Oh, thank gawd...

...I was starting to have nightmares... about poor little Omar.

*

Well, as long as we've got...

...all those extra tax dollars just lyin' around...

Premier Dalton McGuinty is defending an untendered, $81-million contract for an energy centre built to power a casino in Windsor.

Windsor, huh... that sounds so familiar...

Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, who represents the riding of Windsor-Tecumseh, has come under fire in recent weeks for the soaring cost of the energy centre, which he admits came in way over budget.

Funny how that works, huh?

*

What would Dalton do?

"In Liberal Ontario, giving inmates priority over their guards should be no surprise," said the Progressive Conservative MPP.

"Another example of a screwed-up Liberal justice system where masturbating Peeping Toms have charges dropped and a law-abiding storekeeper is charged after chasing and catching a thief."

**********

RELATED: More McSlippery slope...

Even the fuzzy-bunny Red Star is fed up.

After spending $1 billion of taxpayers' money to computerize patient records, with little to show for it but a trail of untendered consultants' contracts and questionable expense accounts, he vowed to be open and accountable on public spending. "Our responsibility as a government is to take responsibility."

Evidently his own MPPs didn't get the message.

This week, the Liberals used their majority on the Legislature's public accounts committee to vote down an NDP motion to question the two key figures in the spending spree, Sarah Kramer, former chief executive of eHealth Ontario, and Dr. Alan Hudson, former chair.

*

Pin the tail

Canada's vaccine manufacturer did not inform federal health officials until Thursday that the number of H1N1 doses available to Canadians next week would shrink by much more than half – prompting provinces to suspend the rollout of the vaccine to the general public for at least a couple of weeks.

Maybe somebody should ask Dalton if he still plans on innoculating Paul Bernardo & friends.

**********

RELATED: Best H1N1 comment so far, bar none

"Can't blog; too busy panicking."

*

A hard week in Afghanistan

Sapper Marshall, 24, of 11 Field Squadron 1 Combat Engineer Regiment based in Edmonton, Alta., was struck while on a late-afternoon patrol through Panjwaii district, 10 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city.

There were no other casualties.

He will be remembered.

*

"My Canada includes every..."

"...whiney, sucky, little..."

*

It's time to admit the ugly truth

The Fiberal's "Farmer Bob Rifle Registry" is an abject failure... so when do we get our two billion dollars back?

According to Statistics Canada, gun homicides are up 24% since 2002, despite the existence of the registry. And according to the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action and the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, 92% of gun crimes in Canada are committed with illegal handguns.

*

"I'm from the Government... I'm here..."

"...to save (some of) you"...

Inmates at Ontario jails and correctional centres will be vaccinated for the swine flu Monday, while the guards protecting them have been told their clinics have been cancelled, the Sun has learned.

To add insult to injury, he said, the guards will be part of the security for the clinic.

"They want us to help put the clinic on and we're not getting the vaccine?" said Duffy, a 23-year veteran. "We have pregnant women on the job. It's not right."

The correctional services ministry couldn't be reached for comment last night.

**********

UPDATE: And, don't forget... fucking criminals

Public health officials are yet again urging healthy Ontarians to wait their turn while priority groups, such as pregnant women, children under five years old and people with chronic conditions, get their inoculations.

Thank you, Dalton McSlippery.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Line the criminals up ... I'll give them each a very special shot."

**********

BREAKING: So... Paul Bernardo, Clifford Olsen...

...just not the rest of us...

"Ontario is suspending the rollout of its H1N1 flu shots to the general public next week, amid a shortage of the vaccine."

*

And for a change...

...a pretty swift response by Canadian authorities...

Windsor police apprehended the son of a suspected Muslim extremist killed this week in Detroit by U.S. agents, and within hours Canadian border agents expelled him from the country.

“We have him now,” FBI Special Agent Sandra Berchtold said Thursday.

Mujahid Carswell, also known as Mujahid Abdullah, 30, had been living openly in Windsor for months and moving routinely back and forth between Windsor and Detroit.
In the case of the Detroit Islamic extremist group, the FBI is also hunting two other Canadian residents, Yassir Ali Khan, 30, and Mohammad Alsahli, 33. The complaint alleges that they, along with Mr. Carswell and eight others, were involved in a criminal conspiracy.

Although none of the group was charged with terrorist offences, FBI counterterrorism agent Gary Leone said Mr. Abdullah was “advocating and encouraging his followers to commit violent acts against the United States.”

The FBI's Detroit station chief, Andrew Arena, said: “This is a very hybrid radical ideology. I don't know that I'd call it a religion.”

*

So, anyway, it looks as if we have...

...some variant of flu here at "the halls"... Mrs N is on the mend after four days of moderate discomfort and Neophyte & myself are experiencing slight fever today. Is it swine? Well, who knows?

We'll keep the boy home from school, but other than that, it's business as usual.

**********

UPDATE: Friday morning fever

I actually have an appointment for diagnostic imaging this morning and... given the sad state of affairs in Dalton McSlippery's socialist paradise... there's no way I'm cancelling & rebooking that puppy.

Okay... 6:30 am and Neophyte's temp is heading for 102 degrees. Not to panic but it looks like we'll be heading for the doctors office.

**********

UPDATE2: Saturday morning fever

Both the boy & I had a pretty rough night... with Neophyte spiking a 103 degree fever. Horrible headache, joint pain and nausea for me. Neither of us gets sick very often, so perhaps that made things seem worse.

Mrs N is fully recovered... she got it last Sunday... and is out & about.

