So tell me again... why is it that...

...even though I wasn't wearing a mask... the last time I voted... they still had to see my photo id...

Canadians who wear coverings over their faces will not be required to remove them to vote if they swear a special oath to affirm their identity and eligibility, a spokesman for Elections Canada said on Tuesday.

"We offer them a choice," John Enright said of the administrative procedure, which has been in place without incident for the seven federal byelections held since September 2007.

**********

RELATED: This sounds so familiar... hang on...

"Should women wearing niqabs or burkas be required to show their face before voting?"

When's the last time you saw 50,000 plus votes in an online newspaper poll?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"You really are being willfully obtuse. How is it that veil wearers are a "special subset"? Anyone can wear a veil."

"All Canadians have the right to cover their faces, and can still vote."

Well, Nonny... I know some folks who will be absolutely thrilled to hear the news...
**********

LAST WORD: The inevitable evolution...

As a full service consultancy with that boutique touch, our trained Hate Coordinators will help you choose the package that meets your budget and your desired PHQ (Public Hate Quotient).

Not a CHRC recognized victim class? No problem! Our staff of ethno-religious image consultants will dress you up just to take you down!

Need funding? Not a problem! Our business is hate! We'll show you how to milk government agencies like Heritage Canada for your slice of the Multicult Money Pie!

Need a Front Organization so you can pretend to wield an ethnic voting bloc? Leave the paper work to us! Remember we're not satisfied until you're publicly villified by even the most timid of school children!

*

Give it to me...

...one more time...

Homeowners in the GTA are about to get kicked in the assessment.

The Municipal Property Assessment Corp. is in the process of mailing out 4.7 million notices across Ontario that show an average increase in home values of 20%.

*

A Nation of Riflemen

"Whatever happens on Oct. 14, the 2008 election will be remembered as -- among other things -- the collective coming out party for Canada's blogosphere. Amateur Web scribblers have been making their mark on Canadian politics for years, but never on the scale we've witnessed this month."

**********

RELATED: Of course... not everybody agrees...

"What worries me, though, is that we're seeing the "democratization" of politics, in the most literal sense of the word: The people -- the great idiocratic mass of mouth-breathers out there frantically swiping the drool off their keyboards as they Google around for "dirt" -- are running the campaigns now."

Yeah, Andrew... that's the sort of commentary that'll drive subscriptions through the roof.

**********

LAST WORD: The next big thing?

Oh, Lizzie... where art thou?

*

They could always use...

...the "David Miller Solution"... and simply ban religion.

**********

RELATED: Just another victim of society...

He couldn't bow down to Mr. Taylor in public, or run or holler for police because "My career [as a gangster] would have been scattered." So he shot, in that square packed with people.

"As I said, I went through a lot that night."

*

Local Scam-Artist...

...ducks serious jail time... yet again...

-- BELLEVILLE -- The aboriginal protester behind a blockade that shut down Canada's busiest highway during last year's aboriginal day of action was spared further jail time after an unexpectedly speedy trial today.

The Belleville Intelligencer reports that Mohawk protester Shawn Brant was charged for shutting down Highway 401 in eastern Ontario in June 2007 as well as for another blockade in the area on April 20 that year that halted CN Rail's main line.

In an unexpected move, what was to be the start of three weeks of pretrial motions in the case turned into a 30-minute trial.

**********

RELATED: Shawn Brant... aboriginal role-model

You know how ol' Shawn always tells the media he's a cabinet-maker? Well, strangely enough, that's not quite the whole story.

Justice Lynn Ratushny describes Shawn Brant's actions in the dispute as those of a deceptive, self-serving man who played the role of victim and failed to take responsibility for himself.

To his credit, he's an equal-opportunity criminal... no issues at all screwing over his own family, friends and community.

The Brants went ahead and erected a building on the property. Their business failed within one year and none of the $430,000 in loans was repaid.

And that's not all. In the never-ending battle against racist Canadian society... Super Shawn's not afraid to get his hands dirty...

Brant jumped out of his car, grabbed a six-foot-long fishing spear from the rear seat and ran towards the altercation, Lalonde said.

"His eyes were crazy-looking ... he was in a rage," he said, adding Brant ran up to the scene yelling "'Is it on? Is it on?'"

Whoa... a guy with a criminal record attacks someone with a spear... that's serious business right?

After two days of evidence into the matter -- which centred around an April 21 incident near the corner of Bells and Lower Slash roads -- Justice Stephen Hunter said he found "sufficient evidence" to convict Brant, 44, of carrying a dangerous weapon and breaching court-imposed conditions.

So... holy crap... looks like he's finally pushed his luck too far.

Well... not exactly...

Brant was also given one year of probation with strict terms, including conditions that he is not to participate in or plan protests.

Let's not forget the punchline here...

"During his probation, he is banned from participating in or organizing any unlawful protests and owning weapons — with the exception of those used for aboriginal hunting and fishing."

I guess Orwell was right... in Dalton McSlippery's Ontario, anyway... some animals are more equal than others.

*

Courageous Green Party...

...outs “right wing white supremacist”...

...wait a minute...

