The city unions and leftists on city council have said they can provide additional garbage pickup at no additional cost...IF there figures are correct imagine how much money might be saved if we had the auditor look at all services provided by city workers.
Are numbers right on union trash?
By Lorrie Goldstein, Toronto Sun Senior Associate Editor
February 16, 2007
Do our eyes deceive us? Can it possibly be true?
Are City Hall bureaucrats really telling us that they've found a way for the city to pick up more trash than it does now "with no additional staff or equipment" because of economies of scale and the efficiencies available due to amalgamation?
Yep -- that's what a staff report on its way to council says.
It states Toronto taxpayers will save $4 million a year starting in 2008 (imagine!) by having the city's unionized workers take over garbage collection in York, which is now contracted out to a private firm.
Amazingly, just last year an audit on that very same idea concluded this would cost the city $360,000 a year more in operating expenses and $4.4 million extra in capital charges.
But by golly, city and union staff rolled up their sleeves and came up with ingenious ways to do the work more efficiently and economically. Why, it almost sounds too good to be true.
Since City Hall these days is clearly an irony-free zone, one might just note that achieving economies of scale and exploiting efficiencies available through amalgamation was the whole idea behind ... uh ... amalgamation.
So when this issue gets to council, we can't wait to hear all the NDP councillors who have been screaming ever since 1998 about what a rotten deal amalgamation was and that there was no such thing as economies of scale or efficiencies to be had, now explain why there are when it comes to in-sourcing a garbage contract.
And since competition from the private sector has apparently prompted the city and its unions to find a better and more efficient way to collect the garbage, why stop there? All the more reason every city service should be opened up for bidding to the private sector.
After all, as we've just seen in York, competition from the private sector apparently prompted the city to come up with a more efficient way to collect its own garbage.
Assuming of course, that all the numbers add up.
We think the city auditor should be called in to check them. Just to be sure.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Just Another Example Of Who Is Running Toronto
* CUPE and TTC union
* Environuts
* Social In-activists
* Waterfront Condo Owners & Island Squatters
BTW how is Suzuki and his entourage getting to the 40 stops on his agenda?
David Suzuki pushes T.O. pollution bylaw
toronto.ctv.ca
World-recognized environmentalist Dr. David Suzuki met with Toronto Mayor David Miller on Thursday to urge adoption of a bylaw requiring local industries to disclose their use and release of key pollutants.
Suzuki was supporting the 'Community Right to Know' bylaw being promoted by the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA). It would require industrial and commercial companies to report their use of chemicals that pollute the city's air.
Joined by members of the alliance, Suzuki urged Miller to consider the law and make Toronto the first in Canada to implement it.
"It's kind of a no-brainer that we need full public disclosure as to where and what the various contributors to the atmosphere are," Suzuki said after the meeting.
While automobile emissions are the first thing people consider when discussing air pollution, the local environmental group says 30 to 50 per cent is generated by industry and small businesses.
"It could be a local electroplater, for example, that could be a local dry cleaner, a print shop," TEA's Katrina Miller said. "That could be a larger facility such as the chemical manufacturers in Scarborough and Etobicoke."
Suzuki and TEA believe that disclosure would result in a big pollution reduction. They assert that 75 per cent of industrial polluters do not disclose their activities to the public.
The proposed bylaw is currently being looked at by Toronto Public Health. A report is expected to be released in the spring.
Toronto was one of 40 stops Suzuki will make in a 30-day, cross-Canada bus tour aimed at keeping climate change and the environment at the top of the political agenda.
He criticized federal opposition politicians for passing legislation forcing the government to comply with the Kyoto Protocol, saying it was unnecessary. Suzuki said Canada was already bound to comply because it is a Kyoto signatory.
The Harper government is hinting they will ignore the legislation even if it is passed by the Senate and given Royal assent.
But Suzuki said with all federal parties on the "green" bandwagon, he believes Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be "singing green" by the next election.
With a report from CTV's Desmond Brown and files from The Canadian Press
Top Stories
A Leftwing Tactic To Be Sure
Vaughan on stealth mission in fight against island airport
JOHN BARBER
The last time I discussed the island airport with Adam Vaughan, his vehemence almost shocked me. We were standing together on the crumbling dock wall at the foot of Bathurst Street, watching the new airport ferry spin helplessly down the Western Gap on its maiden voyage. The would-be politician was howling vicious insults at the rattled skipper and the red-faced dignitaries who scowled down upon us, stung by the heckling and well aware of its origin. If the scene wasn't such a comedy, I would have retreated to a neutral corner.
JOHN BARBER
The last time I discussed the island airport with Adam Vaughan, his vehemence almost shocked me. We were standing together on the crumbling dock wall at the foot of Bathurst Street, watching the new airport ferry spin helplessly down the Western Gap on its maiden voyage. The would-be politician was howling vicious insults at the rattled skipper and the red-faced dignitaries who scowled down upon us, stung by the heckling and well aware of its origin. If the scene wasn't such a comedy, I would have retreated to a neutral corner.
How Do We Categorize This Position
Tim Hardaway: 'I Hate Gay People'
1. Outright homophobia.
2. Unlimited Freedom Of Expression.
3. Candidate For Diversity Training.
4. Career Ending Comment For Any Non-minority Individual.
1. Outright homophobia.
2. Unlimited Freedom Of Expression.
3. Candidate For Diversity Training.
4. Career Ending Comment For Any Non-minority Individual.
Harper Should Add These Three To His Disaster Recover Team
At least they recognize that a terror attack in Canada is inevitable (Al-Qa'ida targets Canada) and it is obvious that a firm and definitive response will be necessary in order to ensure that the left wing doesn't call for appeasement......
February 14, 2007
High-profile Liberals contradict their leader on terror measures
By JENNIFER DITCHBURN
OTTAWA (CP) - Three former Liberal ministers emerged Wednesday to oppose their party's position on a pair of contentious anti-terror measures, arguing like the Conservatives that the provisions should be safeguarded as a matter of public interest.
Former public safety minister Anne McLellan, former finance minister John Manley and former justice minister Irwin Cotler said the measures, introduced in the wake of the 9-11 attacks by their government, should not be allowed to lapse as Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has suggested.
Dion was not at his caucus' weekly meeting, but sources said his MPs debated the issue at length behind closed doors.
The Criminal Code now provides for the preventative arrest of someone suspected of planning a terrorist act and closed investigative hearings where judges can demand evidence on suspected plots.
The measures have a built-in sunset clause that requires Parliament to review and extend them every three years. Their new expiry date is March 1. With most of the Liberal caucus, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois aligned against keeping the measures, they are likely to expire.
Just before the last election, both Cotler and McLellan argued that the measures should be kept in place.
"The fact they haven't been used is evidence of the fact they haven't been abused," Cotler said. "On the other hand, the fact that they have not been used is not evidence that they might not at some point have to be used."
MORE
February 14, 2007
High-profile Liberals contradict their leader on terror measures
By JENNIFER DITCHBURN
OTTAWA (CP) - Three former Liberal ministers emerged Wednesday to oppose their party's position on a pair of contentious anti-terror measures, arguing like the Conservatives that the provisions should be safeguarded as a matter of public interest.
Former public safety minister Anne McLellan, former finance minister John Manley and former justice minister Irwin Cotler said the measures, introduced in the wake of the 9-11 attacks by their government, should not be allowed to lapse as Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has suggested.
Dion was not at his caucus' weekly meeting, but sources said his MPs debated the issue at length behind closed doors.
The Criminal Code now provides for the preventative arrest of someone suspected of planning a terrorist act and closed investigative hearings where judges can demand evidence on suspected plots.
The measures have a built-in sunset clause that requires Parliament to review and extend them every three years. Their new expiry date is March 1. With most of the Liberal caucus, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois aligned against keeping the measures, they are likely to expire.
Just before the last election, both Cotler and McLellan argued that the measures should be kept in place.
"The fact they haven't been used is evidence of the fact they haven't been abused," Cotler said. "On the other hand, the fact that they have not been used is not evidence that they might not at some point have to be used."
MORE
Howard Mosce Responds About Disabled
I give credit to Howard for two things; 1)for responding and 2)the method of responding. The first recognizes that he acheived his primary goal, get his share of media attention and the second for being wise enough to know if he had responded in a face to face with the media somehow he would manage to screw things up. BTW Howard I don't recall calling for "spot checks, enhanced eligibility rules and higher fines for abuse" and I wonder how many of the seniors you smooze in the apartments along Bathurst Street or the homeowners where the Moscoe Bus visited actually called for these things....do you have any empirical data? Maybe your staff could add this info to the bottom of the email form that seems to be the way your staff deals with citizen's concerns.
Feb 15, 2007 04:30 AM
Unfair to the disabled
Editorial, Feb. 14.
Your editorial missed the mark. It advocates that parking for disabled drivers ought to continue to be subsidized. You say that statistics show that "the disabled are more likely to be poor than other residents in the province and are far more likely to need whatever assistance society can provide."
The disabled that you are talking about, for the most part, do not drive cars. They ride public transit and, more particularly, they use the Wheel-Trans system. There are 470,000 disabled parking permits issued by the province of Ontario. Most of these are issued to people who can afford to own cars, pay high rates for insurance and inflated prices for gasoline and, for the most part, who have disabilities like heart conditions and knee replacements.
It is not about the money. At the time disabled parking permits were introduced, parking was controlled by one-hour parking meters. It seemed unfair to require people with disabilities to run back and forth to feed a meter. These have been replaced with two-hour pay-and-display machines, the same machines used by the disabled to pay for parking in city Green P lots. Later this year, I will be introducing a dashboard machine that can be given to people with disabilities, free of charge, to enable them to pay for parking without leaving their cars.
Should the disabled poor be subsidized? Definitely yes, but the $3 million annual subsidy ought not to be directed toward those who can afford to own and drive a car. Cities like Kingston and Vancouver charge for disabled parking, as does Toronto in its commercial and Green P parking lots. A Wheel-Trans ride costs more than $25 for each ride. The disabled pay a single TTC ticket.
In all of my 29 years of dealing with the disabled, they have asked for one thing: "Treat us the same as everyone else." That is why the Toronto Transit Commission has invested millions of dollars in making our bus and subway system accessible to the disabled.
You have called for spot checks, enhanced eligibility rules and higher fines for abuse. None of these will curtail the abuse. The system has to be scrapped and rebooted.
Councillor Howard Moscoe, Chair, City Standards, Toronto
Feb 15, 2007 04:30 AM
Unfair to the disabled
Editorial, Feb. 14.
Your editorial missed the mark. It advocates that parking for disabled drivers ought to continue to be subsidized. You say that statistics show that "the disabled are more likely to be poor than other residents in the province and are far more likely to need whatever assistance society can provide."
The disabled that you are talking about, for the most part, do not drive cars. They ride public transit and, more particularly, they use the Wheel-Trans system. There are 470,000 disabled parking permits issued by the province of Ontario. Most of these are issued to people who can afford to own cars, pay high rates for insurance and inflated prices for gasoline and, for the most part, who have disabilities like heart conditions and knee replacements.
It is not about the money. At the time disabled parking permits were introduced, parking was controlled by one-hour parking meters. It seemed unfair to require people with disabilities to run back and forth to feed a meter. These have been replaced with two-hour pay-and-display machines, the same machines used by the disabled to pay for parking in city Green P lots. Later this year, I will be introducing a dashboard machine that can be given to people with disabilities, free of charge, to enable them to pay for parking without leaving their cars.
Should the disabled poor be subsidized? Definitely yes, but the $3 million annual subsidy ought not to be directed toward those who can afford to own and drive a car. Cities like Kingston and Vancouver charge for disabled parking, as does Toronto in its commercial and Green P parking lots. A Wheel-Trans ride costs more than $25 for each ride. The disabled pay a single TTC ticket.
In all of my 29 years of dealing with the disabled, they have asked for one thing: "Treat us the same as everyone else." That is why the Toronto Transit Commission has invested millions of dollars in making our bus and subway system accessible to the disabled.
You have called for spot checks, enhanced eligibility rules and higher fines for abuse. None of these will curtail the abuse. The system has to be scrapped and rebooted.
Councillor Howard Moscoe, Chair, City Standards, Toronto
Harper Ran On A Law & Order Ticket
If the left has a problem with that and wants to maintain "the independence of the Judiciary" they might want to look at revamping the criminal code and bring in mandatory sentencing, restrict the use of concurrent sentencing, etc. leaving the judiciary to concentrate on guilt or innocence.
Undermining judiciary
February 15, 2007
Opposition MPs are accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to tilt Canadian courts to the right by stacking the committees that screen potential judges with Conservative party supporters and people with socially conservative views.
The allegations are troubling because the committees, which vet applicants for judgeships on federally appointed courts, were created specifically to keep partisan politics out of appointments to the bench.
True, committee spots filled by Ottawa have always been potentially vulnerable to political meddling, no matter which party is in power.
But combined with a recent move by the Harper government that gives Ottawa more clout on these judicial screening committees, such moves heighten fears that Harper has set out to remake the bench by appointing judges based less on qualifications and more on political leanings.
Such actions would undermine the principle of judicial independence for which the Canadian legal system is rightly praised around the world.
Until recently, the judicial advisory committees consisted of seven members: a judge, two members of the legal profession, a provincial member and three federal "appointments at large." There is at least one such committee in each province.
But without consulting Parliament or the legal community, the Conservatives decided last fall to name a fourth federal appointee, this one from the police. Ottawa also decreed the judge, who acts as the committee's chair, must abstain when the now eight-member panel votes.
That extra member effectively puts the balance of power in the hands of the four federal appointees, who can now tip the committee toward the government's preferences.
Such a scenario becomes more likely if they have been hand-picked by Ottawa for their political views.
For its part, the government says it made the changes to give the police a voice in picking judges and to reflect a broader range of perspectives.
This argument does not stand up though. Under the old system, Ottawa could have used one of its three appointments for that purpose. Creating an extra spot was unnecessary, except to stack the deck in the government's favour.
The changes to the committees have provoked alarm in legal circles and have even drawn a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.
And rightly so. Canada's judiciary has a well-deserved reputation for independence.
Harper, who campaigned against partisanship in government appointments, should reverse course on this blatant attempt to politicize our courts.
Undermining judiciary
February 15, 2007
Opposition MPs are accusing Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to tilt Canadian courts to the right by stacking the committees that screen potential judges with Conservative party supporters and people with socially conservative views.
