Salem-News.com Canada articles Page 34

A Liberal/Conservative Convergence

An outcome on which liberals and conservatives can agree? You decide.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - This essay is based on a true story. It’s about a couple I will call Bob and Alice.

Canada: Feds to Pay for Military Veterans Medical Marijuana

The policy change was approved last October, but is only now being communicated to veterans who require the product for pain management and other severe medical conditions.

(OTTAWA Canadian Press) - The military may strictly forbid marijuana use by its soldiers, but the federal government has decided to pay for medical cannabis for some veterans.

Veterans Affairs has reversed a previous ban, now saying it "may provide payment in relation to the associated costs of medically required marijuana to clients who have qualified."

The Unbearable Emptiness of Being a Conservative

In the first installment of this Conservative Dilemma series “ReadHayek” (whoever he is) began his comment: “It's all about individual liberty and economics man. Conservatives don't believe in the collective.”

(CALGARY, Alberta) - What if ReadHayek is demonstrably wrong?

Take away man’s uniqueness as an individual and conservatism withers away.

Western society, America in particular, worships an individualistic, every man for himself ethic. Individuality is the fundamental underpinning of conservatism.

Conservative Dilemma 4: Prelude to Regime Change in America

Some thoughts du jour.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not an isolated episode. It was the culmination of a 110-year period during which Americans overthrew fourteen governments that displeased them for various ideological, political, and economic reasons.

Like each of these operations, the ‘regime change’ in Iraq seemed for a time—a very short time—to have worked.

The Conservative Dilemma 3

The story continues...

(CALGARY, Alberta) - For those conservatives who still maintain that Adam Smith supports their ideology, here is an extended “interview” gleaned from Smith’s most famous work The Wealth of Nations.

Johnson: Capitalism is very competitive. Is there no room for cooperation?

Smith: Without the assistance and cooperation of many thousands, the very meanest person in a civilized country could not be provided, even according to what we very falsely imagine, the easy and simple manner in which he is commonly accommodated.

Conservative Dilemma 2

The story so far…

(CALGARY, Alberta) - The conclusion from Part 1, for those who understood the argument and did not get sidetracked with the emotion of ideology, is: Conservatism is an opinion, based on assumptions. For liberalism it is the same.

The Conservative Dilemma

One of Einstein’s most famous quotes is, “God does not play dice with the universe,” believing until his dying day that the universe is predictable if we can just look deeply enough.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - “It is the theory that decides what we can observe,” said Albert Einstein.

By this he meant that if physicists used one tool to measure light, they would see light as a wave; and, using another tool, they would see light as a particle. To show how seriously physicists take this duality, in 1906 British physicist J. J. Thomson was awarded the Nobel Prize for proving that light and electrons are particles. In 1937 his son, George, received the Nobel Prize for proving that light and electrons are waves.

Oregon Hiking Steps Forward at Pacific Crest Trail Fest

Discover Oregon's Pacific Trail at a special event later this month.

(SALEM, Ore.) - For anyone who has ever spent time on, or wondered what it would be like to set foot on the Pacific Crest Trail, this event is for you.

The annual Trail Fest arrives in Portland at the end of March. It hasn't been held here since 2005 and it won't be back in P-Town till 2013.

US: Obama Calls for 120-Day Halt to Guantanamo Military Commissions

"The confusion and uncertainty that we repeatedly witnessed at Guantanamo reflects the ad hoc nature of these military commission proceedings" - Joanne Mariner, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program director at Human Rights Watch

(GUANTANAMO BAY) - President Barack Obama acted swiftly and expeditiously by calling for a halt to the unfair military commission proceedings at Guantanamo, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch said that the order, which Obama issued within hours of taking office, underscored the urgency of the decision to stop the commissions from holding further proceedings. The order directed military commission prosecutors to seek a 120-day suspension of all pending cases.

The Drive to Remember Fallen Officers in 2008

The 2008 Drive begins from in British Columbia and continue with stops in Seattle and Olympia, Washington, and Salem, Oregon.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Oregon suffered the tragic loss of Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy Kelly Fredinburg on Saturday, June 16th 2007. Deputy Fredinburg was killed in a traffic crash while responding to assist another officer.

On April 30th, Oregonians will gather in Salem to honor Deputy Fredinburg and to remember all 190 law enforcement officers from the U.S. and Canada that were killed in the line of duty in 2007.