Morality Study - People of Faith vs Agnostics/Atheists

I encountered an interesting study on morality. Its a comparison between responses between people who I dentify themselves as religious and those who identify themselves as atheist/agnostic. Many religious people contend that atheist/agnostic individuals are immoral due to the fact they do not believe in a god and even go so far as to insist that without religion society would become immoral and all hell would break lose.

Below I will give three situations. I would like to hear what you would choose in each situation and if you have faith or not. As well why you made those choices You can post anonymously if you feel uncomfortable about people knowing your beliefs. Tomorrow I will provide the results of the study.

Situation A

A train carrying five people is about to crash and all the people aboard will die. You are standing near a switch which would direct the train onto a side rail where a man is walking. The man's body would stop the train which would save everyone aboard but unfortunately would kill the man walking on the side rail.

What do you do?

Situation B

A child is drowning and you have the opportunity to jump in and save the child but you would get your trousers wet.

What do you do?

Situation C

Yo are a doctor and five people are dying in a hospital and organ transplants would save them. They all need different organs. There is a healthy man in the waiting room. If you took his organs five people would live but he would die.

What do you do?

I look forward to your repsonses.


UPDATE

Actual Study Results as promised.

These numbers were identical for both Religious People and Agnostics/Atheists

Situation A

Scarifice man to save 5 people - 90%
Wouldn't sacrifice man to save 5 people - 10%

Situation B

Save the child - 97%
Wouldn't do it because would make trousers wet - 3%

Situation C

Sacrifice man for organs to save 5 people - 10%
Wouldn't sacrifice him for organs to save 5 - 90%

As can be seen the reponses were the same for both religious people and agnostics/atheists.

Personal Note

I found it strange, personally, the discrepancy between Situation A & C as I found no difference between these situations. Both involved sacrificing someone for the sake of many yet there was no difference in the results between religious people and agnostics/atheists on both these. In situation A the majority found it ok but in Situation C it wasn't yet it is the same type of situation. Situation A was a religious allegory yet atheists/agnostics also would sacrifice the man for the sake of saving 5 people. Goes to show, morals are inate to human beings not religion, even in the complexity that such decisions entail. Recommend this Post

The truth about the CPC and Mr. Arar. Setting the Record Straight.

So Mr. Harper has decided to make the apology to Mr. Arar a partisan issue. He's blaming the previous government for his detainment and subsequent torture. That is strange. I clearly remember something different coming from one of his faces just 4 years ago.

When Mr. Arar was first detained in 2002, the Conservatives didn’t hesitate to convict Mr. Arar and criticize the previous Liberal government’s attempts to Free him.

During discussion about Mr. Arar in the House of Commons on November 18, 2002, Stephen Harper, then leader of the Canadian Alliance Party, accused then Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham of participating “in high-level consultations to defend a suspected terrorist" when Mr. Graham demanded the release of Mr. Arar.

Mr. Harper was later quoted as saying that the Liberal government "has been hitting the snooze button on security matters," implying that the Liberal government should have arrested Mr. Arar instead of the U.S. government.

During the very same Question Period, Diane Ablonczy, Member of Parliament for Calgary--Nose Hill, stated: "Arar was given dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship by the government. It did not pick up on his terrorist links and the U.S. had to clue it in. How is it that the U.S. could uncover this man's background so quickly when the government's screening system failed to find his al-Qaeda links?"

Then, on November 19, 2002, Stockwell Day, also then member of the Canadian Alliance, said in reference to the detention of Mr. Arar: "There is a lack of vigilance in the country on terrorism.” He also called for a Parliamentary inquiry to determine why the Liberals were defending a man suspected of links to al-Qaeda when U.S. officials were accusing him of terrorism charges. (“PM Demands release of Ottawa man,” Ottawa Citizen, July 29, 2003.)

So, lets get our facts straight shall we.

Awfully tough crow to chew on hey Harper, Day, and Ablonczy? Stop propogating your lies. Everyone knows better and they are getting sick of it. Recommend this Post

The 'Baird' Minimum

Love that phrase, "Baird" Minimum. Bob Rae coined it on friday I believe.

So we have had a flurry of of announcements reinstating Liberal programs that have been pared down to the point that they are either useless or only available to the affluent.

This is the "Baird" minimum. Just enough to look like they did something, which they did but it was backtracking. We lost a year and whittled down programs will not only fail to recover that year but will also be slightly ineffective in the future, but that is the nature of the 'Baird' minimum.

So they are going to announce mandatory emission caps. When? Will it be in 2050 again? Doubt it. Most likely it will take place like the rest of their announcements last week, sometime in April, after the budget that they could be brought down on. Convenient to say the least. They will look green with the 'Baird' minimum, get the majority they want (not on your life) and then cancel the programs and emissions targets. If they are kept in a minority situation without an election then we can see if they actually are honest brokers.

Which is probably why Stephane Dion may support the budget. He probably can't refuse because some of the budget is for liberal environmental programs (all over again) and it would be nice to hold Harpers feet to the fire for a bit. To see if he is serious and to chop away more of his conservative base because he's acting like a Liberal.

I am still waiting for more. What they announced is less than we already had prior to January 2006.

Mr. Baird, we are still waiting for the Conservative Plan for the environment. Haven't heard anything new yet. Recommend this Post

Stevilocks and the Three Bairds

Once upon a time, there was a little man named Stevilocks. He went for a walk to Parliament. Pretty soon, he came upon the "House" of the three Bairds. He knocked and, when no one answered, he walked right in.

At the desk, there were three publications. Stevilocks was desperate. He read from the first publication.

"This one is too hot!" , he exclaimed, If I acted on this the oil patch would get pissed.

So, he read the second publication.

"This one is too cold!," he said, "No one would vote for me if I did this!"

So, he read from the last publication.

"Oh Oh, This one was right!," he said.

After he'd read from the three Bairds' publications he decided he was feeling a little tired from all the obfuscating, so he went upstairs to the bedroom.

He laid down in the first bed, but it was too hard.

Then he laid in the second bed, but it was too soft.

Then he laid down in the third bed and it was just right. Stevilocks fell asleep.

As he was sleeping, the three Bairds came home.

PC Baird shouted ,"Someone's been sleeping in my bed"

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed, too" screamed CPC Baird.

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed and he's still there!" bellowed 'greenish' CPC Baird while pointing his finger indiscriminately.

Just then, Stevilocks woke up and saw the three Bairds and appointed the 'greenish' CPC Baird the Minister of the Environment. He jumped up, grabbed the 'greenish' CPC Baird and ran out of the room. Stevilocks and the 'greenish' CPC Bairds ran down the stairs, opened the door, and ran away into Stanley Park to throw 2 million dollars at the voters of Vancouver.

THE END?

