A Break From The Ever Maddening World Around Us

Dennis Miller's most...

fascinating people of 2009 in response to baba wawa.

Dr Roy's Thoughts |

Throw That Lasso...We Need Some Reality

Monte on Slumdog

Apologies for the visual that inspires...

My point is that hope is good, but hope without the right action is quite hopeless. If this wonderful movie demonstrates anything it is that the future belongs to those who understand that the greatest power on earth isn't government decree, or a stimulus package, it is our own power to make choices.
In the wonder, mayhem and mystery that is India two boys make different choices and come to different ends. They both valiantly reject the thumb-sucking helplessness that some people cultivate, even in the name of hope.
In fact I know that some moviegoers will be so despairing of the poverty on the screen that they will miss both the movie's central premise and humanity's stunning promise.
They will sit through the rest of the movie wondering why the government doesn't do something. They will fail to see the point which is that two boys refuse to accept their situation and fly furiously at life, and it is life that yields. They fail to see that the choices we make matter much more than brilliant government plans.

Wonder Woman on March 03, 2009

Hmmm! What A Novel Idea.

Put the "us" in stimulus

Why aren't bailout architects considering job sharing and the four-day week?
Wayne Roberts

Ho Hum. Another Lousy Tipper

No time for crime?

By THANE BURNETT, NATIONAL BUREAU

All the spilled blood doesn't seem to dull the spirits of diners around the crime scene.

Possibly More Than Most Of Us Need To Know BUT...

...if you are headed out the door for your daily visit to the legion or the local mall you might want to have a few zingers to throw into the conversation.

How our Parliament stacks up against its British and U.S. counterparts

Deirdre Mcmurdy

Citizen Special

Monday, September 08, 2008

As public statements from members of the Conservative party caucus go, the one released by Saskatchewan MP Dave Batters on Sept. 2 was exceptionally candid and emotional.

In it, he announced that he would not be seeking re-election because of his ongoing battle with anxiety and depression and his addiction to prescription drugs.

While his circumstances may be singularly dramatic, Mr. Batters is by no means alone in his decision to withdraw from political life. Forty-three of the 308 current members of Parliament -- roughly 14 per cent -- have made the same decision not to seek re-election this fall. (Nine of those have already been replaced in recent byelections.)

Even by the standards of the private sector, where talent has become a global commodity and CEOs now typically have a tenure of just three to five years, that's one heck of a turnover rate -- whether it reflects personal reasons, disillusionment with successive minority governments, the grind of the commute between Ottawa and a home riding, or the natural attrition of aging baby boomers.

It also means that there will be a significant number of novice MPs when the next Parliament is formed.

MORE

Start Saving For Next Father's Day Gift

Methane is sucked out, filtered and then compressed. Honda's prototype gets an impressive 5 miles per fart.

Continue Story

The Reality Of Urban Cycling

A true bicycle culture remains elusive TheStar.com - GTA - A true bicycle culture remains elusive

ANDREW WALLACE/TORONTO STAR

Rob Lawson is a rare suburban breed, riding his bike past parking lots to catch the morning GO train in Aurora.

Scarcity of bike lanes and sparse political support stand in way of T.O. aping likes of Amsterdam

May 18, 2008

Murray Whyte
Staff Reporter

They shuttle swiftly along a thin strip of pavement, legs pumping, in a thin-but-steady stream. Beside them, four lanes of car-clogged Lakeshore Drive; just beyond a concrete barrier, six more lanes of stop-and-go Gardiner Expressway.

If recent statistics gathered by a pair of urban transportation gurus from Rutgers University are to be believed, they are the less than one-in-a-hundred citizens of our city who routinely use their bike as something more than a joyriding, fair-weather cruiser.

They are, as the current coinage of cycling taxonomy would have it, the utility riders, for whom cycling is survival, not sport – a daily fact, not a weekend diversion.

On the city's waterfront bike path west of downtown one chilly rush-hour morning last week, simple logic would seem to defy their scarcity: A string of bright red brake lights, hundreds long, chart their path to the skyscrapers in the near distance as they whip past the gridlock with speedy, silent ease.

With rising gas prices, ever-worse congestion and a growing environmental conscience, it would be reasonable to guess that their numbers should be growing, and rapidly. If cycle shops in the city are any indication, they are: Most refuse to promise anything less than three weeks for a simple tune-up as casual riders dust off their neglected rigs and get them road-ready.

More

Cycling's union movement

The unlikely home of high-end bikes

Being Old Doesn't Normally Give You Historical Status

I haven't been down to Queen and Bathurst for about a year and what I experienced was a slew of chi-chi eateries, panhandlers plying their trade and one pissing in a doorway, etc. so I have to agree with John Oakley although I lament for Wonder Woman.....

