Lest we forget

Do you know someone who enlisted in World War I?

-- Search the WWI CEF database --

Do you know a Canadian killed while serving his country?

-- Search the Commonwealth War Graves database --

My wife's grandfather (in the kilt) was wounded by German shelling and carried around shrapnel from WWI the rest of his life.

And he was one of the lucky ones... who got to come back and have a family and live out a long, productive life.

It's important to remember... "Freedom isn't Free."

"ps. what's with the piece pic on yr profile? Guns kill people man."

-- Posted by Rob Budde to halls of macadamia at 11:14 AM, May 09, 2008 --

Rob... thank you for asking that particular question.

The picture you refer to... is of a Colt Government Model 1911 pistol that was given to my son's great-grandfather by his father... right before the former took a few years unscheduled vacation in bloody, muddy France... shortly after the turn of the 20th century.

It does indeed have a couple of bodies on it... the result of a trench raid by its intrepid owner.

Perhaps you could also take a moment Rob, to reflect upon the fact that... were it not for soldiers and horrible, evil guns... you might not be sitting around at your computer trolling Conservative websites.

You might instead be chained to a workbench in a concentration camp making industrial products for the Greater German Reich.

But again... thanks for asking.

*

November 11th is a special day...

...for some of us...

When the mother of Lane Watkins, a young Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan, commented on her terrible loss... "They deserve your respect. In supporting them, you'll make our loss much easier to bear"... guess which Canadian Blogger had to go out of his way to spit in her face.

"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.

At this point, I don't give a rat's ass about making you feel better for your loss now that I know that the price is other peoples' lives.

Fuck you and the politically-motivated, neo-con propaganda train you rode in on.

Rise up lefties... and celebrate your shining Prophet.

Technorati Tags: Remembrance Day, Wanda Watkins, Lane Watkins

Dishonourable Discharge

Making a mockery of Remembrance Day.

[*]

Not to be a killjoy here, Lizzie...

...but how do you do worse than... NOT A SINGLE FREAKIN' SEAT?

“ -- HALIFAX -- Given the reality that this was our first major national campaign, and my first as leader, we did a remarkable job.”

Well, I'm thinkin' it must have something to do with her humble, winning personality...

"I intend to remain as leader of the Green party. My personal popularity with the Canadian electorate is something, speaking as objectively as possible, that the Green party needs."

*

Is it just me...

...or does Iggy look like he's just been pulled outta the cryo-tube on a really early Star Trek episode?

Either that, or Hymie the robot from the original "Get Smart".

Boy... that'd sure explain a few things.

*

Now... the real education begins

What wouldn't you have given, to be a fly on the wall at President-elect Obama's very first visit to the Oval Office?

-- WASHINGTON -- President-elect Obama spent just under two hours at the White House Monday as he and President Bush gathered for their first face-to-face meeting.

Neither the incoming nor the current president spoke to reporters at Mr. Obama's arrival or departure Monday afternoon.

Whaddaya figure happens when airy-fairy "hope & change"... runs into real world "smash & kill"?

Betcha it'd wipe the smile off Oprah's face.

*

Gotta go loggin'

It's gonna be a working day here at the halls... got a big oak I wanna turn into British thermal units.

Had a dying leaner just off the new bush road that started calling out to me the other day. If I don't drop and split it now... it'll likely fall on its own over winter and start composting in very short order.

Took the better part of an hour to get it dropped all the way to the ground... the crown got hung up in the neighbouring trees... but it'll be a big part of next years wood supply.

Gotta buck her into lengths and fire up the splitter.

Later amigos.

**********

UPDATE: Forget about Pilates... get a chainsaw

Just back from the back... and it was a pretty good day.

Mr. Oak has been completely felled and bucked into 20 inch rounds. I also policed up the entire area, getting rid of the slash and the less desirable scrub. It's incredibly tedious to do the cleanup as I go... but I figure it's an investment that'll pay off in spades someday. Taking out the less worthy stuff allows the best trees to have the best possible growing conditions.

It occurs to me here... I always seem to overestimate how far I'm gonna get... there's invariably a bit of tricky business I didn't seem to anticipate.

Today it was a 35 foot aspen trunk that had been sheared off by the arc of the falling oak. This severed section was leaning precariously, almost perfectly vertical, right beside my project du jour. I ended up blowing away about 40 minutes on this one piece alone, alternately cutting and pulling with my come-along before it gave over and crashed to the ground. Better safe than sorry.

Speaking of safety.. I've also started wearing a helmet when I get into the trickier stuff... it'd just be too stupid to have my skull fractured by a falling branch.

Mrs Neo's also been after me about safety chaps... which would, I suppose, be a good idea.

Tomorrow will be a splittin' day.

*

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

...you can't pick your family...

One of Osama Bin Laden's sons is in Qatar after being deported from Egypt and Spain following failed asylum bids.

Omar Bin Laden, 27, has said he does not share his father's views and has not seen him since 2000.

His British wife, Zaina Alsabah Bin Laden (formerly Jane Felix-Browne) said their condemnation of al-Qaeda had put their lives in danger in the Mid-East.

*

Is that anything like...

...redistributing the wealth?

" -- DUBAI -- We have to balance the market. Recent indications are that demand could have fallen by 2 to 3 million barrels per day."