Recommend this Post

Comparison of cancelled Liberal Programs to Rebranded Conservative Ones

Keep in mind that the Liberal policies were cancelled because the Conservative Government said they were ineffective without doing an audit. Here's the comparison.

On Wednesday, Jan 17, 2007, the Conservatives announced Research and Development for Clean Air Research.

Conservative Program
$230 Million

Cancelled Liberal Program
$200 Million

---------------------------------------------------------

On Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, the Conservative will announce funding for Renewable Energy Projects.

Conservative Program (Eco Energy Renewable Power Initiative)
$300 Million over 4 Years for Renewable Energy Projects - 4,000 KwH energy

Cancelled Liberal Program
$300 Million over 5 Years for Renewable Energy Projects - 4,500 KwH energy

This represents energy for 1.5 million homes.

---------------------------------------------------------

On Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007, the Conservatives will announce a revamped Energuide under a new name.

Conservative Program
Energuide relaunch under new name (without the final audit which ensures it was done properly)

Liberal Program (announced in 2005 budget)
continued and enhanced Energuide.

---------------------------------------------------------

So...

Exactly how ineffective were the Liberal Programs again?

I don't see really any difference, except nothing was in place for a year.

A year lost.

Can you see much difference? If so, I 'd like to hear about it.

Looks to me that they stole Mr. Dion's ideas. Recommend this Post

BT Circle Jerk

I noticed a poll at CTV.ca yesterday asking "Who do you think would do a better job of protecting the environment?" The numbers currently stand at

Conservatives 5625 votes (44 %)

Liberals 3216 votes (25 %)

NDP 2282 votes (18 %)

Other 1684 votes (13 %)

The poll itself is not strange but the results are. I later came across some blogs, all coincidentally were blogging tories, that were rallying other blogging tories to go and vote (who for I wonder). One blog even mentioned an email that was sent out to other blogging tories, and another had the audacity to proclaim

"First Brian Mulroney is the Greenest PM, and now this!!!!"

Besides throwing up a little in my mouth, I decided to venture over to the dark side, and sure enough they were all mutually masturbating, even fixating on some road kill to help get them off. To their credit they allow girls to take part as well. One blogger even stated that CTV will blame these results on a certain group of bloggers.

No shit. It doesn't take a genius to surf the web.

I had visions of people constantly deleting there caches to vote over and over again, maybe even visiting all their relatives to vote using their computers.

The sound of 5625 one hand claps is by no means deafening.

I thought to myself, do these people actually believe this?

Unfortunately they seem to have created another reality which explains a lot about the blogging tories and the CPC now that I think about it. Why would people think the CPC did anything on the environment or will? The announcements made so far by Harper this week are liberal policies, with some things missing. Later this week they will announce the renamed enerGuide, a program which has been in operation since 1998. Being a very popular program people will notice right away that this new one by the government is not new just missing inspectors. Who are they fooling?

Where were these bloggers for the last 8 years? I would imagine from such behavior that they were still being breast fed or in a snake hibernacula.

I have to say, though, their message is exactly the same as the party they support. Perception is everything, substance is not important. Why would a group of people who never believed in climate change think this PM is doing a great acting on climate change?

Maybe because he's actually doing nothing which they support(ed).

Unfortunately by rehashing the liberal parties policies one year later the governement has accomplished two things.

1) They now have policy,

2) They look like they are doing something (especially with the mistruths they told the voters about the liberal environmental plan)

3) They are not required to do much more (than liberals already had a year ago)

We lost one year that we will never get back and they cannot fix that with another party's policies or a stacked online poll.

Recommend this Post

Joshua, the Jericho Genocide and the Fallacy of Religious Morality

I read about this study and was quite shocked to hear how religious moral teachings can have a negative effect on children.

The story of Joshua (a false one) seems to promote the idea that genocide is appropriate in some situations if you believe that a god of some kind gives you permission to do so, or if you believe you are chosen and entitled to the land somone else lives on.

The results of the study speak for themselves. The study was conducted by George Tamarin, an Israeli psychologist, in 1966 and 1973.

The Israelites' campaign to carry out their god's commandment to commit genocide against the native inhabitants of Canaan-cum-Palestine took several generations. It began with Joshua's massacre at Jericho. Contrary to the Christian song "Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho," according to scripture there was no battle at all. It was a siege, at the end of which all of the city's inhabitants were killed except Rahab the prostitute (she and her family were spared in exchange for helping Joshua plan his strategy, Joshua 6:16-17, 19, 21, 24, RSV):

Joshua said to the people, "Shout; for the LORD has given you the city. And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction . . . But all silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are sacred to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD." . . . Then they utterly destroyed all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and asses, with the edge of the sword . . . And they burned the city with fire, and all within it; only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.

The half-life and penetrance of such cultural legacies are often under-appreciated. Some 3,000 years after the fall of Jericho, Israeli psychologist George Tamarin (1966, 1973) measured the strength of residual in-group morality. He presented Joshua 6:20-21 to 1,066 school children, ages 8-14, in order to test "the effect of uncritical teaching of the Bible on the propensity for forming prejudices (particularly the notion of the 'chosen people,' the superiority of the monotheistic religion, and the study of acts of genocide by biblical heroes)." The children's answers to the question "Do you think Joshua and the Israelites acted rightly or not?," were categorized as follows: "'A' means total approval, 'B' means partial approval or disapproval, and 'C' means total disapproval." Across a broad spectrum of Israeli social and economic classes, 66% of responses were "A," 8% "B," and 26% "C." The "A" answers tended to be as straightforward as they were numerous (Tamarin, 1966):

• In my opinion Joshua and the Sons of Israel acted well, and here are the reasons: God promised them this land, and gave them permission to conquer. If they would not have acted in this manner or killed anyone, then there would be the danger that the Sons of Israel would have assimilated among the "Goyim."
• In my opinion Joshua was right when he did it, one reason being that God commanded him to exterminate the people so that the tribes of Israel will not be able to assimilate amongst them and learn their bad ways.
• Joshua did good because the people who inhabited the land were of a different religion, and when Joshua killed them he wiped their religion from the earth.

Tamarin (1973) noted that:

"C" classification [total disapproval] was accorded to all answers formally rejecting genocide, either on ethical or utilitarian grounds. This does not mean that all "C" responses reveal non-discriminatory attitudes. For example, one girl criticized Joshua's act, stating that "the Sons of Israel learned many bad things from the Goyim." . . . Another extremely racist response is that of a 10 year old girl disapproving the act, stating, "I think it is not good, since the Arabs are impure and if one enters an impure land one will also become impure and share their curse."

Other misgivings included (1966):

• I think Joshua did not act well, as they could have spared the animals for themselves.
• I think Joshua did not act well, as he should have left the property of Jericho; if he had not destroyed the property it would have belonged to the Israelites.

