The Thought's Thoughts - Words I think are smart.

Hey you know what worked in the past?

2006-06-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-05-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-04-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-21T10:48:00.001-07:00

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

2006-04-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

2006-04-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

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.

She's a Lady! - The Thought goes on a rant.

2006-04-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing too political in content today from The Thought. No, today's views are on society as a whole. On women actually, or our views on them. What makes them attractive.

On Women

The Thought likes women. He thinks they're pretty. And of course one of the best places to find pretty women is at the movies... Not in the theatres but on the screen. Hollywood always tries to fill its heroines roles with sexy bombshell actresses, regardless of whether they can act. The Thought doesn't mind this too much, what he does mind is what is considered a sexy bombshell actress in Hollywood.

The other day The Thought was sitting down to engage in some intelligent cinimatic at home fare. Namely, Euro-Trip. Now one of the main characters of this film, the female lead, is supposed to be one of the babes of the movie. But when she took off her clothes so that she was only bikini clad, and strode along the beach in slow motion whilst the guys all oggled her.... The Thought realized he could count her ribs, and this was not sexy. Disgusted, The Thought wondered to himself if he was the only person to share the view that anorexia wasn't attractive. He ventured the question to his friends, and low and behold, they all agreed.

In the time since, whenever a picture of a woman has come up who had countable ribs, The Thought has voiced his opinion and gotten agreements. It turns out that no one likes skeletons. So Hollywood, please, give your head a shake.

Thats not to say that thin is not attractive. The Thought has always admired the trim and toned physique of the lovely Cameron Diaz. Theres a girl who, while extremely thin, obviously takes care of herself and is that way naturally. Calista Flockhart on the other hand, needs to chug a gallon of pure lard.

Which brings us to body type. Some women are meant to have thin bodies, its based on their metabolism and body shape. Others not so much. The Thought was never too big a fan of Renee Zellweger, mainly because she usually looks like a string bean pole sucking something sour. Then he saw a brief clip of Bridget Jones Diary, The Thought was amazed. This woman was transformed into a vision. Here was someone who was quite obviously meant to look this way, and she even claimed she liked the extra weight. But of course hollywood got to her and immediately afterwords she starved herself down to her emaciated weight.... Its a shame really.

Seriously Hollywood. STOP HURTING WOMEN!!! These views you put out are horrible both physically and psychologically. Kate Winslet is one women who has always been NORMAL in her weight, she is criticized for that often. But The Thought doubts that 99% of men don't think she's gorgeous, and probably would be at any weight. So ease up Hollywood, and let women eat cake. If they want. And if they don't, well thats cool too. But please, when I order my sexy movie heroine, I don't want it with a side of countable ribs.

And neither does anybody else.

-This rant has been brought to you by the letter T.

Immigration Confrontation

2006-03-29T19:27:00.000-08:00

Immigration.... Its a touchy topic. Americans... Very divided on the issue.

And why shouldn't they be? Its not hard to see that these people are taking jobs that American workers could take. Isn't that bad?

Not necessarily. The American population often will not do the jobs that illegal immigrants end up doing, and due to the consumer driven economy these people end up contributing no matter what to the economy. Of course there are other drawbacks to the immigration system as well, but lets not forget that any American is descended from an immigrant. Illegal immigrants may hurt certain aspects of the States but they're usually pretty desparate.

Currently the idea of a temporary guest worker program has been put forth. The Thought likes this idea. If an illegal immigrant really wants to become American he or she can join this program and work towards status. On top of that, the American government would be able to keep tabs on those in the country without status much better than they currently can. The eleven million people who are in America now have very little chance at being caught and thrown out, so this is probably the best way to observe their movements, and if they don't follow through on their commitments they get a ticket out of the country.

In The Thought's opinion this bill has something for everybody and he hopes that President Bush supports it. So far it looks like he will. Of course not supporting it would probably cost him that sweet Latin vote so he doesn't have a large choice. In 2000 Bush lost in Florida, but won it anyway due to counting problems and a small margin of votes. If the huge Latin population becomes disgruntled with him he can kiss any chance of a republican win there anytime soon goodbye.

