Who do these folks...

Think they're foolin'... the whole Hollywood machine exists to exploit...

I was walking from my Beijing bed-and-breakfast to a nearby subway station when I was stopped in my tracks by a billboard that made the controversial 1990s Calvin Klein underwear ads look artistic by comparison.

And who's right there in the middle of it?

Staring down at the throngs of shoppers on Beijing's Xinjiekou Nandajie Avenue, a busy commercial thoroughfare about a mile west of the Forbidden City, was a white girl who looked all of 12, reclining in a matching bra-and-panties set adorned with Disney's signature mouse-ear design.

In a particularly creepy detail, the pigtailed child was playing with a pair of Minnie Mouse hand puppets. In the upper left-hand corner was the familiar script of the Disney logo.

Good grief.

(h/t)*

Memo to David Miller

I think we're gonna need a knife ban too.

-- BRAMPTON, Ont. -- A gruesome multiple stabbing at a Brampton strip mall early this afternoon has left two people dead, including a bystander who tried to intervene in what police believe was a domestic dispute.

Both the woman and the Good Samaritan died at the plaza, which was quickly flooded with police cruisers and emergency vehicles and cordoned off with yellow tape.

So some poor brave soul tries to intervene in a domestic dispute... and ends up paying for it with his life.

Habib Syed, who works at the nearby Bestway Food Market, witnessed part of yesterday's violence and recounted seeing a black man try to stab himself in the neck with a bloody knife before slumping to the ground, shouting, ‘My wife is dead. my wife is dead.'

Pizza maker Amarik Mangar also saw some of the fight and described the slain woman as white and heavy-set. The passerby was also white, witnesses said.

Funny... no farmers, hunters or target shooters involved in this one either.

**********

UPDATE: And late Wednesday... another one

A 47-year-old Toronto man is dead after being stabbed in his west end home late last night.

Police were called to the Keele St. and Junction Rd. area, just north of Dundas St. W., shortly before midnight where they discovered a man suffering obvious signs of trauma.

He had been stabbed several times, and although he was rushed to hospital, he succumbed to his injuries a short time later.

**********

RELATED: One for the good guys

It won't bring Jonathan Chambers back... but it's something...

A year-long OPP investigation has led to the arrests of four men in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a Markham man who was executed near Barrie.

Tafari Williams, 28, of Brampton, Terrance Walker, 27, of Toronto, and Gregory Millar, 31, of Mississauga, each face a charge of first degree murder. Andrew Turner, 30, of Brampton, is charged with conspiracy to kidnap.

Police continue to hunt for two other men believed to be connected with the slaying. They have obtained arrest warrants for Lenworth Anthony Spence, 28, of no fixed address, and Robert Henry, 30, of Brampton.

*

MACLEANS SUIT - offer to settle

Well... we're certainly off to a fine start.

TORONTO, April 30 /CNW/ - "The assertion that the editors were prepared to consider a reasonable counter-view article to Mark Steyn's Islamophobic polemic is a complete fabrication," said Muneeza Sheikh, one of the students present at the meeting.

I'm not sure ol' Muneeza fully appreciates the concept of "settling"... in a Canadian legal context... which is odd, because she's apparently a lawyer.

The good news is that no one, except possibly Kathy Shaidle, is talking looting or burning... just yet.

**********

UPDATE: Kathy reports in

At this morning's press conference, held by the Sharia Creeps, we were promised a big "settlement" announcement in the absurd case of Steyn & Maclean's v. A Bunch of Sock Puppets and Their Anti-Semite Master Behind the Curtain.

In a dazzling demonstration of both taqiyya AND hudna, we received no such thing.

The three law students -- or rather, their obnoxious lawyer, who did all the talking -- simply reiterated their original demands: that Maclean's magazine honor the students' imaginary "right to rebuttal" (a right that exists nowhere in English common law or centuries of journalistic and publishing practice) by letting them publish 5,000 unsolicited and unedited words in someone else's magazine.

Yup... a publicity stunt.

*

Gotta have priorities, I guess

So the Fiberals spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire computers and software for the not-especially-functional Farmer Bob Rifle Registry.

Maybe they should have had a bit of a wider perspective...

OTTAWA — The Canada Revenue Agency has extended the deadline for online tax filing to May 6 as a result of heavy traffic that has bogged down its Netfile website.

“If you have difficulty sending or correcting your Netfile return, you have until midnight (local time) on Tuesday, May 6, 2008 to transmit it,” the notice says. “Your tax return will be considered as filed on time.” CRA stressed that if you owe money on your taxes, the usual filing deadline applies.

A software glitch took Netfile offline for nine days in March 2007, but CRA spokesman Jacqueline Couture said the site has not crashed this time.

“It's busy, it's overload,” she said. “For some people it seems to be working fine, for others it isn't.”

Not to worry though... the bureaucrats at the Department of Big Bad Boom... can tell you how many gopher rifles and skeet guns there are in Upper Rathole, British Columbia... they, uh... think.

Just call back in a couple of weeks.

*

Who is Lindsay Stewart?

More to the point... why would anybody care?

*

That David Ahenakew...

Such a kidder...

"But Chief Lawrence Joseph says he doesn't believe his friend and the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations ever meant it when he called Jews 'a disease' in 2002."

**********

RELATED: Too much Chief... not enough logic

Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte Chief R. Donald Maracle said his council was still trying to keep peace Tuesday.

He said about 20 protesters met him at the band office Monday, where he encouraged them to stay calm, since negotiations for the land claim are underway.

"We've made our position known," he said.

"Making inflammatory comments only exacerbates the tension and only adds to the potential of people being hurt."

Uh, Chief... what about blockading a town and assaulting police officers?

That figure into your equation anywhere?

*

Where's the fire?

When I watch Barack Obama on TV, it seems like he's in a play... he's just acting like he wants to get elected...

"The Illinois senator doesn’t pay attention to the mythic nature of campaigns, but if he did, he would recognize the narrative of the classic hero myth: The young hero ventures out on an adventure to seek a golden fleece or an Oval Office; he has to kill monsters and face hurdles before he returns home, knocks off his father and assumes the throne."

