Has anybody mentioned this to Dalton?

'Cos he's never yet met a tax he's afraid of...

Politicians in Romania have dropped plans to tax fortune tellers and witches amid fears they will be cursed.

Officials drafted a law demanding the tax as well as measures to ensure that psychics were held liable for faulty predictions. But the plans were rejected by Romania's senate.

Alin Popoviciu, of the ruling Democratic Liberal Party, who proposed the change, said politicians were frightened of being cursed.

**********

MRS NEO WONDERS: Hang on a second...

"Do the witches have to self-identify... or do you throw them in a river... and see if they float?"

**********

RELATED: Hey, Eco-boy... be careful...

...what you wish for...

Thanks in part to the windfarm subsidies, Danes pay some of Europe's highest energy tariffs – on average, more than twice those in Britain. Under public pressure, Denmark's ruling Left Party is curbing the handouts to the wind industry.

In other "broad strata" news

"We know who's behind it," said Maj. Gen. Timur Pradopo, the police chief in Jakarta, without elaborating. "But I don't believe this is an inter-religious conflict."

Yup... unlike the worldwide kerfuffle over that dumbass Florida preacher... who, incidentally... stabbed exactly zero people... this one is a mystery.

C'mon Jack... be more like Iggy

Just force all those back-bench chimps to vote YOUR conscience...

A dozen NDP MPs voted in favour of scrapping the registry when Hoeppner's bill came up for second reading last November.

Eight Liberal MPs also voted with the Tories at second reading, but Ignatieff is promising that his caucus will vote against the bill this time.

That's a funny sort of democracy... where you get to ignore the wishes of your constituents.

**********

RELATED: And Craig Oliver wept...

"Do you think the long-gun registry should be abolished?"

@7:45am

Yup... live and don't learn, huh?

**********

LAST WORD: Register psychopaths, not rifles

You figure 2 billion dollars could have done something to fix Canada's broken justice system?

Too late.

-- WINNIPEG -- A 19-year-old man was out on probation and already being sought by police for a domestic assault when he allegedly doused a Winnipeg man with a flammable liquid and set him on fire in a horrific incident late Friday.

“His dad said he’s unrecognizable. He’s got no face,” said Joyce Spilchuk, Dumas’ aunt. “He’s alert but he can’t talk, he’s got no tongue. His tongue burned off,” his sister, Charlene Dumas, said.

Genaille is charged with aggravated assault, robbery with violence and two counts of breach of probation in connection with Friday’s incident, and assault causing bodily harm and two probation breaches for the domestic assault.

Breach of probation?!?!

Only in Canuckistan.

Just a vulgar rag for the commoners, huh?

Apparently, uber-Liberal Ian Davey isn't afraid to crap all over the peasants...

Michael Ignatieff's former chief of staff went on television Sunday and took a shot at Toronto Sun readers... "It's a newspaper for people who can't read and I think that probably applies to the whole chain."

Yeah... every time I see your fearless leader I get that very same "let them eat cake" vibe.

So Ian, tell us... how are things going out in the land of Gray Poupon, anyway?

"It was right for me to support the Iraq war when I was an academic, because academics live in outer space on Planet Zinfandel, and play with ideas all day."

"But now, as a politician in a country that opposed the war, I'll admit I screwed up, because politicians must deign to harness the wild mares of whimsy to the ox-cart of cold, calculated reality."

**********

RELATED: Yes Ian, if only Sun Media...

...could be as fair and balanced as the CBC.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Oh nonny, you are "special"

The compassionate, intellectual left replies...

"Scratch a Conservative and find an anti-Semite. Not to mention the fact that you're shitting on Canadian mustard seed growers."

The always cryptic but never uncertain Nonny also supplies circulation numbers for the Toronto Sun... which begs the question... "How often do you get a chance to call 180,000 people 'illiterate hillbillies' in one fell swoop?"

And that's only one paper in the Sun Media chain.

May the poli-sci gawds bless you, Ian Davey.

Do as I say... not as I do

Speaking of propaganda... why the Toronto "Red" Star is the rehab clinic of choice for the hypocritical, lunatic left...

Eccentric media barons, dead or alive, can have whatever wacky ideas they want, the point here is that The Star has, and always has had its own agenda.

Joseph Atkinson took over The Toronto Star with the support of wealthy backers so they could turn it into the voice of the Liberal Party.

Your signature cultural delicacy is...

...french fries slathered in gravy & cheese curd... don't be too surprised your collective IQ starts to slide...

A shade under 40 per cent of boys in Quebec drop out of high school in their teens, a rate that is among the highest in the Western world, according to statistics compiled by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

There are obvious consequences on the province's unemployment rate (more than 20 per cent of dropouts are jobless) and literacy (it's estimated as many as a million Quebeckers are functionally illiterate).

“Boys just don't really seem to fit all that well in our system," said Anne Lessard, a University of Sherbrooke education professor who studies dropouts.

Stand by for breaking news...

...on gravity holding shit down...

"People living in urban neighbourhoods are more likely to develop psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia and paranoid disorder than those in rural areas, according to a new report in the Archives of General Psychiatry."

Whaddaya know... an Islamic nation that...

...doesn't want to turn the clock back to the 7th century...