**********

RELATED: The Wile E. Coyote of political parties...

"Did it not occur to the Green braintrust that White Supremacists would in fact heartily approve of Mays attendance at the Jew Bashing?"

*

Three soldiers killed

-- KABUL -- The U.S.-led coalition says three of its troops have been killed in a roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan.

The coalition did not release any other details, including the nationalities of the troops or the blast's location.

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Ah, CC... taking time out from obsessing about the ZOG?

*

Let me count the ways

It's just so hard to say... whose track record should we be looking at first?

When a group of more than 100 Canadian native leaders arrives in China six weeks from now, they will carry a message that is both historic and disarmingly straightforward: China has vast wealth to invest, and Canada's native communities, with their access to timber, coal and minerals, want to do business.

The words "train wreck" just keep floating to the surface here.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade did not comment on the sovereignty issues associated with these proposals, which might pique the interest of those who support foreign ownership caps on natural resource extraction.

*

The central theme of the book

...is that by making guns illegal, criminals will stop using them and the world will become some manner of utopia. But in order for criminals to obey the law and not use outlawed weapons... well, I think you see where this is going.

On second thought, in case Wendy Cukier is in fact reading these reviews, I'll make it more obvious. Criminals don't obey the law! If they did then there wouldn't be a need to outlaw guns! Nice little catch 22 there?

This book is a crime in itself by trivializing the nature of violence by blaming hunks of wood, plastic, and metal instead of the human nature.

(h/t reader pongo)

**********

RELATED: Awwwww... c'mon you guys...

Who said you could go ahead and start up a vast right-wing zionist conspiracy... without me?

I can't wait for Dr Dawg and CC to spring into action.

*

Oh gawd... cramping up... need air...

..."diversity training at the Mother Corp... oh, please, just stop"...

Partly in response to the outcry, Mr. Cruickshank said CBCNews.ca has plans to soon expand the diversity of voices and opinions expressed online “to better reflect the depth and texture of this country.”

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Um, so that means they are looking for straight, white conservatives now?"

*

And no, I didn't eat it

"I stabbed it a few times, though, just to be on the safe side."

*

Apparently... Tony Rezko just realised...

...there isn't gonna be a commutation from the Governor...

Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a convicted influence peddler who was once one of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's most trusted confidants, has met with federal prosecutors and is considering cooperating in the corruption probe of the governor's administration, sources told the Tribune.

Rezko's trial this year laid bare a culture of scams, bribes and backroom deals stretching from City Hall to the Statehouse.

But wait... there's more...

It even became fodder in the presidential campaign of Democratic nominee Barack Obama, whose fundraising and personal ties to Rezko go back more than a decade.

Rezko was a political supporter of Obama going back to when he was running for state Senate. Obama's ties to Rezko have become a political albatross for the presidential nominee, who has been forced to defend the convicted felon's fundraising activities for him and revelations Obama bought his South Side mansion on the same day in 2005 that Rezko purchased a vacant lot next door.

Republican presidential nominee John McCain has highlighted the ties between Obama and Rezko in a national television commercial.

*

According to the Dippers & Liberals...

...all we really need... are more social workers.

I wonder how Emily Stauffer's parents feel about that theory...

A small community west of Edmonton is in shock after a 14-year-old girl was killed in broad daylight while out for a walk on a wooded path.

Two young boys, believed to be nine and 12 years old, witnessed the attack. They saw a man attacking the teenage girl and rushed to a nearby home on their bikes to get help, but it was too late.

You want action on crime and criminals... you know what to do.

**********

RELATED: Of course, why didn't I think of that...

"All you need is love, er... nice."

*

Now I knew Taliban Jack...

...was a silk-stocking socialist... but I was stunned to hear he's got 52 billion dollars in his back pocket...

"The New Democrats' child benefit will give every middle-class and working family in Canada a raise," he said.

As first disclosed by the Star, families with a household income of $38,000 or less would receive $400 a month per child. Those making less than $188,000-a-household would get $250 a month per child.

And families earning more than $188,000 a year would receive $100 a month per child.

And once they eliminate poverty... I hear the party of Cheech & Chow is gonna be reaching out to our animal friends.

Yup... say goodbye to Cherry Garcia.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I do agree with helping low income families. In fact we should just raise the personal exemption amount so they don't pay the money in taxes and then have to wait to see if they get it back."

"Just let people keep their money."

*

On confusing data with knowledge

Three years ago, after suffering through serial episodes of extremely brief but Hiroshima-like headaches... I had what television paramedics casually and cryptically refer to as a "syncopal episode"... which, believe you me, isn't nearly as much fun as it sounds.

After a brief stop at the always chaotic and overloaded Emergency Room down in Belleville... I was fortunate enough to get assigned to an amazing neurologist at Kingston General Hospital... who immediately ran me and my skull through all the insanely futuristic, particle-emitting medical artillery then known to mankind.

At some point, days later... after being disconnected from the tubes and ancillary machinery and sent home... I got a call from the doctor's receptionist, on a Tuesday I believe, asking me if I could come by his office that Thursday.