Hillary, on the other hand, is like some demented Terminator... she's been programmed for this mission and she'll do anything, kill anybody... to get it done.

It's an interesting contrast.

*

No Rumours... No Funeral

And the cops who were hospitalised... and the trench the terrorists, er... gentle aboriginal protesters cut across a road with a backhoe... do we blame that on rumours too?

Michael Bryant says both the road barricade of a local highway and the recent blockade of a rail line are being dismantled.

He says the blockade - which was erected in solidarity with aboriginal protesters in eastern Ontario - went up because of rumour and misinformation.

See, Mikey... call me cynical... but I'm thinking your government's policy of "relentless appeasement" has to shoulder some of the blame here.

*

See Iggy, the thing is...

You're confusing "publicity stunts"... with actually helping to run the country... which, as much as it pains me to say it... is what you're really supposed to be doing...

“I find it unbelievable that a governing party in Canada would refuse to support a motion expressing confidence in the institution that keeps our country's elections fair... And I think Canadian citizens will find it unbelievable,” Mr. Ignatieff told reporters Tuesday.

Well, my learned friend... maybe Canadians are smarter than you think.

What are you gonna do then?

*

Well, I see from Sitemeter...

That I've been linked to, yet again, by potty-mouthed poseur... Canadian Cynic.

CC is actually my most avid linker, though, strangely, there never seems to be that much resultant traffic from his site. I'm guessing the fact that he feels obligated to use the word c@nt in every other sentence, may be a bit of a gagger for some folks... especially the fairer sex.

With his rudimentary social skills, I'm guessing he doesn't really have much of a social life... but CC has managed to turn even that... being a "rude, moody loner"... into a sort of hobby.

So tonight, as per usual, it seems he's simply winging it... making up offensive cant... and talkin' smack about people (and I'm certainly near the top of his list) he believes may have sullied his name.

Anyway... CC now claims that he has unearthed my identity and, wait for it... that I am actually Richard from No-Libs.com, who I believe, resides in Calgary. He's also saying that people are gonna have to wait for the "punch line"... but you know something, my little friend, it's actually your puerile, uni-dimensional personality... that is the punch line here.

Of course, anyone who has followed my stuff over the last two years knows that I'm a 7 year resident of Hastings Cty., Ontario... and a former (never to return) resident of Toronto. But hey... CC isn't actually that interested in facts.

And that's really the only thing you need to know about him.

**********

UPDATE:

I probably should have just ignored the little pest.

I just went back into Sitemeter and there has been just one additional hit originating from CC's little rathole. So, counting the one I noticed earlier... we have a grand total of two visitors.

Now you really know everything about sad-sack Canadian Cynic.

I almost feel sorry for him.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I'd rather be called a 'c@nt' (cute, tres effective) than a member of 'the fairer sex'."

Right on sistah!!!

You try that out for a day or two and get back to us.

**********

RELATED: Maybe I'll ask Ezra for a legal opinion

In the comments, Langmann points out that Cynic is accusing me of being the person who hacked the wireless router in the HRC case...

Much like Nelly Hechme... I don't much appreciate being accused of breaking the law... or of being associated with the "white supremacist" movement.

But let's ask Cynic's Co-Blogger Lindsay Stewart... who is not so publicity-shy... to back up CC's assertion.

After all, Lindsay likes to express bold opinions on other public forums...

"Written by Lindsay Stewart on 2007-12-13 10:48:56"

"I've been keeping an eye on our site meter over at www.canadiancynic.blogspot.com where I write as pretty shaved ape. About 7% of our traffic this morning has been from government."

"We normally get that many gc hits in a day if we've been totally snotty. I suspect that they are seeing whether we'll let up. And thanks R. Bassett for the "vocal Minority" idea, I'll be including that in my letter to ACTRA later today."

Whaddaya think, Lindsay... you got some time to talk to a lawyer?

*

Oh good, I was a little worried...

They might not be putting those tax dollars to good use...

According to figures obtained by Sun Media under Access to Information, the number of practising Wiccans and Pagans behind bars has tripled in the last five years. In 2002 there were just 25, compared to 77 in 2007, data from the Correctional Service of Canada show.

Apparently it's important to have all the right equipment.

According to an internal CSC manual on religious practices, inmate witches are required to have an altar with candles and incense for worship.

They should also be permitted a wooden wand, robe, tarot cards, figurines, oils and natural objects such as shells, feathers, stones and crystals, the manual reads.

Say, do you think Rastafarians get all their religious needs seen to as well?

I know what altar I'd be worshipping at.

**********

UPDATE: Darcey found the manual

The internal CSC manual is also available online at the CSC website. The Paganism section (under spiritual resources) has been written by one Pashta MaryMoon on behalf of the Pagan Pastoral Outreach and Pagan Federation of Canada.

Clicking through the politically correct bureaucracy is fascinating - did you know that Pagans have their own dietary requirements but which can vary according to their coven and also an individuals conscience?

*

CTV and Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler...

Are both lying through their teeth...

He noted that "an overwhelming majority of Canadians" polled don't believe Khadr will receive a fair hearing in the U.S. and would like him returned home to Canada.

See, that's a little funny... because CTV's sister company, the Globe & Mail, recently ran a poll on that very question...

Should Omar Khadr be tried in Canada as a youth?That's an overwhelming majority all right... just not the way the CTV has chosen to report it... this time around.

But, but, but... poor old Omar, he's a regular Canadian... just like you and me...

Kuebler said Khadr wants to do what other Canadians do -- such as go to school, get a job, watch movies like "Lord of the Rings," and visit the Rocky Mountains.

"They are not the dreams of a dangerous jihadist," he said. "They are the dreams that we can admire and relate to."

Are you relating yet?

*

"I hope Steyn takes the letter..."

"...crumbles it up and dips it in a cup of ketchup and then eats it right there on stage in front of them."

"Oh God, hear my prayer, please let this happen."

Even the collateral damage is pretty pleasing.

...and generally served to marginalize the pro-censorship lobby to the point that its main defender is now a disgruntled former journalist who fills his blog with unhinged conspiracy theories about how everyone who favours free speech is a racist.

