The Land of Misfit Toys

I wonder what starving people in Africa would make of a toy that costs more than their whole village makes in a year.

The Playstation 3 game console will be released this week in North America, to the delight of teenaged boys and grown men who don’t wish to be burdened with a sexual relationship.

In a related story, now we’ll never get him out of our basement, your mother said.

Deprived of male companionship, the continent’s women are expected to spend the coming weekend transforming society into a utopian paradise that will instantly collapse when their boyfriends or husbands come up from the basement in four days for more dip.

I like capitalism, but every so often...

Technorati Tags: Playstation 3, decadence, Africa

Great Britain - Zero... Junkies - 1

Maybe Sharia Law is the answer... for the Brits. It's gotta be head & shoulders above this lunacy.

Prisoners are set to be paid compensation because they were forced to stop taking drugs in jail.

Drugs charity DrugScope said the group of six inmates and former inmates who used heroin and other opiates were on the verge of settling out of court with the Prison Service after suing the Home Office.

File this one under... somebody's definitely on drugs.

Technorati Tags: European Convention on Human Rights, Sharia Law, heroin

Police Association backs Conservatives

Remember all the fuss judges and lawyers kicked up last week, about the Conservative proposal to have a police representative on the secret committees that select candidates for judgeships?

A spokesman for law enforcement in Canada had this to say...

The head of the Canadian Professional Police Association says he's astounded by the criticism.

"I was very surprised - shocked, even - to see that some people would prefer remaining in their ivory towers," association president Tony Cannavino said Monday.

"These (officers) will bring to the table an important, practical perspective on the justice system... "We would enrich the discussion. It's an advantage and those crying wolf today will see within a year, a year and half, that the change was beneficial."

Technorati Tags: Canadian Professional Police Association, Stephen Harper, Liberal Pork

Cherrypicking the news

What the Star left out of the Le Devoir column.

My translation... With its debate about recognizing Quebec as a nation skidding into the ditch, the Liberal Party of Canada is in the process of letting its last best chance of escaping its isolation in Quebec slip through its fingertips.

via Norman Spector

Technorati Tags: Toronto Star, Liberal Party, politics of self delusion

The will of Allah

Or just a metaphor for the rickety Palestinian pseudo-state?

A wooden stage collapsed during a memorial for Yasser Arafat on Sunday, lightly wounding 14 people, including the sister of the late Palestinian leader.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't everything in the world supposed to unfold only because it is the will of Allah? What was he thinking here?

Technorati Tags: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian, will of Allah

Bravo for life's little ironies

You can wish upon a star...

The program Sunday Morning on CBS had a segment today on the movie Bobby which had a quote in it from Robert Kennedy. "We are," he said, "a nation of compassion, a nation of peace, not a nation of war."

Kennedy was shot, I was reminded, by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian.

Of course, you can also try to reason with a cat... for all the good it will do.

Read the rest... at Meso West.

Technorati Tags: Robert Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan, politics of self delusion

The Party of Polls

The Liberal party loves polls. They love spending taxpayer money on polls.

Perhaps if they didn't cherrypick which polls they really loved, they'd learn something valuable.

While the question has spawned a predictable blizzard of spin from the various Liberal leadership camps, they are all in for a cold shower from a new SES Research public opinion poll conducted this past week for Sun Media.

The SES-Sun poll asked Canadians from across the country how they voted in the last election, and which of the four front-running leadership candidates would make them more inclined — or less — to support the Liberals on the next federal ballot.

Turns out none of these guys are setting the world on fire. When your leadership slate includes Scott "Blackberry" Brison and Joe "Dirty Tricks" Volpe, it tends to dampen voter enthusiasm a little. It looks like all they've really got for ammunition, is that tired, old, scary Conservative agenda hype.

That may not be the best strategy, now that Canadians have had a chance to see Stephen Harper in action.

Greg Weston sums it up for us.

Bottom line: A party that runs its B Team for the leadership shouldn’t be shocked to be second with voters.

