The black-focused school is a go.

After a heated but civil debate, Canada's largest school board voted 11-9 last night to open an alternative Africentric school to help fight a 40 per cent dropout rate among Toronto's black teens.

It will be interesting to see how many school buses are needed to ensure that no one sits at the front of them...

Somewhere out there, Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King are shaking their heads.

Labels: Race, Toronto

If all black teachers, teaching all black culture were the magic pill to create all black geniuses, then wouldn't the degenerate black hole at Jane and Finch be a rocket science research complex by now?

WonderWoman, commenting on the idea of all black schools in Toronto

Labels: Race, Toronto

Or their raises. While Toronto crumbles under the corruption of Mayor Miller and his union-pandering henchmen, private industry is ensuring that Torontonians can get home safely after partying hard on New Years Eve.

The Toronto Transit Commission will be offering people a free ride New Year's Eve thanks to a generous donation from a credit card company.

Capital One has donated $85,000 to the TTC to help it provide the service to party revelers from midnight until 4 a.m.

Though other transit systems in other municipalities regularly offer free rides on New Year's Eve, the TTC hasn't offered the service for 30 years.

The donation is roughly equal to the revenue the TTC will lose by offering the service. About 100,000 people are expected to take advantage of the offer.

Toronto police can preach the "don't drink and drive" message all they want, while other major cities across Canada and around the world offer free transportation to back it up. But Toronto's corrupt mismanagement means that it would be impossible were it not for Citi's publicity stunt.

I hope Miller at least gave his kids something nice for Christmas with my money.

Labels: Corruption, Toronto, TTC

I caught a few minutes of the tree-lighting ceremony lat night from Nathan Phillips Square while surfing channels. I happened to see the part where our erstwhile Mayor Miller came out to say a few words (and thank the sponsors). Did anyone else notice that he never once said the word Christmas, even with a gospel choir standing behind him?

Labels: Christmas, Mayor David Miller, Toronto

I know that the squeaky wheel gets the Crisco, and that the shrieking loudness of the gay lobby has brought about a new kind of "equality" in Canada whereby some are actually more equal than others. But I had to shake my head when I saw this article in the Star:

Two concerts have been cancelled after mega-club Kool Haus pulled the plug at the last-minute on two controversial reggae and dancehall artists.

Entertainers Elephant Man and Sizzla were scheduled to perform last Friday night and Oct. 5 respectively, but both Jamaicans have been under fire from human rights organizations who say their lyrics are homophobic and incite violence against gays.

Akim Larcher, founder of Stop Murder Music Canada – a coalition made up of 20 organizations that promote human rights – says the federal government has remained silent in this issue.

Suddenly a lobby group is worried about the violence of the Jamaican music scene? Why the hell did it take the gays to bring this about?? What about women's rights groups, or the anti-gun freaks around Toronto, who are happy to ban an inanimate weapon, but not the inspiration, culture or criminals that perpetrate the killings?

Stop Murder Music talks about human rights, but when will they act against other groups that target not just gays, but women, other blacks, rival gangs etc?

This 2004 article out of Montreal about Sizzla got lots of pro- and anti-Sizzla comments, but no one seemed to mention the other types of dangers associated with the rasta/hip-hop/reggae/bling bling yo homie culture that we actually have to live with every day in Canada and the US.

Here's an example of Elephant Man's anti-gay lyrics:

Ok, don't dat tune a fit fi radio play (Yeah)
Don't dat tune a mek di gal dem wine up when dem hear it waan stay (True)
It tell mi seh dem waan dat tune a day (Boom)
Don't dat tune a mek yuh feel like likkle pickney ready fi play (Yeah)
Don't dat tune a mek yuh feel a way (True)
Don't dat tune a mek yuh feel like seh fi tek a gun and shot a gay (Bo!!!)
Dem waan pollute go dung and not obey
Doolas nah support it not away

Bad? Yes. Terrible to the point of outcry? Well, that depends. How do you feel about this:

Homey you a bitch you got feminine ways
Heard you got four lips and bleed for seven days
I got fo' fifths and bananas on the K's
And got more whips than a runaway slave

That's from 50 Cent, who isn't banned in Canada, and is in fact considered mainstream popular.

What about sexual objectification of women? Isn't that a more widespread issue affecting 50% of the country, whereas gays only make up about 2%?

