12 May 2009

It's so true... a drowning man...

  5/12/2009 03:45:00 pm      
...will grab at a sword...
"But my favorite little desperate gesture from the Tamils is the way they’ve reached out to Sonia Gandhi, the big Indian politician, to ask for help. Which is funny because Sonia happens to be the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed by a suicide bomber in 1991. And who sent the bomber? Nobody but the LTTE, the Sri Lankan Tamils’ great liberation army."

"Yup, they didn’t like Rajiv’s policy on Sri Lanka so they sent him the LTTE version of a strip-o-gram: a zombie girl who shimmied right up to Rajiv at a rally and pulled her own string. It stripped her all right; it stripped the flesh off her and Rajiv and anybody else within the blast radius.'

"Scorched-earth erotic dancing. The ultimate Bollywood closing number."
Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Dalton McSlippery offers up this sage advice... "Just pretend you don't really support the terrorists."

Yeah, Dalton... that'll fix everything.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
Christy Blatchford has an article worth reading entitled "Whose rights are really being trampled?" which I found on the same page as the story in your second link.
*

Paging Dalton McSlippery...

  5/12/2009 11:45:00 am      
Here's an experiment, folks... try dragging your children out onto a busy highway and see how long it takes Children's Aid to scoop them up.

Why exactly are Tamil protesters exempt from child protection laws?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"I'd just like to point out that the GTA is also home to a large number of people from Pakistan and Somalia. There are wars there that are killing hundreds of civilians. Where do we draw the line?"

"Are Tamil deaths more important than those in the Swat Valley, or Africa?"
*

Geez... that's a toughie...

  5/12/2009 10:30:00 am      
...but I think I'm gonna go with...he was a scummy crackhead who tried to take a gun off a cop...
“He was under control. There was no reason for that.” Why did she have to pull out the gun? Why didn’t she just use the Taser?”
...and oh yeah... tasers are dangerous... haven't you heard?

*

Of course, this is Canada...

  5/12/2009 08:00:00 am      
...we'll just crucify the victim...

A guy sees some kids stealing his car and takes off after them. The kids pile into a tree.

Guess who police are gonna smash with the legal shithammer?
Quebec police are investigating a high-speed car chase that ended with the death of a teenager Sunday night.

A 16-year-old boy died in the passenger seat of a car he and a friend stole in the Laurentians town of Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan, police said.

The two allegedly stole the car just before midnight and were tailed by its owner, who used another vehicle to chase them down the highway.
Yeah... they "allegedly" stole it, according to the CBC.

P.S. - the alleged thief who killed his buddy was 15 years old.

*

Bad news for Boomers...

  5/12/2009 06:30:00 am      
...and everybody else...
Canada's health system will be short 60,000 registered nurses over the next 15 years unless urgent action is taken, a new study warns.

There are currently 217,000 registered nurses in Canada, the single largest group of health care providers.
You think a six hour wait in the local hospital emergency room is a hard go... trust me... it's about to get worse. Try starting your car without the pistons in the engine.

This is a very bad thing.

*

11 May 2009

Remember when you were a kid...

  5/11/2009 04:45:00 pm      
...and schoolyard spats were settled by disembowelment?

Yeah... me neither.

**********

UPDATE: Another dead kid... must be Monday
Police are investigating a shooting in the west end that has left 14-year-old Adrian Johnston dead.

The location is also about 400 to 500 metres from where two suspects shot Jarvis St. Remy to death at a Dundas Street West bus stop, just west of Scarlett Road, on the evening of May 1.
*

In heedless, headlong pursuit ...

  5/11/2009 12:15:00 pm      
...of a soft, fluffy "Casey & Finnegan" world...
"Why shouldn't York University accommodate Ashif Jaffer?" The word "accommodate" seems to have acquired the same status as "love," "tolerance" and "peace" -- things that are always good and desirable. Canada is a just society, after all.

Recently I wrote about Ashif Jaffer, a man with Down syndrome whose mother is determined that he earn an undergraduate degree and who is suing York University in Toronto for refusing to make that happen.
Because, in Pierre Trudeau's socialist paradise... "If you want it... it will, most assuredly, come."

**********

RELATED: The Childrens Is Are Futcher

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"It's not fair that university degrees only be awarded to the academically gifted. They should be equally distributed amongst all the various protected categories of citizens."

"To reward those with aptitude and diligence at the expense of those lacking such attributes is a clear violation of our rights."

