"Flee... flee... run away!"

Steffi and company are, with the passing of each and every day, starting to to look less like a legitimate political entity... than an old Monty Python skit.

-- OTTAWA -- The decision of the Opposition Liberals to abstain from Wednesday's vote on the government's multi-billion dollar tax relief package drew taunts and rebuke from all sides of the House of Commons.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said his party will sit out on the confidence vote at 3:15 p.m., as they did earlier for the Throne Speech vote.

I give you, "The Knights that say flee!"

**********

UPDATE: The breathtaking genius of Stephane Dion

Leader Stephane Dion says a Liberal government would consider rescinding Tory government cuts to the goods-and-services tax.

I swear... this guy is just a gift from heaven.

Technorati Tags: Stéphane Dion, Throne Speech, GST

If they can steal a private business...

I guess no one's really gonna worry... about natives flogging contraband cigarettes.

-- Deseronto -- Just outside a gravel quarry here that has become something of a symbol for native land claim unrest sits a spray-painted plywood sign offering bagged cigarettes for sale - cheap.

For about the past month, buyers have been able to approach the entrance to the Thurlow Aggregates quarry on Deseronto Road in Tyendinaga Township - which has been occupied by native protesters since March - and walk away with a bag of native-produced smokes for $10.

Now you might think the law of the land should be brought to bear here... but apparently there is a law-enforcement Bermuda Triangle... which lets aboriginals do whatever they want, in proximity to Mohawk Territory.

While the selling of the contraband cigarettes at a site outside a native reserve doesn't sit well with either health officials or police, neither appear eager to tackle the politically-charged problem.

According to Carol Snell, spokeswoman for the Hastings-Prince Edward Counties Health Unit, the agency's tobacco enforcement team is leaving the issue up to law enforcement agencies to handle - for now.

"We're not dealing with it," she said. "It's a federal issue and up to the RCMP to deal with it at this point."

According to RCMP Cpl. Nancy Mason, the federal policing agency is focusing enforcement on picking off shipments of contraband smokes being transported on Highway 401 between Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory and the U.S. side of the Akwesasne reserve near Cornwall, Ont.

Well... at least they're not poisoning MY children.

"Cheap native-made cigarettes can contain dirt, metal filings and other unsavoury ingredients mixed in with the chemical stew of 4,200 chemicals found in all smokes, according to an analysis done by the federal Ministry of Revenue."

Way to strike a blow for freedom, guys!

Technorati Tags: Deseronto, RCMP, Hastings-Prince Edward Counties Health Unit

Poisoners to the World

As it turns out... lead painted toys are probably the least harmful part of the problem.

-- MILAN -- In January, Honor International Pharmtech was accused of shipping counterfeit drugs into the United States. Even so, the Chinese chemical company — whose motto is “Thinking Much of Honor” — was openly marketing its products in October to thousands of buyers here at the world’s biggest trade show for pharmaceutical ingredients.

Other Chinese chemical companies made the journey to the annual show as well, including one manufacturer recently accused by American authorities of supplying steroids to illegal underground labs and another whose representative was arrested at the 2006 trade show for patent violations.

And make no mistake here... the Chinese government is up to it's asshole in this criminal conspiracy.

Also attending were two exporters owned by China’s government that had sold poison mislabeled as a drug ingredient, which killed nearly 200 people and injured countless others in Haiti and in Panama.

Close the border to Chinese imports.

Do it now.

**********

UPDATE: Do they make baby pacifiers?

Because that's the only way... they could make this thing any worse than it is.

**********

LAST WORD: Even "made in Japan" ain't what it used to be.

Akafuku has become the latest Japanese food company to be exposed for lying about the contents of its products, tampering with expiration-date labels and recycling ingredients.

Even as details of a government investigation into Akafuku have come out in recent days, executives at a meatpacking company called Meat Hope were arrested for labeling ground pork, chicken and even rabbit as 100 percent beef.

The nearly daily disclosures have shaken Japanese consumers, who have long been willing to pay a premium for Japanese food products that were, or so it was said, safer than imported goods, especially from China.

Technorati Tags: pharmaceutical ingredients, steroids, merchant of death

It makes me think the Taliban...

Have been watching CTV news.

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) -- Afghan and NATO forces have killed 50 Taliban rebels in three days of clashes and surrounded 200 others who occupied civilian homes in southern Afghanistan, police said Wednesday.

He said up to 200 militants have also been ringed by the Afghan and international troops, who are battling a fierce insurgency by the Taliban whose Islamist regime was ousted in late 2001 by a US-led invasion.

"They are using civilian homes as shelters. We are carrying out our operations very carefully so as not to harm civilians. Dozens of families have fled their homes to reach safety," he added.

Get ready... here comes the spin.

Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said on Tuesday that the rebels had "captured Arghandab district".

**********

RELATED: Contrary to New York Times reporting...

The only dancing here... will be on Timmy Taliban's grave.

"That two weeks later they were in there on roofs dancing — and inside his house — is devastating psychologically," Ms. Chayes said. "It’s like a psychological operation on the part of the Taliban, and I think it’s a very effective one."

Rest in pieces, Timmy.

Technorati Tags: Arghandab, Afghanistan, leftwing media bias

The other four people...

Shouted obscenities... slammed the phone down... and went back to eating dinner.

-- TORONTO -- More than six in 10 Canadians say they will try to stop unwanted calls from telemarketers by signing up for Canada's pending do-not-call registry, a new poll shows.

The telephone survey was conducted in August by a group of independent research agencies, including Bristol Omnifacts, Corporate Research Associates and Blue Ocean Contact Centers, Research House, Consumer Contact and Justason Market Intelligence.

**********

RELATED: Tom Mabe strikes back

"Telemarketers tell you that they are just doing their job," Tom says. "But drug dealers and hit men for the mob also tell you they’re just doing their job."

"At least they’re less intrusive."

Technorati Tags: do-not-call registry, telemarketers, irony-challenged reporter

He'll sit and talk with the Taliban...

But even wild horses won't drag Jack Layton anywhere near Ellie May.

-- OTTAWA -- If Elizabeth May gets her way, it could be a long night for Jack Layton.

The Green party leader won a charity auction for a dinner with her NDP counterpart and his wife, NDP MP Olivia Chow, and she plans to invite Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and his wife, Janine Kreiber, as her guests.

Ms. May has often complained that Mr. Layton has refused to meet with her.

Sure enough, the Pinko Platoon has already started trying to weasel out of the "proggie picnic."

