Spies like us

link

Canadian spies are being warned not to wear their loyalty on their sleeve — or their wrist or lapel.
The hush-hush reminder to employees of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service advises keeping polo shirts, watches and pins emblazoned with the distinctive CSIS crest away from curious eyes.
The items are sold in a secret shop tucked away on the lower level of CSIS headquarters in Ottawa, and made available to employees posted elsewhere through the agency’s online memorabilia catalogue.

 For real? I mean I was hoping April Fools come early but alas the story seems true. So no wonder Americans make jokes of Canadians.

Recession

So they, the powers that be, keep saying that the recession is getting better, that things are looking up. But me, I beg to differ cause even though I don't have no figures and no all compassing idea of what is happening all around the nation common sense tell me that this recession still going full bore.

Every time I walk by certain streets I see more and more businesses closed. A few weeks back three days in a row I close different lunch spots in different areas only to get there and see the store fronts closed. Yes blame me I is a blight on restaurants (and tv shows too but that is another story.)

Then there are the amount of people I know who telling me they cant find jobs, specially recent grads in certain fields. People who say we been looking for almost a year and things brown like grass when the heat wave hit we this past summer. I mean how um duz feel when you go an wuk ya behind off at university, borrowing dollars and spending money to further education so that you could have a better life an then you finish school and skkkrrrrzzz jobs scarce scarce like seeing black people in de winter.

So what really going on. The official story is the worse dun pass but at ground level um aint really looking so ya kno.

An ya know I juss had to laff although um aint funny cause I now realize I post something similar so just last year too. So things like dem aint getting nuh better. hmmmm

Terror

Two people were arrested Wednesday afternoon and a third terrorism suspect– one who moonwalked across a Montreal stage during an audition for Canadian Idol – was detained early Thursday, the Star has learned.

There's a video of his horrid or should I say rather terr(or)-ible audition. lol

Poor guy, did the rejection of Canadian Idol send him off the deep end? If I cant be the bomb I'm going to have to plant a bomb? Cuhdear! poor fella

Or maybe the Canadian idol was part of his cover. How ingenious! Like who's going to suspect a moonwalker of conspiracy to commit terror acts? Conspiracy to pop and lock or drop it like its hot perhaps but building bombs naaa.

If only he had gone one step further with his cover and gone on reality tv. Now that would be the ideal cover. Yes Jersey Shore people I got my eyes on wunnah so especially dat short wun Snooki. I feel she an all wunnah up to sumting cause nuhbody atall can be really really that stupid.

Oh well but back to the moonwalking singing terrorist (which by the way might make a great musical somewhere) who duz pick the names of these operations for the RCMP? Project Samosa? I mean seriously, thats the name of this operation to find the terrorists. Really! Wha dat soun like a plan to guh an buy some food cross by ya local Indian restaurant.

Damn, not only is it a dumb name but isnt it also somewhat racist? yuck! Anyways looka I better keep mi mout shut doah fa all I know Operation "fish cakes n bakes" got me in dem sights. I gone!

Fake Cancer

They all thought she was dying of cancer — and they all handed her cash.

Ashley Anne Kirilow, a 23-year-old Burlington native, admits she faked cancer, ran a bogus charity and collected thousands of dollars from hundreds of people.

She shaved her head and eyebrows, plucked her eyelashes and starved herself to look like a chemotherapy patient. She told anyone she met she had been disowned by drug-addicted parents, or that they were dead.

You have to read this story for yourself here and here. Young girl fakes terminal cancer collects a few thousand dollars fraudulently and then afterwards blames it on her miserable childhood.

What a bunch of baloney! The woman is a tief and a criminal!

I must say one of my recent pet peeves is this whole blame your childhood for your mistakes as an adult motif that permeates western society. Must have something to do with the psycho babble that gets passed around as counseling and therapy.

Look some people just wicked aint a damn thing to do with childhood misery or blaming parents. Now if you and all ya siblings turn out wicked and bad well then maybe I can buy the parent angle but if you one, you alone out of many, turn out to be a bad seed uh uh dont be blaming nobody but yourself.

And what type of mind state do you have to be in to fake cancer and even pluck out all ya eyebrows and stop eating to look emaciated to go through with this type of fraud. Ya got to be a sick sick individual to do something so.

And this will only make society even more wary about donating to people with legitimate illnesses and causes so shame shame shame on this girl.