"When I was young I thought the villains in Ayn Rand's novels were ridiculously over the top. I don't think that anymore."
**********

LAST WORD: The CBC wants in

Not so friendly fire

  5/11/2009 11:30:00 am      
I guess Dawg and company will be thrilled... more "Christian Crusaders" bite the dust.
-- BAGHDAD -- A U.S. soldier opened fire on fellow troops and at least five were killed today, the Pentagon and U.S. Command said.

It was unclear if the shooter was among the dead in the incident, which the U.S. Command said in a brief statement occurred in the afternoon at Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport.
*

10 May 2009

Massive Liberal voting bloc...

  5/10/2009 11:30:00 pm      
...attempting to, yet again, shut down Toronto... and blackmail the Prime Minister...
7:30pm: A massive Tamil demonstration has closed traffic in both directions on Toronto's busy Gardiner Expressway. At approximately 6:50 pm this evening, protesters marched up the Spadina westbound on-ramp and spread out across the highway.

Police arrived on scene immediately, closed intersections and contained the demonstration.
It's a miracle that nobody was killed or maimed here.

Let's face it, folks... you don't have to be an FBI profiler to see that the Tamil Tiger constituency is escalating their, cough, cough... "protests". Which begs the question... "What else have they got in their bag of tricks?"

Let's not forget that the Tigers are the very same people who brought the world... "the suicide vest".

These are clearly desperate, fanatical individuals... and they're getting more-so daily. So, ask yourself, people... "What's on deck?"

A suicide bombing at the Yonge-Bloor subway exchange? Or, better yet, the House of Commons?

Nothing would surprise me anymore.

**********

UPDATE: It's not just the Gardiner anymore...
Chief Blair expressed frustration at the difficulties faced by the police in finding a Tamil spokesman with whom to negotiate. "We are not getting much co-operation," he said.

The shutdown of the Gardiner quickly rippled across the entire city, as the Ontario Provincial Police, in a backup role to Toronto police, blocked off southbound access to the Don Valley Parkway into the city.
And it looks like they're actually holding people hostage...
Transit riders were also trapped: Three streetcars were pinned down by protesters at University and College; the Spadina streetcars were turned back at King Street; and there was reduced service along Queen's Quay.
No fear, though... it looks like "His Blondeness" is pulling out all the stops...
Mayor David Miller issued a statement last night calling for calm, urging the Tamil demonstrators "to peacefully relocate their protest to a safer location."
C'mon Mr Mayor... can you say "pretty please"?

**********

UPDATE2: Iggy calls off the dogs... er, Tigers
Some Tamils said they decided to end their protest after Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff promised to take up the cause in the Commons.

Another Tamil protest near the Ontario legislature ended just before midnight, opening up University Avenue and College St.
*

And out of the east came...

  5/10/2009 02:30:00 pm      
...three wise men bearing... wait a minute...
An overnight shooting at a birthday party in Etobicoke has sent six people to hospital. Three are in critical condition.

Around 3 a.m., the party was in full swing at a townhouse complex on The West Mall, near Rathburn Rd. and Highway 427, when three men dressed in dark clothing arrived.

The men appeared to be looking for a specific person, but one of them started firing indiscriminately in an attempt to hit his victim, according to unconfirmed reports from the scene.

Neighbours reported hearing up to 10 gunshots.
**********

RELATED: Forget those nasty, evil, racist cops...

...all you need is "LOVE"...
"Leave Out ViolencE (LOVE) is the leading not for profit youth violence prevention organization in Canada.

LOVE helps youth who have lived with violence end violence in their lives, and then become community leaders of violence prevention."
Say... what about the thugs who are fomenting murder?

We gonna LOVE them, too?

Good grief.

*

There must be days...

  5/10/2009 02:00:00 pm      
...Allah just throws up his hands and says. "That's it, I'm outta here"...
Witnesses in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, say fighting between rival Islamist groups has killed at least 39 people and injured dozens more.

Somalia's current government has the backing of moderate Islamists but hardline groups have vowed to topple it and install an Islamic state.
Well, as long as they get rid of those evil... wait...

**********

RELATED: Meanwhile, more breaking news from...

...Egypt's infamous "Ministry of Irredeemable Imbeciles"...
A new fatwa published in Egypt determines that the source of all the existing pigs in the world is Jews, who were cursed by Allah. The new edict was issued by Sheikh Ali Osman from the Egyptian Waqf ministry.

