18 June 2008

You need to "'ave da trust..."

  6/18/2008 07:45:00 am      
I'm from the Opposition... I'm here to save you.
-- WINNIPEG -- A carbon tax would be good for the planet and for Canadians' wallets, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said Tuesday as he pitched his soon-to-be-released green plan.

But Prime Minister Stephen Harper quickly came out swinging, dismissing the idea as "insane."

"This tax will be revenue neutral is like, 'The cheque is in the mail.' It's like, 'I'll respect you in the morning.'"

"It's just not believable."
(h/t reader rich)

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RELATED: Yeah... it'll be "revenue neutral"

Remember how the "Farmer Bob Rifle Registry" was gonna eradicate crime... AND PAY FOR ITSELF?

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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Revenue neutral tax? That's like a "smell-neutral fart".
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LAST WORD: Oops... he screwed up & admitted it
"The Liberals have acknowledged that oil companies may pass the cost of the tax on to consumers."
Oh, Steffi.

*

17 June 2008

From the province...

  6/17/2008 07:00:00 pm      
That brought you... "Robert Willie Pickton."
-- VANCOUVER -- A fifth human foot has washed ashore in southwestern B.C., and this time it's a left one. Police say two people out for a walk spotted a left foot floating in water off Westham Island on Monday morning.

Four other feet have washed up on shorelines along islands in B.C. in the last year; all have been right feet wearing socks and shoes.
You'd think these people might have more important things on their mind than, say... lynching Mark Steyn... but alas, apparently not.

With a prescience I certainly don't understand... CTV has apparently ruled out foul play.

La-la land.

**********

RELATED: OWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

So... you think you're having a bad day?

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So much for the myth...

  6/17/2008 12:00:00 pm      
Of the criminal genius...
Two men have been found guilty of murdering a 15-year-old boy who was shot dead as he slept at his home in south-east London.

Michael Dosunmu was shot four times when gunmen burst into the family home in Peckham in February 2007.

The Old Bailey heard that Michael was mistaken for his older brother who was to be killed in revenge for a murder.

Scary, hidden agenda?

  6/17/2008 09:30:00 am      
I guess sometimes all the stars just happen to line up perfectly...
Marc Mayrand has refused to speak publicly about the case since the Commissioner of Canada Elections executed the search warrant with RCMP assistance on April 15-16 as part of a probe of alleged ad spending violations by the Tories during the 2005-06 election campaign.

"If we can dispel this story [the leak], we will have only positive media coverage," replied Ms. Vézina, the associate deputy chief electoral officer in charge of political financing. "And the alternative is that we appear to be partisan or biased or vindictive and at the moment the media seem to believe we tipped off the CBC and the Liberals."

Sections of the e-mail exchange between Mr. Mayrand and Ms. Vézina were blacked out.

Mr. Mayrand declined an interview request.
*

16 June 2008

Globe and Mail mounts huge push...

  6/16/2008 12:30:00 pm      
...in Toronto, CANADAHAR... to sell newspapers.
-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Hundreds of Taliban fighters took over several villages in southern Afghanistan on Monday just outside the region's largest city, and NATO and Afghan forces were redeploying to meet the threat, officials said.
Of course, what the Globe isn't saying here is... one... the scary invaders are a bunch of raggedy-ass guys with Ak-47s, strolling into an undefended clump of medieval mud-huts occupied by a bunch of unarmed but equally raggedy-ass subsistence farmers... two... that 500 man figure they're bandying about, is something somebody just pulled outta his ass, and... three... every time these donkeyheads actually stand and fight... they get their asses kicked from here to... literally... eternity... by Canadian troops.

So enough with the leftbot propaganda, please.

Just the facts, ma'am.

**********

And yet another link from the Cynic... I guess he's managed to shake his pursuers.

I would expect no less from an Evil Death Ray Engineering Assistant.

*

Cry me a river

  6/16/2008 10:30:00 am      
Horrible, evil Conservatives are at the root of all of Canada's problems... well, except when they're not.
-- OTTAWA -- Canadians convicted of crimes abroad have been told they must now undergo security checks by Canada's spy agency before they can be transferred to a prison in this country.

Critics suggest the policy was introduced at the request of Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, who does not approve of returning drug dealers to Canada to serve their time.
Unfortunately... "suggesting something"... doesn't make it true.
"The International Transfer of Offenders Act [introduced under the Liberals in 2004] is clear, and there is a requirement for the Minister to consider several factors prior to consenting to a transfer," Ms. Leclerc wrote in an e-mail, "one of which is if the offender will, after the transfer, commit a terrorism offence or criminal organization offence."
"Soldiers in our streets... with guns... I'm not kidding."

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You think you got problems?

  6/16/2008 09:30:00 am      
They're fighting a war in Motor City, Ontario...
"It was literally a fight to the finish," says Visconti, who has had a business in Oshawa for 28 years. "Because, you know, we were beating up on the poor, the homeless, and the struggling addicts ... and 'Look at you, you're some rich bitch that owns the building, yet some guy can't get a free meal around the corner.'

"I don't care if he gets a free meal," she counters. "But when he comes over here every morning, and he's crapping and pissing on my property, or breaking into my store because he needs to make money ... now I don't feel like I'm picking on the poor any more."
*

It's interesting to note...

  6/16/2008 08:00:00 am      
That, invariably... "doing the right thing"... doesn't involve the line of least resistance...
Britain will announce extra troops for Afghanistan later - bringing numbers to their highest level yet, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said.

The increase would bring overall UK numbers in Afghanistan to more than 8,000 - mostly based in Helmand.
It's easy to turn your back on trouble, or confrontation.

The UN did it in Rwanda. They're doing it again, to a large extent, in Darfur and Zimbabwe.

It's hard to take a principled stand. It's harder yet to put your money where your mouth is.

I'm proud that Canada and Britain and others have taken a stand. It isn't easy and, as we've seen, there is a price to be paid.

Sometimes you've just gotta fight... for what's right.

**********

UPDATE: Toronto "Red" Star publishes outrageous report...

