Actually, the bigger question here is...

...when Mini-Pierre establishes his sovereign Empire of Quebec, will his wife be able to keep her Canadian E-Talk gig?
**********

COMPASSIONATE INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"At least Quebec can get out when Harper makes Canada an unrecognizable fascist police state."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 1:22 PM, February 15, 2012

Oh nonny, bad timing... looks like Shiny Pony Trudeau just pulled a 180...

"Outside the Commons, an emotional Trudeau declared his love for a united Canada, adding this country is in his bones and every breath he takes."

Well then, that settles that... except, of course, for poor nonny.

**********

TWEET OF THE WEEK:

Even the leftosphere is devouring its young over this...

"Just finished watching Justin Trudeau’s interview on #PnP. Pierre Trudeau isn’t spinning in his grave, he’s asking for a DNA test."

Poor Leroy Smickle... got himself in a pickle

For right now, anyway, his "crime" is his punishment...

"When officers burst in, he was on the couch in boxer shorts, tank top and sunglasses, a pistol in his left hand and a laptop computer in his right, apparently taking pictures of himself looking 'cool' for his Facebook page."

It's funny though, how the same folks cheering Leroy's release... want to crucify Ian Thompson.

Not a mention of "unsafe storage" in Mr Smickle's case.

**********

RELATED: Now, wait just a minute...

"Sending a first-time offender to prison for three years for possessing a loaded gun is 'cruel and unusual punishment,' an Ontario judge ruled Monday in striking down the mandatory minimum sentence as unconstitutional."

Tell me, your Honour... isn't a first-time offender precisely the person you want to make an impression on?

Or do we just wait for another Jane Creba? Or another Kenneth Mark?

**********

THANK YOU COMMENT MODERATION:

"and not only that, there's niggers in the white house! And they're in charge!!"
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 3:56 AM, February 15, 2012

Oh, nonny, you do all the work for me. I think we'll skip over your Nazi Harper stuff, though. Perhaps being up at 4am trolling the blogosphere has popped your cork.

Regardless, I'm sure poor Mr Smickle appreciates your standing up for him against the slings & arrows of racist Canadian society.

**********

LAST WORD: Somehow, guns are less horrifying...

...when the left tries to make a point...

A left-wing freebie newspaper in Toronto, called NOW magazine, has published a photoshopped picture of the conservative mayor, Rob Ford, pointing a gun to his head.

This from a magazine that claims to be against guns and gun violence.

NOW magazine is unimportant to most people, but there is an important point buried amidst its smut: Liberals don’t mind promiscuous suggestions of gun crime, if it’s someone they hate in the crosshairs.

Compassionate, intellectual left replies...

Once again, the dirty tricks people reveal their inner Machiavelli...

“We should hire private investigators to look into the personal lives of Fox News anchors, hosts, reporters, prominent contributors, senior network and corporate staff.”

No real surprises... sleight of hand & misdirection are their stock in trade...
Josef Stalin would be proud.

Well... that explains why Itunes...

...crashed last night...

Journalism's Golden Rule... if it bleeds...

...(or drowns in its own vomit)... it leads...Of course, there's also (barring, for example, actually dropping that baby off the balcony) a certain amount of obligatory celebrity ass-kissing/ rationalisation going on...

Price added that Houston "didn't look like she was under the influence of anything. She drank some champagne and toasted Kelly Price's three Grammy nominations Thursday night. That's what Whitney Houston did."

And, it's true... if you cherrypick the dozens of pictures taken that night you can actually, like ABC news, come up with an image that doesn't scare the shit outta your average citizen... unlike, say...

(Feel free to click on the picture directly above if you're interested in reality.)

Then there's the malarkey about Houston's daughter being "stressed out"...

On Friday night, Houston's 18 year old daughter Bobbi Kristina FELL ASLEEP in another bathtub at the Beverly Hilton. Friends had to contact hotel security so she could be removed from the tub.

And, incidentally... carted off to the hospital in an ambulance.

Drugs? Pish-tosh... perish the thought.

Which is precisely the Oprah/Diane Sawyer mindset (Whitney beat addiction... clap, clap, clap) which brought everyone here in the first place.

Whatever happened to actually telling the truth? When did being "judgemental" become such a bad thing?

Just ask Whitney Houst... oh... right.

C'mon now... let's not assume anything

Do you have any idea how many Alfred Apps there must be in the local phonebook...

"Alfred Apps, the key legal adviser to Ornge, is resigning from Fasken and joining Wildeboer Dellelce, the law firm where his brother, Eric, also practises."

Wait a minute...

Really, Ron... a group?

A group of what... farmers, deer hunters or skeet shooters?

• TORONTO • Two suspects and a man wounded in an apparent daytime gun battle at an Etobicoke high-rise complex aren’t cooperating with police.

That leaves Toronto Police suspecting the 1:50 p.m. Thursday shooting is part of some sort of push into Tandridge Cres., in the Albion Rd.-Hwy. 401 area, by a group from Dixon Rd.

Hmmm, that's a little vague... apparently, this "group" is divided into shooters and neat-freaks.

Supt. Ron Taverner said two women were charged for being accessories after the fact for trying to destroy evidence and mislead investigators.

“They were helping dispose of evidence, trying to clean up blood.”

Gotta be careful with those g-words, right?

We sure don't wanna offend anybody.

