Mick

I was into Matt Good after hearing Everything is Automatic. Bought the Underdogs CD and it went from there.

I agree.

There are actually two editions of the book at this time. The first does not contain "The Night Opus" or "A Commoner's Guide to Suicide"; these are only in the second edition. The book is comprised of the manifestos and is definately a great read. I am constantly making references to the book. I first read "The Night Opus" in a manifesto and also was moved by it.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

At first I found this is be very insteresting that Québec's version of Coldshots do not have the the Molson Canadian logo, but after visiting the website I see that Québec only has Coldshots available for Molson Dry. I think what the issue is here is that Molson Canadian brand Beer is not avalable in Québec, but Molson Dry is, regardless of its form (Coldshots or Regular Beer). I live in Ottawa and I have noticed that only in some outlets near the Québec/Ontario border, will Canadian be available, but in any other place in Québec, Molson Canadian is unavailable. For what reason, I do not know, maybe something to do with the sovreignty movement and the Québec government wanting to restrict "pro-Canadian: symbols of identity. After all the sponsorship scandal was an issue of overspending with "pro-Canadian" advertising. This is a very insteresting case with two versions of beer. Regardless of the way that the alcohol content is measured, I know I can say for all Canadians that our beer tastes much better and that American beer tastes waterey.

I already own all Matt Good Albums (with the exception of Lo-fi B-Sides, dammit!) but a greatest hits CD idea wouldn't be too bad. I don't think I would be in too much of a hurry to buy it though since I already have all of his music. It would be more of a collector's thing for me. I would like to see some unrealsed stuff on it, but typically greatest hits CD's don't have too much of that (or am I mistaken?). Further, the DVD idea of all the videos would probably be what I would like to see in the future the most with regards to Matt Good merchandaise. This I would rush out to buy.

My pesonal favorite album is Beautiful Midnight. I have heard of the theory that inner-turmoil to make the Audio of Being a good album previously and I agree with it. It is very possible that this turmoil was influencial in creating such a solid album.

Suburbia

A Perfect Circle - 3 Libras

Beautiful Midnight I think is the best. I love everything about the CD from the songs, the meanings behind all the songs, to the album cover. So many good songs are on this album, my favorite being Suburbia.

The catholic church needs to re-think their policy on the issue of birth control. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is the document in which all church policies are documented and further may be ammended if I am not mistaken by the pope and his highest ranking bishops. The logic of the Catholic Church is discouraging the use of contraceptive devices is to encourage the right to life. But in today's society, although this idea to encouage the right to life in the eyes of the church may seem good, they fail to take into consideration to currect situation of society. The Catholic Church has no right to publicly discourage contraceptives and/or mislead the public to think that condoms will not reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS. It is acceptable for the church to encouage abstenence to those consenting members of the church who agree with this practice; it is not acceptable for the church to discourage contraceptives. The Catholic Church should not have discouraged the use of condoms.

The concept of BMD I will admit is a foolish one that results in simpily "bad policy". The US is living in fear of terrorism yet although they claim that the "war on terror" is to protect freedom, they fail to see that they in fact are taking away their own liberty. The reality however is that Canada will have to sign with BMD. Even-though the policy is a bad one, Canada really does not have an option. In any event of a war that does not involve Canada and does involve the US, Canada will still be affected. In the event that any missile is shot down in defence of the US (if from North Korea), it will fall over Canada. Further if Canada does not sign with the US on BMD, it would result in bad relations. It has already been witnessed a hostile attitude to Canada for not joining with the war on Iraq, and further the continued ban on Alberta beef. Weapons of destruction are not those that will be in the form of an ICBM, but rather in your UPS trucks or in some cases briefcases. BMD will not solve anything. But regardless as stated, it is not like Canada has a choice in this matter as our proximity to the US geographically dictates that we would be foolish not to sign with the US altough it is a foolish policy in the first place. It is not as simple as saying that BMD can be avoided in Canada because the reality exists that we will ultmately be affected as the US will put this policy through anyways. I suggest Americans lobby their government to prevent it. Canada's decision will be dependant on the American adamency of going through with this policy.

The fact that democracy is a highly contested concept has not been considered in your post. You are correct in saying that democracy is the "rule by the people" as it is derrived from the greek "demos" meaning many and "kratia" meaning rule. However one fundamental principle than can be agreed upon is that democracy includes a degree of equality. In the event of an anarchy, democracy does not exist as the concept of equality no longer exists. A democracy is based on the princple of negative liberties, a process by which individuals limit their freedom to the state in order to achieve peace and security. This would nto exist in the anarchy. In an anarchy, there would be no regulatory agency to ensure that individual rights and freedoms are upheld. Further the concept of limiting freedoms to the state are only based on the consent of the governed. Such it would normally be accepted my society that the right to kill someone should be given up and the state prevent murder; people should have the right to live. Without a regulatory agency, the economy would not be controlled by the people, but rather by private groups. The market would be 100% capitalistic without the concept of Keynesian economics, it would be laissez-faire and would be dependant soley on supply and demand. Lastly, representative democracy is effective. It has been witnessed with the lack of proper citizen awareness and participation that a direct democracy in which a plebicyte is held for every issue has resulted in failure. This takes away accountability fom elected officials. Who would be responsible for a bad decision? The public in an anarchy? Who is there to blame? Society in general? This would lead to chaos. Secondly in the event of a direct democracy, a regulatory agency would exist thus society not being an anarchy. Therefore an anarchy is not democratic.

I would Liberal as I feel they are the best choice of compromise. The Conservatives did not have any platform at the time of the last election and they still have not formulated any party policy. The NDP seem to be lacking of useful criticism of the government, i.e. protest vote of Bill C-5: money for post-secondary education as they felt that the funding was inadequate. Education funding is party of their platform, I feel that every little bit helps. Also their social agenda seems a little too extreme for Canada. The Bloc Québécois is simpliy a party that wishes to divide Canada, further I do not wish to support that. The Green Party lacks offical party status, no further comment on that. The Liberal Party seems to have the best compromise between socialistic views and economic efficiency. Despite the sponsorship scandal, I feel they are the best choice.

Matthew Good - North American For Life