In contrast to the established difference between boys and girls in propensity toward violence and approval of violence in general, with regard to biblically commanded genocide Tamarin found that "Contrary to our expectation, there was no difference, concerning this most cruel form of prejudice, between male and female examinees" (1973). Less surprising, but more alarming, nearly half of the children who gave "total approval" to Joshua's behavior also gave "A" responses to the hypothetical question: "Suppose that the Israeli Army conquers an Arab village in battle. Do you think it would be good or bad to act towards the inhabitants as Joshua did towards the people of Jericho?" Tamarin (1966) received such responses as these:

• In my opinion this behavior was necessary, as the Arabs are our enemies always, and the Jews did not have a country, and it was necessary to behave like that towards the Arabs.
• It would have been good to treat the Arabs as Joshua and his soldiers did, as they are Arabs; they hate and retaliate against us all the time, and if we exterminate them as Joshua did, they won't be able to show themselves as greater heroes than we.
• I think it was good because we want our enemies to be conquered, and to widen our frontiers, and we should kill the Arabs as Joshua and the Israelites did.

Some respondents disapproved of Joshua's campaign (answer "C"), but approved of similar acts if committed by Israeli soldiers. One girl disapproved of Joshua "because it is written in the Bible, 'don't kill'," but she approved of the conjectured Israeli Army action, stating "I think it would be good, as we want our enemies to fall into our hands, enlarge our frontiers, and kill the Arabs as Joshua did."

As a control group, Tamarin tested 168 children who were read Joshua 6:20-21 with "General Lin" substituted for Joshua and a "Chinese Kingdom 3000 years ago" substituted for Israel. General Lin got a 7% approval rating, with 18% giving partial approval or disapproval, and 75% disapproving totally.

What this study shows is that morality is not tied to religion but to an inate human abilty to be moral towards others. Religion in this case actually diminished the morality that children already have.

Those who promote religious morality often take pot shots at those who are not religious or agnostic/atheist as having no morals when it is quite obviously not so.

These types of parables are taught to children at a very young age when children are impressionable and they carry it throughout there lives.

Is this acceptable material for any child to be exposed to? Recommend this Post

Selected Passages from the God Delusion read by Richard Dawkins.

This guy never disappoints, his arguments and answers are always to the point, without waffle, and clearly understood. This man's a genius!

This book has to be the most well written text I have ever had the pleasure to read. With ease he illustrates the ridiculousness espoused by those who chose to believe in something that does not exist rather than believe in people.

This guy is quite a speaker and very funny!

Any argument past and present for the belief in a god are quashed and the flaws in all their arguments exposed for all to see (that is if you allow your self to see the truth). Topics covered are Einstein, the christain pantheon of gods, the polytheistic nature of judaism, origins of morality, and many many more..

There are two parts to these readings below. If you have read it, I welcome your comments on what you thought of this book.

WARNING: If you are a staunch believer of any religion do not watch, it will hurt.

Part 1



Part 2


Previous post on Dawkins:

Root of All Evil Part 2: The Virus of Faith
- covers the negative effects indoctrination of children
Recommend this Post

The Tragic Lives of Pablo & Aaron

Pablo and Aaron are two friends that I had the extreme privilege of knowing. Two people who did not know each other, separated by geography, language and culture. Two lives that that in the end were cut short tragically in the same way. Lives made harder and lonelier through idiotic notions of family, the role of those in them and how people should live their lives.

Pablo

I met Pablo while living in Central America, we both worked at the same Sports book. Pablo was an only child. His mother took ill with cancer and his father, having no one to take care of the home due to her illness, moved on with another women while his wife was on her deathbed. Pablo was left to support and care for his mother, at the age of 16, until she died. Upon her death, his father returned home and kicked him out on the streets. He was baggage when it came to his father's new family.

Pablo worked hard and managed to make a decent living, acquired a piece of property but the pain of rejection by his only parent haunted him. He tended to keep to himself and had difficulty in trusting anyone. He tried many times to connect with his dad but was met with indifference.

We became great friends quickly. He never had anyone he could trust or rely on until me. He would hang out with me, even going to gay bars with me, though he was straight. I, in turn, would go with him to college bars with him. He never judged me and I never judged him. We were both people trying to survive and enjoy the lives we had. It was extremely painful for both of us when I had to return to Canada to complete my education. I didn't know it would be the last time I would ever see him. Secretly he did.

I received a phone call 3 months later while in university.

Aaron

Aaron was from my home town. We never quite knew each other well growing up; he was a metal head and a loner. I was an outcast but in a different way. Aaron's parents never approved of his "look" or his taste in "Satan" music. They tolerated him until they could legally kick him out.

We got to know each other suddenly when his girlfriend left him and started calling me. Though I was gay, I welcomed her attention because I was supposed to date girls. She was an extremely attractive girl who originally came from Ontario, adding to her exoticness I guess. He had a hard time letting go. Though things never got violent between us, we were never on good terms.

I grew up and left. Aaron eventually ended up on the streets.

Years later I was home and Aaron was at a bar I was at one night, coincidentally with a girl I use to date and now he did.

We made contact and I apologized for any grief I had caused. He actually had no ill will against me. We talked a bit and realized we had a lot in common and we both expressed how we could have been great friends if we had met under different circumstances or at least talked instead of staring each other down. I told him I was gay. He said "so what". At which point we became great friends. I found out that he had successfully beaten brain cancer, just a year before. I was shocked he someone so young would have to deal with this. What sickened me was he fought it alone since his parents had disowned him. We hung out for months. I had to return to university and we promised to keep in touch. We did for awhile. I would see him around from time to time when our paths crossed. No matter how long we went between seeing each other it was always like it was just yesterday. He relocated to a very small town with his girlfriend. A couple years went by.

I received a phone call last Thursday.

Pablo and Aaron

Pablo and Aaron, two unconnected people separated by geography, culture, and language, joined only by friendship with me and a blank slate when it comes to what people should be, both died suddenly of brain cancer. They died alone without their families who didn't even have the decency to claim the body, leaving it to strangers and friends.

Pablo left me his property which I sold and donated the proceeds in his name to a brain cancer survivors fund in his native country.

I miss you guys. Recommend this Post

Is John Baird still Anti-Kyoto?

John Baird is on record to have delivered a speech to the Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions (CCRES), a front group for the worst polluters in Canada. These people are reponsible for the concept of a Made in Canada Plan.

Legislative House of Asembly comments (under Kyoto Protocol)

"he references to not buying in, presumably because we want a made-in-Canada solution, well, that's exactly what Kyoto's going to be, a made-in-Canada solution. We made references in some of the ministry's own reports on the quality of air and on climate change, about working co-operatively to implement Kyoto.

A week or so ago we had this meeting downstairs with this Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions. I and a graduate student who works out of my office went down, quite excited about having some opportunity to dialogue, and we kept eating these little shrimpy things and drinking the wine and such and talking to some really nice folk, waiting for the dialogue to break out. But you know what happened? No dialogue broke out; in fact, we had Minister Baird stand up and give a brief set of comments where he said, "You know, we don't want to rush into things. We want to make sure we have full discussion and debate before we do something."

