31 December 2008

Crunching the numbers

They're a whiz at collecting and creating statistics... actually doing something - not so much...
Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip for the fourth day straight on Tuesday. Gaza officials said that, as of Monday, 364 Palestinians have been killed, and the United Nations noted that at least 62 were civilians.

How did the U.N. determine which of the victims were combatants?
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RELATED: Let the games begin

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As an atheist, I don't really have...

...a god, er... dog in this fight... but what's fascinating here, is the larger issue here of ad hoc censorship.
The casual elimination of information that interests scores of internet users by anonymous individuals confirms the worst about Wikipedia and explains why most university professors strongly discourage their students from relying on a source which can be altered at whim by anyone with a modem.

A small handful of anonymous internet users have made an editorial decision, leading to the deletion of key information about Canada’s past on one of the world’s most frequented websites.

To make matters worse, they have done so based on spurious logic that the religious views of politicians have never been at the centre of Canadian political discourse.
(via sda)

See, Dawg...

That's why it's called "war"... and not "circle of friends"...
The IAF continued its assault on Gaza terrorist targets on Wednesday afternoon, bombing a Gaza City mosque and destroying a large number of rockets hidden inside.

Channel 10 reported that the IAF had received high-level orders to hit the mosque after Hamas terror operatives had run there with several rockets and Grad-type missiles.
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RELATED: What kind of megalomaniacal freak...

...won't let his wife & kids leave "ground zero"?
Sheikh Nizar Rayyan, 52, a senior Hamas leader and cleric, was killed along with several others on Thursday when an IAF aircraft dropped a bomb on the eight-story Jabalya apartment building he lived in, the IDF said.

Palestinian medics said that nine people were killed, including two of Rayyan's four wives and four of his 12 children, and around 30 were wounded in the air strike.

According to Palestinian sources, his family was warned before the attack but did not leave the building.
Oh yeah... that kind.

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Post-Mumbai...

...Pakistan looks for a little redemption...
Pakistani forces have arrested 40 people and destroyed suspected militant houses and camps in a key operation in the Khyber region, officials say.

The section of the Khyber Pass that passes through the Jamrud sub-district is the most insecure stretch of the road.

Witnesses told the BBC that the security forces were using artillery fire and helicopter gunships to pound suspected militant positions in the Ghundai and Shahkas areas of Jamrud.
At some point, Pakistan will have to decide which way they're really gonna fall.

Their current highwire act isn't gonna work forever.

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Call me wacky...

...but I'm gonna go with the guys... who DON'T turn their kids into improvised explosive devices...
FROM THE COMMENTS:
"As Golda Meir (allegedly) said decades ago: Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us."
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LAST WORD: Payback is a cold, heartless bitch
-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- The Afghan National Army says its soldiers destroyed three suspected bomb-making compounds and killed a person believed to be planting roadside bombs during a recent operation.

Col. Ahmad Habibi told reporters at Kandahar Airfield the mission was planned and executed by the Afghan army under the tutelage of Canadian military mentors.
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Turns out our racist white society...

...is the least of their worries...
When Austin Fuller joined the military shortly before the Second World War, he knew what he signed up for. In a Belleville courtroom earlier this month, however, someone signed the 87-year-old veteran and his wife Catherine up for a fight neither want to be a part of.

According to court documents, the elderly Mohawk couple are named among those who have launched a $3.3-million civil action lawsuit that levels accusations of nepotism, abuse of power and various other conspiracies purported to have been carried out by the Mohawk band council and senior levels of government.

Speaking to The Intelligencer Monday, the couple claim they were never consulted by anyone about joining the lawsuit -- and only found out through the media that they were named as plaintiffs.

"We didn't know a darn thing about it and we never gave anyone permission to use our names in this," said Austin Fuller, who was one of 11 Second World War veterans from the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment to travel to Italy three years ago to pay homage to fallen comrades.

As for the current fight, Austin simply called it "ridiculous."
So what kind of person would drop an elderly couple into the middle of this mess?
The most well-known protester of the group, Shawn Michael Brant, has yet to be taken into custody by police on the reserve -- despite an arrest warrant being issued more than a month ago for his alleged role in the incident.
Of course... Shawn Brant.

