Free Republic

Walking the dogs forces me to think. My dogs are not the brightest lights in New Hampshire and, although lovable, are not the best conversationalists. So, I talk to the tape recorder and try to put down subversive thoughts. The latest rant was stimulated by a national business magazine that needed an op-ed opinion about manufacturing jobs leaving North America. I made the assumption that the knee-jerk response of unfair competition was wrong. This position was artificial to start with, and was developed just to debate the issues. I took the position that we here in Canada and the 48...

Weekly Piracy Report 9 - 15 September 2003 The following is a summary of the daily reports broadcast by the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre to ships in Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean Regions on the SafetyNET service of Inmarsat-C from 9 - 15 September 2003. Warning - Vicinity of Bintan Island, Indonesia. Increasing numbers of serious incidents are re-occurring within 30 nm radius of Lat 01N - Long 105E during the last few days. Group(s) of pirates with guns and knives are targeting and attacking ships. Ships are advised to take extra precautions in this area. Recently reported incidents Actual...

First, lets answer the question; they talk the same (Arrr Matey!), so how can ye tell the difference between a Pirate and a Privateer? From this here website: “Privateering was legal, and in its time generally respected, and often admired. Privateers operated only in wartime and only against enemy shipping. They were, in many ways, in the same business as the navy, which likewise paid its sailors and officers from the proceeds of captured ships. Pirates were stateless criminals who attacked anyone’s ships in peace or war, following their own unique customs and rules which bore no resemblance to elaborately...

..snip.. In closing, here's an: IMPORTANT REMINDER -- Mark your calendar with a big ''X'' on Sept. 19, which is the second annual National Talk Like A Pirate Day. This is the day when everybody is supposed to talk like a pirate for very solid reasons (see www.talklikeapirate.com). Last year, the first National Talk Like a Pirate Day was a huge success, as measured by the number of messages on my answering machine consisting entirely of people going ''Arrrrr.'' So if you're feeling depressed -- if you think the world is in terrible shape, and one person like yourself can't...

PARIS - Despite a significant drop in education spending, Canada's teenagers scored some of the highest marks in math, science and reading among Western nations, according to a new international study. Canada also had the highest number of students attaining post-secondary education, according to the 500-page international survey put out by the international think tank the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD). The study, called "Education at a Glance," compared national education costs, staffing and test results of 30 countries within the OECD. Among 15 year-olds, Canada joined Japan, Korea, New Zealand, The Netherlands and Finland with the highest...

A HILLTOP NEAR KABUL - Sitting in their unlit house, behind six-metre-high mud brick walls in the heart of a village so hostile to outsiders even heavily armed international troops rarely venture down its narrow roads and lanes, the al-Qaeda militants must have felt safe. They were wrong. From a barren, windswept hilltop kilometres away, the men of 42-Charlie are watching. "There you go," exults Corporal Chris Nadon, pointing at the screen in front of him showing a bearded man peering suspiciously out of a window far below. "Close enough to count the hairs in his nostril." The crew of...

MEMBERS OF at least seven churches in Terrace are gathering this Sunday in front of Skeena MP Andy Burton’s office as part of a nation-wide campaign called the “Sanctity of Marriage Week” which is focussed on the issue of same sex marriages. “The whole point is to make a positive statement that marriage is between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others,” said Pastor Jim Barber of the Terrace Pentecostal Assembly today. It’s one of the largest Protestant denominations in the city. “We don’t want anti-homosexual statements made. This is a positive thing. We don’t want...

Movie depicts John's gospel Three-hour film had $10M budget ------------------------------------------ "Over the past 14 months, I have had the privilege of producing a word-for-word screen adaptation of The Gospel of John, based on the Good News Bible," he says. "The Gospel of John in its entirety has never been put on film before, yet it is the best loved of the Gospels, and presents a uniquely human portrait of Jesus Christ. The film is both intimate and reflective, and provides audiences with an unparalleled opportunity to understand this tumultuous period in history." ------------------------------------------------ Garth H. Drabinsky is ready to be...

TORONTO - An anti-terrorism probe that led to the arrest of 19 Pakistani men, including one who took commercial flight training over a nuclear power plant, highlights security holes that should have been plugged after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Ontario officials said. The Public Security and Anti-Terrorism Unit, a federal national security task force, quietly arrested the group of mostly young men last week. The men appear to have used fraudulent student visas to enter Canada or to maintain their residency here. Federal authorities documented a pattern of suspicious behaviour that shows an interest in Ontario's nuclear generators...

Toronto — Ontario's public security minister says tensions between Toronto's black community and the city's police persist because some people in the community have a "vested interest" in keeping those tensions alive. Bob Runciman Bob Runciman made the comments in the wake of claims from Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino that his officers have become targets for some members of the black community. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Runciman responded to Fantino's comments by calling into question the leadership of the community. "I think some people make a living off this," he said. "People who don't accept any degree of...

