That scary Stephen Harper

It's true, Stephen Harper should scare you stupid... if you're a violent, unrepentant thug.

Repeat violent and sexual offenders will have to prove they are not dangers to society to avoid an indefinite sentence under legislation the Harper government plans to table in Parliament next week.

Finally, we have a leader who is prepared to say, enough is enough, the criminals should really pay for their crimes.

Under the Conservatives' proposal, that onus would be reversed so that violent and sexual offenders convicted of a third offence would have to prove why they should not receive an indefinite sentence with a minimum of seven years in prison before being eligible for parole.

It's long past time for this legislation. Thank you Mr. Prime Minister.

Over at Moonbat Central, the gibbering continues...

Likewise, on mandatory minimum sentences, the party also wants to avoid attention after Layton and his wife Olivia Chow improvised policy without consultation during the last election, in a panicked response to Toronto's Boxing Day shootings.

Bujaczek says the youth caucus has opposed mandatory minimums because they aren't going to reduce crime, but are going to be used to target and punish marginalized communities, particularly young Aboriginal men and men of colour.

Yup, I can see why the libs & dippers are all aflutter... we live in a police state. I'll tell you a secret... that's really why I left Toronto. To get away from the police "death squads".

Shssssssssssh.

READ THE PRESS RELEASE... to get more lucid, rational details

"Our justice system generously gives second and third chances,” the Prime Minister added. “But at some point, governments must draw the line and this bill will do just that.”

UPDATE: 16 Oct 2006 - Poll at Toronto Sun

Is the prime minister's 'three-strikes' proposal for repeat violent offenders a good idea?

I have watched the poll go from 3000 to 4422 votes and it's stayed at 89% yes and 11% no... all that time.

We have a winner.

UPDATE: 17 Oct 2006 - Liberals, as usual, get sucky

Liberal justice critic Sue Barnes raised concerns that the proposed changes could cause a backlog within the penal system and face a valid constitutional challenge.

LAST WORD: Reverse onus laws abound

The reverse burden of proof is built into laws on tax evasion, some bail violations, attempts to plead insanity and the sex-offender registry.

"In one form or another, it's all over the place," said Doug Hoover, a Justice Department official who helped draft the new law.

Technorati Tags: Stephen Harper, Conservative Party, law and order

Dalton McGuinty: Man of many words

Pretty much all of them "weasel".

Dalton McGuinty wants to show Ontario he isn't afraid, that he's willing to get out there and take a stand... AGAINST PERFECTLY LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS.

When native protesters at Caledonia burned down a million dollar bridge, Dalton did nothing. When native protesters blockaded an Ontario town, later cutting a trench across the main highway with a backhoe, Dalton turned the other cheek. When a hydro substation was torched and thousands of people were without power for days, Dalton couldn't be found.

And when aboriginal terrorists occupied privately owned land and shut down a legal business enterprise, Dalton TOOK YOUR TAX DOLLARS and bought the land, and allowed the terrorists to occupy the half finished buildings, and get this... now he's paying their hydro and water bills too.

So why is it, when some frustrated Ontario taxpayers organise a perfectly legal protest against all of this and say they want to march to the taxpayer owned land, Dalton McGuinty suddenly remembers he's got a pair. Not big brass ones, mind you, but tiny plastic bb's.

"I think it's important for all of us to recognize that if somebody has a particular beef with a government there is a legitimate way to give expression to that criticism, and I would encourage that individual to come to the front lawn of Queen's Park," McGuinty said yesterday.

Dalton McGuinty is a coward and a weasel and he doesn't deserve to be Premiere of Ontario. I think he screwed up big time with Julian Fantino and the OPP, because Chief Fantino is no sycophant.

Julian Fantino, unlike Dalton McGuinty, has both big brass balls and a well developed sense of right & wrong.

It's about time somebody stood up for the law and the citizens of Ontario.

UPDATE: MARCH FOR FREEDOM THIS WEEKEND

McHale, a 44-year-old computer programmer, stressed that he has called for a peaceful march. When asked if he'd force his way on to Douglas Creek Estates Sunday, McHale said he hoped the OPP would enforce the law.

"We will walk up and people will see first-hand that the only reason we cannot step on that land is because of our race," he said.

"The fact is we have a system now in Caledonia and Ipperwash where the laws of the land are dictated by your race. That's the whole point of the march."

Technorati Tags: Julian Fantino, Caledonia, Dalton McGuinty

Big Dogs on the Blog - Canuck version

Conservative Life breaks down the numbers.

Technorati Tags: smalldeadanimals.com, stevejanke.com, damianpenny.com

Outstanding

Of course, part of Dalton McGuinty's rationale here, like the previous Emergency Management appointment, is to keep Chief Fantino off the political hustings, but I can live with that.

Toronto — Former Toronto police chief Julian Fantino will become the new commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, replacing Gwen Boniface. Fantino will uphold the law of the land.

Mr. Fantino, who was born in Italy in 1942, has been Ontario's Commissioner of Emergency Management since March 2005, a position he was given by Mr. McGuinty after his contract as Toronto police chief was not renewed following the election of Mayor David Miller.

Julian Fantino was a no-bullshit, cop's cop during his tenure in Toronto. Anybody who is that consistently on the bad side of David Miller is gonna be ok by me.

UPDATE: 13 Oct 2006 - Natives getting restless

The native protestors at Caledonia are crappin' their pants about the appointment. They know Julian Fantino is no Gwen "Everyone is beautiful, in their own way" Boniface.

The appointment of Julian Fantino as the new head of the OPP was met with a bit of trepidation. Jamieson described him as "one of the good ol' boys" and said no one knows what's in store after the change in OPP leadership.

SIDENOTE: 12 Oct 2006 - A political future?

Mr. Fantino has often been named as a possible political candidate, with reports the Conservatives had wanted him to run against Finance Minister Greg Sorbara in next year's provincial election, while other supporters wanted him to run against Miller for mayor of Toronto this fall.

Technorati Tags: Julian Fantino, OPP, Gwen Boniface

Doctors stunned... wives, girlfriends singularly unimpressed

A groundbreaking study has confirmed there is a reciprocal relationship between a man's IQ and his pain threshold... during NFL season.

Apparently, the average male, despite experiencing crushing chest pain, will consider such variables as Peyton Manning beating the point spread, or Alge Crumpler blowing a punt return before heading for the local ICU.

"It was a two-stage decision: If they were hurt, whether to go to the hospital or not. If they needed to go to the hospital, could they finish the game or not?"

Jerrard said his study is a follow-up to one he did two years ago, which found about a 30 percent drop in the number of men checking into the Baltimore hospital's ER during sports broadcasts.

Chalk one up for the scientific method.