The allegations are troubling because the committees, which vet applicants for judgeships on federally appointed courts, were created specifically to keep partisan politics out of appointments to the bench.
True, committee spots filled by Ottawa have always been potentially vulnerable to political meddling, no matter which party is in power.
But combined with a recent move by the Harper government that gives Ottawa more clout on these judicial screening committees, such moves heighten fears that Harper has set out to remake the bench by appointing judges based less on qualifications and more on political leanings.
Such actions would undermine the principle of judicial independence for which the Canadian legal system is rightly praised around the world.
Until recently, the judicial advisory committees consisted of seven members: a judge, two members of the legal profession, a provincial member and three federal "appointments at large." There is at least one such committee in each province.
But without consulting Parliament or the legal community, the Conservatives decided last fall to name a fourth federal appointee, this one from the police. Ottawa also decreed the judge, who acts as the committee's chair, must abstain when the now eight-member panel votes.
That extra member effectively puts the balance of power in the hands of the four federal appointees, who can now tip the committee toward the government's preferences.
Such a scenario becomes more likely if they have been hand-picked by Ottawa for their political views.
For its part, the government says it made the changes to give the police a voice in picking judges and to reflect a broader range of perspectives.
This argument does not stand up though. Under the old system, Ottawa could have used one of its three appointments for that purpose. Creating an extra spot was unnecessary, except to stack the deck in the government's favour.
The changes to the committees have provoked alarm in legal circles and have even drawn a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.
And rightly so. Canada's judiciary has a well-deserved reputation for independence.
Harper, who campaigned against partisanship in government appointments, should reverse course on this blatant attempt to politicize our courts.
The Flagrant Abuse Of Freedom Of Expression
The actions of a group of students at a Caledon East high school have been described in the following manner:
"The anonymity of online communications means young people feel freer to do things in cyberspace than they would elsewhere. But while students may be free to vent about individuals and school policies to each other, they do not have the unfettered right to post vindictive remarks about anyone on the Internet. Increasingly, email, instant messaging, text messages and photos from cellphone digital cameras can be used in destructive ways to denigrate, harass and bully others."
and this type of behaviour extends well beyond students and "childish school pranks" and I would hazard a guess that most of are guilty, to some degree, of similar behaviour....
Codes of conduct apply to Internet
"The anonymity of online communications means young people feel freer to do things in cyberspace than they would elsewhere. But while students may be free to vent about individuals and school policies to each other, they do not have the unfettered right to post vindictive remarks about anyone on the Internet. Increasingly, email, instant messaging, text messages and photos from cellphone digital cameras can be used in destructive ways to denigrate, harass and bully others."
and this type of behaviour extends well beyond students and "childish school pranks" and I would hazard a guess that most of are guilty, to some degree, of similar behaviour....
Codes of conduct apply to Internet
Look At City Council's Record On Honoring Committments
The Island Bridge and Union Station are just two major projects that come to mind where the projects were approved by one council and then torpeoed by another council. Personally I would be a little hesitant about getting involved with the city on anything major...let's not forget that breaking our word with people costs those people money and they tend to sue, usually successfully. How much has the cancellation of the island bridge cost us/will cost us.
Rival top guns love that Docklands mix
February 15, 2007
Christopher Hume
Everywhere but in Toronto, this city's waterfront has become the object of international attention.
Far-flung architects and landscape architects are trying to figure out the best ways to transform a derelict, severely damaged area into a place Torontonians can live, play and be proud of.
Here at home, the cynicism continues. The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. brings the best practitioners in the planet to suggest solutions and we complain that they're from away. Local people are hired and they're not good enough to do the job.
If there were any doubt that Toronto is its own worst enemy, look no further than the shoreline of Lake Ontario.
Fortunately the tireless and well-calloused souls at the TWRC are able to carry on regardless – and that's exactly what they're doing.
Last week, they organized a day-long briefing for the four teams that made the short list to redesign the Lower Don Lands. The important 40-hectare site includes the mouth of the Don River as well as the entrance to the Port Lands. It connects the communities being planned for the West Don Lands, the east Bayfront and the Docklands, which will eventually be home for up to 100,000 residents.
Though it is too soon for these teams to have come up with concrete proposals, they're obviously excited about the possibilities, even if Torontonians aren't.
More
Rival top guns love that Docklands mix
February 15, 2007
Christopher Hume
Everywhere but in Toronto, this city's waterfront has become the object of international attention.
Far-flung architects and landscape architects are trying to figure out the best ways to transform a derelict, severely damaged area into a place Torontonians can live, play and be proud of.
Here at home, the cynicism continues. The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp. brings the best practitioners in the planet to suggest solutions and we complain that they're from away. Local people are hired and they're not good enough to do the job.
If there were any doubt that Toronto is its own worst enemy, look no further than the shoreline of Lake Ontario.
Fortunately the tireless and well-calloused souls at the TWRC are able to carry on regardless – and that's exactly what they're doing.
Last week, they organized a day-long briefing for the four teams that made the short list to redesign the Lower Don Lands. The important 40-hectare site includes the mouth of the Don River as well as the entrance to the Port Lands. It connects the communities being planned for the West Don Lands, the east Bayfront and the Docklands, which will eventually be home for up to 100,000 residents.
Though it is too soon for these teams to have come up with concrete proposals, they're obviously excited about the possibilities, even if Torontonians aren't.
More
I Wonder If The CAW/Daimler Chrysler Are In Cheering Section
How many job losses have we seen in the auto sector, production & parts suppliers, over the last couple of years because of declining sales thanks to trade barriers and the cost of production? Will we regain those jobs by adding addition costs of the finished product? I doubt it.
Honour Kyoto, House tells PM
February 15, 2007
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA–The Conservative government has been backed into a constitutional corner after the passage of an opposition bill in the House of Commons last night calling for Canada to meet its Kyoto targets.
Bill C-288 would force Environment Minister John Baird to present a climate change plan within 60 days, providing a map for Canada to meet Kyoto's greenhouse gas reduction targets. The treaty calls for emission levels at 6 per cent below 1990 levels – a drastic reduction from current levels.
Within three months of the bill's passage into law, the federal cabinet would have to set out regulations on the petroleum and auto sectors, and other polluters, to have them meet their Kyoto targets.
If no action is taken, individual Canadians, environmental groups, lawyers – anyone – could take the federal government to court for being afoul of the law, said Montreal Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, the sponsor of the private member's bill.
However, the Conservatives, who have called Kyoto targets impossible to meet, have given every indication they plan to ignore the bill.
But it is unclear how they can delay its implementation. In any event, a court challenge to force implementation would be a lengthy process, with any decision coming long after the next election. MPs voted 161-113 in favour of Bill C-288, allowing it to clear the last hurdle before entering the Liberal-dominated Senate. There, it is expected to be passed into law after being studied briefly by the environment and energy committee.
mORE
THE REALITY OF KYOTO UNDER THE LIBERALS/DION
Kyoto and Canada: a Primer
Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Canada committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to about 6 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
But, instead, the emissions have climbed.
In 1990, vehicles, industries and other sources in Canada produced 599 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. We're now at more than 760 million tonnes – roughly 2 per cent of the world total – and still rising.
That puts Canada about 27 per cent above the 1990 base and about 35 per cent higher than its Kyoto target.
The Conservative government has said the target is too tough and won't attempt to reach it, although it hasn't renounced the treaty itself.
Honour Kyoto, House tells PM
February 15, 2007
Allan Woods
Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA–The Conservative government has been backed into a constitutional corner after the passage of an opposition bill in the House of Commons last night calling for Canada to meet its Kyoto targets.
Bill C-288 would force Environment Minister John Baird to present a climate change plan within 60 days, providing a map for Canada to meet Kyoto's greenhouse gas reduction targets. The treaty calls for emission levels at 6 per cent below 1990 levels – a drastic reduction from current levels.
Within three months of the bill's passage into law, the federal cabinet would have to set out regulations on the petroleum and auto sectors, and other polluters, to have them meet their Kyoto targets.
If no action is taken, individual Canadians, environmental groups, lawyers – anyone – could take the federal government to court for being afoul of the law, said Montreal Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, the sponsor of the private member's bill.
However, the Conservatives, who have called Kyoto targets impossible to meet, have given every indication they plan to ignore the bill.
But it is unclear how they can delay its implementation. In any event, a court challenge to force implementation would be a lengthy process, with any decision coming long after the next election. MPs voted 161-113 in favour of Bill C-288, allowing it to clear the last hurdle before entering the Liberal-dominated Senate. There, it is expected to be passed into law after being studied briefly by the environment and energy committee.
mORE
THE REALITY OF KYOTO UNDER THE LIBERALS/DION
Kyoto and Canada: a Primer
Under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Canada committed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to about 6 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.
But, instead, the emissions have climbed.
In 1990, vehicles, industries and other sources in Canada produced 599 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. We're now at more than 760 million tonnes – roughly 2 per cent of the world total – and still rising.
That puts Canada about 27 per cent above the 1990 base and about 35 per cent higher than its Kyoto target.
The Conservative government has said the target is too tough and won't attempt to reach it, although it hasn't renounced the treaty itself.
From The Golden Pen Of Lorrie Goldstein
February 15, 2007
Liberals are so predictable
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
More than a decade ago, a brilliant American conservative thinker predicted exactly how the Liberal Party of Canada would handle the issue of global warming and the Kyoto accord.
Thomas Sowell in his book The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy, was not addressing those topics specifically, but rather explaining how liberal elites -- especially politicians -- push issues onto the front burner of public discourse and keep them there, essentially through intellectual fraud.
Here is the process Sowell describes by which the liberal "anointed" -- who typically believe they alone possess the wisdom to govern -- constantly seek to impose their views on society.
Judge for yourself whether Sowell's four-step process accurately reflects how the Liberals have handled this issue.
Stage 1: The anointed declare "the crisis" in which, Sowell observes, "some situation exists, whose negative aspects the anointed propose to eliminate. Such a situation is routinely characterized as a 'crisis' even though all human situations have negative aspects ..."
Stage 2: "The solution" is proposed in which "policies to end the 'crisis' are advocated by the anointed" who dismiss claims by critics that their proposals won't work or may even make things worse as "absurd and 'simplistic,' if not dishonest."
Stage 3: "The results" reveal "the solution" chosen by the anointed either didn't work, or made things worse.
Stage 4: The anointed give "the response" to their critics, in which they dismiss them for being "simplistic" and for "ignoring the 'complexities' involved as 'many factors' went into determining the outcome."
Now consider how the issue of man-made global warming played out in Canada under the Liberals.
The then-Liberal government of Jean Chretien declared global warming "the crisis" (Stage 1) out of the blue, and then proclaimed Kyoto "the solution" (Stage 2). Thus, it signed Kyoto in 1998 and ratified it in 2002, but did nothing to implement it before the Liberals were thrown out of office in early 2006.
Today, we know "the results" (Stage 3) of this Liberal record of inaction.
By the time they lost power, man-made greenhouse gas emissions in Canada had risen by almost twice the rate of the U.S. -- which refused to ratify Kyoto -- and the Liberals were almost 35% behind their Kyoto target of cutting emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012.
And what was "the response" of the Liberals to their own failure on this issue?
Remember, if Sowell's four-stage predictive process of how "the anointed" operate is correct, "the response" of the Liberals (Stage 4) will be to dismiss their critics as "simplistic," charge them with ignoring the "complexities" of the situation and stress that "'many factors' went into determining the outcome."
Fortunately, we already know how the Liberals -- in the person of new leader and former environment minister Stephane Dion -- respond to their critics on this issue, even when the criticism comes from fellow Liberals.
When Michael Ignatieff (now deputy Liberal leader) complained to Dion during a leadership debate last year that "we didn't get it done," meaning the Liberals failed to reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions as they had promised under Kyoto, Dion's petulant reply was: "This is unfair ... This is unfair. You don't know what you speak about! Do you think it's easy to make priorities?"
Game, set and match to Sowell.
Liberals are so predictable
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
More than a decade ago, a brilliant American conservative thinker predicted exactly how the Liberal Party of Canada would handle the issue of global warming and the Kyoto accord.
Thomas Sowell in his book The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy, was not addressing those topics specifically, but rather explaining how liberal elites -- especially politicians -- push issues onto the front burner of public discourse and keep them there, essentially through intellectual fraud.
Here is the process Sowell describes by which the liberal "anointed" -- who typically believe they alone possess the wisdom to govern -- constantly seek to impose their views on society.
Judge for yourself whether Sowell's four-step process accurately reflects how the Liberals have handled this issue.
Stage 1: The anointed declare "the crisis" in which, Sowell observes, "some situation exists, whose negative aspects the anointed propose to eliminate. Such a situation is routinely characterized as a 'crisis' even though all human situations have negative aspects ..."
Stage 2: "The solution" is proposed in which "policies to end the 'crisis' are advocated by the anointed" who dismiss claims by critics that their proposals won't work or may even make things worse as "absurd and 'simplistic,' if not dishonest."
Stage 3: "The results" reveal "the solution" chosen by the anointed either didn't work, or made things worse.
Stage 4: The anointed give "the response" to their critics, in which they dismiss them for being "simplistic" and for "ignoring the 'complexities' involved as 'many factors' went into determining the outcome."
Now consider how the issue of man-made global warming played out in Canada under the Liberals.
The then-Liberal government of Jean Chretien declared global warming "the crisis" (Stage 1) out of the blue, and then proclaimed Kyoto "the solution" (Stage 2). Thus, it signed Kyoto in 1998 and ratified it in 2002, but did nothing to implement it before the Liberals were thrown out of office in early 2006.
Today, we know "the results" (Stage 3) of this Liberal record of inaction.
By the time they lost power, man-made greenhouse gas emissions in Canada had risen by almost twice the rate of the U.S. -- which refused to ratify Kyoto -- and the Liberals were almost 35% behind their Kyoto target of cutting emissions to 6% below 1990 levels by 2012.
And what was "the response" of the Liberals to their own failure on this issue?
Remember, if Sowell's four-stage predictive process of how "the anointed" operate is correct, "the response" of the Liberals (Stage 4) will be to dismiss their critics as "simplistic," charge them with ignoring the "complexities" of the situation and stress that "'many factors' went into determining the outcome."
Fortunately, we already know how the Liberals -- in the person of new leader and former environment minister Stephane Dion -- respond to their critics on this issue, even when the criticism comes from fellow Liberals.