John Baird's speech was given while he was in the ill-fated Ernie Eves Conservative Government here in Ontario.

Ernie Eves and Made in Canada Plan from Legislative House of Asembly comments (under Kyoto Protocol)

Hon Mr Eves: We agree that you have to act and act now. We have been acting and we will continue to act. Indeed, as the member of the official opposition has pointed out, many private enterprises are already doing this. We should be acting, as Ontarians and as Canadians, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

That is not the subject of debate here. The subject of debate is, is the best way to do it the highly technical interpretation of the Kyoto accord? By everybody's admission -- even the Prime Minister of Canada's -- except for the leader of the official opposition, it's unworkable in its current form. We have to find a made-in-Canada solution to lead the way in greenhouse gas reductions while at the same time protecting, in fact I would argue creating, hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

Who in turn supported Ralph Klein's view on the protocol and a Made in Canada Plan

Ralph's take:

The Kyoto Protocol is his version of the hated National Energy Program, which was imposed on Alberta by the Trudeau government.

"I think the decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol doesn't concern you? Think again. Skyrocketing fuel and utility prices, tax hikes and lost jobs are consequences that affect all Canadians. There is a better way. We need a made in Canada solution. We can balance emission reductions with continued prosperity."

Legislative House of Asembly comments about Ralph and Ernie (under Kyoto Protocol)

I have a question for the Premier. It is reported that Ralph Klein is seeking a meeting with you, when he comes to Ontario, to try to discredit the Kyoto Protocol. I was Minister of the Environment when Ralph Klein was environment minister in Alberta. No one took the man seriously; he has spent his entire political career fighting every significant environmental program that would benefit our nation. He is considered to be nothing less than an environmental Neanderthal and a shill for business interests who oppose environmental improvement.

You have a choice, Premier (Eves): you can either enter a coalition with Ralph Klein and stand side by side with the oil barons and their cohorts who are spending millions of dollars to sabotage an international agreement that will meet the threat of global warming, or you can lead Ontario toward cleaner air and improved health.

And now since taking office Harper and his crew have resurrected the concept of a Made in Canada plan.

The phrase “made in Canada” caught on, and it is now experiencing a renaissance. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, (with the co-operation of major news organizations) have resurrected the phrase to describe new plans to deal with climate change, which involve cutting 80 percent of the budget for Kyoto, axing almost all of the Liberals’ global-warming programs, and shutting down the federal climate change site.

The text of the speech from John Bairds shmoozing with the CCRES is not available as it was a private event. Their was one person though who got in and the now magazine article originally posted by blogger Section 15 was the result. The notes on the speech, though do exist, and are in storage. These notes will surface very soon as their have been MANY requests for them.

Though Mr. Baird in the past has snubbed Kyoto, his actions now will speak for his views today. Though in light of this he has a lot more convincing to do on his commital to the protocol.

I fear though that this past will result in him only doing enough to make people think he's sincere on the environment.

I question the logic of Mr. Harper putting this person in the Environmental portfolio seeing Rona Ambrose didn't have this kind of baggage.

It does make me question, as well, Harper's stance on the Cabinent shuffle being about substance, not optics. I would tend to believe the opposite, especially with Bairds way of "discussing" in Parliament.

Prove me wrong Mr. Baird.

Hopefully more to come... Recommend this Post

Baird and his Anti-Kyoto speech from 2002

Blogger Section 15 has a geat post on an Anti-Kyoto speech made by John Baird.

From Now Magazine 2002:

Some of Ernie Eves's top cabinet ministers partied last week with Kyoto-bashers the Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions, a lobby group with close ties to both Ralph Klein and the energy industry.And through a combo of stealth and strategy, I managed to crash the soiree.

It took place in the Queen's Park dining hall and was a very chummy shrimp-and-wine gathering, a chance for members of the coalition -- the Canadian Association of Oil Well Drilling Contractors, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Landmen, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, etc -- to schmooze Tory heavies.

There were speeches by coalition organizers, and a particularly passionate Ontario energy minister, John Baird, made his anti-Kyoto rallying cry. Needless to say, the audience was very receptive. Baird's parliamentary assistant, Scarborough MPP Steve Gilchrist, who at one time helped block developers' plans for the Oak Ridges Moraine, was busy propping open doors with chairs to give relief to a very hot and stuffy room.

...Two days after the meeting, Giorno sent every MPP at Queen's Park an e-mail suggesting what they might say in op-ed news pieces or letters to their constituents about Kyoto.

Then Liberal and NDP members, for whom the missive was obviously not intended, were sent a second e-mail that read, "Unfortunately, materials from the Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions were sent to your office in error in a previous e-mail. I do apologize for any inconvenience."

Wow. This is much much worse than Rona. She only did what she was told. Baird is on record as supporting a similar view to Harper's.

All we can expect is whats in the photo above. Finger pointing and yelling.

Sheesh.

Recommend this Post

Conservative Promise Made, Promise Broken

Despite promising before the election a year ago to create 25,000 spots within 12 months, not one childcare space has been created.

There are 7,000 people on the waiting list in Ottawa alone. Around 80% of children do not have access.

Harper said he would create 125,000 spaces over 5 years.

Not a great start.

Just because the Liberals only got around to childcare in its last year doesn't mean they can wait 12 more.

Starting to become a theme with this government. We don't have to do it because the Liberals didn't do it/get a chance to finish it. Not to mention the fact that they have distorted the record of the former government through lies about effectiveness of the energuide and one tonne challenge.

New Government indeed.

Its tired and old already.

Election anyone? Recommend this Post

Did Harper lie about effectiveness of Liberal Climate Change Program?

Harper is on record saying that:

"We can't tell the Canadian population to heat its homes one-third less of the time."

Well now, seeing that households make up 25% of the greenhouse gases and industry is responsible for 75% of the greenhouse gases, why did he chose to speak only to households? Is it his wallet he's worried about if he should tackle the major cause of the problem, industry?

Besides, the Liberal Programs appear to be effective according to U.K. Officials who intend on delivery their report to Harpers doorstep . So if the Liberals manged to get homes to reduce, why is Harper saying its not possible?

"EnerGuide for houses, actually averaged a 35 per cent energy reduction on residential heating costs".

and

''In fact, the Canadian government was helping Canadians reduce their energy bills by one-third, and they were doing it on a daily basis, and (Harper) cancelled the program.''

At least someone did the accounting.

Too bad the Conservatives never before slashing them, saying they were ineffective without even auditing. So if you didn't do the audit, why kill them?

Oh yeah, can't have anything effective in operation if it came from a Liberal. Recommend this Post

Great Climate Change Commercial from the WWF

Sums up pretty much what to expect if people don't start taking this issue as seriously as the problem will be.

