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flatlander

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Everything posted by flatlander

  1. My current and previous vehicles are both Hyundai/Kia. I currently drive a 2007 Kia Rondo and it is great. I got the EX V6 and it's extremely comfortable, roomy and the engine is very responsive for a family car. I had one issue that was covered by warranty and handled perfectly by my dealership. I will probably buy a new car next year and am virtually certain I will move up to the Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe. My previous car was a 2003 Hyundai Accent GSi. It was a great little car, bulletproof with regards to reliability and was fun and affordable. I think Hyundai/Kia offer great value and are worthy of consideration. My father-in-law and brother-in-law both bought Hyundai Santa Fe's in the last two years and my folks bought a Kia Sorento a month ago, partly based on our experiences. These folks were all loyal Detroit Three drivers up until then.
  2. US government's response to yet another act of war by the Islamic Totalitarian regime of Iran: (sound of crickets chirping)
  3. Hi flatlander, nice to meet a fellow Cantadian. :)

  4. I have been watching a fair bit of Sun News Network since it came on the air. I have found it to be a refreshing change from the stultifying statist status quo that pervades Canadian media. I will have to bombard SNN with emails to make sure they get Paul McKeever on the air. We have an Objectivist leading a political party here in Canada and I think SNN would be a great platform for Paul McKeever and the Freedom Party of Canada. Ezra's show is overall pretty good. He's been quite relentless in shining a light on the Orwellian antics of the Human Rights Commissions.
  5. The Conservatives have achieved their majority. There were huge changes in all parties. Conservatives now have 166 seats. The NDP now have 103 seats and form the opposition, the Liberals were trounced and now have only 34 seats (a historic low). The Bloc Quebecois have been smashed and now only have 4 seats. The Green Party leader Elizabeth May has been elected giving the Greens their first elected MP. So what does this mean? Canada has opted for stability to a certain extent but think it's interesting that the country has gone to a situation looking more like a two party system. And those two parties are the two with the greatest difference in principles, to the extent that differences in principle between two welfare-statist parties exist. The Liberals were crushed, as were the Bloc, and I think that the cynicism and inconsistency of these two parties led in no small way to their defeat. But it remains to be seen if the Conservatives will do anything to reduce the size and power of government other than some token gesture. I don't see any evidence that the Conservatives will do anything to make Canada more free or to defend individual rights. Harper just said in his acceptance speech that he plans on balancing the budget without raising taxes, and to give extra support to seniors, and to increase transfer payments to the provinces. I hope this means: fire bureaucrats. I hope this does not mean: print money and inflate away the debt. On the flip side there are lots of disturbing leftists that are now in the Opposition benches.... Let's see what this does the valuation of the Canadian dollar in the next few days...
  6. So long as all of the mainstream federal parties are committed to violating the individual rights of Canadians and to growing the size and power of government, I do not want any of these parties to win a majority government. I want Ottawa to remain caught in a Mexican standoff. With the parties constantly bickering in a state of gridlock it reveals just how powerful and invasive the bureaucracy has become in Canada. The more interesting and disturbing development during this election has been the sudden surge in popularity of the NDP. So it looks like we are faced with the moderately brisk walk towards statism under Harper, or the all-out gallop towards statism under Layton. All the choices are horrible, with the CPC only somewhat less loathsome. Would an NDP government (and the resulting economic apocalypse) bring Canadians to the John Galt Point?
  7. It's unbelievably sickening. The involved governments are tossing about the responsibility of command like a hot potato. Everyone wants to follow a "multilateral" effort in which the participants have no idea of their strategy, tactics or ultimate goal. This is a disaster in every conceivable way. Watch it turn into a never ending quagmire in spite of the relative military puniness of Libya. We are confronted with the spectacle of feckless and brainless leaders bickering about who's in charge of fighting an enemy who is a complete nutjob.
  8. Altruism. Check. Just War ideology. Check. Feckless leadership. Check. Ambiguous mission objectives. Check. Endless buck-passing, hand-wringing and finger-pointing. Check. (sarc)What could possibly go wrong here? (/sarc) Is it just me, or does the Libya situation bear a slight resemblance to Europe in 1914?
  9. Posted. Let's see how my Facebook "friends" respond.
  10. I bought the Wifi+3G Kindle a month ago and I must say I absolutely love being able to carry around a library in such a portable device. Being able to buy books instantly, from almost anywhere, is incredible and possibly a bit dangerous to my credit card balance! I am currently reading John David Lewis' "Nothing Less Than Victory." I may have bought my last printed book....
  11. I have been trying Calibre, which has the ability to fetch newspaper content and load it onto your Kindle. I haven't had much time to find my way around it yet but will post my impressions later.
  12. I have approximately three books for every one I would borrow. This is a great idea.