The really good news here is that 86 year-old G-Dad seems impervious to this thing. Perhaps he has some residual immunity from previous flu pandemics. He's positively giddy about the whole "been around the block a few times" thing.

Good for him... he doesn't get to crow a lot these days.

*

That Liberal M.P. who falsely accused...

...her own constituents of publicly burning crosses like the KKK... what's she been up to lately, anyway?

**********

RELATED: Dipper MP says Canadian General...

...being too hard on poor Afghanis.

"It's saying we don't know how to solve this problem, we don't know how to fight this war."

Yeah... that's where we should get our military strategy... from the NDP.

*

Well, Michael...

...it certainly appears as if somebody's "time is up"...

But only by going through the data tables, which break down the result by voter intention, can one become truly boggled by the revelation that not even Liberal supporters are all that keen on the guy: Only 55 percent would keep him on as leader -- 26 percent would ditch him for the nearest available alternative in a flash.

That's 26 percent of LIBERAL-LEANING VOTERS. Seriously, I've said it once, and I'm sure I'll say it again: Yikes.

*

Good Morning, Hastings County

Richard Schabas, Medical Officer of Health for Ontario's Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit, said that unless he gets another shipment within the next few days, he won't be able to run clinics on the weekend.

“It all depends on the flow of vaccine,” he said. “Ontario's getting a million doses a week. That's not a lot of vaccine.”

**********

UPDATE: Yeah... I'm shocked

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there is not enough H1N1 vaccine available for everyone in the United States. And schools and clinics around the U.S. are experiencing the results of the shortage.

**********

LAST WORD: Ask a Liberal "health critic"...

...and she'll tell you it's about Conservatives killing aboriginal children...

-- OTTAWA -- Liberal MPs apologized Wednesday for distributing a household flyer that attacks the government’s handling of H1N1 among aboriginals with the slogan “No vaccines, just body bags.”

The flyer, mailed as a message from Liberal health critic Dr. Carolyn Bennett, features a picture of body bags in a lab and a sick aboriginal child.

Then again... that's just how they roll.

*

It's about "time"...

...hard, unrelenting, uninterrupted time... for the perpetrators...

-- OTTAWA -- Multiple murderers and serial killers could face consecutive life sentences without any hope for parole under a Conservative plan to end “volume discounts” for the most heinous criminals.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced new legislation Wednesday that would give judges the discretion to hand down “consecutive parole ineligibility periods” that would effectively eliminate the chance of a parole hearing for some killers.

For example, if an offender was convicted on four first-degree murder charges, they could be sentenced to life without parole for 100 years.

Just another reason, folks.

Vote Conservative... make it happen.

*

In other R.O.P. news

Wackjob terrorist draws down on FBI... gets express ticket for the A-Train...

-- Detroit -- The leader of a Detroit mosque who allegedly espoused violence and separatism was shot and killed Wednesday in an FBI gun battle at a Dearborn warehouse.

Luqman Ameen Abdullah, imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, was being arrested on a raft of federal charges including conspiracy, receipt of stolen goods, and firearms offenses.

Charges were also filed against 11 of Abdullah's followers. Eight were in custody Wednesday night awaiting detention hearings today; three remained at large.

Looks like these guys had some extra-curricular interests...

In January, when members were evicted from a building on Joy Road for non-payment of property taxes, Detroit police confiscated two firearms, about 40 knives and martial arts weapons from Abdullah's apartment, the complaint alleged.

Apparently, there are also three (cough, cough) Canadians involved...

• Mujahid Carswell, also known as Mujahid Abdullah, 30, of Detroit and Ontario, Canada, with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.

• Mohammad Alsahi, also known as Mohammad Palestine, 33, of Ontario, Canada, with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.

• Yassir Ali Khan, 30, of Ontario, Canada, and Warren, with conspiracy to commit federal crimes.

**********

UPDATE: Yeah... it's all about the religion

Abdullah's group, Ummah, is made up mostly of African-American converts to Islam who want to establish a separate Islamic state in the U.S. controlled by their leader, Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, also known as H. Rap Brown, a veteran of the black power movement who is serving a life sentence for shooting two police officers in Georgia in 2000.

*

Another Canadian soldier falls

Justin Garrett Boyes was leading a foot patrol of Afghan National police through a district heavily populated by Taliban on WEDNESDAY morning when the ground exploded beneath him.

Lieutenant Boyes, a 26-year-old father who had just arrived for his second tour of duty in Kandahar 10 days ago, did not survive the blast.

He will be remembered.

**********

RELATED: Opposition MP's spring into action

-- OTTAWA -- A committee of MPs voted yesterday to launch an inquiry into the government's actions concerning the transfer of Afghan prisoners.

Opposition MPs want to find out what happened in 2006 when allegations first emerged that prisoners transferred by Canadian Forces were tortured at the hands of Afghan authorities.

*

Being a good neighbour 101

It's all about "the respect".

*

Looks like the flu...

...is only part of the problem...

The best way to drink hand sanitizer is straight, like whisky, and down it “like a shot,” explains Tyler, a Grade 10 student who lives in Toronto. Undiluted, the alcohol-based liquid tastes a little like “vodka and bug spray,” he adds.

This kind of situation creates a problem for schools. The liquid, jokingly called “booze ooze” on parenting blogs, is one of the best defences against H1N1 and other colds and flus, says Jonathan Kerr, a Belleville, Ont.-based family doctor and member of the board of directors for the Ontario College of Family Physicians.

But with reports of children drinking it or setting it alight (it’s flammable), Kerr says, schools face an “interesting dilemma.”

