Politisite: March 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

SC Congressman Barrett Introduces 'TEA Act' to cut 500 Billion

Barrett Introduces TEA Act

Today, Congressman Gresham Barrett introduced the Taxpayer Empowerment and Advocacy Act – or the TEA Act for short.

The TEA Act will:

Save taxpayers $520 billion over the next five years by reducing government

Limit the growth rate of government to inflation

Strenghten the definition of emergency spending to prevent abuse and

Require PAYGO for all new mandatory spending programs.

I believe the TEA Act will set Congress on a new, more accountable course while protecting the taxpayers’ best interests. I encourage you to let your friends and family know about this common sense bill that will save us more than half a trillion dollars over the next five years.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this legislation. Logon to my blog by clicking here and let me know what you think.

Click here to read more about the TEA Act.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Enough of multiculturalism – bring on the melting pot

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

It is about time one States what is so plainly on many Canadians mind, When in Rome...............You are Roman period! Otherwise, why are you here?

Time to end decades of Liberal Trudeaumania who was the Father of "Canadian Nancyism" , be rid of it, and tell it like it is and should be!

Enough of multiculturalism – bring on the melting pot
LAWRENCE MARTIN
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail March 31, 2009 at 12:00 AM EDT

Issues don't get much hotter than immigration. It's where political correctness abounds, where allegations of intolerance and racism are but a breath away, where ministers had best show finesse with their pronouncements.

Not so Jason Kenney. Our man at the immigration turnstiles has been in a bull-in-a-china shop mode lately. He's told newcomers they have to speak our official languages better, he's barred British MP George Galloway from admittance, he's accused refugees of systematic abuse of the system, he's called for more integration of immigrants, and he's gone to war with the Canadian Arab Federation, a group that accuses him of being a shill for the Jewish community.

It's serious stuff. The purport is that immigrants must do more to conform to Canadian standards. The minister wants to tighten the definition of what it means to be Canadian. The pitch - when in Rome, do as the Romans do - is for less multiculturalism and more melting pot. "We want to avoid the kind of ethnic conclaves or parallel communities that exist in some European communities," says Mr. Kenney. New Canadians have "a duty to integrate. ... We don't need the state to promote diversity."

Monte Solberg, the previous Conservative immigration minister, favours the move to the melting pot, saying the Liberal concept of the multicultural mosaic is dated. Immigrant communities are more self-assured now. Ottawa, Mr. Solberg says, shouldn't be in the business of preserving their cultures.

Sphere: Related Content

Chicago Sun-Times parent files for bankruptcy

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

One can only guess why Bankruptcy hit the staid Chicago Sun Times, with internet replacing paper, it may be only a matter of time before other paper based media follow in these bad economic times.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Chicago Sun-Times parent files for bankruptcy Chicago becomes the first U.S. city served by two insolvent newspapers. The Sun-Times Media Group, parent of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday, earning Chicago the distinction of being the first U.S. city served by two insolvent newspapers.

The Sun-Times also said it hired Rothschild Inc. to try to sell some of its assets, which include 59 newspapers and their Web sites. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

It plans to operate its newspapers and Web sites while improving its cost structure and stabilizing operations. It said it has financial resources to continue daily operations.

Tags: Markets | Chicago | US Economy | Tech & Biz | Chicago Sun Times

Sphere: Related Content

B.C.'s Shame: The highest child poverty rate in Canada

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

Truly a shame in a country of vast wealth such as Canada, who is to blame? Well successive Provincial governments all gave a resounding grandstanding performance every election time, yet when in power, nothing more was given except a furrowed brow, perhaps a cursory glance at the stats, and possibly even a harumph, tsk, tsk, followed by a pensive finger under chin moment and finally a solution and media blitz proclaiming "We live in the Bestest Place on Earth", There that should do it, and cure the ills of the hungry, nothing like provincial Pride on an Empty Stomach. NDP get all up in Arms and say Elect us, we will do something about this serious issue!! Yeah, Right!

B.C.'s Shame: The highest child poverty rate in Canada
Updated: Mon Mar. 30 2009 19:04:41 ctvbc.ca

Josephine Watson is a single mom who brings in about $2,000 a month -- and half of that goes to feed her three teenage boys.

There's not much left for other essentials. Even though the boys try to pull their weight with a paper route, it's nearly impossible to make ends meet.

"We notice when our mom is stressed and everything affects us," said Josehpine's son Matt. "We are living through a hard time."

Her children are part of a troubling statistic for the province: B.C. has the highest child poverty rate in Canada.

Sixteen per cent of children in this province live beneath the poverty line. That's despite success in other provinces that have brought their rates down.

In Alberta in 1997, the child poverty rate was 15 per cent -- and now it's been cut in half. In 2006, the rate was 7 per cent. But B.C.'s child poverty rate has stayed stubbornly high.

Sphere: Related Content

Starbucks announces first-ever Canadian closing in Richmond, B.C.

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Starbucks closing a Richmoned, BC location doesm't surprise many, as Richmonds majority of citizens are Asian, and are historically Tea drinkers. If not for British Taxation inflaming Colonists 200 or so years ago and the infamous Boston Tea Party, there may not have been a Starbucks or even a Tim Hortons in both our countries, as Canada and the US were Tea drinkers as well.

Starbucks announces first-ever Canadian closing in Richmond, B.C. Last Updated: Monday, March 30, 2009 | 6:54 PM PT Starbucks Corp. will shut down its Aberdeen Centre location in Richmond, B.C., on Wednesday, the company's first-ever closing in Canada.

The coffee retailer said the decision to close was caused by current economic conditions and because the location itself was under-performing.

Sphere: Related Content

Monday, March 30, 2009

Democratic Operatives Attack 'Tea Party' Web Site.

An international effort to shut down the TaxDayTeaParty.com website has been detected by our technical staff. Internet experts commonly call this type of attack a Denial of Service (DOS) attack. Corrective measures are being implemented, and the site should be fully accessible again within 48 hours.
Unfortunately, these DOS attacks are very difficult to trace. In this case, the attacks have come from both domestic and international sources. All we know for certain at this point is that a group of people want to stop this movement. We will not allow this to happen. This citizens' movement will not be stopped.

Remember this the next time a liberal tells you he's all in favor of an open, honest, debate about the issues. They're totalitarian thugs.

StumbleUpon| Digg| Reddit| Twitter| Facebook

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Life after Google: What's the next hot search engine?

Barry Artiste Op/Ed
Though this story is more of a Jordan thing, it was too good to pass up. As for me, my vast knowledge in computer abilities extend to on/off, cut and paste.

Life after Google: What's the next hot search engine? Updated Sun. Mar. 29 2009 7:23 AM ET Taylor Buley, Forbes.com BURLINGAME, Calif. -- There is life after Google -- though the increasing number of search alternatives popping up around the U.S. are careful not to take the search giant head-on.

With three-quarters of all search traffic, Google might seem unassailable. But potential competitors are busy developing new ways of finding information and hunting down the investors they need to support them. Last year, more than 50 new search companies raised $330 million in venture financing, according to MoneyTree.

Tags: Washington | Internet | United States | Tech & Biz | ads by google

Sphere: Related Content

Sudan's wanted president arrives at Arab summit

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

And what does this tell the World, in particular the West who are fighting the War on Terror, when supposed allies welcome with open arms a Genocidal Madman. Yep, just call the West "All Day Suckers!" Newflash! What will the West do in talks with these supposed allies of ours, will they chastise them and say WTF? Nope, the West will do ......................abso...................lute...........................ly.............................nothing!

Sudan's wanted president arrives at Arab summit
Updated Sun. Mar. 29 2009 10:13 AM ET

The Associated Press

DOHA, Qatar -- Sudan's president, who is sought by an international court on charges of war crimes in Darfur, received a warm welcome Sunday in Qatar, where he will attend this week's Arab League summit.

President Omar al-Bashir was greeted with hugs and kisses by Qatar's emir in a red-carpet welcome at Doha's airport on Sunday. He later had coffee with the emir and the head of the Arab League. The summit begins Monday.

Tags: Crime | Sudan | World | United Arab Emirates | conflict sudan

Sphere: Related Content

Is my food still safe after the 'best before' date?

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

Well this has certainly solved the question many of us wanted to know about the unidentifiable wrapped parcel of food in the back of the fridge for months, called "Mystery Cake" (Meatloaf)!

Is my food still safe after the 'best before' date? Last Updated: Friday, March 27, 2009 | 3:54 PM ET CBC News Got something nasty brewing at the back of your refrigerator? Maybe a half-empty yogurt container that you haven't opened since — well, you're not exactly sure when. But with the recession biting your budget, you're hesitant to put any more pressure on your bottom line by throwing out something that might have some value.

Still, you know better than to open it and eat it. It is — after all — well past the "best before date." And once that date is history, your product cannot be consumed safely, right?

Well, not exactly.

"Best before" is one of three types of date codes referred to officially in the Food and Drugs Act as "durable-life dates." These dates are defined by the act as "the amount of time, starting on the day a food is packaged, that the unopened food will retain its normal wholesomeness, palatability and nutritional value when stored under appropriate conditions."

Tags: Ottawa | Health | Health Canada | Food Safety

Sphere: Related Content

ShamWow Guy arrested for punching prostitute

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

I think he should have been arrested just for his inane commercials, but then there is no law against that!

Television pitchman Vince Shlomi, better known as the ShamWow Guy who has been phenomenally successful peddling absorbent towels and food choppers, was arrested at a swank Miami hotel last month after a violent confrontation with a prostitute, according to a post yesterday on the website The Smoking Gun.

Shlomi, 44, and Sasha Harris, 26, were arrested, according to police reports.

Tags: Florida | Crime | World

Sphere: Related Content

Vancouver Drug trafficker sues his kidnappers: Karma's a Bitch!

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

Does anyone care? Since he is in jail serving a 13 year sentence, one wonders if he successfully sues, will he get any money? If so, one can be sure Revenue Canada will get it! One more thing, what about deportation back to Vietnam after he serves his sentence? So many unanswered questions aren't there?

VANCOUVER — Drug trafficker Peter Sum Li, who according to prosecutors paid out the largest ransom ever in a kidnapping in Canada, is suing his six alleged kidnappers for restitution, general and special damages.

The criminal trial of the six accused began in September and continues before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barry Davies in Vancouver.

In February 2006, Li, his wife, Jennifer Pan, and his business associate, Xiao Chun Chen, were snatched from a Burnaby apartment by a group of men and held for a month.

Li — who since the kidnapping has been sentenced to 13 years in jail for drug trafficking — and Chen were beaten and tortured with a Taser. All three victims were tied up, had their mouths taped and were wrapped in plastic for 24 hours without food, water or access to bathroom facilities.

During the abduction, more than $1.3 million in cash was paid out. A suitcase containing $495,000 was handed over to a man in a vehicle in Toronto, $400,000 was dropped off in Vancouver and another $450,000 paid out in China. None of the money was ever recovered.

Tags: Vancouver | Crime | World

Sphere: Related Content

Canadian healthcare killed Natasha Richardson: NEW YORK POST!

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

Well isn't this a Kick in the Slats for Canada, when those in the US who are anti Canadian Healthcare publish Fear Mongering to the Masses. Point being, Ms. Richardson refuses medical treatment, plain and simple. If she has listened to those who tries to help her, we would not be having this conversation, because Ms. Richardson would have been alive.

MONTREAL — Some Montreal doctors added a dose of realism Saturday to the fiery debate south of the border that asked if Canada’s “socialized medicine” killed actress Natasha Richardson after she hit her head skiing on Mont Tremblant March 16.

“Canadacare may have killed Natasha,” screamed a headline in the New York Post. “Was Canada’s healthcare the problem?”asked another in the Chicago Tribune.

The implication “is totally unjustified,” said Paul Saba, an emergency room doctor at Lachine Hospital and co-president of the Coalition of Physicians for Social Justice.

He flatly rejected the notion that a lack of funding for overall public health care contributes to fatal head injuries like the one that claimed the life of Richardson, the wife of actor Liam Neeson and the daughter of legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave.

Sphere: Related Content

Canadian researchers uncover Chinese Espionage network: Malware

Barry Artiste Op/Ed
A Global Chinese Government Espionage Network? Holy James Bond!!! And what will be done about it by our Governments? Nothing! Of course there will be Humble Chinese, we so sorry apologies, rumour and innuendo, perhaps even a gunshot to the back of the head of some government chinese wonk as a show of complacency.

Bottom Line, they are a World Trading Power! They own the USA Treasury Bills, Bonds etc. Why? Because We allowed it! Why again? Because we are not allowed Manufacturers here in our country to export all their labour to Asia cause we do not have Slave Labour in the West nor do we exact Human Rights abuses against our People. It is called Laws people, something the Nancy West allowed China to become it's No. 1 trading partner in the Pacific Rim to flout laws and our health and safety codes time and time again, all so we as consumers can scramble like Monkeys for those low, low prices and Big Yellow Smiley Faces we all scramble to on weekends for our consumer products. Think about it! You reap what you sow! And with our Global Economic Meltdown, we obviously Sow (ed) Big Time!

A 10-month investigation by a team of researchers at the University of Toronto uncovered a broad Chinese espionage scheme that reached into foreign embassies, news services and even the office of the Dalai Lama.

The researchers says the system — called GhostNet — sent e-mails that introduced malware into host computers, which in turn fed information back to servers located on the Chinese mainland.

"The GhostNet system directs infected computers to download a Trojan (horse) known as ghOst RAT that allows attackers to gain complete, real-time control," the authors write in Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network.

"Our investigation reveals that GhostNet is capable of taking full control of infected computers, including searching and downloading specific files, and covertly operating attached devices, including microphones and web cameras."

Sphere: Related Content

Alleged gang member wins freedom: Nancyism Alive and Well

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

It is nice to see Immigration & Refugee Board Canada is living up to its Name "Nancy Canada"! Lets hope Prime Minister Harper acts fast to close "Nancyism" in this country.