-- ISTANBUL -- A clear majority of Turks will vote “yes” in a referendum on Sunday on constitutional reforms proposed by the government, pollsters said on Saturday in a boost for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan says the reforms will bring the constitution, drafted after a 1980 military coup, closer in line with those of the European Union, which Turkey seeks to join.

Cross your fingers.

Thank you... oh holy long gun registry

Relax, Toronto... homicide detectives are busily compiling lists of... farmers, duck hunters & skeet shooters... who live in the immediate area...

Toronto police are probing the city's latest homicide after a shooting left one man dead in Scarborough Friday night.

Police received a call about shots fired at 30 Greenbrae Circle, in the Bellamy Road and Lawrence Avenue area, shortly after 9 p.m.

Wait a minute... looks like Farmer Bob is off the hook... again.
**********

UPDATE: Latest victim identified

Police, called to 30 Greenbrae Circuit in Scarborough after receiving numerous 911 calls at around 9:30 p.m. Friday, arrived at the back of the building to find the victim, 27-year-old Jahmeel Spence lying on the ground.

This is not the first time the Spence family has faced such tragedy.

The 1996 killing of Ishmael Spence, the victim’s younger brother, occurred when he was stabbed in the chest and face at Kennedy subway station in what police at the time called an unprovoked attack.

**********

WEEKEND UPDATE: More O/T for Homicide Squad

A man in his 20s was shot in the head and body outside a west-end high school late Sunday afternoon.

The shooting occurred around 4:45 p.m. in front of Parkdale Collegiate Institute.

Bright lights, big city...

..."Who's your daddy now?"

-- (Reuters) -- A Paris man who registered 55 children by 55 different mothers faces up to 10 years in jail and fines for suspected paternity fraud and for helping to obtain residency under false pretences, police said on Friday.

Police suspect the man was involved in a social benefits scam which could have been costing the state over 1 million euros ($1.27 million) annually in claims by the mothers.

If you build it, they will, er... come.

I remember...

...like it was yesterday...

And via SDA... build the Ground Zero Mosque... or face the consequences...

Rauf indicated that the movement of the GZM away from Ground Zero must be rejected: Even if done out of a sense of propriety and sensitivity, he said, it would be perceived by “extremists” as an attack on Islam and therefore result in a spate of violence worse than the rioting over the Danish cartoons, threatening “our national security."

Yeah... thanks for the warning.

Because it's up to the government...

...to smooth over absolutely every last inequity in this gawd-forsaken world...

A blind Toronto woman will be in court later this month after years of arguing that federal government websites shortchange the visually impaired.

Hey, this is Canada... we're not afraid to ask the really big questions...

"Why shouldn't York University accommodate Ashif Jaffer?"

That's the solution... we'll use Dipper Math

You mean apart from the 50% compliance rate... and the 2 billion taxpayer dollars we already flushed down the crapper... right?

-- OTTAWA -- “There are problems with the long-gun registry which could easily be fixed to address the concerns of hunters, farmers and First Nations communities,” he said.

What imaginary hunters, farmers and aboriginals has ol' Claude been talkin' to?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Why exactly is it, folks...

...the compassionate, intellectual left imagine the worst insult in the world is to call you a fag?

"Neo's having a good chat with Rick. Rick and Neo are friends."

"Hey Rick? You wanna smoke Neo's hog?"

A class act all the way.

Canada... asylum to the world

Or, Kelly... and I'm just spitballin' here...we could try weeding out some of the crazy people... before they get here and start decapitating complete strangers...
Dear CBC... what happened to your ongoing meme... about all the homegrown mentally-ill people who are falling through the cracks?

Could we maybe catch up a bit before we start the international conveyor belt rolling again?

**********

RELATED: Just hang on a sec...

...gimme that freakin' number again...

Mental illness causes more lost work days in Canada than any other condition, costing the economy $51 billion a year in lost productivity, according to a study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Oh, Canada.

So... while Reverend Billy-Bob fiddles...

...what actual socio-political bombshells are getting pushed off the front page...

Iranian spiritual leader criticizes peace talks between Israel and PA while leading Eid al-Fitr prayers; says Palestinian resistance will pay off and they will dismantle "the phony and fabricated Israeli regime."

Reconsidering the Reconsideration

In other "blood from a stone" news...

It appears Jones was having internal problems because of his stance. His internet service provider has apparently revoked service to him. Jones said this is a violation of his freedom of speech and religion.

It also looks like the battle against Islam is a costly proposition... the Reverend's casualties are currently running about 30 percent.

Moreover, about 15 members of his 50-strong congregation have decided to leave as a result of the controversy.

Stand by to see how we can further trivialise the whole Muslim-Christian issue over the next 48 hours.

**********

UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long

The Globe & Mail decides to get all alliterative on his ass...

After putting the entire planet’s political-military-media complex on orange alert, a publicity-seeking Florida pastor on the outer fringes of Christian thought has chosen to defuse the propagandist time-bomb he himself set.

Or has he?

C'mon guys... the "Pyromaniacal Pastor?"

Seriously?

Did you actually run out of "news" again today?

Let's check in with the media-savants in the nation's capitol...

It is worth noting that pastor Terry Jones and his 30-person church represents a thoroughly marginal influence on the American religious scene.

