Here's the real problem

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CRYSTAL BALL UPDATE: What murderers have in common

HOMICIDE IN CANADA REPORT, 2005 - Page 11:
“In 2005, almost two-thirds (64%) of adults (18 years or older) accused of homicide had a Canadian criminal record. Among those adults with a criminal history 62% had a prior conviction for a violent offence: 6 for homicide, 53 for robbery and 145 for another type of violent offence (such as assault).”

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Getting rid of the Young Offenders Act and prosecuting these little thugs will do more for Canadian society than harassing hunters and farmers about their rifles.

Montreal — Seven people are under arrest for allegedly ramming a stolen car into a Montreal police station. The incident follows identical episodes over the weekend at two police stations.

In one incident late Saturday night, a car with an object placed on the gas pedal smashed through the front window before coming to rest in an unoccupied police conference room. This time, the stolen Dodge Neon struck a police cruiser and a citizen's automobile before crashing into a wall behind the station.

The accused, who are between 16 and 20, were arrested in Montreal and the south shore community of Boucherville.

Who are these kids?

Technorati Tags: gun registry, Young Offenders Act, Youth Criminal Justice Act

The Jungle drums continue beating

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UPDATE: 9 Nov 2006 - Liberals "Catch & Release" Program

LONDON -- A man charged with shooting four people in London on Thanksgiving weekend has disappeared in Toronto one day before his release on bail was up for review, outraging politicians and London's top cop.

Ahmed Moalin-Mohamed, 23, is "another headache on our hands," said London police Chief Murray Faulkner, repeating his recent demands for changes to the justice system.

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UPDATE: 8 Nov 2006 - What about a Ladder Registry?

The single greatest threat to the physical wellbeing of Ontarians this month has nothing to do with violent crimes or robberies, according to a new Canadian Institute for Health Information report. The true menace, oddly enough, is ladder falls.

On average, 30 people a day were sent to hospital in Ontario last November after falling from a ladder, as people prepared their homes for winter or clean up their gardens, according CIHI.

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While I recognise that there are certainly distasteful political moves made regularly by all parties, to enhance the status of their particular political entity, I'm thinkin', "This one's gonna leave a mark".

Are the Conservatives climbing down from their oft-stated principles on this Gun Registry issue?

In 2005, there were 658 homicides in Canada. About a third of that number, or 222 people, were killed with a firearm.

They don't break out the classification of firearms involved, but I'm willing to bet you have a better chance of being killed by a plane falling out of the sky, than with a registered "restricted rifle".

Additionally, among the 478 solved homicides,half were killed by an acquaintance, a third were killed by a family member. Only 20 percent were killed by a stranger.

The biggest threat to a homicide victim, by far, is not a specific type of firearm... it is their family & friends. If you run with a gang, your numbers go way up. Big surprise, huh?

Will "restricted rifles" now be banned altogether?

Apparently, this is being presently being discussed by the Conservative government. It is not based on any real threat, but is a reaction to spree killer Kimveer Gill, who, like fellow madman Gamil Gharbi (who you probably know better as Marc Lepine), also gunned down a bunch of people in the province of Quebec.

So what do the numbers tell us about homicide? Well, for a start, that unregistered guns are the real threat... that's guns smuggled into the country which could never, ever actually be legally registered.

The second thing is that a goodly (and rising) number of these killings were committed by Young Offenders.

The vast majority of guns used in murders that were recovered by police agencies were not registered (83 per cent since 1997).

The youth homicide rate reached a peak in 2005, rising to its highest point in more than 10 years. A total of 65 youths aged 12 to 17 were accused of homicide in 2005, 21 more than in 2004. That’s despite a general decline of six per cent in 2005 in youth crime.

Making an issue out of restricted rifles, which are statistically insignificant, is exactly the same thing the Liberals did after Gharbi/Lepine killed those fourteen women at Ecole Poly-technique in Montreal.

It's smoke and mirrors that changes nothing in the real world.

This politically motivated sleight-of-hand could spell serious trouble for Stephen Harper, outside of the major urban centres. For many decidedly un-metrosexual Conservative Party supporters, taking a solid stand against the 2 billion dollar Farmer Bob Rifle Registry... is seen as an issue of "principle". The solution here, as they found out in Toronto, is more cops and more importantly, more targeted enforcement.

The afore-mentioned principle being that, to combat gun crime, you go after criminals, not the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding citizens, farmers, hunters, collectors and target shooters, who happen to own firearms.

