A Little More To This Than It Appears...

...and will be discussed not only at the local Timmies but also the espresso boutiques.

Google to Pay Heterosexuals Less Than Homosexuals

July 1, 2010 11:37 AM by Doug Powers
86 Comments | 4 Trackbacks

 

Decaf Is NOT Real Coffee...Ask Juan Valdez

...I doubt whether Juan brings bags of decaf coffee beans down from the mountains on his burro.

Tim Hortons bans complaining customer

Last Updated: Monday, February 8, 2010

A coffee enthusiast in St. Andrews, N.B., has learned the customer may not always be right.
After complaining three times about "burnt" decaffeinated coffee at the local Tim Hortons, Jimmy Craig is now banned for life from that outlet and the one in nearby St. Stephen.
"It was like brown, burnt water," said Craig. "I almost, you know, got sick in the sink."
Craig said he voiced his concerns to the store manager and corporate office, then got a meeting with the owner, Edwin Dow.
That's when Dow served Craig with a letter banning him under the province's trespass act.

'I don't see this is a way to treat people. Whatever happened to the customer is always right?'—Jimmy Craig, banned customer

"I was baffled," said Craig. "It didn't make any sense at all. All I wanted to do was bring it to his attention that there was a problem with the consistency of his product.
"I don't see this is a way to treat people. Whatever happened to the customer is always right?"
Dow contends his staff went the extra mile to satisfy Craig, brewing fresh pots of decaf on request.
He said Craig was upsetting his staff and he was tired of his complaints, so he banned him.
Craig has contacted a lawyer to try to get the ban overturned.
Meanwhile, he can only return to Tim's if he's on the job as a paramedic, responding to a medical emergency.
So he's brewing his own coffee at home, which, he said, is cheaper and always fresh.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/02/07/nb-tims-bans-customer.html#ixzz0ewnrSN4J

Much Ado...We All Have Nutbars In Our Political Camps!

Although the left seems to have more than their share.....

Jeff Jedras on the assassination photo: Spare me the Conservative rage

Steve Janke on the assassination photo: Crude insults are OK if you're a progressive

Chris Selley's Full Pundit: Liberal web team sentenced to 10 minutes on the naughty step

The Economy Is Not The Only Problem In Real World

Anyone remember what took place after the French revolution?
The scapegoating of the AIG employees is just a way for the President and Congress to intimidate the population. It also distracts from the international issues such as Russia planning to put long range bombers in Cuba and Venezuela.
Posted by jerry

Another "Much Ado" About Nothing

But then the "Ado" was meant to embarass the government of the day......

Tab comes to just $42 per person TheStar.com - Opinion - Tab comes to just $42 per person

September 23, 2008

Re:MacKay okayed $16,800 tab for Passport Canada lunches

Sept. 22

I have been in private sector management for a number of years and I find the tone of this article to be unnecessarily antagonistic.

The total cost quoted in the headline looks like a big number and another example of government waste. Once you read the article, however, you can see that the amount spent comes to $42 per employee, over three weekends.

Most companies think nothing of providing lunches to employees working extra time for necessary projects; in fact, it is usually considered good employee relations. These Passport Canada staffers were dealing with a huge workload, caused by factors outside their control. If providing this minor amount per employee made it more palatable to them to put in this extra effort, I fail to see where it can be considered any sort of problem. Yes, it's unfortunate that the total was so high, and perhaps the deputy minister should have realized that this would be the case before the $5,000 limit was exceeded, but it appears he took steps to rectify the situation.

I know a number of people who were caught up in that backlog of passport applications, and I can't help but feel that this is not an unreasonable cost to minimize the impact on so many Canadians.

Stephen J. Leitch, Mississauga

Breaking news: Peter MacKay bent government rules in giving the nod to $16,800 for passport officials' lunches. The facts, unfortunately, don't support the claim. The regulations say that civil servants can be fed at taxpayer expense if they're working overtime. If the cost is more than $5,000, the appropriate minister must approve. MacKay was solicited. He approved. The rules were followed. Assuming that the bureaucrats in question did not imbibe several bottles of Bollinger, where's the story? I, too, am anxious to show Stephen Harper the door but not at the cost of the truth.

