In fact, it's way past time to derail this particular gravy train...“Multiple, credible, well-placed sources within the TPS, including a dispatcher?”**********
More well placed than the chief?
-- 2.2 DIDGERIDOO: --Professional didgeridoo players... there's a civil servant for that.
Didgeridoo players are frequently used in Welcome ceremonies to ‘call’ speakers, special guests and the audience to begin the ceremony. A didgeridoo player may also be used as a soloist in other parts of the ceremony.
Professional didgeridoo players, registered with an agent, charge a standard industry fee. Fees may be negotiable, according to individual performers needs and the type of performance required.
The National Musicians Enterprise Agreement, certified in July 2003, contains the following minimum rates for musicians.
Category 1 performer, for a minimum 3 hour performance:
3 x $104.00 per hour + $12.43 make up and costume allowance + $ 4.00 instrument allowance + $28.37 rehearsal rate.
Total cost is $356.80 per performance.
"Master Corporal Byron Greff of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry was killed in the explosion around 11:30 a.m. local time."And... a little closer to home.
Nah... let's just blame Stephen Harper."Since the pit bull ban was enacted in 2005, pit bulls have killed fewer Ontarians than former attorney general Michael Bryant."
And we could start right here...-- TORONTO -- As many as 50 Hungarian Roma a day are filing refugee claims at Pearson airport, putting a strain on airport staff and medical services, according to border services officials.Just something to consider the next time you start to marvel at the deductions on your paycheque.
A record 110 claimants arrived at the airport one night last week, creating a challenge for immigration and security personnel working to process them, officers say.
"Canadian syrup producers are licking their lips over news that a group of U.S. lawmakers have proposed a bill that would make it a felony to market a product as maple syrup when it’s not the real thing."We haven't done maple syrup here at the Halls for a number of years.
Yeah, you know... a new chapter... a kind of Anne of Green Gables thing...Some lawyers believe Mr. Khadr could be out in less than a year if he takes his case again to the Canadian courts.
But, but, but... it feels so good... and what could possibly go wrong?
Professional journalists... your ethical & intellectual superiors.-- TORONTO -- The CBC "misrepresented" calls embattled Mayor Rob Ford made to 911 in which he did not call the operators insulting names, the city's police chief said Friday."Misrepresent," huh? Is that anything like, oh... I dunno... a lie?
In a statement, Bill Blair said he had listened to the three emergency calls Ford made and felt it necessary "to set the record straight" about the calls.I guess it could have been worse... the CBC could have asked Mary Walsh's mother for her opinion.
" -- QUEBEC -- The province has always maintained it would create a replacement registry, suggesting the cost would amount to only 'a few million dollars a year'."Yeah... wasn't that what the Federal Liberals said "once upon a time?"
“Without the data and the software I would hate to think how much it would cost to replace the current registry.”Well... your buddy Teflon Jean pissed away 2 billion taxpayer dollars... let's see where you end up.
Just one in 10 of the tents at the Occupy London Stock Exchange camp which has closed St Paul’s Cathedral are occupied at night, it can be revealed. The camp forced St Paul’s to close for the first time since the Blitz and is costing local businesses thousands of pounds a day.The answer my friend... is vacillating in the wind.
But most of the protesters are heading home to sleep in their own beds at night. Infra red images taken by a police helicopter during the early hours show that only around 20 of the 200 tents on the encampment actually have people staying in them.
The Daily Telegraph has shot its own video of the St Paul’s camp using thermal imaging equipment which appears to confirm these claims.
"Patrick Maloney, a certified Massachusetts health officer and former regional vice president for the National Environmental Health Association, noted minimum campsite standards apparently are not being met: portable toilets, space between tents, water spigots, showers and emergency exits."
"'I came out of my house and I was ambushed,' said Ford. 'It was pretty dark still and my daughter was with me, there was a black Jeep or something outside of my door, I sort of looked at it ... then two people who didn’t identify themselves came running up, they tried to get in my car and they stopped me from getting in my car'."Whatever your personal feelings may be about Mayor Rob Ford... this crosses a line. Funny how the CBC doesn't think to ambush Dalton McGuinty at his Rosedale mansion. Maybe because they'd have to try slip past his burly OPP bodyguard/driver.
