114 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  1. The issue with guys like eeyore are that they want to control other people’s actions. They can’t stand that someone just doesn’t get it, that you know, smoking is evil and people should not have a choice, because, like, ‘I’ know better than they.
    Take this across a host of other issues of public policy – whether Bill C10, use of marijuana, helmet laws, cell phone bans in cars…plus many more.
    These are all a reflection of people trying to control the habits and activities of others, based solely upon a moralistic view of the world. See, I know what’s best for you, so, shut up and do it.
    This is neither a Liberal or Conservative thang, simply some passing puritans running the latest prohibition wagon down the street.
    And really, do you think if tobacco became unlawful or eradicated tomorrow, that every last control freak would stop demands for more laws, or attempt to modify others’ behaviors would stop? Of course not.
    Because it has never been about the action. It’s just little people trying to exert control in a world in which they have none. And smokers are low hanging fruit.
    Currently on deck: the obese and inactive. Fire in the hole!

  2. Maz2 10:59 AM asks,
    ** Can you sue a snake oil salesman?**
    in reference to Al Gore
    http://tinyurl.com/59t39p
    The same could be asked of Afghanistan*s Karzai.
    Is he playing us for fun and profit?
    Looks like snake oil to me. = TG

  3. Hardboiled, I can only speak for myself, but i have no desire to stop people from smoking. It provides tax dollars – thanks for the stupidity! – and smokers use less health care because they die sooner. That’s all good news for me, and I would encourage them. Hey, it’s their life, right? But I am a bit of zealot about smoking regulations affecting my exposure to second hand smoke. Also, I hope restrictions might keep younger people from starting the habit. if you can keep them away from it when they’re young they’re pretty much safe because nobody’s stupid to start when they’re a little more mature.
    I hope this clears up your misconceptions, but i doubt it. Most smokers regard themselves as rebels – cough, cough – and their pathetic habit seems to be a large part of their self image.

  6. “Jack and Jema54, I will vigorously support a person’s right to smoke IF they support MY right NOT to be exposed to second-hand smoke AND agree to pay out of their own pockets for any smoking-related health care requirements, okay”
    Of course you have a right NOT to be exposed to SHS. It’s really quite a simple matter to avoid the stuff since the vast majority of smokers do not demand the right (and never have) to smoke wherever they wish. However, if you’re going to go looking for SHS, there is a good chance that you might stumble across it. Any right-thinking, responsible person that is vehemently opposed to or terrified of SHS should have no trouble avoiding it. As for the health costs …. do you ride a bike sans helmet? Is your cholesterol level a tad on the high side? Do you use alcohol? If the answer to these (and many other questions) is yes, then I suggest that perhaps you should be squirreling money away to pay for your inevitable health costs down the road.
    Is there really anything more annoying than a sanctimonious anti-smoking zealot using silly arguments to justify intolerance?

  7. “People like Eeyore” favour freedom of choice, as long as those exercising their freedom of choice take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
    Apparently “people like hardboiled” and “people like AtlanticJim” want to be irresponsible and have someone else pay for their irresponsibility.
    Smoke if you want…I don’t care. But when you’re lungs are full of cancer, don’t tie up the hospital bed from people who were responsible with their lives.
    Hell, if someone wants to parade through the forest during hunting season dressed up like a deer or go try to pet some grizzlies, go for it…just don’t expect any sympathy from me or for being happy about paying your health care costs when the inevitable happens.
    And Tim, for a 2-pack-a-day smoker, you’d be paying something like $4K per year in taxes…let’s say you’ve smoked for 40 years…that’s $120,000. Chump change for when the time comes to pay for your health care.
    I suppose “people like you” are, for example, aghast at the Hindu baby-dropping thing because the poor kids could be hurt, but have no concerns about exposing your kids to cancer-causing second-hand smoke. I call it child abuse.
    /rant off. Have a nice (cough, hack, wheeze) day!

