The murderer is described...

...by the media, as a "long-time family friend."

-- Toronto -- A seven-year-old girl was found dead early Sunday morning and her 29-year-old guardian was charged with second-degree murder after police responded to a 911 call from the west-end apartment building where they lived.

She was the youngest of three homicide victims over a violent holiday weekend in Toronto.

**********

RELATED: Speaking of "violent holiday weekend"

A 37-year-old man visiting Toronto for Caribana was shot in a botched robbery attempt early Sunday morning.

Police said the Rochester, N.Y., man was performing a card trick for some passersby just before 2:15 a.m. near Bay Street and Richmond Street West when three men approached the man and attempted to steal his gold necklace.

**********

UPDATE: This little girl never had a chance

Police arrested Irving, a trusted friend of the young girl's mother for at least a decade, and have charged her with second-degree murder.

Sampson said she gave over care of Katelynn to Irving while she dealt with "personal problems," which she wouldn't specify.

Irving became Katelynn's caregiver in January, Ryan said, despite having a history with social services and a criminal record of "some violence." She has four of her own biological children, two of whom were in their father's care.

**********

LAST WORD: Hey, CC... need a little "aftersnark"?

The Toronto "Red" Star is always happy to oblige.

*

Dear Jaswinder...

You got way more than you had a right to expect here... and you still spat on it. Let's face it, in actual fact, this has nothing to do with Stephen Harper.

-- SURREY, B.C. -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized Sunday for the 1914 Komogata Maru incident in which hundreds of Indians seeking a better life in Canada were turned away.

See, Jas... I think you're a little confused. If you've got any sort of a beef here... you should take it up with Prime Minister Robert Borden.

Now admittedly, that won't be easy... as he died 71 years ago, in 1937... but that, my friend, is precisely the point.

Truth be told, I'm still a little pissed at Sir Robert myself over that "temporary" Wartime Business Profits Tax he introduced in 1917... but then, I'm thinkin' we're all probably a little hacked off at that.

The thing is... in 1914... Stephen Harper's grandfather was probably running around in short pants and even he had no idea any of this was happening. But even that doesn't dent this stupid rock of contention, does it?

But as soon as he left the stage members of the Sikh community rushed to the podium immediately denouncing the apology. They said they wanted it delivered on the floor of the House of Commons.

"The apology was unacceptable," said Jaswinder Singh Toor, president of "The Descendents of Komagatamaru Society."

Well, guess what, my incredibly discourteous friend... you aren't in a position to tell the Prime Minister to floss more often... never mind how to apologise for a policy that was implemented before his father was born.

Now I know all this politically correct "apologies from the past" malarkey is in vogue nowadays... but you might just wanna stow your 92 year-old outrage and get on with your life.

'Cos like the wise man once said... "You can't always get what you want."

Even with Jack and Steffi on your side.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

Dear Jaswinder,

If I may as the grandson of a "orphan immigrant" from Glasgow offer you some hard won advice.

My Grandfather was sent overseas from Scotland at the tender age of 9 with a tag on his coat button giving his particulars. He ended up on a farm at Portage La Prairie as cheap labour for a well-off farmer with 7 daughters and no sons. He was never to break bread with the family, he took his meals in the kitchen with the dog. The day he had enough, I think he was 12, he walked down to the dirt road in front of the farm and never looked back.

He never told us the name of those people, he eventually married had 10 children, 6 survived childhood, his 4 sons served overseas. He never complained, he just "got on with it."

There are incredible opportunities here Jaswinder, but in order to enjoy them you have to stop whining and do as my grandfather did, just get on with it sir, self respect and recognition and respect in the community will follow as it has for the majority of your community.

Cheers from a little orphans descendant.

And from a slightly different perspective...

"I am a Sikh in Alberta and never have even heard of this person. I was surprised to even hear of this apology but I do gratefully accept it."

"I am sure the vast majority of Sikhs in Canada do as well, irrespective of this so-called 'community leader's' comments."

**********

UPDATE: Oh crap... here we go again

*

It simply shouldn't have happened

Apparently all kinds of people knew this guy was coming unglued... and did nothing about it...

"He was kind of a lost soul. It was as if he was always looking for something," a member of a Winnipeg family which befriended Li -- even having him over for Christmas dinner two years ago -- told the Free Press Saturday in an exclusive interview.

"I think, in their culture, (the issue of mental illness) is kind of frowned upon," the woman said. She works in the mental health field and said it was obvious Li was struggling.

No lady... he wasn't struggling... he was on his way to a homicidal meltdown and you stood by and watched.

"He was definitely schizophrenic, probably paranoid schizophrenic," she said. "He needed help but he just wouldn't get it."

Sure... let's put the onus for seeking treatment on the guy who's obviously crazier than a shithouse mouse... that sounds like a plan.

"There was the constant paranoia, a feeling that he was always being watched and that others might be out to get him. There were his bizarre, rambling stories that seemed to come out of nowhere."

And yet, all of these "concerned folks", simply stood by and did nothing.

The woman predicts Li will finally now get the help he needs.

Yeah... that's just peachy.

Tell that to the family and friends of Tim McLean.

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Another two links in one post, CC? Something's really bothering you, huh?

CC loudly proclaims, "...the mentally unhinged that walk among you..."

Well, that's certainly something he's familiar with...

