[Dr.G.]

.......God created ehMacLand......and then took the rest of the week off.

Still, exactly when was ehMacLand created? Also, is there any way to know how many total posts there have been by the 950+ citizens of ehMacLand? AS in my Demographics and Regional Representation topics, I am just curious.

 

[ehMax]

The idea for "ehMac" came in my head as I was walking around the block in my neighbourhood. I originally wanted to make it a really big online Mac store selling all things Mac, and make it a big Canadian news site. (Online sales were all the rage and the next big thing)

This was oh.... around early 1999? Things went really well at first. There were stories about ehMac in MacWorld, MacCentral, MacAddict, etc...

There was even a story about the site in the local newspaper about the site on April 21, 1999:

I went into this business venture TOTALLY naive and if/when I ever do something like this again, I'd do a 100x better job. I started selling a fair bit of stuff, but grew too big for my britches too fast. Didn't know how to get working capital and other general Business 101 knowledge.

Add to that I sold dozens and dozens of ATI Rage cards and ATI failed to ship them for over 4 months. Things became a mess and when I folded I ended up losing thousands of dollars.

So, went on a haitus... then eventually brought ehMac back as a online community as a hobby.

Someday, I'd like to make it more again. Not online sales, but more of a semi full time endeavor in some capacity.

 

[Roland]

Wow... Didn't realise this was run by you John... When I read the name I remembered.

 

[Dr.G.]

Thanks for the bio.............and thanks for the idealism and fortitude to keep it going. In the Jewish faith this is called a "mitzvah" (aka "a good deed"). Shalom.

 

[MacNutt]

Cool stuff, Mr.Mayor! This whole thing is getting pretty big now and you might want to think about writing a short history of ehMac....eh?

Also....are the old posts just deleted or do you save them to some sort of media?

The reason I ask is because a lot of the early days of Television weren't recorded either and are now lost forever. Later on, when some of these shows became cultural icons, there was a lot of call for 'retrospectives' and questions about "where did all of this come from?"

This is something that no one gave a thought to at the time...

 

[Dr.G.]

I agree with Macnutt. From an historiographical frame-of-reference, past posts might give a perspective to the issues that are still being discussed. I have the first edition of MacWorld with the picture of a boyish looking Steve Jobs and the original Mac. I find that my old copies of various PC-oriented magazines are so outdated re the information they contain, but are most interesting to see where we in the computing world have come from.......and where we might be going.

 

[Ohenri]

Yeah Macnutt, you never know who out of us in the Ehmac community will be taken to court one day, and the RCMP will need to know everything that we used to disucss. How fun would that be??? Ask that college dropout William Gates a few years back when they dug up this antiquitated email he sent - and obviously had no recollection of. LOL. I like to read old posts...

 

[CubaMark]

Well, I guess I can kiss any job requiring national security clearance goodbye....

Guess I'll just have to go back to being a marginalized journalist...?

M

 

[MacNutt]

Are you worried about having publicly dissed George Bush and the yanquis, Mark?

If that's what it is, then I would think that you should be able to get top clearance in the current Liberal government. Heck....they'd probably fast track you!

I hear there is an opening in the PM's communications office.....

 

[CubaMark]

MacNutt, unlike Francine, it would not have taken me so long to publicly label Bush as a moron, nor would it have been an off-the-record remark.

I do recall reading recently a fabulous letter to the editor in the Globe & Mail, which stated (not a verbatim quote):

"Calling George W. Bush a moron is an unconscionable and irresponsible insult to morons everywhere..."

I still have to laugh, remembering a segment of Michael Moore's "The Awful Truth", which exposed the Bush Dynasty's Affirmative Action Program. Moore dug up a professor, now at an obscure college in Utah, who was not granted to admission to Yale (or whatever it was) the same year that George Dumbya was admitted, despite the other fellow's much higher scoring on entrance exams. Bush Affirmative Action enabled Dumbya to push aside a better qualified candidate based solely upon who he was. Hilarious!

(There. I put MacNutt and Michael Moore in a posting together. The next thread-marathon begins...

M

 

[Ohenri]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by CubaMark:
Well, I guess I can kiss any job requiring national security clearance goodbye....

