Wednesday, March 31, 2010

2017...Hamburger University V.2

Whatya say, whatya know, I was using Ottawa's version of rapid transit, the bus and found a copy of Metro.

Well, four pages.

And of one of them it showed a bunch of Mickey D suits in Shanghai, China celebrating the new Hamburger University in that town. The Chinese do 300 000 000 000 billion a year in informal eating out and it is McDicks fastest growing market.

WFDS

2016...Vancouver Leads The Way Again

How green is my city?

Vancouver, British Columbia wants to be the greenest city on the third rock from the sun and to that end, as Canwest News Service reports, they are throwing a demonstration beehive project on the roof of their city hall.

The project, brought forth by the town's Green Action Team, won't cost taxpayers any money.

It doesn't say what the point is but I am sure that someone will explain it to me.

WFDS

2015...Mike Duffy, Hypocrite

Sorry, Senator Michael Duffy of Prince Edward Island.

Here is something about the esteemed [surely said in jest] and respected [again, surely said in jest] member of the upper chamber that I cribbed from Warren Kinsella's blog. Bear in mind that back in the latter part of the 20th century the Senator was a Liberal fart catcher and was angling for both the Senate and the Order of Canada. Now, of course, the farts he catches are Blue.

That was then, this is now
March 30th, 2010, 10:05 pm

Globe and Mail, May 2, 1998:

Frank, according to Mr. Duffy, made it acceptable for other media to mention or joke about his weight. For example, the Royal Canadian Air Farce depicts him as Tiny Mike. As well as costing him the Order of Canada, he said the attacks lowered his standing at CTV.

He was advised by his lawyer, David Sherriff-Scott, not to talk to The Globe and Mail about the case. However, in the examination for discovery, Mr. Duffy makes a very convincing case for how much being “Franked” can hurt.

"I don’t know anyone who wants to be held up to ridicule," Mr. Duffy says on the transcript. "I’ve never met a human being who wants people to make . . . personal comments about them…I’m not sure if your clients appreciate when they put down the Prime Minister for his accent and so on that hurts him personally. Now, one could argue that he asked for that because he ran for office, but the fact is we’re all human beings, and what your magazine, or your client’s magazine, consistently demonstrates is a complete absence of any shred of humanity in relation to other human beings."

"And there is no reason for you to think for one second that Mike Duffy doesn’t have a heart, that I can be hit and not be bruised and not feel it. Of course. And everybody else who is in there feels it too, when they’re attacked. So the idea that you can get some kind of free pass that Mike Duffy is the only human being on Earth who doesn’t feel pain when people make cracks about him, personal cracks, is totally wrong."

Speech, Sen. Mike Duffy, March 30, 2010:

"I rise to join my colleague, Senator Finley, in support of an inquiry into the state of freedom of speech in Canada…I share Senator Finley’s love of freedom and his concern about the growing phenomena of censorship. I approach the subject from the perspective of someone who, as a journalist for more than forty years, has used freedom of speech every day of my life, and has seen its essential role in keeping our democracy healthy…Some people say that if we ban offensive or rude opinions in Canada, society will be more harmonious. But experience around the world shows that’s just not how it works; and if we stop people from expressing themselves verbally, even in ways we find distasteful, they might be tempted to express themselves violently…As a journalist, I know the value of free speech. And as a Senator, I have a duty to protect it. Thank you."


Makes me proud to be a Canadian.

WFDS

2014...March 31 Should Be A National Holiday

It is Gordie Howe's birthday.

The Floral, Saskatchewan native who grew up in Saskatoon is 82 today.

Number 9 is worth more than a stamp.

WFDS

2013...I Love Love

The Sun, the Brit one which makes our collective Suns in Canada look like the New York Times, today proclaims the love of Douglas Wakefield for Thelma Purchase.

It is love with a twist, of course. A couple of twists in fact. Twist number one is that both are lifers in a Brit prison. Second twist is both are murderers. Well, now that Douglas Wakefield has had a sex change, they are both murderessess. And, ipso facto, lesbians.

This is a trend in the United Kingdom: "It follows another "wedding" earlier this month at New Hall Prison near Wakefield, West Yorks - of killers Amanda Fitzpatrick and Debbie Ware."

WFDS

2012...Ricky Martin Livin' La Vida Loca Being Gay

Stop the presses, wait they did:


Digital Chosun Ricky Martin Comes Out of the Closet - 1 hr ago
New Zealand Herald Ricky Martin: 'I was told my career would collapse if I came out' - 3 hrs ago
Melbourne Age I'm gay, Ricky Martin reveals - 3 hrs ago
The Independent 'I was told my career would collapse if I came out,' says Ricky Martin - 4 hrs ago
Telegraph Coming out is likely to boost Ricky Martin's career - 7 hrs ago


In other news, earth round, snow cold and water wet.

WFDS

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

2011...Medals For Timmy's Employees

Tim Horton's staff who worked in the Khandahar airport store are eligible for a war medal: The Chocolate Glazed Cross with Walnut Clusters.

That's according to Canwest News Services which reports that "A major overhaul of how the Canadian Forces recognizes overseas service will include the controversial decision to allow Tim Hortons employees at Kandahar Airfield to receive medals from the Afghan war."

Plus they got free Tim Bits.

WFDS

2010...Comedian In Hot Water For Trying To Be

Funny.

His name is Guy Earle and he has been doing stand up for a decade. My thinking is he is hack for the simple reason that after a decade he is hosting an amateur hour at a restaurant as opposed to, well, not hosting amateur hour at a restaurant. Also I never heard of him.

Keep in mind that Canada is the country that has its panties in a knot over the twenty five women who wear burquas, Ann Coulter and had a knipition over Triumph The Insult Dog when Conan O'Brien rolled into Toronto a hundred years ago for a week of shows. Plus this country, which if you go to any comedy club in the land will proclaim is the comedy capital of the world, has not produced household name Anglo comics in bunches since the 1980s.

What happened to Mr. Earle may be one of the factors contributing to the lack of funnymen/women coming out of Canuckistan.

As I understand it Lorna Pardy, a lesbian, and this is germane, has complained of being abused [as opposed to being amused] by Mr. Earle in May of '07. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal is taking it seriously and is having a hearing this week. What happened was Miss Pardy and her girly girl were making noise at the comedy show and as is the wont of emcees everywhere he flamed her. Miss Pardy’s complaint says Earle’s actions violate Section 8 of the B.C. Human Rights Code. The code says a person must not, without a bona fide and reasonable justification, discriminate against a person or class of persons regarding any accommodation, service or facility customarily available to the public.

In other words if she was just an assh*le he would be off the hook. But because she is a lesbian asshole the complaint stands.

Canoe does tell that Mr. Earle has not lost his sense of humour and has gained an impressive comeback line, to wit: " 'My joke now is that when somebody heckles me out of the darkness, I peer through the lights and ask, ‘I’m sorry sir, before I respond to you, can you tell me if you are part of a protected group?’' "

Beauty, eh?

WFDS

2009...I Love My Boss Sooooooooooo Much

I do.

I love my boss so much that I send letters of praise to newspapers under my married name telling how much my love for my boss is.

Wait, no, that's not me. That is the Jessica Craven story. Miss Craven/Mrs. Morgan [you say tomato/I say tomato] is the Minister For Causing Train Wrecks, Helena Guergis' executive assistant and, according to QMI Agency, her hobby over the last bit of time has been to pen letters to various papers north of Toronto expressing her love and admiration for the Minister/her boss.

After trying to deflect questions when contacted by QMI on Tuesday, Craven later admitted that she was the writer. She denied any conflict of interest. Craven said that changing her name was to "make sure they were separate from what I do for a living ... I am a voter in Simcoe-Grey with my own opinions." She said Guergis was not aware she had written the letters.

Don't believe you, don't believe you, don't believe you.

WFDS

2008...Did I Mention ItWas A Foodbank Fundraiser?

Post 2006, the thing where the elitists poofs at Queen's went ape-sh*t over the Sumo wrestler costumes, saying the inflatable costumes are racist [btw, they have been around for decades, the Sumo thingys; why now?].

They were going to be used in a fundraiser.

For the food bank.

Rich kids just don't give a flying f*ck, do they?

WFDS

2007...Spring Clean Up Time

David Sarazin at 93.1 CKCU in Ottawa forwards this note from Mike Thorne, president of JustJunk.com about the stuff we like to toss come spring. Here is Mr. Thorne's top seven:

1. Old appliances from basements. Yes, that 1940s Viking range isn’t likely to be cooking up any more chicken a la king so put it on the back burner permanently.

2. Pull-out couches. Ever moved one? Then surely you recall the groin injury you suffered. Time to toss it for a lighter model.

3. Backyard clean-up waste. Oh, the utter chaos Mother Nature dishes out. Time to get just as mean in the cleanup. Think spick and span on steroids.