I just can't wait for more government funded, earth-shattering quantitative studies like, "Relationship between the Y Chromosome and who left the damn toilet seat up?" and "The effect of testes on stopping & asking for directions".

Technorati Tags: NFL, male, scientific method

Kofi Annan - one heck of a caring guy

Guess who's shortlisted for the 2006 "Almost on the Edge of Doing Something" award?

Oh well... I guess it's better than not caring at all.

Technorati Tags: Kofi Annan, United Nations, fraud

Stephane Dion capable of shame

In a development that appeared to take his campaign staff totally by surprise, Stephane Dion, in stark contrast to the other Liberal Leadership hopefuls, was seen displaying disturbing vestiges of a moral compass.

Yesterday, Liberal leadership hopeful and former environment minister, Stephane Dion, said he worries the Harper government "will only pretend to do something." Dion actually appeared to blush after he said that. After all, he would know about pretending.

Two weeks ago, Canada's Environment Commissioner came out with a report slamming the Liberals for doing virtually nothing about meeting Kyoto targets or improving the environment.

While none of the Dion staffers was willing to comment on the record, a liberal party insider was quoted as saying there was talk of rushing Mr. Dion back to the "Chretien Center for Mortal Soul Cryonics" located in Shawinigan, Quebec for emergency surgery.

UPDATE: Emergency transfusion saves wavering Dion

Fortunately, like all Liberal candidates, Dion carries around a litre of Jean Chretien's blood for emergency spine-stiffening situations.

The trick, as with most "liberal juju", is not administering an overdose...

Referring to NATO and Canadian military commanders who declared victory in a recent military engagement against the Taliban, he said: "We see now that we won nothing . . . There is no way we can win this war."

When a reporter attempted to ask the candidate a followup question as he was leaving the room, Dion started screaming, "De troot is de troot!!!"... grabbing the unfortunate scribe by the head and throwing him to the floor.

Technorati Tags: Stephane Dion, Liberal Party, fraud

Rules??? We don' need no steenkin' rules

Dalton McGuinty ramps up for next years election. Trouble is, he's doing it on the taxpayers dime.

The New Democrats said the Liberals are clearly skirting rules banning partisan government advertising in an effort to help them get re-elected next October.

The Tories call the current crop of provincial government ads blatantly partisan and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

From the guy who brought you, "I won't cut your taxes, but I promise I won't raise them either."

As Premier Dalton McGuinty marks the third anniversary of his landslide election victory Monday and begins the one-year countdown to the Oct. 4, 2007 vote, he remains hobbled by his broken campaign pledges.

McGuinty's Liberals made so many specific promises during their successful bid for office on Oct. 2, 2003 that some party insiders now complain the old platform is an albatross.

Make sure you also visit McGuintywatch.ca

Technorati Tags: Dalton McGuinty, Liberal Party, fraud

The Usual Suspect

Some days, it seems as though Pakistan is less a country than an intricate hive of political conspiracy.

President Pervez Musharaff, who has survived a number of assassination attempts, has only a tenuous hold over parts of the country, which is why the U.S. is still looking for Osama five years later, and apparently no control of the runaway secret police, the ISI.

And their foremost atomic scientist... the proud papa of the Islamobomb... is some sort of freebooting nuclear pirate.

Pyongyang has benefited from undercover deals involving Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former Pakistani nuclear weapons chief and so-called father of the Pakistan bomb...

AQ, as he is jocularly known, has been a busy little nuclear beaver.

He is suspected of supplying North Korea with uranium enrichment equipment and possibly even warhead designs, in exchange for Pyongyang’s ballistic missile expertise.

If anything, Mr. Khan is an equal opportunity proliferator.

In late January 2004 Pakistani officials concluded that two of the country's most senior nuclear scientists had black market contacts that supplied sensitive technology to Iran and Libya.

Pakistani intelligence officials said the scientists - A.Q. Khan and Mohammed Farooq - provided the help both directly and through a black market based in the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai. Dr. Khan and Dr. Farooq were longtime colleagues at A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories.

Now I'm not sure what ballistic missile expertise they're referring to above, as North Korea's first ballistic missile test was shorter and less satisfying than my last cup of coffee.

Which is not to scoff at scientists working in a country... whose only apparent reason for being is to worship a tiny, eccentric madman... who, not surprisingly, looks as eerily insane as his behaviour.

The North Koreans have managed to hotrod some Russian scud technology, but fortunately for the western world, had no luck at all so far on any real homegrown innovation. Their recent test of a nuclear weapon that has rivetted international attention was similarly underwhelming... but maybe having a nuclear arsenal isn't the whole game.

Just imagine how much money Krazy Kimbo could put in his pocket by muling small quantities of plutonium to enemies of America & Israel.

Could be my man Kim is crazy... like a fox.

Technorati Tags: North Korea, Abdul Qadeer Khan, nuclear bomb

Rex on Iggy

**********
UPDATE: 12 Oct 2006 - Prime Minister Harper wants to know...

“In the summer, he said he didn't lose any particular sleep over the event. Yesterday he said it was a war crime, and today his spokesperson is saying that's not quite what he meant, it was slightly more nuanced. Our position has always been that was a terrible tragedy,” Mr. Harper said in Vancouver.

**********

Is Michael Ignatieff really the last, great hope for the Liberal Party this time around? Doesn't that seem like a bit of a reach?

There's nothing wrong with living 30 years out of the country, but it is surely turning that consideration on its head to say it's a qualification for leading it.

UPDATE: 11 Oct 2006 Iggy gets jiggy with Islam

“I was a professor of human rights and I am also a professor of the laws of war and what happened in Qana was a war crime and I should have said that. That’s clear,” he told the popular Radio-Canada program, Tout le monde en parle.

And loses the support of his Toronto Campaign Co-Chair, MP Susan Kadis, as well as MP Keith Martin.

“Michael is an intelligent person and I would think that he would have a better handle on the Middle East given his years of experience on human rights and international law,” Kadis said in a written statement.

Technorati Tags: Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, Canada

So smoking pot does make you smarter*

When I was younger, and bear in mind we're going back 30 something years here, I had a friend who insisted that smoking dope made you smarter.

Trouble is, he didn't have ready access to a gazillion dollars worth of lab equipment and a dedicated cadre of grad students who could make that hypothesis scientifically credible.

Well, I guess it was only a matter of time.

THC, the key compound in marijuana, may also be the key to new drugs for Alzheimer's disease. That's because the marijuana compound blocks the formation of brain-clogging Alzheimer's plaques better than current Alzheimer's drugs.

The finding — in test-tube studies — comes from the lab of Kim Janda, Ph.D.

What I remember about smoking dope was that it made you loll around on that dusty old couch in somebody's partially finished basement... listening endlessly to the same Steppenwolf 8-track tape, on a stereo cranked up so high it would've sterilised a labrador retriever.

