Okay... I'll say it again

Once again, I'm gonna ask that anonymous commenters to the blog take on some sort of pseudonym... (for example, a gmail account)... to distinguish themselves from the increasingly mindless, race-baiting, one-trick pony herd.
Like a lot of fellow conservative travellers... I've been getting all kinds of obscene, threatening trolls... and it's just getting to the point where it interferes with the flow and enjoyment of actual conversations. Verbal sparring is one thing... simply spouting anonymous obscenities and silly threats is totally another.

It's not like this dim bulb even has a point... or perhaps being an obnoxious troll IS THE POINT... so I've simply been deleting some of the stupidest stuff as it comes in.

I could always go to "full moderation" like so many other bloggers... or no comments at all... like Kathy Shaidle... but the truth is, I usually enjoy the interplay in the comments even more than any editorialising I do in the posts themselves.

I guess I'd just never really anticipated having the internet equivalent of obscene phone hangups constantly muddying up the comment threads.

I actually don't know what's more pathetic... this guy's apparent need to constantly spew sexual references... or the fact that he just can't ever seem to get enough of my attention.

Yup, that's mighty impressive, nonny... in a moody adolescent sorta way. I hate to think what you do when you're not hissing & spitting in the comments here.

I should mention this is only one of the half dozen comment threads "my own personal troll" decided to bombard last night. I can't even begin to imagine what sort of nonsense the female Blogging Tories have to put up with.

And for the life of me... I just can't figure out what the payoff is here... especially, since I've decided I'm just gonna zap this silliness as it shows up. Maybe it's a lefty thing.

Anyway, folks... if you wanna insure your comments won't be summarily deleted... I suggest you pick a pseudonym and take some responsibility for your words.

**********

UPDATE: Received an email from a reader...

Looks like CC was so pleased with himself, he used his alter-ego drive-by troll profile to crow about his latest triumph in his own comments. And he's certainly impressing noted CC-licker... Kevron.

And what exactly is the Cynic doing with this extra identity?

Amazing. Totally and completely oblivious.

**********

UPDATE2: Like I said... oblivious

No troll like an old troll...

**********

UPDATE3: The list continues to grow...

Zorpheus and Balbulican don't wanna be left out.

**********

RELATED: I hate commercials, but what we have here...

...is a larger issue...

"The bigger question is this: Should the vocal minority always be the one to control the debate?"

"One of the spinoff effects of Web 2.0 and social-media tools such as blogs, Twitter and Facebook is that they make it even easier for relatively small groups or niche markets to seem larger and more influential than they actually are."

I think of this sort of thing as "Michael Moore" syndrome.

Grab hold of some small aspect of an issue... turn on the uber-obnoxious... and spin, spin, spin.

*

Geez, Jennifer...

...whaddaya gonna do now?

I shall now republish the Rev. Boissoin's words again.

I'm not publishing them to further any debate. I'm publishing them as a personal insult to Jennifer Lynch. And why not? Her continued employment on the taxpayers' dime is an insult to every Canadian who believes in equality before the law.

Here's the text again. It's legal for a Jew like me to publish it. It's illegal for a Christian like Rev. Boissoin to publish it.

That's sick.

**********

UPDATE: The whitewash continues...

The Ottawa Police had asked the RCMP to investigate, when Bell Canada testified that the CHRC hacked into the Internet account of a private citizen. You can see the sworn testimony of Bell Canada's officer, Alain Monfette, describing the exact details of the hacking in this transcript, at pages 5645 and 5646.

This was the Warman v. Lemire hearing that the CHRC desperately tried have a publication ban on the proceedings.

No wonder.

*

Good news guys!

I hear the hooker lobby is already "hard at work"... on a government funded "fellatio coupon" initiative...

Should we be giving free heroin to addicts? Don't choke. Researchers in Vancouver say yes.

And they've just spent $8-million in public money to prove their case. Last month, after concluding a landmark clinical trial, they announced that the best way to treat hard-core heroin addicts is: Give them more heroin!

They argue that methadone, a much safer treatment, doesn't work with this crowd. But free heroin makes them happier, healthier and less inclined to steal so they can get their next fix.

Call me crazy... but how about we spend taxpayer dollars on folks who actually care if they live or die.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Personally I think if we are going to go this way we may as well have an island where we send any drug addict, and drop drugs by plane. It would probably reduce crime to a greater extent and harm addicts as much as any other government program proposed."

*

What momentous, life-changing issue...

...could possibly pull in 17,000 "uniques" in one day?

"Perhaps Mr. Sit could file a human rights complaint against Ms. Ouwroulis. He could accuse her of racism (if 'Asian' is a race), and she could accuse him of ageism. I wonder which ism would trump the other, in this game of politically correct poker."

But of course... there's no comparable "man bites dog" story, like the sad, sad tale... of an aging stripper.

"She's an ageing woman; he's just an Asian man. I think he'd lose -- Asians don't do well in the grievance business. As a group, they're too successful to be 'victims'."

"But Ms. Ouwroulis? If she can just avoid trash talking blacks, gays or Jews or a little bit longer, I think she could be in the money."

"She sure thinks so."

A little background.

*

"I look forward to seeing..."

"...how the Chinese deal with the UAW."

*

Hung like a hummingbird

So Steffi, lemme get this straight... are we talking about the same Throne Speech that Jack and Gilles are voting against... to try bring down the Government?
You pathetic little hypocrite.

