Lost World

It's exciting enough around here when we stumble across old steel farm implements buried along the fence line... so I can't imagine what these two guys felt like when they hit the motherlode...

The most important Viking treasures to be discovered in Britain for 150 years have been unearthed by a father and son while metal detecting in North Yorkshire.

One of the coins, which bears the Latin inscription, Rex Tiotius Britanniae, dating to 927, is the earliest indication of Britain being under one ruler, at a time when the country was split between Viking and Anglo-Saxon control.

A sense of unreality...

Doesn't seem like much of a defense strategy.

-- VANCOUVER -- The brother of Paul Cheema, husband of slain principal Shemina Hirji, spoke out in a radio interview Wednesday, saying it's “impossible” his brother is behind the killing.

I'm not exactly sure what brother Bob is basing his opinion on... because going by his past behaviour, Paul Cheema sure isn't looking like a knight in shining armour.

According to parole documents, in 1994, he kidnapped Ms. Singh at knifepoint, intending to take her back to B.C. However, Ms. Singh talked him into bringing her to a hotel in Winnipeg, where she fled from him.

In 1995, he attempted to kidnap her at her Winnipeg home, brandishing a silver handgun. Ms. Singh screamed, and her mother came to her rescue. The documents say he tried to shoot Ms. Singh's mother, but the gun did not discharge.

Now, while this sort of stuff is apparently not sufficiently alarming to raise a red flag at an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing, I'm thinking I wouldn't want this guy marrying my sister, or daughter.

Of course, that's just me.

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UPDATE: Yeah, a gentle, thoughtful guy

He then returned to his hotel room and attempted suicide. Cheema was revived and further charges were laid.

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RELATED: Maybe it's not just me

Even though immigration officials ordered his deportation two years ago, Beckford, 41, remained in the country pending an appeal, and kept up his life of crime, committing another 17 offences.

Technorati Tags: Shemina Hirji, Paul Cheema, IRB

Whores R Us

Who says you can't buy... or sell... love?

"I a 20 year old nursin student. I love to have fun and be pampered. I love the outdoors and to travel although I don't get the oppotunity to do so very often."

Look, you want literacy AND love, try a library.

This is the most lucid and economical expression of where our hedonistic, instant gratification, anything goes, anything is for sale society is headed.

There are, of course, some self limiting factors at play here.

You know, like... anybody who truly wants to be either a sugar daddy, or a whore... may not exactly be a poster child for mental health.

Let's call it the Paul and Karla syndrome.

Another story you won't see...

On warm fuzzy bunny CTV...

US forces say they have arrested a senior member of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the group accused of being behind some of Iraq's deadliest violence.

The man was named as Khaled Mashhadani. He was captured earlier in July in the northern city of Mosul, officials said.

"He is considered a conduit between Masri, Bin Laden and Zawahiri," Gen Bergner said, referring to the Saudi- and Egyptian-born founders of al-Qaeda, who are thought to be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan.

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RELATED: How's this for guerilla theatre?

The ploy was to invent Baghdadi, a figure whose very name establishes his Iraqi pedigree, install him as the head of a front organization called the Islamic State of Iraq and then arrange for Masri to swear allegiance to him.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, sought to reinforce the deception by referring to Baghdadi in his video and Internet statements.

Technorati Tags: Khaled Mashhadani, Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, Abu Ayub al-Masri

Some things to consider...

Before you break out the champagne...

Nationally, the homicide rate fell 10 per cent, ending two years of increases, but the number of young people accused of murder was the highest since data was first collected in 1961.

And some places were alarmingly worse than others.

There were 605 homicides reported to police in 2006, which translates to 1.85 homicides for every 100,000 people.

Saskatchewan again had the highest rate of all provinces, with 4.1 homicides for every 100,000 people.

Now that's one hell of a variation from the mean... what's up with the not-so-gentle folk of Saskatchewan?

Saskatchewan stands out for two reasons, he said: It consistently has the highest crime rate, and it has the highest percentage of native Canadians in its justice system.