Now, this was more than a little unsettling, as I had a friend whose father had recently had to wait 11 months just to see a neurologist up in the Ottawa area. I mean, these folks are obviously up to their asses in medical alligators.

Of course, the only conclusion I could come to was that I was totally smoked... the only real question being... "Well, Doc... how long have I got?" Needless to say, this was the longest 48 hours of my life.

Turns out, the test results were all negative... and I had the one Doctor in the western hemisphere who thought he should share the good news in a timely fashion.

Which is why I could relate so much to this...

Long story short, I ended up in my GP's office getting my neck felt up. Being the ever-cautious fellow that he is, he sent me for a CT-Scan of my head and neck, and set me up with an ENT specialist, which did nothing to allay my fears.

Since the appointment was the day after the scan, they gave me a CD of the scan results to bring with me, which meant I had approximately 14 hours to become an expert at reading CT scans, which is nowhere near as easy as it sounds.

Even though I was easily able to locate the area in question, and learn a lot about bone density, contrast dyes and all 257 slices of my own head, I lacked other potentially useful things such as a medical degree and any clue as to what the fuck I was looking for.

Maybe this isn't something you can appreciate until you've actually been there, but guess what... as you get older... I guarantee you're gonna be riding the "health care" bus with increasing frequency.

See... the thing is, I just can't understand why the medical system is not the top priority in Canada today.

It just blows me away that the Chretien Mafia were able to piss away two billion plus dollars chasing down rifles and shotguns used by farmers, hunters and target shooters.

Just think what rewards a two billion dollar investment in medical research and the health care system in general could have reaped.

Remember... friends don't let friends vote Liberal.

More here and here.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"An article in the TO Sun March 6, 2005 (Lorie Goldstein) reminds us that when Rae was Premier of Ontario he paid the University of Toronto mega bucks so that they would reduce the size of their med-school grad class."

"See... we are still having Rae days... those are the 8 hour waits in ER because you don't have a family doctor."

*

So Jacko... you sit down with the Taliban...

...don't forget to put "killing uppity women" on the short list, huh?

Afghan officials say unidentified gunmen fatally shot one of the country's most prominent female police officers.

Malalai Kakar was killed Sunday as she traveled from her home in the southern city of Kadahar. Her son was also wounded in the attack. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the shooting.

Kakar, a mother of six, was the head of the department of crimes against women in Kandahar. She was regularly profiled in international media and known for her courage in one of Afghanistan's most conservative and male-dominated provinces.

The NDP... they know what's best for all of us.

**********

RELATED: And the Greens are even worse

"I took up the task and tried to get Ms. May on the record saying just that -- 'Hezbollah is a terrorist organization'."

Alas... no surprises here either.

*

Toronto Sun reveals...

...scary, hidden "TRUTH"... Stephen Harper hates children...

-- AJAX -- Little Betty Chen wanted to give Prime Minister Stephen Harper a letter yesterday but couldn't get it past his security.

The 10-year-old Toronto girl trekked out to Ajax in the rain with her family in a desperate plea to somehow get the Conservative leader's attention and somehow avoid deportation to China.

In fact, he hates them so much... he's rounding them up and kicking them out of the country.

Media bias... what media bias?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"...shades of the little match girl..."

**********

RELATED: Look out... SHE'S GONNA BLOW!!!

More ominous rumblings from Mount Cherniak...

"Liberals really believe that if they just "argue" loudly and long-ly enough, that we poor plebes will see the tragic error of our ways, i.e., relying upon the evidence of our senses and our lived experience to make decisions, and not upon this week's Received Liberal Wisdom talking points."

*

So much for Olympic glory

You poison tens of thousands of babies... who's gonna remember all the rest of that glitzy hoop-la?

In Hong Kong, Heinz Foods this week recalled its vegetable formula baby cereal after some samples of it tested positive for melamine.

In Taiwan, Pizza Hut said it had found cheese packets similarly contaminated. Officials in Macao, a Chinese territory, said Friday that the chemical had turned up in koala-shaped cookies made by a Japanese-owned company.

And several African nations moved to ban imports of Chinese dairy products this week.

And it's spreading beyond the third world...

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday that some instant coffee and tea drinks, all containing a nondairy creamer made in China, had been recalled for fear of contamination.

It is the first recall in the United States growing out of the melamine scare.

So much for China's economic miracle.

*

Deal? Or no deal?

-- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. congressional leaders Sunday said they had reached the broad outline of a deal to put in place a $700 billion financial system bailout but were awaiting details on paper before declaring it final.

Fear-wracked financial markets had lent the talks urgency and lawmakers were striving to reach a deal by Sunday before Asian markets open.

*

Remember Guy Earle?

"When Lenny started there were no stand-up clubs. He did his socially-driven commentary (remember the jester bending the king’s ear?) from the stage at strip clubs."

"Unbelievably, he performed for, by definition, the worst audiences known to humankind. He ended up marrying a stripper named Bunny, and after endless battles for our right to fight, offend, and question, he died on his bathroom floor, naked and completely, fatally depressed."

"Now that is standing up for your art."

(via shaidle)

I guess "Elephant Balls"...

...was already taken...