C'mon Steffi... put your money where your mouth is. Oh... that's right... you guys are broke.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Someone should ask him what he would do if he was PM."

**********

RELATED: Oh, please, please, please... make it Bob

-- OTTAWA -- Former Ontario premier Bob Rae formally declared his candidacy for the leadership of the federal Liberal party on Thursday, saying he won't hide from the legacy of his recession-ravaged government of the 1990s.

Mr. Rae said he's proud of his performance as Ontario's NDP premier from 1990 to 1995, when he faced large deficits and labour unrest.

Oh, Boob... keep digging!

*

A Reader writes...

After numerous rounds of... "We don't even know if Osama is still alive"... Barack Obama is now telling everyone he will capture Osama Bin Laden when he takes office.

So, Osama himself decided to send Barack Obama a letter in his own handwriting, to let him know he was still in the game. Obama opened the letter and it contained a single line of coded message:

370H-SSV-0773H

Obama was baffled, so he e-mailed it to Howard Dean. Dean and the DNC and his aides had no clue either, so they sent it to Joe Biden . Joe Biden could not solve so it was sent to the FBI and the CIA .

Eventually they asked John McCain and his staff to look at it.

And within a few minutes McCain's Staff e-mailed Obama with this reply: "Tell Obama he's holding the message upside down."

(h/t reader d&v)

Dear Mayor Super Dave...

...not to rain on your parade or anything... but maybe, just maybe... you want to start thinking about Plan B...

Toronto is no stranger to murder. But even in a city that endured 84 homicides last year, anything more than a double killing is rare.

Here's a list of some of the multiple killings in the GTA and southwestern Ontario...

*

Today's smokin' hot stock tip

Sure, there's been one little setback...

...but it's still a bull market.

*

No biggie, Mary...

...just tell us where to drop off the cheque...

"Chrysler Canada spokeswoman Mary Gauthier would not comment on the company's $1-billion request to the Canadian governments."

*

I guess the good news is...

...they're not all... hardcore commie pinkos... over at the Mother Corps...

Canada's new heritage minister has ordered CBC executives to put a lid on their spending after revelations that a senior executive claimed $80,000 in a single year for theatre tickets, meals and travel.

"I am sure that you are sensitive to the fact that, at a time of fiscal restraint when Canadians are struggling to maintain their jobs and savings, this sort of reported excess does not sit well with them," James Moore wrote in a blunt letter to Timothy Casgrain, chairman of the board of directors of CBC.

Moore's public scolding yesterday followed revelations by Sun Media that Sylvain Lafrance, executive vice-president for French services at the CBC, expensed more than $28,000 on hotels, travel and meals in 2006.

That included almost $6,000 for lunches and dinners with other CBC managers. He also spent $7,500 on two business trips to Paris. And his in-office catering bill that year topped $15,000 and included beer, wine, pretzels and nachos for staff.

The spending was contained in documents released under the federal Access to Information law. The records also revealed Lafrance had signed off on $33,000 worth of benefit dinners and theatre tickets for Quebec-based cultural organizations.

A CBC spokesman told Sun Media this week the spending was "fully compliant with CBC corporate policy."

Wait a minute... that's OUR point.

*

"Al Qaeda used to be..."

...the kings of propaganda, outmaneuvering the American media machine at every turn. Now, it's clear the terror group's information operators have stumbled, big time.

The latest misstep: calling President-elect Barack Obama a 'house Negro.'

That's right. The guys who used to kill people, just to get their death on tape, have been reduced to name-calling.

*

Apparently, the next step here...

...is to pour gasoline on the Criminal Code of Canada... and throw a big party...

"If we can make sure, and assure the community, that the Don't Ask policy that exists is being implemented and uniformly enforced, then that itself provides a great deal of protection."

The board is set to receive a report on the petitions tomorrow and a report from the Don't Ask, Don't Tell working group.

In March 2007, the board gave the green light to police Chief Bill Blair to begin implementing a "Don't Ask" policy that would allow people without "legal status" to report crimes without fear of deportation.

The policy, an issue that was first raised three years ago, prevents cops from asking people about citizenship status, unless there are "bona fide" reasons to do so.

So long "rule of law"... it was nice to know you.

**********

RELATED: Meanwhile, halfway round the world, India says...

"That's it bucko... we're through pissin' around."

**********

UPDATE: Indian Navy clarifies...

In New Delhi, Indian navy spokesman Commander Nirad Sinha admitted Wednesday it was possible the ship was hijacked but defended the INS Tabar's action, saying it was responding to pirates' threat to attack it.

"In so far as we are concerned, both its description and its intent were that of a pirate ship," he said. "Only after we were fired upon did we fire. We fired in self defence."

"There were gun-toting guys with RPGs on it."

*

See... I think the word you're actually...

...looking for here... is terrorists...

-- GRAND-REMOUS, Que. -- Algonquin "ACTIVISTS" say they have set up a new blockade on a western Quebec highway near their Barriere Lake reserve.

The blockade on Highway 117 is designed to pressure the federal government to appoint an observer to oversee the selection of a new chief.

**********

RELATED: Yeah... no double-standard here, huh?

"Try this experiment some time yourself... occupy someone else's property by force... and then point a rifle at some cops... see if the local SWAT Team doesn't drop you like a crazy ex-girlfriend."

