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Author Topic: News from the North  (Read 59869 times)

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Mongrel

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #180 on: March 08, 2009, 07:13:45 PM »

Whoa.  Sorry I missed all that fine discourse there

After the influence of the teledrama "The Wire", I really don't have too many solutions to offer except that innovation in society at large and a cultural shift is required.  The status quo doesn't work within the scope of the resources at hand. 

As far as the helecopters stand, I can honestly hear the sighs of relief, although I won't count on a decrease in IED attacks on our vehicles anytime soon.  The article describes a raid-style attack.  Those won't win any counter-insurgency alone.  The PM understands this.

Say, what did you think of Harper's recent "There's no way we can win this" statement?

My gut response is that true or not, at the very least he probably should have qualified that statement. Even if all you're doing is setting yourself up to leave, such a blanket negative statement can only do you harm.

I don't mean bullshit like "Peace with Honour", but a guy could at least say something more like "To win, we'd need [X] (or [X], [Y], and [Z]), but it seems that [X] may now be unobtainable, so we should leave/plan to leave/reconsider the situation."

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SCD

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #181 on: March 08, 2009, 08:45:51 PM »

Good question.  For that I would refer to the advice of the professionals, including individuals like Ret'd General Lewis Mackenzie.  He still has a lot of apoloitical clout in his arcs. 

If you look at the news over the last 24 hours, Obama himself repeated what the PM had to say, and what everyone has been saying. 

I don't like this saying however: 

Quote
"But I think what is realistic is we would considerably push back the insurgency," he said, to facilitate aid and development, as well as the handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces.

It counters lessons learned in Iraq just before the Surge. 

There will soon be more American Boots in Kandahar than Canadian very shortly however with a new code of COIN conduct, their own lessons learned  and a capable man at the helm.  And while people do say Iraq is different than Afghanistan, the creations that led to the Anbar Awakening can be redone in this province, but only with a bodycount.


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Büge

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #182 on: March 09, 2009, 07:11:15 AM »

Happy 175th, Toronto!
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Mongrel

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #183 on: March 09, 2009, 07:16:52 AM »

Yeah, it smells like this place is 175 years old anyway.
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Büge

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #184 on: March 09, 2009, 09:59:17 AM »

You sure you're just not getting a breeze from Hamilton?
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Mongrel

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #185 on: March 09, 2009, 10:16:28 AM »

You sure you're just not getting a breeze from Hamiltraz?

:nosir:
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SCD

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #186 on: March 09, 2009, 05:07:56 PM »

On the military side of the house, the Chief of Land Staff, the fiercely competent Lt-Gen Andrew Leslie told the Senate Defense Committee how much of a muck we really are in.

I'm just happy it's out in the open now..
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Mongrel

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #187 on: March 09, 2009, 05:16:20 PM »

We don't have the tanks anymore?!?!  :facepalm: Tell me I am reading that wrong. I LOVE YOU BUREAUCRACY!

Also: Andrew is a bright kid. I've always hoped that endless dealings with our government won't sour him too too much. God knows it even started to get to everyone's favourite Combat Newfie in the end.

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SCD

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #188 on: March 09, 2009, 05:37:26 PM »

I really don't think he minds.  Even though we've been stretched to the limit ever since Paul Martin walked into NDHQ on his first day as PM, the CF has been given more toys, more people, and the opportunity to develop doctrine like never before (just as the yanks).  I wouldn't be surprised if you saw him with that fourth leaf sometime down the road.

Also, The Taliban can confirm that we still have tanks running around as of March 1st.  Of course, you'll have to excuse them for not being able to count up to three, or not understanding that tanks usually have tracks, not wheels.
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Mongrel

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #189 on: March 09, 2009, 06:21:49 PM »

:lol:

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SCD

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #190 on: April 02, 2009, 05:01:46 PM »

Note to Greater Toronto Airport Authority:

When your workers are under the national eye and ire for your piss-poor employee security protocol and corruption, you do NOT play politics, and you do NOT mess with the government with the day, especially when it's a Tory Government. 

You've just changed this from a procedural matter to a political matter. 

Lets make a couple things clear now: 

You're not going to come out of this alive, and if you do, don't expect to walk for a couple weeks.  Your arse crack will be too sore. 

Harper (or his handpicked chronies and apolitical Senate Counterparts) are now going to come out stronger and can and will turn this into a cause celebre for routing out corruption.  Not that I consider either of them a bad thing, but I know that you, being from To and all, do for both cases.

Obligatory Globe and Mail Link

I'm going to keep my eye on this one.  It looks pretty damn entertaining.  Any thoughts from the To crowd?

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Mongrel

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #191 on: April 02, 2009, 05:40:33 PM »

Note to Greater Toronto Airport Authority:

When your workers are under the national eye and ire for your piss-poor employee security protocol and corruption, you do NOT play politics, and you do NOT mess with the government with the day, especially when it's a Tory Government. 

You've just changed this from a procedural matter to a political matter. 

Lets make a couple things clear now: 

You're not going to come out of this alive, and if you do, don't expect to walk for a couple weeks.  Your arse crack will be too sore. 