I also remember incredible munchies (a stupid word, dreamed up by a stoner, no doubt)... the undeniable need to pound back vast quantities of pizza, or anything even remotely resembling a foodstuff, like a herd of angry, starving locusts.

Now, truth be told, and I'm hoping my pre-adolescent son doesn't read this for at least another ten years, in my teens and twenties, I had a fairly casual relationship with recreational pharmaceuticals, and it did make me feel smarter... for a while.

Trouble is, thirty years and ten million less brain cells later, I'm not really sure if I'm really remembering it correctly at all.

Oh-oh.

*I was a no-show at the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the high school I once infrequently attended... so this post goes out to all the people I haven't talked to since the bad old days.

UPDATE 13 Oct 2006 - Marijuana Party makes big score

Canada's small political parties will share around $500,000 after an Ontario Superior Court judge struck down a law that allowed federal parties to be paid $1.75 per vote they received only if they took more than two per cent of the vote.

Technorati Tags: dope, intelligence, alzheimers

North Korea blows it

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IRONY ALERT UPDATE: A 10 on the "Clueless Cluck" scale

It appears to have escaped Kim Jong-Il's notice that he is a portly dwarf, with a demon-spawned hairdo that would scare Boy George off drugs forever.

The North Korean regime's obsession with racial purity has led to the killing of disabled infants and forced abortions for women suspected of conceiving their babies by Chinese fathers, according to a growing body of testimony from defectors.

Now, call me crazy, but wouldn't one of the building blocks of a "superior race" be proper nutrition?

**********
Early indications are, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il, who is apparently determined to turn North Korea into the geopolitical & economic equivalent of Haiti, went ahead and pulled the atomic trigger.

"The nuclear test was conducted 100 percent by our own wisdom and technology," the agency stressed. "This test proved as a source of big encouragement and happiness for our army and people who yearned for strong self defense ability."

Not as much much as they yearn for 1000 calories a day, I'm guessing.

Only last month the World Food Programme launched an urgent appeal for more emergency funds, saying that more than one third of the nation's children are badly malnourished.

North Korea suffered famine for several years starting in 1995 which killed hundreds of thousands of people and left survivors subsisting on leaves, tree bark and whatever else they could glean.

But they're not just about the big bang & mandatory dieting, according to the U.S. State Department.

It cited extrajudicial killings, disappearances and arbitrary detention including many political prisoners; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; torture, forced abortions and infanticide in prisons; severe punishment of some repatriated refugees: the absence of freedom of speech or religion and "government attempts to control all information."

Maybe Kim Jong Il did this, in spite of worldwide upset, just to show he's a big kahuna. Or perhaps Osama wouldn't leave 10 percent down without proof that he's getting the real deal.

Then again, if you go with Occam's razor and what is generally known about Kimbo, it's because he's totally, certifiably, round the bend batshit.

The fact is though, if this is the real deal... there's no putting this genie back in the bottle.

UPDATE: No problem, the UN will fix this up

North Korea's UN ambassador said the UN Security Council should congratulate his country instead of passing “useless” resolutions or statements.

Ambassador Pak Gil Yon told reporters he was proud of the North Koreans who conducted the test and said it will contribute “to the maintenance and guarantee of peace and security in the peninsula and the region.”

THE BOYS AT CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN ARE ALL HIGH-FIVIN' EACH OTHER - THAT CAN'T BE GOOD

Crazymeter spins off the dial

“We hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes,” the unnamed official said Monday, according to a Yonhap report from Beijing.
“That depends on how the U.S. will act.”

Technorati Tags: North Korea, Jack Layton, politics of fear

Stop for a minute and think

With the tragic death of the 40th Canadian soldier in Afghanistan since 2002, the media and the opposition parties are doing their best to sell newspapers and their souls, respectively.

Not to diminish this tragedy, and that's what it is, especially for the family and friends of those killed, please note this so far works out to 10 deaths per year.

It seems to me that there are all kinds of tragedy that Taliban Jack and the CBC, to name two egregious offenders, aren't all that interested in. Doesn't anybody else find it curious that, three quarters of the way through 2006, no one gives a crap about these people.

The OPP has investigated some 284 fatal collisions so far this year, which have resulted in the deaths of 327 people.

If the rate of fatal automobile accidents keeps up, by the end of the year we'll top 400 fatalities running away. Funny, that silence you hear is Jack Layton... not freaking out.

You should note that that's only the crashes in Ontario that were investigated by the OPP. So, to recap, there will be 10 times as many people killed in automobile crashes in Ontario (excluding cities & towns with their own police forces... which is a lot of the province) as were killed in Afganistan over the last 4 years.

What's significant here, is that Taliban Jack and the Liberals and the people who want to sell newspapers and commercial time on television & radio couldn't care less.

BECAUSE IT DOESN'T GET THEM ANY REVENUE OR ANY VOTES.

Now I could have dredged up deaths from drowning, or cancer, or people who die waiting for an organ transplant and that would have made a bigger emotional impact on anyone who has a friend, or family member struggling, for instance, with cancer. But it's cheap and it's low and it's just not right.

Think about that the next time someone tries to manipulate your emotions to make a quick buck, or get elected.

Technorati Tags: CBC, Jack Layton, politics of fear

Castro pooched

Good news for Cuba?

U.S. intelligence officials believe Cuban President Fidel Castro has terminal cancer and will not return to power.

Old Fidel's had a pretty good run, but it sounds like he ain't gonna be poking a finger in the Bush government's eye too much longer.

"So I guess Sloan-Kettering and the Mayo Clinic are out of the question, senor?"

Technorati Tags: Fidel Castro, Cuba, dictator

This is my Prime Minister

Licia Corbella sits down with Stephen Harper to discuss the Liberals, the Defense of Religion Act, FOI and his relationship with the mainstream media.

Like him or not, Harper is one class act.

Harper says flatly that he doesn't know the names of journalists making such requests, "and I'm not sure why it would matter anyway. I mean, why would I care?"

Well, some people would say it's so you can punish the journalists who ask?

"I punish them all anyway," he quips, then breaks into a long and sustained laugh at the expense of his own thorny relationship with the Parliamentary Press Gallery. "Look, I don't assume any of them are friends and I assume they'll ask for information -- that's what access is for," he adds.

Harper motto, " Do the right thing."

Technorati Tags: Stephen Harper, Conservative Party, Licia Corbella

Rattus Liberalis back to eating offspring

Another former Liberal cabinet minister, Lloyd Axworthy, has crawled out from the dark, damp basement of obscurity to gorge on the flesh of a Liberal leadership candidate.

Rattus Liberalis, like its better known and cuddlier cousin Rattus Rattus, is a nonemetic species. One of the particular talents of Genus Rattus is its ability to not vomit, which conveniently allows it to feast on its own young.

