Conspiracy Theorists Lose Another One

With minutes of the news release there were people who tried to push that her death was related to her activism......it looks like it was in reality a family tragedy

Aboriginal activist's grandson charged with murderUpdated Mon. Dec. 31 2007 4:16 PM ET The Canadian Press

TRURO, N.S. -- Police in Truro, N.S., confirm they have charged Nora Bernard's grandson with first-degree murder in the death of the respected aboriginal activist.

James Douglas Gloade of Millbrook, N.S., was arraigned in court today.

Bernard was found dead in her home near the Millbrook First Nation last Thursday.

The 72-year-old Mi'kmaq elder was well-known for pushing governments to compensate aboriginals who suffered abuse at Canada's network of residential schools.

In the early 1990s, Bernard began organizing survivors of the school in Shubenacadie, N.S., and launched a legal action that later merged with a similar suit in Ontario.

The class-action suit led to a compensation agreement with Ottawa that could be worth up to $5 billion.

Book Review - The Jew Of Home Depot.......

Juicy Bites of Apple

THE JEW OF HOME DEPOT AND OTHER STORIES
By Max Apple
Johns Hopkins Univ. 170 pp. $19.95

Comic movies don't often get Oscar nods. In fiction, too, tragedy wears the capital L for Literature, whereas comedy -- good luck, happy endings, pleasure itself -- is deemed to be the fluffy stuff of chick lit and beach books. With "The Jew of Home Depot," his first collection of stories in two decades, Max Apple challenges the canard that misery reveals more about our identity than joy does. It's as if Apple has heard the complaint of one his characters, who demands, "Doesn't this family have any really happy stories? Didn't we have picnics or go on vacations or go fishing? Why is it always war and vengeance?"

The 13 delightful, utterly cynicism-free stories collected here are mostly tales of courtship, and as the title not so shyly suggests, they often star Jews. Polish pogroms are not even a distant memory for Jerome Feldman, a liquor store owner from Cleveland, and screenwriter Ira Silvers of Baltimore, whose mother was a third-generation Southerner from Savannah. As Ira's mother reminds him in "Threads," their family is so assimilated that "by the time I met him, your father had no accent and was already an accountant." In their far-flung, unlikely locations, Apple's mostly non-practicing Jewish characters meditate on the daily collision of cultures that is contemporary American life, for both Jews and everyone else. Indeed, one of the best stories, "Yao's Chick," concerns Chinese immigrants in Houston.

In "Indian Giver," Seymour Rubin of Muskegon, Mich., fires Alonzo, his most prized employee at Seymour's Salvage, for running a Muslim prayer meeting during Friday lunch. The two reconcile during a riotous discussion about Judaism and Islam in the basement of Seymour's house, where in his spare time he crafts "Jew stuff" -- steel Torahs and bagels. "So you ain't really one," Alonzo says. "A Jew. It's just a hobby?"
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In "Peace," a Korean entrepreneur tricks Jay Wilson into investing his life's savings in 600,000 "Star Wars" swords. "I'll hate you until the day I die," Jay says, but the Korean answers, "Maybe not." By story's end, Jay's disastrous decision leads to both love and lucre in a way that Apple makes utterly believable.

These stories celebrate serendipity: the path that brings a pharmacist to fall in love with a physicist he sees on a TV show, or a teenage daughter to want passionately to be an Olympic shot putter. What you can't predict in life, Apple reminds us, is a cause not only for trepidation but also for excitement. As Harold says when he proposes to Helen in "Stepdaughters," "she gave me a computer printout based on Prudential Insurance Company statistics that predicted the likelihood of everything from breast cancer to senility in her person during the next twenty-five years. . . . The tables were for death and disease, they left out love, health, and happiness, the things you seek in life."

The touching "Yao's Chick" offers a wink and a nod to Bernard Malamud's classic matchmaking story "The Magic Barrel." The 26-year-old Li En is so tall she thinks the only man in the world for her is Yao Ming. Here the marriage broker is not a Jew but a Chinese fortune teller who lives above a dollar store, much honored by Li En's mother, who works as a manicurist at Crystal Nail. Li doesn't nab Yao, but she does find something to celebrate about being a Chinese Texan tall enough to dunk a basketball.

Three of these stories concern the same set of characters: Sidney Goodman, the carwash king of Las Vegas; his Mexican employees; and his 84-year-old mother, Jenny, who's in a nursing home. Only Apple could make stories about Alzheimer's this much fun. In "Adventures in Dementia," Sidney takes his mother to a hypnotist to help her remember her dead husband. "Though her son bombarded her with choices . . . ranging from Harold Goodman to Winston Churchill and William Shakespeare, Jenny merely wrinkled her nose at all the candidates, her husband as impossible to name as the nameless one, the creator of heaven and earth."

In the masterful title story, Jerome Baumgarten of Marshall, Tex., phones the Chabad organization of Hasidic Jews with this request: "I'm eighty-five and dying, and I'm surrounded by Gentiles. If you can send me a bunch of real Jews, I'll pay their way and make it worth their while." Reb Avram heeds the call, moving his wife and eight children across the country into Baumgarten's manse -- now the last remaining owner-occupied house on a fraternity row. From his bedroom window, the 18-year-old son, Chaim, lusts after a girl who visits the fraternity brothers. Closing his blinds doesn't help, and when the girl comes to visit him at the Home Depot, where he works in the lumber department, Chaim finds his faith sorely tested.

The story ends with a haunting -- and transformative -- act of anti-Semitism. Readers can assume that Apple knows about the 1997 anti-Semitism lawsuit against Home Depot in Colma, Calif., but the story doesn't feel topical. Despite the slanginess and brand names, the tale is timeless, fable-like. If a lot of contemporary short fiction falls into the category dubbed "Kmart realism," Apple needs his own category. Call it Kmart magical realism.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

And Then There Is (Somewhere Out There) The NDP

Junkyard Jack
Susan Riley, The Ottawa Citizen

They are overshadowed by a leader who is alternately decisive and abrasive, they appear to believe federal Liberals are the source of all evil and they are not going anywhere in the polls.

