No such thing...

...as a "bad boy" here, my friend... this is Canada...

"The progress on national security was given a passing mark in spite of numerous specific concerns raised in Tuesday's report."

*

Climbing down from Conficker panic

If you've used Microsoft update in the last 6 months... apparently, you're gonna be fine...

"This is the electronic equivalent of being told there is a major storm that has a 20 percent chance of hitting."

"It's not time to hide in the bunker. But it might be prudent to look out the window."

It seems Microsoft put out a patch for the Conficker Worm last October. Unless you totally ignore updating your operating system, you're already protected.

Part of the danger inherent in this threat is that it won't allow you to connect to Windows Update and various anti-virus manufacturers.

If you can connect and update... you're good to go.

More here and here.

*

Yeah, man... it was like...

...another total miscarriage of justice...

"Well... except for the eyewitness account, the DNA evidence and the testimony from the cop in his cell."

**********

RELATED: B.C. gang wars heating up again?

-- ABBOTSFORD -- Homicide investigators are on the scene of two murders here today that occurred less than nine hours apart.

Const. Casey Vinet said both victims are men in their 20s but would not say if they are known to police given that positive identifications have not yet been made.

*

Get the freakin' nets

There's a few that got away...

"Do you agree with the consensual living movement that parents and children have equal say in family life – even at bedtime?"

*

There are none so blind...

...as those who will not see...

Those who shouted the loudest for the heads of the AIG execs had the dirtiest hands. President Obama was outraged at their greed. But he alone signed their bonus provisions into law.

And during the recent presidential campaign, no one forced him to accept over $100,000 in AIG donations.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, Connecticut Democrat, was the fieriest in his denunciations of Wall Street greed. Yet he was the very one who inserted the bonus provision into the bailout bill, despite later denying it.

And Mr. Dodd has taken more AIG money than anyone else in Congress.

So, how exactly does this work? How can anyone... right, left, drunk... schizophrenic... hell, comatose... rationalise this behaviour?

Does Obama still get to be "The One"?

Behold the deafening silence.

**********

RELATED: Compare and contrast...

"The thing that most impresses me about Shakedown is that it talks about the reality of living in Canada today. Most of what I hear in media is nonsense, carefully crafted to avoid trouble."

(via ffof)

One small point here...

...the dumbsticks that are sending away for this certificate aren't atheists... they're morons.

*

Paging Peter MacKay

I dunno... maybe it is rocket science...

The Black Thunder looks like a regular D9 bulldozer but is equipped with a number of cameras that transmit images to the operator, who controls the vehicle with a wireless remote control. The unmanned D9 participated widely in Operation Cast Lead as well as in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

Why are we sending troops down the road without one of these bad boys pre-sweeping for unexploded ordinance?

"The unmanned version is important since if there is a concern that an area is loaded with mines it can save lives," the officer said, adding that in the event of a communications malfunction the vehicle can be turned into a manned vehicle and operated like a regular D9.

Do it.

Do it now.

*

Lemme see if I got this straight

He got the boot... after driving the Torstar bus right into the ditch... but none of that matters to Premier McSlippery?

**********

UPDATE: See, it's not really lying...

..."it's muddying"...

“This calls for some clarification. I take responsibility for muddying the waters,” Mr. McGuinty said in Question Period today. “We will honour that commitment.”

And if you catch him... he gets a mulligan.

*

Necessity is the mother...

...of invention.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Go kill a tree. You'll feel better."

From your lips... to Gore's ear.

*

Pulling the magical handle

Hey guys, how about we maybe just go with a little more straight talk... and a little less digital pixie dust?

"Liberal 360" is the name of the party's new voter database system, which was purchased from a Massachusetts-based company called the Voter Activation Network. VAN is used by the Democrats at the federal and state levels, and it developed the volunteer management tools for the massively successful ObamaForAmerica.com.

The company only sells the product to "progressive political parties," which means that it's off limits to the Republicans and the Conservatives, which both have their own voter database systems.

I sure hope they remembered to buy that special "ACORN" module...

Mr. Rossi refused to say how much the party paid for the software, adding that the cost of these types of systems vary depending on how detailed a voter profile the party wants.

Voter-targeting software can be purchased for as little as $20,000, however it's the psychographic information about voters that can cost upwards of $200,000. Mr. Rossi said that no final decisions have been made about how much data the party will buy.

Nice to know, we're all just variables to be manipulated, huh?

*

Tick-tock, tick tock

The most interesting part of this whole thing, was watching Buzz Hargrove on CTV... trying to wrap his head around what had just happened...

If a Chrysler-Fiat union cannot be completed, Washington plans to walk away, leave Chrysler destined for a complete sell-off. No other money is available.

For GM, the administration offered 60 days of operating money to restructure. A frantic top-to-bottom effort began Sunday after CEO Rick Wagoner resigned under pressure from the White House.

*

Why fix stuff for real?

When it's so much easier to just pretend you're doing something...

"If I wanted to live in North Korea..."

**********

UPDATE: "Gored" by his own Ox

As most of you know, just over two years ago, my organization, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, found that the knuckleheaded leader of the global warming alarmism movement, Al Gore, consumes 20 times more electricity in his home than the average American household.

Since Earth Hour was recognized today, Saturday, March 28 from 8:30-9:30pm, I thought I’d see how the hypocritical, fear-mongering former Veep was celebrating at his home.

I pulled up to Al’s house, located in the posh Belle Meade section of Nashville, at 8:48pm – right in the middle of Earth Hour.

[Read it all]

**********

LAST WORD: The road to hell, is paved...

...with scented candles.

*

Lord of the Flies...

...Baghdad Edition...

The Awakening Councils, also known as Sons of Iraq, are made up of former Sunni insurgents who are now "HELPING" U.S. and Iraqi troops fight al-Qaida in Iraq.

*

From the people who brought you...

...lead-painted baby toys...

In an abstract for a second report released on Sunday by two Cambridge University researchers - entitled The Snooping Dragon: Social Malware Surveillance of the Tibetan Movement - investigators said while such attacks were not new, these particularly stood out for their ability to collect "actionable intelligence for use by the police and security services of a repressive state, with potentially fatal consequences for those exposed".

*

Oh gawd... there's another toughie

"Or You Could Go To Earth Day Festivities After You Paw Through Your Trash Like A Raccoon"

*

Yeah... that 2 for 1 "dead time"

How's that workin' for ya?

On Thursday, his son pleaded guilty to 49 charges, including mischief, criminal harassment and threatening.

In custody eight months, 17 days and given 2-for-1 time served, Justice Kathleen Caldwell yesterday sentenced Ralph Scala, 37, to three years probation and ordered him to compensate his victims and not to live in or visit his neighbourhood, Det. Michael Gurman said.

No wonder people don't have any faith in the "justice system."

In court Thursday, prosecutor Jody Milstein said the entire neighbourhood had been "terrorized."

Court heard one victim was a 3-year-old girl, but favourite targets were seniors.

Does this sort of thing make you crazy?

Here's a thought... you could get behind the folks who want to fix this.

*

Did you hear the one about...

"You have to admire the sense of humor of the folk in the refugee industry.

Their current bright idea: to resettle part of a polygamous tribe that practices female genital mutilation in Holyoke, Massachusetts--next door to the first women’s college in America."

*

I can't wait to see the MSM...

...try turn this woman into THE VICTIM...

Officers discovered the lifeless body of Jadon Bernard, who was only 18 months old, inside a silver Honda CRV parked in the garage.

Investigators allege the tot’s mom, Nadine Bernard, 34, killed her son and then attempted to end her own life.

I'm sorry... but there's a special place in hell...

**********

RELATED: Peel homicide cops on a roll...

An acquaintance of slain restaurateur George Koutroubis was taken into custody by Peel police in Toronto yesterday afternoon and charged in his murder, The Sun has learned.

After an exhaustive and detailed investigation into the mysterious slaying of the well-known and popular co-owner of Six Steps restaurant on Colbourne St., Andrew Campbell, 43, of Whitby, will be in a Brampton court room this morning to be formally charged with first-degree murder.

Court records indicate Campbell has a 2004 firearms conviction and was not a stranger to police.

**********

LAST WORD: Bend over... grab your ankles

"Call the cops, they'll show up an hour later, ask you to fill out a form."

*

How about we leave everything...

...unlocked for 24 hours... and see if that reduces crime?

*

Decisions, decisions

Yeah... that one's a real toughie...

Bystanders had mixed reactions. Nicole Brown said that she can’t condone murder but that police don’t respect residents of the area.

[*]

May result in death and/or...

"...loss of skiing privileges..."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Christ, that's a tough ski patrol... usually, they just dump out my wineskin."

*

Just blame it on Stephen Harper

It's funny... I checked with all my neighbours... and nobody around here has noticed a sudden exodus of women for parts unknown...

Ms. Brown, meanwhile, has a ready answer for those critical of her career choice.

"I have job security," she said.

Yup... not to mention... herpes.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Her 'job security' will start to sag eventually."

**********

RELATED: It's a tough job...

...but somebody's gotta do it.

*

Where is your God now?

When you care enough to send the very best...

"We operate in many places near and far, and carry out strikes in a manner that strengthens our deterrence."

The BBC's Paul Wood in Jerusalem says Israel's response is following a traditional pattern, set when it attacked a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007, of first refusing to confirm an alleged strike and then giving a nod and a wink.

Hey Mahmoud... "Ya feelin' lucky, punk?"

**********

RELATED: Yeah... that's some "Holy War"

-- PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber demolished a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers attending prayers near the Afghan border, killing at least 48 people and injuring scores more, in the bloodiest attack in Pakistan this year.

The bomber struck at the climax of the service, as the mosque leader was starting the communal prayer, witnesses said.

“As the prayer leader said ‘God is Great,' the bomb went off with a big bang.”

Allah must be so proud.

*

I am atheist...

...because I don't believe in faith, which I believe is the common dogma shared by traditional religion and secularized religions.

This means that my atheism is somewhat foggy; because you can't prove that there isn't a God any more than you can prove that there is one, both are un-testable.

By railing against God, especially the Christian God, these authors are missing the real target, faith.

(via maggie's farm)

Revisiting the "Oracle Project"

There's been a lot of noise in the leftosphere recently... about Stephen Harper being responsible for the Canadian end of the financial crisis.

Was the Prime Minister really blindsided?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Harper called it right a year beforehand but the media will bury that fact because they love their Iggy."

*

15 Billion Dollar Ontario Deficit

Here's the line that jumps out and pokes me in the brain...

"43 cents: The government spends 43 cents of every program dollar on health."

