Global warming? Climate change? Sure wish summer would come around.

Anyone hear Harpers rants this week? Harper is losing it IMO. Harper said he'd run over anyone getting in the way of his dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board. Harper wants to have multinationals and bankster speculators set the price of food staples, and each farmer for his own in negotiations with the big multinationals.

Prior to that Harper deported a guy that a House majority in parliament voted against his deportation. Harper defied the House to get tough on any American that views Canada as a safe haven from their perceptions of American governments tyranny. My problem with this is it is something that protects Canada having Americans view Canada as their traditional safe haven, and by undermining that notion we become just another nation with no virtue and thus no respect as a potential future safe haven for Americans should they ever require it. BC with no mainland military bases has a tradition of being a safe harbor. Even American chicken hawks brag it up that Canada is where they would go to in flight from say a nuclear holocaust or something else that caused calamity in their parts. Harper alone defied the parliament to pursue his own foreign policy agenda with a minority government. Harpers policy is that in the next war there will be no room for descent of government policy and no place to hide.

Does Harper still respect the rule of law?

I think the Conservatives are doing just fine.

How soon people forget Liberal mismanagement of tax payers money.

Let's keep going with this minority government.
Minority governments ain't that bad.

The land on the north eastern side of the Foothills Bridge is an obvious mecca for those looking to beat the heat on a hot summer's day. Unlike Wilkins, Wilson and Cottonwood Parks, it's actually situated on the side of the river that's more enjoyable on a nice afternoon! Is this land owned by the owners of the gravel pit above it? It would be nice to see some development here, it's clear that no one minds people in the area, but unfortunately it can become quite the mess down there. A few garbage and recycling cans could probably go a long way in making the spot a more enjoyable place to be. A little landscaping and a washroom would make it the nicest spot in town!

My beef is with our local road workers, whomever they work for. Monday Morning at 7:30 is not the time to tear up 5th Ave going into town. Why would you incovience that many people? Start late, say 9 am. Or just do the out bound road in the morning and inbound in the afternoon. Who schedules these things?

I've never agreed with the concept behind 'marketing boards', (which is to INCREASE the price of some product to consumers by restricting its supply), but in the absense of a policy that would ensure domestic consumers are actually only paying a price for some product that reflects its true costs of production, plus a 'reasonable' profit for the producer, they are still a necessity.

To dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board without first having the policy mentioned above in place will likely prove to be a major mistake if implemented by the Harper government.

As far as deporting American 'deserters' goes, we should remember that these people were NOT 'drafted' and taken into the American military against their will.

They 'volunteered' to join that country's military and place themselves under its commander-in-chief. If they don't want to obey his orders, to agree to abide by the conditions of the contract they freely signed when they joined up, then they should refuse on their own soil and be prepared to face the consequences of imprisonment, dishonorable discharge, or whatever.

In law it is the difference between 'contract under duress', meaning that you are freely entering into some agreement and by so doing are agreeing to abide by its terms or suffer 'duress' (some penalty for violating them), and being UNDER DURESS to enter into the contract in the first place. As these people would be if there were still a miltary draft in the USA. Deport him.

If Parliament is not happy with Harper's foreign policy then those opposed should have enough guts to vote to defeat his minority government and test that policy or their alternatives at the polls.

And no, I don't think Harper's government, or any other government preceding his always respects the 'rule of law'. Some laws, particularly some that manage to get encated under a minority Parliament, are simply too assinine to respect. If he's not enforcing them, then let those opposed vote him out and take their chances of winning power by promising to enforce them.

I can't belive people complain about City/Highways does work on the roads. You bitch and complain all year about the condition of the roads and the day they fix it you complain about it. Maybee you should call city hall and let them know YOUR schedule and they will change a milllion dollar job to accomodate you. Don't you know another way to get into the city for ONE day so the nice people can fix your road? Just ONE day they need to stop you from complaining, thats not to much to ask for.

HD, they ALL mismanage the taxpayer's money. They can't help but do that, since the whole accounting concept behind a "balanced budget" is flawed and incomplete in its relationship to that 'money'.

Pertsonally, I think Harper and the Conservatives are better than the Liberals and their leaders, past or present. But there's still lots to be desired with him, too.

Oil goes down over $10 a barrel in the past few days...gas price at the pump doesn't even move.

Funny how it only take 24 hours to move it up when Oil goes up but rarely goes down when the price should go down.

Highway robbery.

