31 January 2009

And this little Iggy...

  1/31/2009 07:00:00 pm      
...went wee-wee-wee... all the way home...
I’m also aware that Ignatieff didn’t want to govern in a coalition with socialists and separatists. It’s common knowledge that he was the Very Last Liberal™ to sign this all-important document. Give him a big round of applause, folks.

But seriously, while his apprehension was well-founded, Ignatieff ultimately signed the document. He may not have initiated the coalition, and his written consent was surely a case of taking one for the team.

But history will always show that he was a willing participant (of sorts) in a political coup d’état.
*

Yeah... like World War II

  1/31/2009 03:00:00 pm      
It was worth it.
“I will wait here until the night. I must vote before I die,” he said. “Maybe they are trying to steal my vote. But I will not allow it. I am still alive. I am not dead yet.”
Perhaps Iraq is actually turning a corner here...
Iraqi officials say provincial elections Saturday in the country have ended without reports of major violence.

In a vote seen as a crucial test of Iraq's stability, voters picked representatives for 14 of the country's 18 local councils. More than 14,000 candidates sought 440 seats in Iraq's first provincial elections since 2005.
**********

BREAKING: Another Canadian casualty

Again, underlining the stark truth, that... "freedom isn't free".
Sapper Sean David Greenfield, 25, a combat engineer based in Petawawa, Ont., died when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, or IED, in the western reaches of Zhari district, about 35 kilometres west of Kandahar city.

Sapper Greenfield was a member of the 3rd Battalion, of the Royal Canadian Regiment battle group.
He will be remembered.

*

Drugs... the victimless crime

  1/31/2009 01:00:00 pm      
-- TORONTO -- Four marijuana growers were sentenced to 18 years in prison yesterday, only days after they directed police to the body of a rival which has lain at the bottom of Lake Ontario in a nylon luggage bag for more than four years.

Ka Bon Chu, 29, Ji Yang, 26, Jin Seo Park, 33, and Wei Feng, 33, all pleaded guilty to manslaughter, aggravated assault and forcible confinement in the abduction, torture and death of Pei Ding Xu, a 30-year-old Chinese immigrant who disappeared Jan. 25, 2005.

Xu's badly decomposed body was found Tuesday by police divers. The body was enclosed in a dark nylon luggage bag, weighed down with two bags of cement, 100 metres west of the Island Airport ferry docks at the base of Bathurst St.
*

GMAIL

  1/31/2009 09:00:00 am      
It's all you really need...
As of this week, Gmail has reached perfection: You no longer have to be online to read or write messages. To get offline access, you first need to download and install a small program called Google Gears (except if you're using Google's Chrome browser, which comes with Gears built in).

Then, after you enable Gmail's offline capability, the system will download two months of your most recent messages, which should take 30 minutes to an hour.

Now you're good to go.
*

How perfect is this?

  1/31/2009 06:30:00 am      
He's gonna get a ruling from "the tyranny of nice"...
As Conservative MPs called for the national anthem to return to a rural New Brunswick school's morning rituals, the principal of the school says he is taking the matter to a human rights commission.

In a statement to CTV News Friday, Millett wrote "The only thing I really have to say at this point is that I have contacted the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission and I will be pursuing the question of accommodation around this issue of through the Human Rights Commission and hopefully some clarity will come from the ruling they provide."
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"He's going to the HRC, the self same organizations that have been used to kill Canadian Culture? Me thinks they'll give him a medal for banning the National Athem."
*

30 January 2009

POP QUIZ

  1/30/2009 03:00:00 pm      
What federal political party leader is "getting all medieval"... on his discontented minions asses?
“Trudeau said MPs are nobodies 50 yards off Parliament Hill. This guy wants to make us nobodies on Parliament Hill. It’s outrageous and he’s heading toward a mutiny in six to eight months, unless he’s high in the polls.”
And that's not all... look who's wagging the dog.

In Dalton McSlippery's Ontario...

  1/30/2009 11:30:00 am      
...there's no such thing as a bad boy.

Back when Neophyte was about 4 years old... and we lived in the Heart of Darkness that is downtown Toronto... Mrs Neo had occasion to take him along to a dental appointment in North York.

While Mrs N was lying in the chair, she happened to mention that we were looking to find a home out in the country. It was at that point that Neophyte cheerfully piped up and announced to all and sundry... "My daddy says Toronto is full of idiots."

Well... apparently it's not only Toronto.
Pelham's fire chief is fuming mad about a recent court decision in a case that involved a town firefighter being injured and a half-million-dollar home destroyed after it was set ablaze last year.

In a letter to Rick Bartolucci, Ontario minister of community safety and correctional services, Chief Scott McLeod outlined his frustration over an arson charge that ended up as a conviction for public mischief causing property damage, instead.