*

Just another reason

-- TORONTO -- Toronto police have sealed off a street in the east end of the city where four bodies have been found inside a house.

Police, however, have not yet indicated if they are dealing with a quadruple homicide or if a suicide might be involved.

A quadruple suicide? Seriously?

My advice... get out while you can.

**********

UPDATE: Looks like a family affair

Several neighbours said they saw police question and then arrest a man who they believe to be the common-law husband of Elizabeth, the couple's daughter – shortly after 8 a.m.

"He was standing across the street, leaning on the mailbox," said Rogers. "Then when the officers put him in handcuffs, he put his head down and broke down crying."

Elizabeth and her common-law husband lived together in Whitby, neighbours said.

**********

UPDATE2: The mystery continues...

-- TORONTO -- A man detained and questioned by police after four bodies were found in a Toronto home has been released without charges.

Constable Tony Vella would not release the name of the man, who was led away from the scene in handcuffs on Wednesday.

And the latest...

The sister of the man who was arrested says he was the one who discovered the note on the door Wednesday morning.

The woman says her brother went to the house to check on his wife, who went to visit her parents the night before and didn't return phone calls.

*

It'll be a quiet morning...

...here at "the halls".

This morning we've got another another little side trip in our ongoing medical odyssey with Neophyte's stubborn ol' G-Dad.

This'll be our third trip out to faraway doctor-land in three days... but I think he's finally decided to stop fighting and just go with the flow. I figured it was gonna get ugly when I told him he was stuck out at our place at least into December... but things are starting to settle down.

It started out last Sunday when we got G-Dad to agree to come out here (we're a couple of hours down the road) and see the E.R. doc. Unfortunately, by the next morning, he had changed his octogenarian mind and requested that we just take him home. After frantically rooting around, we found someone with a glucometer... and he finally agreed to just do that.

The glucometer test was a tipping point... turns out the drug company blood sugar charts only go as high as 23... and "Mr I'm Just Fine"... was cresting 32. The fact that he's also skinny enough to blend in with all those pictures of starving African refugees and weak as a kitten was the icing on the cake. He can't even comfortably sit on an unpadded chair any more... it was that bad.

The cold, hard truth is, if we hadn't gone into Toronto this past weekend to check on him, he likely wouldn't have made it through the week. Thank goodness for Mrs N's intuition.

The sunny side, if there is such a thing here, about things being so far gone... was that the horrified look on the technician's face after taking the glucometer reading and his unequivocal recommendation of immediate medical intervention... was enough to break the logjam.

Of course, all that didn't stop G-Dad from grousing about the stupid hospital gown and fantasizing about fleeing the examining room when we were waiting for the tests to come back... but hell, I'm a "hate hospitals" kinda guy myself. Regardless... I stuck my sympathy in my back pocket... and told him Mrs N had his personal power of attorney and, like it or not, we were pulling rank on this one.

From that point on, we've had a much smoother ride... from the gratis glucometer session to the E.R. doc who got us in to see an internal medicine specialist on 18 hours notice. The specialist was just great (he was obviously booking us in on his lunch hour)... and we're back in the first week of December to discuss test results and progress.

So we're off early today for supplementary tests... meanwhile G-Dad's already on blood sugar meds and an iron supplement. Mrs N's also working on a proper diet. We've picked up our own glucometer and we'll start tracking the readings to make sure the meds are working.

Maybe we're gonna get a happy ending outta this after all.

*

Sad news for screamin' socialists

The Moonbat Express is runnin' right off the rails...

"After careful and thoughtful consideration, we have concluded that it is no longer possible to maintain the current 'status quo' of our company's operations," Fecan said in the memo.

In addition to a freeze on hiring across the network and on travel and entertainment spending, Fecan said there will be "some layoffs," though details were not included in the memo.

Hey... maybe Dalton's gonna have to come up with a couple thousand more "social worker" gigs... but even then, competitions gonna be tight.

CTV's plans come after its competitor, Canwest Global Communications, last week said it is cutting 560 jobs from its television and newspaper operations, including axing its Toronto-based morning news show.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Will the CBC be the only one to tell me what I need to think?"

*

Tragic legal rollover...

...on the road to Shariah law...

-- DOUAI, France -- A French appeals court yesterday reinstated the marriage of a Muslim man who had sought an annulment because his bride lied about being a virgin.

The controversial case pitted France's secular values against the traditions of its growing immigrant communities.

*

The fairy tale world of Dr Dawg

Not to worry... it's nothing that a good deworming wouldn't fix.

*

Why they hate us

These researchers determined that "there are five psychological foundations of morality, which we label as harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity."

Conservative morality is based on some combination of all five of these moral foundations. There may not be an exact 20% input from each one, but they are all present.

Liberal morality is based on only the harm/care and fairness/reciprocity foundations.

(via ace of spades)

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Sitemeter is tellin' me... he's baaa-aaack.

Apparently Censorious Cynic objects to anyone hearing about the recent rash of homicides in urban Ontario. Or maybe... since I have yet to see him freak out about the television and newspaper coverage... it's just me he objects to.

I suspect he's still just kinda touchy about this little gem.

You've also gotta love this guy's total lack of self-awareness as he tries to pin the "neo-nazi" tail... on another prominent conservative blogger.

Good grief.