No, not Stephen Harper's Conservatives; Jack Layton's New Democrats. Generally they fly under the radar, sidelined in the battle between the traditional behemoths -- to their intense and understandable frustration. Lately, however, they have found themselves at centre stage, but not in flattering light -- victims of the self-inflicted blunders that often trip up the bigger parties.

MORE

The Good Times Just Keep Rolling Along.......

.....and will continue.

2007 - The Wrap
By Terry Pearson
The Story

As the year is about to close we take a look at the Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative party of Canada. Of course it comes as no surprise that the Cherranna media mafia would paint a bleak picture by leaving out the pertinent facts.

For example I watched Lawrence Martin of the Globe and Mail along with Kate O'Mally from MacLeans Magazine on the CBC moaning and groaning about Bali, the Afghan mission, and the Mulroney affair. Oh and lets not forget the statistical tie we have been hearing about for the last two years. Despite all the gloom and doom, here is the real story.

Harper's historic minority
Lorne Gunter
Somewhere around Nov. 1, Stephen Harper's government became the longest serving Conservative minority ever -- by a factor of three. No other Conservative minority -- there have been four previous ones since Confederation -- has managed to last as long as seven months. In early November, Harper's entered its 21st month. It is now almost 23 months old.

Honesty In Politcs

Texas Councilman

T. Bubba Bechtel, a part-time City Councilman from Midland , TX , was asked on a local live radio talk show the other day just what he thought of the allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

"If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's balls to a car's battery cables will save one Texas GI's life, then I have just two things to say":

"Red is positive"

"Black is negative"

Censorship

BTW not publishing comments is not censorship but is akin to ensuring toilet paper is available in a washroom.

Free Speech Under Attack

For libertarians this is an age of paradox.

On one hand, we are winning the economic war, as free market capitalism is on the upswing across the globe. But at the same time we are losing the fight to protect our individual freedoms.

The right to free speech is especially under attack. As a society, we seem to have forgotten why censorship is wrong.

Here's what others have had to say about free speech:

"Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people's idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage." -- Winston Churchill

"This is slavery, not to speak one's thought."-- Euripides, Greek tragic poet (480 or 485 B.C. - 406 B.C)

"If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed."-- Benjamin Franklin, 1730

"The sooner we all learn to make a decision between disapproval and censorship, the better off society will be... Censorship cannot get at the real evil, and it is an evil in itself."-- Granville Hicks (1901-1982)

"We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people."-- John F. Kennedy

For more quotes on the evils of censorship, go here.

Harper's Mood Swings

Harper's "Mood Swings" Explained

Stephen Harper fans will be glad to know I recently rushed to his defence, in a recent "Macleans 50" commentary.

Commenting on an article detailing the Prime Minister's alleged mood swings and temper, I wrote, "even the Dalai Lama would likely lose his cool if he had to deal with the likes of Stephane Dion, Gilles Duceppe and Jack Layton."

I only bring it up because this commentary is also featured in the latest print edition of the magazine.

So go buy a copy.

Dissecting Leftism

IT'S THE SHARED HATRED OF THE REST OF US THAT UNITES ISLAMISTS AND THE LEFT

Don Surber's Colorado story of the week: "8 inches of global warming fell on Denver on Christmas Day, shattering a record that dated back to 1894. Thousands of children ran outside to make globalwarmingmen."

The Church that worships the environment instead of God is fading fast: "Last night, leading figures gave warning that the Church of England could become a minority faith and that the findings should act as a wake-up call. The statistics show that attendance at Anglican Sunday services has dropped by 20 per cent since 2000. A survey of 37,000 churches, to be published in the new year, shows the number of people going to Sunday Mass in England last year averaged 861,000, compared with 852,000 Anglicans -worshipping. [Out of a popoulation of 60 million]

Long gone neocons: "Maybe 2008 will be the year when we will finally be rid of that vacuous belief that 'the neocons' are in control of the Bush administration's foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East. Habits are hard to break, particularly lazy ones, but if anyone bothered to look more closely, they would see that the United States has not really engaged in what we might call a neoconservative approach to the region since at least 2004, when the situation in Iraq took a sudden turn for the worse."

Old Etonian wants the commoners to pay more for their chicken: "The television chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, known for his earthy approach to cooking and love of offal, is to launch a campaign for the middle classes to boycott cheap chicken in protest at the cruelty of battery farming. Fearnley-Whittingstall believes well-heeled consumers should be prepared to pay more for their chicken so that fewer birds are reared in overcrowded, unnatural conditions. Currently, less than 5% of chicken bought in Britain is organic or free-range, and critics believe shoppers place too much emphasis on simply finding the lowest prices. Organic chicken in the supermarket is about twice the price of intensively reared birds"

Romney is awake to the State Department!: "Romney agrees with Bolton on the State Department? He is looking better and better. Here is Romney on Hugh Hewitt's show while on the Iowa caucus campaign trail: HH: Governor Romney, one of the first tasks for a conservative in the White House will be to get control of the Department of State, and the Central Intelligence Agency, that keep turning out these NIE's and leaking things. Do you have the capacity to do that? MR: You know, there's nothing more political than corporate America. And you have to be able to rein in those individuals that are, if you will, doing things that harm our national interests. And I've watched with some concern over the past weeks, and years, frankly, it's going to be very difficult to turn around our State Department, and get it to respond to the position that the President would take. John Bolton's recent book, Surrender Is Not An Option, is a good inside look at how disruptive and counterproductive our efforts in the U.N., or our efforts at the State Department can be. But that is something which I'm up to, and I'm looking forward to.