Known as "Fusionman," he was aiming to follow the route taken by French airman Louis Blériot 99 years ago when he became the first person to fly across the English Channel in a plane.

*

See, Scooby... here's the thing...

...if you're a gun-toting sociopath... you can, uh... "acquire"... a camera, or anything else for that matter... any time you want.

**********

UPDATE: So far, so good...

Three people were injured in two shootings in Rexdale early Saturday morning, including one in which a 17-year-old girl was struck by a bullet fragment as she slept in her bed.

*

Trust me, Chantal...

...dry, flaking skin is the least of their problems...

The "Toronto 18" trio being held in solitary confinement have turned down offers to leave their cells for time in the Don Jail exercise yard.

The Toronto Sun has learned the three inmates were each offered yard time more than 100 times this year. They have only accepted offers to go outside a handful of times, a source familiar with the case, who spoke to the Sun on condition of anonymity, said.

That's certainly not the way the fuzzy-bunny left is spinning it...

Civil liberties groups claimed the men, who can't be identified because of a publication ban, have developed health problems from lack of sunlight.

Speakers from the Presumption of Innocence Project claimed the men were given such little time outside they had developed a vitamin D deficiency and their skin was flaking due to lack of sunlight.

Project spokesman Chantal Sundaram said yesterday that relatives maintain the men have not been given a chance to go outside since April.

When asked if the inmates have denied yard time, Sundaram was adamant they have not refused to leave their cells. "That's not happened," she said. "They haven't had the opportunity to deny it."

Hey, Chantal... maybe they should just apply for a transfer to Guantanamo... plenty of sunshine there.

*

Canada... land of endless opportunity

For absolutely anyone...

A fugitive sex offender was ordered extradited today accused of the brutal murder-rape of a California woman more than two decades ago.

But guess what... that's just part of the story.

In 1986, Su Go pleaded guilty to assaulting and attempting to rape another woman in Costa Mesa, Calif. While on $50,000 bail on that charge, Su Go, also known as Gerald Sugo and Gerald Su, fled to his native Philippines leaving an outstanding warrant in the U.S.

Turns out the Canadian government aided and abetted his escape.

In 1990, he applied for and was granted landed-immigrant status in Canada and moved to the GTA and five years later, became a Canadian citizen.

Unbelievable.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Wasn't there a Charles Ng who also played that game for over a decade? He was also a murderer and serial rapist."

*

Yakkity-Yak

Well, doesn't look like anybody made the big gaffe...

The stakes were high as the two rivals walked on stage. The polls gave Mr. Obama a modest lead and indicated he was viewed more favourably than his rival when it came to dealing with the economy. But the same surveys show Mr. McCain favoured by far on foreign policy.

And now that that one's in the can... everybody's looking forward to Round Two...

Sarah Palin is the anti-Obama: not a victim, not a poser, not riding a wave but rather swimming upstream — and most of all, not having run for president her entire life.

It'll be interesting to see what "amazing stories" her opponent will bring to the table.

I can't wait.

*

There's a picture...

...I can't get outta my head... uber-pollster Peter Donolo thrashing around helplessly as he bleeds from his ears.

-- OTTAWA -- The Liberals are projected to lose virtually all 45 tight ridings being tracked by the Strategic Counsel polling firm, according to new seat projections conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV.

The seat projections show the movement of seats from the Liberals to the Conservatives will come largely from B.C. and Ontario regions in the 519 and 905 area codes.

In the 20 Ontario ridings being tracked daily, the Conservatives are projected to win 17 and the NDP three.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: More brilliant socialist repartee...
Hey, Phillip... "first they came... for the idiots."

*

When will they ever learn?

Another "Red" Star... my bad... CTV poll goes sideways.

*

Toronto Police Chief sacked...

...apparently replaced by Miss Manners...

"There are some young men who are exchanging gunfire, sometimes in very public places and putting a lot of people at risk, so naturally this is of concern to us."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Miss Manners wouldn't be so mealy-mouthed."

Damn... she's got me there.

*

Just doing their part

Tim Burns from Calgary, Canada writes: "Thank god for the Khadr family."

* Posted 26/09/08 at 11:18 AM EDT

[*]

Absolutely 100 percent, not guilty

FREE IGGY... so he can get out there and find the real mutineers...

“I am looking you in the eye and I am telling you a true statement,” he said from across a coffee table at a downtown hotel before heading to one of several engagements in his B.C. tour.

“I have absolutely no idea. Nobody associated with me. Nobody associated with my campaign."

"I think that people should shut up, get back to work and try and win this election.”

*

A Reader writes...

...this is the response my bro in Florida received when he tried to order a McCain/Palin T-shirt for me.

Dear GOP Trunk customer,

In the past few weeks, we have seen a large surge in orders since the nomination of the McCain-Palin ticket. We are working around the clock to fulfill the orders as quickly as possible and ask for your patience. Some items on your order may have been on backorder at the time of your transaction. Your orders will ship with all in-stock items and backordered items will follow at a later date.

We apologize for any inconvenience and, again, appreciate your patience. Thank you for your business and your support of John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Sincerely,

GOP Trunk
(877) 542-1426
customerservice@goptrunk.com
www.GOPTrunk.com

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

And look what "anonymous" comment mysteriously shows up here as well.
Yessiree... that CC is one class act.

