Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip for the fourth day straight on Tuesday. Gaza officials said that, as of Monday, 364 Palestinians have been killed, and the United Nations noted that at least 62 were civilians.**********
How did the U.N. determine which of the victims were combatants?
The casual elimination of information that interests scores of internet users by anonymous individuals confirms the worst about Wikipedia and explains why most university professors strongly discourage their students from relying on a source which can be altered at whim by anyone with a modem.(via sda)
A small handful of anonymous internet users have made an editorial decision, leading to the deletion of key information about Canada’s past on one of the world’s most frequented websites.
To make matters worse, they have done so based on spurious logic that the religious views of politicians have never been at the centre of Canadian political discourse.
"When you bring a camera, people change," said Spence, who lost his right eye as a young teen in a shooting accident on his grandfather's farm.*
"I wouldn't be disarming at all. I would just be some dude. It's a much truer conversation."
He hopes to have a prototype eye cam by February.
The IAF continued its assault on Gaza terrorist targets on Wednesday afternoon, bombing a Gaza City mosque and destroying a large number of rockets hidden inside.**********
Channel 10 reported that the IAF had received high-level orders to hit the mosque after Hamas terror operatives had run there with several rockets and Grad-type missiles.
Sheikh Nizar Rayyan, 52, a senior Hamas leader and cleric, was killed along with several others on Thursday when an IAF aircraft dropped a bomb on the eight-story Jabalya apartment building he lived in, the IDF said.Oh yeah... that kind.
Palestinian medics said that nine people were killed, including two of Rayyan's four wives and four of his 12 children, and around 30 were wounded in the air strike.
According to Palestinian sources, his family was warned before the attack but did not leave the building.
Pakistani forces have arrested 40 people and destroyed suspected militant houses and camps in a key operation in the Khyber region, officials say.At some point, Pakistan will have to decide which way they're really gonna fall.
The section of the Khyber Pass that passes through the Jamrud sub-district is the most insecure stretch of the road.
Witnesses told the BBC that the security forces were using artillery fire and helicopter gunships to pound suspected militant positions in the Ghundai and Shahkas areas of Jamrud.
FROM THE COMMENTS:"As Golda Meir (allegedly) said decades ago: Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us."**********
-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The Afghan National Army says its soldiers destroyed three suspected bomb-making compounds and killed a person believed to be planting roadside bombs during a recent operation.*
Col. Ahmad Habibi told reporters at Kandahar Airfield the mission was planned and executed by the Afghan army under the tutelage of Canadian military mentors.
When Austin Fuller joined the military shortly before the Second World War, he knew what he signed up for. In a Belleville courtroom earlier this month, however, someone signed the 87-year-old veteran and his wife Catherine up for a fight neither want to be a part of.So what kind of person would drop an elderly couple into the middle of this mess?
According to court documents, the elderly Mohawk couple are named among those who have launched a $3.3-million civil action lawsuit that levels accusations of nepotism, abuse of power and various other conspiracies purported to have been carried out by the Mohawk band council and senior levels of government.
Speaking to The Intelligencer Monday, the couple claim they were never consulted by anyone about joining the lawsuit -- and only found out through the media that they were named as plaintiffs.
"We didn't know a darn thing about it and we never gave anyone permission to use our names in this," said Austin Fuller, who was one of 11 Second World War veterans from the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment to travel to Italy three years ago to pay homage to fallen comrades.
As for the current fight, Austin simply called it "ridiculous."
The most well-known protester of the group, Shawn Michael Brant, has yet to be taken into custody by police on the reserve -- despite an arrest warrant being issued more than a month ago for his alleged role in the incident.Of course... Shawn Brant.
-- via ORATO -- The Canadian woman who threatened suicide to get out of a Mexican jail says she misses the beach and would happily return to Mexico if she could. "I could say right now that if the Mexican government was to give me a pardon, I would go back,"*
The Correctional Service of Canada then chartered a private plane to bring her home — at a reported cost of $82,000.
