffected dippers will slide on over to the Libs to ensure a Liberal victory .
Feeling is ABH (Anyone But Harper) at the moment in the heartland .
Only place they now have support is Alberta. Big surprise !

murdock, you've been calling me names for years and I always ignore you. if you want evidence I'll go back and copy and paste every single time you've belittled me over the years. And just to top it off I'll copy and paste how you call people names and then complain when someone else does the same back to you.

I call you a right-wing libertarian not as a "calling names" thing but because the book you've been pushing every discussion for years is considered a right-wing libertarian bible.

If I kept telling everyone to read Das Kapital I don't think I would react with mock shock and outrage if someone called me a Marxist.

No where that I know. But where did I write that I was a neocon or a supporter of Bush etc?

hannibal and Alci, thanks for the help but I was enjoying being called a neocon.

Hi, G. In answer to your question, you can start with David Emerson's directorship from Teresen for his role in the sale of BC Gas under the Campbell government. David Emerson epitomizes our provincial and federal governments need to pass legislation that prevents MP's and MLA's from becoming directors of corporations that have direct dealings with Canadian governments, either as customers, or buyers of government assets.

What you are asking comes down to the chronological history of Campbell's selloffs. His government has sold off BC Gas, BC rail, turned BC Hydro into an electricity importer instead of exporter (and has been importing electricity moreso than exporting for 4 years now), and is running BC ferries into the ground (through the privatization of BC ferry labour) to facilitate the full sell off of our provincial ferry system. Whatever BC owns in terms of crowns and resource monopolies, is up for sale, including BCAA and BC Hydro in time in whatever means it can. And while you know I'm not a proponent of monopolies to begin with, Glen Campbell is handing monopolies over outright to the private sector, hardly inviting competition at all in any regards.

What you are looking for requires research, which might take some digging into stories that are perhaps as old as 2 years on the Tyee and other places. Campbell has links to fish farm licences offered to his friends and although I don't know their names outright, others have dropped names and really, its not entirely difficult to find out who "owns" the fish farms in BC. Of all people, Rafe should know this one.

With medicare, recent P3's and private hospitals can also be links to Glen Campbells "friends", of which I know names were dropped in old threads on the Tyee, but can't remember the actual story itself, it was a while back. The same goes for contracts BC Hydro has signed guaranteeing 20% more than todays current prices for power over long timelines, to private corporate "friends", contracts that engrain BC Hyrdo's direction as an importer of power to private interests that are likely to be U.S. corps.

BC Hyrdo has one of two choices to look for in terms of generating future power. One is site "C" in BC, a proposal that will meet strong environmental opposition, even though current hydro dams have been viewed as beneficial to our province on the overall. The other, is with other types of power generation, including windfarms, geothermal, and tide power generation. What Campbell is doing instead, is offering power generation contracts to hydro power generation to Campbell's "friends". Again, until I see the names, I won't be able to make the connections.

What is obvious to me G, is who has benifited from the sale of BC gas. Its Teresen, owned by Morgan/Kindle, owned by Goldman Sachs and firms such as Carlyle, the same Carlyle group that hosts former directors and chairs as George Senior/Junior (now investors), Tony Blair (Britains PM), James Baker, Donald Rumsfelt, and various CIA spooks. Morgan/Kindle not only owns the capillaries (BC gas infrastructure servicing 40% of BC), it owns the viens and arteries, the major pipelines and pipeline expansions to Kitimat and Prince Rupert. British Columbians can rest easy, knowing that Bush and Co. is getting their fair share of what was once British Columbian profit.

Again, David Emersons name comes up not only with his involvement with the sale of Teresen, but his contract negotiations that funnel more than 400 million (454mil, if my memory serves me) to the whitehouse and Republican warchest with the remainder of the 1.1 billion going directly to america's logging company lobbies, according to Emersons version of softwood lumber "negotiations" that are "supposed" to benefit Canadians. To sellout to Bush and Co., you've got to get in a "professional".

Cont.

I have for you a tip in where to start looking to connect the dots, G. Follow the history of Thomas D'Aquilo, (think I have the spelling right) along with Emerson's history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Emerson
This link is worth a read. Not only is Emerson completely corrupt in my mind concerning how he has benefited from the sale of government intelligence through his rise to riches, his positions of power breed those who are ideologically likeminded criminals. To that end, look for what kind of powers his former positions have held, including chairman of "The council of Chief Executives" and president of "British Columbia Trade Development Corporation".

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but the Senate is not yet a done deal for the Democrat's. Joe Lieberman may become a Republican That would make the Senate 50/50 leaving Dick Cheney as the deciding vote if there is a tie. He has not yet ruled this out.
In two years the Americans will again vote for the Congress, one third of the Senate and the President.
I can't let you liberals claim total victory quite yet.

Great posts on this thread, The brain.

I think it is very important to keep in mind what The brain posted in regard to the NCC..and their vision for "The Agenda of Canada". Truly scary stuff.

Visions don't disappear overnight...nor do the complicated and concealed structures that have been insidiously put into place. There is a whole corporate undermatting that has been tightly woven to meet their ends...it is not so easily dislodged.

There is still much reason for caution and for careful paying of attention.

I knew you'd never have the character to admit your buddies have been waxed Ron.

Bite their legs off.

Thanks, Lynn. At some point, British Columbians are going to have to make a stand in whatever means necessary to take this province back from the self serving greedy pigs at the trough in the provincial legislature.

Pressure has to be put on the NDP and Green Party to approach the media with the real news, along with the media's continued aversion of "the truth" created by Canwests creative non telling of the most important stories in this province, "the sale of BC by the Campbell government".