Hillary frags Pakistan: "While the world holds its breath to see if Pakistan will explode, Senator Hillary Clinton tossed a fragmentation grenade into the fireworks factory yesterday. It may be the most irresponsible and selfish act by a presidential candidate in history: "I don't think the Pakistani government at this time under President Musharraf has any credibility at all. They have disbanded an independent judiciary. They have oppressed a free press," she said. Naturally, she also said, "I don't think politics should be playing a role in how our country responds ... to the tragedy." Well, she just did exactly that by denouncing President Musharraf, who has been targeted by four assassination attempts himself, and is desperately trying to keep Pakistan from falling apart. He's the one who controls those nukes that we don't want Al Qaida to get. You don't have to like him to realize that weakening his position right now is wildly irresponsible. It plays right into the hands of those who want civil war".

Is Their Another Side To Bhutto?

It would seem so and now that the media hype has been beaten to death it would seem we will start to hear another side of the story.......personally I get the impression that Pakistan has been and is a haven for terrorists so I wonder why the Bhutto supporters who are taking to the streets to demonstrate aren't marching to the Taliban and Al Queda training camps.

Another take on Benazir Bhutto

Ralph Peters writes about the Bhutto assassination in the New York Post:

December 28, 2007 -- FOR the next several days, you're going to read and hear a great deal of pious nonsense in the wake of the assassination of Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Her country's better off without her. She may serve Pakistan better after her death than she did in life.

We need have no sympathy with her Islamist assassin and the extremists behind him to recognize that Bhutto was corrupt, divisive, dishonest and utterly devoid of genuine concern for her country.

She was a splendid con, persuading otherwise cynical Western politicians and "hardheaded" journalists that she was not only a brave woman crusading in the Islamic wilderness, but also a thoroughbred democrat.

In fact, Bhutto was a frivolously wealthy feudal landlord amid bleak poverty. The scion of a thieving political dynasty, she was always more concerned with power than with the wellbeing of the average Pakistani. Her program remained one of old-school patronage, not increased productivity or social decency.

Mansoor Ijaz on Benazir Bhutto: Idealism, to Debasement, to Return, to Tragedy

With all the misinformation out there on the assassinated former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, I thought I’d post this item from National Review Online’s instant Bhutto symposium, penned by close Bhutto associate and well-respected commentator on all things Pakistan, Mansoor Ijaz. It’s clear from Ijaz’s piece: whatever her intentions on returning to the country this fall, she was a highly flawed personality with a disgraceful past record, and had no groundswell of popular support:

The Ultimate In Racial Profiling

Thanks to Kate at Five Feet Of Fury.....

Race seems to be a construct invented by The Man and the impact or reality would depend on who you consider THE MAN

How Many Indian Activist/Terrorists Have Been Barred

Gary McHale can be a real pain in the ass but stripping him of his rights to freedom of expression is a travesty and just another example of the left wing politically correct cowardice and fear.

Man fights court order barring him from Caledonia
Dec. 27, 2007
A Richmond Hill man who allegedly stirred up a confrontation with Six Nations Indians is not a danger to the community, local leaders say.

10 Years & Comrade Miller Has Still To Harmonize Services

Megacity: A decade later Depending on who you talk to, amalgamation was a missed opportunity or a complete disaster

by SUE-ANN LEVY, TORONTO SUN

The amalgamated city of Toronto will turn 10 years old this Tuesday - yet to most observers it is a city still plagued with very visible growing pains.

Depending on who you talk to, the amalgamation of six former cities and Metro into one government was either a missed opportunity or a complete disaster.

Certainly amalgamation has produced no shortage of memorable moments at City Hall over the past decade -- from the $100 million MFP computer leasing scandal to the Great Garbage strike of July 2002. It will be hard to ever forget Mayor Mel Lastman's moose or his decision to call in the army to dig out snowbound Toronto in January, 1999 when the city's still-to-be-harmonized snow-clearing services were unable to do the job.

There's no doubt amalgamation has been anything but a downsizing exercise. A KPMG study conducted for the Mike Harris provincial government in late 1996 predicted that in the first three years, a unified Toronto could save up to $645 million and $300 million annually. KPMG also figured the transition costs would be no more than $220 million.

Ho Hum!

Gangs battle, everyone pays

Executioners reign

Cops claim they're gaining ground

Heat on the street

The death of innocents

Cell doors open too easily
Canada's ridiculous statutory release program has been a disaster
Imagine a Canadian company manufacturing a product which fails to perform properly 43% of the time, resulting in death, injury and suffering, with huge economic and social consequences.
Full Column

Pay Attention Kid........

......it is not going to get any better in 2008 thanks to the apologists for Comrade Miller and his cadre of left wing leeches.

Taliban Jack Calls For Action In Pakistan

Pakistan rejects foreign help in Bhutto investigation

T.O. politicians call for action in Pakistan

Quote: "Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton attended the service and called on Canada to take an active role in helping Pakistan deal with the crisis.

"I don't know whether Canada can play a role in the investigation to track down the violent criminals who have attacked both democracy and the human rights of the Pakistani people but I think the key role here can be diplomatic right now," he told reporters outside the centre."

Hey Jack! Isn't that one of the reasons we are in Afganhistan? To root out and destroy those "violent criminals who have attacked......." As usual the left wing is taking a "knife to a gunfight."

Radical Tory Challanges Canadians....

......and does it so eloquently.

CANADA DESERVES BETTER. MAKE IT SO!

Nothing New

Toronto City Councillor In "Hot Water" Over Spending

Guess which one.

*

h/t Charles Adler

Posted by Kate at 3:55 PM

Is This On Gore/Suzuki Itinerary?

Beijing air pollution 'as bad as it can get'...

Suzuki Admits Climate Change not Really About 'The Planet"

It's about changing society:
Major social change is not possible without public support and momentum. All of the major battles of social progress, such as allowing women to vote, were made possible because people got involved and decided they would no longer stand for business as usual. The public knew it was time for a change, and they made sure their legislators knew too.