Shockingly, Martin wrote, after being repatriated to Canada by federal authorities, her short stay at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener, Ont., made her long for a return to her Mexican jail cell.
Martin is currently on parole, living at her mother's home in Trenton, Ont.
Speed-limiting devices should be fitted to cars on a voluntary basis to help save lives and cut carbon emissions, according to a new report.Of course, if preventing injuries is the name of the game, there are all kinds of things we could do... like wearing helmets in the shower and introducing a "National Ladder Registry."
The speed-limiting devices will then use satellite positioning to check a vehicle's location and when its speed exceeds the limit, power will be reduced and the brakes applied if necessary.I look forward to government mandated breakfast "fibre levels".
"I'm here to save you."
Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official, countered: “We are not begging for calm and there is no room to talk about calm amid the continued aggression and siege.”Of course, he's saying it while cowering in some dark little spider hole... far away from the fighting.
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction in fighting in June 2007.**********
It has rejected international demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace deals.
"It's as if they can't see the difference between stealing a handbag and setting off a car bomb outside a nightclub."**********
-- GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Palestinian militants, armed with deadlier missiles than ever before, kept up rocket assaults on Israeli border communities on Tuesday, despite relentless Israeli air attacks against Gaza’s Hamas rulers and unwelcome word from Egypt that it would not bail them out.*
"I'm waiting for some moonbat to say it was a disproportionate number of goals."**********
"Evgeni Bolyakin, player of the game for Kazakhstan, feels it's better for his team's development to play and lose in Division 1 than return to Division 2."*
"It's better to play in the more prestigious group," Bolyakin said through an interpreter. 'We're learning, especially against teams like Canada'."
What magical, infallible President-Elect said..."If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing."*
-- OTTAWA -- As the youngest of Canada's 18 new senators, 34-year-old Patrick Brazeau will be eligible for pension benefits that most Canadians can only dream of, as soon as he hits 55.I've got an idea... let's be totally fair and equitable and turn Senate appointments into an actual lottery. I mean... let's face it... it's not like there's any actual "qualifications" for the position.
If the current National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples remains in the Red Chamber until 2029, he will walk away with a pension worth 63 per cent of his indexed annual salary, which currently stands at $130,400. In today's dollars, that's an annual pension of $82,000 – indexed for life – starting in his middle age.
"Iamkhong told an immigration hearing she did not believe she had HIV despite a positive test."*
At least 300 Egyptian border guards were rushed to the area to reseal the border, the official added on condition on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.Yet another example of that infamous Arab brotherly love.
A witness on the Gaza side of the border, Fida Kishta, said residents detonated a land mine along the border and commandeered a bulldozer to create more breaches.
Palestinians reported that they received phone calls to their cellular phones and landlines from the IDF. The phone call, the Palestinians said, conveyed a recorded message ordering the immediate evacuation of homes that were next to Hamas infrastructure or being used by the terrorist organization.*
"Okay... we've got the number of confirmed dead in Gaza straight from our HAMAS press liason."*
"NOW... what are those lyin' Yankees trying to sell us?"
"Dr. Abdul Rahman, a doctor at a hospital near the blast, said the children were aged 8 to 10."***********
Of course, it's his standard "canned response"...
What this dumbstick lacks in intellectual rigour... he certainly makes up for in consistency...
Yup... this boy's a genius... in a Hedy Fry sorta way."I am concerned about the number of shooting crimes, because that is the one type of criminal activity that we have seen go up," Bill Blair told CTV Toronto in a year-end interview.And, sad to say, we're not talking about jaywalking or shoplifting.
"Although there's been fewer murders in the city, what we've seen is there's been more shooting occurrences."**********
Toronto police maintain a web page that shows year-to-date shootings. As of Dec. 15, there have been 236 shooting incidents in the city, an increase of 18 percent over 2007. The number of victims is up to 336, about a 42 percent increase over 2007.
A woman managed to take a cab to an east Toronto hospital after being shot early Sunday morning.And...