And guess what?

It gets even better...
Kinda makes you wonder how "sjwalter" of Waterloo must feel... about having his name come up... even peripherally... in association with this sort of thing?

If it was me, I'd be more than a little upset.

But Mr. Walter's been strangely silent so far... well, except for corresponding with, yes... you guessed it... Canadian Cynic.

Seems the two of them have worked something out.

*

Ezra told me not to come

Want some whiskey in your water...
Sugar in your tea...
What's all these crazy questions...
They're askin me...
This is the craziest party...
That could ever be...
Don't turn on the lights...
Cause I don't wanna see

**********

RELATED: Canada's kangaroo courts...

...somebody oughta write a book.

You know, somebody close to the action... wait a minute...

"I just got back from a luncheon on the HRCs, with Alan Borovoy, Leo "I don't debate liars" Adler and David Matas, B'nai Brith's lawyer."

"Shorter Adler and Matas: as Mel Brooks says in Blazing Saddles: 'Holy underwear! We've got to protect our phoney baloney jobs, gentlemen! Harrumph harrupm!!' PS: Holocaust. Zundel. Rwaanda. Zzzzzz."

"Borovoy was outstanding. He really 'gets' it. He is also about 120 years old, so he won't be around to 'get' it forever and help others understand. He got big rounds of spontaneous applause."

"Matas mentioned this new case and more or less said 'now that we're being sued we've changed our minds about this whole HRC thing. Gee, the HRC procedures are so weird -- they won't tell us who filed the complaint, etc.'"

"Well, welcome to Earth, Dave. Duh."

*

Hogtown... or Bogged Down Town

People sometimes ask me if I've ever regretted leaving Toronto... and moving out into the sticks...

Thousands of commuters poured out of subway tunnels and crowded onto sidewalks and streets yesterday after two separate incidents shut down the Toronto Transit Commission’s two main lines at the height of afternoon rush hour.

An electrical cable came down onto the track at Eglinton station on the Yonge Street line, shorting out signals and shutting down the subway line between Bloor and Lawrence stations.

Adding to the commuter confusion, TTC was also forced to close a large section of its east-west line after two men boarded a subway train with a knife soon after the Yonge Street line shut down.

Oh yeah... the answer would be "not even for a second."

*

And if you owned...

"...an experimental TV set in 1929, you would have seen him."

"And you would have said to yourself, 'Who is that guy? What happened to President Hoover'?"

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Katie Couric and Joe Biden? Wow, that's like dueling banjos of stupidity."

**********

RELATED: Democratic Congressman warns of pogrom

"If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention," said Hastings.

"Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks."

"So, you just think this through."

*

Harper belts another one outta the park

“It's ‘I like it, I like it, give me more.' It's red hot. It's red meat, in Ontario and in B.C.,” he said.

Importantly for the Conservatives, the policy is appealing to Liberal voters, 61 per cent of whom said they would agree with toughening sentences for young offenders.

*

Spirits are said to be...

...especially buoyant at the XBOX "'Gears of War' Party" headquarters...

Austria makes history in the European Union on Sunday by becoming the first member of the 27-nation bloc to give 16-year-olds a voice in national elections.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Lowering the voting age gives them representation without taxation - and that is grossly unfair to the responsible people who pay the freight."

*

To paraphrase Willie Nelson...

"Mama... don't let yer babies grow up to be lawyers"

-- BRAMPTON, Ont. -- When it was pointed out his client appeared to be taking the ruling in stride, and even appeared to be smiling, Mr. Chernovsky said "he was probably happy that it's finally coming to an end."

**********

RELATED: From the "it could never happen here" file...

It ain't over 'til the fat lady gets shot in the throat.

*

I sure hope the Toronto Sun...

...has a separate fuse panel for their switchboard... because Peter Worthington just did it again... yeah, the simple truth...

Toronto -- Canada, in fact -- has had an effective ban on handguns since 1934, when mandatory registration was imposed and ownership made relatively strict and selective.

And for most of those 74 years of handgun registration, abuses were manageable, with indiscriminate and organized shootings relatively rare -- unlike today, when weddings, funerals, parties, nightclubs, and school functions have become dangerous.

Is it not valid to assess which elements of the city's population are using guns to settle disputes, or are using them as status symbols and causing unimaginable grief and misery to families whose kids are having their lives cut short or irreparably damaged due to being shot?

Do these people not deserve protection from the gunslingers?

The police know the tenderloin areas, the danger spots. They may even know, or think they know, individuals and gangs that do the shooting -- but are unable to act because, well, because that could be called "profiling" or discriminatory.

If the excessive use of guns is a disease in some cities, surely the disease needs to be diagnosed before a cure can be found. And a diagnosis will inevitable raise the question of drugs, territorial disputes, intimidation, revenge, ethnicity and cultural background.

Instituting a ban of handguns will change nothing. It is not even treating the symptom of the disease. As has been said before, banning guns because innocent people (and some not so innocent) are being shot, is like blaming pens and pencils for spelling mistakes that people make.