"The surprise "DRIVEWAY INTERVIEW" by the comedy show scared Ford’s six-year-old daughter so much she ran back into the family home. The incident prompted Ford to call Toronto Police."
"Ford should have kicked her right in the nuts. The CBC is a cess-pool full of these vile lefty activists. What a disgrace."
On the plus side, he's using that eco-friendly 58-wheeler, huh?-- Mississauga, ON -- The arrival of a massive generator at a supposedly unplugged Mississauga power plant site Monday will only jack up the tab for Ontario taxpayers when the facility is finally relocated, PC Leader Tim Hudak says.Just another little fib from the folks who promised... in writing... not to raise your taxes.
“This Mississauga power plant is supposed to have been cancelled by Dalton McGuinty during the election campaign. It’s now 18 days later and the plant is continuing to be built. In fact, this is the most expensive component of what’s probably a $300-$400-million project,” Hudak said.
The Ontario Tories released photos of the generator on route to the south Mississauga location Monday, a month to the day after McGuinty told voters in the area that he would stop it if re-elected.
"About 6,100 megawatts of coal-fired generation continues to operate in the province, or about 20% of total generating capacity -- years after Premier Dalton McGuinty's self-imposed shutdown deadline of 2007."Don't blame me... I didn't vote for him.
"McGuinty promised to end the use of coal in Ontario by 2007 during the 2003 general election but since winning that race, the target date has been pushed back several times and is now 2014."
I've gotta say, right up front... these guys must be way smarter than yours truly... because, even after racking my dumb as dogshit rural brain... I can't figure out how going after Farmer Bob's varmint rifle was supposed to obliterate the deadly spectre of urban handgun crime."Jean-Guy Gagnon, a former deputy chief with the Montreal Police Service, and chair of the national firearms strategy council of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, says that unless certain particularly dangerous firearms are reclassified before the long-gun registry is abolished, it will be easy for organized crime groups to boost their arsenals with military-grade weapons without leaving a paper trail."I've gotta confess, I learned a thing or two here.
"Surprisingly, though: no calls for a Lexus registry or the closing of the locks — not even a puny “memorial” on the grounds. Weird, huh?"Oh, right... we're not allowed to talk about that.
"Police seized the collection and charged him with 14 firearms-related criminal offences. All charges were dropped 10 months after the raid."Hey, everybody knows... only cops deserve scary looking guns.
"In August, Sedge launched a lawsuit against the Toronto Police Services Board and 19 police officers from 55 Division and the Guns and Gangs task force."
"Harper has suddenly realized that liberals will shoot back once his vigilantes can own 1000 rifles with nobody knowing because they won't need to be registered."Oh, Nonny... you do all the work for me.
"I look forward to being heavily armed and nobody will be the wiser."
"Farmers and hunters, she added, are the 'strongest environmentalists in the country'."
"They’re upstanding citizens who work hard. They take their kids and grandkids out hunting and shooting and those kids, by the way, probably aren’t involved in gangs in the streets."
I can't wait to see who comes outta this piece of cheesy, robotic street-theatre with an Escalade and a Manhattan loft...Occupy Wall Street’s Finance Committee has nearly $500,000 in the bank, and donations continue to pour in -- but its reluctance to share the wealth with other protesters is fraying tempers.
Some drummers -- incensed they got no money to replace or safeguard their drums after a midnight vandal destroyed their instruments Wednesday -- are threatening to splinter off.
“Fuck Finance. I hope Mayor Bloomberg gets an injunction and demands to see the movement’s books. We need to know how much money we really have and where it’s going.”
This, of course, is now.
The non-partisan information commissioner has given the CBC a grade of “F” for its secrecy — but it still violates her order for it to disclose the truth. It’s spending millions in legal expenses to hide how it’s spending billions in other expenses.
Let’s privatize the CBC. If some private billionaire wants to use the CBC as a weapon, that’s his business. In the hands of the CBC’s unethical management, it’s everybody’s business — and it’s got to stop.
