The Party of "me first"

Another McDreamy Democrat... caught with hand in cookie jar.

-- WASHINGTON -- A second House Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters of California, could face an ethics trial this fall, further complicating the election outlook for the party as it battles to retain its majority.

New York Democrat Rep. Charles Rangel also faces an ethics trial this fall on charges that include failure to disclose assets and income, nonpayment of taxes and doing legislative favors for donors to a college center named after him.

Hope, change and... same-old, same, old.

Remember when you were a kid...

...and engineering mass-murder was an event worthy of public, taxpayer-subsidised celebration?

-- Yeah... me neither. --

Shareef Abdelhaleem was found guilty earlier this year of two terrorism-related charges in connection with the Toronto 18 plot to bomb downtown Toronto. Following his conviction, Abdelhaleem told court if he ever learned of another terrorist plot, he would sit back and let it happen.

Now he is the leading character portrayed in Homegrown, one of the plays in this year’s lineup of Summerworks, a Toronto festival that has received almost $90,000 from all three levels of government within the last year including a $30,000 operating grant from the city-funded Toronto Arts Council, $24,500 in operating funding from the provincially funded Ontario Arts Council and $35,000 from federally funded Heritage Canada.

Homegrown itself received $6,000 from the city-supported Toronto Arts Council for a workshop.

Just something to think about, the next time you pull out that chequebook to pay your taxes.

**********

RELATED: More pavilions at Folkfest...

Kevin Gaudet, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said tax dollars shouldn’t be going towards a “terrorist love-in”.

“You want to put on a play? Fine. Hang up your shingle and ask people to pay for it ... and if it has to do with sympathetic portraits of terrorists who want to destroy my country, I won’t go.”

**********

LAST WORD: It's about "culture", stupid

And on this weeks episode of W5...

Lloyd Robertson will crush kittens in a vice to embroider an investigative report on animal cruelty...

“Why are you so sure how your son died?” a CTV Newsnet host asked Avril Stachnik on Tuesday night. “I’m so sorry to have to ask you these questions.”

The host then said the situation was "forced upon them" by WikiLeak’s online release of documents, one of which erroneously described the deaths of four fine Canadians in September, 2006, as a “friendly-fire” accident.

Professional journalists... our moral & intellectual superiors.

Thank gawd for Christie Blatchford.

**********

RELATED: Hey CTV, here's a story

Canada - doing the fighting... that Afghanis won't...

At least eight members of the Afghan military wanted by U.S. authorities after fleeing a Texas air force base have attained permanent resident status in Canada or are awaiting decisions on refugee claims.

Of 17 Afghan National Army personnel who have gone AWOL in the last eight years while receiving English training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Tex., 13 have been located.

Two of them are now living as permanent residents in Canada and six are awaiting rulings on refugee claims.

Lloyd... Lisa... are you there?

DATELINE TORONTO:

...man shot in head... must be Friday...

A man in his 20s has been rushed to hospital in life-threatening condition after being shot in the head on Friday at around 3 p.m.

The man was shot in the vicinity of 1890 Sheppard Ave. W. near Jane St.

Curiously... yet again... not a peep from Mayor Miller's office... on which gun club the shooter belonged to.

And, hey... here's a Toronto travel tip... try to avoid Sunnybrook Hospital E.R. today... looks like the trauma team are gonna be busy...

A 13-year-old boy is in serious condition after a stabbing near Dufferin and St. Clair St. W. Friday.

EMS officials have confirmed the boy was stabbed in the ribs around 4 p.m., was rushed to hospital.

Good grief... who stabs grade school kids?

**********

UPDATE: Oops there goes another...

A man found bleeding in the parking lot of an apartment building is dead, marking Toronto's second homicide in as many days.

Police found 25-year-old Dimitry Savenkov with stab wounds on Saturday morning after responding to an unknown trouble call at 12 St. Dennis Dr. at Don Mills Rd. and Eglinton Ave.

Enough fiddling, says Sarkozy

Fresh on the heels of their "burqa ban"... the Empire continues to strike back...

-- PARIS, July 30 (Reuters) -- President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday he wanted to strip French nationality from anyone of foreign origin who threatened the life of a police officer, in a crackdown after riots shook two French towns this month.

Speaking in Grenoble, where street violence erupted in mid-July after a local man died fleeing police after allegedly holding up a casino, Sarkozy said he also wanted to increase prison sentences for violent crimes.

Perhaps the French are simply getting tired of their annual Car-B-Q season...

"French nationality should be stripped from anybody who has threatened the life of a police officer or anybody involved in public policing."

Pity the French allowed things to get this far... but you do what you gotta do.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Why is it that McDonald's customers are better protected from an incompetent fry cook than law-abiding folks are from incompetent citizens?"

Get well, Iggy...

Liberal handlers call in neurosurgeons as speculation mounts... a small stroke... early-onset Alzheimers?

-- DUNNVILLE CHRONICLE -- "Born here. Educated here. Had a publicly-funded education here that gave me my start." --

Ah, Michael... easy now, deep breaths buddy... how many fingers am I holding up? C'mon now, don't you actually mean you attended the most expensive prep school in the entire nation?