Except, of course... that this "marginal" matter apparently required the personal intercession of not only the FBI... but St Barack of Washington, DC.

Which also... surprise, surprise... made big blaring headlines.

And the inevitable end result?
Perhaps our professional journalist "betters" need to step back and reconsider who is actually fanning the flames here.

*********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"In the end, that hick didn't even need to burn a Koran. Good job MSM, you just helped to give him everything he wanted and more."

Hope, Change and Crawford, Texas

As the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaches, much of President Obama's counterterrorism policies and his understanding of executive power closely hew to the last administration, which he criticized as a candidate for the White House.

On issues ranging from the government's detention authority to a program to kill al Qaeda terrorist suspects, even if they are American citizens, Mr. Obama has consolidated much of the power President George W. Bush asserted after Sept. 11 in the waging of the U.S. war against terror.

Rev Billy-Bob & 50 wacky followers...

...scam international media for 50 million dollars worth of free publicity...

Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., called off plans to burn copies of the Quran on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, he said Thursday.

C'mon, guys... seriously.

Was I the only one who could hear the banjo music?

And all those rumours about a quid pro quo deal to relocate the Ground Zero Mosque?

That's bullshit too.

**********

RELATED: Calling all (cough, cough) Canadians

Hey... we've already got Al-Jazeera... who could ask for anything more?

Our petition to stop "Fox News North" from getting special access to our cable fees has exploded to over 75,000 signatures in less than a week!

(h/t reader ed)

Don't look at me...

...I didn't vote for him...

Faced with a $19.3-billion deficit of his own making, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has now decided that everyone in the province has to pitch in to pay it back.

Ontario voters have seen this movie before. In 1990, they elected the province’s first (and only) NDP government, under premier Bob Rae. Faced with a recession, Mr. Rae attempted to spend the province back to prosperity, throwing money at welfare, public sector wages and government-sponsored job creation.

And we all remember how well that worked out for us.

Mr. McGuinty has almost doubled government program spending, from $64.3-billion in 2003-04 to $115.9-billion in 2010-11. This year’s provincial budget projects eight more years of deficits, which would add a total of $116.6-billion to the public debt by 2018.

Stop the madness, Ontario... friends don't let friends vote Liberal.

Canada pulls back from the brink

Common Sense 1 -- Suckass Political Correctness 0...

Canadian Blood Services had sued Kyle Freeman, a gay man who lied when giving blood, and the court has now found him liable for $10,000 for negligent misrepresentation.

Mr. Freeman, who had syphilis when he donated blood, had argued he lied because the policy wasn't scientifically justified and violated his rights.

Yeah... the right to infect people with syphilis.

We needed a court to render a decision here?

Seriously?

'Cos I'm thinking King Solomon's pet monkey could have sussed this one out.

**********

RELATED: Running the numbers

"HIV transmission disproportionately affects certain risk groups and seems to be out of control in the MSM population," he said, using an acronym for men who have sex with men.

Hang on a sec...

...are we talking about Michael Ignatieff's dream demographic here? --

I am hardly the first pundit to bemoan the lack of Western feminists who’ve shown any interest in this gendered genocide.

Most are too busy denouncing the phallocentricity of free trade and unregistered guns to mourn the killing of 20,000 women every year for the crime of falling in love, having boyfriends, bearing children — which is to say, being human.

That 20,000 figure, by the way, exceeds the total number of Palestinians killed in both Intifadas and the 2008 Gaza conflict combined — a useful factoid to keep in your holster the next time Judy Rebick or Diana Ralph garbs their anti-Israeli bigotry in feminist pink.

Meanwhile... in other "pass the Gray Poupon" news...

**********

RELATED: Ask a professional "Spin Assassin"

"We don' need no steenkin' facts!!!"

From the comments:

"How many unemployed Americans does it take to screw in a CFL?"

It's all relative... isn't it?

I mean, c'mon... your husband's diddling Whitehouse interns behind your back... with a cigar... isn't it a really tortured, circuitous journey to "disrespectful & disgraceful?"

-- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called a Florida church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks a "disrespectful, disgraceful act."

Is it just me... or is there actually more media outrage over Reverend Billy-Bob and his little p.r stunt... than this Saturday's anniversary of 9/11?

**********

RELATED: Hang on, what's that smell?

-- (CNN) -- Military personnel threw away, and ultimately burned, confiscated Bibles that were printed in the two most common Afghan languages amid concern they would be used to try to convert Afghans, a Defense Department spokesman said Tuesday.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: More Socratic wisdom...

...from the compassionate, intellectual left...

"You, are a fucking idiot sir. A complete, fucking idiot. There. SOmething for you to jack off with and repost on your front page. You, are a goof, your asinine opinion, is right there, for any, and all to see, what a disgraceful fool, you are.

Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 7:44 PM, September 08, 2010

Who's actually fanning the flames here?

"Obscure"... "little known?" --

Well, he was... until the mainstream media whores turned him into worldwide front page news...

-- MIAMI -- An obscure U.S. Christian pastor whose plan to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11 has sparked an international outcry said on Wednesday he will still go ahead with the event despite U.S. official warnings it will endanger American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pastor Terry Jones, leader of a tiny, little-known Protestant church in Gainesville, Florida, which openly campaigns against what it calls "radical Islam," is facing a barrage of calls from U.S. government, military and religious leaders, and from abroad, to cancel his plans to publicly burn Islam's holy book.