"Restricted rifles", like handguns, are already heavily regulated. Legal owners of both these types of firearms have to take special training and jump through hoops to own them. That the process failed to weed out obvious lunatic Kimveer Gill, speaks to the failure of someone in the regulatory body, not the criminality of every person who owns a firearm.

Be that as it may, it now seems as though this contentious matter was not a rumour, or even a possible trial balloon, as postulated by some people earlier this week.

"Further to our telephone conversation, I can confirm that the government is currently in consultation regarding the possible reclassification of restricted firearms. This process is being conducted with Provincial, Territorial and Stakeholders across Canada. The intention is to improve Canada’s laws, enhancing public safety while keeping with our platform. Please note that this is only a consultation process.

I have requested more information from Hon. Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, and as soon as I am in receipt of same, I will be in touch with you.

Sincerely,

Elecia Elliott
PA to the Honourable David Emerson, PC, MP
Vancouver Kingsway

This ought to be interesting.

LAST WORD: Who cares about punishing criminals?

Obviously not the Opposition parties.

The Conservative government wants to bring in a series of escalating minimum jail terms of up to 10 years for gun crimes, targeted especially at offences committed with restricted weapons or by gang members.

But Toews faced a combined opposition of Liberal, Bloc Québécois and NDP MPs at the justice committee — who have already watered down the government's bid to restrict conditional sentences, including house arrest.

Technorati Tags: gun registry, Stephen Harper, politics of fear

The Mothership has crashed

In a disaster now being compared by hoary old lefties to the death of Che Guevara, the CBC website tilted too far over to the left this Monday, crushing on-duty propagandist cum technician, the vivacious left-handed, lesbian, albino gadabout Trixie Venomous.

There are a lot of pizza boxes and cola cans piled up around staffers at CBC’s web site, trying desperately to restore the CBC.ca web site after a network server decided to do a sudden, unscheduled disk check, rendering the site’s data unavailable.

Since midnight Monday, the motley crew of union apologists, transvestites and in-house media-zoids have reportedly been seen staggering around CBC headquarters, tearing at their clothes, frantically screaming, "I can't see... I'm blind", whilst occasionally stopping, dropping and rolling on the floor... vainly hoping that following some treasured tidbit of wisdom from their coddled childhoods will ease the unceasing torment.

Outside on the sidewalk, a smallish man wearing a black trenchcoat and sporting large plastic glasses with a fake mustache, who gave his name as Emperor Robert I, was grabbing strangers on the sidewalk and attempting to explain that the outage was the work of the notorious Blogging Tories.

"It's true, it's true", he cried, "It was a woman with seven terriers, I saw her."

Technorati Tags: CBC, Blogging Tories, SDA

Who killed Damon Crooks?

A Canadian citizen has been making headlines in America. And it's not good news.

COURT - He is accused of a vicious crime - one that is making headlines across North America. Yesterday, the 23-year-old charged in the slaying of a U.S. Navy sailor made his first court appearance.

The thug involved in this murder, Cory Wright, has a previous conviction for almost killing a man with... wait for it... a knife. It's not much of a stretch to say that the Canadian justice system helped him do it.

In 2002, Wright nearly killed a local barber, stabbing him 14 times in the back, neck, stomach and hands. The victim, Matthew Barton, required serious surgery and suffered permanent injuries to his facial muscles and one eye.

A second victim was severely wounded during the assault. According to the court decision from sentencing, Ghazala Ali was stabbed in her back and upper left shoulder.

In the 2004 sentencing decision, Justice David Gruchy wrote that Wright "repeatedly stabbed Mr. Barton with a knife, including wounds to the throat which indicate to me at least a momentary intention to kill.

So what type of punishment was meted out by the Canadian justice system for almost killing a man and wounding a second person in a knife attack?

"You have remained compliant with institutional rules and maintained your goal of abstinence," said a decision granting him day parole 10 months after his sentence was imposed.

"These positive changes reflect your effort and sincere desire to live a pro-social lifestyle." A psychiatric report assessed his risk for violent recidivism as low to moderate.

Paroled in ten months. Just in time to kill Damon Austin Crooks.

Cory Wright isn't the only responsible party in this man's death. The system charged with protecting us has failed spectacularly, yet again.

Serving his full - albeit short - sentence would have kept Wright in prison until next July.

