Posted on 12/01/2004 3:15:18 AM PST by goldstategop
I like it. Thanks. That should instill terror in the hearts of men. Heh heh heh...
Downside: you just can't get good cheap beer...
Is it true that you guys can't get access to conservative news? I find this surreal.
Moving to the states? When I was young, the Rocky mts were the best, but the west-coast libs have been moving in for the last decade and smelling the place up. Wyoming is great for libertarian values and low taxes, but there's no industry (other than trona, natural gas and oil) and the entire state seems to be stagnating.
Right now we're living in Arizona and it's having a little too much fun with the taxes.
I like Georgia, but it still has the east coast democrat issues.
For my money, I'd say Texas is the best place to live. (Which may be why I'm moving there next year!) As long as you don't live in Travis County, it seems to be fine. Taxes aren't the lowest, but there's NO state income tax and you keep most of what you earn. Homeschooling and gun laws are very flexible. The general attitude of the population seems to be one of "live and let live."
After much thought and research two of my aunts, my mother and five of my cousins have all independently decided to move to Texas. (We all just found out about the other's plans and are quite tickled. Freedom is calling!) Join the migration!
Every single word this caller says is the truth. We as a country are collapsing in on ourselves because of Liberalism, and nothing gets done because the Liberals control everything - the press, the media, the education system, so that they can brainwash Canadians into thinking black is white and wrong is right. We are every bit the soft dictatorship that any number of other countries outside of the free world are. I would even say the Ukraine, with all their problems, have more freedoms than we have up here.
Once you have the sales to pay for both the fixed costs and the variable costs for those sales, any further sales where the price is higher than just the variable cost will give you profit. So the drug companies are happy to get their fixed costs paid for by US sales, and the Canadian sales are just gravy. However, that works fine only as long as your Canadian sales don't eat into your US sales. That's why the drug companies don't want large-scale purchase of drugs from Canada by Americans.
My cousin and her husband live in Halifax and they have horror stories about what is considered "elective" surgery in Canada. They both pray they never get kidney stones or skin cancer because treating them surgically is considered "elective" in Canada.
We all chuckle (in a gallows humor sort of way) that the busloads of Americans who go to Canada to get prescription drugs are passing the busloads of Canadians (with private health insurance) who come to America for "elective" surgeries or cancer treatment.
It's true - we had a brief rebellion but that was it. Living up here - surviving the cold all the time has made us passive, you know, we're just trying to make it through the day without freezing our nuts off and Canadians are going to have to thaw out our thick skulls and realise that the Left hijacked this country back in the 60's, and have held power for most of that time, except for 2 terms of our best Prime Minister in my lifetime - Brian Mulroney - who was vilified by the press just as President Reagan used to be, and how President Bush is. What President Bush has to endure is extremely unfair in my opinion, not to mention completely inaccurate. He has an iron will and that is the simple truth of it, and that is what scares the hell out of the leftists.
The Official Languages mandates bi-lingualism. In practice, that means affirmative action for people from Quebec. No wonder English Canada is so resentful.
Sorry. Meant Official Languages Act. A brainchild of the late Pierre Trudeau.
LOL! An all-too-true 'nutshell' of Canadian life!
Bravo!
Let's talk about New Zealand, Kiwi, what are your thoughts about your homeland, it seems to mirror Canada very much in my opinion.
That's why we get most of our news on the Internet. We have one truly conservative paper - the Sun, but everyone who reads it is made fun of as being uneducated, and the lefties denounc e it as a rag. We had another, the National Post, but it's sliding a little to the centre and Mark Steyn was forced out when the new owners took it over.
In Canada there are some decent right wingers. Some are found on CFRB 1010 Radio in Toronto and 580 CFRA in Ottawa. The National Post newspaper is somewhat right and Sun newspapers are pro conservative.
However, I will not kid you. The vast majority of the press in Canada does have a serious left turn including the largest newspaper called the Toronto Star. I guess that is why I like this db and have been around here since 1998. It is a great place to get all of the news and a great place that dissect the news reports - such as that AP "booing" story in the American election.
BTW - there is one other thing I will say that I do disagree with in that caller's comments. He made our medical care sound like we are a third rate country. As a person who has been in hospital for major thoraxic (sp?)(lung) surgery, I completely disagree with the caller. I was well taken care of. Yes there are will likely be waits in Hospital ERs if you are not considered a serious case or if you don't need emergency surgery. And yes we do have issues with doctors leaving for the USA in certain specialties. But all in all it is not as outrageously bad as it sounds by some.
You may want to keep in mind that Canada does not have an universal government run health care system as some suggest. What Canada has is a universal health insurance system run by the provincial governments. Each one is different and covers certain medical assessments and procedures. They must meet the federal Health Act in order to get funds from the Federal government. There are many parts of the Cnadaian system that are already private such as X-ray facilities, sleep clinics and some MRIs. All doctors run private companies but bill the government run insurance system to get paid. Hospitals are corporations but they tend to be not-for-profit corporations with their own boards etc. and separate from the government
Now, which system is better - a fully private or fully government run one is the debate. But, I guess my point is, if you do come here to visit and need hospital, you will be taken care of especially in good hospitals like former Toronto General (now called Toronto Hospital or Toronto Sick Kids Hospital.
Of course we can - it's called Free Republic!! And the sister association in Canukistan called Free Dominion. Plus I listen to Rush every day at my desk. All the usual sources you have - since we get all your MSM television and your papers are generally pretty doggone rotten too for the most part, I'd say we have access to just about the same level of conservative material - with Fox on its way hopefully sometime soon.
-Pelayo
Yes, I knew the Canadian government set the prices with little input from the manufacturers. I appreciate the clarification on why the US drug companies stay there--good old capitalism at work. I wonder when the Canadian government will figure out that that is what is going on? Thanks for your insights.
It is true that every bit is as bad. You won't like our PM Helen Clark whom we call Dear Helen behind her. We are dead Left on almost all major issues, except immigration where we go to the far Right. (I have seen even very leftist Kiwis yelling "You ****ing Chinese, go home!" to Chinese migrants and even ethnic Chinese MP)
Many Kiwis with sense are already in Australia. There is no immigration control - we only need our NZ passports to land, work, and study there.
I asked the person who reprimanded me if I'd have got in trouble for cheering for Kerry. She informed me that opinions were not to be expressed, period. But I did meet several closet American fans, and I've put it down in my book of oddities.
==== I left Atlanta because I was tired of being shot at; I was REALLY tired of being told that all white people are racist and nothing we can do will change that; and I wanted to watch the World Cup. I like my job and I like the average Canadian, who is a lot nicer than the ones you see and hear on the news.
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