Dear Toronto Red Star

Here's the thing... even supposing you could cobble together a time machine, travel back to 1929... and smother little Gaston Glock in his crib... let's be honest... it wouldn't actually make a single iota of difference in terms of saving human lives, would it?

Surely you can't be postulating that this inanimate hunk of metal & molded polymer has some sort of dark, magical powers? So, let me ask... what exactly are you trying to accomplish here?

Pencils, pens... or even bleeding edge laptop computers... do not write lyrical poetry. Parachutes... even negligently packed... do not smash the life out of innocent, random people. Cars... even rip-snorting 400 horsepower street racers... do not chase down pedestrians like panicked bunnies... and guns... even the dark & dastardly Glock... do not foment murder.

So instead of trying to divert all the attention here to an inanimate object... be it a length of pipe, a snowplow, or yes... even a handgun... perhaps you could explain, how not discussing letting obviously mentally defective people with flagrantly violent ideation carom consequence-free throughout the larger field of folk is some sort of inconsequential side-issue.

There was, as in most of these spree-killing tragedies, plenty of red flags here.

This isn't on Gaston Glock or his pistol. Wake up and smell the crazy.

**********

RELATED: More rainbows & unicorn farts

“I saw Goody Proctor with the devil! Oh, I mean Jared Lee Loughner! Yes him. With the devil!”

**********

LAST WORD: I blame Sarah Palin...

...wait a minute...

"I have a Glock 9-millimeter, and I'm a pretty good shot," Giffords said in dismissing the threats.

Hey, Gabby... way to tone down the rhetoric.

It's a bright, shiny Casey & Finnegan world

An advisory council that includes former Liberal minister of public safety, Anne McLellan, will come up recommendations for reducing negative attitudes toward... [fill in your persecuted group here].

Meanwhile... in other "buy the world a coke" news...
**********

RELATED: Back in the real world

Toronto police have made an arrest in connection with a shooting death at a Scarborough highrise apartment last week.

In a news release issued Wednesday, police said they arrested Selvon Byers, 18 of Toronto on Tuesday and charged him with second-degree murder.

"I have not yet heard..."

"...that the murderer in Tucson chanted, 'Rush Limbaugh Akhbar!' even once."

Yup... colour me shocked...

This collective j’accuse has now become a story of its own, and largely because, after the passage of another 24 hours, nothing at all had emerged from the mass of data on Jared Loughner that linked the assassin with tea parties or talk shows of any persuasion.

FIRE... THEM... ALL

-- OTTAWA -- The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered the Correctional Service of Canada to pay $9,500 in compensation to a man serving a life sentence for the 1983 murder of an Ottawa police officer.

Hey, Peace Moonbeam... rehabilitate this.

**********

RELATED: It's a Mr Rogers world

“You gotta lay the blame for some of these damages on the insurgents that turned these farms, buildings and fields into these complex IED networks.”

Sorry... that's just not the way things work anymore.

Another Jane Taber tongue bath...

...must be Wednesday...Well, if there's one thing we know about the Liberal Party... it's that they're all about the ladies.

Ignatieff spokesman still a little unclear...

...on how banning snowplows will reduce urban crime in Toronto...

Peter Tolias, the president of Tolias Landscaping and Plowing, the company that owns the plow, described what followed as “a two-hour rampage” through city streets before police finally cornered the driver.

Tolias said two of his employees were working beside the vehicle, a heavy duty Chevy pickup truck with an attached plow and salter, when a “guy with no shoes” jumped in and sped off.

“He was barefoot and just came running and jumped in,” said Tolias, 29.

Tolias’s general manager Richard Eros used the GPS tracking system on the truck to help police trail it as it sped west, smashing into at least 15 parked cars on the way.

“He was on a two-hour rampage. Nobody could stop him,” said Tolias, adding that at one point, he almost cornered the stolen plow himself.

**********

UPDATE: Cop-killer identified

The man who allegedly killed a police officer with a stolen snowplow has been charged with first-degree murder.

Richard Kachkar, 44 and of no fixed address, also faces two counts of attempted murder.

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Thank God. I feel so much better. Now we can just kill them, then chop them up and eat them. A great victory for swine everywhere."

**********

RELATED: Duck, duck, goose

The NCC hoped to smooth things over by clearing foie gras from its menu, but what if it has only emboldened the protesters? Atlantic Canada chefs have been known to cook tasty lobster dishes, and it could be argued that having food rammed down one’s gullet is preferable to being tossed into a pot of boiling water.

Never a magical, 2 billion dollar...

...long gun registry around... when you really need one...
Hang on... they didn't know there might be a little problem here?

Seriously?

Martin said he read through Roszko's criminal history while gathering material for the search warrant. Roszko was well known to police for being violent and was under a 10-year weapons ban on a prior conviction.

I blame that homicidal Sarah Pal...

...wait a minute...

"That Scott down there that's running for governor of Florida," Mr. Kanjorski said. "Instead of running for governor of Florida, they ought to have him and shoot him. Put him against the wall and shoot him."

**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"Giffords would be denied coverage by Sawah's(sic) insurance company death panel, because the hole through Giffords head was a pre-existing condition by the time she got to the hospital."
Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 7:53 PM, January 12, 2011

Simply amazing. You should see the other half dozen irrational comments Libby left here tonight.