  8. TG – Karzai has no choice but to play all ends against the middle.
    For him failure to secure his position in any away will mean doom. I think he’s doing a pretty good job for now.
    Unless he sells out to Russia or by proxy … to Iran he’s the best bet in a losing stable of horses.

  9. @MaryM who writes, “Do you not think that there are way more important issues that the governments should be dealing with?”
    BC is just like Ontario – McGunity is a total moron as can be seen by his top priorities:
    Potato chips – ban vending machines in schools
    Cigarettes – alter displays in stores (AGAIN!)
    Cigarettes – ban smoking in cars with kids
    REAL PROBLEMS IGNORED:
    Caledonia lawlessness
    Gun crime in Toronto
    Ethanol subsidies to burn our food supply
    Muslim polygamists on welfare
    Crumbling manufacturing sector

  10. OttRob: Thank you! Caledonia is one of my biggest pet peeves. If, the media covered this story and it was on National news every night, then there might be some action. Can you imagine living in a town on freehold land with NO protection from the OPP? Homes destroyed, bridges, roads and extortion of developers. Again, I guess that attitude is: Well it doesn’t effect me, its not in my back yard applies. Guess again, it is in our back yard, it is happening in OUR country!
    I have made a friend in Caledonia because of this mess and he came to visit us in Kelowna last year. The stories (with pictures) that he told would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. I say lets get on with fixing real problems.

  11. I have the discussion with smokers many times. I don’t care if you smoke ’em, chew ’em or stick them up you patooty.
    Makes no difference to me how you want to commit suicide.
    Just don’t expect me to die with you.

  14. Apparently “people like hardboiled” and “people like AtlanticJim” want to be irresponsible and have someone else pay for their irresponsibility. Posted by: Eeyore at May 2, 2008 12:24 PM
    The trouble Sir/Madam, about using an economic argument against freedom of choice and personal responsibility is that it reveals bias (or perhaps, ignorance).
    Most estimates place obesity and related disease, mortality, and economic impairment at 3-5x the societal cost of tobacco related illness and mortality.
    Perhaps effort put towards ensuring mandatory BMI standards, coupled with mandated remedial diet and exercise regimes for those found in non-compliance, would be a far better expenditure of limited government resources (tax dollars), than other uses.
    That way, at least we can remove the moralism inherent in the argument, and confront the hypocrisy of criminalization of behaviors by the puritans.
    I advocate education, education, and more education. Not a bandwagon of fretful moralists who desire to control other peoples behavior (provided it is non-injurious to others (age of consent limits and restricted use in public facilities remain consistent with this notion).
    http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/library/prbpubs/prb0511-e.htm#economictxt

  16. Your tax dollars hard at work in the victim industry courtesy of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation:
    This gem from the 2007 Acting Chair, Andree Menard, “The onus of countering racism and discrimination should not be on those who feel its daily impact, but on those who manifest racism, more often very subtly.”
    Got that? They *know* you’re racist even when you don’t. Be careful all you “subtle racists” out there!! The CRRF will expose you for what you really are!
    http://www.crr.ca/Load.do?section=1&type=1

  17. I think the biggest news of the day is the pummelling that Labour took in the British election. Unlike their Euroweenie counterparts the Brits are forcefully changing course from Blair’s decade of rot. Compare that to the French election with its weak mandate for change which basically keeps the status quo intact.
    Bless their hearts, the Brits will be digging out of their Nanny State mess for years to come, but, at least there seems to be a will finally.

  20. Wait for 23 years of cooling…
    http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2871
    Now it’s not just the sunspots that predict a 23-year global cooling. The new Jason oceanographic satellite shows that 2007 was a “cool” La Nina year—but Jason also says something more important is at work: The much larger and more persistent Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) has turned into its cool phase, telling us to expect moderately lower global temperatures until 2030 or so.