Guess I'll just have to go back to being a marginalized journalist...?

M<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

National Security? Well, did you here about this?? You might still have a chance if it's not too late...

 

[MacNutt]

Okay, the gauntlet has been thrown down.

Far be it for me to walk away from a challenge. At the risk of hi-jacking yet another thread for the sole purpose of having another "CubaMark vs MacNutt" battle royal.......

I just have to ask the following:

Mark, I respect you very much....but I really must ask this question....

In a lot of your posts you state quite clearly who you don't like. George W Bush seems to be high on the list, as does Ralph Klein....and "American Imperialism" (whatever the heck that is) also seems to rank right up there on your personal "bad guy list".

Fair enough. We are all entitled to our opinion and this is a free country so we can all express that opinion without fear of arrest. (it's not like that in Cuba...but we'll get to that later)

So far, the only heroes you have mentioned....at least the only ones that I can recall (and I read all of your posts and emails with great interest, mi amigo) are the following....

Michael Moore...who is a far lefty gadfly with some serious credibilty problems. A sad clown who would have a lot more impact on all of us if he didn't lie so much to the general public. Most people in most places have figured this guy out....they find hilm entertaining, but not very believeable. This is his own fault. He plays fast and loose with easily checkable facts. We are NOT stupid out here. He thinks we are. Checkmate!

Fidel Castro also seems to be on your short list of heroes, Mark. He is a cultural icon, fer sure. Heck, he's been around since Kennedy was a kid! But you seem to think of him as a savior to the poor downtrodden Cuban people....instead of the guy who is keeping those wonderful, creative people downtrodden and poor.

He is a total dictator....one of the last of his kind...and his word is LAW in Cuba. Dissenting voices are silenced without any court trial. Despite what you may want to belive, people who have expressed their dissatisfaction with his iron rule have been hauled away in the dead of night and thrown into jail. At least according to Amnesty International and every other Human Rights organisation on this planet. They ALL have words to say about Fidel.None of them are particularly flattering, either. So do most Cubans who dare to speak out.

A lot of them are in jail right now, though.

So, Mark.....we have a short list of who you
don't like (you make it pretty clear on every occasion that you can). Care to share with me, and anyone else who might be looking in, who your real true heroes are in this world?

I mean, really...Fidel and Michael Moore are pretty poor examples for the rest of us to look up at. There must be somebody or even several somebodies, that you consider to be outstanding human beings. People that you can point to and say "I just wish everyone were like that!"

Please share your choices with us.

We who are on the Right have a whole group of singular individuals whom we can point to when espousing our vision of the world and how it should be. People who are already being recorded in historical references as having "made a real and lasting difference"

The choices on the Left are a lot more sparse, I realise....but there MUST be somebody who you truly look up to. Here is your chance to persuade some of the fence-sitters. Give us some really great examples of people who are on the Left, and who have done "great and lasting things" to permanently improve the lot of the common man.

Or...you could just stay silent on this, and we will all understand. Truly we will.

Your choice, mi amigo.

 

[MacDoc]

Pierre Elliot Trudeau
Lester Pearson
Dr. Norman Bethune
Tommy Douglas
FDR
Mikhail Gorbachev
The Kennedy's
Cezar Chavez
Woody Guthrie
Martin Luther King
Ralph Nader
Upton Sinclair
Tony Blair
Eleanor Roosevelt
Patrick J. Aeberhard, M.D
Alice Paul
Woodward and Bernstein
Abraham Lincoln
Nelson Mandela
Harriet Tubman
Harry S. Truman
Bertrand Russell
John Stuart Mill
Albert Einstein

shall I go on..........they ALL changed the world in a big way

now from the right I'll start the list for you

Richard Nixon
Wiliam Randolph Hearst

oops sorry those are embarrassing exceptions of course..



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[Roland]

Wow... talk about a change in topic...

 

[MacNutt]

Richard Nixon? Willam Randolph Hearst??!?

Nixon is hardly one of our heroes, although he did have some powerful Foriegn Policy chops and was instrumental in opening up relations with China. He turned a potential enemy into a friend and trading partner....and sowed the seeds for the end of Communism in that huge country. He ended the war in Viet Nam (you know...the one that was started by JFK) and had the class to resign when it looked like he would be impeached....unlike Clinton, who actually was impeached.