Due to their Jewish roots, Sheikh Osman says, it is permissible to slaughter all the pigs.

The religious scholar was quoted as saying by a Jordanian newspaper that he personally believes the source of the pigs is Jews and thus the consumption of pork meat is banned in Islam.
**********

LAST WORD: Decoding Pakistan

*

CANADA

  5/10/2009 11:00:00 am      
Land of broken dreams...
The low point for Michael came just this week, when his coronation ceremony was interrupted by reporters asking questions about one of his associates.

Michael told us that the 'snakehead', or handler who had promised to protect him from this kind of thing had suddenly disappeared for mysterious 'surgery'.

Left alone to face a hostile press for the first time, Michael did the only thing he could - he ran away.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Well, we know for sure there will be no early election."

"It will take months for the liberals to wash the Ruby off the bottom of their shoes."
**********

RELATED: Hey, Ruby... blame it on racism

That usually works... here in Canada.

*

09 May 2009

Canada's socialised medical system...

  5/09/2009 10:45:00 am      
...is so good... people fly here from all over the world...
An alleged Toronto gang member won't be charged by police after flying to Canada in bloodsoaked bandages to seek medical treatment hours after being shot in a gunfight in Jamaica that left one man dead.

Toronto Police officers from 31 Division were called to interview gunshot victim Curlew Devon Moulton, 35, aka Skellion and Tall Man, at Humber River Regional Hospital on April 22, a day after he returned from Jamaica.

Moulton, a Canadian citizen who's well known to Toronto Police, is reportedly a member of the Boys in the Woods gang in North Etobicoke. Moulton was shot several times in his foot April 21 in a gunfight outside Kingston, Jamaica, police said.

Const. Tony Vella said police were called by hospital staff because the patient was a gunshot victim.

"We responded to the hospital regarding a person who was shot," Vella said yesterday. The person was interviewed by our officers."

No charges were laid since the man appeared to be a victim in the shooting, Vella said.
Welcome home Curlew.

*

How is this any different...

  5/09/2009 09:30:00 am      
...from pushing somebody under a train?
“Melchert-Dinkel believes he has advised and encouraged approximately 5 persons to commit suicide via the Internet...” Sgt. Haider's affidavit says.

He admitted using two e-mail addresses, falcongirl507@yahoo.com and li_dao05@yahoo.com, as well as the alias Cami, all “to advise, encourage and create suicide pacts, typically via hanging, with persons on Internet ... for the past four or five years,” it alleges.
*

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

  5/09/2009 12:01:00 am      
Every Friday night, CJOH, the Ottawa CTV affiliate... runs a segment called Gallery Talk which focuses on that weeks most interesting political stories.

Well... guess which item didn't make the cut tonight?

Tonight we had, in order... the Liberals proposed EI changes, an Afghanistan poll, the EU kerfuffle over the seal hunt and, believe it or not... how Stephen Harper feels about dijon mustard.

Not word one about "Nannygate".

Bravo CTV... you've outdone yourselves.

*

08 May 2009

It seems it's not enough to have...

  5/08/2009 07:30:00 pm      
...indentured servants... some folks just want it all...
-- OTTAWA -- Ruby Dhalla's mother requires a live-in caregiver but that doesn't appear to have stopped her from travelling the world with her Liberal MP daughter.

And according to the rules for hiring foreign live-in caregivers, she doesn't have to be house bound or incapacitated to qualify for the federal program. In fact, there are no medical criteria at all.
And, in true Liberal fashion, it looks like Mrs. Dhalla senior feels she's "entitled to her entitlements"...
Dhalla, 35, has declared her mother, Tavinder, as her "designated traveller," according to House of Commons records. A designated traveller is entitled to use some or all of an MP's 64 annual travel points, which allow them to fly free in Canada or abroad.
The good life... courtesy of the Canadian taxpayer... yet again.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
All of the allegations aside, why is a well paid MP and a doctor brother, with multiple chiropractic clinics, using a government program and being cheap cheap cheap to boot?
*

Let 'em scream...

  5/08/2009 04:30:00 pm      
Omar and all of his terror lovin' brood belong in deepest, darkest Waziristan... it's that simple...
-- OTTAWA -- The Harper government is appealing a court order in the Omar Khadr case.

Officials confirmed today that Ottawa has filed an appeal of a Federal Court ruling that it seek the return of Mr. Khadr from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba.
**********

RELATED: Looks like all the Khadr kiddies...

...were interested in the "family business."