We can no longer wait for the next election to come before inditements and RCMP investigations can be held against the Campbell government. What is coming for this government in the future, is the same fate as the Conservative Devine government after their second majority term came to an end. As people will recall, 14 MLA's were charged with fraud and theft of public assets.

Amen the Brain. It's time to get busy.

Even though MLA's are most certainly headed for jail within the Campbell government, as Sask is a historical record of reference, the full fledged privatization of Saskatchewans assets by the Divine government were not reversed, nor could they be in the courts. The privatization of BC's assets, although leading to future inditements of corrupt officals, are unlikely to be overturned, creating the need to expose Campbell's every move to sell off BC assets from now, until he is gone from office.

Hey Clueless One. Phuque off .

Frank posted:

No where that I know. But where did I write that I was a neocon or a supporter of Bush etc?

I have not said that and your other quote is from Worrywart, please read carefully.

I know that you are neither a marxist nor a bush promoter. I have been reading your comments enough to notice that.

cheers

Lieberman is already asserting his status as a self-described political freelancer, beholden to neither party.

He has pledged to "sign up" with the Democrats for the 110th Congress but has made it clear that his motives are at least partly practical. By organizing with the party, even though he lost the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, Lieberman will retain his 18 years of Senate seniority and rise to the chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
You were saying Clueless.More BS from the King .

We as people are looking for FREEDOM!! That is what the political arena is all about. Vote for me and I will promise, promise, and continue to promise FREEDOM!!
Why? Mel Gibson is worth an estimated 850 million dollars and he can do and say what he wants at anytime.
Why? In view of his wealth and leverage he has FREEDOM!!

pure,

one might be inclined to say that Mel Gibson is a Sovereign Individual?

http://www.buildfreedom.com/sovind1.htm

cheers

Joe owes nothing to the Democrat's Hannibal. They tried to toast him and failed. He will come back to bite them. After all the Dem's haven't done much to impress Jews. They condemned them when they were attacked by the Hiz.
Karma is coming into play Hanni, any more freakin out by you will not help. You shouldn't come unglued so easy, my friend, it doesn't become you.

Ron
You obviously don't read the Jewish press, do you?

The karma, such as it is, is all coming back on the Bush White House, like a bad dinner eaten too quickly. How's Rush's acting career coming, btw?

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but what have the comments lately had to do with the article that Dobbin wrote?

I noticed that he mentioned Harper may have backed the wrong horse. I tend to agree.

What the blanck are the rest of you chatting about?
Each other?

Doggone; the premise of this article was that there is some kind of vast liberal mandate deserved because of the mid term election results. That Stephen Harper should learn a hard lesson, and compromise his conservative viewpoint and switch to a liberal agenda, based on these recent US election results. That's the point of the article by Mr. Dobbins. I am not buying it. That's the whole reason for forums such as The Tyee . Ca, I think.

while we debate exactly what Dobbin had to say I am not comfortable with debating his "premise".
1) Harper should learn a (hard lesson or two) - agreed

2) Imagine Harper meally mouthing "liberal agenda" in his hopped up "Class president" suit.

This man is not my representative worldwide: I do not accept that!

I did not always agree with Martin, Cretchien, Mullronney or Truedeu but I was not ashamed of them.

dogg, I am sorry you are uncomfortable. but I certainly can understand why you are. Is nobody going to come to this pup's rescue?

"worrywart:
You need to spend a little time boning up on a couple of literary devices called irony and satire."

Yes, you are correct. I misread Frank's original post and apologize to him for my tirade.

Fewer Guns More Butter? What does Butter mean with guns? I don't think that bush will bend anyway shape or form for a pound of butter. Lets face it Bush will war with anyone that rocks his boat in texas.

I think that Harper is the opposite of Bush meaning he will bend to a pound of butter or just say jump and he will say how high.

Far from it pure. It that's the case he would be at war with Mexico. Apparentley he is not. I can see a vast Mexican conpiriracy theory comiing here soon.
Don't fence me in.

Rescue me
IMAC
Kindly first watch the video:
"Thank You For Smoking"

No problem, I tend to assume everyone knows me so they know when I'm being sarcastic, satirical etc. I understand that wouldn't be clear to someone reading me for the first time.

Thats my perspective. Imagine being a Canadian and having to travel within the Muslim world as a Canadian. All of those decades of peace keeping, all those generations of being generous in the hearts and minds of the world... thats all changed now.

Now, when we travel abroad, we have to apologize for who we are, explaining how we had a corrupt, scandalous government turn into a Republican coup war monger NCC plant getting a bunch of Canadians and Afghan's killed for treason and greedy sellouts to the empire. Its embarassing. :-(

dog; I don't know what you are talking about the smokin thing, except that you might be referring to the recent up rise amongst Quebec bar owners that are very unhappy with the recent politically correct anti smoking laws that went into effect this May.
The industry claims twenty five bars toasted. Well that is probably an stretch, BUT, the Quebecois are appointed time in front of the Supreme Court of Canada soon, based on a charter challenge.
I don't want smoking back in bars. I think that if we have a Charter of Rights , that it should be one.

Why not? Mulroney, Cretien and Martin happily cut social programs, ignored the environment and let child poverty rise.

In this country the Liberals too often get a free ride for simply not being Conservatives. An argument can be made that Finance Minister Martin was harder on the average Canadian than Mulroney was but because he's a Liberal we tend to think that somehow he wasn't as bad. His actual policies say otherwise.

No wonder the Liberals are the natural governing party, they're the only party that doesn't have to be either honest or competent for Canadians to look back on them with fondness.

And don't blame Harper for us not doing as much peace-keeping, it was the Liberals that reduced that role. As I mentioned above, when Harper wasn't even in power yet Canada was already pretty far down the list of nations doing actual peacekeeping. Behind nations like Bangladesh, a country I don't see Canadians speaking well of for "saving the world".

