OT: The most incredible film I have ever seen.

[KevinC]

Yep, people are just silly little monkeys everywhere, basically. We fight and quarrel and kill each other. Having guns so handy just makes it far too easy to escalate the violence to the fatal level.

I travel a lot, and I gotta admit that the US is the only country I've ever had the police stop me and tell me I don't want to go there when driving about. This happened to me twice in the US, once in Chicago, and once in Detroit.

[The Buddha]

You left out buffalo...Most canadians like to rag on that...and my answer to you and to them has always been...these cities are so close to canada....coincidence???
Cool.
Srinath.

[RedFuelDlux]

Have you ever heard of Airbus? You know, the aircraft company the US governement accuses of unfair trade practices because they are huge competition for the militarily supported Boeing? They make very nice planes, and are used extensively world wide. They are also presently building the next generation of large passenger plane that Boeing is not pursuing. 555 passengers.

http://www.airbus.com/dynamic/about/index_h.asp

Wow, the DC10 and Tristar are obsolete, and being removed from service. The Chinese will be the ones to return to the moon.

For the record genius, I was quoting Gordon Sinclair and it was published in 1973. If you took the time to actually read it rather than jump to a retort, maybe you would've realized that.

And as for the huge list of Canada's accomplishments...very impressive.  :lol: LOL
And how is their Space Program doing??

[Jeff P]

ok, so you've been warned by police to avoid certain areas in some US cities before.  Shocker.  Nobody here is saying there aren't bad areas that ought to be avoided.  What's absurd is that you're basically saying there aren't any bad areas to be avoided anywhere in Canada.  That's silly.  Even Stockholm, the capital of your beloved Sweden, has areas that are scary.  I've been there.  

jeff

[The Buddha]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but it doesn't seem like Canada was getting ragged on that badly. And I agree that the U.S. has problems, but I don't think we are nearly as horrible as most of the rest of the world thinks. I also don't think we are as perfect as some people say.

But honestly, I think people who don't live in the United States have a rather skewed opinion about the crime here. (Probably from watching all those violent American movies that people from all over the world seem to be eager to watch.)

You know US is the only country where people dont attempt to kill you when you say things like the system sucks, or the govt sucks, or stuff like that...Ironically Canada (the only other country I have said it in) is exactly the opposite...They are so awfully proud of everything...the health care, their roads, the taxes and the fact that they buy a lot for the big tax $$$ etc etc...and when you say I hate canada...they automatically assume you hate the weather... India is just as bad too, and they cant imagine why I dont want to live there and get this, they love the weather too...They talk of sea breeze...Yea its freaking 105 in the shade, with sea breeze its what a very cool 101 only...oh great and that is in winter...... of course anyone who has lived in the US before they got too old (20-25) and had families etc and got too many ties...never ever think of going back...Free speech works in so many ways...It can be opressed by the govt or opressed by society...
Cool (101 F).
Srinath.

[KevinC]

Yep, you're right, I don't read Gordon Sinclair. Was that the last time any one outside the US said anything good, 1973? I'm amazed people from the US drag out that tired old right wing Canadian at the slightest provocation.

Canada is far from perfect, and I don't think anyone here gets too upset when people point that out. We have too much crime, and too much racism and bigotry, and problems with health care and social infrastructure like everywhere else in the world.

These are all complex and confusing issues, with no magic solutions. Some countries seem to be doing a slightly better job than others. Norway has a lot of good points, but I'm sure there are problems too. Like whaling.

And our modest space program is doing fine. We are doing northern lights research, and designed and built the space shuttle arm. We fly experiments on US and European missions. There are only 30 million Canadians, and we don't have the resources of a country with 10 times our population.

http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/about/csa_organization/csm_complete.asp

We even have our own rocket used for auroura research:

http://www.bristol.ca/BlackBrant.html

[JohnNS]

First of all...thanks Jeff P and Laura  

*sigh*  now....

And as for the huge list of Canada's accomplishments...very impressive.  LOL
And how is their Space Program doing??