C'mon, CC... be a good boy and just take your meds.

**********

LAST WORD: Hey, CC... one woman has had enough

*

True Crime

When you look in the mirror... what do you see?

"You know, if I do a crime, you lock me up, I'm not going to complain. But if I'm not doing nothing, and you just bothering me, then I'm gonna get mad, and then I don't care if I go to jail for, you know, disorderly conduct for police, 'cause I just did seven years, I just came home for, you know, police planting stuff on me, I didn't do nothing, they took seven years of my life, you know. I'm trying to get back, stay out of trouble, learn stuff, you know, reading books... I'm 30-years-old, I'm just living life, you know? Trying to catch up, I'm trying."

"You know? I'm just a average Joe. That's all."

And...

"So, once I do my two days of community service, the case is dropped and everything is back to normal and I can continue with my political career."

"You know what I mean?"

"I'm working real hard to succeed in politics, and people have lied about me and lied about my husband, Jonathan, to destroy our lives and our reputation for no reason."

*

I bet you didn't know...

...his new nickname is "Shish."

“We tell the enemies of God that God has saved those who will be even more painful for you,” it said.

“As Abu Khabab has gone, he left behind, with God's grace, a generation of faithful students who will make you suffer the worst torture and avenge him and his brothers.”

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

*

Got your calculator handy?

Let's talk really horrific human tragedy...

A stampede at a hilltop temple in northern India has killed at least 120 people, police say.

Indian temples are regularly hit by stampedes, as huge crowds of Hindu devotees flock to make offerings at festival times.

There have been at least three fatal stampedes in the country so far during 2008, although the numbers killed were far smaller than in the latest incident.

So lemme see... in one single event... that's 30 years of Canadian taser fatalities.

And no one, outside of their families, will ever even know these people's names.

Funny how that works.

**********

UPDATE: At least 145 people...

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

Two links in four hours, CC? Really... I'm flattered. Still... it's nowhere near his record of nine links... in one post.

It almost makes me feel guilty... that I've been neglecting him.

Get well soon, sweetie.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS: CC sends his flying monkeys...

"How appropriate you call your blog "halls of macadamia"...'cause you're fucking NUTS!"

And...

"I'm calling you a fucking asshole, a liar, a coward and an intellectual half-wit who probably couldn't find his own ass with a compass, a mirror and a flashlight."

**********

LAST WORD: Hey, Cynic... this is interesting.

I see via Sitemeter... I had a few referrals from your links to my blog... that originated at the Royal Military College in Kingston.

You've apparently got fans all over the place.

Lucky you.

*

Taser 0 -- Glock 1

Well... I hope the lunatic left is happy...

A 26-year-old knife-wielding man was shot and killed by police in Winnipeg after they failed to subdue him with a Taser, officials say. Police responded to calls of a possible disturbance around 5:15 Saturday morning in the 700 block of Simcoe Street in the west part of the city.

When officers arrived, they confronted a man brandishing a knife, said police spokeswoman Const. Jacqueline Chaput. She said police requested that he put down his weapon.

"Information of course is preliminary, but it does appear he did not comply with the request, the electronic control device was deployed, that didn't work and they had to escalate to a higher level of force."

**********

RELATED: C'mon... it was only a knife

-- TORONTO -- A 45-year-old man was stabbed to death in an east-end apartment building early this morning.

According to Staff-Sgt. Donald Hale from 55 Division, the man was found dead in the hallway of 17 Edgewood Ave. around 9:37 a.m.

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

A little background on my biggest fan...

...and his oh-so progressive pals.

It's hard to say what I admire most about the Cynic... his multi-cultural credentials...

Or his obsessive dedication to feminist causes...

His Liblogs brothers and sisters must be so proud!

*

No wonder there's so few details...

Globe & Mail lets slip Prime Minister Harper's complicity... in bus beheading incident...
No word yet on possible Bush/Cheney involvement.

**********

UPDATE: I obviously spoke too soon...
And what socialist rant is truly complete without the obligatory reference to implanted tracking devices...

Toronto Star reveals...

...Commie Bob seizes helm of Liberal ship... outlines plan for snap fall election...

-- OTTAWA -- The election dare that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has issued to the increasingly confident Liberals has set the stage for a fall election.

Bob Rae, the MP for Toronto Centre, said yesterday that his party believes it is in a good position to go to the polls.

That's obviously diametrically opposed to the dithering yip-yap that Steffi's been handing out this last week.

So what does Mr. Carbon Tax say about Bob's plans for bringing down the Conservatives?

"Dion is on vacation and was not available yesterday for comment."

Okay, Bobby... full speed ahead... damn the torpedoes.

*

Every cop in Toronto...

...has been called in this weekend... and still the bodycount rises...

Toronto police have confirmed that the discovery of a woman’s body in the city’s east end Saturday morning is being investigated as a homicide.

Police received a call just after 7:30 a.m. reporting a body lying in an alley at the back of a high-rise apartment building on Sherbourne St., near Dundas St. E.

Police said there were obvious signs of trauma to the body, but would not divulge more details until the results of a post-mortem are returned.

**********

UPDATE: A Paramedic's playground...

Just before 4 a.m. on Saturday, a man was shot in the thigh in the Queen Street West and Soho Street area after a group of men got into an altercation. Toronto police spokesperson Const. Tony Vella told CTV.ca that the victim went to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspect is still at large, but seven people were detained and questioned by police.