"We are still determined to do it, yes," Jones told the CBS "Early Morning" show.

Let's face it folks... you couldn't go out and buy publicity like this.

Without all this media attention... this guy would still just be rantin' ol' Rev Terry. The media created this dragon... with the express purpose of slaying him on national television.

Even Time magazine, which acknowledges this guy is a nobody... insists on it's micro-gram of flesh...

"Jones' shrinking congregation, which has fewer than 50 members..."

Looks like things may have backfired a little.

Professional journalists... your intellectual & ethical betters.

**********

RELATED: My beads are holier...

...than your beads...

The Koran, is essentially a crystallization of the tribal practices and myths of militarily successful 7th-century Bedouin Arab tribes.

Maybe they're on to something here. How 'bout we wind things back to those good ol' Anglo-Saxon days.

Perhaps King Alfred had it right. How will we know if we don't try it?

**********

LAST WORD: That's some Religion of Peace

-- KABUL, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of angry Afghans burned a U.S. flag and chanted "Death to the Christians" on Thursday to protest plans by a small American church to torch copies of the Muslim holy book on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Bright lights, big city...

...never a gun registry around when you need one...

The scene of a North York shooting Tuesday night where a man was shot three times was washed down and cleaned up before Toronto Police investigators discovered where it happened.

Hospital staff at Humber River Regional on Finch Ave. called investigators when a 31-year-old man shot in the arm, buttocks and leg hobbled into the emergency ward around 9 p.m. Police said the man refused to help them or provide any details of where he was shot or who pulled the trigger.

Investigators were able to later trace the scene down to a townhouse complex of Driftwood Ave. But when they arrived, they discovered the scene was washed down by someone, severely contaminating the evidence and leaving little for forensic experts, police said.

Just another day in the hood, I guess.

No word as yet from Mayor Millers office... on which gun club the shooter belonged to.

**********

FROM THE TORONTO SUN COMMENTS:

Where I come from, we call that a "hunting accident."

"You'd shoot an unarmed man in the back?"
"It's the safest way."
Star Trek, Deep Space Nine

James F. Blake, September 8th 2010, 1:00pm

**********

RELATED: There oughta be a law

A twice-deported Jamaican drug dealer was slammed Wednesday with a seven-year prison sentence after Toronto police caught him with a .357 Magnum during a routine traffic stop.

Justice Anne Molloy said Selbourne Phills bumped two police cars in attempting to flee after he was stopped in the Kipling Ave. - The Queensway area in October 2007. Phills tried to reach for his loaded handgun during a violent struggle to resist arrest with officers.

**********

LAST WORD: Who cares about that reading shit...

...if you got skillz... like, say... marksmanship...

A new study projects that the number of Canadians with low literacy skills will rise 25 per cent over the 30-year period from 2001 to 2031.

The report released today by the Canadian Council on Learning predicts that more than 15 million adults in Canada will have low literacy skills.

Hmmm... are they sure about that? It's just not something I've encountered in my neighbourhood.

Just sit back and relax Canada...

...the NDP is prepared to do all your thinking for you...

Ah, argue some critics, the problem is that merely making "Fox News North" available to Canadians will expose them to propaganda that could "poison" their minds.

"God help us if the neocons get their own network to bombard Canadians with their outdated ideology," NDP MP Pat Martin fumed earlier this summer. "Can you imagine Ezra Levant ranting at you around the clock?"

Well, Ezra’s ranting can often be quite illuminating, actually. I don’t always agree with him, but he makes you think. What’s wrong with that?

More to the point, however, it’s amazing how little credit Martin and similar critics are prepared to give Canadians to be able to think for themselves, to weigh arguments and decide — on their own — what makes sense.

(h/t reader ed)

Yeah... screw health care & public safety...

...safer prisons... that's the number one item on my list.

Need more information on convicts rights?

Ask a Liberal.

I've been waiting for the "Iggy Gambit"

Sophisticated, metrosexual Globe & Mail takes aim... at Luddite, rural, dumb as dogshit demographic...
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: More nonsensical troll tears...

...as the compassionate, intellectual left responds...

**********

RELATED: Paging Bill Blair

-- EDMONTON -- The long-gun registry is an "ill-conceived" waste of cash, says a former high-ranking Mountie, who'd like nothing more than to see it killed.

Keith Thompson, a retired RCMP superintendent who once worked as the emergency response team commander for southern Alberta, joins the growing number of cops and former cops who want to abolish the registry. He says the money could be better spent putting more officers on the street.

"In my various roles, I attended too many scenes of hostage-taking, murder/suicides, barricaded persons, etc., and know of no lives that could have been saved with such a fully functioning registry," he wrote in a recent open letter to Members of Parliament.

Remember when you were a kid...

...and every time somebody left something somewhere... you had to roll out the bomb squad?

-- Yeah, me neither. --

Man... you go out there...

... and organise the community... and this is the thanks you get?

-- Chicago -- Illinois residents polled by the Chicago Tribune indicate that while 62 percent voted for him in 2008, and 59 percent approved of the job he was doing a year ago, his approval rating here has now fallen to 51 percent.