Yeah... I wonder how stuff like that could happen.

**********

RELATED: One foot on a banana peel...

-- OTTAWA and TORONTO -- Premier Dalton McGuinty derailed his own efforts to sell Ontarians on a politically challenging budget Friday, triggering confusion and criticism by saying he may not honour a pledge written in Thursday's budget to raise the minimum wage to $10.25.

Uh-huh... good ol' McSlippery.

*

No, Marko...

...you're in federal custody... playing "drop the soap" with a bunch of degenerate bikers... that's when you'll really be sorry...
*

Ask a "Non-Urban"...

..."Non-Two Spirited" Canadian...

The long-gun registry has been a bane in the North where hunting and sport shooting are part of the culture and popular pastimes for both residents and visitors.

The root objection to the gun registry is that it targets the wrong people. It's a rural solution to an urban problem.

Implemented as a crime-preventative measure, the long-gun registry has simply been an unwieldy and intrusive colossal waste of money that penalizes law-abiding hunters, farmers and recreational shooters and does nothing to enhance public safety.

Since its implementation in 2003, it has cost Canadians more than $2 billion but has never solved or prevented a single crime.

My feelings on the "Farmer Bob Rifle Registry" are quite well-known... so I don't need to reiterate them here.

The point to remember is that handguns in Canada have required a special "restricted registration" since the 1930s.

That, of course, didn't stop the "natural governing party" from awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in software and hardware contracts to their corporate pals... while claiming they were battling crime.

And guess what... even with the really abysmal compliance rate, the damn thing still doesn't work.

Chew on that for a minute... and unless you're a complete idiot... you're gonna be clamouring for your two billion dollars back.

Because, the simple truth is, you've been suckered by the Liberals... yet again.

*

You know you're really getting...

...under somebody's skin... when they set up multiple dedicated Blogger accounts... just so they can troll your comments.

Meet Nonny-Mouse... aka Liberal Supporter...
For the record, Nonny has already "pwned" me... cos' you know, everybody is his "beotch".

Boy... all of this just sounds so familiar.

**********

UPDATE: Nonny-Mouse throws in the towel...

Very Well neo-mouse,

I leave you to your echo chamber, sorry if ask asking tough questions politely is an offence here. Yet it is your house and your rules, although I notice that enforce of those rules isn't uniform.
Try to enjoy our life, maybe lose some of the anger.
Luv,
Nonny-Mouse
Posted by Nonny-Mouse to halls of macadamia at 9:16 AM, March 28, 2009

*

Hey, Paul... here's a thought

Maybe your, uh, clients... could stop maiming, murdering and generally preying on the rest of us...

Wouldn't that help out with this thorny jail problem?

“These are people awaiting trial, presumed innocent, and held in crowded tension-filled holding jails,” said Paul Stern, a Toronto criminal lawyer.

“The ‘two-for-one' principle attempted to recognize the ghastly conditions, mandatory delays, and to provide some balancing for the delays.

Those poor, unfortunate sociopaths.

**********

ASK JOE SIXPACK:

"Do you support the federal government's plan to limit 'two-for-one' credit for prisoners who serve time in pretrial detention?"

*

Rural Geekazoid Shout-Out

Anybody out there have any experience with the "Rogers Rocket Mobile Internet Stick" in a non-urban setting?

Issues, irritants... stumbling blocks?

*

Oh, good grief...

...no wonder post-secondary education in Ontario is so messed up.
**********

BEST COMMENT EVER:

"Now can someone describe what kind of a freak would consider themself "Other."

An Honourable Mention goes to...

I believe "Other" represents a preference for farm yard animals.

"Agrisexual" is the more common term in my neck of the woods.

*

And somewhere in a dark corner...

...of Parliament's deepest, darkest basement... Stephane Dion throws back his head and howls...

The NEW Liberal Party... they're flexible too...

Only three weeks ago, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff insisted he would never support the fund without some advance idea of how it would be spent. He was adamant despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's warning that the fund constituted a confidence matter and that opposition parties would “find themselves in an election” if they blocked it.

“I am not writing a blank cheque on $3-billion. No Canadian would respect me if I did,” Mr. Ignatieff said at the time.

Wow... those are pretty tough words. I guess the Liberal Party means business after all.

Nah... turns out Iggy was just blowin' smoke... and it's "business as usual."

Yet Liberals supported the fund Tuesday even though the government had not provided any of the details they'd demanded.

Despite Tuesday's climb down, Mr. Ignatieff continued to insist his position hasn't changed. And he even issued a thinly veiled threat to force an election over the matter.

Is that really the kind of government Canadians want to go back to?

*

Oh, good gawd...

...somebody finally said it out loud.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"But... it looked so easy on "West Wing"!"

*

Say, Michael...

...you haven't seen Stephane around anywhere... have you?

[*]

Of course, totally eliminating...

...all gun crime in Toronto, has made it all worthwhile...

The City of Toronto is bleeding from a nine-month-old self-inflicted gunshot wound to the foot, and some councillors aren't shying away from salting the wound.

Yesterday, the Toronto Sportsmen's Show announced they were leaving the city-owned Exhibition Place for the province's Metro Convention Centre, where they'll be allowed to promote and sell firearms.

Way to go, Super Dave... you sure showed all those evil thugs.

The show is taking with it a cheque for $750,000 that used to go the city, and some councillors say they still need the cash.

"If there's any organization that can't afford to lose $750,000, it's the City of Toronto," Councillor Doug Holyday said.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"It was just a few years ago that the city of Toronto was going to close the skating rinks during the Christmas Break because it would cost....$750,000."

*

Day Trippin'

Just back from a run down to CFB Trenton with Neophyte's G-Dad.

G-Dad's an airplane buff and ex-pilot who trained out west with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during WWII. The Museum wasn't open today, but we scoped out the static display and an F-18 through the fence... and watched the Herky-birds touch and go.

It was a nice sunny day and I'm sure he was happy just to have a change of scenery. This being old and less than healthy must be a drag... but he's no whiner.

I'm happy to report he's bounced back some from his diabetes... now if we could only put a few pounds back on his very spare frame.

All in all a pleasant afternoon.

*

I say we all throw in... buy this thing...

...and have Darcey pick us out a nice bush lot somewhere in Northern Alberta.

We could call it Club Blue(s)... a convalescent home for war-weary rightwing bloggers.

*

Puffin King, Chicken Dinner

Swear an oath of eternal fealty... and I hear he'll bless your livestock...

For $1,100, you can talk to Michael Ignatieff at a cocktail reception and then sit really close to him at the dinner that follows. Pay $500 and all you get is the rubber chicken.

This latest Grit tactic is being employed for the Leader's Dinner, a major Liberal Party fundraiser being held at the swank Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto on April 1.

And you've just gotta love the "On Probation" website thing.

Ignatieff knuckles under on the Conservative budget... exactly like his "now disappeared" predecessor... and then tries to spin it like he's holding the government's feet to the fire.

What change are we talkin' about here? This is simply more fiberal smoke and mirrors.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Iggy is still asking Liberals to donate the maximum $1,100 to the Liberal Party AND another $1,100 to the Ignatieff leadership fund - $2,200 total."

"Wait! Ignatieff has a leadership fund? Isn’t he running uncontested?"

"Why does this fund still exist?"

*

Hang on a second

This isn't war... it's Charles Manson on steroids...

At least 25 people have been killed by a suicide bomber in the north-eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, police say.

The bomber targeted a crowd of mourners at a Kurdish funeral in the town of Jalawla, 115km (70 miles) north-east of the capital, Baghdad.

Dozens of people are reported to have been wounded in the explosion.

And you're telling me your deity is good with this?

"Baby... you'd better shop around."

*

It has been brought to my attention...

...that the Halls is not the fastest loading kid on the block.

After paring down my sidebar, with a little measurable improvement, I have come to the conclusion that I may be inadvertantly clogging up the pipes with large image files.

Since starting to blog two and a half years ago... I've been dropping jpegs into posts without really worrying about file size... from this point forward, I'm going to try going with slimmer png files.

Any and all advice, or feedback... in the comments, or by email, will be welcomed.

*

The "Just Society"...

...craps its pants... yet again...

"I sat across the aisle from Stefanie's parents and relatives and distinctly remember wincing: Their gentle, beloved and loving girl was in her grave at 14, and the administration of justice was concerning itself with whether M.T. had a cushion."

"So much is upside down it is sometimes hard to fathom."

**********

RELATED: Let's ask Joe Sixpack...

Here comes the science

Your tax dollars... their "homeless friends"...

-- TORONTO -- The city is giving $100 pre-paid Visa cards to people who agree to pretend they're homeless when Toronto conducts its needs assessment of those without shelter.

In an e-mail sent out last week to different social agencies and individuals, city employee Monica Waldman said they are looking for "tons" of people to sign up to be "decoys" on April 15, the night scheduled for the city's second homeless head count.

"As a decoy, you would need to come to a 30-minute training session and then be deployed to various sites throughout the city where you will wait to be approached by the research volunteers."

Just another brainwave from "His Blondeness" and the "skeet-shooting causes crime" department at City Hall.

Now stop stalling... just pay your tax bill and shut up.

**********

RELATED: As an added bonus, the Xbox Solution...

...will do away with War and NASCAR too...
Don't miss the comment about Klingon battle swords.

"Mentall-ill", indeed.

**********

LAST WORD: Can't resist a well-turned phrase

"I was sure that I'd have more to say on Michael Coren's show last week than I did when I agreed to do CBC Newsworld's Sunday morning current affairs program a couple of years ago, just after the death of Anna Nicole Smith, where I apparently outraged the female host by suggesting that Smith had unhappily filled a "whore-shaped hole" in the culture."

"Note to self: don't quote Pascal on national television."

(via ffof)

More ancient secret powers revealed

Ah, yes... it's "The Protocols of the Elders of Rolph's Parents Garage"...

“My Jewiness is like a forcefield!“

[*]

UPDATE: Go Ezra go

*

"Train 9 from Outer Space"

The death of someone before their time is always tragic... but, I'm sorry Jessica... the "Monster Train" theory... that just ain't gonna cut it...

Perhaps the white roses stand for the two young men rendered helpless as a GO Transit train "sucked" their friend beneath it in spite of their screams and attempts to bang on the cars as the train rumbled westward.

"He said they just got off the GO Train. It was pulling away and Jafari got put onto the tracks by the train somehow."

"Then it just kept going."

Oh my gawd... another remorseless killer.

Is this what passes for journalism nowadays? The anthropomorphic train that eats unsuspecting bystanders? Like the malignant ski hill that rises up and squashes beloved thespian royalty?