4. Renovation debris deck demos. Your toddler’s been teetering on the lanai? Why not chuck the old deck for a new one.

5. Toilets and tubs. We never said the list was pretty. And if you really can’t bear to part with your porcelain paraphernalia you can always use them as planters for on your front lawn.

6. Garage odds and sods. Broken badminton rackets, rusty nails, worn out mattresses. . .These are a few of my favourite things – to throw away, that is.

7. Old tin sheds. Keeping your neighbours awake with all that clanging? Why not pitch that metal mess and perhaps you’ll score an invite to the next block party.



WFDS

2006...Queen's University Makes U of Zero Look

Smart.

The Queen's University student government, and, btw for those of you who haven't been informed by a Queen's student or graduate, it is the finest university in the world. Or, at least Eastern Ontario. South Eastern Ontario that is. Anyhow, the schmeldricks who are a part of the Queen's University government have decided, and I am quoting today's National Post on this, that those "Sumo suits, the plastic novelties that can transform a skinny sports fan into a comically unstable sphere for the delight of a stadium audience, are racist and dehumanizing instruments of oppression, according to the student government of Queen's University. They 'appropriate an aspect of Japanese culture,' turn a racial identity into a 'costume,' and 'devalue an ancient and respected Japanese sport, which is rich in history and cultural tradition.' They also 'fail to capture the deeply embedded histories of violent and subversive oppression that a group has faced.'"

Gee, I hope they don't find out about St. Patrick's Day at Queen's, a day which, of course appropriates an aspect of Irish culture, turns a racial identity into a costume, and devalues an ancient and respected Irish sport, getting pinned and dancing to fiddle music, which is rich in history and cultural tradition.

WFDS

Monday, March 29, 2010

2005...The Curse Of Sports Illustrated

There is a myth that being on the cover of Sports Illustrated is the kiss of death. In fact back in '02 SI had a cover story on that very cover story.

Now being on the cover of SI was not a particular trial for Michael Jordan but look at this list of those who did not fare so well after being on the cover of the mag:

Notable incidences

* August 16, 1954: Eddie Mathews is the first person to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The Milwaukee Braves snapped a nine-game winning streak and a broken hand later causes Mathews to miss seven games.

* January 31, 1955: Skier Jill Kinmont suffers a near-fatal crash at Alta, Utah the same week that she appears on the cover, and is left paralyzed from the chest down.

* November 18, 1957: Clendon Thomas Oklahoma Sooner appears on the cover, along with others on the Sooner sideline, with the headline "Why Oklahoma is Unbeatable." The next game of that season Oklahoma lost, ending their NCAA Division I record, 47 game winning streak, to Notre Dame.

* February 13, 1961: 16 year old Laurence Owen, the 1961 U.S. National and North American Figure Skating Champion appears on the cover as "America's Most Exciting Girl Skater" is killed in a plane crash near Brussels, Belgium just two days later on February 15, 1961 en route to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

* June 9, 1969: Lee Trevino appears on the cover as part of a preview to the U.S. Open. The defending champion fails to make the cut.

* December 5, 1977: Earl Campbell and the 11-0 Texas Longhorns appear on the cover. They lose their next game, the Cotton Bowl to Notre Dame.

* July 30, 1984: Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Jack Lambert appeared on the cover with an interview with the headline "The Man of Steel." Lambert would miss most of the 1984 season with a turf toe injury and subsequently retired.

* September 26, 1988: Dwight Evans appears on the cover and goes 4-30 in a two-week span.

* January 13, 1997: Mark Brunell of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Kerry Collins of the Carolina Panthers appear on the cover as their respective teams advance to the playoffs. Both teams lose the same week.

* In September 2009, pre-season Top 10 teams Oklahoma State and Ole Miss both lost after being featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

* November 9, 2009: Iowa's Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, appears on the front cover with the words "still perfect." Iowa goes on to lose the following Saturday to Northwestern ending the longest winning streak in school history.

* October 11, 2003: In the midst of each league's respective League Championship Series, both the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox were featured on dual covers to that week's issue. Both teams would go on to suffer great collapses, as the Florida Marlins beat the Cubs and the New York Yankees beat the Red Sox; allowing both teams to advance to the World Series.

* January 11 2010, Miles Austin of the Dallas Cowboys was on the cover, Dallas lost the Divisional Playoff Game to the Minnesota Vikings.

* In January 2010, Brett Favre was on the cover with the headline "Favre on Fire" before the NFC Championship Game and lost. Mark Sanchez was on the cover in the Northeast and lost the AFC Championship Game.

* In January 2010, Kentucky point guard John Wall appeared on the cover under the headline "The Great Wall." The next week undefeated Kentucky was upset on the road by 11-8 South Carolina in a game where Wall was outplayed by Gamecocks' point guard Devon Downey.

* In February 2010, downhill skier and Olympic gold-medal-hopeful Lindsey Vonn injured her leg the same week as she appeared on the cover. Vonn suffered a severe bruise on her right shin following a crash during training Feb. 2. Vonn later won Gold in the Olympics that year.

* In March 2010, star of the Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball team Matt Bouldin suffered a poor performance and serious loss to the Syracuse Orange in the second round of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament. Bouldin appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated issue on March Madness that month.

In fact there were six covers put out for March Madness:

Syracuse Orange
Villanova Wildcats
Kansas University Jayhawks
Ohio State Buckeyes
Kentucky Wildcats
Gonzaga Bulldogs

They all, as in all, lost.

Now if we could only get Stephen Harper on the cover of Sports Illustrated all would be well.

WFDS

2004...And Then There Were Four

Warren Kinsella is hooked on power pop and punk; my jones is college basketball.

The Final Four is upon us after the most upset filled tourney ever.

The Final Four this weekend in Indy will have Butler, a school based in the Indiana capital, West Virginia, Michigan State [last year's finalist] and the only number one seed left: Duke.

Note to editors of Sports Illustrated: Please, please, PLEASE put Duke on your cover this week.

WFDS

2003...Band Of Joy

WRIF has just reported that Robert Plant is refusing to go out on the road with Led Zepplin and instead is hitting the road this summer with Band of Joy.

Thought you would want to know.

WFDS

2002...You May Want To Invest In A GPS

The Cape Breton Post has a story about a Nova Scotia couple that should get a GPS yesterday.

The couple, "Nancy and Don Zwaagstra of Bedford, N.S., took a wrong turn two weeks ago while visiting Stanstead and ended up in the United States, where they were arrested.

Police turned them over to unsympathetic border patrol officers, who escorted them to the official border crossing after fingerprinting and photographing them and making them sign a statement."

Prime Minister Harper is vexed about this whole thing btw.

Good for him.

WFDS

2001...Margaret Wente On Freedom Of Speech

Free speech is different here in Canada. It is seen as highly dangerous. That is why our government has denied entry to such characters as George Galloway (Hamas lover) and Bobby Seale (former Black Panther). A federal MP even tried to ban the rapper 50 Cent (corrupter of youth). Students have shut down Benjamin Netanyahu (the current Prime Minister of Israel), and professors have turned their backs on Margaret Somerville (pro-life), who was advised to wear flat shoes in case she had to run for it.


WFDS

2000...Rush Limbaugh On Ann Coulter

I’ve met Ann Coulter a number of times. I can say that I know her, and she is decent, and she’s funny. Dirty little secret here, Ari: She actually doesn’t mind this at all. She’s in the front page, above-the-fold in the local newspaper. Everybody around the world is talking about this, and she has successfully illustrated just what a bunch of bigots there are at this university. So this is something that she’s out there laughing about. This hasn’t even happened at the stupidest American university, as she says. Ari, I’m glad you called. Thank you very much.

WFDS

1999...Radio Kills

It feeds my dog but it has been known to kill.

Cut and paste from Corey Deitz's blog:

1. An employee at CHIN Radio in Toronto was killed in a freak accident when the antenna on his mobile studio fell and crushed him inside the truck's cab.

2. From Palm Bay, Florida comes this: "Three members of a family who were electrocuted by 13,000 volts while trying to erect a radio antenna in Central Florida [have been] identified..." reported clickorlando.com. It seems a father, mother, and son were attempting to put a HAM radio antenna in the back yard of a relative's property when the 17-year-old son "...lost control of the pole and it struck an overhead power line."

3. From Sacramento, California abcnews.go.com reported: "A woman who competed in a radio station's contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner's office said...Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead...in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the 'Hold Your Wee for a Wii' contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner."

4. Your basic car radio: a piece of electronic technology people are apparently willing to kill for. At least in Stratford, England. BBC News reported: "Two brothers have been found guilty of murdering a father-of-two after they tried to steal a radio from his car."

5. Police shot and killed a man who threatened a Christian-formatted radio station in State College, Pennsylvania. According to cnn.com: "...the station received a tip...that someone armed with a shotgun was asking people for the address of the radio station and for money...Officers intercepted the man as he arrived at the station, where he began shooting at police..."

