Maybe George Smitherman...

Could try "CHANGING DIAPERS" for a day...

Wasn't there just a big kerfuffle... over seniors in longterm care being abused by nursing home personnel?

So what's this all about, anyway... payback?

Canadians working in long-term care facilities face an "extraordinary” amount of physical violence, unwanted sexual attention and racism – far more than colleagues working in other countries with publicly funded health care systems, a new study says.

C'mon guys... make up your minds.

**********

UPDATE: Okay... now I get it

It's all about "fairness" and "equal time"...

"I will expect to be able to have a "rebuttal" column in every issue of the Canadian Islamic Congress's weekly e-mail newsletter -- not to mention a "Jew's Views" column in the half-dozen Arabic language newspapers in Canada, many of which are virulently anti-Semitic."

"I'll even demand my "equal time" when the Liberal Party publishes its newsletters -- after all, as a conservative, I'm sure I'll feel offended by what they have to say."

*

HAMAS spanked... sent to its room

Just think of them as the homicidal toddlers of the Middle East...

The Israeli government has ordered its military to reduce its operations in the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials say.

The lull follows a violent period in which at least 120 Palestinians were killed in Israeli military operations.

Rocket fire into Israel from Gaza dropped from dozens every day a week ago to a few over the weekend.

Hopefully, at some point... they'll figure it out.

*

From the people who brought you...

"I did not have sex with that woman."

"The first threshold question about a vice-president is, are you prepared to be president?" Mr. Kerry said yesterday. "So on the one end, they are saying he's not prepared to be president."

"On the other hand, they're saying maybe he ought to be vice-president."

Hey, Hillary... maybe you should check with Obama himself... before you start yappin' about him carryin' your bags.

*

Smile Train works as a charity...

Because it is run like a business...

Fixing a child’s cleft lip or palate is a relatively cheap procedure with outsize payoffs: cleft children in many countries are ostracized and have a hard time going to school, getting jobs and marrying, and the surgery reverses those disadvantages.

Indeed, when pitching a reluctant government, Mullaney refers to cleft children as “nonperforming assets” who can soon be returned to the economic mainstream.

And talk about making a "real difference".

He fights bad incentives with better ones: when Smile Train learned that midwives in Chennai, India, were being paid off to smother baby girls born with cleft deformities, Mullaney started offering midwives as much as $10 for each girl they instead took to a hospital for surgery.

*

What's Syed screaming about now?

-- CALGARY -- A Calgary Muslim leader is thankful members of the Calgary Police Service are pursuing anonymous Internet users who posted what he called "chilling threats" on an Alberta-based website.

On Saturday, Mr. Soharwardy issued a press release thanking Calgary police after he said they have identified that two of the anonymous postings were from Ontario and one was from the United States.

A duty inspector with the Calgary police yesterday said he couldn't confirm information on the case and didn't have details about what might happen next.

Funny... he didn't send out a press release about his own little "threatening" issue...

Also reported in January, three Muslim women from his mosque have filed a human-rights complaint against Mr. Soharwardy with allegations of sexism and violence.

He denied the allegations and said sectarian divisions and a power struggle in the mosque were to blame.

**********

UPDATE:

"Now, we have to take everything Soharwardy says with a brick of salt."

"I can spot at least one fabrication in this very brief story -- contrary to his claim, Soharwardy did not file a human rights complaint in December against the Western Standard website (which I sold last fall to a new owner)."

"That's just a bit of taqiyya on Soharwardy's part, as per usual."

When you care enough...

To send the Beria best...

"I'm disgusted but not surprised by the tribunal's decision to be secretive."

"And I won't hold out hope that Canada's large media companies, who normally rush to court in unison to overturn other publication bans, will do so here."

"The problem with these human rights commissions isn't just that they dare to tell Canadians what they can or can't say and think. It's that their processes and procedures -- no matter what they're investigating -- are abusive, one-sided and un-Canadian."

*

Going for the Gold

Apparently, Holy Jihad is off to a less than auspicious start... in China...

Chinese forces have for years been battling a low-intensity separatist movement among Xinjiang's Uighurs, a Turkic Muslim people culturally and ethnically distinct from China's Han majority.

Wang said the group had been trained by and was following the orders of a Uighur separatist group based in Pakistan and Afghanistan called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, or ETIM.

"These guys are fantasizing if they think they can disrupt the Olympics," said Wang, known for his hardline stance on crushing dissent.

*

Does not play well with others

Anybody out there having a little trouble with Microsoft Vista? Turns out... you're not alone.

Mike is clearly not a naïf. He’s Mike Nash, a Microsoft vice president who oversees Windows product management.

And Jon, who is dismayed to learn that the drivers he needs don’t exist? That’s Jon A. Shirley, a Microsoft board member and former president and chief operating officer.

And Steven, who reports that missing drivers are anything but exceptional, is in a good position to know: he’s Steven Sinofsky, the company’s senior vice president responsible for Windows.

And how do we know this?

Their remarks come from a stream of internal communications at Microsoft in February 2007, after Vista had been released as a supposedly finished product and customers were paying full retail price.

Oops.

*

Calling Stephane Dion...

Let's talk about F.A.I.R...

In their attempt to show that Joanna Gualtieri was not the victim of harassment and reprisals when she made claims of misspending and waste in the 1990s at the Department of Foreign Affairs, federal government lawyers have already required her to answer 10,579 questions in court.

(via justfrank)

Hey, Dalton...

What's the next big brain wave... hooker coupons for rapists?

The distribution of safer crack use kits to addicts does not promote drug use, the head of the city's needle exchange program said yesterday.

Shaun Hopkins, manager of The Works, which is run by Toronto Public Health, said an estimated 12,000 kits, containing glass stems, brass screens and rubber mouthpieces, are distributed every month at a cost of about $1.50 each.

