Hey you know what worked in the past?

It seems that people today become a little disgruntled when their next door neighbour is a person who is dedicated to bringing about the End of Days and is building weapons to do it with.
In this case that neighbour is named Iran. And its a country causing lots of other countries lots of disgruntlement.
One of the most disgruntled countries is the United States, because lets face it, the country is just unhappy if things are ever going right.
Other country's are concerned too though, and ideas on how to deal with Iran have been coming fast and hard from everybody from France (because France is SO respected on the world stage right now, not to mention the Islamic stage), and Russia (because lets face it, any country with nuclear weapons technology probably got leaked from there.) Most of these ideas involve some kind of appeasement.
The U.S. has been talking, -after some delay- about being diplomatic too. It seems that the country has decided to try a new approach to the way the handle foreign relations. Recently Condi Rice even announced that the U.S. would try talking *gasp* to Iran if they met the condition of basically giving in to all of the U.S. government's demands.

Its a start.

And its a start that may already be finished. There is increasing pressure from some of the more right-wing members of Congress to try a new approach with Iran. Or, wait, no, it's actually an old approach they want. What is this approach you ask? Regime change!!

Yes once again members of the U.S. government feel that a regime change is the way to go. Well looking at the past as an indicator of the future, its clear that these people have put a lot of thought into this. Regime changes always work out better for the U.S. in the long run. Like the time they overthrew the Sandinista government in Nicaragua by funding the Contras (the local rebel group) with money raised through the sale of weapons to... Which country was it again?

Oh yeah... Iran.

Hmm... Well one bad apple shouldn't spoil the pie now should it. Other regime change attempts must have worked out fine!! Remember when the Soviets were occupying all those countries? Like that one in the middle east Afghanistan? The U.S. certainly helped kick them out!! And nothing bad ever came from funding training and supplying that Bin Laden guy either. And those other guys, the Taliban, they turned out all right too.

Oh yes, more regime changes are definately the way to go.

al-Zarqawi

So this guy, the famously incompetant leader of Al-Qaeda... Is dead.

Everyone is celebrating the death of this evil-doer. Thats fine, but while The Thought isn't about to shed a tear at his death, he definately feels a little disturbed that people can go so far as to celebrate the death of others... Death, even under an execution, should always be a solemn occasion.

Now, to get on to the main part of my Thoughts. This report about how it was a planned bombing on a known location? Utter Poppycock!!. Here's why: If the military knew where the leader of their most hated enemy organization was hiding, why the hell would they just kill them with a giant bomb? The Thought is pretty sure that this guy might have been able to give some good info if they had bothered to capture him.

Washington couldn't have known about his location because if they did they would have tried to capture him. If they did and chose not to... Well The Thought'll just have to chock the move up to another one of Washington's schemes which are far to "brilliant" for him to comprehend.

But what can The Thought say... He'll give these people in Washington the benefit of the doubt and guess that they have a bit of a brain. If that's true, then there's no way that they knew where this guy was. It was a lucky hit, and they just spun the story to make it sound better. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but clearly if they had really known about his locale ahead of time they would have tried to capture him not bomb him.

The U.S. is like Jessica Simpson.

Ever notice how much the U.S. is like Jessica Simpson?

Disagree? Let's do a comparison.

Jessica Simpson is a person generally regarded as stupid who is made fun of for being stupid behind her back but never to her face. The US is a country which people generally make fun of for being stupid but never to its leader's face. (Generally, when people think of stupid Americans, they think of Bush.)

Jessica Simpson has done alot of high profile stuff, and makes a ton of dough, but hasn't really ever been that big of an international hit. Her songs tend to crap out at #2. The US has done alot of stuff, given alot of people money, and supplied alot of troops, but people still tend to make fun of it behind its back, and its just not that much of a hit. People tend to go: "Oh look, the U.S. is here, yay..." Thats right, they put their "Yay," in italics.

Jessica Simpson has a little sister who got her power just because she was Jessica Simpson's sister, and had a number one song right off the bat. Canada has a crazy amount of power in the world community, even though its small (in population) and without a gigantic economy. Why? It lives right next door to Jessica Simpson. Canada's also a pretty popular country, and less made fun of then the U.S.

And thats all that The Thought has for now. Politics seems to have dried up lately.... Hopefully something interesting will come soon.

Ambrosia

Wow, its been along time since the thought had anything intelligent to say apparently. Last post April 28th? Whats up with that? All of my zero readers must have been shocked by my absence.