G20 - The Aftermath

Despite the lock-down of the Canada’s largest city, the wanton destruction by vandals and the hundreds of arrests, Mr. Harper said he believes that “99.9 per cent of Torontonians were very pleased and honoured to have these leaders here and were very hospitable.”
Globe and Mail newspaper

I was nowhere near the G20 protests this weekend but after watching the events unfold on tv all weekend I actually feel like I have some sort of post-traumatic stress. And if that's me, a simple tv viewer, imagine all the folks who were involved in the war that occurred on the usually peaceful streets of Toronto. It got so bad for me that at one point I switched from watching the live coverage to watching an extremely gruesome episode of Band of Brothers just to relax lol.

Now much will be written about what went down this weekend but I just wanted to say my two little cents based on a few more things I noticed Sunday.

First off, Prime Minister Harper judging by the above comment is sadly mistaken about Torontonians' views on this conference. We didnt want it here, we were unhappy that it was here and we were getting even more unhappy as the events on our streets were unfolding. The city was turned into an armed camp, draconian if temporary laws were passed, violence was inflicted on both our citizens and our businesses. Not exactly anything for us to cheer about Mr PM so why would we be happy? My mother always says you dont poke out your eye to please people and that is exactly what we in Toronto did here today or was done to us. To please foreign dignitaries Toronto had its eye poked out.

The Police whose response had been relatively measured on Saturday seemingly resorted to heavy handed tactics Saturday over night and into Sunday. It seemed to be a case of what was it George Bush called it some years ago preemptive strikes or basically if you looked suspicious or were someplace we didnt think you had no right being we were going to arrest you. Seems like they vacillated from one extreme of passivity on Saturday allowing the burning of police cars and vandalism of businesses along two of our major thoroughfares to an extreme of excessive force against citizens on Sunday. Shouldn't there have been some balance point in between doing nothing to what happened with numerous citizens claiming to have been arrested for no reason or hit by police batons? sigh!

Also where were our elected representatives and opposition politicians condemning what was happening as Toronto was getting a black eye. I only heard Adam Vaughn and Oliva Chow give their feedback. Oh and Mayor Miller who was soooo surprised by what was happening. Whatever dude! But I at least expected Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal opposition leader, who has been floundering in the polls to take this opportunity to say something positive and try to show that he actually is up on whats happening in this country. Dude you suck!

And while I'm calling out politicians and police leave no doubt that citizens too take much of the blame for this debacle. If ya see people doing foolishness stay your ass home. Dont leave to go down and add more conflict to the mayhem already ensuing.

I was shocked by the number of just curious onlookers and gawkers, taking photos as policemen tried to keep the peace. People who didnt really look like they knew what was being protested or didnt care one way or the other but just came out to be part of it as one youth said in a television interview just to say that they were there. Maybe its this generation weened on reality tv but for me I would think that violence on the streets is not a photo op. Seriously people you have a responsibility as citizens to be better than that.

G20

So the G20 meetings coming to Toronto in a couple a weeks and all the big boys gine be in town: Obama, Sarkozy etc etc. And yes I using etc etc cause I doan really know nuhbody else name besides Harper the Canadian PM ok. Doan confuse me like allya know wha the man in Russia and the man in China name.Oh yea I almost faget Germany got a woman an she name Mertle or Merkle something so.

Anyways well looka I dont know why they bringing this G20 thing to Toronto for. We aint ask fa um cause from looking at these previous meetings um look like utter chaos and confusion duz follow this gathering wid all sorta anarchists mashing up people city and burning fires and pelting big rocks at Police. Juss go pun youtube an look up video from previous G20 summits and tell me if it doan look like armegeddon decend pun the people streets, cuhdear. Why dem had to bring dat hayso to offset we city fa?

And when ya hear the shout this thing gine done an all dem heads a government gine be long gone home an we de poor citizens hayso gine gotta clean up all the mess that dem cause. That to me is bare lawlessness.

The other thing is that all a sudden ya hear G20 summit and the Canadian governments got money to spend. Almost $2 Billion dem spending so far they say. That is nuff noughts ya kno!

Yet before this ya shud hear how dem big boys in Parliament crying poor and telling people doan ask dem fa nuh money cause is a recession and money tight and scarce. Now all a sudden G20 an bram! coffers open wide and money cann dun spending on all sorts a stupidness fa this conference.