Wake up... and smell the science

This sounds like the kind of thing that would have happened... if my best friend from the 70's had gone on to grad school...

Robert Mason, a material scientist, will show little clay pots from 12th century Middle East but he is not sure whether they were bongs or bombs.

In the show he took a replica pot to a head shop where an employee proved they could be used to smoke hash.

Which, of course, leads us to Part B of this little adventure...

He also did an experiment that proved they could be used as grenades. “This could be thrown at someone. It could take off the head of a dozen people standing around with shrapnel,” Mason said.

Uh... Dave's really not here, man.

In other Toronto Bomb Squad news...

Police are investigating suspicious packages left on a busy sidewalk outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and just steps away from the Toronto offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Two black suitcases and a yellow pail were left beside a green car parked on Front Street West on Tuesday morning. Keys were left in the car’s ignition.

**********

UPDATE: 13:15... not a live bomb

Police investigating suspicious packages left near the Toronto offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service say the scare was a false alarm.

The scenario of a possible bomb attack, or a dry run, is made more plausible by the fact that the suspicious suitcases were found outside Toronto’s CSIS offices – which have been targeted by terrorists before.

The Greatest Generation...

...continues to fade away...

An intensely private and humble man, Winters had asked that news of his death be withheld until after his funeral, Jackson said. Winters lived in Hershey, Pa., but died in suburban Palmyra.

I'll tell you what, Pierre...

...you give back the guns, tanks, planes & passports... and pay off your share of the national debt... then you can go create your own country.

**********

ANONY-WARRIOR PUFFS UP:

"You forget, we have a great deal of military here."

Two words, nonny... high... treason.

Cowboy Up

"We tied it around his ankles and then grabbed another rope and tied his hands up and the police arrived about 40 minutes later. We work with cattle -- it works with them so we figured it would work with him."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Too bad they didn't brand him."

Fixing Vancouver

All you need is drugs...

Vancouver's latest medical marijuana dispensary will open today on Fraser Street.

The Imedikate Medical Cannabis Dispensary, at 6128 Fraser St., is the sixth such dispensary in the city and the first in south Vancouver.

Imedikate director Jacob Hunter said a physician would be available to assess individuals whose family doctor was not supportive of such treatment but who might benefit from it.

The professional journalists...

...at the Globe & Mail... never afraid to ask the really hard questions.**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"speaking of 'victomhood'(sic), head on over to FOX tv. You stupid fucks are good for entertainment anyway."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 10:55 PM, January 10, 2011

don't start whining and crying about it to me jasckass(sic).
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 6:49 AM, January 11, 2011

More "great moments" in trolldom...

"misspell one word, and boom neo jacks off."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 8:53 AM, January 11, 2011

Poor neo nony, he's the victEm(sic) waaaaaaillll! Whoa(sic) is me!!!!
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 8:56 AM, January 11, 2011

Of course, nonny... it's not like I have a perpetual lease on that big empty space between your ears, huh?

P.S., please let me help... the words you're looking for are "victim", "jackass" & "woe."

Save me... oh wonderful Nanny State

HIV positive crack whore sues... over egregious failure to provide government-issue chastity belts...

Too many Chiefs... not enough oversight

-- BISHOPVILLE -- The Glooscap First Nation band council remains a family affair.

Kristen Halliday, son of council member Michael Halliday, won a byelection Saturday to fill a seat on the council, which has been caught in a controversy over high band council salaries.

The council, which governs the 304-member band, now consists of Chief Shirley Clarke, her sister, Lorraine Whitman, their cousin Michael — the band’s highest paid councillor — and Kristen.

Wait a minute... apparently the number quoted above includes people who don't even live there.

"As chief in 2008-09, Ms. Clarke received a total tax-free compensation of about $243,000."

"Ms. Clarke runs a reserve of 87 people."

No taxes huh... wouldn't that be equivalent to a $400,000 pre-tax salary for, well... any of the rest of us chickens?

That homicidal, racist George W...

...wait a minute....

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a bathhouse in a southern Afghan border town as men gathered to wash before Friday prayers, killing 17 people, a provincial official said.

A Taliban spokesman in the south, Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, said the attack targeted the second-in-command of the border patrol in the area.

Well, heck... as long as there was a good reason...

**********

RELATED: That homicidal, racist Tea Party

NOW condemns the tragic shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) that stole six lives and seriously injured 12 today. We condemn, equally, the culture of hate and violence increasingly reflected in extreme right-wing opponents of those who support progressive solutions to our country's challenges.

Of course... a mentally disturbed 22 year-old with a criminal record shoots a bunch of people... and it's all about Conservatives.

Yeah, you dumbasses... let's blame Sarah Palin.

In other "buy the world a Coke" news

My tragedy can kick your whiny, inconsequential tragedy's ass...

-- WINNIPEG -- Some groups are already upset that the Holocaust is to get a permanent space when the museum opens in 2013, while other genocides will share a "mass atrocity" gallery.

"It's about fair and equitable treatment of these tragedies," Taras Zalusky, executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said from Ottawa.

The German-Canadian Congress is also upset with the attention given to the Holocaust.

I can't wait to tour the "Genocides the U.N. conveniently ignored" gallery.

P.S. - Does Mexico get a side exhibit?

-- MEXICO CITY -- Fifteen bodies, all but one of them decapitated, were found early Saturday in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, local media reported.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in Mexico since late 2006 when President Felipe Calderon mobilized the army and other security services to confront drug traffickers who supply the United States.