...that Canadian military is complicit in child rape...
"Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been ordered by commanding officers "to ignore" incidents of sexual assault among the civilian population, says a military chaplain who counsels troops returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder."
No specifics, of course... just an incendiary allegation.

I guess that'll sell a few papers.

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RELATED: UAE on the bubble?
"There is a high threat from terrorism," an official travel advice notice for the country said. "We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE."
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LAST WORD: Nothing to do with Canada, right?

THINK AGAIN...
Five conspirators in their 20s each got sentences of nearly 20 years.

Still, a loose end dangles in Ottawa. The British Crown said the detonator design was Canadian, and the RCMP arrested a 24-year-old computer programmer a few hours before the British arrests.

And that man, Mohammad Momin Khawaja, is a week away from hearing direct allegations that he is the brains behind the Digimonster.
*

Jadewarr ain't the only one

  6/16/2008 06:30:00 am      
The wonderful world of wi-fi thievery...
"Mine wasn't a particularly sociable apartment building, but wi-fi transcends urban alienation. You can draw your blinds and grunt at me on the stairs all you want, No. 7, but I can see your network just fine."

"Some people thought of creative names for their networks: ParisBrooklyn, MessageInaBottle. Some were boring: linksys, NETGEAR, default. I was always happy to see the boring ones, because the people who don't bother thinking of clever names for their home networks are the same people who don't bother to password-protect them."

"Anybody who calls his hot spot WebOfDarkness isn't going to give me any wireless love."

"I think YouHavSomNerv was on to me too."
*

15 June 2008

Aboriginal group...

  6/15/2008 10:30:00 pm      
...demands "Mr. Rogers style" policing.
-- CARLYLE, Sask. -- The head of Saskatchewan's largest aboriginal organization is demanding a meeting with Canada's public safety minister, to talk about what he calls “Rambo-style” policing after RCMP on Saturday shot and killed a man on a reserve southeast of Regina.

The man, identified by a close relative as Chase McKay Standingready, 21, was fatally shot on the White Bear First Nation Saturday morning after police said he was armed with a knife.
Apparently though, this wasn't an armed man confronting police officers... it was more of "a martyrdom."
“One life is one too many "to be sacrificed" to open the eyes of governments to come and help us bring about safe communities,” Mr. Joseph said.
No disrespect here, Chief, but this type of sacrifice looks to be a problem particular to this part of the country...
Saskatchewan again had the highest rate of all provinces, with 4.1 homicides for every 100,000 people.
Now that's one hell of a variation from the mean... what's up with the not-so-gentle folk of Saskatchewan?
Saskatchewan stands out for two reasons, he said: It consistently has the highest crime rate, and it has the highest percentage of native Canadians in its justice system.
Oh.

*

Father's Day - separate realities

  6/15/2008 07:15:00 pm      
Barack Obama calls on Afro-American men to step up and take responsibility...
"The Illinois senator said that too many fathers in the African American community are MIA in their families – acting like boys rather than men – and the foundations of the family and the community has suffered."
Of course, there are guys... who don't need to be reminded.
(via great pumpkin)

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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Dear Senator Obama, what is the correct temperature for bottled milk for my infant, and, while I have your attention, what is the appropriate curfew time for my 11 year old daughter?"
*

Now you just have to decide...

  6/15/2008 03:30:00 pm      
Is the glass half full... or half empty?

While the Canadian media is making itself giddy over the Taliban jailbreak in Afghanistan... I suspect Canadian troopers are quietly pleased about the suddenly 'target-rich' environment.

Meanwhile, the news that should really concern people is tucked away in a dark corner...
A draft report released by a former U.N. weapons inspector found that the international smuggling ring that supplied nuclear designs to Iran, Libya, and North Korea also obtained the blueprints for an advanced nuclear warhead, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

"These advanced nuclear weapons designs may have long ago been sold off to some of the most treacherous regimes in the world," Albright wrote in his report, which was obtained by the newspaper.
Funny how that works.

(h/t reader rich)

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RELATED: Perhaps a little background...

...would help flesh out the narrative...
"When you consider all this in tandem, with the fact that A.Q. Khan, Pakistan's foremost atomic scientist, is some sort of freebooting nuclear pirate, it's a little unsettling, to say the least."
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LAST WORD: Diplomatic chewing gum & baling wire
The situation poses a number of strategic dilemmas for the US. US-led forces may have to assume the security responsibility for an area that Pakistan has effectively abandoned to the Taliban while simultaneously being pummeled by the "outrage" of same Pakistani politicians who abdicated it in the first place.

In the worst case Pakistan will demand all the dignities of sovereignty over an area for which they will assume no meaningful control. At the same time, the US must respond to this situation without wholly alienating Pakistan through which the bulk of US supplies pass. Afghanistan will be effectively lost if the supply lines are irrevocably closed.

While Pakistan remains broken it cannot effectively control its territory; and border problems will only get worse. A fractured Pakistan will ipso facto mean that radical Islamic organizations will always have a safe haven within its formal borders.
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POSTSCRIPT: Yet another link from Canadian Cynic

Hey, buddy... you're still a little peeved, huh?

Those bad people still chasin' you?

*

So, you Big City Libbers...

  6/15/2008 01:00:00 pm      
How about you volunteer your neighbourhood for that new "safe-injection site."
-- TORONTO -- "You're not immune," warned Staff Sgt. Courtney Chambers. "As we've seen in the past, some of these guys are indiscriminate when they engage in their violent activities."

However, he added that a lot of the violence is contained to certain areas of the city where there is drug activity.
And never you mind about personal responsibilty... "Super Dave" Miller and Dalton McSlippery will take care of your every need.

More basketball courts, more social workers... and yes please... more taxpayer funded heroin parlours.

The perennial Liberal nanny-state recipe for success.

**********

RELATED: And while we're at it...

...let's scrap that ineffectual, get out of jail free... "Young Offenders Act."

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LAST WORD: Hey, Babycakes... hang on a second

*

That's why it's called "War"

  6/15/2008 11:00:00 am      
And not "Circle of Friends."
-- KABUL, Afghanistan -- “Baitullah Mehsud should know that we will go after him now and hit him in his house.”

