WILL THE WORLD END?

According to a famous Mayan prophecy the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012, at 11.11 am just in time to ruin our last Christmas shopping season.  the blockbuster movie, 2012, says we will die from earthquakes, volcanoes, and tidal waves.  Other films, books and TV shows predict the doomsday will be caused by meteor showers, solar flares, tsunamis,, gamma ray  bursts, glob al warming,

a  new ice age, and a headf-0n collision with the planet Nibiru.

What is going on?  Why all this obsession with Armaggedon?

Does it make you feel important that you may be alive when the world ends in 2012?

Does i make sense to take on a big loan with payback arranged for Dec. 22, 2012

Should we be afraid of the Apocalypse in 2012 or should we be more afraid of Sarah Palin  being elected president.?

Will the world end sometime?

What do you thi  nk?

WILL OPRAH BE MISSED?

Would it be an exaggeration to say that Oprah Winfrey is the most successful entertainer in the history of television?  I think not.  She has had her daily show for more than 23 years.  She reaches about seven million viewers a day.  She has empowered millions of women.  She has changed reading habits by recommending certain books.  She helped Barack Obama  get elected. She iyearss worth $2.7 billion with an annual salary of $275 million.

Now Oprah has announced she will give up her show in the fall of 2011 after 25  years to devote more time to the Oprah Winfrey Network.  There is no certainty that she will continue her talk show on her own network.

Why do you thi nk Oprah was so successful?

What is her legacy?

Will she be missed?

DOES THE HARPER GOVERNMENT CONDONE TORTURE?

AAals don’t send individuals off to be tortured.”

We now know that is a flat-out lie.  Yesterday a Canadian diplomat who served in Afghanistan swore before a parliamentary committee that Canadian soldiers regularly turned over prisoners to Afghan authorities who tortured them even though many of them were entirely innocent. This Canadian diiplomat, Richard Colvin, repeatedly tried to warn the Harper government this was happening but his warnings were ignored.  He also testified:  Canadians detainee practices alientated us from the population and strengthened the insurgency. I n all likelihood all the prisoners we turned ov er were  tortured.”

Has it come to this?  That on  the in ternational stage Canada will become known as a torturer?  That makes us no better than  thugs like Bush and Cheney who authorized tortue as a matter of policy.  They water-boarded on prisoner 183 times.

Do we Canadians want our country to be known as a nation that tortures?

WOULD YOU READ PALIN ‘S BOOK?

More than  a million copies of Sarah Palin’s book,  Going Rogue, have now hit the bookstores.  Palin earned an advance of $1.5 million on the book.

As I understand it,the book settles the score with McCain’s political team.  It also explains why she blew her interview with Katie Couric and takes a shot at her then future sonm-in-law, Levi Johnson, who is getting ready to go starkers in Playgirl. 

Don’t underestimate Palin.  A Va nity Fair con tributor wrote this on his blog: “There are only two political stars in the country.  One is  the president, the other is Sarah Palin.

I  watched Palin with Oprah.  I thought Sarah aquitted herself very well indeed.

Would you read Palin’s book?  Not buy it but read it if someone gave it to you?

Will Palin run for president in 2012?

Did you see the Oprah interview?  Or the Barbara walters interview?  (Palin is on Fox tonight at nine.)

CAN THE SEPARATISTS WIN THE NEXT REFERENDUM?

In his new book on Quebec sovereignty, just published, former premier Jacques Parizeau, predicts that the YES side will win the third referendum on separatin g from Canada.  He argues that the third referendum will be dominated by globalization. “Globalization does no dilute the sovereignty of nation states, it renders it even more necessary.”  Parizeau blames the narrow loss in the third referendum on “disinformation” spread by the Quebec media and oodles of money spent by Quebec billionaire Paul Desmarais on the federalist side.

Do you believe Parizeau and the separatists can win the next referendum?

SHOULD TERRORISTS BE TRIED IN NEW YORK?

Attorney General Holder has bitten the bullet and five of the world’s worst terrorists will be tried in a civilain court in Neww York city.  Some commentators feel a civilian trial iecause is the preferable outcome bthe the Uecause it shows that international rule of law  and the U.S.’s ownlegal system, and not arbitrary executive power, can deal with the most heinous crimes and remains supreme.

But thete is a  downside to moving these trials from a military to a federal court.  The accused, including Sheik Mohammed, will use the gtrials as a platform to propagandize their tenets.  And it is likely that much evidence will be inaddmissable.  After all Mohammed was tortured 183 times.  Is it likely evidence obtained un der torture will be allowed? 

And what if, because of some kind of technicality one or more of these terrorists gets off?  What a pickle  that would be.

Do you thin k these terrorists should be tried in a civiliaan court in New York?

Otr should they be tried in a military court in Gitmo?

SHOULD CANADA ACCEPT GITMO PRISONERS?

Several national polls show Canadians strongly support President Obama’s plan to close the prison at Guatanamo Bay.  Should not Canadians then put their money where there mouth is?

The Obama administration has been appealing to other countries to help in the process by taking some of the detainees.  England has taken some.  So has Ireland.  So, Ibelieve, has Bermuda.

Not our country.  Ottawa turned down Obama flat.  And thus considerably irritated the White House.

Should Canada take some Gitmo prisoners?

What do you think?

SHOULD OBAMA SEND MORE TROOPS?

erryPresident O bama has been presented with four options regarding AfghanistaN.   They all involve  sending more troops – upwaards of 45,000/

Now suddently a fifth option has appeared.  Send few or no troops.  This option has been presented to the president by Karl Eikenberry, the American ambassador to AfghanistaN.  Formerly Ambassador Eikenberry was the top American general in AfghanistaN.  He has now warned the president against sending troops to Afghanistan.  One of his reasons is the sorry state of the Karzai government – a feeble Americanpartner.

Should President Obama consider  sending no troops?

Would you be  happy if the president decided to sell no  troops.?

SHOULD THE TWO MIN UTES OF SILENCE BE MANDATORY?

A new poll just out shows 70 per cent of Canadians think observing the two minutes of silence on Remembrance Day should be mandatory, not voluntary.  As well, 57 per cent think the government should enact a law that all public transit and vehicles where possible should stop for two minutes at  11 o’ clock to honour Canada’s war dead.

A spokesman for Veterans \Canada disagrees:  “We don’t need to legislate this.  We need to remember our soldiers have fought for freedoms – freedom of the press, freedom of religion. and the freedom to mark two minutes of silence or not.”

Should there be a law to mandate two minutes of silence on November 11?

What do you think?

 

 

SHOULD PROSTITUTION BE LEGALIZED?

A group of prostitutes are bringing a case in the courts against Canada’s laws on prostitution. The women want  the courts to strike down prohibitions against living off the avails of prostitution, communicating with potential clients and setting up brothels.

The courts must decide whether the current law is proportionate to its purpose, or whether it forces prostitutes into unsafe situations where they can  become easy prey of deviants and serial killers.

Do thecurrent laws target women and put women in more danger?

Should prostitution be legal?

What do you think?