Visit the site, sign the petition and then visit the blog to leave some comments for the naysaying neo-con trolls (proof the CPC and its members are not serious about climate change).

saveourclimate.ca Recommend this Post

Latest Environics Poll results

The latest Environics poll was released on Politics with Don Newman.

The results are:

Canada Overall

Con 34
Lib 32
NDP 14
Green 11
Bloc 8

Atlantic Canada

Con 32

Lib 33

NDP 26
Green 9

Quebec

Con 18

Lib 24

NDP 12

Green 8
Bloc 36

Ontario

Con 36

Lib 39

NDP 12
Green 12

Manitoba

Con 38

Lib 34

NDP 19
Green 8

Saskatchewan

Con 40

Lib 26

NDP 23
Green 10

Alberta

Con 60

Lib 16

NDP 11
Green 14

British Columbia

Con 36

Lib 35

NDP 17
Green 11

Who would make best Prime Minister?

Harper 34
Dion/Graham 23
Layton 16

Recommend this Post

Did Khan switch for his own personal business interests and his bigoted views on homosexuals?

Khan says

" Liberal party is shifting away from the principles of free enterprise, family values and Canada’s role in the world that are most important to him."

What Khan actually means is that he has a mazda dealership and cuts to greenhouse gases will impact his own personal bank account if carbon taxes are added to fuel and he does not approve of homosexuality, especially SSM which he has voted against.

Good riddance, this guy wasn't a liberal, he was riding the coat tails for purely personal reasons (he couldn't get elected as a Neo-Con). His riding voted in a liberal who would hold up liberal values.

He's toast like Emerson.

Kudos to our next PM, Mr. Dion for cleaning up that mess.

On a personal note, I know Mr Khan and have interacted with him several times. He's a buffoon who doesn't understand climate change and his relusion with regard to social justice has no place in our party.

Recommend this Post

CPC celebrates Christmas with Sugar Plum Appointments!

Stephen Harpers seems to have snuck some patronage appointments through while everyones home for the holidays.

Though it is in the the spirit of Christmas, and supports Stephens mantra of do as I say and not what I do, it would violate the Accountability Act which comes into effect on January 1, 2007. Though not bound to it yet, it would have been nice to respect the fact we needed one for these very reasons.

Shameful but not surprising. They never had any intent of accountability. These rules are only meant for other parties, just like gomery's report and Stephens distaste for the most meaningful aspects of it.

Here are some of the appointments:

1) Former Tory cabinet minister and MP and a key member of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's riding association

2) Barbara McDougall, as an internal trade panellist for five years

3) Former Edmonton Conservative MP Ian McClelland, named a director of Edmonton Northlands for three years.

4) Senior Ottawa lawyer Gilles Guenette, a Progressive Conservative candidate in the Ottawa-Vanier riding in the 1988 election, became a full-time member of the immigration and refugee board with a three-year term.

5) Former Nova Scotia Conservative premier John Hamm as chair of the newly formed Assisted Human Reproduction Agency of Canada

6) Conservative fundraiser in New Brunswick, Stephen Campbell, was named a director of the Saint John Port Authority

7) Sharon Piper, chair of the past election nomination committee for Flaherty's Whitby-Oshawa Conservative Association, was named head of the employment insurance board of referees for the Toronto district.

8) Sharon White, a prominent Vancouver Conservative and one-time Social Credit election candidate provincially, was named a director of Farm Credit Canada for three years.

9) James Carpeneto, a prominent lawyer and Conservative supporter in Sarnia, Ont., was named to the board of employment insurance refugees for the Sarnia district.

10) military historian Jack Granatstein as a trustee on the board of the Canadian Museum of Civilization for three years

There were over 40 appointements made.

ARTICLE LINK Recommend this Post

Repost: Why ethanol blended fuels suck as Environmental Policy

On the heels of todays announcement from Chuck Strahl and Rona Ambrose, here's a rehash of a post on the archaic notion of mixing alcohol with fuels. Glad to see they are at least upto speed on environmental issues circa 1992.

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There has been a lot of interest in ethanol blended fuels as of late but is it really worth it? Is it a clean replacement for regular fuel?

If you consider our most pressing concern to be particulates then yes it is good at reducing that but it does nothing to help with global warming or other concerns with the environment. It actually will result in more ground level ozone aka smog and still produce carbon dioxide (20%-40% reduction in CO2 only). The benefits being no sulfur dioxide in the ethanol and lower particulates. Instead what we get from ethanol blended fuels is formic acid which results when water contaminates your fuel. Research has linked formic acid to genetic mutation.

A 20% - 40% reduction in CO2 reductions sound great until you put it in perspective. Only a percentage of your fuel is producing less. The Conservative Government has committed 5% of fuel to be ethanol, so you have reduced your CO2 emissions not by 80% but by only 4%. The fuel still produces CO2, sulfur dioxide, nitrates and now possibly formic acid.


















Other problems

Turning food into fuel will cost us at the grocery store. As more companies start blending ethanol into their fuels in order to dilute the amount of gasoline they use, grains will increase in price. Simple economics.

http://tinyurl.com/yanjvg

Why are biofuels being pushed on the consumer?

These fuels looked attractive when we had no other options and its time to let them go. The solution to our environmental problem is that we burn things for energy. We need to step back and embrace a technology that does not rely on combustion of hydrocarbons.

Oil companies have embraced blended fuels because it is similar to a methadone clinic for heroin users. They will dilute the fuel they ship and yet get the same price. In effect they are diluting their stocks to make them last longer and make more profit than ever. We need environmental action now not profit manipulation. Recommend this Post

Elephant Societal Breakdown due to Humans

Elephants are raping and killing rhinoceroses; attacking villages with intelligence by blocking escape routes and pinning down humans before goring them to death; and are displaying psychological traits previously only observed in people.

This is a sad sad state of affairs. Researchers are thinking of this as a sort of emergent species-wide emotional breakdown resulting from human interference over long periods of time and the consequent destruction of important social bonds for the elephants.

The article requires a login but I am posting some of the text below.

These attacks have become so commonplace that a new statistical category, known as Human-Elephant Conflict, or H.E.C., was created by elephant researchers in the mid-1990’s to monitor the problem. In the Indian state of Jharkhand near the western border of Bangladesh, 300 people were killed by elephants between 2000 and 2004. In the past 12 years, elephants have killed 605 people in Assam, a state in northeastern India, 239 of them since 2001; 265 elephants have died in that same period, the majority of them as a result of retaliation by angry villagers, who have used everything from poison-tipped arrows to laced food to exact their revenge. In Africa, reports of human-elephant conflicts appear almost daily, from Zambia to Tanzania, from Uganda to Sierra Leone, where 300 villagers evacuated their homes last year because of unprovoked elephant attacks.