Kinda good to see him come out of his hole estate on Salt Spring Island after getting hammered for lying about the support he receives from energy corporations, driving across the country spewing diesel and ordering everyone else to live in tiny houses when he lives in a personal resort.

Architectural Submission For Toronto City Hall

GIGO

A Glimpse Into The Harper Year

Okay Stephen....let's start moving to the right like real conservatives! Lower taxes, cut welfare programs, boost defense spending, implement mandatory sentencing, eliminate wheelchair parking spots, etc. etc. Let's start kicking ass not kissing it.

Fearless predictions (and why Harper, and I, got it wrong)

This is the time of year when many newspaper columnists make a few bold predictions for the year ahead, then hunker down and hope no one remembers a word of it 12 months out. That's because most fortune-tellers are wrong most of the.. MORE...

Stephen Harper's War

If you want to know how we got to Afghanistan, part of the answer is in Charlie Wilson's War, which might be the best film ever from director Mike Nichols, with a crackling screenplay by Aaron Sorkin and a dazzling performance by Tom Hanks.. MORE... Cut and run Did the Tories do us a favour by reducing the GST, or was it just opportunistic politics? The GST is high on the list of Canadians' most hated taxes. The Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged to cut it.. MORE... Not-so-happy New Year Stephen Harper tells Macleans.ca why he's not looking forward to 2008 - and why you shouldn't either

How Typical........

As a local commentator noted: "Toronto fans have to be the most loyal fans in the world or they have to be the most stupid."

Didn't Dalton PROMISE To Control Fees On 407

NOTE: Forget about whether selling it was a wise choice and taking a shot at Harris. Deal with another broken promise by Dalton.

Hwy. 407 Tolls To Go Up In New Year

Friday December 28, 2007

CityNews.ca Staff

It happens every year and 2008 is no exception. It looks like driving on Ontario's toll highway will get more expensive in the New Year.

As of February 1st, rates will go up by 1.65 cents per kilometre.

The 407 Express Toll Route company announced the toll increase Friday and said it will help keep traffic flowing on the highway.

Rates vary based on vehicle size, time of day, transponder use and distance travelled.

Also starting Feb. 1, peak rates on the highway will vary by section of the highway travelled -- the regular zone, from Highways 401 to 404, and the light zone, which encompasses the rest of the toll road.

For a car, minivan or SUV travelling during peak hours, between 6am and 10am, and 3pm and 7pm, through the regular zone, it will cost 19.25 cents per km.

Travelling on the highway can cost as much as 57.75 cents per km, for a tractor-trailer driving through the regular zone during rush hour.

Looking For The Culprit

Was set for publication on January 6, 2008...

Who is responsible for another dead Bhutto?

Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 03:11 PM Comments: 3

Apologies for the crude title, but it is the title of a thread on the Pakistani Defence Forum at PakistaniDefence.com concerning the news that Benazir Bhutto has been killed today. There is a poll there that is very revealing. Though we might count supporters of Pervez Musharraf or elements of the Pakistani Security Services in the ranks of suspects, it is interesting to see the world's number one villain bubbling to the top of the list in this unscientific survey.

The United States. Of course. It's so obvious when you think about it.

Presumably Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are cackling in neocon glee.

Read more...

Wii Promises A Con Job

Wii won't help you lose weight PARENTS are fooling themselves if they hope Nintendo's Wii, which uses a wireless handheld controller to replicate athletic movement, will stop their youngster becoming obese, a study says.

A City Who Looks After It's Citizens

How many times have you had to rush to the local coffee shop to have a leak?

Victoria to install pop-up toilets to combat public urination

This city, known for its hanging baskets, is about to make its mark in North America as the first to install pop-up public urinals for drunken bar patrons.

This Just Seems Like Sheer Stupidity

A single female, living in a first floor apartment, doesn't keep her balcony door locked?

Intruder gives security lesson

It is 2:30 a.m. and I am sitting up in bed reading Rick Mercer's The Book. I chortle, I chuckle and I laugh so loudly, I'm sure I've annoyed the couple in the next apartment. Oh well, I think to myself, serves them right. It is, after all, a rather old.. MORE...

Send Cowards Back To USA

Trying to avoid the boot

The small but growing community of Iraq war resisters who've fled to Canada from the U.S. is hinging its hopes on a motion to be introduced in Parliament in February by NDP MP Olivia Chow.

These "war resistors" joined the military voluntarily and when they were asked to carry out the primary job of the military, to fight, they ran away.........if they truly believe the war in Iraq is unjust then let them do their protesting in front of the White House not Parliament Hill.

No Hidden Agenda Here

Not-so-happy New Year
Stephen Harper tells Macleans.ca why he's not looking forward to 2008 - and why you shouldn't either...

Face Reality Jack

Layton gears up for '08 election
Bruce Campion-Smith Dec. 28, 2007 OTTAWA–NDP Leader Jack Layton says there's little life left in the...

The Reality Of Retirement

Thanks to politicians like Comrade Miller and Dullton McGinty who nickel and dime seniors with increased property taxes, utility rates, etc.

Did We Get Value For Our $7 Million In Council Salaries

A Hall of a year

BY Dale Duncan December 26, 2007 16:12

2007 at city hall will always be remembered as the year of the land transfer tax, that contentious new “revenue tool” that city councillors and the public debated with hair-pulling intensity over the summer leading up to the final, nail-biting vote. But 2007 can, and should, be remembered for more than just tax-talk. May I present you with a month-by-month breakdown of the year that was:

January Then–executive committee member Brian Ashton: “The city’s top three priorities are money, money, money. The city and the mayor face a big challenge to correct this fiscal imbalance. If we fail to do this, our quality of life is going to diminish.”

February Council approves a lobbyist registry. Case Ootes advocates banning panhandling downtown and turning Toronto into a haven for RV tourists.