The reason? To do peacekeeping requires that you have soldiers. That would require increased military spending. Not a popular option. Also, peacekeeping has become nothing more than sending observers once a war has wound down. Its no longer about preventing war by inserting armed troops between two sides which was the original idea.

If you ask me - this is the best thing for Harper. As far as I'm concerned - people to stray away from the Tories because of their affilation (apparent or not - with the Bush Administration).

The writer is correct - and I say this as a Conservative - this congress was one of the worst in history. Lets get some Democrats back in Control!!

Clinton did very well because the GOP controlled the house and the senate. The President has very little influence over anything other than foreign policy. The Congress makes the budget, the Senate passes laws - the President signs off on everything.

Harper has been nothing but responsible. In fact, I was hoping for a lot more than I've received. The Liberals will still try and draw the parallels - but when they see a bunch of foolish democrats running congress - a conservative majority is gauranteed

Foriegn policy isn't a minor detail, as we all know, too well.
For the Republians it's very much in play.
I know it's struggle to th

Foreign policy isn't a minor detail, as we all know, too well.
For the Republicans it's very much in play.
I know it's struggle to the death for Democtracts, I feel for their patriotism, believe me I do. I really do.
I support measures that protect us, from anyone who wants to steal our hard earned riches.

Responsible ?
Surely you jest .
This idiot is the dumbest most incompetent pretend PM Canada has ever known . Period .
You neo-Nazi's are a lot dumber than I ever thought .
A majority .
Where are they going to come from ? Afghanistan ?
Your screwed in Ontario and Quebec and the Atlantic provinces BC said say a nora
the only place left is red neck Alberta and they only have 28 or 29 seats .
Yea, good luck selling that load of tripe.

Yep! When I get to travel the globe, I have to hang my head in shame when it comes to being Canadian. Were more stagger than swagger, laggard, haggard, grizzly old and dated, when it comes to our stances on little old things like global warming.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/11/13/climate-fossil.html

Its outright embarrassing. Peacekeepers bearing arms, border guards bearing arms for a billion over 10 years, Harpers gun boondoggle... but the worst is the message we send to Americans. That were just like them... and every Canadian knows when they think of the red and white leaf that were not. There's a difference. A different model. A different dream. Another direction.

Take the path that is wise like the serpent, but with the peace of a dove and it will guide you to a place where the fish spawn and die at the foot hills of the seven mountains and 10 rivers, where the four winds bring the Eagles and the Grizzly bear together to feed... thats when the knowledge of the ocean waters told by the students of its schools, cleansed by its salts of ocean wisdom will unfold its story for all to see and its purpose for the maple tree...

And...

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
The Age of Aquarius
Aquarius! Aquarius!

Harmony and understanding
Sympathy and trust abounding
No more falsehoods or derisions
Golden living dreams of visions
Mystic crystal revelation
And the mind's true liberation
Aquarius! Aquarius!

Peace, dudes, Adios A(h) = to dios = god.

Adios!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jux2xMucqdk&mode=related&search=

Al Gore's got an interesting spin on things.

Working slog, thanks for the definition of "neo-con". But, surely that's not what Mr. Mair meant. I think he has his own definition, known only to him.

" I support measures that protect us, from anyone who wants to steal our hard earned riches."

Well, Clueles One, I don't see you lining up to fight the Gringos...

Clueless:
Merely responding to your contention that Lieberman would become a Republican throwing the balance of power off kilter and allowing the Republican's to maintain their power in the Senate .
Never gonna happen .
Lieberman has already signed on with the Democrats for the remiander(two years) of bushes reign .
He will rise to become the chariman of two powerful commitees .
It really is too bad the bastard didn't stay dead as nobody needs his antics on the Hill .

For those interested in gaining a true perspective of Harper and his gang, I recommend the following url

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061127/hedges

November 9, 2006 (November 27, 2006 issue) The Nation Magazine
Letter From Canada: The New Christian Right
by Chris Hedges

Yea, the evangelicals make a lot of noise(all sound and fury)significant of nothing .
They do not vote en masse have never swung an election and are quite frankly a cry in the wilderness .
As the article states most of these dolts are American bred zealots who do not appeal to the average Canadian Christian .
Falwell and his so-called moral majotity failed spectacularly in the US to swing an election .
So it will be in Canada who has an innate hatred of combining religion with politics .

Joe's not going away. He was screwed by the DNC and will get them back big time. It's looking more and more like Senator Lieberman will be voting with the Republican's.

Based on what evidence Clueless ?

One scenario is that Lieberman could emerge as an interparty broker on Iraq along with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the presumptive front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008.

"There's the potential there for some interesting coalitions," said Jennifer Duffy, who monitors the Senate for the independent Cook Political Report.

The most likely scenario .

hannibal the only thing one can be sure of when it comes to the reptile (sorry lizards and such) Joe Lieberman, is that he will do whatever is best for him, and Israel in that order. The other day he said he owed his vote only to the people of Conneticutt and his conscience.

Mainly the Republican voters of Conn voted for him and he has no conscience. So as I said - Number 1 = JoMentum
Number 2 = Israel

Rarely, if ever, will Number 1 and Number 2 be in conflict anyway, so the order is irrelevant.

I think John Bolton should remain an Ambassador, just that he should get a new assignment. No on Bolton to the UN.
Send him where his diplomatic skills can be really put to use.

Bolton to Baghdad

and hannibal:

He has stated publically (Sunday) that he will do whatever the hell he wants, and nobody can make him do otherwise,
kinda like his buddy "Full Speed Ahead" Cheney.

re: Bolton to Baghdad - don't you think his pugnacious attitude might help insure that he makes it into the Green Zone from the airport?