Alleged gang member wins freedom By Jason Van Rassel, Calgary HeraldMarch 28, 2009 showTab("text/html"); function resizeImage() { var imgBox = document.getElementById('imageBox'); var photo = document.getElementById('storyphoto'); if (imgBox != null && photo != null) { if(photo.width >= 460) { imgBox.className = 'imagesize460'; } else { if(photo.width >= 300) { imgBox.className = 'imagesize310'; } else { imgBox.className = 'imageboxpadding'; } imgBox.style.width = photo.width + 'px'; } } } function getStoryFontSize() { var storyfontsize = getCookie('storyfontsize'); var storyfontimage = getCookie('storyfontimage'); // use cookied value, if present if (storyfontsize != null) { setClass('story_content',storyfontsize); if (storyfontimage != null) { setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage); } } else // default it to para14 if no cookie { setClass('story_content','para14'); setClass('fontsizecontainer','size02'); } } function setStoryFontSize(storyfontsize,storyfontimage) { setClass('story_content',storyfontsize); setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage); setCookie('storyfontsize', storyfontsize, '365', '/', '', ''); setCookie('storyfontimage', storyfontimage, '365', '/', '', ''); } function setCookie( name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) { // set time var today = new Date(); today.setTime( today.getTime() ); if ( expires ) { expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24; //days } var expires_date = new Date( today.getTime() + (expires) ); document.cookie = name + "=" + escape( value ) + ( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) + ( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) + ( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) + ( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" ); } function getCookie( check_name ) { // split this cookie up into name/value pairs var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split( ';' ); var a_temp_cookie = ''; var cookie_name = ''; var cookie_value = ''; var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f for ( i = 0; i < a_all_cookies.length; i++ ) { // split apart each name=value pair a_temp_cookie = a_all_cookies[i].split( '=' ); // and trim left/right whitespace while we're at it cookie_name = a_temp_cookie[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, ''); // if the extracted name matches passed check_name if ( cookie_name == check_name ) { b_cookie_found = true; // we need to handle case where cookie has no value but exists (no = sign, that is): if ( a_temp_cookie.length > 1 ) { cookie_value = unescape( a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '') ); } // note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned return cookie_value; break; } a_temp_cookie = null; cookie_name = ''; } if ( !b_cookie_found ) { return null; } }
Reputed gang member Jackie Tran -- who represented himself against a government lawyer--has won his release from custody.

Immigration and Refugee Board member Geoff Rempel ordered Tran's release Friday afternoon, saying he didn't break conditions imposed on him by federal authorities seeking his deportation to Vietnam.

The decision sparked outrage from authorities, who on Wednesday arrested Tran for allegedly breaching a condition requiring him to live with his mother.

"The Calgary Police Service is extremely disappointed with today's Immigration and Refugee Board's decision to release Jackie Tran.

"Tran is a well-known gang member and the police service believes Tran does pose a risk to the community,"said Acting Staff Sgt. Gord Renke of the targeted enforcement unit, which investigated and arrested Tran.

Tags: Ottawa | Calgary | Crime | World | Canadian Politics

Sphere: Related Content

Vancouver testing measure to force repairs by Slum landlords

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

I think that is a step in the right direction, as long as the City has the balls to allow Landlords to immediately evict those tenants who deal drugs, and damage the landlords property. Previously Landlords had no help from the city to evict those tenants who continually destroyed the landlords property.

Granted there are slum lords, but many are not, so you have to see both sides of the issue, which many in the DTES protest group rarely do.

Slumlords, beware.

City of Vancouver staff are looking for the worst of the worst Downtown Eastside landlords in an attempt to crack down on those who let their buildings fall into disrepair.

For years, the problem of landlords ignoring city inspector's orders to fix their dilapidated buildings has frustrated city hall, said Coun. Tim Stevenson.

On Thursday, Stevenson put forward a motion to test "a brand new tool" in the city's enforcement repertoire: a court injunction ordering repairs.

"It's only, obviously, relatively few who continue to avoid doing repairs or upgrading their buildings. And we have our inspectors go in and they just rip up the letters that they get," he said.

Now, Stevenson said, the city wants to ask the courts to add some clout to that request. Over the next three months, city staff will identify one landlord on whom to pilot the new approach.

One Downtown Eastside advocate called the motion a "mini-victory", but wishes the city had gone further. "There's skepticism in the community that [an injunction] will work and people would prefer that the city just go in and do the repairs," said the Wendy Pedersen of the Carnegie Community Action Project.

Tags: Vancouver | Crime | Health | World | Human Behaviour

Sphere: Related Content

Dad charged for assaulting bully: Internet Assaults at Daughter

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

You know after multiple meetings with police, school officials, parents, and still the assaults continue, what Dad would not go "Bezerker" on a group of Male teens? This Father did what any Father did, to protect his child, possibibly fearing if this continued his child would commit suicide over being constantly bullying, and now all of the sudden Police act! Against the Father., There is no Justice!

BOWMANVILLE -- Dave Clarke lost it Monday night. But the angry family man now charged with assaulting a 15-year-old pleads guilty with an explanation.

And under the circumstances, what would you have done?

The 45-year-old father of two has been closely following our recent series of stories on bullying. Like hundreds of other readers, these tales have struck a chord because his daughter Heather has been going through months of harassment by a group of kids at Bowmanville High School.

Clarke has been in and out of meetings with the school's administration and even had a sit-down with the police to address his concerns. One of the teens involved has been suspended twice, once for lying in wait for his daughter and whipping a handful of coins at her head.

Sphere: Related Content

Do condoms really work?

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Different condoms, for different purposes, bottom line, you get what you pay for!

Pick the wrong condom, and you'll contract something that you'll regret longer than luggage or worse.

A lack of labelling on condoms is giving sexually active Canadians a false sense of security, experts warn.

They want the federal government to require warnings on packages about how often condoms break and leak, leaving people at greater risk of pregnancy and disease.

"There is a huge variation across brands and types of condoms. They report anywhere from 0% failure rate all the way up as high as 30%," says Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale, Canada's research chair in social justice and sexual health.

She said the failure rates of different condoms should be written on their packages.

"So I can pick up the condom and say this one is 5%, this one is 2%," she said.

Tags: Ottawa | Health | Disease | Sexuality

Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Not so Brilliant: Chinese sedan awarded zero-star crash rating

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

One wonders why this is News? Is there anything China makes that lasts or is even worth buying? The Chinese masters at counterfieting anything and everything from Lead Toothpaste to Asbestos Toys, shows they can copy it, but that is as far as it goes. Quality is an issue China cannot copy!

Granted the Great Wall of China and some Monuments, but you cannot raise the dead to get quality workmanship now can you? They say you get what you pay for, and this is yet another millionth example.

Two years ago, Chinese automaker Brilliance made headlines around the world when its BS6 sedan - one of the first Chinese-designed and built cars to be sold in Western Europe - was crash tested according to the EuroNCAP procedures (64 km/h into an offset barrier). The car performed miserably, receiving a one-star rating. The grisly footage of the sedan hitting the barriers has become a landmark on popular video websites.

After the dust settled, Brilliance revamped the BS6 to include a sturdier frame, stronger pillars and seat belts with pretensioners. While that helped improve its crashworthiness to passable levels - three stars - the damage to the automaker's image was done. Or, so one might think.

Tags: China | Automakers | Tech & Biz | Ancient Chinese

Sphere: Related Content

The five-hour scramble to save Natasha Richardson

Barry Artiste Op/Ed
Certainly this new revelation brings a whole new perspective to light in the untimely death of a celeb.

INGRID PERITZ

From Saturday's Globe and Mail

March 27, 2009 at 9:33 PM EDT

MONT TREMBLANT, QUE. — The crackling message over the 911 scanner is delivered with cold precision: The female patient in the ambulance is dazed and concussed, clinging to consciousness.

Natasha Richardson lay on a stretcher inside the speeding vehicle, her mind confused, her breathing aided by oxygen. A fall taken on a ski hill earlier was already, silently, killing her.

"I'm arriving with a female in her 40s … [she's] disoriented …" the medic radioed to hospital staff. "It's following … a ski fall that happened at noon. Soon afterward she presents signs of confusion, a concussion."

Tags: Culture | Celebrity | MONT-TREMBLANT | natasha richardson ski accident

Sphere: Related Content

Canada will ‘not be bullied’ by Russia: Cannon

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

First of all, the only people who have claim to the arctic are the ones who have lived there for thousands of years, the Inuit and Aboriginal peoples of both countries. For nations to lay claim to land not theirs is out and out theft! Period! No debate, No legalise! Possession has always been claimed as 9/10th of the law and the Inuit and Aboriginal First Nations who live there own it! So whats the problem that all of a sudden in the last decade countries want to take it away from these peoples? Natural Resources!! I put it this way, if Canada and Russia want it, then they should try and live like the Inuit in the frozen tundra for a year or two with nothing but a spear and rifle and the same clothes and conditions as the Inuit, the survivors after the end of a year living in a igloo, with no help from their respective countries or the Inuit. Then and only then can these governments work out a financial agreement with the true owners to work their land for resources. As one who knows the Arctic, I guarantee you if these countries send their representatives to live in the arctic, there will be nary a survivor in a week. As Polar bears say, Ohhh Chewy on the Outside, Crunchy on the Inside!

MONTREAL -- Canada will not be bullied by the Russians in the Arctic, a tough-talking Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Friday.

Responding to news reports the Kremlin is planning to create a dedicated military force to help protect its interests in the disputed Arctic region, Mr. Cannon said Canada will not back down from asserting its own sovereignty in the North.

Sphere: Related Content

Call in the riot police, the bankers are coming

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Boy, I bet Lawyers and Used Car Salesman and Politicians are breathing a big sigh of relief the world over, now that Bankers are the New Black (plague) when it comes to reviling those who done us wrong! High Fives all around I am sure are happening at Law offices everywhere.

London is girding for the arrival this weekend of a pestillence so reviled authorities feel the need to take special precautions. The British capital survived Viking raids, the Black Plague and nighttime Nazi bombings, but this is different. These are bankers.

Thanks to the economic crisis, bankers are dirt. Bankers are despised. If a banker was rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital, we wouldn't give him our cab. If Stalin were alive his jails would be stuffed with them. Even Barack Obama, who is careful to be nice to everyone, says bad things about them.

Sphere: Related Content

This man wants to reinvent Canadian multiculturalism

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is fast becoming a rising star in Harper's Cabinet, common sense seems to be his forte, versus Liberal Trudeauittes who like stands of wheat in the field bend which ever way the ethnic vote blows. Certainly a man to watch for in a career that has had its ups and downs, but the man always gets back up, brushes aside accusations of racism by liberals who fear the dismantling of the Multicultural and Diversity ideals could be set aside for When in Rome..................you are Roman, regardless where you hail from!

Photo inset: In the past days, Immigration minister Jason Kenney has criticized Canada's refugee system, called for language requirements for immigrants. He's just getting started.

Caught in a rare moment inside his Parliament Hill office, Immigration and Multiculturalism minister Jason Kenney is finished his interview with Fox News to talk about American military deserters seeking refuge in Canada. And an interview with a B.C. television station to discuss the case of a Chinese grandmother needing a special permit to visit Canada to tend to an injured grandson. And a TV reporter wanting to talk about Croatian visa policy. At the same time, his communications staff was fielding calls from reporters about the government's decision to ban British MP George Galloway from visiting Canada, as well as the latest turn in a public battle with the Canadian Arab Federation, and reports on abuses in Canada's refugee system - after finally managing to put aside, for now, the media and political fallout from the minister's comments days earlier about strengthening language proficiency requirements for new citizens.

Sphere: Related Content

Obama not interested in emulating Canada's health system

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

Of course the Canadian Health Care system wouldn't work in the United States, as Obama stated. Why? Cause Private Health Care Insurance and HMOs make more money than GOD! And we all know what an "Avid Church Goer" Obama and previous Politicians, Senators and Presidents are! There is a reason why they call their Money, IN GOD WE TRUST!

Obama not interested in emulating Canada's health system
Updated Fri. Mar. 27 2009 7:38 AM ET

The Canadian Press

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama is intent on providing affordable health care to every American, he said Thursday, but emulating Canada's system isn't necessarily the route he wants to take.

Universal health care is the aim of his administration, Obama said during an unprecedented online town hall meeting that featured 100 invited guests to the White House and about 67,000 watching online.

But the Canadian system is merely one way to go, he said, and likely wouldn't work in the United States.

Sphere: Related Content

Tobacco Underground: Global Trade in Smuggled Smokes

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Forget the poppy fields of Afghanistan, or drug smuggling across our borders, there is and always has been a new Kid in town, smuggling legal cigarettes the world over.

Governments accuse Tobacco Companies of collusion with organized crime in getting thier smokes to market by hook or by crook. Criminal gangs, kill and threaten anyone with violence who get in their way!

Which brings me to another topic, the lower mainland of BC has been a cauldron of death and violence with Gangs and their Shoot em ups over the marijuana trade and smuggling. Many state Marijuana is a victimless crime and should be legalised and taxed by the government in order to stop criminal gangs shows these People who advocate legalization are so totally unclear on the concept of reality. Nothing would change, criminal organizations and gangs would still be around, they would just sell marijuana cheaper to consumers, or move onto some other criminal activity.

Governments cheated out of taxes, have for the last couple of decades have been fighting the war on cigarette smuggling. Why? Governments know the Billions of dollars in Sin Tax they get from Smokes is a great way to boost their Government coffers at a moments notice. Governments do not like to be cheated out of those Taxes, smuggling avoids paying.

So, in ending, legalising and taxing marijuana would just exacerbate the problem, as criminal gangs would still be in operation regardless if marijuana is legal.

As they say Taxes are the Root of all Evil, especially if the Government doesn't get their cut.

The illicit trafficking of tobacco is a multibillion-dollar business today, fueling organized crime and corruption, robbing governments of needed tax money, and spurring addiction to a deadly product. So profitable is the trade that tobacco is the world’s most widely smuggled legal substance. This booming business now stretches from counterfeiters in China and renegade factories in Russia to Indian reservations in New York and warlords in Pakistan and North Africa. Read more...

Sphere: Related Content

Friday, March 27, 2009

Treat addiction as a disease, MDs tell Victoria BC Government.