Technorati Tags: Liberal Party, Liberal Leadership Race, polling

Third Liberal appointee turfed at IRB

I don't know what I find more disturbing... the lying, cheating and stealing... or the lecherous behaviour.

First there was Yves Bourbonnais and Steve Ellis.

Now here's a third allegation of sexual misconduct, by yet another Liberal appointee.

Lloyd Fournier was escorted from the tribunal's Toronto premises in September and told he could no longer adjudicate asylum claims following an alleged incident of sexual harassment of a Spanish interpreter, The Globe and Mail has learned.

Mr. Fournier, appointed to the board in June of 2001 by then-immigration minister Elinor Caplan...

According to reports, he was a onetime vice-president of the Brampton Liberal Association who also sought the party's federal nomination in his riding.

How will the Liberal Party escape the stench of corruption when their patronage appointments keep turning out like this?

Of course, it's less surprising as time goes on. It's what we've come to expect from the party that won't even wipe the Volpe off it's shoes.

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SIDENOTE: Rocco Galati is the lawyer acting for Mr. Fournier.

Now where have I heard that name before?

Technorati Tags: Liberal Party, IRB, Lloyd Fournier

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

The attestation papers of Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

Within three weeks, 45,000 Canadians had rushed to join up. John McCrae was among them. He was appointed brigade-surgeon to the First Brigade of the Canadian Forces Artillery with the rank of Major and second-in-command.

Just before his departure, he wrote to a friend:

It is a terrible state of affairs, and I am going because I think every bachelor, especially if he has experience of war, ought to go. I am really rather afraid, but more afraid to stay at home with my conscience. (Prescott. In Flanders Fields: The Story of John McCrae, p. 77)

Technorati Tags: Remembrance Day, Canada, Canadian Armed Forces

We remember

They stood up and fought for us. Today we honour the memory and the sacrifice of our brave veterans.

After the Great War, Canada was never the same. More than 600,000 of a population of barely eight million served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Of those, 60,000 were killed and another 154,000 wounded.

Do you know someone who enlisted in World War I?

Search the WWI CEF database

Do you know a Canadian killed while serving his country?

Search Commonwealth War Graves database

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

Technorati Tags: Remembrance Day, Canada, Canadian Armed Forces

I've said it before

I'll say it again. There will be no Iranian nuclear bomb.

Or, to be more precise, it'll only ever happen over Israel's blackened smoking corpse.

Sanctions against Iran are unlikely to work, so Israel must be prepared to thwart Teheran's drive for a nuclear capability "at all costs," the newly installed Deputy Minister of Defense Ephraim Sneh has told The Jerusalem Post.

"I am not advocating an Israeli preemptive military action against Iran, and I am aware of all of its possible repercussions," Sneh stressed. "I consider it a last resort. But even the last resort is sometimes the only resort."

He also said, "I prefer fewer declarations and more deeds."

In playgrounds and geopolitical circles, that's called, 'a line in the sand'.

Technorati Tags: Ephraim Sneh, Iran, Nuclear War

Vladimir Palanuik is dead

Who hasn't watched 'Shane' at least once in their lifetime?

And anybody who can do one-handed pushups at all... never mind at age 71, gets my respect.

"I am deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of my dear friend Jack Palance, a true movie icon," Crystal said in a statement Friday. "Winning the Oscar for that movie and the one-arm push-ups he did on the show will link us together forever, and for that I am grateful."

Technorati Tags: Jack Palance, Vladimir Palanuik, one-handed pushups

There's just one problem

It's called the Senate.

So, the Conservatives put together a bill that directly addresses the failure of the government to be accountable to the citizenry... and what happens?

The Liberal dominated Senate has 150 things it doesn't like about the Federal Accountability Act.

That's right... 150 amendments, at least one of which coincidentally, puts more taxpayer money in the Liberal Party's apparently bottomless pockets.

The Liberals approved amendments that increase the maximum political donation from the proposed $1,000 cap by the government to $2,000. The Conservatives have accused the Grits of holding up the bill to maintain the current $5,400 limit for their upcoming political convention.

As well, the Liberal senators have rejected the government’s wish to create one ethics commissioner for both houses rather than continuing to have a separate one for the red chamber.