Interesting that the post-Qaddafi future... started off with a bang...
I can't wait for the encore.-- EDMONTON -- The RCMP is beefing up the firepower of officers on patrol with a weapon now used by the army and police tactical squads. Starting next year, the C8 patrol carbine -- a cut-down version of a rifle similar to an M-16 -- will be made available to front-line RCMP members.Well... let's break that down. More accurate than what?
In an Oct. 19 memo obtained by CHED radio in Edmonton, departing Commissioner William Elliot tells Mounties the C8 will fill a gap in RCMP firearms capabilities.
He says based on tests, the carbine is a more accurate weapon that fires more bullets with less penetrating power, thus reducing the chance of someone else being hit.
Elliot says the C8 won't replace shotguns and other weapons the RCMP uses, but it will be made available to Mounties.Yup... access to a high capacity standoff firearm could've made the difference there. But so would taking this obvious sociopath off the street years before.
The need for the RCMP to have access to better weapons was highlighted in a report into the shooting deaths of four Mounties outside Mayerthorpe, Alta., on March 3, 2005.
A nice piece of hardware but, let's remember, there's no substitute for using that big computer between your ears.F e a t u r e s :
1 - Reduced length cold hammer forged heavy barrel
2 - Flash suppressor
3 - Bayonet lug
4 - TRI-AD 1TM MIL-STD-1913 accessory mount
5 - Special carbine chamber and gas system
6 - Accepts all STANAG magazines
7 - Integrated sight rail (Weaver or Picatinny)
8 - Optional ambidextrous controls
9 - Single or double sided sling loop
10 - Standard 4 position buttstock with no slip rubber butt pad
-- (CBS/AP) -- "Qaddafi is gone, your turn is coming, Bashar," protesters shouted on Friday in the central city of Hama, long a hotbed of resistance to the regime.Effect...
Syrian forces fired on protesters Friday, killing up to 14 people.
C'mon, now... why just rely on a single referral from Mom?"Mark is a very loving and kind person," Hyacinth Moore said one day after the 27-year-old was charged with 56 gun-related offences.Where's the syrupy attestations from his various "baby-mommas?" Could it be they're saving that up for the 11 o'clock tv propaganda blast?
-- TORONTO -- A couple dozen police officers combed an Etobicoke neighbourhood for evidence after a shooting left one man dead and another wounded early Friday.**********
Nigel Caine, 20, was found suffering from gunshot wounds on the front lawn of a home on Monet Avenue near Rathburn Road and Highway 427 just after midnight on Friday.That's funny... looks like the Globe didn't talk to Nigel Caine's mom. Maybe they only do one side of the street.
Caine died of his injuries in hospital.
Looks like Firefox has a few reservations about rap too."...which now joins corn ethanol in the ranks of heavily subsidized supposedly green technologies that are actually worse for the environment than current solutions."How's everything else going in Obamaland?
Hmmm.... not so good.“ -- KINGSTON, Ont. -- May the devil shit on their graves,” Mohammad Shafia told his second wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 20 days after the bodies of the couple’s three teenage daughters and Mr. Shafia’s first wife were recovered from a car in the water at the locks. In another snippet recorded by the device police had placed in a family car, Mr. Shafia told Ms. Yahya, “They committed treason themselves. They betrayed humankind. They betrayed Islam. They betrayed our religion…they betrayed everything.”But, but, but... Saint Pierre of Montreal swore multiculturalism was the piquant sauce our bland Canadian culture desperately needed. How far are we gonna go with this politically-correct accommmodation?
"Imagine 'Constable Duncan MacDonald' who is of Scottish heritage, waltzes into the station tomorrow decked out in a ceremonial kilt, complete with sporran. How many nanoseconds would tick by before P.C. MacDonald is hauled before a supervisor and sternly disciplined?"I thought people came to Canada to embrace our values & lifestyle. I know that's what my parents did.
-- KINGSTON, Ont. -- “We must be very clear in understanding that this barbaric practice occurs in many countries and cannot be traced back to Islam,” Imam Sikander Hashmi said. “In England, provocation, code word for adultery, was a legal defence for men who killed their wives until 2009, so this is only two years ago that this was changed.”You know, Sikander... I'm thinkin' you could maybe have found a more appropriate example.