Ooooh... that's gonna leave a mark.

**********

RELATED: Paging Richard Warman...

Hey, buddy... you may wanna steer clear of this place for a little while.

A Montreal gay bar, Bar Le Stud, told a woman named Audrey Vachon that she wasn't allowed in -- it was a men-only establishment, and had been happily operating that way for eleven years.

Then the human rights commissions got involved, and Bar Le Stud has copped a plea bargain.

Misguided gay rights activists -- like Darren Lund, and even Richard Warman -- have used the bludgeon of human rights commissions to batter down the real rights of others. But they have laid down precedents that, in this case at least, are being used against gays.

*

BLACKBALLED!!!

Captain Obama forced to cut tow-rope to the good ship... "SS Jeremiah Wright"...

The presidential candidate is seeking to tamp down the growing fury over Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his incendiary remarks that threaten to envelope his campaign.

“I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday,” Mr. Obama told reporters at a news conference.

I just wanna know... where was Captain Obama when the entire crew started screaming...

"ICEBERG!!!! DEAD AHEAD!!!!"

**********

RELATED: There's also that yappy spouse thing

"I’m willing to cut presidential spouses a lot of slack. When Senator Obama said Jeremiah Wright was like a goofy uncle, it was pointed out that your relatives are a given but you get to choose your pastor."

"It’s true that you also get to choose your wife, but, unless you’re particularly far-sighted, you don’t always choose them with a presidential run in mind."

I guess "Slick Willie" kinda evens this one up anyway.

**********

LAST WORD: Wheels within wheels

"Of course, Hillary could use Wright to sabotage Obama, and then - with the party roiling - set herself up as the candidate of “unity” by offering the badly injured Obama the veep spot. Which would be profoundly ironic - she’d have taken the party to the brink of destruction in order to steal the “unifier” tag from Obama."

"This is almost a thing of beauty in its perverse way - if it can be pulled off."

*

Pay me now... or pay me later

-- Pop Quiz -- What's flat, black and glows in the dark?

-- Answer -- It sure as shit ain't gonna be Tel-Aviv.

-- Iran -- The sprawling site, known as Natanz, made headlines recently because Iran is testing a new generation of centrifuges there that spin faster and, in theory, can more rapidly turn natural uranium into fuel for reactors or nuclear arms.

Iran is slowly but steadily gaining the industrial experience needed to make reactor fuel, or, with the same equipment and a little more effort, bomb fuel — the hardest part of the weapons equation.

American intelligence agencies say the earliest Iran could make a nuclear weapon is 2009, but consider 2010 to 2015 a more likely time frame.

Now, you'd think... especially in light of the recent Israeli air raid on the Syrian nuclear reactor... these guys would wanna keep their heads down... but apparently, like a bunch of 7 year-olds with a new video game, they just have to brag it up.

“This is intel to die for,” Andreas Persbo, an analyst in London at the Verification Research, Training and Information Center, a private group that promotes arms control, said in a comment on the blog site Arms Control Wonk.

Dr. Wood of the University of Virginia said the episode smelled of hubris. “It was amazing to me that they put the pictures out there,” he said.

“It’s sort of a cocky thing. I would think they had more to gain by keeping their cards close to their chests.”

Live and don't learn... the story of the Middle-East.

*

Alright, Toronto...

Congratulations on solving that nasty guns and gangs issue...

City council endorsed David Miller's handgun ban yesterday, but left the mayor three votes shy of winning unanimous support.

It's tough to get unanimous support at Toronto council, Miller noted. But he said the city made a "strong and powerful step" towards eliminating guns from the streets.

"Will it put an end to all guns in our country that are used illegally? We know there is more work to do and the answer is sadly no," Miller said. "Will it make a significant impact? The answer is absolutely yes."

In support of his "if you ban it, they will magically disappear" initiative, His Blondeness trots out an impressive statistic...

He said one-third of crimes in Toronto, including the Jan. 12 shooting death of innocent bystander John O'Keefe on Yonge St., are committed with legally registered handguns.

The only problem is... it isn't true.

"Statistics Canada has reported that 2.27% of homicides in Canada were committed with a registered gun and only 1.21% were committed with a registered firearm that was owned by the accused."

But don't tell that to David Miller.

He's livin' the dream.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Dave Hodson suggested... "So, Let's set up a combination safe shooting sites--you can shoot guns and drugs in the same protected environment!"

Langmann replied... "Its called Toronto."

**********

RELATED: Not everyone is celebrating

When I mentioned the handgun ban to Mrs. Neo, she was strangely unenthusiastic...

"It's a pity," said Mrs. N, no doubt thinking fondly of her salad days at U of T.

"I always felt so much safer when we were allowed to walk around Toronto packing heat."

**********

LAST WORD: On the other hand...

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair spoke out enthusiastically in support of the Mayor...

"Thank goodness, someone has finally solved this horrible problem. Toronto police officers were sick and tired of finding hundreds of armed criminals every year and not being able to do anything about it."

"We look forward to starting to arrest these miscreants, from this point forward."

*

Let the Liberals...

Take over rescuing Ms. Congeniality... and the federal government can go back to looking after the other thousand Canadians imprisoned abroad...

"It's a process than can take nine months if both sides agree, yet Ms. Martin could set a record for speedy departures if she's released this week. Not good enough, fumed Ms. Martin after a meeting with two MPs, the Canadian ambassador and a few embassy officials."

"She wants a flight home now, wants to be spared the standard handcuffing while in transit and wants parole upon landing."

Let's not forget, the Canadian government also paid her court imposed fine and you know... sure as the sun rises in the east... she's gonna be suing the government... as soon as her Beauty Queen feet hit Canadian soil.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Talk about the "kiss of death"

"perhaps martin is innocent and has every right to be pissed at the ass clowns in ottawa who hung her out to dry."

Well, Jeffy... I'm sure she'll be happy to have your unequivocal support.

BTW... how's that "problem-drinking thing" coming along?

**********

RELATED: Okay... who's next?

