Congratulations Canada

[ZFBoxcar]

This wasn't based on race, the compensation was given to actual victims.

[Bluesman]

Yeah, I know. I was overstocked on invective and slash-'n'-burn. Heh.:)

[Bigfella]

Absolutely the worst possible thing they could've done. Reparations? Horrible.

AN apology is in order, absolutely. But transferring damages FROM people that have committed no crime TO people that have not been personally wronged is stupid, and turns on its head the premise that makes any society free: your rights belong to you INDIVIDUALLY, and membership in ANY group, particulalry a RACIAL group, is no claim to any exceptional entitlements that all are not judged worthy of.

It's no wonder that most wrong-headed of ALL WABbits would see this as something wonderful. Quite to be expected, actually.

Philosophically, ANY person that will proudly cop to being a socialist will be wrong nine times out of ten on ANY given subject, and the tenth time will manage to prove the Law of Random Chance by a lucky guess, being unencumbered by any coherent judgement about the first goddam' principle of freedom.

What a BRICK.

And what a surprise that the most bombastic & arrogant of all WABobbleheads should get it wrong yet again.

Compensation was paid to those forced into residential schools. The decision to place them there was based on race/culture. At best their lives & the lives of their families were disrupted, at worst there was abuse & even death. The decision to compensate them was based on the acknowledgment of a great wrong.

No surprise that someone who never admits to being wrong should so disagree with that.

Funny how those who shout loudest about the evils of 'big government' whenever they get taxed are indifferent when something genuinely nasty happens to someone else.

Didn't miss you Blues, won't miss you if you go again. Spare us all the predictible histrionics & shouting & just put me back on your 'ignore' list. If I want bad opera I'll put on some Wagner.

[ArmchairGeneral]

And the fun begins...

I guess this kinda makes up for Julie's defection. :))

edit: I've just got to get a hold of Pari's popcorn munching smilie some time.

[gamercube]

[Bigfella]

And the fun begins...

I guess this kinda makes up for Julie's defection. :))

edit: I've just got to get a hold of Pari's popcorn munching smilie some time.

Sorry to let you down AG, but the fireworks will be few & far between. Generally speaking life is too short to waste on the likes of Bluesman.

Occasionally I might get bored & poke him just to see how pompous & over the top he gets (I think the last thing he directed to me before putting me on his ignore list last time was 'dead man typing' in caps & with exclamation marks, of course). Even this becomes tedious after a time. You can only read so many self-important statements in caps before it all starts to run together.

If it makes you feel any better I plan to keep pushing until Gunnut admits that he prefers Mugabe to Obama. So far he says he prefers the Chinese Communist Party, so he's more than halfway across the river.:))

[ArmchairGeneral]

Sorry to let you down AG, but the fireworks will be few & far between. Generally speaking life is too short to waste on the likes of Bluesman.

Well, every little bit counts. Flame wars were what first attracted me to this place, back in the good ol' days of hypernationalistic Russian teenagers and such. Oh, the drama.

Anyway, I think I can count on Blues to find somebody to munch on. He'd better, otherwise we'll run out of buttercookies.

[glyn]

[QUOTE=ArmchairGeneral;505565]

Anyway, I think I can count on Blues to find somebody to munch on.


He is a WAB institution!:)

[ArmchairGeneral]

Heh. Man, that makes me miss Snipe.

[Repatriated Canuck]

Heh. Man, that makes me miss Snipe.

Me too.

It still is pretty bad to see how the natives get treated. I'm as white as you get to look at but my dad is actually MicMac Indian. I've seen how he gets treated differently than me at times and it makes me so angry.

I remember not getting served in a cafe in Quebec as an example.....

I think the apology is a good thing and hope it can heal some wounds or at least give closure to the pain it has caused.

Bluesman, I wish you had met my grandfather and said something like that to his face. He fought the Nazi's for four and a half years and passed away with a bullet still lodged between his heart and lungs. The family still has the iron cross that he took from the guy that shot him after he beat the hell out of him.

I can assure you that you would have had a long recovery process and be lucky to ever walk again.

From this MicMac half breed and in respect to my heritage.

Go f*ck yourself.

[Bigfella]

Hidden depths Expat, hidden depths.

Your grandfather sounds like quite a guy.

I always find something especially moving in the stories of people who are willing to sacrifice for a nation that still refuses to fully acknowledge them.

Thanks for sharing his story.

[Repatriated Canuck]

He never really recovered from the war. Usual story, drank and everything that went with it.

He went into an RCMP station and cleaned house once. A bit of a nut and as hard as they get. My grandmother said that he came back from the war so hard the only thing on him you could pinch was his nuts.

[Bigfella]

He never really recovered from the war. Usual story, drank and everything that went with it.

He went into an RCMP station and cleaned house once. A bit of a nut and as hard as they get. My grandmother said that he came back from the war so hard the only thing on him you could pinch was his nuts.

Sorry to hear that Expat. I don't think that we will ever truly understand the scope of human misery caused by that war. The number of those who lived the rest of their lives in physical or pshycological pain must be staggering.

My own grandfather left behind a pregnant wife & returned home with a medical condition that meant he had to find another job & a 3 year old boy (my dad) he had never met. Although he didn't see combat, he did see things he just couldn't process. He hit the drink too, and sometimes it made him mean. Fortunately he had mellowed by the time I knew him.

My uncle was on the 'death railway'. That experience put a barrier between him & the rest of the world that will probably always be there. He is a very lively 85 and has also mellowed a lot now, but there are scars in his immediate family too.

As someone once observed, the past is never really past.

[smilingassassin]

So whos next on the list of apology's?

[Repatriated Canuck]

My uncle was on the 'death railway'. That experience put a barrier between him & the rest of the world that will probably always be there. He is a very lively 85 and has also mellowed a lot now, but there are scars in his immediate family too.

As someone once observed, the past is never really past.

It's strange that there is still an impact now from something so long ago. It will fade in time except in the Balkans. They have loooong memories!