I dunno... let's ask somebody who has to deal with these folks on a daily basis...

Crack cocaine remains the No.1 drug problem on Toronto streets and police say they're in favour of anything that cuts into the drug's use.

They just don't believe handing out crack user kits does that.

**********

RELATED: Speaking of Fiberal nutbaggery...

I seem to remember that the previous Conservative government brought in a Safe Schools Act... that had zero tolerance for schoolyard violence. If you committed an act of violence on school property... you were out... no mercy.

But, it seems... and this is the best part... Dalton and Company just recently tossed that legislation out... because, well... the kids getting tossed out were, uh... how can I say this... almost uniformly multicultural.

So what's Dalton's solution?

Yeah, you guessed it... another huge contribution from you... the benevolent Ontario taxpayer.

Education Minister Kathleen Wynne laid out plans yesterday to allocate $43 million for additional social workers and psychologists for schools across the province to help tackle school violence before it happens.

"Every person must feel they are respected and included in our education system," she said.

Uh, Kathleen... does that include the kids who aren't swinging pipes?

**********

LAST WORD: You think I'm exaggerating?

The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario actually calls these kids... "racialized students".

Bill 212, the Education Amendment Act, (Progressive Discipline and School Safety Act), 2007 was passed in June 2007. Its provisions take effect on February 1, 2008.

The Liberal government’s Bill 212 was in response to a complaint launched by the Ontario Human Rights Commission regarding the extent to which racialized students and students with disabilities were unfairly treated through the zero tolerance approach to student discipline.

Now, I'm gonna assume here, that "students with disabilities" refers to kids with... as they say... "intellectual and emotional deficits"... and not intractably violent wheelchair-bound kids with spina bifida.

Thank you, once again, Dalton McGuinty.

*

I'm not sure I really get it...

In Toronto, they call this... the morning rush hour.

-- BELLEVILLE ONT. -- The idea is simple - a group of interested people will gather dressed up as the living dead and make their way from one location to another.

Boutilier said some people may not understand the appeal of the event but added not everyone wants to go to festivities such as the Waterfront Festival.

"A zombie walk may appeal to a different group."

Yup... that's exactly what I was thinking... "different with an "r".

*

The Leftosphere should be happy

At least he didn't get tasered...

A burglar rummaging through a west end pharmacy was shot dead today after he fought with the police officer who stumbled across the break-in.

The shooting happened just before 4 am at Solarski's Pharmacy on Garden and Roncesvalles Aves.

In another account of the shooting... the "Red Star" stops just shy of using the words "Police Death Squad."

**********

UPDATE: Looks like I spoke too soon...

The Globe and Mail IS talking about death squads...

Elmo Harris from Niagara, Canada writes: "More murder and mayhem by our police. Police weapons need to be substantially reduced in power to about 32 calibre. There have been far too many deaths caused by the police lately.

Even more disturbing are the curious circumstances surrounding those deaths. This cop is by himself, he hears an alarm going and a window broken and he doesn't radio it in? Come on!"

See, Elmo... I was thinkin' the headline should have actually been... "Violent junkie burglar killed... neighbours breathe sigh of relief."

I guess that doesn't work for you, huh?

*

Latest in a series...

Of stuff I totally did not know...

For all its awesomeness, Pennsylvania’s only contribution to the presidency was James Buchanan. He was in office at the onset of the Civil War and is celebrated mainly for holding down the bottom of the Worst Presidents lists.

Historians often describe him as “our only bachelor president,” although Buchanan did live for many years with William King of Alabama, who later became our only bachelor vice president.

We do not hear much speculation about whether Buchanan was our first gay president because, frankly, most gay Americans would prefer to start with somebody who didn’t preside over the secession of the South.

The good news is that this really has nothing to do with the Democratic primary.

But I do think a little bit of history can liven up a dreary morning.

*

Everything you need to know...

About the target demographic at the CBC...

jPod, the satiric, Vancouver-set drama based on the bestselling novel by Douglas Coupland, will not return to the CBC schedule this fall.

The critically acclaimed and internationally successful drama Intelligence has also been cancelled.

But, never fear, "Little Mosque on the Prairie" is safe and sound in its hallowed multicultural niche.

I've got an idea where we can get that billion dollars to fund MP Dan McTeague's RESP initiative.

*

Major Disaster at HoM

No... not a tornado tearing the roof off the house.

Just in time for March break, our half-tame cottontail has chewed through the cable on the last remaining functioning Xbox controller. We had a wireless model which never really functioned all that well... and lost another just recently to simple wear and tear.

The Boy went to bed bereft... muttering about chucking said rabbit back out into the cold, cruel wild... where I suspect it would remain alive only about as long as Canadian Cynic at a Libby Davies fondue party.

I have since spent an hour repeatedly trying to strip and tin wires the approximate diameter of human hairs... an exercise I can only characterize as akin to trying to circumcise oneself... while riding a unicycle... blindfolded.

Can't find the damn electrical tape, so it looks like I'm stymied until the morning.

Ah, well... tomorrow's another day.

**********

CORRECTION:

Mrs. Neo feels I left a few important details out of this tale.

One - Mr. B is really skating on thin ice... if he doesn't fry his tiny brain chewing through a lamp cord... it'll only take one more transgression against the Boy and he'll find himself playing tag with the local coyotes.

Two - We had picked up that Xbox controller just yesterday... it was hours old.

Three - We have no electrical tape because the Boy used it all to apply cool new "black skin" to all his plastic guns.

Now you have... the rest of the story.

*

Merchant of Death

And you thought painting Thomas the Tank Engine with lead paint... was as low as they could go...

A major U.S. recall of a blood-thinning drug linked to a Chinese factory last week is prompting new questions over the ability of government and industry to ensure the safety of drugs made with ingredients from China.