*

If you build it...

...and publicly flog the hell out of it... maybe, just maybe... they will come...

One Toronto public trustee won't stop ringing alarm bells over the city's first Africentric school. Trustee Josh Matlow told the Sun yesterday that nothing good can come of the fact that Toronto District School Board officials continue to downgrade enrolment forecasts for the proposed school that is supposed to open next fall.

Alarm bells, huh? What exactly is this guy Josh Matlow... well, according to the Toronto Sun anyway... getting so hysterical about?

"When they first initiated this project, they implied that students from across the system would be knocking on our door, that this is something that was of such great need for our system," Matlow said. "Now they have to push an aggressive marketing campaign to see if they can get the minimum of 40 students. They've said that they'd be able to maintain an Africentric school if they have the minimum of two classes, roughly 40 kids."

The thing is... however "aggressive" this marketing campaign may be... it sounds like pretty thin gruel to me.

Matlow said not enough information about the school's curriculum has been released. "They weren't able to tell us what the curriculum will be although they're asking parents to enrol their kids there."

I guess that's what's called the "hard, but shallow sell."

Whaddaya think, Dawg?

You gonna start calling Josh Matlow a racist?

*

Growing old gracefully

Just don't count on it...

Ontario has a serious problem: health care consumes $40.4 billion of the province's $96-billion budget. Its 157 hospitals receive $18.4 billion.

Despite massive spending, the system is overburdened with wait lists, emergency rooms clogged with old people and "bed blockers" – seniors stuck in hospital, at a cost of $200 million a year, because home care is inadequate and nursing homes are full.

Now, the Toronto "Red" Star has to give "Furious George" Smitherman the obligatory socialist fist-bump... but curiously, they leave a few things out of their reportage.

Funny how that works.

*

Not a trick question... I said "bail"

Pop Quiz... "What do you think the bail should be for smuggling 28 pounds of heroin into Canada?"

*

Whaddaya mean "dark horse"...

...how about anybody with a room temperature I.Q.?

The high entrance fee — $90,000 compared to $50,000 in 2006 — could deter some dark horse candidates from entering the fray.

*

Two out of three... ain't bad

So far, he's pissed off the Iranians AND the Russians as well as crapping on Nancy Reagan... not bad for a guy who doesn't even take office for another two months...

US President-elect Barack Obama has not given a commitment to go ahead with plans to build part of a US missile defence system in Poland, an aide says.

He was speaking after Polish President Lech Kaczynski's office said a pledge had been made during a phone conversation between the two men. But Mr Obama's foreign policy adviser, Denis McDonough, denied this.

Russia opposes the US scheme and has announced plans to deploy missiles on Poland's border as a counter-measure.

**********

UPDATE: Honeymoon with Iran is over

Iranian state radio said Mr. Obama's position was a replay of Mr. Bush's hard-line stance toward Tehran. It said this will dampen Iranian expectations for changes in U.S. foreign policy with the new administration.

The radio warned Mr. Obama “will betray the vote of the American people if he fails to bring back rationalism to the White House.”

*

So that's why...

...they call it crack...

Police took the man to a local hospital, where medical staff persuaded him to remove from his rectum a bag allegedly containing 2.4 grams of crack cocaine.

"Any time you can seize a loaded .357 Magnum, 58 grams of coke, 38 grams of crack and $52,000 in cash, that's good police work," Selby said.

O'Neil Grant, 24, is charged with eight drug- and weapons-related offences.

*

I just about fell off my chair

Mrs Neo... to my undying chagrin... tunes in to the CBC Radio programme "The Debaters" every Saturday morning. She and young Neophyte groove on the mostly uber-cheesy humour... despite the incredibly overwhelmingly left-wing bias.

Imagine my surprise when I overhear that todays topic is whether the CHRC should be abolished.

One of the comics actually makes reference to Richard "Lucy" Warman hacking into people's email accounts and, get this, his subconscious desire to impress his uncle... "Jimmy Hitler."

Stand by for a major taxpayer-funded lawsuit.

**********

RELATED: Wow... never saw this coming either...

-- WASHINGTON -- Tehran's ruling mullahs must be denied nuclear weapons and their backing for Islamic terrorists must stop, president-elect Barack Obama warned yesterday, sounding every bit as tough as the man he will succeed in the Oval Office, U.S. President George W. Bush.

“Iran's development of a nuclear weapon, I believe, is unacceptable. We have to mount an international effort to prevent that from happening.”

“Iran's support of terrorist organizations is something that has to cease.”

*

Sack up, man!

There's no maybe about it.

-- REGINA -- Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is weighing in on a National Parole Board decision that will see convicted Calgary child killer and multiple rapist Harold David Smeltzer released on day parole to a Regina halfway house.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Wall said some changes may be in order and he'll raise his concerns when the nation's premiers meet Monday in Ottawa with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"Maybe it's time that our parole system -- maybe the parole board itself -- needs to be reviewed, the processes that are used. Maybe its structure needs to be reviewed."

"Maybe there ought to be a permanent victim's representation on that board."

Of course, not everybody agrees with that sentiment...

-- OTTAWA -- Opposition MPs, including Liberals who have worked on justice issues, say they would plunge the country into another federal election before agreeing to a slate of Conservative proposals that would see convicted criminals treated more harshly.