According to the U.S. State Department, Mr. Abdelrazik was “closely associated with Abu Zubaydah, Osama bin Laden's lieutenant responsible for recruiting and for al-Qaeda's network of training camps in Afghanistan.”

*

"Quick, Igor... bring me a brain!"

Well, it's not like we couldn't see this one coming...

Users of the facility provide their own illegal drugs and have access to medical personnel. But they are not arrested because the federal government provides an exemption saying the site is a pilot project for scientific and medical evaluation.

"The relief sought by the plaintiffs has implications well beyond this," said Hunter, the lawyer representing the federal government.

"It seeks to constitutionally protect the illegal use of drugs by drug addicts."

Apparently... much like 9 to 5, child-raisin', mortgage payin' Joe Lunchbucket... junkies are feeling life's pressures and stresses...

Shelly Tomic, one of the two addicts suing to keep the site open, said in her affidavit that she was one of the first dozen people to use the facility.

"It's much less stressful to inject there because you don't have to do it fast."

Call me crazy... but how about we put some money into saving people who actually care if they live or die?

*

Okay, I admit it... I was wrong

Climate change IS killing people...

"In bad years, the killings explode," Professor Miguel said. He believes that if climate change causes more drought years in Tanzania, the result will be more elderly women executed there and in other poor countries that still commonly attack supposed witches.

*

With friends like this...

Who needs Hillary?"

*

Nope... not Polkaroo either...

Guess again...

"I don’t feel very well. I feel dizzy, I feel anxiety, and I am not in a serene state of mind to proceed with this file today."

"I have a lot of things worrying me right now and I don’t want to elaborate… I am not dying, Mr. Chair, I don’t have the flu, but I am not mentally capable of proceeding under these circumstances."

*

Affirmative Action... here I come

I don't know about you... but I'm looking forward to becoming a visible minority...

-- OTTAWA -- The identity of Canadians is diversifying so quickly that at the current rate the majority of the country's residents will be hyphenated Canadians by 2021, a new study by a Montreal researcher predicts.

While only seven million Canadians listed multiple ancestries in 1986, that figure has steadily risen from census to census. In the latest census conducted in 2006 that number jumped to 12.9 million, Jedwab found.

Yeah... that whole "being a Canadian" thing... is so "last century" anyway.

"At this rhythm, by 2021, on the basis of the question on ethnicity, the majority of Canadians will be "hyphenated" -- that is to say they will be reporting more than one ethnic background," he wrote.

"The analysis shows that any attempt by government to strive toward a common identity for all Canadians is "an illusory course."

Man... that'll really screw with the NDP.

**********

RELATED: The flip side of the equation

"Should immigrants have to choose between becoming Canadian citizens and leaving the country?"

LAST WORD: Tom Kent on culture & immigration

"Most of us are proud to belong to a nation that welcomes diverse peoples and accepts many cultures. But present law permits, even encourages, confusion of loyalties and plurality of citizenship."

"The sense of a Canadian identity is increasingly diluted."

"It need not be."

*

Hey, Dalton...

Just for a change... how about you try being Premier of "all of the people?"

-- Caledonia, ON -- A renewed Six Nations blockade of a southern Ontario highway is pushing residents to the brink and is paving the way for a repeat of violent clashes between protesters and town residents, the mayor of the beleaguered town said Monday.

"This shouldn't be allowed," Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer said in an interview. "Enough is enough. Something has to happen. This nonsense can't continue."

*

Have it your way

Don't be too surprised if ol' Baitullah gets turned into something resembling "special sauce" in the near future...

Pakistan's top Taliban commander has suspended rare peace talks with the country's new government.

A spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud said Monday that Mehsud broke off the talks because the government is refusing to withdraw the army from a tribal region bordering Afghanistan. There has been no word from government officials.

Last week, Mehsud ordered his fighters to stop attacking Pakistan forces, as reports surfaced the government had begun negotiating a 15-point peace deal with his group.

I'm not sure why they gave this guy the option... but now he's back at the top of the class.

The United States and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have accused Mehsud of planning last year's assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud denies the charge.

Bye-bye Baitullah.

*

So Jason, does that include...

Killing another police officer?

Ontario Provincial Police can expect "another Oka crisis" should they decide to enter a quarry occupied by native protesters for more than a year, warns a Mohawk leader.

You mean another "manufactured Oka crisis", right Jason?

OPP Staff Sgt. Steve Flynn informed the Mohawks if they remained on Deseronto Road they would be arrested. He advised them to return to the quarry or be charged and taken into custody.

"If you stay here you'll be arrested. If you go back to the quarry you'll have sanctuary."

**********

RELATED: Next time you get pissed off...

Just try digging a trench across one of the roads in your neighbourhood.

-- DESERONTO, Ont. -- The Ontario Provincial Police have removed a roadblock set up by aboriginal protesters on a rural road north of Deseronto, Ont.

The barricade, which was removed at 8:30 a.m., was erected Saturday where protesters had dug a trench across the road.

Provincial police Sergeant Christine Rae says due to the damage caused to the road, it will be some time before it is reopened.

I'm not hearing reports of any more arrests... so apparently the cops are okay with it.

*

Considering the "cultural disconnect"

Obviously... one man's deeper truth... is another man's "crazy as a shithouse mouse."

-- Robert Fulford, NAT POST -- The four men, uneasy comrades at best, exhibit mutual jealousy and sharp policy disagreements as well as passionate hatred of the non-Muslim world. They are often described as thinkers and theorists but an outsider, reading their texts in translation, may find it hard to identify the thought.

They confuse ranting with teaching and clearly believe repetition is a virtue, nuance a vice. As Kepel notes, they all consider history a single narrative.

The Prophet appears, Islam rises and extends its power and then each succeeding generation must accept the task of completing what is so far only a partial conquest of the world.

**********

RELATED:The moral logic of suicide bombing

"Suicide bombers conducted 658 attacks around the world last year … more than double the number in any of the past 25 years … More than four-fifths of the suicide bombings over that period have occurred in the past seven years, the data show."

*

Maybe he went out for a smoke

The capricious and unknowable "Will of Allah."