The issue has reached a boiling point in the United States in recent days after Baxter International Inc. expanded its nationwide recall of heparin, a blood thinner, amid reports it had been linked to 19 deaths and hundreds of illnesses.

Think this doesn't have anything to do with you?

Well... think again.

While many drugs taken by Canadians are manufactured in North America, a significant portion of the ingredients come from China and other countries.

Many drug companies in Canada are reluctant to discuss the identity of their suppliers and how many are located in China, citing competitive reasons. But investment firm Credit Suisse recently estimated that China will be producing one-quarter of the world's pharmaceutical ingredients by 2010.

Just what the doctor ordered.

*

Where the hell...

Is all that global warming the enviro-fascists have been promising?

He says snowfall amounts will be “somewhere in the 20-30 centimetre range for Toronto” and area.

But as you go east, says Mr. Merideth, “upwards of 30-50 centimetres is possible.”

**********

RELATED: Yeah, I know... off with my head

Stoogeleft and 300baud think I'm a heretic... but I'm afraid it isn't just me.

The theory was developed by another Hungarian scientist, Ferenc Miskolczi, an atmospheric physicist with 30 years of experience and a former researcher with NASA's Ames Research Center.

After studying it, Zágoni stopped calling global warming a crisis, and has instead focused on presenting the new theory to other climatologists. The data fit extremely well. "I fell in love," he stated at the International Climate Change Conference this week.

And it's more than just a couple of guys labouring anonymously, off in the scientific wilderness...

The conclusions are supported by research published in the Journal of Geophysical Research last year from Steven Schwartz of Brookhaven National Labs, who gave statistical evidence that the Earth's response to carbon dioxide was grossly overstated.

It also helps to explain why current global climate models continually predict more warming than actually measured.

But, for heavens sake, don't tell that to Pope Algore the first, or St. David Suzuki.

We don't wanna start another Inquisition.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I'm asking the question that if Al Gore knows that CO2 forcing, that is, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from our fossil fuels, is not causing global warming, isn't he committing financial fraud when he sells carbon credits to people to offset their use of fossil fuels and putting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?"

*

Remember when you were a teenager...

And you used to get into all those playground brawls with other pipe-wielding kids?

Yeah, me neither.

He said it was too soon to know exactly who was fighting who or what the dispute was over, but one youth had his ear partially severed and two other boys suffered head wounds.

All but one of the attackers got away, Gibson said, explaining a boy believed to be 16 or 17 was arrested and taken to 43 Division.

His name can't be released under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

(h/t reader richard)

**********

UPDATE: David Miller's "Better Way"

A gang of 10 teenagers violently robbed scores of subway commuters yesterday afternoon during the peak of commuter rush hour.

The youths, all aged about 15, robbed numerous people — sometimes punching victims in the face — between 4 and 6 p.m. in the stairwells and platforms at stations along the Bloor St. and Yonge St. lines.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I'm actually surprised these gangbangers haven't figured it out yet; the world is there for the picking."

"Mayor Miller has laid the table, they just have to sit down and feast."

*

See I have this theory...

That the day Libya gets to choose the colour of the soap in the U.N. bathrooms - never mind drive the political agenda - we are truly and irrevocably f@cked...

-- UNITED NATIONS -- For the second time in two months, Libya on Thursday blocked the U.N. Security Council from condemning violence and unrest in the Middle East.

In closed-door discussion among the 15-nation council's diplomats, Libya insisted the statement should be "balanced" by including condemnation of Israeli actions in Gaza, a Libyan U.N. representative said after the meeting.

This organisation, much like the rot-riddled Canadian Senate has truly outlived its usefulness.

In January, Libya blocked the council from expressing concern about the safety of people living along the chaotic Gaza-Egypt border. The council had negotiated for most of the week on how to word a statement originally proposed by Arab nations and initially opposed by the U.S.

**********

RELATED: Speaking of pissing into the wind

**********

LAST WORD: A celebration of murder

Israeli police named him as Ala Hashem Abu Dhaim, a 25-year-old from the Jabal Mukabir neighbourhood.

His family set up a funeral tent outside their home there, adorned with the flags of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah.

Hamas described the shooting as a "natural reaction" to Israel's actions in Gaza.

It's bulldozer time.

**********

YEP... HE JUST CAN'T STAY AWAY:

A warm welcome... yet again... to readers of noted feminist & humanitarian... "Canadian Cynic".

One thing's for sure... I'm never gonna shake his slimy, sticky hand.

*

Credit where credit is due

Well, whaddaya know... all that frantic swingin'... every once in a while you get to poke a thumb in your opponents eye...

The measure would cost the government $900-million and wreak havoc with projections contained in last week's federal budget, which predicted a razor-thin surplus of $2.3-billion in the next fiscal year and $1.3-billion the following year.

Let's get it on.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"No problem here, get rid of the CBC and there's your 900 mil. plus change."

**********

LAST WORD: What do the eggheads say?

Don Drummond, chief economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank, said the McTeague plan would be far more dear than original Finance Department estimates suggest.

Mr. Drummond said tax deductible RESP contributions would eventually cost the treasury $2-billion a year because Canadians would flock to the program to get the tax break.

*

The civil rights heroes...

At CTV... have courageously dared to report on, what saintly talking-head Lloyd Robertson is calling... a "devastating blow to minorities"... in Canada.

What's especially interesting, is the way not everybody commenting on the article at their website feels the same way...

"As a Christian I have limitations I CHOOSE to take on because I CHOOSE to be faithful."

"I choose not to be drunk - I choose not to view pornography - I choose to be faithful to my spouse."

"It seems to me that this devout person has also made a choice to be faithful to a belief system that also has some limitations."

That's the way things seem to be falling out over at the Sun as well...
Oh well, Lloyd... better luck next time.

*

I've just gotta know...

Did this guy register his handgun?

-- TORONTO -- Mohmed Ahmed Nakhuda probably has a gun and is wanted for using it in the murder of Jonathan Rodrigues, Toronto Police allege.

Investigators say Nakhuda was one of several men caught on security cameras leaving a nearby apartment building shortly before the shooting.

*

Whaddaya gonna do?

It's just the wonderful "Will of Allah."

-- Jerusalem -- Police in Israel say two gunmen have infiltrated a rabbinical seminary at the entrance of Jerusalem and killed at least seven people.

The Israeli media say about 35 people have been wounded.

**********

UPDATE: Canadian teen among wounded

A Canadian citizen is among the nine people wounded in a Palestinian gunman's attack at a rabbinical seminary in Jerusalem that killed eight other students, CBC News has learned.

Nadav Eliayahu Samuels, 15, was shot several times in Thursday's attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, the CBC's Peter Armstrong reported Friday from Jerusalem.

Samuels, an Israeli-Canadian, is listed in stable condition with multiple gunshot wounds around his body and is heavily medicated, Armstrong reported.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"There are pictures now of Palestinians dancing in the streets in celebration over the attack."

**********

LAST WORD: "Bomb the one you're with..."

A witness at the scene described people holding body parts and a woman crying as rescuers searched for her sons.

The BBC's Hugh Sykes in Baghdad said the second bomb targeted crowds gathered at the site of the first, causing the high death toll.

*

Now we're on the hook...

For the dead citizens of other countries?

-- TORONTO -- "The Canadian government would have stepped up to the plate to deport this guy in two seconds, and sent him back and paid for his flight," Mr. Nair said. "Now the guy is dead, so what are we doing?"

"Are we just going to leave him to rot?"

Lemme see... queue-jumping illegal immigrant?

Yeah... I'm good with that.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Repatriating his remains is the responsibility of the Costa Rican Government, not the Canadian Government.

I sympathize with the plight of the poor landlady who desired to do right by her fellow man, but it is not the Canadian government's responsibility to repatriate the remains of another nation's citizens.

*

Sign of the times...

Sympathy for convicted murderers... not what it used to be.
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"He killed someone. Beheading may be a bit much, remind me next time I am in Saudi Arabia not to kill anyone."

*

Another CTV Moonbat Moment

Lloyd and company really outdid themselves tonight.

There was a piece that was supposed to be about the Conservatives extending the amnesty on rifles and shotguns... you know... the Liberals infamous and totally ineffectual 2 billion dollar "Farmer Bob Rifle Registry."

In the midst of a slow montage of various pictures of rifles and shotguns sitting in racks... CTV suddenly cuts to a jarring clip of a man firing an MP5 submachinegun... a restricted weapon used primarily by SWAT Teams around the world.

The obvious implication was that Stephen Harper, who apparently has no respect for human life, was loosing a plague of automatic weapons upon the land.

CTV then followed up this little stunt by showing gun control spokes-bigot Wendy Cukier claiming that long guns were responsible for the majority of gun homicides in Canada... which, I assume, would be a bit of a surprise to family and friends of the majority of Toronto murder victims.

It seems though, that wasn't enough for our friends at CTV.

When I went to their website, the article there had a picture of an AK-47 assault rifle... the weapon of choice worldwide... not for farmers, hunters or target shooters... but third world terrorists.


I suppose I should just be happy they didn't try slip in a shot of a bazooka.

**********

UPDATE: We could try some actual facts

Both the rate of handguns and rifles/shotguns decreased in 2006, while the rate of sawed-off rifles and shotguns doubled from 2005.

It also meant that stabbing deaths outnumbered homicides involving firearms. Some 210 victims, just over one-third of the total, were killed by stabbings, 20 more than the number killed by shootings.

In 2006, handguns accounted for 108, or over half, of the 190 victims killed by a firearm. A further 36 victims were killed by a rifle/shotgun, 24 by a (totally illegal and thus not eligible for registration) sawed-off rifle/shotgun and 22 by another or unknown type of firearm.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Via reader James

Actually, the CBC's total cost figure of $2 billion for the entire gun registry "file" amounts to about $685,000 per day, which means they spent the entire initially estimated budget of $2 million, again according to the CBC, every three days, for eight years straight.

That's 20,000 man-years, to register 7 million guns. But what do I know, I'm just a software guy, I'll stick to the database system.

Corporations get sued for cost overruns on the order of tens of percent. Assuming my careful $10 million estimate is reasonable, the registry database is not 10 % over. It's not 100 % over. It's not 1,000 % over.

It's 7,500 % over.

**********

LAST WORD: Paging kooky Wendy Cukier

Of Canada's two million licensed gun owners, 111, or 0.00555%, used their firearm to murder someone.

On the other hand, in 2005, 64% of accused murderers had a prior criminal record, including 6% for homicide.

*

The ever-roily petri dish...

That is the Gaza Strip... is back in the headlines...

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says peace talks with Israel can only resume when calm has been restored between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip.

Well, that's it then... they're screwed.

But, wait a minute... apparently, that's not the last word.

However, in comments that apparently contradict this statement, Ms Rice told a news conference later that the Palestinian leader has said that a period of calm was "not a condition for the resumption of the talks".

Oops, spoke too soon...

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, has rejected calls for a ceasefire and blames Israel for the violence.

"We are in a state of self-defence. When the siege and all forms of aggression come to a stop then we will see," its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday.

And that concludes today's Middle East synopsis.

*

The simple truth is...

We don't even deport terrorists or murderers... why would this be any different?

*

But when Stephen Harper does it...

"Somewhere... an angel dies."

*

Like most countries in Africa...

The government in Somalia is apparently willing to chew off its own legs...

Hassan and the others say it was soldiers from the president's Darod clan who looted and destroyed the market, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in the city with no source of income and no place to buy basic goods.

Oh, damn... I forgot.

We're not allowed to say stuff like that.

*

I'm hopin' SDA got punk'd...

Because if this is actually true... it's the beginning of the end.

This does, in truth, bring up a much larger issue... "Should we be actively trying to thwart evolution?"... or as one SDA commenter succinctly puts it... "Next up, mandatory Nerf suits."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: Oh gawd... it's not a hoax...


LAST WORD:

Mrs. Neo, as usual... gets to the crux of the matter... "Does this mean that people who have unpadded streets get to sue the government for failing 'to take care' of them?"

Indeed.

*

How to torque a headline

First -- You need a scary premise... and at the Canadian Press that has never been a problem...

PM’s libel case could be costly for taxpayers

By TIM NAUMETZ The Canadian Press
Wed. Mar 5 - 6:06 AM

OTTAWA — Taxpayers may be on the hook for over $1 million in legal fees if Prime Minister Stephen Harper forges ahead with his threat to sue Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and two other Liberals for libel.

Don't worry about whether or not your argument is actually valid... the point here is not honest reporting... it's to administer a jolt to your readers.

Second -- Further down the article you can slip in some actual facts... to avoid being sued for libel.

The Conservative party will be paying Harper’s legal fees, spokesman Ryan Sparrow said.

And...

The Commons board of internal economy has paid legal fees for 12 unidentified MPs since April 2006, records of its minutes show. In each case, the board agreed to pay the legal costs "subject to the matter being resolved in the member’s favour."

Hopefully, though... your readers are still enraged by your misleading headline.

The last thing to remember, is that you are not obligated to point out any blatant fallacies in your article... like the fact that an apology wouldn't cost "taxpayers" anything.

(h/t reader maureen)

Why actually do something about it...

When you can turn homelessness into a reality TV show?

"I know that there are people who will look at this and guffaw and laugh at the naiveté or maybe think that we were being facetious or somehow stupid in our approach," he says. "But so what?"

"I think holding on to a certain naiveté and idealism is a good thing in our jaded society."

And, in fact, the question above actually did occur to these ostensible do-gooders.

"Have we gone too far? Are we exploiting these people for good television?"

Apparently, the answer was no.

*

It was almost as cosy...

As a former CHRC employee filing a complaint with his former colleagues at the CHRC.

*

Stuff I totally did not know

"I swear by God this holy oath that I will obey the leader of the German race and state, Adolf Hitler, as the commander of the German armed forces in the fight for India, whose leader is Subhas Chandra Bose."

*

"We're Flexible" - Part XIV

"It was the latest climb-down for a Liberal party that has found novel ways to ensure it loses key votes."

**********

A READER WRITES:

"Good time to kill the gun registry, they won't even notice."

"And if they do, only seven of them will show up to vote against it."

*

Enough with the preening...

And posturing... let's just get some boots on the ground...

Some analysts have suggested that France, which has historically tried to push the image of French "greatness" abroad, would rather fight alongside American troops in the east than play a junior role to Canada in the south because Canada is a middle power that gets almost no media attention in Europe.

*

I can't wait...

To hear the shrill screaming tomorrow... about cultural genocide... when the government attempts to redress this longstanding inequity on native reserves...

Right now, if a marriage breaks down for a couple living on an aboriginal reserve, there are no divorce laws.

Federal and provincial laws don’t apply. The band has jurisdiction. It is a situation the government has long promised to rectify.

Tomorrow at 12:15 PM, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, and the minister responsible for women, Josée Verner, will announce legislation to cover people who live on reserves.

The CBC has learned it will be the Matrimonial Real Property Rights Legislation. The proposed law would divide assets and property after divorce or common law relationships breakdown.

Now you'd think there would be widespread support for this, especially among aboriginal women.

Well, as usual... it ain't that simple.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has long pushed the government to act, and in fact has been suing the government since 1989, on this very issue. Ironically, even though the NWAC has been calling for legislation for 18 years, the organization is unlikely to support the legislation.

NWAC wants money to accompany the law to assist bands in implementing the changes, and the organization won’t be satisfied if money only goes to the RCMP and judges because it fears many couples are poor and live in remote areas.

Yup... the never-ending cry for more baksheesh.

I'm shocked.

*

Occam's Razor

"There are plenty of red flags attached to the Cadman story, from Paul Martin's strange involvement with the book, to the near-impossibility of buying life insurance for a dying man, to the Cadman family's reaction to the book's allegations."

"I can't speak authoritatively to any of those questions. But I can speak to how Tom Flanagan and Stephen Harper negotiate political problems."

"From personal experience, offering bribes just isn't how they operate."

**********

WAIT A MINUTE: If Mr. Dithers knew about it...

Shouldn't he have reported this "horrible crime" to the RCMP a year ago?

"Tom Zytaruk, a journalist in Surrey, said he provided a copy to the former Liberal Prime Minister for review following its completion in February of 2007."

**********

LAST WORD: More Ezra - "Black Tuesday" at the HRC

Here's something actually worth investigating...

The CHRC had vigorously opposed the coming interrogation of their staff, and it's easy to see why.

Dean Steacy, one of the staff who will be compelled to answer questions on March 25th, has previously admitted to creating Internet pseudonyms to infiltrate websites the commission was hunting (something Richard Warman has admitted to doing as well after, uh, first not admitting to it).

But instead of preparing some hermetically-sealed, written answers to Lemire's questions, as Steacy has been able to do in the past, he must now take the stand and answer questions live, under oath, from Lemire's lawyer.

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LAST WORD: Well, this is fortuitous...

Anybody know if Dean or "Lucy" need a mouthpiece?

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I'm with Mayor David Miller...

Obviously... what the city of Toronto really needs... is more social workers...

Offers of help and support are pouring in for Sean Malon, a Brantford man being sued for support of three children he never fathered.

Malon, 40, received the paperwork in January from Toronto social services, alleging he fathered three children, aged 4 to 14, with Christine Gregory, a woman he's never met.

Both Gregory and the city have acknowledged Malon is not the children's father.

Of course, as usual, no one is at fault... but Sean Malon still ends up paying the freight here.

City lawyers have said they did not "instigate, control or direct" the litigation against Malon, but only acted on information provided by Gregory, the children's mother.

Good grief.

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Apparently, there really is...

No such thing as "a bad boy".

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WII are the future

A more eloquent solution to that problem will come about by 2029, said Kurzweil, when nanotechnology will be able to shut down the signals our brain receives from the real environment to enable us to respond only to signals from the virtual reality of our choice.

This will be possible because of what Kurzweil called “an intimate merger.” Computers will have human-level intelligence and the reverse engineering of the human brain will be complete.

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RELATED: Reader Bob alerts me to...

"The World Clock".

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Contrary to some pundit's theories...

This isn't just some frat-boy panty raid kind of stunt... apparently the Conservatives are gonna reach into the Liberal party's electronic chest and rip out their wiring.

"We give you notice that you must preserve and not alter any paper or electronic files or other data generated by and/or stored on your computers and storage media (e.g. hard disks, floppy disks, backup tapes), or any other electronic data, such as voice mail or data on other devices such as Blackberries relating to matters addressed by this Notice of Libel."

Steve Janke has more.

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RELATED: However... speaking of silly stunts

-- OTTAWA -- Parliament rejected a Liberal amendment to the Conservative budget Monday night, closing one more door on a possible election.

The amendment, which referred to “an NDP-like lack of fiscal prudence” was crafted to be completely unpalatable to the New Democrats whose support was needed for it to pass, and only seven Liberals turned out for the vote.

Had the amendment received the approval of the House of Commons, the Conservatives said they would have declared they had lost the confidence of Parliament and the country would have been plunged into an election.

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In David Miller's "Green" Toronto...

It sure doesn't hurt to be wired into city council.

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Daryl Kramp is my MP...

And here's a big part of the reason... he'll be re-elected...

"Conservative MP Daryl Kramp says that Liberal MP Mark Holland is a "classic shit disturber" whose membership on the House Government Operations Committee has politicized its meetings to such an extent that they are a disservice to the public."

Hey, Mark... out here in Hastings Cty., we know a thing or two about manure.

And boy, lemme tell ya... you're full of it.

(h/t dmb)

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UPDATE: Good Lord... that explains a few things

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UBC threat neutralised?

In a decidedly "good news" story... it looks like the cops finally got "ahead of the pitch".

-- VANCOUVER -- Police in Vancouver have charged a 19-year-old UBC student in connection with a pair of threats against the campus that resulted in lockdowns.

Hwi Lee, 19, was taken into custody without incident Friday, ending a month-long investigation. He will make a court appearance later this month.

Mr. Lee faces charges of two counts of uttering threats and two counts of mischief. He was released on conditions not to got to the University of British Columbia, surrender his passport and not to own firearms.

Strangely... we're not getting a lot of detail here. You'd think everybody would be crowing about a tragedy averted.

I wonder what the problem is...

Police and university executive refused to say where he was from and his area of study and they refused to discuss the specific nature of the threat.

Curious.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Was kind of amusing that all the law students, upon being told NOT to go to the biosciences building, promptly went to the biosciences building."

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RELATED: What's up with British Columbia anyway?

It’s a happy ending, but the story itself is appalling.

Imagine just how bad it had to get for B.C. to pass a law to specifically protect libraries from “prior restraint” censorship lawsuits.

The solution was “unique” in all of North America, because the problem was unique in all of North America.

I’m going to call it "Warman’s Law".

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LAST WORD: Apparently, I spoke too soon

"Ontario needs to follow B.C.'s lead, and enact their own version of "Warman's Law" to protect their libraries from his threats."

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Noted Sycophant strangely subdued

It's a quality, that, in a hunting dog... would be called "gun-shy"...

"I'm perfectly happy to sound like a wide-eyed, naive kid on this one."

Oh, Jason... we're gonna miss you.

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UPDATE: Jason... you drop by & don't say hello?

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RELATED: Who knew Cherniak had a little brother?

"Update - Dona Cadman say's Harper didn't know about the bribe. That in my view doesn't justify discontinuing the investigation."

"Si, we don' need no steenkin' evidence."

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When you care enough...

To send the very best...

Eyewitness Abdi Mohamed Ali tells VOA that the residents of Dobley, about six kilometers from the Kenyan border, were shaken from their beds early Monday by a huge explosion that flattened a house in the middle of town.

Ali says he does not know who was in the house or who carried out the attack, but he says residents believe it was a bomb dropped by a plane, seen flying over the town in recent days.

Seems we may have to wait a little bit for official confirmation. Sure hope there's enough evidence left over for DNA testing.

In Washington, U.S. officials have confirmed that two missiles were launched at targets in Dobley. They say the targets were known Islamic terrorists, but have declined to give further details.

Lame duck, my ass... let's see Barack Obama do something equally useful today.

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LAST WORD: Where is your god now?

-- From correspondents in Riyadh --

A MAN beheaded his 15-month-old nephew in front of his mother in a supermarket in Saudi Arabia apparently after a family dispute, newspapers reported.

The 25-year-old Syrian national picked up a knife from the store in the Red Sea city of Jeddah yesterday and decapitated the little boy in full view of shoppers, Arab News said.

(h/t natnews)

Da proof is da proof

I sure hope... for his sake... that the dog didn't eat Steffi's homework...

"Many Ottawa-based observers expected the Prime Minister to make a statement or fire a strong salvo at the Liberals this morning."