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30 December 2008

Winning hearts & minds... yet again

So Brenda... you're unhappy with the outcome here... when do we get our money back?
-- via ORATO -- The Canadian woman who threatened suicide to get out of a Mexican jail says she misses the beach and would happily return to Mexico if she could. "I could say right now that if the Mexican government was to give me a pardon, I would go back,"

The Correctional Service of Canada then chartered a private plane to bring her home — at a reported cost of $82,000.

Shockingly, Martin wrote, after being repatriated to Canada by federal authorities, her short stay at the Grand Valley Institution for Women, near Kitchener, Ont., made her long for a return to her Mexican jail cell.

Martin is currently on parole, living at her mother's home in Trenton, Ont.
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Can "plastic cutlery" legislation...

...be that far behind...
Speed-limiting devices should be fitted to cars on a voluntary basis to help save lives and cut carbon emissions, according to a new report.
Of course, if preventing injuries is the name of the game, there are all kinds of things we could do... like wearing helmets in the shower and introducing a "National Ladder Registry."
The speed-limiting devices will then use satellite positioning to check a vehicle's location and when its speed exceeds the limit, power will be reduced and the brakes applied if necessary.
I look forward to government mandated breakfast "fibre levels".

Good grief.

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RELATED:
More... I'm from the government...
"I'm here to save you."

Yeah, you dumbass...

...that's what we figured you'd say...
Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official, countered: “We are not begging for calm and there is no room to talk about calm amid the continued aggression and siege.”
Of course, he's saying it while cowering in some dark little spider hole... far away from the fighting.
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction in fighting in June 2007.

It has rejected international demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace deals.
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RELATED: In other "tyranny of nice" news...
"It's as if they can't see the difference between stealing a handbag and setting off a car bomb outside a nightclub."
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LAST WORD: Live and don't learn
-- GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Palestinian militants, armed with deadlier missiles than ever before, kept up rocket assaults on Israeli border communities on Tuesday, despite relentless Israeli air attacks against Gaza’s Hamas rulers and unwelcome word from Egypt that it would not bail them out.
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29 December 2008

Tonight's CTV Moonbat Moment

Totally missing the point that "competitive sports" are all about, well... "competing"... tonight reporter Roger Smith spent five minutes lamenting the fact that Team Canada refused to back off at some point in their 15-0 blowout over Kazakhstan.

When exactly, did hurt feelings take precedence over excelling and winning?

The Oprah-fication of North America continues apace.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"I'm waiting for some moonbat to say it was a disproportionate number of goals."
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ASK A KAZAKH:
"Evgeni Bolyakin, player of the game for Kazakhstan, feels it's better for his team's development to play and lose in Division 1 than return to Division 2."

"It's better to play in the more prestigious group," Bolyakin said through an interpreter. 'We're learning, especially against teams like Canada'."
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Recession-Proof

The Canadian Senate, or as it's better known... the "Cash for Life" lottery...
-- OTTAWA -- As the youngest of Canada's 18 new senators, 34-year-old Patrick Brazeau will be eligible for pension benefits that most Canadians can only dream of, as soon as he hits 55.

If the current National Chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples remains in the Red Chamber until 2029, he will walk away with a pension worth 63 per cent of his indexed annual salary, which currently stands at $130,400. In today's dollars, that's an annual pension of $82,000 – indexed for life – starting in his middle age.
I've got an idea... let's be totally fair and equitable and turn Senate appointments into an actual lottery. I mean... let's face it... it's not like there's any actual "qualifications" for the position.

To be eligible, you simply have to be a Canadian citizen who has paid taxes for, let's say... 25 years.

What could be more "inclusive" and Canadian than that?

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28 December 2008

Conflict spreads... Egypt invaded

No... not by Israel...
At least 300 Egyptian border guards were rushed to the area to reseal the border, the official added on condition on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

A witness on the Gaza side of the border, Fida Kishta, said residents detonated a land mine along the border and commandeered a bulldozer to create more breaches.
Yet another example of that infamous Arab brotherly love.