**********

RELATED: Bright lights, big city

• TORONTO • Scarborough mechanic Merhawi Tekle was sentenced Friday to 32 months imprisonment in the beating death of a homeless alcoholic in a dispute sparked by a stolen Metropass.

The prosecution wanted a six to eight-year penitentiary sentence less eight months credit for time served.

The judge found 29-year-old Tekle punched 70-year-old Jackson once in the face and twice in the abdomen, inflicting cracked ribs and a lacerated liver.

I'm guessing it's almost as brutal...

...as lacrosse...

"In a development drawing horror, amusement and skepticism, a group of Torontonians has formed a team and joined the California-based Ultimate Tazer Ball league."

A website? Of course they do.

But that's not where the real entertainment lies...

I blame Stephen Harper

“I have to go to Canada, for the well-being of my husband,” she said, adding that she has not heard from Canadian officials.

Hmmm... maybe she could bunk in with Lisa Laflamme.

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"So let me get this straight: a foreigner gets hurt in Canada, it's our government's responsibility to reach out to his family back home; a Canadian gets hurt in a foreign land, it's our government's responsibility to look after him there."

"By this logic, no matter what transpires, it's ALWAYS the Harper government's fault."

**********

UPDATE: Just another media spinfest?

The son of the dead van driver, David Blancas-Hernandez, told Peruvian newspaper La Republica his father had been safely transporting staff to chicken farms for more than four years and demanded an impartial investigation into the collision.

Wait a minute... this guy had been flouting the law for four years?

Neither government officials nor police would release the name of the company that hired the workers, and provided the van for which the driver held an improper licence.

Try imagine the media shitstorm if non-Peruvian transport truck driver Chris Fulton (who, incidentally was also killed that night) had not held a valid Class A licence... or had been the one to blow through that intesection like a multi-ton missile...

They were in a van going west on Line 47 in Hampstead when driver Blancas-Hernandez ran the stop sign, colliding with a truck driven by Londoner Christopher Fulton and going south on Perth Rd. 107.

I agree... it's time to take a closer look at "the murky world of foreign farm workers."

How exactly is it... with everybody screaming about unemployment, we're still importing people from halfway around the world to do Canadian jobs?

A teenagers delight...

...or a society's downfall?

Sites such as Twitter and Facebook represent a virtual world in which Saudis are free to share opinions, ideas and develop relationships, a fact that recently prompted the top Saudi cleric to denounce them as “a great danger.”

Those darn intertoobs.

Meanwhile... back at the ranch...

Hope, Change and...

...lots of "consideration"...

The United States said it was considering ways to get food and medicine to them - a move that would deepen international involvement in a conflict which has wide geopolitical dimensions and has caused division between world powers.

So who's more useless... the United Nations or the United States?

A Syrian doctor, struggling to treat the wounded at a field clinic in a mosque, delivered an emotional plea via YouTube video. Standing next to a bloody body on a table, the man, named only as Mohammed, said to the camera, and to the outside world:

"We appeal to the international community to help us transport the wounded. We wait for them here to die in mosques. I appeal to the United Nations and to international humanitarian organizations to stop the rockets from being fired on us."

Chalk up another pretty little dance for President McDreamy & Shrillary Clinton.

**********

UPDATE: Dear Barry... what's that smell?

Syria's military has begun stockpiling chemical weapons and equipping its soldiers with gas masks near the city of Homs, opposition sources reported on Thursday.

News agencies reported over 130 killed in Syria on Thursday, as Bashar Assad's government intensified its crackdown on an expanding uprising against his regime.

It was a made for CTV story...

...and they surely milked the shit out of it... poor migrant farm workers, killed en-mass... betrayed by their Canadian dream.

Lisa LaFlamme, heir to the corpse that was Lloyd Robertson... in their lead story on national television last night... called upon not one, but two separate reporters... to make media hay out of the bloody, battered corpses in the demolished van. The subtext of the story was, of course, how these poor people had left their homes & families to be exploited in a foreign uncaring land... and now they were dead.

Lisa & company went as far as to show grieving friends at the crash site (always media gold, right?) and assorted television clips... from Peru.

It seemed pretty obvious what had actually transpired, but CTV never lets the facts get in the way of a good multicultural fable... whether it's brutal cops, sociopathic Canadian soldiers, or bloodsucking capitalist gringos.

In actual fact, though... the blame for this sad tale falls squarely on the driver of the migrant's van.

Police now believe that the crash that killed 11 people on an Ontario rural road happened after 45-year-old David Armando Blancas Hernandez, the driver of a van carrying migrant farm workers failed to yield at a stop sign and got hit by an oncoming trailer truck.

Mr. Blancas needed a class-F licence to operate a 15-seat van but only had a class-G driver's permit, police said.

So, to recap... David Armando Blancas Hernandez, who was not even properly licensed, blew through a stop sign... and caused the deaths of 11 innocent people... what we would usually refer to, in non-CTV circles, as negligent homicide. But heck... where's the pathos in that?

Note also... the story made quick work of the other victim in this tale... Chris Fulton. It was left to Mr. Fulton's employer to speak to his good name.

It appears, his employer Speedy Transport said in a news release Tuesday night, Fulton tried to dodge the van carrying 13 Peruvian farm workers -- and in doing so, lost his life.

Then again... Chris Fulton was just an ordinary Canadian who followed the rules.