Blazing Saddles

A section of Toronto's downtown core is ablaze as firefighters struggle to get a six-alarm fire on Queen Street under control.

"It looks like 623, 625 and 627 Queen St. have collapsed,"

If the fire made it to #651, Mikey and I can kiss future Fetish Night excursions goodbye.
Or find another venue.
Or just stay home...
Posted by Wonder Woman

John Oakley: Don't lament Queen West's 'lost buildings'

Posted: February 21, 2008, 12:22 PM by John Turley-Ewart

John Oakley

The raging inferno that gutted a block of historic Queen Street West in Toronto has many in the city lamenting the loss of another irreplaceable tract of Ontario heritage. Cry me a river.

While it is unfortunate that many people and businesses have been put out, that particular row of dilapidated buildings, like too many in Toronto, was lost to reclamation decades ago. The time to concern ourselves with the disappearing face of the sepia-tinged Toronto might have been back in the day when the city allowed so-called leasehold improvements and assorted reno projects to deface and bastardize these very structures.

What part of caked-on paint and extruded aluminum facing suddenly speaks to heritage; the touchstone to a storied past? These were derelict buildings whose owners showed no apparent interest in architectural preservation. Slapping an historical designation on a slum is like putting lipstick on a pig. At the end of the day it’s still a pig.

John Oakley can be heard from 5:45 a.m.-10 a.m. EST Monday to Friday on AM 640 Toronto Radio

Give Organic Farmers Credit........

........for understanding the marketplace and bringing their dog and pony show to Toronto where a segment of our population don't know the difference between chicken salad and chicken shit. Another bottled water con job?

Organic farmers' big city snow job on Toronto

By CONNIE WOODCOCK

The organic farmers in my area are in a snit. Seems they don't want to go to the local farmers' markets anymore. They have a number of reasons but when the hemming and hawing are all done, they're having trouble selling enough stuff to make it worthwhile.

So next summer, they're taking their veggies to Toronto where life for organic farmers is like dying and going to heaven.

The Quinte Organic Farmers Co-operative says it's much easier to truck their stuff to Toronto than it is to sell at the farmers' markets in their own neighbourhood -- Belleville and Cobourg.

They won't come right out and say it -- one executive says only that they were having "volume" problems -- but the implication is people who live in the Belleville and Cobourg area are cheap and not as well educated in environmental concerns as Toronto market goers. In fact, one local newspaper quoted the association's president saying exactly that. Now they're backtracking, saying they really didn't mean it to sound quite like that.

I love the local farmers' markets these people supply but I have to admit I don't buy much from organic farmers and maybe my fellow consumers feel the same way I do: The price is unacceptably high.

But I also think we locals, being closer to our rural roots than Torontonians, know something the city sophisticates don't.

We know an organic carrot looks, tastes and contains vitamins exactly the same as a regular carrot. It grows in the same soil, absorbs the same rainfall and has all the same particulate matter falling on it. In fact, the differences between the two are so minor, many scientists believe there is no significant difference -- just that the price of one is two or three times the price of the other

Full Story

McGinty "Promises" To Attack Poverty In Ontario

Harper is following up on the attack on poverty by the Martin/Chretein government and then we had Live Aid, etc. so the question is when will poverty disappear and what will we use as a benchmark....poverty in Ontario, poverty in Africa, etc.

It Is A Miserable, Damp, Chilly Day But.......

......for us Miller Bashers it is bright and sunny and I will probably give some of my spare change to those who hang around Nathan Phillips Square and hail Miller as their saviour and comrade.

Miller Throws Hissy Fit

In response to a column almost all Torontonians would agree with.

Editor - Toronto Star
As the elected leader of Toronto City Council, I must respond to Royson James's column. It is an utterly despicable piece of supposed journalism and unworthy of your publication.

I will ignore for the moment that many of James's facts are wrong and go directly to the last paragraph of his column where he states: "Councillors should be hanged, one a day, at noon, in Nathan Phillips Square. Charge admission. We'll net enough money to pay off most of our civic bills."

Such a statement is beneath contempt and shows absolutely no respect for democracy, for the families of elected officials or for those in this country who fought to preserve our freedom.

In a democracy, people can choose to disagree about issues like the future of Union Station, the purchase of food vending carts and the disconnection of downspouts. That's what our political system is all about. But I cannot believe a veteran columnist like James would stoop so low as to think that city councillors should be lynched in the public square, never mind put such outrageous thoughts in writing. And it is beyond belief that a newspaper of the Toronto Star's stature – a publication that proclaims itself as the Voice of the GTA – would actually print such hateful ruminations. I find this absolutely offensive.