*

Crime is dropping, huh?

  5/08/2009 01:00:00 pm      
That'll be cold comfort to the families of these two guys...
-- PICKERING -- Police have identified two men who were found dead in the trunk of a rental car abandoned in Pickering earlier this week.

The bodies of Harjinder Singh Sandhu, 28, of Brampton and Puneet Singh Chhina, 26, of Ottawa were found in the car on Tuesday.

Police add, however, they do not believe the killings were random and suspect the two men were the likely victims of gang hit.
*

He's a True Patriot Lover

  5/08/2009 11:00:00 am      
It’s tempting to respond, “Oh, bugger off, you ridiculous poseur,” and pass on to something more rewarding, like Paris Hilton’s Twitter feed.

But the sedating pretentiousness of Mr. Ignatieff’s prose style shouldn’t disguise the fact that this may be the most morally contemptible statement by a Canadian party leader since Confederation.
Mr. Ignatieff's brand of smarmy socialism puts me in mind of yet another fuzzy-bunny policy in effect at my young son's public school.

Actually, I probably shouldn't single out just one school, it is likely that in Dalton McSlippery's infamous socialist paradise, this directive has been implemented county, or even province wide.

Apparently... if a student is caught offering any sort of offense to a fellow traveller, he is then obligated to offer three "builder-uppers" to right the scales of justice.

Now, I'm not sure about anyone else... but, back in the day, this would have pretty much precluded any classroom learning time, for males anyway... as basically all of our spare time was spent pushing, teasing and jockeying for social status of one sort or another.

The policy has become quite a source of amusement to newly teenage Neophyte, who regularly informs me, if I so much as comment on his incredibly underdeveloped organisational skills (yeah, sloppy teen) or his penchant to couch-surf... that I now owe him 1,743 "builder-uppers".

For Iggy to suggest that we... Canadians at large... are somehow responsible for the actions of a hopeless drunk who killed his two young children... is simply beyond the pale.

Perhaps Iggy should stick to commenting on the effects of abandoning his own two children at an early age... a topic which seems to be curiously off-limits to members of the Canadian media.

Oops... I guess I owe Mr ignatieff a half-dozen "builder-uppers".

*

07 May 2009

Maybe Ruby Dhalla...

  5/07/2009 04:00:00 pm      
...could introduce a private member's bill... and bring Canada up to snuff like, I dunno... these guys...
Bahrain has announced it will scrap its sponsorship system for foreign workers - a first in a region often criticised by rights groups over the issue.

The current system, which is common to all Gulf countries, has long been criticised by human rights groups for placing workers at the mercy of their employers.

Employers usually take employees' passports when they enter the country and sometimes use possession of the travel documents to extort a large fee before the workers can leave the country.
Geez... that sounds so familiar.

**********

UPDATE: Looks like Iggy's shopping for...

...a brand new BFF...
-- OTTAWA and TORONTO -- Four days after she was pictured hoisting Leader Michael Ignatieff's hand in triumph at the Liberal coronation convention, Ruby Dhalla was in hiding from public politics for a second straight day.

And Mr. Ignatieff wasn't talking about her at all.
**********

LAST WORD: Liberals... it's simply how they roll
Ruby Dhalla told her she would get her proper documentation, Alvarez said, adding that Dhalla told her: "I work at the Parliament. I have a friend in immigration that can help me regarding your papers."
*

The thin edge of the infidel wedgie

  5/07/2009 12:30:00 pm      
It begins with a small, seemingly insignificant gesture...
-- RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- There are no such displays in ultra-strict Saudi Arabia, where until "Miss Beautiful Morals" was inaugurated last year, the only pageants were for goats, sheep, camels and other animals, aimed at encouraging livestock breeding.
**********

RELATED: The Empire strikes back...
The public has roughly one month to tell the federal broadcast regulator what it thinks about a proposal to allow Al-Jazeera English to broadcast in Canada.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is considering an application to grant the all-news channel space on the digital airwaves.

Part of the review process includes a call for comments, in which Canadians can submit their opinions to the CRTC through its website, by mail or by fax.

Comments must be received by June 8.
*

Cutting edge investigative journalism

  5/07/2009 10:45:00 am      
CBC gets all wild and crazy... cutting edge investigation highlights... "doesn't look good" quote...
Premier Dalton McGuinty admits it "doesn't look good" that his labour minister did not investigate complaints against Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla — so from now on he'll have to take a ministry official with him to public meetings.

