Uncommon sense

"There's virtually nothing that a Conservative immigration minister can do without eliciting charges of being anti-immigrant or xenophobic from the Liberals and the NDP and I think that's really unfortunate," said Kenney.

"One of the things we should recognize in Canada is that there's a very broad political consensus in favour of immigration. The reality is this: our record is much better than the Liberals on this issue. They imposed a $1,000 right-of-landing fee on every immigrant in 1995. We cut it in half.

"When the Liberals took power in 1993, they inherited a backlog from the Mulroney government of about 40,000 immigration applications. The Liberals drove that up to 800,000 and they drove the processing times from an average of six months to more than five years.

They froze settlement funding, whereas our government has tripled settlement funding and so I would argue theirs was a record of neglect.

Therefore, I don't take criticisms from them on this very seriously."

Read it all.

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RELATED: The more things "hopenchange"...

In turbulent times, it's good to know some things never change.

After a week in which President Obama thanked himself for inviting him to the White House, compared AIG executives to suicide bombers, and did the first Presidential retard joke on national TV, I was impressed to find that Slate is bravely keeping up its Bushism Of The Day feature.

Four more years!

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What us knuckle-draggin' Neocons...

...can learn from the compassionate, intellectual left.

You wanna rebut accusations of anti-semitism... hey, just trot out another stereotype...
Geez... I hate to think what Zee's got in his back pocket... a little Amos and Andy?

(swept up @ dmb)

The Web Police "gets all Lucy"...

...on her ass... Connie Fournier has the latest...

I was just talking to an officer from the Kingston City Police. Apparently, Richard Warman has contacted them and asked them to investigate Mark and me because Edward Kennedy was not banned for comments he made about Warman.

The only way Edward Kennedy could be more open about his identity is if he had a google map to his house in his signature line.

He has been open about his involvement with the Landowner's Association, he writes letters to the editor to the local papers, and he is well-known in local political circles.

An interesting tactic by Stormin' Warman. You get cut loose by the HRC's... I guess you gotta get creative. Hard to believe though, the local cops were so easily suckered...

I find it astounding that Richard Warman would try to pull Mark and me into his dispute with Edward Kennedy, when Edward Kennedy is such an accessible public person.

Maximum Disruption reaches a new level.

Hey Connie... just watch out for those tasers.

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Because Trudeau, Mulroney...

...Chretien and Martin just weren't enough...

"Quebecers do not deserve to be in a permanent opposition in Ottawa. Their place is in power," Ignatieff said, pausing for applause.

"The time has come for Quebecers to get their place back in Ottawa."

Thus spake the Puffin King... you know... the guy who didn't live in Canada for how many decades?

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FURTHER READING:

Wanna know what else the four musketeers had in common?

They were all solidly wired in... at one point or another... to Quebec's Power Corporation.

Chretien let him cool his jets for two and a half hours in the foyer before having him ushered in. The commissioner was looking like a loose cannon, but Chretien had to be extremely careful about what he said and how he said it. The Desmarais connection was as touchy a subject as there could be.

Chretien's predecessor, Brian Mulroney, was back working with the Desmarais family on Power Corp.'s international board of advisers.

Chretien did not even risk raising the family name.

A highlight of the book is Palango's take on the Maher Arar affair. It knocked me on my ass.

Pick up the book and get a look at the "sausage factory" of Canadian politics... and policing.

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RELATED: Sidewinder who?

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Sonny Bono Syndrome

"If it saves just one millionaire celebrity..."

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Oh c'mon...

You really thought their only problem was that they were a bloodthirsty, medieval theocracy?

Give yourself a shake.

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Paging Premier McSlippery

SAFETY BREAK!!!

Nobody waxes... nobody gets hurt...

“It's huge,” she said, adding that her customers don't think their bikini lines are anyone's business but their own. “It's just not right.”

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Who gets to be the lucky fellow to inspect the ladies for illegal Brazilian wax jobs?"

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Blaze on

"The Cat came back... the very next day"...

Funny how that works.

I guess it's all fun and games until somebody loses a secret identity.

Yeah, CC you dumbstick... come and get me.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I was surprized that CC would comment on BCF's "outing", given that he's very protective of his own identity."

