blarg

Nothing will be done, for several reasons, first those are magic gill nets, they don't have a great impact on the walleye or other species, second, all sport anglers are poachers so they keep way more fish than the nets catch, third, the lake belongs solely to nfn. In any case, i know that nfn knows best, and I am sure that while they continue to use only traditional methods and equipment they will ensure a future for thier lake and it's fishery.

There is evidence to suggest that the polar bear population is actually increasing, not that it matters to those who want to use the cute image of the bear as a mascot for agw concerns, but it would be nice if people didn't simply believe everything they hear when it relates to climate change, or the possibility thereof, o i know, things are changing, and you cans surely feel the 0.6 degree average increase in global temperature over the last 150 years. Hey, less snow, climate change, hey, more snow, climate change, hey average summer, climate change, hey, too much rain, climate change, fewer bears (or maybe more?), climate change, sigh.

I think most people would be more surprised by what you read into it then what is actually in it. So hey, there is this place with stuff in the ground that people want, that gives people work, makes billions for companies and comes with some environmental concerns, welcome to reality, planet earth. Hey did you notice what appeared to be a black oily subsatnce in the river that borders on this thing they call oil sands? Golly gee, thats pollution, how dare you mother nature, how dare you. Funny how nobody worried about all of that pollution until someone wanted to turn it into oil (evil), and make money at it (double evil), and then use that oil to make all of the things we use every day. Or to run our cars, millions of which were built here in Ontario, but starngely few people complained about that, about the manufacturing industry in this province that dominated the countries economy, nobody called it undemocratic, that same industry that got preferrential treatment for decades, the industry that mostly benefitted one province but influenced government policy toward keeping our dollar artificially low. Starngely enough those same people who worry about climate change and hate the oil sands can often be heard lamenting the loss of our manufacturing base, mostly the automobile industry, last i checked cars used oil, and polluted, but hey i suppose if it's a unionized industry, here in Ontario and it doesn't involve those dirty rednecks from Alberta so the hypocrisy is allowed.

There is a lot of truth in that statement. If the government wanted to reduce the overall number of firearms homicides, and a ban was the only way, they would choose to ban bolt actions and shotguns before 'assault rifles' (every rifle you own is a variant of an assault rifle), more people are killed with hunting rifles and shotguns than with AR's. But since this is more about optics than actual effective legistlation we let emotions drive the bus. The point is, ban what you like, people are still going to be shot in droves in the US, oh perhpas a ban will reduce the 5 percent of homicides involving an AR by 10 percent, maybe there will be one less sensationlized story on CNN, and while they cover the next shooting far more people will be shot with a hang gun, and they aren't going anywhere, and more people will be shot with the twelve guage. Ask yourself, would it have mattered less if those kids, or anyone else, was shot alone or in a group, with a shotgun or an AR, by a guy carrying one gun or four? Does any of that really matter? You don't have to look far to find examples of mass shootings with shot guns, hunting rifles, or hand guns. Do you believe it would have been impossible to shoot those kids, or those firemen if AR's didn't exist? Blaming the type of gun is just a silly emotional argument, i dont really care if they are banned, i dont want to own one, but it isnt going to prevent this from happening again.

IM sorry but i've yet to read anything that you have posted in this thread that i wouldn't classify as leftist propaganda. You are an extremist it seems, just like those people at rabble that you like to reference, you, they and all of the other tin foil hatters live in a make believe world, those of us who live in this reality want to see real improvements, and that doesn't include make believe scenarios where the native bands are on the same footing as the government, or where the country gets given back. That isn't going to happen. Sorry, but as soon as you start using catch phrases such as the 'government controlled media' you out yourself for what you are, in fact the most 'government controlled media' is the CBC and no other media outlet has been pushing this story as hard without asking any hard questions of it. So, if you want to group yourself in with people who are anti development, anti oil, anti gun, anti capitalism anti Isreal, etc etc etc, you have evey right, but what isn't right is telling people the sky is falling and that Canada isn't Canada anymore, or that Harper is dictator/fascist, or that our country side will all turn into the moonscape that is the oil sands, that is what you have allied yourself with. WIth opinions like that how can anyone think you are a credible source of information? Im still waiting for anyone anywhere to show me where in law it says that anyone can do anything they please to the water in this country after bill-45, i mean that is what this is all about right? If you believe that i have got a big lake parked off of North Bay i'd like to sell you. Here is a video of some fine upstanding prpotestors who expect freedom of speech while demanding others don't. http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/canada/archives/2013/01/20130120-103816.html I know, evil empire, fascist government controlled media.

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2013/01/20130119-074514.html Now I know sun news is part of the evil empire, but only they and the national post ever seem to produce anything near balanced on this issue, in fact the national post has had several good articles, but this stroy from sun news sums up my thoughts about this fairly well. CHAEL COREN | QMI AGENCY Some random observations from the inflated media circus that is Idle No More and the politicized fitness program and detox diet that is the Chief Theresa Spence fast. The use of the word “chief.” It effectively means “mayor” and those given the title sometimes speak for only a few hundred people, and get to do so for sometimes questionable reasons. Yet they are treated by mainstream media and the authorities with a reverence that borders on the sycophantic. Can we imagine a genuinely democratically elected mayor of a Canadian town being similarly regarded by journalists and the police? When these and other Native activists are interviewed, they frequently speak of prophecies, of seventh-generation warnings, of ancient laws and supernatural predictions. They hold feathers and they recite ideas of pantheistic earth-worship. It’s a confused, confusing, sometimes entirely made-up spirituality and one that is often absurdly ahistorical. Imagine, for a moment, followers of Jesus, for example, holding a crucifix and basing their arguments on an embellished and unreliable interpretation of Christian fundamentalism. They’d be laughed out of the studio, told to separate church and state, ordered to change with the times. And to a large extent the condemnation would be correct. It’s the racism of lowered expectations of course, where Natives are treated like children by white liberals who seldom venture beyond the comfort of the launch-and-lunch party. The same applies to some of the headdresses and costumes worn by Native activists that have no origin in their own tribe, and actually belong to people from 1,000 miles away. It’s cultural misappropriation, like a Belgian dressing up as a Turk and claiming it’s OK because they live somewhere on the same continent. This dressing up, by the way, is troubling. Aboriginal Canadians have valid grievances and must be listened to, but they live in the 21st century and have no need to dress otherwise. Compare this to Scottish nationalists who cringe at the pretend Highland outfits worn by professional Scotsman to appeal to largely North American tourists. We all have cultural identities, but most of us acknowledge that we dress for the contemporary age. Who is actually a Native? Some of the loudest zealots are tenuously so, and one of them appears to be German! Others have some Native blood but in the past have even been denied Indian status, and it’s probably more up to Dr. Freud than a columnist to speculate why they’re sometimes the more aggressive and unreasonable ones. Most ethnic communities in Canada are very careful to guarantee that white extremists do not try to co-opt their struggles and exploit them for their own ends. But the Idle No More groups in urban centres, in particular, are beginning to resemble the Occupy gangs from last year. We’re seeing the identical faces protesting and obstructing. Natives have authentic complaints; white, rich Marxists trying to annoy mommy and daddy do not. Then there are the anti-Tory politicians, who will do pretty much anything to convince people that Stephen Harper is a dictator, a dictator apparently being anyone who defeats them in an election. What a mess all this is, and — tragically — it’ll probably change not one iota of Native pain.

There is so much silly misinformation in this thread that it is painful to read. That includes things like links to rabble.ca, i mean it is only the community of the most left wing people in the country, some of them will openly admit to being communists, sure the opinion of people like that wouldn't be tainted by thos extreme beliefs, but then reading some of the posts here it seems some members might want to sign up over there. O and then there is Pam Palmater, who works out of Ryerson, perhaps the most left wing university in the country that also harbors the likes of Wendy Cukier, the head of the coalition for gun control. But hey, im sure Pam has no reason other than her desire to imrpove native lives to be a part of this movement, the movement that appears to be apposed to the current grand chief, you know, Sean Atleo, the guy who she was a runnuer up to in that last election..she has more extreme views than he does, and wanted his job. But hey, it isn't like the far left to be sore losers when they have lost an election to a conservative, my stars no. So this omnibus bill, yea, i don't really agree with it being done that way, but it's far from the first time, one of the first things Trudeau did was pass an omnibus bill, Chretien did it too, how many of you were alive then and were upset about it? It couldn't be that when your guy wins you don't mind as much, nah, i mean it isn't as though some of you are aligning yourself with people who legitimately think Harper is a cross between Hitler and Darth Vader. Go read Rabble if you don't believe that, that is the way some of those people think of him. So c-45, did you know that there will be no environmental impact assesments and anyone can come on to your land or native land and start mining! Of course that isn't true at all, now im sure everyone here is capable of googling things like the Ontario environment act, or the same for any province, and if you truly believe that there will be no environmental protection after the bill is law I suggest you call the province and tell them you are going to dump a barrel of oil into your nearest, 'non protected' waterway, im sure you can fight the charges with the 'but i was told on the internet there would be no laws to protect our waters' defense. Im not saying there isn't going to be changes, but some of the stuff being said here is absolute crap. O hey, did you know that some of the provisions in the bill, such as allowing reserves to more easily lease their own lands were lobbied for by some of the western chiefs? Of course it doesn't actually say that they have to, despite what you may have read. I read a post earlier that said something to the effect of, why do i need a pipeline, what will it do for me, well idk, considering oil makes just about everything in the modern world possible i would say that we all need it to some extent, or do some of you get broad band in you caves on the computer you built from stones? You do know that the country already has pipelines all over the place, you must, so saying you didn't and still having an opinion on the subject would be pretty sad. O but we can't have tankers being loaded on the BC coast! That is just wrong, of course there are super tankers in the bay of fundy all of the time off loading millions of gallons to the refinery in St John, but it seems that the east coast is somehow expendable, but some of you don't need oil, living in your cave and all. Also, it isnt as though everything we do has some sort of environmental impact, and it isn't as though people need jobs, after all, we will have strong economy if we don't develop our resources and allow our roads and railways to be blocked. This movement doesn't know where it is going, doesn't really know what it is about, and the people at the bottom, those who actually need help are being lead around by a select few who used disinformation about c-45 as a way to stir up trouble. Now it's about treaty rights, self governance, taking the country back from the settlers (yes thats most of us, even if you were born here), more money, hunger strikes(that aren't), etc. If you think that we need to take better care of our natives then you are a paternalist, you deny their own ability to take care of and do for themselves, perpetuating this system is never going to work. Neither is pie in the sky discussions about getting the country back, the 'settlers' aren't leaving. The movement has been appropriated by the far left, the eco nuts and the 99%ers(the occupy movement), those who wish to behave more as our enemeies than our countrymen because they think they can get something out of it, caught in the middle are real people who for whatever reason need help, but sometimes helping people is forcing them to help themselves. One final example, Attawapiskat and the non hunger strike, last year the government tried to bring in a third party manager, the band didn't want it, the left complained of paternalism form the government, the government fought in court and lost, and now there are a lot of problems with accounting on the millions of dollars that goes into the band, and not just from the government. So what was the first thing the NDP and people like palmater(perhaps not her exactly, though i thought she may have on the cbc) said, well it's the governments fault for not ensuring the money was spent properly, so there you have it, look after us, but don't look after us, we can do it ourselves but when we fail it's your fault. The government is trying to change that system a little at a time, and some of the people in this movement are worried that at some point the gravy train might not be as lucrative, or the idealistic 'we want our country back' people wont have weapons to fight with, while others are asking for more autonomy, getting it, and then being shut down by their own people under the guise of protecting the water, which will still be proteced, in many cases provincial laws are stricter than federal. So go ahead, after c-45 is law go pollute your favorite lake or stream, make sure you video tape it and send it to the province, maybe a screw you you can't touch me quote at the end, just to rub their noses in it, i dare ya. One last thing, I care about the environment as much as anyone, the idea that natives care more is another left wing myth, they are just people like us, equal, the same, isn't that what we all want? You can't have that when you start from a false pretense about them being more connected to nature than us, that is a farce, all of our ancestors lived closer to the land in our very recent past, and now they for the most part live just like we do, and not only are they not going back to the land, they want more of the convieniences most of us have, no matter how isolated they are, and I don't blame them.

