Dear Lloyd

I've gotta confess... I don't have huge expectations of CTV National News.

I think I know... in a general sort of way... where you guys lean on most issues. Tonight, however, you managed to surprise me again.

I'm talking about the story where you claimed that "some people" are calling the guy who took his diaper-clad babies out into a -50 degree storm, well... calling him "the victim" in this thing.

Now Lloyd... I've gotta tell you... I didn't just fall off the turnip truck.

So, in the interest of clarity, who... besides this guy's immediate family... is saying dear ol' dad is... in any way, shape or form... the victim here?

Because it's totally beyond the pale... and I just don't believe it actually happened.

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Abu Laith al-Libi gets his fondest wish...

Rest in Pieces... you freakin' sociopath...

-- DUBAI -- An al-Qaeda commander in Afghanistan, described by Western intelligence officials as one of Osama bin Laden's top six lieutenants, has been killed, a mouthpiece for the organization said on Thursday.

Mr. Libi was "martyred along with a group of his brothers on the territory of Islamic Pakistan", said a statement from the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Fajr Media Centre posted on a website often used by Islamic militants.

Hey, Sammi... ya hearin' footsteps yet?

Mr. Libi appeared in a video issued in November with al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri to announce that a Libyan Islamist group had joined the organization.

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Hypocrite.... H... Y...P... O...

Premier McSlippery tries, yet again, to work his "rhetorical judo" on a politically-correct and pussywhipped populace...

Ontario's Liberal government won't prevent Canada's largest school board from establishing a controversial new black-focused school – a position critics say flies in the face of the party's much-touted opposition to funding religious schools, which helped propel it to victory in the last election.

And who's gonna pay the freight on this baby?

Implementing the adopted recommendations to combat high dropout rates among black students, which includes the proposed black-focused school, is expected to cost the school board about $850,000, which McGuinty insists the province will not provide.

But he wouldn't say whether that means the province won't bail out the cash-strapped school board at the end of the year, as it has in the past.

"The point I'm making today is that we're not going to be providing any additional funding for this particular new policy," McGuinty said.

Board officials, who are projecting a $41-million deficit, have said they will find the money for the school in their $2.3-billion budget.

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RELATED: And we're not just talkin' voodoo economics

To a cynical media wondering how this will miraculously solve an astounding 40% dropout rate among Toronto's black teens, Connelly could offer no compelling details of how this "bold, innovative" strategy will work -- at least not yet.

Instead, in what seems like a decidedly backwards approach to the problem, the trustees have narrowly voted to build it and then figure out if they will come -- and if it works.

"Does this mean that when a graduate from these schools enters the workforce they will seek employment in a black-only company, live in a black-only community, surround themselves with black-only friends, and absorb themselves in a black-only culture?"

Fountain of Youth

You wanna 'stay young'... get off your ass...

Researchers also report that people can start later in life — one man took up running at 62 and ran his first marathon, a year later, in 3 hours 25 minutes.

It’s a testament to how adaptable the human body is, researchers said, that people can start serious training at an older age and become highly competitive.

Speaking of which... time for a little chainsaw therapy.

Later, folks.

Introducing Darth Taser

If you're the sort of person who's been losing sleep over the ease and comfort of Taliban prisoners... perhaps you'd better skip this one...

Introducing the TASER XREP – the eXtended Range Electronic Projectile. XREP is a self-contained, wireless projectile that fires from a standard 12-gauge shotgun.

It delivers the same Neuro-Muscular Incapacitation (NMI) bio-effect as our handheld TASER X26, but can be delivered to a distance of up to 100 feet, combining blunt impact with field proven TASER NMI.

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Wednesday CTV Moonbat moment

See, Lloyd... if that were actually true... they wouldn't be dead, would they?

-- "He really loved and cared for them." --

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RELATED: CBC joins the 'peecee' party...

According to Pravda-West, the story has now... contrary to previous accounts... evolved to state that the father was so incapacitated by the cold... he couldn't speak for eight hours...

"Because of his injuries, Christopher wasn't able to speak until about eight hours later. When he did speak to investigators at around 1:30 p.m., he asked about his daughters."

That's funny... that's not how the story was initially reported...

The father of the girls was picked up by police early Tuesday morning, suffering from exposure to the extreme cold.

"He was conscious, he was awake," said RCMP Sgt. Brad Kaeding.

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How low will they go?

The Globe and the Fiberals are so desperate... they try cooking up yet another manufactured crisis...

A Liberal MP says Prime Minister Stephen Harper should apologize to Greek Canadians for suggesting in the Commons Wednesday that opposition MPs are convinced of a government scandal because those involved are Greek.

You know what, Steffi?

You... and your "save the Taliban prisoner" pals... and the rest of your thin-skinned politically correct arse-lickers... might want to consider raising something more consequential than somebody's potentially hurt feelings.

Maybe if you tried bringing up some "actual issues"... more people would pay a bit of attention to you.

I can't wait for Craig Oliver to demand a Royal Commission on Racism on tonight's CTV MOONBAT report.

Good grief.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

It's all a misunderstanding...

"What he said was he wanted Harper to stop insulting "GEEKS" in reference to the CPC making light of poor Steffie's ineptitude."

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LAST WORD: I have three testicles!!!

"When I heard Harper's statement, I tore open my shirt and ripped the hair and gold chains off my chest. I tried to console myself by drinking Ouzo, breaking plates and yelling "Opa" in anguish."

"I tried playing a soulful tune on my bouzouki, but as everyone knows, every Greek song starts off slow but speeds up near the end, so you can't help but form and line and dance around the restaurant."

Posted by The Greek

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Innocuous G and M headline...

Soft-pedals horrific, inexcusable behaviour... that has killed one baby and left another missing.

“Our belief at this point is that they probably left the house together, the girls with the father, and unfortunately they didn't make it to the neighbour's house as he did.”

Sgt. Kaeding said the body of the three-year-old girl was found, clad only in a diaper and T-shirt, between her home and a neighbour's house.

So why would a national newspaper be tiptoeing around this story?

Like real-estate... this one is all about 'location, location, location'... in this case, the Yellow Quill First Nation, east of Saskatoon.

He said there is “some concern” that alcohol use by the father may have contributed to the girls' being outside in bitter cold that felt like -50 with the wind chill factored in.

Unforgiveable.

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UPDATE: Second "baby" (my word) found dead

Interesting revisionism by the Globe... the original headline talked about a "missing girl"... like this was some sort of everyday "teenage runaway" thing.

Now they refer to the "second girl"... assiduously avoiding the use of the term "dead babies".

Move along folks... nothing to see here.

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UPDATE2: Note... original G & M article has been replaced a number of times... is now being spun totally from father's family point-of-view.

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RELATED: Toronto Sun fills in the blanks

RCMP Sgt. Brad Kaeding said a man from the community had been picked up about 5:30 a.m. suffering from frostbite and hypothermia, and was taken to hospital in nearby Kelvington.

The Globe mentions the man "asking" about his daughters... it seems the Sun has a slightly different take...

However, it wasn’t until eight hours later that the man informed police his daughters were missing.

It was so cold that humane society officials were recommending people not even allow their pets outdoors.

This one just makes me wanna put my head down and cry.

Who are these people?

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LAST WORD: Surprise... there are sociopaths here too

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What's flat, black & glows in the dark?

I'll give you a hint... it ain't gonna be Tel-Aviv...

"We are moving towards the summit of our nuclear path. The political issue of our nuclear programme - which was our biggest political challenge since the revolution - is about to end in favour of the Iranian nation."

"Your mighty palaces will fall through the grace of God".

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Shades of Mark Steyn

This story goes a ways towards confirming a central thesis of 'America Alone'...

Other maternity units have turned expectant mothers away because they could not cope with unprecedented increases in the local birth rate.

When Labour came to power, the NHS spent around £1bn a year on maternity services, with one baby in eight delivered to a foreign-born mother.

Ten years on, spending has risen to £1.6bn, with almost one baby in four delivered to a mother born overseas.

And no one here has even started considering the societal impact... they're simply too stunned by the financial implications.

While the number of babies born to British mothers has fallen by 44,000 a year since the mid-1990s, the figure for babies born to foreign mothers has risen by 64,000 - a 77% increase which has pushed the overall birth-rate to its highest level for 26 years.

Looks like Canadians aren't the only ones dealing with an imploding health care system.

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The night the lights went out...

In Toronto...

“It's not about segregation, it's about self-determination.”

Now, call me crazy... but I'm pretty sure... that's not how Martin Luther King would see it.

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RELATED: Uh, guys... isn't that an elephant...

"How is it that Faith-Based schools are so unthinkable that an election was lost over it, but Race-Based schools are not a problem?"

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"If segregation is such a great idea, why stop at race-based schools? Perhaps we should have separate buses, water fountains, washrooms and restaurants for blacks?"

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LAST WORD: The citizenry of Toronto weighs in

I guess the squeaky, politically correct wheel, really does get the baksheesh... uh... I mean grease.

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Tonight's CTV MOONBAT Moment

According to Lloyd Robertson... it's not winter anymore... it's a "weather assault".

Good grief.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"'Storm porn' - when you got nothing else"

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Apparently, you can never...

Have nearly enough lockstep socialist claptrap...

“Is Mr. Harper saying that the British, the Dutch and the Americans are imperilling their national security by releasing information about their detainees to their public,” Mr. Layton asked.

Mr. Harper replied... “I guess what it means is that Canada makes its own policies.”

Ooooh... that's gonna leave a mark.

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We've heard from the crazies...

How about we give equal time to the secular Muslim Canadian Congress?

“Islamic banking is nothing more than an attempt by Islamists, with backing from Middle Eastern financial institutions and their Western partners, to scare Muslim Canadians into believing that they should pay more to the banks and demand less in return, as an act of religiosity,” said MCC president Farzana Hassan in an open letter to CMHC.

It asked the Canadian housing agency to abandon its study into the issue, which it said it is costing $100,000, and said a better approach would be a banking system that seeks to integrate Canadians.

Alrighty... this is the voice in the Muslim community... that never seems to get those big headlines.

“What we need is a better deal from the banks for all Canadians, rather than dividing us up into religious groups and pacing obstacles in the way of better integration of all Canadians,” Ms. Hassan said.

“Religion has no place in the banking or mortgage industry.”

One people... one law.

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UPDATE: This is interesting...

It appears as though the politically correct lapdogs at the Globe and Mail have watered down the actual statement...

"Sharia Banking is an obscene attempt to fleece an already marginalized Muslim community while promising them the exact opposite. On the one hand Imams are warning Muslims of hellfire if they deal with the existing banking systems, and on the other the same clerics are being paid by banks to herd Muslims towards a system that is based on lies and deception."

Well, well, well...

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Loopy "Lucy" and friends...

And their passion for socialist street-theatre...

All in all, it looks more like a fun afternoon's "work" for some Vancouver street urchins, with lots of booze involved. Richard Warman is the odd man out: he's not a street kid just having fun with his fellow nose-pierced left-coasters; he's a lawyer, who has found a way of turning this sort of thing into a money-making career.

This guy sure doesn't sound like any lawyer I've ever met.

Until this video, I only knew Warman as a collection of facts and figures -- as a serial complainer-of-fortune at the Canadian human rights commission, and someone who conned the Canadian Jewish Congress into supporting his "anti-racist" antics, to their deep discredit.

Now I have a much better picture of the man: a jumped-up, self-righteous student politician who is no longer a student, a political activist who can't connect with or persuade real people in the court of public opinion, a petty squabbler who hasn't yet outgrown the childish antics of leftist street theatre and pie-throwing.

Good grief.

(h/t ffof)

My own personal Chalk River

Here at the Halls we're having a bit of an infrastructure problem.

Like a lot of our neighbours, we heat with wood, but the Halls have been built so tightly, we need a constant supply of fresh air to keep the fire going... and to carry away any by-products of combustion that might escape the stove.

Unfortunately, last week... we found out about a recall on a part for our air-exchanger. After contacting the manufacturer we were told that they were sending us a replacement part, but that we had to shut down the air exchanger until it arrived. The company talked about “overheating”, but I suppose what they really meant... was that our house could burn down.

So the options here are... shutting down the unit and go without heating... which means heading for a hotel until the part arrives... or continuing to use the unit until the part arrives at the end of the week.

Now given that the unit has been operating flawlessly since it was installed in 1995... I did a little calculation.

I figure the odds of the unit bursting into flames and burning down the house... before we get our part at the end of the week... is somewhere between Stephane Dion finding his missing courage and Elizabeth May becoming Prime Minister of Canada.

So anyway... I've made an executive decision here. And unless this blog suddenly goes suddenly goes silent in the next couple of days... you'll know that it was the right choice.

That sounds so familiar.

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RELATED: Of course, this is execu-speak for...

"She has her head up her ass."

"We nuclear engineers, we like belts and braces, and then we keep our hands in our pockets," he said, referring to the overlapping safety systems.

"She's saying that if we take our hands out of our pockets, our pants will fall down, even though we've got belts and braces."

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A powerful thirst

-- ADRIAN, MICH. -- A Michigan man was charged with drunken driving after drinking two bottles of wine, cutting through a snowstorm on his lawn mower and riding down the centre of the street to reach a liquor store, authorities said.

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I have only one thing to say...

About Barack Obama's latest... 'big hairy-ball deal'... celebrity endorsement..

"My gun is safer than Ted Kennedy's car."

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Soft on terror, abroad & at home

The next time you hear about some unfortunate wretch killed by a scum-sucking criminal... ask yourself... "Why are Steffi and the Pussycats blocking passage of the Conservative 'get tough on crime' bills?"

Federal Liberal Leader Stephane Dion says he won't press the Liberal-dominated Senate to push tough new gun laws through Canada's Upper House.

Bill C-10 calls for much tougher minimum sentences for gun offences and creates two new offences -- break-and-enter to steal a firearm, and robbery to steal a firearm.

More socialist horse-pucky from the party of... "Be kind to your Taliban."

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RELATED: Another armed GTA home invasion

Strangely enough, farmers, hunters and gun collectors were NOT implicated... yet again.

Police said two men armed with handguns stormed into a house in the Bayview Ave. and Elgin Mills Rd. area on Sunday at 8:25 p.m. Once inside, the invaders demanded money from the three people in the house.

They fired several shots, hitting a 21-year-old man twice in the legs. He was taken to hospital, where he was recovering yesterday, police said. The other two victims weren't injured.

So who are the shooters?