*

"Tips for Deluded Pinkos"

You're gonna piss in anybody's cornflakes... you might not wanna start with Mark Steyn... or Ezra Levant...

"I skimmed the rest of Miller's CV, and I had to laugh out loud. I think it's great that he listed every damn lunch talk he's ever given, including to the Rotary Club. They're good people."

"It's just a little, uh, light for someone pretending to be a 'doctor'."

"I did learn one more useful thing from Miller's CV: he's part of the taxpayer subsidized grievance industry."

*

The New Entrepreneurs

This one is eerily reminiscent of the world-famous Nigerian 419 scam...

Police and tax officials are warning about a letter and e-mail fraud scheme that attempts to pry confidential banking information and passport numbers from Canadians.

The scam is designed to prey on taxpayers worried about their records. It comes in the form of an official-looking letter or e-mail claiming to be from the Canada Revenue Agency and requiring taxpayers to complete a T2 form and bring CRA's records up to date.

In some instances the fraudulent demand for personal information has arrived via postal delivery. The letter asks taxpayers to complete the phoney T2 form and either fax it or send it to an address with a post office box number. Police found mail at that address was being forwarded overseas.

Of course... you can always fight back... like scambaiter "Shiver Metimbers."

But Metimbers and crew turn the tables on scammers one by one, boomeranging the tricksters' own tactics to entice them into performing outlandish tasks in desperate pursuit of cash -- then trumpeting evidence of the con artists' naivete for the online world's amusement.

A 43-year-old, self-employed computer engineer from Manchester, England, Metimbers has most recently spun counter-yarns that have compelled 419ers to make elaborate wood carvings, pose for comical photos and fly from London to Scotland.

In one episode, which concluded in March after a five-month exchange, he succeeded in having a Nigerian fraudster tattoo "Baited by Shiver" on his body in order to claim a fictional $46,000 prize.

*

I'm from the government...

I'm here to beef up your gonads...

MONTREAL — Already rich with a history of policy-makers encouraging baby-makers, Quebec could become the first province to pay entirely for in-vitro fertilization treatment under a Liberal election promise made yesterday.

The Liberals estimated that 1,500 births annually would be generated by the plan, with costs estimated at about $35-million per year.

The plan is a reversal from a stand taken by Philippe Couillard when he was health minister last year. Mr. Couillard opposed covering the cost of treatments because he said infertility isn't an illness. He isn't running this time.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Hell, for 35 million I'll offer my services on a per pregnancy diem."

*

Option One... wait for them...

...to hole a supertanker... or Option Two... follow them back to their base of operations and burn it to the ground...

The US Navy says pirates have hijacked a Saudi-owned oil tanker off the coast of Kenya.

A spokesman for the Navy's Fifth Fleet, Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, says pirates seized control of the tanker Sirius Star on Saturday.

After two or three little lessons... I bet they'd start to come around.

*

Michael Ignatieff...

...the Hulk Hogan of Canadian politics... open, inclusive and worldly wise.

...FRICK...

Although party organizers got the okay from both Rae and LeBlanc to open up the debate, Ignatieff's camp held out.

Ignatieff maintained the media blackout was up to the party.

...FRACK...

"The Conservatives better look out because we are coming back," Ignatieff said. "If Stephen Harper had a spy in that room, he would be a worried man tonight."

Sure thing Mikey... now show us those big pythons.

*

The unfortunate truth is...

...as the situation now stands... Hamid Karzai can't even guarantee he'll be able to provide hot lunches for his staff every day... but there's no doubting he's got really, really big balls...

President Karzai says he will guarantee Omar's safety - despite possible objections by the international community - if he sincerely wants to negotiate peace.

"If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar - the international community has a choice - remove me or leave if they disagree."

**********

RELATED: Once upon a fuzzy-bunny time...

It's true... when it gets down to it... you're actually fighting for the guy standing next to you...

These wars, we are told, were fought to defend tolerance, civil rights and equality. Not only is this insultingly dumb and anachronistic, it also obscures the authentic guts and flesh reality of the Canadian soldier throughout the last century.

He ran up beaches in France and hills in Belgium not for government grants to the transgendered or tax-funded courses in multiculturalism, but because it would have been cowardly, wrong and un-Canadian not to do so.

*

Mission of Mercy

Earlier Sunday, we travelled into the "belly of the beast"... (for the uninitiated, that's Toronto)... on a rescue mission. Mrs Neo's octogenarian father has been having some health issues... so we swooped in, scooped him up... and brought him back to our place.

We're gonna try and get him some medical advice, and if necessary... medical intervention... over the next week. As a result, blogging will almost certainly be lighter than usual.

I'd also like to request that anonymous commenters to the blog consider taking on some sort of pseudonym... (maybe just a google account)... to distinguish themselves from the mindless, one-trick pony trolling herd.

Lately I've been getting all kinds of obscene, threatening trolls... mostly from my "special" friend cc-nonymous... and it's just getting to the point where it interferes with the flow and enjoyment of actual conversations. Verbal sparring is one thing... simply spouting anonymous obscenities and silly threats is totally another.

When I've actually dealt with cc-nonymous head on and he feels he's been bested... he always claims some other anonymous is responsible for the original remarks. In short, cc-nonymous is a coward AND a dickhead of the dullest order... and this week I just don't have the patience to stop and constantly wipe him off my shoe.