Re: Joseph Lieberman

Make no mistake about it. Lieberman's objectives regarding U.S. Middle East foreign policy are dictated by the fact that he is and has always been a loyal servant of Israel. No other senator receives as much in financial contributions from the pro-Israel lobby.
(AIPAC et al.) It was his allegiance to Israel that caused him to support the predictably catastrophic Iraq invasion/occupation designed to install a puppet government in Baghdad. He is a classic example of an American politician who for his own personal gain, ignores the enormous damage inflicted upon the United States as a result of Washington's unquestioning political and financial support (now approaching $20 million each and every day; nearly $190 billion since 1949) of what is undeniably a racist and expansionist Israel - all for campaign funding and votes from the pro-Israel lobby and its followers. Israel is the elephant in America's living room. The good news is that there are indications that the American public is increasingly become aware of this fact. Sooner or later, all great nations act in their own best interests and for the U.S. those best interests do not lie with Israel. Indeed, it is America's number one geopolitical liability. As George Washington wisely advised the American people during his farewell address: Abjure any "passionate attachment" to, or "inveterate hatred" of, any other nation. Instead, it should "cultivate peace and harmony with all."

straightshooter: That's some real straight shooting. In case you've missed it you may be interested in The Israel Lobby - by John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt.

They compiled this report to try to answer the question of why American foreign policy serves Israeli interests, even when that is counter to US interests. Seeing as how much one loves Israel and their "measured response" to everything seem so important here in Canada as well it also should be of interest here. For a little about the work and the authors.

Well the belicosity aside in Liberman's statement his vote might not count for much in the greater scheme of things .
Not all Republican's are happy with the status quo and many object to the stance the US has taken on Iraq and Afghanistan.
Seriously I can't see ol' Joe having any impact on this congress . Period .
There is already a bi-partisan spirit that is being fanned by many on opposite sides of the house ro resolve this issue as quickly as,humanly,possible.
They may actually have been paying attention to Arnold in California where he reached out to build consensus with his opposition .
Hence the landslide .

And Richard Perle was caught handing classified documents to the Israelis in 1970 - who is he? He is one of the signers of the "Project for a New American Century," member of the American Enterprise Institute - kinda like the Fraser Institute on steroids with guns, an architect of the Iraq debacle, who is no trying to distance himself from the "incompetence of his buddies in the Bu$hCo Administration, but wants with all his heart to launch an attack on Iran as soon as possible, only do it right this time. Richard "Cakewalk" Perle is morphing into Iran "Walk in the Park" Perle as he fervently believes that the "Mission" can be "Accomplished" with two (yep 2) properly armed B-2 bombers. Send two B-2s nuked to the gills and watch the mullahs fall and peace descend on the Middle East.

The latest talk about an Iraq solution out of Alice in Washingtonland is to give up on this democracy stuff and find the right strongman, sort of a "Saddam-lite" for a new century. I guess old Deadeye's buddies at Exxon and all want to quiet things down enough to get in there and start pumping up the money. Wait a minute, haven't we been through all this before?

Hi rkewen

I have read The Israel Lobby - by John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt.
While it is a necessary and informative read, I do not agree with all of their conclusions regarding Israel, i.e. that the current Iraq war was launched primarily on behalf of Israel. In my view, while Israel certainly supported the invasion of Iraq for its own gain and used its many connections in Washington to get the Democrats on side, the Bush administration attacked Iraq primarily to get Washington's hands on its oil spigot. The neocons envisioned the US (which already controls the corrupt indolent leaders of the oil producers Saudi Arabia, Kuwait et al.) being able to use Gulf oil as a means to control the world. Bad plan; really stupid, doomed to failure. That's what happens when you have foreign policy being determined by amateurs, dilettantes who know little of history and have never walked the streets of Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad etc.
Regrettably, we have a similar crew running our Middle East policy in Ottawa.

hannibal: I agree, I think the Repubs are less concerned about getting Joe to waddle his cheap ass across the aisle than they are about keeping the ones they got in the fold. Now that they have heard the people, every member of the House and one third of the Senate know that they face election again in two short years and lets face it, Joe was an anomaly in this election.

Many people think Lamont was a victory, even in defeat, because he proved the anti-war position had traction. And now Murtha is most likely going to be Majority Leader, second in command in the House.

My biggest fear Joe wise is some ReThug appointment (apparently not Sec Def for now, tho Gates is no shoe in) that would allow the Repub governor to fill the seat with a real ReThug - you know one they've bought or have film of.

straightshooter: Again, I start by sayin' I agree. There were many issues leading to Iraq and the first three are oil, oil and then oil. Indeed if we ever could know what transpired at Darth Cheney's famous secret "Energy Plan" meeting (that we can't even know who went to), it could be like seeing the rough draft planning for the invasion.

But as you say, it was in the interests of Israel, and then they was the issue of trying to out conquer daddy.

Indeed, it seems so long ago that Canada had a nuanced made in Canada foreign policy and not unrelated was perceived as a "good guy" around the world, being aligned with the cause of justice, human rights and peace. Under Harper we seem to be trading that in - in hopes that we can be feared across the earth as a tough guy, America's kick-ass little brother.

rkewen:
ROTFLMAO at the apt descriptions you provided. My mind runs riot with cartoonish images .
Ol'Joey screaming at the top of his lungs"But what about me ? Don't I count ?"
Yea,Gates shrubbies daddy's ol' buddy from their "spy vs.Spy " days .
Sheesh! Don't these goofs ever die ?

Here's a US politics what-if, spun off the notion somebody fielded above somewhere about Liebermann turning Republican:

What if John McCain had become a Democrat instead of a Republican? There's policy reasons he didn't, but it's a tantalizing prospect - a war-hero Democrat (a POW no less) who's also charismatic AND smart.