Reporting from the centre of the universe

Well, that's embarrassing... once again the big city reporters miss out on a few small details.

Not to worry though... their country bumpkin maritime cousins fill in the blanks...

Halifax Regional Police briefly took two young males into custody and are continuing to investigate six swarming-style attacks over the long weekend.

Two of the most recent incidents took place within minutes of one another Monday in the same vicinity near North and Robie streets.

The group is described as black male and females in their early to late teens.

Funny how that works, huh?

**********

RELATED: Wheezy, Sneezy, Dopey...

...hey, maybe somebody has a hard-on... for Walt Disney...

Homicide cops hunting the killer of “Wheezy” Malcolm are meeting with officers investigating a string of other shootings to determine if there’s a link between them.

Here's a thought... you find out your kid has a "street name"... you might wanna get him some kevlar.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

The compassionate, intellectual left replies...

Liberal Party of Canada rolls out the...

...well... you know...
Looks like the S.S. Socialist Coalition just got holed below the waterline.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

The rural MP in my riding decided to change his mind. Like one person said in the comments section over there, "Congratulations Glenn; you just became a one term MP".

Journalism 101... it's not just a career...

...it's a vision quest...

“My intention is to be a catalyst for change in Parliament,” she said. “You’re not supposed to be heckling and jeering people in the House. The atmosphere has to change to one of co-operation.”

Uh, wait a minute Hemingway... you can't get there from here...

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

What do Canadians actually know about the Peace Moonbeam Party?

You might be surprised.

**********

RELATED: Another infamous Lizzie moment...

"It was embarrassing being a Canadian."

**********

LAST WORD: Meanwhile, in other big city...

..."We'll decide what's news" news...

Are they scared of being sued? Scared of something else? Do they not think there is a problem here? Or do some of them just agree Israel is to blame?

You don't know... what you don't know

“Testing has such bad connotation,” Dr. Roediger said. “Maybe we need to call it something else, but this is one of the most powerful learning tools we have.”

A nation of crybabies

French unions launched a major strike Tuesday over President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

Unions say the government is attacking one of France's most cherished social protections — though a retirement age of 62 would still be among the lowest in Europe.

Neighbouring Germany, for example, has decided to bump up the retirement age from 65 to 67.

Live and don't learn

Israel is preparing for what is being described in the IDF as the “mother of all flotillas,” which could include up to 20 different ships planning to set sail for the Gaza Strip in the coming months.

**********

RELATED: In other "multi-culti" news...

Funny how "cultural sensitivity" always seems to be a one way street.

Pre-election Pop Quiz

What Canadian political party has the political will to deal with this increasingly worrisome issue?

Fees to reach Canada range from US$20,000 to $60,000, with down payments of about 10 per cent, and estimated annual profits of US$10-billion, according to the RCMP.

Smugglers force migrants to pay off debts incurred as a result of their transportation, and benefit from the relatively low risk of detection, prosecution, and arrest – especially compared with other forms of organized crime.

Remember... friends don't let friends vote Liberal.

Well folks, look on the bright side

At least he's not in the "casual, half-assed supervision program"...

Police have issued a rare warning about a violent man who recently arrived in London.

Tim Paul Carew, 39, is unpredictable and has a lengthy criminal record, including 45 convictions for violent offences such as assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.

Carew is part of the province’s "intensive supervision program" and on two probation orders. However, he refuses to participate in treatment programs.

Dalton McGuinty's socialist paradise... the heart of a kinder, gentler Canada, where there's apparently no such thing as a bad boy.

Of course... strictly speaking... that's not absolutely true.

Well, I know for a fact...

...my wallet's looking a lot cleaner these days...

“Neither of these programs appear to be cost or environmentally effective,” Cook said in the Aug. 17 letter. “Neither has appreciably increased consumer convenience or incentives for returning designated wastes and there has been marginal or no improvements in diversion of a wide variety of designated materials.”

The “overwhelming majority” of these items end up in landfill and there is little demand for the recovered material, he said.

Geez, I seem to remember the Liberals were making lots of noise about some other pressing eco-issue... what was that again?

About 6,100 megawatts of coal-fired generation continues to operate in the province, or about 20% of total generating capacity -- years after Premier Dalton McGuinty's self-imposed shutdown deadline of 2007.

McGuinty promised to end the use of coal in Ontario by 2007 during the 2003 general election but since winning that race, the target date has been pushed back several times and is now 2014.

And don't get me started on the Fiberal's recent eco-tax scam, or climbing down on absurd financial incentives in it's ill-conceived solar power program.

Dalton talks a green game... he just doesn't deliver.

If offshore wind isn’t a priority, why did the government open the door to it in the first place?

The answer, it seems, is that it didn’t really give it much thought. Senior Liberals concede they didn’t anticipate the amount of interest, or the degree of controversy, it would generate.

So as on other fronts, such as the pricing of solar power, the government occasionally appears to be making up its green-energy strategy as it goes along.

Remember... friends don't let friends vote Liberal.

Same Planet, Different worlds

Disaster relief... check. -- Food bank... check. -- Blood donor clinic... yeah. --

Bloody jihad... hey... wait just a freakin' minute...