Geoff Rytell, Toronto

I Am Not An Economist But Kudos To McGinty IF....

.....if he actually institutes and funds these programs. They certainly are needed but I will wait to see if there are any "only if" clauses; ie: if the feds do this and/or the municipalities do this, etc. The reality is McGinty, for all his talk about change, has not really done that much in the way of social programs........

Ont. to spend $267M on housing, kids, dental plan

Updated Mon. Mar. 17 2008 1:53 PM ET

toronto.ctv.ca

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced funding for a number of social programs Monday, kicking off a new session of legislature at Queen's Park.

McGuinty announced $267 million would go towards improving affordable housing, kids' breakfast programs and dental care for low-income earners in Ontario. He made the announcement while visiting an east-end Toronto school Monday morning.

This is how the money will be distributed:

• $32 million will go towards expanding the student nutrition program;
• $135 million will be put towards a dental care plan over three years to assist low-income families; and
• $100 million will help repair 4,000 affordable housing units.

However, the Opposition said the Liberals should be more careful with how they manage the economy. Ontario PC Leader John Tory said the Liberals shouldn't be on a spending spree when the province has some of the highest business taxes in the country.

The Conservatives cited figures that show the Liberals have increased spending by 41 per cent - about $25 billion -- since they came into power in 2003.

"I think Mr. McGuinty is fiddling while the flames are starting to burn around us," Tory said. "In terms of the Ontario economy there is much more he could do to fix this province without blaming everyone else and without sitting and saying don't worry, be happy."

McGuinty said being competitive is not just about the level of taxes but about partnerships that are made with businesses and other communities in the province.

"Competitiveness includes not only the level of taxation but the degree to which we invest in infrastructure, build roads, bridges," he said. "I also define competitiveness in Ontario in the quality of our health care that's available to all Ontarians."

With a report from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss

Flaggman Asks A Simple Question Of Dona Cadman

One Question Dona Cadman Must Answer

Let me see if I’ve got this right:

1) In 2004, despite being the popular incumbent, Chuck Cadman gets screwed out of the Conservative Party nomination in his riding of Surrey North by an ethnic insta-Tory voting block. When the party refuses to overturn the result, an enraged Cadman runs as an independent, and wins the election in a landslide.

2) In 2005, while terminally ill with cancer, Cadman becomes the center of the Canadian political universe as the deciding vote in the epic battle to topple the Paul Martin minority government. Through dozens of interviews each day both before and after the vote, Cadman never even hints at a bribe being offered by any party.

3) Mr. Cadman saves the Martin Liberal government with his vote. He passes away soon after.

4) In the wake of her husband’s death, Mr. Cadman’s wife, Dona, endorses the NDP candidate in her riding, family friend Penny Priddy, who won handily in the January 2006 election.

5) Later in 2006, Dona seeks the Conservative nomination in Surrey North to contest the next election against Ms. Priddy, and wins the nomination over a local lawyer.

6) In 2008, as part of the pre-release hype of a biography of her deceased husband, Dona Cadman announces that in 2005, the Conservative Party offered her husband a bribe of a $1,000,000 life insurance policy to vote down the Liberal government.

Dona, you owe Canada an answer to this question: if the Conservative Party of Canada offered, essentially, a $1m bribe to your husband, and if this supposed bribe so offended your husband as you have described:

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO RUN FOR THE CONSERVATIVES IF THEY ARE AS CORRUPT AS YOU SAY THEY ARE?

If they are corrupt, then why did you freely choose to run for a corrupt party? And if they are not corrupt, then why are you allowing this smear to fester for two days now?

Before we give the slightest credence to the Chuck Cadman story, how about we check Tom Flanagan's resumé?

Posted: February 29, 2008, 1:45 PM by Jonathan Kay
Filed under: Jonathan Kay

Putting Things In Perspective.......

........and put to bed the hyprocricy about sports and performance enhancing drugs.

