Will African Union step up?

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has urged the African Union to suspend Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe until he allows free and fair elections.The call came as Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition said the country faced a constitutional crisis. The situation in Zimbabwe overshadowed the African Union summit in Egypt.**********UPDATE: Question asked... and answered"Zimbabwe's Robert...

I guess it's smarter...

...than cutting your house in half with a chainsaw. -- PERTH, Australia -- A man who auctioned his life - his house, his car, his job, even his friends - on eBay said Monday he is disappointed with the selling price: almost $384,000.Ian Usher, a British immigrant to Australia, put everything he owned, as well as introductions to his friends, on the online auction site after a painful breakup with...

Not the Queen's English

Obviously, another blatant case of not enough "social workers." -- LONDON -- A British high school student has received credit for writing nothing but a two-word expletive on an exam paper because the phrase expressed meaning and was spelled correctly.These days, in this uber-enlightened age, there is apparently no such thing as a bad boy."The example cited was unique in the experience of the...

Ontario Liberals celebrate...

...propping up notorious Star Chamber tribunals... -- TORONTO -- Ontario residents filing human-rights complaints will have faster service and access to free legal support as a result of changes to the province's Human Rights Code taking effect Monday.“We're bringing human-rights protection into the 21st century,” Attorney-General Chris Bentley said. “We're making sure that the rights outlined...

The thing is, Ujjal...

I'm pretty sure Casey and Finnegan had a prior commitment... -- OTTAWA -- Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has favoured former police and corrections officers for new appointments to the National Parole Board since the Harper government took office in 2006, government records show.Of the 36 new members Mr. Day has named to the board since he became minister that year, 23 are retired police...

Crack CTV reporting...

...reveals not-so-secret police death squad... in Aylmer, Ontario, correction, Quebec...Robert LeClair told CTV Ottawa that it was his brother David who was shot by police Saturday morning. LeClair said police showed up at his brother's door, allegedly to investigate a complaint filed by David's girlfriend....

“Excuse me,” he said.

"You can't say those words. Those words are illegal.”“What words?” I asked, bewildered, given that by then I'd said probably 2,000 words.“Suicide bombing,” he whispere...

Still not smart enough...

To piss outside that legendary "Big Tent"..."Chretien's supporters say their guy has been utterly vindicated, and they hint broadly that Paul Martin owes his former boss a big, fat apology." "Martin's people say nuts to that -- their hero has nothing to apologize for. Chretien's the one who should be sorry."No wonder poor Steffi can't seem to get anywhere.He's too busy lookin' over his shoulde...

I'm from the government...

...I'm here to save you...“I drive a little dinky car,” she said. “Yes, OK, I'm doing some damage, but it's not a fleet of limousines and it's not cross-country flights.”**********RELATED: Is the sky really falling?And, more to the point, what's with all the "death camp" imagery?Dr. Hansen is overfond of the specious and chilling analogy: He has written of the “crashing glaciers serving as a Krystal...

Don't look at me...

I'd set myself on fire... before I ever, ever voted for one of these guys...Public housing tenants who fire guns, deal drugs or assault neighbours shouldn't be evicted from Toronto's public housing projects, says provincial Housing Minister Jim Watson."If someone has been convicted of a crime we can't kick them out of public housing for that reason," Watson told the Sunday Sun.Oh, please Mr. Hug-a-thug......

"As Woody Allen would say..."

"...it was a travesty of a mockery of a sham...

Those darn kids, huh?

The inevitable result of all the liberal yip-yap about flooding cities with social workers to solve all our problems... you know, like safe-injection sites and legalising drugs...Toronto police officers seized more than $126,000 in illegal drugs and charged two men with trafficking during a raid on a fraternity house near the University of Toronto late Friday.Uniform and plainclothes officers had...

Funny how everything he touches...

...just turns to shift...The environment, last year's top issue, has been pushed to No. 3, with just 16 per cent of Canadians surveyed saying they now consider it their primary concern.This shift could make it more difficult for Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion to sell the carbon-tax plan he unveiled last week, a complex scheme to cut greenhouse-gas emissions that will be the cornerstone of his party's...

No word yet...

...on where the Liberals are with their "Same Slippery Silicone" legislation...In his most recent book, "Love and Sex With Robots," Levy says human relationships with androids, humanoids, fembots, malebots, intelligent machines, Stepford wives, or any other name they may adopt, are "inevitable.""If you want to, you can have a robot that is completely faithful, or you can have a robot that is programmed...

You ever notice...

