So what have they been doing...

Up until now... just butting into the landing pattern?

-- BEIJING - Tough new rules on English language standards could ground thousands of Chinese commercial airline pilots, state media reported Friday.

Xinhua news agency said the rules, approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization in 2006, require all airline pilots who fly overseas to pass an English-language competency test by March 2008.

As in most things coming out of China these days, there is a marked lack of concern and quality control.

It quoted senior CAAC official Chen Guangcheng as saying that of the over 700 pilots who took the test in the first half of 2007, more than 600 passed.

But that leaves close to 8,000 pilots still grappling with “The Test of English for Aviation.”

It's the Dollar Store mentality yet again.

Technorati Tags: China, quality control, International Civil Aviation Organization

Subsidising the Driftwood Crips

It's not enough that the government pays their rent... now we get to pay their lawyers...

A Superior Court judge rebuked the Crown and ordered it to pay $27,000 in legal costs to alleged gang members for failing to have timely bail hearings after the massive Project Kryptic bust last week.

Nordheimer dismissed an application to release the nine suspects "because it's not responsible or reasonable" to do so. But he criticized the lack of financial and personnel resources for bail hearings after massive police operations such as Project Kryptic that targeted the Driftwood Crips in the Jane-Finch area.

The nine will receive $3,000 apiece from the order.

Technorati Tags: Driftwood Crips, Jane-Finch, Project Kryptic

We have the technology

And it won't break the bank...

Digital S.L.R.’s turn on instantly, can take three shots per second, offer optional manual controls, go for weeks on a battery charge and have zero shutter lag. In short, they’re awesome.

In the last few months, Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus and Sony have each started selling new advanced S.L.R.’s in the $700 to $800 range.

Gearing up down under

You wanna play... you gotta pay...

Australia has announced plans to buy five new warships at a cost of more than A$11bn ($9bn; £4.5bn). The three destroyers and two amphibious troop carriers will be Australia's most advanced and expensive warships.

Prime Minister John Howard said they would greatly enhance the country's ability to send forces at strength.

And as anyone who has watched Aussie Rules Football can testify... these guys play hard.

The BBC reported earlier today that Iranian naval forces tried to capture the boarding team, but were repelled in the face of machine guns and "highly colourful language".

Quoting a "military source", BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner reported Iranian forces made a concerted attempt to seize a boarding party from the Royal Australian Navy and that the Australians "were having none of it".

"The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched," Gardner reports, "aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians, and warned them to back off, using what was said to be 'highly colourful language'.

"The Iranians withdrew, and the Australians were reportedly lifted off the ship by one of their own helicopters."

I love these guys.

Technorati Tags: Aussie Rules, Prime Minister John Howard, Royal Australian Navy

Quick... somebody call Wendy Cukier

Just ask a Liberal... guns only have one purpose.

-- TORONTO (CP) -- Veteran shooter Susan Nattrass will carry Canada's flag at next month's Pan American Games.

The five-time Olympian and seven-time world champion will be competing in her fourth straight Pan Am Games.

Nattrass is seen as the pioneer of women's shooting. She broke the gender barrier at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, where she competed with men.

Technorati Tags: Susan Nattrass, Olympics, suckass political correctness

Oh good... more bureaucracy

That'll fix everything.

-- TORONTO -- The Ontario government is creating the first-ever Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, following a recommendation of the commissioner of a public inquiry into the shooting death of unarmed native protester Dudley George in 1995.

When they discovered tossing buckets full of cash at ex-Liberals Jane Stewart and David Peterson didn't wake up the sheeple... the Liberals figured they could create whole new layer of patronage plums for their friends.

It's how they work.

Thank you, oh wise and wonderful Dalton McGuinty.

Technorati Tags: Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, Ontario, Dalton McGuinty

Paid back... with interest

Funny... you never see CTV celebrating Canadian soldiers... even when they deal Timmy Taliban a five to one battlefield payback.

-- MA’SUM GHAR, Afghanistan (CP) -- Canadian and Afghan government troops fought the Taliban in a four-hour running battle in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday and killed at least 15 insurgents, military officials said.

These are troopers from the same unit that took three casualties the other day... but they just climbed back into the saddle and handed Timmy his ass, yet again.

"We’re pretty blunt in this company and we don’t sugar coat very much," said Maj. Dave Quick, the officer commanding India Company. "And certainly the loss of another soldier in the battle group, regardless of company,is very important to the soldiers because we are a collective team here."

Maybe Lloyd should figure out what side he's on.

Technorati Tags: Canadian Forces, MA’SUM GHAR, payback is a bitch

"As enraged as it gets"

They don't call it the Holy Land for nothin'...

A controversial Gay Pride parade is due to march through Jerusalem with an expected 5,000 participants.

More than 7,000 police will secure the parade and prevent possible clashes between the two sides.