But the board granted him day parole on Dec. 9, 2004, despite Halifax Regional Police opposing his release. Wright had served only 10 months and seven days.

Stephen Harper wants to get tough on criminals and you can make that happen. Vote Conservative.

Technorati Tags: Stephen Harper, Conservative Party, law and order

McGuinty owes Ontarians

Dalton McGuinty's latest bombshell is that the Ontario provincial government shouldn't be involved in negotiating aboriginal land-claims in Caledonia after all.

"But I think what's pretty clear here is that if you strip away everything else, fundamentally what we have at Caledonia is a dispute between the Six Nations community and the federal government."

Whoa... if that's really the case, let's stop the Lib-brokered gravy train right here. We're talkin' way more than a day late and a dollar short. This embarrassment has dragged on for almost a year and cost Ontario taxpayers an estimated 50 million dollars.

On top of that, McGuinty has burned up any federal-provincial goodwill that may have existed before he started screamin', "That's not my problem".

"It's becoming very clear that Premier McGuinty's squabbling and bickering with Ottawa has paralyzed the work of the Ontario government, to the detriment of ordinary Ontarians," NDP Leader Howard Hampton said in the legislature.

Conservative Leader John Tory also criticized McGuinty for straining relations with the feds.

"The way in which Premier Dalton McGuinty has been handling the relationship between Ontario and Ottawa is counterproductive, has not produced the positive results we need, has not advanced Ontario's position, and is inconsistent with the role played by most past Ontario premiers," Tory told the Urban Land Institute in Toronto.

I have just one question. If Dalton McGuinty really believes this falls under federal jurisdiction, then why has he pissed away tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to purchase the land in question and negotiate with the Six Nations?

It just doesn't scan.

Technorati Tags: Caledonia, Liberal Party, Dalton McGuinty

Remembering & the end of an era

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UPDATE: NDP trying to take credit for this idea?

VICTORIA (CP) - A B.C. politician is looking for public help to promote the idea of a state funeral when Canada's last veteran of the First World War dies. New Democrat MLA Mike Farnworth says last Remembrance Day there were six surviving veterans, but this year just three remain - two aged 106 and one who's 105.

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Remembrance Day is approaching.

There are a couple of reasons why Remembrance Day this year is especially notable. One, of course, is our soldiers who are fighting and in some cases, dying, in Afghanistan.

The second reason is that there are now only three Canadian veterans of the First World War left alive. Sadly, they are old enough that this will likely be their last Remembrance Day.

By clicking on the names of these men below, you can see their attestment papers, the document they put their signatures to, when they signed up.

They are Lloyd Clemett and John Babcock, both 106 years of age and Percy Wilson, who is a year younger.

The Dominion Institute has set up an online petition asking that the last surviving veteran of the Great War be given a state funeral. You can click on the link below to sign the petition.

Canada's Last Great War Veteran

"We the undersigned feel enormous gratitude for the sacrifice made by all the Canadian Armed Forces through the ages in defence of this country and its values; acknowledge the very special nature of the sacrifice made by those who fought in the First World War in appalling conditions and with terrible loss of life; note that only three First World War veterans remain, and urge the Prime Minister that their sacrifice, and all of those they served with under arms from 1914-1918, be celebrated by offering a state funeral to the family of the last veteran of the First World War resident in Canada."

That seems fitting and proper to me.

LAST WORD: As Mark Steyn says, "Demographics is everything"

Mr. Griffiths said he was worried that Canadians are losing not only their history, but their social solidarity, the shared heritage that shaped Canada into the country it is today.

Technorati Tags: Remembrance Day, World War One, Canadian Armed Forces

Saddam gets off easy

If there really was such a thing as divine justice, Saddam would be turned over, in series, to the families of the tens of thousands of people he had tortured & murdered and they would all be invited to carve a little piece off of him as a token of retribution.

It was mere days after he had grabbed power when Saddam Hussein summoned 400 top Iraqi officials, announcing he had uncovered a plot against the ruling party. The conspirators, he said, were in that very room.

Sadly, he will only be hung, once... and like Paul Bernardo's life sentence this is small retribution for the evil deeds he wrought in his wretched lifetime.

The plot was a lie. But in a few terrifying minutes on July 22, 1979, Saddam eliminated his potential rivals — consolidating the power he wielded for almost three decades as Iraq's president, until a U.S.-led coalition drove him out in 2003.