William Randolph Hearst was an excremental media manipulator and I doubt if anyone on the Left or Right would want to claim him as a hero. The Left certainly doesn't seem to mind using his methods, interestingly enough. It would seem that a great many on the Left at least look to him as a mentor...if not an actual hero.


Now, on to some of the others on your list:

Pierre Trudeau...don't even get me started there. The massive Federal debt that he started will take generations to pay down, he presided over a giant devaluation of the Canadian dollar (it was worth more than the US dollar when he first came to power) The National Energy program almost bankrupted Alberta and led to one of the biggest recessions that Canada has ever experienced....I could go on.....

Yeah, he made a difference all right.

Norman Bethune- A very controversial character at best and well known for his demanding dictatorial style....oh, wait! I see why you admire him now!

Tommy Douglas- Not a bad choice, but we need to establish here that his biggest accomplishment is the National Health Care program....and that is currently falling to bits all around us. It is unsustainable in it's current form and has left Canada heavily in debt. Unsustainable and debt-ridden....hmmm...that does sound like something near and dear to a Socialists heart!

The Kennedys- Wow...talk about a bunch of badly tarnished heroes! The whole dynasty was started by a bunch of bootleggers running illegal booze down from Canada and selling it through their mafia connections. They used those Mafia connections to stuff ballot boxes and steal a Presidential election....then turned on their Mafia buddies and started to have them arrested. The two brothers paid the ultimate price for that doublecross, as we all know.
What about the rest of the family? Let's see...drug addiction, alcoholism, public humiliation, rape charges, untimely deaths...the list goes on. And their brightest hope, JFK Jr. was such a brain trust that it took him 27 tries to pass the New York Bar. He never did actually practise law. He wasn't much of a pilot, either.

Yep...quite a bunch, those Kennedys.

Ralph Nader- Heck, Mark....he's one of our heroes! He was instrumental in defeating Al Bore...er, Al Gore during the 2000 Presidential election with his ill-advised run at higher office.

Tony Blair- same as above! He points Left but moves Right! I like the guy. He sounds more conservative than Margaret Thatcher. If this is the New Left, then bring it on!

Abraham Lincoln- I wasn't aware that he was considered "Left". Everybody looks up to this guy. A truly historic figure.

Harry Truman- Wasn't he the guy who actually dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, twice? He ended the Pacific war early and probably saved my Dad's young life by doing so. A hero in my book, fer sure!

Albert Einstein-A good choice! Truly a giant among us and the man who....with very little formal education, managed to figure out how some of the basic forces in the universe worked. His calculations and theories have given us some of the greatest advances of our modern time. Like the atomic bomb. (see above)

Now for my list:

Margaret Thatcher
Ronald Regan
Ralph Klein
Gordon Campbell
All of the George Bush's...past, present and future.
Newt Gingrich
Rush Limbaugh
Charlton Heston
Arnold Schwartzenegger
Bruce Willis
Preston Manning

...and that's just a short list !

Care to comment?

 

[MacDoc]

You know Macnutt you are fighting a seriously losing battle on this one. Many you mention are moths in a flame and some downright ludicrous as heroes or making a difference to humanity.
Cruise the Time 100 and find your choices - NOT.
There are many left wing politicians who when the time is right ( Bob Rae - Paul Martin ) have undertaken programs that would be right wing in terms of ideology.
That's good sense.
Bottom line - most overall improvements in human society and conditions ahve been brought about by the left.
That's not to say their policies are always right and just or practical. But they do tend to improve society overall.



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[CubaMark]

Is MacDoc's 'real' name "Mark", or did MacNutt reply to the wrong fella?

Re: Heroes.

I half-recall a wonderful quote about a nation that needs heroes is in a sorry state indeed... not that I agree with that.

Want a list of my "heroes"? Nope, sorry, not gonna happen. All people who rise to the level of prominence to be labelled "heroes" are also labelled by others as the opposite. All human beings are flawed....

Is Michael Moore my "hero"? No, that's certainly too strong a word. I do admire Michael for his willingness to take on the big issues, and his dedication to making us think. Agree with him or not, he does get your attention. I like that.