Speaking a stupidness, dem even building a fake lake down by the CNE for picture taking by the delegates. If ya doan know why this is a big pappy show ie bare fooolishness well all ya have to consider is that the CNE and the place where the conference holding is literally a stones throw from a natural lake, Lake Ontario, yet dese people spending money to mek a fake lake. Imagine that! Wha to me dat is worse dan how some people duz spend good money to buy up bottle water fa dem house when de taps could gi ya all the water ya cud eva want. chupse.

And money spending like water howyamean. This G20 aint easy at all. The people building big big fence in downtown Toronto to keep people in or out of certain areas and gine got all sorta soldiers and policemen manning this thing. Plus downtown dem tekkin up everything that aint bolted down cause dem frighten that the protesters come in an mash up the place. Even businesses telling dem staff amm looka wunnah might gotta tek a day off or wuk from home. Dat is how dread this thing is. Is like hurricane widout de rain and that aint nuh joke cause I sure before that G20 week dun out I gine look pun tv an see pieca galvanise flying through the air downtown.

Anyways like I said money money money spending on this thing which is really a shame cause when now after this ya hear something as simple as the school board need a few thousand dollars to keep a swimming pool open or the TTC scrunting fa ll cash as usual ya gine hear these self same politicians crying poor again and teling we to be self sufficient or raise taxes.

Oh well all I can do is hope an pray that muh workplace doan get burn down by these mad head people cause doan get me started on these protesters. Wha dem duz be protesting doah? Cause to me it duz juss look like an excuse fa lawless mob mentality behavior to tek place when these summits bout cause dem protests doan do nuttin but mash up the place, brek bare glass bottle, throw bare big rocks an cause de small man heartache.

Anyways I hope nuhbody doan lose duh life and I hope that the people that gotta wuk down in dat zone where all the confusion happening doan get caught up in this lawlessness and cause innocent people injury. That is that. The PM and he peole saying it gine put Toronto pun the world map, that is all well said but is worh being on the world map if ya city in ruins? Chupse, these people duz tire me ya!

Jesus walks

"We got a raghead in Washington [referring to Obama]," Knotts said. "We don't need another raghead in the governor's mansion." Original Story: Knotts Calls Haley, Obama Ragheads

Raghead is a slur which refers to Arabs or Indian Sikhs who wear traditional headdresses.

Knotts was directly referring to Haley, whose parents are immigrants from India. Haley, a state representative also is from Lexington County, has said numerous times that she is a practicing Methodist.

Knotts believes Haley is not Christian, and that she is saying she is for political reasons.

I always find two things funny bout these socalled white "christian" people in North America eh. The first is related specifically to the wuns in the US. Why is it that they feel that everybody that run for some sorta political office got to be christian? Like if ya is from anudda religion ya cant be as good at running a country or a city or whatever organization cause supposedly ya have different values etc and will destroy the American way of life. Like being muslim or some other religion automatically makes you a worse person than they are. To me that is laughable.

And the second one and this applies to all all the white so called Christians in North America is that they duz assume that once ya got lil color in ya skin or lil accent or a name that they have trouble pronouncing ya cant be Christian or ya cant have grown up Christian ya wudd had to convert at some point later in life. Who fool these people or dem just fall victim to the fraud wid all them Europeanized pictures a Jesus and feel that them is the only ones that can call demselves Christian. I feel dat is why ya duz find churches so segregated up hayso in North America. chupse, dese people duz mek ya sick.

Twit!

I'm sorry but am I the only one a bit disturbed that an elected member of the Canadian Parliament was tweeting during question and answer session in the House of Commons yesterday?

Lisa Raitt seems to have found a cure for ministerial boredom in the House of Commons.

The labour minister announced on Twitter Wednesday that she would live tweet during question period, and proceeded to provide colour commentary - literally.

What the hell?

I mean seriously is this the sort of behavior that our elected officials should be engaging in during House sessions? Is our government one big joke? (Wait don't answer that one.)

Isn't this the political equivalent of doodling in class or hiding comics in your text book? Shouldn't you, our leaders be paying attention? Is running this country sooooo boring that you have to tweet?

And she's not even a backbencher. I could maybe just possibly forgive this act if she was a backbencher (actually I'd probably be pretty pissed then too) but she's a minister. The Minister of Labour for Pete's sake! Isnt that an important portfolio? Shouldn't she be paying attention during the question session? Good grief! When else does she tweet one wonders? During policy meetings?

Pay attention!

I mean given what sometimes passes for political discourse at some of these sessions I'm not surprised but damn at least pretend that you're sort of interested in what's going on and representing your constituents who I'm pretty sure didn't vote you in for your tweeting skills.

