Rerun had a valid point that you could have countered. Instead you chose to do the same thing you accuse Rerun of doing, feeble whining
He didn't have a valid point, it was just useless whining talking about how it cost the taxpayers a very small amount of money. It is the same thing no matter what the PCs do, it is always the same peanut gallery that whines about it. The trick to politics isn't just throwing as much crap at the wall and hoping some of it sticks, it is selectively sorting through the crap and taking the government to task on actual meaningful issues, not petty stuff like this.
To counter the point made by Rerun, it is costing the government a seat on a plane that is already going over in Royal Canadian Air Force 001. So what an extra few dollars in fuel? How will we ever survive as a province?\
Edit: To bring this back to Mandela, the part that I find interesting about him, is that he wasn't a saint in the strictest manner possible. He endorsed violence and was more of a polarizing figure at the time than history shows. The fact that there is heaps of praise being lauded upon him is good but at the same time somewhat humorous when you consider it was the same people who back in the day were those calling for his imprisonment. It could be that their views changed and evolved, but it could also be that a lot of his less politically correct attributes were (pardon the term, I honestly couldn't think of another one) whitewashed from history. A very interesting figure whose overall positive impact greatly outweighed the more negative actions in my opinion at least.
Last edited by Mean Mr. Mustard; 12-10-2013 at 07:23 PM.
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Actually, never mind. Why am I even arguing about Provincial Politics? It is what old men that smell like ointment, wearing Denver Hayes pants and Velcro sneakers do, while drinking their Senior coffee in Mcdonalds at 5:30 in the morning.
edit: not very nice
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Last edited by Red John; 12-10-2013 at 07:26 PM.
Reason: not nice
Was going to say, can picture Rerun and Dion being that guy. You know, the guy who watches Glenn Beck, listens to QR77 all day long, follows the 6:00 news with Barb Higgins, watches CFL and writes editorials into the Sun with witty sayings like "Silly Hall."
Seriously, why disrespect the legacy of a great man with this pointless rabble? It's not the time or the place.
In defence of Dion, my issue isn't with him. He has better tact than that.
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I made a point of showing my kids the coverage of the funeral last night. We watched for 30 minutes or so. I told them that we will talk about why this man was so special when they were older, but that the man changed the world. They wanted to know why I wasn't at the funeral if he was so special, but they were excited to hear that Canada's leader and Alberta's leader were there representing all of Canada including them.
They are too little to understand what he went through and how he changed the world, but I am hopeful that they will remember the fact we stopped to watch the funeral for a few moments.
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Edit: To bring this back to Mandela, the part that I find interesting about him, is that he wasn't a saint in the strictest manner possible. He endorsed violence and was more of a polarizing figure at the time than history shows. The fact that there is heaps of praise being lauded upon him is good but at the same time somewhat humorous when you consider it was the same people who back in the day were those calling for his imprisonment. It could be that their views changed and evolved, but it could also be that a lot of his less politically correct attributes were (pardon the term, I honestly couldn't think of another one) whitewashed from history. A very interesting figure whose overall positive impact greatly outweighed the more negative actions in my opinion at least.
I will admit that I was always torn on the issue, Mandela did advocate violence, and not just against the whites, his wife was infamous for basically inventing the tire necklace that was used on blacks that they saw as collaborators.
However with that regime I tend to think that violent protest was the only thing that was going to work, non violent protests were met with rubber bullets and tear gas and clubs.
Where I gained a lot of respect for Mandela was when he became president he could have fallen to the temptation that a lot of rebel leaders do when they get power and enact bloody revenge. He didn't do that, he worked very hard to consolidate black and white into what he called a rainbow nation, and that should do more to clean any blood off of his hands then anything. The other thing to remember is that Mandela was a pretty hard core marxist, but he didn't enact any of those programs once he got into power which kept a lot of the industry there.
While SA is far from a mixed race paradise now, it is a better place. Bringing some semblance of normalcy between blacks and whites and bringing down one of the most odious government policies since the Nazi's (Godwin yo) earns him a place in heaven if there is a heaven.
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I will admit that I was always torn on the issue, Mandela did advocate violence, and not just against the whites, his wife was infamous for basically inventing the tire necklace that was used on blacks that they saw as collaborators.