This is why I'm hot, catch me on the block,
Every other day, another bitch, another drop,

From Mims.

I see you windin' n grindin' up on that pole,
I know you see me lookin' at you and you already know
I wanna f**k you,(f**k you) you already know
I wanna f**k you,(f**k you) you already know, girl

Money in the air as mo feel grab you by your coat tail take you to the motel, hoe sale,
don't tell, wont tell, baby said I don't talk Dogg but she told on me, oh well,
take a picture wit me, what the flick gon' do, baby stick to me & ima stick on u,
if you pick me then ima pick on you, d-o-double g and I'm here to put this dick on you,
I'm stuck on pussy n urs is right, wrip riding them poles and them doors is tight and tighter
and ima get me a shot for the end of the night cause pussy is pussy and baby you're pussy for life.

Akon featuring Snoop Dogg. Two very popular "artists".

Frankly, I haven't the time or the inclination to research the lyrics that glorify gang violence - it's been done before anyway.

Fact is, there's more than just the gay bashing aspect of this culture we should be looking at. Why has it taken a gay advocacy group to speak up about it.

Shame on the other lobbyists. Where have you all been hiding?

But activist and Canadian author Orville Lloyd Douglas says "there are a lot of double standards here."

These organization's "don't go after Eminem or Marilyn Manson."

And there it is. The race card. Double shame.

Labels: Gay Lobby, Misogyny, Race, Race Card, Reggae, Toronto

St. James Cathedral has given up worshiping You, and is now fully in the service of Bono and his 21st century eco-peace crusade.

For you atheists and eco-religionists in Toronto, St. James Cathedral will be happy to host you this evening to listen to the hymns of U2.

Labels: Religion, Toronto

Derek Leonard, 27, of no fixed address, is facing assault charges after allegedly attacking a man who would only identify himself as David near Spadina and Dundas streets.

David says he told Leonard not to touch his vintage vehicle when he approached it and offered to clean the windshield. David says Leonard then banged on the vehicle, jumped in and began beating David on the head.

Toronto's lenient attitude toward vagrancy has turned our city streets into a war zone between those who work and contribute, and those who don't. Whatever their reasons for being on the streets, it does not give them the right to attack others. Not other homeless, and not the general public. There is too much untreated mental illness out there, and with a progressive lefty mayor not willing to admit the problem and tackle it head on, it is only going to get worse. We've already had a murder. What more has to happen before the mayor is willing to clean up our streets?

Labels: Homeless, Street Violence, Toronto

Further to my earlier post on the annual dick-suck of Hollyweird, it just so happens that I will be attending tonight's Gala premiere of The Jane Austen Book Club. My ticket is VIP, and will include champagne (thank God) and general schmoozing.

Cross your fingers that I don't walk away from the experience as a raging liberal.

Labels: TIFF, Toronto

The Toronto International Film Fest has descended on the city once more, bringing with it pet causes, star fuckers, and sycophants of all sorts. It also brings with it the inevitable press conferences. After all, why travel to this backwater if not to do lots of press and promote your latest (most likely anti-American) film?

Mr. Right and I made the mistake of going downtown last night, rather desperate to eat at our favorite Indian restaurant, and not caring about the throngs. At least, not till we were in them. Mr. Right's mood started to go downhill as we pushed through the Yorkville crowds (mostly Japanese tourists with Prada shoes and top-of-the-line digital cameras, crowded around the doors of the hotels, waiting for someone of interest to pop their heads out like cuckoo clocks), and he began to notice the stickers on the newspaper boxes, "9/11 was an inside job!" My own mood hit the dumpster when I saw the stage set up outside the ROM, all set for some type of glitzy SAVE DARFUR tragi-comedy. I knew that could only mean the George Clooney hadn't flown out immediately after his premiere on Friday night. Dammit, why will that man not just go to Darfur and stay there??

We took a hard right down Bay Street, hoping to get out of the madding crowd. Instead we were treated to a veritable swarm of media types, all headed from a press conference, I can only assume at the Sutton Place where Sean Penn made the grave mistake of smoking a butt last year - that devil. Of all the things to malign Sean Penn for, I can't believe the media focused on his smoking. Ugh. So there they all were, overdressed women and badly dressed men, with their press passes hanging around their necks on Starbucks lanyards. And then I was attacked. She came through the crowd, in an obvious hurry, tripod slung over her shoulder in its sheath. WHAM. The tripod nailing me hard in the wrist, my cry of pain, and she didn't even stop. The mainstream media, folks. The media that cares about the pot-bellied war child of Darfur, but attacks the people of their own city. Suffice it to say I wasn't surprised.

