“I am not alive, nor am I dead. I am undead — forever.”
– Strahd von Zarovich –

It’s coming; everyone agrees on that. We aren’t likely to make it to Dominion Day without having to pinch our public proboscises and ponderously plod to the polls to put a plug in the pursuing pageant of platitudinous political punditry.

Don’t screw with me today; I have a thesaurus and I’m not afraid to use it.

So everybody and their pet beaver has figured out that — sometime in the none too distant future — we’re about to find ourselves up to our collective you-know-whats in a federal election campaign. Again. 🙄

You’d think that after the Fiberals’ Extreme Makeover in Montreal this month, they’d be looking for something new to hammer Harper over the head with in the upcoming campaign, but did they? Hell, no! They grabbed the nearest shovel, made a beeline to the Grit Graveyard of Tired Canardsâ„¢ and dug up the moldiest, rankest character-assassination cadaver they could find: The Vast Right Wing NeoCon Conspiracy® Hidden Agenda…

Dion gave every indication during a news conference yesterday he will resurrect the theme in the next campaign, expected early next year.

And he shrugged off a suggestion the hidden right-wing agenda theme might sound a little stale if trotted out yet again.

“It’s less and less hidden,” Dion said of the Conservatives’ plan for the country.

Like we need this damned revenant shambling into our midst again. If anyone at all in the whole damn country was still itching away with some doubt or other about whether or not the HypoGrits were, indeed, just the “same old same old” that they’ve always been, those doubts should now be as dead as the “scary Conservative bogeyman under the national bed” tactic was thought to be.

I mean, come on now; let’s be serious for just one God damned minute, okay?? Seriously, even the Liberals (yes, those Liberals) can’t possibly be THAT fucking STOOPID! Can they? As of this writing, Stephen Harper has been Her Majesty’s Prime Minister of Canada for 312 days and, as everyone has seen, none of the following has happened yet:

1. Neither Stephen Harper nor any members of his caucus have eaten any babies.
2. Quebec has not separated from Canada.
3. The sun has not burned out.
4. Our health care system has not collapsed.
5. Homosexuals have not been rounded up into camps in the high arctic.
6. Women have not been forced to get pregnant in order to be denied access to abortions.
7. We have not become of 51st state of US of A.
8. We have not sent troops to Iraq, either.
9. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has not been scrapped.
10. We have not withdrawn from the UN.
11. The sky has not fallen.
12. There have been no reliable reports (other than above) of the dead rising from their graves to feast upon the living.
13. We have not declared war on puppies.
14. Toronto has not been placed under martial law (although that might not be such a bad idea).
15. The polar ice caps have not melted.
16. The National Capital has not been moved to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump.
17. The economy has not collapsed.
18. We still have no official State Religion; Christian, Satanic or otherwise.
19. Fun has not been outlawed.
20. No one has been executed for anything.
21. Banjo lessons are not a compulsory component of our educational curriculum.
22. No angels have tooted any trumpets, cracked any seals, or done anything else worrysome.
23. etc, etc, ad nauseum…

The more I hear this bullshit, the more the HypoGrits remind me of a doomsday cult: They keep predicting the end of the world but when the appointed day comes and goes (over and over again), they just move the goalposts. “Next time, it’ll happen.”

Yeah. Sure it will. Whatever.

STFU, already.

Now THIS is my kind of cop. The more I read about him, the more I like him. Everybody and their dog knows that the so-called “criminal justice system” in this country is nothing more than a criminal-coddling crock of… well, you know. But Calgary Const. Shaun Horne went and did what damn near every cop in the land — not to mention more than a few just plain decent, law-abiding folks — have been itching to do for years: After idiot JP Kristine Robidoux gave career criminal Albert Walter Brazill — a lifelong scumbag with over 65 criminal convictions — a free pass out of the county bucket, Const. Horne stood up in the courtroom and ripped Her Bullshitness a new one.

You can read more about it here, here, here and here. As Rick Bell put it best in today’s Calgary Sun:

What happens when a city cop tells the truth about our justice system? In PC Calgary, he gets yanked off the street and hit with a suspension

Guilty of speaking what everybody knows to be true.

Our so-called justice system IS a mockery and a joke.

Ask any cop.

Ask any criminal.

Ask any victim of crime.

But Const. Shaun Horne, with 25 years of fighting bad guys under his belt, just doesn’t think the fact. He actually says the words.