Ignatieff entered Upper Canada College, perhaps the most elite school in the country as an 11-year-old boarding student.

UCC has been the scholarly home of several premiers, lieutenant governors and business giants ranging from Conrad Black to Hal Jackman.

Ordinary and publicly-funded are not words that normally go with Upper Canada College.

Here's wishing Mr Ordinary Joe, er... Mike... a speedy recovery from whatever ailment is mysteriously clouding his celebrated cognitive functions... because gawd knows he wouldn't lie to us... right?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Methinks there is a serious exhaust leak on the Fiberal-Express."

**********

RELATED: I'm Michael Ignatieff...

...and you're some "dumb as dogshit" hilllbilly.

(via sda)

Or, we could just put up some pictures...

...of Mounties arresting people...

Meet the man who has his finger...

...on the Iranian nuclear trigger...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized Paul the octopus, who gained fame by correctly predicting the outcome of eight World Cup matches.

The Iranian leader called Paul a symbol of decadence and decay in the Western world.

Oh-oh, Mahmoud... fucking with the United Nations is one thing... now you're messing with PETA.

Seriously... we sent this one back...

...to the Supreme Court of Canada... 'cos... and I'm just spitballin' here... they had me, back at "severed head in a bucket."

I'm with ol' Bill Shakespeare... the first thing we do... is hang all the lawyers.

**********

UPDATE: Supremes go 9-Zip against

In his concurring reasons, written on behalf of Mr. Justice Ian Binnie and Mr. Justice Morris Fish, Judge LeBel said that the confusing jury instructions about the role Mr. Pickton had played in the murders augered strongly to his benefit.

"Indeed, a properly instructed jury would likely have convicted the accused of first degree rather than second degree murder."

Have a nice life, Willie.

So, if somebody shows up...

...with credentials from the University of Lower Slobbovia... we just accept that too?

“It certainly strikes me as ridiculous and a bit ludicrous,” Dr. Landreth said. “The irony of someone who’s immigrating to Canada to teach English being asked to take an English test is probably not lost on most people.”

What's ridiculous is a tenure-track professor... who claims to want to live & work in this country bitching about something as inconsequential as a competency exam.

You really, truly think your issue should go to the top of the list?

Hey, Doc... I'm pretty sure they could use more English teachers down in Chicago. Pay the fee and do the test... or pack your bags.

**********

RELATED: I miss the meritocracy

The unfortunate reality is, there are places in the world, most notably the so-called "third world" where accreditation just doesn't meet North American standards.

And I for one, want the surgeon who is operating on my child to meet and indeed, exceed the standards.

If you can't write the Ontario medical board exams that existing doctors have to pass... I don't want you operating on me, my family... or the guy down the street, for that matter.

If you're competent... you're not afraid of the test. You welcome it.

**********

POSTSCRIPT: Hang on a sec...

What exactly, are we doing hiring people from outside the country anyway?

Are you saying we have a 100% employment rate for all the homegrown Ph.D.s?

Man of Dawg

Looks like the, er... good name... of religion takes another beating...

-- LONDON -- Rev Alex Brown, 61, presided over 360 fake ceremonies over four years, including several cases in which participants cancelled one wedding only to marry someone else a month or two later, and another in which a person was registered to marry two people on the same day.

Brown’s co-defendant Vladymyr Buchak, 33, was also found guilty of conspiring to breach immigration laws by paying eastern Europeans up to 3,000 pounds ($4,700) to marry Africans, mainly from Nigeria, to allow them to obtain the documents they needed to live and work in Britain.

Just another deadly, boring day...

...at the office, huh... cheer up, Bobo... I can fix that for you...

Ever wonder where the expression...

..."butthead" comes from...

Live and don't learn...

...that's us...

-- TORONTO -- Court heard then he had breached two previous court orders banning him from having a firearm, one for 10 years, and the second for life. He was then handed another lifetime ban from having a firearm.

"He has plans, he says, to lead a better life and move in with his grandmother in a better area of the city."

Surprisingly... no word yet from Mayor Miller's office... on just which gun club this fine young gentleman belongs to.

**********

RELATED: Yeah... I'm shocked

Exponents of tough justice may be dismayed to learn the most common sentence given to offenders found to be guilty was probation (legalese for court-ordered friendship), which was handed down in 45% of all guilty cases.

The other T.I.F.F.

The Toronto International Fugitive Featherbed...

Mohamed Abdi Mahad was captured by police after the suspect fled the U.K. following the bludgeoning murder of Mohammed Musa Mahoud, 22, a postal worker who had recently married.

Mooney said he doesn't believe the suspect was working.

He also believes the suspect has been in Canada since 2003, shortly after the murder, but Mooney said he had no information about what documents Mahad may have used to enter the country.

Ah, yes... welcome, once more, to David Miller's "no such thing as a bad boy" socialist paradise... where multiculturalism and taxpayer dollars salve all wounds.

And while we're on "taxpayer dollars"...

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says his province will not follow Saskatchewan's lead and fund clinical trials of a new procedure that could offer hope to people with multiple sclerosis.

Geez, Dalt... if only we had an extra 81 million dollars.

A trucker smoking in his cab, pitbulls...