He said it sends a wrong message - arson is not a serious crime endangering lives but instead a simple property offence.
And we're not talking a shaky case that had to be knocked down for evidentiary reasons... they had these assholes dead-bang...
Firefighters found three sources for the blaze -construction paper at one site and a mix of paint thinners and wood stain at the other two on separate floors. Niagara Regional Police arrested two men on May 19 whom the fire chief was told admitted to setting the fires.

"As you can imagine, we had a sense of accomplishment regarding the day's work," said McLeod in his letter to the minister "and we felt that the case against the suspects left little room for legal manoeuvring."

McLeod said it's often difficult to prove arson because evidence such as fingerprints are lost as firefighters suppress flames.

"However, this was not the case in this incident."

Part of the evidence was paint on a finger of one man. A message was left in spilt paint at the site. With strong evidence, an injured firefighter, an apparent confession and timely charges, the fire chief thought it was "a bullet-proof case for the courts."
Read it all... I dare you.

**********

RELATED: Must... have... "more... social... workers"
A man who suffered multiple gunshot wounds leaving him in critical condition early this morning has stabilized following emergency surgery.

Police are not releasing any details until later this morning, but earlier, they were searching for a dark, four-door Cadillac with multiple occupants, considered armed and dangerous.
**********

LAST WORD: Hit me baby, one more time
"The victims are not being very cooperative right now," Const. Nabih Mansour, of 12 Division, said after the triple shooting.

Just 12 hours earlier and a few blocks north of the triple shooting, another man was gunned down.
*

So Dawg, your big theory...

  1/30/2009 09:30:00 am      
...about the Jehovah's Witnesses putting the kibosh on the national anthem... it kinda skips over that whole Green Party thing...
-- Upper Belleisle, N.B. -- School district superintendent Zoe Watson said the decision was made by principal Erik Millett after two parents complained about their children having to sing the anthem.

"Sometimes we have students whose parents, because of their beliefs, don't want their children to participate."
After seeing those pix of Lizzie May speaking at a Hezbollah rally... and hearing her infamous slur about Christian Crusaders... I wouldn't be surprised at anything the Greenies do...
But some in the community said that the decision may have been made because of Millett's personal beliefs. Millett ran for the Green Party in the last federal election and his website describes him as "actively involved in the peace movement."

Millett has not stated what exactly the parents complained about in regards to the anthem. Millett was not available for comment Thursday.
Hey Dawg... I bet your adoring public doesn't know you do impersonations...
"It must've been some immugrunts, prolly MOOSLUMS."
Ezra Levant... unlike poor demented Dawg... actually fleshes out this sordid tale.
"Of course, if there really were anti-anthem parents, they could have been told that the anthem is part of the school's program, and it was staying. Or they could have been told that they could exempt their own children from that three-minute exercise."

"Cancelling the entire thing -- based on mystery complaints that no-one else seems to have heard about -- is clearly the act of a rogue principal with his own agenda, not the result of any genuine parental concern."
And the coup de grace...
"How ironic: the fight-the-power punk rocker/amateur actor who idolizes anti-establishment rebels is now a low-level bureaucrat in a small school in a small town, who has become every bit the censorious petty tyrant he claims to despise."
I fear for my country.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Perhaps the principal should focus on doing his job. Mr Millett's school is producing results under the provincial average and under his regions average."

Yeah, sure... that sounds good...

  1/30/2009 06:30:00 am      
...maybe it was the "ethernet fairy"...
In dismissing a complaint by Ottawa resident Nellie Hechme on Thursday, the Privacy Commission said it could not explain why a Bell Canada representative identified her last year at the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal as the owner of an Internet account that was used to access stormfront.org under the pseudonym Jadewarr.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"I know the HRC charade has made a mockery of what constitutes evidence, due diligence and investigation, but this means that they accepted evidence that was not correct."
*

29 January 2009

A rose by any other name

  1/29/2009 06:00:00 pm      
...might not end up at Attica... so says the Social Science Quarterly...
We examine whether a relationship exists between juvenile delinquency and first names by answering a basic question: Are juveniles with unpopular names more or less likely to become juvenile delinquents?

We add to the literature on first names by finding, regardless of race, a positive correlation between unpopular first names and juvenile delinquency. The first names of juvenile delinquents do not represent a random sample of first names in the general population.
I've never really been able to figure out the contemporary and increasingly popular rationale... of saddling kids with "unique", or more to the point, bizarro names.

I mean, however cool it may sound on that pleasure-droid on Battlestar Galactica... the fact is, your kid has to be able to survive on Planet Playground.
A 10 percent increase in the popularity of a name is associated with a 3.7 percent decrease in the number of juvenile delinquents who have that name. Because unpopular names may signal an increased propensity to commit crime, this study provides additional insight (beyond that of a discrimination motive on the part of employers) as to why job applicants with unpopular names may be disadvantaged.