Dumptrucks on the Highway:

I have noticed that many of the dumptrucks driving on Highway 16 lately do not have their loads covered. Most, if not all, have roll-up coverings they can extend over their load. But there seems to be very few drivers who use these.
There has been a very high amount of rocks on the road between PG and Vanderhoof in the last month, with all the construction going on. And of course more rock leads to more rock chips in the windows.
We have enough trouble with rock chips in the winter around this area. We dont need them in the summer too.

Dumptrucks, please cover your loads.

Good post, MoneKate! I never complain about any delays caused be roadwork! In fact I celebrate each and every time I see them actually putting some of our tax dollars into highway improvements! But, if they can find a way to do the work and cause the minimum amount of interruptions I would be even happier!

I just hope that the trucks and other heavy traffic that come down 5th Ave. every day don't wreck the new road too badly before the Cameron St. bridge is built.

The big trucks sure wrecked 5th avenue over the past couple years. That road was one of the most rutted cracked and potholed sections in town.

Socredible ...

"They 'volunteered' to join that country's military and place themselves under its commander-in-chief. If they don't want to obey his orders, to agree to abide by the conditions of the contract they freely signed when they joined up, then they should refuse on their own soil and be prepared to face the consequences of imprisonment, dishonorable discharge, or whatever."

The contract they signed has another aspect to it. That is that soldiers have the right to refuse an order which thye feel is unjust, th same as a worker has a right to refuse work which is unsafe.

I beleive the first case in question is one in which the individual was in the military prior to the order to send troops into Iraq. The fellow felt this was an unjust war, the same as several countries, including Canada felt. That is the basis of his argument. Perhaps he should have faced the consequences at military rial in the USA, but I think the outcome of that is rather obvious under the emotional coindition of the country at the time, and even today.

This kind of notion is not exactly new. Here is an Israili version of an action the army was asked to carry out, the removal of Jewish settlers.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E7DC1431F93AA25757C0A962958260

These are highly moral words from Rabbi Rabinowitz "You cannot ask your army to do just anything. A country where the army becomes robots, as in Nazi Germany, clearly is on the road to losing its soul."

WOOHOO another day above ground!!!

what a beautiful day!!!!

wishing you all a great day and fabulous weekend!!!

SMILE it's contagious!!!

Dan re:dumptrucks on the highway...I have a friend who was driving behind a dumptruck and 2 rocks ...1 8" and 1 12" flew off the back of the truck and hit him in the head while he was driving. He was in Edmonton Hospital for a month with a broken jaw and brain injuries. He still suffers a year later from poor speech and short term memory issues. He cannot function fully since the accident and the family suffered through emotional issues and red tape after his accident. There were witnesses to the accident and the truck the rocks came from was identified. The fella driving the truck approached the R.C.M.P. and said he believed the rocks came from his truck. Unfortunatly ICBC and the powers that be said this was not difinitive proof that the rocks came from his dump truck. The family had to hire a lawyer just to get a paltry sum from I.C.B.C. just to cover the work loss and expenses while he was in the hospital. As far as I am concerned...and extra little bit of physical labour to cover the dump truck load would have been worth it to prevent what has happened to this family.

sorry about my spelling...one cup of coffee is not enough to kickstart the smart part of my brain!!

Has anyone on here had WCB treat them unfairly? Do you know of a website or support group for those going thru problems with them? Do they treat everyone like they dont have a heart or feelings?

Re: The WCB; I don't envy what they have to do. Most people hear about the so-called 'unfair' cases but most don't hear about the people who get a hang nail and don't expect to work another day in their lives. They have to figure out who's who.

Good News For Mackenzie....
The judge has extended the sale deadline for Pope and Talbot and has thrown out
Canfor's bid to end the chip supply!!
YAY!!!
http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wpopetalbot0718/BNStory/Business/home

Whats with the burnt out car on the side of the road leading up to UNBC? been there almost a couple of weeks,A little bit of a eyesore don't you think...

Just a bit of a pet peeve for me. I had to drive down south twice over the past few weeks, and I noticed that there is little or no construction on our Cariboo Connector. Less than four kms of work. I looked on the government website, and had to search to find what's going on.

When the project was introduced, didn't the Liberals say we were to be four laned by 2020? Now the site says it will be four laned with no timetable. The government lists work its doing in the Lower Mainland, but the Connector does not seem to be a priority anymore.

fordluv

Here is some sites you might find good info concerning WCB.

http://iwocac.ning.com/

http://www.ciwa.ca/englishSite/forum/forum.html

http://www.ciws.ca/

http://www.wcbcanada.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=229&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

http://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/WCB-Class-Action-t164879.html

Fordluv

Here "are"

Last post

MoneKate,

I have no problem with them doing road work, happy that they are. If they would have put up a sign (like they now have) I would have went a different way or I would have left a bit earlier.

