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Gold/Mining/Energy : Pacific Rim Mining V.PFG -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Phil Jones who wrote (11037)	1/7/1999 3:05:00 PM
From: Shirley Owen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14627

Hi Phil, Nice to hear from you again. It's been a while. I do follow your posts on MGR, though. As far as your comment, "It's just the first step to the McDonaldization of European countries into one bland lump. Changing currencies at the borders of the European countries is small price for maintaining their diversity." I really don't think that the Euro will change the cultures of the various participating countries as much as the huge influx of other cultures who have immigrated to these countries, especially into Germany and France. These people have totally different concepts, religions, values and attitudes. I think this is particularly true if they do like we have done in Canada, and accentuate the differences rather than the commonality, bending our customs and long standing traditions to accommodate them. This is not to say that we should ask them to change completely either, but we have had waves of immigration before, like the Italians, Hungarians, Ukrainians, etc. who have maintained their own cultural traditions in their homes and communities while embracing our customs and not trying to change our systems, cultures, religions, or traditions. I am also vehemently opposed to the taxpayers paying for English as a second language for them, as they could do like the earlier immigrants and teach each other. They could also reach out to the community groups at large for help, which would also serve as a way for them to get to know us. I think our government is spending far too much of the taxpayers money handing them everything and not expecting enough from them. That to me is what changes cultures. Also, our religious background in Canada is under attack. We no longer have prayer in the schools. God forbid that children should say a prayer and maybe offend another group. Just before Christmas in Victoria we had a recent immigrant who complained that we were allowing the schools to have Christmas concerts and that Christmas was a Christian celebration, and so therefore it should not be allowed in the schools, because it was discriminatory. This made my blood boil, and as a matter of fact it is still simmering. Instead of the board saying that this was, and still is, a Christian country from it's bedrock and therefore they wouldn't even entertain the complaint, they said we'll have to hold hearings. What rubbish! I don't mind them practicing their own religions, which they do with great fanfare. But sometimes violence occurs within their own communities over their religion and the various factions. However, I don't think we should change our whole way of life to accommodate them either. I think our whole immigration laws STINK, and I think our government is a bunch of wimps. Now that is what changes cultures...issues like that and how we handle them. Sorry for the rant, Phil, but I feel very strongly about how our whole culture here is being changed... and not for the better. I value diversity, but not at the expense of sacrificing our whole foundations. I guess speaking of cultural changes hit a sore spot with me. I'm just tired of the bleeding hearts who feel we should lay down and submit to any of these yowling minority groups who are sometimes out there parading for their rights before they even have the ink off their hands from signing a refugee claim. While I'm at it, I might as well mention that I am also sick of the bleeding hearts who keep wringing their hands over all the homeless young people. Most of these kids left home because they didn't want to live under their parents guidelines and curfews. They hit the streets instead, thinking it is much more exciting and they don't have to listen to anyone. Then we compound the stupidity by giving them welfare cheques to enable them to do it. I say we should have mandatory military service or boot camps for these kids for two years, and maybe then they would learn that life isn't lived the way they want it, with no restrictions or rules. It's also a disgrace the way we have shunted our mentally ill on to the streets and left them to live like animals. There is where money should be spent. Well, I got that off my chest!:-)) Still it's nice to see your post, Phil. Cheers Shirley