We show that unpopular names are associated with juveniles who live in nontraditional households, such as female-headed households or households without two parents. In addition, juvenile delinquents with unpopular names are more likely to reside in counties with lower socioeconomic status.
Now, the study itself delivers a few import caveats... but, my feeling is... why experiment on your children at all?
These two findings suggest that unpopular names may merely be correlated with omitted factors (disadvantage home environment) that affect the propensity toward juvenile delinquency rather than being the cause of juvenile delinquency. Nevertheless, if having an unpopular name constrains employment opportunities or negatively affects how others perceive one, it is possible that names could have a causal effect on crime.

This hypothesis is consistent with the findings of Twenge and Manis (1998). They control for family background characteristics by using a paired-siblings design and report: "First names and identity appear to go hand in hand, with first names explaining a small but significant part of the variance in the psychological adjustment of the individual."
FWIW... my son is named after his maternal grandfather.

*

"Who can turn the world on with a smile?"

  1/29/2009 05:15:00 pm      
"Who can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile?"Well, ah... that'd be infamous thug, Curtis John...
-- TORONTO -- John is being charged with attempted murder and several firearm related charges. But as it turns out, police are well aware of him - he's wanted for a large number of other offences.

Investigators believe he allowed his cousin to use his I.D. after his relative was allegedly involved in the murder of 20-year-old Dominic Shearer-Hanomansingh during the Jamaica Day festivities on July 26, 2008.

He's been charged with being an accessory after the fact in that case. His cousin has since been arrested. And that's not all. John is believed to have been involved in a robbery and assault on November 27, 2008.
C'mon... everybody now...
Love is all around, no need to waste it
You can have a town, why don't you take it
You're gonna make it after all
*

So I guess a "spring wedding"...

  1/29/2009 04:30:00 pm      
...is out of the question...
-- OTTAWA -- New Democrats have produced a series of scathing radio ads lambasting the Liberals for propping up Stephen Harper's minority Conservative government.

The ads claim Mr. Ignatieff has failed his first test as leader and has thrown in his lot with Mr. Harper; they argue that the NDP's Jack Layton is the only leader strong enough to stand up to the Prime Minister.
(h/t reader rich)

I'm from the government...

  1/29/2009 07:00:00 am      
...I'm here to save you...
-- TORONTO -- An economic development agency for beleaguered southern Ontario will do little to create jobs and is likely to become an exercise in "pork-barrel politics," critics said -- Wednesday, despite Premier Dalton McGuinty's enthusiasm about his province's share of the federal budget.

"Regional development amounts to corporate welfare and the government is terrible at picking winners and losers in business," said Kevin Gaudet, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
*

28 January 2009

Jack and Gilles...

  1/28/2009 11:45:00 pm      
...should take a pill...
By contrast, Mr. Ignatieff's move provoked outrage from New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe, who wanted the Liberals to defeat the government over the budget as early as next week.

Mr. Layton immediately slammed Mr. Ignatieff, saying the Liberals no longer had the right to claim to be the government-in-waiting. "We have a new coalition now on Parliament Hill. It's a coalition between Mr. Harper and Mr. Ignatieff."
Gee guys... Iggy's fresh off his own little coup d'etat... who could possibly have seen this sort of treachery comin' down the pike?

Politics 101, my socialist friends... "If they'll do it with you, they'll do it to you."
Mr. Duceppe said when the Liberals shared their budget-amendment proposal with him, he declared, "The coalition is dead, it's finished, it's over."
Ya think?

*

Well, Iggy... the good news is...

  1/28/2009 12:00:00 pm      
...at least you guys have had plenty of practice...
-- OTTAWA -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said his party is prepared to “swallow hard” and support the Conservative government, provided they agree to table regular updates outlining how they are living up to their commitments outlined in the federal budget.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"'Swallow hard'? Is that like 'Hurray hard', or do i just have my sports confused?"
*

Wanna see Dr Dawg...

  1/28/2009 11:00:00 am      
...and Canadian Cynic lose their collective minds? Ask them to read today's Toronto Sun... (pls note... no names have been changed to protect the guilty).

Anyway, let's get right to it... "Remember when you were a kid and people settled arguments with two ton automobiles"?
-- TORONTO -- An apprentice electrician admitted yesterday he killed a teenaged kitchen cabinet painter by driving over him in his Ford Explorer in a dispute between two groups of men outside a bar.

Gagan Deep Singh, 26, pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing the death of Mark Shaba, 19, of Rexdale, on Oct. 21, 2007, in a dispute in the parking lot of Arizona Bar and Grill on Carlingview Dr.
Yeah... me neither.

I've gotta confess... I don't get this whole "dissing" thing. Where exactly... and no, you can't put it all on Vin Diesel... does this stupid shit come from?