Axworthy says Ignatieff is a creation of "downtown Toronto powerbrokers" who does not understand liberalism, has no common touch and will lead the Liberals to another defeat.

Axworthy, who has apparently been gnawing on something psychedelic himself, is backing Bob Rae... a man whose sole claim to fame is that he singlehandedly holds the Guinness World Book Record for converting old diehard lefties to Reagonomics.

**********

SIDENOTE: A creation of the Powerbrokers???

You mean like Commie Bob's brother, John Rae... whose resume includes being Executive Vice-President of Power Corp., as well as Paul Desmarais' right-hand man?

The reason investigators are interested in Power Corporation's possible links to the bank that acted as a clearing house for Oil-for-Food is because the firm also appears to have had a stake in an oil firm that had been working out lucrative contracts with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Somebody from the Rae campaign better put Lloyd back in his cage.

Technorati Tags: Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, Lloyd Axworthy

Abdullah... lemme explain Ohm's Law

UPDATE: Canadian soldier killed is identified

Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson, of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, based in Petawawa, Ont., was the 40th to die in Afghanistan since 2002.

Mr. Wilson was on a pre-dawn patrol sent out to retrieve a group of soldiers that had spent the previous night securing the treacherous swath of farmland in the Panjwai district...

He will be remembered.

**********

The Islamofascists have struck another blow for Allah, ambushing a Canadian patrol and taking another life. Having learned all too well that they will be beaten like an insignificant third wife if they meet Canadian troops head to head, these cowards have gone back to the sneak attack.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - A Canadian soldier was killed Saturday when a roadside explosion struck the armoured vehicle he was riding in. The identity of the soldier, the 40th to be killed in Afghanistan since 2002, was not released.

I think it's time to change the rules. The next time we capture any of these mutts, they should be turned over to our Afghani allies for 'questioning'. The subsequent increase in intel would measurably reduce the incidence of ambush, and the "stricter interrogation" would serve to indicate that we are serious about winning this thing.

Now, before you go all Taliban Jack on me, just ask yourself... "If it was my child over there in Afghanistan, how squeamish would I be about taking whatever measures were necessary, to promote his or her continued well being?"

Personally... if my kid was in Afghanistan, and if it gave my child even a marginally better chance of survival - there isn't a raggedy-ass terrorist scrotum I'd hesitate to introduce to my good friend "Major Voltage".

So c'mon, let's be brutally honest. If right now, it was your kid pullin' security patrol out in the Panjwaii, what mother or father out there wouldn't be saying, "Red is negative, black is... "

**********

SIDENOTE: 8 Oct 2006 - Was armoured vehicle defective?

"This isn't supposed to happen, certainly if the explosion happens underneath the vehicle," Alex Ingram, a former consultant to the U.S. Marines, said Saturday.

"Without knowing all the facts, I'd say the machine was either faulty or it was some kind of freak thing. These things are built to withstand mine attacks."

Technorati Tags: Islamofascist, Afghanistan, Canadian Forces

It's not all bad news

Actually, I just couldn't resist the headline.

Cut-price headstones from China
breathe new life into British graveyards.

Technorati Tags: China, gravestone, Great Britain

Psycho City

Speaking of homegrown terrorism. It's not all political.

Here's a part of the reason I left Toronto and will never go back.

Two teens accused of setting a 13 year old girl alight and causing second-degree burns to her breasts were released on $5,000 bail yesterday.

The two 15 year olds, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, will be required to comply with release conditions. These include no possession of weapons (notably incendiary substances like lighter fluids), no contact with the victim, a 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew, and counselling sessions.

So what's really crazier here... the two junior sociopaths who tortured and maimed a 13 year old girl, or the toothless Justice System that sets them free to do it again? I'd call this one a photo finish.

And these guys had plans, make no mistake about it.

Police also seized a video camera which had allegedly been used earlier in the day when the teen boys set their own pant legs on fire.

Tightening up this juvenile get-out-of-jail-free card is one the things the Conservatives are proposing. Or maybe, you could just hire a bodyguard for your 13 year old daughter.

UPDATE: 8 Oct 2006 - It's clobberin' time

A 16-year-old Mississauga boy suffered a punctured liver and lung after he was repeatedly stabbed in a swarming attack early yesterday.

Technorati Tags: Youth Criminal Justice Act, Liberal Party, Toronto

They're not there just yet

There's certainly real danger out there in the world, but we may be getting a little bit carried away with the threat of nuclear terrorism.

The 28-year-old fanatic said he and his associates had initially assumed that at least one member of their group had the physics and engineering background necessary to construct a thermonuclear device.

"Many eyes were upon me," said Basim Aljawad, whose knowledge of physics did not extend to the principles of nuclear fission. "I make nail bombs. That's it."

We probably also shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the guys from the terrorist hotbed countries aren't usually able to avail themselves of all that their society has to offer, in terms of education or real world experience.

Morale was temporarily buoyed when cell member Dawoud Bishr, a former student at the Sorbonne in Paris, was found intently examining the exposed plutonium, which he had lifted from its protective lead footlocker. Two days later, however, the others had to bury Bishr in a landfill outside the city.

It's way more likely there will be a threat from one of the neighbourhood kids, who sees being a "freedom fighter" as something important and way cool.

Oh well, time to head to the bunker and catch a few zzz's.

Technorati Tags: Middle East, Nuclear bomb, terrorist

Rae's BC Campaign Manager turfed

The Liberal Party apparently hasn't ever met a rule it couldn't fold, spindle or mutilate. I wonder if Bob Rae will have to pony up $20,000 a la Volpe, or if this latest gaffe will just quietly fade away.

Mason Loh, a former Liberal party candidate and well-known political operative in the province, took the fall Friday after it was discovered that at least 37 nominated Rae delegates had not personally signed their own candidacy forms — a breach of party rules.

All of those forms had been handled by Mr. Loh or his operatives, said Bryan Baynham, legal counsel for the Rae campaign in B.C., and irregularities were also found in a “significantly larger” numbers of forms. As a result the Liberal party and the Rae camp decided to reject all candidate forms that were handled by Mr. Loh.

"Irregularities" are imaginative Libspeak for what amounts to forgery these days.

One party apparatchik was quick to try to place the blame on the rules, which apparently are too hard for Liberal contenders to understand.

“It's almost like swimming in molasses, the rules and the complications are so great,” said Mr. Baynham.

Which raises the question, "If the Liberal Party's own rules are too hard for the Libs themselves to figure out... should we be trusting them to run a whole country?"

SIDENOTE: In other Liberal scandal news

The list of names of more than 300 members of the Liberal Party of Canada was forwarded yesterday to RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli and chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley.

The list contains the names of people who are alleged to have not paid a $10 fee when they signed membership forms that'll allow them to vote in December's leadership race.