...every single time these guys are on the pointy end of an ass-kickin'... suddenly, they're all about the negotiations...“If the government thinks there is any issue to address, that should be resolved through talks, not by the use of force,” said Munsif Khan, spokesman for the Vice and Virtue Movement. “We are ready for talks with the government.”So, Munsif... last week you're sawing heads off folks......

Do the Right Thing

Stephen Harper steps up... yet again. -- OTTAWA -- Canada was set to impose diplomatic sanctions against Zimbabwe after Prime Minister Stephen Harper condemned what he called a “corrupted vote” in the African nation.“Our government has condemned the corrupt vote in the strongest possible terms,” Mr. Harper told a meeting of B'nai Brith International.He called the election process in Zimbabwe “an...

Meet the dangerous folks...

...Mayor Super Dave Miller of Toronto wants to put out of business.**********RELATED: Tell me, Mr Mayor...,,,which gun club did this guy belong to?It all started over a minor insult that led to an argument, humiliating Doa Trong Nguyen in front of his girlfriend.Twelve hours later, Nguyen walked into a Dundas St. W. karaoke bar and shot Sanh Duong at close range as he sat eating with his wife and...

Orwell was right

Some animals are "more equal" than others. -- Fraser River, BC -- A federal program in 1998 that allowed a native-only commercial fishery a day ahead of the usual commercial fishing season in B.C. did not violate the charter rights of non-aboriginal fishermen, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday.The Supreme Court ruling upheld the 2004 convictions of more than 50 non-native B.C. fishermen...

Wanna make a difference...

...and actually save lives? Then forget about the stupid tasers... and read on...A project called the World Community Grid relies on thousands of individual volunteers who donate their computers' idle time to a variety of research projects; in addition to cancer research, they include improving rice crop yields, discovering dengue fever drugs, climate modelling in Africa and designing anti-HIV d...

I hope you're sitting down...

...because it's a victory for "free speech"... in British Columbia. -- OTTAWA -- Freedom of expression requires that the media be capable of publishing provocative stories and comments without living in constant fear of lawsuits for libel and defamation, the Supreme Court of Canada said Friday.In an 8-1 ruling that set out to modernize libel law and the defence of fair comment, the court found...

Coming soon to CBC

The exciting premiere of CSI Deseronto..."Looks like Shawn scared them shitless so they ran away, like the chickenshit drunken racists they are, which was his goal.""He threw the spear at the truck to mark it for future identification. It worked."Sure, that makes perfect sense... it's not like you could, you know... read the license plate.Another triumph for ancient Mohawk wisdom.**********UPDATE:...

Flea on tail... attempts to Wag the Dog

With a little bit of help from the Toronto Star. -- MONTREAL -- Suspected terrorist Adil Charkaoui is calling on Ottawa to force CSIS to be more transparent with its evidence after the Supreme Court ruled today that the spy service breached his rights.Charkaoui hailed the decision as a victory that should prompt changes to the way CSIS deals with terrorist threats.Hey, Adil... I never knew you...

More hurtful words

Did you hear the one about the obnoxious, whiny, drunken... ahhhhh, never mind...**********UPDATE: Ezra has the latest"Finally, we have some top talent looking into the matter of what is or isn't funny. Forget about Jerry Seinfeld or Jay Leno; we've got the dour sourpusses at the HRCs on the file." "Once they come up with the magic recipe, wannabe comedians around the world will simply have to follow...

Congratulations Fenris Badwulf...

...on your new career opportunit...

Don't fool yourself

This ruling wasn't about guns. It was about personal freedoms... and the rights of law-abiding citizens.And it's especially interesting to note where the two presidential hopefuls shake out here. -- WASHINGTON -- John McCain welcomed a Supreme Court decision invalidating a District of Columbia handgun ban. Barack Obama sought to straddle the subject by saying he favors an individual's right to...

Just a little off the top, huh?

Gotta say... I get queasy just thinkin' about this. -- ZURICH, Switzerland -- A Swiss court has found the Somali-born parents of a teenage girl guilty of arranging the removal of their daughter's clitoris.It is the first time a court in Switzerland has ruled on female circumcision.The court in Zurich handed the parents each a two-year suspended prison sentence and ordered them to pay their daughter...

While Canada...

...works on banning "hurtful words"... the United States of America reaffirms the constitutional right of the citizenry to "armed self-defense." -- Bloomberg -- A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects individual gun rights, striking down the District of Columbia's handgun ban and raising election- year questions about weapons restrictions elsewhere.The 5-4 ruling resolves...