After a couple of cocktails in a very busy restaurant on the strip, and a lovely hot curry meal, we were a lot calmer and ready to head back out in search of dessert. Only to come face to face with a Truther. Up at the corner of Yonge and Dundas (I suppose we could count ourselves lucky that it was only a Truther, and not some homey with a gun), he stood there in his 9/11 truth.org t-shirt, handing out his pamphets of hate. I had to be restrained by Mr. Right and two tourists who happened to be walking by.

What has this city come to? Have we fallen through the looking glass? People come from all over the world to suck the collective dick of American filmmakers who loathe their own country, and find kinship in the loonies who believe the president of the free world murdered 3000 of his own countrymen on their way to work one morning and destroyed his own economy, just so he had an excuse to do what? Go to Iraq? Give Halliburton a war contract? What? Somebody tell me why?

Labels: Main Stream Media, September 11, TIFF, Toronto, Truther

While dumpster diving late last night for something to blog about, I happened upon an article over at Rabble, where Krystalline Kraus (described as writer and activist) laments the violence on the streets and turns due process on its head.

The situation is similar in Vancouver. Last month Peter Collins, a 79-year-old church patron, was mugged by a homeless man in a downtown Cathedral. His assailant, 43-year-old Darcy Lance Jones, was apparently unsatisfied with the money Collins gave to him, and has now been charged with one count of robbery.

In regards to Collins' mugging, Vancouver Police spokesperson Constable Howard Chow commented to CityTV.ca: "I'm to understand that (Jones) touts himself as a bit of a professional panhandler... He's well known in the area and he is known to police."

Comments such as these are not the first times that the media has tried to link 'social ills' and violence.

Comments such as these? You mean, the facts of the case? The guy was known to cops, and had a history of this kind of behavior. That makes him a criminal.

But Toronto Councillor Michael Thompson, who claims he himself was the victim of an assault near Toronto City Hall last year, is calling for a complete city-wide ban on begging (in Toronto, aggressive panhandling is already illegal).

He claims to have been a victim. But he's a rich white guy, so he can't ever be a victim. Ever. Just like Ross Hammond. He deserved what he got, right? Oh, and by the way, shooting someone is also already illegal in Toronto, but that doesn't stop the progressive left from adding gun law on top of gun law. Maybe we need a panhandler registry...

Similarly, Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan has launched Project Civil City, aimed at tackling 'public disorder' problems in time for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. In a press release describing the initiative, Sullivan lumps the scourge of panhandling in the same category as open drug use.

Actually, in many cases they are one in the same, but our narrator doesn't bother to mention the drug addiction that leads many to the streets in the first place.

In another demeaning article, Toronto Star columnist Rosie DiManno suggests that the rights of panhandlers now trump the rights of ordinary citizens. She mocks homeless advocates who, in the aftermath of the [Ross] Hammond killing, called on the public not to lose sight of the socio-economic issues at play.

The whisper of sanity can barely be heard over the hysteria. Never mind that it has been repeatedly proven time and again that it is actually the poor who are more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators.

Certainly the death of Hammond and the assault of Collins were tragic. But countless acts of violence - many fatal - are visited upon the urban poor every year.

Yup, very true. Usually homeless-on-homeless crime though. How come this isn't mentioned in the article?

Oh, and my favorite part: Ms. Kraus has decided that a charge is the same as a conviction when it comes to the middle classes harming the quirky and beloved street folk.

Sadly, such reactions are all too rare. Consider the August 2005 death of a homeless Toronto man, Paul Croutch. Croutch was bludgeoned on the park bench upon which he regularly slept by three Canadian army reservists - an apparent case of homeless bashing. All three reservists are members of the Queen's Own Rifles, based at Moss Park Armoury, and all were charged with second-degree murder and assault causing bodily harm.

They have not been convicted. They may never be convicted. They may be innocent. But the law is applied differently to those for whom Ms. Kraus crusades. Had it been a homeless man who had beaten a reservist, Ms. Kraus would have screamed for due process and reminded us that all are innocent until proven guilty. But in this case, she is willing to be judge and jury, and convict these men in the progressive court of the left-wing press.