...not to mention free speech... and in the end... my guns have still killed fewer people... than Michael Bryant's car.

In other "eco-ponzi scheme" news...

GM and Nissan are relying on a $7,500 federal tax credit for buyers of electric vehicles to offset some of the added cost, and they're hoping that the allure of their novel power source will make up the rest.

Hey, stop worrying... it's the government... they'll take care of us.

When torquing headlines isn't enough

Innovators like the Globe & Mail just find a really scary picture from an old science fiction movie...

**********

UPDATE: Tests are suspended

C'mon now, if Peter Mansbridge...

...publicly peed his compassionate, intellectual britches... that's good enough for me...

"I haven't gone through them myself, but I do know the news of Pakistan's divided loyalties left me profoundly unshaken."

You have to ask yourself... why exactly do the talking heads at CBC & CTV have to pretend these are shocking revelations?

By then – and this was four years ago, remember – Mr. Alexander told The Globe that formal Pakistani protests of innocence to the contrary, “the evidence [of the country’s involvement in Afghanistan] is overwhelming."

There’s no doubt. This is a dirty, costly, horrible war being waged in a country inured to death and corruption and hopelessness.

The truth is, no one who paid the slightest attention to the war in Afghanistan could be surprised by the latest WikiLeak.

Thank goodness for Christie Blatchford.

More G&M (cough, cough) journalism

Liberal war room finally manages to get Ignatieff to put down the Gray Poupon...Oh gawd... I hear the flesh on his fingertips sizzling.My guess is... Iggy's still puzzling over why his headgear doesn't have any jewels set into it.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Harper in hiding?? Only the G&M would make such a crude comment. When was the last time PMSH and family had a quiet, time alone vacation??"

"Compare that to the number of times Mrs. and Mr. Ziggy have escaped to France."

Having the Supreme Being on your side...

...priceless...

Daltonomics

Scratch a fiberal... find an irresponsible poseur...

The prospect of a 24-per-cent return on investment should elicit attention. The prospect of such a rate guaranteed by government for 20 years should set off alarm bells.

The virtue of solar power alone cannot justify government guarantees of outrageous rates of return.

Don't look at me folks... I didn't vote for him.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Funny, isn't it, that when the government does it, it isn't considered a pyramid scheme."

Let's stuff a million or so...

... amped-up people into a confined area... what could possibly go wrong?

-- DUISBURG -- Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed shock at the "horrible, sad" turn of events and said everything must be done to ensure such tragedies don't repeat themselves.

"I think we need an intense investigation now into how this happened," she said Sunday in Bayreuth, where she was attending the opening of the yearly Wagner music festival.

"We must do everything to prevent this from being repeated."

Geez Angela... you mean like not letting politicians override the concerns of the emergency services establishment?

Rainer Wendt, the head of a key national police union, told the Bild daily newspaper that the city and organizers are to blame.

"I already warned a year ago that Duisburg is not a suitable place for the Love Parade," Wendt said. "The city is too small and narrow for such events."

A high-ranking firefighter warned the city's mayor in a letter in October 2009 against holding the event at the old freight railway station "because the place is not big enough for all the people," the daily Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger reported.

Funny how that works.

Calgary Liberal candidate launches...

..."Operation Sink Iggy"...

A spokesman for Ignatieff says the Liberals have the utmost respect for the Calgary police department and the work they do.

“We do not believe that the Calgary police department is racist, period."

Stand by for further Liberal press releases... on gravity holding shit down.

Of course, that's discounting...

...the possibility... the McDreamy Whitehouse could just bend over and grab their ankles...

Michael Hayden, a CIA chief under President George W. Bush, said that during his tenure "a strike was way down the list of options."

But he tells CNN's State of the Union that such action now "seems inexorable."

**********

RELATED: Canada tightens the screws

What's a little homicidal treachery...

...between friends...

This month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in one of the frequent visits by American officials to Islamabad, announced $500 million in assistance and called the United States and Pakistan “partners joined in common cause.”

I guess... you've got nukes... everybody kisses your patootie.

The rarified world of power politics...

...every bit as grubby & sleazy as you imagined...

Sneed hears real estate mogul Neil Bluhm is tossing a private birthday party here for President Obama, who turns 49 on Aug. 4.

The shocker: The dinner invite to the Barack bash at Bluhm's home requires a $30,000 donation to the Democratic National Committee!

**********

RELATED: Liar, liar

Correspondence obtained by The Sunday Times reveals the Obama administration considered compassionate release more palatable than locking up Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in a Libyan prison.

The document, acquired by a well-placed US source, threatens to undermine US President Barack Obama's claim last week that all Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Megrahi's release.

Hey, Barry... you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

C'mon... it's not like he had a choice...

...it was a freakin' genie.

Doctors are cautiously optimistic...

...they may eventually be able to unpucker his rectum...

"All I can tell you is he's alive," said Lieutenant (Navy) David Lavallee, an air force spokesman.

Looks like the Dems are losing faith...

...in President McDreamy's theory of "trickle-up economics"...

A small but growing chorus of Capitol Hill Democrats say they support delaying a scheduled expiration of Bush-era tax cuts on wealthier Americans, bucking the Obama administration's desire to shield only middle-income earners from a tax increase.