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RELATED: A different sort of war

I'm guessin' this is not exactly how HAMAS does it...
Palestinians reported that they received phone calls to their cellular phones and landlines from the IDF. The phone call, the Palestinians said, conveyed a recorded message ordering the immediate evacuation of homes that were next to Hamas infrastructure or being used by the terrorist organization.
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"Not even a sparrow falls"... right?

The capricious and unknowable "Will of Allah"...
"Dr. Abdul Rahman, a doctor at a hospital near the blast, said the children were aged 8 to 10."
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FROM THE COMMENTS: The intellectual left responds...
Of course, it's his standard "canned response"...
What this dumbstick lacks in intellectual rigour... he certainly makes up for in consistency...
Yup... this boy's a genius... in a Hedy Fry sorta way.

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Okay Dawg... cover your ears

I don't wanna shatter any more of your delusions...
"I am concerned about the number of shooting crimes, because that is the one type of criminal activity that we have seen go up," Bill Blair told CTV Toronto in a year-end interview.
And, sad to say, we're not talking about jaywalking or shoplifting.
"Although there's been fewer murders in the city, what we've seen is there's been more shooting occurrences."

Toronto police maintain a web page that shows year-to-date shootings. As of Dec. 15, there have been 236 shooting incidents in the city, an increase of 18 percent over 2007. The number of victims is up to 336, about a 42 percent increase over 2007.
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RELATED: And right on cue...
A woman managed to take a cab to an east Toronto hospital after being shot early Sunday morning.

The 12:30 a.m. shooting happened outside a Gabby's Kingston Road, located at 980 Kingston Rd., which is just west of Victoria Park Avenue.
And...
A 28-year-old man was rushed to the trauma unit of St. Michael's Hospital last night after being shot in the chest.

Shortly after the shooting just after 8 p.m. in a Pape Ave. home south of Gerrard St. E., a dog-walker reported seeing two men running north.
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Two more Canadian casualties

-- KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Another roadside bomb attack in southern Afghanistan killed two more Canadian soldiers Saturday, along with an Afghan police officer and a local interpreter.

Warrant Officer Gaetan Roberge and Sgt. Gregory John Kruse were killed during a security patrol in the Panjway district, in the western part of Kandahar province.

The explosion wounded three other Canadian soldiers and another Afghan interpreter.
They will be remembered.

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27 December 2008

Hearts, minds and nudge,nudge...

...winkie, winkie...
The CIA tackles the problem by aiming low — or getting people high — depending on your understanding of the word.

It’s secret weapon: viagra. After all, when a man has matrimonial obligations to a harem of women he may need all the help he can get.

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra. “Take one of these. You’ll love it,” the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.
(h/t sda)

What part of...

..."Stop... or we'll shoot"... do these morons just not understand...
Asked if an escalation of the assault could include targeted strikes against Hamas leaders, army spokeswoman Avital Leibovitch said: “Anything belonging to Hamas could be a target."

"You can interpret that as you like.”
**********

UPDATE: CBC insane with rage...

Palestinians... not so much.

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26 December 2008

Remember Sherriff Joe Arpaio?

Sure you do...
He started chain gangs to use the inmates to do free work on county and city projects and save taxpayer's money. Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.
Well... looks like he's movin' on up...
A cross between "Punk'd" and "Cops," the program sets up elaborate sting operations to snare people wanted on outstanding warrants.

Actors and undercover deputies play along in faux scenarios where scofflaws are enticed to have a good time; the drama comes when cast members reveal the prank and waiting deputies slap on handcuffs.
I love it.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Yeah, I saw him interviewed on Fox the other night about it. I think he said they cleared 1200 warrants just doing the preliminaries before ever filming an episode."
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WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF NOTED HUMANITARIAN CANADIAN CYNICYes, yes, CC... we all know how kind & compassionate you are. Say, while we're at it... let's revisit your pet theory about those dastardly, evil Jews.

And hey... we could always get a second opinion from your "fellow cynic"... the mysterious "sjwalter".

And, of course, there's CC's magnum opus...