Technorati Tags: Bob Rae, Liberal Party, flop sweat

Numbers

While the media and opposition parties continue to try to make political hay out of our soldiers deaths in Afghanistan (which, however tragic are statistically less than 10 per year) they ignore some pretty important numbers back here at home.

Health Canada has estimated that unsafe drinking water causes 90,000 illnesses and 90 deaths every year. These don't get public attention unless they occur in clusters, said Christensen.

"The cost is quite high and there's really no excuse in a country that's as well off as Canada and has the abundance of water supply."

Canada has no enforceable drinking water standards such as those enjoyed by the United States and the European Union.

If you're a farmer, the numbers are pretty scary as well.

Each year in Canada, farming injuries cause about 120 deaths and 1,200 medical interventions. Deaths to farmers and farm workers represent 13% of all occupational fatalities in Canada.

And here's a big one.

About 3,000 people per year die in motor vehicle crashes in Canada. Of that total, 40 per cent (1,200 deaths) are attributed to alcohol. Canadians are spending up to $25 billion annually in emergency care, rehabilitation and other costs resulting from traffic collisions.

I don't even want to get into what happens when you get to hospital. Our overburdened medical system kills more people through medical mistakes than any of the figures I've quoted here.

So, maybe you can think about those numbers the next time Taliban Jack, or Bill Graham, or the CBC try to manipulate your emotions.

**********

UPDATE: Canucks think for themselves... Liberals in shock

Technorati Tags: statistics, Bill Graham, Jack Layton

Good news for Gerard Kennedy

Voila!!!

It's not so much that voters in Quebec didn't like Gerard Kennedy in particular... they just didn't like Liberals in general.

Party insiders said Thursday that turnout was so low in the province — only about 10 per cent of eligible party members voted over the weekend — that reassigning a small number of rejected ballots could more than double the number of undeclared delegates.

Cheer up fellas, it could happen anywhere I guess.

Let's compare that with the recent elections in Afghanistan, which until recently was a feudal theocracy with a democratic tradition approximating, well, let's say... Spain maybe, during the Inquisition.

Oooooooh guys, scorrrrrrrch... Afghani turnout was around 80 percent.

Now, how the heck did a country barely out of the middle ages pull those kind of numbers together?

The success of this first election did not just happen. It was due to the hard work, dedication, and vigilance of the 9 000 ISAF soldiers, including the 700 Canadian troops in Kabul, the Afghan troops and police, the US-led coalition troops, and all the people working in all the organizations and agencies who have prepared for this moment for the past months, even years.

Geez, maybe what the Liberals need are...

Canadian troops...

In our streets...

With guns...

Nah, that can't be right.

Technorati Tags: super weekend, Liberal Party, flop sweat

Why safe injection sites are a bad idea

Safe injection sites would be a great idea, except for one small detail.

THEY HAVE TO DEAL WITH JUNKIES.

In this case, and I've read of numberless others, it involves the oral version of a safe injection site. And it has lethal consequences.

Months after an infant girl died from drinking methadone, her parents are set to enter a legal battle over how she could have accessed the drug.

This genius scored some methadone and brought it home and it killed his daughter. He then tried to say the baby must have died from SIDS.

Let's all say this together, v-e-r-y * s-l-o-w-l-y... you cannot, ever, under any circumstances, without exception, trust a drug addict... when it comes to drugs. They will lie, cheat, steal and yes, even kill... just to get high.

I've just got one question. Why is this junkie asshole, who killed an innocent baby, not in jail?

SIDENOTE: EVER BOUGHT HEROIN?

SURE YOU HAVE... if you're a Canadian taxpayer.

Three Vancouver heroin addicts have started getting their fix for free -- as the first participants in a government-sponsored study on the effects of controlling junkies' supply.

As participants in the new North American Opiate Medication Initiative, the three got their first taxpayer-funded fix on Monday.

The study is trying to determine if addicts who are given a fix will be able to put the time they would have spent finding the drugs to better use.

For the next two years, the recipients will report to a heavily secured safe injection site in Vancouver's downtown Eastside three times a day, seven days a week. Once there, they will be given their physician-approved fix and allowed to inject themselves under the supervision of a nurse.

The next time you're stuck waiting in a hospital emergency room for hours, imagine what they could do with extra nurses and all the money that gets pissed away at these places that facilitate addiction. And remember little Summer Hope.

CLICK HERE to do a Google Search on the terms "methadone" & "accidental death". I got 25,100 hits. Each day that passes will increase that number.

UPDATE: In approximately 15 hours, it's up to 26,600 hits.

SIDENOTE: Cruisin' for a bruisin'

Since 2000, at least five provincial government studies, in addition to a federal Senate report, have concluded that public health spending is unsustainable at current growth rates.

The most recent and urgent warning has come from B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor whose analysts estimated that public health spending could consume 71 per cent of the provincial budget by 2017.

Technorati Tags: methadone, safe injection site, murder

The Moonbat Media & Gay Republican Fever

"As part of our own reporting, we sent a reporter and camera crew to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's house to question him on whether he is gay."

The anchorman bowed his head solemnly. " There were no survivors."

h/t to Re-Cath Kathy

Technorati Tags: moonbat, Donald Rumsfeld, politics of fear

Politically correct insanity

A British police officer who is also a Muslim has been excused from guarding the Israeli Embassy in London and the excrement has hit the air-conditioning.

John O’Connor, a former Flying Squad commander told The Sun: "This is the beginning of the end for British policing. "If they can allow this, surely they’ll have to accept a Jewish officer not wanting to work at an Islamic national embassy? Will Catholic cops be let off working at Protestant churches? Where will it end? This decision is going to allow officers to work in a discriminating and racist way."

Never mind the religiously oriented buildings... can a Muslim police officer refuse to respond to a crime scene where alcohol or uncovered women are involved? Can a Jewish officer refuse to work the Sabbath? Can Jamaican officers now refuse to bust pot dealers because they are declared Rastafarians? To take this incident to its logical end... could a Muslim firefighter refuse to respond to a fire at this same embassy? Could a Muslim paramedic refuse to treat Jewish victims? Mindlessly worshipping at the sacred altar of multiculturalism has to stop, before we forever alter the nature of our civil society. 

UPDATE: Muslim Police Officer married by Bakri

A Muslim police officer who asked to be excused from guarding the Israeli embassy was married by the radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, The Daily Telegraph has learned. PC Alexander Omar-Basha's father-in-law is related to Bakri, who performed an Islamic ceremony at the family home in north London. The cleric, who founded the now disbanded Al-Muhajiroun group of radical Muslims, is living in Lebanon after being barred from the UK.

SIDENOTE: Meanwhile French Coppers fight an "intifada"

"We need armoured vehicles and water cannon. They are the only things that can disperse crowds of hundreds of people who are trying to kill police and burn their vehicles."