The 12:30 a.m. shooting happened outside a Gabby's Kingston Road, located at 980 Kingston Rd., which is just west of Victoria Park Avenue.
A 28-year-old man was rushed to the trauma unit of St. Michael's Hospital last night after being shot in the chest.*
Shortly after the shooting just after 8 p.m. in a Pape Ave. home south of Gerrard St. E., a dog-walker reported seeing two men running north.
-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Another roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan killed two more Canadian soldiers Saturday, along with an Afghan police officer and a local interpreter.They will be remembered.
Warrant Officer Gaetan Roberge and Sgt. Gregory John Kruse were killed during a security patrol in the Panjway district, in the western part of Kandahar province.
The explosion wounded three other Canadian soldiers and another Afghan interpreter.
"They’re like teenaged girls gossiping about some dreamy guy. Except that they’re paid six-figure salaries by taxpayers."*
"And they have police powers behind them."
The CIA tackles the problem by aiming low — or getting people high — depending on your understanding of the word.(h/t sda)
It’s secret weapon: viagra. After all, when a man has matrimonial obligations to a harem of women he may need all the help he can get.
The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.
Four blue pills. Viagra. “Take one of these. You’ll love it,” the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.
Asked if an escalation of the assault could include targeted strikes against Hamas leaders, army spokeswoman Avital Leibovitch said: “Anything belonging to Hamas could be a target."**********
"You can interpret that as you like.”
The latest blast killed Private Michael Bruce Freeman, who was was serving with N Company, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment from CFB Petawawa, Ont.He will be remembered.
He started chain gangs to use the inmates to do free work on county and city projects and save taxpayer's money. Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.Well... looks like he's movin' on up...
A cross between "Punk'd" and "Cops," the program sets up elaborate sting operations to snare people wanted on outstanding warrants.I love it.
Actors and undercover deputies play along in faux scenarios where scofflaws are enticed to have a good time; the drama comes when cast members reveal the prank and waiting deputies slap on handcuffs.
"Yeah, I saw him interviewed on Fox the other night about it. I think he said they cleared 1200 warrants just doing the preliminaries before ever filming an episode."**********
Yes, yes, CC... we all know how kind & compassionate you are. Say, while we're at it... let's revisit your pet theory about those dastardly, evil Jews."With all due respect, Wanda, fuck you and your grief. It's not the job of the rest of Canada to continue to let its soldiers die just so you can sleep better at night."Of course, CC's too intimidated to use his own moniker here, so he has created a bunch of alter egos to do his dirty work for him... bombarding my comment threads with dozens of stupid trolls...
Well, CC... we can see you're "alive"... but I do have to question the "well."
BOO!!!
"From witch burnings to the Montreal massacre by Roman Catholic Marc Lepine to abortion clinic bombers, Christianity’s legacy of violence strikes down yet more victims."Catholic, you say?
M. Lepine was born Gamil Gharbi, the son of an Algerian Muslim wife-beater, whose brutalized spouse told the court at their divorce hearing that her husband "had a total disdain for women and believed they were intended only to serve men."I hadn't heard that young Gamil, oops... "young Marc"... was particularly religious, never mind Catholic... but hey... don't let that get in the way of a barnburner of a rant, huh?
At 18, young Gamil took his mother's maiden name. The Gazette in Montreal mentioned this in its immediate reports of the massacre.Hey Stooge... that bringin' down the shithammer on the Catholics was pretty entertaining.
The name "Gamil Gharbi" has not sullied its pages in the 12 years since.
Hang on Stooger... if Wikipedia is so unreliable (your words, right?)... then why is your source a cut & paste of a Wikipedia footnote?
*
-- KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- A Canadian soldier was killed and three others injured this afternoon when a bomb exploded under their armoured vehicle west of Kandahar city.And, of course, there is the same demented moonbat commentary that accompanies every single loss...
The slain soldier's family has been informed of his death, but requested his identity withheld temporarily. This death marks the 104th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan since 2001.