Remember Canadian Cynic's message to Wanda Watkins, whose son Lane was killed in Afghanistan?
"With all due respect, Wanda, fuck you and your grief. It's not the job of the rest of Canada to continue to let its soldiers die just so you can sleep better at night."
Of course, CC's too intimidated to use his own moniker here, so he has created a bunch of alter egos to do his dirty work for him... bombarding my comment threads with dozens of stupid trolls...
Well, CC... we can see you're "alive"... but I do have to question the "well."

I'm thinkin'... you might wanna tweak those meds again.

BOO!!!

Mighty Stoogeleft...

...upstages puny Mark Steyn...
"From witch burnings to the Montreal massacre by Roman Catholic Marc Lepine to abortion clinic bombers, Christianity’s legacy of violence strikes down yet more victims."
Catholic, you say?

So Stooge...you figure Steyn is gonna have to publicly eat his words?
M. Lepine was born Gamil Gharbi, the son of an Algerian Muslim wife-beater, whose brutalized spouse told the court at their divorce hearing that her husband "had a total disdain for women and believed they were intended only to serve men."
I hadn't heard that young Gamil, oops... "young Marc"... was particularly religious, never mind Catholic... but hey... don't let that get in the way of a barnburner of a rant, huh?

Still... not a typical upbringing in my limited experience... especially when Gharbi's young sister od'd and died as well.
At 18, young Gamil took his mother's maiden name. The Gazette in Montreal mentioned this in its immediate reports of the massacre.

The name "Gamil Gharbi" has not sullied its pages in the 12 years since.
Hey Stooge... that bringin' down the shithammer on the Catholics was pretty entertaining.

What else you got in the old commie-pinko fartbag?

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UPDATE: Stoogeleft reveals his impeccable source
Hang on Stooger... if Wikipedia is so unreliable (your words, right?)... then why is your source a cut & paste of a Wikipedia footnote?
*

Yes... there is a price

And there are those who are willing to step up and possibly pay it.

It's what they do.
-- KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN -- A Canadian soldier was killed and three others injured this afternoon when a bomb exploded under their armoured vehicle west of Kandahar city.

The slain soldier's family has been informed of his death, but requested his identity withheld temporarily. This death marks the 104th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan since 2001.
And, of course, there is the same demented moonbat commentary that accompanies every single loss...
"So what's the endgame here? A Starbucks on every street corner and gay marriage in Afghanistan?"
Yes, you freakin' genius... that's what it's all about.

And, oh yeah... stuff like this...
"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."
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RELATED: Adding up the numbers

While it's no comfort to family and friends of the brave soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001... let's not lose sight of the fact that 104 casualties averages out to 15 deaths per year

In comparision, Toronto just suffered it's 70th murder for 2008... ... and that's nowhere near the all-time high.
A night of heavy drinking ended with a savage murder in a Scarborough apartment early Christmas Day when one of three friends allegedly snapped, stomped out the life of his pal and then brutally beat a second man who tried to stop the assault.
*

Hey, Misty...

...I'm ashamed that you're a Canadian AND a dumbass...
Misty Morning from Canada writes: What a sad story. Our government should feel that family's pain and feel ashamed that they have proved, again, to be totally inept in all matters.

As a Canadian, I feel ashamed. How can we say Merry Christmas to each other when another Canadian family is hurting as the Kohail's must be?

* Posted 25/12/08 at 11:17 PM EST | Alert an Editor | Link to Comment

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POSTSCRIPT: Two words, Misty... r-e-a-d... s-l-o-w-e-r...
"The victim's family has angrily denounced Canadian interference in the case and has said they will not entertain any possibility of forgiveness until the two accused admit their guilt."
*

25 December 2008

BT in loony leftbot crosshairs?

Funny how there's never a Human Rights Commissioner around... when you really need one.

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RELATED: Sure... let's talk "apocalyptic crazies"
-- JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appealed to Gazans to stop attacks on Israel or face a violent response as rockets rained down from Gaza at levels not seen since before a now-expired truce.

“I am telling them now, it may be the last minute, I'm telling them stop it,” Mr. Olmert told the Arabic-language Al-Arabiya TV. “We are stronger.”
Who's actually boarding the crazy train here?