Remind you of anyone?

Sorry, meant to complete that: the "completion" to the what-if is, in my estimation, had he been a Democrat he'd have been President by now....

You can forget about McGain goin Dem. He's tryin to become the Pres, as a Republican. The man is from Arizona for cryin out loud.
But I can understand you Lib's for tryin to come up with something to hide your fear of Joe goin south on you.
Hey, he was a great guy when he ran as Vice with Kerry, now he's a bumb?
Forgive me for, please.

Yea, McCain a Republican I actually ,greatly ,admire .
Too bad he's playing for the wrong team .
He was on Jon Stewart awhile back.
Cat has quite a sense of ha,ha .

Fear Of Lieberman goin' south .
Have another drink idiot .

And of by the way Clueless this was all conjecture .
How many times do you have to be told Lieberman will not become a Republican ?
Sheesh! Grow a friggin brain will ya .

We won! Clueless said that both houses would be returned to Republican control .
Yea, same way Herr Harpo is cruising towards a majority. LMAO

You lib's create fantasy to hide your fears of the truth being spoken. Where is there a contract, or a statement or anything to prevent Lieberman vote with the Republicans in the Senate? Where is it?
The man was screwed by the DNC, he is Jewish, he is in support of the war. He has a self interest to do so. He is the most powerful politician in the fight. The Dem's gave him a standing ovation today at some meeting. They are already beginning to suck up.
I am sorry if I don't go along with you Lib's in self denial.
50 + 50 = 100, that's a tie in my math. Are you lib's into some kind of new math? Cheney breaks the tie. Cheney, my man. Go Joe, vote your conscience.

Clueless you are absolutely hopeless .
Do not bother to respond to this as I am all done with you .
NFM

Ron,
You should check the religious affiliations of a double handful of the top Democrats in the House and the Senate. Lieberman is hardly the only Jew in the US Government.

The only person in denial is you. Chew their legs off.

IAMC - I wasn't pining for McCain to turn Democrat. I was speculating on what a different world/US it would be if he'd entered politics as a Democrat, and that he probably would have been President by now as a result. That was the gist of my comment; I'm not a "lib" wet-dreamer, just musing that one of the most talented and likable politicians in the US was held back by his choice of party. The Presidency is his to lose; ex-POW and war hero he may be, he's way too liberal for the Republican establishment, for the military-industrial complex, and also for those of the ultra-religious who aren't hanging out secretly in bathhouses and cheap motels....well, OK a Republican politician is more likely to use a swanky hotel, but you get the idea.....

Wait for the explosive testimony that Jack Abramoff comes out with against six to eight Democratic Senators, who will be forced to leave office once they are exposed for accepting bribes, like those Republican Senators that were exposed during the earlier stages of his prosecution.
The Senate is far from secure for the Dems. I am happy to report.

Is that going to come out at the same time as that evidence you've been promising about where the WMD are hidden Ron? Remember those posts Ron, where are those weapons?

You are so toasted buddy!

Chew their legs off Ron, Rush baby would be pround. It's only a scratch eh?

Just a flesh wound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eMkth8FWno
Here 'ya go Ronnie.Bite their friggin legs off ."It's just a flesh wound "
Another copy of 'Holy Grail'

Harper can't even get an appointment with the bigwigs in China apparently:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1163545346638&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

No wonder .
Pissed the Chinese off that we made the Dalai Lama(living God) an honorary citizen of Canada .
Trade disputes aside Harpo is bound and determind to take us back to the stone age. Alci I put up the'Black Knight'link again for Ronnie/Clueless' edification.
Hope you don't mind .
One of the funnniest scenes aever commited to film IMHO .

Canada's foreign affairs minister is downplaying Beijing's refusal to arrange a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

The Canadian Press reported Tuesday that China cancelled the meeting that was supposed to take place ahead of this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Vietnam.

The move is seen by some as a snub by the Chinese over the Harper government's emphasis on human rights.

But Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday that the two leaders are bound to chat during the conference.

"I believe that the prime minister will have the opportunity to see President Hu on the margins of the APEC summit," MacKay told CP in a phone interview from Hanoi, Vietnam's capital.

No sweat hannibal - post away - it captures Ron so well.

Nice to see the Chinese have Peter and Stephen where they belong - on the margins.

I've been impressed with Garth Turner. He's starting something that might have wings.

He also said he planned to introduce a private member's bill that, if approved, would give independent MPs more powers, hoping to encourage more people to run in the next election outside of the major parties.

In his column Wednesday, John Ibbitson accused Mr. Turner of being a shameless self-promoter, billing himself as a grassroots populist.

But he acknowledged there is something unique about the way Mr. Turner wants to derive his legitimacy from the Internet through an interactive electronic dialogue with voters, rather than from political party affiliation.

Mr. Turner will be online Thursday at 1 p.m. EST to discuss the big party system operating in Parliament, his private member's bill, the digital world, and why he was out knocking on doors Tuesday on behalf of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May who is running in a London, Ont., federal by-election.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061115.wgarth1115/BNStory/specialComment/home

Yea, Alci laughed at that too.
On the margins,fringe players .
Sounds like the Chinese are already aware what a pair of dolts they are gonna have to deal with .
LMAO

Go China, yeah, go China. I am sure you will join them at the cocktail party with the Taliban, N. Korean, Sudanese, Saudi Arabians, Iranian's. It doesn't seem to matter what someones human rights records are, as long as they screw America somehow, it's good enough for you.
Can anyone tell me how this isn't evil thinking in itself? I mean it looks racist and anti feminist. Am I wrong? When does it seem sensible to support every totalitarialism government in the world, while trashing our western democracies?
Google stupid and read on.

Why bother googling Ron, I can read you.