“You’re all going to die,” a man dressed in black screamed at passengers Tuesday afternoon.Hang on a second... I'm confused... what exactly are we dealing with here?
“You’re all going to hell. Allahu Akbar.”
FBI Special Agent Mark White, based in Dallas, said the event did not appear to be an act of terrorism. He described Shahsavari as a U.S. citizen who might have experienced an episode of mental illness.
Amarillo police Cpl. Jerry Neufeld said there was a language barrier for investigators attempting to interview Shahsavari, who is of Iranian descent.Turns out there was a simpler explanation all along...
Shahsavari was born in Mississippi.Yup... just another dumb southern cracker.
Just wait 24 hours...
Donald Stuart, a Queen’s University law professor, said that the hearing is a worthwhile nod in the direction of openness, but will amount to little more than, "a meet-and-greet" session.Hey, Kirk... let's split the difference... and call it an "arduous nod."
The weight of all that metal... I'm surprised Prezidenteeh could actually lift a gun above his waist...-- TORONTO -- A Toronto rapper is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and the robbery of a Leaside jewelry store where a clerk was wounded.Yup... another shocker.
Mark Garfield Moore, 27, is charged with the 2010 murders of Jahmeel Spence, 27, Courthney Facey, 18, Mike James, 23, and Carl Cole, 45, and the heist of Arax Jewelry.
Moore was in custody for an unrelated shooting incident in March in the Entertainment District.
-- TORONTO -- It’s been two years since Christopher Skinner was brutally beaten, run over and left for dead on a downtown Toronto street.Who says there's no death penalty in Canada?
Christopher had been out in the Entertainment District with his sister celebrating her 23rd birthday the night he was killed.
Investigators believe he was on his way home, walking along Adelaide St., possibly attempting to hail a taxi, when his hand brushed up against a black SUV that was stopped at a red light at Victoria St. around 3 a.m.
The occupants of the SUV allegedly beat him up and then drove over him as they took off.
Get out your calculators, my friends...
I'm thinking this isn't an equation you wanna try solving in your head..."The study also says creating 50,000 new green energy jobs as promised by the governing Liberals will require ratepayer subsidies of about $200,000 a year for each position."Now, where did I leave my chainsaw and splitting axe?
"Where ordinary suspected criminals correctly have the right to refuse to assist the state in building a case against them, gun owners are denied that critical freedom." --I'm tired of being a second-class citizen.
Last week, Vice President Joe Biden warned that more people would likely be raped and murdered if President Obama's jobs bill is not passed.Behold Barack Obama's handpicked backup plan... a guy who makes Dan Quayle look like a theoretical physicist.
Today, Biden reiterated his warning at an event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
"Women are harassed and molested everywhere on buses, at metro stations, in markets ... we believe this is Asia's first phone application aimed at making women safer."...or for evil...
So as the victim of a sexual assault, she was horrified when she encountered the contents of a Facebook page full of jokes about rape and violence toward women.
Or maybe, they just put the headline on the wrong article..."It promises to be a tightly scripted affair where MPs largely avoid touching on hot-button social, legal or political issues."Somebody correct me if I'm mistaken... but my understanding of this committee is that, at this stage of the game, it is totally powerless to affect these appointments one way or another.
“What really attracted me to this book was the unflinching description of one man’s descent into a kind of hell,” Turbide said. “He has been humbled by what happened, but more important, wants to rededicate himself to public service and to overhaul the justice system.What's life without a dream, huh?
He’d also served as minister of aboriginal affairs and attorney general — where he famously banned pit bulls from the province — and was considered a serious contender to succeed Premier Dalton McGuinty.That's funny... it sure didn't stop them from going after David Chen. Or Ian Thomson.
Prosecutors dropped charges against Bryant in May 2010 after deciding there was little chance of convicting him.