When Michael Ignatieff (now deputy Liberal leader) complained to Dion during a leadership debate last year that "we didn't get it done," meaning the Liberals failed to reduce man-made greenhouse gas emissions as they had promised under Kyoto, Dion's petulant reply was: "This is unfair ... This is unfair. You don't know what you speak about! Do you think it's easy to make priorities?"
Game, set and match to Sowell.
We Will See How Many Left Wing Toadies Are On Council
When this issue comes to Toronto City council...
Noun 1. toadytoady - a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
crawler, sycophant, lackey
apple polisher, ass-kisser, bootlicker, fawner, groveler, groveller, truckler - someone who humbles himself as a sign of respect; who behaves as if he had no self-respect
adulator, flatterer - a person who uses flattery
goody-goody - a person who behaves extremely well in order to please a superior
Verb 1. toadytoady - try to gain favor by cringing or flattering; "He is always kowtowing to his boss"
bootlick, kotow, kowtow, fawn, truckle, suck up
blandish, flatter - praise somewhat dishonestly
court favor, court favour, curry favor, curry favour - seek favor by fawning or flattery; "This employee is currying favor with his superordinates"
February 15, 2007
Trash collection debate a draw
Contracting out in old city of York
By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
A battle over whether to let city workers -- and not the private sector -- collect trash in the former municipality of York ended in deadlock yesterday.
The contracting out of garbage has been a hot-button at City Hall for years.
City trash officials say the city can save $4 million annually by letting municipal workers pick up the garbage that is now collected by the private sector in York. They're also proposing scoring additional savings of $400,000 a year by letting civic workers collect old stoves, dishwashers and other so-called "white goods" in areas where the job is now done by the private sector.
The plan will go to city council without recommendation next month, after members of Toronto's works committee yesterday were stalemated in a series of tie votes on the issue.
Councillor Case Ootes said that the bid to give city workers the collection job in York is politically motivated.
Mayor David Miller generally opposes contracting out services and has had the backing of CUPE, Local 416 -- the union that represents Toronto garbage collectors.
Brian Cochrane, president of Local 416, expressed disappointment. "What it does say is that no matter how hard our guys work, the right-wing here are philosophically opposed to in-sourcing any work -- and that is a real problem."
Councillor Doug Holyday said contract is cheaper and drastically reduces the threat of strikes.
Noun 1. toadytoady - a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
crawler, sycophant, lackey
apple polisher, ass-kisser, bootlicker, fawner, groveler, groveller, truckler - someone who humbles himself as a sign of respect; who behaves as if he had no self-respect
adulator, flatterer - a person who uses flattery
goody-goody - a person who behaves extremely well in order to please a superior
Verb 1. toadytoady - try to gain favor by cringing or flattering; "He is always kowtowing to his boss"
bootlick, kotow, kowtow, fawn, truckle, suck up
blandish, flatter - praise somewhat dishonestly
court favor, court favour, curry favor, curry favour - seek favor by fawning or flattery; "This employee is currying favor with his superordinates"
February 15, 2007
Trash collection debate a draw
Contracting out in old city of York
By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
A battle over whether to let city workers -- and not the private sector -- collect trash in the former municipality of York ended in deadlock yesterday.
The contracting out of garbage has been a hot-button at City Hall for years.
City trash officials say the city can save $4 million annually by letting municipal workers pick up the garbage that is now collected by the private sector in York. They're also proposing scoring additional savings of $400,000 a year by letting civic workers collect old stoves, dishwashers and other so-called "white goods" in areas where the job is now done by the private sector.
The plan will go to city council without recommendation next month, after members of Toronto's works committee yesterday were stalemated in a series of tie votes on the issue.
Councillor Case Ootes said that the bid to give city workers the collection job in York is politically motivated.
Mayor David Miller generally opposes contracting out services and has had the backing of CUPE, Local 416 -- the union that represents Toronto garbage collectors.
Brian Cochrane, president of Local 416, expressed disappointment. "What it does say is that no matter how hard our guys work, the right-wing here are philosophically opposed to in-sourcing any work -- and that is a real problem."
Councillor Doug Holyday said contract is cheaper and drastically reduces the threat of strikes.
Payback Time For City Unions
The mayor, through his bum boy Coun. Adam Giambrone. are paying back CUPE for the union's support during the last two elections.
February 15, 2007
Handing more trash to union
By SUE-ANN LEVY
I couldn't help but laugh yesterday at Coun. Adam Giambrone's outlandish claims that any move to in-source trash pickup in the old city of York is strictly pragmatic.
"This whole decision is based on pragmatism," Giambrone said, implying that politics has not factored into it one bit.
"This council and this committee has been working on this in incredible depth," he added.
Now as a good socialist soldier in Mayor David Miller's regime, Giambrone has his role to play perpetuating the party line.
But practicality has hardly been the forte of Miller and Co. Moreover, Giambrone's claims that the issue has been studied "in depth" for five or six years is a load of trash.
While talk of allowing Brother Brian Cochrane and the guys and gals in CUPE 416 to take over all of the city's garbage pickup has been swirling around City Hall ever since said unions worked overtime to get Miller elected in 2003, a report only surfaced in November of 2005.
That report said it would cost a minimum of $21.5 million to bring curbside collection and recycling in York and Etobicoke -- the only two areas of the city where it contracted to an outside company -- back under City Hall's wing. Capital startup costs for the city of York (to purchase and maintain 21 trucks) were estimated at $5.2 million.
The plan, considered too hot to handle in an election year, was put on hold last July when council voted to extend the outside contract in the city of York one more year.
It was not at all a surprise when the plan to bring York's garbage pickup back in house resurfaced at yesterday's public works committee meeting -- the first step before it goes to council at month's end.
Typically it was long on spin and short on details. Never mind. Pragmatism rules.
Now it seems the $5.2-million in capital costs and the extra $361,115 in operating costs to let the CUPE take over garbage pickup in York has disappeared as if by magic. We heard more than once yesterday that by handing the contract back to the city's in-house unions, the city will save at least $4 million per year starting in 2008.
How so? Well this is where things start to get very fuzzy.
Deputy city manager Richard Butts said they've gotten "economies of scale, efficiencies" by standardizing the city's (trash routes) and closing some works yards. Apparently now they can do the York routes with existing staff and trucks!
No numbers were provided on what those existing resources cost. Councillors only saw the projected savings figure.
It left me wondering what the heck these surplus unionized workers are doing at the moment if there's enough manpower to staff 15 or more garbage trucks. Can you imagine how much fat would be found in the system if the six-figure bureaucrats took continuous improvement seriously?
Asked for a comparison on the costs per tonne to pick up garbage in Etobicoke and York vs. the other parts of Toronto where city forces do the job, Butts said they haven't "looked at that in a while." The last time they did look at it (in 2002) there were wide fluctuations between York at $44.28 per tonne and Toronto/East York at $73.45 per tonne. In 2005 the only comparison provided to me was between Etobicoke at $56.99 per tonne and Scarborough at $66.40 per tonne.
The costs alone should make council think twice. But there's another reason all of the city's garbage services should not be brought in-house. The CUPE union already rules the roost at City Hall. I don't even want to think how they'd hold the city ransom (with a crippling garbage strike) if they didn't get all of their precious contract concessions.
Miller isn't talking about bringing Etobicoke's trash collection in house at the moment.
"My guess is Etobicoke would not be contracted in because we would have to buy a new fleet. The costs aren't worth it," Miller told the Sun's editorial board before the election.
Rest assured it's on the menu. I believe it's just a matter of time before the unions have it all.
At least 90% of Ontario municipalities contract out their garbage. The figures are similar for the entire country.
Forget about details. Don't even suggest pragmatism. At socialist City Hall, the trash talk is flowing but good.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
A Warning To Canadian Barbers
51% of muslims in Canada favour allowing Shariah law.
I'm too sexy for my beard....
Suspected Islamic radicals have issued a Taliban-style warning to barbers in a Pakistani border town not to shave off or cut their customers' beards, saying it offends Islam, residents said Monday.
Pamphlets with the warnings were found at several shops in Inayat Kalay in Pakistan's Bajur tribal region near the Afghan border, said Bacha Khan, a barber in the market town.
"Barbers! Correct yourselves," said the handwritten, Pashto-language notes, one of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
"Any barber shop where acts against Shariah (Islamic law) - shaving or cutting of beards - are seen, are given a final warning to stop this anti-Shariah work and if they do not stop, they should take responsibility for whatever harm they come to," it said.
Labels: Islam, Oddities
I'm too sexy for my beard....
Suspected Islamic radicals have issued a Taliban-style warning to barbers in a Pakistani border town not to shave off or cut their customers' beards, saying it offends Islam, residents said Monday.
Pamphlets with the warnings were found at several shops in Inayat Kalay in Pakistan's Bajur tribal region near the Afghan border, said Bacha Khan, a barber in the market town.
"Barbers! Correct yourselves," said the handwritten, Pashto-language notes, one of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
"Any barber shop where acts against Shariah (Islamic law) - shaving or cutting of beards - are seen, are given a final warning to stop this anti-Shariah work and if they do not stop, they should take responsibility for whatever harm they come to," it said.
Labels: Islam, Oddities
Another Poll
If David Suzuki Were Elected Prime Minister For Life, What Country Would Canada Most Resemble After 10 Years?
Selection
Votes
Zimbabwe 36% 327
Venezuala 18% 164
North Korea 25% 224
Finland, with fruit flies available in 24 exciting colours 21% 186
Selection
Votes
Zimbabwe 36% 327
Venezuala 18% 164
North Korea 25% 224
Finland, with fruit flies available in 24 exciting colours 21% 186
Thank Gawd! I Was Scared All Social In-Activists....
....had crawled under their rocks for the winter. Without them who would we have to ridicule? Social in-activists tend to out number the number of community minded groups that actually help the needy by walking the talk.
Protesters disrupt Vancouver Olympics celebration
Last Updated: Monday, February 12, 2007 | 10:10 PM ET
CBC Sports
Protesters hurling eggs, rocks and profanity-laced insults disrupted what was supposed to be a celebration of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics on Monday.
A crowd of about 60 anti-poverty activists descended on a celebration outside the Vancouver art gallery, where a crowd of several hundred people were watching dignitaries and political leaders unveil a countdown clock that is ticking down the seconds until the Games begin in exactly three years from now.
Protesters gather at the unveiling of the Olympic countdown clock Monday.Protesters gather at the unveiling of the Olympic countdown clock Monday.
(CBC)
Dozens of police, some on horseback and wearing riot gear, arrested seven people. One officer dragged a protester off the stage, another tackled a woman with a bandana across her face.
Insp. Steve Schnitzer said police anticipated a protest, but nothing of this scale. He said police will keep the disruption in mind when planning for the next pre-Olympic event.
"We have lots of interactions with this group and this is probably the most violent that we've seen it happen," he said, calling the demonstrators "hooligans".
"They pushed by police officers, they pushed by citizens that were there to have a good time, they pushed over fencing, they jumped fencing and then they pushed the master of ceremonies to get to the podium."
More
Protesters disrupt Vancouver Olympics celebration
Last Updated: Monday, February 12, 2007 | 10:10 PM ET
CBC Sports
Protesters hurling eggs, rocks and profanity-laced insults disrupted what was supposed to be a celebration of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics on Monday.
A crowd of about 60 anti-poverty activists descended on a celebration outside the Vancouver art gallery, where a crowd of several hundred people were watching dignitaries and political leaders unveil a countdown clock that is ticking down the seconds until the Games begin in exactly three years from now.
Protesters gather at the unveiling of the Olympic countdown clock Monday.Protesters gather at the unveiling of the Olympic countdown clock Monday.
(CBC)
Dozens of police, some on horseback and wearing riot gear, arrested seven people. One officer dragged a protester off the stage, another tackled a woman with a bandana across her face.
Insp. Steve Schnitzer said police anticipated a protest, but nothing of this scale. He said police will keep the disruption in mind when planning for the next pre-Olympic event.
"We have lots of interactions with this group and this is probably the most violent that we've seen it happen," he said, calling the demonstrators "hooligans".
"They pushed by police officers, they pushed by citizens that were there to have a good time, they pushed over fencing, they jumped fencing and then they pushed the master of ceremonies to get to the podium."
More
A Lesson For Toronto Social In-Activists
We are told that more police officers are being hired, something I question when resignations/retirments are added to the equation, and these officers are being assigned to high risk areas so we will probably see an increase in the number of non-whites stopped and of course racial in-activists will start screaming racial profiling.
Why Cops Stop and Frisk So Many Blacks
Blame high black crime, not police racism
Here we go again: another specious racial-profiling controversy. Al Sharpton has announced his intention to sue the New York Police Department for allegedly racially profiling black New Yorkers, based on recently released data on police stop-and-frisks. In fact, the data show that police are stopping blacks too seldom and whites too often. But even if the numbers didn't so completely undermine Sharpton's claim, the real scandal of his anti-police demagoguery would remain his refusal to acknowledge the black community's most pressing problem: sky-high crime rates.
As long as blacks commit crime in numbers wildly disproportionate to their representation in the population, police data are going to show higher involvement with blacks than with whites. According to victims and witnesses, blacks committed 68.5 percent of all murders, rapes, robberies, and assaults in New York last year, though they are only 24 percent of the city's population. Whites, who make up 34.5 percent of New Yorkers, committed 5.3 percent of those crimes. Blacks are nearly 13 times more likely to commit violent crimes than whites.
In light of this massive disparity in crime rates, the police stop-and-frisk data are not just reasonable but inevitable. Last year, 55 percent of police stops were of blacks-a proportion far below the 68.5 percent of violent crime that blacks commit-while 11 percent of stops were of whites, nearly double their 5.3 percent contribution to violent crime.
There are two reasons that the high black crime rate affects the chance that black men will be stopped in greater numbers than whites. First, the NYPD focuses its resources where crime is highest, and that is in black neighborhoods. In recent years, the NYPD has saturated high-crime areas with rookie cops, whose job is to intervene in crime early by stopping suspects. (It isn't just the NYPD that wants more cops in those neighborhoods; their law-abiding minority residents constantly beg the department for more police protection.)