This is what he did to people within his own ruling elite.

You don't want to know what he did to people outside that inner circle. Trust me, you really don't.

Technorati Tags: Saddam Hussein, justice, Iraq

Less sugar-coated carrot, way more stick

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UPDATE: 8 Nov 2006 - Conservatives crack down

OTTAWA -- Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has ordered corrections brass to make murderers spend at least two years in a maximum-security prison.

"I instructed corrections to enforce the regulation that all murderers should spend at least two years in maximum security," he said. "I am concerned about the message that this statistic sends to convicted offenders.

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UPDATE: 7 Nov 2006 - Murderers skate on maximum security

OTTAWA -- Two women who contracted murder and another who bludgeoned her partner's toddler are among the growing number of Canadian killers who have skipped the mandatory two-year stint in a maximum-security prison, Sun Media has learned.

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Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have been taking heat from the Libs and Dippers over cracking down on repeat, violent criminals... the worst of the worst. They've also been criticised for shutting down the Liberal funded program that gave these bottom-feeding predators the right to vote.

Now it's time somebody told Corrections Canada to straighten out and fly right.

In a five-year span up to September 2005, only 13 of 577 murderers, or 2.25%, were deemed "exceptions" to the two-years-in-max rule.

But in the six months after the policy was quietly amended last fall, that number of exemptees soared to 24 of 80 convicted murderers, or 30%.

Under pressure from victims' groups, the Correctional Service of Canada adopted a policy in February 2001 that made it mandatory for first-and second-degree murderers to do at least two years of their life sentence in a maximum-security penitentiary.

CSC spokesman Christa McGregor said the change in September 2005 gave wardens "discretion" to grant exceptions, whereas the decision had previously rested with brass at CSC headquarters.

Let's just stop the insanity. I wrote about this recently.

"It's true, Stephen Harper should scare you stupid... if you're a violent, unrepentant thug."

Technorati Tags: Stephen Harper, Conservative Party, law and order

Global what?

Tim Blair advises eco-freaks not to head for higher ground just yet.

Montreal, 2005: Tens of thousands of people ignored frigid temperatures Saturday to lead a worldwide day of protest against global warming. Sydney, 2006: Thousands of people have marched through central Sydney, ignoring wet and windy weather to protest against global warming. As required by protest report law, the piece prominently mentions strollers: Families pushing strollers, elderly couples, dreadlocked activists and vocal youngsters joined forces to call for action on climate change. Peak temperature today? Only 18.1 celsius, about 5.5 degrees below the average maximum.

UPDATE: Those Data-Twisting Cowboys 

As P.J. O'Rourke once said, "I wanna see the logic AND the lab equipment."

One of them let his guard down. A major person working in the area of climate change and global warming sent me an astonishing email that said: 'We have to get rid of the Medieval Warm Period.' " So they did.

The UN's second assessment report, in 1996, showed a 1,000-year graph demonstrating that temperature in the Middle Ages was warmer than today.

But the 2001 report contained a new graph showing no medieval warm period. It wrongly concluded that the 20th century was the warmest for 1,000 years.

h/t Kathy Shaidle

More Cop... big drop

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UPDATE: See exactly who's getting smoked in Toronto.

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More Police Officers specifically targeting the particular demographic (what the loony left refers to as racial profiling) involved in snuffing out hundreds of human lives each year, has resulted in both a drop in shootings... and the body count in Toronto.

TORONTO — The explosion of gun violence that convulsed Toronto last year, as the rest of the country looked on aghast, appears to have been checked by an aggressive package of police tactics that was three years in the making.

After a small army of officers descended on the tough-as-nails Jamestown housing project in the city's northwest corner in May, scooping up scores of alleged gang members and associates, Police Chief Bill Blair warned that there could be no cure-all to the plague of shootings that killed a record 58 people under intense media glare in 2005.

This is a strategy that succeeds where the Farmer Bob Rifle Registry falls flat on its face.

Instead of focusing nearly 2 billion dollars on farmers, deer hunters and target shooters, the Toronto police decided to go into the neighbourhoods where most of the murders are being committed, instead of watering down their effort by equally distributing resources throughout Rosedale & Forest Hill... to keep an eye on the criminals themselves.

As the Toronto cops take down the shooters, more people in the 'communities' involved seem to be getting over their reluctance to give the bad guys up. It's a struggle, but the numbers suggest law-abiding people in these urban ghettos are tilting towards fighting crime as well.