And we all know there's no worthy television moral in that story. Right, Lisa?

**********

UPDATE: The eighth stage of grief...

...hire a shyster...

A lawyer representing the families of four of the victims of the crash Monday that claimed 11 lives in southwestern Ontario says he'll explore whether the van the men were riding in had anything to do with the tragic outcome.

"We will be filing the paperwork with the (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) and the police to get more details as to what happened and to explore the liability situation," Toronto lawyer Juan Carranza told Postmedia News on Thursday.

Lemme see... improperly licensed driver... who ran a stopsign... yeah, it's gotta be a DEFECTIVE VAN.

Not much detail (one media report so far) on the other 2004 crash that also killed Peruvian farm workers in the Kitchener area.

Once again, the Toronto "Red" Star...

...attempts to mythologise a dangerous sociopath...

"Michael Eligon Jr. remains mostly a man of mystery several days after he was fatally shot in a confrontation with police while wearing a hospital gown on an east-end street, blocks from the hospital."

The implication here is that, somehow... this poor guy was taken down by a police death squad... but even the rainbows & unicorns journos at the Star have to include a few facts.

"After leaving the hospital, the 5-foot-11, 160-pound man is believed to have injured someone (the Globe & Mail has a witness saying Eligon stabbed a shopper and injured a police officer) inside a nearby convenience store before trying to hijack a car."

"Shortly after, neighbours on nearby Milverton Blvd. reported that a man in a hospital gown was trying to break into a house at the back door."

I'm not sure what the Star finds so mysterious... we're talkin' straightforward cause & effect here.

If ever there was such a thing as "a good shoot"... this was it...

"Eligon was carrying two pairs of scissors, according to witnesses, and kept walking toward the officers with his hands outstretched despite being ordered to stop as police backed up."

Professional journalists... your moral & intellectual superiors.

**********

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY:

Police have charged two Toronto men in connection with a shooting Thursday afternoon in a west-end neighborhood. The shooting happened after a fight broke out between two people near 75 Tandridge Cres.

Police arrested three men leaving the scene, and seized two loaded firearms. Two of the men face 35 charges, while the third has been released.

Abdullah Abdullahi, 24, and Mohamud Duale, 20, face several charges.

**********

THANK YOU, COMMENT MODERATION:

"More fascist whining here I see."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 10:39 AM, February 08, 2012

Oh, nonny... you do all the work for me.

**********

LAST WORD: Ask a Justice Minister

OTTAWA - There's no appetite in Canada for vigilante justice but the occasional warning shot over the head of a thief or trespasser may have its time and place, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson agreed Tuesday.

Surprise, surprise... he lied about Gitmo...

...and suddenly, he's okay with all that "dirty" money...

“Yet again, Barack Obama has proven he will literally do anything to win an election, including changing positions on the type of campaign spending he called nothing short of ‘a threat to our democracy.’”

I can't wait to hear the MSM and the pinkosphere start yammering about President McDreamy's "flexibility."

If there's anything that's a ‘a threat to our democracy’, it's a Commander-in-Chief who'll cross previously stated moral & ethical lines to garner votes.

Mr. Obama has consistently spoken out against the new rules that allow unlimited contributions from corporations and wealthy donors.

“But for 2012, our campaign has to face the reality of the law as it currently stands,” said campaign manager Jim Messina.

Chalk up another slick move to the most impressive product of the Chicago Machine.

Yeah, a curfew...

...that's the answer...

• NEW ORLEANS • Officials here are considering tightening a youth curfew in the latest attempt to fight crime in a city with the nation's highest murder rate and what its mayor has called "a culture of death."

Oh relax, lady... if someone at the CBC...

...hasn't already put together a half dozen movie treatments... I'll eat my hat...

When Mr. Sharif was arrested, his bags had been packed. Ms. Rain plays down all this now, saying the arguments often stemmed from misunderstandings – his English was limited.

“Despite all of our arguments, we always started our morning making each other coffee and making breakfast together, for each other,” she said.

Terrorism... what terrorism?

This is a love story.

Dear Toronto "Red" Star... let's face it...

...this is exactly why Torontonians elected this guy...

Mayor Rob Ford has squeezed unprecedented concessions out of 6,000 city workers in a tentative contract that puts other unions on notice and guarantees more outsourcing and layoffs.

Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE Local 416 said his team had made “numerous concessions” to avoid a lockout or strike. He has said outside workers “learned our lesson” from lingering public anger over the summer 2009 strike.

Right, Mark... the public... that'd be the folks who pay all those salaries.

That's just the way it is...

...baby...

According to the Alberta government, the province's employment growth has accounted for 61.6 per cent of Canada's employment growth in the past 12 months.

"While other regions are simply treading water, Alberta seems to be hanging on to its hiring momentum. We expect this trend to continue throughout 2012," said TD Economics.

Canadian trifecta of political correctness...

...missed it... by that much...

"Haitian-born killer taught respect for women by aboriginal elders."

If only this poor dear had a wheelchair... or a learning disability.

Oh yeah... Gregory's little act of disrespect?

He stabbed 15-year-old Tara Manning 51 times.

**********

RELATED: How about we rename it...

...the "War on Stupidity?"

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"At $73,000 per year, where can I sign up to become a 2nd class citizen."

From the folks who brought you...

..."Little Subsidy on the Airwaves"...