Second, because police officers are 13 times more likely to be searching for a black than for a white suspect for any given violent crime-based, again, on the victim's own identification of his assailant (or, in the case of homicide, on that of witnesses)-their rate of stopping blacks, as they search for suspects, will be far higher than that for whites. So black men do face a higher chance of getting stopped in New York. The blame for that does not rest with the police, however; it rests with the criminal element within the black community that is terrorizing the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding minority New Yorkers.
If Sharpton really wanted to get the black stop rate down, he would be working day and night to bring the crime rate down. He would be telling young men to stay in school and to marry the mothers of their children, so that boys do not grow up without fathers. He would be demonizing criminals, not the police. Until that happens, New Yorkers should regard his concern for the well-being of the black community with skepticism
Source
Why Cops Stop and Frisk So Many Blacks
Blame high black crime, not police racism
Here we go again: another specious racial-profiling controversy. Al Sharpton has announced his intention to sue the New York Police Department for allegedly racially profiling black New Yorkers, based on recently released data on police stop-and-frisks. In fact, the data show that police are stopping blacks too seldom and whites too often. But even if the numbers didn't so completely undermine Sharpton's claim, the real scandal of his anti-police demagoguery would remain his refusal to acknowledge the black community's most pressing problem: sky-high crime rates.
As long as blacks commit crime in numbers wildly disproportionate to their representation in the population, police data are going to show higher involvement with blacks than with whites. According to victims and witnesses, blacks committed 68.5 percent of all murders, rapes, robberies, and assaults in New York last year, though they are only 24 percent of the city's population. Whites, who make up 34.5 percent of New Yorkers, committed 5.3 percent of those crimes. Blacks are nearly 13 times more likely to commit violent crimes than whites.
In light of this massive disparity in crime rates, the police stop-and-frisk data are not just reasonable but inevitable. Last year, 55 percent of police stops were of blacks-a proportion far below the 68.5 percent of violent crime that blacks commit-while 11 percent of stops were of whites, nearly double their 5.3 percent contribution to violent crime.
There are two reasons that the high black crime rate affects the chance that black men will be stopped in greater numbers than whites. First, the NYPD focuses its resources where crime is highest, and that is in black neighborhoods. In recent years, the NYPD has saturated high-crime areas with rookie cops, whose job is to intervene in crime early by stopping suspects. (It isn't just the NYPD that wants more cops in those neighborhoods; their law-abiding minority residents constantly beg the department for more police protection.)
Second, because police officers are 13 times more likely to be searching for a black than for a white suspect for any given violent crime-based, again, on the victim's own identification of his assailant (or, in the case of homicide, on that of witnesses)-their rate of stopping blacks, as they search for suspects, will be far higher than that for whites. So black men do face a higher chance of getting stopped in New York. The blame for that does not rest with the police, however; it rests with the criminal element within the black community that is terrorizing the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding minority New Yorkers.
If Sharpton really wanted to get the black stop rate down, he would be working day and night to bring the crime rate down. He would be telling young men to stay in school and to marry the mothers of their children, so that boys do not grow up without fathers. He would be demonizing criminals, not the police. Until that happens, New Yorkers should regard his concern for the well-being of the black community with skepticism
Source
Did The Palestians Know They Were Canadians
I will start by saying I support Israel I also support those Palestians who just want to get on with their life without fear from either side or intrusion of outside forces in whose best interest it is keep the pot boiling. I have to wonder whether those people who attacked the bus were nothing more than a bunch of thugs whose bravedo diminishes with their numbers.
Islamic historical revisionism
Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Islam, War on Terror, Islamists — Jerry @ 12:11 pm
The Palestinians’ blind eye to history
(National Post)
The Israel-Palestine conflict presented its contorted face to Canada with a steaming, hysterical anger last week. In Jerusalem a bus full of unsuspecting Canadian tourists was attacked by rock wielding Palestinian youths. No Canadians were seriously injured, yet the attack itself was ironic, in that Christian tourists from North America are vital to the local economy, and to the Palestinians in particular. But then irrational behaviour is nothing new in the Middle East. In this instance, however, it has reached new heights.
Palestinians and their Muslim comrades in other countries have turned to violence in the wake of Israel’s construction work around the Temple Mount. They complain that the Israelis are rebuilding a ramp that connects to the Mount and that, in so doing, are damaging the foundations beneath the al-Aqsa Mosque. It’s all part of a conspiracy, they claim, to destroy the Mosque and build a Jewish temple in its place.
It is almost impossible to convey the dramatic juxtapositions of clashing religions in Jerusalem. The last remaining icon of the ancient Jewish Temple, the Kotel, the Wailing Wall, is at the very epicentre of Judaism. It is also close to the spot where a series of Muslim shrines and Mosques have been built to commemorate the third holiest place in Islam. So Jewish and Muslim worshippers are just, well, a stone’s throw from each other.
If the geography is intense, the history is equally so. The Israelites under King David conquered Jerusalem around 1000 BC and rebuilt and expanded the city. David’s son Solomon built the great Jewish Temple and it stood for half a millennium until destroyed by the Babylonians.
It was rebuilt and remained in place until the Roman defeat of the Jewish uprising in 70 AD. Jerusalem later became a largely Christian city until Muslim forces arrived, very much as latecomers, in 638 AD. Shortly afterwards Caliph Umar asked the Christian Patriarch, Sophronius, to show him the exact spot of the Jewish Temple. It was here that the al-Aqsa Mosque would be built.
Not, however, according to the Palestinian leadership. There was no Temple, there was no case of Jesus overturning the tables of the money-changers, there were no Jews. “For 34 years the Israelis have dug tunnels around the Temple Mount,” said Yasser Arafat in 2002. “They found not a single stone proving that the Temple of Solomon was there, because historically the Temple was not in Palestine.” This is the mythology driving the stone-wielding Palestinians and it is propagated by others as well.
In 2001 the Higher Islamic Authority of Palestine stated, “The claims being made by the rulers of Israel and its rabbis about the alleged Temple are pure fabrications without any base or foundation.” This nonsense has been repeated by the Mufti of Jerusalem and within universities and newspapers throughout the Arab world.
In spite of irrefutable evidence to the contrary, many in the Muslim world refuse to accept that the Jews have any historical claim to live in Israel and continue to deny that the Temple of Jewish, Christian and secular history ever existed. In other words, the world is flat if it suits one’s political purposes.
So the fact that Israeli engineers are repairing a ramp close to a mosque is largely irrelevant. Especially when Israel’s archaeologists are world-renowned for their expertise and sensitivity. Even the harshest critics of Israeli policy do not question the fairness of the excavations that have taken place in the Holy Land for 50 years.
Israel took possession all of Jerusalem in 1967, and for the first time in centuries the Jewish people had full access to their holy places. Under Jordanian control, Jewish shrines had been systematically desecrated. Even now the Islamic authorities on Temple Mount have a dreadful record of destroying ancient Jewish artifacts that they find.
Political dialogue and religious understanding can only come about when politics is not hyperbole, and religion is not used as a tool for lies and mythology. To deny Jewish history is to deny the Jewish state. To deny history is to deny truth. To deny truth is to invite disaster. Canadians had a first-hand glimpse of this ongoing Palestinian disaster last week.
- Michael Coren is a writer and broadcaster.www.michaelcoren.com
Islamic historical revisionism
Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Islam, War on Terror, Islamists — Jerry @ 12:11 pm
The Palestinians’ blind eye to history
(National Post)
The Israel-Palestine conflict presented its contorted face to Canada with a steaming, hysterical anger last week. In Jerusalem a bus full of unsuspecting Canadian tourists was attacked by rock wielding Palestinian youths. No Canadians were seriously injured, yet the attack itself was ironic, in that Christian tourists from North America are vital to the local economy, and to the Palestinians in particular. But then irrational behaviour is nothing new in the Middle East. In this instance, however, it has reached new heights.
Palestinians and their Muslim comrades in other countries have turned to violence in the wake of Israel’s construction work around the Temple Mount. They complain that the Israelis are rebuilding a ramp that connects to the Mount and that, in so doing, are damaging the foundations beneath the al-Aqsa Mosque. It’s all part of a conspiracy, they claim, to destroy the Mosque and build a Jewish temple in its place.
It is almost impossible to convey the dramatic juxtapositions of clashing religions in Jerusalem. The last remaining icon of the ancient Jewish Temple, the Kotel, the Wailing Wall, is at the very epicentre of Judaism. It is also close to the spot where a series of Muslim shrines and Mosques have been built to commemorate the third holiest place in Islam. So Jewish and Muslim worshippers are just, well, a stone’s throw from each other.
If the geography is intense, the history is equally so. The Israelites under King David conquered Jerusalem around 1000 BC and rebuilt and expanded the city. David’s son Solomon built the great Jewish Temple and it stood for half a millennium until destroyed by the Babylonians.
It was rebuilt and remained in place until the Roman defeat of the Jewish uprising in 70 AD. Jerusalem later became a largely Christian city until Muslim forces arrived, very much as latecomers, in 638 AD. Shortly afterwards Caliph Umar asked the Christian Patriarch, Sophronius, to show him the exact spot of the Jewish Temple. It was here that the al-Aqsa Mosque would be built.
Not, however, according to the Palestinian leadership. There was no Temple, there was no case of Jesus overturning the tables of the money-changers, there were no Jews. “For 34 years the Israelis have dug tunnels around the Temple Mount,” said Yasser Arafat in 2002. “They found not a single stone proving that the Temple of Solomon was there, because historically the Temple was not in Palestine.” This is the mythology driving the stone-wielding Palestinians and it is propagated by others as well.
In 2001 the Higher Islamic Authority of Palestine stated, “The claims being made by the rulers of Israel and its rabbis about the alleged Temple are pure fabrications without any base or foundation.” This nonsense has been repeated by the Mufti of Jerusalem and within universities and newspapers throughout the Arab world.
In spite of irrefutable evidence to the contrary, many in the Muslim world refuse to accept that the Jews have any historical claim to live in Israel and continue to deny that the Temple of Jewish, Christian and secular history ever existed. In other words, the world is flat if it suits one’s political purposes.
So the fact that Israeli engineers are repairing a ramp close to a mosque is largely irrelevant. Especially when Israel’s archaeologists are world-renowned for their expertise and sensitivity. Even the harshest critics of Israeli policy do not question the fairness of the excavations that have taken place in the Holy Land for 50 years.
Israel took possession all of Jerusalem in 1967, and for the first time in centuries the Jewish people had full access to their holy places. Under Jordanian control, Jewish shrines had been systematically desecrated. Even now the Islamic authorities on Temple Mount have a dreadful record of destroying ancient Jewish artifacts that they find.
Political dialogue and religious understanding can only come about when politics is not hyperbole, and religion is not used as a tool for lies and mythology. To deny Jewish history is to deny the Jewish state. To deny history is to deny truth. To deny truth is to invite disaster. Canadians had a first-hand glimpse of this ongoing Palestinian disaster last week.
- Michael Coren is a writer and broadcaster.www.michaelcoren.com
Let's Praise Dixie Chicks For Their Music
Those people who joined the Dixie Chick's "fan club" are as hypocritical as those "fans" who stopped buying their music and going to their concerts. The Bush Administration did not pillory them and probably most of the new fans are open or closet bush-bashers.
Dixie Chicks, dissent, and "whacked" paranoia
By Jon Sanders
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
"I think people are paranoid" was how former Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart's comments to Reuters began. Hart was speaking about this year's Grammy Awards and the Dixie Chicks. Then he provided a sterling example of that very paranoia.
"I think that if they speak out, they think they're gonna get whacked by the government. It's pretty oppressive now. Look at the Dixie Chicks. They got whacked."
What? The government did nothing concerning The Dixie Chicks after they "spoke out" against President Bush while they were in concert in London. The singers were free to say whatever they wanted, just as the buying public was free to say whatever they wanted with respect to what the Dixie Chicks said.
There was public outcry, and indeed the Dixie Chicks lost fans and concertgoers. But they also garnered new fans, including fawning press. Their "naked" cover on Rolling Stone seems to have started a new fad: the Multimillionaire Artist As Suffering Figure of Persecution.
They would be followed in magazine-cover martyrdom by Kanye West, who nearly ruined a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser with his off-the-cuff remarks about Bush hating black people. His cover shot on Rolling Stone showed him wearing a crown of thorns.
Madonna, as is her wont, took the fad to its logical extremes; comparing Bush to Hitler and Osama bin Laden and then hanging herself on a crucifix.
But it's all vanity. Hart's comments, the "musical martyrs," the paranoia — it's just self-congratulatory hooey. Musicians aren't getting "whacked" by the Bush administration for "speaking out." But it's fun to believe it, because only then could the very mundane act of speaking out in this, the Land of the First Amendment, appear dangerous and brave instead of merely mercenary.
Now appearing on stage......
Dixie Chicks, dissent, and "whacked" paranoia
By Jon Sanders
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
"I think people are paranoid" was how former Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart's comments to Reuters began. Hart was speaking about this year's Grammy Awards and the Dixie Chicks. Then he provided a sterling example of that very paranoia.
"I think that if they speak out, they think they're gonna get whacked by the government. It's pretty oppressive now. Look at the Dixie Chicks. They got whacked."
What? The government did nothing concerning The Dixie Chicks after they "spoke out" against President Bush while they were in concert in London. The singers were free to say whatever they wanted, just as the buying public was free to say whatever they wanted with respect to what the Dixie Chicks said.
There was public outcry, and indeed the Dixie Chicks lost fans and concertgoers. But they also garnered new fans, including fawning press. Their "naked" cover on Rolling Stone seems to have started a new fad: the Multimillionaire Artist As Suffering Figure of Persecution.
They would be followed in magazine-cover martyrdom by Kanye West, who nearly ruined a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser with his off-the-cuff remarks about Bush hating black people. His cover shot on Rolling Stone showed him wearing a crown of thorns.
Madonna, as is her wont, took the fad to its logical extremes; comparing Bush to Hitler and Osama bin Laden and then hanging herself on a crucifix.
But it's all vanity. Hart's comments, the "musical martyrs," the paranoia — it's just self-congratulatory hooey. Musicians aren't getting "whacked" by the Bush administration for "speaking out." But it's fun to believe it, because only then could the very mundane act of speaking out in this, the Land of the First Amendment, appear dangerous and brave instead of merely mercenary.
Now appearing on stage......
Registered Gun Owners Are Making Much Ado About Nothing
I would challenge then to locate me by using two characters in my postal code. If they advocate freer gun laws then they should be prepared to give people access to a government database.