Not long after the shooting, a man was slashed with a broken bottle outside an after-hours club near St. Clair Avenue West and Blackthorn Avenue. The victim is in hospital with serious injuries.

And just before 7 a.m. Saturday, police arrested four men at gun point on the Gardiner Expressway after pulling over a car for travelling at high speeds. A handgun was found in the car, which was impounded.

*

Boy... that's one merciless deity

Once again, the capricious and unknowable "Will of Allah."

-- KANDAHAR -- A road mine blasted a bus carrying a wedding party in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing the bride, groom and eight other civilians, a police official said.

Provincial police chief Matiullah Khan blamed Taliban militants for planting the explosive in Spin Boldak district of the southern Kandahar province. He said 10 civilians were killed and six were wounded, and that children were among the victims.

**********

RELATED: Ayman... say it isn't so

The letter refers to Sheikh Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri by name, and says that he is in “severe pain” and his “injuries are infected”. It is reportedly written by local Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud whose signature and seal are visible on the letter, added the paper.

Experts have confirmed that the Taliban logo and the Mehsud’s seal are legitimate. The letter is dated July 29, one day after a US air strike that killed al-Qaida weapons expert Abu Khabab al-Masri, and five other Arabs in South Waziristan.

*

So, you're ditching "Old Faithful'?

Maybe you should... "Do the Math" first.

*

Occam's Razor

Apparently there is a blogosphere-wide issue with IE7 and Sitemeter that is preventing folks from accessing blogs that use a combination of the two.

Not a problem here... I use Firefox.

I have also heard of a workaround and have changed the Sitemeter code at the Halls from Javascript to straight HTML.

We'll see what happens.

My advice... dump Internet Explorer and get Firefox 3.

**********

UPDATE:

Just heard back from reader Bob... switching to HTML code for Sitemeter (you lose a little functionality) seems to solve the problem.

*

Belleville: Hooker Update

This probably seems like small beer to those of you living in a larger metropolitan locale... but out here, folks are all in a lather...

Earlier this week, police chief Steve Tanner announced his force was coming up with a policy of charging and releasing the names of anyone caught offering money for sex after three women in in recent days were charged with soliciting in separate incidents in the downtown area.

“The profession is not going to go away, but to look at the deterrent aspect of it another way is to look at the customers and see what we can do to deter them from being a customer,” he said.

You live in a city with a couple of million people... chances are you're pretty anonymous.

When you live in a city of 50,000, it's a whole other ball game.

The reality is, everybody around here knows who runs the local businesses and who works where. People get wind of your nasty habits... it ain't just your home life that takes a hit... because out here in the sticks, there's still such a thing as a public shaming.

This oughta be interesting.

*

J-School 101

There is apparently a directly inverse relationship between how meaty your story is... and... well...

Not just the Globe... CTV climbs aboard the "Hooterville Express."

*

Iraq cooling off...

...as Afghanistan starts to bubble...

Four of the NATO soldiers and a civilian died in Kunar province and the fifth soldier was killed in Khost, the alliance said in a statement. It did not release the nationalities of the soldiers, but most troops in those eastern areas are American.

*

As Richard Pryor once said...

"Please baby, who ya gonna believe -- me... or your lyin eyes?"

**********

RELATED: Who's on first?

On the eve of Mr. Gilani's visit to Washington, the government announced the powerful agency would now report to the interior minister — the top civilian security official — only to backtrack hours later.

That confusion had led to pointed criticism of the government, which has struggled to define a coherent strategy for combating Islamic militancy since it took office after defeating supporters of President Pervez Musharraf in February elections.

And what's really frightening is... these guys have "the bomb."

*

Who cares why he did it?

If you're capable of this type of savagery... you're the new "poster boy" for reinstating the death penalty.

-- TORONTO (AP) -- A 40-year-old man who witnesses said stabbed and beheaded the man sitting next to him on a Greyhound bus in Canada has been charged with second-degree murder, police said Friday.

Vince Weiguang Li, of Edmonton, Alberta, was due to appear in court later Friday.

**********

UPDATE: It's even worse than they're saying

*

Yeah... surprise

"Farmers, hunters and target shooters..." -- well, you know the drill -- it's not any of them, again...

Toronto Police have been battling a rash of gunplay for much of 2008 and on Thursday night yet another incident forced officers into action.

Shots rang out in the Jane and Trethewey area, south of Lawrence Ave. West a little before 10pm, sending what police believe is a man in his 20s to hospital.

The victim was reportedly hit in the back and was listed in serious condition at the time of admission.

**********

RELATED: Feeling safer yet?

So what are "the real numbers"?

**********

LAST WORD: Call me "Nervous Nellie"...

...but any time the cops call for "all hands on deck"... I'll just stay home and fire up the BBQ... thank you very much.

*

It's not like...

...anybody really trusted them anyway, but the ISI... or rogue elements within it... have really crossed a line here.

-- WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) -- U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that members of Pakistan's spying service helped plan the suicide bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul this month, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

U.S. government officials told the newspaper that communications had been intercepted between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the July 7 attack that killed 54 people.

The ISI already has a pretty unsavory reputation, but this takes things to a whole other level.

The newspaper said it was the clearest evidence to date that Pakistani intelligence officers were actively undermining U.S. efforts to combat militants in the region.