Hmmm... funny how that works.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Would anyone care to estimate the taxable income of said Democrats?"

Hmmm.

Well General Apps...

..."Mission Accomplished"...

“The true magic of politics is in defying the predictable narrative with a performance and persona that delights and, above all, inspires.” --

Wait... you've got another mystery candidate waiting in the wings?

Hope is cheap, Comrade...

...knock yourself out...

"One hopes, then, that Duncan’s words today will find a more receptive audience than did Rae’s social contract pitch 17 years ago." --

Geez, Dwight... a million here... 81 million there... pretty soon you're talkin' serious cabbage.

**********

The compassionate, intellectual left replies...

I have never threatened your family, however you have threatened to shoot me, and you have attempted to track me down. As for obscenities, you should ask your sock puppet, you silly liar.

Hahahahahahahaha!
Posted by liberal supporter to halls of macadamia at 4:34 PM, July 23, 2010

Is it just me, or does anybody else get disjointed babble like this?

Oh, gawd...

...I just peed myself...

First... they declared war on society...

...now they're eating each other up...
Maybe, just maybe... it's time to get serious with violent criminals.

Here's a thought... take away their smokes, their computers, their weight piles & visitors... and make these assholes earn them back an inch at a time. Anybody who doesn't get with the program can have a "time out" down in solitary.

Oh, no... screams Peace Moonbeam... that's not civilised.

Yeah, sure... I get that. No biggie. What's a little "Lord of the Flies" between friends.

Hey, make sure you explain your kinder, gentler rationale to the families of the dead & maimed.

No skin off my unincarcerated, not so dead ass.

Who ya gonna trust on this one, huh?

An ex-pat university professor turned opportunistic politician, or... wait a minute...

-- OTTAWA -- The F-35 stealth jet is an "excellent" plane and Canada should be buying more of them, Liberal Senator and retired general Romeo Dallaire says.

Another couple of the party faithful plant the flag... squarely between Iggy's shoulder blades... must be Wednesday.

Damn, I'm good... says I

"I have no idea how I ended up on the list," said one participant who asked not to be identified.

**********

FROM THE CNEWS COMMENTS:
**********

MRS NEO WONDERS:

"I wonder what the methodology is... for examining yourself for bias."

Actually, Savannah...

...your amazing pal was just a hair away from killing four of his friends... and he might still end up being an organ donor...

"He's a crazy, fun, athletic, smart and outgoing kid," Savannah Somers said. --

You know what... I'll give you crazy... but's let give credit where credit is due.

It's the middle of the night, you steal a car and almost smoke four of your friends... this one's on you.

Amazingly enough... this article actually lets Xbox off the hook...

"If kids were so prone to violent and criminal behaviour because of video games, we wouldn't be able to leave our homes," he said, explaining the streets would be rife with teens shooting at everyone and smashing cars."

Unfortunately, it doesn't even wave a token finger in the direction of personal responsibility.

This kid survives... his first stop after rehab should be lockup.

**********

UPDATE: In other feisty teenager news

A 17-year-old boy was shot dead outside an Ajax church early Friday.

The shooting happened around 1:20 a.m. in the parking lot outside St. Nedela Macedonian Orthodox Church near Bayly St. W. and Westney Rd., Durham Regional Police said.

Around 100 people were at a party in the church basement when an argument broke out between several men in the parking lot, police said.

The argument ended when the unidentified teen was shot.

Yeah... I'll bet.

*********

UPPERDATE: One dead, one paralyzed

One passenger in Scarborough crash dies... one may be paralyzed from neck down.

Where is the driver? Not in jail is my guess.

Go ahead, Lloyd... gimme another one...

...of those inane non-stories about "unbearable stress" in the carpeted air-conditioned workplace... I dare you...

He hadn't been in Afghanistan long, but Sapper Brian Collier had already earned a reputation as a competent combat engineer, survived a blast from an improvised explosive device and beat his injuries to return to duty.

Early Tuesday morning, the 24-year-old soldier was killed by another IED while on foot patrol in the Panjwai district.

Try getting your shit blown up... and returning to that workplace.

What kind of courage would that take?

Just don't ask a Canadian journalist... they're too busy screaming about what we used to... in my childhood... refer to as "the weather"... or poor little Lindsay Lohan.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I live near a CF base. I am determined to go the extra few steps when I see a Canadian in uniform, shake their hand, look them straight in the eyes and say, 'Thank you for serving'."

And Bob Rae wept

Apparently, Toronto's loss could, well... be Ottawa's loss too...

The Toronto Star, which can be relied to support McGuinty if he runs for federal leader, said he impressed by his understanding of this long-running international issue and may find it difficult to settle down as premier after experiencing politics on a bigger stage.

And don't just take the word of the country's largest socialist cheering section...

It quoted one high-ranking Liberal politician as saying McGuinty is the most successful Liberal in the country and more electable than Ignatieff.

Well... there's some elite company.

My best guess is...

...we don't have a proportionally correct number of aboriginal astronauts or neurosurgeons either... are we gonna be applying affirmative action to those programs too?