"The benefit of the Chop-o-matic is that it has multiple settings, and the opportunity we do have is the fact that we can offer people chopping when they need it."

"It's not necessarily just what you see in the kitchen, I think that's a really small view, I think you have to look at what the Chop-o-matic services overall, it's quite a wide variety...."

Don't miss all that hot lawyer-on-blogger action!!!

**********

RELATED: Please, please... make it stop

Egypt's amazing Arab Spring...

...apparently not quite there just yet...

• (CBS/AP) EL-ARISH, Egypt • Bedouin gunmen intercepted a tourist minivan and snatched two female American tourists and their Egyptian guide at gunpoint Friday near St. Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula, the region's security chief said.

The brazen daylight abduction along a busy highway was a new blow to Egypt's vital tourism industry, which has been heavily battered by the unrest following last year's uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak.

Hang on, Mr Prosecutor...

...you're saying, what... the guys with the molotov cocktails... they're the victims?

Man... we've just gotta do something about all those gun-crazy, dumb as dogshit country boys... wait a minute...

"That’s at least 352,000 icky firearms, right in the Toronto Star‘s backyard. For a paper still trying to wrap their minds around a Harper majority and a Rob Ford mayoralty, it’s gotta be a tough pill to swallow."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"I'd bet that every off-duty cop in Canada would have shot the firebombers if it was THEIR house under attack."

**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"Sounds from the gun nuts here that the penalty for stealing an ipod should be to be shot to death."
Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 10:43 PM, February 05, 2012

**********

LAST WORD: Bright lights, big city

Toronto’s two most-recent murder victims will be laid to rest Saturday, while police are busy trying to track down their killers.

I guess that's where Ian Thomson messed up... he survived.

Remember... Israel doesn't bluff

"Any facility protected by humans can be infiltrated by humans. It's possible to strike all Iran's facilities, and I say that out of my experience as IDF chief of staff."

When booing just isn't enough

"At least 74 people have been killed and 1,000 injured after a football pitch invasion in Egypt, according to reports."

**********

UPDATE: More G&M "lipstick on pig" journalism
The mighty Globe & Mail now claims that Egyptians are "outraged" by the massacre... inconveniently forgetting that the original article had already detailed what people were really pissed off about...

As details of the violence emerged, a football match in Cairo, 200km (125 miles) away, was called off in mourning and television footage showed sections of the stadium on fire.

An announcer said the blazes had been started by fans angry over the cancellation.

Apparently "mourning & outrage" are only for infidel pussies.

More sparkly socio-political gems...

...courtesy of the Globe & Mail...
And I quote...

• "No mention of the stench of Canadian bacon." •

Who says professional journalism is easy?

Apparently, the sky isn't the only thing...

...that's falling...

“The state of air quality in Canada has improved significantly since the 1970s, in most regions, with respect to all major pollutant types,” said Joel Wood, Fraser Institute senior research economist and author of Canadian Environmental Indicators – Air Quality.

“Yet environmental and health care organizations continue to scare people into thinking that air pollution is increasing and that this presents a serious health risk in Canada. These claims are exaggerated or outright wrong.”

As an example, the study highlights a pair of recent reports from the Canadian Medical Association and Suzuki Foundation which argued for stricter air-pollution regulations in Canada, based on assumptions that air pollution was increasing or remaining constant.

Both studies received extensive media coverage despite the fact they provided no historical context and arrived at their conclusions based on false assumptions.

Just something else to ponder while you're glorying in the midst of your excess houses & offspring.

"And the CBC host has two sizeable homes, despite calling it "disgusting" that the average Canadian's home (most have just one) is larger than that of our grandparents."

**********

RELATED: Hang on a second...

...didn't Dr "I haz rainbows & unicorns"... run out & start a second family? That's what... five kids?

I guess rules are for little people.

Dear Peter Mansbridge...

Let's see you rock your all too-predictable regular demographic right outta their Birkenstocks... and devote 5 or six minutes to something completely off the usual Planet Pinko manifesto...

"Through the magic of Reverse-The-Terms, let’s imagine if food being shipped to Saudi Arabia turned out to be Kosher? Properly offered & sacrificed to Hindu gods? Maybe prayed over by evangelical Christian butchers? Sprinkled with bacon-fat?"

Yup, I know... not in this uber-enlightened millennia.

All in favour of movin' the CBC...

...lock, stock and steamin' pinko pulpit to beautiful downtown Kabul...raise your right hand...**********

RELATED: More apologetic softball bullshit...

...from the mighty Globe & Mail...

"A caller-in to a discussion about the Shafia case said, as a Muslim, he could not condone the murders. He said that nowhere is it allowed to murder for 'honour'."

"When the moderator asked what he would do if one of his own daughters dated or married outside the faith, he said if members of his community criticized him for allowing it, he would simply disown the daughter and cut off any contact with her."

So now we're giving out brownie points to people who merely admit murder is wrong? That expulsion & shunning are acceptable punishments for a child who doesn't embrace extreme religious edicts?

Seriously?

Your mainstream media... once again, setting the proverbial bar for Pierre Trudeau's multicultural dream.

CBC Radio reporting...

...apparently with a straight face... "There were no victim impact statements filed."