**********

UPDATE: It also looks like...

...it might not just be Tyler.

*

Okay, somebody's gotta pony up here

I mean... it's not like we're talkin' 11 different secret herbs and spices here...

"Because what I want to know is if Canada's Health Minister will get the same flu jab as the rest of us or, as in Germany, whether Canada's people will get one vaccination and Canada's Establishment will get another."

**********

RELATED: A little flu "Q & A"

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"The dead hockey kid did get the shot on Sunday, but it is being very carefully suppressed so retards like you will line up for your dose."

"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 1:23 PM, October 28, 2009

Yeah... a dead 13 year-old. Hilarious.

And he just can't stop himself...
Now you know why I delete this moron.

*

Of course, a day without martyrdom...

...is like a day without sunshine...

At least 91 people have been killed after a huge car bomb ripped through a busy market in Peshawar, Pakistan.

The attack, which injured at least 200 others, was the deadliest to hit Pakistan this year.

The market mostly sells products for women, and most of the dead were women and children.

You've gotta wonder if the iron fist of Pervez Musharraf isn't looking just a tad less scary right now.

**********

LAST WORD: The difference between us...

...and the brave noble "holy warriors".

*

You know what's worse...

...than dying in a pool of your own vomit? -- Try dying in a pool of somebody else's...

The staff change came in a messy internal scene, according to Liberal insiders. Mr. Davey and Ms. Fairbrother saw reports on TV, and Ms. Fairbrother denied to reporters that anything was happening – but Mr. Ignatieff confirmed it to them later last night.

Mr. Davey had known about efforts to recruit Mr. Donolo to play some role for more than a week, but did not know it was for his job until late Tuesday.

Ah yes... the re-emergence of "Rattus Liberalis".

**********

RELATED: Running for cover

Among some versions swirling around Parliament Hill of how Peter Donolo was recruited as Michael Ignatieff’s new chief of staff, John Manley’s name figures prominently.

But Manley categorically denies reports that Ignatieff asked for his advice, or that he offered it. And he says he is mystified by a related rumour that he circulated word that Donolo was returning to Ottawa.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Cut the guy some slack will you! Its not like Iggy's ever fired anyone before. How was he to know that you tell the firee BEFORE you tell the rest of the world?"

**********

LAST WORD: Apparently... the party's over

A Chrétien-era staffer asked one of the bright twentysomethings what he does for Ignatieff. “I apply a political lens to everything,” he was told.

“Ah,” the staffer recounted to me later, “so he means he does nothing."

"That’s over now."

*

Gaza Strip Rules?

Looks like Canada has their own "Green Helmet Guy"...

The protester in question, Jeh Custer, was interviewed on the CBC at 5:15 PM EST. Blood was smeared on his face. He and his fellow interviewees took pains to describe how Custer's face was smashed into a wall, and dragged across it, smearing blood everywhere.

Yes, indeed, it must have been a forceful impact if his face was still bloody three hours after the event in question.

Except...hmmm. Looking a bit fishy now. It seems that a CBC camera crew caught footage of Mr. Custer as he walked out of Parliament, and...would you look at that?! There's no blood on his face, nor is he holding any bandages to his skin.

Mr. Custer has some explaining to do. Or maybe the group's leader, an NDP activist, might wish to comment, instead.

**********

RELATED: The plot thickens...

"Another demonstrator, Joe Cressy, is listed as the political events coordinator for the NDP in Ottawa Centre, New Democrat Paul Dewar's riding."

*

As Canadian as...

...wait just a freakin' minute...

A Canadian citizen living in Chicago has been charged in an assassination conspiracy targeting employees at the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.

Tahawar Hussain Rana, a 48-year-old Canadian citizen originally from Pakistan, was taken into custody Oct. 18, as more than 100 FBI agents raided his Chicago home, immigration consultancy, and slaughterhouse outside the city.

Charges that Mr. Rana used his immigration business as a front to disguise the travels of a would-be assassin were announced today by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

*

Who decides...

...who gets priority access to flu vaccinations?

-- TORONTO -- A grief-stricken father whose otherwise healthy teenage son died suddenly from the swine flu struggled to make sense of the tragedy Tuesday and urged other parents to keep a close eye on their ill children.

Paul Frustaglio said it took barely more than a day for the H1N1 flu virus to kill Evan - his "best friend" - who turned 13 last month. "He fell so quickly," Frustaglio told The Canadian Press. "I was watching him. I was there when he died."

As the father of a 13 year-old boy... this story sends shivers down my spine.

Evan Frustaglio's death on Monday came on the same day as health authorities across Canada began rolling out a vaccination program against H1N1.

The teen would not have been considered a priority for the flu shot because he wasn't in a high-risk group.

Not a priority, huh? I guess that's easy for some government bureaucrat to say. And why did this kid have to go to a production line walk-in clinic? No family doctor? It took us six years to get a family physician here in Hastings County... how is that anywhere near acceptable?

What's Dalton been doing with our tax dollars?

Worse yet... if you live in British Columbia... here's who the government is most worried about.

Seeing a pattern yet?

Thre's a lesson here, folks... friends don't let friends vote liberal.

*

From the people who brought you...

...those epic "happy endings" in Rwanda and Darfur.

-- UNITED NATIONS -- Red-faced United Nations officials on Monday admitted to a major security lapse after a UN guard helped Kentucky Fried Chicken's "Colonel Sanders" gain access to restricted areas.

"It should not have happened, that I will stress, and very strongly," said Michele Montas, spokeswoman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. "There was some lapse in security and the individual in question... was, on the initiative of one security guard, taken into the UN."