-- OTTAWA -- While surfing on the federal government job website, Landriault says she found a position at Citizenship and Immigration Canada she felt she was qualified for but was blocked from submitting her resume because she was not an aboriginal or visible minority.

Where exactly does this sort of politically-correct social engineering end? Have we decided that merit means nothing?

Does hiring people... on the basis of DNA... rather than actual experience or educational qualifications... have anything to do with the quality of today's civil service?

Oh, right... we're not allowed to talk about that.

(via bcf)

**********

RELATED: In other racist shithole news

Mixed, muddy messages...

...your MSM in action...

"'Violent crimes also declined, but to a lesser extent than overall crime', Statscan said."

But wait... what's this?

"Some types of violent crimes increased, including attempted murders, extortion, firearms offences and criminal harassment."

But hey, don't you fret...

"Youth crime fell slightly in 2009."

Again... there's one small caveat...

"However, both the youth crime rate and the severity of such offences are about 10 per cent higher than a decade earlier."

And finally...

There were 806 attempted murders, 85 more than in 2008.

Feeling safer yet?

Hey... anybody wanna dicuss why the numbers are way out of proportion for the territories and the prairie provinces?

Here's a couple of little factoids the G&M skipped over...

The reserves themselves are incubators of misery. According to Statscan, in 2004, the rate of violent crime reported by aboriginals living off- reserve was 953 per 100,000 people.

On-reserve, the rate was 7,108 per 100,000 people - more than seven times greater.

C'mon Peace Moonbeam... let the wailing commence.

It's true...

...things can always be worse...

Life, as Nabokov remarked somewhere, marshalls ironies with a more lavish hand than the wildest fictions. Good thing the adjoining café wasn’t called Layton’s Fish ‘n Chips.

Why they call it war...

...and not "circle of friends."**********

RELATED: Purely politics

Semrau is almost universally acclaimed as an honourable man and a model soldier. The system seems to have acted as fairly as it knew how, but it is a pity that he should have been the one caught in this vise.

Hey... maybe he should have just strang... er... "applied a ligature"... instead.

Vote of confidence

-- July 19 (Bloomberg) -- Foreigners bought a record net C$23.2 billion of Canadian securities in May, led by federal government bonds.

The investment was led by a record C$11.5 billion of federal government securities, almost double the previous record of C$6.75 billion in January.

Sure... go ahead & hand over the federal purse-strings to Michael Ignatieff and the "promises, promises" Liberal party.

I dare you.

**********

The compassionate, intellectual left replies...

Gotta have priorities I guess

So... how many billions of dollars is Dalton throwing at solar panels and giant fans?

For the second year running, more than a third of Ontario hospitals are bleeding red ink, amounting to a $107 million shortfall.

There is concern that while the number of cash-strapped hospitals remained steady, it may be a different story in 2011 due to shrinking provincial funds.

Ontario hospitals received a 2.1 per cent increase to their base funding from the government in 2009-10 — less than inflation. This year, it will only be 1.5 per cent.

Ontario hospitals are forbidden by law from running deficits.

Just something to think about... the next time you're caught sitting in your local emergency room for six hours.

**********

COMPARE & CONTRAST:

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

Don't even get me started on the one billion dollars in hospital construction cost over-runs.

Oh, c'mon Mikey...

...I could probably write a book about all the stuff you'd "support"... if you thought it would get you elected Prime Minister...

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says he'd support a pardon for Riel if it would start healing Canada's relationship with the Metis.

"The execution of Louis Riel shouldn't have happened," Ignatieff said, calling it "probably the most painful thing in our history."

Seriously?

More painful than the 60,000 Canadian lives lost in World War I... or any of the other wars... WWII, Korea, Afghanistan... subsequent to that?

Isn't Iggy supposed to be "the smart one"?

The victory at Passchendaele Ridge in the autumn of 1917 alone cost 16,000 Canadian casualties.

Call me wacky... but, maybe somebody who took a three-plus decade vacation from the country... shouldn't be lecturing Canadians about their pain.

**********

UPDATE: The moon, the stars...

-- OSLER, Sask. -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff toured flooded Saskatchewan farmland Sunday and said a Liberal government would rebuild the crop insurance system.

Promises, promises... the fiberal floodtide begins.

MSM torqued headline of the week

Seems they missed just one little detail.

And while we're on blatant media bias...

...where was the Washington Post?

Early last year, just before the Bush administration left office, the Justice Department filed a voter-intimidation lawsuit against the men, the New Black Panther Party and its chairman.

But several months later, with the government poised to win by default because the defendants didn't contest the suit, the Obama Justice Department decided the case was over-charged and narrowed it to the man with the nightstick.

It secured only a narrow injunction forbidding him from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of Philadelphia polling places through 2012.

I got nuthin'.

**********

LAST WORD: Sauce for the goose...

An administrative slap on the wrist?

No wonder people don't take Canada seriously...

In a letter sent to the organization, the agency says the society failed to maintain control over its use of funds, improperly issued tax receipts on behalf of third parties and provided funding to people outside Canada who were not entitled to a donation.

Where are the criminal charges for aiding & abetting a terrorist group?

This funding included $713,000 provided to another organization that the CRA believed was operating as part of the support network for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a group on Canada's official list of terrorist organizations.