Okay, everybody get under their desks... this is gonna get ugly.

**********

RELATED: "If only there was some sort of law..."

-- TORONTO -- A man is facing multiple drugs and weapons charges after a brazen afternoon shooting in the heart of downtown Toronto.

Shots were fired at Yonge and Alexander Streets at around 5:30 p.m., at a time when people were heading home from work and school for the day.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Here's one for you, complicated for the left to understand, but one that will work."

"Less leftist cuddling criminals = less criminals."

**********

LAST WORD: Wake up... and smell the moonbats

*

And the sky grew darker...

...as the vultures began to discern the ugly smell of death...

“Liberals win elections when they have the edge with women voters,” said Peter Donolo, a pollster with the Strategic Counsel. “Right now, they're not enjoying that edge.”

“I think the No. 1, 2 and 3 answers are Stéphane Dion and his communication skills.”

*

You live in Woodbridge or Oshawa...

...chances are... you know someone who hunts...

"L4L (Woodbridge) leads this map of 2007 provincial hunting permits, with 24.2 residents per 1,000 having bought one last year."

"The fishing and camping maps showed that Oshawa and nearby towns lead the region in outdoor recreation, and the hunting map shows the same pattern. Three of the top six FSAs for hunting permits are in Oshawa (L1H, L1G, L1J)."

*

Well... except for Cherniak, I guess

“Not one, not a single serious Liberal is talking about Stéphane Dion becoming Prime Minister,” a long-time Liberal said. “This is not about beating Harper as PM."

"This is about living for another day.”

**********

RELATED: The socialists are eating their dead...

...and I just can't look away.

*

Hey, Barack... I've got a feeling...

...you're gonna need something a little stronger than hope this time around...

In a statement, Mr. McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former president Bill Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.

The move put Mr. Obama in a bind.

Rejecting the idea would allow Mr. McCain alone to appear above politics, but agreeing to suspend campaigning and the debate could make Mr. Obama look like he's following Mr. McCain's lead.

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UPDATE: Obama thrashed and wriggled...

Obama initially dismissed the gesture as unnecessary. "It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once," he said at a late afternoon news conference called in response to McCain's appearance.

In the end, however, it seems he was unable to spit out the hook.

After Obama agreed later in the day to return to Washington today, spokesman Bill Burton said the Democrat has been working all week with congressional leaders and administration officials "to improve this proposal, and he has said that he will continue to work in a bipartisan spirit and do whatever is necessary to come up with a final solution."

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Good ol' Iranian Cynic

Well, on the bright side... it's nice to know exactly where everybody stands...

Israeli officials are describing the speech by Iran's president at the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday as a notorious manifestation of anti-Semitism. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to "deceitful" Zionists who are manipulating Americans and Europeans and who control the world's financial system.

Officials here say it is reminiscent of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - an anti-Semitic book from the early 1900s that described a Jewish plot to take over the world.

Boy... that sounds so familiar.

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Sure, let's increase the subsidies...

...for artists... the day after I no longer have to sit in a hospital emergency room... for seven and a half hours... with a sick fevered child in my lap.

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RELATED: Whaddaya mean... they already did it?

That amount is $660 million or 19.7 per cent more than was spent in fiscal 2006, the last year when the Liberals controlled the purse strings.

So this whole artist's protest is a sham?

Good grief.

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From the people who brought you...

...lead-painted baby toys...

-- CALGARY -- China's tainted-milk scandal has made its way to Canadian supermarket shelves for the second time in as many days.

“This is a wakeup call for a lot of us,” said Rattana Sum, vice-president of Thai Indochine Trading Inc. of Markham, Ont.

Sure, Rattana, not to mention... "a death sentence"... for a whole lot of others.

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A mystery revealed

Holy crap... I think I finally understand what the U.N. is actually all about.

-- PARIS -- They ate and drank their way through a three-hour strategy session recently to help their country face the daunting task before it: to persuade the United Nations to declare French gastronomy a world treasure.

"Genocide in Darfur? Yeah, yeah... we'll get to that next week."

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Another big similarly...

...between Barack Obama and Stephane Dion... they both do better when tightly scripted...

“Mr. Layton already has a coalition, I understand. He has a coalition with the nudist party and a coalition with the marijuana party.”

Mr. Dion had been less direct in his answer yesterday when asked about Mr. Layton's comments.

Today, aides said, he came to the media scrum prepared with the answer he gave.

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A million here... a million there...

...pretty soon you're talkin' serious taxpayer-funded scratch...

-- TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY -- The installation of a new police building here has been delayed “until further notice,” after a group of band members set up a blockade Tuesday to protest its arrival.

Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte officials were preparing to have a 4,635-square-foot building shipped from a Hamilton-area manufacturer this week and put together on a gravel pit on York Road, just west of Quinte Mohawk School.

But a group of about 50 people began squatting at the site Tuesday afternoon, vowing to block officials from entering to install a building they feel the community was not consulted about.

The band is contributing close to $980,000 toward its costs, with the final $900,000 coming from the provincial and federal government.

Another stunning victory for aboriginal freedom fighters.