“And the other fellow, (Taliban leader) Mullah Omar of Pakistan should know the same,” Mr. Karzai continued. “This is a two-way road in this case, and Afghans are good at the two-way road journey.
And Pakistan is gonna have to decide where to put their chips... once and for all.
His comments come as Pakistan is seeking peace deals with militants in its borders, including with Mr. Mehsud.

Mr. Mehsud, who is based mainly in the South Waziristan tribal area, has said he would continue to send fighters to battle U.S. forces in Afghanistan even as he seeks peace with Pakistan.
*

14 June 2008

Of course... dismissing the question...

  6/14/2008 10:00:00 pm      
Isn't actually the same thing... as saying "no"...
Reporters later asked McGuinty if that flexibility could include tax hikes to offset dropping government revenues, and got an uncharacteristically snippy response.

The premier loudly asked why anyone would raise taxes in a time of economic challenge, insisting that "not even the NDP support that."
Ooooh, Dalton... that's really hittin' below the belt...
McGuinty seems to dislike questions about tax hikes after breaking a promise not to raise taxes in his first term by introducing a new health care premium of up to $900 for every Ontario worker.

He called reporters silly for daring to raise the issue.
*

And bear in mind...

  6/14/2008 08:30:00 pm      
They're not simply making this shite up... they're also getting you, the taxpayer... to pay for it...
"I can tell you right now, having read every ruling issued by the Alberta HRC is recent years, that there is no "Maria", and there is no "Maria's story".

There has never been a ruling about a woman whose parents came to Canada from Mexico, who was upset about Mexican jokes that aren't funny."

"It's a fabrication."

"That's called propaganda -- telling new Latino immigrants that they're coming to a bigoted province, where Mexicans are treated poorly."
Only in Canada, you say?

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FROM EZRA'S COMMENTS:
"The Government of Alberta has issued a pamphlet stereotyping members of certain ethnic minorities as whining, pathetic losers."

"That is discrimination."
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LAST WORD: More Victimology
Support of the Politically Correct Tryanny attracts strange bedfellows. With the swing in public opinion clearly moving against them Haroon & Farber have turned to race baiting as their last sordid defense.
(via bcf)

Or... and I admit...

  6/14/2008 07:45:00 pm      
I'm just spitballin' here... the dead guy could have just left the knife at home...
"People are way upset. They have got Tasers and they have got pepper spray. There could have been some other way than to shoot to kill."
And please, folks... make up your minds... now tasers are the solution?

**********

RELATED: Un-freakin'-believable.

Yeah... more social-workers. That'll solve everything.

*

Somehow... I remain unsurprised

  6/14/2008 01:15:00 pm      
And another blaring headline... "Peace Accord Brings More Violence to Somalia"...
Violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu and elsewhere has increased dramatically since a U.N.-backed peace agreement was signed Monday in Djibouti between Somalia's transitional federal government and a moderate faction of the Islamist-led opposition group in Eritrea.
But, but, but... we signed the magical piece of paper!!!

The befuddled United Nations... in fact, the Elmer Fudd of international diplomacy.

*

More hypocritical "smoke and mirrors"...

  6/14/2008 10:30:00 am      
From Toronto Mayor David Miller...
A "shocked" and "infuriated" Mayor David Miller offered condolences on behalf of the entire city to the grieving families of Thursday's double murder while again renewing his call for a nationwide handgun ban.

"Like everyone, I was shocked to hear the news of (Thursday) night's shooting."
Gee, Mr Mayor... I can't understand why... I mean, shouldn't you still be "shocked and infuriated" over the double shooting the that occurred downtown on Wednesday?

Or does your outrage have a 24 hour shelf life.

The fact is, murders in "Toronto the Good" were up 20% in 2007, up from 70 in 2006 to 84 last year. And... your war on gun clubs notwithstanding... the shooters and indeed the lions share of the shootees, come from the same demographic as they did the year before... and the year before.

And guess what, 'yer blondeness'... it's already illegal to walk around armed in public, and yes... shoot people. You're gonna make it, what... more illegal?

So spare us all "your shock"... and start to address the actual problem. Let's get the cops out there in force and sweep problem areas for guns and drugs.

Put the thugs in jail, and hey... try to keep them there.

Because your "shock" isn't worth a bucket of warm spit... especially to the families of Dylan Ellis and Oliver Martin.

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UPDATE: Batter up!!!
Toronto recorded its third gun death in three days with the shooting death of a man in the west end -- just one of several gun incidents overnight.

The shooting occurred in the Jane Street and Woolner Avenue area (north of St. Clair Ave.) around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The victim, a man in his early 20s and the city's 26th homicide victim of 2008, was pronounced dead in hospital.
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RELATED: Got your latest tax assessment?

Or even your latest electrical bill...
The $75-million cash injection the city will pocket from the $200-million sale of Toronto Hydro's telecom arm to Cogeco will be used to help fix public housing, Mayor David Miller said yesterday.

Miller said the money will be enough to cover the work required for 25% of the community housing repair backlog. Toronto Community Housing has an estimated repair backlog of $300 million to $350 million.
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LAST WORD: So, you take 300 million taxpayer dollars...

...and build another Regent Park.
In what almost seems like a bad turn out of Rio de Janiero or New York in The Bonfires of the Vanities days, the three kids from uptown Toronto seemed to be on the wrong block at the wrong time.

Until recently, prostitutes, dealers and petty thieves lurked in this area, residents say, swiftly adding that the area has changed dramatically for the better.
**********

POSTSCRIPT: Yet another link from Canadian Cynic

Hey pal... you still sleepin' 'UNDER' your bed?

*

Blatchford on Bernier

  6/14/2008 07:30:00 am      
When news of Ms. Couillard's second Tory boyfriend, Public Works adviser Bernard Cot̩, emerged this week Рhe resigned, condemned, as it appears are most of Ms. Couillard's partners, to an unfortunate end РI sent a note to a male friend.

“What?” I asked. “There's only the one woman in Ottawa, so they all have to sleep with her?”