Oh no... shsshhhh... stop, stop... you can't say that!!!

Not unless you blame it on our racist anglo-saxon society.

Technorati Tags: aboriginal crime, Saskatchewan, suckass political correctness

You actually have to kill someone...

Before you're considered a "dangerous person" in Canada.

-- VANCOUVER -- Murder suspect Paul Cheema was given a second chance to stay in Canada despite a violent criminal history and a deportation order because of "substantial family and community support here in Canada," according to an Immigration and Refugee Board ruling in October 1997.

Apparently, being convicted of forcible confinement, uttering threats and attempted kidnapping... TWICE... isn't sufficient cause for deportation.

Not especially surprising when you also have a Canadian judge releasing a drug smuggler caught dead-bang at the border... with 50 kilograms of cocaine.

"This is huge. I can't believe it. If this stands, we might just as well go out of business," Ron Moran, national president of the 10,000-member Custom Excise Union and a customs official for 27 years, said yesterday.

"Until this judgment, it would never even have crossed our minds to obtain a search warrant. It's just not part of what we're taught."

I know where my vote goes next time around.

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

Cry havoc... and let slip...

The contemptuous curs of surrender...

The NDP has threatened to haul General Rick Hillier before a House of Commons committee unless the Department of National Defence explains within 10 days the “stonewalling and unreasonable delays in obtaining detainee records.”

Last week, Liberal defence critic Denis Coderre sent a letter to Information Commissioner Robert Marleau urging him to launch a formal investigation into the Defence Department's handling of the detainee documents.

Much like O.J. Simpson... Dawn Black and Denis Coderre just want a chance to go after "the real killers".

Of course, for the libs and dippers that'd be... you guessed it... Rick Hillier and the Canadian Forces.

RELATED: The troops deserve our support

Every time our troops go head to head with these guys, they kick ass.

-- KANDAHAR -- An early morning patrol by Canadian and Afghan forces led to a full-scale firefight yesterday, leaving an undetermined number of Taliban dead and wounded, the Canadian military said.

Just a thought, but while we're at war with these cowardly, backstabbing, religious freakazoids... maybe the opposition parties could find somebody else's kids to piss on.

Technorati Tags: Denis Coderre, Afghanistan, Dawn Black

David Miller faw' down, go boom...

But don't you worry, Daddy Dalton will kiss it better.

-- TORONTO -- In a stinging defeat for Toronto Mayor David Miller, council balked at approving two new taxes, for now, in hopes the delay will put the city's fiscal future front and centre in the provincial election this fall.

Which is a fancy way of saying the rest of us Ontarians will likely be on the hook for Miller's ongoing pinko revolution... courtesy of the provincial fiberal government.

A source inside the Liberal provincial government suggested the deferral will give Premier Dalton McGuinty the opportunity promise something more to help the city's finances as the party rolls out its election platform in the summer.

Yeah, I'm shocked.

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RELATED: Don't take any responsibility...

Just put a gun to their heads.

Lastman told the Sun yesterday he'd advise councillors to defer the issue and direct Mayor David Miller to seek help from the provincial and federal governments.

Lastman -- the former North York mayor who went on to run an amalgamated Toronto from 1997 to 2003 -- said if councillors followed his lead, it would've provided them the chance to "put a gun to their heads," noting a provincial election is Oct. 10.

Technorati Tags: David Miller, Dalton McGuinty, Toronto

You say toe-may-toe...

I say disgusting, disease-bearing rodent.

-- BEIJING, July 17 (Reuters) -- Chinese officials have denied media reports that truckloads of live rats rounded up near a flooded lake in eastern China were ending up in local markets and on restaurant menus in the south.

Of course, the Chinese government, that bastion of consumer protection, advocacy and above all openness... is obviously deeply committed to protecting the interests of the citizenry.

Wang Fan, a Guangzhou food safety official, also denied the report and said an inspection of a local market had found no evidence of rats for sale.