As for working around my schedule. It isn't my schedule, it is the western worlds schedule, between the hours of 7 and 9- 9:30 am going into town is going to be busy. Between about 4 and 6 leaving town is going to be busy. Since you are going to do the work anyways, why not try to interupt the people paying for it as little as possible. Especially on Monday morning.

I can't imagine a tarp of any kind keeping an 8" or 12" rock from "blowing" out of a truck.

Regarding WCB, I have a friend that broke his ankle at work by falling on ice. The surgery required to reconstruct the ankle was very extensive, including grafting bone from the knee. The wait list for this seldom performed surgery was approx. 2 years. It was done in less than 4 months and all the physiotherapy (5x a week) was covered, as well as regular checks he received during the time he was off. Now that all is said and done, he has a permanent disability and receives a monthly disability payment. All this was done and settled within 18 months. Not being a huge fan of WCB, I am pleasantly surprised with the efficient way his claim was handled. I must also add that he was in constant communication with his case worker and surgeon and followed all instructions to the letter. IMO he wanted to get better ASAP and I'm sure all those involved were aware of that, I think that is part of what made the difference.

Re: garbage left behind by the river;
ramble-on, would'nt it be even nicer if people did not leave a mess in the first place? I cannot believe the small, tiny, mentality of people who go to a campsite or other outdoor location and leave garbage behind, or break bottles in the oversized bonfire they always set and leave burning when they get into their no doubt spotless conveyances and go back to their apartments.
My favourite rant to date, the traffic lights on the highways and bypass routes around this town. With all the hew and cry over fuel prices, and air pollution, why can't we have true bypass routes instead of a traffic light every 1/4 mile or less? I think that the planning has been myopic. And: last but not least, the gravel left behind by the excellent pothole patching machine; why not include the cost of sweeping it up? Maybe even screen and re-use? Just call me Mr. Green the re-cycling machine. Happy Friday and week end every one! As Anastasia said, it is great to be alive.
metalman.

Owl, many people in the USA join their military, either the regular forces or National Guard units to get the benefits that being in such organizations confer upon them.

The downside is that when their country goes to war they are the ones who are going to be first to go. It is not up to them to determine whether the war is an 'unjust' war or not. They have consented, of their own free will, that they will go into any war, or other situation in which a country's military may be employed when called upon to do so.

Certainly any soldier can refuse to obey an order given by his superior officer if that order contravenes the 'rules' normally governing warfare, i.e., the murder of unarmed prisoners of war, etc.

But a soldier who was in the military prior to the US entering the war, and presumably deriving, or in line to derive, all the benefits therefrom, cannot simply decide he's not going to participate and skip off to Canada, because "it's an unjust war," and he might get killed or wounded fighting it.

All war is "unjust", and will be so until we finally abolish war by abolishing the CAUSES of it. Until then, anyone who's going to desert in the face of the enemy as a matter of conscience had better be prepared to take their stand against the 'unjustness' of it all on their home turf. Not just 'take the money' while the pickings are easy and run to ours when they're not.

"..government tyranny ..." How drole.

Regarding WCB;

I agree with bigdods comments. I was on WCB for 2 years due to a torn shoulder that required two surgeries. No matter what WCB requested of me I ALWAYS said "yes"! Now that doesn't mean that just because you say YES that'll you'll automatically have a wonderful experience with them. You see, in the start I was denied wage loss benefits but appealed (because I believe they misunderstood some facts) and won.

However... each WCB case is different and WCB can only make decisions based on the info they receive.

For me... WCB could NOT find any medical problem with my shoulder. On one of my last consultations with their Orthopedic Surgeon he told me there was nothing else they could do for me so I pretty much told him to "cut me open" and have a good look around. You should have seen his face. He was totally surprised that I was willing to go through that just to find out what was wrong. So he booked me for surgery and it was only then, after approx. 18 months in pain, that they found a "Bankart Legion". In short it means that my cartilage warn torn off of the rear of my shoulder socket. I recovered and eventually went back to work.

I have a piece of advice for you Fordluv.

You are entitled (By some Freedom of Information Act thingy) to request a copy of your case files. It can be a pretty thick file and is officially called the "Workers Compensation Board Electronic Claim File Disclosure".