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RELATED: Who's actually in charge here...

...Chief Peewee Herman?

The Brants went ahead and erected a building on the property.

Their business failed within one year and none of the $430,000 in loans was repaid.

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Macleans magazine...

... reveals the horrifying truth...

You can almost smell the Guyanese jungle.

**********

UPDATE: Bad news for Macleans magazine...

...apparently folks are just too smart to swill the "socialist koolade."

An exclusive Nanos Research-Sun Media poll shows 30.4% of people surveyed think the Tories will honour their commitments -- more than double the 14.5% who think the Liberals will deliver and 14.1% who put their trust in the NDP.

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Government officials...

...said to be considering a nationwide ban on "rebar"...

"Police have charged 63 former workers with murder."

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RELATED: A little closer to home...

...Toronto "lead-poisoning" update.

Police have named Darnell Grant, 31, shot down Monday night in the Driftwood area near Jane and Finch, as the city's latest shooting victim.

The post-mortem examination of Grant showed he died of a gunshot wound to the torso, the Toronto Police Service said Wednesday in a news release.

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Have your say at G & M poll...

"Should courts be able to impose a life sentence on a 14-year-old convicted of murder?"

**********

POSTSCRIPT: But Mom... he followed me home... again

My nameless little troll just keeps screaming, "Look at me, look at me!"

It's so sad.

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In the end, it all comes down...

...to one thing...

Getting soldiers, at least the male ones, to switch to digital camouflage wasn’t easy, Dr. O’Neill says, because for many men camouflage is less about invisibility than fashion.

Some soldiers hung on to the old-fashioned designs because of what Dr. O’Neill called the C.D.I. factor: Chicks Dig It.

Good grief... it's true.

We ARE idiots.

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I know Dawg... I know

We're supposed to pretend none of this is happening.

-- TORONTO -- Police have arrested two men in the city’s latest Jane and Finch gun slaying. The victim was shot at Driftwood Court and Driftwood Ave around 9:16 p.m. last night.

This is the second murder in the area in less than a week. On Sept. 16, William Junior Appiah was gunned down in what police described as a targeted shooting while playing basketball at 4400 Jane St.

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RELATED: How about enacting a ban...

...on crazy people...

The head of the police investigation, Jari Neulaniemi, said: "In the note he said he hated mankind and the human race."

"And that he had been planning this since 2002."

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Fewer feather boas... more David Sedaris

As someone who has never gone particularly out of their way to embrace the gay community, here's a thought I'd like to share with my homosexual brethren... and, uh... sisters... (there's very likely a grammatically appropriate word, which I can't think of right now).

This is, of course, just my own circumscribed "breeder" opinion... but if you're really interested in bridging the oft-yawning chasm between gay and straight society... I'm thinkin' you might be further ahead toning down the way-public naked-watergun party... and buying your non-gay neighbours and co-workers anything written by David Sedaris.

He's not everybody's cup of tea, but what he is... is all too recognisable... and virtually impossible to dislike.

“My hands tend to be full enough dealing with people who hate me for who I am.

Concentrate too hard on the millions of people who hate you for what you are and you're likely to turn into one of those unkempt, sloppy dressers who sag beneath the weight of the two hundred political buttons they wear pinned to their coats and knapsacks.”

I just finished reading "When you are engulfed in flames" and I was totally blown away.

But hey... don't take my word for it.

Sedaris's caustic gift has not deserted him in his fourth book, which mines poignant comedy from his peculiar childhood in North Carolina, his bizarre career path, and his move with his lover to France.

Though his anarchic inclination to digress is his glory, Sedaris does have a theme in these reminiscences: the inability of humans to communicate.

The title is his rendition in transliterated English of how he and his fellow students of French in Paris mangle the Gallic language.

In the essay "Jesus Shaves," he and his classmates from many nations try to convey the concept of Easter to a Moroccan Muslim. "It is a party for the little boy of God," says one. "Then he be die one day on two... morsels of... lumber," says another.

And like everybody else... he's got family baggage...

Other essays explicate his deep kinship with his eccentric mom and absurd alienation from his IBM-exec dad: "To me, the greatest mystery of science continues to be that a man could father six children who shared absolutely none of his interests."

Now... this is probably gonna elicit a whole lot of "look at the knuckle-draggin' hater" noise from uber-enlightened souls like CC and Dr Dawg... but I thought I'd put it out there.

Maybe affirming the similarities between our two worlds... rather than the differences... would go a ways toward mending broken fences.

And no... I'm not saying it's your fault, but if you want... it could be your move.

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(p.s. -- gotta run some errands this a.m., remember... this is just one man's opinion and you can look to the sentiment behind the literal word. everybody try play nice in the comments 'til i get back)

QUICK LIKE A FUZZY-BUNNY!!!

Somebody has to rush over to Cherniak's house... and remove all medications and sharp objects...

“To know him, for most Canadians, is not to like him better,” said the Strategic Counsel's Peter Donolo, pollster for The Globe and Mail and CTV.

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Leadership Debate: Question #3

"So, Ms. May... what sort of foreign policy will you be promoting... apart from your vigorous public support for Hezbollah?"

