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Rev_Blair - you sound like you don't trust our elected politicians. ... that we elect. We in American obviously have the same problem. Don't forget that America has resources that politicians have gotten their hooks into.

Pres. Bush is trying to snatch our electricity in the NW. He wants us to pay market rates instead of cost based rates - that would kill us. News is that we have the political clout to block that.

One thing that really bugs me is that we have never used the "Corruption" word around here since the Teapot Dome Scandel (it was about giving away gov owned oil). Hopefully, using the internet... we can expose and and yell out loudly..... "CORRUPTION IN AMERICA!"

THE THEFT BY THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT OF AMERICAN INDIAN OWNED OIL IS BLATANT AND IRREFUTABLE PROOF OF MASSIVE CORRUPTION. NEVER TRUST THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT UNTIL IT ACCOUNTS FOR THE SALE OF THAT OIL!

We need changes to our political system that gives us more democracy and holds politicians accountable. The freedom to communicate over the internet would play a big part in achieving that goal. Hopefully, politics will evolve from being money based to information based.

We Americans and Canadians need to work together to rein in our cowboys.

   

No, we've tried that. It only works to your favour. We need to work separately to get our individual houses in order.

   

More accurately I don't trust the business interests that control your (and our) politicians.

There is at least a growing movement to control our politicians in Canada, to make them accountable to the Canadian people. I see little evidence of that in national US politics.

   

Wow, Drama Queen. Yay free trade, and thanks for the tip on Switzerland but you are bringing up topics that are not even issues in this convo: Normandy is irrelavant...lettuce? magazines? are you threatening to stop the world from buying our oil? What are you talking about!! You are bring up repression of other countries and cultures to try to make points for yourself.

We're are discussing thee repression of Canadians as a whole, as Canadian people and culture, nothing more, nothing less. The issues of trade war and identification cards are two ways in which this repression is occcuring. And yes, Canada could, in theory, stand up to the US and say "fuck it" it will now be like this, and equal, and fair.... but the repercussions would be far worse for Canada than the US --and both sides know it.

And yes, Canada is a peacemaker, but who are we keeping the peace for? Do we go to war to keep the peace in the countries we go to war with for our US friends or do we go to war to simply keep the peace with our US "friends"? The peace is not clear on which or whose peace we are keeping....

   

Rux: I think Kristina21 has made a couple of interesting points here which I would suggest are a good reason why there should be no further integration between Canada and the US, whether that be economic, cultural or otherwise.

The problem is that economic integration leads to political integration. For instance, NAFTA and the original FTA have made it increasingly difficult for Canada to make independent decisions regarding foreign policy. Most Canadians are against any Canadian participation in Bush's Ballistic Missile Defence shield project. For Paul Martin (Mr. Dithers) it should be a no-brainer that Canada would decline any role in the project. Instead, he has been putting off the decision. Why? Because he is afraid of how Bush and the gang might react if he turns them down. He's afraid of the consequences of this for Canada-US trade.

To me this is strong evidence that we have become too dependent on trade with the US. Instead of putting all of our eggs in one basket (the US), I think we should be trying to promote our independence by trading with a more balanced variety of countries.

Nothing personal, Rux, you seem like an OK guy, but I would really prefer that Canada remain as independent as possible.

   

Freaker.. I have no problem with an independent Canada. Then there are the realities. I had some Economic courses in college where we learned about Competitive Advantage, Free Trade, Adam Smith and Lazaire Faire (sp?) Economies.

We American people (not the government) have real concerns about "Free Trade". We (the people) want the best for everyone. But have problems with competing against systems that don't pay union wages and protect their workers. The argument is if we don't support the world with free trade, it will make things worse for those poor people. We are really getting arguments that if we cut off goods made with child labor, it will just make things worse for the kids. What to do?

I am a computer programmer, how can I compete with someone from India with a masters degree who works for $500 a month? I am thinking, though, that the world is getting smaller and there is not much we can do about it.

Good luck with your isolationist dreams.

Hey! A Canadian company just snatched up part of Weyerhaueser!

"...Canadian company to buy 5 Weyerhaeuser sawmills... Weyerhaeuser reportedly wants to focus more on operations in the British Columbia interior and other parts of Canada...."
http://www.king5.com/business/stories/N ... f1508.html
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/200 ... 36864.html

Is Weyerhaueser an American company or Canadian? Is Brascan Canadian or American? Hard to say....

   

Rux: Points well taken!

I'm not necessarily in favour of Canada ditching NAFTA, but I do wish that sometimes our government would be willing to take a firmer stance vis-a-vis the US on trade-related issues. With that said, I'm still against any further integration of the Canadian and US economies. Some Canadians (like the aforementioned Thomas D'Aquino) constantly push for this further integration, arguing that Canada can't afford the consequences of not pursuing this. On the other hand, there are others who suggest that this is "the cost of being Canadian". It's a cost I'm willing to assume. As far as I'm concerned, it's a bargain!