You can find out more info on this by going to this link... http://www.worksafebc.com/claims/managing_claims/request_for_disclosure/default.asp


It will contain EVERY piece of communication between yourself and WCB. But more importantly, it will also contain every little bit of communication that occurred INTERNALLY (and without your knowledge) at WCB.

In my case I was shocked to learn that "internally"... WCB had begun to believe that I had no injury at all. That my symtoms were "varied and always changing" and that the location of my pain was "inconsistant". One entry made by an employee suggested that there appeared to be nothing wrong with this patient because WCB could not locate a medical issue. THAT'S why the surgeon was so surprised when I said "cut me open" and look around. Thank goodness I did that! I can't imagine being in that kind of pain today, almost 7 years later.

So get your file and review it. It may provide you with the most complete answer to why your claim is a difficult one.

Oh and one more thing. NEVER threaten them with legal action or never say that you're going to a lawyer. if you do that you'll never win your claim. Just be honest, cooperate and fully disclose everything they ask of you regarding the injury.

Good luck!

NTG

On last Fridays "Free For All" someone asked who did the line painting on Foothills BLVD and other streets around PG (since they were so poorly done).

I think they had a "Bring Your Kid To Work Day"!

Ha ha ha ha ha....

Sorry but it's the only answer that makes sense to me.

Have a GREAT DAY!

NTG

Is there any way the RCMP could stop the red lumber trucks with the blue tarps from speeding on highway 97.
I am sick and tired of those bastards tailgating at 120km/hr and thinking they own the bloody road from here to Vancouver.

@ NTG:

The painted lines on Foothills are by far the worst I've ever seen. Why did they paint between the old lines, making basically one solid white one?



On an unrelated note, I saw a guy filling a pothole today with gravel/sand from his own vehicle. Hope the city is paying him!!

Not sure if this subject has come up before but I just thought I'd bring it up as one of my major 'annoyances'.

We've all b*tched and complained about people blasting their car stereos and this sort of falls into the same category ... squealing tires.

I don't know about anybody else, but when I see or hear someone intentionally squealing their tires my first impression is that they're a bl**dy idiot and that they're probably not the type of person I'd like to go out to dinner with.

I guess their mentality suggests to them that it's a cool thing to do and it impresses the ladies ... NOT! In fact, it does exactly the opposite.

So, if you're one of those 'squealers' and you're trying to impress someone of the opposite sex, squealing your tires just won't cut it. There's nothing romantic, poetic, constructive or remotely sexy about squealing tires ... it's just a noise, an annoying noise.

Just my opinion (or maybe yours too).

RE: lumber trucks

Hey HD, you could get the company name and send the info to WorkSafe BC.

I have been contemplating the same thing with my issue regarding the dumptrucks not being tarped, but wasnt sure that was something WorkSafe could deal with.

But lumber trucks tailgating at 120 can certainly be dealt with by WorkSafe BC.

Hi Runthatbymeagain,

Sometimes I accidentally squeal my tires (due to accidentally slipping my clutch pedal)-- although it's only for a brief second and there's no accompanying fishtail--
but I'm deeply embarrassed when it happens for fear of bystanders lumping me with those purposeful squealers accommodating their personality deficits.

socredible .... All war is "unjust",

I believe all wars of aggression are unjust, while wars of defense are just.

Thanks to everyone who gave me opinions on WCB. My family members injury involved an amputation from the injury so it isnt like its not visible. Some people just have more issues after they loose a body part. In this case they are not very understanding at all even when all are documented injuries.

Here is a comment from David Schreck's column for today.

"The $100 climate action payments were made in June 2008, fiscal year 2008-09, and they were justified by legislation that said they were a refund of overpayments of taxes for calendar year 2006. Nevertheless, they were booked to 2007-2008. The hands of the Auditor were probably tied by the legislation which authorized the payments, but I am disappointed that nothing was said about this type of Enron style accounting."

You can view the full article at

[url]http://www.strategicthoughts.com/[url]

Hey HD, you could get the company name and send the info to WorkSafe BC.

I have been contemplating the same thing with my issue regarding the dumptrucks not being tarped, but wasnt sure that was something WorkSafe could deal with.

But lumber trucks tailgating at 120 can certainly be dealt with by WorkSafe BC.
--------------------------------------------

Dan, If they had a bloody name on their trucks I would have phoned them in a long time ago. It's clear they don't want their name on their trucks to avoid being targetted by Worksafe BC.

Thanks to everyone who gave me opinions on WCB. My family members injury involved an amputation from the injury so it isnt like its not visible. Some people just have more issues after they loose a body part. In this case they are not very understanding at all even when all are documented injuries.