Elephants, when left to their own devices, are profoundly social creatures. A herd of them is, in essence, one incomprehensibly massive elephant: a somewhat loosely bound and yet intricately interconnected, tensile organism. Young elephants are raised within an extended, multitiered network of doting female caregivers that includes the birth mother, grandmothers, aunts and friends. These relations are maintained over a life span as long as 70 years. Studies of established herds have shown that young elephants stay within 15 feet of their mothers for nearly all of their first eight years of life, after which young females are socialized into the matriarchal network, while young males go off for a time into an all-male social group before coming back into the fold as mature adults.

What appears to be happening, due to humans encroaching on territory and the killing of many elephants is that male elephants who normally spend the first 8 years of life with their mothers are left parentless. They form gangs with other motherless young males and then proceed to go on rampages of rape, theft and killing.

If this sounds familiar don't be surprised. Humans are animals too. Unfortunately we aren't satisfied with just destroying ourselves.

Recommend this Post

Liberal environment plan greener than the Greens

Please! Please! Please adopt this new Environment Plan!

Liberals Championed Kyoto for Canada and then dragged their heels implementing it. Its time to get back at it. This new environment plan is the way to get there. I just hope they adopt it at the convention.

This plan proposes:

- The creation of a new national energy strategy to reduce gas emissions through energy conservation and more efficient construction and appliances. Canada would get a ''Climate Change Action Office,'' reporting to the prime minister.

- Immediate environmental assessment of the oil sands development to address cumulative impacts on landscape, water use, air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. Tax breaks would be re-directed to other companies developing renewable energy and water recycling methods.

- Major energy users and producers would face mandatory emission targets within a year.

- Canada would adopt California's radical car-emission standards by 2010, there would be greenhouse gas emission standard for cars and light trucks while commercial fleets would face a mandatory 100 km/h speed limit.

- Consumers would get financial incentives to purchase energy efficient vehicles like hybrids, there would be a direct investment in freight and intercity passenger infrastructures like the Windsor-Quebec City high-speed train.

- Ottawa would reinstate programs like EnerGuide which helped consumers buy more efficient appliances and the much-maligned One Tonne challenge program would make a comeback to encourage conservation.

- Phase out within one year the 100 most harmful chemicals such as asbestos and mercury.

- Implementation of a national biodiversity monitoring program.

- An immediate ban on bottom-trawling in Canadian fishing waters.

This plan would make us greener than the Greens, and would probably get Elizabeth May's seal of approval.

Personally, I am ecstatic about the prospect of a biodiversity monitoring program (my reason d'etre), sorry Rona you should have looked out for those owls. Also, finally some balls on the bottom trawling file, sorry Loyola but in order to have fish, you need fish habitat.

Recommend this Post

13 random things about me

As requested by Nicole from Naughty by Nature , here are thirteen random things about me.

1) I've spiked trees in the tropics.
2) Have been an illegal immigrant and worked as such (note: not in Canada!)
3) I speak really quickly.
4) Been engaged thrice, twice with women, once with a man whom I married.
5) If jesus is the first word out of your when speaking with me, its also your last.
6) I prefer to read science related literature.
7) My first choice of career was race car driving, my parents did not agree.
8) The only time I am truly at peace is when I am alone in a forest.
9) I love spicy food, the spicier the better.
10) I can curse up a storm in Spanish!
11) I despise fag hags. If you want to be my friend, fine. But if you have no luck getting a bf don't try to live vicariously through me.
12) I rebuilt a 1984 Monte Carlo SS from the ground up (just couldn't paint the damn thing)
13) Work 30 hour weeks on full salary with 2 months vacation and plan to retire by the time I am 55. Recommend this Post

Tim Hortons & Our Troops

Price of a medium coffee at Tim Hortons ; $1.25

Price of a donut : $0.75

Cost of having our soldiers enjoy Tim Hortons in Afganistan: Scandalous - $4,000,000.

Glad we can trust the conservatives to be fiscally responsible. Recommend this Post

Don't forget the Pollinators when giving thanks.

35% of the food you eat would not exist if we did not have bats, birds, and bees. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices and oilseed will be gone.

Insecticides are killing pollinators to the point wherespecies such as passion fuit now has to be pollinated by humans. Very labour intensive and expensive.

Changing Climate will kill many of these species, if not all. We will have a very nutrient deficient diet if we have to rely on the other 65% of crops that do not require these pollinators. How many of us would want to eat just wheat, corn and rice?

Not me. Recommend this Post

Postal Workers Refuse to Deliver Hate Material by Church Group

This is the reason why religious groups do not need a defense of religion act. They can currently mail out all the unaddressed hate propaganda they want.

Fortunately for Canadians, there are people with a shred of decency left and surprise, its the unionized workers of Canada Post, but not Canada Post itself (shame). They felt information being sent out by a wingnut baptist church group from Ontario, a 28 page diatribe against homosexuals, should not be put in the mail boxes of people living in the gay community. All of this garbage at taxpayer expense, since they are tax exempt (yet strangely able to advocate unlike all other non profits). Where's the outrage?

This is the reason religious groups will never get the religious freedoms they supposedly don't have. There is enough hate flowing from these people without enshrining their right to promote such. The right of religious freedoms is at odds with every other right Canadians have and it has to go. People are free to think what they want, the only reason to enshrine that right is so you can force your beliefs on someone else or use it to terrorise members of your own or other communities.

I received that booklet or one very similar at my place of work here in Toronto, I was not impressed. Going to your mailbox and getting a piece of mail that slanders you, your husband, and your life from people who think its a right to do so by virtue is not much different than living in Mississippi and seeing a cross burning on your yard circa 1964. Recommend this Post

Daphne Parsons, 1925-2006

Daphne Parsons was the first Newfoundland woman to to become a doctor and return home to practice. She was born in Botwood, NL on May 22, 1925 and attended Dalhousie from 1946-1950 with 13 other Newfoundlanders, and two women out of a class size of 47 in a time when it was assumed women were studying for degrees in childbirth and marriage.

She said "Only one professor made me her feel different and that their was no sex in medicine, there was no difference in who wore pants and wore a skirt".

Dr. Parsons created quite a ruckus a few years into her career when she created a situation which forced the government to establish pay equity for male and female doctors. She went as far to refuse a post with the Ministry of Health because they paid women $500 less a year and instead went to work for a TB sanatorium. Later the ministry asked her if she would take the job if they pay her the "same as a man".

She married in 1959 and was diagnosed with MS in the 1970's and was never hospitalised for the condition. It did not interfere with her intellectual pursuits.

Dr. Parson's died on July 19, 2006. She leaves her husband David and sons Keith, Ean, and Andrew. Recommend this Post

Why should consumer choice be sacrosant?

Consumer choice is not going to drive the combat of climate change.

Post WWII, humanity began a drive to share wealth and freedoms for the common good through the construction of public hospitals, and schools. Living standards were raised and class divisions broken down.

