Friday, April 30, 2004
NAFTA Lumber Ruling?:
So NAFTA has ruled in Canada's favor regarding the seemingly endless lumber dispute between Canada and the U.S. I don't see how this is really going to change anything. Rulings have been granted in Canada's favor by just about everyone else by now, yet the conflict goes on. Essentially, the American's say that Canada supports it's lumber industry by granting unfairly low cut fees. Canada disputes this and as has been stated have won pretty much every challenge made to the American's resulting trade sanctions. In the end it has all had no affect to date as the American position has not changed, big surprise. I suspect it still wont. Why? Because the American's have demonstrated more times than can be counted that they care very little for the opinions of others and will follow there own " National Interests" regardless of the cost to the rest of us. They are the big bullies on the block, and will remain so until another one comes along to knock them down.
So NAFTA has ruled in Canada's favor regarding the seemingly endless lumber dispute between Canada and the U.S. I don't see how this is really going to change anything. Rulings have been granted in Canada's favor by just about everyone else by now, yet the conflict goes on. Essentially, the American's say that Canada supports it's lumber industry by granting unfairly low cut fees. Canada disputes this and as has been stated have won pretty much every challenge made to the American's resulting trade sanctions. In the end it has all had no affect to date as the American position has not changed, big surprise. I suspect it still wont. Why? Because the American's have demonstrated more times than can be counted that they care very little for the opinions of others and will follow there own " National Interests" regardless of the cost to the rest of us. They are the big bullies on the block, and will remain so until another one comes along to knock them down.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Tax on Lotteries?:
Word is out that our friend Dalton is considering taxing lottery winnings. Shouldn't come as any great surprise when we look at his record to date. He has broken virtually every promise he made during the election, so it's hardly shocking that he would break the governments agreement with the people one more time. The government runs the lottery in Ontario. Therefore they already generate significant funds from it. Taxing the lottery would be the equivalent of a business earning profit from an adventure and then getting the added bonus of taxing the earnings of their partner. Sweet!!! Suddenly your Million Dollar Winner just turned into 500,000. The governments moral ground with lotteries is tenuous to begin with as many people believe that our leaders should not be involved with what is essentially a gambling scheme, and one with very poor odds for the players to boot. They should be content with the earnings they make already if not get out of the game all together.
Word is out that our friend Dalton is considering taxing lottery winnings. Shouldn't come as any great surprise when we look at his record to date. He has broken virtually every promise he made during the election, so it's hardly shocking that he would break the governments agreement with the people one more time. The government runs the lottery in Ontario. Therefore they already generate significant funds from it. Taxing the lottery would be the equivalent of a business earning profit from an adventure and then getting the added bonus of taxing the earnings of their partner. Sweet!!! Suddenly your Million Dollar Winner just turned into 500,000. The governments moral ground with lotteries is tenuous to begin with as many people believe that our leaders should not be involved with what is essentially a gambling scheme, and one with very poor odds for the players to boot. They should be content with the earnings they make already if not get out of the game all together.
Saturday, April 24, 2004
For the Love of God?:
I hear people describing others as God fearing, or she's a god fearing woman, etc. This always confuses me. According to most everything I've read I would suspect God would not want us to fear him, her,etc. Love is not born of fear. For us to Love God truly, fear must not be a component. Throughout history, people have been killed in the name of God. Members of virtually every religion have at one point or another killed others in the name of God. I strongly suspect this is a severe misinterpretation of his words, will, whatever. A God strong, knowledgeable, and wise enough to create the universe would not require me to take the life of anything he has created. If he feels one of his creations is flawed he could easily destroy it himself. I think what our real task in this life is might be more on the lines of learning as much as we can, be tolerant of other views, and attempt to eliminate the reasons that criminals, terrorists, and any other persons who are dangerous to the rest of us, are created in the first place. A world where people are free to express, don't have to see their children die of malnutrition, and have access to decent medical care might be much less likely to produce deviance. It is possible for us to have such a world. I think many of us are tired of seeing the killing and suffering everyday, and this from the comfort available in North America. There are many more people living in suffering in this world than there are living in comfort. Perhaps one day soon, we will have evolved far enough that we can put this type of pain behind us and live truly as we were meant to.
I hear people describing others as God fearing, or she's a god fearing woman, etc. This always confuses me. According to most everything I've read I would suspect God would not want us to fear him, her,etc. Love is not born of fear. For us to Love God truly, fear must not be a component. Throughout history, people have been killed in the name of God. Members of virtually every religion have at one point or another killed others in the name of God. I strongly suspect this is a severe misinterpretation of his words, will, whatever. A God strong, knowledgeable, and wise enough to create the universe would not require me to take the life of anything he has created. If he feels one of his creations is flawed he could easily destroy it himself. I think what our real task in this life is might be more on the lines of learning as much as we can, be tolerant of other views, and attempt to eliminate the reasons that criminals, terrorists, and any other persons who are dangerous to the rest of us, are created in the first place. A world where people are free to express, don't have to see their children die of malnutrition, and have access to decent medical care might be much less likely to produce deviance. It is possible for us to have such a world. I think many of us are tired of seeing the killing and suffering everyday, and this from the comfort available in North America. There are many more people living in suffering in this world than there are living in comfort. Perhaps one day soon, we will have evolved far enough that we can put this type of pain behind us and live truly as we were meant to.