Polls and election results suggest the Greens pose an electoral danger to the NDP, and Mr. Layton seems unwilling to do anything to lend legitimacy to Ms. May or her party.

At the end of the auction, Mr. Layton did not even acknowledge that Ms. May was the winner.

A spokesman for Mr. Layton, Karl Belanger, did not sound keen on the May-Dion-Layton dinner. "We didn’t talk about who this person might be," he said. "She won the auction, so we’ll see, but co-ordinating the schedule of three leaders . . . two leaders is already tricky."

Looks like Ellie May's got some moves after all.

Hey Jack, you could always take a trip to Kabul instead.

Technorati Tags: Elizabeth May, Taliban Jack, Jack-be-nimble

Whoa... talk about 'blow me away'

"A study was done on Palestinian Terrorism and Murder and Foreign Aid."

(via Jaeger at SDA)

The Man who would be...

A sort of clumsy, irrational Court Jester...

"It's a mistake. It will not help the productivity of our country, it will not help our families as it should."

"It's a big mistake," Mr. Dion said.

Apparently not enough of a "big mistake" though... to take a principled stand against it.

"We will choose our time when we decide to put this government down," he said.

"It will not be tomorrow."

You think this guy ever watches himself on television?

**********

RELATED: Jason Cherniak, meanwhile, is choosing to celebrate the inescapable genius of his conquering hero.

"As far as I can tell, the Tories are giving the Liberals everything they want."

Well, Jason... I think that borders on the truly delusional... but I'd definitely say they're giving the fiberals everything they deserve.

"They will also increase the basic personal exemption, which I believe to also be reimplementing a Liberal tax cut. I'm not positive on that one, though."

Which actually means, in typical Cherniak fashion... "I have no idea if this is true, but I'll say it anyway."

"My suggestion would be to say that most of the tax cuts are the implementation of Liberal policy. We should vote for it, take ownership and make it clear to the media that this is a combined effort by Liberals and Conservatives to lower taxes."

They just can't help themselves, can they?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

With Stephane's assistance, Harper now has his majority government. And the beauty of it is that it didn't cost the taxpayer a penny for election costs.

Technorati Tags: Stephane Dion, Jason Cherniak, fiberal smoke and mirrors

China loudly threatens...

To keep billions of cheap plastic, lead contaminated toys and foodstuffs all to itself... paralyzes Canadian government... yeah, right.

-- OTTAWA -- The Chinese government blasted formal meetings yesterday between the Dalai Lama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General Michaëlle Jean, warning they will "gravely undermine" the relationship between Canada and China.

China's political counsellor Sun Lushan stopped short of saying what retaliatory steps China might take, noting trade is beneficial to both countries and interruption of it is "the last thing both sides want to see."

The Harper government was quick to reply...

"We value our relationship with China but the Prime Minister has made no secret that we are not going to put aside human rights for `the almighty dollar' – you can pull out that quote," a senior Conservative source said.

It's time to send this "plague ship" packing.

Technorati Tags: China, merchant of death, Dalai Lama

Time in a bottle

Researchers have developed a low-cost, low-power computer memory that could put terabyte-sized thumb drives in consumers' pockets within a few years.

"A thumb drive using our memory could store a terabyte of information," says Michael Kozicki, director of ASU's Center for Applied Nanoionics, which developed the technology.

"All the current limitations in portable electronic storage could go away. You could record video of every event in your life and store it."

(h/t reader bob)

Technorati Tags: terabyte, programmable metallization cell, nano-ionics

Sitting, waiting... for the next big thing

Talk to the people at the CDC... it's not a matter of if... it's a question of when...

The strain of HIV that touched off the U.S. AIDS epidemic and fuelled the global scourge of the disease came to the continent from Africa via Haiti, according to a study released yesterday.

A team of researchers conducted genetic analyses of archived blood samples from early AIDS patients who migrated from Haiti to the U.S.

Their calculations suggested there was a greater than 99% probability that the virus went from Africa to Haiti to the U.S.

Ebola, drug resistant tuberculosis. bird flu... take your pick. It's nature's way of thinning the herd.

And we're totally oblivious.

Coming to a neighbourhood near you.

One Canadian wounded...

During running gun battle in Afghanistan, uh... Toronto's entertainment district...

A gun battle between gangs on a downtown Toronto street had Entertainment District patrons fleeing for their lives early Tuesday.

An innocent bystander “in the wrong place at the wrong time” was struck by a bullet, but his injuries were not considered life-threatening, Det. Peter Karpow said.

We're not just talking lone gunman here either... police apparently recovered 4 different sizes of shell casings...

“I believe there was some form of gang fight,” said Karpow. “The fact varying calibres of weapons were fired ... You’re looking at, at least, four different shooters.

Toronto Police were initially called to the Richmond-Peter Sts. area around 3 a.m. for the report of gunshots. They arrived to find one man wounded on the street and hundreds of people running for cover.

Happy clubbing, Toronto.

**********

RELATED: Yeah... it's that CBC doublespeak again

Wait for the inevitable pleading for "members of the community" to step up and fight the insanity.

Karpow said this type of incident is going to continue to happen "until people step up to the plate and assist the police in these investigations."

Karpow is appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

**********

SIDENOTE: Taxes... what taxes?

As Toronto slides slowly into the abyss...

As Joe Pennachetti, the city's chief financial officer rattled off a long list of numbers that would make a chartered accountant beg for mercy, many of the budget committee brains, including budget chief Shelley Carroll and Kyle Rae talked so loudly it was hard to hear the presentation.

When the 30-minute presentation was done and Coun. Doug Holyday -- the lone right-wing councillor in attendance -- tried to ask a question, Carroll cut him off. She said questions won't be entertained until Nov. 13.

As Holyday mused after yesterday's sham of a budget meeting, the presentation was just a "formality."

"I wanted to ask what's Plan B if the large grants (from the federal and provincial governments) don't materialize," he said.

"My question was politely put down."

**********

LAST WORD: Toronto the Insane

According to Ab Campion, a spokesperson for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, DNA Lounge faces an 18-day suspension in January for a variety of liquor licence infractions including drunkenness.

The club was also cited for overcrowding and allowing the illegal use or sale of narcotics in May of this year. And the club's licence was suspended for five days for overcrowding in March 2006.

In Canada, you have to run and hide...

In the United States, you can "stand your ground."

First enacted in Florida in 2005, "Stand Your Ground" bills are now being considered in 21 states including Georgia, according to the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The South Dakota senate approved one just last week.