"The city government of Guangzhou has not lifted the ban against the trading and eating of wild animals, including rats," the paper quoted Wang as saying.

Rats are considered a delicacy in Guangzhou, where people are reputed to eat anything that moves, but their sale was banned in 2003 as part of a general prohibition on wild animal consumption in the wake of the SARS epidemic.

In a show of socialist solidarity, the local population, environmentalists every one of them, were resolutely doing their part.

Farmers had bought black-market pesticides to complement government-issued poisons to kill rats on their plots, the paper said, which had alarmed local officials and experts who feared environmental pollution and the development of a "super rat race".

We obviously have a lot to learn from China.

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RELATED: Never mind the tasty snacks...

Let's do something about that devil barbarian beverage.

A Starbucks coffee shop operating on the historic site of Beijing's Forbidden City has closed down after huge protests.

An online campaign arguing that the shop was trampling on Chinese culture had drawn more than 500,000 signatures.

Technorati Tags: Guangzhou, super rat race, Chinese food

Safety Break!

Nobody works... nobody gets hurt!

-- OTTAWA -- Canada must press for more efforts to prevent friendly-fire incidents where U.S. troops have mistakenly killed their Canadian allies in Afghanistan, the opposition Liberals say.

Yeah... maybe we can start a government sponsored "Don't shoot us, we're Canadians" program, huh? How about we spring Chuck Guite and Jean LaFleur early, to run the whole thing.

Say Denis... how come you aren't shedding any tears for the 1200 Canadians who are killed every year working on the family farm? I guess there's no making political hay out out of those inconsequential farmers dying, is there?

Can you say, "crass opportunist"?

Much like his bumbling boss, Steffi... Dogpile Denis Coderre wants Canada to shop around for a "safer war"... a war where, presumably, everybody gets to go home and live happily ever after.

Denis... let me help you out here.

War is a dangerous business. People will inevitably be maimed and killed and in the "fog of war" accidents do happen. Canadian soldiers... all volunteers by the way... are acutely aware of this fact. You would be too, if you weren't such an unabashed, kneejerk surrender monkey.

That's why it's called war and not... "Circle of Friends."

Technorati Tags: Denis Coderre, Afghanistan, surrender monkey

Trust me, my friends...

The answer isn't blowing in the wind...

Neither really can comprehend the issues of the other.

Can youth crime be cured with a few more hallway monitors? A vegetarian breakfast? Maybe some plush toys with ethnic themes?

The gospel according to Fenris.

Always a treat.

Sovereign nation of Taliban

Declares war on Pakistan.

-- PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN -- Termination of the peace treaty, the hopeful handiwork of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, puts even greater pressure on the military leader as he struggles with both Islamic extremists and a gathering pro-democracy movement.

Say what you will about Pervez Musharraf, he's got some pretty big stones.

His so-called "treaty" with Islamic extremists in the "tribal lands" is part of a death-defying high wire act in this hotbed of islamo-trigue. Now the crazies have repudiated that agreement and are apparently bent on full out revolution.

Abdullah Farhad, a spokesman for the militants, said the ceasefire was terminated in North Waziristan, a remote area on the Afghan border where the United States worries that al-Qaeda has regrouped.

He said Taliban leaders made the decision after Pakistan failed to abide by their demand to withdraw troops from checkpoints by yesterday afternoon. "The peace agreement has ended," Mr. Farhad told reporters in Peshawar.

Perhaps this latest development will force Musharraf to sanction, or even support, greater US special forces activity in the troubled area.

The hard reality here is, if things suddenly go sideways for Musharraf, he isn't looking at impeachment hearings... he'll be lucky if he's actually dead... when the Islamo-screamers start sawing his head off his body.

They play for keeps over here.

Technorati Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Abdullah Farhad, Waziristan

Running on empty

Another root causes myth bites the dust.

Guess what happens when you actually go out and use non-anecdotal methodology to see what's happening in that big, bad world?

People on low incomes have similar diets to the rest of the population, a government report has said.