"So what's the endgame here? A Starbucks on every street corner and gay marriage in Afghanistan?"Yes, you freakin' genius... that's what it's all about.
"Improvements in medical care since the Taliban fell five years ago have led to a marked decrease in Afghanistan's infant mortality rates - 40,000 fewer infant deaths a year."**********
A night of heavy drinking ended with a savage murder in a Scarborough apartment early Christmas Day when one of three friends allegedly snapped, stomped out the life of his pal and then brutally beat a second man who tried to stop the assault.*
Misty Morning from Canada writes: What a sad story. Our government should feel that family's pain and feel ashamed that they have proved, again, to be totally inept in all matters.**********
As a Canadian, I feel ashamed. How can we say Merry Christmas to each other when another Canadian family is hurting as the Kohail's must be?
* Posted 25/12/08 at 11:17 PM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment
"The victim's family has angrily denounced Canadian interference in the case and has said they will not entertain any possibility of forgiveness until the two accused admit their guilt."*
Funny how there's never a Human Rights Commissioner around... when you really need one.-- JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appealed to Gazans to stop attacks on Israel or face a violent response as rockets rained down from Gaza at levels not seen since before a now-expired truce.Who's actually boarding the crazy train here?
“I am telling them now, it may be the last minute, I'm telling them stop it,” Mr. Olmert told the Arabic-language Al-Arabiya TV. “We are stronger.”
Apparently... somehow... the rocket-firing terrorists are the aggrieved party here."Obama was not under oath, but he was represented in the FBI interview — as well as throughout the internal review — by Bob Bauer, the shrewdly pugnacious Washington super lawyer who represented Obama’s campaign."**********
"Each of the four Obama associates referenced in the internal report also retained attorneys, although only Emanuel and Jarrett sat for interviews with U.S. attorneys and FBI agents."
“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion," he said.*
"This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback."
"A terrorist doesn't need to go to the DIYbio community. They can just enroll in their local community college."*
"As we approach a critical time in international relations, we are offering our viewers an insight into an alternative world view."**********
"In December of 2006, this rights commission was asked to investigate claims of discrimination based on physical disability with regards to a reindeer, Rudolph."*
"...Rudolph suffers from a facial disfigurement."
Major Saudi newspapers have refused to publish the advertisement, apparently because for them, it was too shocking.*
The director general of the Saudi advertising agency, behind the campaign, Qaswara al-Khateeb, defended the media drive. "We sometimes forget that those who we deal with - "helpers" - are actually human beings."
In my lifetime I have driven big rigs & subway trains... wrangled jackhammers, industrial chemicals and, most recently, mainframe computers... and that, my friend, is all I'm prepared to admit to."Michael has been involved in the Liberal Party for over forty years."
Of course, it was a bit of a long distance relationship..."Ignatieff lived in the United Kingdom from 1978 to 2000 and in the United States from 2000 to August 2005."Nudge, nudge... wink, wink
The comments by the Pope were "totally irresponsible and unacceptable" and could provide some with a justification for "gay bashing," said Rev. Sharon Ferguson, the chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, in an interview with the BBC.*
A Toronto couple who left behind $269,000 in dirty money in a clean baby’s diaper two years ago were officially relieved of the cash in court last week.Thank goodness for dumbass criminals...
Hashani and Suada Bojaxhi, a husband and wife from Toronto were ordered to forfeit the money after Mr. Bojaxhi pleaded guilty to possession of property obtained by crime while before Superior Court Justice Richard Byers last week.
On Apr. 4 2006, Hashani Bojaxhi walked into an unidentified quick loan shop in Belleville and attempted to convert $700 in U.S. currency into Canadian money, court was told.**********
Staff at the location became suspicious of Hashani Bojaxhi’s identity and called police. Before police arrived he and a passenger in his vehicle fled the scene on foot, leaving behind a rented Jeep Grand Cherokee.
A search of the vehicle uncovered $269,000 stuffed into diapers — money that RCMP experts determined was the proceeds of illegal activity.