Yeah... those guys.

*

You've gotta ask yourself...

"Who else is flying under the radar?"

-- METRO VANCOUVER -- A Sikh terrorist living in Surrey despite an eight-year-old deportation order claims he has survived all this time on payments from people at the Guru Nanak Sikh temple, according to documents obtained by the The Vancouver Sun.

Border services enforcement officer Joe Carlson interviewed Ram at Royal Columbian Hospital where he was taken for treatment, the documents say.

"Subject says he only worked at the temple. He told me that he has not left Canada since he arrived," Carlson wrote. "He told me he has not been in contact with Immigration for years and years. He remembers his hearing in 1998, but has not seen Immigration since."

"I told him there was a warrant for his arrest for removal and told him that I was arresting him."

"NO YOU CAN'T!!!"

Obama Nation breaks out into extremely Uncivil War...

Looks like the honeymoon is over...

“The Obama people were thrilled to turn out high percentages of African Americans, but (Proposition 8) literally wouldn’t have passed without those voters,” said Gary Dietrich, president of Citizen Voice, a nonpartisan voter awareness organization.

So much for Bamalot.
(h/t james from jagwire)

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"The left think having Obama in as president was like voting in a pot smoking Santa Claus."

*

It must be Friday night... in Toronto

Again, no word yet from Mayor Miller... on which gun club is responsible...

Chaos followed as the six men dodged what witnesses say were about eight shots, running into the lobby of the 13-storey building and marking their paths with dripping blood.

Police said that when they arrived they found four men in their late teens and early 20s who had all been shot. Two were in surgery Friday night, but said to be in stable condition. Two others suffered minor wounds.

*

War of the Puffins

Looks like Iggy Nation has fired the opening shot in what promises to be a "fight for the finished."

-- OTTAWA -- The Quebec wing of the federal Liberal party is proposing leadership rules that would prohibit prominent MPs from joining the race to succeed Stéphane Dion.

Quebec officials are recommending that anyone with outstanding debt from the 2006 leadership race be disqualified — a rule that would hit Gerard Kennedy and Martha Hall Findlay, who each owe just under $200,000 from their unsuccessful bids.

Unlike bumbling Caspar Milquetoast... it looks like Iggy has a pretty good left hook.

Privately, supporters of Mr. Kennedy, Ms. Hall Findlay and other camps are furious with Michael Ignatieff, the perceived front-runner whose supporters dominate the Quebec wing's board of directors.

The board unanimously approved the submission, which rival camps contend is aimed at erecting barriers to potential candidates through a variety of measures.

Can't wait for round II.

*

The age of Obama-ness

"Hope and Change"... apparently everybody wants a piece of this puppy...

The Fourth Druk Gyalpo, who himself was given the Raven Crown at the age of 17, came to international prominence for envisioning the development concept of "Gross National Happiness" for the former feudal and isolated state.

From that "Let the healing begin" file

Noted compassionate, progressive, politically-correct sparrow-fart Dainty Dawg channels Vlad the Impaler...

"Frankly, if I'd been one of those yellow folks who dragged him from the lake where he'd landed, I'd have shot him on the spot."

C'mon Dawg, 'fess up... you'd have tortured him a little first.

*

"IMAGINE"

Yessirree... an anthem for our troubled times...

" -- GAZA -- 'All the Palestinian people were created to fight in God's name. If we just throw stones at the Jews they get scared.'

'Imagine what happens when body parts fly at them.'"

*

Remember thalidomide?

We're so used to being at the top of the food chain, we sometimes forget... "You don't know... what you don't know"...

At the U of A, a team lead by Dr. Holt made their discovery while conducting experiments on a human enzyme that is the target for drugs to treat Parkinson's disease.

The researchers were trying to inhibit the activity of the enzyme with ammonium chloride. They were surprised to find that even when they only added one part per million of the ammonium chloride, an amount that is so minute it was expected to have little effect, some mystery substance was still blocking the enzyme function.

The team initially suspected contaminants in the chemicals they were using, but eventually they determined that biologically active substances were leaking from the plastic tubes they used to transfer liquids in the experiment.

Remember... it wasn't all that long ago, we were using lead pipes to transport drinking water.

*

Moral of the story?

How about... maybe Montreal's not such a shitty place to live after all.

And hey, whatever happened... to that whole "Will of Allah" thing... these folks are always on about?

*

More CTV Moonbat moments

Watched what was, no doubt, one of the proudest moments of Lloyd Robertson's journalistic, er... teleprompter reading career... apparently there are "curious stories" circulating about Sarah Palin. Apparently CTV no longer even needs actual facts.

The apogee of last night's CTV's coverage though, had to be this unbelievable example of Bush Derangement Syndrome... a slam on the first dog...

It seems President George W. Bush's dog Barney wasn't much in the mood for friendly attention during his walk outside the White House on Thursday.

So when Reuters reporter Jon Decker reached down to pet the Scottish terrier, the seemingly docile dog snapped at him and bit Decker's right index finger.

Yup... even the Bush family pet is an evil, twisted freak.

Thank you, once again, CTV.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Oprabama just spent more on his campaign than any politician in the history of the world."