In such a meeting two weeks ago, Ontario Labour Minister Peter Fonseca and Education Minister Kathleen Wynne heard complaints that Dhalla illegally hired and then mistreated two caregivers.

The two women claim Dhalla seized their passports and forced them to work unpaid overtime, shovel snow, shine shoes — even clean the family's chiropractic clinic.

Fonseca first heard the allegations at Wynne's constituency office during a meeting with about 30 nannies and caregivers.

In spite of the numerous concerns expressed, the labour minister did nothing to investigate.
Unfortunately, Dalton... this isn't about how anything looks. It's about an obvious breach of public trust involving three high profile Liberal politicians.

Remember all the fuss the CBC made over Maxime Bernier's shapely squeeze? Or Belinda supposedly being slandered in parliament.

Try to imagine the reportage here if, say... Peter Mackay had been similarly snared in a Nannygate type situation.

Why does Peter Fonseca deserve a pass here?

**********

RELATED: Stuff you won't hear on CBC...

...or at the Globe...
But what is truly laughable in this statement is that the Ethics Commissioner's job is not to investigate potential wrongdoing by MPs except where conflicts of interest might exist.

The Ethics Commissioner is not called in when an MP is caught speeding down the highway, or writing nasty emails to critics, or illegally hiring nannies.
*

Why it matters

  5/07/2009 09:45:00 am      
I wonder if Christie Blatchford gets all kinds of crazy hate-mail about "bombing the brownies"...
-- TORONTO -- For anyone who has ever wondered what on Earth gang violence has to do with them and why they should care, the trial now going on at the main Toronto courthouse offers a sharp lesson.
And... sigh... I suppose I do actually have to say it again...
**********

RELATED: Wait for it... three, two, one...
Toronto Police are probing yet another shooting in the city, this time at an apartment building in North York. There's still a lot of mystery about exactly what took place in a unit at 1210 York Mills Rd. E. near the DVP.
*

06 May 2009

And from the Middle East...

  5/06/2009 03:30:00 pm      
...yet another glowing report card...
-- VIENNA -- The United Nations' nuclear agency says its inspectors have found traces of weapons-grade uranium in Egypt.

A restricted report from the International Atomic Energy Agency says the particles were detected last year and in 2007, and remain under investigation.
(h/t reader rich)

Puh-tay-toe... puh-tah-toe

  5/06/2009 02:00:00 pm      
That's funny... all of a sudden I don't hear Bill Ayers and company screaming about prosecuting those evil American war criminals...
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a meeting with the Afghan president that America "deeply, deeply regretted" the reported deaths.
...wait a minute...

**********

RELATED: Screw child poverty, what we need...
...is more government-funded Viagra spam and pictures of the grandkids.
"The One"... he's there for you.

*

Hope, Change and...

  5/06/2009 01:00:00 pm      
...not so fast with that "free speech stuff", bubba...
Obama has nominated Cass Sunstein, who he knows from the University of Chicago, to be "regulatory czar."
And, what exactly would "Dear Leader" and his ol' college pal be "regulating"?

Well... that'd be your personal opinions and, well... "democracy"...
Apparently, Sunstein has proposed that web sites be required to link to opposing opinions. He has argued that the Internet is anti-democratic because users can choose to view only those opinions that they want to see, and has gone so far as to say:

"A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government," he wrote. "Democratic efforts to reduce the resulting problems ought not be rejected in freedom’s name."
(via sondrakistan)

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF NOTED HUMANITARIAN CANADIAN CYNICYes, yes, CC... we all know how kind & compassionate you are. Say, while we're at it... let's revisit your pet theory about those dastardly, evil Jews.

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

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

Remember Canadian Cynic's message to Wanda Watkins, whose son Lane was killed in Afghanistan?
"With all due respect, Wanda, fuck you and your grief. It's not the job of the rest of Canada to continue to let its soldiers die just so you can sleep better at night."
Oh, Mr CC... you're so kooky.

*

All in a days work...

  5/06/2009 12:15:00 pm      
...for Garth Turncoat...
Perhaps Garth Turner thought it would be great fun to have Michael Coren and the people at CTS think he would be appearing until it was too late.

I suppose you could call it a prank of sorts. Like ringing the doorbell and then running away. Still, if this was a lame sort of prank, I doubt the people at Key Porter Books think it was very funny.
Yessirree... good ol' reliable Garth.

*

Isn't it funny, how no one is worried...

