Bike Lane Maintenance Budgets Increased Dramatically...

City pays cyclist $200K for pothole crash

A cyclist who was seriously injured after falling into a pothole in 2003 will receive almost $200,000 from the city of Montreal, according to a media report.

Why Won't Isreali Model Work In North America?

Throw a Quarter into the machine and let's ask the swami...

What About A Second Chance...

...for the US soldier that he is accussed of killing?

Omar Khadr deserves a life after Gitmo


Globe: Omar Khadr is Canada’s problem, and once freed from United States control, in a plea deal expected soon with prosecutors at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, he should be dealt with under Canadian principles that have respect for a second chance in life.

MORE...

Possibly Israel Thnks The PRICE Is Too High...

Israel’s message to the rest of the world: We don’t want peace

As someone who generally considers himself a friend of Israel, I really am stunned by the foolish decision to re-commence settlement construction in the West Bank. I know there are plenty of people out there who’ve memorized 18 different reasons why Israel is theoretically justified in putting up new homes on the ground. But as I argued at length here, that is beside the point: Mahmoud Abbas is a legitimate peace partner, and it is simply idiotic for Israel to stubbornly insist on wrecking any chance for fruitful peace talks by willfully violating the one red-line issue that the PA President has insisted upon. And for what? To build a few hundred more houses and empower the most militant and uncompromising political settler-friendly elements within Israel?
The Gaza flotilla has gotten a lot of the press in recent months. But in that case, the Israeli government at least could legitimately argue that it was interdicting aid to Hamas, an entity that truly is at war with Israel. In the case of settlement construction, Israel is sabotaging a chance for peace, full stop. And aside from everything else, that’s a terrible message for an already beleaguered nation to the send to the world.

jkay@nationalpost.com

You Have To Wonder...

Rex Murphy:

The United Nations, once a noble dream, is now just a joke

The Geneva Convention and Hitler in the 30s and the United Nations and Ahmadinejad in 2010? You couldn't find, no hard you try, of an prime example of the inmates taking over the asylum.

Jonathan Kay on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Inside the mind of a conspiracy theorist

Hamas At Work In Ward 27...

The other face of the Ward 27 frontrunner


By SUE-ANN LEVY, Toronto Sun

She paints herself as an “independent” candidate who vows, on her campaign website, to “prioritize the needs of Ward 27 constituents over narrow, partisan interests.”

Sesame Street Versus UFC...

Norman Spector

Margaret Atwood versus George Will on the Mideast

The Complexity Of The Taliban...

...and could be compared to the complexity of dealing with Public Service, Auto Workers and Teacher Unions. And IMHO the more you give them the more they want.
 
Life, Death and the Taliban:

Understanding the Taliban — a multimedia report

...and while we are on the subject:

Black flags over Baghdad

In two coordinated attacks, attackers hoisted the black Islamic State of Iraq flag — a sign al Qaeda is very much alive. —FPA Iraq

The Americas

National Post editorial board: The truth about the Gaza Flotilla

National Post editorial board  July 13, 2010 – 3:09 pm

 

When Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish jihadis on board the lead ship of a Gaza-bound flotilla six weeks ago, Israel’s enemies exhibited unusually fervid spasms of agitation. Never mind that about half the victims already had declared their aspiration to die at Israeli hands as violent “martyrs”; or that the organizers were part of an NGO that Western prosecutors and researchers have linked to terrorism. As with the Gaza war in late 2008, the case was presented as a black-and-white morality play, with Israel in the role of vicious marauder. Indeed, left-wing commentators could barely contain their glee at how these “martyrs” had passive-aggressively engineered an epochal shift in the balance of Middle Eastern power. “Israel’s ill-fated boarding operation of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara has become a nightmare for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but a dream come true for the leaders of Hamas,” reported The Globe & Mail’s Patrick Martin. “It took the deaths of nine international activists, most of them Turkish, to make a difference.”
Sorry, Patrick, but this “dream come true” now appears to have been short-lived.

Read More »

Media And Bloggers Should Be Able To Get Another Couple Of Days...

...before we move on to new earth shattering stories. 

 

Tom Gross: Turkish paper publishes photos of beaten Israelis

‘Flotilla, shmotilla’ and just what has the letters editor been drinking??

Things Should Quiet Down After This Weekend...

...the social in-activists, anarchists, protestors, et al will be taking a week off to rest up for the G20. 