According to MSM, Stephen Harper is in trouble for insisting on human rights being a central theme of our trade discussions with China. He has balls. If you recall him standing up to all the pussy Franco's at the conference designed to toast jews, he stood up for a fair declaration that embraced sympathy for both the Lebonese peoples and the Israeli's.
This man is strong.

Clueless, the Chinese are snubbing the HarpoCons because the Chinese feel somewhat disrespected that for nine months the HarpoCons apparently didn't realize that there was actually a Chinese Embassy AND ambassador in......Ottawa. Our talented Minister of Foreign Affairs (who seems woefully incapable of handling even his "private" affairs) apparently didn't feel that the most populous country in the world, soon to have the world's largest economy , the country that pretty much owns the USA through debt(though they have to share it with the Saudis and others), that has a seat on the PERMANENT UN Security Council, is Canada's second largest export market and orgin of many, many, many Chinese-Canadians was worthy of a drop in for a cup of tea.

So why should the Chinese make any effort to see the wingnuts in Hanoi, when there are so many other people to see and things to do. Maybe instead of meeting with Chinese Leaders, Stephie can make political speechs railing against the Liberals in Hanoi, like Little Ms. Big Hair is doing in Nairobi.

Even our rude crude neighbors to the south know more about manners than the Hicks from Alberta and Nova Scotia. Of course the US has to be nice to China, they need China's money and there's too many people to bomb, besides China has nukes. I guess Stephie isn't happy just copying all his policies from Bu$h. Now he's bound and determined to outdo his hero as the least respected and most ridiculous appearing leader in the Western World. Wait for the upcoming World Finals - Stephie Harper vs. Kim Jong Il for most ludicrous and despised World Champion of International Contempt and Ridiculousity.

also Clueless:

I guess I'm not as familiar with his socks as you must be IAMC.

It's all too obvious to me. China owns America. China needs America to invent things. China needs America to survive as a customer because they cannot afford to toast thier largest, but not only, customer. Not only?
It's a marriage between these two super powers.

What about your prediction about the result of the mid term elections?

I'd say that was pretty obvious too, even Fox news polls said so. But not you, Ron.

You knew the real truth.

Chew their legs off Ron.

Ronnie take your friggin medication will 'ya .
You get more and more delusional by the moment .
Get over it twit the mighty Republican's are dead in the US .
Probably take ten or more years for them to find their way out of the wilderness .
Hate on Chretien all you want but in dealing with China he was masterful .
He never publicly called them on their human rights violations .He kept that for private meetings hence our strong relationship,until now .
Guess you didn't watch the video Alci and I put up for 'ya, hungh ?
"You've got no legs "
"It's only a scratch "
Man,you are too funny .

ROTFLMAO rkewen:
Yea, smell isn't everything Ronnnie.
I agree Herr Harpo does stink to high heaven .

Alci :
Rona's at it again .
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2006/11/15/2365212-cp.html

Man is the Maple Leaf ever taking a beating. From China to France, from Afghanistan to Nairobi, the nation is in a steep decline, our international prestige in tatters. I think even John Howard has seen the light. But not Stephen Harper.

Yea, no kidding Alci . It is ,becoming,beyond embarassing to be a proud Canadian at this time .
I see the Chinese still have not decided whether or not they want to let Harpo talk to their leader .
Hope he doesn't because who wants a billion pissed off Chinese to contend with .
The French gave it to us with both barrels and all Rona could do was say "I won't get involved in French domestic politics, it's not my way to get involved as she did in ours," Ambrose said.

Canada is the only country that has publicly repudiated its targets under the climate treaty. French President Jacques Chirac has already made scathing comments about countries that go back on their commitments.
Sheesh! Now I know who she looks like-Mary Tyler Moore .Without the personality .

How I'm feeling at the moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD0n8xnUWf8#hScyYEHj7Ho
A musical interlude.

Come on people, praising China on human rights is rather awful.

Who's praising them working man?

Must of been reading a different blog .

working man works us again with:

As Alci and hannibal mentioned nobody noticed a Chinese Human Rights fan club. The fact is though that China certainly has no monopoly on the abuse of human rights. Also as far as I can see human rights are improving in China, which is definitely not the case in some Beacons of Freedom I won't bother to name. (But two of them start with a U)

The CBC showed once more how statistics can be used for deceptive purposes this morning, as if we didn't see enough examples daily. "China executes more people than any other country in the world" trumpeted the CBC news reader. Well golly gee, Ms. Expertise, I'll bet they also have more left-handed people, unless their cultural tendency toward conformity causes all lefties to be forceably changed. It may have put things into perspective to mention that the country with the highest per capita rate of executions in the world was none other than our Icon of Human Rights to the South - the US of A.

Then our very own Stephie gets up on his hind legs as the Man of Principles and Justice and berates the Chinese who had extracted an unfortunate Chinese/Canadian citizen from some fundamental Muslim infected "'Stan" on their border and subjected him to a TRIAL, no less, and sentenced him to 15 years for terrorism related charges.

I would like to see Stephen get up on his hind legs again about the probably unknown number of (but some are known, some we even know where they are)Canadian citizens who have been picked up by our friendly neighbor to the south ALL OVER THE PLANET and have now been held in some cases over three years not only with no TRIAL but not even any charges to date. None of these conditions seem likely to change for these unfortunates anytime soon, at least the Canadian Stephie is so concerned about is working on doing his time and the whole deal at least has an end in sight.

But I guess if the "decider" says it's ok, then well..........

Silly old me, thinking all these kinda things had been more or less established since maybe the Magna Carta!