The article is a little dated... there are now 14 states (see graphic below) where you can stand your ground.

These new measures would push the boundaries beyond the self-defense measures already on the books. Twelve states already allow citizens to shoot intruders in their homes, and 38 states permit concealed weapons in public places.

"These laws send a more general message to society that public spaces belong to the public - and the public will protect [public places] rather than trying to run into the bathroom of the nearest Starbucks and hope the police show up," says David Kopel, director of the Independence Institute in Golden, Colorado.

This makes perfect sense to me. Let's spend a little less time worrying about the rights of criminals... and more about the rights of law abiding citizens.

**********

RELATED: Or you can let "the system" protect you

The Canadian Border Services Agency is investigating how and when a man deported from Canada two years ago sneaked back into the country only to be arrested on the weekend by Toronto police on multiple firearms charges.

Lloyd Demetrius, 28, was taken into custody early Saturday after two men fired several shots into the air in front of a bar on Hymus Rd., near Warden and St. Clair Aves.

In 1999, Demetrius was convicted of pumping three bullets into a man who tried to calm him down after Demetrius demanded to be at the front of a takeout line at a West Indian restaurant at Kingston and Galloway Rds.

**********

SIDENOTE: The Professor strikes back

"What Could Possibly Go Wrong if Everybody Has a Gun"?

Yessir... it's a reprise of soldiers, uh wait... "everybody... with guns... in our streets... I'm not kidding..."

**********

LAST WORD: A very special welcome...

To readers of noted humanitarian and progressive brown-noser "Canadian Cynic"

Make sure you check out his greatest hits.

**********

POSTSCRIPT: I guess the Cynic's a little pissed.

I'm headlined at his blog again today.

Technorati Tags: stand your ground, self-defense, suckass political correctness

Everybody grab on and hold tight

Premier McSlippery is promising "relentless progress" on his "vague agenda" -- at some "unspecified time" in the future.

-- TORONTO -- Premier Dalton McGuinty says he will summon the Ontario legislature before Christmas.

He gave no details about when the house would meet or when a Speech from the Throne would be presented.

“I reminded them that the message we got from voters was not that we were to defend the status quo but rather that we were to make relentless progress on their behalf,” he said.

Hey Dalton... don't strain yourself.

**********

UPDATE: Real estate prices in Caledonia...

Just bottomed out.

Government sources also say former attorney-general Michael Bryant will become the new minister of aboriginal affairs.

Technorati Tags: Dalton McGuinty, Speech from the Throne, fiberal smoke and mirrors

Apparently, Georgia Tech offers...

A major in "unparalleled stupidity."

-- FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. -- A father wants investigators to pursue fraud and larceny charges against a Panhandle strip club after his son ran up a $53,000 bill in a single night while celebrating his college graduation.

Joe Salter, 52, of Mary Esther, told investigators Club 10 employees took advantage of his 24-year-old son, Tommy.

The younger Salter was at the club Aug. 18 to celebrate his graduation from Georgia Tech.

(h/t reader mikey)

Technorati Tags: Club 10, Tommy Salter, Darwin Awards

Now, let's not rush to judgement...

Maybe those peace-loving Hamas farmers... have a couple of million tree stumps they need to deal with.

-- JERUSALEM -- The militant Islamic Hamas has smuggled 70 tons of explosives into the Gaza Strip since it seized control of the coastal territory in June, a senior Israeli security official said Monday.

Reacting, Abu Obeida of the Hamas military wing called the Israeli claims "lies." He said Hamas has more than 70 tons of explosives, but they originate in Gaza itself and were not smuggled in.

Oh, okay... that makes me feel much better.

Technorati Tags: HAMAS, Abu Obeida, Survivor Gaza Strip

Raising taxes in the GTA...

To pay for the ever expanding welfare state...

Almost 10 years after the fact, Okolo, now a single mother with three young girls aged 2, 5 and 6, is slowly losing hope. She's one of 13,500 families – more than 30,000 people – in Peel Region's affordable housing queue. The wait, probably one of the longest in the province, is 21 years for two- and three-bedroom units.

And here's why David Miller... despite his land transfer and automobile tax grabs... is still gonna be hundreds of millions of dollars behind the eight ball.

In Toronto, more than 67,000 people are on a waiting list for housing. The average wait time for a one-bedroom unit in the city is five to seven years, while a 10-to-12 year wait is more common for units with three or more bedrooms.

Yeah... let's take a few billion more taxpayer dollars... and build another slew of welfare ghettos like Regent Park and Driftwood Ave... because that just worked out so magnificently.

This is why I left Toronto.

Technorati Tags: welfare state, Mayor David Miller, pinko central

Garth gets his business snagged...

In his zipper... and Stephen Taylor catches the whole ugly extrication...

So, Garth is encouraging people to write cheques to "Garth Turner campaign, in trust". What does this mean? As is the general understanding, and confirmed by Elections Canada, funds held in trust become the property of the trustee.

Unfortunately for Garth, resending this money to his campaign is apparently... what's the word I'm looking for here... oh, yeah... illegal.

"...as of June 12, 2007, as a result of changes made by s. 44(2) of the Federal Accountability Act to s. 404.2 of the Canada Elections Act, transfers of trust funds to candidates from registered parties and registered associations will be prohibited."

UPDATE 10/29, 11am:

Garth has changed his website. It now asks cheques to be made out to "Halton Liberal Association - Garth Turner Campaign".

Yeeeouch, Garth... that's gonna leave a mark!

Technorati Tags: Garth Turner, Federal Accountability Act, fiberal smoke and mirrors

Dear China... bite me

If you were hoping to paralyse the Canadian government with your latest round of threats... you're just a couple of years and "one stand-up guy" too late.

-- BEIJING -- The Chinese government has warned that Canada could damage its relations with China if Prime Minister Stephen Harper goes ahead with his plan to meet the Dalai Lama Monday.

Mr. Harper will join a growing group of Western leaders who have deliberately chosen to greet the Tibetan spiritual leader in official venues, ignoring the objections of the Chinese government.

Monday's meeting will be the first time a Canadian prime minister has held formal talks at a government office with the exiled spiritual leader.

No dithering here.

Technorati Tags: Dalai Lama, China, Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Which Liberal critic takes a fall?

-- VANCOUVER -- Liberal MP Blair Wilson has resigned from the federal Liberal caucus over allegations that he didn't disclose all of his expenses during the last election campaign.

Hey... this could happen to anybody, right?