Of course... it could have happened to anybody, right?

Well... maybe not.

The real Harland "Colonel" Sanders typically wore a white suit and string bow tie, but he has been dead since 1980.

Ms. Montas said security officials, many of whom are brought in from overseas, were "still trying to find out exactly what happened."

If a publicity hungry fast-food chain can sneak a poor facsimile of a decades dead spokes-shill up against the President of the United Nations General Assembly... imagine what a determined group of bad guys could do.

Two words here, folks... Twin... Towers.

*

Live and don't learn...

...that's us...

-- OTTAWA -- "It is now clear that it is a Tamil Tiger owned and operated ship," said Gunaratna, who heads Singapore's International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.

The Sri Lankan native has authored several books on the country's civil war that ended in May, with government troops finally defeating the LTTE.

"Certainly, not all ships that are transporting people are managed by terrorists, but in the case of the Ocean Lady, it is a Tamil Tiger ship that had been used in the past to smuggle weapons from North Korea to Sri Lanka," said Gunaratna.

Oh man... if only we could have seen that coming.

**********

RELATED: Refugee wins "Cash for Life" Sweepstakes

*

Yeah, Dawg... believe it or not...

...there actually are a few differences between them and us...

"The Taliban are obviously manipulating children and using them as cannon fodder," said Major Robert Dunn of Ottawa, who oversees operations in southern and western Kandahar.

"There is one place west of Kandahar City where they shoot at us every day through a shield of children. They actually stack them up, with 8-year-olds at the front and 15-year-olds at the back."

*

The New CBC

Wow... talk about thinking outside the jello wrestling pit.

"Some changes, such as anchor Amanda Lang’s clear glass desk with view of her legs, surprised industry watchers."

*

So... what's the latest moonbattery...

...in the Land of the Rising Crackhead?

But, of course.

**********

RELATED: Yeah, thanks anyway

I think I'm goin' with these guys instead...

The Conservative government has introduced a number of bills to lengthen prison sentences for people convicted of crimes. In June, the government introduced legislation to repeal the "faint hope clause" that allows people convicted of first- and second-degree murder to apply for early parole.

Parliament gave approval last week to Bill C-25, which does away with a judge's ability to give two-for-one credit to criminals for time spent in pretrial custody.

And Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has also proposed tougher measures for white-collar criminals, including two-year minimum sentences in fraud cases involving more than $1 million.

*

Oh, man, you know how...

...you happen across a really bad accident... but, as hard as you try, you just can't look away?

Well... don't look now.

**********

RELATED: Speaking of accidents...

I wonder if the Liberal spin machine has any torque left... you know... after all that wailing away on Rahim Jaffar...

A Brampton Liberal MPP is facing charges following a weekend hit-and-run. Dr. Kuldip Kular, the MPP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton, will be charged with leaving the scene of a Friday night accident, Peel Regional Police said today.

Peel Police Const. Jodi Dawson said the crash, between Kular's car and a pedestrian, happened just before 7 p.m. at the intersection of Torbram Rd. and Bovaird Dr. in Brampton.

"He strikes the pedestrian, he gets out of the vehicle and speaks to the pedestrian," Dawson said. "And then he's observed getting back into his vehicle and driving away."

Kular's traffic charge comes as former Liberal MPP Michael Bryant continues to face criminal charges for an incident that left a Toronto cyclist dead.

*

Socialist spin-machine chokes on...

...a huge bone...

-- OTTAWA -- Ridings represented by Liberal and NDP MPs are getting more than their fair share of a $2-billion federal infrastructure fund, suggests a new analysis by Canwest News Service.

*

Dear Mr. President

C'mon now... I hear he's one heckuva guy... this oughta be a walk in the park.

-- link fixed --

*

And, somewhere...

...in the Ottawa area tonight... Stephane Dion sleeps like a baby...

Dion received 28% of the popular vote last fall as his party lost to Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

The Ipsos Reid poll suggests that, last week, the Liberals would have done even worse, with just 25% of support among all Canadians.

*

No such thing as a bad boy...

...in Dalton McGuinty's fuzzy-bunny socialist paradise...

At the end of September, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty admitted to "dropping the ball" for the Crown's failure to notify St. Catharines mother Patricia Marshall and her two daughters that a criminal harassment charge was being withdrawn against their Peeping Tom neighbour, identified as the aforementioned James Cedar.

Of course... that's not the whole story...

Some six months prior to being caught on an infrared security camera, entering his next-door neighbours' backyard and then masturbating as he peered into various windows, Cedar was caught -- "on his knees" -- eye level to a low hole in the door of the staff change room at the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet at St. Catharines' Linwell Plaza where he was working in the kitchen.

And, not too surprisingly... there is is a final little detail...

Yet James Cedar, whose family retained the service of St. Catharines lawyer George Walker -- most famous for "deal with the devil" plea arrangement for schoolgirl murderer Karla Homolka, wife of serial killer Paul Bernardo -- had the charge against him withdrawn, with no advance warning to the police or the Marshall family, and with no explanation given to the court.

Just another reason, folks... friends don't let friends vote liberal.

*

That sure is one bloodthirsty...

..."Religion of Peace"...

Two powerful car bombs exploded in downtown Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 106 people in a powerful blow to the heart of the fragile city's government, Iraqi medical officials and authorities said.

The truth is, though... why should anybody be surprised... there will be an inevitable escalation of this type of thing as President McDreamy belly-crawls towards appeasement...