Do the Liberals speak for you?

The Party of Eddie Haskell just doesn't get it.

Frankly, we're tired of the Liberals' belief that they hold a monopoly on Canadian identity, that they alone can divine what is and is not acceptable for Canadians to believe.

We have seen it time and again in their recent election campaigns. Every leader or party disagreeing with their positions on health care, the military or foreign affairs is portrayed as simply a toady of Washington.

Read the rest here

Technorati Tags: Canadian, Liberal Party, politics of fear

Libs dump Arar back on Zaccardelli

After trying to vaguely attach blame to the Conservatives, who weren't even in power at the time, former Liberal Public Safety Minister "Landslide Annie" McLellan now says it was RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli's fault that Maher Arar was deported to Syria.

OTTAWA—Anne McLellan, the former public safety minister and deputy prime minister who called the O'Connor inquiry into the Maher Arar scandal, says she was never told that the RCMP had labelled Arar as an "Islamic extremist."

McLellan is the second former minister responsible for the RCMP — Wayne Easter was the first — whose recollection of briefings contradict assertions by RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli that government authorities and ministers were fully briefed.

Former Liberal Solicitor-General Wayne Easter is quick to agree that Liberal Cabinet Ministers were blameless. He was shortly thereafter echoed by former Liberal Foreign-Affairs Minister Bill Graham, who distinguished himself this week by falsely accusing a Conservative Party staffer of being a racist.

Apparently the Three Stooges want us to believe the RCMP was running the Canadian government at this point in time.

Their accounts were in direct contradiction to the RCMP Commissioner's testimony to a Parliamentary Committee last week.

Commissioner Zaccardelli insisted the RCMP provided full timelines and briefings to the government "almost immediately" after Arar's plight became known.

Now this is a real quandry. Do we trust the word of a lifelong Peace Officer who rose to head our National Police Force, or three Liberal ex-cabinet ministers scrambling to cover their asses?

Geez, that's a tough one.

Technorati Tags: Zaccardelli, Liberal Party, Maher Arar

Let's just ditch the Senate

This Liberal appointee has been booted out of caucus, is being investigated by the police AND NOW he wants taxpayers to pick up his legal expenses.

CTV News has learned that Senator Raymond Lavigne, sued for using his office staff to cut down trees near his cottage property, wants taypayers to pay for his legal bills.

Lavigne, who continues to sit on the Senate, was also forced to give back $23,500, which he allegedly spent on improper travel expenses. The RCMP is currently investigating the matter. Meanwhile, the cost of Lavigne's legal bills is estimated at almost $90,000.

These guys are sick of being treated like second-class citizens...

Other senators are seeking larger budgets as well. Liberal Senator Colin Kenny hopes to secure an increase for all senators' office budgets, from $135,000 to $200,000 a year.

"Well, I'd like us to move up to match the House of Commons," said Kenny, who drives a Jaguar with personalized Senate license plates.

So far this year, the Senators have been in session 34 days. It's a killer schedule.

Liberal Senator Marie-P. Poulin has almost managed to complete her full-time law degree while still sitting in the Senate.

And just think... that old meanie Stephen Harper wants to put a lid on the Cash-for-Life Home for old political hacks.

Yup... he's so scary.

Technorati Tags: Senate, Liberal Party, fraud

Billy blows it bigtime

I am not a fan of Bill Graham.

So you can imagine my delight, watching him screw up bigtime yet again, very publicly accusing a completely innocent man of being a racist.

Liberal interim leader Bill Graham apologized Wednesday for attributing anti-Muslim statements to the new chief of staff of the environment minister.

“Mr. Speaker, I am advised that yesterday I incorrectly attributed anti-Muslim statements to the chief of staff of the ministry of the Environment,” Graham said.

"I apologize and totally withdraw those remarks," Graham said.

On Tuesday, Graham had said past comments on gay rights and Muslims made by Darrel Reid disqualified him from holding the post.

Where does Graham get off thinking he is qualified to pass judgement on others?

See what I mean? Everybody's dancing around the subject, even though it's an open secret. Everybody's waiting for Bill Graham to say something, but he doesn't. So what do I do?

Bill Graham is the last person who should be accusing anybody of anything.

SIDENOTE: Provincial Libs are at it as well

Toronto -- Ontario cabinet minister Rick Bartolucci formally apologized in the provincial legislature yesterday for saying Progressive Conservatives "abuse children."

"It was a dumb remark and I apologized for it," Mr. Bartolucci told reporters. "I make no bones about it."

FURTHER SIDENOTE: Libs should've looked closer to home

The government's public accounts documents also reveal $49,855 in fraudulent overtime claims at Agriculture Canada, a $119,399 theft of personal income tax refunds at the Canada Revenue Agency and a loss of $122,640 in public money at the Canadian International Development Agency for "misappropriation of program funds" managed overseas.

Technorati Tags: Bill Graham, Liberal Party, libel

From the shores of Gitchee-Gumee

Who are we to argue with "The Great Law of Peace"?

Many of Canada's First Nations say gaming is an ancestral right, similar to rights related to hunting and fishing.

Traditionally, the key questions have been: Can the aboriginal communities show that the activity existed when the first Europeans arrived? Can they show they never surrendered the right. The Kahnawake Mohawks south of Montreal, along with certain other First Nations, say gaming passes the test raised by both questions.

And by extension, they say, online gaming is included.

It's sort of the same way my Irish ancestors felt about whiskey. The only thing standing in the way is that pesky "white mans law".

"The jurisdictional or territorial argument that's often put forward has been shot down in a number of cases all the way to the Supreme Court," said Detective Sergeant Dave Taylor of the Ontario Provincial Police illegal gaming unit. "They have no right to their own gambling, as is claimed every time we lay a charge."

Technorati Tags: Six Nations, Kahnawake Mohawks, online gaming

John Tory steps up

Ontario Conservative Leader John Tory will take on the McGuinty government's newest cabinet minister when he runs in the provincial election in a year's time.

Tory will run in the riding of Don Valley West, currently held by Education Minister Kathleen Wynne.

Technorati Tags: John Tory, Conservative Party, Kathleen Wynne

In the name of Allah

Two more Canadian soldiers killed in the line of duty.

Canadian military officials identified the dead as Sgt. Craig Paul Gillam and Cpl. Robert Thomas James Mitchell, both members of the Royal Canadian Dragoons based in Petawawa, Ont.

That's some Religion of Peace. They've gone back to killing from ambush and if civilians are in the way... well, who cares?

"They've learned they can't take us on head-to-head in a conventional battle, so they're going back to typical insurgent tactics, (roadside bombs) and hit-and-run tactics," Lavoie said.