Yeah, you're right RedFuel. I mean....it's not like insulin, radio broadcasting, the pacemaker, the electron microscope...to name but a few...are important accomplishments.    As far as the space program is concerned... a number of Canadian engineers made a significant contribution to your space program in its early days (and continue to do so).

As I said before, it's silly to argue over things like that. It's even more so when it's uninformed.    

John

[RedFuelDlux]

I'm sure I can find few other inventions from many other countries if I did a simple internet search, but instead of arguing a point or trying to prove someone wrong. I was simply adding to this discussion.

So who is better than who? I really don't care. We are all obviously patriotic and love each of our countries. Being neighbors and so similar, we need to get along support one another non the less. Especially in these times.

As for the original topic of gun control.  My idea of gun control is using both hands.    

Remember, Guns don't kill people. People kill people

If there were no guns then peopl would just use knives. If there were no knives people would use bats. No bats, then fists.

Violence is in the human nature . With so many people on this planet right  now, why are we so surprised at the increasing level.

My 2 cents.... I'm done

[The Buddha]

OK I love this...30 million is the population of canada...they have more natural resources than the US...30 million is the population of California...they have 1/100 the resources...and Cslifornia is the 5th largest economy in the world...and Canada is nowhere...Ironic isnt it...Not saying anything really....Just observing...
Cool.
Srinath.

[pantablo]

Canada DOES have teh GS500...

[lynstly]

I've had the unpleasant experience of watching a few of Michael Moore's films. What I fail to understand is why he still lives in the US... if this country has done so much injustice to him then why doesn't he leave? He paints himself to be this humble left winger... then why does this conniving bastard live in a 1.9 million dollar home? F*ck Michael Moore.... f*ck him right in the ear....

[KevinC]

Ahh, just like a capitilist American to try and reduce everyting to money! And without looking up any facts either...

Canada is one of the top 7 economies in the world, and ranks second out of those 7 in GDP per capita, with only the US ahead. Canada supplies 22.9% of the US trade. It has one of the lowest income disparities of the G7 contries.

The US has the highest income disparity, highest infant mortality (6.75 per thousand live births), the largest external debt of the G7 countries.

(CIA World Fact Bokk: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/)

Homicide rate in Israel, Switzerland and Austria : 1.2, 1.1, 1.5
(European countries with least restrictive gun laws)
Homicide rates in Luxembourg, Denmark, Germany : 2.1, 5.0, 1.8
(European countries with most restrictive gun laws)

Total homicide rate in United States : 7.3
Homicide rate in United States, excluding gun use : around 2.4 (one-third)
Total homicide rate in Canada : 2.0

(U.N. Demographic Yearbooks, U.N. Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice's Vienna Session, Swiss national police)

So maybe it isn't just the guns. Americans just like to kill each other.

[Zarathustra]

If there were no guns then peopl would just use knives. If there were no knives people would use bats. No bats, then fists.

i don't know about you guys, but i'd much rather have someone chasing me with a bat or a knife than a .45.  but hey, maybe that's just me.  my only problem with hand guns is that they are used for one purpose, and one purpose alone, shooting other people.  who hunts with a handgun?  some people argue that people sport shoot with handguns, and hence there is a purpose why they should be legal.  well hey, i sport smoke pot, does that mean it should be legal as well?  our government doesn't think so.  handguns are just useless and dangerous.  getting rid of them would stop quite a bit of crime and accidents in homes.  you're not protection your family by having a gun laying around the house, you're endangering them.

[glenn9171]

Australia banned handguns and made people get rid of most other firearms a few years back.  What did that get them?  An astronomical increase of robberies and the murder rate rose slightly.  It seems that criminals failed to turn in their weapons (imagine that) while law-abiding citizens handed theirs over.  The criminals knew that everyone else was now defenseless and had a field day.  

If a lack of guns makes society so safe, why don't any of the left-winders have signs in their yards proclaiming their anti-gun stance?  "This house contains no weapons of any kind.  We are anti-violent."  Because it would be suicide.  The put signs up stating how they are pro-life or pro-choice.  The proudly display their other political stances.  Why not their view on weapons and protection?  