Looks like the CBC doesn't have any doubts...
Apparently... somehow... the rocket-firing terrorists are the aggrieved party here.

Good grief.

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It's starting to sound like the...

..."Audacity of audacity"...
"Obama was not under oath, but he was represented in the FBI interview — as well as throughout the internal review — by Bob Bauer, the shrewdly pugnacious Washington super lawyer who represented Obama’s campaign."

"Each of the four Obama associates referenced in the internal report also retained attorneys, although only Emanuel and Jarrett sat for interviews with U.S. attorneys and FBI agents."
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RELATED: "Regrets... I've had a few"
“Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion," he said.

"This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback."
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Holiday Greetings from Londonistan

Sounds like it's only a matter of time before somebody gets their chestnuts roasted...
"As we approach a critical time in international relations, we are offering our viewers an insight into an alternative world view."
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RELATED: Yeah... let's give this guy a pulpit

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LAST WORD: In other Christmas-related news
"In December of 2006, this rights commission was asked to investigate claims of discrimination based on physical disability with regards to a reindeer, Rudolph."

"...Rudolph suffers from a facial disfigurement."
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24 December 2008

So... what's the big deal here?

I mean... Allah's got this one covered... right?

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RELATED: Relax folks... they're all about "the justice"
Major Saudi newspapers have refused to publish the advertisement, apparently because for them, it was too shocking.

The director general of the Saudi advertising agency, behind the campaign, Qaswara al-Khateeb, defended the media drive. "We sometimes forget that those who we deal with - "helpers" - are actually human beings."
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I'm not a big fan of blog memes...

...but seeing as it's Paul@Celestial Junk... I'll play along...

In my lifetime I have driven big rigs & subway trains... wrangled jackhammers, industrial chemicals and, most recently, mainframe computers... and that, my friend, is all I'm prepared to admit to.

And relax folks... I'm not gonna lash this beast onward.

The madness dies right here.

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23 December 2008

Churches stand silent & empty...

...as raging, mindless Catholic mobs fan out through cities worldwide... seeking to brutalise homosexuals...
The comments by the Pope were "totally irresponsible and unacceptable" and could provide some with a justification for "gay bashing," said Rev. Sharon Ferguson, the chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, in an interview with the BBC.
*

The New Entrepreneurs...

...visit Belleville, Ontario...
A Toronto couple who left behind $269,000 in dirty money in a clean baby’s diaper two years ago were officially relieved of the cash in court last week.

Hashani and Suada Bojaxhi, a husband and wife from Toronto were ordered to forfeit the money after Mr. Bojaxhi pleaded guilty to possession of property obtained by crime while before Superior Court Justice Richard Byers last week.
Thank goodness for dumbass criminals...
On Apr. 4 2006, Hashani Bojaxhi walked into an unidentified quick loan shop in Belleville and attempted to convert $700 in U.S. currency into Canadian money, court was told.

Staff at the location became suspicious of Hashani Bojaxhi’s identity and called police. Before police arrived he and a passenger in his vehicle fled the scene on foot, leaving behind a rented Jeep Grand Cherokee.

A search of the vehicle uncovered $269,000 stuffed into diapers — money that RCMP experts determined was the proceeds of illegal activity.
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RELATED: $270,000... hey, that's just chump change
An Etobicoke man is under arrest after police on the east coast seized almost 300 kgs of cocaine, police said today.

The illicit drugs had an estimated street value of about $40 million, Durham Regional Police said.

The coke was shipped in boxes of hot sauce and destined for the Carribean International Food Distributors in west-end Toronto.

Mahendrapaul Doodnauth, 45, of Seguin Ct. in Etobicoke was arrested and charged with importing, conspiracy to import and possession with the purpose of trafficking.
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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Way back when, my grandpa smuggled in seed wheat...guess a fella has to keep up with the times... yeeesh."
*

Making the world a better place

Pop Quiz -- The United Nations is best known for...
-(a)- Preventing despots from pursuing ethnic cleansing & genocide

-(b)- Staring down violent, immoral dictators who harbour terrorists

-(c)- Controlling nuclear proliferation by rogue nations

-(d)- Providing international diplomatic cover for all of the above
*

22 December 2008

All together now...