Gun group condemns release of federal data
Fears online exposure will lead to thefts
Glen McGregor
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
An organization representing firearms owners says the release of data from the federal gun registry to the Citizen is a privacy violation and could jeopardize public safety.
Using federal data, the Citizen created an online search engine to allow anyone to see the records of more than seven million firearms registered in Canada.
The data were released under the Access to Information Act by the Canada Firearms Centre, via the RCMP. The data do not include names or addresses of the guns' registered owners, but do list the first two characters of their postal codes.
But even an abbreviated postal code is enough information for criminals to use to target gun owners for theft, says the National Firearms Association, a group that advocates for freer gun laws.
"It is possible from the information provided to correlate who owns what," says Blair Hagen, the association's vice-president.
Come on Bubba, get serious......
Gun group condemns release of federal data
Fears online exposure will lead to thefts
Glen McGregor
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
An organization representing firearms owners says the release of data from the federal gun registry to the Citizen is a privacy violation and could jeopardize public safety.
Using federal data, the Citizen created an online search engine to allow anyone to see the records of more than seven million firearms registered in Canada.
The data were released under the Access to Information Act by the Canada Firearms Centre, via the RCMP. The data do not include names or addresses of the guns' registered owners, but do list the first two characters of their postal codes.
But even an abbreviated postal code is enough information for criminals to use to target gun owners for theft, says the National Firearms Association, a group that advocates for freer gun laws.
"It is possible from the information provided to correlate who owns what," says Blair Hagen, the association's vice-president.
Come on Bubba, get serious......
Does Harry Capito Have A Twin In New Zealand
They both seem to have an identity problem....Harry thinks he is a lawyer and Rob thinks........
Cross-dressing lawyer in New Zealand hangs up his dress after guilty verdict
Published: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 | 12:39 AM ET
Canadian Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A male lawyer who appeared in court dressed in women's clothes as a protest against what he said was New Zealand's overly-masculine judiciary was suspended Wednesday after being found to be in contempt of court.
The High Court found Rob Moodie, a 68-year-old, balding man who appeared in court in dresses and toting a handbag, was in contempt for circulating suppressed documents outside the court in one of his cases.
Moodie officially changed his name to "Miss Alice" as part of his protest against the "old boys network" that he said runs the country's judiciary, and was granted an award for the most bizarre conduct by a lawyer in 2006 by London's The Times newspaper.
The protest began after a coroner's inquest largely blamed a farming couple for the collapse of a bridge on their property built by the army.
Moodie obtained documents apportioning much of the blame for the collapse to faulty wood used by New Zealand Defence Force engineers, and posted the report on the Internet despite a judge's order it not be distributed.
The High Court on Wednesday found Moodie guilty of contempt of court, suspended him for three months, fined him and ordered him to pay costs.
Moodie announced after the ruling he would quit the law altogether, and end his cross-dressing protest because he no longer needed to appear "in a 19th-century Alice in Wonderland environment that allows pomp, self-importance and deference to the court to eclipse the truth."
© The Canadian Press, 2007
Cross-dressing lawyer in New Zealand hangs up his dress after guilty verdict
Published: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 | 12:39 AM ET
Canadian Press
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A male lawyer who appeared in court dressed in women's clothes as a protest against what he said was New Zealand's overly-masculine judiciary was suspended Wednesday after being found to be in contempt of court.
The High Court found Rob Moodie, a 68-year-old, balding man who appeared in court in dresses and toting a handbag, was in contempt for circulating suppressed documents outside the court in one of his cases.
Moodie officially changed his name to "Miss Alice" as part of his protest against the "old boys network" that he said runs the country's judiciary, and was granted an award for the most bizarre conduct by a lawyer in 2006 by London's The Times newspaper.
The protest began after a coroner's inquest largely blamed a farming couple for the collapse of a bridge on their property built by the army.
Moodie obtained documents apportioning much of the blame for the collapse to faulty wood used by New Zealand Defence Force engineers, and posted the report on the Internet despite a judge's order it not be distributed.
The High Court on Wednesday found Moodie guilty of contempt of court, suspended him for three months, fined him and ordered him to pay costs.
Moodie announced after the ruling he would quit the law altogether, and end his cross-dressing protest because he no longer needed to appear "in a 19th-century Alice in Wonderland environment that allows pomp, self-importance and deference to the court to eclipse the truth."
© The Canadian Press, 2007
A Cynical Look At Valentine's Day
Sweet nothings
A pop-culture companion to a perfectly lousy Valentine’s Day
Al (Ed O'Neill) and Peggy Bundy (Katey Sagal) spar in the sitcom Married with Children. (Sony Pictures)
Every year on Feb. 14, starry-eyed lovers reach for a variety of romantic aids: roses, bubbly, truffles, romantic comedies starring Meg Ryan (pre-lip surgery, of course). But what about people of a more cynical bent, i.e., the Valentine haters?
Are you not feeling the love this year? Do you think “romance” was invented by some hack at Hallmark? Here are some pop culture goodies that will ensure your Valentine’s Day is the worst ever.
Your Cheatin’ Heart, Hank Williams (song, 1953). In this hurtin’ ballad, the late country icon puts a Poe-esque hex on a two-timing lover: “Your cheatin’ heart will make you weep / You’ll cry and cry and try to sleep / But sleep won’t come the whole night through / Your cheatin’ heart will tell on you.” If that weren’t gloomy enough, the song was recorded mere months before Williams’s death.
Married with Children (TV series, 1987-97). Calling this long-running comedy about a middle-class American family “unsentimental” only goes halfway in characterizing its cynical humour. Better to say that Al and Peggy Bundy are the most spiteful couple in sitcom history. Proof: Peggy comes home one night and asks, “Did you miss me?” Al’s reply: “With every bullet so far.”
Breaking the Waves (film, 1996). While ostensibly about the limits of love, this film by Danish director Lars von Trier is really about the limits of emotional endurance. Things go hideously awry for a Scot named Bess (Emily Watson) when her husband, Jan (Stellan Skarsgård), is paralyzed in a freak accident on an oil rig. In a perverse scheme to salvage their physical relationship, Jan commands Bess to have sex with other men and describe it to him. She reluctantly agrees, and ends up being raped and killed.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine (album, 1989). Not only is Trent Reznor a world-class mope, he wraps his laments in the musical equivalent of barbed wire — buzz-saw guitars and pummelling beats. The album is bursting with gushing sentiments like, “You just left me nailed here / hanging like Jesus on the cross / I’ll be dying for your sins / and aiding to the cause.”
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film, 1966). A beleaguered couple, George and Martha, invite another pair over for a seemingly cordial dinner. What ensues is a master class in marital malice. (“Martha, in my mind you’re buried in cement right up to the neck. No, up to the nose, it’s much quieter.”) Adapted from Edward Albee’s searing 1962 play, the film has the added enticement of starring the real-life train wreck known as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.
The Very Best of Connie Francis (album, 1963). Don’t let this crooner’s dulcet delivery fool you — she’s a sadsack from way back (and the inspiration for a side-splitting SCTV spoof). This compilation is an excellent primer on Francis’s inimitably melancholy pop. The titles alone are enough to bring you down: Stupid Cupid, Lipstick on Your Collar, Who’s Sorry Now?, Breaking in a Brand-New Broken Heart and Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.
Kissed (film, 1996). A young woman (Molly Parker) gets a job in a funeral home. The fellow she’s sleeping with is nice enough, but she’d really like to make it with a dead guy.
Seinfeld (TV series, 1989-98). The sitcom “about nothing” was famously nihilistic about love. Jerry was dumped by countless females, for a variety of offences — forgetting his girlfriend’s name; because she hated his stand-up act; because he doubted the authenticity of her breasts; etc. His pal George Costanza got as far as being engaged — but then got out of it when his fiancée was fatally poisoned after licking the envelopes for their wedding invitations.
Chelsea Hotel #2, Leonard Cohen (song, 1974). The Canadian songwriter has never been a friend of romantic clichés. A rhapsody about Cohen’s (brief) liaison with the late Janis Joplin, this song ends with this kiss-off: “I don’t mean to suggest that I loved you the best / I can’t keep track of each fallen robin. / I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel / that’s all, I don’t even think of you that often.”
Lolita (book, 1959). We all know the gist of Vladimir Nabokov’s notorious novel: middle-aged man (Humbert Humbert) falls hard for 12-year-old girl and goes to unseemly lengths to be with her. Despite Humbert’s lecherous machinations, in the end, Lolita can barely stand the sight of him. Possibly the most ill-conceived, unfulfilling, ultimately ruinous love affair ever. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Andre Mayer writes about the arts for CBC.ca.
CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window.
I Know This Post Is Silly But I Couldn't Resist.......
HOUSE HEARING ON 'WARMING OF THE PLANET' CANCELED AFTER ICE STORM
HEARING NOTICE
Tue Feb 13 2007 19:31:25 ET
The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”
The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later.
DC WEATHER REPORT:
Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning. Total ice accumulation between one half to three quarters of an inch. Brisk with highs in the mid 30s. North winds 10 to 15 mph...increasing to northwest 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 18. Northwest winds around 20 mph.
SAVE IT FOR A SUNNY DAY: Maryville Univ. in St. Louis area cancelling screening of Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' because of a snowstorm...
.....now that I have that out of the way I going back outside to shovel snow.
HEARING NOTICE
Tue Feb 13 2007 19:31:25 ET
The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”
The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later.
DC WEATHER REPORT:
Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning. Total ice accumulation between one half to three quarters of an inch. Brisk with highs in the mid 30s. North winds 10 to 15 mph...increasing to northwest 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Lows around 18. Northwest winds around 20 mph.
SAVE IT FOR A SUNNY DAY: Maryville Univ. in St. Louis area cancelling screening of Al Gore's 'Inconvenient Truth' because of a snowstorm...
.....now that I have that out of the way I going back outside to shovel snow.
Veterans Viewed Differently In Montreal & Subury
Charge dropped for man who urinated on National War Memorial
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 | 11:57 AM ET
CBC News
A Quebec man who relieved himself on the National War Memorial last Canada Day got a reprieve Tuesday after the Crown withdrew the mischief charge against him.
Stephen Fernandes wrote a public letter of apology, did more than 50 hours of community service at the Veteran's Hospital in Montreal, donated $200 to charity and is very remorseful, his lawyer, Steven Greenberg, said later.
Stephen Fernandes has written a letter of apology and done more than 50 hours of community service for the Veteran's Hospital in Montreal.Stephen Fernandes has written a letter of apology and done more than 50 hours of community service for the Veteran's Hospital in Montreal.
(CBC)
"He was extremely intoxicated at the time this happened and in fact he just didn't even know where he was," Greenberg said. "So the message it [the Crown decision] sends is that I guess everybody is entitled to a second chance."
Veterans were outraged after a retired Canadian Forces major photographed the 23-year-old from Dorval, Que., urinating on the National War Memorial last year.
Fernandes turned himself in after his photograph was posted on the Ottawa Police website. Two teens caught committing a similar offence were not charged.
A Winnipeg man was sentenced last August to 60 days in jail for urinating on the war memorial in Sudbury, Ont.
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 | 11:57 AM ET
CBC News
A Quebec man who relieved himself on the National War Memorial last Canada Day got a reprieve Tuesday after the Crown withdrew the mischief charge against him.
Stephen Fernandes wrote a public letter of apology, did more than 50 hours of community service at the Veteran's Hospital in Montreal, donated $200 to charity and is very remorseful, his lawyer, Steven Greenberg, said later.
Stephen Fernandes has written a letter of apology and done more than 50 hours of community service for the Veteran's Hospital in Montreal.Stephen Fernandes has written a letter of apology and done more than 50 hours of community service for the Veteran's Hospital in Montreal.
(CBC)
"He was extremely intoxicated at the time this happened and in fact he just didn't even know where he was," Greenberg said. "So the message it [the Crown decision] sends is that I guess everybody is entitled to a second chance."
Veterans were outraged after a retired Canadian Forces major photographed the 23-year-old from Dorval, Que., urinating on the National War Memorial last year.
Fernandes turned himself in after his photograph was posted on the Ottawa Police website. Two teens caught committing a similar offence were not charged.
A Winnipeg man was sentenced last August to 60 days in jail for urinating on the war memorial in Sudbury, Ont.
Moscoe Would Throw Out Baby With Bath Water
Drivers with disabled parking permits do not have to pay at parking meters. Is this fair?
Yes 648 35%
No 1197 64%
The results of this poll doesn't really surprise me because it is anonomous....I think the results would be different if if it was done face to face. It is just another example of the fact that problems do not get solved because many people don't Walk The Talk and I think this is evident from Moscoe's latest 15 minute sound byte. According to Moscoes figures we have approximately 4000 disabled drivers taking advantage of free parking each day. Howard you might want to look at how much more revenue you can get by licencing electric wheelchairs/scooters, additional fare for people using ttc with strollers, etc.
Plan will penalize genuine disabled
February 14, 2007
Scrap disabled parking system: Moscoe
Feb. 13.
Councillor Howard Moscoe has asked the province to scrap the present disabled parking-permit system so that it can be replaced with one that is "free of abuse." The article also states that Moscoe believes that disabled drivers should be required to pay for on-street metered parking and at pay-and-display meters in areas equipped with this system.
As a legitimate holder of a disabled parking permit, I understand the problems faced by disabled drivers and believe that both of Moscoe's ideas would negatively affect the disabled.
Certainly there is abuse of the current disabled parking-permit system, but scrapping the present system, even for a short period of time, will be harmful to those legitimately using disabled parking permits. Using parking meters and pay-and-display ticket machines is problematic for disabled drivers. Consider the problems faced by drivers who use wheelchairs and drive automobiles equipped with hand controls.
Just getting in and out of their vehicles is very taxing. Wheeling oneself to one of the pay-and-display machines (if the meter is accessible from wheelchair height and/or accessible in winter due to accumulated ice and/or snow), paying to obtain a ticket, and then wheeling back to the car and hoisting oneself up to place the ticket on the dashboard would be exhausting, to say the least, and in some cases impossible.
Paying at a parking meter may be less difficult but still may be hard for the disabled person. For a disabled person using canes or a walker, such tasks may be a bit easier, but the extra walking involved can be extremely fatiguing, making routine errands very difficult.
I hope Moscoe and other Toronto city officials seriously consider these problems before making any decisions regarding the disabled parking system.
Joanne R. Fisher, Thornhill
Yes 648 35%
No 1197 64%
The results of this poll doesn't really surprise me because it is anonomous....I think the results would be different if if it was done face to face. It is just another example of the fact that problems do not get solved because many people don't Walk The Talk and I think this is evident from Moscoe's latest 15 minute sound byte. According to Moscoes figures we have approximately 4000 disabled drivers taking advantage of free parking each day. Howard you might want to look at how much more revenue you can get by licencing electric wheelchairs/scooters, additional fare for people using ttc with strollers, etc.
Plan will penalize genuine disabled
February 14, 2007
Scrap disabled parking system: Moscoe
Feb. 13.
Councillor Howard Moscoe has asked the province to scrap the present disabled parking-permit system so that it can be replaced with one that is "free of abuse." The article also states that Moscoe believes that disabled drivers should be required to pay for on-street metered parking and at pay-and-display meters in areas equipped with this system.
As a legitimate holder of a disabled parking permit, I understand the problems faced by disabled drivers and believe that both of Moscoe's ideas would negatively affect the disabled.
Certainly there is abuse of the current disabled parking-permit system, but scrapping the present system, even for a short period of time, will be harmful to those legitimately using disabled parking permits. Using parking meters and pay-and-display ticket machines is problematic for disabled drivers. Consider the problems faced by drivers who use wheelchairs and drive automobiles equipped with hand controls.
Just getting in and out of their vehicles is very taxing. Wheeling oneself to one of the pay-and-display machines (if the meter is accessible from wheelchair height and/or accessible in winter due to accumulated ice and/or snow), paying to obtain a ticket, and then wheeling back to the car and hoisting oneself up to place the ticket on the dashboard would be exhausting, to say the least, and in some cases impossible.
Paying at a parking meter may be less difficult but still may be hard for the disabled person. For a disabled person using canes or a walker, such tasks may be a bit easier, but the extra walking involved can be extremely fatiguing, making routine errands very difficult.
I hope Moscoe and other Toronto city officials seriously consider these problems before making any decisions regarding the disabled parking system.
Joanne R. Fisher, Thornhill
How Many Hungry People Can You Feed On Creativity?
Gentrification started with the Cabbagetown whitewashers and we lost virtually thousands of low cost transient housing spaces but it started the trend for boomers and NIMBYs to forsake the suburbs an move "where the actions is" and so basically it became a matter of demand and supply. Everything seems to be about creativity and I contend the only creative iniatives are how to get more $$$$ out of taxpayer's pockets. How much have we sunk into the Wychwood Barn Artscape fiasco.
Money-driven burg sacrifices creativity
Creativity in Parkdale (You can call it the West Queen Street Triangle but to me it is still Parkdale)
Money-driven burg sacrifices creativity
Creativity in Parkdale (You can call it the West Queen Street Triangle but to me it is still Parkdale)
How Much Of City Business Is Dependant On One Person
That is the question I would ask Councillor Adam Giambrone and also I would suggest he look up the meaning of effective and efficient when it comes to running a business. It also begs the question why someone on Miller's staff didn't have a timeline on this particular item especially since Miller is so adamant in opposing developement. Is it possible his staff are too busy picking out drapes, carpets, furniture, etc. the his renovations?
City Hall fouls up Miller's condo fight TheStar.com - News - City Hall fouls up Miller's condo fight
Lawyers miss deadline in bid to stop controversial Queen Triangle project
February 14, 2007
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
Red-faced city officials were forced to scramble yesterday when they discovered they'd missed a key deadline in Mayor David Miller's fight to stop a development in a west-end neighbourhood.
Miller has said the approved buildings will destroy a vital creative employment area in the Queen St. W. and Dovercourt Rd. area, known as the Queen West triangle.
But the city missed last Friday's deadline to ask the Ontario Municipal Board to reconsider its decision to approve numerous highrise condos in the neighbourhood known for artist studios and old warehouses.
"They missed the deadline? ... It's mind-blowing," said Councillor Adam Vaughan, when told about the city's mistake.
"It's just one more example of how badly the city is being planned," said Vaughan, (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), who has been calling for planning improvements.
When the Toronto Star called the city yesterday morning no one, from the mayor's office to the legal department, seemed aware there even was a deadline to meet.
In the afternoon, the city sent its late request to the board, claiming special circumstances because the lawyer on the case had been away having surgery and none of the other 18 lawyers in the department knew to file the papers.
Since the Ontario Municipal Board agreed to accept the city's late request, Councillor Adam Giambrone, who represents the area, suggested that no harm was done.
Effective Government At City Hall - an oxymoron
City Hall fouls up Miller's condo fight TheStar.com - News - City Hall fouls up Miller's condo fight
Lawyers miss deadline in bid to stop controversial Queen Triangle project
February 14, 2007
Kerry Gillespie
Queen's Park Bureau
Red-faced city officials were forced to scramble yesterday when they discovered they'd missed a key deadline in Mayor David Miller's fight to stop a development in a west-end neighbourhood.
Miller has said the approved buildings will destroy a vital creative employment area in the Queen St. W. and Dovercourt Rd. area, known as the Queen West triangle.
But the city missed last Friday's deadline to ask the Ontario Municipal Board to reconsider its decision to approve numerous highrise condos in the neighbourhood known for artist studios and old warehouses.
"They missed the deadline? ... It's mind-blowing," said Councillor Adam Vaughan, when told about the city's mistake.
"It's just one more example of how badly the city is being planned," said Vaughan, (Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina), who has been calling for planning improvements.
When the Toronto Star called the city yesterday morning no one, from the mayor's office to the legal department, seemed aware there even was a deadline to meet.
In the afternoon, the city sent its late request to the board, claiming special circumstances because the lawyer on the case had been away having surgery and none of the other 18 lawyers in the department knew to file the papers.
Since the Ontario Municipal Board agreed to accept the city's late request, Councillor Adam Giambrone, who represents the area, suggested that no harm was done.
Effective Government At City Hall - an oxymoron
Don't Hold Your Breath Stephen....
David is too busy motoring/flying around the country tellin the rest of US how we can help the environment by driving less, lowering the temperature, using less energy in our factories, etc.
You Vote For Miller-Keep The Vaseline Handy
City Hall's/Miller reno blunder
By ROB GRANATSTEIN
Toronto politicians are used to having their every decision examined under a high-powered microscope. So when word filtered out about a $6.2 million renovation at City Hall, the obvious response was "You have to be kidding."
Quickly, it elevated to "You must be drinking!"
The $6.2 million includes expanding the mayor's office on the second floor of City Hall, so all his staff -- a roster soon to swell by five to 23 -- are in one spot.
No matter how necessary, the public perception is that this is idiotic. The plan may end up being dead in the water come budget debate time because of outrage both inside and outside City Hall.
"I can think of 6.2 million better ways to spend that money," said Coun. Gloria Lindsay Luby, whose staffers would have to pack their bags to make room for the mayor's empire to be housed in one spot, rather than continuing to be 30 strides down the hall.
Coun. Joe Mihevc, a member of the mayor's executive team, said he wonders if this item has jumped the queue.
"When you're spending $6.2 million here and you can't find money for a park playground, that's not good," said Mihevc, who would also lose his view of Nathan Phillips Square if the mayor's staff bumps him out of his office.
"I think the case has not been solidly made," he said.
Before screaming "are you all insane?!" we should look at why city staff recommended these changes -- renovations planned since 1998 -- although now tucked away as the last item at the bottom of page 13 of the "Facilities and Real Estate" capital budget.
The reason? City staff concluded there wasn't enough meeting space at City Hall.
Under the City of Toronto Act, public engagement is expected to soar, said city spokesman Rob Andrusevich. "We'll just have that many more meetings." In other words, there isn't enough room for all the extra hot air.
But Toronto does not need more meeting rooms for community consultation. If you want to consult with the community, do it at one of the many city buildings around town -- for example, the civic centres in North York, Scarborough, East York or Etobicoke. Or use the Toronto council chamber more, as Lindsay Luby suggests.
Community consultation is important, but let's not get carried away. Progress is already seized up thanks to endless community outreach.
It's a delay tactic for politicians (especially when an election's on the horizon).
A FRILL
There's one more item that's part of the $6.2 million budget -- a new media studio, like they have at Queen's Park.
Lovely? Sure. A frill? You bet.
The media can make do with standing in the mayor's protocol lounge, or in the members' lounge behind the council chamber. Or hold media briefings in the Press Gallery, where all the media have their offices anyway.
"Nobody's really requested a better media gallery," said Toronto City Hall Press Gallery president David Nickle.
This $6.2 million, if you're going to spend it, can make life better for Torontonians in so many smarter ways. No one would blink if you put it in the roads budget to fix potholes. Or put it toward Union Station renovations, so that grand old building doesn't fall down around the hundreds of thousands of people walking through it every day.
Fix up community centres or homeless shelters -- something that can make a real difference in people's lives.
Let's keep a little perspective here, too.
The city is floating a $1.4 billion capital budget this year. So $2 million out of that this year (the other $4.2 million is for next year) isn't even one-fifth of 1% of the amount set to be spent on things like new TTC vehicles, buildings, renos and the like.
ACTING LIKE INFANTS
But the problem is, perception trumps the math.
This council is already saddled with the worst reputation possible, especially after acting like infants during last week's class photo meltdown.
Even if this idea does make a spec of sense -- and I'm not conceding it does -- when this council walks into a room with two black eyes, bad bed head and its fly down, any hope of being taken seriously by the public, Queen's Park or Ottawa is lost. It all ends up as just another $6.2 million slap in the face of taxpayers.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Miller Is Right....Slavery Still Exists In Toronto
But it isn't black that are the victims but rather everyone that pays property taxes. We are continually paying an increased stipend to the massas at city hall while we see our services and our rights diminished in order to satisfy massa and his friends; the unions, social in-activists, environuts, etc. Massa is going to renovate the big house while the sharecroppers in the suburbs deal with potholes in their roads, watermain breaks, increased property taxes, etc.
Slavery end marked
Miller: 'We still have a long way to go'
By SARAH GREEN, SUN MEDIA
British legislators abolished the slave trade 200 years ago, but a "modern version of slavery" still exists, Mayor David Miller said yesterday.
Speaking at a ceremony at City Hall to mark 200 years since the trans-Atlantic slave trade was eradicated in 1807, Miller said Canadians of African descent still suffer from oppression, economic inequality and racism.
"It's clear we still have a long way to go," Miller said. "Our society has not fully come to terms with the legacy of the slave trade. We must eradicate the modern version of slavery."
The United Nations has declared March 25 the international day to commemorate the end of the Atlantic slave trade, which violently uprooted 50 to 100 million Africans over 400 years.
"When Britain stopped that enterprise, a major hemorrhage, an artery was cut," said Afua Cooper, a noted poet, author and historian. "It would take another 80 years for slavery itself."
She noted ships carrying African men, women and children -- they were naked and crowded in the hold -- were still crossing the ocean 200 years ago. They were starved, beaten, whipped and overcome with disease.
"We don't call it a genocide. It should be called a genocide."
Despite its sombre theme, yesterday's ceremony was a celebration of African culture with art, dancing and spirited drumming.
African slaves came to the west with nothing, but reproduced their food, music, clothing, even religion, Cooper said.
Keeping Up With The Jones!
This seems to be one Jones who wishes you hadn't.......
Baby boomed
So, my job as a 30-something Canadian is to pay down a trillion dollars debt, pay for a generation’s subsidized energy bill, replace a worn out and over-loaded infrastructure, subsidize every new immigrant’s transition into my society, feed Africa and not tax the boomers retirement income. I think we’ve found the most selfish generation this planet has ever known. I’m waiting for your response boomers, please tell me the errors of my thinking, because I pretty much think you’ve destroyed your children’s future. Oh that’s right we should shut up and take it. Thanks for nothing. History will remember you as the most selfish generation this planet has ever known, but hey, at least your number one leader did a pirouette behind the queen and that’s really what matters, eh.
Mike Jones
Mississauga
Baby boomed
So, my job as a 30-something Canadian is to pay down a trillion dollars debt, pay for a generation’s subsidized energy bill, replace a worn out and over-loaded infrastructure, subsidize every new immigrant’s transition into my society, feed Africa and not tax the boomers retirement income. I think we’ve found the most selfish generation this planet has ever known. I’m waiting for your response boomers, please tell me the errors of my thinking, because I pretty much think you’ve destroyed your children’s future. Oh that’s right we should shut up and take it. Thanks for nothing. History will remember you as the most selfish generation this planet has ever known, but hey, at least your number one leader did a pirouette behind the queen and that’s really what matters, eh.
Mike Jones
Mississauga
Our Salvation Might Come From Rural Canada
The people in Herouxville have shone the spotlight on religious intolerance and sparked a lot of discussion on both sides and now it is possible that a rural activist in Ontario, Randy Hillier, was right on the money with the following comment; "sounded a warning about the spread of a new disease: "Complacent (sic), Ignorance, and Apathy (CIA)." He said the disease "generally attacks individuals living in dense urban settings" and that describes the apathy shown in the City of Toronto.
I would suggest John Tory sitdown and have some serious discussions with Hillier.
Rural activist a potential headache for Tories
February 12, 2007
Ian Urquhart
Randy Hillier is hardly a household name in Toronto, but he certainly is in rural Ontario. And he could soon become one in urban Ontario.
Hillier is co-founder of the 15,000-member Ontario Landowners Association, a radical rural group that opposes just about every initiative undertaken by government.
In the past, Hillier has organized tractor blockades on Highway 401, counselled civil disobedience, trumpeted individual rights against marketing boards, and distributed emails portraying Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky (then minister of the environment) as a dead deer.
Mainstream farm organizations are leery of Hillier, who is not actually a farmer himself. He is an electrician who, ironically, was once employed by the federal government.
But he has a loyal following in rural Ontario, where he is viewed as a spokesperson for the disenfranchised.
Hillier's rhetoric is both colourful and over the top. In a recent tongue-in-cheek press release, for example, he sounded a warning about the spread of a new disease: "Complacent (sic), Ignorance, and Apathy (CIA)." He said the disease "generally attacks individuals living in dense urban settings" and added:
"Once infected, there is no known cure. The patient becomes addicted to watching the CBC, desires social housing, seeks out either welfare or bureaucratic employment, and has a strong preference for public transportation. Complete dependence upon government leading to eventual death is inevitable."