Even Obama's Nobel Peace Prize is an exquisite act of condescension from the Norwegians, a dog biscuit and a pat on the head to the American hyperpower for agreeing to spay itself into a hyperpoodle.

**********

UPDATE: What's a few more martyrs anyway?

Car bombs exploded in Baghdad this morning next to two key government buildings, killing at least 147 people and wounding more than 700.

*

And... however slowly...

...the karmic wheel turns...

-- TORONTO -- A second man is charged in the August murder of a Scarborough man.

Police arrested MacGyver Edwards, 18, of Toronto, on Friday and was charged with first-degree murder.

Tristan Lall, 25, who is banned for life by court from possessing firearms, was charged with first-degree murder about a week after the slaying.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Wait, why not start prohibiting people from killing other people."

*

Remember when you were a kid...

...and you'd just murder someone for disrespecting your ride?

-- TORONTO -- Christopher Skinner may have died because his hand touched the suspects' vehicle.

The 27-year-old man was beaten up by at least two men who were in the black SUV before the driver got back into the vehicle and purposely drove over the victim.

Gallant said Skinner would have survived the beating. He also said there's no doubt that the driver purposely ran over Skinner.

**********

RELATED: One for the good guys

*

When you wish upon a star...

...you're sure to be disappointed...

Equality is a human ideal and a legal fiction. We may share the ideal and endorse the fiction, but this doesn’t make it a natural condition. The world’s natural condition is hierarchy.

*

No word just yet, on which...

...GTA gun club Justin and Omar belonged to...

Peel Police allege not only did 21-year-old Justin Bellinger of Toronto fail to obey his laughable bail conditions for firearm and drug charges but he and alleged accomplice Mustafa Omar, 23, committed these murders at a farmhouse at 8678 Chinguacousy Rd. in Brampton.

Crime reporter Chris Doucette recalls being out at the scene, saying it was something out of Pulp Fiction. There was a Jamaican flag outside the house, one body outside and another one inside.

There were so many shots fired that in addition to the two men killed there were six others wounded -- including Bellinger, who was struck in the face.

But like in a lot of shootouts, survivors weren't talking afterward.

*

"It's okay, Hakimullah..."

"...you can sleep in my cave tonight"...

Pakistani officials say the military has captured the hometown of Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud. Also in the northwest Saturday, officials say a suspected U.S. missile strike has killed at least 14 people in the Bajaur tribal region.

Hmmm... Mehsud, Mehsud... that name sounds so familiar.

*

Barack in Wonderland

Once AGAIN...
...the triumph of hope over experience.

-- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States still hopes Iran will respond positively next week to a U.N.-backed deal on nuclear fuel supply, but won't wait forever for a response, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.

Hours after Tehran ignored a Friday deadline to deliver its formal response to the proposal to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said "our patience is not limitless."

"We hope that they will next week provide a positive response," Kelly told a news briefing, adding that "obviously we would have preferred to have a response today.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"No doubt they are also trying to find a 'Wishing Really Hard' csar to take over that whole 'Hope' thing."

*

The only country...

...willing to acknowledge reality... and make the right call... is, once again, Israel...

Iran has failed to accept a UN-drafted plan for it to cut a stockpile of nuclear fuel that the West fears could be used for weapons, instead calling for responses to its own proposal.

The deal, proposed by the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), has already been approved by the other parties: the United States, Russia and France.

By offering its own proposal, of which no details were available, Iran appeared to be following a well-tested strategy of buying time to avert a threatened tightening of international sanctions.

You want another nation of crazies & blackmailers like the Norks threatening all of their regional neighbours with nuclear weapons?

Pay me now... or pay me later. That's how terrorism works.

*

Your money... his friends

How do the McSlippery Liberals deal with a mind-blowing, record-setting deficit?

-- TORONTO -- Pinned under a $25-billion deficit, the Dalton McGuinty government has secretly hired cost-cutting consultants to go over the public drug plan for seniors and welfare recipients, Sun Media has learned.

The contract with McKinsey and Co. was so under wraps that health ministry officials initially denied its existence, and then when pressed refused to release the consultants' recommendations or the cost of the contract to the Sun.

Health Minister Deb Matthews later overruled her staff and allowed the contract's $750,000 price tag to be revealed.

"A million dollars a day flows to consultants. The McGuinty government is ignoring the challenges facing the people of this province."

More cuts on the backs of seniors & welfare recipients... your compassionate, intellectual Liberal Party in action.

*

He keeps on screwing things up...

..."Hah-vuhd" isn't gonna want him back either.

********

RELATED: More Lie-beral hocus-pocus

George Smitherman, surprisingly... sets the record straight. And anyway, putting aside the latest tsunami of "liberal faux outrage"... who are the real beneficiaries here...

"As Conservatives and the opposition argue in Ottawa over whether the government has politicized the high-profile Recreational Infrastructure Canada program (RInC), the figures suggest reserves are winning out."

*

Wrath of Allah, huh?

That sure doesn't sound like a good thing to me.

-- TORONTO -- In referring to those Muslims who would seek allies outside the Muslim community to bring about legislation that would ban face coverings, the imam said: “You will see a lot of them going to the kuffar, taking them as friends and allies. The wrath of Allah is upon them. If they were true believers they would never take them as allies.”

At its most benign, kuffar means “non-Muslims.” But others say the most common usage is considered highly offensive, akin to calling a black person a “nigger,” Mr. Fatah said.

“It goes back to the Arab use of the word against black slaves. It’s used in a very derisive manner.”

If Saed Rageah's this pissed off about Muslims who want to be part of Canadian society... what's he thinking about... for example... actual Christians and Jews?