  5/06/2009 11:00:00 am      
...about the bullet flu?
-- PICKERING -- Durham Regional Police homicide detectives are searching for suspects after two bullet-riddled bodies were discovered in the trunk of a car in Pickering.

Patrol officers found the corpses of two adult men stuffed into the trunk of a late-model Nissan in the woodland area of Taunton Rd. and Rosebank Rd., near Whitevale Park, around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The car is a rented vehicle from Toronto, he said. Police have not released the identities of the victims.

Durham police are reportedly looking into a separate homicide after a woman was murdered in downtown Oshawa.
**********

RELATED: Gang problem... what gang problem?
A subset of a Toronto street gang would drive to "enemy" territory and shoot at anyone who appeared to be a rival as part of a "ride" program of revenge, testified the star prosecution witness at the trial of three men alleged to be its key members.

"They would look for anybody who looked like a gangbanger. If you looked a certain way you would be targeted."
*

Paging David Swann

  5/06/2009 08:00:00 am      
Here's a thought... how about we leave that one up to the doctors and the family?But, no... it seems David Swann thinks he should be driving this particular clown car...
The Opposition Liberals are accusing the Stelmach government of not revealing enough information about the province's most severe H1N1 flu CASE.
More political fun & games from the "natural governing party".

*

05 May 2009

No, sorry... this time there's no...

  5/05/2009 06:00:00 pm      
...singing & dancing... but Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla is definitely back in the media limelight...
The allegations surfaced two weeks ago at a public meeting where nannies told two Ontario cabinet ministers that placement agencies and employers are using the federal Live-In Caregiver Program to keep them enslaved.
And she seems to have been hoist by her own party's petard...
Prompted by Wynne to speak their minds, nanny Gordo stood up and accused Dhalla, MP for Brampton-Springdale, of holding her passport and refusing to pay her when she quit.
Steve Janke has more.

**********

UPDATE: Hey Ruby, there's always Bollywood...
“This morning I called the leader to personally tender my resignation as Multicultural and Youth Critic in order to focus my attention on clearing my name,” the statement said.

“I will work with the appropriate officials to ensure the facts of the matter are clarified and corrected regarding my family’s experience with live-in caregivers and will work vigorously to defend my reputation.”
*

NDP mounts "SPECIAL" voter drive

  5/05/2009 01:15:00 pm      
Well... that sure explains a few things...
Among the names on the list is Clayton Matchee, the former Canadian soldier who last fall saw charges of torture and murder of a Somali youth in 1993 dropped by the military because he was unfit to stand trial due to brain damage.

It was unclear whether Matchee had agreed to join the party.
(via sda)

"The immutable Law of..."

  5/05/2009 12:00:00 pm      
"...Diminishing Returns..."
One coffee drinker after another sat next to the bullet-damaged window, never once raising an eyebrow.

It was like this horror scene was not there at all. How could they miss it? Has this city become desensitized to gangland murder, shootings and constant violence?
**********

UPDATE: Oops, there goes another...
One person is in custody after a fatal stabbing in the city's west end early this morning. Area residents talking about the stabbing out front of a neighbourhood sports bar said both the victim, a Brazil native, and suspect lived in the rooming house.

The otherwise quiet neighbourhood has attracted some "shady" characters, said local photographer George Pimentel, who recently had some construction equipment stolen from his place. "When I got robbed, everyone pointed to that place (where the man was stabbed)," he said.

Residents discussing the stabbing seemed convinced that it stemmed from a drug dispute, leaving few shocked by the homicide.
*

Who says Capitalism is dead?

  5/05/2009 11:00:00 am      
"Well the first thing you know ol Kate's a millionaire...
Kinfolk said, 'Kate move away from there'...
Said, 'Sussex Drive is the place you oughta be'...
So she loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly...

Hills, that is. Foreign fools, movie stars."
And speaking of killing capitalism...
In a vote on an opposition motion in the House of Commons in March, the Liberals, Bloc and NDP also supported getting rid of the two-week waiting period, allowing the self-employed to participate in the EI plan and expanding payments from 55% of your best work weeks to 60%.

What this would do in essence is give some Canadians 52 weeks of EI payments for 9 weeks of work. Someone who worked during July and August could get EI payments until the end of the next summer.
(via sda)

04 May 2009

Okay, everybody just settle down...