-- KINGSTON, ON -- "There have been other murder charges involving so-called "honour killings" – homicides of women slain out of a perverse desire to "purify" families of disgrace created by supposedly immoral conduct – but not on this scale, and not involving parents who were willing to wipe out half their family for the sake of their honour, and then lie about it.‬"

**********

RELATED: All in the family

The day after the jurors retired, Montreal’s La Presse ran a front-page interview columnist Michele Ouimet had with one of Yahya’s sisters, Soraya, in Kabul.

Soraya was “scandalized” by the pictures the reporter showed them, shot of Zainab and Sahar in ordinarily skimpy skirts or bathing and with male friends and boyfriends. She and her husband both cheerfully told Ouimet they believe in killing for honour.

Her husband Habibullah said simply, if his daughters (the couple has seven, plus two boys) dishonoured him, “I would put them in a bag and eliminate them so no one would ever find their traces in Afghanistan.”

Where are all the eco-freaks...

...on Dalton McGuinty's repeatedly broken promises to shut down the coal-fired generating stations?

"If you’re worried about climate change, stop ranting about the oilsands, which account for one-10th of 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and start worrying that you generate almost half your electricity from coal, which has an impact on the planet up to 70 times greater than the oilsands."

On the ironic/tragic side of the equation... it's the compassionate, intellectual big city lefty sheeple who are golluting the very air their children breathe.

Well... along with everyone else.

When law enforcement fails

As the New York Post put it, telling the NYPD "I'm in an elite military unit, you can't arrest me," doesn't help much when the city's draconian gun laws are at issue.

Twenty-nine-year-old Shaun Day was on a leave from his duty as a Navy SEAL when cops nailed him for running a red light in Manhattan, New York on Thursday.

I just don't get it

The Liberal Party of Canada spent 2 billion dollars to keep track of farmers, deer hunters & skeet shooters and their murderous long guns... and we still have all this violence...

• TORONTO • Investigators have determined 23-year-old Anthony Spencer, an aspiring rap artist, who died after friends dumped him at a Scarborough hospital early Saturday, was gunned down at a recording studio.

But exactly what prompted the murder of yet another GTA rapper remains a mystery because his friends refuse to tell the truth about what happened, Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux alleged Sunday.

A group of men and one woman disappeared after driving Spencer to Scarborough General Hospital around 5 a.m. Saturday, leaving police no witnesses and no murder scene.

“They know exactly what happened inside,” Giroux said. “And I think if everybody came back to us and told us what they heard or know ... we could resolve this case very quickly.”

**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"The costs were increased by foreign money from the American NRA. Disgusting."

**********

RELATED: Paging Bob Rae...

...where's the Liberal's shiny new Knife Registry?

Ottawa police are investigating the city’s first homicide of the year after a local man was fatally stabbed outside a Byward Market nightclub.

The man was found suffering from stab wounds on Dalhousie Street near Rideau Street at about 2:30 a.m. He was rushed to hospital where he died of his injuries.

Police have identified him as Navid Niran, 24, of Ottawa.

**********

LAST WORD: Thank you, St Pierre of Montreal

Oh, c'mon... you were expecting, what?

This just in...

• CAIRO • Egyptian authorities confirmed Saturday that a political coalition dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, the 84-year-old group that virtually invented political Islam, had won about 47 percent of the seats in the first Parliament elected since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

An alliance of ultraconservative Islamists won the next largest share of seats, about 25 percent.

And that democratic wave that was supposed to sweep across the Middle East?

A coalition of parties founded by the young leaders of the revolt that unseated Mr. Mubarak won only a few percent of the seats, as did a handful of offshoots of the former governing party.

Nonetheless, the struggle continues...

• RABAT, Morocco • Five unemployed Moroccan men set themselves on fire in the capital Rabat as part of widespread demonstrations in the country over the lack of jobs, especially for university graduates.

An ill wind blows

• LONDON, Ont. • In a major blow to Dalton McGuinty government’s controversial green energy plan, the largest farm lobby group in Ontario has pulled the plug on its support for wind turbines.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture, which represents 37,000 farm families, issued a call Friday for the province to suspend wind turbine development.

Or, as it's known...

...to the rest of the population... "leadership"...Ah, yes, the inevitable "seizing." You can almost picture the Prime Minister's rough dirty hands closing around some completely inoffensive treehugger's throat.

Funny how, if you're a "professional" journalist and it involves Stephen Harper... events inevitably have that sharp, merciless, bloody edge...

"Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver came out guns blazing... Mr. Harper really put the premiers on defence".

Good grief... seems those evil, controlling Conservatives are always perpetuating (if only figuratively) violence on the hapless, well-meaning Opposition...

"a storyline that sticks helped the Conservatives sink two successive Liberal leaders... Critics and stakeholders were left struggling".

Yes, my children... if only we still had the soothing touch of a wise, compassionate Laytonesque healer to soothe our fevered collective brow.

I've gotta ask... do these folks ever listen to themselves? They apparently just don't know when to turn down the volume. No wonder the print media is going down the shitter.

Bring it, you dumb bunnies. It's why, in no small part... we have a Conservative majority government.

Just something to consider...

...as you're filling out your tax return this spring...

The C.D. Howe Institute says the pension plan that secures retirement benefits for members of Parliament and senators is underfunded by up to $1 billion.

The institute's plea for reform echoed a similar call issued Wednesday by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which exhorted MPs to surrender their pension plan and adopt a more modest system..