There will always be law breakers in a human society.  No matter what we ban.  They banned alcohol and people just kept on drinking, just not out in the open.  Speeding is illegal, but we all do it nearly every day.  Bank robbery is illegal, but they get robbed every day of the week somewhere or another.  If you make owning a gun illegal, only criminals will have guns.  They will not just walk down to the local courthouse and turn over their weapons.  If you think they will, you are sadly mistaken.  

And guess what?  Canadians still have guns.  They just don't tell anyone about it.

[KevinC]

As with most things, you have to look pretty closely at the Australian numbers to see that it doesn't prove anything. While they did have an increase in violennt crime, it wasn't "astronomical", or inded out of line with what has been happening in Britain with no change in the gun control laws. Crime rates go up and down the 20% experienced in Australia, with few good explanations. It is not like the order of magnitude difference in the homicide rate between the US and other G7 countries, were the factor of 5 to 15 appears to be real.

Indeed, no one can really expalin the huge decrease in US violent crime since '93, although both the pro and anti gun lobbies do their best to claim it.

Yes, Canadians still have guns (29% of households). It is almost an entirely rural and largely western Canada issue. They are 90% rifles. Hand gun ownership in Canada has been tightly controlled for a long time, except for the leakage across the border.

Because of the rapidly decreasing crime rates in the US and Canada, you have to be very careful that you compare the same years. The numbers I posted above are an example: the Canadian number was from '92, and the US number from 2000. Burned again!

[Zarathustra]

i never said i was against gun ownership, i'm against handguns.  i'm from wisconsin and now live in minnesota.  hunting is almost a national pastime here.  if you want a gun so you can hunt, and practice; by all means, go ahead.  these guns have purposes, and are used in a responcible fashion (usually).  whereas handguns, as i stated, are made for shooting people.  yeah, "criminals" won't turn their handguns in, but think of would be criminals that now won't be because they can't walk into a store, throw down $100 bucks and get an easily concealable semi-auto glock.  or even the kids who can't go through daddy's nightstand and pull out his .45 to play with.  with guns, if you don't keep them locked up, you're endangering your family; but if you do keep them locked up, good luck getting them out quick enough and loading them to stop a robber.  so why even own the stupid thing?  at best you're making a slim to none effort of stopping a theif, and at worst, you're killing your family.  it just doesn't add up.

[The Buddha]

Ahh, just like a capitilist American to try and reduce everyting to money! And without looking up any facts either...

Canada is one of the top 7 economies in the world, and ranks second out of those 7 in GDP per capita, with only the US ahead. Canada supplies 22.9% of the US trade. It has one of the lowest income disparities of the G7 contries.

No its not...
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html
Its 13th and probably has fallen since 2001...cos well the US economy has fallen and the canadian economy was just getting carried by the US economy...So to quote...
"Ahh, just like a capitilist American to try and reduce everyting to money! And without looking up any facts either..."
Ha ha... :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:  :mrgreen:
Still smaller than CA...and I beleive NY and NJ and anyone else care to beat canada...(Dont take that literally...no idea where NJ and NY are on the global scale) oh yea the french...imagine that the french beat some one...
Cool.
Srinath

[glenn9171]

Where are you finding Glocks for $100?  I want to know as I will go there tomorrow and buy a truckload.  Try closer to $800-1000 in most places for a good one, including magazine and a decent case.  The magazine for Glocks costs more than $100.

[The Buddha]

I think they go for $100 used...Just 1 or 2 times...Just like new...
Cool.
Srinath.

[john]

Where are you finding Glocks for $100?  I want to know as I will go there tomorrow and buy a truckload.  Try closer to $800-1000 in most places for a good one, including magazine and a decent case.  The magazine for Glocks costs more than $100.

Last used glock I saw was $500.  Too rich for my blood.  I only buy cheap guns.  :mrgreen: