You are aware the French don't like us, right? I like Toronto, would love to visit Montreal, Quebec and Vancouver, but let's not be vulgar. No one LIKES Canada. Neither do Canadians. They just are too stubborn to admit it.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

What's wrong with nickel and diming a couple hundred million US taxpayers so that you can move offshore? Why do you think so many companies are "based" in Bermuda? Did you know that some 800 or so profitable subisdiaries of Enron were based offshore in this manner, all to avoid the tax bill owned Uncle Sam?

That's a good incentive to move out, huh?

Well said Mike. They're not just moving for the tax cuts, they also move so they don't have to give benefits to their employee's and can pay slave wages (not to mention the thousands of jobs it jeopardizes here in the states). And it's not just the republicans, it's the democrats as well. Thats something to be proud of. As for the whole Conan O'Brien thing, it's ridiculous! Any sort of censorship is ridiculous. America has a deep history of censorship. FRom burning witches at the stake, jailing dissidents, from banning black artists from the radio, RObert mapplethorpe, Lenny Bruce, Ice T, 2 live crew, jello biafra, Frank Zappa, etc... Canadians must think its hillarious there is such a tizzy over Janet jacksons nipple (I'd check the Torontoblog.com site for a discussion on it, but I'm too lazy to). It's censorships fault that I can't see one of my favorite Simpsons episodes in syndication (the one where homers car gets booted in between the WTC buildings). Censorship is why you can't hear good music on the radio. Here's a list of songs that were banned from Clear Channel airwaves right after 9/11. If you're not familar with Clear Channel/Premier radio, they own more then 1200 radio stations in all 50 states, reach 110 million listeners a day, they own 36 TV stations, not to mention they own alot of billboards along 76. This list of 150 songs were not to be played on the air. Eventually some of them made it back, alot of them didn't. Enjoy!


Drowning Pool "Bodies"
Mudvayne "Death Blooms"
Megadeth "Dread and the Fugitive"
Megadeth "Sweating Bullets"
Saliva "Click Click Boom"
P.O.D. "Boom"
Metallica "Seek and Destroy"
Metallica "Harvester or Sorrow"
Metallica "Enter Sandman"
Metallica "Fade to Black"
All Rage Against The Machine songs
Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole"
Godsmack "Bad Religion"
Tool "Intolerance"
Soundgarden "Blow Up the Outside World"
AC/DC "Shot Down in Flames"
AC/DC "Shoot to Thrill"
AC/DC "Dirty Deeds"
AC/DC "Highway to Hell"
AC/DC "Safe in New York City"
AC/DC "TNT"
AC/DC "Hell's Bells"
Black Sabbath "War Pigs"
Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"
Black Sabbath "Suicide Solution"
Dio "Holy Diver"
Steve Miller "Jet Airliner"
Van Halen "Jump"
Queen "Another One Bites the Dust"
Queen "Killer Queen"
Pat Benatar "Hit Me with Your Best Shot"
Pat Benatar "Love is a Battlefield"
Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party"
REM "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
Talking Heads "Burning Down the House"
Judas Priest "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"
Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell"
Pink Floyd "Mother"
Savage Garden "Crash and Burn"
Dave Matthews Band "Crash Into Me"
Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Pretenders "My City Was Gone"
Alanis Morissette "Ironic"
Barenaked Ladies "Falling for the First Time"
Fuel "Bad Day"
John Parr "St. Elmo's Fire"
Peter Gabriel "When You're Falling"
Kansas "Dust in the Wind"
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
The Beatles "A Day in the Life"
The Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
The Beatles "Ticket To Ride"
The Beatles "Obla Di, Obla Da"
Bob Dylan/Guns N Roses "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"
Arthur Brown "Fire"
Blue Oyster Cult "Burnin' For You"
Paul McCartney and Wings "Live and Let Die"
Jimmy Hendrix "Hey Joe"
Jackson Brown "Doctor My Eyes"
John Mellencamp "Crumbling Down"
John Mellencamp "I'm On Fire"
U2 "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Boston "Smokin"
Billy Joel "Only the Good Die Young"
Barry McGuire "Eve of Destruction"
Steam "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey"
Drifters "On Broadway"
Shelly Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Los Bravos "Black is Black"
Peter and Gordon "I Go To Pieces"
Peter and Gordon "A World Without Love"
Elvis "(You're the) Devil in Disguise"
Zombies "She's Not There"
Elton John "Benny & The Jets"
Elton John "Daniel"
Elton John "Rocket Man"
Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire"
Santana "Evil Ways"
Louis Armstrong "What A Wonderful World"
Youngbloods "Get Together"
Ad Libs "The Boy from New York City"
Peter Paul and Mary "Blowin' in the Wind"
Peter Paul and Mary "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday"
Simon And Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
Happenings "See You in Septemeber"
Carole King "I Feel the Earth Move"
Yager and Evans "In the Year 2525"
Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky"
Brooklyn Bridge "Worst That Could Happen"
Three Degrees "When Will I See You Again"
Cat Stevens "Peace Train"
Cat Stevens "Morning Has Broken"
Jan and Dean "Dead Man's Curve"
Martha & the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run"
Martha and the Vandellas/Van Halen "Dancing in the Streets"
Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother"
San Cooke Herman Hermits, "Wonder World"
Petula Clark "A Sign of the Times"
Don McLean "American Pie"
J. Frank Wilson "Last Kiss"
Buddy Holly and the Crickets "That'll Be the Day"
John Lennon "Imagine"
Bobby Darin "Mack the Knife"
The Clash "Rock the Casbah"
Surfaris "Wipeout"
Blood Sweat and Tears "And When I Die"
Dave Clark Five "Bits and Pieces"
Tramps "Disco Inferno"
Paper Lace "The Night Chicago Died"
Frank Sinatra "New York, New York"
Creedence Clearwater Revival "Travelin' Band"
The Gap Band "You Dropped a Bomb On Me"
Alien Ant Farm "Smooth Criminal"
3 Doors Down "Duck and Run"
The Doors "The End"
Third Eye Blind "Jumper"
Neil Diamond "America"
Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away"
Tom Petty "Free Fallin'"
Bruce Springsteen "I'm On Fire"
Bruce Springsteen "Goin' Down"
Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight"
Alice in Chains "Rooster"
Alice in Chains "Sea of Sorrow"
Alice in Chains "Down in a Hole"
Alice in Chains "Them Bone"
Beastie Boys "Sure Shot"
Beastie Boys "Sabotage"
The Cult "Fire Woman"
Everclear "Santa Monica"
Filter "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly"
Korn "Falling Away From Me"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Aeroplane"
Red Hot Chili Peppers "Under the Bridge"
Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
System of a Down "Chop Suey!"
Skeeter Davis "End of the World"
Rickey Nelson "Travelin' Man"
Chi-Lites "Have You Seen Her"
Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This Place"
Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels "Devil with the Blue Dress"
James Taylor "Fire and Rain"
Edwin Starr/Bruce Springstein "War"
Lynyrd Skynyrd "Tuesday's Gone"
Limp Bizkit "Break Stuff"
Green Day "Brain Stew"
Temple of the Dog "Say Hello to Heaven"
Sugar Ray "Fly"
Local H "Bound for the Floor"
Slipknot "Left Behind, Wait and Bleed"
Bush "Speed Kills"
311 "Down"
Stone Temple Pilots "Big Bang Baby," Dead and Bloated"
Soundgarden "Fell on Black Days," Black Hole Sun"
Nina "99 Luft Balloons/99 Red Balloons"