Toronto has a problem on it's streets and in its ghettos where violence is too often overlooked in the search for "root causes". It's time to punish those who wreak violence on the population at large - and on each other - before this city becomes completely uninhabitable.

Labels: Drugs, Homeless, Murder, Toronto, Violence

Kathy is in fine snark today:

Bunch of guys named Mohammed say guy whose middle name is Mohammed seemed unstable.

But don't be fooled by the facts: you just KNOW this guy is really a Christian who meant to blow up abortion clinics!

Labels: Islamic Terror, Letter Bombs, Mohammed, Toronto

In addition to the CNE, today seems to have been Jump-a-Palooza in Toronto. Twice in the span of four hours the TTC was shut down because of jumpers. First, on our way out (thankfully heading West), there was an Eastbound service break because of an "injury at track level" AKA a jumper. Mr. Right and I were relieve as we headed all the way down the Kipling Station that at least it wasn't where we were going. Then on the way back, a separate incident kicked us off the subway with about 3 and a half miles left to walk. With meat products. In the heat. Bah.

So my tan is deep, my legs are tired, and I am NOT loving "The Better Way" this afternoon.

Labels: Suicides, Toronto, TTC

Girls with pearls sometimes need a little pick-me-up, and we head off to the spa. In the past few months I've had the chance to sample several - some here in Toronto, and another way out in the South Pacific.

RightGirl gets her waxing done at The Ten Spot on Queen. Aside from the agony they inflict on my more sensitive areas, they do a great eyebrow job, too. Thursday nights they serve martinis with their pedicures, and they have a very funky west-end atmosphere. Clean, friendly, hip and urban. A girl party. Result: I had my ass glued shut by wax.

Last weekend I joined a friend at Body Blitz at Adelaide and Portland. While she was getting a massage, I had my body scrubbed with sea salt with herbs and oil to slough off a peeling sunburn. Mmmmm, bliss. I was given a disposable thong to wear (one size fits all, even my ample bottom!), scrubbed from head to toe, hosed down like a classic automobile, then moisturized till I was as soft as a baby. It's clothing optional in the pools, since it's a women only facility. The ambiance is "downtown" and has a warehouse-y feel to it, but still manages to be relaxing. Really, you haven't lived till you've relaxed in a cup of warm tea (part of their therapeutic water treatment circuit). No, really. The facilities are great, with fully stocked beauty bars for post-shower freshening up. Hair dryers, q-tips, and spray-on deodorant. There are also plastic baggies for you to put wet swimwear in, which I've never seen anywhere else and truly appreciated. They have a "no gratuity policy", which takes the guesswork out of things at the end of your treatment. You pay in advance, and leave when you're done. No fuss, no muss. One strange thing I discovered though was the effect of the concrete floor on my flip-flops. They suctioned, and I couldn't lift my feet! Even in the shower! But I had a great time, and I will return. Kim did my scrub, and was delightful. Result: I got great rocks of sea salt stuck in the crack of my ass.

The Elmwood Spa in Toronto (on Elm Street, natch) is a place I've been to a few times, including this evening for a facial. They seem to be undergoing perpetual renovations, and some areas are grotty and "under construction", but there is still high-end curb appeal to this place. The women's locker room has been re-done, and is gorgeous. Unfortunately, the private women's steam and whirlpool are "out of service". However I seemed to have the water therapies section to myself, and I enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub and splashing in the pool. I went there for a pre-Christmas pedicure, courtesy of my bosses who gave me a gift card. A pedicure at the Elmwood is cleaner than you will get from many places. All tools are sterilized in an autoclave between guests, and you are given your chosen bottle of nail polish, your pumice, your buffer and your orange stick to take home for touch-ups. Tonight I received one of the best facials I've ever had from Ani. Despite the extraction process, I have no red marks on my sensitive face. While the steam was on my face, she gave me a foot massage (how's that for service!?). My only complaint would be that the music was too high and the temperature too low in the facial room. Their beauty bar wasn't as well stocked as that of Body Blitz (great shampoo in the showers, but how about some deodorant for when I get out?), and given that swimwear is mandatory, those little baggies would have been nice. Thankfully I discovered a stash of plastic bags for sanitary purposes, and used one of those. I purchased cleanser on my way out, and their prices for products are very reasonable. Result: nothing in the crack of my ass (which is good, since I was there for a facial).