I can't wait for the Liberals and Taliban Jack to start exploiting the deaths of these two young men. I'm sure their comrades will appreciate it even more.

They will be remembered.

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan, Royal Canadian Dragoons, Canadian soldier

More Liberal patronage blowback

Call me wacky, but if you're handing out rewards to political hacks, maybe a sexual predator shouldn't be on your A-list.

A member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada has been suspended after a woman accused him of trying to trade sex for a favourable ruling.

The chairman of the board issued a statement yesterday citing "very serious" allegations of misconduct against former Toronto councillor and patronage appointee Steve Ellis.

Mr. Ellis was appointed to the IRB in 2000 by the federal Liberal government.

UPDATE: 9 Oct 2006 - Another Liberal appointee, IRB judge Yves Bourbonnais, appointed to the IRB in 1996 is serving a six year jail term for similar criminal conduct.

MONTREAL — The federal Immigration and Refugee Board has identified nearly two dozen suspect cases handled by a Quebec adjudicator who has admitted to being on the take, according to internal department documents.

I wonder... is this where Joe Volpe will be put out to pasture if he gets hammered in the next election.

Technorati Tags: patronage, Liberal Party, Liberal Pork

Devious Dalton rides again

Here's a real shocker... the Ontario Liberals break a promise. AGAIN.

If the McGuinty government was a horse, you'd have to take it out back of the barn and shoot it.

The Ontario government's ”neglect” of environmental issues will have grave and long-lasting consequences, the province's Environmental Commissioner warned Tuesday.

He criticized the government for failing to meet its goal of diverting 60 per cent of garbage from landfill sites by 2008. He charged that the Environment Ministry lacks the ability to monitor whether existing landfills pose a risk to human health.

”This accumulation of problems, shortcomings and failures in so many areas can only be described as mismanagement or, more seriously, neglect,” Mr. Miller said.

SIDENOTE: Trot out Walkerton again Dalton, I dare you.

The report also found Ontario’s regulations governing the use of manure and sewage sludge on farmlands are weaker than they were six years ago when seven people died and thousands more fell ill from E. coli in Walkerton, Ont., after heavy rain swept deadly bacteria off a farmer’s field and into the town’s water supply.

SIDENOTE: Tell us about Law & Order, Dalton

One of the accused was out on bail when Rabti was killed. Three weeks prior to the murder, the suspect was arrested at Yorkdale Mall for allegedly carrying a cocked and loaded .45-calibre semi-automatic handgun. He was set free two days later on a $10,000 bail.

Technorati Tags: Dalton McGuinty, Liberal Party, environment

DANGER! DANGER! WARNING...

For those of you who are perplexed about the more or less constant violence in the Middle East, I believe I have found a reliable barometer of the "threat level" in this region.

*

LOW
Meaning - We are slightly miffed, although we are not sure why. We think we are not as popular as we would like to be.

Non-Muslim response - Tread very carefully and do not offend us

Consequence of non-compliance - We will get very cross and stamp our feet

*

GUARDED
Meaning - We are quite offended, because people are generally picking on us.

Non-Muslim response - Stop making jokes about us

Consequence of non-compliance - We will rant on about "Islamophobia" and "Orientalism", although we don't understand what those words really mean

*

ELEVATED
Meaning - We are definitely cross, because people keep blaming us for 9/11, Parisian cars getting torched, Saudi women getting stoned

Non-Muslim response - Pretend that these things have nothing to do with Islam or Muslims, tell everyone how we brought algebra to 9th Century Spain

Consequence of non-compliance - We will cause even more mayhem. Did you leave your car out in the street?

*

HIGH
Meaning - We are extremely offended by a particular individual or country

Non-Muslim response - That individual or country must apologize

Consequence of non-compliance - Individual; Fatwa, assassination, or both. Country; Boycott (unless you export things the Saudi Royal Family are consumers of), and Saudi newspapers write a long string of boring and repetitive articles that you will never read but will drive Saudi readers to distraction.

*

SEVERE
Meaning - We have had enough of your rudeness and ridicule and have gone completely ballistic

Non-Muslim response - We demand that the Pope and President Bush go down on their knees and apologize personally for every rude thing that everyone has ever said about us over the last 1400 years, and promise that it won't happen again

Consequence of non-compliance - We will cease the export of oil, therefore depriving the numerous Saudi Royal Family of all income, we will cease the import of all cars, tanks, airplanes (military and civil), computers, building technology, infrastructure and general professional expertise, and we will stop visiting Western fleshpots like the South of France, the USA, London..... Honest. We will. We really mean it this time. Just you wait. We really will. You better believe it. We're not kidding. We're telling you. Honest. Don't make us do it.....

Of course, simply making reference to this has raised the MOL to...

Technorati Tags: Middle East, Hamas, Hezbollah

Conservatives changing the game

And the Liberals are getting worried.

When they sat in opposition, the Tories dined out on tales of then-immigration minister Joe Volpe’s $138 pizzas, and former Mint president David Dingwall’s $800 dinners for two.

Now that they’re in government, the Conservatives are actually raising hackles with their frugality.

Ralph Goodale (yes, he of Income Trust fame) says that the Conservatives are being miserly and he wants answers.

Rona Ambrose at Environment has recorded just more than $56,000 in travel to date this year, a hefty total until one considers the almost $139,000 spent by her Liberal predecessor in 2005. Ambrose’s half-year hospitality bill of $814 makes her look like a piker compared to Stephane Dion, who charged $14,408 over the course of 2005

Justice Minister Vic Toews, who spent $32,562 on travel in the last six months, isn’t quite on pace to match Irwin Cotler’s $76,751 total travel bill in the same portfolio last year. And the $767 spent by Toews on hospitality so far leaves him in Cotler’s $4,300 dust.

Through two quarters, Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda has spent $13,778 on travel and $662 on hospitality. In the same two quarters of 2005, Liberal minister Liz Frulla billed $52,885 for travel and $2,060 for hospitality.

And Immigration Minister Monte Solberg’s summer expenses of just more than $23,000 for travel and $455 for hospitality compare favourably to those of Liberal Joe Volpe, who in the same job in the same quarter last year spent $35,000 and $3,900 respectively.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper already answered that question Ralph... it's not the government's money, it belongs to the taxpayers and it will be spent frugally & wisely.

Head on over to Angry in the Great White North to learn how you can help Big Ralphie understand how things should work in a democracy.

Technorati Tags: Stephen Harper, Conservative Party, Ralph Goodale

Can't blame video games in this case

I'm guessing there were no black trenchcoats, or goth makeup involved either.

The county coroner says at least six people were killed in a shooting at a one-room Amish schoolhouse, where state police said earlier a gunman killed "a number" of people Monday in Pennsylvania's bucolic Lancaster County.

So where does this leave the "video games and/or freaky clothes are turning our kids into psychos'" crowd?