At least when I was messing around in class doodling I at least pretended that I was interested. This is just openly mocking us.

No disrespect to twitter, it serves its purpose (whatever that may be), and its cool to see politicians using the new media/social interaction stuff to reach the tech savvy crowd but there is a time and place for everything and in my opinion the House of Commons is definitely not the place to be tweeting about trivial stuff like what others are wearing unless you're working for fashion TV.

Stay focused man!

Seriously, its bad enough that Parliament was prorogued on a whim for like two months for no real reason but then you guys just come back and you are already tweeting? Way to take governing seriously! And to think that you politicos make the decisions that affect our lives? Wonder why our economy and societies are so messed up? Why its because our leaders are too busy twittering their lives away. Duhh! (OK that's probably not the main reason but still)

Damn damn damn!

Seriously I mean tweeting! Really! Really? Tweeting? Are you serious? Come on now.

Whats that phrase? Nero fiddles while Rome burns. Guess we need to update that to something about Raitt tweeting while Canada fumbles along.

Hung out to Dry

I'll try to keep this short-ish but you need the background cause most of y'all ain't up on Canadian news.

One of the big stories in Toronto lately has been about Somalian born Canadian Suuad Hagi Mohamud who was detained in Kenya while on a trip to Africa a few months ago. Ms Mohamud was detained at the airport in Kenya because the claim was that her Canadian passport did not look like her. Something about the lips not matching but whatever, apparently its common for airport authorities there to seek bribes to let you get on your plane.

Anyway, the Canadian High Commission there agreed with the airport people's claims, took Ms Mohamud's passport voided it, deemed her imposer and sent her to Kenyan authorities who sent her to jail for some time. It was only finally after the rejection of reams of documentation that DNA evidence proving that she was who she said she was was accepted by the authorities and sometime later Ms Mohamud was allowed to return to Canada.

This whole ordeal took over three months and Ms Mohamud on her arrival back in Toronto a few days ago is now sick having to be taken to hospital a day after her return.

The Canadian government meanwhile refuses to issue an apology for leaving a citizen stranded in such a situation.

Now I know I rushed though the story but it should be clear that Ms Mohamud got screwed and was also let down by the agencies that should be working on her behalf. Canadian citizens get into trouble worldwide and are dependent on Canadian consulates and embassies to stand up for them not invalidate them as a citizen and throw them to the wolves. In the past few years we've seen Canadian citizens in jail or accused of crimes in foreign lands quickly whisked away by Canadian authorities, flown back to the the relative safety of their homeland. Why couldn't an innocent individual like Ms Mohamed get such treatment?

Well the general feeling is she got the crap end of the stick because she's an African (read black) immigrant, ie even though she's got her Canadian citizenship she wasn't born here so she's still a second class citizen subject to second class treatment. The evidence is there to lead one to that conclusion but that's not what I want to talk about here.

My thing is about this story in today's Toronto Star.

The Canadian diplomat who officially disowned Suaad Hagi Mohamud as an "impostor" has been recalled from Kenya.

Liliane Khadour has "concluded" her posting, a consular official at the Canadian High Commission said yesterday from the capital, Nairobi..........

Khadour is now in Ottawa.

Although she owns a condominium apartment there with her partner, Jason Joyce, the two are staying at a downtown hotel. Both had been working at the commission in Nairobi as first secretaries.

When reached by cellphone yesterday, Joyce hung up almost immediately. Neither answered the phone in their hotel room or returned messages.

Ok now Ms Mohamud suffered because Khadour screwed up but still this is such a B**** move.

I'm sorry but how does knowing the name of the official who screwed up help anything and who released the name? The only reason this has been released is to make her a real tangible target for the public fury and to get some of the heat off the elected officials and the government apparatus who knew what was happening but refused to even make a statement saying they were investigating even weeks later when it was clear that they had screwed up. This is just a move to avoid a real apology and cool some of the heat off the dudes who need votes.

I mean I'm from the school that says the top should let employees who do well get the praise but if they screw up you don't hang them out to dry the top absorbs the criticisms as much as possible. That's not how it is 100% of the time but to some extent it should work that way to keep folk happy/ Plus in this situation finger pointing at a lower level diplomat just isn't the way to go. Man up and say sorry Government of Canada don't try to focus anger on one individual. I mean she screwed up and deserves to be punished, fired even but don't name names, don't hang a target on her back. I'm sure she had supervisors who had supervisors who could have overruled her. Are their names going to be published too?