The first suspect is described as a male, possibly Middle Eastern, 25 to 28 years old, average build, 6-foot-2, with a pony tail and several tattoos on his arms. He was carrying a handgun.

The second suspect is an Asian male. He was wearing a mask and carrying a handgun, police said.

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A time to love, a time to hate

"A time for peeeeeeeace... I swear its not too late."

Hey, they lie... I lie.

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Calling all doughy old lefties...

Let there be lightweights...

The Salvation Army Gateway shelter will soon be glowing with lights using pedal power from old exercise bikes.

Sort of a hamster wheel for hippies... I love it.

The WeloBike project launches Feb. 12 at the Jarvis St. shelter and volunteers are needed to come in and pedal away for at least 30 minutes at a stretch.

Hey... how about an initiative that pays squeegie-kids to generate power for Toronto's methadone clinics while we're at it?

Kill two birds with one stone.

Oh yeah... one last little observation.

Did anybody else notice that they spent 3000 bucks for the cool bike-generators... plus the money for deep-cycle batteries, plus special lights... and bear in mind they need volunteers to travel to the shelter to do the pedalling... in hopes of lighting a single room?

Anybody have any idea how long you could power one light fixture (without, by the way, a bank of lead-acid batteries, special light fixtures and a dozen daily leftard volunteers) for 3500 smackeroos?

Just askin.

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Genocide 101

When the Toronto District School Board sets up its new Afro-centric schools... will they be dancing around current events?

-- NAIROBI, Kenya -- Ethnically driven violence intensified in Kenya on Sunday, and police officials said at least 19 people, including 11 children, were burned to death in a house by a mob.

I guess I just never understood what the problem was... with the way things were set up here in Canada.

On the other hand, even Kenya... previously held up as the jewel in the African societal crown... is beginning to resemble the SAW movie franchise.

Even the Kenyan military, deployed for the first time to stop antagonists from attacking one another, has been unable to halt the wave of revenge killings.

More than 100 people have been killed in the past four days, many of them shot with arrows, burned or hacked with machetes.

Unbelievable.

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RELATED: Today's 'Afro-centric values' update

Somalia Attack Kills Aid Workers

Victims include two doctors of international medical aid group Doctors Without Borders, a Somali driver and a reporter.

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RELATED: Thinking out of the box

While we're talking education...

"Would you like company propaganda with that?"

McDonald's has won approval to offer courses which could form part of a qualification at the standard of A-levels or advanced Diplomas.

Universities secretary John Denham said it was an important step towards ending the old divisions between company training schemes and national qualifications.

Of course... not everyone is convinced this is the way to go...

"Just last week, a report revealed that some universities have concerns over diplomas. We are unsure whether those institutions would be clamouring to accept people with McQualifications."

No kidding.

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Immaculate Perception

"I made this sandwich 10 years ago. When I took a bite out of it, I saw a face looking up at me - it was Virgin Mary staring back at me. I was in total shock."

I bet.

Sorta like your family and friends... when you started yipping about a grilled cheese miracle.

Then again... maybe crazy is the new normal.

eBay spokesman Hani Durzy said the company had decided to allow the auction to continue.

"There's nothing to indicate that the seller isn't willing to give up this cheese sandwich to the highest bidder," he said.

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While Al Gore fiddles...

His nonsensical ditty of climactic armageddon... bio-diversity burns...

Official estimates say there are about three million Ankole cattle in Uganda and smaller populations in bordering nations. An unknown — though by all accounts large — percentage of them are in the process of being turned into something else.

And it ain't gonna take thousands of years either.

After one cross with a Holstein, the brown Ankole cow will produce a black calf with darkened horns. After two, the horns will shrink and a dappled coat will appear.

The third generation will basically look like American dairy cattle.

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QOTD

"I suggest it to you as I have the organizational skill of Irish Setter puppies."

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Apparently "Lucy" Warman's boyfriend...

Knows a thing or two about hate-speech...

"I hear Stormfront runs a whites-only dating service, however. You might want to check that out."

And while I knew Vitamin K was a ladies man... I had no idea he was also a warrior.

"I told her I was a pretty good shot, but no thanks, honey."

I'm with BCF here, Warren... don't be a tease, let's have the whole story.

And don't forget to dish about how you got to be such a "good shooter".

Over to you, babe.

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Stephane Dion...

Serves up his "Unhappy Meal"... "Would you like democracy with that?"

Shoal Lake Chief Marcel Head, who is chairman of an interim executive committee for the riding association, says they just want the democratic process to be allowed.

“We're being dictated as to what we can do, who to support, who to vote for and that's not right.”

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RELATED: Oh, those rascally Liberals...

They're just all about "the equality".

Except when they're not.

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CTV's moonbat moment of the week

The CTV Ottawa affiliate CJOH... started off their piece on supporting U.S. army deserters in Canada... "A small group of freedom fighters..."

I almost fell outta my chair.

First of all, there is no... as there was for the Vietnam War... draft in effect in the United States. This is an all volunteer army.

All these people went out of their way to qualify to enlist in the American military. Maybe they should have considered the possibility that, as soldiers, they might be sent to fight a war. To label the people who violated their oath and deserted their duty to their country as "freedom fighters" beggars belief.

It seems the CBC isn't the only Canadian media outlet that considers itself a media subsidiary of the lunatic left.

Disgusting.

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RELATED: They don't even pretend to be evenhanded

Anyway, good on Pamela Wallin for her non-partisan, classy handling of this issue. Craig Oliver must be frustrated that she didn't play the game.

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A vicious serial killer dies...

Some people mourn... sane people breathe a sigh of relief...

Throughout his life Habash supported the use of violence against Israel. One of the most deadly PFLP attacks was the gunning down of 27 people at Israel's Lod airport in May 1972. Forty-seven people were killed when a Swissair jet was bombed in 1970.

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C'mon... what leftwing media bias?

Check out this headline from the Canadian Press...

-- "B.C. prison locked down after inmates set fires over privacy concerns" --

Betcha you couldn't guess... in a million years... what this is actually about...

"Dave Lefebvre, a spokesman for the medium-security facility, says inmates were unhappy after last week's media reports about a woman being stopped at the gate when her toddler's stroller tested positive for cocaine."

Burn baby, burn.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

The real story that got missed: "Woman attempts to smuggle cocaine into prison using her baby, family services does nothing."

Indeed.

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The sound of silence

Tired of getting their asses kicked every time they tried fighting actual soldiers... the jihadis have fallen back on a favorite tactic... kidnapping unarmed women.

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- Gunmen kidnapped a burqa-clad American aid worker and her driver in southern Afghanistan's largest city early Saturday, the latest in a series of kidnappings of foreigners in the troubled country.

Cyd Mizell, who worked in Kandahar for the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation, was snatched from a residential neighborhood as she was on her way to work.

That's some Religion of Peace.

Who exactly is this woman... this horrendous enemy of Islam?

A professor at Kandahar University, Mohammad Gul, said Mizell taught English at the university and gave embroidery lessons at a girl's school.

"She is a very patient and calm woman," Gul said. "She was always thinking about Afghanistan's future."

The Asian Rural Life Development Foundation runs food-for-work, irrigation rehabilitation, health care and restoration projects around Kandahar, according to the group's Web site. The group also has projects in Vietnam, China, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.

Well, of course... what right-thinking jihadi wants anything to do... with stuff like that?

Funny... I'm not hearing anything from the usually rabidly vociferous Taliban Jack. Aren't these kidnappers the very people Jacko is always saying he wants to negotiate with?

Suddenly the poster boy for the downtrodden third world can't find anything to say?

Funny how that works.

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Ezra sends a love note..

To Kinsella and friends...

Kinsella and Warman are lawyers by profession, but they try to avoid real lawsuits -- better to win by the mere threat of one.

Compare their high school braggadocio towards little bloggers, with this rather meek demand letter sent to the Post in response to a column I had written about him. It was properly ignored; Warman didn't dare sue a monied defendant with real lawyers, and Kinsella chose his paycheque over speaking up for his principles.

As a lawyer himself... he knows a little about the bluster and bluff of the serial litigant.

I get defamation threats all the time, like this one, just this week from Syed Soharwardy. (Here is my reply.)

That reply is not just me being lippy; it's knowing the difference between empty, blustering, Kinsella-ish threats made as a political tactic, and a real legal problem. (I'm pleased to say that, in nearly four years of publishing, the Western Standard was never once served with a defamation lawsuit, despite receiving 50 or so Kinsella specials.

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RELATED: Mike Brock on Vitamin K...

What Kinsella either does not understand, does not want to, or simply prefers to misrepresent, is that people like myself believe that hate is best confronted in a free and open society.

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FROM MIKE'S COMMENTS:

On the weighty matter of state-enforced censorship to prevent "hurt feelings"...

I've seen the civility issue come up before, as when I've posted something in my usual, er, robust manner.

Inevitably someone objects that I am doing XYZ cause "more harm than good" and that the "average Canadian is turned off" by mouthy/rude/outspoken/sarcastic/whatever commentary.

To date, none of these critics has accepted my challenge to send me the name, address etc of these turned off average Canadians, or the names and addresses of actual people who haven't voted GOP because 'Ann Coulter is so obnoxious'.

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Yes, my Islamic brothers...

Please come in... but could you leave your machine-guns and bulldozers by the door?

-- Egypt -- "These provocations cause us concern and our Palestinian brothers should note that the Egyptian decision to host them and ease their suffering should not result in threats to the lives of our sons in the Egyptian forces," he said.

Yeah, sure... that gracious invitation.

Sorta like the German decision to host that party at Omaha Beach.

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Pallywood

-- The sequel. --

Who says size doesn't matter?

**********

RELATED: And the Academy Award...

For the Best Special Effects goes to...

"They had closed the curtains in the rooms to create the impression that Hamas leaders were also suffering as a result of the power stoppage," one journalist told The Jerusalem Post.

"It was obvious that the whole thing was staged."

(h/t SDA)

Mayor David Miller...

Calls on Harper government to enact total ban... on senseless murders...

Shawn Mclean, the shy, mentally challenged young man who was shot Tuesday night, passed away this evening, becoming Toronto’s fourth homicide victim of this year.

Loudly proclaiming that "murder has only one purpose"... Toronto's mayor explained that no one will be safe... until legislation prohibiting the taking of other people's lives is enacted.

The young, schizophrenic man was believed to be walking home from the North York Sheridan Mall when an unknown assailant shot him in the neck.

He was left to die on the icy sidewalk, bleeding and alone, when he was found by a passer-by on the east side of Jane St. near Chalkfarm Dr.

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Then I saw her face...

Now I'm a believer...

Sunny says, get off your ass.

Stop making babies unless you can provide 100% of what they need. Don’t “buy” stuff on credit that you can’t afford to pay off. Get an education (the more “disadvantaged” you are, the easier it is to find someone to pay for it).

Fido didn’t bust his hump learning how to kill rabbits just so he could take care of Spot’s fat ass and Spot’s fat-assed puppies.

Also, she has taken my sage advice and agreed to a platform espousing the flat tax. Everybody pays 10% of their gross income.

Bam.

(h/t rightgirl)

Lizzie May reconsiders support...

For bloody jihad...

Yesterday, Stéphane Dion’s candidate in Central Nova, Elizabeth May retracted her characterization of NATO and Canadian forces as “Christian Crusaders.”

“In hindsight I would have phrased it differently.”

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No good deed...

Goes unpunished...

"Police brutality!" people began to yell. "Take some pictures!"

Some attendees rushed outside and recorded the action on video or cellphone cameras.

Of course... there are usually two sides to every story.

Police said the incident was sparked when they tried to get the man out of the intersection, where he was almost hit by a bus.

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UPDATE: Thank goodness for the compassionate left

Officers ended up scuffling with a man they described as a known street-level drug dealer outside the event.

The 35-year-old man was standing in a busy intersection, screaming and ignoring demands to get off the road.

“They try and go arrest him and he punches one of our policewomen, breaks her glasses, and she gets a cut over the eye,” Vancouver police spokesman Constable Tim Fanning said Friday.

Officers were unable to subdue him but a passing transit police officer stepped in to help, using his taser to stun the man so he could be handcuffed, Fanning said.

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RELATED: Sure could have used a taser here

"Hmmm... a mental patient menacing people in public with a large knife... yes, this is clearly a case of racism."

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Every day I wake up and...

Thank my lucky stars... for the caring, compassionate Liberal Party of Canada.

*

Fool me once, shame on you

Fool me twice... shame on me...

But in 1978 - even in Copenhagen, one didn’t see these Muslim immigrants. The Danish population embraced visitors, celebrated the exotic, went out of its way to protect each of its citizens.

It was proud of its new brand of socialist liberalism - one in development since the conservatives had lost power in 1929 - a system where no worker had to struggle to survive, where one ultimately could count upon the state as in, perhaps, no other western nation at the time.

(h/t reader farmer phil)

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RELATED: Egypt reacts to... Islamist threat

Egyptian security forces have begun shutting down the border with the Gaza Strip two days after it was blown open by armed Gaza militants.

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What's all the fuss about?

You just have to think of them as... long-distance fireworks...

"I did not hear Mr Holmes describe the 4,100 rockets which have been launched at Israeli cities aimed at the killing of Israeli babies and children, innocents, as a humanitarian crisis," Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman told reporters.

**********

RELATED: And, of course...

Police said the attackers entered a study hall in Kfar Etzion and stabbed three students before they were shot by security guards. The wounded students were taken to a hospital for treatment, Israeli rescue services said.

Also late Thursday, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at Israelis outside the Shuafat refugee camp on the outskirts of Jerusalem, killing a border police officer and seriously wounding a female officer, police said.

Funny how selective that media spotlight seems to be. You so seldom hear about Israeli victims.

David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office, denounced the attacks. "These terror attacks are an example of the brutality of Palestinian terror which Israel battles on a daily basis."

**********

LAST WORD: Then there's the Twilight Zone.

*

Another media manufactured crisis

Sorry guys, it's all pink light and no heat... what Commie Bob Rae thinks... matters less than nothing to me.

**********

RELATED: A little trip down memory lane

The picture of Canadian special forces in this SRC (CBC) article, which was also on their homepage, was taken in the fall of 2001 when the Liberal party was in power under Jean Chretien, long before Canada had any more than a few dozen JTF-2 members in Afghanistan.

I remember because the picture was on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen back then when the debate was about the LIBERALS letting our armed forces transfer Taliban prisoners over to US forces.

*

You don't have to be Isaac Asimov...

To see the possible adverse consequences here...