Fun fact: More illegal immigrants that are competing in the same job market as American citizens have jobs. This is just simple motivation and at this point the onus really falls on to the individual worker.

So... This has been another Thought from The Thought.

Not a very good thought. But it was there.

Harper's Bizzare.

2006-03-28T19:27:00.000-08:00

Did someone never tell the Prime Minister of Canada that secrets aren't polite? Because he seems to like them.

For the first time in recent memory the media is being blocked from several parts of parliment house, also, cabinet meetings are no longer announced, which means that the media can no longer ask the cabinet questions as they come in and out of the meetings. This has been a long standing tradition, and now its gone. On top of that, before cabinet ministers can talk to the media they have to get permission from the PMO, which The Thought believes is rediculous. The content of these meetings? Also secret.

Several things bother The Thought about this. First of all, remember freedom of the press? It affects alot of things, including this blog. Well one of the things about freedom of the press, a constitutional freedom Mr. Harper, is that the press needs to have the freedom to do its job. The exclusion of the media from both the ability to candidly question the cabinet and their ban from cabinet meetings as well as several key parts of parliment infringes on this freedom.

Secondly, The Thought doesn't like the party line. In fact, in general The Thought is against anything that tows things. If they didn't exist, The Thought wouldn't have to pay so much money to keep getting his car back. Cabinet ministers should be able to speak their mind. They all have various opinions and they all are human. The idea that once an idea is solidified in a secret cabinet meeting and then thrust upon the members, who must present it by script... Is atrocious. A presidency would not work if it was forced to behave like parliment, and a parliment won't work when it behaves like a presidency. What The Thought means by a parliment behaving like a presidency is this: The president is generally the sole voice for government, the figurehead, and the head of state. The big power source. (This is an overly simplified explanation.) In the Canadian government power is consolidated over a large number of people, and by making them all the mouth pieces of the PM... Essentially a system of government with only one power source is created. Like in the presidency. If I know Canada that won't wash. The Thought also wonders if the cabinet meetings the government has are at all democratic or just meetings where policies are issued...

Thirdly, David Emerson is an idiot. (The Thought hates rhetoric but sometimes can't resist.)

Another thing that makes The Thought angry is the whole issue of the "liberal media." The Thought feels that the government is using this as a tool to disable the media. Its crafty, but The Thought is craftier, (you should see his macaroni art.) He sees through the PM's plan. Basically, by saying that the media is biased, any opposition the media has can quickly be blamed on a bias, which makes the media look bad. And the plan has worked, the media has largely been quiet about this issue. An issue which The Thought expected would be on the front page of several Canadian media websites, but wasn't. The Thought often couldn't find any mention of the new conservative rulings at all, and when he did it was usually tucked away in a pile of links at the bottom of the screen. The media should be ashamed. Backing down from an issue like this is irresponsible at best.

To sum things up: Stephen Harper's move was cowardly at best. Conspirital at worst. These times are rediculously paranoid and if the PM thinks being secrative is a good way to get votes... Unfortunately he might be right. The public can't vote on what they don't know. Even if its a huge issue. The Thought sincerely hopes Canada can overcome this new policy.

Thats all for tonight. Tomorrow: The immigaration issue. The Thought addresses it three days late.

Kadima

2006-03-28T18:50:00.000-08:00

So The Thought is gonna post twice today, as two very important events have happened.

The first is the Israeli elections. Kadima won, apparently this is a "new government" but seeing as the party is completely following former PM Sharon's vision, I strongly disagree with this. Its pretty much the same government. Not that that's a bad thing. The Thought loves Kadima's aim to establish a sovereign Israel, with defined borders, that leaves a sovereign Palestine as well. The success of the nation of Israel is essential to the Jewish nation and The Thought feels that giving them their homeland back was a wise move. Kadima's election will only further the nation's road to greatness. Truly the success of this less than a century old country is remarkable.