This is so unprofessional and uncalled for. Way to try to deflect criticism Government of Canada.

Discrimination

A groundbreaking study, to be released today, estimates that about one in four black, single parents and households on social assistance face moderate to severe discrimination in Toronto's tight rental market. The same is true for South Asians.

Read more here.

Everytime I read about one of these studies I think to myself well whats groundbreaking about this? Its just a waste of time and money to prove the already known. Then I read the comments responding to articles like the one above on the Toronto Star's website and realize most Torontonians truly are clueless to the discrimination that persons of color and those on the lower end of the wealth spectrum face in this community.

Maybe they just live with their heads in the sand or maybe they just accept all the stereotypes and the scary news items they see every day in the media about those that don't look like them. Maybe they're all we are the world and Kumbaya and think we live in a post-racial world. Well newsflash that post-racial crap is b.s. I don't know what they actually think but what I do know is that renters bias is all too real having faced it in the past myself.

And I'm not alone, in fact forget a one in four most of the black folk I know can tell you a story or two about renters bias. How the apartment suddenly was rented when they showed up for a viewing because the landlord didn't realize they were black when they phoned or how they suddenly needed to book an appointment when they walked in to see a place even though someone else they knew had checked the place out the day before by just walking in off the street or and these two happened to me personally, my girlfriend's potential apartment ended up being apparently already rented when she showed up with me (scary black dude that I apparently am) in tow (even though I wasn't going to be living there) or how one landlord told me and I quote "his Jamaicans don't cause trouble".

This is everyday life. We dont like it, but it happens. We get angry when it happens, we complain, we get ignored but we minorities, persons of color know it happen. And we deal with it and we survive. We cope, we grow thicker skins, we gain a knowledge by experience of what kinds of landlords will discriminate, we look where we think we'll be accepted and ignore other areas where we know we'll be discriminated in and end up in mini-ghettos, we do what we have to do to get by.

And its not like so many on the Toronto Star's message board surmise that we aren't rented these apartments because we're on welfare or we destroy property or we're bad neighbours and have loud raucous parties or we have bad credit or we default on our rent and then the landlord has hell to evict us. Most of us don't get a chance to disprove these stereotypes because we aren't given a chance. We don't even get to see the apartment let alone rent it. Or we get to see it but unless the deal is consummated on the spot when we return or call again the place is gone (which is why when I was looking at places I learned to walk with my cheque book ready to close a deal on the spot). It starts and ends at the beginning, with a judgment call made by those with the power based on our non-Canadian accents or our non-Canadian skin tones. Nope its rented, or we wont rent it to you, meaning sorry we don't want your kind here now go away.

Just cause your racism isnt the in your face stuff the US faces doesn't mean everything is hunky doory up on your doorstep. It does still exist. That's the real. Toronto I wish y'all would wake up and realize that instead of living with your heads up your proverbial butts.

Happy Canada Day

So July the 1st is/was Canada day. Besides being in the middle of the week which sucks for holidays , we in Toronto are in the grips of a city workers strike which affected quite a bit of festivities including parades and the like. Well whatever!

Was having some deep thoughts though. Is why we duz call Independence day up here Canada day? I mean the fourth of July, American Independence day dont be called no U.S.A day and I never hear Independence day in places like Barbados or St Vincent or Jamaica called Barbados day or St Vincent day or Jamaica day. So wha um is bout Canadians that they cant settle for a simple Independence day?

And then we was discussing it today after we went to a Canada day thing today and say well is how come at a Canada day celebration they sing O'Canada but them also duz sing God Save the Queen. So I say well is cause the Queen is still head of state which mean well are we really independent cause early this year when the political parties was having them bassa basssa and parliament came to a standstill who um was that had the final say on whether we was gine have an election or PM Harper was gine stan in power? Um was the Governor General. And who is the Governor General. Well um is Michelle Jean but who she is? She is the Queen representative. So in essence the Queen up in Buckingham palace still run things in Canada so nuh wonder we aint calling it Independence day.

Oh well.

Prorogued

What do you mean prorogue is not what happens when perogies go bad? :-) Ok bad joke but whatever!

This week a coalition of heroes approached the Haitian seeing assistance in getting rid of their enemy, the one with the greatest power. Apparently the Haitian couldnt help.

Sounds like a scene from the show Heroes right? Alas it was a scene from Canadian politics as it played out this week with Dion, Duceppe and Layton playing the coalition, Governor General Michaëlle Jean playing the Haitian (she is Haitian born after all right) and PM Harper playing the villain. Right now all we need is a solar eclipse and my analogy is complete.