Sooo....

Has anybody seen Rona Ambrose lately? She's hot. And not in the girl next door way either. But she also looks like she could take me, so The Thought will be staying away.

She's also a crazy lady.

Canada is the country leading the UN conference on Kyoto and she's trying to back out of Canada's committment to the whole thing.

Why?

Apparently its impossible for Canada to meet its climate change goals.
Quote by Miss Ambrose: "We could shut all the lights off in Canada tomorrow, but that still wouldn't be enough," she said. "To reach our Kyoto target, we'd have to shut off all the lights and shut down the entire agriculture industry."

Please explain what this means... Does she mean that shutting the lights off for one day wouldn't work? And if so, how many days would it take? Because if it would take like thirty days solid of no lights couldn't Canada reduce the amount of lights it has on by five percent and have the plan work over six hundred days?

The Thought would also like to know how much energy the agriculture industry takes up. They use some sure, but something tells me you'll see more energy being wasted in other parts of the country than in the mustard fields of Saskatchewan.

Okay, but in all seriousness... (Or not.) Has Miss Ambrose ever seen any of those movies where the hero is faced with impossible odds? The heroine is like: "You can' t do it! Its impossible!!" And then the hero is like: "But I've got to try!!" Remember how much that guy's esteem rose in your mind when you saw that? I mean, nobody sees a guy try to fight against impossible odds and thinks: "Wow... What an idiot, he's screwed." When watching Star Wars nobody yells at the movie screen: "Run the hell away Luke!! You're screwed!!" And nobody ever tells a hockey team to quit when they are down by a goal with thirty seconds to go. Why? Because those people are awesome and everyone respects them for facing those odds.

On to The Thought's next point on the matter...

How can Canada not reach its goals on the protocol? Germany has exceeded its goals and to take a look at them, we can see that if they can do it so can Canada.

Canada: Led by right-wingers. Germany: Led by right-wingers. Canada: GDP of somewhere over One Trillion. Germany: Double the GDP of Canada (roughly). Canada: Major industries include the harvesting of raw materials and their processing, manufacturing, tourism, chemicals, and gas. Germany: Major industries include: Various types of raw mineral related stuff, manufacturing, chemicals, and ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES!!

So as we can see here Germany effectively should have a much harder time than Canada on keeping up with its committments, but it seems that thanks to its government being able to find its ass with its own hands it had the brains to actually invest in the environment, and the technology surrounding it. In the process reducing greenhouse gasses and making a ton of dough with this super high demand technology.

Even if Canada didn't wanna get involved in something like Kyoto could they not at least get involved in the lucrative technology behind it?

Or maybe if Canada did get involved, we could see what would happen if they offered tax credits on small vehicles, penalties on large ones, subsidized environmentally safe objects, and ordered stricter guidelines for their industry. Perhaps putting electrostatic filters (the name escapes) on their industrial plant exhaust systems. This alone would make a big dent into emmissions. Perhaps the country still won't have its goals done at the end of the day, but at least it would have given the old college try.

Wind farms anyone? (Ooh no, they make a whining noise, so much more annoying than the plume of black smoke rising through your neighbourhood.)

Okay, so this has been another post thats all over the place. Whatever, you get the general feeling.

Miss Ambrose, you need to buck up and get going. People don't give up when they're down 2-1 in the third period, they pull their goalie, put a sixth man on the ice and then try harder. Sometimes it works, soemtimes it doesn't. But c'mon, even if it doesn't, at least you'll look awesome doing it Miss Ambrose.

More Thoughts on this subject later.

Next time: Either a comparison between the Simpson sisters and America and Canada, or an update on something stupid Bush did, or an update on some foreign disaster which is bound to happen soon.

Left wing Republican ideals.

Now we all know that a recent deal has been brokered between the Governments of America and Canada, and that this deal has addressed the problem of softwood lumber tariffs which were unfairly placed on Canadian lumber. (WTO's words not The Thought's.)

So what's with this deal? Well pretty simply the deal is what we would expect of the current government. Self serving, the American government bucks their own signed agreements and goes for a managed trade system when it serves them. And the Canadian government rolls over on the issue.

Now what does this mean? Both countries are currently controlled by the same parties that originally created free trade. Right wingers that totally support free markets and near total globalization. When these countries created NAFTA the left wing parties vouched for managed trade, meaning that they wanted a system where trade would be more regulated, and thus more fair to the industries of both countries.