Technorati Tags: school shooting, Amish, Pennsylvania

Aboriginals hit the Jackpot

No wonder the aboriginals don't pay attention to " the white mans law". It's pretty damn lucrative.

The federal government has awarded more than $1.5 million in contracts this year to a company on the Six Nations reserve that is associated with illegal online gambling.

It's not even like this is a gray area in jurisprudence.

Hosting such an online gaming operation on Canadian soil is an offence under the Criminal Code.

So who's the brains behind all this?

The principals behind SixNet are Jerry Montour and Ken Hill. They are major figures involved in the Six Nations' international cigarette manufacturing business known as Grand River Enterprises, which recently won a $70-million contract to supply smokes to the German army.

Technorati Tags: Six Nations, Jerry Montour, Ken Hill

Only at the CBC

We should have seen this coming.

Zarqa Nawaz wants to put "the fun back in fundamentalist".

The CBC has quietly ordered eight episodes of a promising -- but potentially politically controversial -- new sitcom, Little Mosque on the Prairie, about a fictional Muslim family living in rural Saskatchewan. But instead of hoisting pitchforks, rolling down hills and selling eggs at Oleson's General store like Michael Landon's Ingalls family, this transplanted clan will be trying to interact with the denizens of a little Prairie town in a post Sept. 11 world.

My wife is convinced this is a joke... but I'm just waiting for episodes of "My Three Martyrs" and "Survivor - Gaza Strip".

So who is the genius behind this potentially explosive hit?

A former CBC radio and television producer heavily into satire, Nawaz's films include BBQ Muslims (a five-minute comedy about two brothers who are suspected of being terrorists after their barbecue blows up, shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1996) and Real Terrorists Don't Belly Dance.

Technorati Tags: Little Mosque on the Prairie, CBC, political correctness

Moosehead Monday

In this great country of ours, there are two kinds of people... the wine sippers and the beer drinkers. Jack Layton is obviously a full-blown bridge playing, fruity dessert wine kind of guy. On his right I see Stephen Harper watching hockey with a frosty bottle of ale in his mitt. The Liberal leadership guys say they don't imbibe, but I see them as secret drinkers, hiding tiny bottles of vodka in their sock drawers.

Guess which kind we sent to Afghanistan.

Moosehead Breweries, based in Saint John, N.B., is sending more than 1,700 cans of Moosehead Lager to Canadian troops stationed in Kandahar, after some of them specifically requested the suds.

So, I'm thinking if we all went down to the beer store and there was a run on Moosehead, it'd be both a smooth satisfying beverage interlude as well as a statement of support for our soldiers in Afstan. I know on some level this is a business thing for the brewery, but dammit, my next case of beer is gonna be Moosehead.

Even without asking, I know Darcey is in.

Technorati Tags: Moosehead Breweries, Afghanistan, beer

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Continued senseless internecine violence surprises no one.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Militiamen from the ruling Hamas opened fire on government workers protesting their unpaid salaries on Sunday, touching off gunbattles with security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas. Four people were killed in the violence.

Predictably...

After the deadly protest in Gaza City, dozens of supporters from Mr. Abbas' Fatah Party retaliated by ransacking and torching the empty Cabinet building in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Perhaps we could send Jack Layton to Gaza to fix everything.

UPDATE: Accusations - Abbas planning coup

Hamas officials on Saturday accused Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of planning to stage a coup against the Hamas-led government by sending thousands of PA policemen to riot in various parts of the Gaza Strip.

Technorati Tags: Gaza City, Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas

Hey... it could happen

Leader Elizabeth May says if the Green Party were to form government, it would take serious and tangible steps to combat global warming. Of course, reducing the Earth's temperature would be made easier by the fact that Hell would have frozen over.

SIDENOTE: Thank God Libs are still blind to reality

The third candidate who intrigues us, whom we suspect would be doing much better in the polls if the Liberals were genuinely interested in party renewal instead of just victory is Martha Hall Findlay.

First into the race and bilingual, she has impressed Liberals wherever she's gone, which would be a much bigger deal if they had opted for a "one person, one vote" contest instead of an old-fashioned brokered convention.

Technorati Tags: Elizabeth May, Green Party, Martha Hall Findlay

Revenge of the Newfies

"Sure dem boys from up alon' thinks we sounds foolish," says a booming male character, played by Newfoundland stage actor Chuck Herriot.

"This is how marketing people from Ontario think people from Newfoundland speak," replies a soothing feminine voice. They think it's cute to make fun of the way we talk . . . we think they're cute too - in a Dalton McGuinty, kind of nondescript way."

The 30-second spot, which has been running on local radio stations for two weeks, was done after Nissan's ad caused a stir in the province for its portrayal of a fast-talking car salesman lampooning a Newfoundland accent.

Technorati Tags: Dalton McGuinty, Newfoundland, Bonavista

Liberals still scratching their heads

**********
UPDATE: I have disagreed with John Ibbitson in the past.

Not this time.

It also contributes to Mr. Harper's reputation for firmness. You can agree or disagree with the man, but you can't deny his moral consistency. That strong internal compass was evident in Bucharest; a different prime minister might well have shrugged and signed, diminishing both Canada and la Francophonie.

**********

Bill Graham and the Liberals are trying to find out how Prime Minister Stephen Harper is making all these decisions without polling the shit out of the matter beforehand.

Members of the Francophonie summit have agreed to a compromise on a contentious resolution after Prime Minister Stephen Harper blocked the original proposal.

The original wording of the resolution recognized Lebanon's suffering in this summer's 34-day conflict, but not Israel's.

"There's gotta be some secret", bewildered Lib operators are saying. "Does he have a thousand citizens locked up and instantly available to answer his diabolical questions? Is he flipping a loonie?

When told that Harper was simply making decisions based on principle, bewildered Libs were seen huddling and muttering in Ottawa nightspots... trying to crack the code behind this mysterious concept.

SIDENOTE: Libs stick to what they know.

One of our favourite tales of Liberal skullduggery dates back to the 1984 leadership war when organizers for Jean Chretien had arranged to stack a Toronto delegate selection meeting with several hundred recruits from the Sikh community, an all-too-common practice that continues to this day.

Instead, John Turner's scheme machine managed to trick the crowd of Sikh insta-Grits on to school buses they thought were going to the delegate selection meeting, but which accidentally ended up at the Metro Toronto Zoo for the evening.

What can you say about a political party that won't even wipe the Volpe off it's shoes?

SIDENOTE: What the hell is the Francophonie?

The Francophonie is a Liberal's dream -- a France-centric attempt at world government. It was a favourite of politicians ranging from Pierre Pettigrew to Saddam Hussein. It accomplished very little, but in French.

Technorati Tags: Stephen Harper, Conservative Party, Francophonie