  21. Sunspots, the PDO (30 year-ish cycle) and ALSO the AMO – Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation is also turning cold.
    3 strikes yer out for the Warmongers. Woo Hoo

  22. Re smoking, lungs, cancer etc. I have a cousin, aged 82, who recently was in hospital for a lung problem. She is now on oxygen 24/7. She has never smoked in her life, and neither did her huband or only daughter. Most of her social events during her life have been with her church, (LDS).
    Her doctor told her she must have been a heavy smoker to have such bad lungs. It is the joke of the town.
    For years smoking has been blamed for everything as a cop out. Yes, some have trouble, get cancer but a lot don’t.
    I do notice that not smokig can be dangerous to your health also, how many skiers, mountain climbers, have been killed. I am assuming that these outdoor fanatics would never think of smoking. If a person has smoked just once in a while, they are called smokers, and when they die at age 92, it is blamed on smoking.
    Many provinces added cig taxes, to go to health care. Where did that money go.
    When taxes were ave 1.00/pack, there were 11 million smokers according to stats canada. That would be 11 million/day coming into the coffers. Then add the gst on that and x 365 days/yr.
    Smokers paid for a lot of your social programs. Funny thing, non smokers were not willing to pick up the tab when smokers quit.
    Casinos and bingo halls are losing money big time. Smokers are not going. And if they do, complaints are that they are not spending money when they go outside to smoke.
    It would be interesting to see the costs to the economy by all the bans. Loss of tax revenue, does not equal in lower health care costs.
    This started in the 70s, and the only benefit is to the non smoking organizations. Wonder where they would be if they didn’t get govt funding.
    Sort of reminds me of liberals, expect others to pay for their plans, but don’t support them with their money.
    And no, my family does not smoke.

  23. I know how I’d like to see Macleans settle with the CIC. Print every inflammatory statement they can find by modern day Imans, Mullahs etc. And then give them the whole damn magazine to respond.

  24. Why are we Canadians so stupid that we burn our *Black Gold* instead of selling it for a profit?
    =======
    Lessons, perhaps, are being learned from countries as diverse as Norway and Brazil. Each has come to realize petroleum is more valuable as an export commodity than as a transportation fuel.
    Norway has 50 percent of Europe’s oil reserves. Yet, electrics in the country are given incentives as it continues to export petroleum. The Nordic state is where Th!nk, [Think, electric cars], is headquartered.
    Brazil made investments decades ago to move automobiles [85% now] off petroleum and on to locally-produced sugar cane ethanol. As petroleum has been found within its borders, rather than being burned locally, it is shipped to world markets at ever climbing prices, helping mitigate the financial problems associated with petroleum imports plaguing many developing countries.
    Israel is fast becoming 100% EV country.
    AutoblogGreen.com
    ==========================
    Aw shucks, everybody knows them Jews is smarter than average. = TG

  26. Global warming recession?
    A couple of consecutive years of lower temperatures.
    Global warming depression?
    Not going to warm up until 2030.
    Kinda reminds me of the envirowacko who reacted to the dead ducks at Syncrude and today’s nominee for the ‘I told you so, mom’s guilt trip award.’
    “I’ve been saying for 30 years something like this was going to happen.”
    Yep, so for 30 years it HASN’T happened.
    Meanwhile, more than a million birds are killed annually in bird/car collisions.
    Freakin’ maroons!

  27. Is this “shoddy reporting” “Media” the Canadian left-liberal-socialist MSM? No mention of CBC?CTV?Globe? etc.?
    …-
    “John Turley-Ewart: How Toronto’s Globe and Star bungled the StatsCan income-gap story
    Media watchers should pay close attention to newspaper front pages today. If they look carefully, they will learn a thing or two about how shoddy reporting can seriously distort a major story.
    Here is the Globe’s front page story. (Strangely it’s not on the front of their Web edition — at least not as of this writing.)
    And here is the Toronto Star’s.
    The Globe’s front is written, inexplicably, by religion columnist and former NDP candidate Michael Valpy. The Star assigned a general reporter — one, apparently, who isn’t expert in the field of stats and economics.
    The result? Both take Thursday’s StatsCan press release at face value and turn it into an indictment of the free market.”
    http://tinyurl.com/6g8a9v