6. A bizarre story out of Person County, North Carolina. According to the online version of the Roxboro Courier Times, a man was killed by his car radio during a late-night crash. Rodney Michael Cates wrecked his vehicle when his Mazda truck went off the road, hit a driveway culvert, went airborne, and landed upright on a nearby residential lawn. Somewhere during all this the truck's radio flew out of it's housing and hit Cates in the head. The blow killed him!

7. In Belfast, Ireland, a truck driver told a court the reason he plowed into another car and killed the driver and passenger was because he was trying to tune his radio to the news.

8. Out of Vancouver, B.C., onelocalnews.com reported this bizarre occurrence: "A man was shot to death Saturday in a mall parking lot following an argument over citizens band radio, police said...The two men apparently did not know each other, but got into an argument over CB radio before they met at the mall. Both men were armed, police said."

9. Fox News reported a story out of New Britain, Connecticut, in which a man died trying to "outdo a rival" while "battle dancing". "James Brown was on the radio and [Robert] Stitt wanted to outdo a rival dancer, who had flipped in the air," according to AP as reported by Fox. Apparently, Stitt "...tried a forward flip and landed on his head." He went into cardiac arrest and later died.

10. The Independent (UK) reported: "A late-night radio talk show host spoke of his shock after a listener died on air during a phone-in...The caller, known only as Terry, was taking part in a debate on Liverpool's Magic FM 1548 when the line suddenly went silent. The DJ, Pete Price, was so concerned he abandoned his show and raced around to the man's house."

WFDS

1998...This Is Chilling

From the Toronto Star comes this editorial by Haroon Siddiqui re the Quebec anti niqab law. She opens with:

Governments intervene against the religious wishes of Jehovah's Witness families to give blood transfusions to save the lives of their kin. The Quebec government wants to intervene to deny health care to women whose religious wish is to wear the niqab.


What is even more interesting is the fact that it is estimated by the writer that only 25 women wear the niqab in La Belle which makes the law even more la stupid.

The writer also points out that "In Saudi Arabia, Iran and parts of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, police or vigilante militias crack down on women not wearing the niqab or the burqa. In Quebec, authorities want to crack down on women who do."

Mr. Siddiqui also makes the salient point that "It was not a pretty sight to see Charest, a Liberal, competing for headlines with Ann Coulter, the Muslim-baiting neo-con from America."

By the way the cross will remain on Mont Royal. Of course it will.

WFDS

1997...Mike Danton, Winner

Rehabilitation is supposed to work like this.

Mike Danton, the former St. Louis Blue who was convicted of conspiring to kill his reptilian agent David Frost and did beaucoup time in the States for his malfeasance, is getting a ring.

The Atlantic University Sports website reports that SMU, the school he is attending and playing hockey for, SMU standing for Saint Mary's University in Halifax, are celebrating their first ever University Cup. The team won the Cup with a 3-2 overtime win over the Alberta Golden Bears thanks to Brad Smith knocking in the rebound off captain Marc Rancourt's shot at 9:13.

Beauty, eh?

WFDS

Sunday, March 28, 2010

1996...Nice Work If You Can Get It

The Lawrence Journal-World and News reports that the Athletic Director at Kansas University got paid 85,000.00 dollars last year to be the Jayhawks AD.

A week.

4,400,000.00 million a year was what Lew Perkins made in 2009.

To put that in perspective, that is more money than every basketball coach in our home and native land makes combined.

Nice work if you can get it.

WFDS

1995...In Failed Whore News

I think I blogged about this but if I didn't, I should have.

Couple of months ago a Nevada Whorehouse, the Shady Lady Ranch, hired their first male ho, the first male ho in the history of legalized hoing in Nevada.

According to Dlisted it hasn't worked out. "Markus, Nevada's first ever legal "prosti-dude", has packed up his peen and quit the ho business after only 2 months on the stroll."

Markus started renting his ass to lady customers at the Shady Lady Ranch back in January but only 10 women actually paid Markus to do his thing and he had no return engagements. That is like one a week. Beauty.

The owner of Shady Lane says that Markus leaving was a mutual decision. She says he has gone back to Los Angeles to do porn. Look for him on a shelf in the back of your local dep soon.

WFDS

1994...Woody's On Elgin In Ottawa New Hot Spot

Keith Loiselle is the new owner of Woody's down on Elgin in Ottawa and his brother Matt tells me that they are rocking for breakfast every day and it is cheap.

Hey, I love breakfast and breakfast every day for 3.99 in a place that is as nice as Woody's is cool.

See you there; look for me in my sombrero.

WFDS

1993...Loser Of The Day

Week.

Month.

Year.

The St. Paul PioneerPress
reports that "A St. Paul man beat up a quadruple amputee because he was angry that she was blocking his view of the television, according to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court."

The losers name is Jacoby Smith and here is what he admits to doing:

According to the complaint, St. Paul police were called on a domestic assault case at 6:49 a.m. March 22, and found a 28-year-old woman sitting in a wheelchair.

"Officers observed that all four of her limbs were amputated, her arms below the elbow and her legs above the knee," the complaint said.

The woman told police she shared an apartment with Smith on Jessie Street in St. Paul's East Side and an argument started because Smith became angry at her for getting in front of the television, the complaint said.

"The defendant threw the victim to the floor and punched her with a closed fist in the mouth and face more than ten times," the complaint said.

"The victim tried to gain access to her phone and manipulate the keys, which was difficult for her to do because of her handicap, but the defendant swiped her phone away and would not give it back," the complaint said.


Let's hope he gets many, many, many years in jail.

WFDS

1992...Don't Show This To Premier McGuinty

The Newspaper.com is all about the politics of driving and they report that "The top forty speed traps in the state of Texas raked in a total of $178,367,093 in speeding ticket revenue between 2000 and 2008 despite having a combined population of less than 56,000 residents. Motorist Aren Cambre collected ticket issuance data from the state's Office of Court Administration to identify which towns generated the most revenue per capita from speeding tickets."

It is reported that "...the town of Westlake issued an average of 38 tickets worth $4696 each year for every resident." The police chief of the service contracted to raise the money/enforce the law, Keller Police Chief Mark Hafner, insists that it is not a money grab, it is all about safety. He is lying of course but cash be cash and no one, including the WFDS, is forced to speed.

Hey, we could do that in Ontario. Please don't show this to Dalton. Please.

WFDS

1991...Taking The Fun Out Of Food

Some people just don't get it.

Corporate Accountability International wants Mickey Dee to blow out Ronald McDonald. Mr. McDonald, who originated in D.C. in the mid sixties [the first Ronald McDonald was longtime Today Show weather man Willard Scott] positing that the corporate clown has too much influence on kids.

Umm, unless your kid has his or her own money, he can influence as much as he wants but it is you that is buying the McFood.

McDonald's told the Chicago Tribune in a written statement that "He is the heart and soul of Ronald McDonald House Charities, which lends a helping hand to families in their time of need."

Of course Corporate Accountability International has not offered to step up to the plate and fund houses for families of sick kids.

I hate haters.

WFDS

1990...Ethnic Profiling In La Belle

This week's Charlatan, the Carleton University weekly paper, has a story under Ruby Pratra's byline about an Algerian born grad student at the University du Quebec a Montreal who was the wrong tint in the wrong place for the Montreal cops and UQAM security.

Slimane Zihaf said in a statement that he was "targeted because of colour and origin" and taken down by, way down, pushed down a flight of stairs by four MUC coppers who were looking for a suicide bomber.

Ooops.

WFDS

Saturday, March 27, 2010

1989...Most Canadians Agree With Burka Ban

That's the headline in this morning's Montreal Gazette.

An Angus Reid poll says that "Ninety-five per cent of Quebecers support a proposed provincial law barring the face veil from government offices, schools, and other publicly funded institutions...in the rest of Canada, three out of four people give the thumbs up to Bill 94, introduced Wednesday by the Charest government. The bill would require all public sector employees to have their faces uncovered, as well as any citizen using government services; for example, someone applying for a medicare card or paying her car registration."

I don't think it is any of the government's business what women wear; freedom is freedom and freedom is in place not to guard the norms of society but things that are not the norm.

WFDS

1988...The Devil Is In The Details

I don't know what Maria Mourani's view on the evil drug marijuana is.

Don't know if she is pro legalization or pro jailization.

What I do know is she is the Bloc Quebecois MP for Ahuntsic, a riding in Montreal and as a lawmaker she is obliged to uphold the law.

That said, I will posit that the worst place to have a grow operation for pot would be in the same office building as a sitting MP.

Cops were alerted by her staff that their offices reeked of the sweet, sweet smell of weed. Reported widely, the cops found 15,500 plants at the grow-op, the largest single haul in Montreal police history, in the same building as the MPs office is.