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

So Doctors seem to be so unclear on the concept of the meaning of disease. I have so many problems with this Crap! The term "Disease" is either Infectious or Non Infectious. That is the medical term for Disease and no other.
No where is addiction, which is behavioural a disease. MDs trying to change the term Disease to encompass every little ailment will open up a legal can of worms in the courts, resulting in everyone and their dog, pleading in front of a judge that their criminal actions was caused by a disease! Of course MDs want lots and lots of taxpayers money to further this new Catchword of the Millenia, guaranting lots and lots of Research Grants and Pharmaceutical companies making oodles of money for themselves!

Can you imagine Rapists and Child Molesters pleading they have "Uncontrollable Urges and Addicted to Little Girls and Horny Disease"!

Murderers pleading they have an "Addiction to Blood Lust" disease in that they need to kill people!

Can you imagine Criminals pleading they have "Money Disease" and "We want your Stuff Addictions"!

I say leave disease terminology in it's present form. Gambling is not a Disease nor is Drug Addiction, it never came naturally or all of a sudden on people. They chose it! They knew the Risks! To think they didn't know the difference otherwise leads me to believe perhaps they are Brain dead!

There is mental illness and behavioural issues brought on by accidents, disease or genetics. But when Normal healthy people with even a semblance of intelligence of a insect willingly put poison into their arms or body, or insaitable Greed drives them to gamble, after all Gamblers would not gamble if it were not for Paper Money! I know of no Gamblers who would risk their life savings or kneecaps for a chance to score some Charmin Toilet Paper!

I say screw em, leave Disease as a term in its intention Infectious and Non Infectious, otherwise we open ourselves up to a legal mess of excuses our Nancy Courts and Laws are ill prepared to deal with!

One can be sure if this Disease Excuse was used in courts, Al qaeda's addiction to Box Cutters and Flying planes into Office towers killing thousands would be an attributed to being driven to have "Sex addiction" and "Martyr Syndrome" in order to get to some of them Virgins in Paradise.

Time to stop all this Fu*king "World Nancyism" and call a "Spade a Spade"!

Treat Addiction as a Disease. MDs tell Victoria
B.C. doctors are calling for the provincial government to formally recognize addiction as a chronic disease — and provide public funding to deal with it.

The call comes in a report being released today by the B.C. Medical Association that says more than 400,000 British Columbians suffer from some form of addiction.

These people are struggling to get help when they need it, the report says, because of a lack of resources or the high cost of treatment. This in turn puts strains on emergency departments, workplaces and families.

“For many years, addiction was seen as a personal failure rather than an illness,” said Dr. Shao-Hua Lu, an addictions psychiatrist. “One tends to focus on the terrible losses in the Downtown Eastside, but in terms of overall cost, alcohol, gambling and tobacco probably costs society much more.”

The BCMA says alcohol, gambling and drug addictions, which are often linked to some form of mental illness, are akin to heart disease and diabetes and the province should treat them the same way. While treating a gambling addict the same as a cancer patient would add new costs to the system, the BCMA argues it would ultimately save money by preventing the costly results of untreated addictions.

In 2002, the estimated cost of treating substance abuse in B.C. was more than $6 billion, or $1,500 per person per year, with alcohol, gambling and tobacco taking the biggest toll on society, said Lu, who is clinical practice director for the new Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction.

According to the report, one in 10 visits to Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency room is for substance abuse, while B.C. uses enough hospital beds for substance abuse care to fill Kelowna General Hospital every day for a year.

The report suggests 120,000 British Columbians have a high probability of alcohol dependence, with 33,000 addicted to illicit drugs and 31,000 with a severe gambling problem.

Sphere: Related Content

Alta. Rancher Rounds up posse to catch thief: Country Justice

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Nothing like Country Justice to catch a thief the old fashioned way. Of course it conflicts with modern courts who arrested the leader of the posse for shooting the thief after his second attempt after being shot to steal a truck.
Ah, the good ole days, when Men were Men, with Hangin Judges, instead of Starbuck Slurpin Nancy Boy Judges who read GQ and get facials. John Wayne would be proud of that Cowboy and his Posse.

EDMONTON — You don’t get much call for a posse these days. Not much use really.

But just outside the farming town of Bashaw, Alta., it seems the old ways are alive and well.

A farmer is facing charges after a thief was driven off the road, shot in the back and then tracked down with a posse.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Darrel Bruno said the farmer and his wife were sleeping Wednesday when they heard three men outside their home.

When the farmer dashed out to confront the men, two of them took off in a truck.

The third man spotted an all-terrain vehicle by the house, jumped on it and fled.

The farmer got into his own car and sped off after him. The farmer caught up to the ATV-thief about two kilometres down the road and allegedly bashed his car into the vehicle, sending both vehicles off into the ditch, Bruno said.

“As the male culprit fled on foot, the 38-year-old farmer jumped out of his car and fired two rounds from a shotgun toward the culprit and struck him,” Bruno said.

Sphere: Related Content

Times are Tough: "Prostitute breaks down door, demands sex"

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

One has visions of Supermodel Type Hookers roving the streets practising their Kittenish Saleswomanship on Men, by kicking down their doors, demanding Sex while dressed as Wonder Women like. You know, this is what Dear Penthouse Letters are made of!

But alas, One must wake up from ones dreamy, dreams and know most likely this lady of the glittery evening was more Rosanne Barr (ish) in a rubber thong and thigh high "FM boots and a golf shirt. $10.00, to handle your Nibbly Bits? No thanks, I have better uses for my Wedding Tackle!

A prostitute in North Carolina broke into an apartment and demanded sex from three men.

Nicole Scarpone forced her way into the house and ordered the men pay her $10 for sex.

Sphere: Related Content

View of the World Through Christian Conservative Lenses

American Idol and the Cricket
It’s another American Idol night. As I raced home to view my favorite show, I was anticipating seeing which contestants were going to make it to sing another week, and who would go home. I love this show! I have since the very first season. As the show progressed, it was announced that next up was a great Motown Medley from Stevie Wonder. Cool. He’s a living legend. I enjoy his music.

And I was enjoying his music right up to the part where he felt the need to shout “I love you, Barack Obama.” Now, I can’t say that I was offended. I believe that everyone has the right to believe in the political beliefs of their choosing. Isn’t it great that we live in a country that allows us to do that? What stunned me is the unfiltered way the left has of sharing their beliefs in the midst of “entertainment”. And the frequency with which they do it.

Liberal entertainers are more than comfortable sharing their “opinions” with the nearest available camera crew for public consumption. And they thrive on it. Well, frankly, I’m tired of it! If I’m choosing to view something for entertainment, then entertain me! Don’t share your political views because I don’t want to hear them.

We’ve seen it a lot. Kanye West declaring “George Bush hates black people” during a televised charity fundraiser for Katrina victims. Natale Maines from the Dixie Chicks and her comment about “being ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas” at a concert in London in 2006. Stevie Wonder on American Idol tonight. And scores of other television, movie and music celebrities that are way too long to even begin listing.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

If seeing is believing, I believe Obama has Changed

Candidate Obama vs President Obama

If seeing is believing I believe Obama has Changed

Have you changed your Mind?

Sphere: Related Content

TV Red Eye Andy Levy says Twitter is now for Breaking News

Where David Gregory’s Hair and Dan Abrams’ Bus Ride is Breaking News

Fox News’ late night news/comedy hybrid “Red Eye” debuted a new segment this week from ombudsman Andy Levy (@AndyLevy), called “Twitter News.” Why the need to know the “latest going-ons” on Twitter? “Twitter is now considered by many to be the most important source of news in the history of humankind,” said Levy.

Featured tweets include Rachel Maddow’s cowering, David Gregory’s hair and Dan Abrams’ bus ride:

Source - TVNewser -Follow WebNewser on Twitter

Related-

Sphere: Related Content

SC Senator Jim DeMint Opposes the GIVE Act - Video

Jim DeMint called the GIVE Act “a huge, well-intentioned mistake” on the floor of the Senate yesterday. In a speech lasting almost 15 minutes, the conservative firebrand spoke judiciously about the motives of the bill’s backers, but points out that charity and volunteerism belong in the heart, and not as a federal program subsidized by massive infusions of taxpayer money. After all, the revenue GIVE uses won’t exactly be voluntarily given:

I’ve included the full text of DeMint’s speech below, for those who’d rather read it than watch the video. I think the best part comes near the end, when DeMint offers this observation:

These are not Government decisions. We need to focus on what we were set up to do and do it much better than we are doing, instead of every week coming in here, bringing our good intentions and our compassion and every problem we see across the country we say something needs to be done. Then we say: The Government needs to do it.

That is the fatal flaw of the Congress today, is we forget that sacred oath of office that says: We will protect and defend the Constitution which says this Federal Government has a very limited function. And those functions that are not prescribed in the Constitution are left to individuals and to the States.

Source - Hot Air

Sphere: Related Content

Monday, March 23, 2009

Diary of a Mad Black Conservative -Uncle Tom, House Negro

Diary of a Mad Black ConservativeBy Darvio Morrow
March 23, 2009

"Token." "Sell-out." "Uncle Tom." "House Negro." If you are an African-American conservative, you know these phrases all too well. If you are black and conservative (or even moderate), people question your "blackness." For those who do not know what "blackness" means, it is essentially the Afro-centric, "say it loud, I`m black and I`m proud" philosophy that many in the African American community embrace.

The Left and the media have told us that being an African-American conservative is a repudiation and “sell out” of our race, and many people have concluded that authentically conservative and authentically black are incompatible. The attacks are often vicious, from caricatures of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dressed as a "mammy" to pictures of RNC Chairman Michael Steele superimposed with big, red lips and white gloves with the phrase "Sambo Goes to the Big House" written above his head. Members of the crowd at the Maryland senate debate in 2006 even allegedly threw Oreo cookies at Steele. The gesture was meant to convey that Steele is black on the outside but white on the inside.

As damaging as the attacks on black conservatives are from the Left, however, they can be even worse from the Right.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Not in My Desert- Feinstein seeks to Block Solar Farm

Increasing the nation's use of wind and solar power has been seen as an ideal way to protect the environment against pollution, oil spills, and nuclear waste. Now, however, fears are rising that the pressure to quickly ramp up large-scale production of alternative energy may in itself become a threat to fragile ecosystems.

That is the concern of Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA, who announced last week that she intends to introduce legislation to declare part of the Mojave Desert a national monument, closed to further development.

The area in question is a 500,000 acre parcel, once owned by the railroads and known as the former Catellus lands, which conservationists acquired between 1999 and 2004 and handed over to the federal government.

The Bureau of Land Management has made the land available for any purpose except mining. Fourteen solar energy projects and five wind energy projects have now submitted applications to build there, though all the applications are years away from being approved.

"This is unacceptable," Feinstein wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "I urge you to direct the BLM to suspend any further consideration of leases to develop former railroad lands for renewable energy or for any other purpose."

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Tickets for the 2009 White House Easter Egg Hunt Online!

2009 White House Easter Egg Roll Welcome President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are pleased to announce the 131st White House Easter Egg Roll. Talented performers, special guests and thousands of visitors from all over the country are expected to attend this year. For the first time, tickets for the Easter Egg Roll will be distributed online so that more children and families from across the United States have the opportunity to experience this event. There will be no ticket distribution on the Ellipse the weekend before the event. More details about the ticketing process are below.

Theme The White House Easter Egg Roll dates back to 1878 and is an event designed to encourage children and their families to come outdoors and celebrate the start of the spring season. This year’s theme, ‘Let’s go play’, encourages America’s youth to lead healthy and active lives. The White House will open the South Lawn to children age ten and under, along with their families, to enjoy sports, cooking classes, live musical performances, storytelling and, of course, the traditional Easter egg roll. Please come dressed to be active and participate in all of the events.

Ticketing For the first time, public tickets for the 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll will be distributed online. Ticketing will be available here beginning Thursday, March 26th.

The tickets, which are timed for entrance and exit to the South Lawn, will be emailed to each confirmed guest and the original must be printed and presented to gain entry to the South Lawn. A maximum of six tickets will be issued per order. Children age ten and under, along with their families are invited to attend. There must be at least one child ten years old or under and no more than two adults per group. Tickets are required for every attendee, including small children and infants, to enter the South Lawn of the White House.

Souvenir White House Eggs
Visit the National Park Foundation online to purchase your 2009 White House Easter Egg Roll souvenir eggs. Do not miss a historic opportunity to purchase this commemorative item. Each wooden egg is expertly crafted, painted, and includes the signatures of the President and First Lady. Order your souvenir White House Easter Eggs at www.nationalparks.org/WhiteHouseEasterEgg.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, March 21, 2009

POLITISITE: Politics from the RIGHT Side of the WEB

American Tea Party Anthem- Lloyd Marcus has written an anthem for the Tea Party. This came via Michelle Malkin

This song is the National Rallying Cry of the movement against president Obama’s outrageous government over reaching stimulus package . This video has the words so everyone can sing along at your cities Tea party.

for More information and tea Party dates for your State see http://taxdayteaparty.com/

Media Contacts
Press - Julie Johnson
E-mail Julie
Cell: 847.691.9278

DGM - Eric Odom
E-mail Eric
Cell: 312.282.9310

TCOT - Michael Leahy
E-mail Michael

SGP - Stacy Mott
E-mail Stacy

Hosting a Tea Party?
Events - Amy Kremer
E-mail Amy

See me on Twitter at twitter.com/politisite

I will be live blogging and covering the Columbia, SC Tea Party Event and the Fair tax Event on April 15 2009. Hope to meet you all there

Related:

Liveblogging the Lexington KY Tea Party; Ridgefield CT Tea Party protesters say “DUMP DODD;” 3k in Orlando; Raleigh NC represents

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Fresh Tea Daily - Let Us Trust Barack Obama

“Let’s trust Barack Obama”: Who ARE these people?

This video features short excerpts from speeches given by Democrats who voted for the stimulus and bailout bills passed during the Obama administration. Clearly, these elected representatives were in la-la land.

Quotes you’ll hear on the video:

Harry Reid: “Every penny will require Barack Obama’s personal sign-off. Barack Obama has also said there will be transparency. There will be oversight….This is a memorable vote. I believe this is the road to recovery for our country. Let’s trust Barack Obama.”

