Canada - Next Federal Gov't?

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Harper: resign or be pushed? Who cares?

I'm watching the expedition in Antarctica, where it is their summer, and a bunch of "scientists" were trying to retrace some explorers path to see how the ice would make it easier because of melting and climate change. That's the ways I understand it. Their ship is stuck in an ice pack as is an ice breaker which tried to break them free. The Americans have sent an ice breaker which should get there in a week depending on weather conditions to try to break them free. The "scientists" have been taken off their ship by helicopter and I suppose they have abandoned their mission.

The salvage costs will be high but my understanding is the cost can't exceed the value of the ship they salvage plus the cargo.

So I have to ask what climate change is it to which you refer.

There is a God and he likes to play practical jokes on people who think that the science is settled.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Harper: resign or be pushed? Who cares?

Go ahead and try to defend such practices. I'm sure someone will agree with you.

Slow down. I didn't say I agreed with it.

It's like me saying I know VBulletin 4.2 is easy to hack. You can google it and get instruction on how to do it if you can't figure it out yourself. It doesn't mean I agree with it hacking it. But I know it can be done.

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Harper: resign or be pushed? Who cares?

What did you think was happening with all that information?

One thing I did not think was happening was the stalking of women by intelligence officers with access to all this information. That's stalking of people who are not suspected of having violated any law; they're simply of interest to the particular intelligence officer. This practice is so common it has it's own name: LOVEINT. This is just one of many misuses of the collection of all this information.

Go ahead and try to defend such practices. I'm sure someone will agree with you.

Another example is the prohibition of entry to the US by a Canadian lady whose health records were accessed by US border authorities and who, based on her past mental health issues, decided that she could be a danger to herself or others.

What reason did the US government have for spying on German PM Angela Merkel? Is she a terrorist as well? How about the Israeli President? Another terrorist? It's just a despicable pack of lies. They spy on everyone, all the time, and it needs to stop.

On and on it goes. Indiscriminate collection of information about the citizenry, stored forever, is an inherent danger to privacy and thereby to democracy.

Privacy is also an essential element in what makes everyone unique. If we wanted a nation of identical thoughtless zombies, then continuing down this Orwellian road would be the way to go.

OTOH, certain political parties probably want that ...

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Harper: resign or be pushed? Who cares?

What did you think was happening with all that information?

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Re: Harper: resign or be pushed? Who cares?

Spying has been going on forever. I liked the time when Gouzenko gave it all up. Defected to Canada. I guess you're trying to tell us nobody has ever spied on us.

None of that stuff was really presented as proper evidence, subject to challenge, at the time. The Kellock–Taschereau Commission was a bit of a travesty, with witnesses being browbeat into confessions of one kind or another. Think: Diplock Courts.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there. The kind of spying that Snowden et al have revealed is of a gigantic order of magnitude worse than George Orwell imagined. Every e mail, tweet, text, post on a Discussion Board (like this one), etc., is being stored and saved, including confidential personal data (the Canadian lady who was banned from the USA for once having been depressed is a case in point) without any proper oversight whatsoever. These are police state tactics. They undermine and destroy democracy. The "5 Eyes" (USA, UK, Australia, NZ and Canada), given the evidence, make the former Stazi of East Germany seen like amateurs in comparison.

Furthermore, spying for private corporate benefit (Brazil, eg, or providing "intelligence" at taxpayer expense on environmental organizations and activists for the oil and gas industry) is not in the public interest; it's a private interest by definition. Why should my tax dollars subsidize Enbridge black ops?

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Harper: resign or be pushed? Who cares?

It's hard to debate the ", etc., etc., etc., " part in your second paragraph, although I do admire your putting it out for effect. :D

Let's look at this part of what you wrote. "the abandonment of climate change research and the dismantling of countless research programs,"

I'm watching the expedition in Antarctica, where it is their summer, and a bunch of "scientists" were trying to retrace some explorers path to see how the ice would make it easier because of melting and climate change. That's the ways I understand it. Their ship is stuck in an ice pack as is an ice breaker which tried to break them free. The Americans have sent an ice breaker which should get there in a week depending on weather conditions to try to break them free. The "scientists" have been taken off their ship by helicopter and I suppose they have abandoned their mission.