The Food Standards Agency found that contrary to popular belief, nutrition, access to food and cooking skills are not much different in poorer families.

Of course, the leftbots would be happier if they could just skew the numbers a little...

Dr Alan Maryon Davis, president of the Faculty of Public Health said the results were surprising and experts had always thought the gap was bigger.

Although he added that if the results were compared with those in the most affluent sixth of the population there would probably be a greater difference.

I've got an idea... let's just compare the poor to Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel.

That'll make things so much clearer.

Technorati Tags: loony left, statistical reality, suckass political correctness

Mourning the untimely passing...

Of some local heroes...

A year ago at this time, there were flowers blooming in the pillar-like wooden baskets running along the sidewalk outside the Hells Angels' lowertown Toronto headquarters, decoratively disguising the reinforced concrete barriers that were keeping any intruders at bay.

While it's true that nobody actually died here... you wouldn't know that from Mark Bonokowski's outpouring of grief for a local motorcycle gang.

Don't worry though... Mark's little morality tale does have a bad guy.

The Hells clubhouse on Toronto's Eastern Ave., seized in the spring during joint-forces police raids on the biker gangs' clubhouses across the country, is unquestionably suffering from neglect.

In this case, it's Stephen Harper.

It has gone to seed -- weeds, peeling paint, and litter -- and the only place where blame can be placed is with the federal government.

I'm actually a little surprised Bono didn't go all in... and blame Harper and the feds for selling ecstasy to your sons and putting your daughters "on the pole."

Will somebody please tell me how this sort of unadulterated crap passes for serious journalism. I'm thinking anyone stupid enough to be paying for a subscription to this kind of claptrap probably isn't really able to read.

I guess that's what the Sunshine girl is for.

Technorati Tags: Hells Angels', Mark Bonokowski, unbelievable

Technical difficulties

When it rains, it pours.

On top of being blackballed from the Blogging Tories aggregator... (details to follow shortly), I lost the modem in my primary box the other day... to a nearby lightning strike.

Currently using the jurassic laptop for net access... hope to slap a new modem card in later today, or tomorrow.

Service, as they say, will resume shortly.

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UPDATE: Back in business

Managed to scare up a modem from my computer boneyard in the basement.

No sense spending big bucks on a new modem when the dialup around here maxes out at 28.8 kps. Gotta check on what's happening with hi-speed around here.

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UPDATE: Back in the fold

Still having some intermittent comms issues, which prevented me from addressing the BT matter in any detail. My modem may not have been the only bit of hardware smoked by the lightning strike.

Perhaps it's just as well... I received an email from Stephen Taylor at Blogging Tories early this morning, letting me know that I have been reinstated.

Being the "free speech" kind of guy that I am, I had planned on sharing our exchange over the post in question... but in deference to Stephen's reconsideration of the matter, I remain inside the tent... pissing resolutely politically incorrectly outwards.

Honestly officer...

It was so long ago, it just slipped my mind...

The husband of slain principal Shemina Hirji was convicted in Winnipeg 12 years ago of uttering threats and attempting to kidnap his fiance after she called off the wedding, court documents provided to The Vancouver Sun show.

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UPDATE: Shelter from the storm

"When Mr. Charming's true nature starts to show in private, the women are shocked because it seems so out of character for him... In public, abusers are friendly, funny, and even loving. In private they can suddenly become vicious and cruel for no reason."

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RELATED: This ain't your mother's Canada

In light of the fact that we have a fairly permissive society, why are we singling out that particular form of behaviour for criminalization?

Technorati Tags: stranger in a strange land, the man behind the curtain, polygamy

The Musharraf regime has to stop...

Talking out of both sides of its mouth.

Revealing the delicacy of the situation, government officials on Wednesday alternated between reassuring the public that they were not waging war against all madrasas and at the same time trying to ward off further challenges to the state’s authority.

The Musharraf government has been walking a political knife edge for some time now, but making mealy-mouthed announcements just pisses off people on both sides of the Islamo-fence.