If money is no object in life, get your ass on a plane to Hawaii. Luxury is an understatement at the Ihilani. On the far flung South West cost of Oahu (as far away from the chaos of Honolulu and Waikiki as you can get without getting wet), in Ko'olina, is the JW Marriott Resort and Spa. It's where I spent my first Hawaiian night back in April, and at $400/night, I'm glad I only had to stay the one! I could wax poetic, writing sonnets about Ko'olina and the beaches and the golf course and the restaurant (Roy's), but I will try to focus just on the spa. My first trip to the spa was for a massage I booked on short notice. There is a men's section and a women's section, so swimsuits are optional in the hot tub, steam and sauna. There are indoor and outdoor lounges, with wicker chaises, tea and plenty of icy lemon water. A 20% gratuity is included in the price of each treatment. My masseuse, Ruby, had the most wonderful hands; a cross between a butcher and an angel. By the time she was finished working those travel knots out of me, I was ready to propose. Because of a sunburn I had got on the beach that morning, Ruby suggested I book an appointment to return the next day for a Cooling Ti-Leaf Wrap, which I did. Bobbi delivered that particular aloe-and-green-tea treatment, which did indeed take the fever out of my skin. Result: When I stood up from the table, there was a tea leaf stuck in the crack of my ass.

And now, my best kept beauty secret. How does RightGirl always manage to have such perfect manicure and pedicure? She must spend a fortune! Thankfully, I don't have to. For $35, Time for Nails will give you a fast-paced mani & pedi. The stereotypical Asian nail bar of indentured servitude, these ladies ROCK when it comes to giving great hands & feet. If you go mid-day it isn't so chaotic. But if you go at 5pm on a Friday, as I did today, it's a sardine can crossed with the henhouse babble of foreign tongue. They do the most awesome BioSculpt Gel nails, which I had refilled today. More expensive than a regular manicure, the gels run $45 for a full set and $35 for a fill. Totally worth it though. No chipping, no cracking - they can even withstand clumsiness and a staple-removing office environment.

This girl with pearls is sleepy now, and heading off to bed. Beauty is hard work!

Labels: Beauty, Girly Things, Hawaii, Manicures/Pedicures, Spas, Toronto

The bleeding hearts of the Toronto Star would have you believe that yesterday's dawn raid on the black gangs of North Toronto (which netted 95 perps, guns, drugs, and dirty money) were bad because they scared the children.

Here's a different perspective on yesterday's police raids.

It comes from Andrene, who is 10 years old and experienced the first minutes at the end of police guns after officers burst into her bedroom just before dawn.

She was there with her mother, Sharon Mitchell, 32, and baby sister, Alexandra, 2. Down the hall in another bedroom were her cousin, Joanna, 9, and Joanna's mother, Charmaine Osbourne, 30.

"This morning, the police officers, they came and they were kicking down the doors," said Andrene in a solemn voice. "And they came in with their guns and they were pointing at my sister and me.

"My sister got scared and she was crying."

Alexandra was trying to coax Boss, a little white poodle-mix, to play. But the dog whined. The fur on its left side was burned to the skin.

***

She is angry that police had children at gunpoint. A supervisor for the Toronto school board, Osbourne said police should have known better than to do that, especially when she believes their surveillance would have shown children lived there.

Osbourne and her daughter, Joanna, hit the floor at the first blast, but police ordered them back up on the bed. "They had both of us on the bed with high-powered rifles pointed at us," said Osbourne, claiming they were held at gunpoint for about half an hour before being allowed to wait outside the house.

"My daughter was crying like there was no end to it. She was there crying and they had a gun on her.

I would be far more worried about having my criminal brother in the house with my little girls than having the cops come in. No children were harmed yesterday, but Toronto has seen little kids caught in gang crossfire many times over the past couple of years, some even losing their lives. As a matter of fact, child services should take those kids away and charge the mother with endangerment just for letting a gang-banger in the house with them.

As for little Andrene, let me tell you a little story...