"Indeed, every person should according to Islam prepare himself/herself for jihad and every person should eagerly and patiently wait for the day when Allah will call them to show their willingness to sacrifice their lives."

Uh, guys... I think maybe there's a little bit of confusion here... Baghdad's that-a-way.

And speaking of Baghdad... Obama may have "ended the war"... he just forgot about ending the killing...

The fighting came to an end after the two assailants who breached the compound ran out of bullets and detonated their explosives vests, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Two weeks earlier, an al-Qaida-linked suicide bomber waded into a crowd of hundreds of army recruits outside the building and detonated a blast that killed 61 people. That was the deadliest act of violence in Baghdad in months.

Man, what's the word for this kind of crazy-ass thing?

Oh yeah... jihad.

**********

UPDATE: In other "bloody jihad" news

-- LAKKI MARWAT, Pakistan -- A suicide bomber rammed his car into a police station in northwest Pakistan on Monday killing at least 19 people, police said, in a new wave of attacks by al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked militants.

Those darned Iraqis

-- BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi reality television program broadcast during Ramadan has been planting fake bombs in celebrities’ cars, having an Iraqi army checkpoint find them and terrifying the celebrities into thinking that they are headed for maximum security prison.

The punch-line here, apparently... is that these folks are then threatened with execution.

So, unless I'm missing something here... the same nation that claimed to have been collectively traumatised by Abu-Ghraib... has turned that dynamic into a little light after-dinner entertainment?

Ohhhh-kay... that's one more destination struck off the ol' vacation list.

**********

FROM THE TIMES COMMENTS:

"This is the sort of thing that would do quite well here in Germany. Substitute 'bomb' for 'unsorted recyclables' however."

Hmmm... would've been a bigger story...

...I guess, if there had been widespread rioting... or a slew of death-threats... in response to the news...

A close reader of ChristWire will soon figure out (one hopes) that the site is not serious. But many of the columns are deft enough, just plausible enough, to fool the casual reader. Even — or perhaps especially — a reader whose beliefs are being mocked.

I guess some folks cows... are more sacred than others.

Maybe if there had been some cartoons...

It's a book...

...about what?

Hey, no biggie Faysal...

I hear those SWAT Team guys are pretty laid back... especially, you know... when you're kidding around about guns...

"Phone call was an accident or a prank call. Must have been some big joke that I did not take part of, and all I wanted to do was figure out what happened," Abdiwali told CBC News.

**********

RELATED: Speaking of big jokes

I, like many Canadians, learned of this petition when author and “A-list” cultural nationalist Margaret Atwood announced she had signed it.

Atwood is not the only A-list “celebrity” that has signed.

Dwight Shroot (from The Office), Boba Fett (of Star Wars), Snuffaluffagus (Sesame Street) and Homer Simpson are also signatories. Clearly the CRTC should take note of such distinguished individuals lending their name to this smear job.

This is not the first time Atwood has put her political agenda ahead of principles and patriotism.

In the 2008 election campaign she was asked if she would vote for the separatist Bloc Quebecois if she lived in Quebec, she said: “Yes. Absolutely. What is the alternative?”

The Puffin King -- A Field Guide

Finally, though, destiny wove its predestined web. Mr. Ignatieff became Liberal Party Leader without a single vote being cast, very possibly a first in the long history of democracy.

From there on up it's been downhill all the way.

Soon the Ignatieff Liberals were being embraced by the same 25 per cent of the voters even Stéphane Dion couldn’t alienate.

But only fanatical Liberals – a dying breed, alas – can really be surprised. After four years, it's hard to see why Mr. Ignatieff has bothered at all.

He appears to stand for nothing except the centre, wherever and whatever that is.

If you truly love this planet...

...you'll start wiring up pipe-bombs too...

The man was rushed to hospital after the explosion in Repentigny, just east of Montreal. Police say about 40 homes in the area have been evacuated and a bomb squad will be investigating.

Repentigny police spokesman Bruno Marier says the man is in his 50s and works for a major petroleum company.

**********

UPDATE: Bombing victim id'd

Neighbours say the man is André Girard, 52, an employee of Petro-Canada.

For what it's worth, another suspicious package was found this morning in Brossard... another Montreal suburb.

**********

UPDATE2: False alarm in Brossard

The package, spotted in a driveway on Salvador Cr. near Santiago St. about 7 a.m., “turned out to be a phony bomb,” Longueuil police Constable Mark David said.

The SQ bomb squad officers nevertheless said it had been designed to look a lot like a bomb and the squad “neutralized” it shortly before noon.

**********

RELATED: It's always the "true believers"...

...you really have to worry about...

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

The fourth Horseface of the Apocalypse

Writing that the NDP will help turn Canada into an “unregulated gun zone”, Ms. Mallick contends that Jack Layton will be responsible for the women who die at the hands of their violent husbands if the registry vanishes. The registration forms for handguns, she contends, are designed to guard against men who buy guns after a divorce to seek retribution.

“What is the NDP saying then? Have a go?”

What is Heather saying? That only the gun registry stands between deranged husbands and murder? Blunt trauma weapons won’t work? Sharp pointy objects? Ropes? Deep water?

Wow... you know the "Red Star" is getting desperate when they go after Toronto's most infamous socialist.