George Jonas: Crusade of the peace terrorists

The flotilla of peace terrorists sailing towards the Gaza strip in the early hours of Monday had little interest in delivering wheelchairs to the halt and the lame. The humanitarian supplies aboard their vessels were incidental to their mission, which was to run Israel’s blockade.
Nobody likes blockades. They’re acts of war, with all the usual costs and hazards, but without the potential benefits. They offer no gain, no glory, just a bad press. Blockades are policies of perceived necessity, not policies of choice. Read More »

The Gaza Blockade Protesters Are Playing Us.

The term useful idiots comes to mind when one thinks of the protesters support of the “Peace Activist Massacre“. The con continues and everyone bites… Here’s a bit more of how bad life is in Gaza.. Yet if you walk down Gaza City’s main thoroughfare — Salah al-Din Street — grocery stores are stocked wall-to-wall with everything from [...]

Vancouver Secrets |

...supports military deserters, terrorists, suicide bombers; 

amid the horror of gaza flotilla massacre, let's not lose sight of the bigger picture

Common Sense Says We Should Support The Only Friends We Have In The Middle East...

Letters: Our readers side with Israel after Gaza incident

Baz Ratner / Reuters

Students at Haifa University show their support of the Israeli action to board a boat off Gaza this week.

By Paul Russell  June 1, 2010 – 3:15 pm

Readers have let us know how they feel about Israel’s forceful storming of a Turkish ship off the coast of Gaza early Monday morning. Of the dozens of letters that have come in, very few criticize the Jewish state; most vigorously support its action. Here are some examples.
Re: Jenin On The High Seas, editorial, May 30.
I read with interest this editorial’s courageous analysis of Israel’s constant battle against the propagandists who have an affinity to words and phrases such as “massacre” and “brutal aggression.” While Israelis are resigned to the fact that Israel is the favourite scapegoat for the world’s problems, there were some honest peace-seeking do-gooders aboard the flotilla. Unfortunately, it is that naive minority who were themselves duped by their fellow travelling thugs and who ended up serving the role as human shields for a group intent on picking a fight even before they set sail.
S. Jonah Pressman, Jerusalem.
Kudos to the Free Gaza Movement, and of course, its proxy state, Iran, for a brilliant PR job with this “humanitarian” convoy. The orders likely were:  Make it purely humanitarian, carry no live ammunition on board (only knives and clubs), have ships refuse Israeli orders to pull into an Egyptian port and when Israel attacks, fight them with everything you’ve got. That will allow evil regimes such as Iran, China and Russia to condemn the action, deflecting true human rights violations in their countries. And when the report comes out showing that Israel did everything it could to avoid casualties, that will, at best, make the back pages of most newspapers.
Once again, well done!
Steven Kastner, Thornhill, Ont.
The United Nations failed to stop genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, Darfur and Bosnia. Yet it called an emergency meeting over an Israeli raid on a boat. The UN’s true agenda is on display for everyone to see.
Jonathan Mackenzie, Toronto.
Last week, a Mexican airliner bound from Paris to Mexico was forced to land in Montreal, as a person on board was on the American no-fly list. Since the plane was passing over the States, the U.S. rules were still in effect at 32,000 feet. This caused no public outrage.
Israel has its rules too. It has an embargo on ships entering Gaza and insists on inspecting them, as ships have been known to carry weapons that have been used against Israeli citizens. Israel only wants what many of the rest of us enjoy: peace. Israel is only doing what the rest of the world has and would do, if they were faced with the same situation.
Jeff Spooner, Kinburn, Ont.

Posted in: Full Comment, World Politics  Tags: letters

Hamas forces a decision on Obama

AFP

Greek police break up an anti-Israel protest in Athens

By David Frum  June 1, 2010 – 12:30 pm

A “lynching” – that’s what the Israelis call the attack on their commandos by the waiting fighters aboard the Gaza flotilla.
But that was only the opening overture of the lynching party. The real action starts now, in the global media and the world chancelleries.
One casualty of the uproar is likely to be President Obama’s Middle East strategy. Unlike his blunt, direct predecessor, President Obama has to date followed a Middle East strategy as complex as some elegant DNA sequence. Read More »

Posted in: Full Comment, U.S. Politics, World Politics  Tags: Israel, Middle East, David Frum, Hamas

White House supports investigation into Israeli raid, hedges on condemnation of Israeli forces

 

 

We Are Not Talking About Stalag 17 Or Hogan's Heros...