Like that magical, "free" healthcare... somebody actually does have to pay the freight here...

The federation contends the existing plan is the best-funded in the world, but lamented that taxpayers foot the bill for most of its perks at a rate of $23.3 for every dollar contributed by an MP.

Yeah... I know... dreamin'.

The unfailing wisdom of Saint Suzuki

The compassionate, intellectual left just wants to have a conversation... but, as usual, the question seems to be... are the hateful, conspiratorial, dumb as dogshit Conservatives willing to listen?

• "Their increasing attacks on charitable organizations and Canadians from all walks of life show that if they can't win with facts, they'll do everything they can to silence their critics." •

Yikers... that doesn't sound good... "everything they can." And "silence their critics"? C'mon, Doc... don't leave us hangin'. A staged car crash, poison darts... c'mon, give it up.

Say, David... those charitable organisations the Conservatives are increasingly "attacking"... that wouldn't include DavidSuzuki.org, would it? "Cos, forgive me for being so bold, but you seem to be doin' just fine these days... multiple familes, multiple homes... your apparent status as an "eco-saint".

But, heck, let's not be too hasty here... what other indisputable proofs does Canada's most famous eco-priest/scientist have to offer?

Here we go... and brace yourselves... the rhetoric is positively biblical.

It seems the Harper cabal is...

"sacrificing our environment to a corporate-controlled economy... suicide"

And...

"willing to sacrifice its manufacturing industry, its opportunities in the green-energy economy, its future, and the health of its people"

Oh boy, that's a whole lot of "sacrificing"... which, incidentally... the Conservatives manage to accomplish, while cozying up to...

"the repressive government of China."

Mr Suzuki goes on, not to offer up any evidence for this thesis, but simply to make further accusations...

"a government that hurls insults at its citizens... more attacks and more attempts to silence those who believe."

I swear, you get to the end of this screed... it's Libby Davies storyboarding a John Grisham novel.

The important thing, though... is to go out with a bang...

"government and its "ethical oil" and media supporters don't tell the truth, but it's worse when they don't even offer rational arguments."

Unlike, of course... your esteemed self... the Fresh Green Prince of the Great White North.

**********

RELATED: In other "Do as I say" news...

"Mr. Suzuki was this year caught running his cross-country climate-change tour from a diesel-powered "rock-star" bus, built for 54, for an eight-man entourage."

"And the CBC host has two sizeable homes, despite calling it "disgusting" that the average Canadian's home (most have just one) is larger than that of our grandparents."

More here and here.

**********

THE COMPASSIONATE, INTELLECTUAL LEFT REPLIES:

"neo figures he'll be dead by the time the climate really comes home to roost. He figures if his kid inherits his arsenal, kid will survive in the mad max world neo is working hard to create. I'm sure he'll thank you as he pisses on your grave, asshole."

Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 12:31 AM, January 20, 2012

Inarticulate rage... the hallmark of a true believer.

I almost feel sorry for you, nonny.

Forget about bilingual...

...perhaps future Prime Ministers of Canada should have a mandatory degree in economics...

With a certain amount of sullen resentment, Canada's premiers agreed Tuesday to do pretty much exactly what Prime Minister Harper wants them to do: Continue working on innovation in health care to drive costs down, or at least, keep the rate of growth from rising.

But they made it clear they're still unhappy at the prospect of being forced on the cost-saving front.

They set up another working group to keep the argument going over the new funding arrangement, and how it was imposed.

Of course they did.

Less than conspicuous consumption...

...and proud of it...
Call me wacky... but, perhaps... harnessing your ego to all your shiny new possessions isn't really a prudent financial strategy.

Fwiw... my two vehicles are older than my teenage son.

Shshhh... it's a secret

"Anyone saying it doesn’t happen in Canada or happens in ridiculously low numbers is just wrong,” Dr. Rajendra Kale said. “I’m convinced we need to do something."

When being a Canadian...

...simply isn't enough...

"As the spouse of a French citizen, Mulcair, who was born in Ottawa, was entitled to apply for French citizenship himself."

And, predictably... Mulcair & company turn this into a diatribe against the PM.

More malarkey from those same folks who apparently can't differentiate a medical clinic from a seedy Chinatown bordello.

**********

RELATED: A little bit of Hi-Jacking?

The New Democrats unleashed what former party member Lise St-Denis has called an "immoral" robocall campaign that last week paralyzed her parliamentary and constituency office phone lines for two days.

So much for all that talk of a new civility.

Perhaps the actual headline should be...

...what reasonable person wouldn't be?Raving madman at the wheel... imminent nuclear weapons capability... what's not to like, huh?

"In my judgment, these are people who have a particular, you know, fanatically religious worldview, and their statements imply to me no hesitation of using nuclear weapons if they see them achieving their religious or political purposes."

Sounds pretty straightforward to me.

Of course, what does the mainstream media do?

That's right... turn it into a shot at the PM.

Yet again, the Libertine Party of Canada...

...lays claim to the "higher" ground...Just something else to ponder the next time you're sitting anxiously on the edge of the living room couch at two in the morning... waiting for your teenager to waft through the door...

"And after the resolution on marijuana today, it’s going to be a group of even happier people in the Liberal party," said Mr. Rae.

I guess it's a liberal thing... remember Dalton McGuinty's foray into primary school sex education?
Say... doesn't Dalton also have some pretty enlightened drug policies?