Gas price in Toronto today: 1.289 PL

Gas price in Vancouver today 1.459 PL

I worked at the Petrocanada Refinery in Mississauga, ON for a while. They are on the Trans Canada Pipeline. It seems to me that Vancouver is closer to the Alberta Oil Patch than Toronto, yet the bigger city gets cheaper gas.

NTG:

I took a WCA case to WCAT and lost. Those goofs ignored every argument that I pleaded in my brief, and even attributed motivation to me without a single basis in fact. WCAT personnel are not competent. Employees generally don't have a clue about the medical issues before them. The Worksafe process is inherenly bad; while the accused company is assigned paid legal representation, the complaining employee gets no assistance whatsoever. Hence adjudicator goofs defer to the reps. WCAT determinations defy common sense. Which is exactly what to expect from elitist staff who have no interest in fact-finding. And why would they since their decisions are protected from justice by a privitive cause; workers lose nearly 100% of Judicial Reviews.

While the government of Poland was accusing the RCMP killers of Robert Dziekanski of murder, Premier Campbell was praising the taser gang, while the head of the RCMP joined the chimp chorus for exhoneration.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080718.CBC18/TPStory/TPNational/BritishColumbia/

Reminder: an RCMP goof is created after 100 days of training. Complex legal issues are beyond the grasp of most of those glorified security guards. Again, their work product is: 1 convicted person per month; 1 incarcerated person per year.

Anyone who saw the Taser video - that the RCMP tried to cover up - knows that the killer cop - the African Canadian (the only one authorized to inflict the 50,000 Volt charge) - deferred judgment to 2 other savages. Thus 3 (if not the 4th predatory animal) cops chose to Zap a man as he walked away with his hands up, and are culpable for same. Further, while the man writhed in physical collapse, they zapped him again.

WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL WOULD JUSTIFY THE SELF-SERVING INTERPRETATION OF PROSTRATE WRITHING AS: COMPABATIVE OR RESISTANT CONDUCT? What environment would cultivate the depthless depravity that would justify same? Should we excise the YVR killer cops from the human race? Defenders: show your corrupt faces, so we can plead that you do NOT breed with humans; you are not of our race.

lol...runthatbymeagain....I agree. It also wrecks the tire tread weakening the tire so that the next time these guys bounce off a pothole, it is quite probable they will blow a tire. Gotta love karma! (But they must be wealthy to afford tires every 1000 kms...lol)

I am just so very happy that 10th is paved and 5th will be done this weekend!! Yahoo!
Have a great weekend all :)

The Liberals have been caught yet again selling things off to their buddies and Bell whimps and whines over it. You're caught redhanded suck it up!

Sorry forgot about the crooks in ICBC and the sale of BCR. They are still trying to cover things up. So much for a promised "OPEN" government.

Socred that may be the case from an American perspective, but we are Canadians, and I value the idea that we are a safe haven for those that would express a mind of their own south of the boarder. We need those people to know they can speak out and if they fear they can flee to a place that is safe. It is in our national security interest to provide that relief outlet for those people.

Now if your talking a Canadian deserter than that is a whole different argument. Them disloyal traitors should all be brought to justice as soon as we can get them back from America, or where ever else they flee. Its kind of quid pro quo kind of deal... We want our deserters and they want their deserters yes, but the right thing to do is to never hand them over even amongst friendly nations.

If someone is willing to abandon their nation over their principles then those are the people that make us really think about what we are doing with the point they are making, and if they make that ultimate sacrifice in which they can never go back from, then they should be protected.

The way I see it is if you desert before going to an unjust war (not sanctioned by the UN), then your desertion is just. If however you agree to deploy and desert on the battle field due to lack of courage, virtue, or simply because you feel it is all right to abandon your brothers in arms, then those are the people who should be punished and refused safe haven.

The Harper precedence is one of silencing critics when it comes to misuse of government power to wage war with little regard for law or common values. It is an agenda of the elites to control the masses and actually has nothing to do with the war itself other than the right to force the masses to commit crimes in the nations name.

Lets also remember that Harper supported the Israeli destruction of the entire Lebanese infrastructure including the killing of UN observers (one of which was a Canadian), because two Israeli's had been captured invading Lebanese sovereignty. Israel this week finally got their two bodies back, something their war stated purpose did not achieve. So Harpers support for a foreign policy of attacking the UN observers, killing a Canadian soldier, destroying a nation, and displacing 20,000+ Canadians on our tax payer dime was a complete failure that in the end resulted in negotiating with the people they tried to destroy with a sledge hammer.