If The Cap Fits Wear It

I don't know if it is just my imagination but it seems on slow news days columnists and radio talk show hosts go looking for beauracratic mishaps at the CBC. In addition to the china brouhau they are also taking a hit over opposing a black radio station...... Bowing to Beijing

Just imagine how easy it's going to be for the CBC to adapt to its new ownership. It won't even have to change its initials. Now that it has become the Chinese Broadcasting Corporation -- taking programming direction from the People's.. MORE...

Ellen And Jay Draw Ire Of Writers.......

.....but Oprah and Dr. Phil remain unscathed. Personally I can live through the strike with reruns of Seinfeld, et al , classic movies from TCM, etc. and blogging.

Ellen DeGeneres targeted as pressure mounts in Hollywood writers' strike
11:20AM Monday November 12, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Thousands of Hollywood screenwriters on strike against film and TV studios rallied outside 20th Century Fox in their biggest collective show of force yet as pressure mounted on both sides to resume contract talks.

Tensions also rose for popular TV hosts Jay Leno and Ellen DeGeneres, whose talk shows became the latest battlegrounds of a labour confrontation over how screenwriters get paid for work on the internet.

DeGeneres drew a scathing rebuke from the East Coast wing of the Writers Guild of America for returning to work on her syndicated daytime show after honouring picket lines the first day of the strike.

Considering The Quality Of The People We Elect

I think in retrospect a lot of voters wish they could hide their identity....

TORIES READY TO MAKE 'OPEN FACE' THE LAW

'STUBBORN' ELECTIONS CANADA BLAMED FOR VEIL CONTROVERSY

BLOGS BLUR MEDIA PRIVILEGE ARGUMENT

This pathetic attempt by some individuals to get their 15 minutes of fame is ludicrous. Calling themselves journalists is even more ludicrous. If you are paid for your literary efforts, which is different than being paid for providing a site for advertising, get press credentials for events, are on the payroll of a published publication (newspaper, magazine, radio, tv, etc.) then you might be a journalist. Otherwise you are just someone who has time on their hands..........

BLOGS BLUR MEDIA PRIVILEGE ARGUMENT
Anyone could claim to be a reporter, then refuse to reveal sources, stymie police probes, court told
Tracey Tyler
Legal Affairs Reporter
June 07, 2007

In an age of bloggers, giving journalists the right to protect the identity of sources could make it harder for police to gather evidence because almost anyone could claim to be a reporter, lawyers for Ontario's attorney general say.

There would be no limit to the number of people who could offer "evidentiary sanctuary" to criminals and witnesses by claiming a "media-source privilege," they argue in written submissions to the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Delving Into US Politics

Making definitive comparisons is a tricky business as Jimmy Carter has found out.......

Jimmah Update

Mr. Minority also takes note of former president Carter's [spit] attack upon George W Bush and posts this comparison of the two presidencies:

Carter's remarks are not unexpected, and the real reason Cater is calling President Bush the worst president in history is because he is tired of being the Worst President in History and is trying to push this mantle of shame off himself and onto President Bush.

Let's see what Jimmah's legacy is vs President Bush's:

- Double digit inflation for Jimmah, 2-3% for President Bush

- Interest Rates in the 20's for the peanut farmer, 5-10% for President Bush

- Carter let the Iranians take over the American Embassy and hold our people hostage for 444 days, vs Bush kicking some ass for the 9/11 attacks.

- Unemployment at 7.5% for Mr Liberal, as where unemployment is 4.4% under President Bush

- Oh and as for "Peace in the Middle East" that Carter was suppose to have brokered, worked great eh, Jimmah? No, the palewhinians aren't still trying to wipe out Israel, all you did was give those barbarians land in which to do it from.

Nope, I think that Jimmah will hold to the title of the "Wost President" for a long time to come, because President Bush can't even come close to being as a biggest coward and incompetent as Jimmah.

That about says it all. Jimmah needs to just be very quiet and hope people just forget about him.

My Thoughts Exactly Joe........

If you peel away the truth, you'll see that few foreign strippers are actually showing their faces -- or other parts. Who needs those Europeans stealing jobs from our homegrown Canadian talent anyway?

Much Ado About Nothing

But it does give Layton and Bouchard much needed media attention......their court jester positions have been diminished by Elizabeth May.