"It appears that he's done both."

See Steffi... you say you've got a full house... I get to see the actual cards in your hand.

I guess you forgot that part.

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RELATED: Bring on the lawyers

The question now becomes, are Liberal press releases covered by parliamentary immunity?

That’s a more difficult question.

One of the main differences between a press release and a news story is that the news story makes at least a cursory attempt to present more than one point of view.

Read the "notice of libel."

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LAST WORD: Dona Cadman speaks up...

And Stephane Dion's balls suddenly shrivel.

It appears Dipper gonads were similarly affected.

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Are you crazy?

Freedom of speech has absolutely no place... in our children's universities...

'Margaret Fung, President of Students for Bioethical Awareness (SBA), one of the hosting clubs, describes what happened: "I was told in a meeting by members of the York Federation of Students that debating abortion is comparable to debating whether a man should be allowed to beat his wife."'

Goodness knows... you don't wanna be putting ideas in their heads.

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POSTSCRIPT:

Uh, not to put too fine a point on it, but... there's actually a question... here in Canada... about whether "a man should be allowed to beat his wife?"

Really?

I could've sworn we decided to go with Canadian law on that one.

Regardless... unlike the fuzzy-bunny left at York University... I don't think a question like that should be swept under the carpet.

Just for the record... I'm going with the nays.

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"Mission Accomplished", huh?

Does that mean you're gonna be lifting the siege of Caledonia anytime soon?

-- BRANTFORD, ONT. -- "In two years, we haven't got too far at the table, but the education of the country has been worth more than any money they could offer us," Janie Jamieson, one of the two women who started the Douglas Creek Estates protest two years ago, told The Expositor.

I'm pretty sure some other famous historical figure has expressed this sentiment somewhere before... if I could only remember the quote.

Anyway the article continues...

"Whether you agree with the legitimacy of the land claim or not or whether you think the tactics activists have used to enforce their beliefs are unacceptable, that awareness is worth something."

Alrighty, that's it. I just remembered the quote this discussion evoked... "The purpose of terror... is to terrorise."

I knew it sounded familiar.

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RELATED: And no more Mr. Nice Guy, either

Chief Terrence Nelson of Manitoba's Roseau River First Nation said the AFN should be careful in again playing the "threat card."

"The AFN cannot simply leverage the frustration and anger of aboriginal people without some real call for action," said Nelson.

"If you are called on the threat card, you better be able to deliver."

Terrence Nelson... geez, that name rings a bell somewhere too...

"There are only two ways of dealing with the white man."

"One, either you pick up a gun, or you stand between the white man and his money," Terry Nelson of the Roseau River First Nation told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live on Tuesday.

Negotiations, my ass.

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Rick Mercer was so right

The Liberals... they're adaptable...

During the session with delegates, Mr. Brison said the Conservatives’ decision to cut the GST by two per cent costs $13 billion a year, money that could go into infrastructure, poverty and the environment.

Wow, Scotty... strong words.

I can't wait to hear how the Liberals are gonna remedy this horrible crime against Canadians.

Mr. Brison later told reporters his party has no plans to bring the GST back up to seven per cent.

"We will not raise the GST, the leader has been clear on that," he said. "But clearly, Mr. Harper has frittered away the fiscal capacity of the country. He has spent like a drunken sailor while cutting the GST."

That sounds pretty bad, Scotty... you sure you guys wanna let this one slide?

Mr. Brison said there’s nothing wrong with his party "identifying a bad economic decision" like cutting the GST, even though the Liberals have no plans to reverse it.

Sorta like the budget and Afghanistan, huh?

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I get angry every time I hear a politician state that a tax cut "costs" the government X$$. Where do they get the term "costs" - it "costs" me every paycheque, and they think it "costs" them to give it back?"

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CADSCAM, my ass

During Chretien’s tenure as Prime Minister there were years when his riding got more Ottawa money than did the Province of Alberta. Or half of Africa.

That’s a scandal in itself.

But, but, but... you can't bring up Chretien... that's just not fair!

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Honey, come here a minute...

I need a favour.

-- BAGHDAD (AP) -- The U.S. military announced the capture Saturday of an insurgent leader who was recruiting and training women, including his wife, to wrap themselves in explosives and blow themselves up — the latest sign that al-Qaida in Iraq plans to keep using women to carry out suicide attacks.

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Hanging teenagers from lampposts...

Beating up women... and setting booby traps in the middle of the night... all hail the brave jihadis...

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- A Canadian soldier was killed in a explosion southwest of Kandahar city today, just before he was scheduled to leave Afghanistan.

Canadian troops were driving supplies to an Afghan army outpost when a roadside bomb hit their convoy at 3:45 p.m., roughly 45 kilometres southwest of Kandahar city, near a cluster of villages known as Mushan.

The soldier has been identified as Trooper Michael Yuki Hayakaze, 25, of Lord Strathcona's Horse, based out of Edmonton.

He will be remembered.

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It's curious how the almighty "Will of Allah" isn't reassuring enough for Timmy Taliban to risk going head to head with Canadian troops. They're gonna stick with sneaking around like rats and setting booby-traps... in between terrorising the hapless civilian populace.

The Taliban have also shifted their tactics, preferring to hit the well-armoured foreign troops with large bombs buried in the road instead of attacking them directly.

The insurgents have rarely enjoyed success with fighting the Canadians face-to-face.

But I'm guessing that ain't gonna stop Jacko and the usual lot of Che-suckers from doing their macabre dance yet again.

Sad.

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The Dumb-pire strikes back

Uber-Ranter Bobby McClelland is looking for another moment in the sun...

"A simple question, Mr. Kay. Do you believe Palestine has the right to exist?"
by Robert McClelland Mar 02 2008 9:54 AM

Jonathan... perhaps it's none of my business, but I'm not sure you wanna be brushin' up against this vile gasbag.