Gotta watch that bias, huh Max?

I don't know if I can subscribe to the theory that justice is... or can even pretend to be... totally blind. -- OTTAWA -- The Federal Court has struck down Justice John Gomery's 2005 finding that former prime minister Jean Chrétien bore some responsibility for the federal sponsorship scandal that rocked the Liberal government.Justice Max Teitelbaum ruled Thursday there were indications of bias...

Back to the good old days...

...of "No Irish need apply." -- U.K. -- Equality minister Harriet Harman has set out plans to allow firms to discriminate in favour of female and ethnic minority job candidates.She said firms should be able to choose a woman over a man of equal ability if they wanted to - or vice versa.And, if your Granny ever harboured any fantasies about being a firefighter... there's good news there too...The...

Reading, writing and...

...I sure hope this place doesn't train medical lab technicians...The owner of a local private college is facing bribery charges for allegedly attempting to pay off a public official after the college was accused of granting fraudulent diplomas. The Ministry alleges that money was offered to an official in exchange for a report that would have stated the college was in compliance with provincial...

Well... nice website and all...

...but is anybody actually keepin' an eye on those other... cough, cough... less agreeable guy...

Bernier begs to differ

In his 11-minute speech to a crowd of about 400, Mr. Bernier contradicted Ms. Couillard's claims that Mr. Bernier had known all along that in the 1990s she had a boyfriend and ex-husband tied to Quebec's Hells Angels.“Did Ms. Couillard inform me of her past ties with people involved in organized crime? The answer is no. She did not inform, and no one else ever informed me, at any level...

No compromise from Mohawks

Sorry, Deseronto... aboriginals demand the Crown clear existing owners off the land....Mohawk officials were told the government will not buy land from non-natives to ensure the Culbertson Tract -- a 923-acre parcel of land which the government agrees was never surrendered -- is returned to native control.Instead, the government will offer money to allow the band to purchase tract properties if their...

Paging Taliban Jack

So, Jacko... you figure you know some secret that the Pakistani government just can't figure out? -- South Waziristan -- Residents and local officials say that those murdered were among at least 27 members of the pro-government Bhittani tribe kidnapped by Taliban militants during a raid on the town of Jandola earlier this week.District Coordination Officer Barkatullah Marwat told VOA by telephone...

Dear Mayor Miller

I was just wondering if you could tell me which skeet-shooting club... this gentleman belongs to. -- TORONTO -- Parolee Andre Blair was on two separate bails -- one for possessing a semi-automatic handgun and another for drug-dealing -- when he committed the execution-style killing of Andrew Latouche.In March 2006, Blair shot 28-year-old Latouche -- who was sitting in the front seat of a van --...

Make it so, Joe

Apparently... I mean, who knew... there are good guns and bad guns. -- TORONTO -- The day after the city okayed a plan prohibiting shooting ranges, gun clubs and firearms promotion on city property, some Toronto officials were scrambling to fashion a compromise to protect the Sportsmen's Show.Allowing the annual show, with its displays honouring the "shooting sports," to continue at city-owned...

So it looks as though...

...this years woodcutting, or as I like to think of it... chainsaw therapy... can finally begin in earnest. This last week, for the first time since fall 07, I was able to get the truck all the way through the waterlogged spots out back... and enter the woods proper. I've cleared the trees that have fallen across the road, thrown down grass seed on the raggedy patches and tried to figure out where...

If you're really concerned about...

...saving lives in Ontario, then tasers should be way, way down the list...Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal government are putting lives at risk by covering up the extent of the deadly C. difficile outbreak in Ontario hospitals, the province's opposition parties charged Tuesday.There have been at least 264 deaths at seven Ontario hospitals since 2006 from C. difficile, a drug-resistant bacteria...

Gracias, Senor Buzz

Mexico is riding a boom in small-car sales that has put the nation's vehicle production on track to pass Canada for the first time and become the second-largest vehicle manufacturer in North America this year.There's more investment in small cars under way in Mexico. Ford Motor Co. will spend more than $3-billion (U.S.) in the biggest single automotive investment yet in the country, which will begin...

Another fuzzy-bunny...

...Toronto Star poll... goes horribly awry..."Do you think cancelling the leases of two gun clubs that rent city-owned property will have an impact on street gun violence?"**********RELATED: Farmers, hunters, target shooters......totally off the hook... again.A 40-year-old man has been charged in connection...

Answering this year's...