__________________
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
-George Orwell

Dissident, I agree with you that some sorts of censorship are wrong (saying "any" form is a bit crazy...slander, malice, stalking, hardcore porn on the Disney channel---anyone in their right mind isn't going to advocate those things be legal...) but let's differentiate between those perpetrated by The State and those perpetrated by large corporations. We had this discussion in a different forum re: Walmart. If it doesn't carry x artist (say Sheryl Crow because she refuses to take out a slam against Walmart on her cd), it's censorship, but it's not done by The State. The State does regulate what's on the airwaves and television to a certain extent. It loosens up regs as Americans do, I think. They used to not show toilets or men's chests on public television. Obviously they do now. Should they show women's breasts? I don't think the majority of Americans would say yes. Of course you realize the reason it was done WAS because it would get a lot of Americans talking.

In summary, blame Canada.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

These are "good" songs?
I'm all for reinstituting the ban on these. Radio programming is terrible because of Clear Channel's dominance of the market, not its censorship.

Lay off Pat Benatar and Tom Petty, Jacko.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

Ooh, guilty pleasures, huh? Brave of you to admit it. (FYI, I like Tom Petty in general, but "Free Fallin'" documents just how awful his voice really is. )

Oh, and to try to get back to the topic of Canada, do you realize that there's a law that Canadian radio stations must devote at least 30 percent of their programming to Canadian artists? A friend of mine is moving to Toronto and is bracing for the onslaught of Celine Dion, Barenaked Ladies and Gordon Lightfoot.

Anyway, if I have a point at all it's that it's a false dichotomy to present America as a repressive Stalinist regime and Canada as a bastion of freedom of expression. Both are subject to a combination of censorship and conservatism, motivated by morals, money, or both. Hell, aren't all countries to a greater or lesser extent?

I think that law must exist in Buffalo as well. Check out Sarah Harmer--she's Canadian, and although seemingly a good oxymoron. Sarah Slean...I think she's from Canada as well. Amazing voice.

Talk about heavy taxation...our taxes are nothing compared to simple gst/pst taxes. I can't imagine living there just for that.

__________________
Resident of Fishtown, Moderator of Fish/No. Libs/Kenzo forum, Real Estate Agent-Prudential Fox & Roach

Ok, yeah, those songs do suck (although I kinda dig the Bangles). And I agree that it is more Clear Channels fault then the goverments. But the FCC makes it difficult for radio and TV stations to get licenses if they don't comply with their code of ethics. The FCC are appointed, not elected by the goverment. Most the members are in their 70's and the chairman is Michael Powell (Ya have to love nepotism).
Oh and winston, you forgot, Bryan Adams is Canadian(this will probably depress you even more. Actually, there's a group I actually like from canada. They're called the Dayglo Abortions (although with that name, you probably won't hear them on the radio).

__________________
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
-George Orwell