Dick Durbin: “I’m going to be voting for this with the faith that this new administration with new leadership and new eyes and new vision and new values will invest this money properly.”

Barney Frank: “We saw bonuses given that shouldn’t be given. I am confident that the Obama administration has learned from that. …We believe that the Obama administration will abide by its commitment to follow this bill if it’s passed.”

Chris Dodd: “There’s going to be far better accountabililty, far more transparency.”

Steny Hoyer: “It should strengthen our confidence to know that President Obama has learned from the mistakes that were made during the Bush administration.”

Tom Harkin: “I feel a little bit after the last one like Charlie Brown and Lucy. You know, she’s always pulling the football out from underneath Charlie Brown. That’s not going to happen to me again…We have someone new holding that ball. Someone by the name of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and their team.”

Jesse Jackson, Jr.: “The president will limit executive compensation for executives of companies that take advantage of taxpayer bailout funds.”

Jim Webb: “I spoke with the president elect on the points I just mentioned yesterday. He indicated that he was totally comfortable with my coming to the senate floor and saying that he personally guarantees closure on all of those issues.”

Barbara Boxer: “I will do it because of the assurances I got from the president-elect himself that it will be different.”

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Worlds Weirdest Car Crashes!

http://en.autos.sympatico.msn.ca/showpage/weirdest-car-crashes.aspx

Tags: Humor | World | Strange | car crashes

Sphere: Related Content

Let immigrants live where they please: Canada

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

I must say British Columbia has without a doubt has some of the largest cultural ghettos I have ever seen, where many immigrants fear to tread to smaller towns. Many immigrants should take a page from the East Indian community whose back to the land strategy from their old country have them producing our food, with the exception that in Canada they own and operate large farms, not possible back in their own countries, reminiscent of the original settlers to the Canadian Prairies like the East Indian Canadian Farmer who works the land and continues to make Canada what it is today through their drive, sweat and determination ensuring we have Canadian grown food on the table instead of importing it from other countries. Nice to see these immigrants carrying on a centuries old tradition that is fast disappearing when youth look to the big city lights for better opportunities to the detriment of their farmer families.

Are immigrants to Canada displaying a new tendency to skip past their traditional first stops in the heart of big cities? New data from the Canadian Federation of Municipalities (CFM) suggests they might be.

The CFM measures social indicators in 24 of Canada's largest communities, ranging in size from Toronto and Montreal down to Regina and Sudbury.

These urban centres took in 90% of all immigrants in 2002. In 2006, the figure was 83%.

Most of the change was ascribable to economic-class immigrants, who make up around half of Canada's intake; the flow of refugees and family-class immigrants into the cities remained largely unchanged over the period.

Sphere: Related Content

Finding Beauty in the Holocaust

Barry Artiste Op/Ed
Hard to fathom how Beauty can still be had through the horrific faces of death!

Oh yeah, for Now Public Editors, holster you waggin fingers, again the highlighter doesn't work for some reason.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1411430

The Saturday Interview: Finding architectural beauty in the Holocaust

Adrian Humphreys, National Post Published: Friday, March 20, 2009

Lavish architectural etchings cover the walls from floor to ceiling of the Toronto apartment of Robert Jan van Pelt, perhaps an expected flourish for the home of a professor at a school of architecture.

Closer inspection reveals that, rather than the gothic beauty of the Chartres Cathedral or the Art Deco heights of New York's Chrysler Building, his etches are Giovanni Piranesi's dark depictions of imaginary prisons.

The display of oppressive penitentiaries as architectural marvels mirrors Prof. van Pelt's proposition that the crematoria at Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp that has become a symbol of the Holocaust, is one of the greatest buildings ever constructed.

Sphere: Related Content

Vancouver’s housing habit

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

And this is my fault how? Canadians certainly didnt shove a needle into this womans arm, and to think bright and cheery surroundings at $600.00 a square foot in pricey digs would have prevented her Drug induced Demice is Stupidity on any part. Build more housing for homeless and more will come and die from all over Canada. Common sense lost on everyone but a few of us who encounter more and more every day!

VANCOUVER -- Money hasn't saved Canada's most blighted neighbourhood, the drug-infested Downtown Eastside. Resources aren't wanting; it's estimated that $1-million is shovelled into the area every day to pay for myriad services and examples of social housing not seen in other communities.

All that money didn't save Wendy Desjarlais. She died there last month, inside her subsidized, roach-infested apartment. A 54-year-old drug addict, Ms. Desjarlais was found in her bathtub. She had been there for days, but no one knew until water began dripping into an apartment below.

Her death was barely noted. Indeed, Ms. Desjarlais might seem just another Downtown Eastside casualty. She'd been alone, in terrible physical condition and in a constant state of paranoia, thanks to years of heavy drug use.

Sphere: Related Content

Iran's supreme leader rejects Obama overtures

Barry Artiste Op/Ed
Guess Santa isn't into Olive branches of peace from the US people, when he has more riding on keeping Iranians on the Hard Line Path of Dancer, Prancer, Rudolf, and oh Yeah! KILL ISRAEL!

Iran's supreme leader rejects Obama overtures
Updated Sat. Mar. 21 2009 8:44 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected overtures from U.S. President Barack Obama for improved relations between the two countries, saying on Saturday that U.S. policy has not changed under the new administration.

During a speech to tens of thousands of supporters in the holy city of Mashhad, Khamenei responded to a video message Obama released on Friday in which he said he hopes for a greater communication between the two countries after 30 years of strained relations.

Sphere: Related Content

Obama launches 'YouTube diplomacy'

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

You know you have to give the man credit, he certainly speaks off the cuff, and uses the internet at that. Times are a changing when Americans and Iranians may one day find they are more alike than different when both countries strive to maintain their way of life separate but peaceful in hopes like the US, Iran in the upcoming elections will vote for a more Moderate government instead of a government with a Kill Israel agenda. Obama may one day Rival Kennedy as one of America's greatest Leaders on the World stage.

WASHINGTON - Ping pong diplomacy helped thaw U.S.-China relations and YouTube diplomacy may do the same for U.S. ties with Iran.

U.S. President Barack Obama, whose use of the Web helped catapult him into the White House, turned to the Internet again to launch the first major diplomatic initiative of his young presidency.

In recording a video message to the Iranian people marking the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, and distributing it online, Obama seized upon one of the Web tools which he used so effectively during his presidential campaign.

Sphere: Related Content

Police shoot to death suspect armed with X-Acto knife: Vancouver

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Guess since Tasers have been given such a Bum Rap against Police, Officers have to resort to more deadly force against thieves who enjoy window shopping in other peoples cars. In this crime a day city, one wonders if stress and a public tired of being victims played a part in less of a public outcry over petty theft, though an x-acto knife isn't a gun, one wonders what alternative force could have been used against the man. Of course bringing a x-acto knife to a gun fight shows the man wasn't thinking straight, but then thank God the man wasn't armed with a Stapler!

VANCOUVER — A 31-year-old female Vancouver police officer fatally shot a suspect armed with an small X-Acto knife Friday morning while responding to a 911 call about a theft from a vehicle in downtown Vancouver.

Police said the 31-year-old officer and her 43-year-old woman police partner responded to a 911 call at about 10:30 a.m. reporting a number of items being stolen by two men from a car in the 700-block of Granville Street, police said.

A witness reported seeing the suspects running east toward the 500-block of Homer, police said.

The two women officers, both with five years on the force, approached a possible suspect in the 500-block of Homer. The man in his 50s pulled out an X-Acto knife and refused police commands to drop the knife, police said.

Tags: Vancouver | Crime | World | car theft

Sphere: Related Content

Diab victim of anti-Arab attitudes: Witness

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

I think if Europe has a case against this Professor, overwhelming evidence should be presented in a Canadian Court of Law and no extradition to Europe. If in Canada, he is found guilty, then he should be extradited. But until that time comes, Innocent until proven guilty should prevail and the man should be allowed all the rights Canadians enjoy, including staying in Canada until proven otherwise. Many in the middle east share the same name, more common than we think, to convict on a name is not a good case, especially after almost 30 years.

OTTAWA — Ottawa's Arab community believes a local academic accused of terrorism is the victim of anti-Arab attitudes in Canada, court heard Friday.

"We feel we are being targeted, and this is just one case of it," said Nour El-Kadri, a member of the Ottawa-based Canadian Coalition of Arab Professionals and Community Associations (CAPCA).

El-Kadri was one of several people who testified on behalf of Hassan Diab, a one-time lecturer in sociology at the University of Ottawa and, more recently, Carleton University. The French government has accused Diab of being a terrorist and wants him extradited so he can be tried in a 1980 bombing in Paris that killed four people and injured dozens. Acting on a French request, the RCMP arrested the 55-year-old in November, and he has been held in the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Detention Centre since then.

Diab was in court this week, seeking to be released on bail while he awaits an extradition hearing.

Tags: Canada | France | Crime | terrorism | World

Sphere: Related Content

Vulcan, Alta., wins a Star Trek compromise

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Nice to know Spock has Vulcan's (Alberta) Back!

CALGARY — Paramount Pictures and the Alberta town of Vulcan have reached a logical compromise in the community’s bid to hold the new Star Trek movie premiere that has reportedly appeased Mr. Spock himself.

The studio is expected to announce today that a special screening of the film will be held in Calgary exclusively for the town of Vulcan, a farming community of less than 2,000 people that has spent a year and a half lobbying to get the premiere. “Vulcans” will be selected by lottery to attend the screening. Paramount will bus them to and from Calgary. The screening is tentatively scheduled for May 6.

Sphere: Related Content

Speak English or French to be Canadian: MP

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Wow, who knew we have a common sense politician in our midst?
Like I always said, when in Rome......................................
Vancouver BC, has to be one of the largest Canadian cities where you venture into Richmond, and you may find yourself in a totally different world, It boggles the mind people living in our country for 20 years, still cannot speak, read or write English or French!

Cultural Ghettos dotted throughout Canada in cities foster such grounds for people not to learn our language, yet alone anything about the country they fled to!

Makes one wonder why they came here? One wonders how they can get work, unless employed within their own community and language. Makes one wonder why they hesitate to be Canadians after living here for two decades?

To me that is not our self professed Multiculturism, that isn't even diversity!

This politicians has my vote, though naysayers will most likely want to status quo to continue! I'm looking at you! Layton and Gordo Campbell!

Speak English or French to be Canadian: MP
By Bill Graveland, THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY - Immigrants who can't speak English or French well enough should be denied citizenship, says a federal politician. Canada needs to improve its efforts to integrate newcomers, Jason Kenney, minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism, said Friday.

"I believe one area that we can ask immigrants in the country to make a greater effort (in) is that of language," Kenney said in a speech to an immigration conference in Calgary.

"Last January I was in Delhi and sat in on a few immigration interviews. I encountered one woman who has lived in Canada for 15 years and been a Canadian citizen for nearly 12 years," he said.

"This woman was sponsoring a spouse to come to Canada but she could not conduct the interview with an official in either of our official languages. It made me wonder - is this an isolated example? Regrettably I don't think it's isolated enough."

Sphere: Related Content

Friday, March 20, 2009

How did the MSM handle Obama's Appearance on Leno

"It was like the Special Olympics or something." — President Barack Obama to "The Tonight Show" host Jay Leno on his score of 129 in bowling. A presidential spokesman said his offhand remark was not meant to disparage the Special Olympics, only to poke some fun at his bowling skills.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST:

Tonight: The president on the "Tonight" show. What? You heard right. He is on with Jay Leno. President Obama is the first sitting president ever to do a late night talk show. Some think he should have stayed home because we're in the middle of an economic crisis, the Dow keeps diving, and everyone is up in arms about over the $165 million AIG executive bonuses. But should he have stayed home, or is he entitled to have a little fun? Judge for yourself. You are seeing it here first before everyone else, President

Sky News Reported the American Idol angle

I do think in Washington it's a little bit like American Idol, except everybody is Simon Cowell.

The National Post went with OBAMA GOES ON OFFENCE

As the U. S. House of Representatives passed legislation yesterday to tax 90% of US$165-million in bonuses paid to employees of American International Group, President Barack Obama was embarking on a major public relations offensive.

Mr. Obama appeared on Jay Leno's Tonight Show -- the first appearance on the late-night television talk show circuit by a sitting president -- and hosted a series of "town hall" meetings in California yesterday, including one with Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

On Twitter Fox News Red Eye contributer Andy Levy @andylevy stated - says, every min. Obama is working on his basketball bracket is 1 less min. he's screwing up the country

How did most of us know what the President was going to say before 11:30 pm ET?

Don't click the jump if you want to be surprised when you watch President Obama on the Tonight Show.

The Transcript as released by the White House:

The White House

Press spokesman Bill Burton said: “The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics.”

Mr Obama, he added, “thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities around the world.”

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, March 19, 2009

CAGW Names Rep. Barney Frank March Porker of the Month

Washington, D.C. - Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) its March 2009 Porker of the Month. The chairman, having somehow eluded this dubious award in the past, finally delivered enough of Barney’s blarney to be recognized, appropriately, on St. Patrick’s Day.

On Monday, March 16, 2009, Chairman Frank expressed public umbrage over reports that insurance giant AIG, a recipient of $173 billion from the U.S. Treasury, had distributed $165 million in retention bonuses to some of the employees who helped bring the company to the verge of collapse. Chairman Frank fulminated that AIG had “rewarded failure” in awarding the bonuses. That’s rich.

Chairman Frank has never been shy about rewarding failure in the past and he generally favors using taxpayer dollars to do it. He was front and center in support of enactment of TARP, which noticeably had no enforceable strings attached related to executive compensation. Indeed, he helped promote perks for bank executives. According to a January 24, 2009 Boston Herald editorial, Chairman Frank made sure “one of the recipients of a $12 million infusion of federal cash was the troubled OneUnited Bank in Boston - a bank that had already been accused of ‘unsafe and unsound banking practices.’ Its CEO, Kevin Cohee had also been criticized by regulators for ‘excessive’ pay that included a Porsche.” Chairman Frank included specific provisions in TARP aimed at bailing out OneUnited and spoke directly to Treasury officials about it.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Obama’s Teleprompter Woes cause Late Nite ribbing by Leno

Obama's Campaign made fun of John McCain for being electronically challenged. But by being so he doesn't need a working teleprompter to give a speech. In jest the right leaning blogs have been talking about a new vast Right Wing Consiracy by slipping GOP talking points into one of the Teleprompter Dependent President's Speeches.

As Obama walks on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno this evenening, it has been reported that the writers have slipped in a few ribs about Obama's recent Teleprompter chanllenges.

As you probably know, President Obama is taking a lot of ribbing over his use of a teleprompter. And we’re guessing Jay Leno is going to bring it up tonight.

But it’s fair game. Come on, he used one at a rodeo!

Oops

You heard about the teleprompter snafu that happened a couple days ago at the White House?

Well, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen got up to speak following President Obama’s remarks and the new script wasn’t loaded into the teleprompter.

No matter to Cowen, he just started giving President Obama’s remarks.

“We begin by welcoming today a strong friend of the United States,” Cowen began welcoming himself.

About 20 seconds later he realized he was giving the wrong speech. You can read the whole story here.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Competition for Low-Wage Jobs

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Wow this certainly an eye opener, where the map of the USA shows which culture immigrates to which state.
The anti mexican voices are unbelievable from US Citizens, until you see the Mexican immigration flow throughout the states. Mexico is only illegal because they lost US property in the 18th century, like Texas and California. Mexico like the US was populated by the Spanish who partitioned off US real estate centuries ago, along with Britian and France. Some stayed, some left, Mexico has been around for like 600 years and not part of the US for over a 150 years because of wars between US and Mexico. All in all it is incredible statistics, yes you can see why Anti Mexican sentiment because of Mexican immigrants taking US citizens jobs or working for less than minimum wage, but on the other hand is it fair to chastise Mexicans for taking jobs during the good times when No US citizens wanted to do the work in the first place? Mexicans will take any job in order to provide for their families, we in North America used to have that work ethic, but lost it when unemployment and welfare became an alternative career choice for both Canada and the US citizens. Some may disagree with me, but aside from criminal activity some immigrants from Mexico put upon us, I would like to think most are just trying to make a buck, a buck we used to snub our nose at.

In a continuing series on immigration, Room for Debate this week moves on to the issue of how the economic crisis affects immigrants — both legal and illegal. An article that will appear over the weekend will explore this topic.

We’ve asked several experts how the recession might alter competition for lower-wage jobs between workers born in the United States, who previously shunned these jobs, and immigrants who have been willing to take them. If competition for these jobs increases, what does it mean for immigrants who don’t have a social safety net to rely on?

Sphere: Related Content

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Busy Day In The South Carolina Senate

Education Funding Flexibility

Due to extreme cuts in education funding, local school districts have been crying out for more flexibility. Today the Senate Finance Subcommittee on K-12 education, Chaired by Senator Harvey Peeler (R-Gaffney), passed out H.3352. This bill gives school districts the freedom to delay contract renewals, furlough teachers to avoid layoffs, postpone certain assessment tests and shift money around to soften budget cuts.

Fee Increase Moratorium

Under a plan being pushed by a number of Republican State Senators, a South Carolina state agency or department will first have to seek permission from the General Assembly before increasing any fee, fine, or penalty.

During this tough economic time when the General Assembly is cutting funds from basic state services, many agencies will be looking at passing the burden on to South Carolina’s taxpayers with fee increases. Senator Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) is pushing a tough plan to stop that from happening. His bill, S.517, passed out of the Finance Subcommittee on Sales & Income Taxation today. It now heads to the full Finance Committee.

Federal Stimulus Resolution

About five minutes ago the full Senate Finance Committee passed Senator Leatherman’s S.577, requesting the federal stimulus funds should Governor Sanford not accept the funds within the 45-day window.

Landfill Moratorium

At this time, the landfill moratorium bill is still being debated in a Medical Affairs subcommittee. I’ll send out a quick note if it passes this evening.

Twitter No, we didn't pass a Twitter bill today, but I do send quick Twitter alerts as soon as big action happens in the Senate. It's the easiest way to stay up-to-date on everything as it happens. You can visit www.twitter.com/scsenategop or pick up the feed at www.scsenategop.com. As a matter a fact, I'll be sending out a tweet as soon as there is movement on the landfill bill.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Monday, March 16, 2009

2009 SC Fallen Soldiers Ceremoney - March 25, 2009

2009 SOUTH CAROLINA FALLEN SOLDIERS CEREMONY AND LUNCHEON Contact: Julia Keenan Norwood (803) 212-6325

On Wednesday, March 25, 2009 the General Assembly will honor the seven brave young men from South Carolina who sacrificed their lives while protecting and defending our country overseas. The seven courageous soldiers who will be honored this year are:

Sergeant David L. Leimbach, United States Army, Taylors
Master Sergeant Danny E. Maybin, United States Army, Columbia
Captain Garrett T. Lawton, United States Marine Corps, Beaufort
Staff Sergeant Matthew J. Taylor, United States Army, Hanahan
Staff Sergeant Ronald Phillips, Jr., United States Army, Conway
Captain Richard G. Cliff, Jr., United States Army, Mount Pleasant
Sergeant Adam M. Wenger, United States Army, Mount Pleasant

As in years past, Senator Jake Knotts will host the Fallen Soldiers Ceremony and Luncheon for the surviving families of the soldiers from South Carolina who died in service to our country. This year the luncheon will be held will be held on Wednesday, March 25 at 12:00 at the Summit Club. Each family will be recognized for the ultimate sacrifice they have made to our country and will be presented the Order of the Palmetto Patriot, a Concurrent Resolution, and a South Carolina flag which was flown over the State House in memory of these soldiers. They will also be presented a copy of “The Heart of a Warrior – Faith Lessons from a Fallen Hero” which was written by Miriam Leimbach, mother of Sergeant David L. Leimbach who will be one of the Fallen Soldiers honored this year. Members of the Armed Forces, the General Assembly and the South Carolina Delegation have been invited to assist in showing our appreciation to these families.

Please join Senator Knotts for this noble ceremony and luncheon on March 25 at 12:00 noon. We need to let these families know they have not been forgotten.

You may contact our office for further information.
803.212.6352

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Swilling beer, Smoking Dope & Leering at Porn, Imam's other Life

Swilling beer, smoking dope and leering at porn, the other side of hate preacher 'Andy' Choudary By Neil Sears Last updated at 1:51 AM on 14th March 2009 The British live 'like animals in a jungle' with their alcohol, gambling, prostitution and pornography. That is the stated view of Anjem Choudary, the preacher of hate who this week insulted the families of dead soldiers and branded their marching comrades as cowards. The extremist wants Britain to be brought under Sharia law, with women forced to wear burkas and put to death for adultery. Yet before he grew his beard and turned to fundamentalism, Choudary, 41, was very much the life and soul of the party at Southampton University. Photographs obtained by the Mail suggest 'Andy' - as he was then known - should be inflicting on himself the 40 lashes he prescribes for drunkenness. As well as downing cider and lager, the cleric is shown playing drinking games with cards, clearly forbidden under his strict Islamic laws, and holding a cannabis joint between his lips before smoking it. And the woman on the cover of the Mayfair pornographic magazine he is looking at is certainly not wearing a burka. On the evidence of friends from his student days, Choudary had sex with numerous white Christian girls. Under his version of Sharia law, he should be stoned to death for sex outside marriage.

Sphere: Related Content

UK Iman foresee "The Flag of Allah Flying ovre 10 Downing Street!

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Boy, can you imagine if a Briton went to say, Iran and publicly denounced Islam, and forsaw the British Flag flapping away at the Iranian Parliament? I am sure many know the Briton would be flapping headless on the top of a flagpole. Funny thing is, that the one thing that is Great about the West is Free Speech, something this Iman knows all too well when he also expresses distain for the Western Way of Life in Britian.

Guess Iman Choudary should count his lucky stars he is in a country that puts up with his Rants unscathed.
Though it has been told if a Briton were to slander the Islamic culture in Britian, the full force of the Law would be upon that unfortunate Briton.

‘MAKE EVERY WOMAN WEAR A BURKHA’

A MUSLIM hate preacher who demanded that all British women be forced to wear burkhas faced a storm of outrage last night.

Firebrand Anjem Choudary said he wanted every woman to be covered by a full-length cloak in his vision of Britain under Sharia law.

The lawyer, who praised the Mumbai terror attacks, also said he wanted to see the “flag of Allah” flying over Downing Street, adulterers stoned to death and drunks whipped.

Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, March 15, 2009

AIG to pay $165M in Executive bonuses, from Bailout Cash

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

With Americans struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over their head, isn't it nice AIG is handing out bonuses to the tune of $165 million dollars of taxpayers money in the form of performance Bonuses to needy Executives. One would think after driving AIG into the ground these Bonuses can only mean one thing. If millions are paid for incompetence, imagine the bonueses they hand out for actually doing any work to make IAG a profit. Nice Scam!

One wonders what Rock God President Obama is going to do in all this? Nothing, or perhaps a Finger Wag and say dont do this again! Course when Obama reiterated those immortal words "I have a Dream" AIG and other Corporates must have though a Messiah had arrived, while the citizens of the US of A may feel their Butt Cheeks clench a little tighter at being screwed by one of their own.

But then you voted for him!

WASHINGTON — American International Group is giving its executives tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses even though it received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170-billion (U.S.).

AIG is paying out the executive bonuses to meet a Sunday deadline, but the troubled insurance giant has agreed to administration requests to restrain future payments.

The Treasury Department determined that the government did not have the legal authority to block the current payments by the company. AIG declared earlier this month that it had suffered a loss of $61.7-billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history.

The large bulk of the payments at issue cover the AIG Financial Products Unit. This was the unit that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer and brought the company close to collapse last year.

A white paper prepared by the company says that AIG is contractually obligated to pay a total of about $165-million of previously awarded “retention pay” to employees in this unit by Sunday, March 15. The document says that another $55-million in retention pay has already been distributed to about 400 AIG Finance Products employees.

Sphere: Related Content

Living in Olympic security zone means big bucks, big headaches

Barry Artiste Op. Ed

While a homeowner renting out their suites for $11,000.00 a month, sounds just peachy keen, what many do not realise are five things that could and will make this Dream Cash Grab a Nightmare!

1. You live in a Strata, say your tenant gets real drunk, breaks the toilet and it floods not only your condo but like ten floors below you, resulting in say, oh I dont know say, 20 other flood damaged condos below you. Think your Strata will be picking up that $100,000 Clean up bill and Alternate living expenses for all the other condo tenants below you? Think again! What makes you think you can make $11,000 a month and walk away scot free! Trust me the Condo association will hang you out to dry and take away your Condo to pay all the damages that may occur!

2. Try and find home insurance to covers the cost of renting out your place to a tenant. Hey, Good luck with that!

3. Guess how Tenants living in these pricey digs of yours will set up a Meth Lab or Crack Den in your Condo? More than a few, Why? Cause getting Drugs through the Olympic Security perimeter will be next to impossible. This way the Drug Dealers are already inside the Olympic Security Perimeter. I have seen in my profession, more and more Meth Labs in Growops in these pricey downtown digs than you can shake a Crack Needle at!
Guess how many times I find Crack needles imbedded in furniture or carpets. But Hey, you now know this!

4. Hookers Galore. Yep Escort agencies will certainly take you up on your offer to rent out your digs! MMMM just imagine after they leave, everything you touch or sit on may or may not have sticky bodily fluids from both sexes all over it.

5. Think all that Cash is yours for the taking? Think again, Revenue Canada will want a large slice of that Rental Income, at around 30 %! Gee, seems unfair eh? Try and screw Revenue Canada, and you may find yourself homeless!

So all in all does this all seem like a great deal for Condo Owners? Guess it all depends on your Greed, Risk and Stupidity Level!

Residents of a building near two Olympic venues are being courted to rent out their suites during the Games — and if the 2010 road plan is any indication, it might not be such a bad idea.

Spectrum is a four-tower condominium development at 111 W. Georgia, home to more than 800 households.

It's also directly across the street from BC Place Stadium, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies, and General Motors Place, where many of the Olympic hockey games will be played.

Some of Spectrum's residents are excited about being in the centre of all the action.

"It's going to be awesome. It's going to be a lot of fun, a lot of people," said Robert Finlayson.

However, being in the centre of things also makes those condos valuable.

Residents have been getting letters from event planning companies like Prime Strategies, which is looking to rent 100 units during the Games.

Its clients are European broadcasters and technicians, and they want to put their employees in a home away from home during the Olympics.

Condo owners are being offered as much as $11,000 a month for a two-bedroom unit.

Sphere: Related Content

Men sharing their feelings: Stuart Smalley Syndrome!

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Real Men don't ask for Directions! Real Men don't need Blueprints! Real Men eat Meat! So Suck it Up Princess!

They say "Married" Men Die Earlier, but then it's because they want to!

Men are becoming more willing to talk about emotional problems like depression, but many refuse to seek help in the form of medication, say researchers who are looking into how ideas about masculinity are affecting male health.

Several studies are being done by researchers at the University of British Columbia.

"We're looking at men's health in a new way, by trying to understand some of men's health behaviour in relation to masculinity," Joan Bottorff, a professor in UBC's school of nursing, said Thursday.

Tags: Health | Human Behaviour | greater Vancouver | "Empowering People" "Self Help" "Self Improvement" "Helpful Video" "Helpful eBook" | Stuart Smalley

Sphere: Related Content

Nothing Like Good Old Fashioned Racism!: BC a century ago.

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Boy that was an eye opener back then, when our country was growing and needed settling, out of the whole world only the Asians and East Asians it seems were charged a Head Tax in order to come to this country. If the Asians didn't come at all, Canadian cities would be embarassed, after all having built small city enclaves called Chinatown, would now be housed by the Irish, who were also persecuted as well. Irishtown just doesn't have the cache Chinatown has.

Course until today, I always thought Xenophobia was that 1940s Mickey Mouse Cartoom where Mickey is a wizard and dinner plates come alive. Learn something new everyday!

Immigration commission fuelled by xenophobia

In 1901, some Victorians pushed for higher head tax to try to keep out workers from China and Japan
By Andrei Bondoreff, Times Colonist

A Royal Commission investigating Chinese and Japanese immigration held its first session in Victoria 108 years ago this week. The inquiry revealed how important economic and class issues were to the debate at the time.

On the morning of March 13, 1901, a five-person panel appointed by the federal government met in Victoria. Its job was to gather evidence to form "a picture of the Chinese mode of living: whether they are desirous of building up the country, or whether those who are naturalized have any regard or affection for its institutions," reported the Victoria Daily Times.

The Commission was part of an on-going political process examining Asian immigration that began in 1884. That year, Canada's first commission investigating the issue made recommendations that resulted in parliament imposing a $50 Head Tax on Chinese coming to Canada in 1885.

Sphere: Related Content

3 provinces to study joint remand centre for gangsters

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Finally a good idea whose time has come, though the Arctic would make a better prison setting for Gangster to cool their heels permanently.

Canada's three westernmost provincial governments will consider whether it is possible to jointly build and operate a remand-centre jail to house gangsters in custody as part of cooperative efforts to combat organized crime.

The premiers of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan unveiled the idea of a tri-provincial jail on Friday in Vancouver following the first ever joint cabinet meeting involving the governments of all three provinces.

"What we're talking about is a maximum-security remand facility for adult gang members where we actually have the proper technologies in place so we keep them out of the sort of traditional remand facility where they can actually infect others and bring others into their gang activities," B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said during the concluding press conference after the cabinet meeting.

Sphere: Related Content

George Clooney's sweaty food: PETA to make it into Tofu!

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Make me Barf, how about Robin Williams Back Hair, I am sure you could make dental floss out that tidbit.
PETA certainly are the Looneys of the Food chain. What's next Oprahs Ass Sweat for Diet Shakes?

George Clooney's sweat is to be used to make tofu.

Animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) want to create the unusual vegetarian food by extracting George's salty perspiration from his used gym towel.

The organization wrote to the handsome actor asking for permission to create the product, saying: "The technology actually exists to take your perspiration and make it into George Clooney-flavored tofu (CloFu). Of course, your fans would swoon at the idea of eating CloFu but what interests us most is that we would attract many people who don't try tofu because they worry that it would be bland or that they wouldn't know how to cook it.

Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Blaming 'the Israel Lobby'

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Well we all know the story, "Money Talks and Bullsh*t Walks". Certainly Obama is having quite the problem in Human Resources staffing trying to find impartial or competent honest staff.

Until quite recently only a few Americans, those with a special interest in Middle East politics, were aware of the existence of Charles W. ("Chas") Freeman Jr., the former U. S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. But this week he popped up on the front pages of major newspapers as the latest of Baracka Obama's failed appointees, his candidacy typically brief.

On Feb. 19, someone anonymously revealed that Freeman was to chair the National Intelligence Council, which coordinates reports from espionage agencies. Immediately, he became a subject of furious controversy among bloggers. Their views reached politicians, who began expressing doubts about him. The White House decided not to spend political capital defending him, so this week he withdrew his name. Then he issued a bitter denunciation of "the Israel lobby" for libelling him.

He's now only a footnote in Washington political history but the Freeman incident raises interesting issues.

It casts more doubt on the Obama White House's hiring practices and reveals that Israel has some notable enemies within the U. S. government. As a drama performed mainly in the blogosphere, it demonstrates blogging's influence on national politics. And in displaying Freeman's connections, it reminds us never to underestimate Arab influence in Washington.

Sphere: Related Content

Canadian Vet offers to Snip the Nuts off Easter Bunnies

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

With Easter coming around the corner a British Columbian Vet has offered to chase down and "denut" the wild free roaming Little Bunnies, Hippity Hoppity around the University of Victoria. The Vet hasn't offered an explanation of what he will do with a sack full of "Bunnie Nuts", but stranger things go in British Columbia Kitchens and Bedrooms which are best unanswered.

A series of quick snips could cut down on the University of Victoria's problem rabbit population, says a local veterinarian.

Nick Shaw, owner of Shaw Pet Hospitals, is offering free vasectomies to male bunnies hopping around campus.

Shaw, who has three clinics in Greater Victoria, said he would be willing to pick up most of the costs, provided he and his staff could hold fundraising events to help defray expenses.

"My staff had some wonderful ideas on how to promote it and we could sell buttons and ask for donations to support the program," said Shaw, who added the normal cost for a rabbit vasectomy would be about $100 for an individual and $60 each for a bunch of bunnies.

Shaw first approached the university about a year ago, at the suggestion of lab assistant Tamara Lovegrove, a UVic graduate who was willing to mobilize her student friends to round up the male rabbits.

But Shaw was told there would first have to be a bunny count. "Then they would just never commit to anything," he said.

Sphere: Related Content

'Non' to French in the Post, 'No' to Israeli Apartheid Week!

Barry Artiste Op/Ed This story is so wrong on my issues, first of all the French language is part of Canadian Culture, to bar it from having a French Section in the National Post, smacks of anti Canadian Culture and more importantly alienating a market of Canadians who speak French who would buy the National Post. In these dire economic times, to cut off your nose despite you financial face doesn't make sense to a very few who may cancel their subscription because a small section of the paper has a French Language Section. Secondly, banning Muslims from Immigration to Canada in one breath and as you continue to read the story, it indicates actually banning Islamic immigration. It has been said that not all Islamic are Muslim, but all Muslims are Islamic. So this doesn't wash with me. You don’t ban the whole friggin culture on the few who spoil it for the rest of them. There are varying degrees of Muslims who do not subscribe to a lunacy of those who preach death and destruction, just because they do not happen to share the same religion. I as a catholic and many others do not believe in lunatic verses of the holy bible that espouse killing non believers. I have family members who are of the Jewish faith as well, do they really believe all that is written about slaughtering people who are not of the Jewish faith in the Torah. Of course not! You have to take it all with a grain of salt. You have to remember these holy books were never written by the men they talk about, they were written and interpreted and modified by followers centuries after Allah, Moses and Christ’s death. So much of what can be said of the good of Islam, Judaism and Christian ideology we take, the Fancy Silly crazy stuff we can attribute to the ancient scribe and his order as having a different agenda, sort of an artistic license, most likely mandated by the Ruler of that period. What we do know is all three of these religious men did good, followed peace and fellowship, healing and feeding their fellow man, to think they all of a sudden one day as an afterthought said to their followers “Oh and by the Way, Kill all non believers of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.” Do you really, really think they all said that? For instance Mohamed, do you really think he uttered the words, kill a whole bunch of people , including yourself on behalf of Allah and you get to gangbang 70 virgins in paradise. If Mohamed were alive today and listening to this from some Whackjob Imam, I am sure his response would be WTF??? As for Moses, do you really think he was that “Directionally Challenged” and lead thousand of Israelites out of Egypt and take 40 years wandering through the desert to find Israel which was only a few hundred miles away? Can you imagine thousands of Israelites asking all in unison every friggin hour along the way “Are We There Yet?” ,” Moses, Are We There Yet?” Moses…………….. Moses, most likely took the ten commandment tablets, and upsided some whiny ass Israelite over the goddamn head! Jesus for instance, splitting a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish to feed a hundred people to fullness, you really, really think so? Not to mention walking on water. So if you truly believe the above mention actions which had occurred 2 millennia ago, and professed to have happened by ancient scholars centuries long after these three prophets have died, then you need to give your head a BIG SHAKE! I am sure enough of you have seen magicians on TV do even more stupendous feats, imagine if these TV magicians lived in ancient times and did these feats of magic in front of a group of people a thousand years ago? Hell if they even did this a century ago! Holy Tap Dancin Christ, they would be proclaimed as our new Gods!! Faith Healing Tele Evangelists are proof of that today! Now before you wrap your ankles around your ears in protest, I am in no way saying Mohamed, Moses, or Christ were magicians, they existed, and were good men, performing charitable deeds to the masses. All I am saying is people believe what they want to believe, hence seeing a magician perform a magic act to the uninitiated seems miraculous when is not a miracle, it is only magic. Watch Monty Python’s Life of Brian, they pretty much hit the nail on the head! All in all these three wise religious men preached Faith! Well, Faith also includes Faith in yourself and to do good and not follow false prophets! As for the Holocaust, people still refuse to believe it happened, it was that horrific, but then for some reason people still think Elvis is alive and well and living in the South. Certainly a Historic hypocrisy. As I have always said before time and time again, keep your religion and culture, just do not try and impose it in your new country as law. Live a life as the Romans once stated, when in Rome, you are Roman, no ifs, ands, or buts! Otherwise leave the West and take your cultural protests and religious battles to the land where they began! PLO Chairman Yassar Arafat, said it best , decades ago when he was talking to the Israeli Prime Minister, and Jimmy Carter. Arafat stated seriously and matter of factly, “The war in the middle east is to prove who has the most powerful imaginary friend!” http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/03/14/paul-russell-non-to-french-in-the-post.aspx Paul Russell: 'Non' to French in the Post, 'No' to Israeli Apartheid Week, 'Yes' to selective immigration Posted: March 14, 2009, 12:05 PM by Paul Russell Paul Russell Should the Post publish some articles en francais? Last week in this column a reader made that suggestion. As he noted, “This isn’t 1975 anymore, and many of us have some French ability.” Almost a dozen readers responded to his suggestion; only one agreed. The others not only gave the thumbs down, but a few promised drastic action, should this French language page come to pass. “If the National Post were to pander to les Québécois and publish a French page, I would not only cancel my subscription, I would campaign strenuously to have others cancel as well,” wrote Gerry Porter. “I love my Post, but I do have my principles.” “If the day ever comes that you choose to succumb to the wishes of a few French whiners and actually include a French section of your fine national paper, you can expect to get my letter cancelling my subscription,” added Dale Chilton. “Sorry, but I do not have the time to express my disgust with the part of Canada that has fractured us with their pseudo-complaints about the way TROC (The Rest of Canada) has treated them.” Another reader suggested the original letter writer should be the one making the changes. “The first thing he should do is to turn on the TV and be assailed by the publicly funded French channels,” wrote Peter Morgan. “The second [step], and the one I hope he takes, is to go to Quebec and stay there where he can practise whenever he wants.” -- Last week I explained why the Post would not publish letters that recommend that members of a certain religion be barred from immigrating to Canada. My reasoning failed to win over some readers.

Sphere: Related Content

It's High Time - Tea Party Update - Revolution is Brewing

Tea Party update: Revolution is brewing - Its High Time - Bring your T-Shirt

By Michelle Malkin • March 12, 2009 11:39 PM
Eric Odom reports that there are now 115 cities signed up for the April 15 nationwide Tax Day Tea Party protest. Wow. If you haven’t signed up, want to start your own, and are looking to meet up and organize with other tax revolters, go to Tax Day Tea Party’s website here.

Here’s a quick how-to guide.

#dontgo has opened up a Tax Day Tea Party store. Buy some swag, share with friends, spread the word.

Stay tuned to the Fresh Tea blog, where you can meet organizers from across the country. Check in with TCOT Report and Smart Girl Politics for more grass-roots organizing.

(On a parallel track, fellow Fox News colleague Glenn Beck has spearheaded “We Surround Them” parties scheduled across the country today. I’m hearing from lots of first-time activists who have found overlapping networks. The same principles that unite the “We Surround Them” effort also are in sync with the tax revolters. Synergy is good. We need every body and mind in motion we can get.)

In the meantime, other local Tea Party events keep rolling on.

Please read the wider article to partisipate in a Tea Party Near You.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Friday, March 13, 2009

DeMint Statement on DNC's Negative Ads in South Carolina

DeMint Statement on DNC's Negative Ads in South Carolina

Columbia, S.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) made the following statement in response to the Democratic National Committee's decision to inundate SC airwaves with negative ads attacking our Governor Mark Sanford.

"After years of losing elections here, the DNC should know better than anyone that spending lots of money to try and brainwash SC voters with misleading ads will not work. South Carolinians are worried about the economy and their jobs but they have little faith in Nancy Pelosi's desire to spend our way back to economic success. Instead of wasting George Soros' fortune bashing conservatives like Mark Sanford who are right to question further deficit spending, maybe the DNC should focus on some other state where they have more friends."

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Democrats release ad criticizing SC Governor Sanford on stimulus

South Carlolina Governor Mark Sanford is being attacked by the democratic National Committee (DNC) because he wishes to use the 700 Million dollars his state has received from the Stimulus package to pay down the states debt rather then develop beurocratic agenies to spend the money that has been alleacted for programs that will be funded for two years.

The Governor is opposed to using the stimulus money for programs that have long strings atached from the Obama Administration. Governor Sanford related in Op-Eds and letters that he sees the state debt as a major priority that ultimatly will help the state overcome the recession and stimulate job growth

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Governor Mark Sanford will be getting a little more airtime on South Carolina's cable television networks next week, but the media attention won't necessarily be positive.

The Democratic National Committee will begin airing an ad criticizing Sanford for not accepting all of the funds allocated for South Carolina under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The 30-second ad will begin airing on Monday on cable television in Columbia.

The ad says Sanford is "playing politics instead of doing what's right." Earlier this week, Sanford denied he was rejecting the money for political reasons.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

EXCLUSIVE: Sanford Asks Obama For Waiver of Stimulus

EXCLUSIVE: Sanford Asks Obama For Waiver of Stimulus by Human Events
03/12/2009

Print This
Forward
Feedback
Facebook
LinkedIn
Digg This!
Subscribe
Sponsored By:

-->

HUMAN EVENTS Exclusive: The following letter from Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) to President Obama is the first action by any state governor to request relief from the long-term financial burdens the Obama stimulus" legislation imposes on state governments. In it, Sanford asks permission to use $700 million in stimulus dollars to reduce state debt.

NowPublic

Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Darfur kidnappers demand ransom for 3 aid workers, including Cana

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Nice way to show your appreciation, now the group has pulled out all Doctors and medical staff from the region, leaving Darfur without medical aid.