**********

RELATED: A must read - The Speech

(via SDA)

2011 Week 1 - Toronto the not so good

Three murders in seven days...

One woman is dead and another is in custody after Toronto Police officers were called to an east-end apartment on Friday morning.

Homicide officers were scouring a Toronto Community Housing apartment building at 4301 Kingston Rd., near Bellamy Rd.

**********

UPDATE: Murdered woman id'd

The victim of the city’s third homicide has been identified as 59-year-old Zaniffa Balkaran. Police have not confirmed if Balkaran was related to Annesair Balkaran, who has been charged with first-degree murder.

Debbie Thompson, 35, who lives in the building, said she had known “Jenny,” as Balkaran was known, for two years. Thompson said she was an avid churchgoer and attended a service several times per week. Thompson described her as, “very nice, very quiet.”

Thompson said that she had met Balkaran’s daughter, whom she knew as “Precious.” She said she believed that Precious was pregnant.

Shouldn't this have actually been a case...

...for the Non-Human Rights Commission?

-- NORTH BAY, Ont. -- A northern Ontario French Catholic school board discriminated against three members of the Raelian religious sect when it ended a contract with them to provide teacher training, a human rights tribunal has ruled.

The group, which was founded in 1974 by former French journalist Claude Vorilhon, believes life on Earth was started by space aliens.

The Raelian movement made headlines several years ago when it claimed to have cloned a human.

The ruling indicates there was discrimination based on their beliefs.

Omar Khadr fan club starts to figure it out

Wait a minute... where was Mark Holland when the Toronto 18 was gonna blow up Bay St. and behead the Prime Minister...

The federal Liberals are urging Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to give Coptic churches in this country the money they need to install security cameras and alarm systems to prevent deadly terrorist attacks like the one rocked Egypt last week.

Guess what, Marko, you dim bulb... these guys aren't all that particular about what flavour of infidel they send to the great beyond. You, me... the local strip club or gay bar... it's all good.

Funny how Mark doesn't seem to give a crap about protecting, oh... I don't know... synagogues... subway stations... other denominations of Christians?

And if this is about actual protection... we're going with cameras? Seriously? "Hey, you... stop or I'll flash!!!"

If the Mr Rogers, er... Liberal Party of Canada is finally recognising the deadly dangers of homegrown Islamic fundamentalism... it sounds like we really need to pump up the jam.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Let's get crazy...

...and ask an actual member of the Coptic community...

"That's much, much, much better to empower the law enforcement agencies instead of wasting money on cameras," said Mansour.

Over to you, Mark & Iggy.

When the McDreamy administration...

...tells us we don't have to be worried about Iranian nukes... what exactly are they basing that assertion on?

-- As Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates heads to China this weekend, analysts are expressing concern about Chinese military advances, which appear to have taken the U.S. by surprise.

And it gets better... guess who's gonna be paying the freight here?

If Beijing continues to buy American debt at the rate it has in recent years, then within a half-decade or so U.S. interest payments on that debt will be covering the entire cost of the Chinese military.

Within the next five years, the People’s Liberation Army, which is the largest employer on the planet, bigger even than the U.S. Department of Community-Organizer Grant Applications, will be entirely funded by U.S. taxpayers.

Who exactly, is stimulating who?

I guess we could ask Anwar Sadat...

...wait a minute...

For all the criticism it unleashed, the blast appears to have forged a consensus that Egypt, despite its historic tradition of moderate Islamic thinking and multicultural tolerance, has in recent years become overwhelmed by fundamentalist religious identification, a position that until now the government strongly denied.

“There is no room for political participation, which makes them susceptible to the conservative religious discourse. If there were real elections, if there was real representation, if there was any real participation by the people, then the political decisions could be more appropriate and address all these problems.”

“I think that 2010 was a very, very bad year in the history of Egypt,” said Mona Makram-Ebeid, a former member of Parliament from a prominent Christian family. “Will this be a national awakening? If not, it might portend very, very dangerous days to come.”

**********

UPDATE: Just heard the CBC 11:00 news

Apparently half of the 5,000 people taking continuing education (Ontario government subsidised, btw) language programs in Ottawa... are studying Arabic.

Not sure I even believe that number... but, if it's true... why are we, the taxpayer, footing this particular bill?

Too many pinkos...

...not enough oversight...

The day before Mayor Rob Ford and Toronto’s new council took office, Toronto Community Housing Corp. quietly transferred the houses to Wigwamen Inc, selling nine well under market value and giving five away essentially for free.

The houses, all left vacant and dilapidated for years — and originally paid for with taxpayer dollars — were sold for whatever was left owing on their mortgages, nine of them sold for an average of $29,000, and five had a mortgage balance of $0.

The 14 houses are among 20 the TCHC is transferring over to Wigwamen after receiving approval from Toronto’s outgoing David Miller-led council back in May.

The, uh... good news is... the six million taxpayer dollars is probably just chump change... try imagine what taxpayers will be paying to run these welfare motels in perpetuity.

Just something to think about the next time you're writing that outrageous municipal tax cheque.

Oh, you slimy irony-deficient hypocrites

Redefining Liberal chutzpah.

**********

RELATED: Scott Tribe bottoms out

Of course, Scotty... everybody knows, CTV is just a Neo-Conservative mouthpiece...