Like, doh.

WFDS

1987...The Knives Are Out

For the next Prime Minister of Canada, Michael Ignatieff.

I don't get it.

Stephen Harper is taking us the wrong way, he is doing what Michael Harris did back in the day in Ontario, that is he is copying the Yanks but copying stuff that they have tried or are doing that patently doesn't work such as the insane war on drugs, especially mary-jane, not to mention minimum sentences without judicial discretion which is insane in the membrane.

WFDS

Friday, March 26, 2010

1986...More On Ann Coulter

Geez I listened to Calgary radio this morning and read the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun on line and best I can figure, even though Ann Coulter spoke last night at the University of Calgary, a talk that freaked out small minded intellectuals at the University of Ottawa, the sun rose at its appointed time in Alberta, busses ran on schedule, schools were open and there was no marching in the street.

Imagine.

WFDS

1985...Ann Coulter Offered A Job In Alberta

Here, see for yourself:

K-97 Invites Ann Coulter to Co-Host The Terry, Bill & Steve Show
Edmonton AB from Jason Almeida

K-97’s, Terry, Bill, and Steve Show are well aware of the dangers of censorship. The controversial morning show has been the subject of many attempts from special interest groups to muzzle their frank and open discussions on the radio. Their controversial advertisements have become a lightning rod for attempted censorship. But through it all, Terry, Bill, and Steve continue to turn on the microphones on K-97 every morning and say whatever is on their minds. Sometimes they offend, but they are always happy to remind those who are a little sensitive, that every radio has an “off” button.

While Terry, Bill, and Steve on K-97 may be controversial, they are also advocators of the freedom to speak freely and publicly. While all three of them may think the right-wing views of American political speaker Ann Coulter are borderline insane, they do respect her right to speak. After all, some say Terry, Bill, and Steve are borderline insane and they get to speak freely every morning on the radio.

That’s why they are offering Ann Coulter the chance to guest host their show on Friday morning, and speak her mind during her visit to Alberta.

What: Inviting Ann Coulter to guest host The TBS Show
Why: To support Freedom of Speech
Who: K-97 and Ann Coulter
When: Friday March 26th, 2010 (6am – 9am)
Where: K-97 Studio in West Edmonton Mall

WFDS

1984...Calgary Rithes In Right Wing Anarchy

Ann Coulter spoke last night in Calgary and the fascist revolution starts today.

Wait, that is wrong.

As the Calgary Herald opines:

They chanted angry slogans, waved placards, banged on the windows and taunted the people who arrived to hear American pundit Ann Coulter speak but, in the end, the controversial, sold-out show went on in Calgary.

Cowtown more democratic than Ottawa. Good on you; bad on us.

WFDS

1983...Don't Drink And Drive

Especially if you are on patrol. Like, highway patrol. In uniform. In a cop car. With your gun and stuff.

That was the crucial mistake that David Nolan made earlier this month. The Associated Press reports that the overrefreshed Colorado State trooper was weaving on the highway that forms a perimeter around Denver when the Douglas County cops pulled him over.

He faces a myriad of charges.

WFDS

1982...They Don't Play In New York City

Dead or alive they don't care: the sign says no parking pal.

The New York Daily News, one of the world's great fish wraps, tells the story of a police tow truck that removed a minivan parked outside a New York City funeral home. Not any minivan though, this was a meat wagon, industry parlance for a vehicle that transports the dearly departed.

Redden's Funeral Home director Paul DeNigris said a windshield placard had fallen flat. The van's tinted windows helped obscure the white cardboard box that held the remains. He says he was a wreck after discovering the van missing early this month in Manhattan. He rushed to the tow pound, where he discreetly explained the circumstances and got the van back and got the body to the airport in time for a scheduled flight to Miami.

WFDS

Thursday, March 25, 2010

1981...I Know You Don't Care

But.

Kansas lost.

Carleton lost.

And tonight Syracuse lost.

WFDS

1980...Francois Houle B*tch Slapped By Union

" 'We feel you (Houle) owe an apology to Ms. Coulter and, even more importantly, you owe the University of Ottawa community an assurance that the administration of the university strongly supports freedom of expression, academic freedom and views the role of the university as fostering and defending these values,' officials with the Canadian Association of University Teachers said this week in a letter to Houle."

In every Canwest Newspaper in Canada.

That should put Mr. Houle's panties in a knot.

WFDS

1979...Calgary More Intellectual Than Ottawa

Never thought I would write those words but I just did.

Ann Coulter, the uber hot, uber conservative, uber controversial American shiksa who was bullied out of her pulpit at the University of Ottawa this week is being welcomed with open arms at the University of Cowtown.

May be not open arms but with sufficent security.

The U of C provost Alan Harrison was quoted in the online edition of the Calgary Herald as saying that:
The purpose of a university is to encourage the exchange of ideas, said Harrison.

"To do anything other than that is to go against, I think, what the university stands for.

"Our concern is to ensure this event goes on smoothly and that she receives the same respect for her opinions as everybody else would expect to receive for their's," he said.

Harrison said it's not up to the U of C to decide in advance what Coulter might say and whether that is a promotion of hatred.


Imagine, freedom of speech, an anethma in the capital of Canada; cherished in Calgary.

WFDS

1978..."I Expected A Lot Of Applause"

"I wanted to perform my party trick...I expected lots of applause after I did it and never guess someone would repeat it."

"It" refers to that time honoured wedding reception game: Russian Roulette.

What ever could go wrong?

Well, for starters, someone could get shot in the head. Which is what happened last weekend at a wedding in Astrakhan, Russia, a city as pretty as its name.

The aforementioned guest was, according to Russian TV reports, giving a toast at the wedding when he pretended he was playing the deadly game, holding a gun against his head and firing the weapon he supposedly thought was empty.

No bullet in that chamber.

When he gave the gun to another guest, it turned out he had been tragically wrong.

The second guest fired the handgun against his head and dropped to ground as a rubber bullet exploded into his skull.

Ow.

He, guest number two, is in hospital with brain damage and paralysis. Guest number one, who swears it is his best joke ever and cannot understand what went wrong, is in jail. In Russia. C'est fun.

WFDS

1977...Another Poll Puts The Bad Guys Ahead

This morning the CBC reported that the Conservative Party remains the political favourite of most and an increasing number of Canadians are happy with the country's direction.

Of those surveyed by EKOS for the CBC, exactly one third of us would vote for the Conservatives if an election were held tomorrow. And 47 per cent of those surveyed say that, all things considered, the government is moving in the right direction.

The results are not a huge change from those published a week earlier, which showed support for the Conservatives at 33.1 per cent and support for the country's direction at 44.2 per cent.

Team Red took a small hit in popularity among those surveyed. If an election were held tomorrow, 27.7 per cent of those surveyed would vote for the Libs, a drop of 1.2 percentage points from the week before. They peaked at 31.1 per cent earlier this year and have been sliding for the last six weeks.

WFDS

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

1976...Like Doh, That's Why They Call It The U of ZERO!!!

From today's Globe and Mail:

" I'm guessing the scores to get into the University of Ottawa are not very challenging. "
- Ann Coulter



WFDS

1975...May Be The CRTC Should Get Wi Fi

In their decision Monday telling Canadian consumers that they will have to pay 120 dollars more a year on their cable bills coz Canadian TV is too f*cked up to figure out how to make money the CRTC said that, and these are Jamie Sturgeon's words in the Financial Post this morning:

Cable subscribers have shrugged at rate increases in the past and might be willing to do so again if new fees are passed on to them, the national broadcast regulator suggested Tuesday.


Well, dummies, no. See, back in the day you had us by the short hairs. But now with the 'net I can surfthechannel.com, youtube.com and justin.tv my way to pretty much any show in the world and I don't even need cable.

Perhaps the CRTC could try to be current, eh?

WFDS

1974...Maple Syrup Rich In Antioxidants: Study

My new fave healthfood is flowing from Maple trees in the Valley and the Pontiac and and and.

Whodda thunk it; maple syrup is now a healthfood!

So wrote Randy Boswell in the Canwest newspapers last week.

It took Americans, from the University of Rhode Island, to figure it out but they did use Canuck money soooooooooo. Anyhow they found a host of disease-fighting antioxidants in the sugary sap and highlight the lost benefits of smothering pancakes with fake liquid sweeteners instead of the real deal.

The URI discovered 13 new compounds "...linked with human health..." in samples of Canadian maple syrup. And lead researcher Navindra Seeram said that "At this point, we are saying, if you choose to put syrup on your pancakes, it may be healthier to use real maple syrup," he added, citing industry research indicating that 50 per cent of you don't know whether the syrup they buy has real maple ingredients. "You pay for what you get and you get what you pay for...meaning there are consequences for what you eat."

WFDS

1973...Ah, La Belle, La Balle

As in La Balle Hockey which is a no-no in Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a West Island suburb of Montreal.