...you would be hard pressed to find Colonel Klink or Sgt. Schultz among the Taliban "troops" and the enemy include not only soldiers but innocent adults and children who are way beyond "first aid" after a Taliban bombing.

Lilley: Outrage at Red Cross training the thugs that kill our troops

Role Reversal

If it had been a Canadian in an "Islamic" court would he/she have received the same sentence. Our home grown terrorist spent his pre-trial time in an environment where he received three nutritious meals, in keeping with any religious dietary laws, enjoyed television and excercise, was probably allowed to practice his religion, etc. etc. Would the Canadian in the "islamic" prison receive the same consideration?

'Toronto 18' terrorist gets only one more day

By IAN ROBERTSON, Toronto Sun

A “Toronto 18” terrorist who supervised junior paramilitary recruits and plotted to blow up Parliament, kill the prime minister and decapitate unbelievers was sentenced Wednesday to just one day in jail — on top of time already served behind bars.

Unbelievable would-be killer is returned to our midst

By Joe Warmington, Toronto Sun

Welcome home, Amin.

Although the father of the convicted terrorist training camp organizer wouldn’t elaborate on specifics, they were getting ready at their condo last night in the Finch and Warden area for his return.

“I have big dreams,” his son, Amin Mohamed Durrani, declared in a Brampton court, which decided Wednesday he’s served enough time for being part of that tiny jihad conspiracy his radical Muslim pals had to behead the prime minister and blow up people in the subway and in food courts.

In his mea culpa, Durrani didn’t show compassion for the victims of his Toronto 18 terrorist associates and their nail bombs inside fishing tackle boxes.

But Justice Bruce Durno showed stunning generosity in sentencing him to 7½ years after avoiding a trial with a surprise guilty plea.

With two-for-one credit for his jail time, Durrani only has to serve one more day in Milton’s Maplehurst Detention Centre and is expected home to his comfy bed by Thursday at the latest.

Durrani, after all, has dreams to fulfil.

Thankfully, the last time the 23-year-old had dreams, law enforcement stopped them from coming true.

Had they not, a lot of people could have been beheaded, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In fact, had the dastardly bombing plans come off, this city and country would never have been the same and one wonders what kind of sentence Durno would have handed out then?

Why does it matter that a plan to kill was thwarted? This wasn’t a botched shoplifting mission! Shame on the people trying to gloss this over as nothing.

It could have been your loved one murdered.

“Disgusting,” said Muslim Canadian Congress founder Tarek Fateh. “Shame on the wimps who run our judiciary. These light sentences have resulted in high fives across the Islamist community. Canadians are being described in one word: Suckers. This sends a message to all wannabe jihadists: If you succeed, you will get virgins in paradise; if you fail (some media) will portray you as a ‘virgin’ and get you out of jail free.

Although Durrani was not charged for the bomb plot, he pleaded guilty for his part in establishing two armed terrorist training camps and for recruiting members. “About my extremist views,” Durrani explained to the court, “that was something out of curiosity I was going through.”

Wonder how that excuse would fly in the United States?

“What’s done is done,” declared Amin to the court, which dutifully agreed with him. “I want to start a new life for myself.”

Precious. Maybe we can pay for his engineering schooling, too?

But Durrani is not the biggest joker of the day.

This judge wears that distinction in my view. Laughably, Durno, on the bench since 1998 and a former president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, imposed a lifetime weapons prohibition, declaring if Durrani wants to travel he must first get the court’s permission.

You can hear Osama bin Laden’s howling laughter from his cave.

It’s amazing leniency — especially since Durno himself told the court “there were deadly plans discussed” and although Durrani “was not at the top or the leader” he was “not one of the least involved.”

In a province strict on plastic bag usage, why so soft on a group who wanted to kill innocent people en masse? While it’s kissing terror suspects’ butts, this province does not allow reporters to pose questions to judges.

And there are legitimate ones. Former prosecutor and victim’s advocate Scott Newark would like to know “why did probation not include electronic monitoring?”

Fateh asks why suspects have not been asked to “express contrition and disavow themselves from the doctrine of armed jihad?”

Durrani’s father wasn’t answering any questions either, other than to say he will be doing no interviews once his son arrives at 10 Stonehill Court or when he goes to work for his cleaning company.

Thanks to Judge Durno his son has another chance to chase his dreams and even to go across the street to the Bridlewood Mall’s Pizza Pizza for a slice among the innocent, unsuspecting public as only a free man can.

Home sweet home!

joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca