Most Canadians not quite ready...

...to turn over levers of power to wild-ass teenage vandals... or Quebec...

A Harris-Decima survey for The Canadian Press says two-thirds of people polled felt the police response was appropriate, while about one in five said it was inappropriate.

The poll indicates a majority in all regions and across all groups felt the police response in Toronto was appropriate.

However, younger Canadians and those in Quebec were most likely to say it was inappropriate.

Yeah... I'm shocked.

Deceitful opportunist?

I have no idea... what you're talking about.

Media anxiously awaits word...

...from Mayor Miller's office on which gun club... oh, never mind...

Staff Sergeant Richard McKeown said it was “just kind of a fluke” that the “completely unrelated” gunplay intruded on the anti-violence barbecue.

Some days... this thing just writes itself.

**********

FROM THE GLOBE COMMENTS:

Why are the police looking at videos trying to solve this latest shooting? Wouldn't it easier with the super-dooper gun registry?

They just need to call 1-800-731-4000 and give the friendly operator the make/model/caliber/serial number of the gun used... and ta-dam! Crime solved.
posted 7/12/2010 11:01:29 AM

That's what I call...

...leveraging your assets...

In all fairness... this is Detroit

Maybe they're just too scared to travel in these neighbourhoods...

Detroit parents may get more than detention for missing their child's parent-teacher conference.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is pushing for an ordinance that would allow schools to punish parents who repeatedly miss parent-teacher conferences.

The punishment- up to three days in jail.

Mrs N asks...

"What if the parents are already in jail?"... and "If you can get jailed for missing a meeting... what's the penalty for shooting spitballs at the teacher?"

I'm not sure I wanna know the answer to that last one.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"How about having those parents pick up their social assistance cheques at the principal's office?"

Hmmm...

Not sure what impresses me more...

...Michael Ignatieff's impeccable sense of timing... or his plan to set himself up as Al Gore North...

"I’m not willing to do that and sacrifice the Pacific north coast, and I don’t think Albertans, when they think about it, want to do that either.”

Ah, yes... sacrificing the whole west coast of Canada... I knew that Stephen Harper was a diabolical, scheming bastard.

If only there was some special, sainted worldly figure who could bring us the wisdom of not living in the country for a decade or three.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"So Iffy comes to Calgary, charges $40.00 per head for a free pancake breakfast, brags up his Quebec made cowboy boots, channels Hugo Chavez by referring to the smell of sulphur coming off PMSH, calls Albertans sheep and opposes a pipeline to the northern B.C. coast."

"Good fucking thing he likes us."

Trotting out the O.J. defense once again

We have to free this poor man... so we can go after "the real killer"...

"It's important that employees know an assistance program is in place for those who are having personal troubles."

“When we are made aware that a member is facing personal challenges, we do our best to make sure that help is available and provided to the employee.”

Uh-huh... "personal challenges"?

Like, say... battling the burning desire to turn one's spouse into a pile of bloody rags, ruptured flesh & splintered bone?

Is that the kind of "challenge" we're talking about here?

Sigh... if only he had talked to Human Resources.

**********

UPDATE: Killer Mountie identified

Constable Tarith Sehmbi, 36, is expected to appear in court on the charge on Monday, said Clifton Purvis, executive director of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team.

**********

LAST WORD: Another spoke-too-soon moment

“When people come from India, they have a very different perspective of police,” Mr. Dhillon said. “People can be scared of going to police, so he showed that this isn’t like India, that police can be very helpful and friendly.”

Ouch.

In other "Animal Farm" news...

More unglad tidings for fat, awkward, shy or simply geeky kids... who speak fluent english... apparently you're back on the bubble.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"This trying to produce Stepford children is backfiring on them big time."

UAE Ambassador comes out in favour...

..."bomb, bomb Iran"...

"I think it's a cost-benefit analysis," Mr. al-Otaiba said. "I think despite the large amount of trade we do with Iran, which is close to $12 billion … there will be consequences, there will be a backlash and there will be problems with people protesting and rioting and very unhappy that there is an outside force attacking a Muslim country; that is going to happen no matter what."

"If you are asking me, 'Am I willing to live with that versus living with a nuclear Iran?,' my answer is still the same: 'We cannot live with a nuclear Iran.' I am willing to absorb what takes place at the expense of the security of the U.A.E."

Yup... as surely as night follows day.

Bright lights, big city

Lucky number 28...

A man is dead after he was shot in the head inside a restaurant in Toronto’s Chinatown early Saturday.

The shooting happened around 3 a.m. at a restaurant called Excellent Cantonese Seafood, at 263 Spadina Ave.

No word yet from Mayor Miller's office, on which gun club the shooter belonged to.

P.S. -- My favorite line from all the media coverage...

"Police are hoping those that were in the restaurant will contact them."

Hey... hope is cheap.

**********

UPDATE: Victim is identified

An autopsy reveals Tien Pham, 17, of Toronto died of a gunshot wound to the head.

And this was one cold hitter...

“The actions of the offender in this case were certainly directed and deliberate,” Code said. “The offender basically walks into the dining room, walks straight up to the deceased, shoots him once in the back of the head, turns around, briskly walks out the same way that he came to the laneway.”

Steyned to Death

Friedersdorf's colleague, The Atlantic's Chief Obstetrician, thinks my post is evidence of "epistemic closure" on the right.