Hmmm, here's a thought... let's have some more social commentary from the folks who brought you lead-painted baby toys.-- BEIJING (AP) -- China's foreign ministry said Monday the Occupy Wall Street movement highlights issues that are worth considering, but that debates generated by the protests should promote global economic growth.Just don't ponder them anywhere near you or the Politburo puppy-pile, right Liu?
"We feel that there are issues here that are worth pondering," said Liu Weimin, a foreign ministry spokesman during a regular briefing in Beijing.
Earlier in the year, anonymous online calls for protests in China inspired by those that have swept across the Middle East and North Africa spooked the Chinese government into launching one of its broadest campaigns of repression in years.**********
"Why pay for parking and risk getting a ticket on King St. when you can just park in the park? In fact one “poor” protestor’s $30,000 truck is in the middle of St. James Park and has been there for three days."**********
"No yellow ticket though."
Okay, folks... nothing to see here... move along...
Or you can choose to roll the dice at 225 mph. The aunt of Christopher Rookwood — the city’s 39th and latest murder victim — is now reliving the nightmare of grieving over another family member.
Rookwood’s cousin Nate Thompson was lured to a Jane-Sheppard townhouse complex and shot in the head in August 2010.
At the other end of the city, Toronto Police are continuing to piece together why a 19-year-old was shot in a stairwell of an east-end apartment high-rise.
Make sure you get your nose outta joint if the cops have the temerity to get involved in your "business"...Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said he was offended to learn that native activism is considered “threatening to national safety and security” in Canada.Native "activism"? Is that what we're calling it these days?
"Hydro One has been powerless to complete a $116-million transmission line upgrade for five years because Caledonia “warriors” won’t allow workers to wire the last towers."**********
“The Liberal Party of Canada recognizes the profound importance of the CBC's role in our society. We will fight to ensure our national broadcaster receives the support and resources it needs to continue to do its vital job.”That's a billion taxpayer dollars per year. You ever wonder where all that money goes?
"In the fiscal year ending in March 2009 — a month when 61,000 Canadians lost their jobs — the top 10 executives at CBC split a performance bonus kitty worth $888,699."And guess what? They're fighting to keep those facts from folks like you and me...
"The individual bonuses ranged from $4,300 at the bottom end to $165,090 at the top end, which is almost 3.5 times greater than the average Canadian salary, according to Statistics Canada."
This week, CBC/Radio-Canada lawyers went to court in Montreal to plead that their Crown corporation not be subject to the Access to Information Act (AIA) like all other federal institutions.Just a little something to think about... while you're writing out that big cheque next April.
Would our economic, environmental, and energy challenges best be solved by “funding a Manhattan-style project or by funding 100,000 garages across America to encourage the kind of industry and innovation that developed Silicon Valley?”
Just don't expect me to pay for it...
Hey, Dalton... are you listening?"Kind of a swap meet page for organ donors? Could call it Switch-Gear or some such."**********
Project Empowerment runs its job skills training courses on three-week cycles and helps roughly 1,000 D.C. residents per year, according to Jones. The city's first transgender-only class enrolled in mid-September and graduated 17 people last Friday.
The program is run through Project Empowerment, an $11 million-a-year program paid for with D.C. tax dollars that helps hard-to-employ city residents such as ex-convicts and ex-addicts find work.
"TORONTO - At least one city councillor is fuming over plans by a consultative committee for suggesting on Tuesday that permits for body rub parlours be increased tenfold or more from the existing 25 to 'several hundreds' by early next year."Damn... that sounds so familiar...
"'This will make us the biggest pimps in North America,' an outraged Giorgio Mammoliti said on Wednesday. 'These clubs will be springing up in strip malls and residential areas across the city.'"
Chalk up another one... for the center of the compassionate, intellectual socialist universe.“It is incumbent upon Canadian officials to investigate, arrest and prosecute former president Bush for torture when he arrives in Canada a week tomorrow,” said Alex Neve, Amnesty Canada's secretary-general.Torture, huh?
Say, Alex... is there anything else you might be leaving out of your little initiative here?"The obsessive need of this president to apologize for American exceptionalism and our defense of freedom continued recently when Barack Obama's State Department (run by Hillary Clinton) contacted the family of al-Qaida propagandist and recruiter Samir Khan to "express its condolences" to his family."Wow... that must make for an interesting workplace environment...