One thing however that everyone must remember is that since the year 638 the Palestinians controlled that area, and then it was taken from them. But as The Thought already pointed out, Israel needed to be recreated as a nation. What this leaves is a need for a comprimise. Just telling an entire society of people to "deal with it" and that their nation is no longer theres won't wash.

With the Kadima in power, that comprimise is closer than ever. Kadima will create a stronger Israel, but also a peaceful one. Kadima plans to create a firm border with Palestine, a move which will give both people their country back. This will finally allow Palestine in the UN, and in The Thought's opinion probably reduce tensions between the two nations. At last both peoples will see justice.

Kadima is a dove party, not a hawk, and thats a good thing, because the more doves in the world the better.

And just because you're a dove doesn't mean you still can't kick ass.

The Seal Hunt

2006-03-25T19:09:00.000-08:00

Seals are a McCartny's best friend:

The Thought likes seals. But he also likes money. So does everybody else in the world, hence the reason the world we are in is so messed up. For the fisherman in northeastern Canada: Seal Hunting = Money.

Unlike the greedy soul devouring (seal devouring) fishermen however, many celebrities and other people aren't particularly fond of the seal hunt. Apparently killing cute things is inhumane. (The Thought realizes this is a particularly sarcastic comment, deal with it.) Thus, these anti-hunters protest.

The fight to stop the seal hunt is pretty intense, and very well orginized. Possibly more so than the movement to stop the war in Iraq. One such protest to stop the Hunt is a deadly anti-Canadian seafood boycott which is going on in many of America's restaurants. The boycott aims to strike a powerful blow to the Canadian fishing industry and convince them to ban the seal hunt. Unfortunately the people who run the boycott didn't really put a filter on who could join, thus a large amount of the boycott consists of restaurants that have never actually served Canadian fish. Or in the case of the many Vegan restaurants on the list pretty much boycott anything with meat in it anyway . This or course has all the earth shattering effect of a radio station promising to boycott television. Of course there are some restaurants who actually have changed their menu from Canadian fish to fish from some other place. Iceland maybe. But since the fishermen, (fisherpeople,) keep on killing seals quite clearly this isn't the solution to the problem.

Other ways the anti-sealers have been fighting the hunt is by yelling at the people involved, and just generally running after them, but not actually touching them. So far this has acheived a load of seal guts in the face of some protesters after an annoyed fisherman decided he had enough. Canadian Seal Hunt Begins - ABC

And of course since nothing can ever be done if a famous person isn't a part of it, a celebrity decided to show up and make a stand for the hunt. Paul McCartney, apparently, is against seal hunting. Not that big a surprise mind you since he finds the eating of any meat particularly disgusting. (The Thought, on the other hand, finds it particularly delicious.) Of course Sir Paul's appearance didn't really do anything either except get some news coverage, which in turn didn't do anything once again. What may have contributed to this lack of results is the fact that Sir Paul showed up a few weeks too early and then left for home, his big peice of action on opening day a video once again saying "killing seals is bad."

It seems to The Thought that right now a celebrity isn't happy unless he or she is complaining about something, which makes sense, since The Thought himself feels much the same way. Interestingly enough this is one of the first "rights abuses" that Canada has been called out on in ages. Yes siree, in Canada they have the Seal Hunt, in America they have Iraq and Guantanemo. Equal situations to be sure. Speaking of "equal," one thing that The Thought always wondered about was why celebrities like Sir Paul get so enraged at the thought of dead seal pups but not at the torture of hundreds of Iraqi prisoners. While The Thought believes in the animal rights movement he also believes that Paul's time would be much better spent frolicing on an ice floe with a Sunni than a seal. Maybe if the Iraqi prisoners had bigger puppy dog eyes it would be different. Or whatever.

An interesting thing The Thought notices is that besides the fact that the fisherman have taken to hurling seal parts at the protesters, (and the media, they don't play favourites!) they have generally remained much more civil than the protesters have. You see, one thing The Thought hates is rhetoric. The stuff is full of comments which are completely baseless. Like when certain annnoying right wingers cell evryone anti-American communists. Or the Liberal party makes an advertisement that says Stephen Harper wants to put troops in Canadian streets. Those things are stupid. The Thought currently can't find any of this rhetoric, but there's alot. He found some yesterday. Just do a search in google news or something like that. Those anti-sealers really like to spout off their mouths.