At what precise moment in time, did it become acceptable to mete out an extra-judicial death penalty... because somebody didn't agree with you?

That's sure not how it used to work.

**********

RELATED: More bad news, Dawg...

The Hamilton Spectator is a nest of racist vipers too...
Hamilton police say they have received new information from Toronto police that Gavin Storer of Hamilton was the likely target in an execution-style shooting that killed another Hamiltonian, Msemaji Granger, 24, as they left a 50 Cent rap concert at Ontario Place on July 1, 2003.

Storer is wanted by Hamilton police for first-degree murder in the brutal beating and shooting of Shaheen Sherzady, 23, on July 1, 2007.
P.S. -- Kathy Shaidle says hi.

*

Hey Iggy, you get all kung-fu...

  1/28/2009 06:30:00 am      
...on the neighbourhood poodle... that doesn't necessarily mean you're ready for the wolfhound challenge...
-- OTTAWA -- Liberal MPs emerged from a meeting last night saying they expect their leader, Michael Ignatieff, will demand changes to yesterday's Conservative budget in return for their support.

It's unclear whether the Liberals would demand substantive changes or more minor concessions.
Unclear?

I bet it is.

*

27 January 2009

"Then they threw tax credits..."

  1/27/2009 06:30:00 pm      
"...at everything but the kitchen sink. Wait a minute. Even the kitchen sink qualifies for tax relief under the new Home Renovation Tax Credit designed to keep the trades in high demand."
Now we just have to watch Iggy's stylised and elaborate courtship dance...
Shortly before Ignatieff asked for the debate to be adjourned, he said, "The house should know, this is going to be a close call."

Later, on CBC, he said, "There are positive aspects of this budget, which I believe are the result of pressure from the opposition.
That loud drumming sound you hear... is Ignatieff patting himself on the back.

**********

RELATED: Newsflash from Planet Pinko...
**********

WELCOME READERS OF WORNOUT KINSELLA

Special K has decided to throw up a list of Blogging Tories who have expressed concern about the federal budget. That's funny... his usual shtick is all about how BT'ers are "mindless robots".

C'mon buddy, make up your mind.

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised... remember WK's last big project?

**********

LAST WORD: Iggy's "Race Warrior" assistant

*

Dumber than...

  1/27/2009 11:00:00 am      
...a bag of hummus...
An Israeli soldier has been killed and three others injured in a bomb attack on their patrol near the border with Gaza, the Israeli army has said.

Israeli troops entered Gaza backed by helicopters in response and one Palestinian was killed, medics said.

Israel has closed the border crossings into Gaza because of the attack on the patrol, Israeli officials said, stopping the flow of aid supplies to Gaza's 1.5 million residents.
"Live and DON'T learn"... that's HAMAS.

**********

RELATED: Think it couldn't happen here?
THINK AGAIN.
(via sda)

**********

LAST WORD: Well, ya gotta have priorities
In his first formal interview - granted to an Arab television network - the American leader said his job is also to show Americans that people in the Muslim world simply want to live their lives and make better lives for their children.
Well Barack, I've gotta say that... as much as I agreed with the decision... pouring tens of thousands of American soldiers into Afghanistan might just be seen here as sending a mixed message.

*

Iggy's tyin' himself up in knots...

  1/27/2009 08:30:00 am      
...trying to make Stephen Harper look bad, but as a taxpayer... I only have one question about today's budget... "If this puppy doesn't actually fix all our economic problems, when do we get that 34 BILLION DOLLARS back?"

Just askin'.

**********

RELATED: What would Warren Buffet say?
"And people, they do not know exactly what the effects are. Economists like to talk about it, but in the end they've been very, very wrong and most of them in recent years on this."
*

Chalk up another one

  1/27/2009 06:30:00 am      
Spent casings littered the street outside a Subway restaurant just north of Jane St. and Eglinton Ave. W., where police said a man was a victim of a drive-by shooting on Denison Rd. E., around 8 p.m.

The man was shot six times in the lower body and several bullets hit a nearby house, Det. Gord McNeilly said at the scene.
**********

RELATED: "Baby, it's cold outside"

Toronto... not as friendly as you might think...
A $50,000 reward has been offered in the murder investigation of a young man gunned down on a North York street last year.

"It was a very cold, wintery night and the streets were mostly empty except for passing vehicles," Borg said. "It was only when a TTC employee on a passing TTC bus saw what he believed was a person laying lifeless on a sidewalk that anyone stopped to help Shawn McLean. By then, Shawn's fate had already been determined."

Later, as police began canvassing the area, they discovered nearby residents had heard more than one gunshot echo around the scene, but none bothered to report them to police.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Now that Torontonians realize that there's no point in calling the police about gunfire, non-criminals should be allowed to have guns too."
**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF NOTED HUMANITARIAN CANADIAN CYNIC

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.