Hopefully, Heather Mallick is just getting warmed up. I'm looking forward to a continuing series of "Eating Your Young Week" masterpieces.

**********

RELATED: Keep standing on the pedal, baby

It's total dumb-assery like Heather Mallick's ravings that truly convinces people this thing was a horrible, mindless waste.

Crapping on Jack Layton is just ice-cream.

Assuming the registry data is accurate -- which rank and file police officers tell us is a huge assumption given that less than one-half of Canadian long guns are registered on the CFRO -- what difference do any of these firearms data searches make?

Where no guns are revealed on the database do officers shed their Kevlar vests and leave their guns at home because the firearms registry says "no guns." If guns are listed, does this mean the SWAT arrives?

Of course not.

Dalton does downward

Spiral... that is...

A recent Ipsos Reid poll indicates a dramatic shift in Ontario’s political landscape over the past year, with Liberal support sinking in the wake of various scandals and unpopular decisions. Two thirds, or 64 per cent, of respondents believe it’s time for a new party to take the helm.

Exactly what Toronto needs...

...higher taxes AND hiring quotas...

As mayor, George Smitherman says he would encourage youth employment by charging businesses to create a $10-million fund subsidizing companies that hire young people.

He would also oblige firms doing business with the city – including transit, Toronto Hydro and the police service – to hire youth.

Hang on... Smitherman, Smitherman... that sounds so familiar.

That secretive, controlling Stephen Harp...

...wait a minute...

-- OTTAWA -- CBC may demand accountability from the government but Canada’s taxpayer-funded broadcaster is going to court once again in order to keep its own affairs secret.

The CBC will square off against the information commissioner, an independent officer of Parliament, in a Montreal courtroom on Sept. 13.

Never a dirty capitalist infidel around...

...when you really need one...

"If the U.S. Treasury Department will guarantee that everyone will get their money, maybe that will work," said Karzai, who holds 7 percent of the bank's shares, making him the third-biggest shareholder.

Karzai, who spends most of his time in Dubai - where he lives in a waterfront villa paid for by Kabul Bank - rushed to Kabul on Wednesday to join efforts to salvage the bank.

Meanwhile... back in the good ol' U.S. of A. --

All the speakers said repeatedly that they do not condone the violence in the community and "gang banging" and want to stop it. But they argued that gangs are not the cause of the violence.

Meanwhile, it was another violent night in Chicago, as one gang-related shooting quickly led to another in retaliation.

Bloc Talk

“I think the Liberals and the NDP are going to have a lot of explaining to do about why they want to be a coalition partner with a party that thinks things like the national parks are a federalist plot,” Mr. Harper said.

“I think it’s just bizarre.”

And, hey... while we're on bizarre... the compassionate, intellectual left replies... in the comments...

"is that what you tell you(sic) friends in the dark in high park neo?? AH HAHA AH AHA HA AH AHHA HA"

He even supplied his own laugh-track.

Good gawd.

**********

FROM THE COMMMENTS: Parting is such sweet sorrow

"don't worry, I'll now leave you"
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 11:56 AM, September 03, 2010

"I think I'm almost about done here whaddaya say?"
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 2:05 PM, September 03, 2010

"I think I'm almost about done here whaddaya say?"
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 2:56 PM, September 03, 2010

"I think I'm almost about done here whaddaya say?"
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 3:21 PM, September 03, 2010

Poor Libby... he's got it bad.

Never a gun registry around...

...when you really need it.

-- Fish lake, B.C. -- “People are willing and ready to defend our lands. As one of my elders had said when we were going through the panel hearings, she will be there on the road in her wheelchair. She will have her shotguns and she will not move."

“We are willing to sacrifice our lives."

And apparently anybody elses' who oppose them. Nice.

Try this sometime with a few of your middle-aged, non-aboriginal friends. You're upset about, say... your municipal taxes... just threaten to shoot the mayor of your city.

Then sit back and see how long it takes for the local SWAT team to show up at your house... and drop you like a crazy ex-girlfriend.

So my question is... when will the RCMP confiscate the firearms of people who are threatening to shoot other citizens?

No wonder Law School is so expensive...

...there's that operation to remove any last vestige of a conscience...

The Iranian-Canadian accused of a terrorist-bomb conspiracy plans to fight to get “every scrap” of secret evidence amassed against him – a strategy that could delay his trial for years, and possibly even scuttle the case.

This will include details about informants, covert wiretaps, and foreign spy sources used in the probe.

Ol' Bill Shakespeare had it right... "the first thing we do, is hang all the lawyers."

The Crown last year dropped a case against a man whom the government considered a dangerous terrorist after CSIS complained a judge’s order for greater disclosure might compromise its informants and blow the lid off some foreign partnerships.

Whaddaya wanna bet... one of these jihadis actually sets off a bomb and turns a hundred urban socialists into multi-coloured rice-pudding, say... in front of Osgoode Law School... all these militant legal truth-seekers have a miraculous change of heart.

**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"forwarded to CSIS so they can keep tabs on a political radical with violent online fantasies"

Oh no... Liberal Supporter's siccing secret agents on me.

Whatever will I do?

How exactly does targeting farmers...

...duck hunters & skeet shooters... reduce urban handgun crime?