  28. Looks like the Farmers will end up wearing the Greens’ biofuel fiasco;
    [WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress is rethinking its enthusiastic embrace of corn-based ethanol as food and fuel inflation pushes to the top of the political agenda.
    Earlier this week, U.S. President George W. Bush acknowledged that the ideal biofuel probably isn’t corn-based ethanol, but more energy-efficient cellulosic ethanol, which is made from switchgrass. The catch is that cellulosic ethanol isn’t yet commercially available in large quantities.
    Farm groups, however, said Congress is misguided in blaming ethanol for soaring food costs.
    National Farmers Union president Tom Buis said the real culprits are speculators, bad weather and rising energy costs.
    “Everyone seems to want to blame the farmer for everything bad happening,” Mr. Buis told the committee.] G&M, Report On Business
    I would agree, yes, the Hedge Funds played a big part in the food price spike but biofuels ignited it, IMO.
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080502.IBFOOD02/TPStory/Business

  29. Islam: a death cult eating its own.
    …-
    “Eighteen killed in mosque blast in Yemen rebel stronghold
    AFP – 58 minutes ago
    SANAA (AFP) – Eighteen people, mostly soldiers, were killed in Yemen on Friday when a blast blamed by authorities on Shiite insurgents exploded at the entrance to a mosque in the rebels’ stronghold.”

  30. Shamrock:
    Thanks for proving my point. And just to clarify, in the eyes of your ordinary Canadian, someone else’s wrong doesn’t make your wrong any better. It’s a lesson we teach our kids, Shamrock, maybe you were out playing with marbles at the time.
    I think I like Hardboiled more. He demonstrates what I used to like about some on the left and has long since gone, and what I used to like about many on the right and is well on its way to being gone if not all the way gone, and what the small “l” liberals in this country could use a huge does of: A cantankerous, damn the toes I step on honest assessment of principle and how the political representatives of each of our respective “teams” use our principles for their own electoral gain.
    Shamrock, instead of trying to pretend that someone else’s wrongdoing a decade ago somehow makes it OK for the Conservatives to f**k the voter now (and trust me, the ordinary Canadian doesn’t give a crap about what happened three prime ministers ago when they come to the voting box), why not respond with some honest rooted in the reality based world. No one is going to shun you because you say:
    “Harper is a complete and utter disappointment, a complete incompetent, a complete flip flopper who will do anything and say anything and make or break any promise and abandon any principle he supposedly once had to gain and keep power, and who is no different than any of the other politicians… except that he has not been in government very long so he hasn’t yet become as corrupt as the old Progressive Conservative Party or even the old Liberal Party were, so right now he’s what I consider to be the best of some very bad options.”
    Try it. You’ll feel better saying it because deep down you know that’s how everyone around here is feeling.
    On top of that, you’ll be doing your own party a service. Half the reason that politicians think they can get away with what they try to get away with – Riddell lies, in-and-out scams, convention fee scam, Cadman bribery, U of Calgary campaign finance runaround, etc. etc. etc. – is because they know they can rely on the kool aid drinkers to keep paying them money, to keep voting for them, to keep organizing for them and to keep marketing for them. Look at the Conservative Party’s ad campaign and even their own website: it’s all about the Liberals and not about themselves.
    Challenging your own party – you know, once every now and then – for their own f*ck-ups is going to help to keep them honest. No,we’re all kidding ourselves with that statement. Challenging them will keep them possibly at least maybe a little bit less dishonest, give them pause, make them think they can’t automatically rely on your support.
    It will tell them that principles are not just something you whip out for your campaign marketing materials to win an election, but something you govern by. The Liberals may never get into government because they haven’t realized that yet, but the Conservative Party will not get a majority government because they’ve forgotten that rule already.