*

Buckle up, baby

It's gonna be a wild ride!

-- NEW YORK -- Oil prices leaped more than $25 (U.S.) a barrel Monday — the biggest one-day price jump ever — as anxiety over the U.S. government's $700-billion bailout plan, a weak dollar and an expiring crude contract ignited a dramatic rally.

Phil Flynn, analyst and oil trader with Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago, said the late-session surge in oil appeared to be the result of a large investment fund scrambling to cover its short positions, or bets that prices would fall.

“When people sense that someone is short, it's like blood on the streets. It just accelerates the rally.”

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More gnashing of teeth...

...and beating of breasts... as another "Red" Star poll goes horribly wrong.

And behold... a star...

The only thing missing from the Globe's fawning article... are the three wise men.

There is but a single mention of a fly in the fiberal ointment...

A weak spot, however, is Liberal assumptions about how much extra cash there will be in federal coffers for pay for their plan over the next four years.

The party is basing their expectations of growth in government revenue on seven-month-old estimates in the Harper government's February budget.

Sure, Steffi... don't trust the scary, hidden Conservatives.

Except when you're constructing your own election-driven policy plank.

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Sealing the Deal

A step in the right direction...

-- OTTAWA -- Conservative leader Stephen Harper promised to scrap Canada’s young offenders law and replace it with a tougher version under which youth who commit serious violent crimes will no longer be able to keep their names out of the news.

The new law would impose automatic, stiffer sentences for people 14 years of age or over who are convicted of serious violent crimes, such as murder or manslaughter. Upon conviction, the names of these individuals would be made public.

No more "free lunch" for teenage thugs.

It's a start.

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Bringing down the house

Sounds like the slaughter in Islamabad... could have had much larger geo-political implications...

Pakistan's top leaders were to have been in the Islamabad Marriott hotel when it was bombed - but changed venue at the last minute, officials say.

Interior ministry head Rehman Malik said the president, prime minister and military chiefs should have been there.

The capricious and unknowable "Will of Allah."

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Deja Vu... all over again

-- WHITE RIVER, ONT. -- A young man was stabbed Sunday as he slept aboard a Greyhound bus travelling through Northern Ontario, a second stabbing incident in as many months.

The victim, believed to be in his 20s, was stabbed by another young passenger near the town of White River, about 300 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., an unnamed passenger told The Canadian Press.

**********

ASK A GHOST:

"Yes, if only there was some blindingly obvious step we could all take when we see somebody being stabbed."

**********

LAST WORD: In Dalton McSlippery's Ontario...

...there's no such thing as a bad boy...

A man who killed his wife and two children with a meat cleaver, believing them to be evil, has been declared not guilty of murder by reason of mental illness.

Huc Minh Chau, with black hair unkempt, bowed his head and trembled in the prisoner's box as a judge pronounced him "not criminally responsible" for their near decapitations.

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"He called in the spooks"

Can waterboarding be far behind?

Once again, with a little help from the Globe... Canadian Press unmasks the scary, tyrannical villain...

One of the messages suggests Mr. Harper's recognition of Kosovo's independence could lead to Quebec sovereignty.

And, of course, the guy who actually perpetrated the fraud... why, he's just a loveable prankster...

The "jokesters" would not necessarily have needed to hack into government computers to perform their stunt; all they would have required was the listserv's e-mail address.

Media bias... what media bias?!

Steve Janke takes a look at it from another angle.

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Remember the good old days...

...when Steffi said the Liberal Party would not resort to negative campaigning?

Conservatives pointed to the online writings of Ms. Finch, the Liberal candidate in the riding of Dufferin-Caledon, on a site called metaball.ca, where she is listed as an editor.

In March 2008, the Tories allege, Ms. Finch compared Mr. Harper to Adolf Hitler.

“Let's start with the really nasty stuff, though, the stuff that conjures up comparisons to Hitler or Stalin,” reads a post on the metaball.ca website written by Ms. Finch.

“Let's talk about a damaged psychology, a malevolent personality disorder, and lessons that we, the discerning public who are ultimately affected by these characters, should have already learned.”

So Stephane... is this acceptable behaviour for a Liberal candidate... or not?

And no, my fuzzy-bunny friend... renaming your dog "Harper"... is not gonna make this one go away.

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I suppose I should be flattered...

...that I have my own personal troll.

Not only that, he's apparently such a fan, he has even come to imitate (well, the purple is actually his idea) the very format I use when replying to comments. If he wasn't so obnoxious, it'd be kinda cute.
Of course, there's a pretty fine line between hero-worship and, well... let's just call it what it is... obsession...
See Nonny, if all you can think about on your 15 minute break down at the widget factory... is to get on the internet and leave smarmy typo-laden trolls hoping to get my attention... it might be time to, I dunno... get a hobby?

And yes... after all the references to Nazis and "poison gas"... I'm gonna continue to delete whatever silliness I please....
And...I guess "Eleanor Rigby" isn't just a song.

"Where do they all come from?"

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"If he wants to post about how much he loves Nazism, why doesn't he go post on CC's blog where he will be welcome, or on Dawg's where he will be excused?"

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