Right..see this is exactly the problem, make a choice, are you interested in saving lives? Why aren't you crusading for prohibition then, sure it would suck that you can't have a beer and watch the game, but it would save lives, more than banning a particular type of firearm. It's a small sacrifice but hey, im sure it would save at least ONE innocent life. This is too simplistic of an argument, there are lots of things we could do differently, but what kind of society do you want to live in? The reality is, as terrible as these killings are, they make up a very small percentage of the overall homicide rate, and i don't care if you ban "assault rifles" (though they almost always aren't, they just look the part), but there will still be thousands of people shot every year with handguns, which make up a huge portion of homicides in the states, those are not going to be banned. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/10tbl20.xls That table tells the story. Anything they do will almost certainly be more for public relations than anything else, get rid of the 'black guns' get rid of the semi auto rifles, and you still have the weapon of choice in most homicides and it's impossible to imagine that hand guns are going anywhere in the US. So an important question to ask is, Do you want to save lives, or are you simply anti gun and want to ban whatever you can? Now not you personally, but the cold fact is that simply because these were children, and teachers, and they were shot all at once by a nut with an AR variant, their lives and deaths are no more or less valuable than another innocent shot with a hand gun, or killed by a drunk driver. If you want to save lives there are many other ways to be more effective than banning "assault rifles". For a lot of people involved in this argument a starting point of complete bias against the gun leads them down one path.

If we banned boats to ensure that no one was ever killed again by a reckless or drunk boater would that be worth it? How about banning booze again? Perhaps we should imprison people for speeding instead of giving out tickets, the if it saves just one life argument is no argument at all. How many of us grew up in homes with rifles and ammunition on the wall and didn't shoot anyone, of those of us who grew up in the country at least, lots i bet. I wish there was an answer, without a constitutional amendment which i can't ever imagine happening, the gun laws will not be changed enough to prevent this from happening again. Even in Canada where our laws are much stricter, it happens, even with the beloved by some gun registry, it happened, this is a societal problem, and there are no easy answers. Do you want a society without risk that someone might decide to hurt you, which even without guns is impossible, or do you want to live and not just be alive? I wonder if the people in China are asking these same questions after the mass stabbings they are having, and apparently its nothing new there, even here stabbings now kill more people than shootings, and injure far more. You will not get rid of guns, here or there, it will happen again, it doesn't matter if its a shotgun, hunting rifle, or handgun, or knife, or a pipe bomb, that's reality. A sad one it is, but there is no use in pretending otherwise. The answer to your question is no.

The comment was made more generally than specifically at you, it is true though that there are some people who will apologize for the natives simply because they are native and most Canadians have been brainwashed by the noble savage ethos, the one that tells us they care more for the environment than we do. I apologize for not considering your sensitivities.

In other words if you keep your expectations low the fishing is still ok. Gill nets are good for the lake. Right?

How many people were killed in non hunting accidents last week? Most accidents are not, they could have been prevented if people follow the rules that everyone is supposed to be aware of, I believe that every province requires some sort of hunter safety education before hunting there. Maybe not the territories. The question i have to ask is why does this make news? Why does it become a topic of some discussion here? How many people died while driving and texting or killed someone else last year while doing the same? I don't see a lot of posts about that. There seems to be an anti gun or anti hunting flavor to it, it's almost an effort to say 'there see, firearms are dangerous'. Other outdoors forums have members who post every article they see about firearms deaths accidental or otherwise while claiming to not be anti gun, perhaps not, but you surely aren't helping. Regardless of your personal view points on firearms you must accept that people die all of the time while doing something the knew they shouldn't have done. If you follow the safety rules with firearms and all of the rules of being sure of your target there would be almost no incidents, yes sometimes all of the best practices in the world won't be enough, weird things happen. But that is not a firearms only problem, it happens with everything everyday. As an aside if people followed the rules hunters orange wouldn't be needed, but then if people didn't still drink and drive, or text and drive, speed, etc. we would need a lot fewer police officers and paramedics.

You should raise your concern with environmentalists many of whom are modern progressive women on the pill, ask if they are willing to give it up to save the fish, take note of the blank stare you receive in return.

thats a really pretty fish

So basically we are applying the happy wife, happy life theory to managing the lake, hey, well lets not fight, ill just take the blame and the pain and you just keep behaving the way you always do, really? That is unimaginably pathetic, NFN will not smarten up, just like the woman who is never wrong, they are entitled, that is their bottom line, beg the government to send them a some number of millions a year to buy them not netting the lake and i promise you some of the band will still net the lake. There are no shortage of white guys who would do the same, NFN isn't special, they are just people.