Ah, yes. Because nothing says "closed-minded conservative bubble" like a right-wing racist sexist loon worrying about the murders of brown women.

I'm guessin' companies outside Ontario...

...are green with envy...

“It’s an illegal fee,” Mel Fruitman, vice president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada, told the Toronto Sun. “It’s an add-on fee and there is nobody in this country who is allowed to put on a tax except governments."

"As far as I can tell, unless they slipped through something quietly in the middle of the night when everybody else was asleep including me, they have no authority to do this.”

Once again... the sheeple get sheared.

**********

UPDATE: Dalton backs down on tax

The Ontario government will scrap its controversial eco fee on Tuesday in a bid to quell consumer confusion and frustration from major retailers.

Well, whaddaya know.

DATELINE: Pakistan - dozens murdered...

...must be Friday...

Near the attack site, officials had been distributing wheelchairs to disabled people and equipment to poor farmers, Amjad Ali Khan said. It was unclear how many participants in that event were among the victims.

Rasool Khan said 62 people died and 111 were wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Pakistan since a team of gunmen and suicide bombs stormed two mosques of the Ahmadi sect in the eastern city of Lahore, killing 97 people in late May.

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

Wake up folks... and smell the holy warriors.

**********

UPDATE: Death toll keeps rising

The two suicide bombers who killed 102 people in this village didn't bother to discriminate among their victims.

One martyr is as good as the next, huh?

CTV, the Happy Hooker of cough, cough...

...Canadian television "journalism"...

Hmmm... maybe I was wrong... maybe the people do love Lloyd enough to flood CTV with totally unsolicited... wait a minute...

"Do you have a special memory of Lloyd Robertson, or a message of congratulations or thanks you would like to share?"

"Send it to newsonline@ctv.ca and we'll do our best to post it here."

Wow... they're pushin' this non-news story harder than three day old fish at the corner greasy spoon.

Which... come to think of it.. is entirely fitting.

Hmmm... what's that smell?

"The world that we used to know..."

"...people tell me it don't turn no more..."

Because that nasty, loud jet-plane might disturb the heroin addicts, pollute the trees in Stanley Park, and drown out the foul-mouthed tirade of the street-person harrassing you for the change in your pocket. --

Ah yes... the ongoing gelding of what used to be Canada.

Just watched CTV's Count Floyd...

...try to turn his retirement... next year... into some sort of media event...
Not sure what all the fuss is about... the only qualification for the job that I can discern... is an ability to read the teleprompter. This, in effect, means the job could be performed by the vast majority of grade school students.

I guess I've never understood the reasoning behind pretending Lloyd, or Lisa... or Peter... are some sort of erudite celebrities. And all those carefully scripted spontaneous conversations... what genius came up with that little stunt?

Most importantly, the stories... whatever they might actually be... are very rarely news...

"The big deal here is that, apparently, someone is counterfeiting Olympic geegaws."

I don't get it.

**********

UPDATE: No surprise... "Dumb & Dumber"

"To follow in the footsteps of Lloyd Robertson is an enormous honour and extremely humbling," LaFlamme said as the announcement was made Friday.

"He is an institution, the very foundation that fair and honest journalism is built on."

Oh my gawd, Lisa... how many whiskies is it gonna take to get that taste outta your mouth.

On the other hand... maybe she actually believes it.

Interesting also to note that, on their website, this is CTV's big headline of the day.

Yup... Lisa Laflamme knows how to read too!

Come back Stephane...

...all is forgiven...**********

UPDATE: Perfect timing, as ever...

...Liberal Senators commence "Operation Kick Myself in the Balls"...

But if the Senate passes the bill with some parts missing, he said, it will go back to the House of Commons and “it may very well precipitate an election.”

Let's dance.

**********

UPDATE2: No worries... it's the Iggy party

Even though the Liberals say they will be asking all of their senators to be in their seats when Bill C-9 is voted on for the final time, there are some Liberals who do not turn out to vote even on issues that are critical to their party.

Say... where is Iggy?

**********

LAST WORD: Lib stranglehold broken

No more stalled bills in the Senate.

As hard as it may be to believe...

...I guess they finally ran out of... "captivating"... female, foreign-born, visible minority, ex-talking heads from the CBC...Here's a shocker... they decided to go with a candidate with actual academic credentials.

What a novel idea.

Not that suckass political-correctness wasn't apparently hovering somewhere out there on the horizon...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is said to have wanted a man in the role this time, but insisted the candidate be fluent in both official languages, which ruled out several prominent aboriginal contenders.

Don't worry, Dawg... I'm sure they'll be getting back to the "quota system" soon enough.

And everybody... based on culture, disability or race... will get a bite at the apple.

"The real problem, staff said..."

"... is hamsters..."
Hamsters?

No way... not even close.

The way the world really works

What's sauce for the goose...

"The European Court of Human Rights has ordered a halt to the extradition to the US on terror charges of radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri."

...is apparently a pre-warmed oven for the Israeli...

"The court did not decide whether Brodsky committed the crime for which he is under investigation, the court only checked whether the extradition request fulfils the formal requirements and whether the suspect is correctly identified."

And so it goes.

**********

RELATED: The capricious & unknowable...

..."Will of Allah"...

Iraqi officials are saying that more than 50 people have been killed and dozens of others wounded during the annual Shi'ite pilgrimage to honor one of 12 revered Imams.

Yeah, sure... the Jews.

That's who we should really be afraid of.