  31. Ron,
    Farming equipment runs on gas and diesel.
    Gas and diesel went away up.
    Food prices must follow. If anything, the extra income relief farmers get from better corn prices tends to moderate food costs. = TG

  32. I have the discussion with smokers many times. I don’t care if you smoke ’em, chew ’em or stick them up you patooty.
    Makes no difference to me how you want to commit suicide.
    Just don’t expect me to die with you.
    Fred I read your comments on other topics and IMO you are a rational person. You are ranting like a zealot here though! Smoking bans were NEVER about health; banning smoking was ‘cooked’ up by the WHO to sell drugs AND by Unca Mo’s crowd to DIVIDE people who believe in individual rights – like the right to own and control PRIVATE property. The Glob AL slavery promoters do not want anyone having a choice in any facet of their lives – this smoking ban is just a start…if you ‘fall’ for this farce – like GW, based on fabricated science – you will ‘fall’ for the next nix nix!! Who made you hate people who smoke tobacco? How has it impacted your life?
    Smoking cigarettes is just a habit that hurts no one but the smoker, it is not suicidal – I know a lot of 80 year olds who smoke! – it is a form of recreation, NOT a crime! I got run over by a vehicle and almost killed – that ‘hit and run’ driver did not pay my medical costs, nor did that driver’s insurance co. because the driver ran away. I paid for my own rehab and for my critical care hospital room. What would you think of me going on a mission to ban vehicles? It is all relative, Fred and the CONTROL freaks just love people like yourself – with one Achilles Heel – in your case the tobacco banner’s fanatical scream BAN! BAN! BAN! because of ME! ME! ME.

  33. Brenda Martin transported back to Canada on a Government of Canada Challenger jet!! What the hell is going on??

  34. Does anyone know the species of duck killed at Syncrude? I could understand concern if it were endangered, but otherwise? What’s 500 ducks out of millions? Too bad it wasn’t Snow geese or Canada geese.

  36. I saw the light on the night that I passed by his window
    I saw the flickering shadows of electricity on his blind
    He was my guru
    As he deceived me I watched and went out of my mind
    My, my, my, Suzuki
    Why, why, why, Suzuki
    I could see that guy was no good for me
    But I was lost like a slave that no man could free
    At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting
    I cross the street to his house and he opened the door
    He stood there laughing
    I felt the summons in my hand and he laughed no more
    My, my, my Suzuki Why, why, why Suzuki
    So before they come to break down the door
    Forgive me Suzuki I just couldnt take any more
    [insert trumpet solo here]
    He stood there laughing
    I felt the demand letter in my hand and he laughed no more
    Sue, sue, sue, Suzuki
    Why, why, why, Suziki
    So before they come to break down the door
    Forgive me Suzuki I just couldnt take any more
    Forgive me Suzuki I just couldnt take any more
    Sung to the tune .

  38. “South Africa pulls ‘Durban II’ bid
    As the United Nations prepared Friday to choose a venue for next year’s controversial “Durban II” anti-racism conference, Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Yitzhak Levanon told The Jerusalem Post he was relieved that South Africa had withdrawn its offer to host the event.
    “I am happy with this [turn of events],” Levanon said by telephone from Geneva on Thursday. “We were working very hard behind the scenes on this.”
    Israel, he said, had been concerned when South African President Thabo Mbeki told his parliament in February that his country wanted to host the follow-up to the 2001 conference, which took place in Durban and was dominated by denunciations of Israel and Jews.
    Israel has already announced its plans to boycott the 2009 conference out of concern it would similarly disintegrate into an anti-Israel hate-fest, and the US and Canada were also planning to stay away.”
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010366/posts
    …-
    What’s at stake at Durban II
    David Frum, National Post
    “This week, Canada gallantly announced it will not attend the Durban II “circus of intolerance,” in the scornful words of [Conservative] Jason Kenney, Secretary
    of State for Multiculturalism.”
    http://tinyurl.com/524ebc