Many Torontonians came to this city from countries where public officials and other innocent people have been hanged or otherwise murdered and where such atrocities continue to this day. They came to Toronto to be free from such terror and callous disregard for human life. Perhaps James should have asked them – and others, like my Uncle Jim, who fought for the right to debate and discuss public policy – their thoughts on his loathsome advocacy for public lynching.

The Toronto Star owes every Torontonian, every elected official and the families of those elected officials an immediate apology and retraction. Even that is not enough. But, sadly it is all you can do.

Mayor David Miller, Toronto

Royson today reports that the Star editors and management are supporting him.
This could be the beginning of the end of any editorial support of Miller in the City.
A figurative hanging inNathan Phillips Square.

Posted by Lemon

Safe & Sound In The GTA

But still a great place to work and play.......

Fourth Man Arrested In Connection With Brampton Teen's Stabbing Death

Overnight Violence Across GTA Keeps Authorities Busy

StreetBeat - Oct. 7 - Man Found Dead In Building At Jane And St. Clair

StreetBeat - Oct. 6 - Police Hunt For Arsonist In Riverdale

Shot Fired Into Christening Party At East End Nightclub

The Reality Of Public Transit

Kay goes on and on about the "social indignity of being disabled" but a similar case could be made for those who travel public transit and have to use strollers to transport their children or those who use bundle buggies to transport their groceries and people in general live with the "inconvenience" but there is no question in rare incidents it will manifest itself in boorish behavior and rude comments. Making allowances for inappropriate behavior because a person is disabled or because of their economic status is wrong.

Jonathan Kay on the social indignity of riding the bus in a wheelchair

Since my wife got a new job that requires her to commute by car, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the bus. I kind of like it: The 45-minute ride to and from work gives me a chance to zone out and listen to my daily news podcasts. Plus, every once in a while, you see something interesting on the bus. Like today. I was on one of those new Toronto busses that crouch down to hoist wheelchair-bound passengers into the entrance, with a wide central corridor, and a special bank of seats in front that flips up to permit a disabled person to strap in. It is all designed with the best of intentions. But too often, the actual experience of bringing a disabled person onto the bus turns into a mortifying vignette for all concerned. The problem is that the procedure for boarding a wheelchair passenger is long and laborious. It take a few minutes — an eternity for a bus-full of passengers anxious about getting to work on time. The other problem is that the process requires that the people sitting on the opposite row of seats have to get up and temporarily move. (The space taken up by their legs is needed so that the wheelchair-bound person can execute the five-point parking procedure.) This can be cumbersome, or even impossible, when the bus is crowded. An episode that I witnessed today was especially awkward because one of the passengers sitting in the opposite bank of seats was a middle-aged Muslim woman in headscarf who didn’t seem to understand the order to move being (somewhat curtly) barked out by the disabled passenger. The woman sitting next to her was also older, and burdened with an assortment of packages. She displaced herself only with considerable exertion. The whole episode seemed to go on forever, with the rest of us pretending not to be annoyed as the bus sat idling at the corner of Don Mills Road and The Donway. When the disabled passenger — a scowling 20-something woman — was finally seated, she muttered audibly about how slow and inconsiderate the two facing women had been. This in turn set the lady with the boxes into her own spasm of defensive muttering. It was all very mortifying for the rest of us. Our annoyance was mixed with pity for this poor disabled person — who no doubt felt awful about having to inconvenience strangers thusly every day, and so masked her insecurity with prickly standoffishness. “There but for the grace of God,” and so forth. Cities like Toronto spend a great deal of money to accommodate the special needs of the disabled — and rightly so. But the idea that all of these expenditures will restore the disabled to the dignity and convenience the rest of us take for granted is false. Like it or not, we live in a society whose physical infrastructure — not to mention the habits and expectations of its inhabitants — are based on the assumption of full mobility. The billions we spend on accessibility do help handicapped people get around. But they cannot erase the feeling, which must be one of the worst and most unfair aspects of being disabled, that you are inconveniencing others and being judged by them in the process. The idea that money doesn’t buy happiness is generally true. But I think an exception has to be carved out not only for the very poor, but also the disabled. If you are disabled, money at least buys you the freedom from social anxiety that comes from controlling your own environment — living in a fully-outfitted home instead of jockeying for the elevator in an apartment building, having your groceries delivered instead of trudging out to get them — and riding in your own van instead of a bus full of judgmental onlookers.

Simple Solution....Remove The Source Of The Stench

On the biological side we do it on a regular basis by trying to remove the stench from city hall....it is called elections where everyone has the option of removing the source of the stench. Couldn't city workers find the time to remove the dead racoon? I believe they are protected wildlife and it would seem this makes them a ward of the city.