By the 1980's people felt more comfortable and less vulnerable, the war was now long gone, and people began to question the spending of money on such intangible long term benefits. The post war good will began to break down.

Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980's began to suggest that there really is no such thing as a society and investors could single handedly make the world a better place and contraints on trade began to be viewed as burdensome.

This rhetoric has proved to be wildly successful electorally in many countries. Reagan and Thatcher had managed to foist their view of personal and consumer choice as an article of faith. Such financial disasters as Enron,and Hurricane Katrina have failed to shake the widespread belief that the market will someday, somehow solve our problems.

Are consumer best suited to make informed choices? Are there not situations where more straight forward regulation might be more effective?

Climate Change and its science is quite robust and its obvious we need to reduce carbon emissions. Unfortunately the consumer is emotionally attached to it's driver lifestyle and status symbols.

Governments and businesses need to stay popular. Businesses have to provide products as cheap as possible and governments have to let you have your cake and eat it too.

So who exactly will be responsible for providing potential solutions to climate change? To many it's our elected representatives. They have to change the rules under which individuals and businesses compete and making the hard choices for society's long term good.

Maintaining our business as usual approach just encourages people to continue to buy cheap inefficient products. As well, if governments do not step up, businesses fear being undercut and losing market share should they ever incur discretionary, yet responsible costs which are being avoided by the competition.

Its shocking but the major argument against making slavery illegal was whether it was economically justified! Shocking to hear in todays reality.

Short term profits should not be used to justify emissions standards nor keeping fuel costs low.

We must learn to accept that consumer choice cannot be expected to solve complex, large scale problems. Governments have to step up and roll out legislation; giving all the responsibilty to markets and consumers is not enough.

We need to remove the worst products from the market and build environmental costs into prices and give low carbon alternatives a chance of getting established.

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Unfortunately, our current government belongs to the group that thinks unrestricted business will fix all that ails us. Funny how it so far it has done the opposite.

Link Recommend this Post

Second Suicide Barbing by Fundamentalist Manta

In what appears to be the second suicide barbing, Fundamentalist Manta's have nearly claimed their second victim following the killing of the Crocodile Hunter.

An 81-year-old man was in critical condition Thursday after a stingray flopped into his boat and stung him in the chest with a 30-centimetre-long barb.

Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice in a news conference today says "this rise in Seafood Terrorism must stop and the US will be deploying divers and subs to deal with these radical mantas."

President Bush in a conference latter stated that they "have intelligence that shows these crazy fish do indeed have BMD or barbs of mass destruction."

Prime Minister Stephan Harper when asked about the threat to Canada reponded that "we will be lookin into the matter but is pretty sure its the liberals and special interest groups, most likely gay rights groups that have caused this and what George said."

Moby Dick was captured early today and has been secretly deported to Japan for eviceration and consumption. Charlie the Tuna has been detained at the border as a sympathiser to the manta cause. Recommend this Post

CPC environment plan leaked

Surprise, surprise the Green whatever it is called now is a a delay tactic. Though this is a leaked draft and not the 'official' document, it does confirm what think they will do...nothing.

I do believe that this document will be changed significantly now that they have leaked it and are gauging the outrage. So next week expect another name change and more pushing around figures on paper.

I guess they have to get the right combination of subtle name changes and clever use of statistics to show that climate change is correcting itself just like the fiscal balance/imbalance did. Recommend this Post

Two Months Later, Still No AIDS Funding Announcement

It has been two months since Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government said the International AIDS Conference in Toronto had become too "politicized" to make a funding announcement.

Was anyone even convinced there would be one? How many forgot he even made that promise?

I know you don't like homosexuals Mr. Harper but would you help a world catastrophe happen due to your own ignorance and the sake of your voter base?

We have seen before that this PM and his motley crew of one issue politicians has no morals when it comes helping those in need unless you have an oil patch that is. Recommend this Post

Root of All Evil Part 2: The Virus of Faith

Recently, CBC showed the first part of the documentary Root of All Evil : The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Check the link to see quotes from the audience once the documentary was over.

The second part of this documentary wasn't aired on CBC, so I have posted it for your convenience. It is called Root of all Evil: The Virus of Faith. This documentary explores the negative effects indoctrination of children have amongst other issues.

I am posting this as a response to Harpo and the Regressive Conservatives latest promise to make homosexuals the brunt of all hate speech for here on in. This motley crew is doing this as a promise to his Social Conservatives, particularly Evangelicals. This documentary shows how these groups warp the minds of children at their most impressionable age. Take Stockwell Day for example. This man believes the world is 6000 years old. He is incapable of thinking otherwise, to do so would be to deny the holy spirit, the one thing that you cannot atone for. To even consider anything other than what your pastor told you from a book will put you in hell for eternity.

So take your childcare money and go get some beer and popcorn, then come back, and enjoy the show!




If interested in the subject, check out the following authors/directors:
Daniel Dennett
Sam Harris
Brian Flemming
David Mills Recommend this Post

Seal activists have officially gone way too far

How can you possibly feel for the seal rights activist groups when they not only attack the seal industry but have now ventured into Newfoundland and Labrador's tourist industry with a propaganda Newfoundland and Labrador tourist site. It looks harmless at first, actually looks kind of legit until you check out a few links and its purpose becomes quite apparent.

My former home province has always had the shitty end of the stick when it comes to most everything, our fishery is in it's death throes, the seal industry for all intents and purposes ended this year after Europe decided not to purchase seal pelts or products anymore, and Danny Williams is scaring away all the oil investment. This latest victimisation of my home province by these activists aims to destroy the only industry that delivers to all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and not just sealers. The creators of the site — www.tour-newfoundland labrador.com — have shielded their identity by using an Arizona-based privacy-protection firm to register it so attempts to take it down will fail.

I personally am an animal lover, and I can relate to some of the issues the activists have but summary conviction of a people and destruction of an industry in Canada's poorest province is more than a little petty, its inhuman. Recommend this Post

5 things that feminism has done for me

Nicole at Naught by Nature has tagged me to list 5 things that have feminism has done for me.

Here goes:

1) Feminism has given me an equal but different partner in humanity. A much needed different point of view.

2) Feminism gave me a mother who could stand up for herself, and in doing so she was also standing up for me.

3) Feminism saved my dear friend Kathryn from the violence of her husband.

4) Feminism gave me the backbone and know how and how to on how to stand up for my rights as a gay male.

5) Feminism gave me the greatest boss in the world. Recommend this Post

Only thing worst than liars are two faced ones.

There seems to be a stampede to register as a tory lobbyist prior to the enactment of the very law the CPC devised to stop lobbyist. So what is it Mr. Harper? No lobbyists or just no lobbyists other than regressive conservative ones? And surprise they used their new lobbyist powers to kill any threat to further profit and pollution.