And the butt-covering city police bigwigs, anxious not to offend the sensibilities of judges, mete out the discipline at the public school board meeting room.

With the clock ticking off toward his last day, a police hearing suspends the constable for a week without pay.

There is not much more they can do. Horne is out the door early in the new year. But the message is clear.

If the officer had years to go before the finish line they’d be getting the nails and the wood out.

“It would be suicidal,” says Rambo Al Koenig, the mince-no-words police association prez.

“Out of fear of reprisals anyone speaking out would have to swallow their pride and their principles.”

But Horne could speak up and did speak up when one Albert Walter Brazill appeared in court for not paying his bar tab.

Brazill is a piece of work, a career criminal with 65 convictions — everything from extortion, kidnapping, forcible confinement to thefts, multiple break and enters, vehicle theft, armed robbery, frauds, forgeries, assaults, many impaired driving and drug beefs and more than once failing to show up to court.

Brazill has nothing to say but tells justice of the peace Kristine Robidoux he needs an alcohol program.

He says he is in Calgary looking for work as a painter but nobody will get him painter pants. Then he gives some sob story about not being able to score work of any kind because he was hit over the head in Regina and his ID was stolen.

“I can’t win,” he says. But he does win, 65 convictions and all.

Robidoux says: “I am just not satisfied the ends of justice are met by having this person detained for the better part of a week.”

Brazill asks if that’s it, realizes it is, thanks Robidoux and smirks at Horne the cop, who’s seen the revolving door so many times before.

Horne calls him a piece of … you know.

Horne then asks the JP if she is “going to release everybody” and calls Brazill’s walk “a joke” and “a mockery.”

By the way, the released Brazill doesn’t show up for his next court date.

Yesterday, it is Horne on the hot seat, three counts of discreditable conduct. Insp. Paul Manuel, representing the police brass, sounds off like a paragon of virtue.

Horne brought “discredit on the reputation of the service” and there must be a strong message to the ranks that “this type of behaviour will not be condoned and must be dealt with severely.”

Manuel waxes on about Horne’s “barrage” of “insulting and condescending language” stating “the seriousness of the matter cannot be overstated.”

“The public interest must be considered,” says the inspector. Right. Since when was the public interest ever considered.

Besides, the constable won’t say sorry and Robidoux the JP is reportedly shocked and gets angry calls at home from the public.

Manuel asks for Horne to get two weeks without pay. He is given one. It is the sad end for a good cop.

Rambo Al says the badges on the street will now know the drill. “No matter what injustice you see, keep your mouth shut,” says Koenig.

Horne has no regrets. He’d do the same but maybe be a little choosier about the words.

He is still frustrated but gets some small comfort from the support of fellow- officers who every day deal with the cushiness of the courts and the public relations blather from their politically correct superiors.

Horne is not surprised by the outcome.

“In my mind, this was over before it started,” he says.

He retires knowing the system is “nowhere near fair” and it isn’t changing any time soon. But the police officer does not shy away from the consequences. Horne says he was offered a reprimand and wouldn’t take it. He will not bend the knee.

When it is over, Manuel shamelessly offers a handshake and the obligatory happy retirement wish to Horne.

The constable just turns away.

Just because I haven’t been around for a couple o’ days doesn’t mean that I haven’t got anything to say.

It seems that the HypoGrits have dropped a big ol’ brick o’ fudge in their collective longjohns over Harper’s intentions to take the first steps to follow through on his commitment to actually introduce a little bit of democracy into their precious little Red Chamber.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find that monicker — “Red Chamber” — to be more than just a little ironic? For years, the Librano$ have used the Senate as their personal porkbarrel for favoured stooges and little political failsafe against any legislation that they might not like. Hey, just because the public boots you from office doesn’t mean you can’t still gum up the works with your appointed/annointed Senate flunkies; right? To listen to the Fiberals, you’d think that ol’ Steve was raping the very soul of Canadian traditions. Newly-minted UberGrit Stephane Dion cacked up this lovely little hairball for the rest of us to have a look at:

“…completely irresponsible… The very moment the two chambers would be elected, they would have (the) same behaviour, a greater likelihood that you would have a stalemate without some kind of dispute mechanism.”