I could always go to "full moderation" like so many other bloggers... or no comments at all, like Kathy Shaidle... but the truth is, I enjoy the interplay in the comments even more than any editorialising I do in the posts themselves.

I'm just a little tired of having the internet equivalent of obscene phone hangups constantly muddying up the comment threads.

So folks... if you wanna insure your comments won't be summarily deleted... I suggest you pick a pseudonym and take some responsibility for your words.

Otherwise... fair warning... you takes your chances.

**********

UPDATE: Okay... it's diabetes

Not totally unexpected and eminently treatable.

Got scrips for the blood sugar and low iron and we've got a sonogram and an appointment with an internist later this week.

That's about as good as it gets.

*

There is often a price to be paid...

...for standing up for what you believe in.

*

I can't wait for Mayor Miller...

... to announce the implementation of the city-wide... "meat tenderiser" registry...

-- TORONTO -- The incidents occurred between approximately 10:30 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday, Staff Sgt. Greg Payne of 13 Division told ctvtoronto.ca.

In one incident, an 18-year-old was reportedly beaten with a meat tenderizer (earlier reports said a steel bar) and kicked as a group demanded his money, cellphone and iPod. The victim received serious injuries to his head and face.

In another incident, an assailant struck one of two men in the head with a blunt object. That victim was hospitalized. A third victim suffered serious injuries to the face and head after being repeatedly struck with a blunt object while being robbed of his cellphone.

Police say there have been five other iPod-related robberies in the city in the past two weeks.

Just another reason, my friends. The wolf pack guzzles your child... you'll never forgive yourself.

Get out while you can.

**********

RELATED: Why take my word for it?

Good point... let's ask Statistics Canada...

"The latest tabulations by StatsCan, focusing on research compiled in 2006, shows that violent crime among young people aged 12 to 17 has increased 12% in the last decade, and 30% since 1991."

**********

LAST WORD: Lorrie Goldstein has a plan

Finally, as a symbolic gesture, I would divert all money now spent by councillors on foreign travel, save for the mayor, to these programs, as well as $10,000 each from their office budgets.

That's because real leaders should lead by example. And because it's time we fixed this mess instead of just talking about it.

*

It doesn't get much better than that

The man at the center of the storm enthuses...

"Yesterday, I said that the impact of the party's vote would be salutary, in that party activists would telegraph their intentions to MPs."

"Who knew that one of those activists would have been the minister himself!"

**********

RELATED: Maybe Special K should rename his blog...

...after his uber-cutting-edge band...

"The Commission has had the Moon Report for several weeks - it is off being translated into French at the moment. Speculatively, do you think the Jackal and Burney might have had a heads up on the contents of that report?"

*

I think I'm gonna go with...

...sweet eff-eh...



RELATED: Apparently she was looking for...

...a life-changing experience...

Although she adopted a Muslim name after converting to Islam, she still uses her Christian name in business listings. On her website Ms. Giesbrecht said converting to Islam cost her a lot of friendships and changed her life in other ways.

“Gone is my mountain paradise,” she said, referring to the home she had in West Vancouver, “....gone are the dinner parties, the toys and the frills.”

So... the once infidel Beverly... in a stunning moment of clarity, decided to take up the cause of holy jihad... and put her life in the beneficent hands of Allah.

I think the lesson here has to be... "Be careful what you wish for."

*

Lemme see if I understand this...

In Dalton McSlippery's fuzzy-bunny socialist paradise... the first woman you shoot is deductible...

A plea bargain which dropped gun charges against a man now charged with a shooting death at the Duke of York pub resulted from glaring "frailties" in the prosecution case, the Sun has learned.

Kyle Weese admitted he shot and wounded Hanna Hudson when he pleaded guilty in 2006 to discharging a firearm with intent to wound.

I'm probably dating myself here... but does anybody else remember the good ol' days... when this was known as "attempted homicide"?

*

So, if you were a plumber...

...and you only were able to fix 20% of the toilets you worked on... how long do you figure you'd stay in business?

Over 80% of children killed or seriously hurt through neglect or abuse were not on England's child protection registers, it has been reported.

Only 33 of the 189 children whose death or injury in 2005 to 2007 led to a review were on the registers, according to figures obtained by the Guardian.

And, the truth is, that's actually less appalling than what's happening here in Canada... where we do know which children are most at risk.

*

Vitamin Wars

I'm just afraid the Vitamin E people are gonna get dragged into this... and then things will really get ugly...

A group of prominent vitamin D researchers has issued a commentary that cautions against consuming large amounts of the supplement because it may lead to excessive exposure to vitamin A.

he recommendation appears in the current edition of the Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology, and is based on concerns that the high amount of vitamin A in cod liver oil undermines the effectiveness of vitamin D, which is also found in the supplement.

*

Where no sane man...

...has gone before...

When politicians get into big trouble, they all seem to offer the same type of apology: "If I could go back and not set my opponent's car on fire, would I? Absolutely. But I can't change the past."

This is known in legal circles as the no-time-machine-handy defence. This bow to the awesome power of Father Time is usually followed by a plea to forgive and forget.

But the federal Liberal party seems intent on actually travelling backwards along the space-time continuum, specifically to the morning of Dec. 2, 2006.

*

Big smoke... in the Big Smoke

How pissed off you have to be with somebody... it's not enough... just to kill them?

-- Essa Township -- Arrest warrants have been issued for three Toronto men after a burned out body was found in a ditch north of the city.