However with that regime I tend to think that violent protest was the only thing that was going to work, non violent protests were met with rubber bullets and tear gas and clubs.
Where I gained a lot of respect for Mandela was when he became president he could have fallen to the temptation that a lot of rebel leaders do when they get power and enact bloody revenge. He didn't do that, he worked very hard to consolidate black and white into what he called a rainbow nation, and that should do more to clean any blood off of his hands then anything. The other thing to remember is that Mandela was a pretty hard core marxist, but he didn't enact any of those programs once he got into power which kept a lot of the industry there.
While SA is far from a mixed race paradise now, it is a better place. Bringing some semblance of normalcy between blacks and whites and bringing down one of the most odious government policies since the Nazi's (Godwin yo) earns him a place in heaven if there is a heaven.
I will admit that I was always torn on the issue, Mandela did advocate violence, and not just against the whites, his wife was infamous for basically inventing the tire necklace that was used on blacks that they saw as collaborators.
However with that regime I tend to think that violent protest was the only thing that was going to work, non violent protests were met with rubber bullets and tear gas and clubs.
Where I gained a lot of respect for Mandela was when he became president he could have fallen to the temptation that a lot of rebel leaders do when they get power and enact bloody revenge. He didn't do that, he worked very hard to consolidate black and white into what he called a rainbow nation, and that should do more to clean any blood off of his hands then anything. The other thing to remember is that Mandela was a pretty hard core marxist, but he didn't enact any of those programs once he got into power which kept a lot of the industry there.
While SA is far from a mixed race paradise now, it is a better place. Bringing some semblance of normalcy between blacks and whites and bringing down one of the most odious government policies since the Nazi's (Godwin yo) earns him a place in heaven if there is a heaven.
I would agree with all these points, I just think that it is very interesting how his image has changed over time to being that in which (especially young people) he is equated with peace, which isn't the case. I firmly believe that his positive contributions to the world greatly outweigh the negative, and as you suggest necessary ones.
The husband of one of the women told me that he was in the army during Apartheid and he believed in it at the time. He said that no one in his family considered themselves racist, but that they felt the system was best for everyone (blacks and whites). He said after Apartheid fell, the blinders came off and he realized what the rest of the world saw. He was 100% convinced that any slack in the system would mean that blacks would rise up and kill all the whites. He agrees that Mandela is a hero and that it was because of him that the fall of Apartheid didn't have the backlash many expected.
He did admit that the standard of living as a whole dropped after Apartheid, but he said it was worth it in order to bring freedom.
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Am I the only one who thinks it's hilarious? Imagine a deaf person watching this thinking, "WTF is this guy doing"? It's just an ultimate troll on a grand scale, and regardless of what the prudes think, I think it was funny and ballsy as hell. Harmless as well, which is pretty innocent.
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Am I the only one who thinks it's hilarious? Imagine a deaf person watching this thinking, "WTF is this guy doing"? It's just an ultimate troll on a grand scale, and regardless of what the prudes think, I think it was funny and ballsy as hell. Harmless as well, which is pretty innocent.
All I could think of was that "I.T. Crowd" episode….
Am I the only one who thinks it's hilarious? Imagine a deaf person watching this thinking, "WTF is this guy doing"? It's just an ultimate troll on a grand scale, and regardless of what the prudes think, I think it was funny and ballsy as hell. Harmless as well, which is pretty innocent.
'Dangerous situation'
Mr Jantjie said he worked for a company called SA Interpreters, where he is a senior interpreter.
During the memorial, he was employed to stand on the stage next to key speakers such as US President Barack Obama and Mr Mandela's grandchildren, translating their eulogies.
His performance was watched on television by millions of people worldwide.
But he said that during the event, he lost concentration because of voices in his head.
"There was nothing I could do. I was alone in a very dangerous situation," Mr Jantjie told Johannesburg's Star newspaper.
"I tried to control myself and not show the world what was going on. I am very sorry. It's the situation I found myself in."
But in a subsequent radio interview, he said he was happy with his performance.
"I've interpreted in many big events," he told Talk Radio 702. "I think I've been a champion of sign language."