"His spending included 30 minute info-mercials in prime-time and Ben-Hur style movie sets. Yet our media wants us to be aghast at the fact that the other campaign spent money on clothes."

And...

"Broadcast journalism will go the way of newspapers, they are just a little (very little) behind the death spiral."

"People aren't willing to wait until 11PM for Lloyd to be activated (he does seem more android than human these days) to spew the news 99% of the viewers have already seen on Youtube or read on the blogs or news aggregators."

*

Canada...

Land of endless opportunity...

A young Markham couple charged with faking hundreds of passports, university degrees and government documents was acquitted yesterday after a judge ruled York Regional Police officers violated their rights when they entered their house without a warrant, and arrested them.

Calling it the toughest decision of his four years on the bench, Justice Richard Blouin said the breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by the officers was "so serious" he had no choice but to suppress all the evidence against Yan Shen, 26, and his wife, Ruiqiong Zhong, 27.

That evidence included hundreds of forged government documents, including Chinese passports, Ontario drivers' licences, marriage certificates and diplomas for prestigious universities in Canada.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I'm surprised the cops didn't say they had received an anonymous tip that there was an unregistered firearm in the house. With that "information", the police don't need a warrant to enter, search, and seize anything they want."

*

About face... forward... march!!!

So, I'm about 80 meters into the woods with my new bush road... and discover I'm actually doing a buttonhook south of my intended destination... Mrs Neo's newly discovered "Oakhenge."

It actually doesn't work out badly as I now have a road into the approximate middle of our 15 acres of bush. I've pulled up on a hilltop (soon to be) clearing. It's right on the juncture of two ponds... which might be a nice spot to drop an old trailer... or set up some sort of blind for Mrs N to observe the animal comings & goings.

Anyway... gotta pull out of this last little 25 meter dogleg and start heading north again, around the top of the pond. I've been bringing down the hung-up deadfall as I go... some of it will make acceptable firewood. I figure we'll use the lesser quality stuff to fire up this years batch of maple syrup.

Couldn't have asked for anything better than the last two days. Clear and sunny... but cool enough to avoid wearing myself out. The bugs are all long gone... and with no leaves on the trees you can see and hear for hundreds of feet.

I've been piling the slash at regular intervals along the road... it'll make good shelter for smaller animals. We've got a porcupine returned to his favourite wintering tree, a family of beavers who return every year to the swamp... and a bear that likely dens up in the round bales and tree trunks discarded by our farmer neighbour right at the northeast back corner.

It's a wonderful life.

*

Caspar Milquetoast rides again

"Dis time... I am 'ave really, really seriously!!!"

*

The compassionate, progressive dilemma

What to do, when you're caught between a myth and a hard place... do you side with Mother Nature... or go with the age-old and indisputable cultural wisdom of aboriginal peoples?

*

How about we all pony up...

...to send Taliban Jack to the Middle East... so he can lay the ground for those peace negotiations?

-- Khar, BAJAUR -- Pakistani officials say a bomb exploded Thursday in the country's northwest at a meeting of tribal leaders who oppose al-Qaida and Taliban extremists, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 40 others.

Authorities said it appeared to have been a suicide bombing, while tribal leaders were drawing up a plan to force militants out of their area.

I'm good for 50 bucks.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Jack Layton is the only one who knows what to say to these people, nobody else has been able to talk them out of slaughtering women and children, yet Jack Layton refuses to help. What a Bastard."

*

Creature from the Red Lagoon

"They stab it with their steely knives... but they just can't kill the beast."

*

There's hope and change...

...and there's reality...

Despite Barack Obama's pledge to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr is not likely to be sent home any time soon unless Ottawa lobbies for his release, says a former top Pentagon official.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I'm going to love the heartbreak of the Obamaniacs as they realize their guy is an empty suit."

"It will be delicious."

*

It was only...

...a matter of time.

**********

RELATED: Let the CC-nonymous healing being

I'll spare you the dozen intervening diatribes... you get the idea.

*

Hey, this is fuzzy-bunny Canada...

...it's worth a shot...

-- OTTAWA -- Accused terrorist Mohamed Harkat says he needs his stringent bail conditions relaxed -- and he promises he can be trusted to behave himself if Ottawa will agree to ease the rules.

I dunno Mohamed... can you say "pretty please"?

Don't laugh... it worked out pretty good for Jeremiah.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Why haven't we given this guy ten million dollars yet? Are we a bunch of racists or what?"

**********

LAST WORD: Paging Mayor "Super Dave" Miller...

So, yer blondeness... which gun club did this guy belong to?

Police said the victim approached the door of his 11th-floor apartment near Shuter and Parliament Sts. when the gunman fired three shots through the door, one striking the man in the abdomen.

*

Yeah, sure... tasers

That's what we should all be freakin' out about...

-- TORONTO -- Ontario has recorded its highest number of superbug MRSA cases - a troubling sign that the pernicious invader has made significant inroads in hospitals.

Specifically, the number of cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has increased by more than 50 per cent over a three-year period, with 16,498 patients infected or colonized with MRSA in 2007, according to figures provided by Ontario's Quality Management Program-Laboratory Services.

Also worrisome were figures released on vancomycin-resistant enterocci (VRE), a strain of bacteria that has developed resistance to many commonly used antibiotics, specifically vancomycin.