"It just gives an excuse for those who loath him (and they are legion) to determine and publish his identity."

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Toronto "RED" Star...

...reports on "disputes" in the big city...

A 27-year-old man was taken to hospital following a shooting in Scarborough early this morning. The victim was not being cooperative at this point and no suspects have been identified, police said.

And I'm actually a little surprised they're not calling this one a "tiff."

Two teenagers were taken to hospital with stab wounds following a fight in north Toronto Friday night. No suspects have been identified but several people were seen running from the scene.

Well, at least this time they didn't try to blame it on the "racist cops."

Your daily bird cage liner.

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LONDONISTAN CALLING

Seriously... who knew?

" -- LONDON -- Some people are attracted to donkeys but that does not mean it is right.”

Well, Anjem... I've gotta tell ya... that's way more information than I was lookin' for.

I suppose it's too much to hope you're gonna stop right there.

And he darkly hinted that Britain faces further attacks, saying: “We will keep calling for the truth until it is established or we are killed.”

But he clammed up when quizzed about the £277 a week he and his wife receive in jobless and housing benefits.

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Four Canadians killed

...in Afghanistan...

-- KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- Two separate explosions claimed the lives of four Canadian soldiers Friday as they took part in a massive military operation aimed at disrupting the Taliban before the start of what is predicted to be a particularly deadly fighting season.

Fighting season? What fighting?

These donkeyheads simply plant explosive booby traps that kill far more of their muslim brethren... including innocent women and children... than their perceived enemy.

The fact is, every time the brave "holy warriors" stand and fight, they get shredded into applesauce.

All of the soldiers who were killed were members of the Third Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment based in Petawawa, Ont. which is due to return to Canada in the coming weeks.

The dead have been identified as Master Corporal Scott Francis Vernelli, 28, Corporal Tyler Crooks, 24, Trooper Jack Bouthillier, 20, and Trooper Corey Joseph Hayes, 22.

They will be remembered.

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Obama Whitehouse strangely silent...

...on "pushing Israel into the sea"...

Mr Obama's message was released to coincide with the festival of Nowruz, when Iranians mark the arrival of spring.

In it, President Obama said he wanted "to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations."

And Iran, as usual, was quick to respond...

Ayatollah Khamenei said world powers had been convinced they could do nothing to halt the progress Iran was making on its nuclear programme.

Yeah... good luck with that, genius.

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RELATED: Making friends wherever he goes

New Whitehouse policy... "Hire the handicapped... they're fun to watch."

-- ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Special Olympics Michigan president said Friday she'd welcome the opportunity to send the nonprofit's top bowler to the White House.

Kolan McConiughey, who is cognitively impaired, has bowled five perfect games since 2005, said Special Olympics Michigan President Lois Arnold.

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It takes a village...

...full of idiots...

“In sum, I wasn’t the extremist radical; they were. I wasn’t the one abridging ‘human rights’, they were. I wasn’t the fringe element who needed political ‘re-education’ about our country’s values; they were.

I wasn’t a humourless crank; they were — as they proved en masse when they hit me with more than 20 vengeance lawsuits, human rights complaints and complaints to the law society to have me disbarred.

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These are a few of her...

...favorite things...

I just can’t imagine feeling this way about Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton, can you? Neither seemed to be physically in love with herself the way Michelle is.

No wonder her body lends itself so nicely to political myth.

And who would actually commit such nonsense to paper?

Ms Quan has been hailed as “the only chick-lit writer to discuss indentured labour... and the proper purse in which to carry a dildo.”

Okay... that explains a few things.

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Oh, c'mon... there's so much local talent

"Performers and vendors are invited to be part of the Deseronto Waterfront Family Festival June 20."

Recommended dress is "Kevlar & Tails".

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RELATED: Yeah right... the racist system...

A 16-year-old faces nine charges including two counts of criminal negligence causing death in relation to the drug-related deaths of two teenage girls from the Paul First Nation, Stony Plain RCMP announced Thursday.

The male youth, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was arrested and charged Wednesday night.

He is from the Paul First Nation west of Edmonton, police said.

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Hoist by her own...