An Etobicoke man is under arrest after police on the east coast seized almost 300 kgs of cocaine, police said today.**********
The illicit drugs had an estimated street value of about $40 million, Durham Regional Police said.
The coke was shipped in boxes of hot sauce and destined for the Carribean International Food Distributors in west-end Toronto.
Mahendrapaul Doodnauth, 45, of Seguin Ct. in Etobicoke was arrested and charged with importing, conspiracy to import and possession with the purpose of trafficking.
"Way back when, my grandpa smuggled in seed wheat...guess a fella has to keep up with the times... yeeesh."*
-(a)- Preventing despots from pursuing ethnic cleansing & genocide*
-(b)- Staring down violent, immoral dictators who harbour terrorists
-(c)- Controlling nuclear proliferation by rogue nations
-(d)- Providing international diplomatic cover for all of the above
"You're willing to sacrifice... our love."**********
"Nice title. Wasn't Dion a Foreigner himself?"*
"Come to think of it Ignatieff has spent so much time out of the country that he might qualify for that title too."
"I guess Mr. Morrison doesn't have as many 'friends' as he thought."*
Pakistani security officials say at least eight people have been killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike in northwest Pakistan.*
Officials say the latest missile attack targeted militants in the volatile South Waziristan tribal region.
The pre-dawn strikes by suspected U.S drones hit two vehicles at different locations and killed most of those onboard the vehicles.
"We're now faced with a very simple choice," Harper said after that furor.Don't miss CTV national news tonight... I mean, how often do you get to see Lloyd Robertson bleeding from his ears?
"Does the government Canadians elected appoint those senators or are they going to be appointed by a coalition that nobody elected?"
**********Outraged friends and family continued to question why police resorted to lethal force in their confrontation with Moynagh, who had A HISTORY OF VIOLENT OUTBURSTS and had SEVERAL RUN-INS WITH THE POLICE in the past.Oh yeah... did I mention the knives?
"The area resident, who refused to give her name, said such scenes were not uncommon in the area..."*
"At first I thought they blocked off the funeral home again," she said. "When gang members have services there, the police usually block it off."
More deep thoughts from ace reporter Tom Clark... "How could you say no to the daughter of JFK?""Today, the audacity of hope had its rendezvous with destiny....Obama is now an adopted son of Camelot. His candidacy blessed not just by the Lion of the Senate, patriarch of the clan, but by JFK’s daughter." — David Wright on ABC’s Nightline January 28.*
This isn't about providing information, it's about peddling newspapers, 'cos... lemme see... my kid is outside playing in the "death storm"... taxpayers just handed the Big Three automakers 20 billion taxpayer dollars... and, last and absolutely least, Caspar Milquetoast and his "Green Shaft" have been ignominiously and eternally consigned to the compost pile of history."...on earth than militant feminism."**********
"Not quite on topic, but, during the thought police episode, I had a chat with my daughter who went to Queens in the early 90s. She told me that one of the best essays she ever wrote came back with every single 'he' circled in red ink."
"Every single one."
"She was scolded by the marxist-feminist prof and told to use the gender-neutral, but ugly and unpronouncable, s/he."
"Fair enough, I suppose, except .... the essay was about Gulliver's Travels."
"I remember strolling the campus of Queens, my alma mater as well as your daughter's. I was approached by some well meaning yet naive folks with a clip board who told me they were doing a survey for the University and asked me if I had ever witnessed racism or discrimination on campus."*
"'Indeed,' I replied."
"Their happy young faces beamed at the news."
"I continued. 'There is a disturbing amount of discrimination practiced by the University itself as well as the government of Canada. It is against men, especially caucasian ones'."
And everybody except the union is acknowledging that reality...“Our governments would be crazy to not force the same condition on the D3 in Canada,” Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Auto Consultants, said in an e-mail Friday.The times... they are a' changin'.
Currently in Canada, workers at the Detroit Three plants earn wages and benefits totalling $70 an hour, while their counterparts at the Japanese auto makers earn between $40 and $45.