In theory a coalition could work. If aliens from outer space landed and were running roughshod over the country perhaps a Liberal, a socialist and a separatist could put their differences aside and work together to defeat the alien overlords. A global economic crisis, however, is probably not enough for these three wildly divergent visions of Canada to gel.

That quote is from Rick Mercer. You can find his take on the situation here. Quite a good read.

Anyway in response to our current political crisis which I mentioned in my previous post yesterday the Governor General acting on the wishes of the current PM has prorogued parliament until the end of January. What that proroguing term mean, and I used to think it meant to be in favor of scoundrels although come to think of it you could still interpret it as such, is that parliament has been suspended. He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day I guess.

Doors lock, business aborted, wheel and come again if you please!

Now I'll be honest. At first when I heard that the Governor General was following the PM's suggestion I was vex. What kind of foolishness this woman doing I thought. But a few hours later I changed my mind. I think Madame Jean acted correctly and in the best interests of the Canadian people on this one.

Mind you it could and probably will still end badly but for now she basically saying cool your heels and lets see if we can settle this thing amicably or at least like sensible people with the welfare of the Canadian citizens at heart. So for that I commend her.

The problem is for all her good intentions she has probably just prolonged the inevitable; that being Canadians heading back to the polls early next year.

Lets examine the situation. As Mercer suggested there was no way a political coalition of those three parties survives long term, even short term its sketchy cause I'm sure its all smiles now but wait until Duceppe and Layton start flexing their muscles.

The other issue with the Liberal-NDP Bloc supported coalition is leadership and this is one of the reasons I think Jean did the right thing but we are headed back to elections. Stephane Dion by default is the leader of that coalition but Canadians have overwhelmingly rejected him as a leader. To even have him spend two days in the PM's chair is just ridiculous and a slap in the face to voters cause clearly thats not what they wanted. So a Dion led coalition is really not favorable.

And really he's not a strong leader. A coalition needs a strong leader to keep the divergent worldviews and minsets in check. You really think the PQ and NDP respect Dion? Nuh I doubt that.

And what was with that cheesy video they did in response to Harper's statement. As one news anchor quipped it looks like they shot it on a cellphone. Seriously if you want to bring your point of view to the people and cant find a proper camera to make a short speech telling us why you should be our next government then that really isnt a vote of confidence in your skills as leaders, managers or doers. It just says you're not ready yet. Silly silly silly on their part!

Then we come to the encumbant PM Harper. He started it all. Just couldnt play nice with his pals on the Hill. He is still PM but lets take a look at who was propping up his minority government in the face of opposition from the LIberals and NDP. Oh wait it was the Parti Quebecois who he just completely insulted over and over in his attempts to stop this coalition from happening. Does he think they'll support him now whe he's got crucial bills to pass? Nope so that means we'll have an ineffective minority goverment and nothing will get done. Just wonderful.

I could go on about the outcomes of any possible elections but all in all the verdict is that we here in Canada are faced with a political connundrum which we cannot really afford to have at this time and Canada could be poorly led for the forseeable future.

So much for first world status but then again I never drank the koolaid on that one.

Bacchanal

You got to know when to hold em,
know when to fold em
know when to walk away
know when to run

the Gambler - Kenny Rogers

While allya was getting caught up in whether Obama was going to nominate Billary for Secretary of State and who and who and who was going to be in his cabinet (he name a Bajan Attorney General so respect due seen), this past week been pure bacchanal in Canadian Federal politics.

I know wunnah aint know bout that cause nuhbody don't really pay attention to Canadian politics even we living here in Canada but let me tell ya is pure drama we been having lately up here in Ottawa.

I had spoken about the election we had back in mid-October predicting, correctly I might add although even Stevie Wonder coulda see what was going to happen, that the Conservatives would win another minority government and then that was that. Back to the old status quo of quibbling in parliament and such until last week.

Now last week in Parliament, Prime Minister Harper and his finance people introduce a bill or something so and amongst the items on this thing was no bailout package for the auto industry (rightly so at this juncture in time until we see what the Americans do), a moratorium on striking for Federal employees and most explosively a proposal to get rid of all public funding for political parties given the economy right now.

Now alright that last one sound like a good plan given how brown things is these days but really what it was is Harper trying to downpress the opposition again cause the ruling party got nuff private sponsors and their coffers full but all the opposition parties scrunting especially since the last election caught them all napping. So passing this proposal would ruin the opposition and bolster the ruling party.