CJAD reports that "Earlier this month, David Sasson was fined $75 for taking playing road hockey with his seven-year-old son and his young friends. Evidently, a neighbour found the sight and sounds of kids playing street hockey offensive. Instead of turning the other cheek, that person called the city to complain about the noise and the traffic disruption."

Dollard-des-Ormeaux director general Jack Benzaquen says the municipality had to respond to the complaint because, well, the law is the law. “The patroller was caught in a situation where he was damned if does something, damned if he doesn’t do something," Mr. Benzaquen said. Meanwhile, the district’s worrywart councillor, Mickey Guttman, says the bylaw is there for security reasons. “God forbid an accident happens.” Guttman says.

I think he knows my mom.

"God forbid an accident happens."

Mr. Sasson says that he is going to fight the ticket in court.

Say it loud and say it proud: “My Canada includes street hockey."

WFDS

1972...Thou Shall Not Steal

But if thou does steal and sell the stuff you steal on eBay don't go on Dr. Phil and tell the world that you are.

San Diego 6 tells of a couple who boasted on Dr. Phil that they made as much as $3,500 a week by selling shoplifted toys online. Matthew Eaton, 34, got 27 months in jail. His wife Laura Eaton, 27, was sentenced to one year.

The pair were arrested last September - nearly a year after an appearance on the Dr Phil television show. Guess the cops PVR'd the show and just got around to picking up Bonnie and Clyde when they got around to it.

"Assistant US Attorney Nicole Acton Jones had earlier said the couple made at least $100,000 from June 2007 to March 2009 by stealing Lego toy kits, transporting them across state lines and selling them on eBay and other online auction sites..."

WFDS

1971...When Not To Call 911

When the cop who arrested you hands you a phone and says you can make one call, don't call 911.

The Naperville Sun reports that Carly A. Houston was taken to the Naperville police station over the weekend, after she allegedly became embroiled in a heated, early morning dispute with a taxicab driver.


When given her one phone call she used her call to dial 911, which immediately connected her to Naperville police dispatchers. She pleaded for help, complaining she was "...trapped inside the detention facility...".

True dat.

The call earned her another criminal charge, this one for making a false 911 report.

Her troubles began about 1:40 a.m. Sunday, when police were called to the BP service station at 901 N. Washington St., police Cmdr. Mike Anders said. A cab driver there told police he had picked Houston up near the city's downtown, and that she had instructed him to drive north on Washington Street.

When the driver asked for her specific destination Miss Houston allegedly "...yelled, screamed, cursed and extended (both) middle fingers at the cab driver and threatened bodily harm...". Enough already, he stopped at the gas station, where employees and patrons were also "...alarmed and disturbed..." by her reputed behavior, he said.

Police tried to persuade her to pay her $6.60 fare from downtown to the station; no go so to jail we go. While there at 3:10 a.m., Miss Houston allegedly used a phone to call 911 "to report she's trapped inside the Naperville police detention facility," Anders said.

In addition to making a false 911 report, Houston was charged with theft of labor or services, criminal trespass to land and disorderly conduct. All of the charges are misdemeanors.

WFDS

1970...Freedom Of Speech? Not In Ottawa

Intimidation does work.

Direct from Sean Connolly at CFRA comes this:

A speech at the University of Ottawa, from American Conservative commentator Ann Coulter, was cancelled Tuesday night by organizers, due to "security concerns" after protesters turned up outside the venue.

Organizers said they feared for Coulter's safety after an estimated two thousand people gathered outside the venue to protest her presence there.

Coulter, was scheduled to speak at the University’s Marion Hall as part of a three-city Canadian tour, organized by the International Free Press Society.

During a speech at University of Western Ontario last Monday night, she caused controversy after telling a 17-year-old Muslim student to ``take a camel'' instead of the flying carpet she previously suggested Muslims use for transportation.

Earlier, University of Ottawa provost Francois Houle drew criticism himself, for sending Coulter a letter cautioning her on the limits of free speech in Canada.

Coulter reacted angrily stating the university was ``threatening to criminally prosecute me for my speech.''



The self righteous haters must be so proud.

WFDS

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

1969...Working At The Car Wash Blues

You're dissatisfied with the car wash you've just received. Do you: a) ask him to redo it, b) ask for your money back, or c) hit him in the head with a hammer?

Of course the answer is c) hit him in the head with a hammer.

The Cap Times, a Madison, Wisconsin newspaper tells the story of "A man who didn't like a waxy buildup on his car took out his frustration on the man who washed and waxed his car, allegedly hitting the victim in the back and head with a hammer, Madison police reported."

Reasonable doncha think?

The suspect apparently felt the victim left an unwanted waxy buildup on his dark blue 1990s Mercury Cougar. They argued. "The argument ended when the suspect got a hammer out of the car and hit the victim in the back and in the head."

The suspect, a Madison man in his 50s, was identified by the victim but he hasn't been located, police said.

WFDS

Monday, March 22, 2010

1968...University Of Saskatchewan Rules

Nice team, some feelgood stories and rings on order for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies who led pretty much from start to finish to beat the University of British Columbia's men's basketball team in Ottawa.

The only thing that was not so feel good was the fact that the CIS pretty much lies like a rug. To wit: there were 3,000 people there so the announcer, Richard Provencher, announced that there were 12,000 people in attendance. Ditto for the Saturday and Friday crowds.

Way to insult us.

WFDS

1967...Ann Coulter Likes Canada

Not all of it of course, especially not the French part.

But, as mentioned in today's National Post, "She did, however, reserve a kind word for Western Canada, calling it the 'good part' for its conservatives and cowboys."

She will speak at the University of Western Ontario in London today, followed by the University of Ottawa tomorrow and the University of Calgary on Wednesday.

WFDS

1966...They Didn't Really Say This, Did They?

Dave Breakenridge of QMI Agency writes this morning about the non movement on the marijuana decriminalization front.

As expected our law and order PM, Stephen Harper, had this to say: "The reason drugs are illegal is because they are bad."

To be expected from a fact phobic politician.

But what Mr. Breakenridge wrote about the Next Prime Minister of Canada was a bit off putting:

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, who as an Ivy League egghead probably saw enough trust fund babies find success while doing far worse than smoking pot, laughably told a group of high school kids they're practically pointing a loaded gun at their heads by lighting up a "marijuana cigarette." The least these two supposedly smart men could try to offer, in defending their positions on the matter, is some actual intelligent debate, rather than talking to Canadians as if they were their pre-teen children. It's one thing to offer a kid a rote response, but adults deserve better.


Seriously, WTF.

WFDS

1965...Sex And The Prime Minister's Wife

The Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker was in the Big Smoke to hype Halston last week and got her picture taken with Laureen Harper.

After the photo op Mrs. Prime Minister told National Post gossip boy Shinan Govani that her and the PM were on the second last episode of the hit HBO series.

Her spurious story goes like this: "On a trip to New York a few years ago they were walking near 'the Tiffany on Fifth Avenue' she said, when they stumbled upon a SJP shoot. Apparently they were caught up in the background. 'We're fuzzy,' Mrs. Harper told me, 'but we're there.' "

Me too.

Same episode.

Fuzzy.

But there.

WFDS

1964...33 K For A Senator's Jersey

Mike Duffy's.

Nah.

For starters, who would it fit?

The jersey I am talking about is one that an American sports collector bought last week in Quebec for 33,000.00. The shirt, a Senator's as in Ottawa Senators, shirt, was worn by Frank Nighbor, the "Pembroke Peach".

One of the first superstars in the NHL, Mr. Nighbor was the first winner of both the Hart and the Lady Byng Trophy.

WFDS

Sunday, March 21, 2010

1963...Canadians Hating On Canadians

Kylie Minogue, Australian music diva, calls it the Tall Trees Theory.

I call it hating.

Whatever, it was and is in evidence in our Home And Native Land. Example this week comes from the CIS, Canadian Intercollegiate Sports [or something like that].

Carleton University, the Ravens, have played in the last nine final fours and have won the thing seven times, the thing being the National Championship.

So, one would think that Coach Dave Smart might be the coach of the year, right?

Wrong.

He wasn't even nominated.

In fact, he didn't even win coach of the year in the OUA East, a league he has wrecked all century.

I digress.

His players also were disrespected. Only one of the players from the number one team in the country [going into the tourney that is] made a national team.

Haters.

We seem to be a country that hates achievement.

In fact, out of all the players that made the national all star teams and all the players and coaches that were nominated for awards only one, Kevin McCleery from Carleton, have as many rings as me.

None.

Rings is why they keep score folks.


WFDS

1962...The Mighty Ravens Have Fallen

Last night, at Scotia Bank in Ottawa the Carleton Ravens, defending Canuckistanian men's university champs, fell to the Huskies of Saskatchewan by seven points.