Why does any of this matter? Because last week Hillier announced that he is seeking the provincial Conservative nomination in the riding of Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.
Hillier has not previously been associated with the provincial Conservatives. Indeed, he started up the Lanark Landowners' Association, the forerunner to the Ontario Landowners Association, back in 2003, when the Conservatives were still in power at Queen's Park and implementing programs he opposed, such as amalgamations and nutrient management.
Now he is seeking to run under the Conservative banner in an unheld eastern Ontario riding, newly created in the recent redistribution.
The date of the nomination meeting has not yet been set, but it is expected to he held in April. The provincial election is set for Oct. 10.
While Hillier will be opposed for the nomination – two other long-standing Conservatives had previously announced their candidacies – he has an excellent chance of winning it, given his roots and profile in the riding.
But there are first some hurdles for Hillier to clear, including the Conservative party's screening process for would-be candidates.
"He's a long way from being an MPP," Conservative Leader John Tory tersely noted last week.
Blair McCreadie, president of the provincial Conservatives, described the screening process as a "standard background check" of a person's past. "Some people haven't lived lives conducive to high public office," explained McCreadie, while declining to state whether Hillier falls under that category.
But if the provincial Conservatives decide to disqualify Hillier as a candidate, it will not be without controversy.
"I would be very disappointed," says Scott Reid, the Conservative MP for the riding and a friend of Hillier. "I can't think of anything more dangerous to our prospects."
Indeed, Hillier might opt to run as an independent if the party establishment won't let him stand as a Conservative.
On the other hand, if Hillier is allowed to run for the nomination and wins, his public commentary could hurt the Conservatives during the fall election campaign.
Tory himself plans to run in an urban riding (Don Valley West) in that campaign and will be seeking votes from the very same CBC-watching, TTC-taking crowd that Hillier denigrates.
The Conservatives will have to weigh that risk against the potential boost from Hillier in Ontario's two dozen rural ridings, most of which were won by the Liberals in the last provincial election.
Further complicating the picture are ongoing talks between the party and the landowners' association. The landowners are seeking planks in the Conservative platform that mirror their positions, such as a call for de-amalgamations.
If the Conservatives aren't forthcoming, the landowners have threatened to run their own slate of candidates, which could split the anti-government vote and keep the Liberals in power.
The time for a landowner slate may be running out, however, and the association itself is split on the issue, with one member group recently pulling out over it.
But the Conservatives may not want to run the risk of alienating both the landowners and Hillier.
Ian Urquhart's provincial affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. iurquha@thestar.ca.
I would suggest John Tory sitdown and have some serious discussions with Hillier.
Rural activist a potential headache for Tories
February 12, 2007
Ian Urquhart
Randy Hillier is hardly a household name in Toronto, but he certainly is in rural Ontario. And he could soon become one in urban Ontario.
Hillier is co-founder of the 15,000-member Ontario Landowners Association, a radical rural group that opposes just about every initiative undertaken by government.
In the past, Hillier has organized tractor blockades on Highway 401, counselled civil disobedience, trumpeted individual rights against marketing boards, and distributed emails portraying Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky (then minister of the environment) as a dead deer.
Mainstream farm organizations are leery of Hillier, who is not actually a farmer himself. He is an electrician who, ironically, was once employed by the federal government.
But he has a loyal following in rural Ontario, where he is viewed as a spokesperson for the disenfranchised.
Hillier's rhetoric is both colourful and over the top. In a recent tongue-in-cheek press release, for example, he sounded a warning about the spread of a new disease: "Complacent (sic), Ignorance, and Apathy (CIA)." He said the disease "generally attacks individuals living in dense urban settings" and added:
"Once infected, there is no known cure. The patient becomes addicted to watching the CBC, desires social housing, seeks out either welfare or bureaucratic employment, and has a strong preference for public transportation. Complete dependence upon government leading to eventual death is inevitable."
Why does any of this matter? Because last week Hillier announced that he is seeking the provincial Conservative nomination in the riding of Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington.
Hillier has not previously been associated with the provincial Conservatives. Indeed, he started up the Lanark Landowners' Association, the forerunner to the Ontario Landowners Association, back in 2003, when the Conservatives were still in power at Queen's Park and implementing programs he opposed, such as amalgamations and nutrient management.
Now he is seeking to run under the Conservative banner in an unheld eastern Ontario riding, newly created in the recent redistribution.
The date of the nomination meeting has not yet been set, but it is expected to he held in April. The provincial election is set for Oct. 10.
While Hillier will be opposed for the nomination – two other long-standing Conservatives had previously announced their candidacies – he has an excellent chance of winning it, given his roots and profile in the riding.
But there are first some hurdles for Hillier to clear, including the Conservative party's screening process for would-be candidates.
"He's a long way from being an MPP," Conservative Leader John Tory tersely noted last week.
Blair McCreadie, president of the provincial Conservatives, described the screening process as a "standard background check" of a person's past. "Some people haven't lived lives conducive to high public office," explained McCreadie, while declining to state whether Hillier falls under that category.
But if the provincial Conservatives decide to disqualify Hillier as a candidate, it will not be without controversy.
"I would be very disappointed," says Scott Reid, the Conservative MP for the riding and a friend of Hillier. "I can't think of anything more dangerous to our prospects."
Indeed, Hillier might opt to run as an independent if the party establishment won't let him stand as a Conservative.
On the other hand, if Hillier is allowed to run for the nomination and wins, his public commentary could hurt the Conservatives during the fall election campaign.
Tory himself plans to run in an urban riding (Don Valley West) in that campaign and will be seeking votes from the very same CBC-watching, TTC-taking crowd that Hillier denigrates.
The Conservatives will have to weigh that risk against the potential boost from Hillier in Ontario's two dozen rural ridings, most of which were won by the Liberals in the last provincial election.
Further complicating the picture are ongoing talks between the party and the landowners' association. The landowners are seeking planks in the Conservative platform that mirror their positions, such as a call for de-amalgamations.
If the Conservatives aren't forthcoming, the landowners have threatened to run their own slate of candidates, which could split the anti-government vote and keep the Liberals in power.
The time for a landowner slate may be running out, however, and the association itself is split on the issue, with one member group recently pulling out over it.
But the Conservatives may not want to run the risk of alienating both the landowners and Hillier.
Ian Urquhart's provincial affairs column appears Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. iurquha@thestar.ca.
Where Will Smitherman Be Registered?
I am sure people on both sides of the issue will want to send him a little something....
Smitherman set to say `I do'
Health minister reveals plans to marry his long-time partner
February 12, 2007
Rob Ferguson
Robert Benzie
Queen's Park Bureau
NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.–Maybe it was spending the weekend in this honeymoon capital that inspired George Smitherman, Ontario's first openly gay cabinet minister, to reveal his summer wedding date.
Smitherman, deputy premier and health minister who turns 43 today, told the Star the nuptials will take place Aug. 5 at a wilderness resort west of Sudbury. He and his long-time partner, Christopher Peloso, a 33-year-old manager of retail operations for chocolate company Lindt Canada, were quietly engaged on Christmas Day.
"I'm going to make a long-term commitment to Christopher in August and then I'm hoping that the people of my riding are going to make a long-term commitment to me on Oct. 10," Smitherman confided yesterday at a Liberal policy convention preparing for the fall election. The two men first met 10 years ago and dated on and off before reconnecting 18 months ago.
"We already knew what we were getting into," said Peloso, who was "born and raised a Liberal" but acknowledges his politics are a little to the left of his fiancé. "We're constantly challenging and motivating each other," he added. "We keep each other in balance."
Smitherman proposed when they were in Sudbury for Christmas visiting Peloso's parents.
The wedding will be at Laurentian Lodge, a picturesque resort north of Elliot Lake where Smitherman took Peloso's family last summer.
"We like the idea of drawing people to the north," said the beaming deputy premier, who plans to incorporate some First Nations traditions into the wedding ceremony to be conducted by a justice of the peace.
The couple, who hope to adopt a child, played down the historical significance of their union.
"It's not all that big a deal now," said Smitherman, praising gay and lesbian pioneers who have been fighting for equal rights for years.
Same-sex marriage has been effectively legal in Canada since 2002, and was entrenched in law in 2005.
Smitherman, who became Ontario's first openly gay MPP in 1999, has been an outspoken advocate in favour of it.
During last year's federal election campaign, he threatened to have a "Stephen Harper shotgun wedding" because the Conservatives campaigned against same-sex marriage.
But the minority Tories lost a Commons vote to reopen the subject last year and the issue is no longer as politically charged or divisive.
Smitherman said the wedding would be informal, with no ties, and casual so that the reception can evolve into a beach party on the shore of Flack Lake after the ceremony.
He's not worried about having the wedding so close to the campaign, which officially begins in September.
"Even though it's on the cusp of an election, there's only so much politics Ontarians can take in August ... I'm pretty sure we can carve seven or 10 days out."
Bangash/Zundel! Where Is The Difference?
They both preach annihilation of jews but we kicked out Zundel but allow Bangash to spout the same vile garbage with impunity. Could it be that we fear the leftist apologists will scream religious persecution because Bangash is an iman?
Let's look at his record.........
Protesters have emphasized that it is not the mosque that bothered them but the fact that its leader, Zafar Bangash, is a notorious extremist. Bangash disagrees. So, in the best of Canadian traditions, you judge for yourself.
He edited a newspaper called Crescent International for 20 years. In 1998, the paper stated that Canada is a "fully paid-up member of the Anglo-Saxon mafia, which is responsible for most of the recorded genocides in the world." After the 9/11 mass murder it claimed that Osama bin Laden was someone who "stands up to the West in the name of Islam" and that there was a "far greater tragedy taking place in Iraq, Palestine and now in Afghanistan."
So regarded is the man by Islamic extremists that the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) awarded him a media excellence award in 2001. I use the term extremist because in 2004 the president of the CIC, Mohamed Elmasry, said on my television show that every Israeli over the age of 18, irrespective of gender, was a valid target for death.
Not sure where Bangash stands on that issue but he has said that, "there will be no room for a Jewish Israel. Zionist thugs will have to vacate every inch of Palestine if there is to be justice (and therefore peace) in that tortured land."
He also told an audience that, "for people like politicians George Bush and Tony Blair, there would be peace if the whole world was pumping oil to satisfy America's voracious appetite for black gold. But for the state of Israel, peace would mean when all the Palestinians have been put into the graveyard, six feet down."
Discussing the Ayatollah Khomeini, the imam wrote, "the imam's designation of the U.S. as a great Satan was very precise. It emerged from a very careful study and understanding of the behaviour of the United States government and its policies down the generations."
He continued, the U.S. works "under the guise of delivering democracy and freedom when tens of thousands if not hundred of thousands of innocent people have been murdered in cold blood. Similar crimes are being perpetrated in Palestine by the U.S. support of the Zionist occupiers of Palestine."
Writing of Sayyid Qutb, one of the founders of The Muslim Brotherhood, he stated that he, "lives in the hearts of millions of Muslims worldwide. His books have been translated into virtually every language that Muslims read, and remain hugely influential ... he was an Islamic intellectual and leader of rare insight and integrity."
Qutb was hanged for his activities and was an anti-Western militant who believed in international Islamic war against the West, Jews and even Muslims with whom he disagreed. He embraced violent jihad and bloody revolution.
Let's look at his record.........
Protesters have emphasized that it is not the mosque that bothered them but the fact that its leader, Zafar Bangash, is a notorious extremist. Bangash disagrees. So, in the best of Canadian traditions, you judge for yourself.
He edited a newspaper called Crescent International for 20 years. In 1998, the paper stated that Canada is a "fully paid-up member of the Anglo-Saxon mafia, which is responsible for most of the recorded genocides in the world." After the 9/11 mass murder it claimed that Osama bin Laden was someone who "stands up to the West in the name of Islam" and that there was a "far greater tragedy taking place in Iraq, Palestine and now in Afghanistan."
So regarded is the man by Islamic extremists that the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) awarded him a media excellence award in 2001. I use the term extremist because in 2004 the president of the CIC, Mohamed Elmasry, said on my television show that every Israeli over the age of 18, irrespective of gender, was a valid target for death.
Not sure where Bangash stands on that issue but he has said that, "there will be no room for a Jewish Israel. Zionist thugs will have to vacate every inch of Palestine if there is to be justice (and therefore peace) in that tortured land."
He also told an audience that, "for people like politicians George Bush and Tony Blair, there would be peace if the whole world was pumping oil to satisfy America's voracious appetite for black gold. But for the state of Israel, peace would mean when all the Palestinians have been put into the graveyard, six feet down."
Discussing the Ayatollah Khomeini, the imam wrote, "the imam's designation of the U.S. as a great Satan was very precise. It emerged from a very careful study and understanding of the behaviour of the United States government and its policies down the generations."
He continued, the U.S. works "under the guise of delivering democracy and freedom when tens of thousands if not hundred of thousands of innocent people have been murdered in cold blood. Similar crimes are being perpetrated in Palestine by the U.S. support of the Zionist occupiers of Palestine."
Writing of Sayyid Qutb, one of the founders of The Muslim Brotherhood, he stated that he, "lives in the hearts of millions of Muslims worldwide. His books have been translated into virtually every language that Muslims read, and remain hugely influential ... he was an Islamic intellectual and leader of rare insight and integrity."
Qutb was hanged for his activities and was an anti-Western militant who believed in international Islamic war against the West, Jews and even Muslims with whom he disagreed. He embraced violent jihad and bloody revolution.
Beware Of "Greeks" Bearing Gifts
I don't know why I feel uncomfortable with this.....maybe because I envision this happening in the 40s and children being given candy and patted on the head before being loaded onto the trains to Auschwitz. I am sure the women involved are well intentioned but their denial is scary. If nothing else the actions of Herouxville allows the reintroduction of 'xenophobia' into the lexicon of the saviours of the world.
Muslims hope to 'dispel myths' in Quebec town
Updated Sun. Feb. 11 2007 3:53 PM ET
Canadian Press
HEROUXVILLE, Que. -- A delegation of Muslim women is visiting a Quebec town that passed a controversial code of conduct aimed at immigrants.
Last month, local officials in the mostly white, French-speaking and Catholic town of Herouxville, population 1,300, adopted a rule of conduct for immigrants.