The salvage costs will be high but my understanding is the cost can't exceed the value of the ship they salvage plus the cargo.

So I have to ask what climate change is it to which you refer.

Yes, not delivering mail to seniors is a problem and I might have to vote for a political party which promises to deliver my mail. Even if it's only two or three days a week. However, it's my expectation that proposal will be scrapped.

Spying has been going on forever. I liked the time when Gouzenko gave it all up. Defected to Canada. I guess you're trying to tell us nobody has ever spied on us.

It's like during our big ice storm a couple of weeks ago. Some people got down to the hard cold job of fixing the power lines and coordinating the effort. Another, who's waiting for an Alexander Haig moment, went to Florida for Christmas. "I'm in control here....".

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Harper: resign or be pushed? Some Hope!!

Given the cabal of zealots that is his cabinet, I rather think he will be pushed. There's always the possibility that they will knife each other in the back ... simultaneously ... and thereby save the electorate the expense of another election.

What with the book burnings (libricide! a new term thanks to the Harper regime) of priceless libraries, their war on science (such as the gutting of the Fisheries Act, the muzzling of scientists, the abandonment of climate change research and the dismantling of countless research programs, including the world famous Experimental Lakes Area), the frothing hatred of public institutions like the CBC, beating up seniors which will make Canada the only developed country without home delivery of mail, the disgraceful and embarrassing foreign policy debacles, the revelations of continuing spying on foreign governments for narrow, private corporate interests, the war on Native people and the failure to support the relevant UN resolutions, the jack-booted myopic cheerleading for the most environmentally destructive projects on planet Earth, the formation of "enemies" lists, etc., etc., etc., the sooner the better.

ETA: the hits just keep on coming. The latest revelation is that former Harper cabinet member Chuck Strahl, the same guy appointed by Harper to be Canada's top spy watchdog, has recently registered as a lobbyist for mega-death oil and gas mega-corp Enbridge. This, despite the fact that "confounds prior assertions which downplayed the circumstantial relationships between CSIS, its oversight committee and the private sector. Former CSIS Assistant Director Ray Boisvert said at one point to the Vancouver Observer that “there is no collaboration between intelligence organizations and private industry. That is against the law”. Boisvert retired from CSIS in 2012 and is currently a security consultant in the private sector."

Really? But then why was Canada spying on the Brazilian state oil and gas corporation as Edward Snowden has revealed? Perhaps one of the ChessTalk cheerleaders for this Tory cesspool can enlighten us as to what public service WAS being carried out by such spying? Was Canada in danger of terrorist attack from Brazilian oil workers? Maybe they were planning to sap the Canadian national soccer team of their vital bodily fluids? A Brasil nut conspiracy? lol.

It's a pity we don't have laws on moral turpitude in Canada. The entire Harper Cabinet (and former Cabinet!) would be in jail, which, judging by their current conduct, is where they belong.

Good on you Nigel. DITTO!

My only concern: is the devil you know, preferable to the one you don't??

Bob A

[Peter McKillop]

Re: Harper: resign or be pushed? Who cares?

Aha! There is something we agree on. :)

[Nigel Hanrahan]

Harper: resign or be pushed? Who cares?

Will Harper resign, as is all the buzz??:) Bob A

Given the cabal of zealots that is his cabinet, I rather think he will be pushed. There's always the possibility that they will knife each other in the back ... simultaneously ... and thereby save the electorate the expense of another election.

What with the book burnings (libricide! a new term thanks to the Harper regime) of priceless libraries, their war on science (such as the gutting of the Fisheries Act, the muzzling of scientists, the abandonment of climate change research and the dismantling of countless research programs, including the world famous Experimental Lakes Area), the frothing hatred of public institutions like the CBC, beating up seniors which will make Canada the only developed country without home delivery of mail, the disgraceful and embarrassing foreign policy debacles, the revelations of continuing spying on foreign governments for narrow, private corporate interests, the war on Native people and the failure to support the relevant UN resolutions, the jack-booted myopic cheerleading for the most environmentally destructive projects on planet Earth, the formation of "enemies" lists, etc., etc., etc., the sooner the better.