It's not like he's claiming any sort of financial experti... ooh, geez... wait a minute...

Mr. Wilson, who represents the riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast, stepped down on Sunday from his position as Liberal national revenue critic.

News of Mr. Wilson's alleged improprieties could not have hit at a worse time for Mr. Dion and the Liberals, who have been trying to capitalize on an alleged election expenses scandal involving the governing Conservatives.

So, Steffi... this one could throw a wrench in the works, huh?

The Liberals have hammered away at the issue every day since Parliament resumed earlier this month. Their attack will doubtless be blunted by news of the allegations of election spending irregularities within their own ranks.

Maybe the Dalai Lama could take a minute and explain that whole karma thing to Steffi and friends.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

If I were Dion I'd be ordering a background check on my justice critic.

Technorati Tags: Blair Wilson, Stephane Dion, fiberal smoke and mirrors

Why isn't this guy on Oprah?

Instead of all her sanctimonious, scientology sucking, multi-millionaire movie star friends?

-- SINGAPORE -- The charity runs a World Toilet College in Singapore. Students from different fields, such as architects or development workers, can chose among courses ranging from toilet design to ecological sanitation.

He says 160 million people have intestinal worms because of poor hygiene, and one-point-six million children die of diarrhea each year - often because of poor sanitation facilities, such as pit latrines.

Surprisingly... ego is even involved in promoting the spread and use of the "porcelain pony."

Sim says one of the organization's most important tasks is to train people in slums and rural areas to build toilets themselves. He says he promotes the use of toilets by making them into a status symbol.

"If you are defecating on the roadside you are not very respectable, but if you have a toilet then it's like you have a television or you have a hand phone. So this is a very, very important way of promoting it to them, because the poor are status-seeking people," he says.

**********

RELATED: The opiate of the... uh... dumb-asses

"Mothering advice from a childless egomaniac, diet advice from a fat chick, and cultural indoctrination --all from the self appointed High Priestess of Hedonism."

Technorati Tags: World Toilet College, intestinal worms, diarrhea

The Moose is Loose

If Liberal Attorney General Michael Bryant can't manage to keep violent gangbangers in jail... why shouldn't there be justice for Bob the Moose?

-- TORONTO -- Come pay homage to this majestic king of the Canadian bush, now finally free from the clutches of the Ontario ministry of natural resources. Exclusive but limited engagement. One week only.

Apparently though, this wasn't an easy decision to make. I guess Demetrius had to check with his boss.

Within hours of telling the court that he wanted 30 days to consider an appeal of Justice of the Peace Ann Forfar's decision to dismiss charges against Ken Procyk, owner of the now world-famous Bob the Moose, ministry of natural resources prosecutor Demetrius Antonios Kappos waved his white flag.

C'mon Mikey... I say it's way past time to free all the imprisoned stuffed animal heads... and start going after actual criminals.

Yet another taxpayer funded boondoggle... from the people who brought you, "I won't raise your taxes expectations."

**********

THE STORY:

Two Ontario conservation officers -- complete with field kit of bulletproof vests and sidearms -- show up at Ken Procyk's Aurora home one day and pull out their ID.

"Are you trying to sell a moose head on eBay?" he asks.

"No," replies Procyk. "I've sold a moose head on eBay. Why? Is there some kind of problem?"

And so it began.

**********

RELATED: Uh, guys... over here

One man is dead and two others are in hospital after a violent Saturday night in Toronto. The man's death is the city's 71st homicide of the year - two more than in all of 2006. His name hasn't been released.

Shortly after midnight, another man, 30, was stabbed at a bar in the area of Royal York Rd. and the Gardiner Expressway.

A few hours later, police responded to another west-end shooting. Officers were called to a bar on Albion Rd., near Finch Ave. W.

On the 6 o'clock news there was also another report of a stabbing at a grocery store in Scarborough... but after certain point, you've go to stop counting.

Curiously... not a single word... regarding what part taxidermy may have played in these incidents.

Technorati Tags: Bob the Moose, Michael Bryant, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

Your money... their pâté de foie gras

"Please give generously to the Liberal Party or we might be forced to cut back on big blowouts at top-notch luxury resorts in the future."

Compassionate yuppie metrosexuals...

Funding epidemic of child slavery... in the third world...

Amitosh concentrates as he pulls the loops of thread through tiny plastic beads and sequins on the toddler's blouse he is making. Dripping with sweat, his hair is thinly coated in dust. In Hindi his name means 'happiness'. The hand-embroidered garment on which his tiny needle is working bears the distinctive logo of international fashion chain Gap.

Amitosh is 10.

But how can that be true? The GAP is being endorsed by all your favourite "Learjet Liberals"... this must be an evil neocon conspiracy.

With annual revenues of more than £8bn and endorsements from Madonna and Sex and The City star Sarah Jessica Parker, Gap has arguably become the most successful brand in high-street fashion. The latest face of the firm's advertising is the singer Joss Stone.

Last year, the company embarked on a huge advertising campaign surrounding 'Product Red', a charitable trust for Africa founded by the U2 singer Bono and backed by celebrities including Hollywood star Don Cheadle, singers Lenny Kravitz and Mary J Blige, Steven Spielberg and Penelope Cruz.

Yessir... it's another triumph for the mindless, metrosexual, oh-so fashion conscious moonbats.

**********

POP QUIZ: Why do all the lefties pee themselves...

Every time they brush up against some "so called" celebrity?

Bono popped into the Gap at 54th/5th Ave in NYC on Friday morning, much to the excitement of the customers and the staff! He was spontaneously signing t-shirts for customers who bought Product (RED).

Word is that other celebs from the campaign are doing the same in Gap stores across the country to show thier support for this new business model.

This is too cool!

To paraphrase something my mother would have said to me, many, many years ago...

"If Bono told you to jump off the roof... would you do it?"

Technorati Tags: The GAP, child slavery, fiberal smoke and mirrors

Your early morning traffic report

Things are starting to back up around the Gates of Nirvana.

-- KABUL -- U.S.-led coalition forces killed about 80 Taliban fighters during a six-hour battle outside a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the latest in a series of increasingly bloody engagements in the region, officials said.

Of course, Musa Qala is Smack Central... so the religious warriors may be a little more motivated than usual.

The battle near Musa Qala in Helmand province — the world's largest poppy growing region — is at least the fifth major fight in the area since Sept. 1. The five battles have killed more than 250 Taliban fighters, a possible sign that U.S. or British forces could be trying to wrest the area back from Taliban militants.