Fidel? No-one would be so foolish as to say that he is a leader without flaws. But I look at it this way: He has pursued his vision of social equality, of equitable development, in the fact of immense opposition from abroad. There is more than sufficient, documented evidence to show that the Cuban political system encourages massive popular participation in decision-making, regardless of your willingness to believe published authors. Fidel represents something which can be called "heroic": a leader with the gusto to take on the big boys and hold his own, who has delivered his people to true independence, who has led Cubans to building a system which provides for all (even if it doesn't provide that much in material terms), and who has given Cuba its dignity. I mean, come _on_! Cuba's presence on the world stage is far greater than this "third-world" island should historically be entitled to. Finally, and I know you'll call this "lip service", I do admire Fidel for his devotion to speaking the truth on the world stage, such as the '97 Copenhagen Poverty Summit. The man doesn't go around talking about how people and countries have to be "free to trade, free to participate in the market, free to vote" like American Presidents are wont to do. Fidel lays it out, man, drawing the straight lines between western economic wealth and power, and the exploitation of third-world raw material producers. (BTW, "free trade" on American terms can be seen very simply by looking at current U.S. trade imbalances with Brazil: U.S. imports to Brazil face an average 15% tariff: Brazilian imports to the U.S. face a 45% tariff. Some "free market")

As for Amnesty International - it is an organization which does good work, no doubt. But: Amnesty's definition of "human rights" tends to lean enthocentrically toward the western definition, which focuses very much on "individual rights". Cuba, and other nations / peoples such as aboriginal communities, tend to focus on social rights / communal rights. The point is often raised that "your right to free speech does not extend to yelling 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre".

BTW, Just for the heck of it, check out the last few years' worth of published Amnesty reports for Cuba and the rest of Latin America. Cuba has no death squads, no extrajudicial killings, no caste system that excludes one segment of society, etc. etc. Many of America's greatest allies in the region have blood-stained hands, but they're ok to be friends with, 'cause their markets are open and their political systems are multi-party. (That, of course, only goes so far - witness current U.S. expressions of concern that "leftists' now control Venezuela, Brazil and recently Ecuador. As - was it Kissinger? - once said, "We don't have to stand by and let a country go communist due to the stupidity of its people" (or something like that). Democracy is only "good" when the power status-quo doesn't threaten the people with the $$$$.).

And while you're looking at Amnesty's reporting, take the time to compare Cuba's list of violations with the report on the United States (which is typically several times longer).

Heroes? Don't need 'em. What we need are people - citizens of all nations - behaving heroically toward their societies and their fellow men/women.

(Sorry - this would be longer, but I'm being distracted by that damn fool the Rev. Falwell who is shouting at some non-believing sodomizer on CNN. What a freakin' moron.)

M.

 

[MacNutt]

An interesting thing happened there. The first page of this thread shows up as too wide for my screen and the only way I could read it without scolling back and forth was to slide the whole works to the left. That meant I couldn't read the name of the person who had replied unless I scrolled back to the right. I neglected to do so because I thought for sure that it was CubaMark who was replying to my post.

My mistake.

Apparently MacDoc chose that moment to step into one of our "Right versus Left" arguments...as he has been known to do before. He also is well known for telling me that I am "losing this argument" without basing that on any real data. Just a nebulous feeling that he has, I suppose. Hmmm....a serious capitalist with some very deep sympathies for the Left. I hear that's all the rage in central Canada these days.

Very stylish.

Now, on to Mark.
The point I was trying to make to you is that I so often hear you carping about George Bush and how much you dislike him. I have also heard you fling vitriol at Ralph Klein. I am just curious...now that we know who you really don't like...how about sharing with us some of the great movers and shakers that you do like. Just to give it a bit of balance.

It's one thing to dump on a leader or their policies, but we need an alternative. Who would you rather have running the show? What would you prefer the policies to be?

Instead of just being negative...give us the other side, and let us know how much better it could be if...if...if...

Anxiously awaiting your reply.

 

[ehMax]

This debate should of been started in a new thread. The topic is history of ehMac.

 

[MacNutt]

Busted! The Mayor has spoken and the jig is up! See you over at the "Brothers Bush" in the Kitchen