Hockey officials have been summoned to a parliamentary committee to explain their choice of Shane Doan as Team Canada captain. What do you think?

Silly use of time and tax dollars 4699 votes (96 %)
Smart way to raise the issues 180 votes (4 %)

Total Votes: 4879

Hockey officials to explain Doan's captaincy

Updated Tue. May. 1 2007 8:55 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Hockey Canada officials will be summoned by a parliamentary committee in Ottawa to explain why they chose Shane Doan as Team Canada captain at a world hockey tournament in Russia.

At issue is a derogatory remark Doan allegedly made toward a French-Canadian linesman during a game in December 2005.

Doan, a captain and forward with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes, has denied making any slurs. The allegations have never been proven and Doan was cleared by the NHL after a league investigation into the incident.

But on Tuesday the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP supported a Bloc Quebecois motion demanding that officials from Hockey Canada and Sport Canada -- two federally-funded but arm's length bodies -- appear before the House of Commons' Official Languages Committee on Thursday.

more

Face The Reality Adam-You Are Not Your Father

You should have stayed at City TV where you could have been considered a big fish but when it comes to put forward hare brained schemes and making idiotic statements you are a minnow in the stagnant water of Toronto City Council.


Councillor wants to tax this sidewalk
Lining up outside clubs and theatres could cost the owners -- so how about charging panhandlers?
By SUE-ANN LEVY

Let's all drink to downtown councillor Adam Vaughan.

After just five months at City Hall, the former journalist turned politician has managed to find the most inane way to do his part for the socialist war effort -- that is, raising tax money to fill those near-empty city coffers and reserves.

If Vaughan gets his way -- and trust me with Mayor David Miller and his money-hungry minions at the helm he will -- bar, theatre and movie patrons could soon be taxed for lining up on public sidewalks.

Vaughan's request is on the agenda of Wednesday's public works committee meeting. In his letter to the committee, he asks that licensing staff prepare a report on a new permit scheme, er, tax, for "licensed entertainment facilities" that regularly use public sidewalks for queuing.

That regime, he notes, should includes rules for how the line is formed and where it is located, the number of people allowed into it, crowd control and the need for pay duty police to maintain orderly conduct.

Here's the kicker. Vaughan proposes the permit fee be based on "full cost recovery" for the administration and enforcement of the bylaw, as well as rent for the use of a public sidewalk!

I think I need a drink. For as sure as today is Sunday, I smell another City Hall fiefdom in the making.

When reached last week, Vaughan unabashedly contended the regime would be expensive but didn't really care "if it is."

He said the new permit scheme is meant mainly to deal with "out-of-control" crowds at the some 70 clubs in the Entertainment District, but added it would be a "useful tool" for other trouble spots across the city.

"The line-ups are really loud ... a bunch of 20-year-olds who don't worry about forcing an old lady or child out onto the street," he said. "They have a sense of entitlement."

While he insisted the permit would be targeted to nightclubs or large entertainment facilities, his request to the public works committee leaves the door open to apply the same law to the Toronto Film Festival and other movie, retail and cultural facilities -- in fact any events that require a lineup on public sidewalks.

When I asked Vaughan whether he plans to make aggressive panhandlers -- who also regularly line up for their take on public sidewalks downtown -- get a permit as well.

He laughed at first. When he realized I was serious, he argued panhandling is "very difficult thing to ban" and you can't "arrest people for asking for help."

More

Ann Speaks Out On Imus, Et Al

HO HO HO, MERRY IMUS!
by Ann Coulter
April 11, 2007

The only person happier than Larry Birkhead about the big announcement that he is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby is Don Imus. By the way, what's the word for a woman who gives birth to a child of uncertain paternity?

English speakers in America need a rule book to tell us what people can say what words when, and under which set of circumstances. The rule book will be longer than the Patriot Act and will require weekly updates as new words and circumstances are added. Perhaps a Nasdaq-style ticker would be more efficient.

Depending on which TV show you tune into, what Imus said was wrong because: (1) His show goes out on FCC-regulated airwaves; (2) he regularly interviews people like Sens. John Kerry, John McCain and Joe Biden; (3) he spoke at the White House Correspondents' Dinner a few years ago; or (4) he's not black.

