COMMON Questions

[J.Pluta]

COMMON Questions

** This thread discusses the article: COMMON Questions **
As far as Bush/Cheney stickers go, I suspect that qm is close to the truth on that one. If Canada were the 51st state, polls suggest that Bush would lose it by a landslide. Well, I'd hardly be surprised at that result in a country where Al-Jazeera is allowed to broadcast but Fox News isn't [grin]. Joe

[J.Pluta]

COMMON Questions

** This thread discusses the article: COMMON Questions **
Let's go through this, shall we? While on the surafce that may well be true. but deeper down, there are lots of differences. I won't go into detail, but if you do want to visit Toronto for COMMON... Thus, the following points are things that ARE common to Americans but not to Canadians: you would be well advised to leave your "BUSH-CHENEY" campaign buttons at home. You may simply mean that the mass of Canadians are pro-Kerry and/or anti-Bush. But this wording seems to imply that if you support Bush, you are not welcome in Canada. If anything, it indicates that Canadians are close-minded and unwilling to accept alternate political views. Then again, Canada doesn't broadcast Fox News, so maybe that is what you are implying. You also may not want to read certain Toronto newspapers, lest you learn something about the world. This implies that Americans know nothing about the world; that we are ill-read and stupid. It might surprise you to know that we use this neat thing we invented called the Internet, which allows us to read news from all over the world, and even translate papers written in other languages. It's quite the rage over here among those of us able to figure out how to plug in the computer. (Another hint of the differences: Expect at least a few couples will take advanatge of their visit to Toronto COMMON to get married. ;-) I'm not sure what offends me more here. No matter what your position is on various gay issues, I'd be hard pressed to find evidence that Canada is any more forward thinking than America on gay rights. The first legal gay wedding in Canada was what, last week? Yup, definitely cutting edge there. Meanwhile, we've got Queer as Folk, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Will and Grace. Not exactly a haven for homophobia here. In any event, this is my last comment on the topic. It's not what you say, but how you say it, and I'm sure others will agree. Most, however, will simply say it really doesn't matter and shove off. But I thought I'd bring it to your attention. Your statements border on the rude. What you choose to do with that information is entirely up to you. I'm done. Joe And finally, the validity of "irregardless" has nothing to do with my lexicon. It's not a word, and the only people who use it are people who don't care about following the rules of grammar. If you read the literature you'll find that the word is primarily used by people who think it's very proper, when in fact it's a completely non-standard word that shouldn't be used - an opinion held by grammar experts for nearly 100 years now. It may not matter to you, but it does to me. Since programming is simply expressing problems via syntactical rules, a disregard for grammar doesn't score pluses on a resume.

[Guest.Visitor]

COMMON Questions

** This thread discusses the article: COMMON Questions **
You are not well informed. Yes, Al-Jazeera is allowed on Canadian cable. But the restricitons placed on cable services effectively shut it out. No cable operator is willing to go to all the trouble to provide it. q

[Guest.Visitor]

COMMON Questions

** This thread discusses the article: COMMON Questions **
Regarding the issue of gay marriage, you are again quite ill-informed here. The first legal gay marriages occurred some 6 to 12 months ago. It is legal in 3 provinces Ontario, Quebec and BC. There was even a wedding show a couple of months ago catering solely to gays. The question is up before the Canadian supreme court, and in all likelihood it will soon be legal troughout Canada. (Two recent supreme court appointees have ruled in favour of gay rights issues.) Whereas in the USA, you might be surprised to learn that many Americans are calling for constitutional ammendments banning this issue of basic human rights. I am not trying to be rude here, Joe - these are the facts. BTW, visitors to the Toronto COMMON might want to know where the gay communites are in the city. (I'm sure most will want to know where to avoid.) THe main one is centred around Church St and Wellesley. Another one is around Queen West and Dufferin. The rainbow flags are a good hint. q

[J.Klebanoff]

COMMON Questions

** This thread discusses the article: COMMON Questions **
Yes, and the party that has formed the government for more than a decade now (although it is currently a minority government) is the "Liberal" party. Here a political party can call itself Liberal and get elected under that banner, rather than having to become defensive about being liberal. Oh my, what IS the world coming to.

[J.Klebanoff]

COMMON Questions

** This thread discusses the article: COMMON Questions **
How did this get so far off topic? This was supposed to be a forum about what I hoped would just be a light, fun article -- even lighter and more fun than my usual tirades. I agree with Joe, I read qm's tone as being somewhat belligerent -- but it is difficult to read tone accurately in printed text and very easy to misread it, so I'll grant qm the benefit of the doubt. My thoughts on Americans? I have very good friends, relatives and clients in the U.S. and I like and respect them all. Do I love each and every American, no but there are one or two of my fellow Canadians that I'm not all that crazy about either. If I were an American would I be voting to re-elect the current administration? No, but it is none of my business and besides, the party I've voted for here in Canada in my many years of voting hasn't always won. Yet, I still respect the people who voted for a different party and I particularly respect their right to do so. So, if I were an American, while I would be debating against Republicans, I still hope that Republicans, Democrats, Independents (and all sorts of people from everywhere in the world -- although maybe not all at the same time and terrorists never) come and enjoy our city and feel extremely welcome here. Enough said.