I sense a theme here.

It's like the evil handguns that rain down over Toronto's "less advantaged" neighbourhoods... indiscriminately shooting innocent bystanders.

This is a world spinning out of control. We are being victimised by forces beyond our limited understanding.

Well, all that... and evil twisted genius Stephen Harper.

Sigh.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Coulda been a contender...

"Oceans have been eating shoreline for a long time but they’re getting hungrier."

*

Uncommon sense

"There's virtually nothing that a Conservative immigration minister can do without eliciting charges of being anti-immigrant or xenophobic from the Liberals and the NDP and I think that's really unfortunate," said Kenney.

"One of the things we should recognize in Canada is that there's a very broad political consensus in favour of immigration. The reality is this: our record is much better than the Liberals on this issue. They imposed a $1,000 right-of-landing fee on every immigrant in 1995. We cut it in half.

"When the Liberals took power in 1993, they inherited a backlog from the Mulroney government of about 40,000 immigration applications. The Liberals drove that up to 800,000 and they drove the processing times from an average of six months to more than five years.

They froze settlement funding, whereas our government has tripled settlement funding and so I would argue theirs was a record of neglect.

Therefore, I don't take criticisms from them on this very seriously."

Read it all.

**********

RELATED: The more things "hopenchange"...

In turbulent times, it's good to know some things never change.

After a week in which President Obama thanked himself for inviting him to the White House, compared AIG executives to suicide bombers, and did the first Presidential retard joke on national TV, I was impressed to find that Slate is bravely keeping up its Bushism Of The Day feature.

Four more years!

*

What us knuckle-draggin' Neocons...

...can learn from the compassionate, intellectual left.

You wanna rebut accusations of anti-semitism... hey, just trot out another stereotype...
Geez... I hate to think what Zee's got in his back pocket... a little Amos and Andy?

(swept up @ dmb)

The Web Police "gets all Lucy"...

...on her ass... Connie Fournier has the latest...

I was just talking to an officer from the Kingston City Police. Apparently, Richard Warman has contacted them and asked them to investigate Mark and me because Edward Kennedy was not banned for comments he made about Warman.

The only way Edward Kennedy could be more open about his identity is if he had a google map to his house in his signature line.

He has been open about his involvement with the Landowner's Association, he writes letters to the editor to the local papers, and he is well-known in local political circles.

An interesting tactic by Stormin' Warman. You get cut loose by the HRC's... I guess you gotta get creative. Hard to believe though, the local cops were so easily suckered...

I find it astounding that Richard Warman would try to pull Mark and me into his dispute with Edward Kennedy, when Edward Kennedy is such an accessible public person.

Maximum Disruption reaches a new level.

Hey Connie... just watch out for those tasers.

*

Because Trudeau, Mulroney...

...Chretien and Martin just weren't enough...

"Quebecers do not deserve to be in a permanent opposition in Ottawa. Their place is in power," Ignatieff said, pausing for applause.

"The time has come for Quebecers to get their place back in Ottawa."

Thus spake the Puffin King... you know... the guy who didn't live in Canada for how many decades?

**********

FURTHER READING:

Wanna know what else the four musketeers had in common?

They were all solidly wired in... at one point or another... to Quebec's Power Corporation.

Chretien let him cool his jets for two and a half hours in the foyer before having him ushered in. The commissioner was looking like a loose cannon, but Chretien had to be extremely careful about what he said and how he said it. The Desmarais connection was as touchy a subject as there could be.

Chretien's predecessor, Brian Mulroney, was back working with the Desmarais family on Power Corp.'s international board of advisers.

Chretien did not even risk raising the family name.

A highlight of the book is Palango's take on the Maher Arar affair. It knocked me on my ass.

Pick up the book and get a look at the "sausage factory" of Canadian politics... and policing.

**********

RELATED: Sidewinder who?

*

Sonny Bono Syndrome

"If it saves just one millionaire celebrity..."

*

Oh c'mon...

You really thought their only problem was that they were a bloodthirsty, medieval theocracy?

Give yourself a shake.

*

Paging Premier McSlippery

SAFETY BREAK!!!

Nobody waxes... nobody gets hurt...

“It's huge,” she said, adding that her customers don't think their bikini lines are anyone's business but their own. “It's just not right.”

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Who gets to be the lucky fellow to inspect the ladies for illegal Brazilian wax jobs?"

*

Blaze on

"The Cat came back... the very next day"...

Funny how that works.

I guess it's all fun and games until somebody loses a secret identity.

Yeah, CC you dumbstick... come and get me.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I was surprized that CC would comment on BCF's "outing", given that he's very protective of his own identity."

"It just gives an excuse for those who loath him (and they are legion) to determine and publish his identity."

*

Toronto "RED" Star...

...reports on "disputes" in the big city...

A 27-year-old man was taken to hospital following a shooting in Scarborough early this morning. The victim was not being cooperative at this point and no suspects have been identified, police said.

And I'm actually a little surprised they're not calling this one a "tiff."

Two teenagers were taken to hospital with stab wounds following a fight in north Toronto Friday night. No suspects have been identified but several people were seen running from the scene.

Well, at least this time they didn't try to blame it on the "racist cops."

Your daily bird cage liner.

*

LONDONISTAN CALLING

Seriously... who knew?

" -- LONDON -- Some people are attracted to donkeys but that does not mean it is right.”

Well, Anjem... I've gotta tell ya... that's way more information than I was lookin' for.

I suppose it's too much to hope you're gonna stop right there.

And he darkly hinted that Britain faces further attacks, saying: “We will keep calling for the truth until it is established or we are killed.”

But he clammed up when quizzed about the £277 a week he and his wife receive in jobless and housing benefits.

*

Four Canadians killed

...in Afghanistan...

-- KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Two separate explosions claimed the lives of four Canadian soldiers Friday as they took part in a massive military operation aimed at disrupting the Taliban before the start of what is predicted to be a particularly deadly fighting season.

Fighting season? What fighting?

These donkeyheads simply plant explosive booby traps that kill far more of their muslim brethren... including innocent women and children... than their perceived enemy.

The fact is, every time the brave "holy warriors" stand and fight, they get shredded into applesauce.

All of the soldiers who were killed were members of the Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment based in Petawawa, Ont. which is due to return to Canada in the coming weeks.

The dead have been identified as Master Corporal Scott Francis Vernelli, 28, Corporal Tyler Crooks, 24, Trooper Jack Bouthillier, 20, and Trooper Corey Joseph Hayes, 22.

They will be remembered.

*

Obama Whitehouse strangely silent...

...on "pushing Israel into the sea"...

Mr Obama's message was released to coincide with the festival of Nowruz, when Iranians mark the arrival of spring.

In it, President Obama said he wanted "to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations."

And Iran, as usual, was quick to respond...

Ayatollah Khamenei said world powers had been convinced they could do nothing to halt the progress Iran was making on its nuclear programme.

Yeah... good luck with that, genius.

**********

RELATED: Making friends wherever he goes

New Whitehouse policy... "Hire the handicapped... they're fun to watch."

-- ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Special Olympics Michigan president said Friday she'd welcome the opportunity to send the nonprofit's top bowler to the White House.

Kolan McConiughey, who is cognitively impaired, has bowled five perfect games since 2005, said Special Olympics Michigan President Lois Arnold.

*

It takes a village...

...full of idiots...

“In sum, I wasn’t the extremist radical; they were. I wasn’t the one abridging ‘human rights’, they were. I wasn’t the fringe element who needed political ‘re-education’ about our country’s values; they were.

I wasn’t a humourless crank; they were — as they proved en masse when they hit me with more than 20 vengeance lawsuits, human rights complaints and complaints to the law society to have me disbarred.

*

These are a few of her...

...favorite things...

I just can’t imagine feeling this way about Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton, can you? Neither seemed to be physically in love with herself the way Michelle is.

No wonder her body lends itself so nicely to political myth.

And who would actually commit such nonsense to paper?

Ms Quan has been hailed as “the only chick-lit writer to discuss indentured labour... and the proper purse in which to carry a dildo.”

Okay... that explains a few things.

*

Oh, c'mon... there's so much local talent

"Performers and vendors are invited to be part of the Deseronto Waterfront Family Festival June 20."

Recommended dress is "Kevlar & Tails".

**********

RELATED: Yeah right... the racist system...

A 16-year-old faces nine charges including two counts of criminal negligence causing death in relation to the drug-related deaths of two teenage girls from the Paul First Nation, Stony Plain RCMP announced Thursday.

The male youth, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was arrested and charged Wednesday night.

He is from the Paul First Nation west of Edmonton, police said.

*

Hoist by her own...

...niqāb...

The West Vancouver resident converted to Islam after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and runs a website, Jihad Unspun, that says it provides information “devoid of the constraints of mainstream media.”

Or "the constraints of civilisation", huh Bev?

In'shallah, baby.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I wish her luck, maybe some of her hippy friends will come through for her."

*

Which is just about...

...as many Canadians... as have died from being tasered - EVER - *

More cheap shots...

...from the sheep seats...

Opposition MPs criticized Breitkreuz's choice to attend saying it was an insensitive decision as Toronto faces problems with guns on the streets.

On Thursday, CSSA Executive Director Tony Bernardo told CTV News that his organization was withdrawing its invitation to Breitkreuz.

Bernardo said the CSSA was sorry that the incident has caused embarrassment to Breitkreuz.

What on earth does this event have to do with urban street thuggery?

Did Gray Breitkreuz even indicate that he was aware of this raffle?

And guess what guys, even if he was... there's just a bit of a difference between legally owning a gun... and shooting someone with a gun.

"I guess if we were a camera club we'd give away a camera, if we were a car club we'd give away a car -- but we're not. We're a shooting association and we're raffling a firearm," Bernardo told CTV.ca in a phone interview.

"It's a legal firearm being raffled to legal, licensed owners. What's the problem?"

You get that right?

Good grief.

**********

RELATED: Apparently, to everyone's surprise...

...not a single Member of Parliament was involved...

The shooting occurred in a basement apartment in a house on Merritt described by neighbours as a suspected crack house.

"This area's bad," said one resident, who didn't give his name.

He said the house, owned by an older woman who rents out rooms, is notorious for suspected drug activity, with people coming and going at all hours.

And yet another murder in Lotusland...

-- VANCOUVER -- Another man has been killed in a shooting in Metro Vancouver.

The RCMP say the man was found dead in a residential area of southeast Surrey early today.

It's too early to tell if the attack was gang or drug-related, but the death brings to 17 the number of people killed in almost 40 shootings in the region since January.