IMO these things add up and they don't add up to Canadian national security or traditional values. They add up to someone that has no room for any opinions that do not fit with his agenda and any means necissary will be used against those that oppose him.

I find it particularly disgusting because I was a big supporter of Harper during the Canadian Taxpayer Confederation days, went to his first leadership meeting when he ran for the Canadian Alliance leadership, supported him all the way thinking he would be one of the great Canadian Prime Ministers... and now it turns out he is like all the other politicians and is nothing more then a power hungry guy with a hidden agenda of his own.

His agenda to privatize our food supply to the whims of the multinationals and the speculators is the final straw. His agenda is one to leave Canada open to food manipulation and ultimate strangulation of our country by multinationals that would control the food supply. That IMO is one bridge too far in his free market policy of anything the American bankers say goes mentality.

IMO his whole party is very vulnerable. The only thing saving them is the incompetence of the opposition parties.

Owl:- "I believe all wars of aggression are unjust, while wars of defense are just."

Does that include 'trade wars', Owl, or just their 'military' successors?

All trade wars are IMO just. There is no moral law of man that says we need to trade with anyone we choose not to for what ever reason that insults our values. Trade is just that... trade if it is mutually amicable.

Acts of violence in real wars though is entirely different.

HD... I kinda figured there wouldnt be a company name. The companies with their names and numbers are generally better, but not always.

If there is no truck info, send WorkSafe a complaint anyhow. If it is occurring regularly then someone will find them. You could inform the RCMP, like you mentioned, though they likely cant do anything without more info either.
Maybe the Ministry of Transportation or the Commercial Vehicle Inspectors could help too. These people are always out there. Get them to keep an eye out. They should be anyhow, but sometimes these things are more obvious if they are looking for them, not just out doing their routine inspections, or whatever they do out there.
Maryanne Arcand might be able to help you out. She seems to be issuing press releases every now and again on how we should back off the trucks and give them room...

Petty annoyances I know, but what can I do? First trifle is when CBC Radio does the weather report they start out by saying "North Coast, Haida Gwye, weather.... It ain't Haida Gwye on the map. It is still the Queen Charlotte Islands. Second is when the CBC calls women "actors". They are what are called "actresses". Duh! The next one is when they call fishermen "fishers". A fisher is a misspelled crack. Lastly , as someone previously mentioned marketing boards. Being a world traveller (OK only to the US then) when you go to a buffet in the good ol' USA they have free milk with yer buffet. Here in Canada, no go. If you want milk, you pay extra for it. Why? Because of our marketing boards we pay twice the world price fer milk. Pfhew!!! I feel much better now.

My pet peeve for the week is the City giving contracts to out of province low-balling contractors that will provide sub par services when the work can be clearly done by local contractors at a much superior quality.

I have a beef about the idiot drivers in this town. We have some barriers being removed on Peden hill, and the two lanes are blocked off to one lane. There is signs going west way before the lights at the bottom of Peden hill indicating that the left lane is about to end to form a right hand lane. Any driver with common sense would already be in the right hand lane before the lights to avoid trying to push your way in at the last minute. Not in this town. You have nose to nose traffic in the right hand lane (especially at rush hours) and these idiots come screaming by in the left lane and just cut people off because their lane is about to end!! Come on people....have some common courtesy and wait your turn like everyone else.......

Eagle:-"All trade wars are IMO just. There is no moral law of man that says we need to trade with anyone we choose not to for what ever reason that insults our values. Trade is just that... trade if it is mutually amicable."
------------------------------------------
So if a certain group of concerned citizens in the USA decides that the way we sell Crown timber in BC "insults their values", and prevails upon their government to impose countervailing duties on our softwood lumber exports to make the lumber trade we do with them, in their eyes, "mutually amicable", that is "just"?

Of course, "mutually amicable" might mean different things to different parties. And, as you say, "There is no 'moral' law of man that says we NEED to trade with anyone we choose not to for whatever reason that insults OUR values."

But there sure seems to be a 'financial' law of man that currently seems to overide that 'moral' law in this country, isn't there? Maybe we ought to look a little closer at why that's so, before we go thirsting mightily after what's 'just'. And completely miss it.

Eagleone:- "If someone is willing to abandon their nation over their principles then those are the people that make us really think about what we are doing with the point they are making, and if they make that ultimate sacrifice in which they can never go back from, then they should be protected.