As far as I can tell, I'm not an isolationist. On the contrary, I want Canada to be open to the world. My main concern is that by pursuing "deep integration" with the US we might end up isolated within the walls of a "fortress North America"...

...and saddled with a useless ballistic missile defence system that won't work and will make the world look upon us with fear and suspicion.

Just my two cents!

   

Weyco is American founded in 1900. The deal it just made with Brascan was most likely for the old MacMillian Bloedell Co that they purchased a few years ago. Brascan originated in Brazil.

   

I'm not sure what your whole post was all about. You seem to be suggesting that Canada should continue to roll over and expose our soft underside each and every time the US gets beligerant. Well, we've been doing that ever since Dief killed the Arrow. It doesn't work. I'm not suggesting that we start a trade war; we already have one. I'm suggesting that Canada respond in kind. I'm not alone suggesting this? Check http://www.canadiandemocraticmovement.c ... le512.html

"After repeated wins before the WTO, Canada is now stepping up the attack. "Retaliation is not the preferred course of action, but this is about respecting international trade laws," said Trade Minister Jim Peterson."

   

The idea that we can't play hardball with the US is fatally flawed. We hold the high cards...gas, oil, and electricity. We could shut down their industry over night if it came down to it.

   

My point about the lumber companies is that they represent integration between Canadian and American economies. I find it interesting that the KING TV (Seattle, WA) article delineates between American and Canadian aspects of the transaction..... see, our writers acknowledge Canada... the mills that were purchased are in America (right up the street from me.)

OK... I looked up some Canadian news articles and I see some significant differences on how the story is presented. See: http://www.canada.com/montreal/montreal ... a02652a146

This Canadian article never mentions America in the article... It calls Weyco a Seattle-area company ... I got the impression that the Canadian news article sees us all as "West Coast" and "North American"... The Canadian news writer has us integrated. We don't do that in American conversation. It's you Canadians that see us as a North American Glob.

I am beginning to get a different view of what is going on here... we Americans think nothing has ever changed between us and you Canadians are the one who are actually acknowledging an integration...

I want you to trust me on this... we Americans see Canadians as different in many different ways, not to mention you talk funny (we think it's quaint). The biggest difference is that for as much as the royal family makes tabloid headlines, we Americans absolutely stomp on the very idea of royalty. The idea that folks could vererate royalty is extremely irritating to American sensabilities. That is a Big Difference that separates us from beginning to end. Dump the Queen and we'll talk.

Someday, North Korea is going to lob a missle at me and miss.... will probably hit Canada... Our missle defence system could fix that. - Rux, A Proud North American

   

You want to affect American Policy? Hey our politicians are for $Sale!

I think you can buy a U.S. Senator for about $5 million and you can get the attention of a Congressman for $1 million easy. Far out - not really, that's what our corporations do all the time. Our politics is money based - simple as that.

Our Republican party used to take direct bribes from S. Korea and the Clinton Democrats took money from the Chinese.

Please do not offer direct bribes. Foreign bribes should be channeled though U.S. corporations or through washed through a series of individual americans or Political Action Groups (PAC's). PAC's are a good direct channel for bribes and are legal.

   

Canada.com is very much a pro-corporate, pro-integration web site that is part of a larger media conglomerate with the same biasses, Rux. That's all very much reflected in their new coverage.



That'll win you a lot of friends around here.



Do you? Your fawning media coverage of celebrities, including Britain's royal family, tells a different story. So does the fact that your political leaders not only tend to have multi-generational reigns of power, but during every election your media reports how the candidates are related to European royalty, preferable British.

The Queen is just a figurehead in Canada. She has no real political power. Our politics are arguably less influenced by royalty than yours are.



Your missile system doesn't work and, according to most physicists, isn't going to work anytime soon. It's a waste of your tax money and the majority of Canadians want nothing to do with it or your failed foreign policies.

   

"Someday, North Korea is going to lob a missle at me and miss.... will probably hit Canada... Our missle defence system could fix that."

Just a side note: The US already dropped an A Bomb on Canada. It was an accident.

http://www.portaec.net/library/peace/19 ... in_bc.html

Just google "broken arrow" There's lots of stuff on it.

   

Telkwa - That's a cool story. Apparently there was no radioactive material involved...

....The U.S. military says the bomb was equipped with a lead dummy capsule rather than the plutonium one required to cause the atomic explosion..... Did the plane carry the highly radioactive plutonium core necessary to make the bomb live? U.S. military officials have consistently denied that. At least one mystery was solved last year when Environment Canada officials tested the site and concluded there was no radiation contamination....

Now the Russians really did drop some nuke stuff on Canada....
24 Jan 1978 The nuclear-powered Soviet Cosmos 954 satellite plunges through Earth's atmosphere and disintegrates, scattering radioactive debris over parts of Canada's Northwest Territories. Much of the satellite lands in the Great Slave Lake; only about 1% of the radioactive material is recovered.

By the way... did you know that President Bush can't prounounce nuclear? He says nukalar... Four more years...

   

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