Figures from Ontario's Quality Management Program-Laboratory Services showed the number of VRE cases climbed from 1,031 in 2004 to 3,900 cases in 2007, according to Dr. McGeer.

Let's try a little... admittedly unscientific... experiment here.

Ready...

Part one... When's the last time you, or anybody you know, got tasered? Total up all the instances.

Write that number down.

Part Two... When's the last time you, or anybody you know, was in a hospital? Again, add 'em up and write that number down too.

Part Three... divide the larger number by the smaller one.

Oh, that's right... you can't divide by zero.

Damn.

**********

RELATED: Maybe it scared him to death

File this one under... "We don' need no steenkin' science"

Police said the 30-year-old B.C. man was acting irrationally in the 500 block of 42 St. S.E., before he jumped through a window into a basement of a vacant duplex and a Taser was used to try and subdue him.

A police union official said Bowe, who appeared be under the influence of drugs, was hit by a Taser but only one probe struck him. And such a scenario would render a Taser entirely ineffective, said Tuttle, explaining both a positive and negative probe on the device must make contact with an individual for it to work.

"It's an all-or-nothing scenario," he said. "Either you get a circuit or you don't ... the bottom line is, you need two probes for a five-second application."

*

Ready for another federal election?

Looks like the Libs and Dippers are prepared to die on Hug-a-thug Hill...

-- OTTAWA -- Opposition MPs, including Liberals who have worked on justice issues, say they would plunge the country into another federal election before agreeing to a slate of Conservative proposals that would see convicted criminals treated more harshly.

The measures, including tougher penalties for young offenders and the reduced use of conditional sentences that allow criminals to serve their time at home, are likely to be among the first tests of Liberal willingness to challenge Stephen Harper's new minority government.

Of course, we all know how well the Prime Minister responds to threats...

"I don't think there has been any change in our position around that," Kory Teneycke, spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, told The Globe and Mail.

"We are prepared to make them [justice issues] confidence matters if necessary."

So, lemme see... if I was Stephen Harper, I'd be pushing this one to the top of the legislative agenda... just so I could... once again... go head to head with that formidable eco-warrior Stephane Dion.

That's only fair... right?

*

You'd think farmers...

...and folks out in rural Hastings County would be able to smell the McSlippery bullshit... but apparently that's just not the case...

A nurse practitioner-led clinic for Belleville has been vetoed by the province.

The irony here, of course, is that our MPP is Leona Dombrowsky, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs...

"No matter where you look or how you measure it, we appear to have a very high number of people in Ontario with no nurse practitioner or doctor and Belleville is certainly one of the worst hit areas," said nurse practitioner Samantha Dalby, one of the prime movers behind the clinic.

"Belleville and Hastings County compete with Northern Ontario and only three other counties in southern Ontario for the worst access in the province."

Funny... the way the Fiberals were promoting these clinics, when they were initially loudly trumpeted in the local media... you'd have sworn they were god's gift to Hastings Cty.

Looks like it was just another scam to get votes. Gotta hand it to Dalton... he knows how to play the game.

Let Leona know how you feel.

*

Now... the real work begins

It ain't gonna be easy to climb down from Mount Olympus...

Obama will have to admit to Americans that some of his anti-business rhetoric was pure fiction. For instance, he will have to abandon the notion of a windfall profit tax because there is no such thing as a windfall profit.

He will have to concede that the United States can't create wealth by increasing taxes on the wealthy and expropriating more of the gains investors earn from their investments. His plan to raise capital gains taxes, the first such tax increase since 1986, is a non-starter.

Obama will have to stop scapegoating Wall Street and tell Main Street the plain truth that home ownership is not a right or entitlement, it is a privilege - a reward for hard work, saving, and prudent financial management.

*

You don't have to be...

...a Weatherman...

"I think we are near a point at which America joins the rest of the west as a center-left society - that's to say, a society whose assumptions about the role of government and the size of the state are far closer to Continental social democracies than to the Founding Fathers."

"In a grim media-cultural environment, the temptation for American conservatism is to be seduced into becoming one of those ever so mildly right-of-left-of-right-of-left-of-center parties they have in Europe."

**********

RELATED: First words from the president elect

"Americans ... sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states - we are and always will be the United States of America," Mr. Obama said, thanking his supporters and the huge, jubilant crowd gathered in Chicago's Grant Park.

Of course... job number one... is to dial down the huge expectations of that campaign of "audacity & hope."

"The road ahead will be long, the climb will be steep, we may not get there in one year, or even in one term, but America I have never been more hopeful that we will get there."

Well, I guess it's a good thing hope is cheap.

*

The campaign was historic...

...in several ways.

Not only did it result in the election of a black president in a country that has a history of slavery and segregation; it also resulted in the election of the second Catholic on a major-party ticket in Vice President-elect Joe Biden of Delaware.

Further, the campaign featured the first woman vice presidential candidate for the GOP in Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

And the initial analysis of exit polls indicated that young people, African-Americans, and new voters turned out in huge numbers.

**********

RELATED: Congratulations continue to pour in

Much of the Arab press, as well as ordinary people in the street, are rejoicing over the election of Democrat Barak Obama as the next president of the United States.