The way I see it is if you desert before going to an unjust war (not sanctioned by the UN), then your desertion is just."
------------------------------------------
Lets extrapolate that to some other situations where people have 'volunteered' to come under the command of some organization which they've freely joined.

One that pays their wages, provides them training, and various other substantial benefits, better than they could've got elsewhere, perhaps, (or likely they wouldn't have joined, since it's obvious that 'blind patriotism' and/or a desire 'to serve' played little or no role in their decision in their particular instances). And then decide to renege on their part of the deal because they think it is going to involve them in something 'unjust'. Or more likely, because it might get them killed or injured.

Lets suppose there's a motor vehicle accident. The town drunk has wrapped his car around a hydro pole, again, even though his licence was suspended and he wasn't supposed to be either drinking or driving.

The paramedics arrive on the scene, and realizing they're being asked to enter an area where gas is leaking from the car and the downed live wires are still sparking away, albeit some distance from the leak, one of them says, "It's only that drunken bum who wiped out a whole family ten years ago. Why risk our necks getting him out? He'll only be back on the bottle again, and probably kill someone else next time. Let's just leave him, he's not worth saving. He's only finally getting what's coming to him." And he refuses to help extricate the victim, or apply any first aid.

Now is that a situation where you want a paramedic deciding what is 'just' or 'unjust'? Is it his position to decide such a thing ~ who he will attempt to aid, and who he will not, simply on the basis of whether he thinks it's 'just'?

For even though there is 'risk' present, as there is in all things, it's not beyond the limits of what he was told he might have to face when he signed up for the job. And freely agreed that he would.

It is NOT the position of those in the military to determine whether the war they're being sent into is "just" or "unjust".

All war is "unjust", for what one country calls 'aggression' is what another will call 'defence', and vice versa. If we removed the underlying CAUSE of the 'aggression' there would be no incentive to make war.

We, or our leaders, will not do that. We, and they, don't even really want to know what that underlying CAUSE actually is. We're afraid it'll challenge our perceptions, and we might have to think about some things as they actually 'are', not as we think they are, or 'ought' to be. And they're even more afraid of that than we are. So we'll have war. And hopefully tell those who 'volunteered' to fight it, and then change their minds over questions of supposed 'injustice', to make their new fight on their home turf.

Anti-Semite: one who lies about Jews and Israel.

Stop denying Arab aggression. There wasn't a single arab in what was once Roman Palestine, in 633 AD. Byzantine Christians were conquered by the Muslim horde, and were either coerced to convert or forced to pay a tax (jizya). As for Lebanon, the south of that country was largely Christian and Druze until Syria and Iran started their meddling.

Stop lying. In 2006, Israel invaded only those parts of Lebanon that are occupied by Hizbollah terrorists. In fact, American University in north Beirut, opened immediately after the invasion was completed. Lebanon's infrastructure wasn't touched by the IAF. The terrorists don't even deny that they forced civilians to keep missiles in their homes, from which they fired them at Israeli civilians. Environmentalists need to know that Hizbi-missiles burned a half million trees to the ground. The IDF attacked terror infrastructure, and I wish they had completed the job. Arab terrorists have the worth of cockroaches.

Before you make alliances, use your frigging brains. Israel is a modern secular society; the Muslim tyrannies are bound by a political ideology posing as a religion. The strongest supporters of Arab terrorism, would be the first to be executed in an Islamic Republic. Are you going to deny Muslim ethnic cleansing? Over 4,000,000 Christians have been coerced or booted out of the Arab tyrannies since 1947. One million Jews suffered the same fate.

Then there is the Partition of India. After same, 20% of Pakistan's population was Hindu while India was 8% Muslim. As I write, Hindus number 1% in Pakistan while the Muslim population in India has doubled to 16%. Do the freaking math. Why support savages who would sooner be-head you than allow you to live in their primitive cess pools?

Get the facts before you lie about "oppressed" Arabs, and benign Islam.

Sledhead what should happen (instead of everyone crowding a single lane a block before a merge) is everyone should fill both lanes evenly and weave in turn at the merge point during rush. If I saw an empty lane, I'd sure use it.

socredible ....

As you might know from contract law, one cannot make a contract to do something that is illegal. Thus, a contract to rob a bank cannot be upheld in court since it is a contract to do an illegal act.

There is no reason in my mind why a government can enter into an employment contract with someone to do an illegal act.

So, the question is, is it legal to fabricate information about conditions in a country which will cause people to think that one has to enter that country illegally (international law) for self preservation?