Emergency crews found the remains of 47-year-old Ali Garakan, of Thornhill, who was identified by dental records. A post-mortem examination showed Garakan had died from a stab wound to his chest, police said.

Arrest warrants have been issued for Mohammed Al Kazragy, 23, Payam Khastou, 25, and Arash Arashvand, 22, all of Toronto and all wanted on charges of second-degree murder.

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Sitemeter is tellin' me... he's baaa-aaack.

Apparently Censorious Cynic objects to anyone hearing about the recent rash of homicides in urban Ontario. Or maybe... since I have yet to see him freak out about the television and newspaper coverage... it's just me he objects to.

I suspect he's still just kinda touchy about this little gem.

You've also gotta love this guy's total lack of self-awareness as he tries to pin the "neo-nazi" tail... on another prominent conservative blogger.

Good grief.

**********

LAST WORD: Remember Toronto's Ambassador Cab program?

I guess there's still a few bugs in the system...

"Witnesses report hearing some sort of altercation. They heard a voice or voices. The next thing that's heard is a crash, then the first sight is a Beck taxi southbound on Dovercourt Rd.," he said.

The man, 36, was found next to a bicycle on the sidewalk with his leg nearly severed. His leg was amputated later in hospital, where he remained in critical condition, Burrows said.

Into the afternoon, investigators were still trying to figure out "the root of the altercation," but Burrows said it was clear the cabbie "knew he hit the cyclist."

*

"Maybe I don't wanna know..."

"...the reason why... but lately you don't talk to me... and darlin' I can't see me in your eyes."

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The McGuinty Report...

..confirms all of the Liberals pre-conceived suspicions... Ontario IS a snake's den of racism...

”We were taken aback by the extent to which racism is alive and well and wreaking its deeply harmful effects on Ontarians and on the very fabric of this province,” stated the report released this morning by Roy McMurtry and Alvin Curling.

And it only cost Ontario taxpayers 2 million dollars... to unearth the horrible truth.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

From the "Ways to Save $2 million" pamplet:

1) dust off the report the NDP created after the Yonge Street "riots"
2) dust off Ken Dryden's files as "Youth Commissioner"

Cost: free if you use your hand, a few bucks from petty cash if you want a duster. Jesus, does ANYONE read the crap these commissions put out?

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UPDATE: The 100 million dollar question...

...will Premier McSlippery pony up?

Creation of a special youth commissioner, an enhanced role for schools and a $100-million allocation of funds will head the recommendations of a long-awaited provincial report on youth violence to be released today.

Some of the requested $100-million would be new money, but more would be redirected from current government budgets, and, in all, at least a dozen different ministries would be affected.

I mean, c'mon... it's not like we need that money for anything else.

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LAST WORD: Oh... my... gawd...

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RAHMBO - First Blood

Hot on the heels of his new "shoot from the lip" boss...

President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel has apologised to the US-Arab community for remarks made by his father.

Benjamin Emanuel told an Israeli newspaper that his son, who is Jewish, would "obviously influence the president to be pro-Israel".

He also referred to Arabs in a way which a leading Arab-American group called an "unacceptable smear".

I dunno... whatever happened to "let the healing begin"?

"Obviously he'll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House."

Oops.

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RELATED: Scratch a socialist... find a warmonger

What prominent leftnik said...

"The discovery that Hussein didn't have weapons after all surprises me, but it doesn't change my view of the essential issue."

"I never thought the key question was what weapons he actually possessed but rather what intentions he had."

P.S. -- I guess he changed his mind, huh?

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Coming soon...

...to a neighbourhood near you...

Morton, now 20, was the first teen in Canada to be convicted for first-degree murder under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. On April 1, 2003, at the age of 14, Morton strangled schoolmate Eric Levack, also 14, near their Brampton school .

Morton was diagnosed as having homicidal fantasies and told psychologists that killing Levack gave him the same thrill as opening Christmas presents and he thought of pursuing mass murders now that he knows how to kill.

Morton had led Levack into a wooded area near Heart Lake Secondary School in Brampton where he strangled the teen with his belt and coolly walked back to art class afterwards to brag to classmates about what he had done.

Under the Act, the maximum sentence for first-degree murder is seven years, but Levack's parents feel the laws need to change.

Morton is eligible for day parole and full parole in two years.

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RELATED: Why worry about slap on the wrist justice?

A 17-year-old youth has been charged with aggravated assault in the Tuesday stabbing at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute.

The male youth, who can't be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, turned himself in at 31 Division in the city's northeast end last night.

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They'd like to buy...

...the world a coke...

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The only surprise here is...

...with these sort of "great struggle" credentials... he isn't the department head...

-- OTTAWA -- A part-time sociology instructor at the University of Ottawa has been arrested and could face extradition to France in connection with the fatal bombing of a Paris synagogue in 1980.

Hassan Diab was taken into custody Thursday on a provisional extradition warrant issued at the request of French authorities, said Christian Girouard, a spokesman for the federal Justice Department.

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Torontonians breathe a sigh of relief...

...as problem of nasty, criminal gun violence solved once and for all...

Ward 30 (Toronto-Danforth) Councillor Paula Fletcher said she's happy that the bar's owners decided to remove the mural. "I asked them to consider just painting over the gun or painting over the whole mural," said Fletcher, adding that a new one would likely be painted by the spring.