I'll say it again, these revolting pigs don't deserve the air they breathe. Recommend this Post

He's my wife??

Being recently married I have notice the deluge of mailings that get sent to the 'woman' of the house. You may have seen these. Items sent to Ms. Husbands Name or mailings with Ms. tacked onto your own name.

I find myself in a situation that I find hilarious but pisses off my husband. You see, we are a same sex married couple and I am caucasian and he's south asian. My name stands out as a male, his is rare and from asia and people don't know what to make of it so the assume that because we are married he has to be the wife. A false assumption in Canada since 2004.

In the mail my husband receives 'Elle" magazine, free issues of 'Homemaker', feminine hygene product samples, womens perfume and even a letter addressing him as Ms. from the government. I think it is trivial and there are good recipes in Homemaker and I can use ladies shaving cream samples. Of course it does not help when I walk in the door with the latest 'Elle' and tell him that this outfit on the cover would look nice on you, but the shoes are too small. For him, this is the icing on the cake. When he immigrated here as a child with his family immigration officials bastardised his name by adding an 'h' 'behind every 's' in his name. His name no longer sounds at all like it looks and results in mispronounciations everytime.

I doubt I can stem this tide of mailings. I know people no longer use Miss or Mrs., so maybe we should work on getting Mr. and Ms. reduced to just M.

Any suggestions? Recommend this Post

30 Conservatives turned lobbyist rack up 327 contracts to lobby the federal government

Though it's no surprise to anyone by now, Mr. Harper once again lies. His vow to end lobbying by staffers turned lobbyist to the government apparently only applies if you were not a Conservative. What is most shocking is the nature of the lobbyists concern and the success they appear to have had.

"A great many of the contracts (for Tory lobbyists) appear to be related to environmental issues and Kyoto and climate change,'' said Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale. ''This government has stopped dead in its tracks on climate change. It has no environmental policy to speak of. It certainly has no policy on climate change. That is exactly what the lobbyists were seeking to achieve.''

And we are to take the "Made by Lobby" Green Sham II as something more than lip service when these crackpots unveil it?

I guess the delay in the great unveiling may have something to do with a check from a lobbyist not clearing on time. Recommend this Post

Arar Absolved, CPC owes him an apology

Remember this:

On Monday, November 18th, Leader of the Canadian Alliance Steven Harper said, ".While the minister participated in high level consultations to defend a suspected terrorist, it apparently took a trip by the U.S. Secretary of State for the minister to admit what he really knew."

Diane Ablonczy added, "Mr. Speaker, it is time the Liberals told the truth: that their system of screening and security checks is pathetic. Arar was given dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship by the government. It did not pick up on his terrorist links and the U.S. had to clue it in."

Stockwell Day stated "When [Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham] thought everything was lovely about this gentlemen, he was talking about him all over the place. But when he gets information he's dangerous, all of a sudden it's 'Oops maybe I shouldn't have said anything.' "Recently, in discussing the profiling of Canadian Arabs and Muslims travelling to the U.S., Day stated, "I don't know that it's a racial profiling issue. That's stating origin of birth, and we do know that from certain countries there are higher levels of people who seem to be involved in terrorism."

Time to say sorry. Recommend this Post

The irrelevant old queen speaks again.

Pardon my stinging criticism of the beloved pope but when i hear stuff like this. I can't help but feel this way.

So Benedict, you don't like the fact that Canada gives its people equal rights and freedom of choice, well, tough teat. I do believe we tried it the catholic way once upon a time known by many as the "Dark Ages" and yes we all remember the indulgences, the orgying of old sexless men, the stifling of free thought, murders, should I go on?

Now you think we should go back there. Why should we? Canada is secular and that means we are not a catholic country which means you can't rule us, only some of the people. So your 5 cents worth is worthless. Go bitch to Latin America.

We all know the real beef the Vatican has with the extension of reproductive choice to women and why it's against gay marriage (other than jealousy). Reproductive choice means less catholic babies to add to your dwindling numbers. It keeps people poor and always looking to "god" for non existant assistance which they internalize as their shortcomings when it never answers. You'd rather further the AIDS epidemic than let someone use a condom. As for your opposition to equal same sex marriage could the reason lies in property and wealth, none of which you will get from a gay man who can leave it to a spouse and not the church as was the case once upon a time?

So go take a f**king hike. Recommend this Post

On becoming a Legitimate MP, Fortier says "Non".

So Fortier has a chance to become a legitimate member of Parliment by running in the Montreal-area riding of Repentigny but says no. He will not run until the next general election. So much for seeking a seat in the next available by-election which has usually been the case. I guess this could be the reason.

He's just a big scaredy cat who knows he's not wanted or needed. Recommend this Post

So, It was Beer & Popcorn money after all.

All I can say is this is all you can expect from the Conservatives. They chastisesd criticism of the hild care benefit as being of little use, and now they are actually backing up the fact thats its a supplement not actual cash that does anything to help with child care. So I guess thats one priority gone since they never addressed it. So now its 3/5 priorities they have accomplished. Soon they will have done nothing.

Unless of course they realized they messed up and want to campaign on that promise again in the next election. Recommend this Post

As Transparent as a Concrete Wall.

Would-be candidates who were barred from nominations in their ridings are asked to sign confidentiality agreements that barred them from discussing their situations later. Gotta love the transparency of the CPC. It's about as transparent as a concete wall.

Alan Riddell has been called an embarassment to CPC because the CPC totally screwed him over and they won't give the cash they promised him. Is it just me or is this situation more of a problem on the CPC side? Maybe the problem with this is paying people off instead of letting a democratic process occur.

Well, I not sure if anyone in that party could be considered anything else but an embarassment. Recommend this Post

And this is the Green Plan II that we've been waiting for??

So this is the CPC Green Sham. A very useless piece of legislation that will not address green house gases for 5 years or more. Mr, Harper please get out of office now and please for god's sake send Rona back to University. In the Environment portfolio we need someone with a little more than an Arts degrees. I fail to see how someone like this could even begin to understand science.

And I think Rick sums up the entire problem with this government quite concisely with this video.

Recommend this Post

There is hope!

Seems all the double speak, nasty assness, uncaring attitude and condescending tone are finally getting to people. People don't want our way of governance ruined. People are opening their eyes and they most definitely do not like what they see.

So don't blame me I voted Liberal. Recommend this Post

Stevie leaves his cake out in the rain.

I don't think that he can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And He'll never have that recipe again
Oh, no! Recommend this Post

As if 1 Billion wasn't enough

I guess Steve cut George sort. The cool 1 Billion we are not getting back apparently isn't enough. They are planning to put levy's on Canadian Flights. Guess they squeezed all they could out of softwood and BSE, so now they are attacking Canadians citizens personally. I don't hear any one bitching about anti-canadianism down in the US when they stand up for themselves, do you Mr. Emerson? Recommend this Post