March TTC Chief Adam Giambrone announces plans for Transit City, a light-rail network that will criss-cross the city, providing much-needed service in Toronto’s suburbs.

May Adam Vaughan proposes charging clubs in the Entertainment District for lining up their rowdy patrons on city-owned sidewalks. City council approves a 20-year contract with Astral Media, an advertising company that will provide Toronto with free benches, bus shelters, recycling bins and other amenities in exchange for advertising space.

June The city adopts a new pay-according-to-the-size-of-the-bin-you-take-to-the-curb garbage collection system.

July Council defers voting on the land-transfer and vehicle registration taxes until Oct. 22. “I think it sends a clear message that there is now a hole in that well-guarded and cemented Fortress Miller,” Councillor Michael Thompson tells the Toronto Star. Oh yeah, and council unanimously adopts the climate change and sustainable energy action plan.

August City manager Shirley Hoy announces $34 million in cuts. They include: closing community centres on Mondays and delaying the opening of outdoor ice rinks until January. The Toronto Public Library agrees to cut $1.3 million by, among other things, closing on Sundays. Adam Giambrone talks about stopping service on the Sheppard subway line. Toronto police balk at trimming their $786 million operating budget.

September Provincial parties kick off their election campaigns, but there’s disappointingly little in the way of promises for Toronto.

October Council votes in favour of watered-down revenue tools.

November The Federation of Canadian Municipalities issues a report stating that the infrastructure deficit of Canadian cities is $123 billion. Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion challenges federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to a fight over federal funding for cities. Flaherty says cities are a bunch of crybabies.

December Rob Ford shines a light on questionable expenses of other councillors. David Miller agrees to set new rules surrounding councillor office expenses. Council hatches a new public-private partnership plan for revitalizing Union Station.

Food Banks Are A Farce.......

......perpetuated by social in-activists to further their own agendas rather than those of the needy. I believe this is borne out by the following article.......

Are food banks the best we can do?

’Tis the season: trim the tree, grab a glass of eggnog and drop a can of soup in a food bank collection bin. In the past decade and a half, it’s become ingrained in our empathetic psyche that the ...

The Aswer Is There If The Left Wing Opened Their Minds

Toronto's shortage of state-funded basketball courts claims another victim

Black "activist" mom loses SECOND son to violence.

# Kathy : 2007-12-26 21:13:15 UTC

If It Doesn't Fit In Chosen Container What Do You Do

GUESS??????

New look of garbage TheStar.com - comment - New look of garbage

December 27, 2007

Toronto's streetscape will change in 2008 in a way that will be evident on every residential street, at least on garbage collection day.

How? New bins are coming.

In fact, in Scarborough, some are already here. Big-wheeled blue bins, with the largest model able to hold up to six regular blue boxes, will be a common sight. And so will mandatory garbage bins, of various sizes, to hold non-recyclable trash. If all goes according to plan, residents' existing blue boxes and garbage cans will largely disappear.

It's all part of a promising effort to divert 70 per cent of Toronto's garbage from landfill by 2010. Each household will have to choose a blue bin (medium, large or extra-large) and a city-issued garbage bin (coming in four sizes). Other trash cans will no longer be allowed.

Residents will not be charged for the new containers, but an annual garbage collection user fee will be imposed, based on the size of the garbage bin that a household selects. Final costs will not be known until city council sets next year's budget, but choosing an extra-large garbage bin will likely cost about $150 a year. Those able to fit their non-recyclables into the smallest model would pay no fee.

The program is controversial because many residents, especially those with a large family, will face much higher garbage fees. But city officials claim that is the point. Stuff put in the big blue bins will be collected free-of-charge, so will organic materials stashed in green bins.

The new program is based on the same user-pay principle as a resident's electricity bill – the more landfill space you use, the more you pay. Open landfill has become a precious commodity, especially in southern Ontario, and applying a charge for consuming this resource should cut usage. Officials claim the new program is expected to extend the life of the city's Green Lane dump site until 2034 by diverting about 250,000 tonnes of waste each year.

Similar "pay as you throw" programs are in place in Vancouver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.

The new bin program has a laudable goal, which is to reduce waste and protect the environment. However, many residents see the new garbage collection program as just another cash grab by city council, draining far more money from residents' pockets than really necessary to promote recycling.

What council must do is prove to the public that extra fees are going to a good cause. If that occurs, then there will be good reason to believe this program can achieve its goals.

Comrade Miller's New Years Resolution-SCREW THE TAXPAYER

But reward our union buddies and civil servants based on the settlement with firefighters.........

Get ready for tax hikes to hit pocketbooks Toronto desperate for revenue

by ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Toronto councillors will bring in the new -- and rely on the old -- when it comes to hitting up city residents for more cash next year.

While approved by cash-strapped city council this year, controversial new taxes and a garbage levy will take affect in 2008.

And there are other ways that city councillors will target residents' pocket books.

"I think there's going to be sudden cheque book stress when (residents) realize these new taxes are coming to their home," Councillor Brian Ashton says.

"They'll come in separate bills, but it'll generally be in support of city services."

City officials will unveil next year's proposed budget on Jan. 28.

Mayor David Miller says that when the budget is finalized, he would like to see next year's residential property tax fall in the range of 3% to 4%.

In addition to a property tax hike, residents will see two controversial levies approved this year become reality in 2008.

A new municipal land-transfer tax will take affect on Feb. 1.

The amount a buyer must pay will increase as the price tag of a home goes up. For example, the tax paid on a $400,000 house will be $3,725. That will increase to $45,725 on a home valued at $2.5 million. First-time buyers will be exempt from paying anything on the first $400,000 of a new or re-sold home.

Drivers will also have to fork over a $60-a-year vehicle registration levy, starting in the fall.