His very funny reply, delivered by phone due to him being what a mutual pal correctly describes as a “Presbyterian squire” too mannerly to use such a line in a note: “You could move there.”
*

13 June 2008

The Power of Cherniak

  6/13/2008 07:00:00 pm      
Don't underestimate the magical powers of The Elfin One... he can piss off people who don't even live in this country...
"I'm an American lawyer for whom this blog is an alternate universe, one Orwell might have imagined on a really bad drug trip."

"But hey--that's free speech, no? What I want to know is whether any of you, especially Mr. Cherniak, can tell me how I can violate Canada's speech laws. I'll happily submit to the jurisdiction of one of your amusing little tribunals if I'm charged."

"Here's a shot: "People unwilling to abide the speech of others, even if it's highly offensive and, in the perception of the person hearing it utterly false, are incipient fascists who have to have their appetite for oppression curbed, if necessary by whatever degree of force is required."

"I hate such people."

"Is that "hate speech"?"

"If not, what must I add to quality?"
Oh... gawd... take... deep breaths... wipe... away... tears.

*

Latest Toronto homicide victims id'd

  6/13/2008 01:30:00 pm      
The good news is... there was a witness in the car who survived...
Dylan Ellis and Oliver Martin were shot and killed as they sat in their high-end Range Rover SUV around midnight Thursday after watching a basketball game with friends.

Because the victims were driving a high-end SUV, police are exploring the possibility the incident was an attempted carjacking, Det.-Sgt. Giroux said.

Both victims were still wearing their seatbelts when emergency crews arrived at the scene.
Dylan Ellis was the grandson of the late Toronto businessman and philanthropist Mariano A. Elia.

So Mayor Miller... you got any more happy horseshit about shooters at perfectly legal target ranges... or can we just go after the scum-sucking shit who did this?

**********

UPDATE: Witness apparently was a girlfriend
A third passenger in the backseat of the vehicle, whom Det. Sgt. Giroux identified as a friend, is cooperating fully with the investigation. Media reports suggest she is the girlfriend of one of the victims and told police a man was seen fleeing the scene on a bicycle.
And CBC has more...
At least 19 police shell case markers covered a street in downtown Toronto where two men were shot and killed early Friday.

The two victims had been best friends since Grade 1. Police said the families are "devastated" by the killings. "They were certainly, in my opinion, targeted," said the detective, who is leading the investigation.

Police are looking for at least one black male seen fleeing the area on a bicycle. They say they also believe whoever was responsible for the shooting is "familiar with the area" around Niagara and Bathurst.
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RELATED: Meet Toronto's powerful "gun lobby"
Several speakers, most of them amateur and hobby shooters as well as gun club operators, told yesterday's meeting that the CNRA Gun Club at Union Station and Scarborough Rifle Club have spotless records and were being unfairly penalized.

Its members show utmost caution handling, storing and transporting their guns, they said, adding the two operations are in no way contributing to Toronto's gun problem.

One of the strongest pleas came from Avianna Chao, a pistol shooter heading to the Beijing Olympics who trains primarily out of the CNRA club.

"I've never met a gang member at a shooting range'' she said, adding that it's the "peaceful nature'' of sport shooting that attracts so many professionals.
**********

WELCOME READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Today CC has put nine... count 'em, nine... links to me in one post.

Sounds like he's really pissed about something, huh?

Hey buddy... those people still spyin' on you?

Say, CC... you do know there are pills that can help with that sort of thing, right?

Get well soon.

*

Bloodthirsty Insurgency 101

  6/13/2008 09:30:00 am      
Remember class... "Too many kooks spoil the bomb."
-- GAZA -- The armed wing of Hamas has admitted that a massive explosion in the Gaza Strip on Thursday was caused by militants preparing an armed operation.

Seven people, including a four-month-old baby were killed in the blast, in Beit Lahiya, in the north of the strip. About 50 people were wounded, among them 15 children, Palestinian medics say.

Hamas had initially blamed the explosion on an Israeli air strike.
Of course they did.

**********

RELATED: Even "Pals" aren't pals...
Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have held two days of talks in the Senegalese capital Dakar.

A joint statement said that the meetings had restored an "atmosphere of trust and mutual respect".

The two factions have been bitterly opposed since June 2007 when Hamas took control of Gaza by force.
And Israel is supposed to negotiate peace with these madmen? They can't even get along with each other.

You might as well try to reason with a cat.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Whoooooaaaaaaa!!!!!!!
Leave cats out of this.".
*

Entertainment District, huh?

  6/13/2008 09:00:00 am      
Toronto's latest "double bill"...
Two young men were shot and killed inside a parked Land Rover in the entertainment district overnight.

Gunfire erupted in the Richmond and Niagara Sts. area just after midnight, police said. Police believe the two men - both 25 years old - were in the area visiting a friend when they were shot at close range.

Media reports suggest the pair may have been targeted because of their high-end vehicle.
**********

RELATED: Try not to confuse...

...this double-shooting with the one that occurred on Wednesday.

**********

LAST WORD: Even the suburbs are heating up

*

I gotta say, Premier McGuinty...

  6/13/2008 07:30:00 am      
I was already plenty unhappy when I heard you were gonna use taxpayer dollars to fund sex-change operations... but subsidising porn is just way freakin' over the top...
-- TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is defending the use of tax credits to help fund a controversial new movie about the sex lives of young Canadians.
C'mon Dalton... is this something you're gonna be taking your kids to see?

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"My doctor asked for a cancer screening lab test at my latest medical. Not covered by OHIP, but sex change operations are?"

"Does OHIP have enough money for one and not the other?"
Good question.

You could email Dalton McGuinty and ask.

**********

RELATED: Who needs strip clubs?
"I agree. That's hot. I'm going to go buy some cellophane and a bottle of ketchup for the ol' lady."
*

12 June 2008

Calling all...

  6/12/2008 10:00:00 pm      
Wiccans, Rastafarians and Druids... you wanna make sure you're not late filing your paperwork...
-- TORONTO -- Ontario's governing Liberals tried to say “Amen” Thursday to a thorny proposal to replace the Lord's Prayer in the legislature, opting instead to make time for an additional ritual that would better reflect the province's diverse cultural and religious landscape.

Critics called the move a calculated retreat in the face of massive public outcry to preserve a decades-long tradition. But in averting a controversy, the government may have created a new debate over which additional faiths pass muster.
And, of course, the Liberal government's oh-so-politically correct solution is only gonna throw additional fuel on the volatile religious fires.
The premier has dropped a “real hot potato” in the legislature's lap, said Opposition Leader Bob Runciman.

“It's going to be problematic, there's no doubt about that, in how you determine what's appropriate, what's not appropriate,” he said.

“He opened up a real can of worms here. No one was asking him to go down this road and now where the road ends is a big question mark right now.”
This whole "my beads are holier than your beads" thing... is turning out to be a pain in the body politic.

Time to actually separate Church and State.

**********

RELATED: Pastafarians are gonna want a piece of this
"I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence."
"Blessed be His Noodley Goodness."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Who'd ever have dreamed that endless compromising might leave us compromised?"
*

Damn you Ezra...

  6/12/2008 01:15:00 pm      
Sitting there in your wildly idling Hummer, smokin a stogie with the air conditioner goin' full blast... and all the windows down...
There's something ineffable about being a free man, about saying what you want, about not being afraid of what someone else thinks.

It feels pretty good.

I'd encourage you to try it.

Go ahead.
You've got some pretty big balls, my friend.

Of course not everybody appreciates that good ol' "free speech" point of view...
(But note the thinly-veiled allusion to violence in Hector's letter: "...it is very fortunate for Canada not to have suffered property loss or injury/causality here or abroad".

I think he meant casualty, but frankly his poor command of English adds a degree of menace, don't you think?
*

"Various sensitivities"

  6/12/2008 12:30:00 pm      
You mean like avoiding a horrible, painful death from a biological contaminant?
The union representing Defence Department employees is pushing the government to put more women on emergency response units after a group of female workers was stripped naked and scrubbed down by an all-male team responding to an anthrax scare.
Union of National Defence Employees John MacLennan also complained that his members were, "given no choice by the emergency response team"... you know... the option to simply walk away and further spread a possible threat.

(h/t reader rich)

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Therefore, beginning next week, all male firefighters will be ordered to cease rescue operations should a female victim be involved and they will be required to do nothing more than speak soothing words until female rescuers arrive."
*

When that "nuclear hotline" rings...

  6/12/2008 10:45:00 am      
...at 3 o'clock in the morning... will Barack Obama fall over the night table and break a leg?
Everybody knows that the very first rule in picking a vice president is to do no harm. Really, you can choose anybody. How dumb would you feel if it turned into an embarrassment? This is why the careful, modern candidate sets up a screening system.

Now ask yourself: how dumb would you feel if you got in trouble over your selection for the vice-presidential screener.

Talk about unnecessary disasters. It’s like having your career ruined because you invited the wrong person to host a party in honor of your nephew’s godparents.
*

Yet another violent gang of...

  6/12/2008 09:30:00 am      
...farmers, deer hunters and Olympic target shooters rampages through Toronto... leaving a bloody mess in its wake...
An 18-year-old man is fighting for his life and a 15-year-old boy is lucky to be alive after a brazen daylight shooting in a Regent Park play area yesterday. At least six shots were fired as the two victims sat on a park bench behind 463 Gerrard St. E. around 4:20 p.m.

The 18-year-old victim was shot multiple times in the chest and was in critical condition last night in intensive care unit following surgery.

The 15-year-old boy, whose family only arrived in Canada from Somalia a few years ago, was shot in the legs and also underwent emergency surgery. He is expected to live.

Police believe there could be a link between yesterday's shooting and another that happened around 2 p.m. Tuesday near Sherbourne and Carlton Sts.
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RELATED: Good morning... Mr. Mayor
Slow day down at City Hall?

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LAST WORD: No farmers here either

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Hell, apparently, has frozen over

  6/12/2008 08:00:00 am      
With exquisite timing, the CBC publishes a firearms-friendly article...
One Toronto gun owner said recently that he found shooting at targets a calming activity, a way to focus. (I suppose like meditation.) My dentist father, who loved small instruments and intense study, would probably agree.

My father joined the Doctors and Dentists gun club. Their insignia, I kid you not, was a hypodermic needle crossed with a pistol.

The club seemed to attract a disproportionate number of psychiatrists. Perhaps they joined because they loved the symbolism of the weaponry.
Primum non nocere.

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Cue the spooky theremin music

  6/12/2008 06:30:00 am      
"There is the possibility that extraterrestrials are trying to infiltrate the government," Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said Wednesday.

"I'm not saying it's what happened. But certainly all the experts of alien lifeforms who have spoken (say) ... this is the pattern that you need to check."
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Wow, PowerCorp and the Tamil Tigers must really be jealous seeing as how one woman managed to infiltrate the government and supposedly make money or advance whatever cause she is working for (her self esteem?)."

"These PowerCorp and terrorist guys have been trying for years and according to the MSM, they never managed to infiltrate the Liberal Government."
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11 June 2008

Unrepentant mass murderer...

  6/11/2008 11:00:00 pm      
Who covered up for his accomplices... wants out of Canadian jail...
-- VANCOUVER — The only man ever convicted in the 1985 Air India bombing wants out of jail. Inderjit Singh Reyat has served 20 years behind bars for two separate convictions related to the incident that claimed 331 lives in a blast off the coast of Ireland.

On Wednesday, his lawyer Ian Donaldson asked the B.C. Court of Appeal to reconsider holding his client in jail while he awaits trial on a perjury charge.

Justice Ian Josephson labelled Mr. Reyat an “unmitigated liar under oath” in his ruling that acquitted Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri of the bombing deaths.
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CAW President, apparently not...

  6/11/2008 07:15:00 pm      
The brightest kid in his class...
The Canadian Auto Workers union says it's surprised that General Motors wants $1.5 million in compensation for the blockade at the car giant's Oshawa headquarters.

CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley says the company's court action to have the blockade removed was expected. But Buckley says the $1.5 million sought in damages from the union local and five of its members - including himself - was a shock.
Guess what, genius... actions have consequences.

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I know it's not as entertaining...

  6/11/2008 02:30:00 pm      
As promiscuous, large-breasted biker chicks... but back in the world of actually governing and setting policy... Beloved Supreme Leader Dion is busily engineering another trainwreck...
Stéphane Dion is delaying the launch of his carbon-tax plan over resistance from some caucus members who fear he will botch the selling of the proposal.

Understandably, this has made many Grits nervous; explaining a carbon-tax plan is technical and difficult enough. It is complicated by the fact that Mr. Dion is not regarded as a good communicator.

"I think there is a concern that the communication is so weak that it will never get properly launched. That is the problem," says a senior Liberal insider."

"How do you deal with those?"

"They don't know. They don't have a clue."
(h/t reader rich)

Round round get around, I get around

  6/11/2008 02:00:00 pm      
Yeah... get around round round... I get around...
Bernard Côté, a senior staffer in the office of Public Works Minister Michael Fortier, was forced to quit after it emerged that he dated Julie Couillard last year, at which time he discussed a federal real estate project in Quebec City with her.
The Kiss of the Spider-Woman... part deux.

So... unless I'm misreading this... the Globe, and the Liberals, seem to be imputing that Ms. Couillard is in the habit of bestowing her favours on powerful men... in hope of receiving some considerable remuneration.

Now, there's a name for that... damn... it's on the tip of my tongue...

Hey, Julie... good luck on ever getting a LUNCH MEETING, never mind a date again... in this country, anyway.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:
Heh. I'm reading a book called "The Biker Trials" about the Hells Angels-Rock Machine war in the 1990s, and guess who shows up at least twice?

You know, when guys like Maurice "Mom" Boucher call you a slut, you might want to re-think your conduct.
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WELCOME YET AGAIN READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Two links in one post... looks like CC has a little sand in his thong today. He's awfully concerned this time... about "l'affaire Couillard."

I guess there's just something here he finds particularly appealing.

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Deeply held religious value, huh?

  6/11/2008 10:15:00 am      
As the wise man Jagger once observed... "She was practiced at the art of deception... I could tell by her blood-stained hands."
Gynecologists say that in the past few years, more Muslim women are seeking certificates of virginity to provide proof to others. That in turn has created a demand among cosmetic surgeons for hymen replacements, which, if done properly, they say, will not be detected and will produce tell-tale vaginal bleeding on the wedding night.

The service is widely advertised on the Internet; medical tourism packages are available to countries like Tunisia where it is less expensive.
I don't know what's more appalling... the self-deception... or the hypocrisy.

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Taking care of the sheep(le)...

  6/11/2008 09:45:00 am      
And punishing the sinners -- no, not God -- the Alberta Human Rights Commission...
Consider: The Alberta Human Rights Commission hands out tax dollars in the form of public grants to promote very controversial social issues and at the same time they have the authority to rule on speech and punish opinion via their tribunals.

The same applies in every Province.
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Pay me now...

  6/11/2008 08:30:00 am      
And pay me later...
Just as Elmasry's fascist attack on Maclean's has set back Muslim-Gentile relations, by portraying all Muslims as a bunch of Saudi-style wackos, Lund undermines the credibility of the gay lobby, by painting it as an illiberal bunch of bullies, who can hardly wait to start "punishing" people as an act of vengeance for their own grievances.

That's the shame of these human rights commissions: they reward and foster a sense of victimology and grievance.
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RELATED: Speaking of bullies
"My parents are much better behaved than I am. Had some neckless bouncer come on my property and refused to leave, I would have called the police. Not my sweet parents -- they're old fashioned, and believe in being courteous, even to bullies."
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Tasers 3 - Smog 9500

  6/11/2008 07:30:00 am      
Remember all the coal-fired generating stations the Ontario Liberals were gonna shut down by 2007?
Air pollution comes from a variety of sources, including motor vehicles, factories and smelters. But the Liberal argument in 2003 about unhealthy air hinged on replacing coal with cleaner sources of energy.

This didn't happen, of course, so it's fair to attribute some of the 9,500 premature deaths cited by the OMA to the continued operation of the Nanticoke, Lambton, Thunder Bay and Atikokan plants.
I wasn't too happy about Dalton's big OHIP lie... but I don't think it kills thousands of people every year.

But don't worry, now he's promised to shut them down by 2014.

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10 June 2008

In other "non-gun club" news

  6/10/2008 09:15:00 pm      
Maybe this is just me... but somebody tries to smoke you... you might just wanna play ball with the cops.
-- TORONTO -- A 19-year-old man is recovering in hospital after being shot this afternoon.

However, police said the victim is being uncooperative and they have not yet determined if the person who brought him to the hospital has any connection to the victim.
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RELATED: What's a teenager's life worth?

Six years? No... really?
-- BRAMPTON -- Two teens convicted for their role in the ambush shooting death of a Brampton teenager were sentenced to one year in custody.

Now 18 and 19 years old, both were young offenders when Dwayne Lloyd, 17, was gunned down on May 24, 2005.

They were "active participants" but were not armed, court heard. The older of the two had a walkie-talkie the night of the killing, the younger was on a bicycle, and both acted as "scouts", warning their group of eight friends that Lloyd and his friends were approaching.

Two adults, Garfield Powell, 31, of Brampton and Ojore Carrington, 31, of Malton pleaded guilty to manslaughter in February. They were both handed six-year prison sentences for their roles.
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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"4 years - mandatory release after two thirds of sentence."
I stand corrected.

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Media celebrated "Holy Men"...

  6/10/2008 06:00:00 pm      
Strangely silent on genocidal Mugabe...
While this politicization of the food situation in "his" country was being completed, President Robert Mugabe benefited from two things: the indulgence of the government of South Africa and the lenience of the authorities in Rome, who allowed him to attend a U.N. conference on the world food crisis—of all things—despite a five-year-old ban on his travel to any member of the European Union.