Public raging over razing TheStar.com - News - Public raging over razing

Outcry over flattened garden surprises city staffer; homeowner heartened by support

August 31, 2007

Francine Kopun
Feature Writer

He's been called a grass Nazi and a pompous bureaucrat who overstepped his authority and he's even been called a jerk, but Bill Blakes stands by the city's decision to raze a woman's front lawn garden in east Toronto.

"Honest to God, I have never – and I have dealt with some pretty controversial issues – never in my life have I had a reaction like this," Blakes, the Scarborough District manager for Municipal Licensing and Standards said yesterday. "Never. That's dealing with body rub parlous, strip clubs, lap dancing, smoking. Never."

Blakes said he's received about 80 emails and phone calls from as far away as Parry Sound since it was reported Tuesday that the city razed a natural garden belonging to Deborah Dale, a biologist and past-president of the North American Native Plant Society.

Dale is seeking $10,000 in compensation from the city for the plants, which she says included two eight-year-old fragrant sumacs, giant purple hyssops and four varieties of milkweed in front of her home on Crittenden Sq., near Finch Ave. and Markham Road.

"Some people have just yelled and screamed. Some people have been courteous enough to leave their name," said Blakes, 51, a city employee for 19 years. "Those who have I've returned their calls."

Blakes says callers believe the city is waging war against natural gardens, and nothing could be further from the truth: a properly tended natural garden would never be razed, he said, pointing out that the city itself is working to naturalize city parks.

"This natural garden – I'm sure there was some wild grass and stuff like that in it – but there was also a dead raccoon. The people next door were complaining of the stench."

Labour Day Weekend Coming Up........

Gee! How Enlightening

Fire spree could be the work of a psychopath
Aug. 02, 2007
To Zohar Waisman, a forensic psychiatrist, the term arsonist invokes images of two kinds of people: those with severe mental illness and those whom society might call psychopaths.

Does anyone think these are the acts of a normal person?

Voyerisum Continues To Consume Many People

Get sucked Inn at your peril
July 03, 2007 Vinay Menon

Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott aren't the most annoying people on television. But they come dangerously close.

Tori & Dean: Inn Love (Slice, 10 tonight) – arguably the worst TV title since Jake and the Fatman – catapults viewers into the brain-sucking vortex of another celebrity relationship. (See also: Dave & Carmen, Travis & Shanna, Britney & Kevin, Bobby & Whitney, Nick & Jessica.)
This time, the ampersand connects Tori, still best known as Donna Martin on Beverly Hills 90210, to Dean, still best known as the scruffy Canadian who left wife Mary Jo Eustace to marry the rapidly blinking daughter of Aaron Spelling.

In the opening scene, the happy couple exchange treacly reminiscences about their whirlwind courtship, her pregnancy (son Liam has since arrived) and their retro plans for the future: opening a bed and breakfast.

As Tori explains, "B&B" is saddled with lamentable connotations: "Old and dusty and musty and filled with old people's antiques." She's determined to "bring back the bed and breakfast for our generation."

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Coming To Your Neighborhood

Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart? 7-Eleven does
Updated Mon. Jul. 2 2007 8:44 AM ET
Associated Press
DALLAS -- Over the weekend, 7-Eleven Inc. turned a dozen stores into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores of "The Simpsons" fame, in the latest example of marketers making life imitate art.
Those stores and most of the 6,000-plus other 7-Elevens in North America will sell items that until now existed only on television: Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal and Squishees, the slushy drink knockoff of Slurpees.
It's all part of a campaign to hype the July 27 opening of "The Simpsons Movie," the big-screen debut for the long-running television cartoon, which loves to lampoon 7-Eleven as a store that sells all kinds of unhealthy snacks and is run by a man with a thick Indian accent.

No Leash For Dogs...Bring In Leash Laws For Kids

Go to your local park early in the morning and you will probably see dogs running off leash and socializing and playing with other dogs but take a closer look and look at the damaged trees, overturned garbage cans, graffitti, etc. and the message might be that city parks need to increase their patrol of parks at night and leashing teenagers.

Bark on parks stuck in dark
Proposed rules to ease tensions dogged by silly socialist ideas, like taking your poop home
By SUE-ANN LEVY

In their dogged attempts to consult with, license and tax everything that moves in the city, Mayor David Miller and his socialists are poised to put the bite on yet another target: Toronto's 250,000 canine inhabitants.

The Millerites are looking at new rules for dogs and their human caretakers who roam many of the city's 1,470 parks and parkettes.

In fact, public consultations will be held all this week to hear what people have to say about a new People, Dogs and Parks strategy.

At the heart of the strategy is the question of how to deal with off-leash zones for dogs and their owners in the 32 mostly-midtown Toronto parks that have them now and in parks where dog owners wish to create new ones.

Making Toronto A Cosmopolitan City