-- BAGHDAD -- American and Iraqi troops killed 38 militants in the fiercest clashes in weeks in Baghdad, including 22 who attacked a military checkpoint in a Shiite militia stronghold, the U.S. military said Monday.

Or maybe that "surge" thing is working.

*

If he's afraid of Hillary...

What's he gonna do the next time Osama comes knockin'?

*

I'm from the government...

I'm here to save you...

-- TORONTO -- A woman caught up in a mysterious Internet hijacking scandal that has sparked a federal privacy investigation into the Canadian Human Rights Commission says she was shocked, angry and confused at suddenly finding herself publicly associated with white supremacists.

Speaking out for the first time, Nelly Hechme told The Canadian Press she was appalled to learn commission investigators might have hacked her Internet connection to post messages on supremacist websites.

*

If TTC drivers get more money...

It's gonna eat into Mayor Miller's ambitious socialist agenda...

Hains was one of about 200 housing and social welfare advocates to attend the meeting to discuss Toronto's 10-year, $469-million-a year Housing Opportunities Toronto (HOT) – An Affordable Housing Framework 2008-2018.

C'mon Toronto (taxpayers)... give til it hurts.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"You're wrong! Being a BIG CiTY. the government of Canada will be called upon to fund their idiocy and taxpayers all over Canada will be paying the bills."

Well... ya got me there.

**********

LAST WORD: Hell... why not "housing?"

We've already got that "affordable progeny" initiative.

*

Game, Set and Match

Say... has anybody seen Jeffy "Bugboy" Davidson lately?

-- LA Story -- So I'm at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I've done my paneling duties, and I'm sitting under a tent to sign books. The (short) queue terminates, and up comes a guy with a videocamera.

"Remember me?" Amd I do - it's the same 9/11 denialist who showed up at a LA Public Library event I did some weeks ago.

"Still think I need stronger medication?" (A reference to what I'd told him at the prior encounter.)

I said: "Actually I regret I didn't tell you what my friend Christopher Hitchens told you - F—- off."

I returned to my conversation with my fellow tent residents. The camera kept on, which bugged me. So I walked over to him and snapped it shut. He was visibly startled, but he turned the camera back on. So I snapped it shut again. He began to shout: "I've been assaulted by David Frum! I've been assasulted by David Frum!"

I was tempted to answer, "Now you see the violence inherent in the system," but I thought the reference would be lost on him. Festival security intervened, and led him away, still shouting.

*

"Nothing says God is great...

...like 00-buck."

*

His numbers may be down...

But George Bush sure isn't sittin' around... feelin' sorry for himself.

-- WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George Bush poked fun at his potential successors Saturday night, expressing surprise that none of them were in the audience at the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner.

"Senator McCain's not here," Bush said of GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain. "He probably wanted to distance himself from me a little bit."

" You know, he's not alone. Jenna's moving out too."

**********

RELATED: Meanwhile... back at Obamarama...

The difficulty is understandable. Some of the contradictions are inexplicable.

How does one explain campaigning throughout 2007 on a platform of transcending racial divisions, while in that same year contributing $26,000 to a church whose pastor incites race hatred?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Imagine if Harper went to a church that degraded another 'race'?"

"The MSM would be orgasmic."

**********

LAST WORD: Apparently, Hillary is the new Al Gore

"One thing many people haven’t noticed about Hillary Clinton’s 55% to 45% victory over Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary is that it put her ahead of Obama in the popular vote."

*

That flexible Taliban strategy

If we can't nail Karzai... we'll just settle for whoever happens to be sitting around.

-- KABUL -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Canadian ambassador Arif Lalani were among the dignitaries forced to take cover Sunday when automatic gunfire erupted during a ceremony marking 16 years since the overthrow of the country's Soviet-backed rule.

Mr. Karzai, his cabinet and foreign diplomats who were present — including Arif Lalani, Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan — were all safe, a statement from the presidential palace said.

But it said a local Shiite Muslim leader was killed and nine others, including two parliamentarians, were wounded.

The capricious, unknowable "Will of Allah."

*

Screw the corn-eatin' third world...

It's not like they can afford cars anyway.

-- California -- WHAT if you could make fuel for your car in your backyard for less than you pay at the pump? Would you?

The first question has driven Floyd S. Butterfield for more than two decades. Mr. Butterfield, 52, is something of a legend for people who make their own ethanol. In 1982, he won a California Department of Food and Agriculture contest for best design of an ethanol still, albeit one that he could not market profitably at the time.

Now he thinks that he can, thanks to his partnership with the Silicon Valley entrepreneur Thomas J. Quinn. The two have started the E-Fuel Corporation, which soon will announce its home ethanol system, the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler.

Hey... homemade backyard fuel production... what could possibly go wrong there?

Just another brainwave from the folks who think replacing incandescent lights with mercury infused compact florescent bulbs... manufactured in China... will solve all our pollution problems.

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RELATED: The grass is always greener...

In the Toronto Star.

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In other homegrown terrorist news...

Wonder what Dalton's gonna give them this time around...

-- Caledonia, ON -- A council of Six Nations men has decided that their ongoing blockade of the Highway 6 bypass in Caledonia will continue until police back off in a Deseronto, Ont. native dispute.

Six Nations protest spokesperson Brian Skye said the Caledonia blockade, which has slowed traffic in the town, could last a long time.

Geez... there's a shocker.

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UPDATE: Well... they talk a good game

-- CALEDONIA, Ont. -- Tensions over First Nations protests in two Ontario communities have largely subsided, the head of the Ontario Provincial Police said early Sunday.

"It's a very quiet situation right now,'' Julian Fantino said in a phone interview from Caledonia. "We're on the ground still....we'll keep on doing what we have to do."

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UPDATE: Blockade is up again

Six Nations protesters are continuing to block the Highway 6 bypass today after police backed off an attempt to clear the road last night. The road is now barricaded with a downed hydro tower, wires and a telephone pole.

The situation has angered some area residents, who are complaining police treat native and non-natives differently. “If any of us blockaded a road they would come in full force,” said Bill, a Caledonia resident who did not want his last name used.

