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Canadian Government Weary of Patriot Act
IllogicalStudent writes "An article on canoe discusses how the Canadian government is moving to counter worries surrounding Canadian citizens' privacy being compromised by the United States' Patriot act. Apparently the FBI currently has the right, through Patriot, to search documents which may contain Canadian information sent to US firms carrying out work under contract. Thankfully, privacy still means something up here."
A few weeks after 9/11 the Canadian government gave the U.S. government full access to all government data on Canadian citizens, with no apparent quid pro quo. Fair enough, I probably would have given the kitchen sink too, but what would have been nice is some agreement outlining eg. more economic integration between Canada and the U.S., a la the very successful NAFTA treaty.
Because now it's harder for me to travel 5 minutes north (yes, that's right, I'm Canadian and the U.S. is to the NORTH of my house) to see my friends in the U.S., over an invisible dotted line drawn by politicians. And no, I'm not talking about Alaska.
The U.S. and Canada are symbiotes both economically and security-wise. More integration is better for everyone. I think a really good idea is Canada becoming a commonwealth of the U.S., like Puerto Rico.
... and the USA's isn't???
Which is exactly the problem innit? We Canadians apparently have no fucking clue when it comes to border security. I've crossed the border countless times and it's a real joke. The Canadians aren't even armed. These guys are protecting the country and don't have guns. If I were American I'd be all over the Canucks to shape up too.
Support the First Amendment. Read at -1
All those bombs dropping on cities in Iraq have ensured that the US will be loathed, featured, and especially distrusted by third and even some first world countries for at least the next four years.
It's also heartening to know that we have removed the torturous murderers who ran the country previously and have installed our own torturers. It's about damn time we stopped pretending to be civilized and resorted to the tactics everyone despises the most.
Lastly, it helps me sleep at night knowing that our nation's military, the largest, most expensive military in the world, is under the control of a good ol' American redneck who will lie to us to ensure that he can do what he's gotta do to further his own, righteous agenda.
Oh, I guess it's also good to know that all those bombs that we paid so much for didn't go to waste.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
"Actually the US has just as good a safety net for the poor (I've read a number of articles that the say $ quantity of support is even more),"
...Or atleast he may aslong as it doesn't effect Texas Social Security Corporation's profit margin!
I'm sorry, but that is just absolute, total, utter c^@p!
Most international surveys rate Canada right up there with the levels of social welfare of West & Nothern Europe (which are generally accepted to have the highest levels in the world).
I doubt there has ever been a survey - not counting the ones issued by the Whitehouse and other right-wing rednecks (and I'm sure they REALLY cary about the welfare of the poor) - that places USA welfare anywhere near Canadian levels over the past 50 years! Trying to claim any sort of viable financial assistance is given to the poor in the USA that anywhere approaches Canada is just absolutly absurd and a plain lie.
I suppose with the privitisation of social security, America's poor will be given an even higher standard of living will they?
Yea, and after retiring from office, George Bush will leave his multi-million dollar texas ranch and start delivering the help himself to the ghettos full of mexican immigrants simply left to rot in nearby cities.
At the very best, this is an ignorant statement. Because this would be very difficult to measure. The thing is, people like you don't consider deaths due to the UN embargoes, totalitarian regimes, or anything like that, as being countable. Only deaths as the result of US military action. Kind of shows your whole agenda.
Funny how the mission statement changes when the objectives couldn't be completed.
The mission was called "Operation Iraqi Freedom" from the start, and from the beginning the rhetoric of "freeing the Iraqi people" was employed. Most Americans were in favor of staying out the course after the UN action during the Clinton administration, and felt very guilty about having abandoned freedom fighters in Iraq to their fate (interesing note: in "Three Kings" this is played up to make us feel bad, now Russell has made a film to make us feel bad for following through!). Maybe you just don't know enough about the subject.
Let's just list out the "nothing" that Canada has done. Anytime we deploy our military (as sad as it is), we put them in world hot spots for PEACE KEEPING. We go to places to STOP wars, not to wage them.