“The government of Pakistan has nothing against madrasas,” Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters Wednesday afternoon. “But any madrasa which violates the law or promotes militancy will clearly be dealt with under the law.”

And some compromises just fly in the face of reason.

Ijaz ul-Haq, the Pakistani religious affairs minister, broke down in tears on a television talk show. “God willing, we will continue to protect the madrasas the way we protect our homes.”

It's important to remember that Pakistan is a nuclear armed nation.

If the crazies get their finger on that particular button... we're all in for some endless summer nights.

Technorati Tags: Pervez Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz, Ijaz ul-Haq

What woman could possibly resist...

This Prince Charming...

A warehouse manager who seduced a man's wife before demanding £1.4m to let him have her back has been jailed for six years by a Taunton Crown Court judge.

I guess there truly is "someone for everyone" in this cold, cruel world.

Peter Blair QC told the court that in February 2007 the businessman discovered his wife had made a banker's draft payment of £50,000 from their account to Cromie's.

She told him she was leaving him as it quickly became apparent her affair was back on. A day later she filed a divorce petition, as Cromie prepared his blackmail plan.

Fortunately, sometimes that big karmic wheel sometimes slips and rolls back over the truly unworthy.

He arranged a meeting with her husband two days later and outlined his demands - for £1.4m "he could have her back".

It was then the police were called.

When they start hauling out...

The politically correct lexicography, the smart money heads for the private school system...

England's secondary curriculum is being overhauled to give teachers more flexibility in the classroom whilst focusing on the basics, ministers say.

A quarter of the school day is to be freed up so that teachers can focus more on individual students' needs.

But more subjects like personal finance and cookery are set to be included - plus languages like Mandarin and Urdu.

And when weasel words start tumbling around, like the center stage finale at Cirque de Soleil, it's time to duck and cover.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls pledged to enhance teaching of "the three Rs" and said there would be "no dumbing down".

And more topical issues relevant to youngsters' everyday lives would be introduced.

"It has always been the role of schools to respond to the needs of the time."

"Schools need the space to borrow great ideas from around the world".

Of course, I have to share my personal favourite

"This is not meddling, this is much greater freedom - but with certain clear things prescribed."

Because, unlike the middle-east and pretty much all of Africa and well... a big chunk of Asia and, uh... South America and the former Soviet Union... Britain has made such a hellish hash of things.

And we can't have that.

Technorati Tags: dumbing down, suckass political correctness, flexibility in the classroom

I wonder if Swiss politicians...

Will be calling for a ban on mountain climbing?

-- ZURICH, July 12 (Reuters) -- An avalanche killed six Swiss soldiers on Thursday as they were climbing the Jungfrau, one of the country's most well-known peaks, in a training exercise, Switzerland's defence department said.

The six, who were linked by ropes in groups of three, were swept several hundred meters (yards) to their deaths.

The Swiss army regularly uses mountain territory for specialist military training.

SAFETY BREAK!!! NOBODY WORKS...NOBODY GETS HURT!!!

That would be the "Layton solution."

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RELATED: Courage is... grace under pressure

"I have never felt prouder and more moved than seeing the thousands of Canadians saying their final farewells to our brave soldiers, while my son waves, saying, 'Go, daddy's boys,' " Dawe said, her voice catching in her throat.

She stopped speaking, and her father-in-law, Peter Dawe, handed her a glass of water. She sipped, then continued.

"My final message is to the boys in Afghanistan," she said. "I want to tell them and everyone how much I loved and supported Matt in his decisions and how much I love and support the boys overseas.

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LAST WORD: A mother speaks up

-- KINGSTON, Ont. -- She will never know who killed her youngest son, but the mother of Captain Matthew Dawe says she knows what killed him.

“I think it was hatred and intolerance,” Reine Dawe told reporters Wednesday in a news conference at CFB Kingston.

He will be remembered.

Technorati Tags: Captain Matthew Dawe, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, Canadian Forces