I sure hope CTV is checking Gary Breitkreuz' alibi.

**********

UPDATE: Of course... it's all on "Dirty Stevie"

"I have not a shadow of a doubt that this is being directed by the Prime Minister's Office," said Mark Holland, the Liberal public safety critic.

**********

LAST WORD: The incredible dishonesty of CityTv

In Canada, you can't simply "give" a pistol away to any Tom, Dick or Omar. Handguns have been classified as restricted weapons requiring special registration since the early 1930's.

This raffle would be restricted to people who have received special training and subsequent vetting by the police. These days, your spouse or live-in partner actually has to give their approval. If all that goes well... they are then issued a special "permit to possess" which has incredibly strict conditions. You are then allowed to take this gun straight to and from a registered range.

Another shining example of left-biased "media duplicity".

*

Song sung Blue

The more I hear of Tim Hudak... the more I like the song...

"It took from Confederation to 2002 for the Ontario government to take the provincial budget to $68-billion. This year, thanks to Dalton McGuinty, government spending will skyrocket past $100-billion. And don’t forget, Ontario is already carrying a total debt burden of more than $170-billion."

"But I’m hard-pressed to find an Ontario family or business that is feeling twice as well-served or twice as well off."

*

Perhaps a little "resistance training"...

...isn't a bad thing...

The decline of traditional news media will accelerate the rise of The Daily Me, and we'll be irritated less by what we read and find our wisdom confirmed more often.

The danger is that this self-selected "news" acts as a narcotic, lulling us into a self-confident stupor through which we will perceive in blacks and whites a world that typically unfolds in grays.

So perhaps the only way forward is for each of us to struggle on our own to work out intellectually with sparring partners whose views we deplore.

Think of it as a daily mental workout analogous to a trip to the gym; if you don't work up a sweat, it doesn't count.

Of course... you still have to get past the sweating, grunting narcissist over at the weight pile by the full-length mirror.

**********

RELATED: It's something Ezra's already doing

"I take it you're from the Liberal club, you've got Warren Kinsella's talking points."

"Good for you. Send me a memo, I'll look into it."

**********

LAST WORD: Horrible Neocon makes "retard joke"

Wait a minute...

*

Sauce for the Goosesteppers

You wanna get their attention.... you've gotta speak jihadi...

Israel has detained 10 senior Hamas leaders in the West Bank two days after indirect talks between the two sides on a possible prisoner swap collapsed.

As always, in this part of the world, everything is relative.

An Israeli military spokeswomen described them as "terror operatives"; Hamas said they included four MPs, a former deputy PM and an academic.

I dunno... maybe they're gonna have to call in Clark "Hussein" Kent... "Faster than a speeding teleprompter..."

*

Despite all the cheering...

...from the leftosphere, the situation in Afghanistan is hardly as dark as you might think...

The idea that Kabul is under siege is a figment of the news media's imagination based on hyped reporting of a few isolated attacks.

ISAF officers suggested to us that the recent insurgent raids on three government buildings, which generated so much negative publicity, were actually good news, because Afghan security forces, who have assumed lead responsibility for operations in much of the capital, were able to handle the crisis on their own.

That, of course, is the real measure of progress in what so recently was a medieval theocracy.

Commandos from the Afghan National Police Crisis Response Team stormed into the Justice Ministry within hours and killed all the attackers, who had hoped to carry out a protracted Mumbai-style siege.

Other would-be suicide bombers were rounded up before they could set off their explosives.

*

The Toronto "RED" Star...

...starts stockpiling torches and pitchforks.

**********

RELATED: Apparently, the lunatic left...

...can't even stay bought.

*

Mayor Miller's office strangely silent...

...on which gun, er... fencing club they belong to...

Toronto police are looking for as many as a dozen youths involved in a series of gang swarming attacks in and around the city's Annex neighbourhood, including one stabbing that sent a man to hospital for emergency surgery.

Police said in all of the cases, a group of six to 12 young males surrounded a person and demanded cash or items such as iPods.

**********

RELATED: One for the good guys

Three Toronto men, Kush Walker-King, 20, Christopher Abbott, 33, and Lanri Watson, 25, face a laundry list of charges including attempted murder, robbery and unauthorized firearm possession.

*

The war on law-abiding citizens

"But, but, but... going after actual criminals is soooooo hard."

**********

RELATED: Well, as long as it's...

...a fair fight.

During their investigation into the shooting, officers also arrested a man in the area who was wearing a bulletproof vest. He was released from custody and no charges have been laid.

It is not illegal to wear body armour, but Toronto police Det. Derek Young told CBC News that the people officers encounter who are wearing bulletproof vests are usually involved in illegal activities such as drug dealing.

*

Perhaps "the answer"...

...isn't "blowing in the wind" after all...

-- TORONTO -- A 20-year-old man was rushed to Sunnybrook hospital with serious injuries after being shot in the stomach last night.

Police arrived to an apartment complex at 35 St. Dennis Dr. around 10:30 p.m. to find the victim suffering from a single gunshot wound to the lower abdomen.

**********

UPDATE: COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Unlike their fawning coverage of, say... Caribana...

...CTV lays this one squarely at the feet of the bogtrotting, alcoholic Irish
Funny how that works.

*

When it's being touted as actual...

..."foreign policy"... I'm not sure you can go with the old "sticks and stones" defense...

Asked whether he approved of Ahmadinejad saying he wants to wipe a UN member state - Israel - off the map, d'Escoto said "if he said that, it's lamentable," but he quickly added that "words as such don't kill" and it's the actions that have to be watched.

So what we're waiting for... is the actual "wiping out" to take place?

Like Rwanda? Or the Sudan?

FIRE... THEM... ALL.

*

Hope, Change and...

GOING, GOING...

President Obama was informed about the $165 million in bonuses due to employees of the American Insurance Group the day before they were paid out last week, the White House disclosed late Tuesday.

GONE...

During late-night, closed-door talks last month, negotiators for the House, Senate and White House stripped out a measure to the stimulus bill that could have restricted the AIG bonuses.

Yeah... shocked AND surprised.

Hey, buddy... there's a little tarnish on that halo.

About $101,332 worth.

**********

RELATED: Okay... everybody settle down

"The One" has it covered.

**********

LAST WORD: Are they nuts?

The U.S. Census Bureau is working with several national organizations to help recruit 1.4 million workers to produce the country's 2010 census, including one with a history of voter fraud charges.

ACORN, which claims to be a non-partisan grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people, came under fire in 2007 when Washington State filed felony charges against several paid ACORN employees and supervisors for more than 1,700 fraudulent voter registrations.

(h/t reader rich)

DONE

"I'm turning Japanese...
I think I'm turning Japanese...
I really think so...
Turning Japanese"

*

Okay...

Now that that's outta the way... can we ask Mohamed Elmasry about pushing Jews into the sea?

*

No, seriously...

...you might wanna wipe off your chin...
*

Where's my taxpayer-funded public enquiry?

Just add it to the list of stuff that's way more dangerous than tasers. And don't play coy, Dawg... you know what list.

[*]

RELATED: Over 300 incidents... no deaths

In his report to the Toronto Police Services Board, Chief Bill Blair said none of the 329 people had any lasting injuries from use of the "conducted energy weapons."

Police are criticized for using the devices, but although linked to 20 people's deaths in Canada, coroners concluded all had other medical conditions.

That's funny... those 20 deaths? Sun reporter Ian Robertson fails to mention what period of time is involved here... or the fact that this number is also country-wide.

So Ian... five years... ten tears? C'mon pal, pony up.

Journalists... our moral & intellectual superiors.

**********

LAST WORD: Sure thing, genius... no more tasers

Let's just shoot 'em.

*

The H.O.M. time machine

Ah, yes... time, once more, for the world's most expensive condiment...

"Just remember: you are doing it for LOVE... forget the fact that when you add in your costs for the energy to boil the sap, the time spent, etc., you are creating a $200 bottle of syrup!"

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Finish this sentence...

"If 'Meat is Murder' then 'Sap is... '"

*

CBC: Breaking News

Stand by for riveting coverage of gravity... holding stuff down.

*

2009 Political Chutzpah Awards

"And this year, ironically... the much coveted 'Wilbur' statuette goes to 'Peak Pork'."

And in the ever popular "Political Correctness" category...

"Thought experiment: Try to come up with a terrorist group the Dawg wouldn’t have time for."
Comment by Black Mamba — March 16, 2009 @ 4:52 pm

**********

LAST WORD: Burning down the Dawghouse...

"Yeah, and we should have handed over the Pickton investigation to Davie Street hookers."

"Or, speaking of Gacy, put off digging up the dude's basement until cops could consult with the Runaway Teenage Boy Community^(tm)."

*

Save the Sea-Kittens

Once again, "The Law of Unintended Consequences" rears it's ugly head.

*

So, really, we can just blame this one...

...on Stephen Harper...

-- BRAMPTON -- A 59-year-old woman was found slain in her home this afternoon and hours later her son was arrested east of the Toronto for her murder.

One man, who went to high school with the accused and didn't give his name, said Justin recently lost his job at an auto parts company.

He wonders if the loss of his job led to some sort of breakdown.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"This smacks of Mike Harris."

"Or global warming."

*

Dear Leader

Mr. Alinsky would be proud. And rightly so. For this is simply the continuation of Mr. Obama’s perpetual campaign.

A campaign, as we noted at the time, that was modeled on Saul Alinsky’s organizing principles.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I support Obama's bold plan* to dramatically increase the size of useless government and to do so by using my children and their children as economic vampire meat so I can live beyond my means."

"I support it even though there is no economic evidence it will work and there is a lot of evidence that plans like this haven't worked in the past."

*

When classifieds go wrong

[*]

P.S. -- big shout out to my "anonymous" pal in Red Deer, Alberta.

*

Hey, Mahmoud...

"Who's your Daddy?"

Details — first reported by Danger Room — have been elusive, but the U.S. military has now confirmed the incident.

Just remember, Mo... it ain't braggin'... if you can do it.

*

Eve of Destruction

"What we've been seeing in recent weeks is truly apocalyptic warnings from the analysts, which suggest that that is now a live possibility. The Pakistani government seems unable to control its own military or intelligence people. The tribal areas are already a failed state and a safe haven for terrorists.

A British diplomat said that British and American intelligence experts have concluded that while Pakistan used to be blamed for destabilising Afghanistan, the process has now been reversed and risks plunging the nuclear power into lethal chaos.

"The situation in Pakistan is extremely dangerous," he said. "I would say it's very grave. I think Pakistan faces a mortal threat, not from India, but from domestic terrorism."