Like the kind of stalemates that we have now, whenever the Grits don’t like something? Smirkin’ Jack! wasn’t any better:

“It will give the Senate more dysfunctionality and they’ll be able to monkey with the business of the House of Commons even more then they have up to now.”

And you just know that you can’t possibly have something like this on the table without hearing of doom, gloom and general asshattery from the lollygagging Librano$ of the Upper House:

“We’ve had it since Confederation and it does very good work,” said Sen. Art Eggleton, a former Liberal cabinet minister.

“This is silliness quite frankly. Mr. Harper should be focused on the environment, on Afghanistan,” added Sen. Terry Mercer.

Of course. Anything that might curtail the Librano$’ ability to monkey with the wishes of the people, as expressed through their choice of representation, must be silly. I mean, come on now, we can’t have the unwashed masses sticking their noses into the business of choosing who gets to play in the high-an’-mighty Fiberals’ personal little sandbox now, can we? How silly would that be??

This one though, has just got to be my favourite:

“We don’t want to start a new constitutional round,” added Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe.

Hey, Gillesigan, listen up: When Quebec actually signs the Constitution, then Quebec can bitch about it. Until then, kindly stick a croisant in it and shut the f#*% up!

Then, there are the proposed changes to the Human Rights Act, which have essensially left the Liberals — the “natural guardians” of all human rights in Canada 🙄 — shrieking “HE STOLE MY BALLOONS!!” at the top of their lungs:

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice wants to repeal a 30-year-old section of the Human Rights Act that has blocked complaints against Ottawa and band councils acting under the archaic Indian Act.

“First Nations citizens don’t have the same rights and remedies as other Canadians,” Prentice said. “We think that’s unacceptable and we’re prepared to move on it.”

Very interesting that they should be bothered by this. Even more interesting that so many band councils should have their panties in a bunch over it:

National native leaders rejected the bill, however, saying they can’t support what they called a rushed and unilateral move that would sow dissent and tension on reserves.

Is that so? Gee whiz, guys, what the heck makes you say that? Just what is it about giving natives, particularly native women, the same rights to avenues of redress that every honky in the land has enjoyed for … well, for as long as I can remember, anyway?

Already cash-strapped band councils could be peppered with claims. Allegations of unfair treatment would likely range from housing disputes to fights over how higher education funds are shared.

Ottawa is also expected to be targeted for various despised policies. Those include Indian Act rules governing status.

For years, the Indian Act stripped thousands of native women of their Indian status along with rights and benefits when they married non-native men.

So let me see if I’ve got this straight: You think this act is a bad thing because, if it goes through, you guys might find yourselves suddenly accountable to the very folks that you’ve shafted. Have I got that right?

Well, the feds are going to be in the crosshairs too, but you don’t hear them complaining. Sounds like they’re actually willing to stand up and take responsibility for past screwups that they didn’t even do (maybe because they know that the Fiberals never will).

Once again, the Tories are making good on promises that they made — and that other parties made too, but nevered fulfilled them — and once again, the predictable suspects are howling that the sky is falling.

Nope. Nothing new here.

It has always been interesting to me that the people that whine and lecture the most vehemently about what nasty things Western soldiers are doing in Afghanistan are the very people that have the least understanding of anything that is actually happening on the ground there. We hear over and over about how outraged “ordinary Afghanis” are over “foreign invaders/occupiers” in their homeland, propping up a corrupt government, and how they just want us to bugger off.

Interesting then, isn’t it, what you hear from those very same “ordinary Afghanis” on those rare occasions when someone from the Western media actually listens to what they’re saying:

“It’s not Karzai’s fault. If the terrorists would stop coming here from neighbouring countries and blowing themselves up, things would get better.”

Neither man blames NATO forces for Afghanistan’s cascade of failure. “They haven’t done bad or good that I can see,” says Hamoun. “The warlords are gone from Kabul, which is good. But nothing else has changed.”

“We know the Canadians are here to help us and we thank them,” says Marjdin. “I have nothing, but I feel safe. Only the Christian countries are trying to help Afghanistan. The Muslim countries do nothing for us. They watch us starve.”

Yup. We’re real unpopular with the Afghanis, alright. 🙄

If you’re anything like me, you probably have quite a few fond memories of playing hockey with friends, or even just skating around in the waning light, on a frozen pond somewhere.  I think most of us — or at least those of us that grew up in the country or small towns — have such recollections.  For us it was a pond in the middle of a farmer’s field on the northeast edge of town.