These people also seem to have trouble with their facts. For instance Harpseals.org maintains that once a seal has begun to moult it can be killed, which isn't true. Seals can only be killed when fully moulted. Some of their reasoning is a bit off too. The headline on Sealhunt.org maintains that "Greedy Sealers mislead the Inuit." And then the website goes on to say that they're cool with the Inuit seal hunt, just not the Canadian seal hunt. To The Thought, that doesn't really make sense, something killed is something killed, and thats that. Its not like the Inuit kill things that differently, except for the ones which hunt traditionally, and something tells me spears are much more tortureous than bullets. In The Thought's Thoughts, if the animal rights movement hates sealing, they should hate all sealing. Like that which goes on in Greenland, or Russia, or Norway, or maybe Nambia, they all have hunts too.

The thought also notes that a huge amount of people who protest the seal hunt seem to be American, which is interesting. It seems that America and Canada really seem to oppose each other alot. Check out this petition, chock full of Americans. In the last seventy entries there are only five Canadians. Seal Hunt Petition

Perhaps at least some of these people could consider protesting the treatment of animals in farms, I know chickens aren't cute but have you ever seen how they live before they die? Not so cool. Thats why The Thought buys free range chicken.

Now The Thought does realize the Canadian seal hunt does have problems, and that there are some people who break the law, but thats true in pretty much every case of animal harvesting. So as much as The Thought opposes the cruelty in the seal hunt, he doesn't think that a few bad apples should spoil the pie. Furthermore it is pretty obvious that the majority of the hunts are not cruel, since there have been about a billion Canadian and American studies independant of interests from either side which have come out saying that the hunt is at least as humane as other animal harvesting methods, if not more so.

The hunt is also generally considered part of a strong conservation principle. Seals are efficient at what they do, and thus currently almost number six million off the coast of Canada. The farming of them helps keep their numbers in balance with the rest of the farmed marine life. Though The Thought isn't claiming that the hunt is used to cull seal numbers for the purpose of relieving pressure on cod and other fish stocks. It isn't. The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans even says so. Woot.

So while the seal hunt may not be exactly the prettiest thing to watch, The Thought feels that if it helps keep some poor "greedy fisherman" in business and prevents fishing villages from shutting down then it really isn't that bad. Its not inhumane, and it helps the economy. What's so bad about that? Just because they're cute doesn't mean they deserve death any less than a cow does. And I think that Paul and Linda might just agree on that.

This has been the first of many Thoughts from The Thought. Stay tuned.

P.S. The Thought hopes nobody got too offended by this article. If you did, keep reading anyways, pretty soon The Thought we'll have to end up posting at least something you'll agree with.

The First Post

2006-03-25T18:18:00.000-08:00

Usually when The Thought does something like this he tries a big dramatic introduction. Or something like that. Such introductions usually fail in the same way songs which start off big and then end big usually suck. So this time The Thought isn't gonna be dramatic with his entrance.

What is The Thought here for? Well to think obviously. He has many opinions which he longs to share with the world. They're on pretty much everything and some will probably end up offending a part of the loyal reader base which The Thought is hoping to grow. Maybe you're reading this post long after its been created and The Thought already has one!!

Something you must know about The Thought: He's an idealist. The Thought doesn't believe that just because things haven't been done before they can't be, and he doesn't believe that just because something failed before it can't succeed. Except for two-tier health care, that can't succeed.

The thoughts political views are pretty varied: He tends to fall on both sides of the fence when it comes to right/left, but most often he would be called a lefty. The thought doesn't like to be fenced in with a herd and forced to confine himself to their ideas however.... So he likes to think of his ideas as neither in the realm of the right, nor the left, but from the realm of "thought."

Where is The Thought from? Earth.

Now you know. (And knowing is half the battle!!)

Stay tuned for more Thoughts.