**********
Participants are encouraged to bring extra footwear for tossing, but organizers say shoes will be provided at the rally.What is actually dumber here... being a participant... or reporting on this like it's a life-altering event?
At bottom, the Blagojevich episode -- whether it involves Obama himself or people close to him such as Emanuel or Axelrod -- demonstrates the disconnect between Obama's deeds and his high-sounding words.*
He talks tirelessly about reform but was an unobjecting beneficiary of the machine who did not reform it.
An Egyptian mathematics teacher has gone on trial accused of beating an 11-year-old pupil to death because he did not do his homework.*
After using a ruler, Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, 23, allegedly took the boy outside the classroom and hit him violently in his stomach. Islam Amr Badr fainted and later died in hospital of heart failure.
The Egyptian government says it is bringing in education reforms - including new teacher testing.
"The authorities said Mr. Monserrate drove Ms. Giraldo to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park in Nassau County, near the Queens border."It's unclear?
"It was unclear why he chose a hospital outside the city and 12 miles from his apartment, on 83rd Street in Jackson Heights. There are at least three hospitals closer, including Elmhurst Hospital Center, five blocks away. "
It's not the first year that the children of Canadian soldiers have asked Santa to bring their moms and dads home safely so they can spend Christmas together, but “there do seem to be more of them this year.”You estimate? -- 0.001 percent?
Mr. Danells estimates that only “0.001 per cent” of Santa letters ask those tearjerker questions, but he is noticing that children everywhere are becoming more aware of the world around them.
Based on one-fifth share of vehicle production, a Canadian package would translate into $4.16-billion (Canadian) in short-term, emergency loans.**********
Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza applauded the package, but described the attached concessions as “pretty tough.”
Mr. Lewenza said the money promised by the Bush administration is enough to get General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC through the first quarter of 2009, but the industry still needs “some long-term stability.”
"The Detroit three UAW/CAW must be desperate for new cash donors, they were hovering like vultures as we were going home to our families after work Thursday."*
"I said to the Vulture as he attempted to hand me his propaganda, 'Your union has sure helped you out ... helped you right out of a job'."
...so little time...And in the Canadian city of Montreal, Block the Empire, an anti-war protest group that regularly criticises Bush's foreign policy, invited Canadians to hurl their footwear at the US consulate in the city on Saturday in solidarity with al-Zaidi.Honestly... who are these freaks?
Taser nutjobs find new cause célèbre.*
Mr. Harper didn't say how big a deficit Ottawa would run, but a stimulus package of the kind he's planning would push the federal government deep into the red next year – likely by more than $30-billion.*
The truck was making a routine collection at a TD Canada Trust bank on Southdown Rd., near Royal Windsor Dr., around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday when the suspects approached the two guards, brandishing what appeared to be a pellet gun.*
Before the suspects could nab any cash, the guards reportedly fired several shots, forcing the three to flee empty handed.
It's not a question of experience. You often get inexperienced candidates who come out of nowhere. You get rich businessmen and the occasional actor or sports star.*
It's a question of entitlement. The only thing she has that makes her somebody to even be considered for this office is pedigree. I mean, I hate to be a good government scold, but I would think that one of the reasons for the American experiment is to abolish the idea of government by pedigree.
Look, Caroline Kennedy is a worthy socialite. But if she wants it, she should run and not accept an appointment. It is OK to run on pedigree, but do it in an election and not in an appointment.
Starting in January, the prostate-specific antigen test will be covered under the province's public health insurance, costing the government $30 million annually.*
Previously, residents in Ontario have had to have the tests done in hospitals; now the tests will be covered in much more numerous community labs.
Despite the fact prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer to strike Canadian men, Ontarians currently pay out of pocket for the $30 diagnostic test.
"It's always impressive to see these sorts of things but it's not as unsual as you would think," said Dr. Rich Gustafson, with Cherry Creek Pediatrics.*
"Teratomas can be found in abdomens or other parts of the body ... what made this case so unusual is how perfectly formed the foot was and being in the skull as well."