C'mon Bill... special rights for special people.

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LAST WORD: "Run, Forrest, run!!!"

Stoogeleft wants to know... "What is a land claim?"

Well, Stooge... is it when the grandson of a Mohawk chief sells off... presumably for a profit... the land he inherits from his family... and 170 years later, some unrelated people want it back?

"Oh yeah... this wily Culbertson dude who supposedly perpetrated the horrendous fraud on the poor aboriginals... was the grandson of John Desorontyon - the Mohawk chief to whom the entire eastern land grant to Mohawks was made."

"Funny how nobody ever mentions that in their manifesto."

More Deseronto from local paper

If you live here in Ontario... you should thank your lucky stars... these people aren't your neighbours...

As Barnhart was meeting with reporters, OPP Staff Sgt. Steve Flynn informed the Mohawks if they remained on Deseronto Road they would be arrested. He advised them to return to the quarry or be charged and taken into custody.

"If you stay here you'll be arrested. If you go back to the quarry you'll have sanctuary," Flynn said.

Flynn's comments led many Mohawks making their way slowly toward the quarry, though some remained behind and hollered at the approximately 20 officers gathered at the intersection of Deseronto Road and Bridge Street.

And what sort of sociopaths feel entitled to threaten other people, never mind police officers, like this...

"I can't guarantee your officers safety if they come on Mohawk land," one protester said. As one woman walked past the officers, north to where her vehicle had been left parked, she looked toward police and said, "Get your guns ready."

Happy jihad... you freaks.

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Sheppard and Keele gets the nod...

As Canada returns to the good ol' days of segregation...

Canada's first Africentric alternative school will be a school within a school – not a free-standing building – and is being proposed for a wing of sprawling Sheppard Public School near the northwest corner of Sheppard Ave. W. and Keele St.

The pilot program, which Sheppard principal Ira Applebaum called an "exciting opportunity" in a letter last night to parents, would be open to children of any background across Toronto, from junior kindergarten to Grade 5, who would wish to enrol in September 2009.

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RELATED: Will these kids all transfer?

Just north of Bathurst and Lawrence, in a patch of subsidized housing projects collectively known as the Jungle, sits Sir Sandford Fleming Academy -- the worst high school in Toronto in the eyes of the Fraser Institute, and its national ranking of academic performances.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

What if they "build it and no one comes"?

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UPDATE: Welcome, yet again, readers of Canadian Cynic

This time, uber-compassionate, freedom rider CC refers to me as a "really, really creepy racist." That, of course, is what CC does. His blog is simply one giant accusatory troll.

On the other hand... CC is just really, really creepy.

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LAST WORD: Ask a Black Activist

"I do not believe that an all-''black'' school will serve our communities well. It is divisive and the ''black'' community is not a homogenous group in this province or in this country," said Payne.

"Martin Luther King Jr. wanted all children to succeed based on their character, not by the colour of their skin."

Of course, Stephanie and myself... don't always see eye to eye.

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There's a burning question

Tehran's former police chief Reza Zarei attempted suicide in prison yesterday, a month after being arrested for consorting with six naked women in a brothel.

In the aftermath of the scandal, the Times, the Associated Press, and the BBC all reported that prostitutes are becoming more visible on Iranian streets.

Given the Islamic dress code, how do Persian prostitutes signal their trade?

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You take all your tactical cues...

From HAMAS... don't be too surprised when the roof falls in on you...

"If we don't get this settled down soon, this is going to make Caledonia look like nothing," said one native protester who asked that his name not be used. "Six Nations protesters are on their way and so are the people who have been at Caledonia. This has nasty potential."

You just have to love the chutzpah here.

Even hardened, gangbangin' drug dealers in Toronto's west end... usually just fire a few shots and scamper back down their ratholes. Aboriginal protesters, in direct contrast, actually wade in and start beating police officers and threaten to bring out the heavy artillery, a la Oka.

These folks aren't entirely oblivious. They have to realise that, in the end, they are gonna be both outnumbered AND outgunned. The obvious strategy here... as in Gaza and at Ipperwash... is to provoke a heavy response. It's a chess game and the natives are hoping to exchange a pawn for the bishop of media outrage.

And hey, it works. There's no denying that Dudley George accomplished far more for "aboriginal causes" in death than he did in life.

And there is already a gathering storm.

Several witnesses confirmed the OPP had up to 150 officers and 50 vehicles already on site in this town, 50 kms west of Kingston, near the Mohawk Territory.

Sun Media's Pete Fisher said he was told by police that "they couldn't guarantee my safety" and he reported that he had never seen a bigger native protest scene. A whole field was set ablaze.

So far, with the OPP detachment in Napanee being their main opponent... the Mohawk protesters have managed to get away with, well... not quite murder. But the troops are massing and the rules of engagement are gonna twist and turn as things heat up.

They might wanna reconsider their HAMAS-based strategy.

Because that can get real ugly, real fast.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"You don't mean that when a situation involves the well meaning government and the granting of land to a "collective" where there is no real establishment of property rights that one native guy higher up on the social-ladder might actually rip the lower ones off?"

"That would never happen in Canada."

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I think I've actually found the answer...

To that age-old question... "Who died and made you King?"

Private Property

4) An inspector who is carrying out their functions may enter on or pass through or over private property without being liable for doing so and without the owner of the property having the right to object to that use of the property.

Hey, Inspector... I'm with Mike on this one.

Unless we're talking about "hot pursuit" of... I dunno... alien life forms... you ain't coming in through my front door.

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I guess SCC Judges...

Don't ever get on planes to go anywhere...

"The Supreme Court has ruled the use of sniffer dogs in random searches is unlawful. Do you agree with the decision?"

(poll at ctv)

Deseronto... the guns come out

It's past time to shut these sociopaths down.

-- DESERONTO, Ont. -- Mohawk protesters and provincial police officers were involved in a tense standoff in Deseronto, Ont., on Friday after officers said they spotted at least one gun among the demonstrators.

Police say they spotted a ‘long gun' being pointed at them from a location inside an occupied quarry, which protesters have controlled since March, 2007.