This, in turn, seems to me to implicate two of the supposed sources of moral authority on the planet: Nelson Mandela and the Vatican.

By his silence about what is happening in Zimbabwe, Mandela is making himself complicit in the pillage and murder of an entire nation, as well as the strangulation of an important African democracy.
And it's not just Saint Nelson who's dropping the ball here...
And it seems he bears a charmed life in Rome. He was there only recently as a guest at the funeral of Pope John Paul II and was able to claim that he was on Vatican soil rather than Italian territory.

Which in turn raises an interesting question: What is it going to take before the Roman Catholic Church has anything to say about the conduct of this member of its flock?
What indeed?

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Actions have consequences

  6/10/2008 05:30:00 pm      
Sounds like this kid is already well into his criminal apprenticeship programme.
-- KINGSTON, Ont. - A 13-year-old boy in Kingston, Ont., who punched and broke his family's TV set got more than just a tongue-lashing from his mom - he was also slapped with a criminal charge.

Police say the teen began bickering with his mother Monday morning when she woke him and told him to get ready for school.

In anger, the boy walked out to the living room and punched the screen of the 37-inch LCD TV, damaging it beyond repair.

The television was valued at $1,000.

The teen's mother called police, who arrested the boy and charged him with mischief under $5,000.
Good for her.

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Oh, yeah...

  6/10/2008 02:30:00 pm      
Scarborough. Again.

**********

RELATED: Igor... bring me a brain
Police have arrested two 19-year-old suspects after recovering three antique guns that were stolen from Casa Loma over the weekend.

The non-functioning firearms – a Sten submachine gun, Bren light machine gun and a Bock bolt-action rifle – were stolen during a break-in at the historic Toronto castle early Saturday.

Patrick Maier-Trevizan, 19, of Toronto, and Piotr Baczynski, 19, of Mississauga were scheduled to appear in court this morning.
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Farmers, deer hunters...

  6/10/2008 12:30:00 pm      
And yes, Mr. Mayor... target shooters... totally off the hook, YET AGAIN...
Mubin Shaikh, the first witness to appear in the much publicized Toronto terrorism case, appeared poised and confident as he described an alleged conspirator showing him a gun loaded with “cop killer” bullets within hours of meeting them.

“He takes out a round and shows me the hollowed out point and says "See these are cop killers,” he testified.

Mr. Shaikh said the conversation took place at a Nov. 27, 2005, banquet-hall rally for Muslim prisoners, which he attended after he was tasked with becoming a mole for security agencies.
Of course, Yasser Ara-splat is actually talkin' out his ass here.

Hollow-point bullets, which spread out on impact, are not designed to penetrate body-armour. They flatten out and transfer all their energy... to what is sometimes euphemistically referred to as... "soft targets"... for the layman, that's simple flesh & bone.

When people talk about "cop-killer" bullets... they actually mean a sharply pointed copper-jacketed slug... with a special teflon coating designed to slip through kevlar... in effect, the exact opposite of a hollow-point slug.

But don't try tellin that to ol' Yasser.

And never let it be said that Jihadis don't have a sense of humour...
"'He hugged me ... I feel something in his pocket,' the witness testified."

"I don't know if I said, ‘Brother are you happy to see me'?"
Although it looks like these geniuses may need to do a little more work on the "undercover" aspect of the operation.
On Dec. 5, he said, the No. 2 ringleader picked him up to go shopping for guns on his behalf. Mr. Shaikh testified they visited three gun shops that day.

The suspect “was very excited because the first thing he asked was ‘hey do you sell any assault rifles here?,” Mr. Shaikh said.

He added the remark made the gun-shop owner “very nervous.”
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RELATED: Hey... Mayor Super Dave...

...here's a thought... let's try arresting criminals.
-- WINDSOR, Ont. -- Authorities say they’ve broken up an international smuggling ring that was allegedly using couriers to funnel guns from the U.S. into Canada.

Canadian investigators say they seized 27 firearms as well as ammunition at the border, while another ten guns were intercepted in Detroit. Police say the guns were destined for the Toronto area.

Charged with multiple offences are 21-year-old Denisa Manga and 18-year-old Julio Manga, both of Windsor.
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Prime Minister says... "No thanks"

  6/10/2008 11:30:00 am      
He's gonna take a pass... on publicly sniffing Maxime Bernier's jockstrap...
"I have no interest in participating in a partisan circus," he said Monday. "The opposition parties, if they wish to go ahead with this, it is their right."
On the other hand, Liberal public safety critic Ujjal Dosanjh says he'll be there with bells on... that Couillard babe is hotter than a two dollar pistol... and ol' Ujjie wants a front row seat...
"This is not really a witch hunt," Dosanjh said.

He said he hopes that Couillard will testify, but he's not going to force her to appear before the committee.
I'm with you Uj... it sure beats rotting away in backbench obscurity, huh?

Maybe you can even do some "deeper" investigation... I hear she has a thing for politicians.

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RELATED: Say, Ujjal...

While you're investigating the sex lives of the "Rich & Famous"...

**********

LAST WORD: Even Moonbat Central... isn't biting

Just don't tell, uh... CTV...
"Two thirds of Canadians believe the Maxime Bernier affair is an important issue."
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WELCOME YET AGAIN READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Always glad to play a little "back and forth" with the undisputed "Prince of Putrid."

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Hey, Steffi... I think I've found...

  6/10/2008 10:30:00 am      
That big wedge issue you've been lookin' for...
The group representing strip club owners in Ontario is ready to hire a consultant to find loopholes in the rules because their supply of foreign exotic dancers has been cut off for three years.

One route, he said, might be to use foreign student visas, since foreign students can now work for 20 hours a week in any job.

"The legal way is being ignored, so we need to get creative."

Up to 98 per cent of the women who apply overseas for visas get turned down, even after they pay their $150 to $500 application fee, Lambrinos said.
Damn you, Stephen Harper... we need our rental nookie!
"Now the Conservatives plan to stop moving strippers to the front of the immigration line and try to prevent exploitation."

"Again, the Liberals are against this?"