Commentators on Al-Jazeera TV, which has consistently criticized the outgoing Bush administration for its policies towards the Arab world, appeared almost jubilant over Mr. Obama's election, with many hailing the results of the election as a "positive for the Arab world."

*

McCain concedes

Just watching the McCain concession speech and it seems to be one of his finest and most natural moments of the last two years. No strained smiles... no forced emotion.

Too bad he couldn't have projected like this... even in these last couple of weeks.

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Got an email from a reader... with the latest from our man, CC.

See, the Cynic is a little cagier these days... he doesn't want Sitemeter to point a finger his way... so he just fulminates about me without providing an actual url to link to.

But, you know what, if I was spouting this sort of vile spew... I guess I'd be a little worried too...

Funny... this seems to be a recurring meme for our pottymouthed friend.

Where, oh where... does he get all these wonderful ideas? I guess, at 4 o'clock in the morning, the creative juices are really flowing.

**********

UPDATE: Guess this one hit a nerve

The Cynic has... yet again... started to bombard me with dozens of additional instances of his (complete with laugh track) nazi-saturated comment spam.

And now, apparently, he's entertaining even darker thoughts...

And like Obamaniacs everywhere... he's ready to "let the healing begin"...

All of which begs the question... what on earth did his parents do to this poor kid?

I almost feel sorry for him.

*

22:00 - Popular vote... cast in stone

UPDATE: 22:30

And the Obama electoral vote juggernaut rolls on.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Well I still hold faith that 49% of Americans aren't gullible."

"I maintain that if the media had actually reported issues and done a decent job of holding Obama to the flame like they did Palin this would have been a completely different election."

*

20:30 - Popular vote a squeaker

Electoral vote... not so good...

UPDATE: 20:45 - CNN projects Obama takes Pennsylvania

UPDATE2: 21:10 - Take a look at popular vote numbers

**********

LAST WORD: And the Black Panther controversy?

It got national media attention... but looks like a local tempest in a teapot.

In another video posted on a site called electionjournal.org, police can been seen asking a man with what looked like a nightstick to leave.

But the other panther, Jerry Jackson, turned out to be a legitimate member of the 14th ward's Democratic committee, and was allowed to remain at the polling place throughout the day.

Jackson, who at times appeared rambling and incoherent, said he was there to protect voters, not intimidate them. "I'm making sure that media agitation does not disturb voters."

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The terrible price of Dalton McGuinty's...

..."hug-a-thug" socialist paradise...

The suspect was well known to police and faced a slew of drug related charges at the time of the incident. When authorities caught up to him a month after the crime, it came with a staggering revelation.

It turns out cops had been looking for Valentine just three days before the shooting but couldn't find him.

Geez... that sounds so familiar.

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RELATED: Hey Dalton... what's the deal here?

Jeremiah Valentine, charged with second-degree murder in the Boxing Day murder of Toronto teen Jane Creba, was under three gun bans after convictions at the time. Two 17-year-olds charged with manslaughter in the case were released on bail since the shooting.

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I guess this clears the way...

...for his much anticipated Liberal Party leadership campaign.

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You wanna be thought of...

...as a serious enterprise... you could lose the stereotyped cartoony graphic...
...and open your mind.

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Another one...

...bites the dust...

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Somebody help me out here

If the West is truly Satan's playground... as so many of the folks in the Iranian government are always saying... why would you be bragging this up in the first place?

-- TEHRAN -- Iran's parliament has voted to sack Interior Minister Ali Kordan after he admitted a degree he said he obtained from Oxford University was a forgery.

Mr Kordan said he had received the doctoral certificate in good faith, but it was later revealed as a crude fake.

Never let it be said though, that the Iranians are a humourless people...

The scandal has made the former minister a national laughing stock, with a fake resignation letter being passed round purporting to be from him, but full of misprints and crossings-out.

One MP said Mr Kordan - who worked as a university lecturer - had related invented tales to his students about his days in Oxford.

In fact he has never visited and does not even have a first degree.

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Bricks and steel is not the problem

Looks like a glass half full, half empty type of deal to me...

The new wing at Belleville hospital is rising at an impressive rate and, when finished, will add 77 beds to the facility.

Yet, Quinte Health Care, with 324 beds currently at its four sites, can't balance its budget and will most likely have to reduce services and staff associated with those services. It faces millions of dollars in projected red ink this fiscal year and next.

So lemme get this straight... nice new building... but we're gonna have to pare down the number of doctors, nurses and medical technicians?

There is a big hole in the operational pot, QHC officials have determined, leading to a deficit of $6.7 million this fiscal year and another $8 million the following year.

The regional health body that controls the bulk of health-care funding in this area -- the South East Local Health Integration Network -- ordered QHC to have a plan in place to erase the red ink by Dec. 21.

If not, the hospital could be taken over by the province, as happened earlier this year at Kingston General Hospital.

Yeah... that'll fix everything.

"Ontario's Liberal government has paid out almost $1 billion to private companies to cover new hospital construction overruns, a coalition of community health organizations said Friday."

Just another blatant example of the "McSlippery Doctrine" in action.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"If health care is so important to Canadians, why do we let the government run it?"

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So, what cataclysmic event...

...kills 900 times more Canadians every year... than evil, nasty tasers?

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Get over it, you dumbstick...

...we kicked ass...