An order was issued to all police personnel on the scene to take cover, and guns were drawn by officers crouching behind their vehicles, but no shots were fired.

Spokes-native Jason Maracle is apparently threatening another Oka...

“We're not moving anywhere,” he said. "I guess if they want another 1990 scene, then OK, I guess we'll have one.”

A Quebec provincial police officer was shot and killed when a SWAT team stormed the barricade.

It's the sort of thing only aboriginals can get away with in Canada.

Don't believe me? Try this experiment some time yourself... occupy someone else's property by force... and then point a rifle at some cops... see if the local SWAT Team doesn't drop you like a crazy ex-girlfriend.

Earlier in the day, half a dozen protesters were arrested, including Shawn Brant, who led a protest last June on the aboriginal national day of action.

Also arrested was Dan Doreen, the leader of a group that erected a blockade Sunday on Deseronto's main road.

Okay... that's a start.

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RELATED: Live and don't learn

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LAST WORD: Globe & Mail wusses out

Eighteen comments and the Globe shuts off the tap. That free speech thing is apparently just too scary.

Of course, that still beats the CBC. They have polygamy, polar bears and police corruption... but as of midnight Friday... not a word on Deseronto.

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Ask a Toronto Taliban

Okay... has anybody got the phone number for CSIS handy?

-- Q -- You reject democracy, you support the Taliban and you believe that fundamentalist Islam is the only way to live.

So why do you choose to live in Canada, a democratic nation with freedom of religion that is at war with the Taliban?

Isn't it hypocritical to say you believe what you do, while you sit in Toronto enjoying all the benefits of Western society?

Apparently not.

If you have a Facebook account you can send Naeem a message.

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The IAEA...

About as useful as grease nipples on an emu...

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has criticized the United States for withholding intelligence the U.S. says shows North Korea was helping Syria build a nuclear reactor.

He also condemned Israel for destroying the suspected site during an airstrike last September, but said the IAEA is taking the intelligence seriously and will investigate the matter.

Syria today denied U.S. allegations it has been involved in secret nuclear activities with North Korea and accused the United States of aiding Israel in the attack.

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Riding the d'uh train

Hey, Gomer... they catch you handin' out syringes, or crackpipes... in this neck of the woods... somebody's gonna hand you your ass...

"I just don't think it's helping," said RCMP Chief Supt. Derek Ogden, director general for drugs and organized crime.

"If you're just experimenting with cocaine and people are handing out crack pipes at will, really I think it sends the wrong message, and could actually encourage the rate of crack cocaine use in the community."

Screw rehab... we'll just make sure it's a nice clean habit...

Both former police chief Vince Bevan and Mayor Larry O'Brien have spoken out against the program, suggesting it promotes illegal drug use while doing nothing to provide help to addicts.

"Giving out loot bags of crack pipe packages to facilitate the use of a tool that can lead people to this lifestyle is not appropriate," O'Brien has said.

"It's foolishness."

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Just one more example...

Of what happens when you don't aggressively enforce the law of the land... against everyone equally...

"The majority of contraband tobacco seized by the RCMP from B.C. from Newfoundland do come from the American side of the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory," Sgt. Michael Harvey said Thursday as the RCMP prepared to dispose of enough tobacco to make 3.7 million cigarettes, seized from the reserve straddling the borders of Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

So what does happen when you have "special laws" for "special people?"

Harvey alleged that 90 per cent of illegal cigarettes sold in Canada — mostly in Central Canada —come from Akwesasne, and police are now seizing in one week the number of cigarettes that they used to confiscate in a month.

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New "improved" Bob Rae

Yeah... I remember how he fixed Ontario...

What Rae is saying (if one is generous) is that no matter how despicable China's record of abusing its own people, of killing its own citizens, of harvesting the organs of dissidents for sale to rich foreigners, and its continued abuse of minorities, we shouldn't say so because the Chinese might not like it and might not buy our natural resources.

Bunk, of course, but that's the socialist mind-set of people who think like Bob Rae, and who want him to replace Stephane Dion as Liberal leader.

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RELATED: Real crimes... real people

Sources said the RCMP is hoping to go higher up the Liberal hierarchy than Mr. Corbeil, the former director-general of the Liberal Party's Quebec wing, who is accused of taking a bribe from a businessman and defrauding the party.

Another source said the RCMP is hoping to obtain more information on the inner workings of the party in coming months.

"If everything goes well, a bunch of people could spill the beans at the same time."

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Blast from the Past

Though pinball has roots in the 1800s game of bagatelle, these are by no means simple machines.

Each one contains a half-mile of wire and 3,500 tiny components, and takes 32 hours to build — as the company’s president, Gary Stern, likes to say, longer than a Ford Taurus.

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Save us, oh wise Dalton

Hey Premier... whatever happened to that proposed, lifesaving ban on sharp pointy objects?

-- Scarborough -- A 22-year-old man has become the city's 15th murder victim of the year.

Police were called to an apartment on Cougar Ct. - in the Markham Rd.-Eglinton Ave. area - just after midnight this morning.

They found the man inside suffering from a single stab wound to the chest. He was rushed to hospital, but later pronounced dead, police said.

If it only saves one life.

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RELATED: Hey, Dalton... maybe basketball courts...

...are the problem.

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The Guy Who’s Where He Is...

Only Because He’s Black...

"Frankly it’s a lot better than my last two gigs, The Guy Who Left the Seat Up and The Guy Who Took the Last Beer."

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C'mon... who're ya gonna believe...

The North Koreans and the Syrians... or your lyin' eyes?

-- BBC -- North Korea was helping Syria build a nuclear reactor, US officials are to tell lawmakers in a closed session.

Unnamed officials told a number of US newspapers that the US had video footage of the Syrian facility with North Koreans inside.

Syria has repeated denials that it has any nuclear weapons programme, or any such agreement with North Korea.

The claims follows an unexplained air strike by Israel last September on a target inside Syria.

Whaddaya mean "unexplained?"

It was explained plenty.

But Syria is apparently sticking to their, er guns...

Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Jaafari, denied the links.