In sharp contrast to what's happening in other major Canadian cities, a blend of strategies targeting violent offenders has put a sizable dent in the havoc wrought by Toronto's guns and gangs.

In part that's because of a modest but perceptible new willingness for witnesses to step forward, says Staff Inspector Brian Raybould, who heads the homicide squad.

Just think what Bill Blair could accomplish if he had additional funds to hire more coppers.

I've got an idea where that money could come from.

****************************************************************

COMMIE PINKO SIDENOTE: Please spare me ALL the inevitable vomit & pus of so-called "progressive" weak-sister comparisons to the repugnant philosophies of Adolf Hitler, or the KKK.

Instead, maybe someone could tell me why none of the droning, maddeningly predictable lefty-zoids ever mentions the racism of, say... Robert Mugabe?

And for the readers who inevitably get insane with rage any time someone uses a generalisation in an argument, I will say that I have to agree with Jeff Goldblum from 'The Big Chill' when he opined, "Generalisations are more important than sex".

Or, as Victor Davis Hanson says....

It is certainly true that the emergence of minority rights and grievances has chastised Americans from making generalizations that are valid in the majority of cases, but ridiculed because there are occasional exceptions.

If one were to conclude that Swedes were dour, prone to drink, large, and sometimes moody, based on what I have seen of my family, I would tend to agree as a rule—with the qualifier I have met many who were sunny, tiny, and abstainers.

But nevertheless that stereotyped portrait remains a good enough truism.

LAST WORD: The hits just keep on comin'

Police Probe Five Weekend Murders Across The GTA
Sunday November 5, 2006

Technorati Tags: homicide, Toronto, Bill Blair

All in the Family

So, I tumble out of bed this morning and stagger over to Casa Kate to have my morning coffee... and what do I see?

I'm sorry, did the New York Times just put on the front page that... IRAQ HAD A NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM AND WAS PLOTTING TO BUILD AN ATOMIC BOMB?

Huh, what's that???

That can't be right... can it?

Sheeeeit... turns out Bush wasn't such a dumb ole Dad after all. Probably won't mean squat to the obnoxious, know-it-all lefty teenagers though, will it?

Well, I'm sitting there shakin' my head and Kate says, "Hell, that's not the whole story... you should mosey on over to Good Sense Diner for the smorgasbord.

Oh geez... then it comes to me. This isn't gonna be good news for everybody.

Maybe someone should head over to Little Bobby's place, to help him pull his head out of his ass.

Technorati Tags: Iraq, nuclear bomb, George Bush

A Useful Engine

When my son was two years old he was totally enthralled by Thomas the Tank Engine. And there was no higher calling in the Land of Sodor, than to be a useful engine.

That's what came to mind when I read about the crowd of Palestinian women who answered a call from Hamas, to function as human shields for terrorists trapped by the IDF.

Apparently, I'm not the only person who is less than sympathetic here.

If the unarmed Burqa Babes don’t have a problem with being used as shields by the armed Hamas killers cowering behind them, I don’t have a problem with calling in the IDF & giving the order to shoot to kill.

Perhaps Palestinian womanhood is developing a rudimentary feminist manifesto. No longer will they be content just to gestate and deliver future suicide bombers... they will commit suicide themselves in defence of the jihadis.

Still... doesn't sound like much of a deal to me.

Technorati Tags: Thomas the Tank Engine, Hamas, IDF

The Mohammed Ibrahim Prize

What an interesting idea.

To qualify for the Mo Ibrahim Prize, you have be a democratically elected African ruler who handed over power peacefully to a similarly elected successor, and did good things for the country while you had power.

The prize is worth $5 million in the first 10 years, and more if the ex-leader enjoys a very long retirement.

Technorati Tags: Mohammed Ibrahim, Africa, Gwynne Dyer

CAIR threatens Macleans magazine

Didn't we hear accusations just this week about how the Blogging Tories were being unduly influenced by the Conservative Party?

So why isn't it a big hairy ball deal, when the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations gives explicit directions and talking points, that include threatening to cancel magazine subscriptions, if Macleans won't censor author Mark Steyn?

(Ottawa, Canada – Oct 31, 2006) The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) is asking all people of conscience to write to Maclean’s Magazine.