Since warfare is a matter of international law, I think a case can be made that there was a breach of contract as soon as the soldier was sent to conduct an illegal entry into a country.

Of course, the fact of the matter is that it is the USA and might is right. So there is likely a better chance of a win if it were a Japanese soldier and they entered into a aggressive action illegally.

BTW, if one knows what they are doing, which basically means that one understands the facts of the case, has sought out all the holes in the case and understands how administrative tribunals are conducted, the chances of winning against a WCAT hearing are pretty good. It does, however, take a while. That is an understatement. Many workers are in such financial stress that they simply cannot last that long.

Your right Owl. Socred does not get it.

The Iraq war was not sanctioned by the UN, and Canada was not in support of that war. The US soldier made a moral decision based on what he felt was legal and right. I don't see where the fear Socred talks about enters the equation, other then in the hypothetical he uses to justify his argument.. a hypothetical that has no relation to the argument at hand.

For the record a paramedic has signed up for a job description that requires danger, but not suicide. If one takes a risk beyond what is safe then they can be considered a hero, but we should never expect them to sacrifice their life when no one can ever write a manual for all the hypothetical eventualities that can result from that type of occupation.

I see a soldier who has not yet deployed into a combat zone resisting an unlawful act by his superiors with a virtuous argument and sacrifice to self and family.

Now had the soldier agreed to hop on that plane and make a commitment to his brothers in the arena of combat... and then abandoned them when they are all they have... then it would be an entirely different argument. Its called circumstance and its something Socred should learn about, rather then his unifying hypothetical models with an answer for everything.

As for trade... look it up Socred. The word is in the dictionary. I don't make this stuff up. Yes some Americans would like to have tariffs on lumber... and some would not like that. Its a democracy, and in democracy things are trade off against each other so that the community as a whole benefits from a mutually amicable trading situation. Maybe the lumber comes into the American market against the wishes of some, but all get to share in the benefits of the energy that is also part of the equation.

Socred supports exporting jobs to countries (preferably occupied by prostrated troops) to get around environmental and work place regulatory standards in Canada... and then he expects to sell those goods into our market tariff free as part of his economic model of trade, but Socred is wrong and so is his economic model.

Truth, what if it is the Jews and Israel that are the ones doing the lies. Do you also have a word for that? Lets say I call you a liar? What then? Does that make me a terrorist? A guy on CBC last week threatened to bomb PG, because I argued that Mossad shouldn't be conducting activities in Canada. His argument.. was in that hypothetical.. wouldn't I be glad they (Mossad) were 'looking out for us' to make sure it doesn't happen. Kind of defeated the whole point to his argument by throwing the threat in there if you ask me, but isn't that the modus operandi for the zionist cause.

Truth... fact of the matter is not 30-years went by in the ancient world where whole tribes and cities of hundreds of thousands were killed because they fell on the wrong side of one alliance or another including the great cities themselves. That was normal practice in those times and populations turned over many times in those parts of the world swapping kingdoms as populations rose and fell. Empires grew, relied on the slave labor of others, got lazy and lost their moral vigger, and thus fell to the next group of conquering peoples with more personal discipline, or a higher moral ideal.

IMO Muslims have no virtue and thus I have no feelings of support for them what so ever. Ditto for the zionists of Israel. I think they are both equally detestable in their character, as well as their ideology, as well as in their personal actions and opinions. I don't see why I have to be lumped in on one side or the other to take an opinion on what is morally right. What is morally right is rather simple and that is to respect all citizens equally and that is not the case in the so-called 'holy land'. Supremacy ideology rules that day and those people that have those views are my enemy no matter who they claim is the one superior... so-called friend or foe.

For the record Israel did bomb out aprartment buildings, something like 1000 bridges and over passes, the electrical grid, the fuel depot for the country, the water pumping stations... so yes they did bomb the civilian infrastructure as the whole world knows they did. Only a bold face liar would claim otherwise. They also use carpet bomb operations of banned land mines to contaminate the civilian villages indiscriminately for future generations. Those are real world facts along with the other fact that Harper betrayed his countries values in being the first world leader to condone those actions.

AIMHO

The only constant in the ancient world was that all conquering nations claimed to be the rightful heirs to the Roman Empire and the seat of world government. Thus we naively think the Roman Empire was one continuous unbroken empire of eternal succession, when in fact there were many years when wearing the purple meant you were dead within the year as someone was coming for you.. and even times where no man would dare take the purple for fear to his life (peace for the empire in the eye of the storm).

The idea that people can make hereditary claims to ancient lands is IMO not backed up by the full account of history..