"I throw up in my mouth every time I read this kind of crap, and remember, your boy, Iggy, would not have been cheering for the Canadians."

(via sda)

**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"You're full of shit. You conservatives will believe anything won't you."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 9:09 AM, January 07, 2011

**********

LAST WORD: Funny how that works

"The words "Chretien appointed Liberal" appear exactly zero times."

Wake up... and smell the species

I fully expect to see... within the next decade... a 3D reality television show featuring public duelling...

In 2002, Mr. Hagens — who is also a medical doctor — performed a public autopsy in a London theater before a paying audience of some 500 people, an event that was also televised.

In 2009, in Berlin, he drew criticism by showing plastinated corpses in sexual congress.

Yikers... corpse porn.

Living in a post 9-11 world

Fool me twice... shame on me...

- (Reuters) - Passengers aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Oslo overpowered a would-be hijacker as the plane landed at Istanbul airport on Wednesday, fellow passengers told Turkish media.

One of the most important lessons of that tragic day in 2001, is that cooperating with hijackers is a zero-sum game. To use a crude analogy... you let them tie you up... don't be overly surprised... you get raped.

Maybe fighting back isn't always the answer, but I'm thinkin'... you're sitting in a shiny metal tube capable of sky high, near supersonic trans-oceanic travel... handing the controls over to a delusional religious zealot may indeed be asking for further trouble.

Too bad the various nations of the world don't have the stomach to agree on enacting the death penalty for hijacking... and other acts of mass terrorism.

Yeah, Peace Moonbeam... I'm lookin' at you.

"In our time, to be born..."

"...a citizen of the United States is to win first prize in the lottery of life, and, as Britons did, too many Americans assume it will always be so."

"Great convulsions lie ahead, and at the end of it we may be in a post-Anglosphere world."

Never a Long Gun Registry around...

...when you really need one...

-- ctvtoronto.ca -- A man has been pronounced dead in hospital following a shooting in the Birchmount Road & Eglinton Avenue East area.

The call came in to police shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, said Toronto police Const. Scott Mills.

The victim -- a black male, believed to be in his 20s or 30s -- was found in the elevator of an apartment building at 1021 Birchmount Rd.

**********

UPDATE: Shooting victim identified

Authorities have identified the man murdered this week in an east end apartment building -- Venacio Julien, 27.

Remember back... you were a kid...

...people used to drive around the nation's capital with improvised explosive devices?

-- Yeah... me neither. --

Save us... oh wonderful Nanny State

It's like all those altruistic bank commercials I see nowadays... Canadians are obviously too stupid to make their own decisions...
Whew, that's a relief... one less thing to worry about. I was really dreading having to make my own decisions about what happens to my possessions after I die.

Sometimes... I just really miss Ray Bradbury.

**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"conservative wankers shriek to high heaven about the 'nanny state'"
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 8:19 AM, January 05, 2011

"what a complete idiot this makes him and his conservative pals look like."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 8:22 AM, January 05, 2011

"You truly, are, dumb as a fucking post"
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 12:24 AM, January 05, 2011

Ah yes... multiple doses (these 3 being the most coherent) of the always elucidating "you're a big poopyhead" gambit.

Thank you comment moderation.

Then they gently placed Bambi's mother...

...in the bed of the truck and rushed her to the vet...

It was the best of times... it was the...

...worst of times...

"I was probably only two years old at the time, and Clancy scared the living shit out of me."

"I wanted him to be my friend so we could do things together, but I was also scared he would kill me in my sleep."

Live and don't learn...

...that's us...

A Toronto man in part barred from possessing firearms and ammunition for life following a 2008 incident was charged with possessing a pistol on New Year's Eve.

Rowan Akeem Atkins, 22, Toronto, is charged with possessing a restricted firearm with ammunition, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possessing a firearm knowing its possession is unauthorized, carrying a concealed weapon and two counts each of possessing a firearm contrary to a prohibition order and possessing ammunition contrary to a prohibition order.

In February 2008, Atkins was handed a lifetime firearms ban after being sentenced to three years probation for robbery using a firearm.

If only there was a law.

A little ballistic impeachment...

...as Pakistan slides closer to the edge...

Salman Taseer, the liberal governor of Punjab province, was shot multiple times at the shopping plaza, which is near his home and is frequented by foreigners.

Pakistani news channels reported that police arrested one of Taseer's guards, who allegedly confessed that he was angered by Taseer's recent public endorsement of a pardon for a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy.

This latest bit of murder is just the icing on the crumbling Pakistani cake...

The slaying came as the nation's main opposition party, which dominates in Punjab, held a news conference to demanded that the federal government implement a list of reforms within three days or risk collapse.

The U.S.-allied government has been on the rocks since Sunday, when Pakistan's second-largest political party defected to the opposition, depriving the ruling coalition led by Zardari's Pakistan People's Party of a parliamentary majority.

**********

RELATED: More third world rules

A politician in the Philippines who was shot dead while taking a photograph of his family on New Year's Day captured his killer on camera just seconds before the assassin fired the fatal shots.

Call me wacky... I'm guessing Erin's dad...

...is sitting there thinking... "Why didn't I send her someplace useful... like welding school?"
**********

RELATED: All hail the "New" Journalism

"Wow... they're pushin' this non-news story harder than three day old fish at the corner greasy spoon."