Laura Archer is pictured in this undated handout photo in Sudan. The Montreal nurse is among three Médecins Sans Frontières workers abducted in Darfur Wednesday. (MSF/Canadian Press)

http://news.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/abc/world/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CBC-WORLD-V3&showbyline=True&date=true&newsitemid=msf-darfur-kidnappings

Darfur kidnappers demand ransom for 3 aid workers, including Canadian

Abductors holding a Canadian nurse and two other employees of the Belgian branch of Médecins Sans Frontières in Sudan's Darfur region are demanding a ransom, according to Sudanese media.

CBC News

12/03/2009 4:41:12 PM

No further details were available. The general director of the Canadian arm of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) told reporters that Laura Archer, a nurse who was living in Montreal before leaving for Darfur, was one of those abducted.

Marilyn McHarg, speaking at a Thursday news conference in Toronto, said the abduction was "very much unexpected." "There has not been an abduction like this in Darfur before," she said. Mauro D'Ascanio, an Italian doctor, and Raphaël Meunier, a French field co-ordinator were also abducted, Médecins Sans Frontières said in a statement.

Two Sudanese employees were also taken but were soon released, the group said.

Tags: Crime | World | Darfur | Doctors Without Borders | darfur aid

Sphere: Related Content

Midlife crisis: My husband is gay

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

When Clues are left, sometimes the Clueless just Clue in to what they want to.

My husband of 19 years sat across from me in our bedroom, holding both my hands in his. The kids were in bed; he had put on soft music and poured us a glass of wine. Things were looking good - I was getting my hopes up. Instinctively I knew we were in that place that would be forever known as "before" and "after." For two years now, our marriage had been unravelling, and it looked like tonight was going to be the night when I would find out what demons we were dealing with and we could start the process of healing.

"You're going to have to be strong," he began, and I eagerly hung on his words, knowing I would be anything he needed me to be to get our relationship back on track and our marriage back to what it used to be.

He was my best friend. John and I had begun dating almost 21 years earlier and after that first evening together, I knew I was going to marry him. Our courtship consisted of hours together talking, going for walks, and planning our future together.

We married in May 1981 and shared almost all of our non-working moments together. We rarely missed having breakfast together at the beginning of each day, and never went to bed without the other at the end of it.

Tags: Culture | Music | the world | undefined | * gay marriage

Sphere: Related Content

Israel Bad, Iran Good! We are just Hunting folk:Iran

Barry Artiste Op/Ed /Satire
That's unpossible, Iran would never do something as vicious as this, it must be a US CIA. Starbucks, and World Jewish Conspiracy to slander Iran who deny time and time again, they are just friendly folk who enjoy backyard BBQs, do a bit a hunting in their neighbors backyard, I mean come on with the discovery of "Super Animals" such as Flying Squirrels, and Bunnies with Razor sharp teeth, Iran and their Hunting buddies needs Armour piercing bullets , cause if you ever turn your back for even a second, vicious Bunnies will tear you apart in the forest. As for the Ships in which US and Israeli warships discovered Explosives bound for Syria and Lebanon. Come on Guys, who of you have never fished with high explosives?

Of course the missles can be explained as well... "Fireworks celebrations"! Chinese made Fireworks are so expensive, and since Missles give a better bang for your buck why not use em! All in all Israels picking on Good Ole Boy Iranians is grossly unfair, Iranians just want to let off some steam, and jump into the pickup truck and tour around the city picking up suicide bombers, eerrrrrrrrr I mean picking up babes for Beer Bashes.

You know Iranians enjoy nothing more than regular High school shenanigans. Nothing wrong with that according to commentors who think Israel is the mighty satan.

Yep, that's how I see it! A big Jewish conspiracy. For Shame Israel for being such Tricksters! I'm Tellin!! Israel is just anti hunting and anti fishing for us Sportsmen.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/03/12/national-post-editorial-board-3-000-more-reasons-iran-can-t-be-trusted.aspx

National Post editorial board:

3,000 more reasons Iran can't be trusted

Posted: March 12, 2009, 8:30 AM by NP Editor

When even the United Nations is prepared to scold a thuggish Third World regime, you know that government must have done something terribly wrong (or at least something so obvious that the New York-based international debating society can’t possibly make excuses for it).

On Tuesday, the UN Security Council sanctions-monitoring committee rebuked Iran for trying to smuggle a vast shipload of arms to Syria in violation of at least five UN resolutions.

The discovery of over 3,000 cases of high explosives, large-bore armour-piercing shells and anti-tank propellant proves Iran has no intention of ceasing its arms shipments to terror groups such as Hezbollah, using Syria as a conduit.

Nor can it be trusted to honour its international agreements to forgo acquiring nuclear arms.

Sphere: Related Content

Judge gives Iraqi shoe thrower 3 years in prison

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Three Years??? Ya gotta be kidding me, the man only did what so many of us dreamed of doing to our elected officials! Course he missed, but still, imagine if he was a size 12 instead of a size 9, it would be a different story.
Bush would have been sucking heel leather.

BAGHDAD - A Baghdad court sentenced an Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at former U.S. president George W. Bush to three years in prison on Thursday.

Muntazer al-Zaidi worked for Al-Baghdadiya television, and earned instant worldwide fame when he threw his shoes at Bush at a news conference in December, calling him a dog.

Tags: Iraq | World | US Politics | bush shoe thrower | "anti bush"

Sphere: Related Content

Ban Bush from Canada for war crimes: lawyers

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Yeah, like that is gonna happen, though funny with the 6 al-Qaeda Terrorists we currently have on trial in Canada, who immigrated here, you would think Lawyers such as this group would demand the same, but Mums the Words from these DickWads!

A lawyers’ group has asked the RCMP to bar former U.S. president George W. Bush from entering Canada, citing torture and war crimes committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In a letter to the RCMP war crimes section and copied to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and other federal ministers and opposition MPs, the Lawyers Against the War group claims that Bush is “inadmissible to Canada . . . because of overwhelming evidence that he has committed, outside Canada, torture and other offences” as detailed in Canada’s War Crimes Act.

Tags: Ottawa | World | Canadian Politics | "anti bush"

Sphere: Related Content

Poop on flying fruit earns dubious honour

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

And yet the Artsy Fartsy Set in Canada, screamed their little Coulettes off when Prime Minister Stephen Harper cut funding to the Arts! One wonders if his cuts were the kindest cuts of all.

It's a bird. It's a plane. No wait, it's an $80,000 flying banana.

It's also the big winner at this year's annual Teddy Awards, a spoof prize given out by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for the worst examples of government waste.

The artists behind the "Geostationary Banana Project" squeezed some $80,000 taxpayer dollars out of the Canada Council for the Arts to attempt to float the giant inflatable fruit over Texas. The project has yet to get off the ground.

The banana, and $15,000 spent to bring a Belgian "poop machine" to Canada for a display, helped earn the council the Federal Teddy for waste.

Tags: Ottawa | Vancouver | World | Canadian Politics | Art council

Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Chris Brown and Rihanna to make a Love Duet

Barry Artiste Op/Ed
One wonders what song they will sing together, perhaps a remake of an oldie, here is my top ten:

1. Kung Fu Fighting! (Carl Douglas 1974)
2. Stand by your Man! (1960s Tammy Wynette)
3. Beat me, Shake me, anyway you want me! (1960s, The American Breed)
4. I'm a Loser (Beatles 1965)
5. Black and Blue (1980s Whitesnake)
6. What's love got to do with it (1980s Tina Turner)
7. Back of my Hand (Rolling Stones)
8. I shot my Baby ( 1970s Neil Young)
9.Only Women Bleed (1976 Alice Cooper)
10. The Bitch is Back (1974 Elton John )

Course, who knows, they may come up with their own song along the lines of Rhiannas Future Wake!

Chris Brown's Rihanna duet

Rihanna and Chris Brown are reportedly working on a new song together, which will be featured on Chris' upcoming album.

(BANG) -

Rihanna and Chris Brown are recording a duet.

The couple - who have reconciled after Chris allegedly assaulted Rihanna in his rented Lamborghini car last month - are said to be working on a song for Chris' new album, which is due out later this year.

A source said: "They've been working on it together."

The pair are believed to be recording with producer Polow Da Don - who wrote the Pussycat Dolls hit 'Buttons' - in a Santa Monica studio.

Neither Chris nor Rihanna's representatives have commented on the claims.

Last week, Chris was charged with two felonies - assault and making criminal threats - in relation to the alleged attack on Rihanna.

Tags: Culture | Music | Los Angeles | Chris Brown and Rihanna

Sphere: Related Content

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Arab women stand up

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Well Ladies, good luck with that, as sometimes women can be their own worst enemy. One side is against Sharia, while another group sees nothing wrong with it. Since Sharia is traditionally governed by men, one doesn't need to wonder why women in these countries allow it, but do! Boggles the mind in this day and age countries still treat women like breeding stock, and some women actually allow it. Hence why women can be their own worst enemy.

Arab women stand upThe Ottawa CitizenMarch 9, 2009Comments (1) showTab("text/html"); function resizeImage() { var imgBox = document.getElementById('imageBox'); var photo = document.getElementById('storyphoto'); if (imgBox != null && photo != null) { if(photo.width >= 460) { imgBox.className = 'imagesize460'; } else { if(photo.width >= 300) { imgBox.className = 'imagesize310'; } else { imgBox.className = 'imageboxpadding'; } imgBox.style.width = photo.width + 'px'; } } } function getStoryFontSize() { var storyfontsize = getCookie('storyfontsize'); var storyfontimage = getCookie('storyfontimage'); // use cookied value, if present if (storyfontsize != null) { setClass('story_content',storyfontsize); if (storyfontimage != null) { setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage); } } else // default it to para14 if no cookie { setClass('story_content','para14'); setClass('fontsizecontainer','size02'); } } function setStoryFontSize(storyfontsize,storyfontimage) { setClass('story_content',storyfontsize); setClass('fontsizecontainer',storyfontimage); setCookie('storyfontsize', storyfontsize, '365', '/', '', ''); setCookie('storyfontimage', storyfontimage, '365', '/', '', ''); } function setCookie( name, value, expires, path, domain, secure ) { // set time var today = new Date(); today.setTime( today.getTime() ); if ( expires ) { expires = expires * 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24; //days } var expires_date = new Date( today.getTime() + (expires) ); document.cookie = name + "=" + escape( value ) + ( ( expires ) ? ";expires=" + expires_date.toGMTString() : "" ) + ( ( path ) ? ";path=" + path : "" ) + ( ( domain ) ? ";domain=" + domain : "" ) + ( ( secure ) ? ";secure" : "" ); } function getCookie( check_name ) { // split this cookie up into name/value pairs var a_all_cookies = document.cookie.split( ';' ); var a_temp_cookie = ''; var cookie_name = ''; var cookie_value = ''; var b_cookie_found = false; // set boolean t/f default f for ( i = 0; i < a_all_cookies.length; i++ ) { // split apart each name=value pair a_temp_cookie = a_all_cookies[i].split( '=' ); // and trim left/right whitespace while we're at it cookie_name = a_temp_cookie[0].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, ''); // if the extracted name matches passed check_name if ( cookie_name == check_name ) { b_cookie_found = true; // we need to handle case where cookie has no value but exists (no = sign, that is): if ( a_temp_cookie.length > 1 ) { cookie_value = unescape( a_temp_cookie[1].replace(/^\s+|\s+$/g, '') ); } // note that in cases where cookie is initialized but no value, null is returned return cookie_value; break; } a_temp_cookie = null; cookie_name = ''; } if ( !b_cookie_found ) { return null; } }
The women of the Arab world are fighting for their right to be treated as full citizens in their own countries. It's not an easy fight, but it is winnable. There have been reforms in Morocco, Egypt and Algeria, and it looks like change is on the horizon in Lebanon.

Democratic reform in the region is in the interest of the whole world, but it is the women who feel its absence most keenly. Indeed, as Canada's own experience shows, change is most likely to happen when women demand it for themselves.

It wasn't long ago that aboriginal women in Canada fought the discriminatory policies in the old Indian Act, and won. Before 1985, an Indian woman who married a non-Indian man lost her status, and so did her children. Indian men, though, could keep their status no matter whom they married, and could even confer their status to their non-aboriginal wives. It was the bureaucratization of the idea that when a woman marries, her identity -- almost her very DNA -- is subsumed in that of her husband's.

Sphere: Related Content

Octomom may get new $565,000 home

Barry Artiste Op/Ed
One wonders if Octomom will let her mother live with her, since her mom's soon to be homeless?

WHITTIER, Calif. (AP) — Southern California’s octuplets mother may be moving to a new home and getting help to raise her brood.

Nadya Suleman’s father Ed Doud is purchasing a $564,900 house in the city of La Habra in a deal is expected to close Friday, said Prudential Realty listing agent Mike Patel.

In a related development, television’s Dr. Phil McGraw said Monday that Suleman will accept a volunteer group’s offer of nursing care for her children.

Suleman has been living in a Whittier home that is owned by her mother. But that property is being foreclosed on because her mother is more than $20,000 behind in mortgage payments. Doud is divorced from her mother.

Tags: California | World | undefined | Octomom

Sphere: Related Content

Ford tells feds cash better used on buyers

Barry Artiste Op Ed

You know, Ford for decades has always trailed GM and Chrysler in terms of sales, but in the recent Bailout of the Big Three, it looks like Ford is #1 when putting Consumers as #1 where as GM and Chrysler go Wheelbarrow to the Government and Taxpayers to bail their sorry asses out!
Ford is truly #1 in my book.
Ford tells feds cash better used on buyers
By PETER ZIMONJIC, NATIONAL BUREAU

Ford Canada has changed itself into a leaner and greener machine that won't need auto bailout money from the feds, Ford's president said. "Long before the current global economic crisis,

Ford recognized that its business model needed to be changed," David Mondragon, president and CEO of Ford Canada, told a House of Commons committee last night.

"During the past several years Ford has taken steps to put the company on a path to long-term viability." Mondragon said the government could boost auto sales in Canada by introducing a $3,500 "scrappage" credit or rebate for cars over 10 years old if owners buy a new car. He also said sales would improve if more credit was made available to buyers and dealers struggling to finance inventory.

The attitude is a stark contrast to the billions in government loans being sought by General Motors of Canada and Chrysler Canada.

Sphere: Related Content

Monday, March 09, 2009

Canada could've saved her marriage: Duchess of York Says

Barry Artiste Op.Ed
Who knows what could have been, perhaps shes right, but then no word on what Prince Andrew would say on this.

Canada could've saved her marriage: Duchess of York

If only the Duchess and Duke of York had moved to the Great White North, their shaky marriage might have been saved, Sarah Ferguson says.
09/03/2009 6:00:53 PM
CBC News

The former member of the Royal Family told CBC News there had been talk of her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, taking the largely symbolic job as Governor General, the Queen's representative in Canada. "We could have been Governor of Canada living in Ottawa in the Government House," Ferguson said in an interview about co-producing the recently released film The Young Victoria. "It would have kept us together and we would probably be together now." There was talk in the nation's capital soon after Ferguson's 1986 wedding to Prince Andrew that the couple could become royal representatives, but nothing was ever confirmed.

Ferguson, known commonly as Fergie, and Prince Andrew separated six years after their wedding and divorced in 1996. They had two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. What it was about Canada that held the promise of marital bliss is uncertain, but Ferguson mused that the prince might not have been as preoccupied with his military career.

Sphere: Related Content

Sunday, March 08, 2009

B.C. Trans-Fat versus Gangland Slaying Crackdown

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

You know what really, really amazes me? That our government both Provincial and Federal can pass laws almost immediately in the case of Banning Trans Fat in Restaurants, yet for some reason Banning Gangs and implementing Serious Time for Serious Crimes takes close to a decade. One wonder if both the Provincial and Federal Governmnts have their priorities straight, when it is guaranteed and Restaurant caught with an ounce of Trans Fat in their food automatically gets a fine and a conviction, yet Gang Affiliation and Crime, gets a Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink!

Someone, somewhere must have an answer to this poser!

Food outlets such as restaurants and cafeterias could face fines if they don't comply with the province's plan to restrict artery-clogging trans fats by this fall.

Mary Polak, Minister of Healthy Living Sport, announced Saturday that B.C. will be the first province to restrict trans fat in the country. Under the new rules, oils and products used to prepare food must not contain more than five per cent trans fats, while margarines must contain less than two per cent trans fats.

Food inspectors will ensure compliance by checking trans-fat levels in food ingredients.

All establishments that require a permit to operate a food service in B.C. must comply with the new regulation by Sept. 30

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Gang+fight+calls+united+front/1367323/story.html

Gang fight calls for united front
Times Colonist
March 8, 2009 3:07 AM

Neither is there a co-ordinated strategy to take down the gangs. Two years ago Vancouver's retired chief of police, Bob Stewart, wrote a blistering critique entitled Police 2007: The Buck Stops Nowhere. While noting his family's tradition of police service, Stewart lambasted law enforcement agencies for their "lack of professionalism, sound management or even simple common sense." He pointed out that Vancouver is the only major city in Canada without a metropolitan police force.

Counting municipal detachments and RCMP units, there are 16 police jurisdictions in the Lower Mainland. Worse still, RCMP troops answer to national headquarters in Ottawa, while municipal officers report to local police boards. That means there is no unified command structure on the ground.

We saw an example of that last month, when B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal met with his federal counterpart to sketch out a campaign. The meeting was a bust. Oppal wanted changes in the Criminal Code. He says the current legislation makes it unduly difficult to prosecute gangland crime.

Vital means of surveillance, like wiretapping, are hindered by the code, and bail conditions are far too easy. But when Oppal asked for assistance, his request fell on deaf ears. The Criminal Code is Ottawa's responsibility, and the federal government has its own priorities. Working with the provinces doesn't appear to be one of them.

Below is an excerpt on a new concept called Life without Lawyers and the Death of Common Sense.
A must read for those just F**king Fed Up with Legal Stupidity in North America! Since the majority of Politicans in both our countries are lawyers, perhaps its time we elected Politicians based on Common Sense instead!

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1874370,00.html
Life Without Lawyers
By Alex Altman Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009

Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans From Too Much Law
By Philip K. Howard

The Gist: Bernie Madoff and Co. have, for the moment, dislodged attorneys from the doghouse of public opinion. But a world without tort claims and padded billing would still be many people's idea of heaven. Howard, an attorney and author of the best-selling book

The Death of Common Sense, chronicles a society in which rules have run amok and litigation looms as a constant threat. Among his egregious examples: a Florida teacher wary of restraining a hysterical child gets the cops to slap handcuffs on the kid instead; a New York City high school prohibits nurses from calling ambulances without the principal's permission; a town slide in Oklahoma is dismantled for liability concerns. "To restore our freedom, we have to purge law from most daily activities," writes Howard. But this seething polemic is less about a society buried in paperwork than one that clings to procedure like a crutch — and has lost its capacity for independent thought in the process.

Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, March 07, 2009

U.S. foreclosure scams on the rise

Barry Artiste Op.Ed

As many people are stuck between a Rock and a Hard Place in this economic meltdown, it's "Par for the Course" Scam Artists are alive and well in any economy, and are quite adept at parting the desperate from their money, even if that money is only fictitously only on paper!

U.S. foreclosure scams on the rise
Amid the continuing American housing meltdown, officials are seeing an 'extraordinary' surge in foreclosure 'rescue' rip-offs.

By Carolyn SalazarMarch 07, 2009
When Aleem Morris lost his job as a forklift operator several years ago, his life began to fall apart.

He fell behind on loan payments. His car was repossessed. And then, after his debt ballooned to $118,000, the Newark, N.J., house that had been in his family for 24 years went into foreclosure.

Just as things seemed most desperate, a flier arrived in the mail offering help. "Are you behind in your mortgage payments, and facing foreclosure of your property?" it asked.

It gave Morris hope, promising to shore up his credit and save his home. But months later, his two-story, vinyl-sided home had been stripped of about $127,000 in equity, he was still in debt, and the house was back in foreclosure.

"I had been conned," he said.

Sphere: Related Content

Two statues of Amenhotep III found in Egypt

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Certainly a treasured find for Egyptologists in uncovering these statues, as many of us look forward to reading more in the months to comes as excavation continues.

Two statues of Amenhotep III found in Egypt

Two massive statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt 3,400 years ago, have been discovered in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor.

05/03/2009 3:15:31 PM

#msnPlayer_m .last{background:none;margin:0;padding:0} #msnPlayer_a, #msnPlayer_m, .msnInlinePlayer,#msnPlayer_t { display: none; position: absolute; visibilty: hidden; }

CBC Arts

Zahi Hawaas, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced in a statement Thursday that the statues were found while an excavation team was clearing out the pharaoh's mortuary, near modern Luxor .

Hawaas said one statue was carved from black granite and shows the pharaoh in a seated position.

The other, carved from quartzite, depicts the pharaoh as a sphinx, the mythological creature with a human head and the body of a lion.

Amenhotep III, who ruled for about 40 years during the 14th century BC, left more images of himself than any other pharaoh.

Tags: World | Egypt | undefined | Pharaohs of ancient egypt | . Egypt

Sphere: Related Content

The Seinfeld reunion will be televised, on HBO

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

The reunion of the Seinfeld Five on HBO will be a "Fix" Millions of Seinfelders are looking for, by many who felt the Final episode of Seinfeld had them wanting for more!

The Seinfeld Reunion will be Televised, on HBO

According to Reuters, the cast of NBC's Seinfeld has agreed to appear together on Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm:

"The Seinfeld Five" are reuniting on Larry David's HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
The four stars of the hit NBC comedy -- Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards -- will appear together, playing themselves, in a multi-episode arc alongside David.

The episodes are part of "Curb's" upcoming seventh season.

Are they really known as "The Seinfeld Five"?

[Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David watch a tennis match at the 2007 US Open, in Flushing Meadows, New York. Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images]

Sphere: Related Content

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Beheading victim's mom vows to fight killer's release

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

A Winnipeg Judge today will rule whether Murderer Vince Li who beheading a young bus passenger and proceeded to eat him will be held criminally responsible for his actions. If found not guilty, which many feel this judge will rule, will see Vince Li be sent to a hospital for treatment and possibily out on parole and back on our streets in 10 years if treatment is successful. Though it is rare this guy will ever be released back into the public, the letter of the law may say otherwise. The mother of the beheading victim vows to her last breath to ensure this never happens.

WINNIPEG — Carol deDelley is prepared to watch her son's killer walk out of court Thursday headed for a hospital, not a prison cell. But the grieving mother is vowing to do everything possible to make sure Vincent Li never tastes freedom again.

"I am absolutely terrified of him and his capabilities. I think he'd do it again," deDelley said Wednesday after hearing a second straight day of disturbing court testimony.

Li's fate is now in the hands of Queen's Bench Justice John Scurfield, who has reserved his decision until 10 a.m. Thursday local time.

Sphere: Related Content

Sympathizer of Terror Groups was Liberal Immigration Board Member

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Well don't that beat all, the Liberals under Liberal Prime Ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin was a Liberal appointee to the Immigration Board of Canada, certainly explains a lot don't you think, when appointees to the Immigration Board are the ones who allow immigrants into this country, even the Terrorist ones they sympathize with. Guess the Conservative Government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper should be doing a clean sweep of the Canadian Immigration Board and put people in there who are not biased against other immigrants and do not favour the Terrorists.

It's well known that Khaled Mouammar wants Ottawa to remove Hamas and Hezbollah from a list of banned organizations and replace them with the Israel Defence Forces.

It's well known that the president of the Canadian Arab Federation recently called Jason Kenney, the Minister of Immigration, a "professional whore" for supporting Israel and criticizing the presence of Hamas and Hezbollah flags at a recent protest, prompting Mr. Kenney to say he would review the CAF's federal funding.

But it is less well known that Mr. Mouammar spent the 11 years prior to February, 2005, sitting as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, deciding whether refugee claimants from such North African countries as Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Somalia should be allowed to stay in Canada.

Sphere: Related Content

Kenyan gang protests over police death squads

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

I put it this way, there would be now Police Death Squads, if these Murderous Gangs who are protesting the Police Gangs exisitance by routinely beheading innocent people now would there? Sort of weird Criminals protesting Police are trying to kill them, but it is all right for these Criminals to do the killing. I say eradicate em. But then I don't live in Wacko ville Africa either.

NAIROBI, Kenya - A police official says a Kenyan gang known for beheading people has blocked roads and burned shops in the capital to protest the alleged existence of police death squads.

About 70 per cent of the minibuses - called matatus - used by Kenyan commuters are off the roads because of the protest.

Tags: Crime | World | Kenya

Sphere: Related Content

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Warrant issued for al-Bashir's arrest

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

He should be pretty easy to find, perhaps try his Swiss Bank.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court in the Netherlands has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.

The court says the warrant against him is on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Tags: Crime | Sudan | World | the Netherlands | al-Sudani

Sphere: Related Content

Monday, March 02, 2009

Canadian Arab Federation calls our Government "Whores" !!

Barry Artiste Op/Ed

"Ouch"!!! That's gotta Hurt! You know they say "Sticks and Stones will break your Bones", but calling the Government "Whores", especially the same Government Ministry which previously gave you close to $500,000.00 every year in Canadian Taxpayers Multicultural and Diversity Funds, certainly shows someone ain't particularly Bright in the Haid! Over to you Skeeter!

Course one would think a group like the Canadian Arab Federation, or the CAF who are always quick to use the Canadian Human Rights Commission as their Bestest Pal when they scream discrimination against anyone who looks sideways at them, whether imagined or not.

So in ending it certainly seems appropriate for our Canadian Conservative Government to take the CAF to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for calling them Whores! But the Canadian Government just lets the Whore Label slide off their backs, as they figure the best way for the CAF to learn is to cut off all Taxpayer Funding to their Organization, as the Government must feel the CAF at times are their worst enemy.

Guess "Revenge is Best served Cold" as the CAF employees will certainly be shocked to see them Lucrative Taxpayer Funded Paycheques they counted on, have now disappeared faster than a Hooker in mid Payday!

I do however Wholeheartedly Agree with the CAF that Freedon of Speech is Paramount, just as I Wholeheartedly agree that Government has a right to immediately Stop all Funding, when they feel an Organization does not appear to have Taxpayers best interests at Heart!

Say what you want - just don't expect taxpayers to pay
MARGARET WENTE
Saturday's Globe and Mail
February 28, 2009 at 12:00 AM EST

It's never smart to call a federal cabinet minister a "whore" - not when you depend on him for money. But Khaled Mouammar, president of the Canadian Arab Federation, is a fearless man. At a recent anti-Israel rally, he referred to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney as a "professional whore" for supporting Israel.

He called Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff professional whores, too. A couple of years ago, when five children from Montreal were killed in the Lebanon war, he said Mr. Harper was "complicit in their killing." At the Liberal convention at which Bob Rae ran for leader, he circulated a letter accusing Mr. Rae of being a racist Zionist, and pointing out that his wife is a Jew.

Last week, Mr. Kenney bit back. He asked his bureaucrats to yank the CAF's $447,000 grant. "They can say what they want within the parameters of our laws, but they shouldn't expect a priori funding." Now the CAF is accusing Mr. Kenney of trying to stifle its right to democratic speech. According to executive director Mohamed Boudjenane, the government's real motive for punishing the CAF is most likely political. "They maybe decided to go after the Zionist vote, like Reisman and Schwartz and Tannenbaum - people who used to be Liberal."

	Print This
	Forward
	Feedback
	Facebook
	LinkedIn
	Digg This!
	Subscribe
Sponsored By:

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Photos

Jason Kenney | Photo 03

Monday, March 30, 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Photos

Photos

Photos

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Photos

Photos

Photos

Photos

Friday, March 27, 2009

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Monday, March 23, 2009

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Photos

Photos

Photos

Photos

Photos

Photos

Photos

Photos

Friday, March 20, 2009

Photos

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Photos

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Monday, March 16, 2009

Photos

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Photos

Friday, March 13, 2009

Photos

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Photos

Kidnapped Nurse

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Monday, March 09, 2009

Photos

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Photos

Photos

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Monday, March 02, 2009