The event, held in Jerusalem since 2001, has been denounced in the past by conservative Jewish, Christian and Muslim groups which share a view that homosexuality is an abomination.

Call me crazy, but I'm thinkin' this may not be the best place in the world to shove a celebration of "alternate lifestyles" down peoples throats.

Maybe we could send them David Miller... he'd fix it.

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UPDATE: Gay Simon strokes out...

In the comments.

"Those Orthodox are just traitors to the state of Israel. Parasites and kooky freaks who should all be shot...The marchers who take on those black hatted nazis are braver than you could ever be."

From Simon's blogger profile...

I seek Truth...Freedom... Justice... and a kinder gentler world.

For everyone who agrees with him, that is.

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LAST WORD: Hey Simon, this guy...

Wants to kill people... just like you do.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man was arrested for planning to bomb the parade, Israeli police said.

Technorati Tags: Gay Pride, Jerusalem, "should all be shot"

Words fail me

Sorry, I just... I don't know... I got nothin'.

-- CHENNAI -- Parental dotage climbed new heights recently when a doctor couple here got their 15-year-old son to perform a caesarean section operation to deliver a baby, ostensibly to see the name of their little 'prodigy', Dhileepan Raj, in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “youngest surgeon in the world".

Lock these people up. Do it now.

A fat-headed decision

I'm extremely disappointed with the Conservatives here... this one just seemed to be a no-brainer.

-- OTTAWA -- Health Canada will delay regulation of trans fats in Canadian food products for at least two years, calling instead for industry to voluntarily limit use of the heart-clogging compounds.

Critics blame the delay on opposition from the U.S. government, whose food industry would face complications exporting to Canada if Ottawa introduced binding limits.

Our over-burdened health care system is already struggling under the weight of an epidemic of complications from obesity. It's becoming a problem among small children.

This problem needed a strong, decisive hand... and obviously Tony Clement is not that guy.

Bill Jeffery, national co-ordinator of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, which monitors food health issues, said he was disappointed in the government's decision.

Mr. Jeffery cited estimates that trans fats cause 2,000 heart attacks in Canada annually, suggesting that the delay in regulations could cause many deaths.

Next time you're out and about... take a minute to survey the folk around you and note what percentage of them are obese.

It's scary.

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UPDATE: Universal disagreement in the comments

Trust me... this is an issue that will end up costing all of us.

A study last year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that the number of morbidly obese people in Canada has quadrupled since 1985, while the number of obese Canadians has doubled and those deemed to be overweight has increased 20 per cent.

According to Statistics Canada, close to 39 per cent of adult Canadians were of normal weight in 2005. Almost 35 per cent of adults were overweight and more than 24 per cent were considered obese.

More than 14 million adults in this country were either overweight or obese.

Technorati Tags: health care, trans fats, Tony Clement

The new Battle of Britain

More socialist insanity...

The leaders of two major Canadian universities have added their voices to growing international opposition to a boycott of Israeli universities being considered by a British academic union.

Yeah... maybe we can take a page from that bright, shining, uber-democratic Palestinian model, huh?

Let's fight this "creeping sharia" before it's too late.

"We can't be complacent about challenges to freedom of speech, freedom of collaboration. Why would you sit back passively and wait until it is a fait accompli?"

Spineless Marxist Miller...

And his coterie of politically correct ass-kissers... back down on not supporting the troops...

Toronto councillors voted unanimously on Wednesday to extend the use of 'Support Our Troops' decals on fire and emergency medical service vehicles.

In the end, this guy's about as principled as a feral cat.

Although Mr. Miller had indicated he wouldn't support the motion, he said today the death of three more soldiers in Afghanistan brought the issue home for him.

Well, that... and the likelihood of being tarred & feathered in front of Nathan Phillips Square.

I'm guessin' it's gonna take more than a couple of gin fizzes to get that taste out of his lyin', hypocritical mouth.

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UPDATE: This shouldn't end here

Email David Miller and let him know how you feel.

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LAST WORD: They will be remembered

Canadian military officials released the names the fallen soldiers. Corporal Stephen Frederick Bouzane, 26, Private Joel Vincent Wiebe, 22, and Sergeant Christos Karigiannis, all with the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry perished in the bombing.

Technorati Tags: Mayor David Miller, Support Our Troops, Afghanistan

Unelected Liberal Senators...

Once again cover their corrupt, freeloading fiberal asses.

-- OTTAWA -- Liberal Senators have used their majority in the upper chamber to shelve indefinitely a government bill that would limit their terms to eight years.

The proposed legislation would limit Senate terms to eight years...

Once again, the retirement home for political bagmen and wired in business cronies protects their "cash for life" payout.

C'mon sheeple... wake up.

Before Taliban Jack starts screaming...

About the latest casualties in Afghanistan... consider this.