Down pretty much the whole way, the Ravens hung in there and had a chance to win it in the last minute.

Coach Smart, of Carleton, has to be pretty much the best coach on the continent.

The crowd was announced at 12 thousand plus. What a piece of bullsh*t that was/is. Tops 5,000 and that includes cops, vendors etc.

Having this event in the middle of nowhere was insane. The stadium is like forever away from people, has no bus service and consequently the crowd was, like the WFDS, old and pale.

WFDS

Saturday, March 20, 2010

1961...Sometimes Karma Is Instant

And breaking up is hard to do.

Example thereof comes to us from the Daily Mail and South Wales where spurned husband Tim Flood torched his home to stop his estranged wife getting her hands on it and died for his effort. As our hero doused the house with petrol, he failed to notice that some had spilled on to his clothes.

Ooooops.

And when he set the building alight in November last year he was immediately engulfed by flames. The fire was so severe it destroyed most of the house and prevented firemen from getting in, an inquest was told.

WFDS

1960...Paralympics

These people are nuts.

In a good way.

But nuts.

I was listening to the CBC this morning and they had this woman, name escapes, who is like almost totally blind and skis down hill at 100 klicks an hour.

Hello, that is crazy.

In the admirable way that makes my palms sweat.

WFDS

1959...More On Ann Coulter

Interestingly not from the London Free Press but from the Toronto Sun:

American conservative firebrand Ann Coulter won't be in London until Monday but already the dust is flying.

Local activist and one-time NDP candidate Megan Walker says of Coulter, "She's venomous . . . She crosses the line and promotes hatred and violence."

Walker's comments provoked a response from a woman instrumental in bringing Coulter to London, Mary Lou Ambrogio, whose group, the International Free Press Society, is paying $10,000 for the appearance, the balance of Coulter's fee coming from an American group that promotes conservatism in young women, the Claire Boothe Luce Policy Institute.

Coulter couldn't be reached by phone. In a brief e-mail, Coulter offered to comment, but hadn't done so by Friday.

Ambrogio said Coulter was chosen to test the tolerance of Londoners for free speech, a test she says Walker has flunked.

"She pays lip service to free speech," Ambrogio said.

While Coulter pushes peoples' buttons, she doesn't incite criminal activity nor hatred, she said.

"That's pretty outrageous," Ambrogio said, challenging Walker to, "Prove it."

Walker responded with 10 comments made by Coulter including:

* "My only regret with (bombing terrorist) Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building."

* After American abortion doctor George Tiller was gunned down in church last year, Coulter was asked to condemn the killing by conservative Fox host Bill O'Reilly. She replied: "I don't really like to think of it as a murder. It was terminating Tiller in the 203rd trimester. ... I am personally opposed to shooting abortionists, but I don't want to impose my moral values on others."

Ambrogio defended Coulter, saying, "Incitement to violence is very specific and these comments, while they may be offensive or hurtful to the people involved are not criminal. . . Ms. Coulter, like millions of others, happens to believe that terminating the fetus is murder. She is simply using their language in a clever way, I think, to point out how absurdly their language strikes those who defend abortion."

Walker's comments have served to shine the spotlight on Coulter's visit, and in doing so, has sapped attention from another American visiting two days later, Robert Kennedy Jr., a talk paid for by Western.

So says Mark Wellington, manager of student life for the University Student Council at UWO.

"It's frustrating, all this attention on Ann Coulter," he said, adding tongue-in-cheek, "Maybe if I protest (Kennedy) we'll get more attention.

It was a student group, the Campus Coalition for Democracy, and two young conservatives in London, Ari Fine and Andrew Lawton, who arranged through the student council for Coulter to speak.

Lawton believes most prominent speakers brought to UWO have come from the political left and it's only fair that students hear other views.

"I like her as a person and an author. She's not hateful," he said.

It's a view Walker rejects and she question why UWO and the student council is allowing Coulter to speak.

"I don't think you can espouse hatred or violence and hide behind the guise of free expression," she said.

"I'm disappointed in the organizers (who are bringing her here) and I'm disappointed UWO would free up space for someone like her."

UWO president Amit Chakma, joined the debate, saying, "I support free speech and tolerance in our community." "These are the cornerstones of our democratic process. But more importantly, they are fundamental to our teaching and research mission. "It's our role to provide a venue for people to express their views."

The event Monday will be in room 101 of the North Campus Building and doors open at 7 p.m., with a talk and question and answer period followed by Coulter selling and signing her 7th book, Guilty.

Coulter on Canada

In 2004 George Bush won a second term as a president of the United States after a race in which some democrats lamented they'd move to Canada if Bush defeated Al Gore. Weeks later, Ann Coulter appeared on Fox. Here's what she said:

"The worst Americans end up going (to Canada). The Tories after the Revolutionary War, the Vietnam draft dodgers after Vietnam and now after this election we even have blue states moving up there . . .

When you're allowed to exist on the same continent of the United States of America, protecting you with a nuclear shield around you, you're polite and you support us when we've been attacked on our own soil. They [Canada] violated that protocol.

They better hope the United States doesn't roll over one night and crush them. They are lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent.

They don't even need to have an army, because they are protected, because they're on the same continent with the United States of America , , , we're their trading partner. We keep their economy afloat."





A quick note to the haters: freedom of speech is freedom of speech and the speech that needs to be protected is the outrageous speech like that of Ann Coulter. Be careful, haters, when you take away her freedom you encroach on your own.

WFDS

1958...Hospital Theft Suspect Claims "Good Heart"

You say tomato; I say bad guy.

A robbery suspect in Toronto claims he has a "good heart"; unlike the hospitalized dying elderly woman from whom he stole $7,000 worth of jewelry.

CBC in Toronto reports those words coming from the mouth of Isaac Lewkowitz. He was arrested Wednesday night and charged with theft, conspiracy and drug possession. He is also charged with failure to comply with the terms of his probation.

The crime?

He is alleged to have made his way to the palliative care unit of Toronto's East General Hospital on Tuesday evening along with 26-year-old Marcos Marinoni and stole approximately $7,000 worth of jewelry from the bedside of an elderly woman who was lying unconscious in her hospital bed. The woman died a short time later.

Mr. Marinoni is at large and Mr. Lewkowitz and his good heart are being held in jail for the time being.

WFDS

1957...No Faking It In Sweden

Mitt-i-Södermalm, a bird cage liner from Stockholm, Sweden, tells the story of the couple in central Stockholm who were pissed at their neighbours for having loud parties so, to get even, they engaged in simulated sex on the patio of their apartment on Södermalm in central Stockholm last August in an attempt to deliberately provoke same said neighbours.

Yeah, like, WTF?

Anyhow they got fined 112 dollars and "The court ruling now establishes that sex, make believe or otherwise, is not legal on one's balcony or patio, and that it can lead to consequences when conducted in full view of the neighbours."

Glad that is cleared up.

WFDS

1956...Freedom Of Speech For Me, Not You

Front page of the City Section of today's Ottawa Citizen has a nice piece about the President of the Student's Federation of the University of Ottawa, Seamus Wolfe, barring a volunteer organizer from putting up posters advertsiing the upcoming appearance of Ann Coulter.

For the unaware Miss Coulter is a hot blonde neo conservative who is a bit right of the far right. A fact challenged regular on the late lamented Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect and Fox News, she is appearing at the University of Ottawa with Warren Kinsella's fave commentator Ezra Levant

Mr. Wolfe is part of the student group who organized the Israeli Apartheid Week earlier this month. The No Apologies event is scheduled for this Tuesday. They only need to sell another 15 tickets or so, so it’s not an impossible target by any means. Spread the word and contact us with your interest at ecpcentre@gmail.com.

Basically the self righteous President is in favour of freedom of speech as long as it conforms to his view of that.

I personally think that Miss Coulter is, at best, an idiot. She is on record as appreciating Canada's support of the United States during Vietnam. Enough said.

But, Mr. Wolfe is scarier than she will ever be.

WFDS

Friday, March 19, 2010

1955...Michael Moore On Healthcare

Normally I take what Michael Moore says and writes with a grain of salt. He has a tendency to play loose and fast with the facts e.g. Sicko.

That said, I am on his mailing list and he sent me a piece this evening re his [un] Democratic Congressman and the ongoing healthcare debate in America:

My Congressman, Bart Stupak, Has Neither a Uterus Nor a Brain ...a letter from Michael Moore

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Friends,

I live in Michigan, in one of the 31 counties represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by none other than Mr. Bart Stupak, a Democrat. You've probably never heard of him. He's a pretty quiet guy, a former Michigan State Police trooper who boldly decided to run some 18 years ago as a Democrat in a rural part of Michigan that votes almost exclusively for Republicans (yes, I know -- what am I doing here? I'll save that story for a future letter).