-- WINNIPEG -- "The general consensus among sporting shooters is that the kinds of guns we are using are not the kinds of guns to commit crimes," Mosscrop said. "No one is going to take a $17,000 Perazzi shotgun and hold up a 7-Eleven."

That's funny... it was just the other day...

...I was thinking... if only we could give Nigerians a six-fold increase in internet bandwidth... that'd fix everything.

Yup... and I do mean everything.

If you build it...

...they will swarm...

The city should refrain from camping prohibitions until housing, support and health care are in place, according to the umbrella group, comprising Committee to End Homelessness, Harm Reduction Victoria, the Society of Living Intravenous Drug Users and the Victoria Coalition Against Poverty.

Yeah... "camping".

I guess that's how the the "Society of Living Intravenous Drug Users" kick back after a long day at the orifice.

Feelin' hot, hot, hot

One of three Ontario men charged in connection with an alleged terrorism plot has been linked to the Pakistan Taliban, according to a news report.

The unconfirmed report comes from The Daily Times newspaper in Pakistan, which did not reveal its source nor indicate which of the three accused it believes had direct contact with the Tehrik-e-Taliban.

I say we toss in Elizabeth May and a...

...couple of flashbangs...

Suffice it to say, we hope the police are able to find a way to talk Mr. Lee down from the brink, because it’s unlikely that the Discovery Channel will agree to these … varied …demands.

For those interested in a look into the mind of a disturbed individual, read on.

**********

UPDATE: Yeah, that's our biggest problem...

...those nutjobs from the Tea Party... wait...

He said he was inspired by “Ishmael,” a novel by environmentalist Daniel Quinn and by former vice-president Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Oh, that's awkward.

I wonder how the CBC will manage to spin this one.

**********

UPDATE: The moral of the story

Never, ever... bring a tinfoil hat to a gunfight.

Another Jane Taber tongue-bath...

...must be Wednesday.

Krauthammer's Law - via Maggie's Farm

To understand the workings of American politics, you have to understand this fundamental law: Conservatives think liberals are stupid. Liberals think conservatives are evil.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

PJ O'Rourke has it as "the right says you shouldn't make fun of cripples. The left says you can't."

Now, if the Liberals were back in power...

...these folks would already be running around their own little corner of Scarberia... soliciting funds for the "natural governing party"...

More than three dozen Tamil migrants have been segregated from 492 others who arrived by boat for questioning by police on suspicion of being linked to the Tamil Tigers, or other inadmissible groups, including war criminals.

Police said several men were moved to a segregation unit because they were “threatening or intimidating” other migrants.

Surprise, surprise.

You ever wonder why the Tamils did that about-face after initially heading for Australia?

Australia is now in negotiations with East Timor, New Zealand and the United Nations about setting up a “regional processing centre” where intercepted ships will be taken.

“Arriving by boat would just be a ticket back to the regional processing centre,” warned Gillard.

Oh yeah... that "processing centre"? I'm not sure it's as comfy as the Canadian accommodations.

Right now, refugee applicants are processed on a remote Australian island called Christmas Island, where they’re held until their cases are heard.

Yup... good ol' Australia... the people Iggy referred to in rather unflattering terms.

Right — Canada, not Australia. We don’t need to learn nuthin from nobody. Because nobody knows nuthin better’n we know it. So just tell them Australians to shut their yaps, thank-yew-very-much, and we’ll just run our own country. Hear?

Seriously. That’s how international scholars talk. Especially when they’ve been on a bus all summer

**********

RELATED: In other Australia news

Northern Territory police say that more than 70 men escaped early Wednesday by breaking through two electrified fences.

The break-out follows disturbances at the center in Darwin Saturday and Sunday involving a group of Indonesians accused of smuggling asylum seekers into Australian waters.

Immigration featured prominently in Australia's recent election. Both major parties promised tough action to curb the flow of asylum seekers arriving by sea.

**********

LAST WORD: More pavilions at folkfest...
Watch out for that damnable "North York Beef"...

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning people not to eat raw beef purchased from a North York store that may contain E. Coli.

CFIA officials say the alert applies to all cuts of raw beef, including, but not limited to, tenderloin, beef chunks and ground beef, sold Aug. 6 from Kabul Farms retail store at 40 Beverley Hills Dr.

The cuts were wrapped at the store and may not have a label with a packing date, lot code or best before date, officials warned.

Kabul Farms... we cut through all that silly red tape for you.

Hmmm... you wanna be Prime Minister...

...I'm not so sure trotting out the one-time flower child and infamous, ex-pantiless-Stones groupie extraordinaire... is the wisest move here...

His famous mother, Margaret, meanwhile, is poised to release a new biography in the fall, explaining how her mental illness (she suffers from bipolar disorder) affected decisions around her marriage, her career and her relationships with some very famous men.

Of course... it's not like dear old dad was such a prize either...

"I met Trudeau back around 1970 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. I was a cub scout attending a jamboree and PET was the guest speaker."

"Afterwards a group of us were chosen to go backstage and meet the PM. We were waiting behind a curtain. He didn't know we were there."

"He called the crowd of cubs and scouts, "the Hitler youth of tomorrow", and spit on the ground."

Oh Canada.