"Are you willing to do that or are you just going to prove me right; that when they came for me, Jews like you didn’t give a shit."

Yeah, Bobby... that could happen.

As Damian Penny so aptly put it, "First they came... for the Idiots."

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UPDATE: Nowhere to go... BUT POSTAL

"I hope that type of sentiment comforts you the day you find yourself staring down the barrel of a 12 gauge shotgun, Mike."

Great... now McClelland's channelling "Dirty Harry".

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Well, Mahmoud...

You call the play... you better make sure you tighten your chinstrap... because Israel is playing for keeps.

-- GAZA -- "We are acting to hit the Hamas infrastructure ... the final target is to bring an end to the firing of Qassams," Defence Minister Ehud Barak said about the crude rockets.

"This will not be achieved in the next two days, but we will continue the activity with all our strength."

And unlike the Arab Middle East... Israel actually means what it says...

"And we need to prepare for escalation, because the big ground operation is real and tangible."

So, unless Hamas is sure they're ready for a bloody, brutal second half... they might wanna consider taking that "Katyusha" play out of the lineup.

Unfortunately for the civilian populace though, it appears these guys figure they've got plenty of blood left to spill...

"We are capable of sustaining the fight and tolerating attacks beyond the expectations of the enemy," said Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades.

I dunno, Peyton... the smart money says you audible out here.

But smart isn't really your best thing... is it?

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Consider the US response if Cuba had fired 900 rockets into Florida, or one of the ex-Soviet countries had fired 900 rockets into Russia."

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Wag the Dog

Where's the justice, pray tell... in this system?

In May, 1997, MacDonald, then 51, walked into a bar where OPP Const. Tom Coffin was having a drink, put a loaded gun to the back of Coffin's head and pulled the trigger.

In January, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that MacDonald should be moved from the maximum security prison at Joyceville, near Kingston, to an institution closer to his home, relatives and friends.

You'd better save some of your outrage, my friends... it gets better.

If that weren't sufficient cause to wonder about our system the federal court also ordered that MacDonald be reimbursed $4,000 for court costs.

"As a cop-killer, MacDonald has status among prisoners," says Walsh. "It's my understanding he's extremely litigious, and earlier got something like $3,500 in an action against guards."

I don't get it.

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RELATED: Remember all those new Toronto taxes?

Thank goodness they're being put to good use...

Toronto taxpayers are poised to shell out $12,500 to dress up the exterior of a west-end strip joint.

Municipal officials have confirmed that the House of Lancaster, on Bloor St. W. just east of Lansdowne Ave., received approval for the grant under the city's commercial facade improvement program.

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BODY COUNT: Bright lights, big city

-- Edmonton -- Police are investigating the city's fifth homicide of the year following an autopsy report yesterday revealing the victim died of strangulation.

Beverly Parker, 49, was found lying face-down in the snow in front of her fourplex unit at 1828 Lakewood Rd. South in Mill Woods early Friday.

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How about you just keep your...

Moist, glistening literary device... away from me?

-- Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) -- "They have a longer and deeper relationship with her than Obama..."

I guess there's no such thing as too much gratuitous "innuendo".

Yeah, yeah... I know.

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FARC you...

And, oh yeah... say hi to Che for me.

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McSlippery's First Law of Politics

"There is no problem so big it cannot be run away from."

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RELATED: Well, ok... we really meant smear...

" -- OTTAWA -- Opposition MPs trying to understand..."

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If you build it, they will come...

And come... and come... and come...

A federal judge in San Francisco said on Friday that he would withdraw an order that shut down the Web address for Wikileaks.org, a site that allows anonymous posting of documents to assist “peoples of all countries who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations.”

It seems the judicial system is losing this particular footrace to technology.

“There are serious concerns that the court has, and serious questions raised, about the effectiveness of any order that this court might issue given the current state of affairs,” Judge White said, lamenting the fact that constitutional law might not be able to keep up with technological change.

It's a brave new world, baby.

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The first thing we do...

Is hang all the lawyers...

A woman who murdered her four-year-old daughter is appealing Revenue Canada’s decision not to allow her the child tax benefit.

Astrid Margaret Literski, who is incarcerated at the Nova Institution in Truro, pleaded guilty in February 2005 to the second-degree murder of Eveleigh Rain Bringsli by feeding her sleeping pills and then smothering her with a pillow.

The mother, then 34, killed her daughter on Sept. 1, 2003, one day before the little girl’s first day of kindergarten.

I'm speechless... I got nuthin'.

(h/t reader maureen)

Surprise, surprise

Just watched CTV's Mike Duffy on their Ottawa affiliate CJOH... giving his take on the brouhaha that will, no doubt, come to be known as CADSCAM.

Citing his interview with Cadman, right around the time of the vote... Duffy says the ailing MP voted to prop up the Liberal government... to ensure that his family got the larger insurance payout he was entitled to as a sitting MP.

Duffy also said that Cadman didn't say word one to him, about the "alleged" insurance policy bribe.

Host Norman Fetterly's next question attempted to get the Globe's Brian Laghi to put Stephen Harper "in the frame"... but that wasn't working out either.

Both men said that they had no idea why Cadman's wife and daughter were claiming that he had been offered an insurance policy as a bribe... that it "didn't make sense."

Apparently not everybody at CTV is a mindless robot.

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UPDATE: Damn you, Magna Carta!!!

"There is no evidence; there’s no paper trail."

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RELATED: Jodi Cadman apparently has more to say

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LAST WORD: The caring, compassionate left

"Last night the Liberal Party of Canada awarded me, in recognition of my contributions and services to the party over the past few decades, a lifetime membership in the Liberal Party of Canada."

"If I look back, both the party and the people who populate its structure have had an enormous impact on shaping my life and 'who I am today'".

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