As for other increases, the city intends on hitting up residents for an extra $54 million annually when it imposes a new garbage collection system. Starting Nov. 1, homeowners will be charged based on the size of bin they put at the curb.

Typically, people living in a detached home will dish out an extra $62 a year on top of what they already pay for garbage collection in their property taxes.

Condo and apartment building owners are also targeted for more money under the garbage plan -- typically, by an extra $46 per unit annually.

Included in next year's list of increases is a hike of nearly 9.4% in the cost of water.

The annual water bill levied on an average home -- one that uses 315,000 litres yearly -- will increase by $47, from $500 to $547.

Can You See Comrade Miller & His Union Buddies Going For This.......

Plan Would Let Seniors Work to Pay Taxes
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Dec 25, 1:38 PM (ET)

By JIM FITZGERALD

(AP) Greenburgh resident Audrey Davison, right, talks with town supervisor Paul Feiner, left, about a... Full Image

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) - Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there and after 43 years, she really doesn't want to leave Greenburgh.

Greenburgh doesn't want her to leave, either.

The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes.

"People shouldn't have to sell their house, move away to a place with less taxes, leave behind their family and friends," said Town Supervisor Paul Feiner.

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No Matter How Hard The Left Wing Trys........

......they will have to accept most of the responsibility for not getting tough on street gangs. All the money spent on "at risk" youth, basketball courts, summer job programs, etc. etc. and the work of the Toronto Police has not done the job. It is a poor memorial for Jane!

2nd Anniversary Of Jane Creba Shooting Shows Few Lessons Have Been Learned

Wednesday December 26, 2007

CityNews.ca Staff

It was the last straw in a long line of terrible last straws. And it changed this city forever. But have we made any progress since 2005's trail of blood?

It was exactly two years ago that the very last victim of Toronto's Year Of the Gun met a tragic end in the most unthinkable of places - the Boxing Day crowds on the Yonge St. strip.

Jane Creba was out with her family doing the same thing thousands of others were attempting just after 5pm that day - hunting for bargains. But no one bargained on the violence that would take her life.

As the 15-year-old stood outside a shoe store near Yonge and Dundas, shots rang out from all directions. By the time their echo had subsided along the busy route, six people lay wounded and Creba was dead.

She became the second youngest victim of a year filled with senseless gun violence - a drive-by shooting that wounded four-year-old Shaquan Cadougan in August 2005 marked the most innocent of all the victims - and a symbol that things had to change.

Police believe a war between rival gangs was behind the terrible incident, and they were appalled at the lack of concern for where the battle took place. Security video from the nearby Eaton Centre would later show some of those authorities suspected were responsible, and the incident may have been sparked by something as stupid as an argument over a cell phone that occurred in the mall.

Eight people were eventually charged directly in the terrible crime. Others were accused of drugs and weapons offences. The killing of the popular Grade 10 student was the impetus for police to put together a Guns and Gangs Task Force and things were quieter in 2006.

But they rebounded in a tragic way this year - including the murder of one person who had ties to the infamous case.

Twenty-one year-old Eric Boateng was rounded up in a gang sweep of Creba suspects and was facing weapons and drug charges. But he would never stand trial after being fatally shot following a visit to an inmate at the Don Jail in October. Police believe he was deliberately set up for murder and that his killers were waiting for him when he emerged.

And there were other victims in 2007, innocent pawns in a game they didn't even know they were playing. One was Jordan Manners, who became the first youngster ever killed inside a Toronto school when he was gunned down in a hallway at C.W. Jefferys C.I. in late May.

Ephraim Brown was even younger. The 11-year-old suffered fatal gunshot wounds in July after attending a cousin's birthday party near Jane and Sheppard. Cops theorize the boy lost his life when unconcerned rival gang members began shooting wildly at each other on the street.

The groups police pledged to eradicate were back with a deadly vengeance in 2007, and there have now been two more murders this year than there were back then - and many are believed associated with gang colours.

The number of gun crimes for the year stands at 40, still not quite on par with the 52 weapon-related homicides that gave 2005 its infamous moniker. But the total number of killings overall is up. There were 80 during our gun year. We're heading towards New Year's Eve with 82.

The lessons taught by the slaying of the Riverdale student that terrible December 26th afternoon are many. But the violent year that will end next week suggests we may not have learned them very well at all.

Merry Christmas

Is One Story Related To The Other

Shirley Bassey Slams UK: 'This isn't the country I grew up in. No one speaks a word of English these days'...

Britain set to release secret UFO files...

Based On Their Recent Recalls.......

.....will you be lining up to get on board.

China rolls out first home-made commercial jet
China's first home-made passenger airliner rolled off the production line in an event hailed as a milestone in the nation's ambition to become a giant of the global aviation industry.

The Faithful Fight The Good Fight.......

.....against the onslaught of the anti-god, anti-religion, anti-xmas proponents.

Their Disbelief Is My Strength

I suppose it's the greatest joke of all. Deliciously ironic as well. My Christian faith has been profoundly encouraged by those most eager to smother it. Put simply, I was helped along the road from indifference to belief by the banality of atheism. More Christmas spirit Christmas has become a contentious time. Questions of who celebrates the holiday, as well as how and why they do so, lead to highly emotional debates. Old traditions are under siege, and new ones meet angry resistance. MORE...

Another True Musical Legend Is Gone

Canadian jazz great Oscar Peterson dies

The jazz odyssey is over for Oscar Peterson: the Canadian known globally as one of the most spectacularly talented musicians ever to play jazz piano has died at age 82. More

Where Are The Anti-Smoking Activists

You see an ever increasing amount of cigarettes on the street coming from the reserves that are not taxed, which is great for the smoker, but also they don't see to be regulated when it comes to content and possible health risks. You wonder where the anti-smoking lobby is? Certainly not in Caledonia!