Well boy, Harper had played this one thinking it was a win win situation. Either the opposition agree to the proposal in which case they shooting off their own foot or they kick up fuss in which case he could either squeeze them into another election while making them seem like they selfish and self centered or he would remove that part of the proposal about the public funding at the last minute still leaving them with egg on their face looking self absorbed and selfish if they voted with him. Could not lose that play at all. Squeezed like when you play domino and any play you can make the other team win off. He had them between a rock and a hard place. Or so he though.

Well the opposition people get vex and I guess this was the last straw cause lets face it Harper been bullying the other parties since forever, playing a strategic game of chess to keep them in check every few moves. So they did what no one would ever think them capable of doing given their ideological differences. They came together and formed a coalition. NDP, and Liberals with the tacit support of the Bloc basically saying enough is enough , we taking back the government cause now we have a majority.

Wuhloss! So now we in a position where everybody scrambling now. Harper sweating bricks cause instead of having the opposition in check, the tables turn and they already tell the Governor General we ready to take over.

What gine happen next? Well they vote on this bill in parliament next week and all sorta outcomes could happen. New election, waste taxpayers money again, the GG could say tek the reins and Harper guhlong bout ya business or a number of other scenarios could play out.

All I know is that if the coalition get back in power Stephane Dion going to be Prime minister and this is a man that lost the elections worse than any Liberal leader since the 1800s and a man who was about to vacate the party leadership and walk into the sunset. Talk about upset and comeback! This would the political equivalent of Reggie Miller's 8 points in 6 seconds to win the game. From zero to hero (not that Reggie was ever a zero)!

But still a week or so left to see what going to happen. Lots of time so anything can happen. Meanwhile anti-perspirant and fans musse this years hot must have items for politicians in Ottawa cause the place hot like fyah!

What a la la!

Joe da plumber

Last night's debate was rather boring as most of the debates were anyways. A few points though

1) Who is this Joe da Plumber dude, is he related to Joe sixpack. Is he Joe Sixpack or is Joe da Plumber a Biden alias?

2) McCain was hilarious when he was playing the wounded victim over Rep.Senator John Lewis' comments. I half expected him to break into tears. Whatever guy!

3) McCain called Palin an expert on autism. I've been corrected that Palin's child actually has Down Syndrome but nevertheless lets just image the child had autism. How can you call someone an expert with just 5 months of experience? Now if she had a 12 year old disabled child I could buy that but 5 months really? I guess it was more of the I can see Russia from my front door so I'm a foreign relations expert logic.

4) Whats the big deal with Universal health care? The U.S treats this whole subject like we're asking them to forsake Democracy and institute communism. I'm not saying Universal Health Care is perfect but its really not as bad as you guys make it seem. Even when a health plan sounds like its close to Universal health care they always have to make this disclaimer that its not the same. Seems so silly to me. Plus the US government just took over some banks. Isnt it more socialist to take over banks than to have Universal health care?

5) Have you noticed Obama has a bit of griot in him? He's always trying to tell a story involving real people. "Like the recently laid off carpenter in Boise Idaho who I met last week who is worried about paying for his daughters college education or the midget that I met in Youngstown Pennslvania whose house had been repossessed". De man full a story

Oh and for those interested in the outcome of the Canadian elections. Basically it was a waste of 300 million dollars as the Conservatives won another minority government. We'll probably have another one of these things in a year or so.

ps: I'm thinking if Obama wins and I stress if, then on November 5th we should all blog about it and by all I mean Caribbean, Canadian, American, all you cats that comment here. anybody with me?

Election Day

Today is election day in Canada. My prediction is that the ruling party wins another minority government and we see another election in a year and a half or two. To be honest I believe the average Canadian is rather apathetic about federal politics and elections at the moment. We could care less, none of our potential leaders are awe inspiring anyways.

Maybe that's why so many of us are interested in the Presidential election down south in the US. Actually most of us are more interested in that election than we are in this one. Blame it on Obama perhaps. Yesterday driving down York-Durham townline road I saw a sign next to the roadway saying honk three times for Obama. Today's Toronto Star ran a cartoon with a ballot with the names of the four leaders of the federal parties here and Obama name with Obama's ticked off on the ballot. Yep he would get votes here actually he is so popular that he'd win a landslide here, well at least in the urban areas.