A Tale of Two Cities

First up... the CBC...

"There's been no movement from government side or the police side. The community was trying very hard to do everything in their power but it's very limited what the community can do without the government's help." --

That's weird... that's not what the police are saying...

"The investigation is going to go nowhere without co-operation. We believe they know exactly who killed this guy and none of them will say," said Edmonton police homicide detective Bill Clark. "If we got co-operation, this one we could easily solve."

Clark estimates there were at least 100 people in the bar at the time of the shooting.

Instead of placing the blame on others, Clark said the Somali community needs to deal with young members of the community who are causing the bulk of the problems.

"A lot of these kids are gangsters and drug dealers," said Clark, who noted unco-operative witnesses is a common problem in many of the region's Somali shooting cases.

Same planet... different worlds.

P.S. -- watch for the usual suspects to start screaming for Detective Clark's head... for actually daring to say stuff like this out loud.

**********

RELATED: More gun-happy Albertans

**********

LAST WORD: Uh-huh... let's blame Canada

The group heard one Somali community leader speak of the "snitch factor." If one wounded man would testify, the trial could go forward, said Abdurahman Jibril, a community development worker and chair of the Somali Canadian National Congress chair.

"Kids are kids," he said of their response to efforts to encourage them to do so. "They say they won't snitch."

That's funny... that doesn't sound anything like my kid.

And, of course... it's all about our heartless, systemically racist Canadian system...

Then Ali broached the race factor.

"What's another black Somali who's been killed?" he asked as others nodded. "We feel it would have been handled in a different way if he was a white Canadian."

Yup, Ali... it would have been different. If it was a "white Canadian" who'd been murdered... his buddies would have testified and put the murderer away. There wouldn't have been any of this "code of the street" horseshit.

See, we're brought up here to work with the cops and the justice system. It's a lesson you might want to pass on to the rest of your community.

The Liberal Party of Canada...

...if you can redefine the meaning of marriage... why not start laying down rules about how people can raise their kids...
And this isn't just about spanking, the rules could preclude... "picking up a child and removing them from a situation against their will."

Anybody know whether Toys-R-Us has registered any lobbyists recently?

Hoist by their own...

...politically-correct petard...
Surely to gawd... there's at least one politically-ambitious, lefthanded, lesbian, vision-impaired Zanzibarian pipefitter in the whole of Lotus Land.

Breaking from that boring ol' tradition...

...of celebrating the first New Year baby...

Barely two hours into 2011, as celebrations were winding down in the city’s Entertainment District, the deadly altercation erupted in the area of Queen St. W. and Portland St., Toronto Police say.

**********

UPDATE: Arrest made in homicide #1

Toronto Police have charged 27-year-old Toronto resident Luke Heath with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the death of Brian Takahashi, the city’s first homicide of 2011.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"This actually represents a per capita DROP in the homicide rate."

Yes, Mike... I'm sure the families of the folks who were attacked will take comfort from your observation...

The murder victim’s name was not immediately released. But friends and family identified him as Brian Takahashi, 20, of Campbellville, a village west of Milton.

New Year’s Eve also saw a man shot in the ankle just south of the murder scene on King St. W. And 24 hours before the slaying an 18-year-old man was stabbed at Peter and Adelaide Sts.

**********

RELATED: Lies, damned lies & statistics

In 1962, there were slightly more than 200 violent crimes committed per 100,000 population. In 2007, that number spiked to 930 violent crimes per 100,000 population. In other words, we are a much more violent society today than we were in recent history.

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Remember this phrase: "I was cleaning my guns and counting my ammo when all of a sudden...."

Happy New Year.

**********

FROM THE H.O.M. COMMENTS:

"This is exactly the sort of thing I would be doing when my hubby works nights. I find it difficult to sleep and since all the kids are abed, it is THE perfect time to do this chore. How fortuitous is that?"

Remember back when you were a kid...

...every New Year they used to pull out the ol' Geiger counters?
-- Yeah... me neither. -- In other Islamophobia news... wait a minute...

A bomb killed at least 21 people outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria early on New Year’s Day and the Interior Ministry said a foreign-backed suicide bomber may have been responsible.

A statement on an Islamist website posted about two weeks before the blast called for attacks on Egypt’s churches, listing among them the one hit.

And...

-- NIGERIA -- The explosion occurred at Mami market, a busy area where people congregate to socialise on the edge of the Sani Abacha army barracks but not in its militarised area.

Boko Haram, a radical sect which wants Islamic law throughout Nigeria, said it was behind the bombings in Jos on Dec. 24, which also wounded more than 100.

Fashion Crime

"This is not the first time he has hit a bank in Ottawa," Larouche said. "There is no way of saying for sure, but sometimes descriptions given by witnesses bear some similarity and a hijab is sort of out of the ordinary."

What people really mean when they say...

..."You can't fight City Hall."

That hint of an answer is found in what happens when intransigent bureaucracy (the federal Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, or INAC) meets stubborn and hypersensitive first nation, in this instance the Pikangikum band.

And what happens, as Ontario Superior Court Judge John dePencier Wright found, is … nothing.

**********

RELATED: I'm from the government...

...I'm here to save you...

The professional standards investigation found the employee, whose name it would not disclose, had spent 176 hours — about four and a half work weeks — on the Internet over a three-month period. A search of his CBSA e-mail account found he had used it to send and receive explicit descriptions and photos, including pictures of genitalia and sex acts.