Hey... we could always get a second opinion from your "fellow cynic"... the mysterious "sjwalter".

And, of course, there's CC's magnum opus...

Remember Canadian Cynic's message to Wanda Watkins, whose son Lane was killed in Afghanistan?
"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."
And, CC... bombarding my comment threads with dozens of stupid trolls... who exactly is that gonna impress?
I'm thinkin'... you might wanna tweak those meds again.
BOO!!!

*

26 January 2009

Forget about that Gitmo thing...

  1/26/2009 04:15:00 pm      
...let's deal with the real threats to our safety and security...
"The Crown says it will disclose evidence of a clandestine, undercover investigation in 2006 into the illegal sale of dangerous substances stored on the farm, sometimes on clear display."
Oh... my... gawd...

**********

RELATED: Where the fix... is a bigger problem
-- OTTAWA -- Payments to Indian residential school survivors, meant to compensate them for mistreatment, have led to suicides, substance abuse and depression across the country, documents obtained by Canwest News Service show.

In British Columbia alone, according to a member of one survivors' group, two dozen deaths have been attributed to the payments.
*

Maybe there's a reason...

  1/26/2009 02:15:00 pm      
...the crime stats are through the roof...
Police in the Windy City are red faced after a 14-year-old boy infiltrated the force, posed as a cop, and actually got assigned to a squad car as a rookie before anyone caught on.

The kid managed to secure a replica of a real police uniform, showed up at a local station on Saturday and even got assigned to a squad car.

To make matters worse, he was on patrol for five hours with a partner before anyone figured out what was going on.

What gave him away? A crucial detail. His get-up was missing a star that's supposed to be on the regulation uniform.
*

Hope, Change and...

  1/26/2009 12:00:00 pm      
"Well... we can always dig up the backyard and plant turnips."
By some estimates the leverage of U.S assets is as high as 50:1. It will take a lot more to buy fictional assets with fictional money.

By the way, Democrats are already indicating that they will funnel "stimulus" into their political programs.

Welcome to the making of revolution.

Posted by: xiat at January 26, 2009 11:31 AM
[*]

I guess you can't be too careful

  1/26/2009 11:15:00 am      
The thing is... if stuff like yoga is on your "theatens my belief system" list... where exactly do you rank the rest of the many scary facets of the non-Islamic world?
Although the ruling is not legally binding, most devout Muslims are likely to adhere to it — as they consider it sinful to ignore a fatwa.

The Ulema Council decided on the ban, which follows a similar edict in neighbouring Malaysia, over concerns that the faith of Muslim yoga practitioners would be weakened if they take part in Hindu rituals like chanting mantras, Amin said.

“Those who perform yoga purely for health reasons or sport will not be affected,” Amin said.

“We only prohibit activities that can corrupt Islamic values.”
Yes, yes, Dawg... I know... I'm not supposed to talk about this stuff.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Ask a compassionate lefty intellectual...
Dawg... is that you?

**********

RELATED: A "surprising" breath of fresh air
"At this time we have to also recall the overwhelming responsibility of Hamas," he said. "I intentionally say this here - Hamas is a terrorist movement and it has to be denounced as such."

He added there would be no dialogue with Hamas, and its use of terrorism against Israeli civilians meant it was not a legitimate resistance movement.
**********

LAST WORD: Do the math
The answer is obvious: local politicians have done their math.

There are only 8,000 Jews in Calgary, and more than 75,000 Muslims. Denouncing anti-Semitic bigotry is fine for politicians when the bigots are politically powerless neo-Nazi skinheads.

When they're radical Muslims, funded by Saudi Arabia, the politicians fall silent.
*

I guess Orwell was right...

  1/26/2009 06:30:00 am      
...some animals are more equal than others...
If all of the NDP MPPs decide to work against the legislation, a filibuster – speaking to the motion at great length – could extend that indefinitely.
Looks like the Dippers... like their Liberal colleagues... are flexible...
The philosophical reasons for this NDP opposition are moot. Last year, the NDP acquiesced to back-to-work legislation for the TTC after just a single full day of service withdrawal.
Funny how that works.

*

25 January 2009

The next best thing...

  1/25/2009 08:45:00 pm      
...to having Steffi driving that Big Red Bus...
Opposition parties are threatening to vote down this week's much-anticipated Conservative budget because it contains a potentially contentious proposal to permanently slash taxes for middle-class Canadians.
Yeah... holy crap... who'd be in favour of that?

But hey... it gets better... "they stab it with their steely knives, but they just can't kill the beast"...
Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jack Layton said Sunday that he is still in talks with his Liberal counterpart, Michael Ignatieff, about toppling the Tories this week and installing an opposition government, which would be supported by the Bloc Quebecois.

"We have stayed in touch, and I think there is a fundamental desire for change and optimism," Layton told Question Period.
Yeah Jacko... you keep tellin' yourself that.