"...Puff the Magic Dragon..."
Pakistani security officials say at least eight people have been killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike in northwest Pakistan.

Officials say the latest missile attack targeted militants in the volatile South Waziristan tribal region.

The pre-dawn strikes by suspected U.S drones hit two vehicles at different locations and killed most of those onboard the vehicles.
*

I guess he could have let...

...Emperor Gilles I... make all the decisions...
"We're now faced with a very simple choice," Harper said after that furor.

"Does the government Canadians elected appoint those senators or are they going to be appointed by a coalition that nobody elected?"
Don't miss CTV national news tonight... I mean, how often do you get to see Lloyd Robertson bleeding from his ears?

*

Toronto the not-so-good

What's it gonna take folks...... a plague of locusts?

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RELATED: Yeah, sure... now you want tasers...

What the MSM doesn't care to emphasize... is that this guy was "battling mental illness"... with a couple of knives.

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LAST WORD: Asked... AND ANSWERED...
Outraged friends and family continued to question why police resorted to lethal force in their confrontation with Moynagh, who had A HISTORY OF VIOLENT OUTBURSTS and had SEVERAL RUN-INS WITH THE POLICE in the past.
Oh yeah... did I mention the knives?

Seems, in their follow-up piece... the Toronto Sun forgot to.

*

21 December 2008

Tonights CTV Moonbat Moment

More deep thoughts from ace reporter Tom Clark... "How could you say no to the daughter of JFK?"

[*]

And how about the Annointed One's star endorsement?

Two words, Fairy Princess... Tawana Brawley.

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RELATED: Obviously... it's the Second Coming
"Today, the audacity of hope had its rendezvous with destiny....Obama is now an adopted son of Camelot. His candidacy blessed not just by the Lion of the Senate, patriarch of the clan, but by JFK’s daughter." — David Wright on ABC’s Nightline January 28.
*

If it bleeds... it leads

Wake up folks... and smell the sales pitch...
This isn't about providing information, it's about peddling newspapers, 'cos... lemme see... my kid is outside playing in the "death storm"... taxpayers just handed the Big Three automakers 20 billion taxpayer dollars... and, last and absolutely least, Caspar Milquetoast and his "Green Shaft" have been ignominiously and eternally consigned to the compost pile of history.

You get it, yet?

*

20 December 2008

"Migawd is there anything drearier..."

"...on earth than militant feminism."

"Not quite on topic, but, during the thought police episode, I had a chat with my daughter who went to Queens in the early 90s. She told me that one of the best essays she ever wrote came back with every single 'he' circled in red ink."

"Every single one."

"She was scolded by the marxist-feminist prof and told to use the gender-neutral, but ugly and unpronouncable, s/he."

"Fair enough, I suppose, except .... the essay was about Gulliver's Travels."
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"I remember strolling the campus of Queens, my alma mater as well as your daughter's. I was approached by some well meaning yet naive folks with a clip board who told me they were doing a survey for the University and asked me if I had ever witnessed racism or discrimination on campus."

"'Indeed,' I replied."

"Their happy young faces beamed at the news."

"I continued. 'There is a disturbing amount of discrimination practiced by the University itself as well as the government of Canada. It is against men, especially caucasian ones'."
*

Entitled to their entitlements

If you thought these guys would be grateful for a multi-billion dollar taxpayer-funded bailout, well... you'd be wrong...

And everybody except the union is acknowledging that reality...
“Our governments would be crazy to not force the same condition on the D3 in Canada,” Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Auto Consultants, said in an e-mail Friday.

Currently in Canada, workers at the Detroit Three plants earn wages and benefits totalling $70 an hour, while their counterparts at the Japanese auto makers earn between $40 and $45.
The times... they are a' changin'.

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RELATED: Another CTV pinko push-poll goes sideways
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UPDATE: Ken Lewenza steps on his dick

CTV... bringing you the latest...

...cutting-edge, world-shaking news events...
Participants are encouraged to bring extra footwear for tossing, but organizers say shoes will be provided at the rally.
What is actually dumber here... being a participant... or reporting on this like it's a life-altering event?