His voting record is pretty conservative for a Democrat, but he's had a few shining moments. In the wake of the Columbine shootings, he voted for some gun control, a not-too-popular position to take here in northern Michigan. The NRA came after him with all they had in 2000.

But the good people of this area knew Bart's story and understood: He's been touched personally by gun violence. In a terrible tragedy, his teenage son, depressed and confused from the medication he'd been prescribed, killed himself with the family's .38 revolver. Despite the NRA's best efforts, Bart was returned to Congress by an overwhelming margin.

Yet, here we are, just days before a weak, simple-minded, but now ultimately necessary health care bill has a chance of making it through Congress -- and Bart Stupak is threatening to derail it because he wants to make sure that no woman WHO BUYS HER OWN INSURANCE with HER OWN MONEY is able to have a medically-insured abortion. We're not talkin' about federally-funded abortions -- those were stupidly outlawed long ago. Bart Stupak doesn't like that the Democrats' bill doesn't prohibit private insurance programs, set up for those whose employers don't provide it, from providing abortion coverage if they get any federal funding -- even to an individual woman paying without any government help. That's it.

A group representing most of America's 59,000 Catholic nuns has written to Congress and said that Obama's health care plan should be passed. Stupak, instead, has chosen to diss the nuns. Last night he went on TV and dug his heels in -- he said he intended to stop this health care bill and he didn't care what anyone had to say.

Now, it would be easy for some to just pass this attitude off on his Catholicism -- he believes what he believes and you have to respect him for that, even if you don't agree with him. But it's not that simple. It turns out that Stupak has been living in a subsidized room in the "C Street House," run by the infamous right-wing Christian cult "The Family." It was in this former convent that GOP Rep. Chip Pickering (according to his former wife) carried on the affair that ended his marriage. It's where South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford sought refuge as his marriage fell apart thanks to HIS affair. And then there's C Street roommate Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, who cheated on his wife with the wife of one of his top staffers. (The Justice Department is currently investigating whether Ensign committed a felony while paying off his aide to keep him quiet.)

C Street is where power, money, sex and religion meet. So am I led to believe that Bart Stupak lives in a brothel and belongs to a cult? He says he was just renting a room there. But that just doesn't ring true. Something stinks to the high heavens here, and Stupak sees no irony in taking his holier-than-thou position while living in a house that should be dubbed "Hypocrites' Hideaway."

If Stupak were truly pro-life then he'd vote for this bill. Right now, a mother in the U.S. has a TEN times greater chance of dying in childbirth than a mother does in Ireland. If you really wanted to reduce abortions, you'd have to ask yourself this question: Why does godless France, where abortion is nearly free (it's covered by their universal health insurance), have 20% fewer abortions per capita than we do? What's even more amazing about that statistic is that you can't even get an abortion in America in 87% of our counties because there isn't one single doctor in those counties who will perform one! 87%!! The Right has scared them all to death -- literally -- out of performing an otherwise legal, safe procedure. So, you can say women have "choice" in this country, but the reality is the "choice" doesn't exist in the majority of the nation. "Right to Life" has essentially won this battle. (My personal position: I don't get to have a position -- I don't have a uterus. If a Senate that was 90% female told me I couldn't have a vasectomy or made it a crime to leave the toilet seat up, I guess I might object.)

What is "life"? An egg is life, a sperm is life. Those sperm aren't running on a battery pack. They are living creatures, as is a fertilized egg. But they're not "human beings." A human being is something that can exist outside the womb of a mother. If you think a fertilized egg is a human being, then I respectfully ask you to go down to the DMV today and have them change your birthday on your driver's license to 9 months older than what you've been telling everybody.

So back to my question. Why do we have an abortion rate 20% higher than France's (and more than twice as high as Germany's), especially considering most doctors here won't perform them? The answer is ANY country that has universal health care, where contraception is free, where child care is free or inexpensive, where there is less poverty because people don't become bankrupt over medical bills -- those societies are simply going to have fewer unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.

And there the mask gets pulled off the Bart Stupaks and the "Christians." If the statistics show that countries with government-provided universal health care and nearly-free abortions are, in fact, the countries with the fewest abortions, then why on earth wouldn't the Right be the first in line to support universal health care?!!

Because it isn't about "universal health care." It's about controlling women, period. It's about sticking your nose in other people's business. It's about pushing your religious beliefs on everyone else because voices in your head tell you your Jesus is The One -- even though YOUR Jesus never said one single solitary word in any of the four gospels of the Bible about abortion or fertilized eggs being human. You've just gone and made it up about "life beginning at conception." Jesus NEVER said that. The little voice in your head said that, the same little voice that wants your grubby paws on women's uteruses. You need help. Please get some help and leave the rest of us alone, Mr. Stupak and friends.

After all, isn't it enough that women can't get an abortion in any of the 31 Michigan counties you represent in Congress? There is not one single abortion provider here in the north of the state, according to Planned Parenthood Mid and South Michigan. Hey, Bart -- you've already won! Women's rights have been stamped out in your entire Congressional district! Woo hoo!

So why don't you leave the rest of the country alone, step out of the way, and let them have the minimal health coverage this bill will give them? You wouldn't really crush the sick and infirm because of your own personal agenda, would you? What would Jesus do?

In the meantime, Bart, my neighbors and I are going to make sure a real Democrat runs against you in August's primary here. One of our religious beliefs in these parts is to never impose our religious beliefs on others.

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com


We in Canada are want to be smug about the healthcare debate but if you are a student of history you know that we went through the same thing in our country, starting in Saskatchewan in the early 1960s.

Re the providing of abortion in Canada, my research tells that, for example, their are z e r o abortion providers in all of Prince Edward Island. That means that it becomes a class issue. If someone with affluence or their progeny feel the need to have an abortion they can get on a plane to a centre that provides that service; if someone making 11.34 an hour is in the same spot they are having a baby.



WFDS

1954...You Have

To see this:

http://ssncanada.ca/media/special_pages/cis-m-bball-final8-eng.html

Cut and paste, do whatever, but see it.

What it is is the play by play of the Sask Huskies/Windsor Lancers CIS quarter final basketball game except they are not actually showing the game they are showing the play by play guys.

Like, WTF?

They are showing these men describing the game as if it was a telecast but not exactly showing the game.

Again, WTF?

Funny it is, in a bizarro fashion.

http://ssncanada.ca/media/special_pages/cis-m-bball-final8-eng.html

I had tickets but now I am kind of glad I stayed home.

No, I am super glad.

I will tell this story for years and so will you if you click on:

http://ssncanada.ca/media/special_pages/cis-m-bball-final8-eng.html

WFDS

Oh, you do get to see the players fly by, that is kind of fun.

1953...Jittery Days Ahead For Canada

Thank goodness for that.

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald has a story that they posted online twenty minutes ago that states that "Health Canada has authorized the use of caffeine as a food additive in all carbonated soft drinks instead of in cola-type beverages only."

In their infinite wisdom and with great vision Health Canada "...says beverage companies will be allowed to add synthetic caffeine to non-cola soft drinks in concentrations no higher than 150 parts per million. The maximum amount of caffeine allowed for cola beverages is 200 parts per million."

Let me translate: Just like the States, Canada will be able to have the finest caffeine delivery system extant: Diet Mountain Dew.

My teeth are chattering already.

WFDS

1952...Mike Duffy, Er Senator Duffy, Surfaces

Not in the Maritimes, not in Halifax. And he spends less time in PEI than Minister Guergis so you know it were not there.

The Senator isn't backing down on his criticisms of the University of King's College and other Canadian journalism programs, saying he "...dared to show a little spotlight on some of the bias in the media."

Last weekend, Duffy delivered a speech to local Conservatives in Amherst criticizing journalism schools for teaching critical thinking and Noam Chomksy's book Manufacturing Consent. He also said students aren't being taught to be fair and balanced.

By the way, did you ever see the train wreck that was his program on CTV News Thingy? He so obviously worked cheap.

Coming from a guy who jerked off dreaming of becoming a Liberal Senator for years until, well, the Tories were in power, at which time he changed the picture on the ceiling above his four poster, this is rich.

"They all get preached to with the same cookie cutter thing," Duffy told Tom Young's Afternoon News program on Rogers radio [what's dat?] Thursday. "And when you talk to these kids in job interviews, you realize some of them have been brainwashed."

Metro Halifax, who's story I used in this entry, again requested an interview with Duffy on Thursday, but didn't get a response.

And they won't.

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1951...At Least Tiger Didn't Date A Nazi

Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, Jesse James' mistress, Jesse James being Mr. Sandra Bullock to most of the world, is not just the woman he cheated with, a tattoo model but she is also in a custody battle with her ex who says that “I believe that Michelle is mentally ill and should be in the care of a therapist, which the court ordered her to see, but she refuses to do so.”

The New York Post has a nice picture of her with a Nazi Armband, a Gestapo officer's hat licking a dagger.

Subtle that.