**********

RELATED: Uh-huh, it's a conservative thing...

...you wouldn't understand...
Sen. John McCain said he plans to vote against President Obama's economic stimulus plan, expressing frustration with a lack of bipartisanship in crafting the $825 billion package and leaving open the chance of a filibuster unless more tax breaks are included.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"We expect such idiocy from Jack Layton, but if Iggy's pretending to be a Canadian for a while, he's not doing a very good job of it."
*

Obambo - First Blood

  1/25/2009 02:15:00 pm      
Apparently, the new American President... is just as megalomaniacal & bloodthirsty as the last guy...
Angry demonstrators at a big rally in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday condemned a U.S-led raid against Taliban insurgents in their area they say killed 16 Afghan civilians.

President Hamid Karzai also has criticized the operation, saying civilian deaths in anti-terror raids are helping the cause of extremist forces.
*

Mayor's office... yet again...

  1/25/2009 11:45:00 am      
...strangely silent on which gun club these folks belonged to...
A Toronto Police officer was shot in the head last night after a Beer Store robbery in which several people were threatened with a shotgun. The officers first on the scene tried to arrest one of the suspects when there was a confrontation that led to the shooting, police said.

Police nabbed one hiding in the backyard of a Campbell Ave. home but late last night were still searching for the second. Officers found several spent shotgun shells and some that hadn't been fired inside a sock along Rankin Cres.
Of course... it's not really that surprising... this is the reality of what Toronto has become.
The incident capped a week of brazen firearm violence -- including an incident in which two people were shot in a crowded Entertainment District nightclub early yesterday morning.
But hey... the important thing here... mediawise, anyway... is that nobody got tasered.

Funny how that works.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Ah yes, let us look at two of the actual charges (one each per perp): 'Possession of a firearm contrary to a prohibition order'."
**********

LAST WORD: A little sociological "paint by numbers"

*

24 January 2009

"How does a child..."

  1/24/2009 08:45:00 pm      
"...who's been in the U.S. since he was 4 or 5 become convinced to leave his parents and go to war in Somalia?"

A number of families across Minneapolis are wondering the same thing.
**********

RELATED: The new regime commences...
"Operation Punch Yourself in the Face"
**********

LAST WORD: I have just one question...
"Whether it's for religious or family value reasons, this is a public education system, it's secular and we're serving the public," he said. "Is it right or is it fair for children who are not allowed to sing the anthem to be forced to?
Who exactly is it... that's "not allowed" to sing "Oh Canada"?

(via bluelikeyou)

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: I bet you didn't know...

...Dr Dawg does impersonations...
"It must've been some immugrunts, prolly MOOSLUMS."
I guess that's what passes for reasonable discourse on Planet Pink.

Down, boy! Down!

**********

WELCOME ACOLYTES OF FREEDOM FIGHTER DR DAWG

Who exactly is the Dawgster protecting today... Hezbollah, the Green party... baby seals?
"The JWs have had a long history of persecution in Canada."
Oh Dawg... step away from the hookah.

*

Yeah, it looks like a urine sample...

  1/24/2009 01:45:00 pm      
...but it can't be that bad for you, right?

I got about half way through it and decided to look at what was in Dole "100% Juice." I figured it was from concentrate and I wasn't wrong, but I did get a surprise.

Concentrate from ten different countries? Holy crap.

Looking at that list, I probably wouldn't even drink the water from seven out of the ten.

Seriously, why would Pepsico need to get apple concentrate from China? Although I suppose it probably is pretty cheap to get juice from apples grown in the composted shit piles of a thousand peasants.

Once you chip off the lead coating, I mean.
*

With all this "stimulation"...

  1/24/2009 12:45:00 pm      
...we're talkin' "multiple Obamagasms"...
1. The House Democrats’ bill will cost each and every household $6,700 additional debt, paid for by our children and grandchildren.

2. The total cost of this one piece of legislation is almost as much as the annual discretionary budget for the entire federal government.

3. President-elect Obama has said that his proposed stimulus legislation will create or save three million jobs. This means that this legislation will spend about $275,000 per job.

The average household income in the U.S. is $50,000 a year.
Read it all... I dare you.

[via sondrakistan]

Come for the 'Clubbin'...

  1/24/2009 11:30:00 am      
...stay for the trauma team...
One man was shot in the leg and arm while a woman suffered a minor injury when a gunman opened fire in a crowded Entertainment District nightclub this morning, Toronto Police say.

A 21-year-old woman was hurt in the face by flying shrapnel, police said.
Just another reason why.

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Saudis not happy with Bush-lite

  1/24/2009 10:15:00 am      
Where's OUR "hope and change?", cries Middle East.
A senior member of Saudi Arabia's ruling family has warned the US that it needs to change attitudes over the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and former ambassador to the US, said a failure to alter policies could threaten links.
**********

RELATED: OTOH... if HAMAS is pissed...