The unidentified U.S. officials also said new information showed that members of Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, were increasingly providing militants with details about the U.S. campaign against them, allowing them to avoid missile strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Your supposed friends are aiding and abetting the enemy... no wonder this part of the world is such a quagmire.

**********

UPDATE: Pakistan responds...

"Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis!?!?

*

CBC unleashes inner Jihadi...

...with screaming headline...

"Afghan father wants revenge for children's deaths."

"If I ever get the chance, I will kill the Canadians," Mohammed said.

Well, revenge... and a pile of cash...

Mohammed described himself as a poor man who only had enough money to pay for the taxi ride to Kandahar and said Canadians should help him out.

No word yet from the CEEB... on whether a payout will preclude ol' Mo following through on his threat.

**********

RELATED: What it's all about

*

We're gonna have a party

Steffi must be so pleased... what with all his recent bravado about bringing down the government...

Mr. Harper says the Tories will be pushing ahead with their legislative agenda – and, he says, “you can bet some of these will be confidence motions.”

**********

RELATED: And while we're on "vote of confidence"

Stephen Taylor gets mail...

"It should be troubling for Dion to learn that there are members of his own political staff that are actively undermining the man at this critical time by leaking strategic communications that have landed right in my inbox."

Yeeeeouch... that's gonna leave a mark.

*

Remember...

...friends don't let friends... vote Liberal...

-- MONTREAL -- Chuck Guite has failed in his bid to get the Quebec Court of Appeal to overturn his conviction on fraud charges related to the sponsorship scandal.

Mr. Guite, a former bureaucrat, was in charge of the federal sponsorship program where friends of the federal Liberals were paid in the 1990s for little or no work.

*

Apparently, it's Chinese for...

"Screw you and your dangerous, irresponsible democracies."

Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee spokesman Sun Weide says journalists will have what he called "sufficient and convenient" Internet access.

Sun told reporters Chinese authorities will - with the exception of websites the Chinese deem illegal - provide full access to the Internet to facilitate their reporting during the Olympic games.

*

It's a start...

...as Fiberals try to firm up their non-existent "tough on crime" credentials...

Kicking trouble-making tenants out of public housing could get a lot easier if the province embraces landmark private member's legislation coming this fall, but whether Toronto Community Housing will embrace the measure isn't clear.

Under the proposed legislation, tenants tired of neighbours dealing crack, hiding guns or prostituting could complain to a provincial investigator, who could evict the tenant or close the property -- faster than current provincial legislation allows.

And how does Toronto Community Housing respond?

"(SCAN) legislation may lead to further stigmatization of Toronto Community Housing as a consequence of the potential for an increase in negative media coverage."

You do have to ask who exactly is being stigmatized...

Councillor Michael Thompson said more than 50% of all murders in Toronto over the past several years have happened on or near TCH property.

Over the last five years, TCH has initiated 50-gun related eviction proceedings. Six of those tenants have been evicted; 12 left voluntarily; 14 were settlements; five were appealed; six are pending; one was dismissed, and six were withdrawn or not filed.

Sorry, folks... a little difficult to sympathise here.

Use a gun, you're done.

*

Sure, I was just thinking...

...the crime rate drops any lower... we'll have to start laying off cops...

"I was just reading a book and all of a sudden I heard a guy screaming. I turned around and the guy sitting right beside me was standing up and stabbing another guy with a big Rambo knife."

"Right in the throat. Repeatedly."

And then it got worse.

**********

RELATED: The horror doesn't stop there

“There are signs of violence on her body,” Sergeant Marc Butz, a spokesman with the Sûreté du Québec, said in an interview. “But no weapons were used, no firearm, no knife.”

What kind of freak beats a 17 year-old girl to death?

**********

LAST WORD: Owen Sound on the map...

...as mob attacks innocent bystander.

In what police are calling a case of mistaken identity, a Toronto man was stabbed and savagely beaten late Tuesday by a group of strangers in Owen Sound.

Investigators say a drunken woman apparently sparked the attack by physically and verbally assaulting the 42-year-old man as he was walking near 2nd Ave. E. and 10th St., just after 11:30 p.m.

With no other option, they say the man held on to the woman with one arm and called the police with his cellphone.

**********

WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

This time CC wants to know... "Who to call if I need a babysitter on short notice?"

I'm thinkin'... probably not this guy.

A little background on my biggest fan.

*

Has anybody else...

...heard about "demographic inversion"?

In the past three decades, Chicago has undergone changes that are routinely described as gentrification, but are in fact more complicated and more profound than the process that term suggests.

A better description would be "demographic inversion." Chicago is gradually coming to resemble a traditional European city--Vienna or Paris in the nineteenth century, or, for that matter, Paris today.

The poor and the newcomers are living on the outskirts. The people who live near the center--some of them black or Hispanic but most of them white--are those who can afford to do so.

And Canada gets a star turn here as well.

If you want to see this sort of thing writ large, you can venture just across the Canadian border to Vancouver, a city roughly the size of Washington, D.C.

What makes it unusual--indeed, at this point unique in all of North America--is that roughly 20 percent of its residents live within a couple of square miles of each other in the city's center.

This seems to be the opposite of what has been happening to large metropolitan cities in recent memory.

Anybody remember, for instance, Buffalo in the eighties?