In other North American R.O.P. news...

Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, was last seen fleeing the parking lot of the Department of Economic Development in Peoria, Ariz., Tuesday after hitting his 20-year-old daughter and her boyfriend's mother with his Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Noor Almaleki had backed out of an arranged marriage about a year ago, police learned, and had been living with Khalaf and her son in a nearby town.

*

Remember how Premier McSlippery...

...promised he wasn't gonna raise your taxes?

Well, the joke's on you... again.

-- TORONTO -- Conservative leader Tim Hudak said, Thursday, that the $24.7-billion deficit Ontario now faces represents a shameful performance by the Premier and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan.

Hudak added that the Finance Ministers economic statement effectively adds another $13,500 in debt for every single household in the province.

*

I guess it's all about...

..."hope and change", huh?

The philosophy of harm reduction rests on the belief that addicts can't help themselves. Yet the language of addiction has been banished, so as not to make them feel bad.

There are no junkies any more, or drug abusers, or even drugs. That addled, toothless guy with the sores and needle tracks is now known as a “substance user.”

**********

COMPARE & CONTRAST: Smell the madness

A truck driver from London, Ont., has been fined $305 for smoking in the cabin of a tractor-trailer because it is considered a workplace.

He was fined under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, a 2006 law that prohibits smoking in enclosed workplaces and public areas such as bars and restaurants.

*

Pink Shift

Because, if there's one thing we know about the Liberal Party... it's that they're all about the ladies...

-- OTTAWA -- Immigration Minister Judy Sgro is defending the government's policy of admitting foreign exotic dancers to work in Canada, saying the strip club business is "a strong industry" with "lots of customers."

*

Ezra Levant has bigger balls...

...than ANY ten Members of Parliament put together...

"Of course, I really don't give a damn about international opinion of Canada. I don't care if some French NGO hates us or loves us."

"What I care about is my God-given freedom as a Canadian, and that Lynch has illegally taken it away. The fact that it takes a liberal French NGO to notice is merely adding insult to injury."

"Now that the exquisitely politically correct progressives at RSF have condemned Lynch, is it too much to ask that our own Parliament actually do something about her?"

"Fire. Them. All."

**********

RELATED: Required reading

"Now to get back to the Canadian Human Rights Act, to help us with our review we have two witnesses as individuals, Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant. Welcome to both of you. You've probably been apprised of the process. Each of you has 10 minutes to present, and then we'll throw the floor open for questions by our committee members."

*

Help me out here, Mr. Mayor...

Exactly how many of Toronto's 44 homicides... were committed by members of a GTA gun club?

-- TORONTO -- The city’s latest murder victim has been identified. Andre Daley, 29, was gunned down outside a Scarborough restaurant on Sunday morning.

When emergency crews arrived, they allegedly found three men suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds outside.

Daley’s death marks Toronto’s 44th murder this year.

*

So yesterday, Ontario Liberals...

...hinted at a belt-tightening budget, further squeezing the education and healthcare systems... geez, I wonder where the money went...

Ontario government ministries spent almost $390 million on consultants in 2007-08 -- on top of the funds that went to contractors through its agencies, boards and commissions like eHealth Ontario.

Miller said the FOI numbers do not include other government bodies that spend tax dollars, such as eHealth Ontario, which was recently criticized by the Auditor General for its use of high-priced consultants.

"It's outrageous," Miller said. "Now, we find out eHealth is not the biggest. Consumer Affairs is even bigger."

Meanwhile CTV & CBC continue to loudly howl about Consevative logos on prop cheques at photo-ops.

Wake up folks... and smell the propaganda.

*

In other homegrown political news...

...that'd be "blink" and, uh... "blink".

*

Meet the Data Liberation Front

If your Gmail or Blogger account was suddenly toast... how upset would you be?

Own your data.

The export format for Blogger is Atom, a standard for syndication of Blog feeds. This Atom document contains all of the posts, comments, labels, and even Blogger-specific settings.

Exporting a blog for a backup is easy, just save the file away to your own local computer.

*

"Perception is Everything"

Which, will be known henceforth... (above the 49th parallel, anyway)... as "Dawg's Law."

*

From the people who brought you...

...dangerous & irrational mass protests on the Gardiner Expressway...

The Tamil Canadians believe the migrants will make refugee claims. Mr. Anandasangaree said he flew to Vancouver to ensure the men have lawyers and are treated properly.

“If they've willing to risk so much getting here, they deserve a hearing. They deserve our compassion.”

No pal... not if they're not willing to respect Canadian law.

**********

RELATED: Who is Gary Anandasangaree?

Heck... let's ask his good buddy, Paulie...

This week, when Prime Minister Paul Martin stopped by for a photo op in Toronto, Anandasangaree was part of an invitation-only meeting with the prime minister.

The Tamil Tigers administer their own territory in the north and east, with their own border controls, customs inspection, jails, passports, judicial and banking systems — and their own time zone (a half-hour difference from the rest of Sri Lanka).

The day after the tsunamis hit, Anandasangaree issued a press release saying his group wanted Ottawa to send aid to Tiger-controlled regions. "When my tax dollars and your tax dollars go there, it should go in a responsible, equitable way," he said, adding that Martin assured him it would.

Hmmm... a sometime Tamil Tiger spokesperson is jetting off to Vancouver to meet these guys?

That's interesting.

*

Waging Holy War

The first thing we do... is maim and kill a whole bunch of people...

"There were gunshots at first and then two explosions one after the other. One was just outside the gate of the girls' cafeteria and the other one targeted the head of the department for Sharia studies."