**********

RELATED: Ghost of "liberal values" past

Are you an eco-gourmand?

Pest controller Paul Parker moved from Newcastle to the south of England to trap grey squirrels to provide restaurants.

"If I was getting 100, they would take 100 each and every day, the demand is so high."

"They are sold as soon as they hit the counter."

So what's next...

...seizure of any Dodge Neon... that sports a wing or hood scoop?

Just before Christmas, owners of certain firearms were informed by letter that their rifles had been reclassified as prohibited weapons in Canada and they must be turned over to police officials.

Failure to comply would mean the weapons would be taken by force and the owners thrown in jail. The reason for the change: The rifle looks scary.

The Armi Jager AP-80 is a .22-calibre rimfire rifle that looks like the AK-47, the Soviet-era military rifle. The fact is the AP-80 doesn’t work like the AK-47, fires a vastly smaller round than the AK-47 and has no parts that are interchangeable with the AK-47.

I guess throwing more resources at chasing actual criminals is just too much work.

**********

RELATED: Land of the brave...

...home of the... wait a minute...

She was handcuffed, arrested, and now faces three and a half years in jail for firearms possession – for the crime of being unaware that the Second Amendment does not apply in New York City.

(via ffof)

Owww, owww, owww...

...my head hurts...

Ask a Liberal Cabinet Minister

Look who wouldn't recognise the "high road" if they had to plow it themselves...Making Daddy Dalton proud... yet again...

" • TORONTO • Ten people – most of them teenagers – die within 10 days on northern highways."

"And apparently, it’s all Mike Harris’s fault."

I can't believe Chiarelli didn't toss in a reference to Dick Cheney or the CIA.

Now, I'll admit I'm no religious scholar...

...but please, somebody show me that shura... you know... where the Prophet doesn't give a cockroach's crap about teenage girls having pre-marital sex..."Not a big concern", huh?

Seriously?

Thing is, Toobs, call me a prude... and hey, never mind religion... I find condoms littering my teen's domestic landscape, I'm guessin' the only phrase I'm NOT gonna be wearing out is... "Hey, sweetie... no big deal".

Like findin' a stash of pills in your kid's sock drawer... this is something most parents (Muslim, Christian, vegetable, mineral...) are gonna address a little more seriously than, say... eating all your greens before we pull out the Ben & Jerrys'.

Say, wait a sec... where's dear ol' dad in all this? He's cool with it too, right? 'Cos there's that special bond between... wait a minute...
Okay... I guess we're calling that a "no".

And, you know... I'm not having any trouble knowing exactly what's in the man's heart.

Then again, Tooba... it's not like you're actually fooling anyone.

Well... besides yourself.

**********

RELATED: Always nice to see...

...multiculturalism in full bloom...

"Chilling Allegation made by Mama Shafia that the police threatened to torture her son if she didn't fess up!"

Another little tactic straight out of the captured terrorist handbook.

I'm shocked.

I get Clinton & Marc Rich... a huge payoff

But, seriously... somebody explain this to me...

Altogether, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi granted 203 full pardons over his two terms, including 17 to convicted murderers.

The news that another five had gained full pardons, and were released on Sunday, angered victims’ families, who said they were not consulted beforehand.

Friends like this... who needs the IMF?

Our modern world...

While Italy's new prime minister sweats to fix Italy's dire economic situation and Italians are hit with increased taxes, there are some in Italy who are doing just fine in the country.

A report released today by an Italian employers association states that organized crime is the biggest business in Italy generating an annual turnover of 140 billion Euros.

Ask a Liberal Cabinet Minister

Obscene, out-of-control spending of three successive McGuinty governments... where you gonna start?

• QUEENS PARK • “It really came down to priorities,” Brad Duguid, Minister of Economic Development and Innovation, said in an interview on Monday.

Priorities, Brad?

You mean like...

"Crack addicts in Ottawa will continue receiving clean, free crack pipes next year. The Ontario government agreed to fund the program even though the city doesn't support it anymore."

Or...

The Canadian Human Rights Commission... CJOH, the CTV affiliate in Ottawa... is reporting that Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman is going to re-establish taxpayer funded sex-change operations.

Don't look at me... I didn't vote for him.

In other "Don't need a Weatherman" news...

Yeah, lemme look into my crystal ball...

Asked if constituents in her riding voted for her or the NDP leader, Ms. St-Denis replied bluntly: • "They voted for Jack Layton. Jack Layton is dead." •

**********

UPDATE: Changing headlines midstream...

...yeah, let's hold that Mulcair thing...

Mr. Rae said he is unaware whether Ms. St-Denis’s defection is the start of a movement or an isolated event.

I dunno, Bob... I'm just wondering whether the people of St-Maurice–Champlain might want an MP who actually lives in the area.

The 71-year-old said she has yet to decide whether she will take up a permanent residence in St-Maurice–Champlain, the riding long held by former Liberal leader Jean Chrétien.

I do get it, though... I guess Ms. St-Denis doesn't want to be too far from her oncologist.

And Audie Murphy wept

"However, if the charges against King are true — that she was a shabby paper tiger who never should have gotten the job — the MSM will work tightly with the Army to keep this story out of the public eye."

"For the Army, the appointment is an embarrassing example of stupid; for the media, it’s a glaring failure in their affirmative action world view."