Moral relativitism, as played by pee wee and his little friend curious George only tends to cut in one direction rkewen. The US is also a big leader when it comes to prison populations too. For which, if anyone is interested in further research, you can find the data here:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/r188.pdf

And, if you really want to get into it, pee wee might find some interesting 'facts' about the way certain minorities in our own prisons seem to be sleeping in far more of those hard unforgiving bunks than you'd expect from their demographic status.

I guess that's not one of the human rights issues he'll be discussing with his Chinese 'friends'.

And I don't suppose he'd like it very much if Hu Jintao, 胡锦涛, happened to muse aloud about what possible relationship there might be between pee wee's decision to scrap the Kelowna accord and those dreary CANADIAN prison statistics.

Yea, old Harpo has a lot of nerve lecturing anyone on human rights in consideration of Canada's shameful record with regards to our FNP's .
Maybe someone should clue the Chinese into our less than sterling record so they can respond in kind .
We have had our own versions of Tiannaman what with Ipperwash and Ganonoquee(SP)
And then there was that UN resolution that was written in Canada that the neo-Nazi's refused to sign .
"Jesus wept"

Adendum:
At least the Liberal's never publicly humiliated the Chinese over their human rights record.
That was kept for private meetings between leaders .
In the G&M today a writer was musing if their was anyone else Harpo would like to annoy this week ?

Notice how pee wee has carefully managed the release of the information about a potential Chinese spy that was sent back to China in the last month or so.

This guy is compromised to the roots of his hair.

It's interesting to note that while Canada (Harper) rails on about Chinese human rights abuses, he turns a deaf ear (blind eye) to those great humanitarian transnational corporations that guiltlessly take advantage of low wages, poor working and living conditions that the impoverished rural Chinese have to bear, in order to earn a meagre living. They (the transnationals) are now exerting pressure on the Chinese government, to side-track the efforts of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) to gain more benefits for those workers. I expect that if the Chinese government does acquiesce to the workers' demands, we'll no doubt see the beginning of a demonization campaign against the Chinese government as being undemocratic, by the powers-that-be in Washington and other capitalist centres around the world.
On another vein, Rona Ambrose's 'crass' act at the UN Nairobi conference on global warming, with her remarks about former Canadian administrations being responsible for ineffective controls, makes me wonder just what kind of amateurs do we have in Ottawa, and are they fit to be in leadership roles?

Alci : ROTFLMAO .
The words apocrophyl and hypocrite leap to mind whenever I think of 'Dear Leader'
Stage management at its finest .
He hasn't been deported yet Alci.
He is still in jail in Montreal .
"We have some concerns with certain activities of the Chinese government in this country and we do intend to raise them at the appropriate time," Harper said.
"I think Canadians want us to promote our trade relations worldwide, and we do that, but I don't think Canadians want us to sell out important Canadian values -- our belief in democracy, freedom, human rights,'' Harper told reporters during a Wednesday stopover in Anchorage, Alaska. "They don't want us to sell that out to the almighty dollar."

No we want you off the world stage before you irrepairably damage Canada .

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061117/liberal_poll_061117/20061117?hub=Canada
More good news Alci .

And those weren't just Liberals being polled were they?

Very interesting - I still think Ignatieff may pull it out, although Rae is pretty popular in Quebec too.

Yea, it'll be close for sure .

Dave A:
that's been bothering me too. Rona is kinda cute (in a Cupie Doll way) but she doesn't seem to have much grasp of the actual problem - nor does her boss.

Hannibal:

The notion that the Dalai Lama is a "living god" is partly Western misperception, repeated in styleguide after styleguide over the years by AP, Reuters, CP etc, and also partly propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party imperialists seeking to denigrate the DL.

Dalai Lama means "Ocean of Wisdom" and not "living god"; ("lama" means "wisdom"). Tibetan Buddhism does not HAVE gods - that's a classic misperception. Yeah, OK, in the Tibetan cosmos he's a boddhisattva, one who has attained buddha-hood, a "living Buddha", but Buddha wasn't a god either, contrary to Christian and Islamic and Communist propaganda. That, in the Tibetan cosmos, he's the umpteenth incarnation of a particular disciple of Buddha, namely Sakyamuni, is incidental; Sakyamuni was human just like Buddha, and just like the DL. He makes no claim to be a god, and the reverence shown him by Tibetans is only similar to the belief among Catholics that the Pope wears the mantle of Peter, who was sanctioned by Christ (allegedly) to lead the Church, or the poppycock among evangelical Christians that "accepting Jesus into your heart" will somehow magically cure you of drug use and homosexuality as well as get you a nice house and a good car. Shia and Ismaili and certain other sects of Moslem put similarly great store in those descended from the Prophet, even though the Prophet disavowed any claims of divinity for anyone, including himself.

You can also pooh-pooh the Tibetan tradition about reincarnation, be it Sakyamuni's/the DL's, or hannibal's own destiny to be reincarnated, perhaps as flea on an elephant's ass, perhaps as the Pope or as an amoeba or whatever. But it's no more nonsensical than other religions' idea that, after rotting in the ground for a few thousand years, you'll be resurrected whole so you can be subjected to a Divine Assizes, based on your corporeal conduct in a by-then-distant-past.

At least the DL doesn't have any pretensions to being all-powerful, or to have a direct pipeline to God; as with Bush, Harper and that Pope guy....

Skookum1 :
I realize that the Dalai Lama has no pretensions about being a God .
To my mind he ,quite simply,is one .
Buddhism is the only religion on the planet that has never fought a war .
Found the rest of your article very interesting .
So you don't believe in reincarnation then ?

Er, no, sorry, they've fought lots of wars, and the current military junta in Burma is Buddhist, at least by upbringing; their war on the Karen people is notably ironic; the Karen are fundamentalist Christians...