Do any of these people not have actual lives?

**********

RELATED: Oh CTV... what a shame...

...they got a big "shoe story" and ran out of room for anything else...
At bottom, the Blagojevich episode -- whether it involves Obama himself or people close to him such as Emanuel or Axelrod -- demonstrates the disconnect between Obama's deeds and his high-sounding words.

He talks tirelessly about reform but was an unobjecting beneficiary of the machine who did not reform it.
*

Reading, writing and...

...ruptured organs...
An Egyptian mathematics teacher has gone on trial accused of beating an 11-year-old pupil to death because he did not do his homework.

After using a ruler, Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, 23, allegedly took the boy outside the classroom and hit him violently in his stomach. Islam Amr Badr fainted and later died in hospital of heart failure.

The Egyptian government says it is bringing in education reforms - including new teacher testing.
*

The poor, befuddled New York Times

More media kid-glove treatment... for anybody on the left side of the aisle...
"The authorities said Mr. Monserrate drove Ms. Giraldo to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park in Nassau County, near the Queens border."

"It was unclear why he chose a hospital outside the city and 12 miles from his apartment, on 83rd Street in Jackson Heights. There are at least three hospitals closer, including Elmhurst Hospital Center, five blocks away. "
It's unclear?

Seriously?

**********

RELATED: Looks like the Globe & Mail...

...ran out of "starving puppydog" stories...
It's not the first year that the children of Canadian soldiers have asked Santa to bring their moms and dads home safely so they can spend Christmas together, but “there do seem to be more of them this year.”

Mr. Danells estimates that only “0.001 per cent” of Santa letters ask those tearjerker questions, but he is noticing that children everywhere are becoming more aware of the world around them.
You estimate? -- 0.001 percent?

Hey, Oprah... don't let that stop you.

*

19 December 2008

21.5 billion taxpayer dollars

CAW says... "Well... it's a start"...
Based on one-fifth share of vehicle production, a Canadian package would translate into $4.16-billion (Canadian) in short-term, emergency loans.

Canadian Auto Workers president Ken Lewenza applauded the package, but described the attached concessions as “pretty tough.”

Mr. Lewenza said the money promised by the Bush administration is enough to get General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC through the first quarter of 2009, but the industry still needs “some long-term stability.”
**********

FROM THE COMMENTS:
"The Detroit three UAW/CAW must be desperate for new cash donors, they were hovering like vultures as we were going home to our families after work Thursday."

"I said to the Vulture as he attempted to hand me his propaganda, 'Your union has sure helped you out ... helped you right out of a job'."
*

So many psychedelic drugs...

...so little time...
And in the Canadian city of Montreal, Block the Empire, an anti-war protest group that regularly criticises Bush's foreign policy, invited Canadians to hurl their footwear at the US consulate in the city on Saturday in solidarity with al-Zaidi.
Honestly... who are these freaks?

**********

RELATED: Yeah... the weather killed her
Taser nutjobs find new cause célèbre.
*

18 December 2008

Darwin was right

I guess this is just nature's way of thinning the herd...
The truck was making a routine collection at a TD Canada Trust bank on Southdown Rd., near Royal Windsor Dr., around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday when the suspects approached the two guards, brandishing what appeared to be a pellet gun.

Before the suspects could nab any cash, the guards reportedly fired several shots, forcing the three to flee empty handed.
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Divine Right of Kennedy

It's not a question of experience. You often get inexperienced candidates who come out of nowhere. You get rich businessmen and the occasional actor or sports star.

It's a question of entitlement. The only thing she has that makes her somebody to even be considered for this office is pedigree. I mean, I hate to be a good government scold, but I would think that one of the reasons for the American experiment is to abolish the idea of government by pedigree.

Look, Caroline Kennedy is a worthy socialite. But if she wants it, she should run and not accept an appointment. It is OK to run on pedigree, but do it in an election and not in an appointment.
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1000 monkeys, 1000 typewriters...

The McSlippery government actually fulfills an election promise...
Starting in January, the prostate-specific antigen test will be covered under the province's public health insurance, costing the government $30 million annually.