Once again... the capricious & unknowable "Will of Allah."

*

Can the McDreamy administration...

...afford to go with hugs... and not slugs?

-- WASHINGTON D.C. -- The United States would find it difficult not to join an Israeli air strike in the event that Jerusalem decides to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, a former top-ranking U.S. Air Force officer told participants at a conference this weekend organized by a Washington think tank.

He also criticized the U.S. government and military leadership for not devoting enough attention to Iran's nuclear program in recent years due to their involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

*

Or... and I'm just spitballin' here...

...we could redirect scarce, dwindling medical resources to productive, upstanding citizens who actually care whether they live or die...

Health authorities should consider handing out “safer crack kits” and providing supervised inhalation rooms for crack smokers to reduce the spread of HIV among crack cocaine users, a new study suggests.

Just something to think about the next time you're stuck sitting for six or eight hours in the local hospital emergency room.

**********

RELATED: More "creme de crazy"

*

No more sleepless nights

Thank gawd... it's about time somebody did something to fix this.

*

A tale of two cities

"Whaddaya mean... we're not in Vancouver?"

[*]

Yeah... let's work everybody up...

...into a frothing rage about the logos on some dummied up prop cheques... it's not like there's any real malfeasance out there...

-- MONTREAL -- Corbeil entered pleas to fraud and influence peddling during an appearance Wednesday morning at the Montreal courthouse. A third charge of conspiracy was stayed.

Corbeil says he will reveal who profited from the scam, suggesting more names will come out in connection with the scandal that helped to bring down Paul Martin's minority Liberal government in 2006.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Small stone, huge Liberal glass house. And they keep on renovating."

And...

"It's not the conservative logo that has the liberals confused, it's the cheques."

"They are more used to brown paper bags full of cash."

*

Lemme see if I get how this works

Iranian Sunni suicide bomber (in Iran) turns Iranian Shia military guys (also in Iran)... to freakin' applesauce.

Blame falls squarely on infidel "sons of dogs" in U.K. and America.

Yeah, of course.

*

Stand by for shocking tales...

...of gravity holding shit down...

It was unclear why the committee, which is independent of the foundation's board, was unable to chose one for the prize.

Committee members said they could not discuss their deliberations.

*

Once again, Mayor's office...

...frantically turning itself inside out... to discover which gun club shooters belonged to.

-- TORONTO -- Four people are in hospital – one with life-threatening injuries – after a drive-by shooting outside a west-end restaurant.

It happened around 3am at First Choice Restaurant on Keele St., near Sheppard Ave. W.

Police say one or more suspects drove up in a van and opened fire, hitting four people, including one in the abdomen.

Run, Forrest... RUN!!!

**********

RELATED: The what district?

Homicide officers are investigating a deadly hit-and-run that occurred in the city's entertainment district just after 3 a.m.

Police say a 26-year-old man was beaten by at least two other men, who then allegedly stepped into a dark SUV and ran over their victim.

*

If she could just get over that...

...prissy little wallflower thing... or, why I read Kathy Shaidle daily...

We do not need more people outsourcing their outrage, and indulging in fruitless exercises such as encouraging politicians to think they have power over us, by politely petitioning them to pretty please give us our rights back.

We need more people to start speaking out, writing whatever they want, and risk their jobs and "reputations" to do so. You need to vocally violate all rules and regulations about "political correctness" at every opportunity.

Unless you are doing so, you are simply maintaining the status quo. (PS: I'm about as aware of breast cancer as I need to be, thanks. Can we move on now?)

If you build it... they will come

Just something to think about, Toronto... the next time you have to cough up your increasingly outrageous municipal taxes...

City caseworkers first came forward here in March, complaining their welfare clients were netting hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in food allowances for medical conditions they obviously didn't have.

And Toronto's "dirty little secret" is costing us a fortune.

According to Toronto's 2009 operating budget report, it's now projected to cost as much as $55 million by the end of this year, with the city on the hook for 20%.

*

Reality show, my hairy arse

Somebody really oughta take all these puffed-up Hollywood narcissists to a place where reality isn't meticulously scripted and interlaced with skin-care commercials... and rub their face in some smelly, mouldering truth...

He doesn't understand why attendants come in every day. Doesn't understand why we locked the medications away. Doesn't understand why we took the car away. And most heartbreakingly, doesn't understand how his wife died. He remembers that she died, but not how.

He remembers himself as young and strong - climbing mountains and teaching beginning physics - he doesn't remember that yesterday he lost his house key and couldn't find his pants.

It should somehow make it it easier that "nobody gets out alive"... but standing by and watching a loved one slowing winding down... it's a bitch.

*

Everybody's a winner...

...well, except for the infidel sons of dogs...

The winners of a quiz organised by Somali Islamists have been given weapons and ammunition as prizes. Prizes included AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades and an anti-tank mine.

he winning team, from the city's Farjano district, reportedly won a rifle, two grenades, a landmine and office supplies worth $1,000 (£613).

But the runners-up did not go home empty-handed, taking away an AK-47 and bullets.

*

Pay me now... or pay me later

Pakistan decides it's time to double down...

Between 10,000 and 15,000 hardcore Taliban fighters are believed to be operating in the area, hoping to ambush some of the 30,000 soldiers deployed for the operation.

South Waziristan is an area of around 6,620 square kilometres consisting of plain fields, jagged mountains and dense forests.

And this will, by no means, be a walk in the park... apparently the jihadis are fielding their "A" team...