Friday, April 23, 2004
So What's the Answer?:
Don't know! Many of the conflicts the Americans have tried to resolve over the last 50 years are very complex. Such is the case in Afghanistan. Tribal conflict has been going on there for many hundreds of years. This conflict has evolved into what it is today gradually over all that time. The situation over all the Middle East is the same. This makes the situation so complex that it is very difficult to accurately predict what the result of any action is going to be. In most cases of intervention in the world the rescuing country goes charging in guns blazing to overthrow the current regime. Once the new "democratic" government is in place, it is expected that everything will be fine. This has most often proven not to be the case. If real change is going to happen, it must evolve in the same manner as the conflict. An example of this in the U.S. is slavery. A major war was fought over it with the result being that the practice was outlawed. However Black Americans continued to be discriminated against well into the 20th Century and in fact continue to be discriminated against albeit generally in a more subtle fashion. The progress that has been made is the result of a long period of education which resulted in a gradual changing of attitudes. Combine this with the efforts of great men like Martin Luther King and America has become a much better place for Black Men. This lesson must be extended to all conflict if a true solution is to be found. Any outside action in an attempt to "help" the less fortunate must first be done through education and understanding and last, if ever, with the stormtroopers. We must learn to recognize that these types of problems often take generations to fix. If we continue to tale the kind of measures the Americans are taking the problem only becomes more complex, and in fact often completely destabilizes the entire region.
Don't know! Many of the conflicts the Americans have tried to resolve over the last 50 years are very complex. Such is the case in Afghanistan. Tribal conflict has been going on there for many hundreds of years. This conflict has evolved into what it is today gradually over all that time. The situation over all the Middle East is the same. This makes the situation so complex that it is very difficult to accurately predict what the result of any action is going to be. In most cases of intervention in the world the rescuing country goes charging in guns blazing to overthrow the current regime. Once the new "democratic" government is in place, it is expected that everything will be fine. This has most often proven not to be the case. If real change is going to happen, it must evolve in the same manner as the conflict. An example of this in the U.S. is slavery. A major war was fought over it with the result being that the practice was outlawed. However Black Americans continued to be discriminated against well into the 20th Century and in fact continue to be discriminated against albeit generally in a more subtle fashion. The progress that has been made is the result of a long period of education which resulted in a gradual changing of attitudes. Combine this with the efforts of great men like Martin Luther King and America has become a much better place for Black Men. This lesson must be extended to all conflict if a true solution is to be found. Any outside action in an attempt to "help" the less fortunate must first be done through education and understanding and last, if ever, with the stormtroopers. We must learn to recognize that these types of problems often take generations to fix. If we continue to tale the kind of measures the Americans are taking the problem only becomes more complex, and in fact often completely destabilizes the entire region.
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Terrorists in Canada?:
What bugs me more than anything is cases like this Kadr family we have been hearing so much about lately. We're Talking about a guy who first says he is not a terrorist and has never been one, so he is eligible for entry into Canada. Then after his father is wounded in Pakistan he admits that his family has extensive ties to El Qaida. Next, he states that he also was trained by El Qaida but he was really a CIA spy at the time. Enough Already!!!! Give the guy a parachute and drop him over Pakistan somewhere. He forfeit any claims to being in Canada in the first place as soon as he lied about his past. It's the failure of the government to act on this fact that creates the problem of terrorists in Canada in the first place.
What bugs me more than anything is cases like this Kadr family we have been hearing so much about lately. We're Talking about a guy who first says he is not a terrorist and has never been one, so he is eligible for entry into Canada. Then after his father is wounded in Pakistan he admits that his family has extensive ties to El Qaida. Next, he states that he also was trained by El Qaida but he was really a CIA spy at the time. Enough Already!!!! Give the guy a parachute and drop him over Pakistan somewhere. He forfeit any claims to being in Canada in the first place as soon as he lied about his past. It's the failure of the government to act on this fact that creates the problem of terrorists in Canada in the first place.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Global Warming:
More confirmation of the impending doom caused by global warming. The worst case estimates show an eight degree Celsius change by 2050. Ggggrrreeeeaaatttt. One things for sure, the next hundred years should prove very exciting and interesting as billions of people become more desperate than they already are today.
More confirmation of the impending doom caused by global warming. The worst case estimates show an eight degree Celsius change by 2050. Ggggrrreeeeaaatttt. One things for sure, the next hundred years should prove very exciting and interesting as billions of people become more desperate than they already are today.
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Iraq:
The situation in Iraq seems to be getting worse by the minute. Looks like good ole George Bush has created quite a mess there. I can't say I know what the answer to the whole thing is, but I know one thing for sure, Goerge surely does not know either.
The situation in Iraq seems to be getting worse by the minute. Looks like good ole George Bush has created quite a mess there. I can't say I know what the answer to the whole thing is, but I know one thing for sure, Goerge surely does not know either.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Is the U.S. Next?:
The Dept. Of Homeland Security is warning about attacks after the bombings in Madrid. It's really only a matter of time in a country such as the U.S. Increased security at borders, including fingerprinting will probably help. But there are far too many vulnerabilities at the borders for these measures to stop the terrorists. Only the form of the attack will change. The U.S. gov't must understand that the only true way to stop the killing is through education and understanding. They must stop acting as bullies and must start acting more as guides to countries not as fortunate as them. Instead they go in as a stampeding economic machine with a very powerful military to back them up. Oh, and by the way, the economic machine acts only in it's own best interests most often leaving the country in shambles when the whole thing falls apart.
The Dept. Of Homeland Security is warning about attacks after the bombings in Madrid. It's really only a matter of time in a country such as the U.S. Increased security at borders, including fingerprinting will probably help. But there are far too many vulnerabilities at the borders for these measures to stop the terrorists. Only the form of the attack will change. The U.S. gov't must understand that the only true way to stop the killing is through education and understanding. They must stop acting as bullies and must start acting more as guides to countries not as fortunate as them. Instead they go in as a stampeding economic machine with a very powerful military to back them up. Oh, and by the way, the economic machine acts only in it's own best interests most often leaving the country in shambles when the whole thing falls apart.