These unelected windbags from the Retirement Home for Political Hacks & Bagmen have more nerve than Dick Tracy.

The Liberal senator said the legislation reflects the new government’s current culture of distrust that revolves around “naming, blaming and shaming.”

Good grief... let's get rid of these grifters.

Technorati Tags: Stephen Harper, Conservative Party, Federal Accountability Act

What do you call 100 lawyers...

Naw, too easy... everybody knows that one.

Judges and lawyers are pissed off that your police force could have a presence on the secret judicial advisory committees that choose candidates for judgeships.

Yeah, let's not have any input from the dirty, plebeian footsoldiers in the never-ending war on crime. What do cops know anyway, compared to, well... judges & lawyers?

Beverley McLachlin, Canada's Chief Justice, along with a powerful council of the country's top judges issued an unprecedented rebuke yesterday to Justice Minister Vic Toews for hatching a plan to arbitrarily change the way judges are chosen.

So what's the beef here... and more importantly, how is this arbitrary?

It's like the old saw about gender equality in other occupations... if my house is on fire, I don't give a crap about the male/female thing... I just want the biggest, strongest, most stubborn S.O.B. goin' up that ladder to pull my kid out the window.

Successive governments have appointed judges from those who are merely qualified, ignoring some of those ranked as highly qualified.

It is far too easy for marginal candidates to be ranked as qualified, Mr. Russell said. "Right now, they just screen out the utterly incompetent," he said. "If you are in Kingston Penitentiary or something like that, you don't make the list, but that's about it."

Most of those pushing for reform insist that the government should be obliged to choose only from the pool of candidates ranked as very qualified.

Similarly, I want the most qualified candidate here, not some sleazy, politically connected hack, overseeing the system that metes out justice to criminals and more importantly, for victims. I think a representative from the enforcement side of the equation adds something valuable to the mix.

And that's what Justice Minister Vic Toews thinks too.

UPDATE: Steve Janke has more

A respected constitutional lawyer says her bid to become a federal judge was scotched because she "pissed off" prominent Liberal "godfathers" and the old boys' network that runs the legal profession.

Technorati Tags: judicial advisory committee, Supreme Court, Vic Toews

I'm speechless... and amazed

That this lunatic and his equally irrational lawyer thought they could justify this in a Canadian Courtroom.

On the other hand, the Liberal Court Challenge Program gave the vote to Paul Bernardo & Clifford Olsen.. so who knows?

Join the discussion at the Broom.

Allah made me do it

The Supreme Court of Canada declined an invitation on Thursday to consider whether Muslim cultural and religious beliefs in ‘’family honour'’ should be taken into account as justification for receiving a lighter sentence for killing an unfaithful wife.

Technorati Tags: honour killing, Supreme Court, liberal malaise

WHO ARE THEY PROTECTING?

The NDP and the Liberals oppose Stephen Harper's 'get tough on crime' bill. They think it's too draconian. On criminals, that is. Like the murderers of a 15 year old girl. 

Here's a prime example of who the Libs & Dippers are enabling with their catch and release mentality.

A man arrested in the Yonge St. shootout that left Toronto teen Jane Creba dead was under three gun bans following convictions at the time of the Boxing Day incident, court documents show. Court documents show Valentine has been in and out of court since 2004 on drugs and weapons charges.

Someone tell me... how does a 2 billion dollar rifle registry (remember... handguns have required registration since the 1930's) that targets farmers, hunters and target shooters, stop a piece of shit career thug like Jeremiah Valentine? 

Do the right thing... for Jane Creba. Vote Conservative.

Iggy nation

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UPDATE: Voters not happy with Lib "nation" idea

In a telephone survey of 1,000 people conducted this week, respondents were more than twice as likely - 40.4% versus 16.3% - not to vote Liberal in the next election if the party symbolically recognized Quebec as a nation.

"I think the fact of the matter is, outside Quebec, it's just not on," said SES Research president Nik Nanos.

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There has been much brouhaha over Michael Ignatieff saying he recognized the “nation” of Quebec. But maybe Iggy just really likes the idea of nations.