Oh yeah, she is also a stripper and uses her son's name while peeling.

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1951...March Is Mad

The NCAA Men's basketball tourney started yesterday; the biggest upset was Georgetown's Hoyas, a three seed, losing to the 14th seeded Ohio University, a school that is n o t to be confused with the more reknowned Ohio State University Buckeyes who play today against Cal Santa Barbara.

In Kanata, an Ottawa 'burb, the CIS championships start a bit after noon. The number one seed is host Carleton University. The Ravens play tonight on TSN against the U of Montreal. If there was a line it would be about 16 for that game.

Enjoy.

WFDS

1950...Tiger Woods Disease

WTF are you thinking? Seriously, you be hitting that and you step out? Jesse James says he's sorry for the pain and embarrassment he's caused his wife Sandra Bullock and his three children from previous relationships.

Mr. James told People magazine in a statement Thursday that he exhibited "...poor judgment..." and "I deserve everything bad that is coming my way."

Internet tabloid reports surfaced Wednesday alleging that 40-year-old motorcycle builder had been unfaithful to the mega talented and mega hot Miss Bullock, whom he married in 2005. Miss Bullock subsequently canceled a planned appearance in London for the premiere of "The Blind Side," for which she won an Oscar, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe.

Representatives for James and Bullock did not respond to calls and e-mails seeking comment.

No one responds to me.

Not even me mum.

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1948...I Love My Pet

But not as much as Anne Lowery of Tampa, Florida.

The Daily News, the Brit version thereof, reports that Miss Lowery spent more than 100,000 dollars on chemotherapy treatment for her pet parrot Areba. Sadly Areba has passed so Miss Lowery has said a tearful to the bird after it lost its battle against cancer.

Areba, a Wagler's Conure, underwent chemotherapy for almost a year but the 42-year-old bird passed away on Tuesday evening at Tampa's Florida Veterinary Specialists.

Cared for round the clock by Dr Teresa Lightfoot and her team at the Avian and Exotic animal ward, Areba had been battling a form of skin cancer since October of 2008.

It does sound crazy to spend over 100K on a pet but Areba had been with Miss Lowery for thirty plus years and the money squeezed an extra nine months out of her life.

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1947...Someone Stole My Cookies

Wait, did I buy seven boxes of "Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies" or did I buy five boxes?

I think it was seven. Yeah, that's right, seven.

Where are the other two?

These are the words that bounced around the brain of Gene Edward Chambers of St. Lucie, Florida last night.

A man of action, Mr. Chambers concluded that his next door neighbours had stolen two boxes of his cookies so he did what any man of limited sanity would do. He attacked their front door with a garden hoe.

TCPalm.com tells all that the local gendarmes were alerted; they searched Mr. Chambers home and found a Wal-Mart receipt for five boxes of "Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies". Five, not seven, five as in one-two-three-four and five.

Oooooops.

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1946...Cabinet Ministers Should Avoid Airports

Another meltdown by one of Prime Minister Harper's key appointee's.


The office of Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn confirms CTV News reports that the minister tried to take a bottle of Tequila through airport security February 23rd. The sources told CTV News that Minister Blackburn tried to take a bottle of Tequila through airport security and there was a heated argument after airport security stopped the minister from carrying said bottle onto the craft.

A senior government official told CTV News “...the minister wasn’t pleased by the fact he had to leave the bottle of alcohol behind. He was upset that they wouldn’t destroy it in front of him.” Yeah, what do they do with all that booze they confiscate? Or, how big is the party and how do I get invited?

John Crosbie was not available for comment.

WFDS



Thursday, March 18, 2010

1945...Whither Mike Duffy Today?

Perhaps the Senator and uber journalist is investigating what can be done with Minister Helen Guergis re her faux pas in his duchy?

Or perhaps he is not?

"Wayne Brady, I will take take door number two."

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1944...Cons Widen Lead Over Liberal Party

An astute commentator on the political scene, me, has been saying since the fall of '09 that if the Canadians did well at the Olympics in Vancouver, we did, and, most importantly, won a gold in men's hockey, we did, it would pump the Conservative Party up, it has.

CBC reports the most recent poll by EKOS has the Stephen Harpers at 33.1 per cent, a 4.2 per cent gap over the Reds. I do tell you it is the first time in recent memory that the party in first place was comfortably ahead by more than the margin of error of two per cent.

Part one of the puzzle is securely in place.

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1943...This Could Affect Stock Prices And Kill U

What this is is what is going on at Sienna Foods Ltd. Our beloved Conservative government does not want them to ship meat to the 'mericans coz of a crazy little thing called listeriosis.

Canwest reports that "One of the meats, Siena branded prosciutto, was a genetic match to two serious cases of listeriosis in Ontario, the province's chief public health officer confirmed last week. The non-fatal cases were also a genetic match to Siena salami, subject to a separate recall in Canada last December."

Being good friends to our neighbours south of here " 'CFIA [Canadian Food Inspection Agency] requested that we delist the plant.' a spokesman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Wednesday." But, and this is bizarre, the plant, which is closed, will be allowed to sell its wares in Canuckistan if it desires.

Wee bit bizarre, eh?

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1942...Yer Dead

Wait, no, you aren't.

Wait, you are.

Not.

Are.

Not.

"I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed … So it was really a shock to find out I had died."

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

1941...Elizabeth May Emerges From Hiding

And she wrote a letter to the paper. The Globe and Mail nonetheless. And they published it.

Feet to the coal fire
The Globe And Mail
Wed Mar 17 2010
Page: A20
Section: Letter To The Editor
Byline: Elizabeth E. May

A new low for the Harper government's climate policy has been achieved (South Africa Drags Heels On Canadian Bid To Build Power Plant - March 16). International Trade Minister Peter Van Loan is in South Africa, pressing that nation to proceed with a mega coal-fired power plant, promoted by a Canadian coal mining company. Professing to be puzzled by South Africa's resistance, Mr. Van Loan said "sooner or later they are going to come around."

Perhaps he should read the speeches from South Africa's Environment Minister at the Copenhagen climate talks. South Africa, like many other African nations, has committed to a carbon-neutral development path.

South Africa rallied to the slogan (referring to global average temperature increases): "1.5 to stay alive, two degrees is suicide, three degrees is genocide." The truth is the planet cannot avoid a two-degree global average temperature increase unless we stop building coal plants and start shutting them down. Too bad Canada's government has cut support to renewable energy. There's an export other countries actually want.

leader, Green Party



Brilliant.

WFDS

1940...Mike Duffy Addresses His Critics

Wait, no, Mr. Old School Journalism doesn't.

Mike Duffy keeps quiet on King's criticism Senator Mike Duffy isn't commenting on
his criticisms of the University of King's College and other journalism programs
across the country.

Metro Halifax has tried to contact the former CTV News journalist in regards to
a story this paper ran yesterday on his weekend speech in Amherst slamming King's
and other journalism schools. Duffy criticized them for teaching critical
thinking and Noam Chomsky's book Manufacturing Consent.

"Unfortunately, he is declining all media requests at this time," Duffy's
assistant, Melanie Mercer, said in an email yesterday.


Gee, that doesn't seem like Senator Duffy. Wait, it does.

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1939...Mr. Popularity

One of the current Kennedy's said that twenty per cent of people just won't go alone; with that in mind check out Danny Williams, the Premier of the only province that has a holiday for St. Patrick's Day.

According to a "...massive Angus Reid poll...", quoted by Chantal Hebert in the Toronto Star, the Newfoundland and Labrador premier's approval rating is currently second to none around the provincial table. He comes in at eighty per cent.

The only other Premier who comes in at above thirty per cent, that is three-zero per cent, 3 0, is Premier Brad Wall of Saskatchewan at fifty six per cent.

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1938...Mike Duffy Puts His Foot In It Again

May be he was drunk. I will ask members of his Alcoholics Anonymous group; when they cascade off the wagon they drink at the Mayflower on Elgin Street in Ottawa and are wont to share.

It has been widely reported, especially in the Maritimes, that Senator Michael Duffy, quoting Metro Halifax, declared "In a speech Saturday to Conservative party members in Amherst, Duffy reportedly slammed journalism programs for churning out leftist graduates."

" 'When I went to the school of hard knocks, we were told to be fair and balanced,' Duffy was quoted from his speech in yesterday's issue of the Amherst Daily News. 'That school doesn't exist any more. Kids who go to King's, or the other schools across the country, are taught from two main texts.' "

Fair and balanced, yeah, that describes Senator Duffy to a "T". He kissed Liberal ass, begging to get into the Senate that is he kissed Liberal ass until the minute the Stephen Harpers got in power and then he kissed Conservative ass. And his TV show was, well, what is the nice word for crap?

What really pisses off the man who is the poster child for an elected Senate is the fact that King's College in Halifax teaches critical thinking. OMFG, we don't want that, do we?

WFDS