But y'see, there was Asoka's empire in India, and also there was the golden age of Buddhism in what is now Afghanistan, the Bactrian kingdoms founded by offshoots of Alexander's empire. And the Chinese and Japanese regimes at times are classifiably Buddhist, though "shifted" by Confucian and Shinto ideas towards ideas of hierarchy and state prestige.

Not that Asoka or the Bactrians or other Buddhistic military powers were rabidly militaristic; it's just that they, too, don't have completely clean hands.

Do I believe in reincarnation? "Believe" is a loaded word. I've certainly seen and experienced things I don't presume to look for a rational reason for, only to accept; and there's people I've met that "we know we've met before", but couldn't possibly have done so. But I don't profess to believe in anything but the here and now, and the what-might-be. I guess that makes me an agnostic; I'm not prepared to rule out anything, but I'm also not going to live my life for the sake of what happens after death.

i.e. whatever that is or isn't.

Yea, I remember Ashoka the Buddhist warrior.
He was stomping around the Indus valley in Pakistan and such .
I stand corrected as that is right that Japan is ostensibly ruled by Buddhism .
And I remeber the giant statues of the Buddha in Bamian-Afghanistan .
It is something that I heard one time and thought to myslef "Yea, that must be right"
Thinking of all the saffron and red robbed monks I saw in Nepal .

Tibetan Buddhism, aka Bon Buddhism because of its integration of the old Bon spiritualist/pagan religion of pre-Buddhist Tibet - when the Tibetans were among the most feared and most bloodthirsty of all Asians - is of a very different stripe than the Japanese and Chinese ones; although it would be more accurate to say that Japan is ruled by Shintoism, which has incorporated aspects of various forms of Buddhism; Japanese Buddhism, despite its roots in Chinese Buddhism, resembles Tibetan Buddhism a LOT more than most of the Chinese variants, however, partly because of a dedication to the original texts, unlike in China were much more cultural assimilation/adaption has taken place.

Tibetan Buddhism is the same variety as found in Nepal as well as Bhutan and Sikkim, which are/were nominally under Tibetan suzerainty, along with Ladakh and parts of Arunachal Pradesh; not Nepal that is, other than Mustang and a few other pockets; the Nepalese kingdom is a separate bailiwick. The monks you saw may have been exiled Tibetans, though.

Worth mentioning, and not commonly understood, is that the DL is one of four great "lama-doms" within Tibetan culture; one of the others is the Panchen Lama, who you may have heard of because of the succession dispute, and there's two others; one, I think it's the Dorje Lama (thunderbolt of wisdom) also has a succession dispute; the Dorje, as he's known for short (there's two of them at present because of the dispute, though), is the head of a faction within the creed that's more "direct action" oriented, and potentially prone to violence, although they've renounced that position in recent years because of the DL's diplomacy; I think the big monastery in Sikkim is part of his turf; which is why the succession dispute involves that monastery; and also involves Chinese intrigues, since China claims all three countries as "historic parts of China" (as also the Arunachal Pradesh). The DL is the supreme leader, so to speak; but the other three are equally sacred and revered, though there are doctrinal and ritual differences.

Another "Buddhist war" that comes to mind is the Sinhalese vs the Tamils in Sri Lanka, who are Hindu (or Jain?).

Shifting gears back to Harper, but related somewhat to the subject via China - why is he all of a sudden so interested in human rights in China? At risk of causing a trade war, no less. All noble and good, perhaps, that he's found a cause celebre with this Uighur-Canadian who's being held in a Chinese jail for supporting Uighur rights in Eastern Turkestan/Xinjiang, as the guy obviously needs some help getting out of there. But has he equally protested to the government of Uzbekistan for extraditing the guy to China in the first place? Much like the Arar case except the Mounties/CSIS/the US weren't involved; the Uzbek security forces apparently picked him up on a Chinese warrant, or on other charges (probably political also, i.e. political charges within Uzbekistan), and then ignored his Canadian citizenship but respected his Chinese one (he has duality, like many New Canadians but none of us born-here types....).

But I think this guy, Hosain I think his surname is, is just a fish they pulled up out of the swamp, trying to make Stephen look good, i.e. to have something to say. It's not like he's criticizing China for cultural genocide in Tibet, or the rights of the millions of people displaced by the Canadian-backed-and-designed Three Gorges Dam, after all.

And if Harper's so hot to trot on human rights all of a sudden, why does he have to go all the way to China to find some to protect? Isn't Oaxaca close enough? Or is the Mexican regime granted immunity from human rights criticism by Canada's oh-so-moralistic leadership?

One of the CP pictures today, I think 'twas in the Globe, showed him gossoping in the photo-op with the Chilean president (ahem, speaking of human rights and free trade deals in the same breath again, as with Mexico). What's funny about the shot is twofold - one is the disconcerted, maybe "geez Steve, give it a break" look coming from Bush, with this weird sidelong glance (or maybe he's trying to ignore/comprehend whatever it is that Chirac just said).

The other funny bit is the pregnancy-tummy that Harper's gut turned into when he put on the Vietnamese jacket they all sported for the photo session. Damn, that man needs a diet; I don't think I've ever seen a politician bloat up so fast in office; must be the shift from the meat-and-potatoes Alberta diet to the fancy stuff in Ottawa. Or just being carried around in a sedan chair all day by his cronies.....

A good tailor, for Vietnamese fashion or Savile Row, should be able to help him mask that growing gut (padded shoulders, clever bias-cutting etc).

Or is this the same not-fair-game stuff as Rona's hairdo(s)? In her case, I rather thought the "I slept with an iron on my face" makeup was more the issue anyway....

Or is this the same not-fair-game stuff as Rona's hairdo(s)? In her case, I rather thought the "I slept with an iron on my face" makeup was more the issue anyway....

Funny and informative stuff Skookum1 .
LMAO at the Stevey Pregnant imagea .