Every time these donkeyheads try to "stand and deliver" they get squashed like bugs. If they're smart, they'll go back to booby trapping convoys with IEDs.

The latest fight began when Taliban fighters attacked a combined U.S. coalition and Afghan patrol with rockets and gunfire, prompting the combined force to call in attack aircraft, which resulted in "almost seven dozen Taliban fighters killed," the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement early Sunday.

Hey Timmy... where is your god now?

**********

RELATED: There was, of course, a Jack Layton moment...

"A Taliban official in the town denied any insurgents had been killed around Musa Qala and accused foreign forces of dropping bombs on civilians."

Technorati Tags: Musa Qala, opium poppies, heroin

What's next on the agenda...

Issuing pistol permits to convicted felons?

-- WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration and New York agreed Saturday on a compromise creating a more secure driver's license for U.S. citizens and allowing illegal immigrants to get a version.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he was not happy that New York intended to issue IDs to illegal immigrants. But he said there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"I don't endorse giving licenses to people who are not here legally, but federal law does allow states to make that choice," Chertoff said.

Or you could step up tracking and deporting the illegals.

Was that one not on the table?

**********

RELATED: The loony left responds...

We don' need no steenkin' badges!

“What a huge political flip,” said Chung-Wha Hong, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition.

“He’s now embracing and letting his good name be used to promote something that has been widely known in the immigrant community as one of the most anti-immigrant pieces of legislation to come out of Congress,” Ms. Hong said.

She said having separate licenses would amount to a scarlet letter for illegal immigrants. “I know I’m speaking for millions of immigrants when I say I just feel so thoroughly betrayed.”

Scum-sucking bottom feeders...

Let RCMP officer bleed to death...

-- EDMONTON -- At least five people heard gunshots the morning a Northwest Territories RCMP officer was shot to death, but it was more than two hours before anyone found Constable Christopher Worden curled up on the ground with multiple wounds.

The warrant application indicated that various people admitted they saw and heard the events that led to Constable Worden's death, but no one called police.

Old Liberals never die...

They just set their phasers... "on stunned..."

Victor Viggiani has one of the toughest jobs in the universe. The retired elementary school principal spends his time lobbying reporters to blow a massive government cover-up wide open and reveal that extra-terrestrials have been visiting our planet for years.

Viggiani found his champion in Paul Hellyer, who was federal defence minister in Lester B. Pearson's cabinet and then ran for the Liberal leadership against Pierre Trudeau in 1968.

Now that explains a few things.

Dance of the Seven Veils

These hypocritical cowards actually agree that this had to be addressed... but, once again, it doesn't stop them from taking shots at the Conservative's scary, hidden agenda...

But yesterday's response to the government's amendment was greeted with suggestions that the debate was being revived for political gain.

"I'm not going to make policy on the fly," said deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who said he still supports a solution requiring proper identification of all voters. "I'm just telling you my personal opinion, that what I don't like about this whole project is the idea that we take a bunch of women wearing veils and we make a whole big deal about this."

NDP Leader Jack Layton was similarly skeptical about the urgent need to address the matter, but didn't comment on the bill's specifics.

Once again, let's trot out that "Evil Stephen Harper" fairy tale.

The guy who actually... shudder... makes stuff happen.

Technorati Tags: Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, lunatic left

Sorbara Surprise

Liberal Finance Minister bails on McSlippery cabinet...

Governments don't like surprises, nor do they generally like to foist surprises on voters.

When there is a surprise announcement, there is usually a good political story behind it.

And there must be an intriguing story to be told around this afternoon's news that Ontario Finance Minister, Greg Sorbara, has decided to take a pass not only on remaining finance minister, but also on sitting in Premier Dalton McGuinty's cabinet.

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RELATED: John Tory weighs in

“I think the average IQ around that cabinet table just crashed with his departure, and I’m concerned about that for the sake of the province,” said Tory.

“I just wish he’d announced he was leaving before the election. I think people would have taken a different look at the McGuinty government without the brains of the operation being there.”

Sorbara was considered to be McGuinty’s right-hand man and he has been credited with steering the party to victory in the 2003 and 2007 campaigns.

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RELATED: In other Sorbara news

Two Ontario companies are suing a York region hospital alleging that plans for a proposed urgent health care centre dissolved after former Ontario finance minister Greg Sorbara used his political influence to redirect the proposal.

The plaintiffs further allege that Mr. Sorbara interfered so that the hospital would be moved to a property owned by a company to which he allegedly has ties.

Technorati Tags: Greg Sorbara, John Tory, Dalton McSlippery

Ship of "faith based" schooling...

Hits rocks of hard reality... in the Emerald Isle.

-- LUCAN, Ireland -- While Ireland has maintained an "open door" policy to immigrants, poor planning in the dense suburbs outside Dublin and the nation's longstanding commitment to a faith-based education model have left many new residents on the margins of the education system.

It remains unclear that the Irish government has the vision to accommodate them.

"The battle for integration will be won and lost in the schools," Conor Lehihan, Ireland's minister of state for integration, said when he took the position in June.

The Gathering Storm... UPDATE

You might just wanna start rounding up home medical supplies...

He warmed considerably when he realized that I was a Marine's wife who would have preferred to stitch her own arm could she have but reached her elbow. I assured him that I would not have the same trouble undoing his handiwork.

After an anecdote about dating a veterinary student who neutered a stray on my kitchen table during a few rounds of Cuervo Gold, the conversation turned to why I had such a strong urge to embroider myself.

"Because of the staph colony crawling all over this gurney and every nook of this fine medical establishment.", I said frankly.

Anybody who has had to sit in the local petrie dish slash emergency room for 6 hours knows what this gal is talking about.

He chuckled at my candor but his face turned grim as he related a sad statistic. The cases of anti-biotic resistant staph in this rural hospital had positively exploded on the heels of the Meth-amphetamine boom in the hills just out the window.

Two hundred and sixteen cases in the last year alone. The details he shared with me of the sad state of our politically correct medical system left me deeply afraid.

I glared at the writhing scumbag who had by now been strapped to a bed too nearby.

Don't say you weren't warned.

Ramping up at CFB Trenton

It's way past time someone made a serious effort to turn around all those years of Liberal neglect.

Quinte West Mayor John Williams will meet with a senior defence department policy advisor Nov. 2 in Ottawa to discuss the purchase of 900 acres of land north of CFB Trenton by Public Works Canada.

And this is a pretty good start.