It was 1984 and I was eight years old when we heard the banging and the boot steps that seemed to come from everywhere. It was winter, and it had darkened early. I was in the living room, in front of the bay window through which there was only blackness and the reflection of the TV, watching Three's Company. My father was in the next room, on the phone. He looked out the window, slammed down the phone, and ran out to the living room. I was grabbed unceremoniously from the La-Z-Boy and herded to my bedroom just as the pounding began on our front door. "Stay here" he said. "Don't you dare leave this room!"

The noise coming from the upper duplex above us was deafening. Yelling, a scream, more boots. I hid under the bed, terrified. What was going on? Who was at the door? What was happening to my daddy? Soon the door was opened by my mother, and our doberman was shoved in with me, the door closed again. Valentine (the dog) crawled under the bed with me (classic misconception that dobies are scary animals - really they're big pussies), shaking and whimpering. I put my arm around her and we cowered there for an hour, until the noise stopped. Until Daddy came back to get me.

I've just told you a story from an 8 year old's perspective - scared, unsure, clutching her dog, wondering if her daddy would ever come back. That little girl was me. Now I will tell you the adult version of what happened, which was explained to me that night and that I have never forgotten. Robert Mingo, our upstairs neighbor, with his two brothers Melvin and Nelson, had stolen $68 million of stocks and bonds from Merrill Lynch. They hid the suitcases in our shared garage, in an old car my father had up on blocks. That night, after thorough investigation, our duplex was descended on by the Montreal SWAT team, who surrounded the building, guns pointed at every door and window. They busted into Mingo's upstairs, ordering everyone, including Robert's heavily pregnant wife, face down on the ground. The team ransacked the house, and all were arrested. They came to our door and dragged my father outside, down into the garage, to present him with his suddenly valuable car, and to do preliminary questioning. Obviously he had no idea what was going on, and he was free to return to his terrified family (and dog).

I learned a very valuable lesson that night. I learned that if you commit crimes, bad things happen. You might be a nice person (the Mingo's were extremely nice people, and used to have barbecues with us), you might be friendly and family oriented. But bad things will still happen if you break the law. The cops came to my house, heavily armed. I was afraid. But ever since that night, I have not feared them. Once it was explained who they were and what they were looking for, I knew I was in no danger from them. Twice more in my life I have been in situation where the SWAT team were involved, and I was never afraid. I merely did what I could to protect myself should there be shooting (get in a room without windows, stay low), and I knew that when it was over the bad guys would be gone.

I hope Andrene realizes that they weren't coming for her - they meant her no harm. She was just in a dangerous place at a dangerous time, but that the police are not to blame. Her mother and her uncle are to blame for putting her in that situation. The police are responsible for getting her out of it. Good for them.

Labels: Drugs, Gangs, Jamaicans, Law Enforcement, Merrill Lynch, Mingo, Police, Rexdale, SWAT, Toronto

Another shooting in Toronto. Yawn.

One person is dead and three others are wounded after a shooting in Etobicoke on Saturday afternoon.

Two of the victims are in hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police say shots rang out at about 3 p.m. on Jamestown Crescent near Martingrove and Finch in what may have been a drive-by shooting.

For readers not from Toronto, that area is all Jamaican immigrants. You'll frequently hear stories about Toronto's gangs. It all happens within a small radius in the northwest part of town.

If we'd just stop letting them in, sooner or later there'd be no one left for the gangs to shoot. Pity.

For real entertainment, read the comments in the Globe piece. Tractors! Gophers! Hilarious!

Labels: Gangs, Jamaicans, Shooting, Toronto

I abhor freak cults of all kinds, from the Raelians to the Jehova's Witnesses to Scientology. And I have - on more than one occasion - described Islam as a cult of sex and death. I believe this to be true. And I believe that its adherents are brainwashed into believing that if you murder in the name of Mohammed and Allah, you will get laid a lot in Paradise. Islam is a dangerous cult along the lines of Jonestown or the Branch Davidians. They need to be listed as a cult and cleaned out by the FBI.

So imagine my dismay when I read that a member of a Christian Jesus-freak cult wanted to donate a kidney to a sick woman here in Toronto, but the surgery has been cancelled because his parents and hospital authorities fear religious brainwashing. Muslims are allowed to walk around hiding God-knows-what under their black burlap garb and they are afforded "freedom of religion", but this guy can't save a woman's life.