...he's obviously doing something right...
"Obama is insisting on not bringing any change even though his campaign slogan promised to bring change," Hamdan told Al-Jazeera television in an interview.

The spokesman said Obama should have talked about the need for Israel not to attack Gaza rather than for Hamas to stop its rocket fire.
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23 January 2009

Tonight's Moonbat Moment

  1/23/2009 11:15:00 pm      
CTV's Robert Fife is decrying the Conservative Party's... wait for it... "classic media spin."

Apparently, after weeks of angrily demanding to hear what the government is planning to do about the "financial crisis" they've been hysterically decrying... CTV has decided they don't want that information after all.

Strangely and coincidentally, Iggy is on a tear about it too.

Do these guys ever listen to themselves?

**********

RELATED: This is horrible, terrible... wait...
The Conservatives' decision to reveal budgetary measures before the document is officially released follows a precedent started by Paul Martin when he was Minister of Finance in the previous Liberal government, according to David Docherty, a political scientist at Wilfrid Laurier University.
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He's so utterly magnificent...

  1/23/2009 06:00:00 pm      
...he can have it both ways...
Yesterday, Mr. Obama put out a statement reaffirming his support for abortion rights. He also called for steps to be taken to reduce the number of abortions.
It's true... he's a magic man.

A week ago... these numbers would have been 99-1 against.
"Given Barack Obama's desire to close Guantanamo, do you think it's time for Ottawa to bring home Omar Khadr?"
**********

WELCOME READERS OF HOARY OL' SOCIALIST STOOGELEFT

Apparently, after 8 long years of insanely hysterical "Bush Derangement Syndrome"... all dissent, all criticism... of the President of the United States must now stop.

Effective immediately, huh Stooge?

Hey... it worked for Josef Stalin.

P.S., your Stoogeliness... you forgot to include Rex Murphy...
"Barack Obama could read a string of fortune cookie messages and some people would come away thinking they'd heard the Gettysburg address."
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Stoogeleft/Balbulican says... I don't really give a rat's ass about your opinion."
Yowsah, Bully... I'd hate to see what'd happen if you actually did care.

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Hope, change and...

  1/23/2009 11:30:00 am      
"Hey, Rocky... watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat."

**********

RELATED: Yeah... I BET they did
Pakistani leaders had expressed hope Obama would halt the attacks, more than 30 of which have been launched since the middle of last year, reportedly killing several senior militants.
Hope, change and... "rest in pieces."

(via sda)

22 January 2009

Maybe Windsor taxpayers...

  1/22/2009 10:45:00 am      
...should think about hiring the Amazing Kreskin...
“That’s really troubling,” said Coun. Alan Halberstadt. “You have two years of no documentation of what went on? Is that what they are telling you?”

Four of Enwin’s original six board members are still in charge today, including Mayor Eddie Francis, who did not return phone calls for comment.

In the June 21, 2000 minutes, Edwards said, “the company has been very busy, including the following issues.”

But then, eight of the 12 issues listed were blacked out.
(h/t reader simeon)

Odiously historic

  1/22/2009 08:30:00 am      
A reader writes...
Yesterday at work, the entire hospital was "dead" between 12 and 1 when Obama gave his speech. So many people interested. And when I kept working, people said to me: "aren't you afraid of missing history?".

The number of people walking around saying things about how the economy is now saved or how terrorism and Israel/Palestine will be solved, poverty, Health Care for all etc. etc.

There are a lot of people with hightened expectations that Obama will deliver on whatever they think their key issue is.

The thing is that US foreign and domestic policy is largely driven by multiple factors outside of the president's control. Mark my words, Obama is simply Bush III.

Sure Obama is half black, and that is historical. Except I don't place much emphasis on the "first" whatever, unless it is the very first person to do something significant.

But I did feel something yesterday, and that was this feeling similar I think to what perhaps some Roman citizens felt near the end of the Empire, when the crowd wanted "free" bread, when corruption ran unheeded, and when the Emperor was propped up by making outrageous promises and spending massive treasure for the crowds only to be dragged out into the streets months later by an angry mob.

Obama is going to spend trillions of dollars on corporate welfare programs and government programs. That is money the US doesn't have, and debt that GDP growth can no longer outgrow. He's doing it on the backs of children and future Americans. And so are we in Canada.

That is odiously historic. And history repeats itself.
As does the mainstream media.

**********

LAST WORD:
In 2004, George W. Bush continued dividing America with his divisive policies by divisively winning the election with 50.7 per cent of the vote. In 2008, Barack Obama united the entire world in a unifying spirit of unity by winning with 52.9 per cent of the vote.

That 2.2 per cent makes a massive difference, apparently. What the media actually means with all this talk of Obama uniting everybody is that a majority of voters finally supported the media’s candidate; you can feel the unity in every US newsroom, from the New York Times to the Chicago Tribune.