It has been reported the purchase of private property outside currently-owned DND land would be home to a new airborne unit announced in 2006 by then Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor.

Other reports said the Trenton base could become the new home to Joint Task Force 2.

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PARTING SHOT:

"You know the difference between cannibals and liberals? Cannibals only eat their enemies."

- Lyndon Johnson

Technorati Tags: CFB Trenton, Quinte West, JTF2

Open the pod bay doors, HAL

"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. "

"I know you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I'm afraid that's something I cannot allow to happen."

Iranian nukes?

Sorry, Mahmoud.... it just ain't gonna happen.

-- JERUSALEM -- The United States has brought forward the planned sale of advanced warplanes to Israel as part of efforts by the two allies to maintain a military advantage over Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported yesterday.

Quoting unnamed defence officials, The Jerusalem Post said the Pentagon has agreed to supply the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Israel as early as 2012, when the U.S. air force is scheduled to receive the first of the supersonic radar-evading jets.

Like their Syrian neighbours, Iran is prepared to lie, cheat, steal and kill to get the bomb.

And while the rest of the world, mostly through the ineffectual protestations of the United Nations, has been willing to supply a shitload of carrot... it's obvious that what's really needed here... is "monster stick".

Israel, which is not among eight countries in partnership with Washington in producing the F-35 and had been expected to get the plane in 2014 or 2015, is building up its arsenal for a possible showdown with Iran.

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RELATED: Icy hands gripping economic testicles

Despite the government's insistence that U.S. and UN sanctions aren't causing any pain, some leading Iranians have begun to say publicly that the pressure does hurt. And on Tehran's streets, people are increasingly worried over the economic pinch.

Mr. Ahmadinejad and his allies are likely counting on sanctions to rally Iranians against the United States.

“Hard-liners in Tehran were looking forward for the sanctions. It helps them hide their incompetence behind the embargo,” said political commentator Saeed Laylaz.

Technorati Tags: Iran, nuclear bomb, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

Syria gets caught once again...

With its nuclear pants down around its ankles.

-- WASHINGTON -- New commercial satellite images show a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor site has been wiped clean since it was bombed Sept. 6 by Israeli aircraft.

Analysts say Thursday that the cleanup will hinder a proposed investigation by international nuclear inspectors and suggests Syria is trying to conceal evidence.

Apparently the Syrians were so caught up in burying all the evidence, they forgot about that big "eye in the sky."

An image taken Wednesday by a DigitalGlobe commercial satellite shows tractors or bulldozers and scrape marks on the ground where the building stood in photos taken before the September Israeli attack.

Had the building not been razed, inspectors would have been able to tell from its construction whether it was meant to house a North Korean-style nuclear reactor, Albright said.

He said that the structure got a roof so early in its construction also suggests that it was a reactor.

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UPDATE: Satellite pictures posted here

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LAST WORD: Here's the real story...

The Iranian military are crappin' their diapers.

Notice how far away Dayr az-Zawr is from Israel. An F15/16 attack there is not a tiptoe across the border, but a deep, deep penetration of Syrian airspace.

And guess what happened with the Russian super hyper sophisticated cutting edge antiaircraft missile batteries when that penetration took place on September 6th.

Nothing.

Technorati Tags: International Atomic Energy Agency, Syrian nuclear reactor, Israeli airstrike

A Gathering Storm

Two words you don't wanna see in the same sentence... deadly and synergy...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report that details the link between TB and HIV in the United States. Worldwide, TB is the leading cause of death among people infected with HIV.

Nine percent of all people with active TB in the United States tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus infection in 2005. But HIV infection status remained unknown in 31 percent of TB patients because they refused testing or were not offered a test, the CDC report said.

"HIV increases TB progression and TB increases HIV progression. And they result in a synergy that can be deadly," CDC epidemiologist Suzanne Marks, one of the authors of the report, said in a telephone interview.

Six Hard Questions

Oh, oh, I've got one... "How many starving Haitians could you rescue... if Al Gore cut his electricity consumption in half... and gave you all that moola?"

Only after you've addressed each question in turn can you say something sensible about climate policy. To carry out that program in detail would indeed be a Nobel-worthy achievement.

I don't propose to earn my Nobel Prize in this column space, but I can at least offer a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation to show you how this stuff works.

Hey... just practising my eco-judo.

Unless you're a fanatical vegan...

You should keep your hypocritical opinions to yourself...

It's that time of year.

I'm not a hunter myself, but I've always been a little irked at people who, every fall... run around screaming about animal genocide.

They're usually the same people who insist that anyone, absolutely anyone who dares to own a firearm... is a threat to society.

They're also usually the same people who wear expensive leather coats and order 25 dollar expense account striploins, which somehow... is always excusable.

They'll scream about the cruelty of the slaughterhouse and then blithely run the kids to the nearest burger joint for a quick, convenient, no dirty-dishes fix.

And that, my friends, is the height of intellectual and ethical dishonesty.

I talk to the pigs whenever I’m in their pen, and ever since June I’ve been slowly taming them, getting them used to being scratched.

There are two reasons. I truly love being with the pigs. And taming them means it will be that much easier for the farmer and his son to kill them swiftly, immediately.

If I had no more foreknowledge of my death than these two pigs will have of theirs, I’d consider myself very lucky.

There's no sense being top predator, if you're gonna get all squishy about what constitutes protein.

So pick a side here... and live your choice... but save the yuppie scum hypocrisy for your equally confused circle of suburban sybarite friends.

And let the rest of to go about our business in peace.

Technorati Tags: country life, yuppie scum, give me bbq, or give me death

Kate and I don't always agree...

But I love the pithy commentary...

"Warmer winters, wetter summers, and now - deader rodents."

"I'm failing to see the downside in this."

Not to mention her uncanny ability... to always drill down to the shiniest nugget.

"The only folly more profound than the notion that mankind can 'change the weather', is the folly that argues that we can change it back."

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RELATED: "Scrap Y2Kyoto", says science journal "Nature"

A report in an influential science magazine says it is time to forego the Kyoto protocol because the United Nations treaty has failed to bring about any significant action on climate change.

Not only has the decade-old treaty not delivered cuts in global emissions of greenhouse gases that continue to soar, but it is the wrong tool for the job, say Gwyn Prins of the London School of Economics and Steve Rayner at Oxford.

The article also explains why the Liberals... and Steffi in particular... were so enamored with the airy-fairy protocol...

Kyoto is a "symbolically important expression" of governments' concerns about climate change, they say. "But as an instrument for achieving emissions reductions it has failed.