  5/04/2009 10:45:00 am      
...Dalton McSlippery's not gonna "raise your taxes"... he's gonna "harmonize" them...
In addition to housing, the blended 13 per cent tax will boost the price of hundreds of items, such as gasoline, heating fuel, fast food, newspapers, magazines, taxi fares and dry cleaning, among other things, that are now only subject to 5 per cent GST.

Even though Liberal MPPs and cabinet ministers privately share Runciman's concern about the change, the premier insists it is full-steam ahead with the reform.
Hmmm... maybe if Dalton hadn't pissed away a billion taxpayer dollars to his buddies in the construction industry...

**********

RELATED: In othe "pants on fire" news...
"Ontario has consistently said it would not agree to harmonizing with the GST if that would increase the tax burden on Ontario taxpayers, particularly with respect to basic essentials such as home heating and children's clothing."
~ Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, February 2008
*

Who ya gonna believe...

  5/04/2009 08:00:00 am      
...interwebs inventor Al Gore... or some dumbass group of international eggheads?
Ice in the Arctic is often twice as thick as expected, report surprised scientists who returned last week from a major scientific expedition.

The scientists - a 20-member contingent from Canada, the U.S., Germany, and Italy - spent one month exploring the North Pole as well as never-before measured regions of the Arctic.
**********

RELATED: C'mon baby, light my fire

*

03 May 2009

Dear Globe & Mail...

  5/03/2009 08:30:00 pm      
I'm sorry guys... unlike this weekend's unashamed and undemocratic Liberal suck-up, we're gonna have to insist on having a vote before Iggy actually gets a shot at driving the bus...
-- VANCOUVER -- Calling it a crisis situation, Michael Ignatieff says he will introduce reforms to employment insurance that the Prime Minister can choose to accept or face the consequences.
Now, unless Iggy has some magical powers that will resurrect and reprogram the disastrous "Coalition of the Swilling"... he's just talkin' out of his ass here.

But don't tell that to the Globe & Mail... they've got newspapers to sell.

*

Remember when you were a kid...

  5/03/2009 03:30:00 pm      
...and people used to be "snatched off the street and tortured?"

Yeah... me neither...
Retribution for cooperating with police led to a young man being kidnapped, confined and tortured for hours before he escaped early yesterday morning, investigators say.

The victim, in his early 20s, was involved in a robbery a few years ago, but decided to cooperate with police by giving statements against his co-accused, Toronto Police Det. Alex Broadfoot said this morning.

"There's a very good possibility he could have ended up dead," he said. Cops are looking for Anheim "African" Bol and Luis "Sluggs" Sampedro, both 19.
[*]

RELATED: And yet again...
Police are hunting for a gunman after a west end home was left riddled with bullets yesterday.

The Weston Rd. and Eglinton Ave. area home was hit by several bullets just before 5:30 p.m., a 46-year-old resident reported to police.
**********

LAST WORD: If they simply killed each other...

...instead of innocent bystanders, I could live with this...
A trial is finally underway for three individuals alleged to be members of the Galloway Boys, one of Toronto's most feared street gangs, accused of shooting two men who were totally unconnected to the criminal underground.

Crown prosecutor said Monday in its opening remarks that Tyshan Riley, Philip Atkins and Jason Wisdom were part of a "ride squad."

Neither Brendan Charlton, who died, nor his passenger Leonard Bell had any ties whatsover to the gang activity plaguing their neighbourhood at the time, police said.
Of course, like any self-respecting thug, they've all got street names...
Riley had a street name of "Greezy," said Ellis. Atkins was known as "Stacks" or "Brubbs," while Wisdom had the nickname "CD" — his older brother was known as "LP."
*

"Speak, Iggy... speak!"

  5/03/2009 01:45:00 pm      
Ah yes... time to really get this clown car on the road...
"I'm going to become the prime minister of this country, as sure as I'm sitting here."

"Am I an imperialist? Never, never. I'm a Canadian!

"I could have spent my life in the United States, I didn't. I came back here because this is my home."
Well... not exactly.

*

Screw the Science...

  5/03/2009 12:30:00 pm      
...you never wanna let a good crisis go to waste...
Pig-farming and consumption is limited to Egypt's Christian minority, estimated at 10% of the population.

"The authorities took advantage of the situation to resolve the question of disorderly pig rearing in Egypt," spokesman Abdelrahman Shahine told AFP.
*

02 May 2009

The new & improved Green Party...

  5/02/2009 06:45:00 pm      
...it's not just about Hezbollah anymore...
Many in the Green Party might be surprised to discover that the Green Party of Canada now supports the legalization of prostitution, through the adoption of Resolution G08-p014 by internet voting last summer, and recently ratified at the February policy convention.
[*]

When the cure is worse...