Yeah... who could have possibly seen that coming?

**********

RELATED: Relax... "The One" will make it right

“ -- KABUL -- 'If you wait for 3,000 years, our position is that the Taliban will not enter into any kind of talks in the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan,' Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the Pakistan-based AIP news agency today."

Bin-Laden is a hair away from getting his own nuclear-armed Islamic state.

Why on earth would Osama sit down and parlay with the Great Satan... before he wins the big prize?

*

Okey-dokey...

...that makes for one less "vacation decision" dilemma...

"Bahrami, who moved to Spain after the attack to get medical treatment, said Wednesday that under Iranian law, she is entitled to blind him in only one eye, unless she pays euro20,000 ($25,110), because in Iran women are not considered equal to men."

Gotta confess... I'd sure love to get a peek at that "rule book".

*

Unique culture indeed

Constable Ian Lafrénière, a spokesman for Montreal Police, said there are more than 1,500 protests each year in the city, and the anti-police-brutality demonstration is the only one where organizers do not submit a plan to police so traffic routes can be cleared.

It is also the only demonstration that invariably ends in violence.

*

I guess they didn't get...

...the Oba-message...

"When the smoke cleared, I saw my father, my brother, and my uncle were lying on the ground and blood was pouring from their bodies."

**********

RELATED: Crazy Fundamentalist Neocon politician...

...wait a minute...

*

BREAKING: Toronto Maple Leaf fans...

...suddenly look startlingly normal...

An Iraqi football player has been shot dead by a spectator as he was about to score an equalising goal. The shooting happened in the last minute of a game between two local rivals on Sunday, police say.

Okay, everybody just settle down... I'm sure this is simply an isolated incident.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Gee, when they say 'sudden death', they're not screwing around."

**********

RELATED: Towards a "New Conservatism"

"We need new ways of thinking about foreign policy, too. I'm not saying we need to send red roses to the Taliban, but maybe we just need to meet them halfway. Maybe they'd be a little friendlier if our women agreed to wear scarves over their heads from noon till three?"

"I can't support stoning adulteresses in the village square, but - what if we just gathered 'round and threw hacky sacks?

The point would be made symbolically. It might even build a sense of community."

(via ffof)

Yes, Stooge...

Of course it is... 'cos that's how you roll.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"We have never censored or edited a message to Stageleft. That includes long and pointless strings of obscenity from a couple of dorks at Dogsnot Diaries. We don't censor."

**********

UPDATE: Geez, Stooge... you're back?
That two hour visit earlier this morning just didn't do it, huh?

*

Ugly, incomprehensible "Cult of Death"...

...once again... turns up "the crazy"...

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group said Friday his movement will never recognize Israel.

In a speech marking the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, Hassan Nasrallah said he rejected American conditions for dialogue, including recognition of the state of Israel.

Allah... (not to mention the Green Party)... must be so proud.

**********

RELATED: Yet another Oba-misfire...

Freeman served in Riyadh from 1989 to 1992, the period of the Gulf War. Like many representatives of the United States, he seems to have fallen prey to the Arabic equivalent of the Stockholm Syndrome (a phenomenon not unknown among Canadian diplomats).

Interestingly, it's the blogosphere that's getting credit for arc-lighting another dubious pick by "the One".

The White House decided not to spend political capital defending him, so this week he withdrew his name.

*

Yes, Virginia...

...there is a "Rainman"...

"Whether the act was consensual or accidental likely will be investigated by the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office, WUSA reported."

*

When you've gotta go...

...you've gotta go...

"I work in the world's largest medical center, and what you see here every day is people showing up in ambulances who didn't expect that just five minutes earlier."

"If you suddenly die or go into a coma, there can be a lot of things that are only in your head in terms of where things are stored, where your passwords are."

He set up a site called Deathswitch, where people can set up e-mails that will be sent out automatically if they don't check in at intervals they specify, like once a week. For $20 per year, members can create up to 30 e-mails with attachments like video files.

*

Somebody hand that woman a scalpel

A woman raped by a convicted psychopath who is now asking the government to pay for his sex-change operation says she is appalled with the justice system.

"When I first saw the (Toronto Sun) news article it almost sent me over the edge," said the woman, who goes by the name of Tina because her identity was banned from publication in court.

"At this point I would volunteer to do the surgery myself and it would not cost the taxpayers a dime."

Her rapist, Vance Egglestone, was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the brutal rape of a Toronto woman in 1976. Ten years later, he was let out on a conditional release and attacked Tina. He was charged with aggravated sexual assault, forcible confinement and choking and later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of sexual assault.

In last week's Sun story, Taylor apologized to his victims, saying "I'm so sorry for what I have done."

But Tina said the apology brought her little comfort.

She said she was choked with such force that she fell unconscious and her eyes remained bloodshot for some time.

"I should have been dead by all accounts," she said.

The man -- now a transsexual who legally changed his name to Shauna Taylor -- has been held indefinitely at Oakridge centre for the criminally insane in Penetanguishene.

Tina said while officials are spending thousands in court costs to argue over how her rapist's request for an assessment should be funded, no one has shown concern for the victims.

"This psychopath was only out a few months when he attacked me," said Tina. "It was a conditional release. What were the conditions--'call us if you feel the urge to rape?' ... and what was I when they released him -- their fucking test subject?"

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I say we hand that woman a chainsaw."

**********

RELATED: In other "crime is falling" news...

-- TORONTO -- The circumstances behind an early-morning shooting at the Guvernment nightclub that left three men wounded remain murky.

"We have no indication they were intended targets. None of them are saying, 'I had a beef with somebody, and the next thing I have a hole in me.' There's none of that."

Shootings have happened at the club before. In January 2007, two men suffered non-life-threatening injuries as a result of gunshots when they were evicted the club.

No word yet from Mayor Miller's office... on which gun club is responsible.

*

Read it... OR weep

"The One" shoots himself in the foot...

The text of Section 509 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, reads as follows:

SEC. 509. (a) None of the funds made available in this Act may be used for—(1) the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or (2) research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero under 45 CFR 46.204(b) and section 498(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 289g(b)). (b) For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘human embryo or embryos’’ includes any organism, not protected as a human subject under 45 CFR 46 as of the date of the enactment of this Act, that is derived by fertilization, parthenogenesis, cloning, or any other means from one or more human gametes or human diploid cells.

(via sda)

**********

FROM THE COMMENTARY:

"What a joke. If GW did this it would be all over the media, Saturday night live would have epic skits about it.

CBC would have a front page somewhat highbrow article and then an info-story about medical benefits of stem cells as a snide attack on Bush's intelligence even though we're all limited by the number of Americans and Canadians who are against it for religious reasons."

"Yet all we hear is virtual silence..."

**********

LAST WORD: "C'mon, I signed it..."

"...you want me to read it too?"
*

First Chrysler... now Bell?

Looks like "corporate blackmail" is the order of the day...

Bell may refuse to upgrade to next-generation networks if the Canadian government does not concede to demands, a statement from the company proposes.

[*]

Hope, Change and...

...puh-tay-toe, puh-tah-toe...

Retired army Lt.-Col. Stephen Abraham, a former Guantanamo official who has become critical of the legal process, said it's a change in nothing but semantics.

"There's absolutely no change in the definition," Abraham said in a telephone interview. "To say this is a kinder, more benevolent sense of justice, is absolutely false."

**********

RELATED: Speaking of semantics...

"And when Iggy said that his Liberal Senators acted “with dispatch” after learning that they would be responsible for Canadians losing EI benefits, did he mean that some of them ‘dispatched’ themselves right out of the building?"

*

What kind of monster...

...beats another human being to death?

-- TORONTO -- The owner of a scrap metal business in the city's north-west end was murdered, police said today.

The body of Rajeswaren Saravanamuthu, 39, of Toronto, was found yesterday after Toronto Police were called to the industrial unit at 147 Norfinch Dr. around 3 p.m.

**********

RELATED: Then there's this...

And unbelievably... this guy's now the victim?

The president of the National Organization for Women's New York chapter has condemned the death as an honor killing - a characterization local victim advocacy groups oppose.

**********

LAST WORD: The gawds must be crazy

Now thanks to our friendly courts’ catch and release program, we now have 12 RCMP officers babysitting Red Scorpion Jonathon Bacon and his buddy Dennis Karovanec 24 hours a day.

Port Moody is spending a small fortune to keep them from getting whacked.

*

Paging Scott Tribe

Hey, Scotty... it must be a pretty proud day... getting more props from your good buddy Canadian Cynic..
I mean, you compassionate, intellectual lefties gotta stick together, right?

But, tell me Scott... what's up with CC and the "nasty, evil Joos"?
Oh man, that CC's a regular Ernest Hemorrhoid... but even you have to admit he's a little obsessive on the subject of our non-Muslim brothers.
So, anyway... I just figured you might be able to clear that up for us. Maybe you could ask him at your next get-together.

Let us know, huh?

[*]

RELATED: Hey, CC... it's called "spelling"
And maybe you SHOULD stick to four letter words.

M-I-C-H-A-E-L

You're welcome.

*

The Friendly Skies

Just sit back and enjoy the flight...

Experts have warned there is a "high probability" that a fault which caused a British Airways jet to crash-land at Heathrow could hit other Boeing 777s.

US air accident investigators called for a component to be redesigned after a Delta Air Lines plane reportedly encountered a similar problem.

Manufacturers Rolls-Royce say the new part should be ready within the year.

There are currently 220 Boeing 777s, with Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines, in operation. The planes are used by 11 airlines and British Airways owns 15.

*

I guess it's true what they say...

..."timing is everything"...

The Palestinian Hamas group that governs the Gaza Strip has criticised recent rocket fire directed at Israel and denied responsibility.

The recent rockets were "being fired at the wrong time" and were "not being fired by the resistance faction", a statement from the interior ministry of the Hamas government said on Thursday.

It added that its security forces would find out who was responsible, but stopped short of promising any punitive measures.

Yeah, sure... that'll work for everybody, won't it?

**********

RELATED: Imagine how much worse it'd be...

...if the Pals ever stopped kicking each other's asses...

Hamas and Fatah negotiators said on Thursday they are having difficulty reaching an agreement over the makeup and political program of a Palestinian unity government.

Also on Thursday, the Palestinian Authority released 45 Hamas detainees who were being held in its West Bank jails without trial, a PA security source said.

**********

LAST WORD: Your mainstream media in action...

-- GAZA (Reuters) -- Rival Palestinian factions have so far failed to overcome obstacles in reconciliation talks which they hope will lead to a unified governing body for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, officials said on Friday.