An interesting development.

**********

RELATED: Of course, there's the obvious benefits

-- VANCOUVER -- When a guy dressed in a beaver suit can arrive on a Vancouver street corner and score some heroin within minutes, it highlights a serious problem in the city. So says the program director of a local radio station whose morning show performed the bit live on the air.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"It's not just a demographic shift, it's a family/non-family shift. Very dangerous for the future of liberal western democracies."

Curiouser and curiouser.

*

Carbon-credit...

...where credit is due...

-- EARTH -- "They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold."

"Fools! Why didn't they heed me before it was too late?"

Al Gore—or, as he is known in his own language, Gore-Al—placed his son, Kal-Al, gently in the one-passenger rocket ship, his brow furrowed by the great weight he carried in preserving the sole survivor of humanity's hubristic folly.

*

I'm guessin' he'll just have to fish...

...'cos there's no way his handlers are lettin' him anywhere near... any kind of sharp objects...

“Mr. Dion must decide to fish or cut bait. He must either let the current Parliament work and let us go on with our mandate, or the voters themselves will decide.”

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Funny how the 33 comments at the Globe don't exist anymore."

*

Okay... so I was wrong

The sorta thriving metropolis of Belleville, Ontario... does have a hooker problem...

Less than a block away, another well-known prostitute trolled up Front Street wearing a black miniskirt, red suede cowboy boots and hair pulled back in pigtails. As she slowly made her way up the Front Street sidewalk, the woman worked theatrically to make flirting eye contact with any men who came across her path.

Of course... there's a bit of a difference in the way your average non-GTA citizen reacts to it.

However, her provocative antics drew jeers from several people waiting for a bus outside a department store. “Get lost,” said one man, sneering. “No one wants you down here.” The woman smiled and kept walking.

Now, I confess I don't get down to the "Big Smoke" as often as I used to... but I had no idea this was going on.

There's one especially sleazy bar/hotel in the city core... but I guess I just assumed all the raggedy ass people hanging around... were just the usual complement of professional losers you accumulate anywhere.

Glaring at her from across the street was a 43-year-old woman finishing a morning coffee break from her shift at a downtown business.

“I saw her talking to some greaseball earlier this morning,” said the woman, asking her name not be used. “She’s been working this street all morning long.”

I'll try get some pictures the next time I'm downtown.

*

As Kate is wont to say...

"I'm praying for an asteroid."

*

More international arse-kissing

Somebody explain it to me again... why does the international community quietly put up with this sort of assault on personal freedoms?

-- BEIJING -- Some International Olympic Committee officials cut a deal to let China block sensitive Web sites despite promises of unrestricted access, a senior IOC official admitted today.

And the most galling thing is... they look you right in the face and lie.

China had committed to providing media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked.

Once again... the Great Firewall of China.

Are Western companies engaging in censorship in China?

Yes. Products such as yahoo.cn and google.cn adhere to the rules of official Chinese censorship. In other words, not everything you search for with google.cn is available.

These companies argue that if you wish to do business in a particular country, you must obey its rules.

**********

RELATED: A long history of Western complicity...

U.S.-based Cisco Systems and Canadian-based Nortel Networks are working closely with the People's Armed Police developing oppressive and intrusive computer systems to monitor, track and prosecute illegal Internet web browsers.

Nortel has contracts with Datang Telecom, a Chinese firm that works closely with the Chinese Ministry of State Security. Nortel has provided its "Personal Internet" suite to the MSS, allowing authorities to monitor and track nearly half of China's individual Internet users.

Nortel is currently working with the communist authorities in Shanghai to build a "Shasta 5000" firewall. The firewall allows the red thought police to monitor and track subscribers who access Internet web sites judged inappropriate by the communist government.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Seriously, this is like Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football. Every time..."

*

"Lucy... joo got some 'splaining..."

I've also looked at Warman's reputation and said, essentially: "You're suing me because I reported that you wrote an anti-Black comment on a website, using a false name?"

"But you've already admitted, under oath, to writing hundreds of anti-Black, anti-Semitic and anti-gay comments on neo-Nazi websites under false names!"

*

Land of Billionaires

-- HARARE, Zimbabwe -- On Wednesday, central bank governor Gideon Gono announced he was dropping 10 zeros from the currency, to turn 10 billion dollars into one, effective Friday.

That comes a week after he introduced a 100 billion-dollar note that was not enough to buy a loaf of bread.

But, hey... it's not all bad news.

*

Not the 'angle of the dangle'

Organizers of the Beijing Olympics have set up a sex-determination laboratory to evaluate “suspect” female athletes, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Sunday.

Although only athletes whose gender has been questioned will be tested in Beijing, the lab is a relic of an earlier Olympic era, when every female athlete was required to submit to a sex-verification test before competing in the Games.

At first, women were asked to parade nude before a panel of doctors to verify their sex. At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, officials switched to a chromosomal test.

You've come a long way, baby.

*

Respected Community Leader?

Looks like that's about to change.

-- TORONTO -- "The police are liars Dudley. You think they're nice? They're wicked," she said. "That's why some of them will die a bad death you know."

"People are going to put bullets in their heads."

Steele was once in serious consideration for appointment to the Toronto Police Services Board.

People, Valerie?

Not anyone you know, surely?

*

So who's watching the CBC?