Most folks my age will tell you that the winters were quite a bit colder back then, and they were.  I can remember a time in my life when storms like the one that dumped about 3 feet of white stuff on London recently were expected at least once or twice a year.  So, to make a long story short, skating on frozen ponds was just something that we did, every chance we got.

But along with all that fun came constant warnings from the grownups, delivered with the kind of tone that made it damn clear that any screwing around would be dealt with immediately, and harshly:

• Stay away from ponds if there had been any kind of a thaw, no matter how brief, within the last week.
• “Thick and blue is tried and true; thin or crispy, way too risky.”
• Don’t trust ice that has a milky colour to it.
• Don’t go out on any ice until somebody — or, more likely, somebody’s dad — has augered it to make sure exactly how thick it is.
• Don’t trust ice that’s covered in a layer of snow.  Snow doesn’t just obscure ice, it also has an insulating effect and inhibits good ice formation.
• Never trust the ice on a river or a stream; it can be a foot thick in one spot but paper thin just a few yards away.
• Always have a lifeline nearby, just in case the worst happens.
• Finally, no matter how well you think you know the ice: never, never, EVER go out on the ice alone.

I was reminded of all this today as I heard the news of the tragic death of 11-year Brunthan Nadarajah in Scarborough, who died trying to rescue a friend who had fallen through the ice on a drainage pond.  The other kid, a 15-year old, is currently in critical condition at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

Winter in Canada is a wonderful time, and peppered with innumerable traditions but, for God’s sake, make sure your children know what to do, and what not to do, to keep themselves safe.  No parent ever wants to read something like this about their own children:

The older boy plunged through the thin ice that covered the pond. The younger boy tried to pull his friend from the water, only to break through himself.

“He was the only person who went and tried to rescue him,” Nadarah said of his son, adding that the sixth-grade student was trying to save a high-school student.

“I miss him so much. We miss him so much.”

Rescue attempts

One man rushed to the scene with a long electrical cord and tried to throw it to the boys. His rescue attempt was almost successful.

“I threw it out again (and) he finally got a hold of it,” Phil Hall said.

“I tried pulling him up and he couldn’t hold on to it. I guess his hands were freezing, he couldn’t hold on to it.”

Hall then crawled out on the thin ice, inching his way towards the boys in an effort to get closer.

“As I got close towards them, the ice gave way,” he said.

Hall, who cannot swim, and a police officer still had the extension cord and were able to get back to safety.

Four police officers in total attempted to rescue the boys, but were not successful.

For those of you that haven’t heard yet, the cops in London, Ontario have released a photo from the city’s downtown surveillance cameras taken the night of this week’s early morning shooting. It’s not the best pic in the world, but it is clear enough that the distinctive jacket that the suspect was wearing can be recognised by someone that may have seen it before. London police now believe that there was, in fact only one shooter that night. The following has been taken from the London Police Services website:

Public Assistance Key

The London Police Service is issuing another public appeal for assistance in identifying a suspect in the shooting that occurred early Monday morning on Dundas Street. The public has been of great assistance in providing witness accounts of the event. Surveillance images have also been extremely useful in identifying persons of interest that were present when the crime was committed. The London Police Service now believes that it is possible a lone shooter was responsible for all of the shots fired that morning.

Attached is a surveillance image that captured an individual now identified as a suspect. The image is clear and shows an isolated male standing in a parking lot. Note the distinct jacket that the man is wearing. The jacket has a white or light-coloured body and red sleeves.

Although police are not linking this shooting to the downtown shooting committed on October 7^th, there is one key similarity. Both people believed to be responsible for the respective shootings are currently fleeing from the police.

The man accused in October’s shooting, Ahmed Moalin-Mohamed, has been wanted since November 9^th when he failed to attend for a required court appearance. Moalin-Mohamed has been charged with attempt murder in connection with that incident, where 4 men where shot while walking in the parking lot located at 431 Richmond Street.

The London Police Service is working closely with several other police services pursuing a variety of investigative leads as to the whereabouts of Moalin-Mohamed- investigative leads generated in large part by the public.

Also attached is an image of Moalin-Mohamed for dissemination.

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts and identity of the shooter from Monday morning is asked to contact the London Police Service at (519)661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.

Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Moalin-Mohamed is asked to contact the London Police Service at (519)661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.