  39. Circle of intolerance? Here is more evidence of the left-socialists’ chokehold on Canada, Canadians, and your tax dollars. Whom to thank for this? Look into the Liberals’ PET Cemetery; the bones are there.
    The bones of the dead socialists are haunting Canada.
    Now, the sobs have coined the words “Canadian Racism”.
    …-
    “Just a normal Friday for me
    Today is the final day in the Canadian Race Relations Foundation conference, with the title “What is Canadian Racism? Engaging in a Critical Analysis of this Distinct Manifestation of Racism and How to Tackle it.” Here’s a shocker: it’s a government agency, with its board appointed by the federal cabinet.
    I’ll be there, of course.
    Not so that I can publicly commit my life to the CRRF’s motto, which “…acknowledges [Canada’s] racist past, recognizes the pervasiveness of racism today…”
    Not so that I can wear an “I’m sorry” button, along with everyone else, as they do in this wonderful short story by Robert Ferrigno.
    Not so that I can write down every pearl of wisdom from the CRRF’s executive director, Ayman Al-Yassini, whose biography includes:
    visiting professor at the University of Riyadh (King Saud University) in Saudi Arabia. He published extensively on the relationship between religion and state in Islam, religion and development and religion and foreign policy.”
    http://ezralevant.com/2008/05/just-a-normal-friday-for-me.html

  40. How Toronto’s Globe and Star bungled the StatsCan income-gap story
    National Post
    John Turley-Ewart
    Media watchers should pay close attention to newspaper front pages today. If they look carefully, they will learn a thing or two about how shoddy reporting can seriously distort a major story……
    http://tinyurl.com/6g8a9v
    The underclass myth
    …..In reality, those who were considered “poor” are in fact better off today than they were in 1980…..
    http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpcomment/archive/2008/05/01/the-underclass-myth.aspx
    Average salaries of civil servants in 2007:
    Y.T. > $127,913.66 (5,659)
    Ontario > $101,226.27 (1,156,945)
    Alberta > $97,471.86 (310,224 employees)
    Canada >$94,686.53 (3,199,793)
    B.C. > $93,739.76 (381,038)
    Newfoundland > $92,440.20 (58,009)
    New Brunswick >$90,819.89 (82,126)
    Quebec > $90,151.17 (759,060)
    Manitoba > $83,814.45 (152,014)
    Saskatchewan > $78,085.09 (140,983)
    http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/govt62d.htm
    Defining Poverty (in the new-have-not province):
    What does it mean to be poor in Ontario today? As the province grapples with that question, the Star asked dozens of local experts….when the Star asked about 60 Ontarians, including academics, business people, social justice advocates, educators, sports figures, politicians, youth, artists and people living in need to define poverty, not one mentioned an income level….
    BROADBENT, ALAN CHAIR of The Maytree Foundation:
    ….”The experience of poverty is relative deprivation, being less well off than others”….
    http://www.thestar.com/article/416081

  41. AP invents Obama sob story… Indiana is full of racists… just ask resident racism expert John Doyle.
    BTW Doyle is a Democrat but that isn’t mentioned until the bottom of the article.
    ===================
    MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — Cafe owner John Doyle had some advice to serve up when a couple of Barack Obama’s aides stopped for lunch recently in this diversity-challenged Indiana town.
    “In this county, you guys are going to have to promote the white part of him,” he told them.
    […]
    Doyle named his cafe for his son Jeremy who died two years ago in Iraq. He hasn’t decided between Obama and Clinton but supports their pledges to end the war.
    […]
    The Klu Klux Klan was once a dominant force in Indiana.
    http://tinyurl.com/4xtbzz

  42. Notice the pecking order/hierarchy:
    liars at the apex; underneath, the eggheads, then hacks, and at the bottom, “ordinary citizens”. It was a socialist pyramid now gone to dust.
    There are socialist pyramids within socialist pyramids within soc …
    Weapon used to “kill” this scam was: a) handgun, b) long gun, c) none of the preceding?
    More: “CBC journalist David McKie took over the work in 2006 using another publicly accessible website (http://www.onlinedemocracy.ca).”
    TORedStar is in mourning. No wake, no obsequies; burial was in the PET Cemetery.
    RedStar says the scam was killed by the “federal Conservatives”. RedStar cannot say, by the federal Conservative government.
    …-
    “Tories kill information registry
    OTTAWA–The federal Conservatives have quietly killed a giant information registry that was used by lawyers, academics, journalists and ordinary citizens to hold government accountable.”
    (RedStar) …-