“He exchanges e-mails with interested parties and gives detailed descriptions of himself, including his sexual organs,” the investigation report says.

CBSA officials are responsible for stopping obscene materials from entering the country. The agency often highlights its involvement in intercepting child pornography brought across the border.

Vote Liberal... I dare you

I'm with Mark the Mouth... I say we give each & every prisoner in federal lockup as much heroin as they want... every freakin' day of the week...

“We didn’t get into specifics,” said Liberal public safety critic Mark Holland when asked if his party would support needle exchanges or safe injection sites in prisons. “We’re simply saying to the government they have to do more.”

Heck, let's thrown in a Sunday special... say, amphetamines, tequila & hookers... just to break up the monotony.

Yup... there's a problem that's gonna cure itself doubletime

(h/t reader robert)

I'm just waiting for grisly photographs...

...of firefighters cutting mangled bodies out of cars to appear at pedestrian crossings... or on cases of beer. How about we start putting pictures of horribly burned people on the side of woodstoves?

Do they have dioramas of smelly, emaciated junkies at safe-injection sites? I mean, seriously... what kind of moron doesn't know that injecting/ingesting liberal doses of chemical poisons isn't good for you?

More to the point... isn't this type of self-destructive behaviour just nature's way of thinning out the herd? Why is it the taxpayer's responsibility to shell out billions of dollars annually to remediate this type of self-involved, self-inflicted immolation?

Oh, that's right... there's no such thing as personal responsibility anymore. It's all... "save me, oh wonderful government."

The larger question here, though... has to be... "Why would a truly Conservative government... a government that ostensibly respects the intelligence of the people... buy into this condescending propaganda shithole?"

And don't give me your sanctimonious "save the children" yip-yap. If your kid is an alcoholic, junkie, promiscuous, gang-bangin' fuckup... it isn't because the government let them down... it's because you failed as a parent.

If you're not prepared to put in the time and do the job properly... don't have children. It's that simple.

**********

RELATED: Something to think about...

...the next time you're stuck waiting in the local hospital emergency room for seven hours...

When the nurse asks him why he's using, he mumbles: “Experimentation, I suppose.” She doesn't ask if he's injected drugs before. She simply mixes up the stuff, ties off his unmarked arm and shows him how to find a good vein.

On a personal note... I bet Dalton McGuinty doesn't have to wait months to see a urologist.

Apparently... Barry knows better

-- WASHINGTON -- US President Barack Obama has bypassed the US Senate and directly appointed four new ambassadors, including Robert Ford, who will become the first US envoy to Syria since 2005.

In the most high-profile case, that of the new envoy to Syria, a number of senators objected because they believed sending an ambassador to the country would reward it for bad behavior.

The administration had argued that returning an ambassador to Syria after a five-year absence would help persuade Syria to change its policies regarding Israel, Lebanon and Iraq as well as its willingness to support extremist groups.

Of course... you mention Syria, the first words that come to anyone's mind are reasonable & accomodating.

Syria is designated a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the State Department.

**********

RELATED: Let's do the "Neutron Dance"

Here's the biggest legacy of the McDreamy administration... "live & don't learn."

Or...

...we could simply legislate 50% of the existing male directors into having sex-change operations...

A Liberal senator wants to use the power of Parliament to force women into the boardrooms of the nation.

The bill would require all publicly traded companies, banks, insurance companies and trust companies to have 50% of their board of directors made up of women.

Yup... let's just wave that magical left-bot wand... and smooth over all of life's inequities...

"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."

Uh-huh.

Here's the thing, Dalton...

Running a couple million dollars worth of healthcare commercials... isn't the same thing as actually providing healthcare. It's not what you say... it's what you do that counts.

Actually, let me be a little more specific than that. Today I took Mrs. Neo into Belleville so we could get the paperwork to apply for a SIN number for the boy. No big deal, right?

Wrong.

Now, how this works, in Belleville anyway... is that you take a number and go sit and wait to be called to the desk. Unfortunately, as is standard government practice, there are never enough front line clerks... so Mrs. N had a 30 minute wait... to pick up a piece of paper. I don't know why we were so naive, the dozens of poor sods sitting in the waiting area should have been a tip-off.

It gets better. Even though this place is called Service Ontario... they apparently are unable to actually provide the applications for something as esoteric as Social Insurance numbers.

When Mrs. N was impertinent enough to point out that the Service Ontario pamphlet she had taken from a nearby table and had been reading to pass the time said otherwise... well, that was just an unfortunate mistake.

So, even though the Liberals made a screamin' big deal about recently centralising all the government services in one location in downtown Belleville... there is apparently some other location that handles SIN numbers. Once again... they lied right to our faces.

As far as I'm concerned, they should actually call this place Disservice Ontario.

Sorry folks... just another reason... friends don't let friends vote Liberal.

**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"Asswipe. Fuck off with your torys are better, you're an idiot to fall for their bullshit."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 10:56 PM, December 29, 2010

Ah, yes... the much admired "you're a big poopyhead" defense.

What sort of deluded madmen...

...consider mass murder an appropriate response... to a cartoon?

-- Copenhagen -- During the arrests, Danish police found an assault rifle and silencer, ammunition, as well as plastic strips, which are often used by police as hand restraints.

All four suspects have Middle-Eastern or North African backgrounds.