Obstacles? Not agreeing on contractual language is an obstacle.

I think these guys are way past "obstacles"...

Just before midnight, a Hamas activist was thrown off the 12th floor of a building, security officials said.

*

Finding Nimo...

...a payday...

"When I think about it, sometimes I remember and cry about it and feel really bad. What makes me feel good is that I went forward. I complained. I showed them that I wouldn't go away quietly."

Or cheaply.

*

What's the big deal, Ruby?

The Liberal Party is full of "bad actors"...

Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla is trying to block DVD sales of a Bollywood-style movie she co-starred in before her election to Parliament.

The politician, who represents Brampton-Springdale, claims Kyon Kis Liye "Why? And for Whom?" plus posters and photos for the low-budget 2003 Hamilton-made film were "doctored." She does not deny appearing in the movie.

**********

UPDATE: Ruby starts to climb down

Look out Junos... here she comes

Why? And for Whom? -- is a six-year-old Hindi film that tells of a man poisoning his wife to collect insurance.

I dunno... you mean poisoning his wife and running away with a half dozen strippers?

*

If you know what this is...

You are hopelessly geeky... AND OLD.

(h/t reader bob)

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"It's the cryogenic chamber used to contain Iggy's evil eyebrows at night"

*

Hope, Change and...

"SPREAD YOUR LEGS AND PUT YOUR HANDS AGAINST THE WALL!!!"

*

"If you outlaw sledgehammers..."

...well... they'll probably just use something else.

-- VANCOUVER -- An associate of the Bacon brothers targeted in a shooting last month was critically injured in a sledgehammer beating Sunday night, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

And you're gonna have to trust me on this... but, if your hometown has a "Murder Map"... you might just wanna consider relocating.

*

Count your blessings, Gomer

Under the previous regime... "step one" would have been... "put a blowtorch to his balls."

And, trust me Protest Boy, it would have gone downhill from there.

**********

RELATED: Canada 1 - Jihadis 0

An Ottawa bomb builder today became the first man to be sentenced under Canada's post-9/11 laws as a judge meted out a 10 1/2-year sentence against Mohammad Momin Khawaja.

The 29-year-old Pakistani-Canadian who built a detonator for a British cell of al-Qaeda-inspired extremists was sentenced under Canada's controversial Anti-Terrorism Act, passed just months after the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

Unfortunately the sentence falls far short of what his Brit pals received...

Members of the British cell were sentenced to life in prison in 2007.

Oh well, ten years is better than nothing.

*

Dying...

...to be Canadian.

**********

RELATED: Minority Report

"If you take out the annoying bafflegab, what is she saying? That Canada should “follow” the Muslim world’s example on how to treat women?"

"That Muslim women – say, in Yemen – think we Canadians should be more honest about our sexism?"

"What a kook."

*

There's a reason they call him...

...Premier McSlippery.

**********

RELATED: Leading by (cough, cough)... example

*

The "Blackmail" Card

I don't know about the rest of you... but these guys'll never get another penny outta me...
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Let them go, confiscate their factories to cover what they already owe us and sell them to Honda and Toyota."

"Then give me my money back."

**********

UPDATE: CAW ups the ante

-- TORONTO -- The president of the Canadian Auto Workers says his union will “absolutely not” concede more to Chrysler than it did to General Motors, despite a threat that Chrysler will pull out of Canada if it can’t reduce its labour costs by 25%.

*

The much celebrated political acumen...

...and inspirational rhetoric of the compassionate, intellectual left...
[*]

"To celebrate International Women's Day..."

"...the Red Star runs a comment piece by a woman whose public prominence is entirely due to her father's status as one of the country's most successful capitalists."

"You've come a long way baby."

*

More Hope, Change & Crawford, Texas

...apparently... hope IS cheap...

U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday.

The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

**********

RELATED: Meanwhile... back at the ranch...

Achmed: Rule of law … did you hear that? He favors Sharia! You know he has ordered the closing of the hated Crusader Gulag of Guantanamo.

Ali: Oh, don’t speak of it! It was so horrible there! They made me fat and flushed my Koran down the toilet! Also, I was compelled to listen to the music of Shaitan very loud. “I love you, you love me!” all day long! It was hell."

"Only by the blessed and miraculous intervention of Allah was I released from this torture to resume my jihad."

**********

LAST WORD: The myth begins to crumble

*

Tasers

"If it saves just one life."

*

Something to consider

You're gonna throw big bucks around... how about Joe Sixpack gets a piece of the action?

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday his finance minister would consider a so-called scrappage program in the government's March 26 budget to encourage people to buy new cars.

The program would give consumers a $3,500 rebate or credit for trading in a vehicle that's at least 11 years old for a new one. The federal government already gives consumers a $300 scrappage credit, but the amount is so minimal that hardly anyone uses it, according to Mondragon.

Giving consumers incentives to buy new cars, rather than bailouts to automakers, is the best way to rescue the troubled auto sector, he added.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"They can't do this. Everyone will use it to buy a Non-Union car!"

*

You go back, hack... do it again

Your black cards can make you money...
So you hide them when you're able...
In the land of milk and honey...
You must put them on the table

*

So who says kids today...

...have no ambition...

Three teenagers with no criminal records have been charged in one of the GTA’s most prolific armed robbery sprees, 32 aggressive holdups since December.

There were no halfway measures here... these guys were dreamin' in colour.

Four young men stormed storm gas bars, convenience stores and small restaurants wearing masks and wielding knives and meat cleavers, demand cash and escape in a vehicle waiting nearby.

And now they get to play with the big boys.

Roneil Salmon, 19, Akeem Harris, 19 and Jerome Turner, 18, all of Brampton, were each charged with 32 counts of robbery, 32 counts of disguising with criminal intent, 32 counts of weapons dangerous and one count of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

**********

RELATED: Timing really is everything

That's when the couple heard the sound of shattering glass and a loud pop. When they traced the source of the noise, they discovered a bullet had smashed through the window, gone through a tissue box and slammed into the chair where she'd just been sitting minutes before.

Hosein was stunned. "Five minutes ago I was in the same chair ... I could have been shot, 'cause they said it was going to be right in the chest because the angle where the bullet came was right in that area."

**********

LAST WORD: The sacred "Code of the Hood"...

...as Canadian as... wait a minute...

A second surveillance video segment showing two men was released by Toronto homicide detectives whose investigation into who killed a 24-year-old man is bogged down by a lack of witnesses.

Just to clarify... there were plenty of witnesses... it's just that none of them will talk.

*

Another proud moment for Jason Cherniak...

...and the compassionate, intellectual left... over at Liblogs...
Wow... this guy apparently has "progressive" credentials right out the wazoo...
Who knew Canadian Cynic had a retarded little brother?

**********

UPDATE: Defending the franchise...

...the pottymouth left rises up...
Oh, Cameron... I've missed you too.

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF NOTED HUMANITARIAN CANADIAN CYNIC

Yes, yes, CC... we all know how kind & compassionate you are. Say, while we're at it... let's revisit your pet theory about those dastardly, evil Jews.

Hey... we could always get a second opinion from your "fellow cynic"... the mysterious "sjwalter".

And, of course, there's CC's magnum opus...

Remember Canadian Cynic'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."

And, CC... bombarding my comment threads with dozens of stupid trolls... who exactly is that gonna impress?
I'm thinkin'... you might wanna tweak those meds again.
BOO!!!

*

Shsssshhhh... it's a secret

Call it "Dr Dawg syndrome"... if you simply refuse to acknowledge unpalatable facts... maybe they'll just go away...

In Turkey, any discussion of what happened to the Ottoman Armenians can bring a storm of public outrage. But since its publication in a book in January, the number - and its Ottoman source - has gone virtually unmentioned. Newspapers hardly wrote about it. Television shows have not discussed it.

"Nothing," said Murat Bardakci, the Turkish author and columnist who compiled the book.

The silence can mean only one thing, he said: "My numbers are too high for ordinary people. Maybe people aren't ready to talk about it yet."

*

You're worried about your "dignity"...

...maybe you should stick to playing bridge...

Mr Mosley said he had not been "reckless" in attending sado-masochistic sex parties while being a public figure. "It's not even talked about outside the circle. Nobody knew. My closest friends didn't know. My wife didn't know."

"The fact that that had worked so well... made me feel confident."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Isn't the removal of dignity the goal in his sado fantasy life? Looks like a win win to me!"

*

Islamic "holy warriors" respond...

...to President Obama's recent "peace feelers"...

-- BAGHDAD -- At least 33 people, including a local army chief, have died and 46 have been injured in a suicide attack on the western edge of Baghdad, officials say.

The attack took place in the Abu Ghraib municipality, and appeared to target a group of dignitaries as they left a national reconciliation conference.

More than 30 died in an attack on a police recruitment centre on Sunday.

On Thursday, a car bomb exploded at a cattle market in Babel province killing 10.

Obviously one man's "Hope and Change"... is another man's "Blood in the water."

*

It seems I get an awful lot of flak...

...and admittedly, traffic... simply by pointing out the urban mayhem in Toronto.

As an ex-Hogtown native (I lived in Don Mills for the first 10 years of my life and worked there for all but a decade until I hit 40) I do know a few things about the way the city has evolved.

We made a conscious decision to leave Toronto when it came time to enroll my son in school. To be honest, every time I hear about stuff like this, I quietly congratulate myself on that decision.

The first incident occurred in the Jane St. and Woolner Ave. area around 8 p.m., where a 36-year-old man was shot at least twice in the back as he was getting into a taxi cab. The cab driver, who was reportedly shaken, let him out a few blocks away.

In the east end, neighbours were shaken after a bullet pierced through the living room wall of a townhouse complex. Police responded to calls of several gunshots on Ladysbridge Ave., near Lawrence and Kingston Rd. after 9:15 p.m.

Now, Dawg and Red Tory and Canadian Cynic will no doubt trot out their hoary old accusations of racism. It's what the left does when they can't argue on the facts.

It's what BCL and Special K did recently with Kathy Shaidle.

The fact is though, all that self-righteous ranting and finger-pointing isn't going to change the fact that there will be hundreds of similar shooting incidents this year.

It's sad... but it is factual.

Just don't tell that to the lunatic left.

**********

UPDATE: And right on time...

...Vancouver gets back on the board...

Two people are lying dead inside a second story apartment at 1412 East 41st Avenue after an apparent shooting early Tuesday morning, according to reports.

**********

RELATED: Today's "Stirring up the Socialists"

"Angry responses from the left in the comments help me to realize that I shouldn't be so flippant."