"Were there any other Americans or targets on that list?"Hey, buddy... kiss 'em or kill 'em... but, sheesh, make up your mind.
Middle East math... just something else I can't understand about that particular part of the world."An altercation likely escalated to gunshots, said Det. Sgt. Pauline Gray. Gray would not comment on whether he was 'known to police'."Door number two...
"'He has a lovely family here in Toronto,' Gray added. 'They’re devastated. We’ve had a lot of contact with them and they’re very supportive.'"
"A 27-year-old gunned down in the city’s east end over the weekend — just steps away from a memorial event for another Thanksgiving murder victim — was allegedly among a group of thugs who kidnapped, tortured and held a man for ransom last year."I swear... I'm just thankful... I don't live in Toronto.
"U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in an announcement today that the plan was "conceived, sponsored and was directed from Iran" by a faction of the government and called it a "flagrant" violation of U.S. and international law."Let's see whether President McDreamy actually has "the right stuff."
"The bundlers — Mark Gallogy, co-founder of investment firm Centerbridge Partners, Penny Prtizker, president and CEO of Pritzker Realty Group, and Robert Wolf, chairman of UBS Americas — have raised as much as $2.7 million for Obama in 2008 and 2012 combined, according to estimates provided by the Obama campaign."
So... seriously... what's the deal here? 
Vex? Vex? Forsooth, I fear a touch.-- TORONTO -- One man is dead and another is in hospital after a street race early Monday resulted in a horrific crash that left a sedan sliced in two.Hmmm... not exactly like you see in the theatre. Apparently that everlasting loyalty, blood-brothers meme... just evaporates at the first dead body.
Police said the passenger ran off, leaving the driver trapped in the car. When paramedics arrived the driver wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a heartbeat.But don't you worry Toronto... the Liberal Party will make everything alright...
The driver of the other car in the race, believed to be a black Infiniti G35, sped off.
Police aren’t releasing the name of the deceased until his family, who don’t live in Canada, are notified.
Jim Karygiannis, MP for Scarborough-Agincourt, released a statement Monday saying he will introduce a federal bill on limiting speed.Yeah, Jim... if only there was a law, huh?
Police are looking for three or four suspects after a man was shot and killed near Victoria Park Ave. and O’Connor Dr.**********
Police and EMS responded to a call around 11:15 p.m. on Sunday night. A man in his early 20s was rushed to trauma centre in critical condition with several gunshot wounds to his chest.
Speaking of "fast & furious"... what's today's take?Posted by Skinny in Toronto to halls of macadamia at 10:16 AM, October 11, 2011Amazing.
Posted by Skinny in Toronto to halls of macadamia at 1:15 PM, October 11, 2011
Posted by Skinny in Toronto to halls of macadamia at 1:29 PM, October 11, 2011
Posted by Skinny in Toronto to halls of macadamia at 1:48 PM, October 11, 2011
Posted by Skinny in Toronto to halls of macadamia at 4:18 PM, October 11, 2011
Posted by Skinny in Toronto to halls of macadamia at 5:15 PM, October 11, 2011
-- TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- An Iranian military commander said Sunday that the protests spreading from New York's Wall Street to other U.S. cities are the beginning of an "American Spring," likening them to the uprisings that toppled Arab autocrats in the Middle East.Yes, of course, you knucklehead... it's exactly the same thing.
Conspicuously living among the politically active in the makeshift village in Zuccotti Park are opportunistic junkies and homeless people - making the most of the free food on offer.
Where are the protests happening?
Also present and infuriating the hard core of activists are a number of teens looking to turn the gathering into an urban rave.
Among the banners and flags are now discarded packets of condoms, cigarettes and bottles of spirits, while naked youngsters happily get together with just sleeping bags covering their modesty.
Remember, it's only evil... when Bush/Cheney do it..."So scrupulous was the by-the-book Obama OLC about targeting Americans that they gave the okay to hit Awlaki before they’d even done the research into whether it was legal."
Get folding...