...niqāb...

The West Vancouver resident converted to Islam after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and runs a website, Jihad Unspun, that says it provides information “devoid of the constraints of mainstream media.”

Or "the constraints of civilisation", huh Bev?

In'shallah, baby.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I wish her luck, maybe some of her hippy friends will come through for her."

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Which is just about...

...as many Canadians... as have died from being tasered - EVER - *

More cheap shots...

...from the sheep seats...

Opposition MPs criticized Breitkreuz's choice to attend saying it was an insensitive decision as Toronto faces problems with guns on the streets.

On Thursday, CSSA Executive Director Tony Bernardo told CTV News that his organization was withdrawing its invitation to Breitkreuz.

Bernardo said the CSSA was sorry that the incident has caused embarrassment to Breitkreuz.

What on earth does this event have to do with urban street thuggery?

Did Gray Breitkreuz even indicate that he was aware of this raffle?

And guess what guys, even if he was... there's just a bit of a difference between legally owning a gun... and shooting someone with a gun.

"I guess if we were a camera club we'd give away a camera, if we were a car club we'd give away a car -- but we're not. We're a shooting association and we're raffling a firearm," Bernardo told CTV.ca in a phone interview.

"It's a legal firearm being raffled to legal, licensed owners. What's the problem?"

You get that right?

Good grief.

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RELATED: Apparently, to everyone's surprise...

...not a single Member of Parliament was involved...

The shooting occurred in a basement apartment in a house on Merritt described by neighbours as a suspected crack house.

"This area's bad," said one resident, who didn't give his name.

He said the house, owned by an older woman who rents out rooms, is notorious for suspected drug activity, with people coming and going at all hours.

And yet another murder in Lotusland...

-- VANCOUVER -- Another man has been killed in a shooting in Metro Vancouver.

The RCMP say the man was found dead in a residential area of southeast Surrey early today.

It's too early to tell if the attack was gang or drug-related, but the death brings to 17 the number of people killed in almost 40 shootings in the region since January.

I sure hope CTV is checking Gary Breitkreuz' alibi.

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UPDATE: Of course... it's all on "Dirty Stevie"

"I have not a shadow of a doubt that this is being directed by the Prime Minister's Office," said Mark Holland, the Liberal public safety critic.

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LAST WORD: The incredible dishonesty of CityTv

In Canada, you can't simply "give" a pistol away to any Tom, Dick or Omar. Handguns have been classified as restricted weapons requiring special registration since the early 1930's.

This raffle would be restricted to people who have received special training and subsequent vetting by the police. These days, your spouse or live-in partner actually has to give their approval. If all that goes well... they are then issued a special "permit to possess" which has incredibly strict conditions. You are then allowed to take this gun straight to and from a registered range.

Another shining example of left-biased "media duplicity".

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Song sung Blue

The more I hear of Tim Hudak... the more I like the song...

"It took from Confederation to 2002 for the Ontario government to take the provincial budget to $68-billion. This year, thanks to Dalton McGuinty, government spending will skyrocket past $100-billion. And don’t forget, Ontario is already carrying a total debt burden of more than $170-billion."

"But I’m hard-pressed to find an Ontario family or business that is feeling twice as well-served or twice as well off."

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Perhaps a little "resistance training"...

...isn't a bad thing...

The decline of traditional news media will accelerate the rise of The Daily Me, and we'll be irritated less by what we read and find our wisdom confirmed more often.

The danger is that this self-selected "news" acts as a narcotic, lulling us into a self-confident stupor through which we will perceive in blacks and whites a world that typically unfolds in grays.

So perhaps the only way forward is for each of us to struggle on our own to work out intellectually with sparring partners whose views we deplore.

Think of it as a daily mental workout analogous to a trip to the gym; if you don't work up a sweat, it doesn't count.

Of course... you still have to get past the sweating, grunting narcissist over at the weight pile by the full-length mirror.

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RELATED: It's something Ezra's already doing

"I take it you're from the Liberal club, you've got Warren Kinsella's talking points."

"Good for you. Send me a memo, I'll look into it."

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LAST WORD: Horrible Neocon makes "retard joke"

Wait a minute...

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