Every year in Canada... we lose the same number of children to drowning... as the total number of battle casualties to date, since 2001.

Each year an average of 58 children drown and at least 140 others are hospitalized after being saved from drowning in Canada.

Drowning is the second cause of traumatic death in Canadian children under 14.

But that won't stop Jack and his mindless leftbot horde from making political hay out of the deaths of these brave soldiers.

Why is that?

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PERSPECTIVE: It's dangerous here too

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FROM THE COMMENTS: No good deed...

"Improvements in medical care since the Taliban fell five years ago have led to a marked decrease in Afghanistan's infant mortality rates - 40,000 fewer infant deaths a year."

Technorati Tags: Religion of indiscrimate slaughter, Afghanistan, Jack Layton

Does new street-racing law...

Have any teeth?

The family of 48-year-old David Virgoe will have to wait to find out.

Wearing handcuffs and looking confused, Nauman Nusrat, 20 and Prabhjit Multani, 20, both of Etobicoke, are faced with several charges including criminal negligence causing death by street racing, criminal negligence causing bodily harm by street racing, dangerous operation causing death, criminal negligence causing death, and causing a common nuisance.

Const. Dave Woodford, with the OPP Highway Safety Division, said the two suspects, who remain in jail, were charged under the relatively new section of the Criminal Code that deals with street racing.

Convictions can carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

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RELATED: Friends saw this coming

A friend of 19-year-old Nauman Nusrat, one of the men charged, said Mr. Nusrat was known to go at speeds of up to 180 kilometres an hour in his Pontiac Grand Am.

"He was into racing. It was just like for fun," said the 21-year-old, who did not want his name published.

Technorati Tags: David Virgoe, Nauman Nusrat, Prabhjit Multani

Chemistry set of the Gods

Returning adult cells to their embryonic state offers an alternative to therapeutic cloning, which involves taking an egg, sucking out the nucleus, and putting in the nucleus from a patient.

Smoking Toy Gun

You like statistics... then check this out.

-- WASHINGTON, June 18 -- China manufactured every one of the 24 kinds of toys recalled for safety reasons in the United States so far this year, including the enormously popular Thomas & Friends wooden train sets, a record that is causing alarm among consumer advocates, parents and regulators.

And lead paint on toy trains may not even be the most outrageous transgression.

Just in the last month, a ghoulish fake eyeball toy made in China was recalled after it was found to be filled with kerosene.

The problem is not just confined to childrens toys. Poisoned medicines and toiletries have recently been discovered as well.

Last year, China also was the source of 81 percent of the counterfeit goods seized by Customs officials at ports of entry in the United States — products that typically are not made according to the standards on the labels they are copying.

Go ahead... buy Chinese products.

I dare you.

Technorati Tags: China, diethylene glycol, Merchant of Death

Too much money? Live in Toronto?

Don't worry... David Miller & Dalton McGuinty are gonna fix that right up.

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RELATED: In David Miller's Toronto-stan...

It's okay to spit on Canadian troops...

"By putting messages on our vehicles it sends the message that the city of Toronto supports the mission in Afghanistan and I don't believe we should be sending that message."

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BREAKING: Good timing... you spineless leftbot

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- Three more Canadian soldiers have been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

Military officials say the powerful blast hit the vehicle carrying the soldiers.

Technorati Tags: Toronto, Mayor David Miller, Dalton McGuinty

I'm sure his wife...

Is looking forward to having him home all the time now.

He previously said he would continue to sit in the House of Commons until the next election, but Tuesday called upon Prime Minister Stephen Harper to call a by-election.

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RELATED: Ahoy, Billy

Technorati Tags: Bill Graham, Liberal Party, honesty and integrity

Have gun, will travel

In all likelihood, this target was "laser painted" by a special forces team just over the brow of the nearest hill... and vapourised by Hellfire missiles from a Predator UAV.

Then they just swept on in and swabbed up some DNA.

-- MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, June 19 (Reuters) -- A missile attack, probably launched by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, killed at least 32 pro-Taliban militants in a Pakistani tribal region near the border on Tuesday, Pakistani officials said.

The missiles targeted a suspected training base in a village near the mountainous Datta Khel district, 60 km (40 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

Intelligence officials said some foreigners were among those killed in Mamy Rogha, raising the possibility that al Qaeda fighters might have also been present.

North Waziristan is a known refuge for remnants of Osama bin Laden's network.

These guys call themselves terrorists... but I'm guessin' raggedy arseholes were snappin' shut all over Waziristan today.

Hey Osama... we're comin' for ya.

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NUDGE-NUDGE, WINK, WINK: Yeah... that's what happened

A spokesman for the Pakistani military, Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, denied that United States or NATO forces operating in Afghanistan were involved in the attack. He said the explosion occurred when a bomb the militants were making went off.

Technorati Tags: Osama bin Laden, Taliban, Waziristan