Of course, to be fair... a lot of these folks come from unsophisticated medieval theocracies... wait a minute...

A survey of 600 Muslim students at 30 universities throughout Britain found that 32 per cent of Muslim respondents believed killing in the name of religion is justified.

A little something to think about...

...while you're enjoying that really cheap third world vacation...

Some ten unidentified gunmen on Thursday set Erika Gandara's home ablaze and torched two cars parked outside before abducting her, witnesses told the state of Chihuahua prosecutor's office.

Gandara was the last police officer in Guadalupe, located on the US-Mexico border some 60 kilometres south-east of Ciudad Juarez, after her colleagues either resigned and fled or were killed.

The town, population 9000, is in an area frequently used by traffickers to smuggle drugs into the United States.

Not your problem, right? You just want a little inexpensive downtime.

Nationwide, more than 28,000 people have been killed in drug gang violence since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed soldiers to battle the cartels in their strongholds in northern Mexico and along the Pacific coast.

Shame on you.

Somebody remind me...

...why exactly is it, we're all constantly sucking up to Quebec?

-- MONTREAL -- Attachment to Canada has waned dramatically among young Quebecers: only 18 per cent of those age 18-24 report strong feelings of attachment to the country — a cause for concern for the future of national unity, Jedwab said.

Seniors are the only age group where attachment to Canada is strong, with 49 per cent of those 65 and over describing themselves as strongly attached to the country.

Perhaps Quebec would do well to refocus a little of that "f@ck the anglos" anger...

Media reports have exposed allegations of bribery in some municipal administrations and corruption surrounding the awarding of government contracts in the construction industry.

It has been alleged that construction and engineering firms have funnelled thousands of dollars to the governing Liberals using false names.

More Criminal Masterminds

"A Florida woman has given new meaning to the term 'internal medicine'."

I'm sorry... a freak accident is when...

...a 747 drops out of the sky and flattens your entire family... and as tragic as this incident is... it was, unfortunately... entirely preventable, and more to the point, entirely predictable...

In fact... just last month, the very same thing happened to a man entering an underground parking garage in downtown Toronto. The simple fact is, you never, never, ever... lean out of the door of your car while the transmission is engaged. The risk of falling out of the vehicle... or, as in these two very recent cases, being crushed in the door opening is a very clear & present danger.

Perhaps the media, instead of trying to portray this thing as an "Act of God"... might alert people to the actual issue here. Whatever happened to... "if it saves just one life?"

Oh right... that wouldn't sell papers, would it?

I'm from the Globe & Mail...

...I'm here to save you...

What's life without a dream, huh?

As comedian Chris Rock once famously said...

"You're not supposed to go to jail, you low-expectation-havin' motherf@cker!"

-- "Plenty of people got beat up, shot and stabbed in 2010 but there were no killings. The last year that was murder-free was 1963." --

**********

RELATED: The wild, wild west

Remember, you were a kid... people used to steal cars at gunpoint?

Yeah... me neither...

Mounties in Richmond, B.C are warning the public to be vigilant after a series of recent armed carjackings in parking lots.

Brits dodge Christmas bullet

Coming soon to a big city near you...

-- LONDON -- A covert surveillance operation was carried out by police and MI5 which involved following suspects and recording conversations, the court heard.

Prosecutor Piers Arnold said Trafalgar Square was visited and then Westminster, where a mobile phone was allegedly held up and pointed at Big Ben.

Surveillance teams then followed their quarries to the South Bank and the London Eye giant ferris wheel, which was being ‘observed intently’.

In fifty years...

...we'll all be chicks.

**********

RELATED: Thank you comment moderation

"Scratch a shrieking right whinger and find a douchebag praying for the big one so he can say 'I TOLD YOU SO'."
Posted by Moo Moo to halls of macadamia at 8:14 PM, December 27, 2010

Grow a pair and blog under your real name Nancy.
Posted by Johnny Boy to halls of macadamia at 8:16 PM, December 27, 2010

Of course, Nonny... you irony-deprived dumbass. Apparently I've rented a large permanent space smack between your ears.

And that "nancy-boy" thing? That's your best shot? Seriously?

Anyway, Nonny... I'm afraid compassionate, intellectual Zorpheus already beat you to the punch. Funny how all you so-called liberals think calling somebody a fag is the absolute worst insult imaginable.

I'll spare everyone the other dozen nonsensical taunts (these two were the pick of the litter) my biggest fan posted in the space of five minutes.

I'm thinkin', maybe there's a good reason...

...Canada has that stringent protocol for foreign trained medical doctors...

Officials in Brazil have now launched an investigation into how medical chiefs failed to realise the woman was alive and not dead when they sent her body for burial.

[...]

You can say it with flowers...

...or, hey... wait a minute...

The 7-foot-tall statue of 1st Lt. Neil Bucken holding an actual red rose arrived late Wednesday at his relatives' Staten Island home, a day before his 11-year-old sister's birthday, and in the nick of time for Christmas.

"Half the family was all bawling their eyes out," said his mom, Donna McBrien.

Stand by for breaking news...

...on gravity holding shit down...

-- MONTREAL -- Preteens dabbling in vandalism, bullying and truancy are more likely to be in trouble with the law as teenagers, according to a new study by Montreal researchers.