Four more charged over clash in Caledonia TheStar.com - News - Four more charged over clash in Caledonia

December 24, 2007

CALEDONIA, Ont.–Ontario Provincial Police have charged four more people in connection with a violent protest over an aboriginal smoke shop in Caledonia earlier this month.

The charges include assault and public mischief and the accused will appear in court in late January and early February.

On Dec. 1, provincial police had to summon reinforcements to quell a disturbance at a disputed "smoke shack."

The clash, which erupted after protesters alleged natives were selling cigarettes illegally, turned violent and two men were injured.

The protest was over a smoke shack that some contend is on land not owned by Six Nations.

Six Nations officials say the land is theirs because it falls into a claim for the roadbed of Plank Road.

The claim is one of several currently being discussed in negotiations between the provincial and federal governments and Six Nations.

The land is not currently part of the reserve, and as such is under the jurisdiction of Haldimand County and the provincial police.

The smoke shop is about a kilometre away from the former Douglas Creek Estates, which Six Nations protesters have occupied since February 2006.

At one point during the more than hour-long incident, police formed a line to separate about 100 protesters from the natives who had gathered.

Ron Gibson, 42, of Oshweken, is charged with mischief and Steve Powless, 42, also of Oshweken, is charged with assault. Camille Powless, 41, of Six Nations, Ontario, is charged with public mischief.

Ruth-Anne Chapman, 53, of Caledonia, is charged with assault.

---

The Canadian Press

Here Is The Answer To Your Question Joe

Another innocent victim gets hit by a stray bullet from a street thug. Next time -- it could be you

by Joe Warmington

Merry Christmas. Bang bang.

Who is Toronto Homicide Number 82 going to be? Thankfully there will not be a funeral for the person it very well could have been. But travelling on the Gardiner Expressway will never be the same. Maybe the auto makers better start making bullet-proof cars. Or perhaps you'll get a bullet-proof helmet under the tree?

Meanwhile, we all still realize the scumbags with guns don't take any time off during the Christmas season. And obviously not much has changed since Dec. 26, 2005 as once again these street thugs can go up onto the Gardiner and blaze away at will and put all sorts of lives at risk.

It's sick and I am still waiting for the news conference of outrage from the mayor and the premier. Or does that only happen after someone dies?

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Man shot in Regent Park is city's 82nd homicide

Not This Year David And Al

Santa will be taking off as normal...........

Kudos To Andrew Cash & NOW But....

Andrew & NOW forgot to mention a major impediment to travelling by TTC.....backpackers. They reduce the capacity of buses, streetcars and subway by 50%.

Rocket’s space invaders

Time for stroller-pushers and people with disabilities to take on TTC

Andrew Cash

I’ve taken up the challenge of riding the subway with my young kids as if it were training for an urban iron man competition where strength, endurance and speed are tested in a gruelling and hostile …

More......

What's Happening Outside The GTA

CLAIM: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed 'Man-Made Global Warming' in 2007...

Unlawful carnal knowledge?

City OKs Razing Public Housing...

UK DRIVERS WHO USE CELLPHONES FACE JAIL...

PAPER: Hillary's Brother Owes Child Support, Alimony...

Not In My Backyard (NIMBY)

A lump of coal for Councilor Pam McConnell and Old Cabbagetown Business Improvement Association

Sally Ann out $20,000 as deal sours
Catherine Dunphy Dec. 21, 2007

The Salvation Army may want to earmark some of the money going into their iconic kettles this Christmas for rent.

Since September, the Army has been paying a monthly rent of $5,240 – more than $20,000 to date – for an empty 4,000-square-foot property where its Warehouse Mission, currently operating in 800 square feet in a back alley, had hoped to offer an expanded range of services.

Responding to community pressure, the Army ditched its plans to rent the abandoned restaurant at 446 Parliament St., where it planned to operate church and adult learning programs, despite signing a three-year lease.

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Another Way Drivers Get Screwed

And we are going to start paying another $75/year for that privilege......

Confusing Parking Signs Drive Motorists To Distraction

Thursday December 20, 2007

CityNews.ca Staff

"Signs, signs, everywhere a sign."

It's not just a lyric by the Five Man Electrical Band and it doesn't just apply to the 'long haired freaky people' of the world. As drivers in Toronto know all too well, the frustrating scourge of indecipherable parking signs doesn't discriminate.

Drivers can often be seen scratching their heads at the side of the road while trying to decode the secret language. It's hard enough to figure out just when you can legally park on the side of the road, but some locations barrage citizens with up to seven signs in one spot.

"What do you think about trying to park in the city of Toronto?" CityNews reporter Merella Fernandez asked a trio of locals on Thursday.

"Impossible," came the first reply.

"It's a little out of control. You can't park anywhere," another added.

"It's bull****," a third bluntly concludes.

One couple stared silently at a mess of signs for several minutes before shrugging their shoulders and giving up.

"I can't read that," the man complained. "We even looked at each other and thought, 'Is it going to get towed? No. It's 20 bucks (to park at a garage). What's the fine? $30? You might as well just park on the street where you want."

And besides, who really knows the difference between a tow away zone, snow route or a no stopping sign?

"It just means you're in trouble, either way," one local quipped, trying to make some sense of it all.

Merry Xmas Salvatore-You Lucky Son Of A Bitch

It was only a year ago that another judge ruled:

When Bellissimo was denied bail last year, another Superior Court judge disagreed with Rivard, saying luck prevented this shooting from becoming a homicide.

"Were it not for the fortuitous factor that the gun ran out of bullets, it would have involved a murder," Justice Lucien Beaulieu stated."

The only good thing about this stupid decision is that it will rile the anti-gun nuts........

No intent to kill in bar shooting, judge rules

toronto.ctv.ca

A man who walked into a popular College Street bar and started shooting didn't mean to hurt anyone, an Ontario judge ruled Thursday.

Salvatore Bellissimo was acquitted of attempted murder and instead was convicted of the lesser charge of aggravated assault.