Oh Canada.

Maybe they oughta rename it...

...the Midnight Express.

-- BARRIE, Ont. -- Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's cross-Canada tour hit some more speed bumps on the weekend, the result of some less-than-desirable local candidates.

Undesirables... in the natural governing party?

Say it isn't so.

Hey David... just watch us

Hang on... who exactly is pullin' for poor little Omar?

Officer Bubbles, huh?

I'm guessin' nobody says that... to his face.

Mayor's office, once again scrambling...

...to determine which gun club they belonged to...

A man in his twenties is dead after a shooting in the Sheppard Ave. E. and McCowan Rd. area late Friday.

Police arrived around 11:30 p.m. in the vicinity of 360 Pitfield Rd., where they located two men suffering from gunshot wounds. One died at the scene.

Paging David Miller... hey, yer honour... I thought you had this one solved.

**********

UPDATE: Latest victim identified

One of the men died at the scene. He has since been identified as Yousuf Sulub, 26, of Toronto.

**********

UPPERDATE: Spoke too soon...

...we've got another one...

Dianthony Evans, 19, became Toronto’s 30th homicide of the year after he died in hospital over the weekend.

At 11:05 p.m. on last Tuesday, Toronto police responded to reports of gunfire at 61 Grenoble Drive. Police found Mr. Evans suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.

It's getting hard to keep up.

In other "blood from a stone" news

-- TORONTO -- Eco fees may be just the beginning.

The Dalton McGuinty government has encouraged its ministries to pursue new fees to stay on budget and to pay for additional programs, according to a 2010-11 Results-Based Planning document obtained by QMI Agency.

Shades of Bob Rae!!!

How do you like him now, Ontario?

**********

RELATED: Who's minding the store?

Provincial police have launched a criminal investigation into the conduct of some Ontario government employees in deals with private companies.

Ron McKerlie, deputy minister for the Ministry of Government Services, said in a release that staff are co-operating with the Ontario Provincial Police.

Yet another financial scandal on Dalton's watch.

**********

UPDATE: Circling the wagons... again

All calls to government ministries seeking comment on Saturday were referred to Craig Sumi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Government Services. He would not say how many employees are involved or whether any of them have been temporarily suspended during the investigation.

Mr. Sumi, would say only that "a few ministries" are part of the investigation.

Well... that's a relief.

It's not all of them, right Craig?

So, Michael... that coronation thing...

...how's that workin' out for you?

Remember all those "green jobs"...

...Dalton promised to Ontarians...

On July 2, the authority quietly announced the rate being paid to some producers would be slashed from 80.2 cents to 58.8 cents per kilowatt hour.

Energy Minister Brad Duguid said microFIT would have become unsustainable if the original price structure had been maintained.

Hmmm... sure didn't stop them from selling the shit outta this boondoggle back when, huh?

That's why we call him "McSlippery."

Something to remember the next time...

...CTV mounts a campaign to have you send in your gushy stories about one of the retiring journalistic "icons" on their payroll...

Then we went live to air and this man, earning probably more than $250,000 a year, read out what his producer had written word for word. It could have been anything at all.

And, frankly, if I’d replied to some question about war casualities with “My leg is made of cheese” he would have simply gone on to the next question.

I’d like to say that this was unique but, sadly, it isn’t.

Professional "journalists"... your moral & intellectual superiors.

(via ffof)

Once again, apparently... plenty of warning

Does this mean... this time... we're gonna stop them and turn them around?

-- OBSERVER -- A ship suspected of being connected to the Tamil Tigers and carrying as many as 300 migrants has weighed anchor and set a course for Canada, according to reports in the Sri Lankan media.

The Sunday Observer, a Colombo newspaper, reports that the MV Sun Sea, formerly known as the Harin Panich 19, is carrying Tamil Tiger leaders among its passengers.

Oh, don't worry Canada... what could possibly go wrong here?

Ignattyites loudly trumpet decision to flip...

...but they're certainly not ruling out flop...

The Liberals have boldly announced that if they win office, they would “put a stop” to plans to issue an untendered, $16-billion contract for a new fleet of fighter jets – but then conceded that after they review the deal, they might decide a sole-source contract is necessary.

Or, as it's called in the Liberal War-Room... Thursday.

Funny how the Great Karmic Wheel...

...has an unerring feel for which path it should take...

For Joy Wellington, whose son Omar was brutally murdered in Flemingdon Park four years ago, the timing of the city’s latest shooting couldn’t have been worse.

Hearing of the shooting of a 19-year-old man was painful enough, but knowing the victim — now lingering on life support in Sunnybrook hospital — was one of the young men convicted in connection with her son’s July 15, 2006 murder, has left her in a daze.

The darker irony here, of course... is that this man would still be alive... if not for Dalton McSlippery's infamous "catch & release" program.

The Lil’ Rascalz gang member was shot in the head late Tuesday in a playground on Grenoble Dr. in an apparent ambush that may have been linked to an earlier shooting in Flemingdon Park. He is not expected to survive.

Those Lil’ Rascalz, huh?

Meanwhile... in other "gutted like a fish" news...

Two men — including one who was acquitted of a 2001 murder — are wanted on first-degree murder warrants for the stabbing death of a Toronto man.