And beyond.

Three weeks... five murders

  1/22/2009 06:30:00 am      
Perhaps, instead of harassing law-abiding members of Toronto gun clubs... Mayor Miller should be considering "a surge"...
A 19-year-old man found shot to death on Keele St. Tuesday night is Toronto’s fifth homicide victim of 2009.

Emergency workers were called to Keele St. and Donald Rd., just south of Eglinton Ave., around 10:45 p.m. by a TTC bus passenger who heard gunshots.

They arrived to find the man sprawled on the sidewalk, suffering two gunshot wounds to his chest.
**********

UPDATE: More slaughter in Hogtown...
-- TORONTO -- A man has been taken to hospital after a shooting at a downtown Toronto subway station Thursday morning.

Lyla Millar said two ambulances responded. One of the ambulances transported a male victim believed to be in critical condition to a trauma centre in Toronto.
No word yet from "His Blondeness" on which gun club is responsible.

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21 January 2009

"Uh, no pressure, dude"

  1/21/2009 04:30:00 pm      
What pisses me off is how grateful all these expats sound, how relieved they are they can finally stop pretending they’re Canadian.

I’m not grateful; frankly I profoundly resent the implication that my own personal worth has anything whatsoever to do with who half the American voters chose.

I have to be honest with you, at this point, I almost feel sorry for the guy.

Whenever I had a few minutes today to surf the news, all I saw were articles about Obama Fever and the high expectations and how he is going to FIX EVERYTHING TOMORROW.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Frankly I'd be much more suprised if France elected a Jewish leader, or Quebec elected anyone but some white francophone. Heck half the time I am suprised when Europeans elect a woman as leader considering the behaviour of many of the ones I have met while on my travels."
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"Hope, Change and..."

  1/21/2009 12:00:00 pm      
"...kiss my ass you evil neocons."

**********

RELATED: Whatever happened to critical thinking?
What if a Republican president submitted for cabinet confirmation...

1. A Treasury Secretary with supervisory powers over the IRS who failed to report and pay taxes on over $100,000 in personal income?

2. A Commerce Secretary who had to withdraw because of an investigation into "pay to play" allegations in the state where he sits as governor?

3. A Secretary of Transportation revealed to be the king of earmarks while in Congress?

[read it all]
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"The 2005 Bush inauguration..."

  1/21/2009 09:00:00 am      
"...despite occurring in boom times, was, I remember, deemed by the media as crass and a rich man’s fest, insensitive to the general poverty around."

"The more than twice as expensive 2009 Obama inauguration, despite occurring in a severe recession, is a measured and proper celebration of diversity and landmark progress. Annuit coeptis indeed."
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Hope, Change and...

  1/21/2009 06:30:00 am      
...what the hell happened to my "peace train"?
-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Construction is underway at a frenzied pace at the main NATO military base in Kandahar province to prepare for the extra U.S. soldiers deploying to the country in the coming months as part of U.S. President Barack Obama's troop surge.

Obama, inaugurated Tuesday as the 44th U.S. president, intends to add more than 20,000 U.S. troops to the ranks of some 34,000 American soldiers already in Afghanistan. The first wave is supposed to arrive this spring.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
Obama's actions in Afghanistan: "sound and necessary for our time."

Bush's Iraq surge "a dangerous and thoughtless aggravating action."
**********

RELATED: The heavy weight of war

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20 January 2009

Obamagasm

  1/20/2009 11:45:00 pm      
Being out and about today... getting cars and computers back on their respective highways... I missed the most egregious moments of the all-too-predictable media slobberfest about this most miraculous of days.

And tonight, a mere 10 minutes of CTV gush-master Lloyd Robertson convinced me that I had indeed made the smart choice.

Strangely enough... the best line I've heard about the BIG DAY came from last nights Jon Stewart show... "Obama's inaugural speech is gonna make the "Gettysberg Address" look like a series of simian grunts."

I know it was supposed to be mocking the media freakout... but it captured the flavour of the day so perfectly.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"It was hard to avoid. Even the sports channels had it. Apparently, nothing happened at all in the world yesterday other than the coronation."
**********

LAST WORD: Take me now, Lord...
"I wanted to pick a very optimistic color, that had sunshine," she said. "I wanted her to feel charmed, and in that way would charm everybody."
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Well, I've been computerless...

  1/20/2009 06:45:00 pm      
...for most of the day and it's not a nice feeling.

Something snuck past my anti-virus last night and hammered Vista into a coma. I've just spent an afternoon with a friend putting Windows XP Pro onto this machine instead.

The most interesting part of the exercise is finding XP drivers for my Acer laptop... it doesn't seem to like walking backwards down the operating system footpath.

Ah, well... almost done.

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