A team of U.S. scientists is reporting that it has constructed the genome of a living organism for the first time.

Its proponents envision making micro-organisms that gobble up pollution, produce hard-to-make drugs, pump out clean energy, or, at the whimsical end, flowers designed to bloom on your birthday.

Or a bacteria that eats plastic... or human flesh.

I'm just sayin'... let's be careful out there.

*

Hey. Dalton...

Tell me more about how you're fixing the health care system...

Jean Keegan spent one whole day last week sitting in a city medical clinic for 40 pills.

Keegan, 88, said there were other ways she could have spent her day but without a family physician and in need of prescriptions - which help her deal with an undiagnosed pain in her right side - she had no other choice.

My personal record down at Belleville General Emergency... is seven and a half hours with a sick, fevered child.

Maybe if Health Minister Smitherman can take a few moments from his campaign championing gay organ donors... he could see about getting us a few more doctors?

Pretty please.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Who does George Smitherman represent"?

And Crazymamma reminds OCAP boy... it ain't a socialist paradise just yet...

Do you care what car choice I make when buying? Do you have a right to care? Do you care where I spend my money for my holidays? Do you have a right to say where I can shop for groceries? Do you have a right to say who supplies my undergarments?

I have a right to shop Walmart or Victoria's Secret, why should Health care be any different?

It's none of your freaking business how I spend my money on any service that is LEGAL in CANADA.

**********

RELATED: I'm just glad the TDSB...

Has all that surplus cash just lying around.

The Toronto District School Board is set to spend at least $820,000 to help black students succeed -- with a plan that includes setting up an Africentric alternative school.

Less than a week before a special meeting where trustees will vote on creating the controversial school, the board released a report breaking down costs of four proposals aimed at black students.

Funny, though... seems not everybody is inside the tent here...

Trustee Josh Matlow told the Sun trustees are increasingly divided on the controversial issue and the vote will be close.

He said creating a black-focused school would lead to student segregation and tabled his own proposal as an alternative to the Africentric approach.

*

Mark Steyn presents...

The Fog of Warren...

"The Ottawa Citizen and Southam News wish to apologize for our apology to Mark Steyn, published Oct. 22. In correcting the incorrect statements about Mr. Steyn published Oct. 15, we incorrectly published the incorrect correction. We accept and regret that our original regrets were unacceptable and we apologize to Mr. Steyn for any distress caused by our previous apology."

*

Wearing out their welcome

"The Palestinians left us with nothing. It's true, they are dear to us, but today, they were like locusts."

Well, guys... that's actually the least of your problems.

Try to imagine the blowback if one of those crazy Hamas shitheads launches some of their mobile missiles from Egyptian territory.

You think Israel is just gonna say, "Hey... don't worry about it... we understand."

**********

UPDATE: Alrighty... problem solved

Now that the Palestinians are getting supplies from Egypt, Israel wants to sever ties with Gaza altogether. Israeli spokesman Arieh Mekel.

"We expect the Egyptians to solve the problem," he said.

Egypt rejects the idea. Responsibility for 1.5 million Palestinians would be an economic burden, and Egypt's government fears that open borders with the Hamas-ruled area could strengthen its own Islamic fundamentalists who oppose the pro-western regime in Cairo.

*

QOTD

"If they thought locking themselves in the garage with the car running would help them win a gold medal, I’m sure they would do it."

"Our job, obviously, is to prevent that."

RANDY WILBER, a physiologist for the United States Olympic Committee, on athletes’ reaction to pollution in Beijing.

I've got an idea

Indentured slavery went out over a hundred years ago... how about the community ponies up and pays this guy a living wage?

Members of the GTA Sikh community are rallying to save their lead priest from being sent home to India after eight years as their main spiritual adviser.

Gurdeep Singh, 38, was refused landed immigrant status last year and community members fear he may be scooped up and sent packing by immigration officials.

He said the priest doesn't receive wages but his expenses are paid for by the temple, which has a congregation of about 10,000.

If he's so highly skilled and universally revered... what's the problem? And, by the way, who's paying his OHIP... and, more importantly... saving for his retirement?

Lawyer Mendel Green said Singh was refused landed immigrant status because his English skills were lacking and officials fear he may go on welfare.

"Immigration is treating these highly skilled priests as temporary workers," Green said yesterday. "The community must have the stability to know their leader will be here tomorrow."

Maybe this poor guy should dump Mendel Green and get himself a labour lawyer.

*

It's not just snake oil...

Sometimes... it's poisonous snake oil...

Folk medicines... second only to paint in U.S. as cause of lead poisoning in children, report finds.

*

The Price of Freedom

It has been said many times before... freedom isn't free.

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A Canadian soldier died when a bomb exploded under his armoured vehicle Wednesday, as the military struggles to regain control of a notorious district southwest of Kandahar city.

It's important to remember that the citizens of Afghanistan are paying the price of bloody jihad as well.

A roadside bomb killed five local Afghans and injured three others on the same road on Jan. 19, the commander said. "Our men and women are doing dangerous but vital work in a country that is one of the poorest in the world."

This brave Canadian was willing to place himself in the line of fire to uphold the rights of people like those above.

He will be remembered.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"If you live or come to Ottawa, try to go to the national military cemetery in Beechwood Cemetery on Hemlock Road and St. Laurent."

**********

UPDATE: Latest casualty identified

CEFCOM/COMFEC NR–08.006 - January 24, 2008

OTTAWA – Killed yesterday in Afghanistan was Sapper Étienne Gonthier, 21 year old, of 5th Combat Engineer Regiment based in Valcartier (Québec). He was part of a team of sappers conducting route clearance ahead of a convoy in the Panjwaiyi District.

**********

LAST WORD: Welcome readers of Canadian Cecilia

It's always nice to be linked to... yet again... by the poster boy for the intellectual, caring left.

Remember Canadian Cecilia's message to Wanda Watkins, whose son Lane was killed in Afghanistan?

"With all due respect, Wanda, fuck you and your grief. It's not the job of the rest of Canada to continue to let its soldiers die just so you can sleep better at night."

Of course... CC has always been a real lady's man.

I should be flattered, I guess... CC has linked twice to this same post.

Because... "he wins"... he says.

*

BREAKING: Clinton stuns nation

"It is with a great sense of relief that I say to all of you today, 'Screw it. I'm in.'"

In a show of respect, Clinton then completed his introduction of Hillary Clinton, calling her a "wonderful wife and worthy political adversary," and warmly shook her hand as she approached the podium.

A clearly shocked Mrs. Clinton got halfway through her speech about the nation's obligation to its children before walking briskly offstage.

*

First they came...

For the ham...
*

Afghanistanly with Manley

Well... thank goodness we've cleared all that up...

"So you got that? This is a disaster for Dion, except when it’s bad news for Harper. It’s more of the same, except where it’s a call for change. There aren’t any real solutions, though it’s just what the troops have been demanding."

*

You've gotta understand...

We're playing by Middle East rules...

Asked whether he had reported it to the government, he replied: "It was the government that was doing this."

"Who would I report it to?"

*

That Chinese economic dream...

Is starting to look like a Dickensian nightmare...

One of the main reasons for the outages is that there is not enough coal in the country. Coal-fired power plants provided about 83 percent of China's electricity output in 2007.

Chinese state media are reporting a nationwide power shortfall of 70 gigawatts, which is equivalent to the entire generating capacity of Britain.

*

You've come...

A wrong way, baby...

"It’s odd that the first woman with a shot at becoming president is so openly dependent on her husband to drag her over the finish line."

*

Musharraf insists nukes are safe

Pervez... it might've been a little more reassuring... if you hadn't chose to start your speech with that tidbit...

Mr Musharraf said that he was "not concerned" about political turmoil at home following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last month, and insisted his country was stable.

"I can assure you that nothing will happen in Pakistan," he said. "We are not a banana republic."

Uh-huh... somebody better mention that factoid to Stephane Dion.

*

David Miller and Dalton McGuinty...

Are huge proponents of prohibiting already illegal acts... but how about we just look at keeping convicted murderers in prison?

-- Toronto -- A paroled murderer who stabbed a man during a crackhouse binge has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Kevin Humphrey, 43, was on parole from a life sentence when he stabbed Richard Kent multiple times with a folding knife and then slit his throat on Oct. 16, 2006 in a crack house near Church and Wellesley Sts.

Months before, despite three breaches of parole, he was paroled again when an expert deemed him manageable in the community.

And... Falconer report notwithstanding... I'm pretty sure more social workers ain't the right answer...

Police believe a critically injured teenager was shot and dumped from a car on a Jane St. sidewalk Tuesday night.

The young victim, who carried no identification, was on life-support at Sunnybrook Health Centre, where he was not expected to live, police said.

“He’s a young guy. We don’t know who he is or where he came from. We’re canvassing the area and need some witnesses to come forward,” says Insp. Dave Saunders.

**********

RELATED: Check out the further wisdom...

Of the National Parole Board.

Mr. Latimer is serving a life sentence for the murder of his disabled daughter Tracy.

The parole board denied him parole in December, saying, among other things, that he showed no remorse for his actions.

“The panel that denied his parole was plainly more interested in extracting a tearful apology from Mr. Latimer than it was in performing its proper function.”

*

Never mind the metric system...

I still can't get my head around that crazy Liberal math.
(h/t doggerel party)

*

Surprise, surprise, surprise

Shawn Brant is back in the news...

A 16-year-old legal battle involving a well-known native dissident, a small parcel of land and the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte landed in Belleville's Superior Court of Justice Monday.

Three weeks has been set aside to hear a complex $750,000 civil lawsuit brought against Shawn Michael Brant, his father Ronald Leslie Brant and Andrew Clifford (Cliff) Miracle by the Tyendinaga Mohawk Council over the ownership of territory land along the north side of Old Highway 2.

And guess what... it involves wily white man taxpayer bucks as well.

At the same time, he said, the father-and-son team secured a $250,000 loan from Ohwistha Capital Corp. in addition to borrowing a further $180,000 from Industry Canada.

Not too surprisingly... the law of the land very quickly got tossed out the window.

"In the fall of 1992 you have a situation where a $200,000 building has been put on land where there is no signed agreement and no one has paid anything (for the land)," he said.

"And that's when the litigation starts."

Read it all.

*

Hey, Jacko

Are these the kind of people you're gonna negotiate with?

And guess what... these are ostensibly the good guys...

-- KABUL -- An Afghan court on Tuesday sentenced a 23-year-old journalism student to death for distributing a paper he printed off the Internet that three judges said violated the tenets of Islam, an official said.

The three-judge panel sentenced Sayad Parwez Kambaksh to death for distributing a paper that humiliated Islam, said Fazel Wahab, the chief judge in the northern province of Balkh, where the trial took place. Judge Wahab did not preside over the trial.

Obviously, free speech doesn't get along all that well with Islam.

That sounds so familiar.

*

Some unnamed wusses...

From unnamed whackadoodle political parties...

“Many would have preferred us to find a basis on which to recommend an end to the Canadian military roles by a certain date.”

*

It's not just about us...

They cry... "It's about putting bandaids on the booboos of all Canadians..."

Although this blow-back heat comes as the direct result of our specific complaints, such attacks on the very principles of the provincial and federal Commissions to whom we submitted our case threatens the interests of us all.

Thanks anyway, guys... I'm good with that whole "free speech in an actual democracy" thing.

**********

RELATED: Funny... no free speech over here either

Curious how Toronto's various "communities" suddenly go deaf and dumb when the situation involves anything more than "hurt feelings".

As Hou Chang Mao's grief-stricken son and daughter struggle to understand their father's senseless slaying, homicide detectives are struggling to deal with a community that has so far been unwilling to provide clues in the hunt for the shooters.

A poorly attended community meeting at St. Anne's Church -- just steps from where Mao was killed Thursday on Gerrard St. E. -- left 55 Division Insp. Peter Yuen feeling "utter disgust."

*

The caring, compassionate...

Religion of Blown to Pieces...

The bomber walked into a funeral tent for a local tribal leader and blew himself up among mourners, who included Salahuddin provincial government officials and members of a local U.S.-backed anti-al Qaeda Awakening Council.

"There was a big explosion. The tent was filled with the body parts of mourners. No one can be identified," said one survivor, Ahmed Abdullah, a Salahuddin government official.

Yessiree, the good ol' funeral bomb.

When you care enough to send the very best.

**********

RELATED: Speaking of incomprehensible violence

-- TEHRAN (IRNA) -- An Iranian parliamentarian on Monday warned the Dutch government over possible screening of an anti-Islam film.

Alaeddin Borujerdi, the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman, told IRNA that if the film is screened in the Netherlands, it will trigger extensive repercussions from Muslims throughout the globe.

*

That Northern Nookie...

Really is a walk on the wild side...

New research suggests that the rate of some sexually transmitted diseases is increasing much faster in the Arctic than in southern Canada.

The paper says rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia infection are about eight times higher in the three territories than the provinces.

*

My God! A transfer to Toronto!

That'll teach her.

*

A McSlippery slope

From the people who brought you, -- "I won't cut your taxes... but I won't raise them either." --

The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario study, authored by Trent University professor Harry Kitchen, recommends the 400 series highways, the Queen Elizabeth Way, the Don Valley Parkway, the Gardiner Expressway and both the Red Hill Creek and Lincoln Alexander Parkways should have tolls applied.

Never happen... you say.

Oh yeah?

The Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario is scheduled to meet with Transportation Minister Jim Bradley on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Bend over Ontario... the Taxman cometh.

*

The Interview: Ezra Levant

You won't wanna miss this one... tonight at 8 EST on TVO...

Free speech or hate speech: former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant on his fight with the Alberta Human Rights Commission over the magazine's publication of the Danish Mohammed cartoons.

You can warm up with these.

**********

LAST WORD: Look who just woke up...

After the international MSM picked it up... the Globe and Mail couldn't continue to plead ignorance.

It was so banal, so routine. When she walked in, she seemed happy. With a smile, she reached out her hand to shake mine. I refused — to me, nothing could have been more incongruous.

Would I warmly greet a police officer who arrested me as a suspect in a crime? Then why should I do so for a thought crime?

This was not normal; I would not normalize it with the pleasantries of polite society.

*

HOMICIDE TIP #14

-- Stuff you don't say to the cops during interrogation --

"You give me an ice pick and in two seconds, I can kill you."

*

What the @#*%*!!!

Good sweet [fill in your deity here]... the inmates ARE running the asylum...

Barb Hill, director of policy development for the John Howard Society, said maintaining special diets during incarceration is critical.