Their commentary has top billing in the British science journal this week.

Technorati Tags: small dead animals, Y2Kyoto, science journal "Nature"

Talking with Ezra

The Calgary Sun apparently pulled this story from their website after deciding it was too hot to handle.

I emailed author Ezra Levant to see if he had any reaction.

He... unlike some of his media colleagues... replied promptly and courteously.

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Ezra Levant
to me
4:32 pm (8 minutes ago)

Hi there. The Sun obviously approved the story -- they accepted it from me, edited it, laid it out on the page, wrote the headline, sent it to press, etc., etc.

I guess they just didn't like the heat they got from it -- which is really weird, because it was fairly innocuous, and the heat I've seen has been a few hard-left permanent-complainers.

Looks like political correctness has infected even the Sun -- who knew?

They took it off their website; but here is the original (unedited) version that I sent them.

Cheers.

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The school bus accident last Thursday that killed a nine-year-old child and wounded others was a sorrowful tragedy. The amount of media coverage of the accident was appropriate: children should never pre-decease their parents.

Calgary’s radio stations, newspapers and TV news covered the event exhaustively – inspecting every detail, and asking good questions about how such accidents might be avoided in the future.

Every detail was examined except one: the woman who was the school bus driver was wearing a Muslim-style head covering that blocked her peripheral vision.

Why was this fact omitted? We read and heard hundreds of words about other elements of the accident. We know all about the truck on the side of the road; we know all about the little bus, and how it "drifted" over; we know all about the ongoing debate about school bus seatbelts. We know about everything detail except the most important one: the bus driver herself.

I saw two fleeting glimpses of the bus driver – once, quickly, in a TV newscast, and the other in a newspaper photo. Both showed her wearing a veil. Not a niqab – the full, cover-the-face veil that some Muslim women wear. But a smaller hijab – a scarf the surround the face. In both glimpses, the bus driver’s hijab was worn far enough forward that it clearly blocked her peripheral vision. It looked almost like blinders on a racehorse.

Is that not an extremely relevant fact in an accident where a bus "drifted" off the road, side-swiping a vehicle parked on the side? Wasn’t peripheral vision a key issue?

This was the leading news story of the day; the CBC even flew in its top TV reporter from Vancouver. Did no-one find it odd that a bus driver whose job requires keen eyesight wore a hood-like scarf?

I can’t believe that, of the dozen reporters there, none had questions about this. Who is the woman? What is her name? Why was she wearing a headscarf? Was the scarf a factor?

Reporters are inquisitive people. They must have asked those questions, at least to themselves.

I think it’s obvious why these questions were not asked: because it is politically incorrect to question a Muslim veil – or even anything that looks like one – for fear of being regarded as politically incorrect.

Maybe the woman wasn’t Muslim; maybe it was just a scarf to stay warm. Why didn’t a single reporter even ask?

Of course, it doesn’t matter if the woman was Muslim or not, or it if was a religious hijab or just a winter scarf. What matters is that a school bus driver was allowed to operate while wearing a hood. Clearly, that is an unacceptable risk – and something that should be banned by common sense.

Ten years ago, to say that head scarves on bus drivers should be prohibited would have been uncontroversial. But to say so today is to be called Islamophobic – even if the bus driver in question was not a Muslim.

The bus driver has been charged; we’ll know what the justice system says caused the crash. But for the dozen reporters there, they’d rather find any other reason than a head scarf – even a non-religious head scarf worn by a non-Muslim – than to admit that there are simply some parts of modern, secular society where it is inappropriate – and even dangerous – to allow politically correct multiculturalism to trump common sense.


Ezra Levant
Publisher, Western Standard

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(first found via "let freedom reign")

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SIDENOTE: Of course, in some parts of the world...

They don't just kill your story.

-- Washington, D.C., October 24, 2007 -- Alisher Saipov, a journalist who reported extensively for the Voice of America (VOA), was killed outside his office earlier today in Osh, Kyrgyzstan.

Mr. Saipov reported for VOA's Uzbek language service on a variety of sensitive political issues critical to the audience throughout Central Asia.

It's all relative, isn't it?

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LAST WORD: A very special welcome...

To readers of noted humanitarian "Canadian Cynic"

Make sure you check out his greatest hits.

Technorati Tags: Ezra Levant, Calgary Sun, suckass political correctness

Out here in the country...

The farmers refer to it as the three S's... that's short for shoot, shovel and shutup.

The shooting deaths of an Uxbridge family's two dogs by a farmer exemplify the harsh facts of rural life, an animal welfare official says.

Under provincial law, a farmer has the right to kill a dog that's attacking his livestock or even just straying on property where his animals are kept, the chief inspector with the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said yesterday.

And there's a perfectly good rationale for doing exactly that.

"I sympathize with the owner," Hugh Coghill said. "I'd be devastated if it happened to my dogs. But I've seen what two dogs will do to a flock of sheep overnight. It's horrifically graphic."

The intention of the decades-old Livestock, Poultry and Honeybee Protection Act is to protect livestock from harm by stray dogs, Coghill said.

"They don't even have to be in the act of attacking. A dog can actually worry cattle, sheep or poultry to death."

And that's just part of the reason people out here are less than impressed with the fiberal's 2-billion dollar "Farmer Bob Rifle Registry."

Let's register criminals... instead of chasing down inanimate and useful tools.

Technorati Tags: Livestock, Poultry and Honeybee Protection Act, shoot, shovel and shutup, Farmer Bob Rifle Registry

Steffi just doesn't have the stones

Exquisitely tutored... but obviously neutered...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper challenged Liberal leader Stéphane Dion to demonstrate the "courage of his convictions" yesterday and repeat, outside the protection of parliamentary immunity, allegations of election campaign illegality by Conservative staffers.

"If he believes what he said, he should make those accusations outside the chamber where those whom he is libelling and slandering have recourse to the courts to hold him responsible," said Mr. Harper.

Ok, Stef... your move.

Technorati Tags: Stephane Dion, parliamentary immunity, Prime Minister Harper

Anybody who's been through...

Those wild and wooly toddler-raising years... can appreciate to Solomonic wisdom of this solution.

-- JERUSALEM -- Israel has come up with a new plan to deter Palestinians from firing rockets from the Gaza Strip, defense officials said Wednesday — it will cut off electricity to the territory every time one of the projectiles hits Israeli territory.

As with just about any behavioural issue... it's simply a matter of finding your troublemaker's "currency."