ACTION REQUESTED

1. Write a 150 word letter to Maclean’s Magazine for print.

2. Or submit a two to three paragraph letter to the Maclean’s editorial board.

When writing it is critical to keep Maclean’s readership in mind and maintain a style that is calm and convincing, but firm.

TALKING POINTS

1. The article entitled “The Future belongs to Islam” is inflammatory and offensive. It does little to build bridges, it simply divides people.

2. It would be appreciated if such provocative articles are not given space and if Maclean’s maintains a balanced editorial policy.

3. Maclean’s in the past was an authoritative and respectable voice for Canadians; however, today’s Maclean’s is clearly breaking away from this tradition.

4. If Maclean’s Magazine continues to publish such articles, I will consider not renewing my subscription.

The instructions are fairly precise... back off on the usual fulminating references to "pigs & apes of zionism", and try not to get too hysterical, or threatening.

So let me get this straight... CAIR is basically saying, "If Macleans won't censor Mark Steyn, we'll do what we can to damage the company financially."

While this may be an acceptable tactic in some parts of the world, I think it brings a whole new meaning to the term "dirty pool".

Technorati Tags: CAIR, Maclean’s , Islam

Homegrown Terrorist

Abdullah Khadr... not so proud Canadian.

The United States is looking to extradite this man. I don't understand why we let him, or his family, back into the country.

A few Khadr facts:

His father Ahmed Khadr, a Bin-Laden associate, stole funds from aid programs and gave them to Al-Qaeda. The father was later killed in a gunbattle with Pakistani security forces.

His brother Omar is in prison at Guantanamo Bay... he killed a US soldier.

His brother Abdurahman got a walk from authorities after ratting out his fellow terrorists.

His brother Abdul Karim was paralyzed in the same gun battle that killed his father. He and his mother were quick to return to Canada so that Adul could get free medical care.

Abdullah Khadr used a global positioning system to measure the distance between the home of the Pakistani Prime Minister and a graveyard from where a missile attack was to be staged by al-Qaeda operatives, according to newly filed court documents.

During the more than two hours that Mr. Khadr chatted with Sgt. Shourie in Canada, he spoke of his ability to make bombs, his ties to militant fighters and plans to sell Russian-made surface-to-air missiles.

Note that then Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien himself, worked to spring Khadr senior from a Pakistani prison in 1996.

Chretien personally intervened on behalf of Khadr during a 1996 state visit to Pakistan. The suspected Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist was released shortly after Chretien's diplomatic lobbying campaign.

A fact that's curiously missing from the "INDEPTH" CBC reportage.

Technorati Tags: Abdullah Khadr, Khadr family, Jean Chretien

The China Syndrome

There are dozens of reasons not to like the way the Chinese run their country.

Among them... the way they ruthlessly crush anyone attempting to speak up about democracy, the alleged trade in organs of executed political prisoners and the fact that they have made an international industry out of selling (female only, mind you) babies.

It is a thoroughly abhorrent regime and despite all the talk of the 'emerging market' in China, the world should be dealing with this, at minimum, in at least the same fashion as it did with South Africa.

Be that as it may, the threat of avian flu being the next worldwide pandemic, could end up directly affecting you and your family.

The World Health Organization aimed a broadside at the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday, blasting it for not alerting the global community about a new variant of the worrisome H5N1 avian flu virus, for hoarding virus samples and for not doing enough to contain the spread of H5N1 in poultry.

In an interview from Beijing, the WHO's top representative for China also suggested the ministry may be selectively reporting findings of H5N1 in poultry, only advising international authorities of large outbreaks.

Statistically, there is a way bigger chance that you will be killed by the next outbreak of avian flu, than clobbered by a North Korean nuclear ballistic missile, or a rabid Islamoterrorist.

But that isn't what you see in the mainstream media.

Hmmmmm...

Technorati Tags: H5N1 avian flu, pandemic, China

The Protest Industry

Taliban Jack and life partner Olivia, rallied 'the usual suspects' at the protest in Toronto last weekend.

I have to wonder, if you weeded out all the embarrassingly ambitious union organisers and the marxist-leninist loonies, who would actually be left at these things?

The problem with the rally was that most of the protest signs were supplied by Toronto Coalition to Stop the War. They brought so many that they had extra piled up on the concrete just sitting there. That was a bad, er, sign. It gave the whole thing an industrial, orchestrated feel, rather than one of individual concern.

Now, maybe it's just me, but if you've got stacks of pre-manufactured signs sitting on the ground while you protest, could that possibly be a clue about your, well... cluelessness?