‘Friends’ Forever: Would Monica & Chandler Make It In The Real World? (June 12, 2003) I have a confession to make. I watch Friends. I know some say that the show is mindless and trashy, and until recently, I couldn’t even make the claim that I was watching the group of New Yorkers to keep an eye on social trends. But then something interesting happened. Monica and Chandler got engaged, and then married. With this development, the show started to raise some interesting and compelling questions about the nature of love, marriage and commitment. So how committed are they, and...

Please note that the following excerpts have been typed in manually. I apologize in advance for any typos and spelling errors. This material is not available online. The link goes to the book's page on Amazon From Chapter 1, Unpacking the Myth of Democracy In sharp contrast with the Athenian system, which (at least for the controlling class, called citizens) operated on the basis of the equal rights and public merit of all voters, the American founding was shot through with the influence of Christianity, for which the determining feature of humanity has never been innate goodness, but rather a...

SARS is loosening its stranglehold on Ontario, officials announced yesterday. "The second cluster is tapering off," said Dr. Colin D'Cunha, Ontario's medical officer of health. "But we need to continue to be hyper-vigilant, while heading towards the new normal." Freedom is a sweet sign of success, too. The number of people in quarantine plummeted, from 5,500 on Tuesday to 1,078 yesterday -- including 91 health-care workers. 3 NEW CASES Officials announced three new cases, two from an intubation at North York General a week ago that infected health-care workers, along with one patient that was being monitored. D'Cunha also announced...

6/5/2003 5:00:00 PM - The Canadian Firearm Centre says anti-gun lobbyists contributed to a flood of data its infrastructure couldn't handle. We talk to EDS, CGI and the IT expert leading a gun control group for answers An overwhelming number of registrants and anti-gun lobby sabotage shut down the nation's online gun registry days before the New Year's Eve deadline, the Canadian Firearm Centre said Thursday. Both the CFC's main Web site and the secure site that received actual registrations were "down or up sporadically the three or four days before the deadline," said spokesman David Austin. Austin said that...

- Three test positive for coronavirus - Parry Sound boy sick, day care closed - Quarantine violators to be 'locked up' TORONTO -- Health officials are investigating four recent deaths at a Toronto hospital they believe may be SARS-related, three of which have tested positive for the coronavirus linked to the insidious disease. The deaths occurred earlier in the week at the Rouge Valley Health System's Centenary facility in northeast Toronto, said Dr. Jim Young, commissioner of public security in Ontario. Three of the deaths tested positive at least once for the coronavirus that's believed to cause Severe Acute Respiratory...

TORONTO, May 28 /CNW/ - The LCBO has closed its Aurora store at 14824 Yonge Street until further notice after an employee was possibly exposed to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) reportedly after a hospital visit. The other employees at the store have been asked by Region of York Health Services Department to go into voluntary 10-day quarantine. York Region Health Services has advised the LCBO that there is minimal risk of exposure to customers of this store. However, anyone who has visited this outlet since May 17th and who is concerned about their health should contact the York Region...

Imagine that you’ve decided to build a house in a particular area.  You’re willing to invest the money, time and effort to make something that will last a lifetime.  You want to move in and make it your own.  But as you drive through the neighborhood, you notice something is desperately wrong.  Some houses look sound, but many others are sagging—perhaps they are houses divided against themselves.  But most disturbingly, over half of the houses in this vast subdivision have been completely destroyed.  They are collapsed, burnt-out shells that leave the impression of a village in Kosovo after a bout...

CTV.ca News Staff The World Health Organization is lifting a travel advisory to Toronto, effective Wednesday. The advisory was imposed last week over the SARS outbreak that has killed 21 in the city in the last two months. The change in the advisory comes just hours after a delegation, led by Ontario's Health Minister Tony Clement, met with WHO Director General Gro Harlem Brundtland. Clement and his team were in Geneva to try and convince the WHO to lift the three-week advisory, slapped on Toronto last Wednesday. Following the hour-long meeting, Clement said he was hopeful there would be a...

WINTER HAVEN -- Cypress Gardens is closing its doors for good on Sunday because of declining attendance and a faltering tourism industry. Florida's first theme park, which put Polk County on the map when it was founded 67 years ago, will officially shut down at 7 p.m., a decision the park's owners had virtually no control over, officials said. According to a statement released Thursday afternoon, the park's attendance never recovered from the Sept. 11 attacks, which severely impacted the state's tourism industry. March attendance was down 42,000 visitors from the same time last year, the statement says, and the...

SARS Statistics are presented in the media without discussion or analysis. The numbers usually published are the cumulative total number of cases, without regard for those who have recovered. I have analyzed the Ontario statistics and created the following chart. A new category has been created--Active Cases. Active Cases represent people who are currently sick. This is calculated by taking the total cumulative cases and subtracting those who have died or who have been discharged. Date: April---> 012 013 014 015 017 018 019 020 Total Cases---> 223 232 236 244 251 249 249 253 Ont Deaths----> 013 013 013...