ETA: the hits just keep on coming. The latest revelation is that former Harper cabinet member Chuck Strahl, the same guy appointed by Harper to be Canada's top spy watchdog, has recently registered as a lobbyist for mega-death oil and gas mega-corp Enbridge. This, despite the fact that "confounds prior assertions which downplayed the circumstantial relationships between CSIS, its oversight committee and the private sector. Former CSIS Assistant Director Ray Boisvert said at one point to the Vancouver Observer that “there is no collaboration between intelligence organizations and private industry. That is against the law”. Boisvert retired from CSIS in 2012 and is currently a security consultant in the private sector."

Really? But then why was Canada spying on the Brazilian state oil and gas corporation as Edward Snowden has revealed? Perhaps one of the ChessTalk cheerleaders for this Tory cesspool can enlighten us as to what public service WAS being carried out by such spying? Was Canada in danger of terrorist attack from Brazilian oil workers? Maybe they were planning to sap the Canadian national soccer team of their vital bodily fluids? A Brasil nut conspiracy? lol.

It's a pity we don't have laws on moral turpitude in Canada. The entire Harper Cabinet (and former Cabinet!) would be in jail, which, judging by their current conduct, is where they belong.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Harper Resigation? - Next Federal Gov't Prime Minister?

Will Harper resign, as is all the buzz??:)

Bob A

Why would he resign? He governs Canada. That's his job.

[Bob Armstrong]

Harper Resigation? - Next Federal Gov't Prime Minister?

Will Harper resign, as is all the buzz??:)

Who will be the new PM??

Who will be the government after the next federal election?

Bob A

[Nigel Hanrahan]

moderator hat on

One small question for you as moderator. Is it possible to personally attack an alias? I mean you're moderating a real names message board and can you verify with any certainty or probability the identity of that person?

Moderator tools are limited. I can see an IP address so that helps to identify a poster. My limited experience teaches me that one poster can have multiple addresses.

As you know, the most extreme thing I do here is to close a thread or delete/edit a message within a thread. Pretty well the only threads I delete are pure spam. BTW, the worst problem here is the sheer volume of spam (especially from vietnam03 and in the blogs) that either can't be deleted or is too much work to delete. And the hacker admin account called hello22 that still exists. That account has more authority here than I do.

The old ChessTalk was pretty awful, frankly. So what we have here is better. A few more tools and it would be great. I've also seen much more acrimonious Discussion Boards than this one. The expense of moderating can go through the roof when you have a group of people/bots determined to sabotage a site. It gets like a digital war zone.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Canada - Next Federal Gov't?

And I like to participate in the discussions as well, so I have to be more lenient that I might otherwise be. I don't think everyone who contributes here really agrees with this practice (of having a Moderator participate in the discussions) and it's those times when the most, er, unparliamentary language gets thrown my way. C'est la vie.

I don't see anything wrong with you, also being the moderator, participating in the discussions. You're entitled to your opinion even if others don't agree with that opinion.

Why not ask the whiner why he would click on a topic which is obviously politics and then complain about the content?

One small question for you as moderator. Is it possible to personally attack an alias? I mean you're moderating a real names message board and can you verify with any certainty or probability the identity of that person?

[Nigel Hanrahan]

You are a moderator. Why on earth do you continue to accept the trolls posts on here? It's all about him, and bores everyone else. Everyone, feel free to chime in with what you really think...lol!

Less is more for this Discussion Board. I'd rather not intervene unless I really have to. It's pretty rare actually. And I like to participate in the discussions as well, so I have to be more lenient that I might otherwise be. I don't think everyone who contributes here really agrees with this practice (of having a Moderator participate in the discussions) and it's those times when the most, er, unparliamentary language gets thrown my way. C'est la vie.

[Fred Harvey]

Re: Canada - Next Federal Gov't?

lol. You'll get abusive invective for the next 6 months with such comments. Just be thankful you aren't the Moderator and subject to all sorts of baiting as well. Cheers.

You are a moderator. Why on earth do you continue to accept the trolls posts on here? It's all about him, and bores everyone else. Everyone, feel free to chime in with what you really think...lol!