  13. Great list, Dan. I agree fully. Though given my completely nonexistent dancing ability, I consider an ability to dance to be a non-essential (though entirely welcome) attribute in a woman.
  14. For me, the most beautiful non-physical attribute a woman can possess would have to be positive self esteem. This incorporates a positive sense of life, intelligence, rationality and honesty. My wife has always had great self esteem, she simply radiates it whether she's laughing and having fun or coolly appraising an unfamiliar situation. The corollary here is that the most ugly non-physical attribute a woman can have is negative self esteem. If she is negative about herself; constantly seeking validation from others, spiteful and envious; this makes her immensely unattractive.
  15. Now Heritage Minister James Moore has ordered Library and Archives Canada to show Iranium after all. It looks like the bureaucrats running Library and Archives Canada were the ones who initially caved to threats. Is he trying to save face or does someone in Ottawa actually have a spine? I'm disinclined to think that any Canadian politician has the mettle to stand firm in the face of threats, but I would be happy to be proven wrong. I had not heard of this movie before, but definitely want to see it now. There is a free online viewing event Feb 8.
  16. But in Western democracies we have methods to remove such people from office. You can vote for someone else. Or run against him or her if there is no one worth voting for (a situation very familiar to most Objectivists). If they are breaking the law there are criminal charges that can be laid, the crooked politician can be arrested. Echoing other posters here, context is always of vital importance. If you are describing a country in such a state that politicians are flagrantly and grossly violating individual rights (imprisoning, executing or "disappearing" people without trial; engaging in censorship of the media; and other hallmarks of dictatorship), and doing so with impunity, then the context is entirely different. If the politician is part of a dictatorship, and there is no way to remove him or her from power using the avenues normally available to a free or semi-free country, then killing these thugs certainly is moral. A dictatorship is an outlaw and it is entirely moral for individuals to defend themselves against it.
  17. I suppose I leaped to a conclusion myself, and engaged in some wild speculation that upon further consideration, is currently baseless. I commented with incomplete information, shooting my mouth off as it were. My comments from this morning were ill-considered, and I suppose I may be too willing to imagine a conspiracy behind such an assassination attempt. I am working on writing a novel and allowed my imagination to run with it. As for my underlying assumptions, I never underestimate the depravity of statists. Though I may at times overestimate their level of organization.
  18. I do not have any such evidence, as indicated by my statement that this was my initial suspicion. Perhaps I should have further stated that this was only my initial suspicion. The police are looking for an accomplice. Thus this is not being treated as a lone gunman incident. From the above linked article: I find it interesting that she was at least somewhat at odds with the Obama administration and other Democrats.
  19. Upon hearing of the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and fourteen others, and that she was a "moderate" Democrat, my initial suspicion immediately was that she was chosen to be sacrificed to the cause of the more hardcore totalitarian factions within the Democratic Party. It would not surprise me in the least if this shooting is an attempt by the Left to discredit the Tea Party in the eyes of the public. The Left doesn't like to let any crisis go to waste. Reichstag fire, anyone?
  20. Do not buy the new editions, look for some good used copies of the non-sanitized versions.
  21. You may be interested in Ezra Levant's new book: "Ethical Oil: The Case For Canada's Oilsands" It debuted at #4 on the Amazon.ca nonfiction list. I will probably pick up a copy tomorrow, and maybe get it signed as well. Edited to include link.
  22. True, it is an old article, but that does not make it irrelevant for discussion. Perhaps the mods would move this thread to the "Intellectuals and the media" sub-forum.
  23. Nihilism and environmentalism, together at last. As they always were meant to be. This was a truly evil man. I found it interesting how the MSNBC reporter tried to say as little as possible regarding Lee's sick and evil demands. As for why this depraved sack of subhuman filth chose the Discovery channel headquarters, I must take a certain delight in quoting Ayn Rand. "Brothers, you asked for it."
  24. Until now,I have taken the cheap and basic route with cell phones. At least, as cheap as you can get in Canada, the land of expensive and noncompetitive mobile phone providers. My wife and I both use ancient (2006) LG flip phones operating on a pay-as-you-go basis with Virgin Mobile. We have never used iPhone or Blackberry or any other sort of smartphone. I am sure that I would be blown away by the capabilities of any of these little marvels. I have been watching the market progress, from Blackberry dominance to iPhone supremacy. It seems to me that the Android phones have finally provided competition to the iPhone line, and that Apple's design focus leads it to some rather dogmatic decisions like not having a memory card slot, or not supporting Adobe Flash. As cool as the iPhone is, I must admit I bristle a bit at the thought of buying one and joining the "iPhone club." I am not sure if I am finally ready to take the plunge and buy a smartphone. I suppose I am a bit of a cheapskate and can't really get excited about a cellphone. But the Androids have made my potential choices a lot more interesting!
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