David Darcy, 37, suffered a single stab wound that cut through his chest and abdomen during a brief fight on Magnolia Ave., in the Danforth Rd. and Midland Ave. area, around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.

On Thursday, homicide Det. David Ecklund said arrest warrants were issued for Anthony “King” Wong, 29, and Sharmake Abdi, 26, who is also known as Tall Man or Slim.

Oh Toronto.

Sometimes...

...you do what you can...

Under the Currency Act, nobody is obliged to accept more than 25 pennies as payment for any product or service. Normand Czepial, unfortunately, was 213,600 over the limit.

Hey, USA... is it getting any clearer?

Maybe altering the corporate structure of America... based on old "West Wing" scripts... isn't really the smartest way to proceed...

The financial reform bill expected to clear Congress this week is chock-full of provisions that have little to do with the financial crisis but cater to the long-standing agendas of labor unions and other Democratic interest groups.

Principal among them is a measure to make it easier for unions, environmental groups and other activist organizations that hold shares to put their representatives on the boards of directors of every corporation in the United States.

Yup... can't wait to see what happens when the likes of Michael Moore, Pamela Anderson and Sean Penn start pulling on the levers of industry.

The so-called "proxy access" provision, which activist groups say they will use to try to improve oversight of corporate financial practices, has provoked a backlash from the Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other major non-Wall Street business groups.

I sure hope this thing works out better than that "community organiser" gig back in Chicago.

Chalk up another one for that...

..."broad-strata" daughter strangling phenomena...

-- CALGARY -- Aset Magomadova will not go to jail for strangling her teenage daughter with a head scarf at their northeast Calgary home more than three years ago, a Queen Bench's justice ruled on Thursday. Justice Sal LoVecchio gave Magomadova a suspended sentence Thursday with three years of probation, for killing Aminat, 14, on Feb. 26, 2007. “The Crown said incarceration is required for respect for the law. I do not agree."

Oh, yeah... she didn't strangle her... she "applied a ligature"...

"I find that Ms. Magomadova, by choosing to apply a ligature -- in this case, a scarf -- for at least 2 1/2 minutes, was the application of excessive force," said LoVecchio.

Sounds a little bit like those "neck compressions" used on Aqsa Parvez... To quote (and I wrote it down, so I wouldn't screw it up) talking-head Lloyd Robertson...

"Her neck was compressed, to the point she couldn't breathe."

I truly fear for my country. 

UPDATE:  Via Blazing Cat Fur... 

 You've just strangled your own child... what's the first thing you do? Apparently not CPR... or call 911...

According to an agreed statement of facts, Magomadova and her troubled 14-year-old daughter got into an argument in front of the girl's brother and aunt. The mother and daughter took the fight into a sewing room. Neither called out for help, and the mother later emerged to announce that her daughter was dead. Magomadova made several long-distance phone calls to Europe with a calling card before dialling 911.

Seems just a tad cold-blooded to me.

It's like they teach at Law School...

...never ask a question, you don't already know the answer to...
'Cos I gotta tell ya, Mikey... there are some dogs that shouldn't ever leave the backyard.

RELATED: Uh, Mikey, you think...

...I could bunk down at your extra chateau in France?...
Reader Rich's head explodes...

"Note to Iggy -- if the other countries' economies tank, we won't be immune. We need to be cutting costs to the bone and lowering taxes."

"In any event, if you wanted to have tax money go somewhere, this hare-brained idea is one of the last places it should go."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"There is a program for this. It's called Her Majesty's Canadian Forces. Heck, they paid my expenses to see the USA (well, various artillery impact areas in Michigan and New York State), West Germany and Egypt and Israel."

Amen brother.

Raindrops on roses & whiskers on kittens...

Bright copper kettles & warm woolen mittens...

-- NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) -- Americans armed themselves to the teeth and paid through the nose to have a smoke, according to a U.S. government report released on Wednesday.

Sounds like folks are gettin' a little nervous.

With headshots like this...

...who needs enemies...
The grinch who stole... uh... cheese.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Even the algae eaters smell blood in the water."

Run Iggy, run.

Bright lights, big city...

..."You talkin' to me, punk?"

-- TORONTO -- A 37-year-old man collapsed and died in Scarborough early Wednesday from an apparent stab wound.

In a separate case homicide detectives are monitoring, a 19-year-old man was found shot on Grenoble Dr., in the Don Mills Rd. area at 11 p.m. Tuesday.

C'mon folks... there's still time to get out.

Occam's Dumbass

Yeah... who could have possibly seen that coming...

"The U.S. Department of Transportation has analyzed dozens of data recorders from Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles involved in accidents blamed on sudden acceleration and found that the throttles were wide open and the brakes weren't engaged at the time of the crash."

Not that that stopped anybody.

Where there's a personal liability lawyer... there's a way.

Be careful what you wish for...

...'cos you just might get it all...

Democratic self-deprecation isn’t quite as funny as it once was. Mobs have already taken to the venerable, iconic streets of European states, notably among them Greece, birthplace of Athenian democracy.

It’s apparently easier to give wealth away than it is to take it back. Democracy assembled the welfare state peaceably enough. Can democracy dismantle it as peaceably? No, it can’t.