“We’re a multicultural society. Just like there are lots of people on the outside who come from different religious and ethnic groups, the same happens in prison and we have to respect their religions,” she said.

“I know how important it is for people to maintain their religious diets.”

Just one small question here Barb... if these guys are so freakin' religious... how in gawd's name... DID THEY END UP IN PRISON?

(h/t ffof)

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

I thought we had solved this problem over 200 years ago. It was called, "Bread & Water".

*

See, what I don't get is...

Dalton McSlippery hasn't had too much trouble finding 100 million dollars to appease the homegrown terrorists holding Caledonia hostage... but he can't deal with a healthcare system that appears to be imploding...

The Ontario government rejected a proposal to fund two neurotrauma beds at a Toronto hospital, as droves of critically ill patients with brain hemorrhages were being sent to the United States for emergency medical care.

Emergency room physicians have described harrowing scenes, where patients with hemorrhagic strokes and other types of cerebral hemorrhages have languished for up to eight hours, as health-care workers begin the search to locate care.

Now, I'm no economist... but I'm pretty sure shipping patients... and, just as importantly... critical care personnel... to the United States isn't saving any money either...

Tom Chan, medical director and chief of emergency at the Scarborough Hospital, said none of these patients have known brain problems and then find themselves in emergency. Sometimes, the only solution is to be rushed by air or land ambulance to the United States.

"As soon as you hear that, patients freak because it's a ways away, but then your staff freaks because I'm going to be sending my staff with the patient," Dr. Chan said. "Then all of a sudden, it's an issue. Maybe they won't get to the border, maybe they won't be able to get their patient to the border. ... It's anxiety all around."

It's time to stop the fiberal madness.

*

In Africa, one man's ethnic cleansing...

Is the next guy's re-election platform...

The Sudanese authorities have given a senior government position to a man accused of co-ordinating the Janjaweed Arab militia in Darfur.

The Janjaweed has been accused of trying to 'cleanse' Darfur of black Africans.

His appointment as a ministerial adviser will be seen as another set-back in the faltering peace process in Darfur, and is likely to increase rebel suspicions about the motivations of the authorities in Khartoum.

But where is the sainted United Nations... you might ask.

Oh, they're much too busy chasing other villains.

**********

RELATED: It ain't just the Sudan

Remember Kenya... widely celebrated as "an African success story and land of tolerance"?

He explained how the elders blessed the young men, who then split into teams of 50 to hunt down Kikuyus with bows and arrows. He did not feel bad about shooting them, he said.

“We attack people, we burn their homes and then we take their animals,” Mr. Kibet said matter-of-factly.

*

A sneak peek

Let the speculation begin.

-- OTTAWA -- John Manley's report on Canada's future role in Afghanistan will likely recommend that troops stay in Afghanistan until 2011 while also criticizing the federal government agency responsible for delivering aid to the war-torn nation, CTV News reported last night.

The widely anticipated report from the former Liberal foreign affairs minister is also expected to criticize NATO for not taking on its share of the burden and will say that Canada's role should be reconfigured from counterinsurgency to training the Afghan police.

*

Another CTV push poll...

Goes horribly wrong...

Whatever happened to actual news?

I'm just so tired of this mindless moonbat propaganda...

"It is the same in Canada. The MSM quickly, but with a pious face, announces the death of every Canadian soldier."

"However, when Canadian soldiers were in Bosnia, the MSM was silent about any casualties... I guess because it was ok for soldiers wearing blue helmets to get hurt in the name of the UN because they were not shooting their guns, but not once they put on a green helmet."

Posted by: Brian at January 20, 2008 3:42 PM

*

Apparently Field Marshall Dion...

Has decided... instead of invading Pakistan... he's gonna go with Plan B...

-- KITCHENER, Ont. -- Federal Liberal caucus chairman Anthony Rota says "we haven't picked a time to overthrow the government," but the official Opposition is ready for an election campaign, if and when the time is right to defeat the minority Conservatives after Parliament resumes next week.

OVERTHROW!?!

I'm guessin' more like underlick.

(h/t reader Maureen)

The Pals start lobbin' missiles...

At the U.N. building... maybe these guys will feel a little differently...

The United Nations condemned the Israeli measures, saying they are leading to a humanitarian crisis among Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

Hey, guess what, Mohammed? You don't get to change the rules of the game... after you deal the cards.

Israel says it will ease the closure when the rocket attacks stop. But Hamas is defiant. It issued a statement saying that Israeli sanctions would not weaken "the determination and steadfastness" of the Palestinian people."

Isn't it nice that Hamas has all these civilian lives to ante up?

That's some Religion of peace.

*

I'm a little late to the party, here...

But, wow... I mean... holy freakin' pissin' away my tax dollars while conducting an inquisition...

"Guess that's what happens with a Drama queen foolishly takes on an accused anti-semitic computer techie, eh -- don't tug on "Ubermensch's" cape next time, Richie boy."

I'm gonna go out on a limb here... and guess they don't teach this particular tactic at most law schools.

**********

UPDATE: Kathy Shaidle backs 'er off a bit

**********

RELATED: One gal's devious Drama Queen...

Is apparently another man's knight in shining armour...

Toronto lawyer Warren Kinsella, whose 1994 book, Web of Hate, enraged the radical right, calls Mr. Warman "extraordinarily courageous.

Most people do not understand that when you speak up against terrorists -- in this case, far-right terrorists -- they do not thereafter engage you in scholarly debate. Sometimes, they want to kill you. Warman knows that, but he keeps going."

That makes him, in Mr. Kinsella's estimation, "one of the bravest people in Canada."

Uh, Warren... maybe you need to get out more.

**********

LAST WORD: Ezra lays it out

The commissions are set up to attract complaints from people who don't like free debates, who don't like the rigors of a real court, or who simply see a punitive government process in which they'd like to entangle their enemies.

Is it any surprise that such a system appeals to foreign-born radical jihadis like Mohamed Elmasry and Syed Soharwardy, and domestic litigators of fortune like Richard Warman?

*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Just heard Lisa LaFlamme reporting from Cuba... referring to "Cuban-style" democracy... "where Fidel Castro is expected to win unanimously, as he always does."

Yeah, Lisa... not like that cruel, bloodsoaked Harper reign of Stalinist terror, huh?

Amazing.

*

I know the Belleville BIA...

Is always talking about revitalising the downtown core... but I'm guessin' this particular enterprise isn't on the official plan...

Two undercover police officers who were patrolling the city's downtown Thursday night were approached by a woman who, after a short conversation, is alleged to have offered to perform sexual duties in exchange for money.

As a result, 43-year-old Candy Decko has been charged with solicitation.

Looks like Belleville's getting some of that big city veneer after all.

*

Maybe Stephane Dion and Ford...

Are using the same press relations firm...

Ford Canada has pulled a newspaper ad in Manitoba telling motorists to "Drive it like you stole it" after being chided by police and drivers alike for sending the wrong message.

Ya think?

*

Steffi chewing on foot number 2

Field Marshall... er, I mean Secretary General Dion... the gift that keeps on giving...

Dion later insisted that he meant NATO countries should apply diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to have its military deal more forcefully with Afghan insurgents who take advantage of the porous border between the two countries to evade NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

There's just one problem there, Your Sheepliness...

That clarification prompted even more criticism from the federal government and other critics who said Dion should know better, that NATO is a military alliance, not a diplomatic one.

Leader of the Opposition?

At this rate, Steffi... they're not even gonna let you lead... the local Pride Parade.

*

Of course, the downside here is...

By the time Pakistani Intelligence is through with this guy... he'll have confessed to killing the Kennedy brothers... and Abraham Lincoln as well.

**********

RELATED: The eye in the sky...

“There are powerful reasons to believe that terror networks around Baitullah Mehsud were responsible,” said one American intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

*

When a scummy, drug dealin'...

Gangbanger gets shot on the streets of Toronto... he gets rushed to one of the finest full-time trauma centres in North America -- So why is it... when hardworkin', taxpayin' Joe Lunchbucket has a stroke... he gets shuffled off to Buffalo...

More than 150 critically ill Canadians – many with life-threatening cerebral hemorrhages – have been rushed to the United States since the spring of 2006 because they could not obtain intensive-care beds here.

“My hospital is 20 minutes from the best neurosurgery in the country – if not the world – and we can't get to it,” said Dr. Chan, who described the situation as “crazy.”

Hey Dalton... what say you take some of that "crack pipe money" and help out people... who actually contribute to society?

*

Hamas gets tutored... again

Rocket attacks + Israel = Instant Payback

-- GAZA (Reuters) -- Israel bombed the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza and closed border crossings with the coastal strip on Friday in an intensified campaign to halt Palestinian rocket attacks.

The four-storey ministry complex in Gaza City was empty at the time but one woman was killed and at least 30 others nearby were wounded in the air strike, medical officials said.

An Israeli air strike minutes later damaged Hamas's naval headquarters in the central Gaza Strip but caused no casualties.

Live and don't learn... the official motto of Palestinian terrorists.

**********

RELATED: Some people collect stamps...

But Hezbollah biggie Hassan Nasrullah shares his spider-hole with a collection of dead bodies...

Nasrallah said his group is holding the remains of many Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon during the 2006 war with Hezbollah, claiming that they were left behind by Israel.

Where has ol' Hassan been anyway?

Oh, wait... I remember now.

*

I've gotta get me...

Some of that silver-spoon socialism.

-- OTTAWA -- They plan to hammer out a strategy at a special retreat next week to make life "more affordable" for ordinary Canadians. But the NDP is drawing criticism for staging their meeting at a posh resort, east of Ottawa, where most "ordinary Canadians" would not even be able to pay for breakfast.

Geez, Jacko... that sounds like some fancy omelette...

On its website, the Chateau Montebello describes itself as "an exceptional resort, famed for its rugged luxury," in a "stunning red cedar log hotel," where Sunday brunch would cost about $39 per person.

I'm speechless... I got nuthin'.

(h/t natnews)

**********

RELATED: And a massage... and a pedicure...

Winnipeg MP Pat Martin also dismissed questions, noting the party negotiated a healthy discount at the resort. The Château Montebello is, ironically, owned by one of the wealthiest men in the world, Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Al Saud.

"Who's to say the lumpenproletariat can't enjoy good linen?"

Well... apparently not Taliban Jack.

*

C'mon, this is simply about...

An immense love and respect for Mother Earth... the "consulting" is just the icing on the cake...

Two native bands are threatening to tie up the Ontario government's long-range power plans using lengthy court delays.

In a submission to the Ontario Energy Board, people from the Saugeen Ojibway Nation Territories argued the province has not lived up to its legal requirement to consult with them on the plan's impact.

By consult, of course... they mean pay up.

Arthur Pape, the lawyer for the two communities says there's still time to negotiate compensation that may be owed to First Nations for the impact of new wind farms, hydro dams and transmission lines on their hunting and fishing rights and way of life.

Hmmm... guess it's time to start shopping for a portable generator.

New life for CFB Trenton

Just another reason to say, "Thank you, Stephen Harper."

The eye-popping numbers in federal dollars pouring into CFB Trenton may not have ended with announcements this week of major land sales and the purchase of new transport planes.

Two major projects with a combined construction value estimated at $367 million were posted Thursday on Public Works Canada procurement website, known as MERX, by Defence Construction Canada.

According to the tender calls, the government is asking for "expressions of interest" for the construction of a $156-million maintenance hangar at CFB Trenton.

And this could be the icing on the cake...

There's also speculation it will be home to the Joint Task Force 2 special forces unit. Defence department officials declined to comment on the possibility, but military analysts have said Trenton is the logical home for a new base for JTF 2 owing to the rapid deployment capability that comes with the air base adjacent to the camp.

*

C'mon... this is multi-cultural Canada

There's no such thing as too many refugees...

Ottawa is appealing a court ruling that has the potential to significantly increase the number of people making refugee claims in Canada.

On Thursday, a Federal Court judge struck down the contentious Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States.

Now, was this a law that made any sort of a difference?

Yup... it sure did.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada said the number of claims filed at its land border offices in the U.S. dropped by 40 per cent in the year after the change.

Was there a legitimate reason to enact this law?

When the agreement was put in place, the government said the aim was to end "asylum shopping."

Yup... there sure was.

Note also that this law did not, in any way shape or form... send refugees back to their countries of origin. It simply stopped them from getting to North America and shopping around for the best deal.

Call me crazy, but perhaps we should be trying to sort out Canada's very serious infrastructure, education and health care deficits... before throwing open the gates to extra-legal immigration.

Maybe we could start over here.

Just a thought.

*

This just in...

The winner of the "Coolest Dad in the Neighbourhood" contest...

Bang the Gong

Well you're slim and you're weak...
You've got the teeth of a hydra upon you...
You're dirty sweet and you're my girl.

“If we look at the data objectively, we are spending too much on AIDS,” said Dr. Malcolm Potts, an AIDS expert at the University of California in Berkeley, who once worked with prostitutes on the front lines of the epidemic in Ghana.

Problems such as malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria kill more children in Africa than AIDS.

So what exactly do the numbers tell us?

The world invests $8-billion to $10-billion (U.S.) into AIDS every year, more than 100 times what it spends on clean-water projects in developing countries. Yet more than two billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation, and about one billion lack clean water.

In a recent series in The Lancet, experts wrote that more than one-third of child deaths, and 11 per cent of the total disease burden worldwide, occur because mothers and children are not getting enough to eat or enough nutritional food.

“We have a system in public health where the loudest voice gets the most money,” said Dr. Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet. “AIDS has grossly distorted our limited budget.

**********

RELATED: I'd like to buy the world a coke

I guess people wanna go with the sexy solution.

**********

LAST WORD: Welcome readers of Canadian Cecilia

It's always nice to be linked to... yet again... by the poster boy for the intellectual, caring left.

Remember Canadian Cecilia's message to Wanda Watkins, whose son Lane was killed in Afghanistan?

"With all due respect, Wanda, fuck you and your grief. It's not the job of the rest of Canada to continue to let its soldiers die just so you can sleep better at night."

Of course... CC has always been a real lady's man.

*

How about a Rewards Programme...

For not shooting or stabbing any of your friends?

-- VANCOUVER -- Smokers and non-smokers in Grades 5 through 8 are being offered $5,000 to quit smoking or stay smoke-free throughout their high school years.

To be eligible, students must sign a contract pledging to remain smoke-free at least until graduation.

*

Remember when you were a kid...

In Toronto... and the bullets were flying all over the place?

Yeah... me neither.