C'mon Jack, admit it... these things are obviously more about manufacturing images & sound-bites for the six o'clock news, than an expression of the will of the proletariat.

Technorati Tags: NDP, Jack Layton, Afghanistan

The Farmer Bob Rifle Registry

The saga continues. Remember how this boondoggle was only going to cost the taxpayer 2 million dollars?

That was what the Liberals told Canadians.

As the actual cost approaches 2 BILLION dollars, we are learning more about Lib perfidy and denial. And it's confirmed that Landslide Annie McLellan was hip deep in the muck.

McLellan censured over gun registry

MPs say ex-minister didn't disclose huge cost overruns to Parliament

A parliamentary committee blamed former Liberal public safety minister Anne McLellan for not informing Parliament about the true cost of the firearms centre and blasted the senior bureaucrats who came up with the accounting scheme to hide those costs.

"Evidence suggests that the minister knew, and she did nothing to ensure Parliament was fully informed and for that she must accept responsibility," concluded a majority report by the public accounts committee tabled this week.

This isn't the Harper Conservatives making political hay, this is the Auditor-General Of Canada.

In her report, Ms Fraser said it was difficult to piece together how the decision was made because of scant records and personal notes on key meetings.

She concluded the firearms centre "misinformed" Parliament about the costs racked up to develop a computer system for the registry -- $39 million in 2002-03 and $22 million in 2003-04. She took particular issue with the accounting treatment of the $22 million not recorded in the books as the rules required.

I remember the Liberals getting up on their high horse trying to defend this useless pile of manure. "If it only saves one life", they cried, "It will be worth every penny."

Note that there are about 600 homicides yearly in Canada and a good portion of those don't involve guns.

Now, if the Liberals were really concerned about saving lives, they could have put that 2 Billion dollars into something that would actually bear fruit.

By year's end, an estimated 20,000 Canadians will have been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. About 8,500 will die of the disease in 2006, making it the second most deadly cancer after lung cancer.

Do you know anybody with cancer? I bet you do.

The Liberal Party of Canada... caught lying, cheating and stealing yet again.

UPDATE: 2 Billion Dollars - Dr. Roy has some thoughts

Send $100 million to 10 Canadian Universities for libraries and research. With the remaining money, buy 20 MRI's, 10 advanced CAT scanners and 10 PET Scanners for each province. These machines help find malignancies and would shorten wait times significantly.

Technorati Tags: gun registry, Anne McLellan, politics of fear

Here's what I'm talkin' about

It should be fairly obvious to anyone who has read any of my stuff, that I think North America in general and Canada in particular, possess a much more enlightened outlook and society than most places in the world. I sincerely believe that our intervention in Afghanistan will continue to make a significant and lasting difference in the lives, the women particularly, of the Afghani populace.

Now the article below, from the Globe & Mail, is the sort of thing that makes me want to just slap all those unthinking, multi-cult sheeple who refuse to take off their everyone-is-beautiful, politically correct rose-coloured glasses. If you can read this and not be absolutely horrified, I'd say you must be more reptile than homo sapiens.

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — An Ethiopian immigrant was convicted Wednesday of the genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in what was believed to be the first such criminal case in the United States.

Khalid Adem, 30, was found guilty of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. Prosecutors said he used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in his family's Atlanta-area apartment in 2001. The child's mother, Fortunate Adem, said she did not discover it until more than a year later.

So to Taliban Jack and all the loony-left sympathisers out there, who are actively agitating for the 'guys on the other side' in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq and yes, Ethiopia... I'd suggest a little more thought about what kind of society you are wishing on the rest of the world.

And read the rest of the Globe & Mail article I've linked to here. I can't stand to post any more here tonight, it just turns my stomach.

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Canadian Forces, political correctness

It's alive!

So Volpe gets off the hook and is free to attend the Monster's Ball.

Liberals withdraw Volpe fine

Canadian Press - Ottawa — The Liberal party has withdrawn its $20,000 fine against leadership hopeful Joe Volpe for membership irregularities.

This tells you everything you need to know about the Liberal Party of Canada. Volpe obviously knows where the bodies are buried and the party was unwilling, or powerless to enforce the penalty.

The Corleone Family was always careful not to piss off Luca Brasi. Another proud moment in the annals of Canadian Political History.

Technorati Tags: Joe Volpe, Liberal Party, politics as usual