The Taliban fighters have dug new tunnels, camouflaged mortar guns on the hilltops and planted roadside bombs along the routes anticipated to be used by the troops, according to one Pakistani intelligence official.

The official - who spoke on condition of anonymity - said tough resistance was expected from around 1500 Uzbek and al-Qaeda linked Arab fighters who have a kill or die philosophy.

**********

RELATED: Meanwhile... back in ol' Blighty

“On this day we will call for a complete upheaval of the British ruling system its members and legislature, and demand the full implementation of Shari’ah in Britain.”

And apparently... everywhere else... as well.

*

"Steffi come back..."

"All day long, wearing a mask of false bravado...
Trying to keep up the smile that hides a tear...
But as the sun goes down, I get that empty feeling again...
How I wish to God that you were here."

And... don't miss the photo-fun...*

Now be honest

Is there anything that can't be solved with Google, razor blades and a head full of worms...

A man who performed an amateur circumcision on his four-year-old son on the floor of the family kitchen has been found guilty of criminal negligence.

Justice Marion Allan said D.J.W. ought to have known better, partly because a circumcision he earlier performed on himself led to bleeding, sutures and infection.

“The fact that the accused had previously ineptly circumcised himself exacerbates, rather than minimizes, his awareness of the risks of home circumcision and his negligence,” she noted.

The man prepared for his own circumcision by Internet research.

*

Welcome Back Khadr

In the end, Mr. Khadr did get his consular visits. He had John buying him books and even new glasses. He got a business-class ticket "home" - though Canada was hardly his home, merely his place of birth.

There isn't a hint of a breath of a suggestion that any Canadian, whether from CSIS or the RCMP, handled Abdullah Khadr with anything other than kid gloves.

*

More stuff...

...we're not supposed to talk about.

*

A crime, er... cause of opportunity

Whatever criticism anyone might have had of Stephane (Green Shifter) Dion... no one ever accused him of being insincere...

-- MONTREAL -- There have been 94 sitting days in the House of Commons so far this year. Over that time Michael Ignatieff has raised the issue of the environment in question period only twice.

Spaced almost six months apart, each occasion coincided with a bilateral meeting between the Prime Minister and President Barack Obama.

On the basis of the tenor of Ignatieff's questions, they were designed to put him in the frame of that day's top political story rather than to elicit a substantial response from the government.

Until earlier this week when the Liberal leader decreed that the environment would be at the heart of his election platform, he had all but ignored the issue in Parliament.

*

Those Bloodthirsty Deities

Once again... the capricious & unknowable "Will of Allah"...

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion fell on the Taliban, which has been blamed for two weeks of attacks that have killed more than 150 people across the country and appear aimed at forcing the government to abandon a planned offensive into the militants' stronghold along the Afghan border.

The blast killed 11 people, including three police officers, two women and two children, Khan said. Another 15 people were wounded.

*

In other taxpayer funded...

...felonious "Chicks with Dicks" news...

The prison guard at a B. C. penitentiary says he tried to be professional and respectful when he frisk-searched an inmate. But the transgendered male prisoner was on the road to becoming female, and the guard soon found himself under investigation for alleged sexual assault, accused of inappropriately touching the man's surgically augmented breasts.

The incident came in the wake of a 2003 court ruling that moved the rights of inmates with "gender-identity disorder" to a new level in the country's federal prisons, directing the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to pay for the sex-change operations of some offenders.

Officials confirmed this week that since then they have funded two "gender reassignment" surgeries, while others have applied to undergo the service.

*

If you go out in the woods, er...

...Cherry Beach today...

"It didn't have eyebrows, last time we saw it, and it was coloured a much brighter shade of green," she said, "but even without DNA tests, I'm pretty confident it's the same policy."

"That's a little disappointing, because we were really hoping to find some that we hadn't seen before."

*

I dunno, call me wacky...

...but maybe we oughta be "thinking smaller"...

“Despite the instinctive appeal of distributing laptops to schoolchildren, there is precious little evidence that making computers available to children improves educational outcomes,” wrote Timothy Ogden, editor of Philanthropy in Action, a web journal for donors.

He argues that schoolchildren in developing countries would benefit more from cheap, simple programs such as mass de-worming, which would boost school attendance, even though this would be “nowhere near as sexy” as the stylish laptops.

And while we're on... "keepin' it real".

*

Initial reports say Mr. Dion...

...was caught dancing a giddy, frantic jig on the front steps of Parliament Hill.

[*]

Maybe it was supposed to be the...

..."Nobel Appeasement Prize"...

The presidential notice alters a key provision of the 1999 Defense Authorization Act that required that the president notify Congress whether a transfer of missile and space technology to China would harm the U.S. space-launch industry or help China's missile programs.

Yessirree... the McDreamy Democrats are all about the peace...

Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis.

Mr. Wheeler said that senators took most of the cash for the projects from the "operations and maintenance" or O&M accounts.

"These are the accounts that pay for troop training, repairs, spares and supplies for vehicles, weapons, ships and planes, food and fuel," Mr. Wheeler said.

**********

RELATED: Is this the reason he got the prize?

"Is ODIN on standby until Obama is done with all his strategic reviews? That seems nuts. Why the hell isn't it being resourced probably?"

**********

LAST WORD: Or was it a put-up job?

-- OSLO -- Three of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee had objections to the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to US President Barack Obama, the Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang (VG) reported Thursday.

"VG has spoken to a number of sources who confirmed the impression that a majority of the Nobel committee, at first, had not decided to give the peace prize to Barack Obama," the newspaper said.

*