A man shot to death during a dinnertime “gun battle” in Toronto's east Chinatown Thursday is believed to have been an innocent bystander, the second to be killed in the city by gunfire in a week.

Police arrived at the Fu Yao Supermarket on Gerrard Street East near Broadview Avenue about 6:10 p.m. after witnesses reported seeing two men shooting at one another nearby.

So, Mayor Miller... exactly what sort of legislation... is gonna stop cold-blooded killers from staging a shootout on a busy city street in broad daylight?

How about we chuck these assholes in jail... and maybe don't let them out after a token vacation at Club Fed? This isn't about rehab anymore... it's about self-preservation.

Or is that just too harsh and conservative for your Polkaroo socialist brain to comprehend?

**********

UPDATE: Latest T.O murder victim ID'd

Police identified the victim of the latest shooting as Hou Chang Mao, 47, a recent immigrant and father of two who was stacking oranges at a grocery store where he worked when he was hit by a stray bullet during a shootout in Toronto's east Chinatown.

Det.-Sgt. Gray said police want to speak to two men she believes witnessed the shooting and may have been the intended target. They are described as black, about six feet tall, and were driving a small, silver-coloured vehicle with a very shiny front grill.

**********

RELATED: What's next on the agenda?

Methadone in champagne flutes? Apparently junkies already get door to door service.

The Toronto Public Health needle exchange program has three vans on the road and each one has a personalized vanity licence plate, angering some councillors who view it as a waste of taxpayers' money.

"It's ridiculous," Councillor Rob Ford said. "The vanity plates are another example of a complete waste of taxpayers' money.

Why are we paying for people's home delivery of needles anyways? It's absurd and appalling, if you ask me."

*

When Ezra met Sally...

"As a part-time pundit, I do debates like that every week, but Soharwardy doesn't, and he wasn't used to being challenged so vigorously."

"I went about the rest of my day as usual; Soharwardy went to the police to ask them to arrest me."

**********

RELATED: You don't need a crystal ball

"But the story isn't about me. It isn't even about the cartoons or about Islam. It's about whether or not the government can summon anyone, including a publisher, to an interrogation to answer for their political thoughts."

"If I'm fair game today, anyone is fair game tomorrow."

*

Pakistani High Commission...

Faces off with Field Marshall Dion...

“We are dismayed at the statement of NATO intervention in Pakistan,” High Commissioner Musa Javed Chohan said in an interview.

“We are upset by the concept of any intervention in Pakistan. …Under no circumstances will we allow any foreign forces to operate on our soil.”

Instead of trying to dispatch NATO troops against an erstwhile ally.... perhaps Steffi would do better to prepare for the imminent coup within his own "very special forces".

Mr. Chohan issued a statement in which he said Mr. Dion shows “a lack of understanding of the ground realities. We have, at the highest level, made it clear that Pakistan will not allow any foreign forces to operate within its territory under any circumstances.

C'mon Stef, nobody's that impressed... just put it back in your pants.

**********

RELATED: Just let Steffi go free...

So he can find the real warmongers.

*

Just gimme some of...

Whatever Mahmoud's smokin'...

-- DUBAI (Reuters) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Israel "would not dare attack Iran", after Israel said it tested a missile and warned against Tehran's nuclear program.

**********

RELATED: Do you believe in magic?

"People get cured here, that is why they come to the cemetery," says Samad, one young visitor.

The "cure" is simple - each visitor takes a pinch of salt from one of the many small bowls and eats it. It is believed that the salt has a special connection with the dead and will cure any illness.

*

Britain has a Race Relations Czar?

Actually... the real shocker here... is that Trevor Phillips is apparently unwilling to sweep "politically incorrect" reality under the carpet...

The flight of the white middle classes from the inner cities is accelerating, the Government's race relations chief has said.

Trevor Phillips said so-called "white flight" - an American phenomenon now increasingly seen here - was deepening racial segregation. Mr Phillips has warned in the past of the growing polarisation of the country along ethnic lines.

And lately, he's not the only prominent Brit who has been speaking up.

But his use of the emotive term "white flight" will fuel the controversy triggered by the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester.

**********

RELATED: Ebonics: The Toronto sequel

Proponents have been lobbying hard for an African-centred school, arguing that it is an experiment worth trying, if it will help more black students graduate.

An experiment, huh?

That's simply not something I'd be willing to do with my child's future.

Can somebody please explain me to me... one -- what is it exactly... that constitutes an Afrocentric curriculum?... and two -- what possible advantage does this curriculum bestow on a student in Canadian society?

Are there African-centered careers out there somewhere? Are these students perchance heading for Africa... after achieving these exotic credentials?

Or is this just some way to water down the existing system... to give high school accreditation to kids who choose not to apply themselves in the regular school system?

Who actually believes this "experiment" is gonna solve anything?

And you just have to love the dumb bunny who imagines that kids from all over Toronto will be flocking to the Jane-Finch corridor... to fight for a spot at Nelson Mandela High.

"Alternative schools are open to all students. You may have an Afrocentric curriculum but any student who wishes to attend can apply.

That's the beauty of it."

No, my poor beknighted pinko pal... that's simply the way the "politically correct" ball bounces.

Apparently... right over your head.

*

Whatever happened...

To good, old-fashioned consequences?

-- The rupturing of pipes is a big issue in Canada as lines are being hit thousands of times each year.

In B.C. alone, gas lines were hit 1,700 times in 2007. In Ontario there are an average of 3,500 gas-line hits every year. --

So guess what happens when your dopey backhoe guy blows through a pressurized pipe transporting natural gas? I mean... apart from the obvious fiery cataclysm.

Well... apparently not much.

-- Prosecutors in Ontario say education, not enforcement, is the key to compliance, and admit to having only prosecuted one case in 2007.

In fact, during most cases in Canada, the only consequence of striking a gas line is a letter or a visit from an inspector ordering the offenders to "cease and desist" from hitting gas lines. Fines are rare. --

Any of this... and I'm talking specifically about the lack of consequences... sound at all familiar?

How about the infamous Youth Criminal Justice Act... or, in fact... anything at all to do with Corrections Canada?

How about collapsing bridges... or deporting the same people, over and over again?

How about using taxpayer bucks to buy hypodermic needles and medically supervised overwatch for degenerate junkies?

Or extortion and threats of continued violence from aboriginal communities.

You know what, Jethro? It doesn't take a freakin' village... to separate the intellectual wheat from the chaff here.

Choices have to have consequences... it's how we learn.

And it's past time everybody got that straight.

*

Aboriginal Extortion Update

It's the same old story... "You can pay us now... or REALLY PAY US later"...

In a Canadian precedent, a First Nations has created its own bureaucracy to collect royalties, approve plans and set environmental standards for any development on its traditional lands -- a swath of prime Southern Ontario real estate.

The four-month-old Haudenosaunee Development Institute set up by the Six Nations in Ontario has sent letters to municipalities and is also approaching developers privately to hammer out deals, with the implied alternative being the kind of economic disruption that has blocked highways, rail lines and housing developments in the province.

Premier Dalton "You can't get there from here" McSlippery was quick to try duck any responsibility... even though land registration is a provincial matter...

I think everybody understands there is a fundamental issues of difference here between First Nations community and the federal government, but I think we also need to understand there is a way to resolve these things, there is a table there."

No surprise here.

Fortunately... not everybody is willing to fold like a cheap suit...

Mike Quattrociocchi, president of Mayberry Homes, said he was invited to a meeting with the HDI after work on an eight-unit townhouse complex in Brantford was halted by protesters.

He said he was told that for a 4% cut of his $1.2-million project, a $7,000 application fee and an agreement that he could lease the land back from the Six Nations for 999 years, his work site was "less likely" to be the target of protest.

"What I said to them, was, ‘If you guys were Italian, it would be called the Mafia,'" said Mr. Quattrociocchi, a former city councillor. "It's nothing more than extortion, pure and simple. It's ‘You pay up or we're going to stop you.'"

*

No leftwing media bias here

Watching CJOH News, the CTV affiliate in Ottawa... and just heard CTV's Bob Fife provide the moonbat moment of the week...

"Gary Lunn is acting like a blind man at a shooting range."

Unbelievable.

Let CTV know how you feel.

**********

RELATED: Gary Lunn defends his rationale

“The extended shutdown of the reactor threatened a national and international health crisis,” Mr. Lunn told the Commons Natural Resources committee.

“If we had not acted, people would invariably have died.”

Interesting analysis at the Phantom Observer.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Fife was even worse on the morning broadcast BEFORE Lunn testified. He apparently is a psychic, he was blathering on about how Lunn will have been well prepped and was bashing his testimony before it happened.

**********

LAST WORD: Who's zoomin' who?

Canada's Auditor-General repeatedly raised red flags over internal management issues at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. under previous Liberal governments, according to newly released documents.

*

Let me stab you in the chest...

And we'll see... just how "ceremonial"... that thing is...

"Anything that would not be allowed on an airplane can't be brought into court," said Andy Weiler of the Alberta Solicitor-General and Public Security ministry.

"Generally, anything that can be turned into a weapon is not permitted."

I hope this guy has been charged... with ducking out on the subpoena.

Somebody has to put a stop to this politically correct insanity.

**********

RELATED: Or you could play "Toronto Rules"

**********

LAST WORD: World Sikh Organization of Canada says...

"The refusal to accommodate the wearing of the kirpan in effect excludes many Sikh Canadians from full participation in the legal system and from serving in important capacities such as being on juries or testifying as witnesses at trials."

*

You know what they say...

No good deed... goes unlitigated.

-- EDMONTON -- An Edmonton-area woman is suing her adoptive mother for half a million dollars for allegedly telling her birth mother she died at birth.

Denice Poland, now 44, is also suing Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital, where she was born, the Alberta government and two doctors for matching amounts.

Poland's adoptive mother responded to news of the lawsuit...

"I'm just so flabbergasted that after 42 years this is happening. I'm totally confused right now," said Morrison, a 71-year-old widow who walks with a cane and lives in a subsidized building for seniors.

"I still basically love that girl, but my thoughts are so jumbled up. Should I have adopted 42 years ago, or should I have left well enough alone?" she said.

"If somebody was to ask me today if I'd do the same thing, I wouldn't know how to answer."

*

Brave, New PEE-CEE Playground Ethic...

Rapidly gaining support... at the Pentagon...

-- (CNSNews.com) -- Members of Congress are seeking more information regarding the firing of a top terrorism expert at the Pentagon following reports that he was dismissed for being too critical of Islamic law.

Apparently... bombing the shit out of jihadis is one thing... but "hurtful words" are another matter entirely.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon Joint Staff told Stephen Coughlin, a specialist on Islamic law at the Pentagon, that his contract would not be renewed in March. The firing apparently resulted from pressure by pro-Muslim officials working in the Department of Defense, according to numerous news reports.

Fortunately... not everybody is climbing on board the crazy train...

Meanwhile, members of Congress have not had much success in getting answers from the Pentagon either, said Rep. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), co-chair of the bi-partisan House Anti-Terrorism Caucus.

Coughlin - who supporters say had one of the most important jobs in analyzing how Jihadists think -- crossed Hasham Islam, an aide to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, according The Washington Times.

The paper reported, without attribution, that the aide told Coughlin to "soften his view" on radical Islam. When Coughlin refused, Hasham Islam called him a Christian zealot "with a pen," according to the report.

The incomplete reports and near silence from the Pentagon creates the need to get at the truth, Myrick said.

Indeed.

Reach out and touch yourself

Denis Khadr tears himself away from the mirror in his bedroom, to say... "Yeah, I'll come to your party, but I'm not bringing presents... and I'm leaving as soon as I eat my cake."

"We don't give them too much legitimacy," he said of the panel.

"But every time that you have an opportunity to present your point of view and send a message at every level, we're doing it."

The "ubiquitous streaker" of Canadian politics.

(h/t natnews)

**********

UPDATE: But Steffi... you said it yourself

This really isn't a big hairy-ball deal anymore... Canada can stop fighting and turn all our troops into glorified traffic cops.

They don't need our help any more, right?

-- QUEBEC -- Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion wants Prime Minister Stephen Harper to demand the resignation of his secretary of state of foreign affairs and international trade.

Mr. Dion says the action threatened not only their safety, but the Afghan and Canadian military who were accompanying them.

Yup, it's all hunky-dory... and the locals can handle the mopping up...

Unless Steffi stops by for a photo-op.

**********

LAST WORD: Steffi's Excellent Adventure

Ok... now I get it. We have to pull out of Afghanistan... so we can invade its nuclear-armed neighbour.

"We are going to have to discuss that very actively if they (the Pakistanis) are not able to deal with it on their own. We could consider that option with the NATO forces in order to help Pakistan help us pacify Afghanistan."

Oh Steffi... you little warmonger.

*

Wake up and smell the species.

The lineup for free anything will continue to get longer... as long as "that anything"... is freely available.

Musharraf loses a pawn...

As the chess game in Waziristan starts to get interesting...

Hundreds of militants have overrun a paramilitary fort in north-west Pakistan, killing or kidnapping many troops, the military says. Observers say this is the first time that militants have captured a fort in Pakistan.

Correspondents say the Sararogha area is a stronghold of pro-Taleban militant leader Baitullah Mehsud.

He is accused by the government of being behind the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on 27 December and a wave of other bombings in recent months.

Your move, Pervez.

*

Mayor David Miller of Toronto...

Springs into action... calls for Canada-wide ban on steak knives...

-- BRAMPTON, Ont. -- A 16-year-old boy was stabbed inside a Toronto-area high school Tuesday, just days after the release of a report suggesting violence and sexual assaults in Toronto schools are happening in staggering numbers.

Because... for goodness sake... this sort of thing couldn't possibly have anything to do with irredeemably flawed or inadequate parenting.

*

New revelations...

From Barnum, Bailey and Schreiber...

There's a refrigerator-size safe in the basement at 24 Sussex Drive?

**********

RELATED: Now that McSlippery's been implicated...

I agree... we should have a public enquiry.

The letter was obtained through Access to Information by York University professor David Noble, an outspoken and somewhat controversial history prof who has had issues with Tanenbaum in the past.

"As far as I am concerned this letter seems like a smoking gun," Noble told the Sun yesterday.

The letter, he suggests, puts the premier, for the first time, in the middle of the slush fund decision-making process.

"All I want to see happen is a public inquiry to see if this was done properly," Noble said.

*

The Dion Delusion

It's hard to get "the big picture"... when you insist on using crayons...