After all, his youth web site is www.iggynation.ca. This all raises some serious questions that may wreak havoc on our constitution.

Can someone be part of the Iggynation, but keep Canada as their country? Martha Hall Findlay will ask how many women are in Iggynation. If there are simply a lot of men in Iggynation, then Scott Brison might be interested in coming over.

Technorati Tags: Michael Ignatieff, Iggynation, Liberal Party

Boys WILL be boys

There are, of course, exceptions to the rule, but I know I've read somewhere that the most significant influence in a young child's life is the same-sex parent. That makes perfect sense to me. As a general rule, boys model themselves on their father, as do girls on their mother.

So it's no huge surprise, to me anyway, that if kids are separated by gender, they tend to do better at academics.

TRAIL, B.C. — Grade 7 boys and girls appear to do better in elementary school if they're separated by gender, an elementary school principal says. Girls and boys in Grade 7 at Glenmerry elementary have been separated for three years.

The students' Foundation Skills Assessment scores have been rising and exceed district and provincial levels, said principal Kere MacGregor.

This will no doubt upset the applecart of rabid Andrea Dworkin disciples, but anyone who's had children knows that boys and girls are hardwired differently, right from the get-go.

It's hard to imagine, in oh-so politically correct Canada, that anything will be done to take advantage of this finding.

And it's our children who will suffer.

Technorati Tags: education, Foundation Skills Assessment, gender politics

Hail to the Chief

Looks like there could be more First Nations fireworks at another building site in Ontario. I sure hope the Liberals don't decide to rush in there with another multi-million dollar taxpayer bailout.

The chief of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte is appealing for calm in a dispute over who owns land slated for a $30 million-plus housing development in Deseronto. The Chief of the band in question is trying to keep a lid on the situation.

As the Mohawks enter federally-led talks regarding the planned subdivision, Chief R. Donald Maracle asked the community “remain peaceful and patient” in a notice sent out late Tuesday.

Remember Dalton, fifty million dollars here, fifty million there... pretty soon you're talkin' serious money.

LAST WORD: Speaking of Taxpayer's money

Given the recent MPAC flim-flammery of Dalton McLiar and his minions, I did some surfing and found the list of McSquinty promises (copied in at the bottom of this post) at the “50Plus” bulletin board.

I don’t know about you, but the big ones for me are:

- No tax increases - followed immediately by the Health Premium/tax.
- No tax increases (by him) - but new powers to Toronto for Miller to raise taxes.
- Shut down coal-fired electricity generating plants by 2007- Ha, Ha, Ha.
- Shorten wait times - does anyone believe this?
- More family doctors - in fact, there’s less, and the trend is worsening sharply.
- Ensure cleaner air - until the next smog alert.
- Give real legal rights to victims of crime - sure, any day now.

And, my all-time favourite, to resign if he breaks any of these promises.

Technorati Tags: Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, First Nations, aboriginal

Your tax dollars at, well... eternal rest

Another reason to scrap the Bureau of Indian Affairs and bring these people into the larger Canadian community.

When are we gonna stop the insanity?

OTTAWA, TORONTO -- Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice says there is a good reason why the vast majority of homes in Pikangikum have no running water and toilets: He says it is the custom of residents of the remote Ojibwa community to bury their loved ones in the family backyard, making it difficult to install water and sewage pipes without disturbing graves.

There is a water plant, but only 20 of the community's 387 houses are hooked up to it, leaving the rest without water and sewage facilities.

The large blue pipes that were supposed to connect the rest of the houses to the water plant have sat discarded in fields around the reserve since 2001, when work on various projects ground to a halt.

How about we just go with one law, one people?

We could call them Canadians.

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UPDATE: 9 Nov 2006 - Liberal MP Roger Valley checks in

"I've always been worried that these burial sites are going to interfere with some of the future plans of the community," he said. "I'm going to go there and ask that very specific question: Are there instances here you can show me where we are not allowed to bring in the water and sewer pipes because of this, and how do we deal with this?"

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Technorati Tags: Pikangikum, First Nations, aboriginal