  5/02/2009 02:45:00 pm      
...than the illness...
-- MONTREAL -- The great swine-flu scare of 1976 is remembered in the United States as a costly public-health fiasco during which more people died from vaccinations than the dreaded influenza.

In Canada, it's hardly remembered at all, though it remains vivid to Marc Lalonde, who as federal health minister in 1976 ordered some 10 million doses of vaccine.
[*]

RELATED: You can smell the leadership
"Out of an abundance of caution, I have also asked Congress for $1.5 billion, if it is needed, to purchase additional antivirals, emergency equipment, and the development of a vaccine that can prevent this virus as we prepare for the next flu season, in the fall," he explained.
*

Mayor's office, yet again...

  5/02/2009 12:00:00 pm      
...strangely silent on which gun club they belonged to...
A 17-year-old boy has died following a shooting in the west end overnight.

Toronto police found the teen lying on Dundas Street just west of Scarlett Road after responding to a call about gunshots before 11 p.m. on Friday.

Police are looking for at least two suspects. The murder is Toronto's 16th homicide of the year.
**********

UPDATE: Latest shooting victim id'd
A young man waiting for a bus home last night is Toronto's latest homicide victim -- and the third to be gunned down in the city's west end in less than two weeks.

Jarvis St. Remy, 18, was waiting for a bus after a night of watching TV at a best friend's apartment on Dundas St. W., west of Scarlett Rd.
*

Hope, Change and...

  5/02/2009 08:00:00 am      
...will that be cash or Chargex?
-- TORONTO -- A parts shortage resulting from Chrysler's restructuring under U.S. bankruptcy protection has forced the company's Canadian branch to shutter its assembly operations indefinitely, putting about 8,700 people out of work.

"Due to the restructuring announcement made yesterday by our parent company, Chrysler LLC, a number of suppliers have stopped shipment of parts to our manufacturing facilities," Chrysler Canada spokeswoman Mary Gauthier wrote in an email.

"This has halted operations in our Canadian assembly plants."
So... billions in taxpayer dollars... and no end in sight.

*

All hail the Puffin King

  5/02/2009 01:00:00 am      
Yeah, sure he does... for his successor...
-- VANCOUVER -- "Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is urging Liberal members to change the way the party picks its leaders by adopting a one-member, one-vote selection process."
Funny... even the unapologetic socialists at the "Red Star" aren't buying this one...
So, to sum up... a guy with zero political experience who hasn't lived in the country for three decades... is recruited by party bagmen who have to cross international borders to find someone untainted by recent Liberal hijinks.

Said recruit & assorted henchmen then mount a backstage coup to ditch Professor Jabbersmack... who is confusing/alienating the party base... and anyone else he happens to trip over in his daily meander through the nation's capital.

After messily deposing said current leader and busundering his ol' college roomie... our hero assumes, without any opposition whatsoever... the dampish, lonely throne.

The newly crowned Puffin King, after washing the blood off his hands... then calls for, whaddayacallit... "democracy"... for the next guy to come down the pike.

Good grief.

**********

RELATED: Same old, same old...
-- VANCOUVER -- It was vintage Chrétien on Friday night. Unfortunately, it was also vintage Dion.

Stéphane Dion, the outgoing leader, who was being feted for his tenure, also had Liberals on their feet - but it was as they were walking out on his speech. It was that bad.
**********

LAST WORD: Coyne nails it...
"It’s like 1968, only without the candidates, issues, excitement or leader."
*

01 May 2009

Paging Wendy Kukier

  5/01/2009 02:30:00 pm      
If we could just melt down all the nasty guns in the world... then nobody would ever have to die again.
Wait a minute...

**********

RELATED: Homegrown terrorists still trying...

...to call the shots...
The Mohawks of Akwesasne have planned a rally for this morning at the Kawehnoke border crossing on Cornwall Island, south of Cornwall, Ont., to protest the June arming of Canada Customs officers.

The Mohawk council of Akwesasne said the event will also mark the 110th anniversary of the death of Saiowisakeron, also known as Jake Ice, a Mohawk activist who was shot and killed by Dominion Police in 1899.
What say we run this one past the widow and children of Officer Marcel Lemay?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"As I can claim a tenuous descendancy from Abel, I demand justice, dammit, from Cain's descendants."
*
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)