"I was very pleased that they reacted so quickly. People in the neighbourhood don't really want a big, swaggering John Wayne mural with a gun when there's a gun shootout in the community."

Congratulations, Paula... I just wanna know why someone didn't think of this in time to prevent this terrible crime.

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FROM THE COMMENTS: More timeless wisdom...

...from the "Rainman School of Social Justice."

Yeah... that really showed him, huh? Let's go dig up Yonge St. where Jane Creba was murdered too.

And...

"As long as we are in the spirit of using govt oversite to rid us of distasteful items from bars... I want them to force every bar owner in Toronto to remove Heineken advertising because the red star reminds me of the horrors of communism."

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"One hesitates to say..."

..."'Journalism physician, heal thyself'... but that strange leaking coming from your ass is your credibility."

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It's a McSlippery world

Yeah, yeah, I know... I'm just a knuckle-draggin' neocon... but what we obviously need here is MORE COPS... and less Casey & Finnegan...

Speaking of that, in a year when Toronto has had 300 shooting victims, are we getting our millions' worth on the other programs set up to help them?

"Anybody know what happened to the youth and violence secretariat set up by the premier, which had former chief justice Roy McMurtry on it and former MPP Alvin Curling?" Toronto school board trustee Josh Matlow asked yesterday.

It was called the Review of the Roots of Youth Violence and was commissioned in 2007. "I tried to find any recommendations but have not actually been able to find an office," Matlow said. He even travelled to Queen's Park but couldn't find a desk or an employee.

Oh yeah... one more thing...

"Cost of McMurtry/Curling report so far -- $2 million."

**********

UPDATE: All you need is love...

...and 40 million dollars for more social workers...

Education Minister Kathleen Wynne described the recent stabbing as a "very distressing setback," but said the province has already provided $43-million in additional funding to the school board to hire these professionals, and noted that a new child-and-youth worker will be assigned to C.W. Jefferys next week.

No wonder the health-care system is falling to pieces.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Well, what do you expect? They are dealing with more important issues in the GTA - like whether or not to allow Tim Horton's to use paper coffee cups."

**********

LAST WORD: Hey, Dr Dawg... try "root causes" this

"He put the knife to Michael Oatway, said, 'Give me that iPod. Michael, frightened, outnumbered, said, 'I can't do that.'"

"It was his girlfriend's iPod," Mr. McDermott said, as if by way of explanation. "He'd borrowed it."

S.M. then upped the ante, the prosecutor said: "Give me that iPod or you're going to get cut."

Mr. Oatway died of a stab wound to the heart.

And remember... don't call these guys criminals... they're just "rough and tumble" kids.

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When camels go bad

I guess that's what we get...

...for forcing this poor guy to shovel down the chili cheese dogs and Krispy Kremes... until he was the size of two normal people...

-- MONTREAL -- An obese inmate known as Big Mike is heading home early from a Montreal jail, as it appears that size does matter behind bars.

Michel Lapointe, who was imprisoned on drug-trafficking and conspiracy charges, walked out of Bordeaux Jail on Tuesday night after winning early parole – granted in part due to the health difficulties caused by his 400-plus-pound girth.

Normally, he would have had to go to a halfway house. But Mr. Lapointe was rejected by two such institutions because they said they couldn't accommodate someone his size.

So he got to go home.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"And Lapointe is obviously working hard to correct his health problems...

'On Tuesday night, after his release from jail, Mr. Lapointe was photographed by a Montreal newspaper outside the prison gate, a cigarette in hand.'"

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Ask a Rexdale Imam

Call me wacky... but isn't this sort of thing actually illegal in Canada?

"In this matter, it is wise to follow the interests of the female: if the clitoris is large, then part of it should be removed, otherwise it should be left alone. This size of the clitoris will vary from woman to woman, and there may be differences between those from hot climates and those from cold climates."

"The scholars’ opinions cited above should be sufficient explanation."

"And Allah knows best."

This seems to be a sort of Islamic "Miss Manners"... many other burning questions answered.

Not to be missed.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Also, if they cut off what I think they cut off, how does it affect a woman's sexual response?"
— Lauren G., Chicago

Dear Lauren:

The same way having your feet sawed off affects your ability to polka, as any of the estimated 30 to 75 million victims of this barbaric ritual can testify.

**********

RELATED: Speaking of women's issues

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Two schoolgirls are in hospital with serious facial burns as doctors work to save their sight, after men on motorcycles sprayed acid in the faces of six teenage girls walking to school Wednesday morning.

A family member of one of the burned schools said there had been no warnings to stop sending their daughters to school.

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In other non-sectarian "good news"

The "holy city" dodges another bullet...

Israeli secular politician Nir Barkat has defeated an ultra-orthodox rabbi to become the new mayor of Jerusalem.

Mr Barkat won outright with 52% of the vote while Meir Porush received 43%, according to final results released by Israel's interior ministry.

The hard-fought campaign has raised tensions between Israel's religious and secular Jews.

Separation of Church and State... never a bad thing.

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Blaring headline notwithstanding...

...what this incident... actually highlights... is Toronto District School Board trustee Stephanie Payne's utter lack of comprehension & common sense.

Just don't expect anyone in the uber-cowed, politically-correct mainstream media... to even touch this one with anybody else's 10 foot pole.