If we actually have a similar oversight authority here in Canada... I sure haven't seen any evidence of it...

The BBC has been fined £400,000 by media watchdog Ofcom for misleading its audiences by "faking" phone-ins. The Comic Relief, Children in Need and Sport Relief TV shows were caught up in the scandal, along with Liz Kershaw on 6 Music and Jo Whiley's Radio 1 show.

In July 2007, Ofcom fined the BBC £50,000 after children's programme Blue Peter falsified the results of a contest during a live show. The BBC later suspended all competitions after an inquiry unearthed a fresh batch of faked phone-ins the same month.

And please don't tell me it's all up to the the CBC Ombudsman...

The BBC's own watchdog, the BBC Trust, said it regretted the loss of licence-fee payers' money as a result of the fine, which followed rule-breaches which were "serious, deliberate and, in some cases, repeated".

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Well, since nobody is watching the CBC, and I mean NOBODY, who cares?"

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The good news, I suppose, is...

...it could always be worse....

ONE of Hugo Chávez’s lesser-known feats since taking over as Venezuela’s leader in 1999 is to have presided over a tripling of the annual homicide rate—and that’s according to the official statistics.

Last year more than 13,000 people were killed in a country of 27m, producing a murder rate of 48 per 100,000, the second highest in the world (after El Salvador).

In neighbouring Colombia, a country plagued by guerrilla war and drug violence, the rate was 40 per 100,000.

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More Gangs and Guns

The bodies just keep on piling up.

-- VANCOUVER -- Hung Van Bui survived the hail of bullets that killed two and wounded six a year ago at the Fortune Happiness Restaurant, described as one of the worst shootings in city history.

But he did not survive what police called a targeted hit in South Vancouver on Monday night.

Mr. Bui was known to police, and was believed to be involved in the drug trade, police spokesman Tim Fanning said.

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Just you wait...

...until Mayor Miller shuts down all the target ranges... and sends those nasty Olympic hopefuls packing...

Toronto Police appear to have yet another gun murder on their hands, after the victim of a weekend shooting succumbed to his wounds in hospital Tuesday.

Twenty-year-old Dominic Shearer-Hanomansingh was found lying in a pool of blood near Eglinton and Black Creek Drive late Saturday night.

He'd been shot in the face and cops also believed he may have also been stabbed.

This isn't the Toronto I once knew.

But don't just take my word for it.

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UPDATE: Gonna get biblical on his ass

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WELCOME, ONCE AGAIN, READERS OF CANADIAN CYNIC

"Hey, CC... you gonna start censoring the MSM as well?"

I mean, we all know what "delicate sensibilities" you have.

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WELCOME READERS OF DR DEMENTO, uh... DAWG

I think the Dawg... needs a good worming.

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Talk about delicious irony...

...everybody's favourite pottymouth screwball, the loudly self-celebrated Canadian Cynic... once again confusing clumsy sarcasm for wit... calls for Stephen Taylor to start censoring the Blogging Tories...

"But I'm sure I'm overreacting here, Stephen. I'm sure there's nothing to be concerned over."

Well CC... you obnoxious dumbstick... you're certainly over-reacting here...

Now, I do have to state very clearly, that replying to the Cynic... who is by the way, my most frequent linker... is done solely of my own volition.

And also, for the record, despite the spew of paranoia above... there is no shadowy, Blogging Tories cabal... that travels down to Waterloo to take notes on poor, benighted CC's every move.

The fact is, I have actually been over this very thing with Stephen... who has told me, in no uncertain terms, that he feels the personal to-and-fro, rather than general, all-round political discourse... actually detracts from the overall purpose of BT.

And, on one level, I agree with that. In a perfect world, no one would allow personal animosity to cloud the oratorical waters.

Unfortunately, being a less than perfect human being and lacking Stephen's enormous reserve of forebearance for the similarly flawed... I reserve the right to fire back whenever the Cynic starts to blat his puerile, profane nonsense in my direction.

For example... lately CC's been leaving anonymous comments here... which he then posts about back at his blog. I mean, how sad is that?And have you ever noticed how often CC decides to go after women... or as they're known in cynic-speak... "utter douchebags" and perennial favourite... "cunts."

Need an example?

Funnily enough, there's alway one at hand...
Behold the demented misogynist who, incredibly, now proposes censoring the Blogging Tories.

CC has pathetically, in addition... gone as far as inventing a female alter-ego, "Lulu"... to try take the edge off his blatant sociopathy towards women.

The feedback I receive from many of you... some of whom are on the receiving end of CC's profane and extremely personal attacks... suggests that no one is losing sleep over the Cynic receiving a dose of his own salts.

And that, my friends, is why I continue to fire back.

Because actions should have consequences.

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RELATED: For newcomers... a little background

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LAST WORD: Say, CC... what makes you think...

...Stephen needs your advice anyway?

"Stephen Taylor, the co-founder of the Blogging Tories, has helped me out since January without any compensation -- or even any public thanks. His knowledge and expertise have helped immensely with taking this content and using the social media tools of the Internet to find a huge audience."

"I’m sure he'd make a killing if he ever went into the PR business – I just hope he keeps doing his work for 'the cause', too!"

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Yeah... the bloodthirsty military

Which hasn't used the death penalty in almost fifty years...

-- WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Monday approved the first execution by the military since 1961, upholding the death penalty of an Army private convicted of a series of rapes and murders more than two decades ago.

Although the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty in the military in 1996, no one has been executed since President Ronald Reagan reinstated capital punishment in 1984 for military crimes.

And guess what... that's further back than Canada's last execution...

On December 11, 1962, Arthur Lucas and Robert Turpin were hanged at the Don Jail in Toronto.

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RELATED: That's not what they were thinkin'...

...when they set off those bombs.

Lawyer Mahendradatta said during executions in Indonesia sometimes condemned prisoners do not die immediately and must be shot a second time, causing them to feel pain.

"We find that yes; of course, we admit that Mr. Amrozi and his friends was sentenced to death, but not torture," he said. "According to the constitution of the Republic of Indonesia - the right not to be tortured is something like a strong right."

"We seek the execution without pain."

Unlike, of course, the hundreds of people they killed and maimed.

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Just another reason...

...the French get so little respect...

The French couple said it was because they had children but no jobs and no cash that they turned to the Internet to sell pictures and videos of their sexual hijinks at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in northern France.

Apparently, they had enough welfare money from the socialist nanny-state for digital cameras and computers to set up "Exhibitionists-R-Us."

Funny how that works.

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That's it... I'm buying a doberman

Apparently, nowadays... all the kids are doin' it...

Breaking into locks once reeked of criminality; if you dared to try it, you did so in secret, because if you were spotted, folks would assume you were up to no good. Now, picking locks has gone legit.

Recreational lock pickers meet regularly in community centers around the country, challenging each other to break new locks as casually as others nearby work to break the Queen's Gambit.

On Web culture blogs, fans of locksport enjoy a place besides cryptography enthusiasts and DRM hackers as practitioners of a morally defensible, geeky dark art.

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RELATED: Maybe at the next Olympics...

It's 20 hours before the third annual Dutch Open lock-picking competition will begin, but the room is already packed with 50 or so men and women wielding burglar tools and representing the international steel bolt-hacker diaspora.

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Searing Toronto Star article...

...reveals the sorry state of child-rearing in Canada...

Children in some poorer areas of Mexico are farther ahead in kindergarten than the average Canadian kid, says new research led by renowned expert Dr. Fraser Mustard.

Well, that would certainly explain the thousands of refugees from Canada trying to sneak across the Mexican border.

Need a further testimonial?

“It’s a lot of good experiences in the first few years of life,” said Alfredo Tinajero, who helped implement a similar program in his native Ecuador.

Of course, the next sentence reads..."He now lives in Toronto."

And the solution to this horrific national disgrace?

Of course... more social workers.

Once a baby is born, families receive home visits twice a week for two years from parenting educators, social workers, nurses or physicians.

Pardon me for being just a little skeptical here... but my last visit to the local hospital emergency room had me sitting there for seven and a half hours with a sick, fevered child in my lap.

Now, call me wacky... but maybe before we actually replace mom and dad with newly minted sociology majors... we could do something about the imploding health-care system?

Just my two cents.

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RELATED: When Mother-Love goes bad...

"She would tell anyone she was speaking to, including Richard, his girlfriend and friends about Richard's blatant and constant breach of his curfew and refusal to listen to her," the judge observed in his ruling issued Tuesday.

How many social workers would have fixed this one?

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The Leftosphere loses it's mind...

...but what this comes down to, in a mere matter of seconds, is... "Would you bet your life?"

The incident illustrates the predicament facing soldiers confronted by an erratic driver on the chaotic roads of Kandahar -- either they open fire and risk killing an innocent Afghan or hold their fire and risk being killed by a suicide bomber.

And actually... it's even more complex than that.

Would you bet your life... and that of everybody else in the immediate area?

Times's up. Choose.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Maybe the left wants the army to be equipped with tasers. No, wait..."

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LAST WORD: Walk a mile... in my combat boots

"In fall 06 I was a LAV gunner involved in a convoy op in southern Afghanistan. At one point a vehicle pulled out and began speeding towards us, and I fired my COAX in accordance with ROEs."

"When the dust cleared the battle aiming mark on my daysight was sitting right in the middle of some kid's head as I looked through the windshield at him sitting on the driver's lap."

Try second-guessing that.

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The Loony Leftbot Challenge

Offer made...
And accepted...

From your lips...

...to my severed ear...

Link at Jagwire has more.

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Please, Mayor Miller...

...you have to hurry up... and shut down all those evil target ranges.

-- TORONTO -- A 20-year-old man was fighting for his life last night after he was shot in the head in front of hundreds of people while handing out flyers at Jamaica Day celebrations.

Jamaica Day organizer Karen Jenkins said the 18-year-old festival can't be responsible for what happens outside the park.

"This happened outside our gates and on the street," Jenkins said. "We are sorry that this has happened but we can't be accountable for what goes on outside."

And... just down the road a ways...

A suspected gang member was shot in the leg yesterday for apparently walking on turf frequented by a rival gang in the city's west end.

Detectives said the 25-year-old man was also shot in the hand by a gunman around 12:34 a.m. in the Stewart Smith Dr.-Hearst Circle area near the Jane St. and Trethewey Dr.

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First, we kill all the pilgrims

There must be some sort of... however twisted... logic here -- but I've gotta say, I sure don't get it...