“It’s not in my personal interpretation, it would not be that one side won and one side lost, it’s just that both sides would be affected by it, and both sides moved on.”

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In other "just desserts" news...

"I will not be filing any sort of charge against this 57-year-old woman, who was clearly justified under the law in shooting this intruder in her home."

I guess she won't... what's the term the social workers alway use... be needing a whole lot of, uh... "closure".

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Wake up... and smell the species

Yup... couldn't have seen this one coming, huh?

-- OTTAWA -- The Canada Revenue Agency has revoked the charitable status of the Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto, saying it has become little more than a method of beating the tax man.

The agency says the group’s original charitable aim of helping poor families became secondary to offering a tax shelter.

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Apparently... in Canada...

...we already DO have sharia law...

His lawyer, Ron Piche, told Justice Barry Morgan that he would be asking for Mr. Pauchay to be sentenced by an aboriginal healing circle.

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UPDATE: WTF is a "justice worker"?

-- ROSE VALLEY -- A justice worker from his reserve says the community is standing behind Christopher Pauchay, the father of two toddlers found frozen to death on the Yellow Quill First Nation in January.

Of course they are... you can always have more kids, right?

What a joke.

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Class Warfare in Toronto

Apparently they have nothing to lose... but their minds...

An anonymous poster campaign is waging a war against young urban professionals in an east-end neighbourhood.

The black posters proclaim: "No yuppies in Leslieville." They have appeared on Green P pay boxes, hydro poles and on the temporary walkway beside the EAST Lofts development on Queen St. E., near the Don Valley Parkway.

The poster suggests people can help "save the neighbourhood" by not shopping at high-end stores in the area and organizing tenant unions to fight rent increases.

The last two suggestions on the poster take on an unlawful ring: "Smash their windows" and "write graffiti." Commonly posted in shop windows, they are the creation of the Toronto East Community Coalition.

Can't say I didn't see this coming.

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Who wants to marry a jihadi?

Hey... talk about going green... how about a little social recycling?

I mean, seriously... you've got all these available women and all these, uh... underemployed freedom fighters... ya gotta admire the ingenuity.

Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, has been observing a truce with Israel since June, allowing its underground fighters to resurface but leaving them without much to do.

See, ladies... just because it didn't work out the first time around... doesn't mean you don't get a second kick at the cat. And, let's face it, even if you're not a Moonie... who doesn't get excited about mass weddings?

At the same time, hundreds of the group's women have been recently widowed, their husbands having been killed either in confrontations with Israel or in the fighting last year between Hamas and its secular rival, Fatah.

Taking advantage of the pause in violence, the Hamas leaders have turned to matchmaking, bringing together single fighters and widows, and providing dowries and wedding parties for the many here who cannot afford such trappings of matrimony.

And let's face it... a good attitude counts for something, right?

"Marriage is the same as jihad," or holy war, said Muhammad Yousef, one recently married member of the Qassam Brigades, the Hamas underground. "With marriage, you are producing another generation that believes in resistance."

Yeah, that's the spirit.

Mazel Tov!

Gallup calls it for Obama

-- CHICAGO -- Late last night, the pollster Gallup declared Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had an 11 percentage-point lead over his Republican rival, John McCain, and predicted that Mr. Obama would win the presidency tomorrow.

If Gallup is wrong, it will be "Dewey beats Truman" once again, and with the same pollster. For it was Gallup that predicted Harry Truman would go down to defeat in 1948, which up until now was the single biggest mistake in polling history.

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Now, I'm sure Navi Pillay...

...is a perfectly delightful woman who means well... but what exactly does she imagine... "rapping"... these sociopaths is gonna accomplish?

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says she is alarmed over the increasing number of killings and other human-rights violations recorded during the past few days in the Democratic Republic of Congo's North Kivu province.

And we're not just talking another one of Africa's constantly erupting civil wars... this is "ethnic cleansing" and tribal savagery at its finest.

These she says have included large-scale summary and arbitrary executions, rapes, disappearances, torture, harassment, unlawful arrest and arbitrary detention.

And, call me crazy... nobody's thinkin' about calling it off... just because Navi asked really nicely.

The benighted United Nations... the Captain Kangaroo of world affairs.

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No word yet from Mayor Miller...

...on banning small red cars along Queen St.

-- TORONTO -- Police are looking for a woman who may have tried to "take out" her partner by running him down with her car outside an east-end bar, but instead hit a 60-year-old bystander.

Police say the driver of the vehicle – reportedly a small red or burgundy older model car – fled the scene. "The intended victim, possibly her husband or boyfriend, got away before anything happened.

"She tried to take him out," Staff Sgt. Rod McLean said.

Jennifer Zhang, a bartender at Teddy's, told the Star the man who was hit is a regular, nicknamed "Sixpack."

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Vehicular manslaughter is just barely a chargeable offence."

"Only flashy idiots use guns."

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The Audacity of Goat

Besides Ndege, other religious figures in the area have pulled for an Obama victory as well.

At Kit Mikayi, a sacrificial rock shrine 20 miles from Kisumu, about a dozen people have visited on the senator's behalf, according to Jennifer Okot, an elderly villager who lives near the shrine.

Customarily, those seeking large blessings sacrifice a goat by swinging it by its legs so that its head and neck are bludgeoned against a large rock in a naturally occurring enclosure between two massive boulders that serves as the shrine's sanctuary.