The mobs are not finished.

The World Socialists’ website proclaims an age of rage ahead – and chillingly quotes British historian Simon Schama: “You can smell the sulphur in the air.”

Scary, scary stuff.

Okay, my friends... enough equivocating...

...just tell us how you really feel...

In Tuesday's vote at the National Assembly, there were 335 votes for the bill and just one against it.

Most members of the main opposition group, the Socialist Party, walked out and refused to vote, though they in fact support a ban.

Ooh-la-la.

Christmas comes early to Ottawa...

...yes, Virginia... there is a t-shirt...
Meanwhile, south of the 49th... in other "down the crapper" news...

The new survey, conducted jointly by the Washington Post and ABC News, says nearly six in 10 voters say they lack faith in the president's ability to lead the nation.

The poll also shows that only 43 percent of voters, including a third of Democrats, approve of Mr. Obama's handling of the struggling U.S. economy.

Democrats hold solid majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate, but recent polls suggest growing animosity toward incumbent lawmakers.

It's starting to sink in.

Like they say on CSI...

"...it obviously wasn't his first time around the block..."

Doesn’t “playing hardball” apply to things like salary negotiations and political dealmaking — not forcing yourself on a woman at a party?

Dammit Al, you're right... it is getting warmer.

Now that's weird...

...none of the Canadian media ever use the not-so-cute pictures that show the AK-47... or the parts to make an IED...
That must mean Omar's one special "Canadian", huh?

Khadr is one of about 1,000 Canadians being held in foreign jails at any one time. Some are real criminals. And some, like Huseyin Celil, are political prisoners.

Celil has been held illegally for four years by China. The Canadian Bar Association, a left-wing lobby group, has issued over 100 statements about Khadr — but not a word about Celil. Why?

Khadrmania isn’t about a Canadian’s civil rights. It’s about left-wing lawyers trying to use Khadr as a way to undermine the war on terror.

Wake up, folks... and smell the manipulation.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

My new buddy Arjen says I'm a racist... because I didn't post anything on this sexual assault in a Scarborough cemetery.

Now, I'm not sure I follow that logic... or how he got from Omar Khadr to raping old ladies... but, hey... I'm all about condemning horrendous criminal acts, so here it is...

A 61-year-old woman was the victim of a violent sexual assault in an east-end cemetery Monday, Toronto Police said.

The victim was visiting a grave in the Pine Hills Cemetery near Birchmount Rd. and St. Clair Ave. around 5 p.m. Monday when she was dragged from a pathway and sexually attacked, police said.

She was discovered around five hours later by someone walking through the cemetery, police said.

The attacker is described as a white man, between 30 and 40 years old, about five-foot-six with a skinny build. He was clean shaven and his shoulder length hair was tied back in a ponytail.

The victim is in hospital being treated for serious head injuries.

Anyone with information about this attack should call Toronto Police sex crimes unit at 416-808-7474 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS.

And for the record Arjie... I think, after he's caught, tried and found guilty... they should geld this nasty little fucker.

How about it... are we good now?

**********

UPDATE: Rapist arrested

Toronto police have charged a man with attempted murder and aggravated sexual assault in the brutal beating and sexual assault of a woman in a cemetery earlier this week.

Russell Kirkpatrick, 44, was arrested on Wednesday and appeared in court Thursday morning.

Good news Arjen... they made sure this time that everybody knew who was responsible...

Tangled dirty blonde hair that brushed his shoulders framed his face as he kept his head down and his eyes cast to the floor.

I look forward to future Globe articles offering this type of specific descriptions of all criminal suspects.

The devil, my friend, is indeed in the details.

More clear & imminent consequences...

...of global warming...

"If it had been warmer and Fatso was more alert, we would have been dealing with a fatality."

The man staggered back to the pub bleeding heavily.

The horror.

Just something to think about...

...the next time you're stranded in an Ontario hospital emergency room for six hours...

The actions of failed refugee claimant and accused murderer William Imona-Russel cost Ontario taxpayers more than $2 million — and one hard-working innocent woman her life.

The 36-year-old Nigerian was facing a deportation order at the time of his arrest. Imona-Russel, who came to Canada in 2003 on a false passport, was initially receiving funding from Legal Aid Ontario until he fired five different lawyers.

As a result, the court appointed counsel last fall and ordered the province to pay the legal bill to avoid a possible mistrial.

Two lawyers were named as friends of the court to assist with Imona-Russel’s defence at a total cost of $300 per hour.

Gotta have priorities, right Dalton?

To the moon, Alice... er, Charles!!!

McDreamy administration backstrokin' like an epileptic manatee...

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden must have misspoken when he told Al Jazeera last month that one of his top priorities is to reach out to Muslim countries.

"That was not his task and that's not the task of NASA."

Of course, Robert... I mean, that's certainly the kind of mistake anybody could make... Moon, Mars, Muslim... no biggie, right?.

Bolden, though, said last month in the interview that it was President Obama who gave him that task. He made a similar claim in February.

Or, maybe the guy is just out & out delusional, huh?

Awful nice of the Prez to let a crazy man keep his job.