"It's just that with access to 5 sections of mixed bush/farmland and a lifetime's supply of 30-30 shells, the words 'impending economic collapse' stir the same sort of emotional response around here as 'longer hunting season'."

*

How badly do you have to behave...

...to piss off the Dalai Lama?

-- DHARMSALA, INDIA -- China has launched a "brutal crackdown" in Tibet since protests shook the Himalayan region last year, the Dalai Lama said Tuesday in a speech to mark the 50th anniversary of the failed uprising that sent him into exile.

Tibetan culture and identity are "nearing extinction," he said in this Indian hill town, where the Tibetan spiritual leader and the self-proclaimed government-in-exile have been based since shortly after fleeing their homeland.

This year, China has largely sealed off Tibet to the outside world.

Didn't I just read about some former Prime Minister coming back from a big business lobbying push in China?

Funny how that works.

*

We have the technology

The Drugloo's “recovery unit” is a transparent tank at the base of the machine. A guard operates controls from behind nine millimetres of laminated glass, using heavy-duty rubber gloves embedded into the machinery.

Sprayers uncover the evidence. Then, an “anti-microbial-concentrate dosing unit” cleans up the drug package, killing any lingering bacterial spores, hepatitis or HIV.

After that, the evidence comes down a chute and plops right into a sealed evidence bag to be presented at a future hearing. Plausible deniability is destroyed along with the germs, the machine maintaining “the chain of continuity of the evidence throughout.”

*

G & M does euthanasia

"Would you support making assisted suicide a choice available to terminally ill patients?"

*

"Michael J. Murphy..."

"...aka blogger BigCityLib, is a known as BigCityLiar for a reason. Sadly for Michael Murphy, he's once again made an ass of himself."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: The compassionate, intellectual left replies...
And... hey, here's another Big City Liberal...
Hmmm... do I smell a 6 figure income "Daisy?"

P.S. -- There's another "s" in successful... and it's actually spelled "Shaidle."

*

I can only imagine...

...that the only thing more painful than having your child die... is having that child simply disappear. This became even more evident to me... after watching the episode of W5, which aired on February 14, 2009.

Now just a month later, there are new developments in this ongoing investigation.

-- ORILLIA, ON, March 9 /CNW/ -- At a news conference today, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced the identity of a young male who was murdered in 1967 and whose remains were found near Coboconk, Ontario in December 1967.

The OPP is offering rewards of $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder of Richard HOVEY and Eric JONES.

As the show stated, the cops have a pretty good idea who committed these murders. He's currently in jail for other crimes.

The problem, especially after all this time, is finding evidence that will stand up in court.

Someone out there must know something about these murders. We'll see if the reward causes anyone to step up.

*

TORONTO

Home of the "full-service" shooting...

Police are searching for up to four suspects after a car pocked with bullet holes dropped off a teen with a gunshot wound to his face at Scarborough General Hospital.

A silver Chevrolet Impala carrying the teen pulled into the hospital at Lawrence Ave. E. and McCowan Rd. around 4:30 p.m. today.

They abandoned the wounded person before driving west on Lawrence.

**********

RELATED: VANCOUVER wants a shot...

...at the title...

The victim, who Vancouver police said was in his 30s, was shot at about 2:30 a.m. in the 2500-block of Kingsway Ave. in the city's east end. The man was found on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant when police received a call to 911.

So far in 2009, there have been about 30 shootings in Vancouver and surrounding cities, resulting in a dozen deaths.

*

Moving on from...

...homicidal gun-toting wolfpacks, criminally insane transsexual rapists and leftwing apologists for same... another actual contributing citizen and patriot pays the ultimate price...

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A young soldier described as a small man with a big heart was killed yesterday when a bomb exploded near an armoured vehicle carrying Canadian troops.

Marc Diab, a 22-year-old Trooper with the Royal Canadian Dragoons based in Petawawa, Ont. was participating in security operations in Shah Wali Kot.

He will be remembered.

**********

UPDATE: He proudly chose to serve

His mother, Jihan Diab, said from her Mississauga, Ont., home that her son was proud to be in the military and was fulfilling a dream. “Marc called himself a soldier since he was probably eight, or before that.”

Diab, whose family emigrated to Canada from war-torn Lebanon in 2000, wanted to continue his military career after his current five-year stint was up in 2011.

**********

RELATED: Despite the loss... the mission continues

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Major Jonathan Knaul was at the controls of the first helicopter in Canadian military history to lift Canadian troops into a combat zone.

The Chinook flown by Major Knaul helped lift a contingent of 180 soldiers to a far corner of the Zhari district, west of Kandahar city, where the troops raided a series of compounds in search of weapons and bomb-making equipment.

*

Disneyland, dinosaurs...

...and fruit bat-tery...

It was a riot to hit the parks with Shamus' kids. At one point I noticed his son walking funny, like he had a load of crap in his pants and cramps in his arms.

I asked Shammy's wife what he was doing, and she replied that he was "being a T-Rex" and that she has to periodically tell him to "be a boy" when they go out places.

The funny thing is, once you realized what he was doing, I'll be damned if he didn't have it down cold. Their daughter is a year or two older, so far as I could tell, she stayed a girl the whole time

.*

Remembering democracy

Speaking of acclamation... what's up with the Liberal leadership convention?

**********

RELATED: Yeah sure... that fixes everything...

"That's what I want to hear from my president -- that he's "overwhelmed."

*

Apparently... Allah hates law & order

First we kill all the cops... yeah, there's a plan...

-- BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber has killed at least 28 people queuing outside a police recruitment centre in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, police say.

Well, them... and those dastardly pedestrians...

At least 57 other people were wounded in the attack, carried out by a bomber on a motorcycle.

In other breaking R.O.P. news... Area 51 has been relocated to Israel.

*

It's all relative...

...isn't it.*

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"It'd be funnier if it were actual satire and not just a description of how they do things."

*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat moment

I dunno... maybe I'm just being too hard on all those poor misunderstood souls who end up on the wrong side of the courtroom.

See... I just finished listening to Sandie Rinaldo try make a case that it's the current economic situation that's turning Canadians into lawbreakers.

Even after hearing a police officer reject that thesis... (it went something like, "Nah... it's just the usual collection of scummy bangers & junkies")... Sandie trots out a couple of the usual "experts" who tried to make the case for her.

I remember P.J. O'Rourke shooting down this lame "hardship theory" in one of his books. It went something like... "Yeah, sure... if you took away Thurgood Marshall's paycheque, the next day he'd be down at the bus station suckin' on a crack pipe."

Yup... no such thing as personal responsibility any more... it's always somebody else's fault.

**********

RELATED: Yeah... it must be the recession

-- VANCOUVER, B.C. -- For the fifth straight day, shots rang out, this time in the suburban city Coquitlam, RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen said Saturday.

**********

LAST WORD: All aboard the "Crazy Bus"

"That's why I no longer give money to food banks. All I'm really doing is helping bad parents become even worse parents by fueling their ability to feed their destructive habits instead of their children."

"I may not be robbing the bank but I'm sure as hell driving the getaway car."

*

You know... like Biker Bob's meth lab

C'mon... I'm sure this was all done under carefully controlled, hygienic conditions...

-- TORONTO -- Police and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency are warning consumers not to purchase or eat chicken breasts bearing a label that reads Wing Zhing Trading Ltd.

On Thursday, police discovered the stolen chicken in an industrial building in the Kipling Avenue, Rexdale Boulevard area of Toronto.

Police believe some of the chicken was opened, re-packaged and labelled, then sold.

Who says that good ol' entrepreneurial spirit isn't alive?

*

Toronto coppers bag another killer

Another banger off the street...

A man has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a Centennial College student in his Scarborough home last month. Surveillance cameras captured video of two suspects in the shooting, one of whom police are still hunting.

He is described as a black male in his early 20s, six-feet-tall and 180 pounds, wearing round-rimmed glasses, a black hoodie, black Carhartt jacket and dark pants. He was armed with a handgun.

Charged is Joseph Leitch, 19, of Toronto, with second-degree murder.

*

Whew... that's a relief

A little morality tale for all you folks who are worried that your hard-earned tax dollars are being wasted...

-- BARRIE -- An inmate of an institution for the criminally insane who insists she is a "female trapped inside a male's body" is begging for a $15,000 assessment that would qualify her for a government-funded sex change.

Wearing a skirt and high-heeled shoes, Taylor -- formerly named Vance Egglestone until she got a legal name change -- began transitioning into a female in 2000, with extensive hormone therapy, nose surgery and $15,000 worth of permanent hair removal.

Unbelievably... that isn't the most outrageous part of this story.

In 1976, Egglestone was found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity of the brutal rape of a woman. Since then most of her time has been spent at Oakridge.

"I was a female trapped inside a male's body," she said. "I started "acting out" in ways that I thought a male was supposed to act ... my head was in a spin back then."

Yeah... "ACTING OUT". That just about covers it, huh?

Paging Dr Dawg.

*

They say that "courage"...

...is simply "grace under fire"...

As a byproduct, I thought she also landed a pre-emptive strike against those who, every time a soldier's casket comes home, purse their lips and murmur some platitude about how sad it is, and what a waste and then ask if, you know, it's worth it?

It is fallen soldiers' families and colleagues who can best answer that question, and the majority of those who have spoken publicly about Canada's mission in Afghanistan seem to say yes, much as it hurts, yes it is worth it.

Of course, to that, the people on the other side of the war divide always reply, well of course they would say that; to do otherwise is to say their loved one died in vain.

This is but a version of the belief, widespread among the elite, that they know better than soldiers themselves what's good for soldiers, the plain inference that soldiers aren't so bright or informed.

Read it all.

*

That's funny... I was thinking double that...

...and a horse-whipping.

[*]

RELATED: That explains the child mortality rate

"How can we begin a community healing if we are apart from one another - if he's not here with us?" asked elder Howard Walker.

Good sweet Jesus... who are these freaks?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"What I don't understand is the complete lack of outrage in the community. The RCMP should have had to stop the elders from lynching him. Instead, they're whining that its too harsh a sentence."

"It will be -40 next winter. Someone should take him for a walk."

**********

LAST WORD:

"The rate of deaths from injuries is 3 to 4 times higher for Aboriginal children than for other children in Canada."

Source: Government of Canada (2002) Healthy Canadians – A Federal Report on Comparable Health Indicators 2002. Ottawa: Health Canada.

*

Here's a thought...

...take away the televisions, take away the weight piles, take away the conjugal visits... and make the criminals pay...

She said the victim's family could not come to terms with the relatively comfortable conditions the two killers would experience in jail. She added: "They can't understand how they have TV in prison. The family don't even have electricity."