"It was as if they had carefully arranged to not allow any evidence on the ground to affect anything they had already said.

It was, I guess, so they could say, we have been there," said Jack Granatstein, the Canadian military historian and an analyst for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.

It sounds as though the Afghan government was only willing to go so far... to humour Steffi's "differently abled" point of view.

"Our leaders knew what the position was when Mr. Dion and Mr. Ignatieff met them," Samad said in an interview Monday.

"When President Karzai talks about continuity and maintaining the momentum and consistency, those are strong words. Those are words that mean something," the ambassador explained.

"The one thing that we do not want to see happen is for a relapse to take place and for pre-9-11 conditions to emerge in parts of Afghanistan and for power vacuums and for security vacuums to emerge."

Now, I'm sure Steffi actually believes all the pablum he's been spewing... but, my guess is, by the end of this international photo-op... Ignatieff was bleeding from his eyes.

Which is the price you pay in Canadian politics... for selling your soul to the gods of fiberal opportunism.

**********

RELATED: Not to worry, Hamid

Canadians don't think too highly of him either...

Over the past year, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's approval rating has plummeted across Canada, according to a new Strategic Counsel poll.

Stephane Dion, Liberals: 39 per cent (minus 20)

In fact, 25 per cent of people found Dion "very unfavourable" in the survey and 34 per cent "somewhat unfavourable," totalling 61 per cent.

**********

LAST WORD: C'mon Steffi... start screaming

The announcement isn't quite complete... until you and Taliban Jack piss all over the memory of another dead soldier.

-- OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 15, 2008) -- At approximately 7:15 a.m. local time (in Kandahar) on January 15th, one Canadian soldier was killed when the armoured vehicle he was in struck a suspected Improvised Explosive Device (IED). One Canadian soldier was also injured.

The identity of the deceased soldier is Trooper Richard Renaud, 26 years old, of the 12e Regiment blinde du Canada based in Valcartier, Quebec.

He will be remembered.

*

France gets off the bench...

And back into the geo-political game...

France and the UAE have signed a deal allowing France to set up a permanent military base, the first in the Gulf for a Western power other than the US.

Correspondents say the base will give France new ability to project its forces into a strategic oil-producing region.

Note that part of the deal here... is that France will be assisting the UAE with their nuclear program.

*

CDC reporting...

New transmission vector... for flesh-eating bacteria...

A new, highly drug-resistant strain of the “flesh-eating” MRSA bacteria is being spread among gay men in San Francisco and Boston, researchers reported on Monday.

The new strain seems to have “spread rapidly” in gay populations in San Francisco and Boston, the researchers wrote, and “has the potential for rapid, nationwide dissemination” among gay men.

Wow, a recent resurgence in HIV/AIDS cases... and now this. Looks like there may be a downside to promiscuous, drug-fuelled sexual behaviour after all.

Who could have predicted that, huh?

A separate part of the study found that gay men in San Francisco were about 13 times more likely to be infected than other people in the city.

Nearly 19,000 people died in the United States from MRSA infections in 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported.

**********

RELATED: The good news here, is...

Nobody's trying to blame it on the PM.

"Help me out here, Doc. Are you really saying Stephen Harper is responsible for the recent explosive rise in HIV-AIDS infections?"

*

Climb every mountain...

Ford every stream...
Follow every rainbow...
Till you find...
Your dream

-- LONDON (Reuters) -- Amnesty International on Tuesday called on Iran to abolish the "grotesque and horrific" practice of stoning people to death.

Now, call me crazy... I'm just not sure appealing to anyones better nature here... is a winning strategy.

"Iranian law prescribes that the stones are deliberately chosen to be large enough to cause pain, but not so large as to kill the victim immediately ... It is a particularly grotesque and horrific practice."

But, ya know, if you're gonna dream... it may as well be in colour...

As well as calling for the abolition of stoning and a moratorium on the death penalty, Amnesty also urged the Iranian government to decriminalize adultery, which is not illegal in the majority of countries.

Hey... it could happen.

In your dreams.

*

This one just caught my eye...

Jonathan Kay: How Julian Falconer got The Toronto Star to publish a completely bogus front-page story

**********

RELATED: The logical evolution of victimhood...

“I am also a victim, the way my family is a victim of the circumstances,” Ms. Paredes said in a phone interview. She said her family is not prepared to speak about the death outside the Brass Rail strip club.

Edward Paredes, 22, and Awet Zekarias, 23, face one count each of first-degree murder and attempted murder.

I'm guessing John O’Keefe's family and friends would disagree.

*

So where is Stephanie Payne?

The mother of a shooting victim blames "some of the people" in the system.

-- TORONTO -- A culture of silence in which teachers failed to sound alarm bells about the dangerous environment at a troubled Toronto high school cost 15-year-old Jordan Manners his life, the slain boy's mother said Monday.

“Teachers saw things and they kept silent, and for that my son lost his life.”

So... apparently teachers are now responsible for disarming teenage thugs? I'm thinking the workplace safety folks and the teachers unions might beg to disagree.

In any case... didn't we all hear loud protests about safety and caring... from self-styled black activist and local school board trustee Stephanie Payne?

Payne said C.W. Jefferys is one of the safest schools in Toronto and parents realize it is a "very safe, compassionate school."

When the Globe has finished dumping on the staff... at this outpost in the wilderness... maybe someone from the mainstream media can get an updated statement from Ms. Payne.

Yeah, right.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: It's always a pleasure...

To hear from the caring, compassionate, intellectual left...

Blame the mom, blame the mom, blame the mom. I am sure she spends plenty of time blaming herself, you ignorant cocksuckers.

**********

LAST WORD: Uh, Lorraine... one small point here

Now, I won't presume to speak for anyone else in Hastings & Prince Edward County... but in my neighbourhood, there is absolutely no evidence of an epidemic of Mongol-like hordes of disaffected youth running around shooting their peers.

There is an indisputable culture of silence in Toronto... but Lorraine... it's a little closer than you think.

*

A legend in his own mind

Danny Millions has his very own Chappaquiddick moment...

“I didn't respond to that at the time. I let it go in the interests of having a cordial meeting. I perceived it as an attempt to bait me into confrontation during that meeting and the bait was not taken.”

Sure, Danny... you suddenly remembered this inconsequential tidbit of information.

I guess that could happen.

It just seems odd that scary, hidden, master-manipulator Stephen Harper would make such a potentially damaging statement to a fellow politician whose primary agenda lately... seems to be to shit all over the office of the Prime Minister.

And what does the Prime Minister remember?

A spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office denied the premier's accusation.

“It never happened.”

I know what seems more plausible to me.

**********

RELATED: Dammit... they're on to us

"Well, Laura, you found us out."

"I confess... there is a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy[tm] and nobody noticed until now. I know this is true, because, well... I'm in it."

"And now that you've found us out, I've been given permission to tell you the rest."

*

Now if the bad guys can manage...

To bamboozle the United Nations and the big, bad United States of America... imagine what they could do with Steffi and company...

Pyongyang had pledged to permanently disable its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and give an accounting of its entire nuclear program by December 31, 2007.

But the North Korean regime failed to meet that deadline.

Perhaps even worse, North Korean officials now insist that a sketchy declaration given to the other nations in the six-party talks in November was sufficient to fulfill its obligation to disclose all of the country's nuclear activities.

Not bad for a lunatic, huh?

Who says, "You can't always get what you want?"

**********

RELATED: They stall... because it works

Iran has agreed to clarify all outstanding questions over its past nuclear activities within a month, the UN nuclear watchdog has announced.

But the BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says that even if Iran does provide all the answers, this is not going to solve this crisis.

The West is more concerned about Iran's current activities than the history, our correspondent says.

*

It isn't just Brady and the Pats...

Who are having a perfect season...

"We do find on both sides," she said, "in case you're interested." And later, "things can go either way, okay?"

But that simply isn't true.

The federal Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has a 100% conviction rate under their thought crime provision (section 13, the "hate messages" section, as it's called).

Now... where I come from... that's called a "stacked deck."

**********

POSTSCRIPT:

Has anybody seen a single reference in the mainstream media to the Islamic Facebook attack on Ezra?

Kinda curious how that works, huh?

*

That's funny...

The sovereign nation of Kanesatake doesn't seem to have a problem cashing those government cheques...

“We are not Canadian citizens,” says Chief Clarence Simon of Kanesatake, the Mohawk community that stared down soldiers during the 1990 Oka crisis.

That's a strange sort of self-reliance. It puts me in mind of sulky, living in the basement "teenager independence".

And it gets even better... these whiny dependents take the money to buy stuff for themselves... and then the stuff disappears.

The former federal Liberal government broke its own rules by doling out millions of tax dollars to a special police force in a small Mohawk community near Montreal, according to an audit obtained by CBC News.

My guess is... they want to travel... they don't have any problems asking for the keys to the passport office either.

Not Canadian citizens?

What a joke.

*

So Jacko... here's how it works

If you and your buddy Steffi don't like the way Stephen Harper is running things... you have to man-up and bring that dastardly minority government down...

"Now, of course, we're seeing the members of Parliament being blackmailed by Mr. Harper, saying the only way there will be any assistance to the laid-off workers is if we vote 'confidence' in the Harper government and their approach to all things, whether it's the war, the environment, or all the other things that they're doing wrong," Layton said.

All this very public bitchin' and moanin' is gettin' old.

C'mon Jacko... less talk, more rock.

*

The Ignatieff solution

Less dirty, filthy fighting -- apparently the fiberals would smash the insurgency -- with Powerpoint presentations and press conferences...

Reducing Canada's military commitment would free up resources to invest in further construction projects and improved water management.

"The party envisages having a balanced portfolio," said Mr. Ignatieff, who refrained from criticizing the government's current handling of the war.

Hey, Iggy... what did the Taliban say... when you gave them all the details of your "master plan"?

Yeah... that's what I thought.

**********

RELATED: Of course, the insurgents are with Iggy

Seems all those pesky Canadian soldiers... have been interfering with their plans to take Afghani society back to the 14th century.

Afghan authorities say Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint in the country's south Sunday, killing at least eight officers.

In neighboring Helmand province, officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday, killing one police officer and wounding at least four other people.

Hey, Iggy... let's see you "balance" that.

**********

UPDATE: Hey Iggy... powerpoint this

-- KABUL -- Militants with suicide vests, grenades and AK-47 rifles attacked Kabul's most popular luxury hotel Monday evening, killing at least six people in a coordinated assault rarely seen in the Afghan capital, witnesses and a Taliban spokesman said.

*

Toronto's new entrepreneurs

Crime sure isn't what it used to be...

Her husband faces charges of conspiracy to commit human trafficking, trafficking in persons, receiving benefit from trafficking in persons, withholding documents, exploitation, procuring a person to become a prostitute, living off the avails of prostitution, forcible confinement, exercising control and threatening bodily harm.

This doesn't exactly sound like "victimless crime" to me.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the migration of "young Russian women and young Eastern European women" has become a "very common" market for human traffickers to pool from, Bertone said.

And how exactly do guys like this... manage to get into the country in the first place?

*

The Axis of Weasel

Yoko and Iggy take another shot... at breakin' up the band...

"The Liberal Party of Canada is very proud of the contributions our men and women in uniform have made to try to bring peace and stability to this region," Mr. Dion said in a statement later issued on the Liberal party website.

However, the statement confirmed that both he and Mr. Ignatieff had told Mr. Karzai that Canada's role should change.

Rumours have started to surface in Quebec... that extremely lucrative contracts are being offered to the fighting elite... of key advertising agencies...

**********

LAST WORD: Clueless in Khandahar

"It has taken more than a year after becoming Liberal leader for Stéphane Dion to finally find Afghanistan on the map," Helena Guergis, secretary of state for foreign affairs, said in a statement Saturday.

"The irony of Dion and Iggy being in a war zone and being protected by the same troops who protect Afghan women and children is palpable," Ms. Guergis said.

"I think he should apologize to our troops while he is touring the PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) in safety because the same reason he needs bodyguards is why our troops need to stay to protect democracy, women and children."

*

Fun and (War) Games

Sometimes, my friends... size doesn't matter...

In a telephone interview, General Van Riper recalled that his idea of a swarming attack grew from Marine Corps studies of the natural world, where insects and animals — from tiny ant colonies to wolf packs — move in groups to overwhelm larger prey.

**********

RELATED: Fool me once... shame on you

Iranian speedboats interfered in the passage of US warships in the Gulf's Strait of Hormuz on two previously undisclosed occasions, the US has said.

*

And that, my urban yuppie brethren...

Is why we mock you...

Now, speaking as one who can't claim – and would go some considerable distance to deny – “an intimate experience with a barista” and couldn't distinguish a shade-grown, free-trade organic coffee bean from a turnip, I can't honestly say I feel Chairman Schultz's pain.

Starbucks has always carried the aroma of a trumped-up exercise in lifestyle pedigree, hawking a faux pedantry over brews and beans, and overripe pseudo debates on the superiority of the Ethiopian product to its Moroccan congener.

They're beans, folks.

Out here in the sticks, we're also a little less obsessed with the whole "urban chic" pantyless Hollywood starlet of the week deal.

And anyone who actually thinks, despite the constant media bombardment, that Leonardo DiCaprio is more important than Leonardo DaVinci... would be regarded as some sort of village idiot.

Oh yeah... we're also perfectly happy to drink unhyphenated coffee.

Even though Tim Hortons may have begun earlier than most of them, it picked up some commercial propulsion and swelled its constituency by offering, so self-consciously, the opposite of what the newer coffee lounges stood for.

It's that whole pretentious style over substance thing.

Putting an aerodynamic wing, or neon lighting on your Ford Focus... does not turn you into a Formula 1 driver. Drinking a four dollar cup of coffee and disparaging the Conservative government's lack of concern about world hunger... will not transform your "hot yoga" toned carcass into media darling Angelina Jolie.

And that, I suppose, is why we like it out here so much.

**********

NOTE:

We have to head into the Devil's Armpit (or Toronto as some of you may know it) later this morning.

Blogging today will be a little lighter than usual.

**********

LAST WORD: It's nice to be home...

A Toronto police officer's gun was shot off in the Entertainment District last night following a scuffle between two officers and a young man from eastern Ontario, police say.

Police allege that during the scuffle, the young man disarmed one of the officers and shot the pistol once. At one point, he pointed the gun at the officers.

And...

A man in his 40s was shot dead on Yonge St. outside a busy strip club early today.

Toronto Police said the victim, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of family, was struck once by a slug and died at the scene outside the Brass Rail north of Wellesley St. at 1:16 a.m.