Of course this didn't happen, and free trade became a reality. Now we have a softwood lumber agreement which is the very epitome of managed trade. Turns out the left wing was right after all in this case. NAFTA is broken, needs to be replaced, and should be scrapped immediately. This way the US and Canada can compete competitively while leaving room for their small businesses and industries to flourish.

Hotter Than Hell

What is Hotter Than Hell?

The new book by Environment Canada employee Mark Tushingham, PhD.

The book is about a possible conflict between Canada and the United States over natural resources placed at a premium by global warming. The book is also complete fiction.

So why is any of this significant? The Thought is not writing a book review here. He hasn't even read the book. What's significant about this book is the contraversy it is at the center of.

See, the author of this book was slated to give a talk on his book to the National Press Club, but before he could do this he recieved a call from the Environment Minister's office telling him he was not allowed to go.

Where do they get off censoring the words of their workers? Canadians have a right to free speech, and this move to stop it is simply horrible. These are not secrets which would hurt the Canadian government, this is a work of fiction. But its fiction with a standpoint contrary to the government's views.

And under the Harper regime, its conform or leave.

Shame on you Mr. Harper.

I'd like everyone to show Mr. Harper what they think by going out to buy this book.

Hotter Than Hell

What is Hotter Than Hell?

The new book by Environment Canada employee Mark Tushingham, PhD.

The book is about a possible conflict between Canada and the United States over natural resources placed at a premium by global warming. The book is also complete fiction.

So why is any of this significant? The Thought is not writing a book review here. He hasn't even read the book. What's significant about this book is the contraversy it is at the center of.

See, the author of this book was slated to give a talk on his book to the National Press Club, but before he could do this he recieved a call from the Environment Minister's office telling him he was not allowed to go.

Where do they get off censoring the words of their workers? Canadians have a right to free speech, and this move to stop it is simply horrible. These are not secrets which would hurt the Canadian government, this is a work of fiction. But its fiction with a standpoint contrary to the government's views.

And under the Harper regime, its conform or leave.

Shame on you Mr. Harper.

I'd like everyone to show Mr. Harper what they think by going out to buy this book.

So... Sorry for the lack of Thoughts lately. The Thought's been sick. He still is.

Anyways, to all Christians: Happy Easter!!
To all followers of Judaism: Happy Passover!!
To all aetheists: Happy gluttony!!
To all agnostics: Happy gluttony while also leaving open the possiblity that the day still has some significance on a spiritual level!!
To all Bhuddists: Happy ordinary day!!

A thought: Did you know that the most important religious holiday in Christianity isn't Christmas nor Easter? It's Good Friday!!


So... To celebrate this nice little holiday, The Thought decided he would
post a little section on religion. Specifically the seperation of church and state.



Warning: Extremely poorly written post ahead.

Former Israeli Minister calls the president of Iran Satan.

So... First thought: Yasser Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize? How did that happen?

Second Thought: So... The former Prime Minister of Israel called the President of Iran Satan. Not cool. See, while The Thought realizes that Israel is certainly not a secular state (It was founded for Jewish folk after all,) he does believe that this sort of thing is inappropriate on the world stage. This is the sort of thing which just flares up tensions and makes extremists even angrier. Religion is the most sensitive topic there is and without a keen eye for diplomacy things will go down fast.

Make no mistake, during the last fifty years there have been two global struggles: The United States (Democracy) versus Russia (Communism.) And now there is The United States (Secularism) versus Islam/The Middle East (religion.)

The Thought is betting on religion right now.

Well... Obviously The Thought isn't really that coherent when he's sick because he doesn't have any idea where this Thought is going right now.

He'll try to continue though:

Religion riles up people. Sometimes that's good, sometimes bad. Lately it seems to turn alot of people into Jackasses. Just read the DaVinci code thread on imdb.com. Aethiests call Christians idiots, and Christians say that Aethiests are all dirty hell bound heathens. (The Thought will have more on the general relationship between these two groups.) People need to give it a break, and what this means is that Christians *gasp* need to take the higher ground. After all, Jesus was one of the biggest proponents of acceptance around. If someone takes issue with a religion... Learn to turn the other cheek.

Especially since believe it or not... Jesus had one of the earliest calls for separation of church and state, and it was really Christianity that got the whole separation of church and state thing started!!

(Mark 12: 17: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.)


Yah... So anyways. The Thought realizes this is a pretty awful post, but hopefully anybody reading this can at least get something across off of the general idea.