Israel provides more than half of Gaza's electricity, and any power cutoff would make life more difficult for residents of the already impoverished territory.

It's one thing to be a glorious martyr for the cause... it's another thing entirely to forgo television or flush toilets.

Technorati Tags: Gaza Strip, Palestinian terrorism, spank the baby

Simple Pleasures

When it comes to beer... sometimes less IS more...

I was sitting at a noisy bar on a beautiful fall afternoon, watching the bartender work, and she was indeed working. She pulled down on the tap, then pushed back, pulled down and pushed up, in rhythmic repetition like a farmhand at a well.

This was beer the really old-fashioned way... unpasteurized and unfiltered. And it was served by muscle power pumping the ale up from its cask into the mug.

Technorati Tags: Cask-conditioned ales, a hammer, a cask and a couple of flasks, Campaign for Real Ale

The thing is, Dalton knows you don't...

Really give a crap...

Local health officials have been left wondering if the average area resident cares that Quinte Health Care could be ordered to cut back on its medical services to balance an estimated $10-million deficit.

That assumption comes after QHC officials called a public meeting to air the scenario and they were greeted by an empty hall.

Just like the dismal voter turnout for the provincial elections, this sends a signal to Premier McSlippery that he can get away with just about anything he chooses to do.

The hospital may also be forced to curb plans to increase the number of beds in its overburdened intensive care unit and put on hold its emergency department expansion to handle the huge volume of patients who do not have a family doctor.

All these measures may occur to help eliminate the deficit.

As well, provincial funding has failed to keep pace with increased costs and there is a shortage of staff nurses and doctors at the four sites, leading to overtime and soaring costs.

Just something to ponder during your next 6 hour wait at the Belleville General Emergency Room.

Technorati Tags: Quinte Health Care, Belleville General Hospital, fiberal smoke and mirrors

CBC steps on its own dick

Yet again...

Peter Worthington on the prevailing leftwing media bias in Canada...

If the CBC had known that a public opinion poll it co-sponsored in Afghanistan would turn out the way it did, you can be assured the CBC wouldn't have had anything to do with it.

Only 15% of Afghans wanted Canadian troops to leave immediately; the greater proportion of 80% wanted them to remain until the Taliban was crushed.

It seems the "think pink" crowd at the CBC are even more delusional than previously suspected.

This one seems like such a no-brainer.

The CBC and others also seem surprised that Afghan women were more positive about the future than men and appreciated the Canadians. Women were also more "negative" about the Taliban than Afghan men.

That's a surprise? Under the Taliban, women couldn't go to school; weren't allowed to be seen in public; were condemned to the burqa; could be beaten if they showed flesh; under Sharia law, adultery entailed stoning to death.

In short, the Taliban, like Islam, is male oriented and male dominated.

The only ones not surprised at the poll were ... wait for it -- Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan and, possibly, members of the Harper government who have been to Afghanistan and tested the mood of the country.

So who actually sucks up all of the CEEB's mindless leftbot puke?

Well... that would be "Liberal Man".

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RELATED: Stephen Taylor... fun with numbers

Facebook boasts 7,361,720 accounts in Canada. Of these accounts, 1,340 are at "CBC / Radio Canada".

If one then checks off "Liberal" as a delimiting factor, we're left with 180 accounts. If we uncheck "Liberal" and check "Moderate", we get 40 accounts.

Now, if we uncheck "moderate" and select "Conservative", we get "fewer than 20."

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LAST WORD: Meanwhile, just across the border

The mainstream media's failure to report what's been happening in Iraq frustrates Michael Yon perhaps more than anyone.

He has risked his life to tell that story, and the American media has yawned, apparently preferring the anachronistic pronouncements of a former general who hasn't been in the theatre since the surge began.

Technorati Tags: CBC, leftwing media bias, Environics

Once upon a time

As Conservative poll numbers edge further into majority territory, Steffi and the Fiberals start to dust off all the old fairy tales...

You know just how desperate the PM's enemies have become when they fall back on the threadbare charge that Mr. Harper is harbouring a "hidden agenda" to be unleashed when he gets his majority.

Please: Get a new threat. This one worked well in the Chretien/ Day era. But nearly two years into the Conservatives' mandate, it is unlikely many voters outside downtown Toronto still view Mr. Harper and his caucus as "scary."

Instead of all the smoke and mirrors... why won't the opposition just admit they haven't got the stones to take anything near a principled stand.

The truth is that Mr. Harper has a minority government. If he has unlimited power, it is because opposition MPs are scared of an election.

The opposition could vote this government out of office at any time. If, instead, they are choosing to save their own seats, don't blame the Prime Minister for their lack of principle.

C'mon Steffi... man up.

Technorati Tags: Stephane Dion, fiberal smoke and mirrors, majority government

I think I can, I think I can...

Thirty years ago, Manitoba saw an influx of what was then known as "boat people." Vietnamese refugees.

You want to talk poverty? You want to talk culture? Here were thousands of peasants brought from a tropical rain forest to the coldest city of its size on the planet. Ripped from their cultural roots, living in poverty worse than any Indian reserve.

What happened to them?

Now, if the deluded cheap-ass pinkos...

In the Liberal Party hadn't cancelled those helicopters... maybe there'd be a few less dead soldiers...

A loud bang, the acrid smell of explosives and a blinding cloud of dust indicated the Taliban had struck again – successfully.

Having the right equipment is half the battle... and fortunately, we're getting back on track.

The front end of the Husky was nowhere to be seen but the rest of it, including the driver in his cockpit, were OK.

"He said dammit, I spilled my water bottle," laughed De Wolfe, who was in contact with the other driver over his radio.

Cpl. Pierre Brule, 31, was greeted with applause and laughter when he entered the lead command vehicle later. It was suggested he should have to pay for the damages out of his salary.

Let's give our soldiers the tools they need.

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UPDATE: Talk about perfect timing

Looks like somebody heard my plea.

-- WASHINGTON -- NATO plans to rent helicopters to resupply front lines and remote bases in southern Afghanistan – an unprecedented move that could reduce ground casualties even as it exposes the unwillingness of major European allies to send their choppers into dangerous, Taliban-infested areas.

Defence ministers meeting Wednesday in the Netherlands are expected to approve chartering up to 20 large helicopters, flown by civilian contractors, to provide vital airlift and reduce the number of military convoys exposed to roadside bombs.

Most Canadian casualties this year have been caused by roadside bombs.

Technorati Tags: RSD Husky, NATO helicopters, fiberal smoke and mirrors