"There was no Syria-North Korea co-operation whatsoever in Syria. We deny these rumours."

And apparently... the video evidence.

Yeah Bashar... go with that.

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More horrible, scary, sort of guns

-- GATINEAU, Que. -- For the first time in its history, a weapon was fired inside a courtroom at the Gatineau courthouse yesterday.

Of course... it turns out that this was actually an air-gun... which would really only be classified as a weapon by, say... a squirrel being stalked by a 10 year-old boy.

Just don't try tell that to the newspapers.

To everyone's surprise, first and foremost the judge, the gun went off, with the ammunition landing on the ground near the judge.

The incident caught the entire courtroom off guard and after the initial shock wore off, Lapointe put the weapon and the ammo back into a plastic evidence bag.

Note that, the ammunition landed by the judge... because it bounced off the ceiling of the courtroom.

The "AMMO" huh? You mean the tiny copper bb's?

Good grief.

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RELATED: Most CTV stories should start...

"Once upon a time..."

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LAST WORD: In actual firearms news...

Hunters, farmers and target shooters... totally off the hook... AGAIN.

A Toronto man who was driven to a remote area of York Region, stripped to his underwear, shot several times in the legs and lower body, and then left to die in the woods was recovering in hospital yesterday, police said.

Cops want to hear from anybody who may have seen a dark BMW with tinted windows, possibly a 300 series, in the East Gwillimbury area around the time of the shooting.

Police said the driver was an Asian male with a mohawk-style haircut. His two passengers included an Asian male and a black male.

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WELCOME READERS OF DR DEMENTO, uh... DAWG

I think the Dawg... needs a good worming.

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Feelin' Geeky?

Drive away a new Ubuntu...

The version has also been designed to make installation simpler and give users the chance to try the OS without making radical alterations to their current computer set-up.

"This is the first version that you can install under Windows.

"Instead of re-partitioning your hard drive and taking some fairly risky steps, effectively you can now install under Windows without modifying your system."

C'mon... I dare ya.

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RELATED: Bye-bye Windows XP

-- LOUVAIN-LA-NEUVE, Belgium -- Microsoft could re-think plans to phase out its Windows XP operating system by June 30 if customers show they want to keep it but so far they have not, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said.

"XP will hit an end-of-life. We have announced one. If customer feedback varies we can always wake up smarter but right now we have a plan for end-of-life for new XP shipments."

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"When you care enough..."

"...to share the Scary Test."

Once you've located the necessary e-mail addresses, ISIS invites you to choose one of six specially designed e-cards.

Each one can be forwarded to up to six lovers, friends with benefits, or "tricks" to break the bad news as gently as possible.

If you wish, you can make your greeting more medically specific by choosing your particular disease ("Chlamydia, Crabs & Scabies, Gonorrhea," etc.) from a pull-down menu.

Hallmark, eat your heart out.

The NDP starts making...

Some sort of sense... you know we're really in deep muck...

The province will soon unveil a "comprehensive strategy" to unclog emergency rooms by reducing the number of patients who are taking up hospital beds when they can receive the needed care at home, Health Minister George Smitherman said today.

Smitherman wouldn't provide any details, but promised the plan would look at adjusting the level of services that such "alternate level of care" patients can receive at home, such as nursing and homemaking.

Of course, there's just one small problem here Georgie...

Smitherman's speech was just another "superficial photo op" that paints a false picture of health care in Ontario, said NDP Leader Howard Hampton.

"The reality that's happening out there is, in fact, the opposite," he said.

"People who need home care now can't get it and therefore wind up in hospital in an acute care bed, which then backs up into the emergency room."

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You're pissin' off the stripper lobby...

You must be doin' something right.

-- OTTAWA -- The RCMP have beefed up security around Immigration Minister Diane Finley in response to threats from criminal groups that oppose her efforts to block foreign strippers from entering Canada, federal officials said yesterday.

Officials said the extra security flows directly from Bill C-17, which would limit the number of work visas given to foreign strippers.

Under the previous Liberal regime it was full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes... despite the unsavory nature of the business.

In 2004, then-immigration-minister Judy Sgro cancelled a blanket authorization for work permits to strippers after it was revealed that her office granted a visa extension to a Romanian stripper who had worked on her election campaign.

Another former Liberal immigration minister, Joe Volpe, said that criminal groups are involved in strip clubs and have “aggressively lobbied” federal civil servants to obtain work visas for foreign strippers.

Yeah... I don't think I'd put extra strippers at the top of my agenda.

But then again... I'm a Conservative.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Now the Conservatives plan to stop moving strippers to the front of the immigration line and try to prevent exploitation. Again, the Liberals are against this?"

"We've got immigrant doctors driving cabs and badly needed tradespeople not even able to get into the country. But Liberals want to ensure the flow of new strippers and exploited sex trade workers continues!"

"I guess that group must form a core part of their voter base?"

And another...

"The Conservatives should leave well enough alone and let foreign exotic dancers into Canada and out of countries where they face regular exploitation, says Guidy Mamann, a Toronto lawyer who specializes in immigration issues."

Yeah sure, Guidy... "Let my clients go!"

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UPDATE: Darcey has some background.

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It was June 6, 1944...

And all up and down the fearsome "Atlantic Wall"... Field Marshal Rommel's stunned troopers sat down in their trenches and cried... "Ach du liebe, Hans... are they allowed to do that?"

-- DESERONTO, ON -- Many of the protesters, including spokesman Dan Doreen, were visibly upset after encountering such a strong show of manpower by OPP, whom Doreen said appeared to "want to fight."

Doreen decried the use of OPP "SWAT teams" and said the demonstration was "not a fight with the OPP, but it is a fight with Mr. Nibourg and ... for him to stay off our goddamn land."

"I want every developer ... that plans to develop in Deseronto to stay the hell out or we're going to go through this again and again and again and again until it's done," he said in an interview with Quinte Broadcasting.

"We're sick and tired of having to come down to Deseronto every week and protect our land. We're sick of it."

Well, Danny... maybe you should call 1-800-CRY-BABY.

'Cos you've pretty much used up all our sympathy this week.

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