"We've got immigrant doctors driving cabs and badly needed tradespeople not even able to get into the country. But Liberals want to ensure the flow of new strippers and exploited sex trade workers continues!"
C'mon, Stef... this isn't even real work... you can just dust off the ol' "Red Book."
Remember former Liberal Immigration Minister Judy Sgro?

OTTAWA -- Immigration Minister Judy Sgro is defending the government's policy of admitting foreign exotic dancers to work in Canada, saying the strip club business is "a strong industry" with "lots of customers."
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Maybe peace with Israel...

  6/10/2008 09:00:00 am      
Just isn't their most pressing issue... like, you know... if they could only stop slaughtering each other...
The head of Saddam Hussein's tribe has been blown up in a car bomb in the town of Awja, near Tikrit, Iraqi police say.

Members of the al-Bu Nasir, a 20,000-strong Sunni Arab tribe, held some of the most important security and political positions in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.

Mahmoud al-Nida, the sheikh's brother, was killed by unknown gunmen in 2006.
Baby steps, huh guys?

"Salam Aleikum."

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The importance of...

  6/10/2008 08:00:00 am      
Getting a second opinion...
An alleged plot by Italian doctors to carry out unnecessary operations in order to make more money has led to the death of five patients, police say.

Investigators say staff at the clinic falsified medical tests in order to get the go-ahead for the operations. In some cases, they say, staff boosted their monthly income by as much as 25,000 euros (£20,000).
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RELATED: Meanwhile, back at the ranch
A Hamilton doctor who admitted having sex with two women he was treating for mental illness had his "permanently" lifted licence reinstated yesterday by the province's medical watchdog.

Waxman, who said he wants to work at a Toronto clinic, should practice only five hours a day, totalling 20 hours per week at first, panel head Dr. Marc Gabel said.

Short hours at first will mean the doctor "will not be under stress," he said.
No such thing as "a bad boy" in Ontario.

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Bubble-wrapping the world

  6/10/2008 06:30:00 am      
When I went looking for advice on what's involved in replacing my father-in-law's hard-wired, 3 conductor "Electrosaurus"... with a new-fangled 4 conductor electric range... I had no idea I would encounter a philosopher.
As long as you bonded the neutral connection to the chassis of the stove per manufacturer's instructions, you've made it as safe as you can with the current wiring, and it is a level of safety accepted by the code.

Of course, you can always make things safer.

In this case, you could make things safer by rewiring the circuit with four conductors.

But it would be even safer still if you unplugged it or hired somebody to do all your cooking.

There's a limit to what we are willing to do in the name of safety. Eventually we declare it "safe enough".
Now, obviously... and I don't think I'd get an argument here... updating the electrical code is a good thing. I guess, on the other hand, in a situation with an existing installation, you've gotta make a judgement call.

Now I could go off on a tear here... about David Miller's idiotic decision to fight crime by going after perfectly legal pistol ranges... or the statistically insignificant number of (compared to say, vehicle related) deaths by taser, or the "human rights" argle-bargle we've all been so preoccupied with lately... but I think you get the point.

Sometimes you've just gotta apply a little common sense... which apparently, these days, isn't as common as you might think.

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09 June 2008

Fiberals didn't get it done... again

  6/09/2008 08:45:00 pm      
"Flee, flee run away"... the Liberal Party of Canada can't bring itself to defeat that horrible Harperite cabal... yet again.
-- Ottawa -- With several Liberals abstaining, the House of Commons has approved controversial Conservative reforms to Canada's immigration laws by a vote of 120-90.

Bill C-50 allows skilled immigrants such as doctors to be put on the fast-track into Canada, while unskilled immigrants will find it harder to enter the country.
Stephane Dion, from whatever hidey-hole he is occupying tonight... has said that he will repeal that bill once he is... get this... Prime Minister.

Yeah, yeah... I know.

Meanwhile, back in the real world...
"Stephen Harper and the Conservative government takes a principled stand for the values that we believe in even when it's not popular.

Stéphane Dion is showing through his chronic abstentions that he is a weak leader who will flip flop on any issue in order to survive and continue on as leader," said Mr. Poilievre.
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BREAKING: The real reason...

...Steffi didn't bring down the Conservatives.

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So some guy gets shot twice...

  6/09/2008 02:45:00 pm      
And ends up in hospital... and the "multi-culti" Toronto Star can't bring itself to issue a description of the shooter... I mean, what's up with that?
A 24-year-old man is in hospital with non-life threatening injuries after an early morning shooting in Mississauga.

The man was sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle in front of the Time Out bar near Finch and Darcel Aves., around 1 a.m. Sunday, when the suspect got out of a black car and opened fire.
Unfortunately... for the leftosphere anyway... the Mississauga News is a little less "sensitive" to these sorts of issues... and fills in the blanks...
A black man exited the vehicle and started shooting.

Investigators have no suspects and say the victim is not co-operating with them.
See... I don't get it.

Why is it that some editor at the "Red Star" gets to decide whether or not the public should get as much information as is available... on people running around shooting other people in their city?

And the guy who's refusing to talk to police... just charge this dufus with obstructing justice.

There are countries in the world where avoiding the cops is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

CANADA ISN'T ONE OF THEM.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"and guess what, my lefty friend... if the shooter had been a member of one of mayor miller's much-despised target shooting clubs... my guess is... you'd be hearing about the scuff marks at the back of his underwear drawer."
**********

RELATED: And then... there's the NATPOST
No one who works for the Post is unaware that many Muslims feel antipathy toward a newspaper that is officially pro-Israel and, in practice, generally skeptical of Canadian multiculturalism.

It seems to occur to none of them to muck in and start up their own Daily Jihad that reflects the opposing views.

Khurrum Awan believes Muslims are positively entitled to a "voice"—a voice printed with somebody else's ink on somebody else's paper, delivered to homes by means of somebody else's employees and somebody else's internet infrastructure.
Or he could mosey over to the Star.

(h/t bcf)

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WELCOME READERS OF DR DEMENTO, uh... DAWG
I think the Dawg... needs a good worming.
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