  43. Kate: I don’t say this very often but, TWO THUMBS UP for Mike Duffy. It was a short interview with Mark Steyn but it was great. They talked about Richard Warman and his one man fight against “hate” in Canada. The best was when Mark said the CHRC hands over payment (awards)to Warman tax free. Glad to see that Duffy actually can’t believe that this is going on. It must be time for a letter writing campaign to the Minister of Justice to deal with this cramp.

  44. Thanks for the Steyn notice calgary clipper.
    As expected he did a great job. Even Duffy seemed shocked by the underlining story. The discussion about Lucy was fantastic.

  45. As I was saying, including Brazil above. . .
    May 2, 2008 2:21 PM
    Making the grade – Brazil
    May 2nd 2008
    From the Economist Intelligence Unit ViewsWire
    Brazil gets recognition for improved economic management
    Investment-grade status, which was awarded to Brazil’s foreign-currency-denominated debt on April 30th by Standard & Poor’s, one of the main US credit rating agencies, is an acknowledgment of the important progress achieved in macroeconomic management and of a substantial improvement in external solvency ratios.
    Indeed, with reserves close to US$200bn, Brazil has become a net external creditor. Nevertheless, weaknesses persist, . . .
    economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11318008
    ====================================
    = TG

  46. For all you smoking and non-smoking fanatics.
    The bottom line is- when the government controls your health care delivery, they then control what you can and cannot do to your body. They basically have the power to do force you to do their will.
    Personally, I find that very, very scary.

  47. Ted, I’m probably as right wing as they come. I’m a social Conservative, Christian, Bible thumpin’, gun totin’ Westerner. My neck is red and my politics blue. I don’t believe in evolution and I think this climate change b.s. is all, well, b.s. Also I love Jesus and have the bumper sticker to prove it.
    Do I think Harper is a let down? Yeah a little, but he has stood up for Israel on two occasions that I know of. For me, that means he will get my vote again.

  48. Re: Mike Duffy/Mark Steyn. Duffy wasn’t being condescending; I believe he “gets it.” In a short intervue they pretty well exposed the essentials of the whole hrc’s issue, and on national television no less.

  49. It was neat to see/hear Mark Steyn on Mike Duffy live – my first time to see him in action and he is very good. Very pointed, very concise. In the few minutes of air time alotted, he made some excellent points.
    It was apparent from Duffy’s words that he knows a whole lot about what has/is transpiring as regards the HRCs. Nevertheless, he was choosing his own words very carefully. While the CTV network via Duffy is at least doing a few things like this interview to get the message out (and kudos to them for doing so), there is much more yet that they can do before the June hearing.
    CBC is likely to be of little or no help nor I fear will the local press/media in Calgary be of any or little help. The AB PCs are also unlikely to be of any help as their silence continues.
    Since the June hearing is in BC, I’m surprised that very little has been coming from BCers on the blogs. Perhaps the Liberal blogs are more widely read in BC and if that is the case, then little is likely to come. Like who exactly is this co-complainant of Elmasry, Dr. Habib ?????? and what is his pony in this race – other than his name is apparently on the filing and he is in BC.

  50. “Richard Owen in Padua”, Italy.
    What multiculturalism hath wrought; nationalism will finish.
    …-
    “Muslims feel under siege as Italian Right sets up town vigilante groups”
    ““We have formed citizen street patrols, together with residents’ associations,” Mr Comacchio said. “A minimum of four people, but often up to ten, all with phosphorescent jackets carrying the Lion of St Mark, the symbol of the Veneto region.””
    http://tinyurl.com/6n5opt (times)

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