From the folks who brought you...

...Emperor Iggy the First...

In other "crime is down" news

Ah, yes... bright lights, big city...

• Toronto • "A man is fighting for his life in hospital and several others were hurt after a stabbing and two shootings around the city Sunday night."

Meanwhile, Steel City strives to live down to it's reputation......

• Hamilton • "An Ontario man is facing charges after allegedly taking a woman's purse as she lay dead following a hit-and-run."

"Jason Dave Trotter, 29, is charged with four counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, two theft charges and two possession charges."

Wow... how about adding in "impersonating a human being."

Malthus was right.

Dear Homegrown Journalistas...

...how exactly is it, that the Alberta oil sands are always at the top of your 11 o'clock eco-hitlist?
(link fixed)

Confusing words with deeds...

...it's what Iran does best...

"Earlier this week, Iranian officials had threatened the Stennis with the 'full force' of the Iranian military if it tried to reenter the Persian Gulf."

Okay, Mo... your move.

Register sociopaths...

...not guns, er... cleaning products...

So Dalton... you wanna tell me...

...what happened to those pre-election pie-in-the-sky promises about doctors making house-calls in Ontario...

However, speaking at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Mr. McGuinty strongly suggested the Liberal government will not follow through on all of the several hundred recommendations Mr. Drummond is expected to make later this month.

“Mr. Drummond’s responsibility of course is to advise and ours is to decide, so there’s a distinction, first of all, to be drawn between his responsibility and our responsibility in government,” Mr. McGuinty said.

Don't blame me folks... I didn't vote for him.

I blame Stephen Harper

When asked to explain himself, he said “since my dad has been incarcerated, I have not had a role model or a father figure.”

Battling murder & assorted mayhem

Not sure how they do it in the big city, but back in Hobbema, they're breakin' out the... wait for it... bylaws...

"We have a lot of work ahead, but we've taken that important first step," he said following the vote.

"This will hopefully make people accountable for their actions."

You mean like all those other cutting edge crime-fighting measures you've been touting?

"Ms. Dixon's death – the third homicide since a gun and weapon amnesty was announced weeks ago – sparked emergency meetings by bands on the reserve Monday."

You're shootin' babies... I'm just not sure a bylaw's gonna get the job done.

Enough tomfoolery... it's time to get back...

...to persecuting comedians who dare tell hurtful jokes...
No wonder it takes years for anything to get to trial.

These are the Insite people, right?

Maybe they could leverage their existing infrastructure... and start dishing out government-supplied heroin in those nice clean syringes...

“At the beginning of the study, we expressed our concerns that the pipe supply is a tiny number ... but we were told the number’s staying the same,” Townsend said.

“To meet the demand we would need around 1,000 per day.”

A shortage of taxpayer subsidised crackpipes... c'mon now... let's hop to it.

I mean, it's not like we have any other pressing medical concerns...

"As the drug shortages worsen, so does their impact on patient care, particularly in hospitals. The inability to get crucial medicines has disrupted chemotherapy, surgery and care for patients with infections and pain."

**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:

"When will similar facilities be extended to tobacco consumers?"

In other "crime is down" news

"Police have confirmed a woman found dead in her Leaside home as the city’s third homicide of the new year. One man was in custody Monday in connection with the slaying, as an investigation continued."

Ask a "Liberal Supporter"

In other... "just you wait, you meanies" news...

"Despite the CPC majority, looks like you are all scared out of your wits. You know the Liberals will come back, and send Steve packing."

"Lots of teeth gnashing from hosers here who could never get published in the Globe."

"The rest of Canada is just wondering how badly Steve will lose the next election. Will he surpass Kim Campbell? He could sit next to Elizabeth May, in the "Parties who only have a seat for the Leader" section."

Posted by Anonymous to halls of macadamia at 2:54 PM, January 02, 2012

Oh, nonny... you do all the work for me.

I'm thinking "Fear Factor" just got...

...a whole lot more interesting...

"I mean, I'm not afraid of bugs as a general rule, but that thing eats carrots."

• "Whole carrots." •

Everybody's sayin' Toronto crime is down

I'm guessin' Jamahl "Wizzle" Franklin & Michael "Biff" Pimentel might disagree...

"The two murders were part of a violent start to the new year in the GTA that included numerous shootings and stabbings."

Maybe I'm just getting old... but why exactly is it, so many of these homicide victims seem to have way-cool "street" names?

Anybody?

The Canadian healthcare system...

...is crashing down around us because the money just isn't there... you really wanna do some good here, let's start with folks who give a shit they actually live or die...
Uh-huh... enabling addicts... what could possibly go wrong?

Words of comfort & wisdom...

...from the narcissistic aristocrat who planted that poisonous, life-altering dagger... smack in the middle of Stéphane Dion's shoulder blades...
Hmmm... fairness, fairness... that sounds so familiar...
But, heck... don't take my word for it... let's ask the wife of a former Liberal Leader...

"The party base understood in 2006 and Canadian citizens are understanding now. Ignatieff's supporters didn't do their homework. They didn't read his books. They contented themselves with his ability to navigate the cocktail circuit," she wrote.

"Some of them are enraged today. I hear: 'Why didn't anyone tell us about him?' We told you, loud and clear. You didn't listen."

The more I think about it...

...maybe the Mayans were on to something after all...Happy 2012.