Officers were placed in 27 schools this year as part of a safety program in response to the shooting of 15-year-old Jordan Manners in a hallway of that school in May, 2007.

C.W. Jefferys, however, was not one of them, as school board trustee Stephnie Payne asked for more time to consult community members.

**********

UPDATE: Hey Audley, can you hear the blood drops?

Principal Audley Salmon declared the school "unequivocally" safe less than three hours after the latest incident.

Salmon said such violence occurs in many schools across Ontario and Canada. "The halls in this school, without a doubt, unequivocally, are an extremely safe place," he said. "When you walk my halls during the day, you can hear a pin drop."

"That's how safe it is."

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LAST WORD: Ixnay on the afesay

No Audley... this is how safe it is...

Trustee Stephanie Payne says she will allow a police officer in C.W. Jefferys Secondary School, after a stabbing in the cafeteria yesterday.

The troubled school is also where 15-year-old Jordon Manners was shot and killed.

[*]

I think I'm just gonna stick...

...with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster...

But why go to the trouble of reproducing hell?

Perhaps it was to demonstrate power,” Prof. de Anda speculates, or to give the living an idea of the terrors they would meet en route to paradise.

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Stop the Free Speech Police

"At this week’s CPC convention, the modification of section 13 of the CHRA is contained in Resolution P-203. We encourage you to review the issue if you have not already done so, and join us in a Declaration of Support."

You can find the code for this link button in the sidebar.

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I fear for my country

Here's a perfect example of everything that's wrong with spoiled, whiney... generation dumbstick...

Most university students believe that if they're "trying hard," a professor should reconsider their grade.

One-third say that if they attend most of the classes for a course, they deserve at least a B, while almost one-quarter "think poorly" of professors who don't reply to e-mails the same day they're sent.

That, unfortunately, is what comes of spouting meaningless pap like... "no child left behind."

The fact is... whether you chose to blame it on nature or nurture... we are not all equally constituted or qualified. It's why not everybody gets to be a theoretical physicist. It's why some people choose to be paratroopers and some choose to enter a convent. It's why we have prisons.

There are kids with organic, or social disabilities. There are kids who, for whatever reason, are emerging sociopaths. And there are kids who, are... yes, just not especially motivated, or intelligent.

But we seem to have convinced these kids that hard work, that earned merit... somehow doesn't matter.

Those are among the revelations in a newly published study examining students' sense of academic entitlement, or the mentality that enrolling in post-secondary education is akin to shopping in a store where the customer is always right.

The sad truth is, there will always be individuals who are left behind. Trying to convince kids that they are all, regardless of ability... equally entitled... is a dangerous and fated game.

Wake up and smell the species.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"As a professor at the University of Toronto medical school, I can tell you that this is exactly how it is. We have been conditioned to grade everyone average as "very good", and someone who is mediocre and barely competent as 'good'."

"Only the absolute basket cases are graded as 'fails to meet expectations'."

"There are many reasons for this, but the foremost among them is that there is a huge disincentive in terms of hassle and even harassment to grade anyone negatively. Some failed students, and even some who did not pass with a high enough mark for their liking, have threatened legal action and made baseless accusations of harassment or discrimination."

"Failing someone is tantamount to accepting that you will be spending hours in meetings, forced remediation of the student, and possibly be accused of god-knows-what. No one can handle that grief unless they are a masochist."

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LAST WORD: The fuzzy-bunny "self-esteem" movement

The self-esteem movement began in the 1970s, when ideology-inspired social engineering — the aim to “construct” a happy, confident person — replaced knowledge-based learning as an educators’ mandate.

The idea was to reduce the supposedly bad stress caused by competition and objective standards, whose disparate consequences were thought to undermine less successful children’s fragile self-esteem. Instead of linking reward to achievement, children were rewarded for completing tasks, basically just for showing up.

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Remember when you were a kid...

...and the only way to settle a beef was with knives and guns?

-- Yeah... me neither. --

-- TORONTO -- A Toronto high school where a teen was fatally shot last year is in lockdown after a student was stabbed.

Toronto police Constable Tony Vella told CP24 that a 16-year-old student was stabbed at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute.

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Hope, Change...

...and another big hit on the bong...

-- JERUSALEM -- Advisers to Barack Obama held a secret meeting in Gaza with a leading member of Hamas during the last few weeks of the U.S. election campaign, according to the senior political adviser to Hamas's "prime minister" in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh.

Ahmed Yousef told the al Hayat newspaper in London in an article published today that the meeting, was between himself and a small number of Obama foreign policy advisers. Mr. Yousef is quoted as saying the emissaries asked him not to say anything about the meetings lest it give support to Mr. Obama's rival for president, Senator John McCain.

Speaking from Gaza, today, Ayman abu Leilah, aspokesman for Mr. Yousef, confirmed these statements as true, adding that the most recent meeting took place in early October "one month before the election." He said Mr. Yousef had first met the Obama people some years ago when he was studying in the United States.

Obama's people say it never happened.

**********

UPDATE: He apparently didn't meet with the ACLU

“We have to hold president-elect Obama's feet to the fire if we're going to turn hope into reality,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said Monday.

“I will close Guantanamo,” Mr. Obama said in 2007.

In the weeks before his election, he ducked questions about when he might deliver.

“As quickly as we can do so prudently,” he said when pressed on a timetable.

Better just keep hoping, huh?

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