Harper (or his handpicked chronies and apolitical Senate Counterparts) are now going to come out stronger and can and will turn this into a cause celebre for routing out corruption.  Not that I consider either of them a bad thing, but I know that you, being from To and all, do for both cases.

Obligatory Globe and Mail Link

I'm going to keep my eye on this one.  It looks pretty damn entertaining.  Any thoughts from the To crowd?



You are psychic sir. I was going to post this but was trying to think of a way to make a joke out of it.

Yes, the whole thing is priceless. Been following it since yesterday. I love how the GTAA has forgotten that the Minister of Transport is the pinnacle of their particular food chain. UH GUYS. NOT THE KIND OF FIGHT YOU WANNA PICK. Or hey, go right ahead! We all need entertainment.

The best part was when I saw the update today, the pagebreak was right after the article said that the Mounties had been scapegoated by the GTAA. Expecting the usual drivel, the thought that floated in my head was "If John Baird was a Real Man, he'd back those Mounties to the hilt and call out the GTAA.". Then I saw the rest of the article.

 :perfect:

I can't believe it! John Baird made me do something to respect him!

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Mongrel

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #192 on: April 04, 2009, 05:09:28 PM »

Elsewhere, the latest chapters in two of our ongoing national shames came out. Not something to inspire hope, folks.
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Büge

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SCD

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #194 on: April 14, 2009, 11:37:06 AM »

That was a pretty sweet find

But now on to the ongoing burn.  It is election time once again, but only for myself now the Fredward has joined the ranks of Les Quebecois (no offense intended, Zed) 

This is the first post-recession election, as the Globe and Mail has kindly put it, and things are starting off a wee bit topsy turvy. 

BC is one of those places where the prospect of Premier, the head of Provincial government does not stand a chance of sitting long in office.  Most due to criminal charges, some due to incompetence, and yet somehow despite criminal activity and disenfranchisement, it appears that our current head in the office of Premier is a survivor.  How quaint.

For the last three election cycles, there were three major players in the spotlight in our shuffling-party scene: 

The BC Liberals, a small-government, pro-business, pro-fiscal responsibility team that resembled neocons with unchecked power within their first four years at 2001 when they won all but two seats.  Since their walloping public sector cuts, they've managed the budgets, brought the Olympics, settled and made accords with several native tribes, and keep low-brow with little scandal and nerdy librarian glasses.

The BC NDP which ruled before the Liberals, an ineffective socialism-leaning, big government party who royally messed up the ferry system to the annoyance of tens of thousands.  They mix well with unions and traditionally had the environmentalists under their belt

And the Green Party.  They're a green party.  No one knows what they stand for except that they want the RCMP out of BC -  Enough said.

However, last year when things were looking nice and dandy, Premier Campbell introduced the first consumer-based carbon tax in North America (note, the stock photo is a golfer, not the past Finance Minister).  It is revenue-neutral, and all money made goes into lowering other taxes.  This made the North BC unhappy, due to their use of pickup trucks for labor and off-roading recreation.  The BC NDP has made this their bone of contention and has promised to dismantle it.

So during this campaign, the environmentalist camp is squarely against the NDP, and no one knows what who the Greens are. 

Also, there is a referendum on Single Transferable Vote to take over the traditional First-Past-The-Post electoral system.  This is the second time the referendum has been called - the first time, over 50% of the vote said yes, but a slim majority caused the premier not to be comfortable with the notion and told those who were researching it to spend the next four years explaining how it works better to the public. 

Flash explaining STV

It's a pretty interesting experiment in democracy if it works. 

Will update if anything interesting above what is said here comes up.  Otherwise, predicting another (albeit slimmer) Liberal majority for a lack of anyone less incompetent or scummy. 
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Fredward

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #195 on: April 14, 2009, 05:45:54 PM »

But now on to the ongoing burn.  It is election time once again, but only for myself now the Fredward has joined the ranks of Les Quebecois (no offense intended, Zed) 

Actually, I'm coming back in a few weeks, so I should be able to vote. I think!

SCD's summary seems to more or less match what little I've gathered. I'm hoping that another defeat will get the NDP to pull their heads out of their collective ass, because in general I prefer their policies. But I am not counting on it! I really would like the STV referendum to go through, though, just to see how it works out.
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SCD

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #196 on: April 15, 2009, 09:48:19 PM »

I was finally able to figure out where the no to STV website is:

http://nostv.org

They say that it will destroy productivity in the house, and kill representation in remote areas where there are not that many people. 

I believe the first is a valid counterpoint.  However I live in the south, so I'm alright with extra representation here...


The pro-camp is:

http://stv.ca/


Keep in mind that this is referendum is something that is a separate entity from the normal election, and all parties have chosen wisely to neither endorse or speak out against either side.  Both campaigns has been also given 500k of provincial funding to state their cause.
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Büge

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #197 on: April 16, 2009, 10:50:13 AM »

Thank goodness my brother escaped that hornet's nest...

to Alberta! :facepalm:
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SCD

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #198 on: April 16, 2009, 12:41:43 PM »

Ha ha ha..   :perfect:

Most of my friends were able to run away from Alta before it all went sour.


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Mongrel

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Re: News from the North
« Reply #199 on: April 16, 2009, 01:28:02 PM »

Almost makes Manitoba look appealing.

...

what am I saying?!
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