ENVIRONMENT (read: global warming) #1 issue for Canadians. War is #2.

[Harper_is_Bush]

Environment, not terrorism, a main concern

The environment is the most important issue facing the world today, most people surveyed said (29 per cent). The next biggest issue cited was war (28 per cent).

Neuman said war has topped the list on similar surveys done in years past, but it was interesting that in this survey, only three per cent of people said terrorism is the most important issue.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/11/08/environment-poll.html

Couple this with the recent news that our Conservative gov't has muzzled scientists at Environment Canada, and maybe Candadians will wake up and get rid of our idiot rightwing leadership.

Note also that war is our next biggest concern. Witnessing all the unneccesary war conducted by our pals to the South, and the pain and destruction it's brought, has made war (and presumably the avoidance of it) a primary concern.

My dad (a smart guy) told me something the other day.

He said that prior to Bush's invasion, Iraq had better life expectancy and birth mortality rates than the USA. Iraq was essentially a 1st world country, and the USA has bombed it into a 3rd world country

Iraq has been destroyed. But hey, the "surge" is "working". Yippee.

[aquart]

1. Which is why a brutal dictator IS NOT THE WORST THING.

Political pragmatism 101. Had we left Saddam alone, a million people would not be corpses.

What bloody (emphasis on "bloody") arrogance to invade a sovereign nation which had not attacked us.

[Harper_is_Bush]

2. This brutality was real, and also exagerated by Bushies. n/t

[aquart]

3. Didn't say it wasn't real.

Said it wasn't the WORST THING.

[Harper_is_Bush]

8. Yes.

U R correct.

[Lorien]

4. Canadians have their priorities straight

the war is terrible and illegal, yes, but cannot compare to LOSING THE ENTIRE PLANET!

[tavalon]

5. Not to parse to finely,

but the Earth will be fine. It's her inhabitants who are fucked.

[Lorien]

6. If mean that the hunk of rock will be "fine"

then sure-until the sun goes supernova it'll keep spinning. I hear "the earth will be fine" statement all the time from people here-but I'm not sure why merely having a near lifeless (thanks to our actions and inactions) ball floating in space is acceptable to anyone. There are millions of amazing species which will go extinct right along with us. One Nobel prize winning biologist said recently on Bill Moyers that 50% of all mammals will go extinct before the end of the century. That isn't "fine" by my standards.

[tavalon]

7. You're wrong

We're talking a difference in time here. Gaia, the earth to most of us, measures time in millennia, not centuries or even decades. The global climate change will be adjusted to, just as giant meteor strikes are adjusted to, and mass extinctions are adjusted to. It's the puny humans and many, many other species who will die off, Gaia will not be a lifeless rock when we're gone, just different. Probably, less trashy. ;)

I made a joke at the end, but the truth of it isn't funny. We humans and the many species we will take with us will pay a huge price, already are. My son is one of the canaries in the coal mine. He will never live a normal, happy life because of the body burden he couldn't handle. Frankly, if we can't learn to not shit in our nest, are we a species that should continue on? Really? I'm not so human centric as to believe there can't be another or other species that can take the baton from here and possibly do a better job than we have. We've been awfully selfish during our reign.

[Harper_is_Bush]

9. Yes, the earth will be OK, and new species will emerge.

It's still a fucking tragedy though.

[tavalon]

10. Absolutely, but I think it would get a better response if people said, save the baby humans

because Earth seems so big and so abstract.

[emmadoggy]

11. Smart folks, those Canadians.

The environment/global warming is my number one issue too (though there is a whole plethora of urgent issues here after 7 years of this despicable regime).

It boils down to none of the rest of it mattering much if Earth is uninhabitable.

Yet to watch the current election process going on here in the US, you would never know the environment, energy, or global warming were even on the radar screen of most americans, let alone the media.

Makes me :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :mad: :mad: :mad: .