Plasma is still the superior technology, some people like the look of bright led's, that would be because they don't like to watch tv as it was meant to be watched, extremely bright over blown colors might look good in the store but plasmas will perform better and look more realistic at home. Good plasmas do not suffer nearly as much as they used to from glare problems, thats more of a myth now, but you still wouldn't want to have it in direct sunlight, but then no tv would look good in that situation, the viewing room should be dark. Plasma also provides uniform screen brightness and picture, most lcd tv's cfl or led back lit will not be as good, none really. The st50 from panasonic is a good choice, i have the st30 from last year and its great, i recently needed a software update and within a few days of talking to panasonic they had sent someone over to do it. Also plasma burn in isn't an issue anymore on the better models, unless you really abuse it, and even then it will normally go away in time.

Ah, anecdotal evidence, the natives themselves admit the cant fill their own quota with a gill net, but yet a couple guys get lucky and it must be ok.

Well if this isn't a prime example of political correctness run amok what is? So by pointing out that native gill netting is probably having a large negative impact on the lake they are suddenly at risk of being racist? Amazing that native gill nets have this magical power to avoid damaging the ecosystem, im sure that if it was white guys gill netting the lake OFAH wouldn't mind. Come on.

I have only been fishing out of North Bay for 5 years, right about the time the native fishery became sanctioned by the government. The first year fishing was pretty good by my standards, i spent a number of years in Yellowknife before that so it wasn't what i would call phenomenal, but definitely good. It's gotten worse every year since, there are fewer fish, and the season along the eastern shore is shorter. Now during that time we have had low water, bad weather early in the season, and early ice off and faster warming then normal, these things could certainly have affected the early shallow water season. That isn't the only sign though, if the gill netters aren't finding fish chances are they aren't there, all of this anecdotal evidence about your buddy who lives on the lake doesn't mean anything in the face of that. I think the ice fishing season is certainly a problem, it gives too many people easy access to the lake, allowing them to get to those places they couldn't without a boat, not to mention having people on the best spots day and night for months. Of course there are anglers poaching, and there are a lot of people out there all summer as well, keeping all they can. If the limit was two fish a person that might help, but in reality people will still poach and that will just leave more fish for the gill nets, it doesn't help the lake. You know it's disturbing to me that i read a lot of worry about the conservatives and the new laws or removal of old laws, and perhaps rightfully, but you're willing to gloss over the impact that gill nets have on this lake, gill nets are the most destructive form of fishing maybe aside from trawling, and we managed to basically fish out the oceans but somehow gill netting this lake is going to be just fine? I don't care if it's their right, i don't care because the fish don't care, the lake's ecosystem doesn't care either. Gill nets are never a good idea, i have personally seen a couple dozen white suckers thrown over the side from one net, all dead, multiply that by the years and the number of nets, most of us would be upset by the angler who kills unwanted pike for the sake of the walleye, but when it's death by gill net, it's a shrug at most. I promise you that the gill nets in Nipissing are doing more damage to the fishery than any new legislation will. Shrug.

I just ordered the extang for my Ram, many people use them on that truck, the bakflip is nicer, at least it looks nicer, but its more expensive and the G2 model seems to be less durable then the extang, the bakflip f1 is better but again more money. In my research i have found that both the bakflips and the extangs leak some.

I haven't done that to myself yet, really hope i never do, i dig hook my brother in the nose once, but in my defense i was roll casting a fly rod and told him not to stand there.

I get a kick out of the usual comments that we are invading their space, we are just as much part of the natural world as the bear.

There are people out there that do consider all men rapists or potential rapists, we didn't make the world, we just live in it.

You do know that a lot of people work for those companies? Im sure when for decades all of our other governments were pandering to say the car manufacturers you were equally as bothered. Speaking of bother, why do you? I must have missed the government that only ever enacted laws on things the explicitly said they were going to during the election campaign.

Ive been checked 5-6 times in the last 5 years, checked everything else, but never asked for the card.