It's way past time to rethink the prison system.

All around the so-called civilised world, the emphasis has shifted from punishment to rehabilitation. Nowhere in this cock-eyed, make-believe world is there any recognition that, in this world, there are irredeemable predators.

The very fact that we talk about a "correctional system" suggests that criminal acts are somehow blameless errors that can be fixed with the wave of a magic wand... and perpetuates the fallacy that applying an external lesson can heal internal moral rot.

Why, for instance, are we warehousing, at considerable expense to the Canadian taxpayer, I might add... animals like Paul Bernardo and Clifford Olson.

We have to stop feeding the beast. It's time for the predators among us to feel the full weight of societal disapprobation.

**********

RELATED: The song that never ends

A man police considered armed and dangerous has surrendered to authorities. Marlon Josemar Cooper is the 22-year-old Toronto Police contend was the second person involved in a shooting on a TTC bus last month.

He'd been the object of a massive manhunt since February 23rd, when a 17-year-old was involved in an encounter with two men that apparently started over someone cutting into line.

And...

A Toronto man has been arrested in connection with a shooting in East Gwillimbury last April.

He is charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the case, which involved a 25-year-old Toronto man ordered out of a black four-door BMW and repeatedly shot.

Allen Yu, 25, of Toronto is charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

*

Riding the Tiger... yet again

Looks like the natural governing party is cozying up to another group of "freedom fighters"...

You didn't realize the signficance of those flags? They have a tiger on them. They have bullets on them. Even an illiterate could figure them out.

You weren't aware that "other speakers" supported the terrorists? How about the shrieking man who thanked you, and spoke immediately after you, who mentioned his love for the terrorists by name?

And did Michael Ignatieff do anything about the unbelievable behaviour of his MP?

Yeah... give yourself a shake.

Malhi wasn’t suspended from caucus. He wasn’t even disciplined. Fine – with such a small caucus, every vote counts.

But here’s the rub: Malhi wasn’t even ordered to renounce his support for the Tamil Tigers, he wasn’t ordered to express regret for attending the rally or for saying what he said.

He was allowed to make a non-apology, an ironic apology. He was allowed to support a terrorist front. That's not even a slap on the wrist. That's a kiss on the cheek.

This isn't about a backbench loser like Malhi anymore.

This is about the judgment of the Liberal leader, the man who would be prime minister.

It’s appalling.

Friends don't let friends vote Liberal.

**********

RELATED: In other "Circle of Friends" news

Yeah... good luck with that, too.

*

Holy rectal-floss, Batman...

...this one's guaranteed to be a pretty proud moment for somebody's parents. And hey, call me a language snob, but I truly never imagined you could possibly use the words "strip club" and "classics" in the same sentence...

The ladies vying for the "Pole Position Quebec" title duelled in 20 events. Details of the contests are guarded secrets, but the showdowns included strip-club classics such as pole and lap dances.

No wonder these guys are always yip-yappin' about their uniqueness... it's a veritable cultural smorgasbord.

Some girls do amazing stuff - upside down, holding with one hand, I mean I can barely lift myself on those things," Losique said on the show's set, which featured two poles side by side, a giant wall mirror and a massive disco ball hanging from the ceiling.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"When Warhol mentioned that 'everyone would be famous for 15 minutes', that didn't mean it was a GOOD thing."

*

Another master criminal, finds out...

...that it really isn't like being in the movies...

One man is in custody and a second is still sought in the murder of a 22-year-old man found slumped behind the wheel of his luxury SUV last week in the city’s west end, a killing that may have been a drug rip-off.

Andre Gladstone Pierre, 20, of Toronto, was taken into custody early today and charged with second-degree murder. He is expected to make an appearance at the Finch courts this afternoon.

One man remains on the loose and it’s believed he may be armed with a handgun.

Despite all the fuzzy-bunny argle-bargle about the victim being a cement finisher... the cops are now saying this was a drug-ripoff gone bad.

And... another shocker... no word, yet again, from Mayor Miller's office on which gun club the shooters belonged to.

**********

RELATED: StatsCan - Tweaking the truth

-- VANCOUVER -- Mr. Castle said another thing the RCMP's figures include, but Statistics Canada's do not, is missing-persons cases in which there is strong evidence a murder has occurred.

"If a drug trafficker disappears but his leg is found, that's pretty much a gang homicide, but StatsCan won't score it," Mr. Castle said.

The RCMP's first homicide report, covering the years 1997-2007, was completed last June.

**********

LAST WORD: It's all about "their rights"...

...no... not the victims.

A jury now deciding whether Peter Johnson is the gunman who fatally shot an innocent bystander and wounded another man never knew the accused was once a co-leader of one of Toronto's most notorious gangs.

The 25-year-old man is allegedly the gunman shown on Club Whispers video who fired at a bouncer but missed, killing Jeffrey Lewis.

The jury was never told that Johnson -- nicknamed "P Dawg" -- and his brothers, Michael and Nadel, in 2005 led the Driftwood Crips gang, which terrorized the Jane-Finch area and trafficked in both drugs and guns.

The Johnson brothers were nicknamed "The Three Generals."

How is it, it's always the guys with the "street names"... who get all the societal coddling?

What happened to the rights of the people they preyed on?

*

CTV Mission Statement: "Try, try again"

"Do you think those found Not Criminally Responsible should have criminal records?"

**********

RELATED: Hey... how about this guy?

Do we have to let him walk the streets too?

-- TORONTO -- A Sri Lankan man flown to Canada last week at taxpayers' expense is a high-ranking enforcer in AK Kannan, a violent Toronto street gang named after its favourite weapon, the AK-47 assault rifle, says a police report.

The Toronto police report implicates Panchalingam Nagalingam in the fatal shooting of two teenagers, a meat cleaver attack, the trashing of a community centre, threats, assaults and credit card theft.

The report is dated December, 2008, but last Tuesday, Canadian Immigration officials gave Mr. Nagalingam a plane ticket to Canada.

*

We paid who... TO DO WHAT!!!??

Oh, Kathy... please say you're just screwin' with my head.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: An interesting synchronicity

"Look what I found. Daddy Moummar's daughter Randa is now an immigration consultant."

**********

LAST WORD: He was on the IRB, huh?

That sounds so familiar.

*

UPDATE: Another fuzzy-bunny CTV poll...

...goes horribly wrong...

"Should Ottawa resume efforts to spare a Canadian from execution in Montana?"

Looks like Iggy and the boys...

...will be poppin' champagne corks tonight.

-- OTTAWA -- A federal judge ordered the federal government Wednesday to seek clemency for Ronald Smith, in a stinging decision that attacks officials for acting "unlawfully" and creating policy on the fly when they abandoned efforts to save the death row prisoner from lethal injection.

Yet more carnage from the never-ending socialist train wreck.

*

So, you scoop up Mr Crazypants...

...and take him to Psych-Central... and everybody lives happily ever after, right?

Well... not exactly.

More bad news for everybody who's counting on Big Brother to keep them safe from harm...

The orders started as general advice, but gradually morphed into more bizarre instructions – buy land he couldn't afford in Thompson, Man., travel to Toronto for work, and dispose of all his personal belongings, according to a psychiatric report released Wednesday in the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench.

Apparently... three and a half years ago... the cops had brought now infamous decapitator-of-strangers Vincent Li to a Toronto hospital, where he was supposed to be on a 14 day psych-hold while he got his head read. It seems that ol' Vince had other plans and just meandered away.

“If he was still under certificate and it was thought that he might harm himself or others, the doctors can call the police,” Dr. Hucker said.

“But there is always that tension between the rights of the individual and the rights of the rest of us.”

Hey doc... what about Tim McLean's rights?

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RELATED: Okay, Mayor McCheese... enough is enough

Less talk... more Glock.

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LAST WORD: The Solomonic "never guilty" verdict

The review board has the power to keep Li locked up indefinitely or, if he is no longer considered a risk, discharge him.

You mean... like last time?

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Yessirree... "we have the technology"

Or, more to the point... it may have us...

-- Associated Press -- At a news conference in The Hague, Mr Van Vollenhoven said the plane had been at an altitude of 595m (1950ft) when making its landing approach to Schiphol airport.

But the altimeter recorded an altitude of around ground level.

The plane was on autopilot and its systems believed the plane was already touching down, he said.

The automatic throttle controlling the two engines was closed and they powered down. This led to the plane losing speed, and stalling.

Technology can certainly be a double-edged sword. Even here at the relatively low-tech "Halls".

For example... the house here was built so tight, that we require an air exchanger (hooked up to our contantly rotating furnace blower) to use our woodstove. If that system hiccups, we're on electric heat... and that's assuming the problem isn't with the blower motor.

I'm no luddite... but I firmly believe that sometimes... "simple is better". I'm just not sure you can put this particular technology genie back in the bottle.

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Honour, Duty, Country

It seems these days, in certain circles... that just saying those words out loud is enough to make you an object of public derision.

It certainly wasn't always that way.

Soldiers, once upon a time were heroes. Pretending that you were combat capable, fighting your country's enemies... was once a staple of any young boy's (yes, I'm dating myself) life.

But all that has changed, hasn't it? Even police officers... the thin blue line that stands between Joe Lunchbucket and Funky Junkie... are now, in many parts of the country, considered the enemy.

Well... not to me.

I sometimes try to imagine, what kind of inner fortitude it takes to walk down that road knowing that people would like nothing more than to put a bullet in your brain. Moreover... to do it again and again.

Well... there are three more honourable, dutiful Canadian soldiers who aren't gonna be able to share that story.

Warrant Officer Dennis Raymond Brown, Cpl. Dany Fortin and Cpl. Kenneth O'Quinn were killed Tuesday evening when a roadside bomb detonated during a patrol in Arghandab District, about 10 kilometres northwest of Kandahar City.

They will be remembered.

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RELATED: And, of course, there's the...

...usual disagreeable, dishonourable quislings...

But you know what really pisses me off?

This sort of drivel on the left, exemplified so perfectly by Dr. Dawg's response to Harper's interview, which I paraphrase as: "Ha ha! Harper admitted we're losing! The Taliban are winning!"

"Take that, Terry Glavin!"

I fear for my country.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

I try to send a message to the troops on the forces website once a week. I notice that there are fewer and fewer messages and not tons from Quebec.

Please send a brief message (a paragraph or even a couple of phrases are all that's needed) to encourage our guys and gals.

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"Are you concerned..."

"...about the CBC's financial crisis?"

Never a taser around...

...when you need one...

-- WINNIPEG -- Vincent Li left a troubling note for his ex-wife just days before he