...biggest urban fashion dilemma... what all do you wear to an execution? -- TORONTO -- Closed-circuit videotape of events leading up to the shooting death of a Toronto teenager in Etobicoke 10 days ago suggests it was “an execution,” the lead homicide investigator said Tuesday.Both suspects live or lived close by the crime scene, police believe. Both are black men in their 20s. The gunman was...

Police Officers with guns...

In our schools... I'm not joking...The chief will meet with Toronto District School Board to discuss the school resource officer initiative that would assign 30 officers to schools across the city starting this fall.Blair says the consistent presence of uniformed officers will help build trust between youth and police.You mean, like it does... in the Jane-Finch corridor?**********RELATED: In other...

Salaam and "Bake 'em"

Once again... the capricious and unknowable "Will of Allah." -- PAKTIKA -- Afghan officials say a U.S.-led coalition airstrike killed 15 militants who attacked a government building in eastern Afghanistan.The officials say the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force bombed the militants Tuesday as they were withdrawing from an attack at government headquarters in Paktika province. Four...

A flying banana over Texas?

Somebody please tell me this is a hoax... -- MONTREAL -- A Canadian art project involving a giant banana, helium and the state of Texas was already considered bold and controversial - now there are doubts about whether the massive piece of fruit will ever fly.Despite getting about $105,000 from Quebec and federal art-funding agencies, Canadian artist Cesar Saez's flying-banana project appears...

And that's why...

...we call him "Special" ...

Iran opts to stick with...

...that age-old, toddler-tested strategy of plopping down on their butt and screaming blue murder...Iran has condemned as illegal new EU sanctions against Tehran over its uranium enrichment programme. A foreign ministry spokesman said the sanctions would make Iran more determined to obtain the technology.The UN Security Council approved a third round of sanctions against Iran over the issue in March...

Progress, huh?

The net could see its biggest transformation in decades if plans to open up the address system are passed.The net's regulators will vote on Thursday to decide if the strict rules on so-called top level domain names, such as .com or .uk, can be relaxed. The openness of the new system could pave the way for a .xxx domain name, after more than half a decade of wrangling between its backers and Icann.**********RELATED:...

Hence the term... "going postal"

Think about how much money, and more importantly, aggravation... we could save... by contracting this out to someone like Federal Express...In May, 74-year-old David Oke discovered Canada Post was -- after 40 years -- no longer delivering mail to his bright green mailbox at the end of his driveway in rural Ontario. His service was stopped, he was told, because his name appeared on only one side of...

Oh yeah...

Let's see you prove it...As the trial of the first man charged under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act got under way four years after police raided his home in the Ottawa suburb of Orleans, the Crown gave a two-hour summary of its case, in which it will present dozens – perhaps hundreds – of intercepted conversations to show that the accused admitted he had a one-track mind.**********UPDATE: Lawrence Greenspon...

We're the Liberal Party...

...and we're just gonna "shift" all over you. -- OTTAWA -- Stéphane Dion's cross-country tour promoting his “green shift” hit a potentially embarrassing pothole Monday as a Toronto environmentalist took legal action over what she describes as “blatantly unethical” trademark infringement.A firm already operating as Green Shift sent a cease and desist letter Monday afternoon to the Liberal Party...

Yeah, sure... we get it

The word according to CanLaw..."Legal Aid Ontario -- Legal aid is officially available across the province, to lower-income people for a variety of legal problems, including criminal matters, family disputes, immigration and refugee hearings and poverty law issues such as landlord/tenant disputes and employment insurance." "However in reality, it is largely reserved for women, gays and minorities.""White...

I gotta tell ya, Mo...

I don't think shavin' off the beard... is gonna fool anybody. -- OTTAWA -- Mr. Khawaja, beardless and with long wet hair parted in the middle, simply pleaded “not guilty” in a soft-spoken voice to each of the seven terrorism charges he faces.A perfectly nice, successful Canadian life... but you just had to piss it all away.Not so "Islamic Yeehaw" now, huh budd...

Who's kissin' up to "Big Corn"?

I thought Obama was touting himself as the "candidate of change"... the guy who wouldn't get sucked in by the lobbyists...Nowadays, when Mr. Obama travels in farm country, he is sometimes accompanied by his friend Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader from South Dakota. Mr. Daschle now serves on the boards of three ethanol companies and works at a Washington law firm where, according to his...

Brits decide... "enough is enough"

Sorry, Tupac... "Use a gun... you're done."A man has been jailed for at least 20 years for the murder of a woman caught in a "Wild West" style shoot-out. Magda Pniewska, 26, was shot in the head in New Cross, south London, in October last year. The conviction for murder of someone who was known not to have fired the fatal shot was described by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) as "unprecedented".CPS...