Reuters television showed police, firemen and other workers washing blood and clearing debris from the street at the scene of one of blasts. A Reuters witness saw workers collecting pieces of flesh and body parts.

The blasts occurred near the Karrada district in central Baghdad, an area many pilgrims would pass through on their way to the shrine. Gunmen killed seven pilgrims in southern Baghdad on Sunday as they made their way to the shrine on foot.

If you're willing to slaughter "the faithful"... what exactly are your plans for the unbelievers?

You guys got a new level of horrific on tap?

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RELATED: A long, long way, baby...

...yeah... we're talking about the splatter...

Police say three female suicide bombers blew themselves up during the pilgrimage in Baghdad killing at least 28 people, including children, and wounding more than 90 others.

Feminism... Iraqi style.

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UPDATE: Looks like four female bombers

Such attacks are becoming increasingly common, even as overall violence is at the lowest level in four years.

Women are more easily able to hide explosives under their all-encompassing black Islamic robes, or abayas, and often are not searched at checkpoints because of sensitivities.

That sensitivity... "it's a killer."

They Shoot Babies... Don't They?

I don't understand it... violent criminal gangs usually respond so well to community initiatives.

-- HOBBEMA, Alta. -- A 16-year-old boy is dead following a pair of gun complaints at an aboriginal reserve south of Edmonton that has been plagued by gang violence.

Investigators said they believe both incidents were gang related, and that they’ve detained two men for questioning.

In April, 23-month-old Asia Saddleback was wounded in a drive-by shooting involving gangs engaged in a turf war in the area.

Just last week, leaders from the four reserves announced a gun amnesty which they hoped would help reduce violence.

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A Few Good Moment...

...is all he have ask for...

When reminded that he said last week that more and more Canadians want an election, Mr. Dion said that was because of a number of recent provincial votes.

“It's a responsibility on my shoulders that I feel, and I will choose the good moment.”

BLINK.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"That would actually be damn funny, if Dion finally did grow a spine and introduce a no-confidence motion, only for both the NDP and Bloc to refuse to support it."

"Neither party has any reason to want to be seen doing Dion's bidding."

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10,000 chimps, 10,000 typewriters

I think I've discovered the geniuses... behind Britain's latest enigmatic wave of social engineering...

British prisoners have two ways to earn video game privileges: they can either earn credit for good behavior or, barring that, they can be suicidal.

Only inmates on the highest level of Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) and those at risk of suicide will be allowed to play computer games.

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Cold-blooded bombers...

...kill 15 in Turkey.

-- ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- Two bombs exploded minutes apart in a packed Istanbul square Sunday night, killing 15 and injuring more than 150 in what the city governor said was a terror attack.

"We know it is a terrorist attack, but which organization is responsible — we don't yet have that information," Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici told journalists at the scene of the attacks.

This attack was especially heinous... as it appears the first explosion was a smaller event, designed to lure onlookers and good samaritans into a second, larger "killing zone."

The first explosion was in a telephone booth," said Huseyin Senturk, who owns a shoe shop yards away from where the blasts occurred. "The second explosion was some 40 meters (yards) away."

"The first explosion was not very strong," Senturk added. "Several people came to see what was going on. That's when the second explosion occurred and it injured many onlookers."

The second explosion could be heard a mile away.

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RELATED: They've been hit like this before

The double bombing appeared to be the most serious terrorism attack here since twin truck bombings at two Istanbul synagogues killed 23 people and wounded more than 300 on Nov. 15, 2003.

An obscure group linked to Al Qaeda took responsibility for the synagogue blasts, which were the worst in a series of explosions blamed on Islamic extremist groups that year that killed more than 60 people.

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That's the problem...

...with tryin' to steal home... you gotta watch out for the squeeze play...

Israeli commandos killed 25-year-old Shihab al-Natsheh, a top commander of the Islamic militant group Hamas, in the West Bank town of Hebron. There was a shootout, and when he refused to surrender, troops bulldozed the house he was hiding in.

"We are forcing the terrorists to play defense and preventing them, crippling their ability, to wage terrorist war against our civilians."

The Israeli military said there were explosions inside the house during the exchange of fire, presumably from bombs stored inside.

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You're hitting close to 90%...

...I'd say the people have spoken...
That "protest" at the US Embassy on Sussex Drive to free poor Omar from the evil Americans... the Ottawa Citizen estimates attendance at about 30 people.

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Going for the Gold

It ain't just athletes who are looking for Olympic glory...

A MILITANT Islamic group has threatened to attack the Beijing Olympics with suicide bombers and biological weapons and has claimed responsibility for a string of fatal bombings and explosions in China over recent weeks.

“Commander Seyfullah” said the group was responsible for three bombs last week on buses in the city of Kunming, which killed two people, and for two bus bombings on May 21 in Shanghai, which killed three.

(h/t reader rich)

Room and boardio...

...for poor old Cordio...

Police reported Saturday that 25-year-old Cordio Williams has been charged with first degree murder in the violent act, which occurred on July 17th and was Toronto's 31st homicide of 2008.

It was the 16th death by gunfire.

Alas... if only we'd listened to Mayor Miller and hired a few more social workers.

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CORRECTION FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Thats not even the accused u dumfucks
thats the victim
Take the picture off because people think that is the murderer"

Nice to see a caring citizen pitching in like this.

I trust you'll be testifying in court.

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