**********

UPDATE: Two more dumbass killers nabbed

Apparently the victim was an innocent bystander.

Edward Paredes and Awet Zekarias, both 23 and both of Scarborough, are charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.

*

New and Improved

It has certainly had one helluva run...

With its myriad tools like tweezers and bottle-openers, the gadget was for a time indispensable to the clued-in traveler.

But in the wake of September 11, 2001, when airlines banned knives on board, sales of the knives -- which were often purchased as a souvenir at airport stores -- fell by around a third, said Carl Elsener IV, who runs the company with his 85-year-old father, Carl Elsener III.

But sometimes... it pays to think outside of the box.

An updated range of pocket knives, including ones equipped with laser pointers and flash memory drives for storing data or music, has also helped the firm ride out the sales decline.

New life for an old fave.

*

STAND AND DELIVER

"In other words, the commission is a joke – it’s the Alberta equivalent of a U.S. television pseudo-court like Judge Judy – except that Judge Judy actually was a judge, whereas none of the commission’s panellists are judges, and some aren’t even lawyers."

"And, unlike the commission, Judge Judy believes in freedom of speech."

**********

UPDATE: Look who's talkin' too

Group members:
Ali Zee - Admin (Calgary)
Usher Ahmed (Calgary)
Super Samer (Calgary)
Issam Zeineddine (Forest Lawn High School)
Khalil Jeha (Calgary)
Hussien Abdulbaki (Calgary)
Abe Rafih (Calgary)
Bassam Youssef (Lebanon)
Issam Khalil (Calgary)
Manal Abdallah (MRC CA Alum '07)

*

More leftwing media bias

So... even though Stephen Harper has agreed to a public enquiry into Brian Mulroney's dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber... the CBC just has to put their own unique, inevitable conspiracy theory stamp on things...

Harper 'trying to stall for time' with Mulroney-Schreiber hearings

Federal opposition parties are accusing the government of trying to delay a public inquiry into Brian Mulroney's business dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber.

Your national taxpayer-funded propaganda organisation in full flight.

Perceiving the world through pinko-coloured glasses... yet again.

*

It ain't just Jacob Zuma

Speaking of cultural bankruptcy... anybody starting to notice a pattern here?

-- South Africa's police chief Jackie Selebi is to be charged with corruption and "defeating the ends of justice", state prosecutors say.

A court on Friday rejected an urgent application by Mr Selebi, who is also the president of Interpol, to try to stop the prosecution. --

Compared to the lifestyle of the average South African... this guy must have seemed like Bill Gates... but apparently, even that... just wasn't enough.

*

It seems marriages...

Aren't the only things that... can be arranged...

A teenage girl who feared a marriage was being arranged by her parents was the victim of a "vile murder", a coroner has said.

The decomposed body of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, was found on a riverbank in February 2004, six months after she went missing from her Warrington home.

**********

RELATED: Follow the yellow brick road...

The path to Nirvana... or a simple political strategem?

But unification was only possible by creating a tribalized enemy against which Muslims could make common cause. This Muhammad did by opposing Muslims against infidels; and the dar al-Islam, the land of Islam and peace, against the dar al-harb, the land of infidels and conflict.

Through the precepts of Islam, traditional Bedouin raiding was sanctified as an act of religious duty.

With every successful battle against local unbelievers, especially after the critical early battle against the Meccans, more Bedouin joined the umma. Once united, the Bedouin warriors of the umma turned outward, teaching the world the meaning of jihad, holy war. The rest, as they say, is history.

*

Sugar and spice

The societal Kiss of Death...

"If your response to the Maclean's/Steyn case isn’t tainted with outrage, sarcasm and a profound sense of urgency, there is something wrong with you."

*

Sins of Omission

Curiously, the Globe and Mail, while screaming "scary, hidden agenda", glosses over the unanimous vote in Parliament that hammered this evil nail into the coffin of democracy.

-- OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper ratcheted up his government's attack on the head of the country's nuclear regulatory agency Thursday, saying her refusal to allow the restart of the Chalk River reactor had put Canada's health system in jeopardy.

How is it that quick action by the Prime Minister... which ends up being voted on and passed by all parties... is suddenly a horrible thing.

Parliament was forced to pass emergency legislation last month to ensure “the Canadian medical system was not needlessly endangered by decisions made by the president of the nuclear commission,” Mr. Harper told reporters in New Brunswick.

When “Parliament actually has to overturn the decision of the nuclear commission, unanimously … I think to label that kind of action illicit troubles me greatly,” he said.

Oh, I see... it was "forced"... what the Globe is saying is, in effect... Stephen Harper raped Parliament.

Now I get it.

**********

RELATED: There's something familiar about 1999...

Oh, yeah... that would be the era of consecutive Fiberal majority governments.

"We found a significant deficiency related to unresolved strategic challenges that could prevent the corporation from achieving its mandate,"

One is a nine-year delay in constructing a new facility to produce medical isotopes in Chalk River. Two new reactors and a new processing facility originally planned for completion in 2000 are now expected this year and in 2009, the report said.

So, to recap... longstanding, scary, irresponsible and life threatening... but the Liberals and the Dippers voted for it anyway.

And now they get to scream bloody murder.

**********

LAST WORD: Speaking of the Auditor-General...

On Nov. 15, 2002, Fraser sent a copy of her report to then Liberal resources minister Herb Dhaliwal, along with a covering letter imploring him to meet to discuss her alarming findings, particularly "unresolved issues with the government" and their potential impact on "the management of environmental risks at AECL sites."

Two months later, Dhaliwal replied, in part: "As your report was quite clear and acceptable to me, I felt no need for us to meet at this time. I was particularly pleased that you saw evidence of strong leadership ... and found that good systems and practices existed in several key areas."

Fraser issued another equally critical companion report on AECL, and again invited Dhaliwal to meet.

Again he shrugged her off: "As the report was positive in general and very clear, I felt no need to accept your generous offer to meet."

Oh, Steffi.

*

As transparent and reliable...

As a frozen buffalo turd...

It is not the CBC's business to manufacture news with the cooperation of one political party in an attempt to discredit another.

But the behaviour of the reporter in question certainly leaves Canadians with the impression that the CBC and Liberals are working together to embarrass -- or even bring down -- the Harper government.

(via sda)

Good ol' Uncle Buzz...

Says a billion taxpayer dollars in corporate welfare is just chump change... he wants to start talkin' serious money...

-- TORONTO -- The $1-billion fund the Harper government unveiled Thursday will not go nearly far enough to help the struggling manufacturing sector cope with a strong Canadian dollar, soaring energy prices and vanishing jobs, says Canadian Auto Workers union president Buzz Hargrove.

Go Buzzard.

As Harry S. Truman once said...

"If that's art... I'm a Hottentot."

-- Jarvis created her observations through panhandlers’ signs that she bought from homeless people in Toronto and Victoria.

She then reproduced the signs, often through hand embroidery, onto footstools, placemats, restaurant menus and home decorative items. --

He should have asked...

If there was a family discount rate...

"I was dumfounded. I thought I was dreaming," the husband told the newspaper on Wednesday.

*

Semper Fi

Some welcome help for Canadian troops in Afghanistan...

Sources said the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit — scheduled to deploy in mid-February — went into high gear this week, laying plans for an accelerated deployment schedule that could have the unit departing for Afghanistan on Feb. 1 and staying out past its traditional 180-day rotation.

*

Reading, writing and...

"Bust a cap in yo punk ass..."

“This culture of fear, or culture of silence, permeates through every level of the TDSB,” the report says.

“There is a community-wide crisis of confidence in the ability of the TDSB to ensure violence-free and weapons-free environments in all of its schools.”

Remember the good ol' days... when everybody was packin' heat and you could off some guy cos' he looked at you the wrong way?

Yeah... me neither.

Since Jan. 13, 2006, the panel says it found 177 violent incidents in schools across the district — they include gun incidents, robberies and sexual assaults. The panel found there were guns in select schools across the city “in non-trivial numbers.”

Note the use of the term "select schools"... which actually means... we could be more specific... but who needs to be crucified by the loony left and the hug-a-thug media.

It's like the Toronto 17 being from a "broad strata" of society.

But don't you worry... the Toronto District School Board has a solution...

Schools with high suspension, expulsion or dropout rates should be staffed with full-time social workers and youth workers, the panel advised – TDSB should also hire 20 new full-time social workers dedicated to high-priority schools.

I sure hope they have enough kevlar to go around.

**********

RELATED: Another Jane-Finch alumnus...

Who could have had a promising career with Cirque de Soleil.

Murder suspect Shawn Anthony Vassel clambered 18 storeys down the outside of a San Romanoway highrise yesterday with police in pursuit before being caught inside the Jane-Finch shopping mall.

Vassel, 23, lost his shoes in his desperate escape bid but was otherwise unscathed.

Idiots, explosives and falling anvils

You think these guys ever stop and listen to themselves?

-- Strait of Hormuz -- Iran's Revolutionary Guards say the US navy fabricated evidence that a convoy of its ships was harassed by Iranian speedboats in Gulf waters on Sunday.

The Iranian parliamentary speaker has dismissed the affair as being part of a US propaganda campaign against Tehran.

"The footage released by the US Navy are file pictures and the audio has been fabricated," Iranian state-run TV quoted a Revolutionary Guards source as saying.

Which is just hilarious, because the government had already admitted the incursions had occurred.

Iranian officials earlier played down the event, calling it an "ordinary occurrence".

An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said: "This... happens for the two sides every once in a while and, after the identification of the two sides, the issue is resolved.

Another one of those typical middle-east situations.

To paraphrase Richard Pryor... "Who are you gonna believe... me... or your lyin' eyes?"

*

More annoying street theatre...

From the yappy little dog of Canadian politics...

"He should be fired, very clearly,” Mr. Dion said of the Minister. “He has been overwhelmingly partisan, but the Prime Minister gave him the example of that.”

Hey, Steffi... it's nice to see you've finally come out from behind the woodshed.

But if you really think you're ready to come up on the porch to play with the big dogs... you know what you have to do.

Steffi... you there?

Yeah... that's what I thought.

**********

RELATED: More incredibly insightful analysis

"We need to be careful," he said. "We need to watch the economy."

He refused to say, however, whether the government might face defeat over its next budget.

Hey, Professor Milquetoast... BOO!!!

**********

UPDATE: It is not easy... to be a man

-- OTTAWA -- Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion is backing away from his tough talk about provoking a federal election at the earliest opportunity.

Talking to reporters yesterday, Dion was repeatedly pressed about whether he'd use his power as Opposition leader to trigger the defeat of the government soon after Parliament resumes Jan. 28.

"I have no plan to do so for now," Dion replied.

**********

LAST WORD: Hey, Stef... a little free advice

Maybe you shouldn't shit where you eat.

*

This is your CBC on drugs...

I mean, why ask the question... if you really don't wanna hear the answer.

Forty Year Mortgages

Take a few minutes... sit down and do the math...

Suppose you buy a $375,000 house, put down $75,000 and take out a $300,000 mortgage at 5.99 per cent (the lowest current five-year rate).

You'll pay almost $784,000 with a 40-year mortgage, compared with $575,000 on a 25-year mortgage (assuming the rate stays the same).

That's more than $200,000 in extra costs – and for what?

The part that boggles my mind is... you take out a 40 year mortgage at age 25... you don't pay it off until you're ready to retire. That's an awful long time to be lining somebody else's pockets.

And for what?

By extending the payback period, you'll save only $285 in your monthly payments.

You could get the same bang for the buck – about $9 a day – by bringing your own lunch to work or taking public transit instead of your car.

That's really what's dragging society to its knees... it's all about the line of least resistance.

Whatever that ends up costing.

*

The angry face of Multiculturalism

Mob rule comes to Canada...

Border services planned to pick up Mr. Singh from the temple where he has been given sanctuary about 4:30 a.m., but the scheduled removal time passed as more than 250 protesters blocked the temple entrance.

It is the second time that Mr. Singh's supporters have succeeded in thwarting his deportation.

I'm not sure, who exactly... thinks this is gonna get easier as time goes on. Probably the same folks who criticise Pervez Musharraf for not being able to control those mischievous folks in Waziristan.

My advice to the authorities... if you have to bring in your own bigger mob to get the job done... just do it.

Otherwise you have just conceded that the rule of law is meaningless.

*

LAIBAR SINGH UPDATE: The inevitable CBC spin cycle

It's not anarchy... it's simply..."winning a reprieve."

And, of course, there's the part nobody wants to talk about...

Since his stroke, it has cost taxpayers over $400,000 to provide Singh with free medical care.

Even his deportation was planned to be the most benign possible, with his medically-staffed flight to cost taxpayers $68,700. He was then scheduled to be flown to the state-of-the-art Apollo Hospital in New Delhi.

(h/t reader maureen)

**********

LAIBAR SINGH UPDATE2:

"He didn't have a stroke, he didn't have an aneurism and he isn't paralyzed and he isn't a quadriplegic."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

By Friday, he had been cut adrift. His abandonment was breathtaking. His loudest champion, Harpal Singh Nagra, a leading actor in the noisy airport demonstration that blocked Singh's deportation, uttered a bizarre and sudden renouncement. On the weekend, he told Sun reporter Kim Bolan:

"I don't know anything about Laibar Singh. I am no longer his spokesperson. I am not involved now. I have other things to do."

**********

RELATED: More "Wagging the Multi-Culti Dog"

News stories like this only serve to normalize nuts who should be marginalized, as Harper has tried to do. Reporters like Blanchfield should add a few more numbers to their "Muslim spokesman" rolodex.

**********

LAST WORD: It doesn't work...

But let's do it anyway.

He said during his tenure as superintendent for the Milwaukee School Board, members welcomed the idea for African-centred alternative schools with open arms.

The board opened a middle school and elementary school, but the former has since closed because of declining enrolment.

"The fact is there were good parts about it, but over time it was not successful," Fuller said.

Oh yeah... one other thing...

The elementary school is still open, but Fuller admits there are problems with student achievement.

The best part is... the Toronto Sun interviews the same guy... but there's absolutely no reference to this particular experiment in "social engineering"... being a complete failure.

A specific curriculum may be the only way to teach certain youths, a leading U.S. educator said in a speech in Toronto yesterday about the controversial issue of Afrocentric schools.

*

Speaking of political scandal...

In China... apparently they have Mom and Dadscam.