I love this argument. Where, exactly, have you prevented wars? The Sudan? Mogadishu? Bosnia? Your model of doing nothing is certainly no more effective than our model of doing something. And it has been repeatedly shown that peacekeeping forces actually do more harm than good.
Oh, if you want to talk about war, let's talk about WWI, and WWII. Just so you know, Canada was actively participating in the two wars SEVERAL YEARS before the US got involved. So don't ever say we have contributed nothing.
Another humorous point - yes you were there, but don't you find it interesting that our presence turned the tide? We were the deciding factor in that war.
Spend it building homes, giving food, clothing. That is how you make a better world.
Good idea, let's build a home in insurgent controlled territory. See how long that will last. Frickin' hippie.
I love to hear Canadians talk about how you would make the world better. Sorry, I've lived in Canada. I've seen your homeless problems, your broken health care system, your high housing costs. Looks very familiar. Socialism is not the magic answer.
Which is another way of saying, "Bring back Saddam! We liked him!"
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
So now it's intent that makes something wrong? By your reasoning, if none of us participated in WWII, the death of millions of Jews would be perfectly okay because we didn't intend to cause it. Even though we would have been complicit in our inaction. This type of thinking is why the UN is a useless body.
And you undermine your whole position: if one must intend to cause death for it to be wrong, then the US military is exonerated. Accidents cannot be intentional.
The initial reason for war in Iraq was for terrorists and WMDs.
Again, just showing your ignorance. One of the main planks of the pro-war stance was "freedom for the Iraqi people". WMDs were just the clincher (and don't forget this also convinced Tony Blair, but you don't have an ingrained cultural bias against the British).
Oh, don't forget that the Mujahideen were also freedom fighters that you abandoned in Afganistan
Yep. We armed them against invasion by Soviet forces - something Canada had a vested interest in.
Funny how they are known as terrorists now
Not really funny, considering they "now" run terrorist training camps where they plot to blow up innocent civilians (not to fight against the military force as they were trained).
Oh, and I like how you completely dropped the issue of the first Gulf War. Probably because you realize the contradiction: after the first Gulf War, the world was mad that we didn't back the freedom fighers in Iraq. Now they're mad that we fought to liberate Iraq. The double standard to which only the US is held.
Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Haiti, just to name a few
Umm ... you can't be serious. Oh, wait:
granted we didn't stop an entire war
You're not.
but stopping battles where we can does help
Sure. That's why Bosnia is now a Utopian society? Or Mogadishu? Or Haiti?
Certainly trying to stop a war is much better than actively starting one with a sovereign nation.
You're stating this as an absolute? So we never should have declared war on Germany or Japan during WWII? Or perhaps you admit that this is a matter for situational ethics, and a much more complicated issue than your hippie beliefs will allow you to admit?
Oh yes, all hail the mighty Americans who came in half way through the war. Any country can be the deciding factor when they join the war when it's almost done.
Almost done, "eh"? Pray tell how you would have pushed the Germans back to Germany (remember Market Garden? Occupied France and Holland?). The war was not "almost done", it was at a standstill. And you seem to forget the entire Pacific Theater, which we ended with the atom bomb. Your ignorance staggers me.
No, according to you, your solution would be to drop bombs on them and kill them all. Great solution there.
This is more insulting than stupid - you do realize how many of our young men have died specifically to avoid civilian deaths in Iraq? How every attempt is made to not just adopt the "kill them all" attitude? This is what terrorists exploit.
Well, I think the world is a better place without wars.
Well fucking hell, let's just get you a gold star. What a childish statement. Wars exist whether or not you are involved with them, vote for them, or promote them. The world is constantly at war, yet people like you seem content to let "those others" kill themselves, and innocent people, as long as your hands aren't dirty. This is the same reasoning that condems the US for trying to protect Vietnam from Communism and genocide, but says nothing about the mass murder committed after we withdrew.
You know what really shows me Canada's true colors? Your complete inaction in the Sudan. The US tried to push through the resolution to have t