The goat's demise incurs the blessings of the rock shrine's god, said Caroline Odhiambo, a 24-year-old who tends to the shrine.

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UPDATE: Manifesto destiny

"Bill Ayers is more than Obama's ghost writer; he is Obama's speech writer."

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68,000 Canadians

They will be remembered...

The last name, early on Nov. 11 will be George Lawrence Price, of Saskatchewan, shot two minutes before the 1918 Armistice. Pvt. Price was the last soldier killed in the Great War. You can stand on Queen St. and read the roll. Or watch online. The site (1914-1918.ca) even tells you exactly when each name is up.

What a wonderful idea, as the last World War I vets pass into the beyond.

"This is a book of living history closing forever in front of our eyes."

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RELATED: Who was George Lawrence Price?

The 1901 Census shows George living with his parents James Price and Annie Stephens.

While he enlisted in Regina in 1917, George was born in Nova Scotia, where his family was still living. He is listed as a farm labourer on his attestment papers.

Son of James E. and Annie R. Price of Port Williams, Kings Co., Nova Scotia. Believed to be the last Canadian battle casualty of the war.

He is buried in the St. Symphorien Military Cemetery, Belgium.

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LAST WORD: Bear in mind...

...the initial source for this post was a blurb in a newspaper... which should always be regarded with a bit of suspicion...

"It should be noted that these stats are approximations only. For example I have found estimates of Canadian dead ranging from 56,500 to 63,200 with 59,544 being the most common."

So, apart from the total number of Canadian casualties, where George Price was actually from, and the fact that he may have been the last Canadian casualty, rather than the last man killed... there you have it.

Anyone care to weigh in on the discrepancy in total number killed?

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Actions, unfortunately, in the real world...

...always have consequences...

For quite a while, we lived unapologetically as rich people. We even patted ourselves on the back for it. If poverty causes so many social ills, then luxury ought to cure them, right?

If you want to cut misery and social unrest you should let people go shopping. If you want to be “tough on the causes of crime”, let me have that flat-screen television.

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You get to the point...

...even demented Marxists won't swallow this tripe... you know it's time for wholesale change...

The sin, she says, was challenging the dogma maintaining the aboriginal industry: that natives are special; that their traditions possess enlightened ideals and crucial wisdom that must not only be protected, but encouraged.

We sanction native justice, in the form of sentencing circles; the preservation of economically questionable traditional languages and sciences in schools (native languages often cannot accommodate modern scientific concepts); and the integration of "spiritual healing" in aboriginal health policy.

This plays to sentimentalities for ancient ways, but when it comes to improving First Nations' social and economic outcomes, the authors argue, such things are dangerously counterproductive.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Aboriginal and other 'ethnic' leaders know how counterproductive ideas like these are for 'their' people, but that's not the point."

"If they don't build differences and divisions between 'their' people and the wider community, they could end up with no flock to lead - and therefore no government subsidies or fawning media."

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LAST WORD: Yeah, that's some unique culture

-- SASKATOON -- The father of two young girls found frozen to death in a snowy field on Saskatchewan's Yellow Quill reserve goes on trial Monday.

Christopher Pauchay had allegedly been drinking on the cold January night he left home with his daughters in tow. The bodies of three-year-old Kaydance and her one-year-old sister Santana were later found wearing only diapers and T-shirts.

Just run the numbers.

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Law and Disorder

Redistribute the wealth... AND no one is illegal...

-- WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's aunt, a Kenyan woman who has been quietly living in public housing in Boston, is in the United States illegally after an immigration judge rejected her request for asylum four years ago, The Associated Press has learned.

Onyango is not a relative whom Obama has discussed in campaign appearances and, unlike Obama's father and grandmother, is not someone who has been part of the public discussion about his personal life.

It was not immediately clear how Onyango might have qualified for public housing with a standing deportation order.

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RELATED: Bias? What media bias?

As many of you know by now, the LA Times has video of Barack Obama toasting and praising Jew-hating PLO operative (and Yasser Arafat henchman) Rashid Khalidi at a 2003 event.

As many of you also know, the LA Times is refusing to release the video.

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Stand by...

for incontravertible proof... that gravity holds stuff down.

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Paging Mayor "Super Dave" Miller

If only there were a law...

Just after 9 p.m., a 17-year-old man was found suffering from serious stab wounds to his side and leg area near St. Clair Ave. W. and Caledonia Rd., Toronto police said.

The victim was stabbed during a fight involving up to 10 youths, Sgt. Mulholland of 12 Division said. The teen was rushed to a Toronto trauma centre in serious condition.

Just four minutes later, a few blocks north in front of a complex on Caledonia Rd. at Lawrence Ave. W., police found a man in his early 20s suffering from stab wounds to his torso. He was also rushed to a Toronto trauma centre in serious condition.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I just read in the Miami Herald that the City of Miami went murder free for the month of October."

"Too bad Toronto isn't as safe as Miami. Must be their lack of availability of guns? Nope. Lack of ethnic tensions? Nope."

"It couldn't be the fact that they don't seem to mind executing murderers could it?"

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Another Liberal brainwave

Phase II of the legislation... includes hobbits and fairy princesses.

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