The case has been closely tracked by an Australian film crew because the would-be donor, 22-year-old Ash Falkingham of Sydney, belongs to the controversial Jesus Christians, the "kidney cult" whose members believe that giving up an organ to save someone's life is an exemplary act of devotion to God and humankind.

The Toronto General Hospital cancelled the scheduled transplant following accusations of religious brainwashing, appeals from Mr. Falkingham's mother and stepfather to stop the surgery, and extensive psychiatric assessments of the man after his arrival in Canada.

Remember kids: Killing Jews is an okay religious practice, but don't try to give a kidney to save a life. Only cults do that.

What the hell is this world coming to?

Labels: Cult, Islam, Jesus, Kidney, Organ Donation, Religion, Toronto

We need a leader with a zero tolerance mindset. We need someone who will ignore the political correctness of the wailing race pimps and welfare banshees, and kick some criminal ass in Toronto. We don't need more basketball courts, we don't need more after school programs. We need more reform schools, jails and deportations.

Two teenagers are dead and a third is clinging to life after an apparent early-morning police pursuit that ended with a horrific crash in Rexdale yesterday.

A fifteen year old in a stolen Acura, chased by the cops, panics. He loses control, and all hell breaks loose. I wouldn't have thought much of this story at all (sorry, but anything that happens up in that ghetto goes in one ear and out the other now) except that we drove past the cordoned area yesterday. The four of us (Kathy, Mr. Right and our driver) all suspected that it was a shooting. We weren't that far off, considering the cops that chased the kid were in the area responding to a gun call.

The Acura smashed into two eastbound taxis in the intersection at Finch Ave. W. and then crashed into a light pole.

One of the cabs had two young passengers in the backseat, Bliss said. A 16-year-old girl was pronounced dead at the scene and her friend, 17, was taken to Sunnybrook hospital in critical condition.

"It's not looking good," Bliss said of the surviving girl.

The lone occupant of the Acura -- which ended up wrapped around a lamp post -- died in hospital about five hours after the collision.

What a waste. Now the cops are under investigation over whether they should have let the kid go. Are you kidding? Yes, I realize that there are times when officers must make the call as to let a perp go or not, but this chase literally took moments. The SIU will find them without fault, but the press and the race pimps are already screaming for blood.

However, the deaths had some area residents questioning whether police should chase motorists who refuse to stop.

A 54-year-old woman speculated the Acura driver probably "panicked" when he saw the cops on his heels.

"They should have just let him go. Tomorrow is another day," said the woman, who has lived in the neighbourhood for several years. "Now look what's happened, such innocent loss of life."

Why don't we let all criminals go? Jane/Finch would be such a nice quiet neighborhood if it weren't for all those meddling cops trying to keep the peace. Yes, let's let car thieves, rapists, murderers and drug dealers go.

I have a better idea: Let's just fence off Rexdale and go back in 20 years when the place has killed itself off. Then we can build condos and let the cops back in.

*************************************************************************************

In other news, the wailing and grieving over Jordan Manners, the 15 year old grade 9 student who was shot in his Toronto school a little over a week ago, takes an interesting twist. Seems the young darling wasn't such a saint after all.

Hours before Manners was shot he had told Miles the world would be better off without police. One week before that, the same teacher recalled Manners flashing a wad of bills in class – one of many that earned him the nickname "Stackz."

And in early May, Miles had called Loreen Small for the first time to warn her that Jordan was heading down the wrong path – professing admiration for violent behaviour at Jefferys and disrupting classes.

Manners had already seen guns pointed at him "a couple of times" and could distinguish the different types, his teacher said.

Uh huh. I'm shocked, I tell ya. Shocked.

It is, of course, the school system's fault. It has nothing to do with Toronto's black gangs, lack of fathers in the black community, lawlessness in the aforementioned neighborhood or anything like that. It's Whitey's fault. Always. Cry me a long black river.

But Miles thought the 15-year-old could make it through high school. The head of Jefferys' special education department, he had worked intimately with Jordan from the day the Grade 9 student arrived – with a warning attached from Brookview Middle School that he was defiant and out of control. Miles stressed this week, though, that Manners didn't deserve this, that the school had failed him.

Miles said he has been too sickened by Jordan's death to return to teaching at Jefferys.

"The reason I'm taking this so hard is because it was preventable," he said from his home. "I can't walk into that school right now. I can't think of a lesson plan. A lesson in what? How to bring people back from the dead?"