We're finally gonna start...

...checkin' tickets on the Gravy train...The 19th-century Indian Act that governs most of Canada's 600 First Nations says little about fiscal transparency."So that's going to change and that's going to be of great benefit to First Nations individuals who say, you know, 'I want to hold the chief and council's feet to the fire, just like I would at city hall or ... with the federal government,''' Strahl...

Apparently John Bull...

...hasn't been totally neutered...The British government views forced marriages, often performed after beatings or threats of violence, as a human rights abuse, far different from arranged marriages to which the bride and groom consent.It is Rawlins's job to stop them. In an age of increasingly fluid migration, and aided by instant communication, the British diplomat works 3,700 miles from London...

The moral and legal equivalent...

...of a judge in a criminal trial inviting the police and prosecutors over to his home for dinner -- while the trial is still going o...

A Tale of Two Shooters

Here's just one of the things that drives me crazy about the CBC... they're not above shilling the deaths of these two unfortunate young men... but in their blindly politically-correct madness... they won't even provide a description of the shooter.The only possible suspect is a man seen riding away from the murder scene on a mountain bike. Police say they believe whoever was responsible for the shooting...

The Leftbot Solution

Shoot a gun, deal drugs or assault a neighbour and your days in Toronto's public housing should be over."The truth is, nothing can be further from the truth," Harry Fine, a former adjudicator on the provincial body that resolves disputes between landlords and tenants, tells the Sunday Sun.In fact, Fine insists, there's a revolving door for bad tenants in this city's troubled public housing projects.The...

Ooooh, ooooh, over here...

C'mon Pearly... I'm poisonous too.**********RELATED: Ezra wants a piece of this"I'm enormously jealous of Blazing Cat Fur." "Good heavens, what do I have to do to get notice by Eliadis? I've been charged with the hate crime of publishing cartoons.""What has BCF, that whippersnapper, ever done...

Hey, dumbass...

Here's a breaking bulletin... many Canadians don't appreciate being held hostage...The Kelly Lake Cree Nation took down a highway blockade near the Alberta-B.C. border Saturday because of a close call with angry and dangerous drivers, band spokesman Clayton Anderson said.Anderson said he was walking toward a vehicle at the blockade on Highway 52, about 180 kilometres southeast of Chetwynd, in northeastern...

Toronto's Mayor Miller...

...renews call for city-wide "Cutlery Free Zone." -- TORONTO -- Police were called to the rear laneway of 11 St. Joseph St. in the Yonge and Wellesley Sts. area at about 3:00 a.m. after witnesses reported a large fight. A man had been involved in a scrap with several other people and had been stabbed 11 times and slashed in the throat during the melee.**********UPDATE: My mistake... that's 2...

Blessed be his name

The capricious and unknowable "Will of Allah." -- Diyala Province, IRAQ -- Fifteen people have been killed and 39 wounded by a female suicide bomber in the northern Iraqi city of Baquba.The bomber detonated the device in front of a group of policemen at the entrance to a local government and law courts complex.A number of civilians are said to be among the casualties.C'mon now... it's all for...

McCain and O'Bama

Two Irish guys duking it out to become the next President of the United States. With the exception of their Éire roots, no two candidates could be more different from one another - unless one of them had a vagina.Which, to be honest, has yet to be determined.**********RELATED: Much like our own Stephane Dion......he's flexibl...

Yes... by all means...

Because that's what we all absolutely want to do... "cater to it." -- TORONTO -- New public housing complex "CATERS TO SINGLES" under age 25 who have a child.A product of more than $2 million in federal funding, the centre near Jane St. and Sheppard Ave. W. will open its doors to 27 pregnant women or single mothers who are homeless or at risk of it.Five women live in the centre already, and it...

"THE SLIGHT STUFF"

Yeah... here's what most people are looking for in a war-time Prime Minister. -- TORONTO -- Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion has scolded Stephen Harper over his criticism of the Liberals' so-called green shift.“I call on the prime minister to debate with me any time on TV on this issue in a respectful,...

Maybe McCain should consider...

...switching sides... and joining the Republican Party. -- OTTAWA -- Senator John McCain says he would favour returning Toronto-born Omar Khadr to Canada from Guantanamo Bay if Prime Minister Stephen Harper requested it.On the environment, the Arizona senator appeared to align himself more closely with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Quebec Premier Jean Charest than with Harper.This is the...