The verdict came seven years after the shooting at Coco Lezzone, a trendy eatery in Toronto's Little Italy neighbourhood. The bar's owner, Steve Solari was shot in the back.

Bellissimo evaded police for six years and was the subject of an international manhunt during that time.

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Moving Companies In Caledonia Area Ready For Bonanza

Will the government ever stop giving into extortion and rewarding homegrown terrorists?

Ontario returning Ipperwash park to natives

Updated Thu. Dec. 20 2007 10:24 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The Ipperwash Provincial Park where native protester Dudley George was shot and killed in 1995 will be returned to the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, the Ontario government announced today.

"I think he would be pleased. He paid the ultimate price and is not here to enjoy," George's brother, Sam, said Thursday.

George was killed during a police raid to remove protesters from the park on Sept. 6, 1995.

The protesters had wanted the federal government to return nearby Camp Ipperwash, formerly the Stony Point reserve, to Kettle and Stony Point descendants.

At the time, the protesters also claimed that the Ipperwash Provincial Park, owned by the provincial government, was the site of a sacred burial ground.

Justice Sydney Linden, the commissioner of the Ipperwash Inquiry which probed the death of George, said in his May 2007 report that the most urgent priority was that both the federal and provincial lands be returned.

Sam George welcomed the announcement Thursday.

"By returning these 109 acres, by keeping a treaty promise, and by honouring the memory of my brother Dudley, we are respecting each other," he told reporters. "It shows that we can be friends. For these things, I and my family would like to again thank the people of Ontario."

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Michael Bryant said Thursday the move showed how determined the McGuinty government is to move forward with the recommendations.

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Bryant won't forcibly end occupation in Caledonia

Forget The Polls And Conservative Decline

This is the reality of the majority of Canadians.................................

An Update On Gay Marriage

I don't think it was "based on a lie" but was more of a squeaky wheel thing....in-activists within the gay community need to feed their egos and their bank account much like in-activists in the poverty, race, etc. groups.

Canada: demand for gay "marriage" was based on a lie

"It turns out, however, according to recently released statistics, that pledging their love by legal marriage is not high on the agenda for homosexuals. Recently released federal figures from Statistics Canada indicate that less then 5% of homosexual Canadians have bothered to marry since same-sex marriage was legalized in 2005.

Why? Let a gay journalist explain:

"I don't expect the wedding rate will pick up. We have something better in our relationships, something that allows for a variety of friendships, f… buddies, lovers, sisters and exes. We don't put all the pressures on one person …"

"We don't need the limitations of marriage. So we're taking a pass."

In other words: "gay culture enshrines slut-itude, and most homosexuals were never interested in monogamy anyhow."

Which is what I said about the gay "marriage" fight since day one. But then I'm just a troglodyte homophobe...

# Kathy : 2007-12-18

Social In-Activists & Social Engineers Stole Xmas From Children

Merry Xmas has become Happy Holiday

Xmas trees banned from government buildings

Lighting up the Xmas tree has become the Festival of Lights

Fewer nativity displays

Fewer and fewer Xmas carols played in public places

Cookies and beverages left for Santa must be approved by the obesity police

HGTV Takes Over Vatican?

Vatican nativity does away with the manger

By Malcolm Moore in Rome

Last Updated: 2:53am GMT 17/12/2007

For 25 years, the Christmas Nativity scene in front of St Peter's Basilica has shown the infant Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem.

This year, however, the Vatican has decided to radically change the scene, shifting it to Nazareth, and placing Jesus in his father's carpentry shop.

When Pope Benedict XVI inaugurates the life-size Nativity scene on Christmas eve, the sheep and hay will be gone.

In their place will be a model of three rooms.

Jesus will lie in Joseph's shop, complete with "the typical work tools of a carpenter".

On one side, the shop will be flanked with a "covered patio", while on the other there will be the "inside of a pub, with its hearth".

The news came in an official statement from the State Department of the Vatican, which organises and builds the giant presepe, or Nativity scene.

The news came in an official statement from the State Department of the Vatican, which organises and builds the giant presepe, or Nativity scene.

The new setting was inspired by two verses in St Matthew's gospel, Chapter 1:24 and 1:25, the Vatican said, which state: "When Joseph woke up, he did as the Angel of God ordered and took Mary into his house. Without them knowing each other, a child was born and he called his name Jesus".

The gospel goes on to mention Jesus' birthplace as Bethlehem, but a spokesman for the Vatican said a decision had been made to place the scene in Nazareth regardless.

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"It was time for a change," said the spokesman "and a return to St Matthew's gospel".

The traditional depiction of Jesus in a manger comes from St Luke's gospel, which said there was "no room at the inn".

But it is Matthew's gospel which forms the basis for the Angelus prayer, and the view of Jesus in a carpenter's workshop matches the Franciscan tradition.

None of the three Vatican departments which organises the Nativity scene could comment on who had taken the decision to shift the location, or for what reason.

However, sources close to the Vatican said there was a desire to crack down on the various "fanciful Nativity scenes" that have sprung up in recent years.

In Naples, a number of Nativity scenes include notorious figures from today, such as Elvis Presley or Silvio Berlusconi, standing amongst the crowd adoring the infant Jesus.

The Nativity scene at St Peter's was started by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

In addition, a giant, fully-adorned Christmas tree has been erected in St Peter's Square.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Church has said that it was its "right and duty" to spread the word of Christ to non-believers.

A new document from the Vatican's doctrinal department rejected accusations that the Church aggressively converts its members.

The Russian Orthodox Church has accused Rome of trying to poach souls in the former Soviet Union. However, the Vatican said evangelisation was its "inalienable right and duty".

"The incorporation of new members into the Church is not the expansion of a power group, but rather entrance into the network of friendship with Christ which connects heaven and earth, different continents and age.

"It is entrance into the gift of communion with Christ," the document said.