Perhaps sensing that such constantly scrolling rules have a whiff of fascism about them, the scowling Miss Grundys of the world think they have hit on the perfect omnibus rule. They instruct us to "be nice." (There's a word for the grim Miss Grundys, but apparently I'm not allowed to use it. Sarah Silverman is. This will be all in the rule book.)

The requirement to always "be nice" would be the end of Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, two of the funniest comedians in America. Let me rephrase that: It would be the end of all humor. Even Bob Hope cruelly implied that Democrats didn't support the troops when he joked to the troops in Vietnam: "The country is behind you 50 percent."

At least we'll still be able to watch the "Charlie Rose" show! Actually, for all anyone knows, Rose is calling women "nappy-headed hos" on TV every night since no one has ever seen his show.

In addition to ending all humor, we'll lose all political debate. For Americans over 4 years old, people in the public sphere are engaged in serious arguments — over abortion, illegal immigration, how much money the government takes from you, and the pre-eminent battle of our time against Islamic fascists. The "be nice" admonition is the sort of thing stupid girls say when they can't think of anything substantive to say.

I, for one, promise to implement the "be nice" policy just as soon as the other side surrenders.

Say, does anyone remember if Winston Churchill was "nice" in his public pronouncements about Hitler? Was he even nice to his fellow countrymen with whom he disagreed?

No, I don't think he was! This is what Winston Churchill said about the Labor Party's Ramsay MacDonald:

"I remember when I was a child, being taken to the celebrated Barnum's Circus, which contained an exhibition of freaks and monstrosities, but the exhibit on the program which I most desired to see was the one described as 'The Boneless Wonder.' My parents judged that the spectacle would be too demoralizing and revolting for my youthful eye, and I have waited 50 years to see The Boneless Wonder sitting on the Treasury Bench."

And guess what public figure was constantly accused of making "outrageous" remarks, trading in "insults, trashings and character assassinations"? Of what public figure was it asked: "Who can examine this record of insults and say that here is a man of class?"

That's right: Ronald Reagan. Those particular quotes are from Washington Post columnists Richard Cohen and Colman McCarthy.

Was Reagan "nice" to the Soviets? They certainly didn't think so. The Soviets constantly denounced Reagan as "rude," and our dear friends at the BBC upbraided Reagan for his "rude attacks" on Fidel Castro, Nicaragua and the Soviet Union. Post columnist McCarthy indignantly charged that Reagan had "put down an entire nation — the Soviet Union — by calling it 'the focus of evil in the nuclear world.'"

Oh dear! Reagan wasn't "nice." No wonder he never accomplished anything.

One more item for the delusional Miss Grundys still obtusely citing Reagan as their model of "niceness": As governor of California, Reagan gave student protesters at Berkeley the finger. Remember that next time you ask yourself: "What would Reagan do?"

People who are afraid of ideas whitewash Reagan like they whitewash Jesus. Sorry to break it to you, but the Reagan era did not consist of eight years of Reagan joking about his naps.

The reason people don't like what Imus said was because the women on the Rutgers basketball team aren't engaged in public discourse. They're not public figures, they don't have a forum, they aren't trying to influence public policy.

They play basketball — quite well, apparently — and did nothing to bring on an attack on their looks or character. It's not the words Imus used: It would be just as bad if he had simply said the Rutgers women were ugly and loose.

People claim to object to the words alone, but that's because everyone is trying to fit this incident into a PC worldview. It's like girls who say, "It's not that you cheated on me; it's that you lied about it." No — it's that you cheated.

If Imus had called me a "towheaded ho" or Al Sharpton a "nappy-headed ho," it would be what's known as "funny." (And if he called Anna Nicole Smith a "flaxen-headed ho," it would be "absolutely accurate.") But he attacked the looks and morals of utterly innocent women, who had done nothing to inject themselves into public debate.

Imus should apologize to the Rutgers women — and those women alone — send them flowers, and stop kissing Al Sharpton's ring.

This wasn't an insult to all mankind, and certainly not an insult to Al Sharpton. Now, if Imus had called the basketball players "fat, race-baiting black men with clownish hairstyles," well, then perhaps Sharpton would be owed an apology.