Included in the code: women should be able to show their faces in public (aside from costumes worn on Halloween), and they should also be permitted to drive and write cheques.
Women should also not be killed in public beatings or burned alive.
Today, a group of Muslim women clad in traditional Muslim headscarves are meeting with about 50 of the town's residents in an effort to dispel myths about Muslims, said Najat Boughaba, a member of the Canadian Islamic Congress.
Town councillor Andre Drouin said the town is eager to welcome its visitors and show residents are not racists. The town council will discuss the norms at the next town meeting and will make changes if warranted but Drouin said the list will remain in place.
Critics have called the code ridiculous and xenophobic, but Drouin told CTV News last month that he has received about 2,000 e-mails of support -- 700 more than Herouxville's population.
"We have just published a small document saying who we are and what's our standard," he said.
Some Muslim leaders have called the code a thinly-veiled example of xenophobia.
"Racism is coming out of the woodwork now, and it's not being obscure or subtle," said Salaam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal.
Two hours away in Montreal, commentators like radio host Stephane Gendron have taken a hard-line stance against making too many accommodations for religious groups.
"We should have zero tolerance for that," said Gendron. "You're just a regular citizen. Religion at home is fine. Otherwise, it's too much."
However, Gendron said Herouxville's code is a step too far.
Jack Jedwab, of the Association for Canadian Studies, said while Gendron may want to distance himself from the code, such commentators are somewhat responsible.
"I think the people who have generated the debate in this particular way are in part of blame for what's happened in this particular town, which has now become a focal point for xenophobia and Islamophobia in Quebec," he said.
Muslims hope to 'dispel myths' in Quebec town
Updated Sun. Feb. 11 2007 3:53 PM ET
Canadian Press
HEROUXVILLE, Que. -- A delegation of Muslim women is visiting a Quebec town that passed a controversial code of conduct aimed at immigrants.
Last month, local officials in the mostly white, French-speaking and Catholic town of Herouxville, population 1,300, adopted a rule of conduct for immigrants.
Included in the code: women should be able to show their faces in public (aside from costumes worn on Halloween), and they should also be permitted to drive and write cheques.
Women should also not be killed in public beatings or burned alive.
Today, a group of Muslim women clad in traditional Muslim headscarves are meeting with about 50 of the town's residents in an effort to dispel myths about Muslims, said Najat Boughaba, a member of the Canadian Islamic Congress.
Town councillor Andre Drouin said the town is eager to welcome its visitors and show residents are not racists. The town council will discuss the norms at the next town meeting and will make changes if warranted but Drouin said the list will remain in place.
Critics have called the code ridiculous and xenophobic, but Drouin told CTV News last month that he has received about 2,000 e-mails of support -- 700 more than Herouxville's population.
"We have just published a small document saying who we are and what's our standard," he said.
Some Muslim leaders have called the code a thinly-veiled example of xenophobia.
"Racism is coming out of the woodwork now, and it's not being obscure or subtle," said Salaam Elmenyawi of the Muslim Council of Montreal.
Two hours away in Montreal, commentators like radio host Stephane Gendron have taken a hard-line stance against making too many accommodations for religious groups.
"We should have zero tolerance for that," said Gendron. "You're just a regular citizen. Religion at home is fine. Otherwise, it's too much."
However, Gendron said Herouxville's code is a step too far.
Jack Jedwab, of the Association for Canadian Studies, said while Gendron may want to distance himself from the code, such commentators are somewhat responsible.
"I think the people who have generated the debate in this particular way are in part of blame for what's happened in this particular town, which has now become a focal point for xenophobia and Islamophobia in Quebec," he said.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Why Is There Such A Disparity Among Indian Bands
Does Fontaine represent all indian bands in Canada?
Fontaine offers natives vision of better future
Feb. 11, 2007
For far too long, many of Canada's native peoples have suffered from bad water, inferior education and too few job prospects, both on rural reserves and in cities and towns across the country.
More
He paints a pretty dismal picture but I have to wonder if it is because it get him more media attention than the following success story......
Aboriginals get bigger share of job action
Rates rise for off-reserve natives out west
WENDY STUECK
VANCOUVER -- Cindy Pete was born in Moricetown, a native village in Gitxsan Wet'suwet'en territory on the shores of the Bulkley River in northwestern B.C.
Today, 26-year-old Ms. Pete lives in Vancouver, where she recently landed a full-time job as a daycare worker after graduating last year from an early childhood education program.
"I've been looking after children since I was a teenager so I decided to use that gift," Ms. Pete said yesterday, as children played around her.
Ms. Pete's new job puts her in the ranks of thousands of Canadians who found work last month, pushing the employment tally well past economists' forecasts. She also reflects another aspect of the job market in Alberta and B.C.: higher rates of employment for aboriginal people.
More
Fontaine offers natives vision of better future
Feb. 11, 2007
For far too long, many of Canada's native peoples have suffered from bad water, inferior education and too few job prospects, both on rural reserves and in cities and towns across the country.
More
He paints a pretty dismal picture but I have to wonder if it is because it get him more media attention than the following success story......
Aboriginals get bigger share of job action
Rates rise for off-reserve natives out west
WENDY STUECK
VANCOUVER -- Cindy Pete was born in Moricetown, a native village in Gitxsan Wet'suwet'en territory on the shores of the Bulkley River in northwestern B.C.
Today, 26-year-old Ms. Pete lives in Vancouver, where she recently landed a full-time job as a daycare worker after graduating last year from an early childhood education program.
"I've been looking after children since I was a teenager so I decided to use that gift," Ms. Pete said yesterday, as children played around her.
Ms. Pete's new job puts her in the ranks of thousands of Canadians who found work last month, pushing the employment tally well past economists' forecasts. She also reflects another aspect of the job market in Alberta and B.C.: higher rates of employment for aboriginal people.
More
Gentrifaction Of The Waterfront
How much pedestrian traffic is there around Harborfront these days? Where the kids, from the affordable housing, playing? Where are the Price Choppers and Dollar Stores?
Fresh ideas for waterfront
It is encouraging to find some of the world's brightest stars of urban design competing for the task of revitalizing a key section of Toronto's derelict waterfront. With firms of this calibre in the running, every indication is that the city will be well served by the selection process.
The land in question is a 40-hectare tract known as the Lower Don Lands. Its location at the mouth of the Don River and stretching southward puts it at the very core of this city's waterfront dreams.
It is a deeply challenging site, blocked from the rest of the city by the Don, sprawling rail yards and the Gardiner Expressway. Much of its land is toxic from heavy industrial use over the decades and the area is severed by the Keating Channel.
On the other hand, in large part because of those barriers, it poses an intriguing problem that could bring out the very best from an imaginative mind.
Several such minds were in Toronto Friday as four rival design groups were briefed on the project and its demands.
Perhaps the most celebrated at the moment is the New York team of Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi. Their landmark work on the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle has caught the attention of the international design community and the broader public.
Featuring dramatic vistas and incorporating stretches of an active railway and a multi-lane traffic artery, this Seattle work has been hailed as a new form of park combining grasses and greenery with decidedly urban infrastructure. It was featured, just three weeks ago, in Time magazine as a bold example of where park design is heading.
This team is hoping to work similar magic in Toronto. The Gardiner Expressway could be a major problem, or it could be "fantastic," said Weiss.
With the right thinking, design challenges in the Lower Don Lands could become opportunities, added Manfredi. "Boldness is required," he said.
The other design groups named as finalists for this project are teams led by Stoss Inc. of Boston, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates of New York and Atelier Girot of Zurich.
All are firms noted for their innovation and original solutions. They will have eight weeks to complete their designs, with their final offerings to be publicly displayed in mid-April followed by the announcement of a winner in early May.
Torontonians can look forward to that. But they will surely look forward, even more, to when work actually starts on this vitally important project.
Fresh ideas for waterfront
It is encouraging to find some of the world's brightest stars of urban design competing for the task of revitalizing a key section of Toronto's derelict waterfront. With firms of this calibre in the running, every indication is that the city will be well served by the selection process.
The land in question is a 40-hectare tract known as the Lower Don Lands. Its location at the mouth of the Don River and stretching southward puts it at the very core of this city's waterfront dreams.
It is a deeply challenging site, blocked from the rest of the city by the Don, sprawling rail yards and the Gardiner Expressway. Much of its land is toxic from heavy industrial use over the decades and the area is severed by the Keating Channel.
On the other hand, in large part because of those barriers, it poses an intriguing problem that could bring out the very best from an imaginative mind.
Several such minds were in Toronto Friday as four rival design groups were briefed on the project and its demands.
Perhaps the most celebrated at the moment is the New York team of Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi. Their landmark work on the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle has caught the attention of the international design community and the broader public.
Featuring dramatic vistas and incorporating stretches of an active railway and a multi-lane traffic artery, this Seattle work has been hailed as a new form of park combining grasses and greenery with decidedly urban infrastructure. It was featured, just three weeks ago, in Time magazine as a bold example of where park design is heading.
This team is hoping to work similar magic in Toronto. The Gardiner Expressway could be a major problem, or it could be "fantastic," said Weiss.
With the right thinking, design challenges in the Lower Don Lands could become opportunities, added Manfredi. "Boldness is required," he said.
The other design groups named as finalists for this project are teams led by Stoss Inc. of Boston, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates of New York and Atelier Girot of Zurich.
All are firms noted for their innovation and original solutions. They will have eight weeks to complete their designs, with their final offerings to be publicly displayed in mid-April followed by the announcement of a winner in early May.
Torontonians can look forward to that. But they will surely look forward, even more, to when work actually starts on this vitally important project.
The Mayor Called Them Listen To Toronto Sessions
What a con job that has proven to be and now we have Transit Camps to change the TTC. Don't hold your breath. You want to improve the TTC....privatize it and take away it's monoply status. This makes as much sense as the crap we have been fed by Moscoe over the last three years and some of the ideas that seem to have come out of this camp....
A Quiet Car and an Improve Your English car in subway trains. A lapel button to indicate you're feeling gregarious.
Minding the gaps on The Better Way
A Quiet Car and an Improve Your English car in subway trains. A lapel button to indicate you're feeling gregarious. When 100 TTC lovers assembled recently for Transit Camp, they had visions aplenty for the system
February 11, 2007
Leslie Scrivener
Say it's been a frantic day at work – phone calls, interruptions, intrusions. The day ends and you long for silence, but a subway ride lies ahead. What to do? Why, at the station make your way directly to the Quiet Car, the one without conversation, where cellphones and announcements are silenced.
The Quiet Car may not suit everyone. But, if you're feeling friendly, put on a lapel button that says "OK," a signal that you're open to conversation.
Want to improve your English? Head for the Improve Your English Car, where volunteers will help you practise for the duration of your ride.
These ideas emerged during last Sunday's Transit Camp, a day of out-of-the-tunnel thinking on how to improve the Toronto Transit Commission, specifically, its clunky website, its shelters, its subway cars and the way it communicates with its riders.
The 100 or so campers were young, in their 20s and early 30s, mostly people who work in the communications and tech industries and university students, all madly in love with transit. The TTC is symbolic of their relationship with the city – but more about that later.
The TTC Commission needs to go to camp....a reality camp.
A Quiet Car and an Improve Your English car in subway trains. A lapel button to indicate you're feeling gregarious.
Minding the gaps on The Better Way
A Quiet Car and an Improve Your English car in subway trains. A lapel button to indicate you're feeling gregarious. When 100 TTC lovers assembled recently for Transit Camp, they had visions aplenty for the system
February 11, 2007
Leslie Scrivener
Say it's been a frantic day at work – phone calls, interruptions, intrusions. The day ends and you long for silence, but a subway ride lies ahead. What to do? Why, at the station make your way directly to the Quiet Car, the one without conversation, where cellphones and announcements are silenced.
The Quiet Car may not suit everyone. But, if you're feeling friendly, put on a lapel button that says "OK," a signal that you're open to conversation.
Want to improve your English? Head for the Improve Your English Car, where volunteers will help you practise for the duration of your ride.
These ideas emerged during last Sunday's Transit Camp, a day of out-of-the-tunnel thinking on how to improve the Toronto Transit Commission, specifically, its clunky website, its shelters, its subway cars and the way it communicates with its riders.
The 100 or so campers were young, in their 20s and early 30s, mostly people who work in the communications and tech industries and university students, all madly in love with transit. The TTC is symbolic of their relationship with the city – but more about that later.
The TTC Commission needs to go to camp....a reality camp.
An Insight Into The Leftist Mentality
Why Jack Layton will never live at 24 Sussex Dr.
By ANGELO PERSICHILLI
February 11, 2007
There is a group of Canadian voters who have never voted for a political organization, always against one.
They park their preferences with the party that, during that particular election, they hope will defeat the party they most hate. They must not be confused with the “undecided.”
Rather, their approach is prominent among radical ideological voters of the extreme right and left.
It is common to see radical rightists supporting provincial Liberals in say, British Columbia, where the Grits are their “only hope to stop the socialists.”
In Ontario, it goes the other way with the radical leftists.
Their vote goes to the Liberals when they have to defeat, say, a Mike Harris. It’s called “strategic voting,” the “Buzz Hargrove” syndrome.
But this is the syndrome that will always stop the federal NDP at the doorstep of Langevin Block in Ottawa.
more
By ANGELO PERSICHILLI
February 11, 2007
There is a group of Canadian voters who have never voted for a political organization, always against one.
They park their preferences with the party that, during that particular election, they hope will defeat the party they most hate. They must not be confused with the “undecided.”
Rather, their approach is prominent among radical ideological voters of the extreme right and left.
It is common to see radical rightists supporting provincial Liberals in say, British Columbia, where the Grits are their “only hope to stop the socialists.”
In Ontario, it goes the other way with the radical leftists.
Their vote goes to the Liberals when they have to defeat, say, a Mike Harris. It’s called “strategic voting,” the “Buzz Hargrove” syndrome.
But this is the syndrome that will always stop the federal NDP at the doorstep of Langevin Block in Ottawa.
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About Me
- Unhypentated Canadian
- I lean to the right but I still have a heart and if I have a mission it is to respond to attacks on people not available to protect themselves and to point out the hypocrisy of the left at every opportunity.MY MAJOR GOAL IS HIGHLIGHT THE HYPOCRISY AND STUPIDITY OF THE LEFTISTS ON TORONTO CITY COUNCIL. Last word: In the final analysis this blog is a relief valve for my rants/raves.