The more troubled kids – the ones who regularly stole, destroyed property, bullied other kids and got into fights – were found to be six times more likely to sell drugs, eight times more likely to be arrested, nine times more likely to join a gang and 11 times more likely to carry a weapon as teenagers than their peers.

Hmmm... if only we were able to identify that particular troubling demographic and target it with all our resources.

The youngest killed by bullets in 2010 were Sealand White and Devonte Gondwe-Prosper — both 15.

Oh, right... I forgot.

We're not even allowed to talk about this stuff.

**********

RELATED: C'mon... spit it out

"Congratulations Ms. Chi, as the leading Oriental and homosexual candidate we are pleased to offer you employment..."

(via sda)

When you absolutely, positively have to...

...say some damn thing or another...

When he was asked Sunday if he is willing to bring down the Harper government if the budget does not reflect Liberal priorities, he replied: “Of course, yes.”

But Mr. Ignatieff held open the possibility that he might also support the Conservative financial plan.

Way'ta audible, Peyton.

Bright lights, big city...

...Merry Christmas to you...

A Christmas killing at a west-end highrise brings the city’s murder count to an even 60 for the year.

Gunshots rang out shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday at 200 Woolner Ave., off Jane St. a block north of St. Clair Ave. W.

**********

RELATED: Paging Inspector Clouseau

-- TORONTO -- More than 100 firefighters were needed early Monday to tame a five-alarm blaze at a west end house that had been targeted in a drive-by shooting and a Molotov cocktail attack earlier this month.

The flames broke out around 10pm Sunday night at 489 Winona Dr., near Vaughan Road and Oakwood Avenue.

Peace on Earth...

...goodwill towards... wait a minute...

Meanwhile... in other Christmas news... the professional journalists at the Globe & Mail are confronted with yet another mystery.

Here's a hint, fellas... I'm guessin' it wasn't Colonel Mustard in the library.

It's been a quiet week here at the Halls

This is, I believe... the first time in four years that I've taken a week away from the keyboard... and it has, apparently, done me no lasting harm. You can get too used to screaming into the whirlwind, I think.

Anyway... the stockings are hung and we await the hopefully not-too-early appearance of The Boy. It seems like just yesterday we were rocking his world with toy trains or a tricycle... but these days he leans heavily towards consumer electronics.

So... to all of you who sometimes stop by to share a moment... Merry Christmas... and all the best to you and yours.

**********

BOXING DAY UPDATE:

Because Neophyte continues to be both a civilised human being and a solid A-B student... he & I got up at 05:00 today... ran down into Belleville and iced his Christmas cake with an Ipod Touch.

Time for ol' Dad to head back to bed.

Never a Taser around...

...when you really need one.

Another Canadian falls

Cpl. Steve Martin, 24, from 3rd Battalion Royal 22e Regiment, was killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED, while on foot patrol early Saturday afternoon, local time.

The bombing that killed Cpl. Martin preceded a suicide attack Saturday on the vehicle of an Afghan district chief in the Canadian area of operations.

The attack on District Governor Hamdullah Nazik happened when a car packed with explosives tried to ram his vehicle as he drove home. The bomber missed and plowed into bystanders killing two people, including a child, and wounding 11 others.

That ignorant, homicidal George W...

...wait a minute...

Nearly 60 people have been killed in a series of attacks by US drones in the past 24 hours in Pakistan's Khyber tribal district, officials say.

At least 50 died in three unmanned air strikes in the Tirah Valley, a day after seven others were killed nearby.

**********

FROM THE BREITBART COMMENTS:

"I'm still sitting in front of the TV waiting for CSPAN to broadcast the health care debate. Anyone know what time it will start?"

Write your own headline

-- OTTAWA -- Daniel Maxheleau, the paranoid schizophrenic who stabbed his parents and sister to death five years ago, wants to keep information about his latest transgressions secret.

The 35-year-old was supposed to appear before the review board Friday for a "restriction of liberty" hearing to determine whether he is fit to be living on his own.

But Maxheleau was so anxious about appearing before the board and members of the press, he refused to appear, instead opting to sit in the double-locked psychiatric unit where he's lived since Nov. 3.

Anxiety, huh? That's what we're calling it now? What does that mean exactly?

Police returned him to the Royal Ottawa Hospital after he was spotted walking naked and screaming in the street near his Findlay Creek home in Ottawa's south end.

Wait, wait... gimme a second here.

Never mind the naked psychotic rage thing... this guy slaughtered his entire family and he's out on the street in less than five years?

Seriously?

Two words, Mikey... blue...crush...

And, seriously... "ride the wave"?!?

You seem to be forgetting that you're herding the sharks that created it...

“I don’t think it was an anti-government vote. It’s a vote that says, give me what I paid for,” Ignatieff said during the interview in Stornoway, his official Ottawa residence.

Uh-huh... you mean like that ADSCAM thing?

You go with that.

I dare you.

Hey, Quebec... if you do ever separate...

...would you mind taking British Columbia with you?

-- "A University of Victoria study recommends hiking alcohol prices in the province, while giving homeless people controlled access to free booze." --

**********

SIDENOTE: Ever bought heroin?

Sure you have... if you're a Canadian taxpayer.

Three Vancouver heroin addicts have started getting their fix for free -- as the first participants in a government-sponsored study on the effects of controlling junkies' supply.

As participants in the new North American Opiate Medication Initiative, the three got their first taxpayer-funded fix on Monday.