COPYRIGHT 2007 ANN COULTER

Rutgers/Imus Put Into Perspective

CTV listed this item under "Entertainment."

Imus vs. the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks Chart
(language warning)
By Michelle Malkin · April 10, 2007 10:22 PM

Rutgers basketball team to meet with Don Imus
Updated Tue. Apr. 10 2007 9:19 PM ET
Associated Press

PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The Rutgers women's basketball team blasted radio host Don Imus Tuesday for "racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and abominable" and agreed to meet with the embattled radio host.

Starting Monday, Imus will be suspended for two weeks for calling the players "nappy-headed hos."

more

Another Potential "Cash Grab" By Comrade Miller & The Politburo

I stoop and scoop, not because of the posted warning signs in the parks, but because it is the right thing to do and I will gladly carry the poop home WHEN the city stoops and scoops the poop from the geese,seagulls. pigeons, etc. we see in places like High Park and public parks throughout the city. Our parks are the center for picnics and family outings so common sense would dictate that organic bins are placed in the parks. What about the poop from animals other than dogs?

Get out in the real world Paula.....
Are London’s wild pigeons a ‘heath hazard’?
Antarctica: Penguin Problem Piles Up
Much ado about geese: Neighbors focus on a problem piling higher and higher
Shore birds attracted by handouts, seagulls and Canada geese would quickly. multiply, overflowing the parks with their excrement

T.O. bylaw would see owners carry dog poop home
Updated Tue. Apr. 10 2007 1:10 PM ET
toronto.ctv.ca

The City of Toronto is considering a bylaw for residents to stoop, scoop and then carry their dog's poop home instead of placing it in park garbage bins.

The city's latest waste audit shows as much as 25 per cent of trash in park bins is dog excrement. That equals about 1,400 tonnes of pet waste, which then ends up at the landfill.

The proposed bylaw is one of several approaches Toronto is considering to meet its goal of diverting 70 per cent of waste from landfills by 2010.

Councillor Paula Fletcher, who chairs the parks and environment committee, wants dog owners to place their pets' waste in their green bins at home, where other organic materials such as food scraps are tossed.

The initiative would also make city parks more inviting to residents, Fletcher says.

"In the summer it's very, very smelly and it's very concentrated," she says of the odour near garbage cans.

"Even in your own green bin, you don't find it at that level of concentration in the way you might in a park's bin."

Some dog owners at the popular Withrow Park on Tuesday were skeptical, but most seemed accepting of the idea.

"I don't know if it will happen, but I don't think it's an unreasonable request," said one woman. "I would do it."

"That's what we do most of the time," said one man. "We also use these biodegradable bags so that it's not as negative an impact on the environment."

Fletcher said the city could also place green bins in city parks so it would be more convenient for dog owners.

"I think if you've got to track it home, some people would be less inclined to pick it up in the first place," said another dog owner.

"If they have the green bins there, then (residents) pick it up and put it in a place that's more appropriate than the garbage."

If the bylaw passes, residents who choose to ignore it could end up paying a fine similar to the $240 charged for those who don't pick up after their pet.

With a report from CTV's Desmond Brown

Thanks For Taking The Time Lise

Much ado about nothing seems to be the fad today...while I was channel surfing last week I clicked on the Colbert Report where they were "discussing" the word nigger and I have not seen any pouring of outrage from the saviours of the world.

Offensive label likely a mistake
April 09, 2007

Racial slur on sofa label stuns family
April 6.

I think Doris Moore will be relieved to find out that the offensive wording on the label of her new sofa is probably a spelling mistake with a linguistic explanation. Many European languages use some form of the Latin word "niger" as the root of their word for the colour black. There was probably an inadvertent addition of a second "g" in the translation of the word from another language (probably a Chinese language) that, unfortunately, created an extremely offensive English word.

I hope Moore will understand that although the original Latin word "niger" was adapted much later in time to make a racial epithet, many Europeans use variations from the original Latin for a perfectly respectable word for the colour black, and what she purchased was a "black-brown" sofa.

Lise Ferguson, Toronto