Um, I dunno, how about a lesson in how gangs are no way to live, that easy money comes with a much higher price than taxes, and how maybe it isn't all Whitey's fault and that you should take some goddam responsibility for how your life turns out (or doesn't, in this case)? Maybe that would be a good lesson to teach these kids, because they obviously aren't learning it at home or in the 'hood.

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Instead of a Giuliani, Toronto has a mayor who believes in blaming the gun (perhaps he'll also blame the Acura) instead of the hand holding it and pulling the trigger. It can all be solved with more social programs, which we'd have if that miser Stephen Harper would just give us one penny back from the GST. The word misguided does not even begin to describe that logic.

Labels: David Miller, Giuliani, Police, Rexdale, Toronto, Youth Crime

This is one party I wish I weren't missing.

On Thursday evening, 150 Holocaust survivors from across the Toronto region will pin on corsages and don their best suits to celebrate their senior prom.

The idea comes from a similar prom held by the Jewish student group Hillel for survivors living in Hamilton. It's being organized by Toronto's Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, which is home to almost 1,000 Holocaust survivors.

There will be a decorated gymnasium, prizes, gifts and live music, and members of Hillel will dance and chat with the survivors.

What an absolutely wonderful idea. I hope they have a great time. They've waited long enough.

Labels: Holocaust, Toronto

Councillors Rob Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) and Doug Holyday (Ward 3, Etobicoke Centre)

Seems they're saving me money, much to the chagrin of their colleagues who are costing me a fortune in pay raises and expenditures.

Councillors receive an expense allowance of $53,100 a year to send out letters, rent office space in their constituencies or otherwise run their offices.

Ford reported spending zero in 2006; Holyday says he spent $1,471. Both are known to lecture other councillors for wasting taxpayers' money.

I understand that there's a Code of Conduct to adhere to, but as a Toronto taxpayer, I appreciate the little bit these men are doing for me. Year after year City Council and the Mayor vote themselves enormous salary increases - the increases alone being almost as much as my salary. If these two men want to take it upon themselves to pay for business cards and letterhead out of their own pockets, then more power to them. They already make more than most of their constituents. Let 'em do it.

Certainly this should be fully investigated to make sure that they aren't trading favors for goods and services. But if they come up clean, they should be commended.

Labels: Toronto

Further to yesterday's popular post about the "Apartheid" demonstration in front of Indigo last week, I have decided to have a little get-together at that self-same Bloor/Bay Idigo on Friday after work.

If anyone is up for it, I'll meet you at the Starbucks. See ya!

Labels: Books, Israel, Palestinians, Toronto

But they don't call themselves anti-Semetic. Oh no - they know there's too much negative press attached to that. Instead they are "anti-Zionist", and "against Israeli Apartheid". These groups include Jews, much the way there were Jews in Nazi Germany willing to sell out their friends and family members, thinking they would be saved. In the end, everyone died.

This past Saturday there was a Kill the Jews March (oh wait, I'm told it was an End Apartheid March - tomayto, tomahto...) in front of Indigo at the corner of Bay and Bloor. Heather Reisman is a Jew, and her business was being targeted because she supports Israel. And so Arab-Canadian students and suicidal Jews picketed in front of her store, waving Palestinian flags.



I wasn't there (aparently no one was - I guess the memo wasn't in NOW or EYE Weekly, but there were only about 100 people), but thanks to Casey we have pictures.

I think on Friday I will loiter around that very Indigo and spend my paycheck on Heather's books. Anyone care to join me for a coffee?

My only concern is that Heather has been known to bend with the prevailing breeze before - I hope she doesn't become one of those Jews holding the flag of their own destruction.

Labels: Anti-Semitism, Israel, Jews, Palestinians, Toronto

There's a blogger piss-up tonight, welcoming Damian Penny back to town.

Saturday, February 17th, 2007 on the second floor of The Fiddler's Green, located at 27 Wellesley Street East in downtown Toronto, just east of Yonge and across from the Wellesley subway station. Join us as Damian Penny makes his annual pilgrimage to the centre of the universe - everyone is welcome. No cover and nothing is provided (other than good conversation and the occasional prospect of a brawl) - pay your own damn way, deadbeat! See y'all there. People will start showing up at 8pm.

Labels: Blogging, Toronto