Previously, residents in Ontario have had to have the tests done in hospitals; now the tests will be covered in much more numerous community labs.

Despite the fact prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer to strike Canadian men, Ontarians currently pay out of pocket for the $30 diagnostic test.
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We just don't know...

...how much we don't know...

"It's always impressive to see these sorts of things but it's not as unsual as you would think," said Dr. Rich Gustafson, with Cherry Creek Pediatrics.

"Teratomas can be found in abdomens or other parts of the body ... what made this case so unusual is how perfectly formed the foot was and being in the skull as well."
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Be careful what you wish for

-- KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN and VANCOUVER -- An agricultural expert from British Columbia is now the leading candidate in the urgent search for a new governor of Kandahar, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The post is a key political seat in southern Afghanistan but a dangerous task with little chance of glory.
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WELCOME, YET AGAIN, READERS OF NOTED HUMANITARIAN CANADIAN CYNIC

Yes, yes, CC... we all know how kind & compassionate you are. Say, while we're at it... let's revisit your pet theory about those dastardly, evil Jews.

Hey... we could always get a second opinion from your "fellow cynic"... the mysterious "sjwalter".

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17 December 2008

Merry Christmas...

...from Premier "I won't raise your taxes" McSlippery...
-- TORONTO -- Municipal property assessments that were mailed to homes across Ontario this fall are “unrealistic” given the dramatic drops in the real estate market, Premier Dalton McGuinty admitted Wednesday.
And what will the "Slippery One" do about this issue?

Yup... sweet Fanny Adams...
Despite that, the province will not direct Ontario's Municipal Property Assessment Corporation to scrap the 2008 assessments, the first in several years, and do fresh ones in 2009.
Don't look at me... I didn't vote for him.

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Easy fix... my ass

What nobody is talking about here is "data integrity"...
It's unclear when the markets will reopen, and the exchange hasn't responded to any interview requests. It's believed the backup system also failed, preventing an easy fix.
Most large financial institutions, like banks and insurance companies are tied into large mainframe computers which usually employ a duplicate set of hard drives... known in the trade as "mirroring."

When a hard drive fails... the system automatically starts to move over to the "mirrored drives." If the "backup system" referred to in the article is actually this extra drive array... then the TSX is in deep muck.

Now the system must have optical or tape backup from the previous day... but rolling back to that breakpoint still leaves the local markets in total disarray.
The average daily volume on the TSX through the end of November was 451 million shares.
The TSX computer-monkeys must be going ape.

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UPDATE: It's not much, but...

The TMX Group has issued a statement. The inference now, is that this is a "comms issue"... rather than an outright crash...
Mr. Bertrand and company representatives declined to comment on the exact nature of the computer problem. “The important thing now is to get things going again,” Mr. Bertrand said.

In a statement, the exchange, which is owned by the TMX Group, said that the computer systems that execute trades were not affected. The problem appeared to be with the computers that delivered trading information to brokerage houses and news organizations.

In an interview with BNN, a Canadian business news television channel, Luc Bertrand, the deputy chief executive at TMX, said that the exchange decided to suspend trading after it discovered that only some users were able to track trades.
Perhaps the earlier reference to a failure of "backup systems" was just unfounded rumour.

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LAST WORD: That's it for today
-- December 17, 2008 (TORONTO) -- Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange will not resume trading today due to continuing technical issues with its data feeds.

The market will be put into a Pre-Open state from 3:00PM to 5:00PM to allow participants the option of cancelling, adding or changing orders.

The company intends to open the exchanges tomorrow morning.

Additional information on the nature of the problem will be provided when the investigation is complete.
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The Center of the Universe...

...is expanding.

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RELATED: Hey Ontario... got too much money?

Hopalong Howie & Premier "I won't raise your taxes" McSlippery have got a plan to fix that...
-- TORONTO -- A proposed $3.4-billion rescue package for struggling automakers is likely just the beginning of the money Ottawa and Ontario must provide to keep the sector afloat, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton said he believes Ontario's share of the current auto aid will be about $1 billion to $1.5 billion, but that more overall economic aid is needed.

"We should invest a further $2 billion in an economic stimulus package," Hampton said.
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