-- BEIJING (Reuters) -- A Chinese official has been sacked from his Communist Party post and demoted for putting on an over-lavish funeral for his mother, state media said on Tuesday.

I get that this guy really loved his mother... but aren't Communists also atheists? You'd think maybe funerals would be a lower key event when you're officially godless.

It seems to me... you think forcibly whipping together a thousand of your underlings to give mom a showy sendoff to the commie equivalent of the hereafter is a really great idea... maybe you have chosen show business, instead of a civil service career.

Xie organized more than 1,000 people, including eight officials and staff members of the highway administration, to attend his mother's funeral in November, according to a report of the Guangdong provincial discipline watchdog.

"Xie and his siblings erected a stage more than 20 meters high for people to pay their tributes and employed a 20-member band to perform music during the funeral procession," the China Daily said.

I dunno... maybe I'm missing something here.

*

Politics in Pakistan

Well... it's certainly never boring...

Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto's husband Asif Ali Zardari is heading for some fresh trouble as Pakistani authorities are now pursuing him for the $54 million they allege the couple hid illegally in Switzerland.

**********

RELATED: And Bilawal gets a grilling

A few pointed queries made it clear that people here did not think much of dynastic politics.

Paxman made the point by accusing the Bhuttos of treating the PPP as a piece of ‘family furniture’ to be handed down as an inheritance.

Lyse Doucet from the BBC asked if he would heal the rifts in the Bhutto family by reaching out to his cousins.

And one pointed question about Asif Zardari’s reputation being a handicap in his running the PPP would have embarrassed any son.

*

Well... that's pretty hard to argue

Asked why no other players were informed the asset was on the block, he said: “There are no other substantive Canadian distributors who would have been interested in these titles.”

*

Guess what would have happened...

If this kid had run over and killed somebody?

-- PONOKA, Alta. -- A 12-year-old central Alberta boy who faces charges after leading RCMP on a high-speed chase is to appear in court Wednesday.

The answer is... he still would have gone home with mom and dad.

Mounties chased what they thought was an impaired driver on the Queen Elizabeth 2 Highway at speeds of 170 kilometres an hour Monday before two spike belts were used to stop the minivan.

The Red Deer boy, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, is charged with dangerous driving, flight from police, driving without a licence, taking a vehicle without consent and driving without insurance.

And guess what Junior has learned from all of this?

Nothing good.

It's time to rewrite the Youth Criminal Injustice Act.

*

The army can stay, says Dion...

But it can't fight... in Afghanistan anyway... I think.

-- OTTAWA -- Liberal Leader Stephane Dion says Canada must “remain engaged” in Afghanistan but at the same time give its military the flexibility to deploy elsewhere.

Engaged, huh? That have anything to do with splashin' Timmy's ass all over the countryside... every time he finds the balls to actually stand up and fight?

Good ol' Steffi, once again confusing "spineless equivocation" with diplomatic finesse... hits us with the riddle stick. Not really that surprising, I suppose... coming from the party that tried its level best to eradicate Canada's military capability entirely.

Sorry Steffi... no sale. Maybe you should go back to hiding behind the glittery Y2Kyoto disco ball... cos' you're sure not shining especially brightly here.

*

Another dry hole

Even the fiberals have to acknowledge... you can't just run around aimlessly drilling for oil... hoping beyond hope, you're bringing in the big one...

A parliamentary committee is putting pressure on Karlheinz Schreiber to produce more documents relating to his business dealings with Brian Mulroney, saying the information he has provided so far has been of little use.

"To date, the committee has received literally thousands of pages of documents, the vast majority of which has not been helpful to us," Szabo said in a letter dated Dec. 18 and addressed to one of Schreiber’s lawyers.

Good grief... who could have possibly predicted this shocking turn of events?

*

Ok... everybody settle down...

His mom swears it was an accident...

One of the four Camrose teens accused of microwaving a cat to death is on probation for setting his own brother on fire earlier this year, his mother told Sun Media yesterday.

Anybody who imagines Canada's adolescent "Get out of Jail Free" programme... doesn't figure into this equation... has obviously been licking poisonous toads.

Sorry, folks... it's time to shred that useless Youth Criminal Injustice Act... and figure out a strategy that actually makes a difference.

Instead of littering big city streets with dead bodies.

**********

RELATED: Somebody give mom a slap here

Bill Pitt, a professor of criminology at the University of Alberta, said that violence toward animals is one of a triumvirate of behaviours, along with fire starting and bedwetting, that commonly indicate serous psychiatric problems.

*

So, lemme see...

We just blew past Canada's tragic 2007 taser death toll... so when is the loony left gonna rise up and demand a ban on snowboarding?

-- CanWest News Service; Vancouver -- So far this season, there have been six avalanche fatalities across Canada. Three of the deaths were in B.C., spawning an avalanche warning in the province.

"If it saves just one life..."

*

Whatever happened to...

Mark Steyn's human rights?

They are forever crying "not ALL Muslims" as if that was ever the point -- (once again, Paul Revere didn't ride through Boston shouting "SOME of the British are coming..." He didn't have to, because people then weren't as stupid as they are now.)

This "some, not all" rhetorical trope is SO very, very tired, guys.

**********

RELATED: That'll teach those damn peacemongers

-- ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Suspected Islamic militants fatally shot eight tribal leaders involved in efforts to broker a cease-fire between security forces and insurgents in Pakistan's volatile northwest, authorities said Monday.

*

It's alive!

Once again, it's the creature from the fiberal lagoon...

-- OTTAWA -- New details of the RCMP criminal probe into the sponsorship scandal and the Liberal kickback scheme have surfaced in court documents that state a company obtained $475,000 in federal funds after spending only $7,300 to run ads on a community station.

A recently unsealed RCMP search warrant said Le Groupe Polygone Editeurs Inc. ran federal advertising at the start and at the end of three low-budget television shows on Télé-Mag in 2001 and 2002.

The Groupe Polygone files are important because the firm was described by the Gomery inquiry as a player in a "kickback scheme" that benefited the Liberal Party of Canada.

**********

RELATED: Kinsella's invisible, anonymous friends

"I know lots of Tories. Some of them are pretty good friends. Once they are certain that their sexual preferences and other State secrets will not constitute a salacious posting on my web site, www.warrenkinsella.com, they will often let me know what they think."

Well... it could be worse... at least he's not claiming he gets messages from the dead.

*

McGuinty government ponies up...

Three hundred thousand dollars for crack pipes...

Crack addicts in Ottawa will continue receiving clean, free crack pipes next year. The Ontario government agreed to fund the program even though the city doesn't support it anymore.

David Jensen, a spokesman for the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, confirmed Friday that the province will provide the $287,000 requested by the Somerset West Community Health Centre to run the crack pipe program for the next 12 months.

This might be old news to people up in Ottawa, but I only just saw it tonight on the CTV Ottawa affiliate.

CJOH was interviewing an Ottawa city councillor who was saying that the provincial Liberals ponied up all this money for drug paraphernalia... without providing any additional monies for actual drug rehab.

So, to recap... three hundred thousand taxpayer dollars to facilitate drug use... and nothing to stop it.

Way to go, Dalton.

**********

RELATED: Oh yeah, did I mention...

The Mayor and the Ottawa city council... voted this bad boy off the island.

It is "unfortunate" that the province has stepped in to save a program that provides clean crack pipes to Ottawa drug addicts despite Ottawa city council's decision in July not to continue funding it, Mayor Larry O'Brien said through his spokesman.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Penalty for smoking a cigarette at a bus stop in Ottawa: $5,000.

A recent fine for selling crack on Rideau Street in Ottawa: $200.

*

CTV news is just now reporting...

Two unidentified Canadian soldiers have died in a non-combat vehicle accident.

And the Globe now has an update...

-- KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Two Canadian soldiers were killed Sunday evening when their light armoured vehicle rolled over during an operation in southern Afghanistan.

Military officials have identified one of the victims as Corporal Eric Labbe, 31, a Van Doo from Rimouski, Que.

The second soldier's name is being temporarily withheld at the request of his family.

Second soldier has been identified

Warrant Officer Hani Massouh, who was with the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment from CFB Valcartier near Quebec City, died instantly. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt.

They will be remembered.

*

A traditional Mideast welcome

"Now we direct an urgent call to our militant brothers in Muslim Palestine and the Arab peninsula ... to be ready to receive the Crusader slayer Bush in his visit to Muslim Palestine and the Arab peninsula in the beginning of January and to receive him not with flowers or clapping but with bombs and booby-trapped vehicles."

**********

RELATED: Screw those nasty peace talks

Khaled Meshaal, the exiled political leader of Hamas, has said the group rejected a European offer for an indirect meeting with Israel to discuss an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a rally in Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Friday to mark Hamas' 20th anniversary, Meshaal said that "some Europeans have offered us to meet indirectly with [the] Israelis to discuss a truce and we told them no and one thousands nos".

**********

LAST WORD: Looks like Aljazeera wants a piece

A poll conducted recently on the website of Qatari satellite network Aljazeera has enraged Algerians, who feel the question advocated terrorism. The poll, which ran on the site from December 12th-15th, asked the question, "Do you support al-Qaeda's attacks in Algeria?"

The results of the poll -- which appeared just one day after two terrorist bombings in Algiers left 41 dead and 177 wounded-- were startling: of more than 30,000 respondents 57.7% said they did support the attacks, while 45.3% said they did not.

Now, despite the fact that somebody here obviously needs a little remedial arithmetic... when nearly 60 percent of those polled say... "Sure, bomb the shit out of our country, we don't care"... you've gotta suspect innumeracy may not be their biggest problem.

Geek Break...

Enough nuclear annihilation already...

The OSD is a versatile recorder.

Using a memory card or a U.S.B. storage device, it saves copies of DVDs, VHS tapes and television programs from satellite receivers, cable boxes, TVs and any other device with standard video output.

Read the frequently asked questions.

*

Coalition of the Reluctant

Try to imagine what the situation would be like... if west-friendly Pervez Musharraf wasn't the guy... who's sorta driving the bus here.

Pakistani officials are insisting U.S. forces cannot hunt al Qaida fighters in the country, following a news report that senior U.S. officials are considering expanded covert military operations inside Pakistan's tribal areas.

Pakistan's top military spokesman, Major General Waheed Arshad, said U.S. forces do not carry out military strikes inside Pakistan now and would not be allowed to do so in the future.

And you've gotta love the naivety here...

Critics say U.S. forces conducting operations inside Pakistan would spark a popular backlash against President Pervez Musharraf.

Can anybody, at this particular point in time, name a less popular guy in Pakistan than Musharraf?

This geo-political pot is about to boil over... and if the "nuclear genie" gets out of the bottle... all bets are off.

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RELATED: So, we have a plan, right?

The debate is a response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts there to destabilize the Pakistani government, several senior administration officials said.

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LAST WORD: Shsssshhhh...

You wanna give Taliban Jack a heart attack?

-- OTTAWA -- The Canadian military initially planned for a much wider involvement in the Afghan war than what it delivered in Kandahar, newly released documents show.

As a battle group of 2,200 soldiers was preparing to face the Taliban two years ago, the air force drew up plans in late 2005 to deploy eight CH-146 Griffon helicopters, specially modified as attack aircraft, and a fleet of CF-18 fighter-bombers.

The proposals were eventually set aside, despite NATO's plea for more aircraft, specifically transport and attack helicopters.

It's a Bull Market

Don't let it throw you... this might just be the next big thing...

Boasting expected 2008 sales growth of 25 percent and cash flow rising about 30 percent, it is no wonder New York private equity firm Spire Capital Partners invested almost $100 million in PBR in April 2007 to buy a controlling two-thirds stake.

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The Big "E"

I'm fresh off watching resident pinko-pundit David Akin on the CTV news... lauding Hillary Clinton's "loads of experience."

Now, just so we're all on the same page here... was all this alleged "experience" acquired... while she was supposed to be co-presidenting with philanderer in chief Slick Willie?

Call me wacky, but if Hillary wasn't around enough... or aware enough... to realise that her co-president was pokin' the co-ed office help... she might be exaggerating that experience thing a tad.

And if political spouses are somehow magically imbued with all of these diplomatic skills and foreign affairs experience... how come Margaret Trudeau isn't Prime Minister of Canada?

Just curious.

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FROM THE COMMENTS: The socialist intelligentsia replies...

"you're quite the Nazi, ain't ya?"

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RELATED: Speaking of Nazis...

Time was when "human rights" was a truly large and noble idea.

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LAST WORD: Welcome readers of Canadian Cecilia

It's always nice to be linked to... yet again... by the poster boy for the intellectual, caring left.

Remember Canadian Cecilia's message to Wanda Watkins, whose son Lane was killed in Afghanistan?

"With all due respect, Wanda, fuck you and your grief. It's not the job of the rest of Canada to continue to let its soldiers die just so you can sleep better at night."

Of course... CC has always been a real lady's man.

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Everybody's favourite...

Corporate villain-du-jour... takes another very public shitkicking...

Retail giant Wal-Mart's decision to expand into round-the-clock shopping does not bode well for workers and their families, a labour leader says.

Marie St. Aubin, a national representative with the Canadian Auto Workers union, which represents workers at Dominion supermarkets in Newfoundland and Labrador, said Wal-Mart's move may force other major retailers to follow suit.

How is it, that all kinds of manufacturing and service industries can stay open round the clock... but when Walmart does it... everybody loses their mind?

Just another extension of the sociaist "special laws for special people" principle.

Apparently some animals ARE more equal than others.

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Requiem for a Featherweight

There's no such thing as too many funerals...

A man of culture and learning, Red Tory worked hard in his private time to bring about the vision of Canada that he developed living in Victoria, Canada's left most city, a balanced community which boasts the three of the eight arms of a collectivist bureaucracy: a provincial capital, a University, and a repressed memory book store.

Leave your thoughts and best wishes here.

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Say hello to...

A future Darwin Award contender...

An 18-year-old driving his parents’ new car on the highway near Windsor today tried to race an unmarked police car this morning, reaching 160 km/h before he was arrested.

Sgt. Cam Woolley of the OPP said the detachment commander with Chatham-Kent OPP was driving toward Windsor in an unmarked Chevrolet Impala with tinted windows when a young man pulled up alongside him in a Chrysler 300.

The driver tried repeatedly to get the uniformed officer to race, not allowing him to pass and travelling at higher and higher speeds. Woolley said, “He was playing tough guy until he got stopped."

"Then he cried until his parents got there.”

The officer’s unmarked Chevrolet Impala does not look like a police car and is used to hunt for aggressive drivers.