Still this whole Obama thing and our own Canadian elections got me thinking. When will we see our own version of Obama here in Canada? And by Obama I actually dont mean inspiring politicians although there has been a severe shortage of those here lately and it would be nice to have someone who could bring some energy and make us interested in politics again. No what I mean is when will we see our own homegrown minority party leader and Prime Minister?

Yes Canada prides iteslf in being more Liberal than the US and we did had a female prime minister in Kim Campbell back in the 90s but she actually just inherited Mullroney's mandate and when elections were called she was summarily dismissed. But for all that is there any minority who's close to being the leader of a Canadian major party and vying for the post of prime minister?

Not that I can think of.

Look I accept it most likely wont be someone black. There's not a big enough or united enough black caucus here for us to push an Obama type that far up the power chain but the South Asian and Asian populations here, at least in most of the bigger urban centres, are pretty big and should be able to get someone up to those higher echelons of power. So why hasnt it happened yet? Why are the major parties here still mainly the bastion of white men and a few women?

Is it because outside of the main urban areas like Toronto, Monteal and Vancouver minorities still have no real pull? I dont know. I just wish we had some color at the top of our political parties or at least someone minority vying for that leadership when the party's held their conferences.

Maybe it'd help out with the dearth of charisma and personality at the top of the heap here. Or maybe not but it might put some interest back in Canadian politics. At least then we could debate on how whether we really are as liberal as we say we are.

This n That

I really dont have any coherent thoughts. Sleep deficiency and allergy season will do that to ya. So anyways

1) Tv's back. yipee! Think I'm going to like the new series Fringe!

2) The Conservatives are going to kick series ass this election in Canada. I'm calling it as they finally get their majority. The Liberals are dithering.

3) It was like something from out of a movie in my opinion. Woman shoots man and throws body from moving car on a crowded highway. Oh and of course there was the obligatory police chase afterwards. Damn T-Dot is getting real.

4) Doesn't it make you wonder about our leaders when election campaigns become contests between childish individuals with feigned reactions to comments taken out of context. Like Obama called folks bitter a few months back and we're still on that and he made this pig comment yesterday and thats going to be news forever. Just grow up and deal with the issues. Damn!

5) Kardi's new album is pretty nice. However I find he rhymes like a toned down version of dancehall's Dr. Evil (as opposed to Austin Powers Dr Evil) on that Dangerous track with Akon.

6) Speaking of Austin Power's Dr Evil. Why'd that dude have to wear a nehru jacket? I've got conspiracy theories about that. I will be starting a campaign to bring back the Shirt Jac! Folks are going whats a shirt jac? If you're from north america you probably wouldnt get it. and i'm too tired to explain.

7) I've got a 10 reason's Obama will not win the election idea rattling around in my head. #10 because non-Americans love him to death. #9 because this election isnt about the issues, #8 because he's muslim (or at least some american still think he is), #7 because he will be mauled to death by a pack of rabid hockey moms, #6 because Michelle is a black revolutionary (power to the people), #5 because he's elitist, ... well i'll leave the rest for now but you get the drift.

Barack 2 de Future

That title catch allya right?

Well sorry to disappoint but this sentence isn't about neither him nor miss Palin fence or whatever she name cause like many people I well tired of the U.S elections.

So just to mock me the Canadian PM decide to call elections up here for October 14th. Chupse!

Look man I tired a all this politics. The problem with the U.S is that their election campaign duz last almost the length of the whole presidential term. I mean Caucuses and Primaries, secondaries, conventions, nomination speeches, delegates and super-delegates (which at first I thought was when somebody like Spider-man endorse ya) no wonder at the end they duz talk about electoral colleges cause this thing duz last so long that you could have a degree in politics by the time it finish.

Up here in Canada is different, is about a month of campaigning, and bram election. We election starting and ending quick quick all the while US people on CNN giving longwinded speeches still and the electorate getting bored, apethetic and tuning out.

The problem with elections up here though is even though they short in terms of the time scale, compared to the U.S, they happening way too often. Three elections in the last four years. Wha that dont even give the PM time to order new furnitures from IKEA to redecorate the office properly or unpack he files and shred the damning evidence he might have hidden in them.

And another thing I dont like is how come this current PM like to call elections right after holidays? Last election was just after Christmas 2006 and new years 2007, this one the day after thanksgiving. I think that is some sorta ploy he got to trick people. I feel like he think all we going be hungover or half drunk after the holiday and going look more favorably on him but I hope people realize that he trying to offset the holiday spirit with all this election talk. Oh well he'll probably win again anyways. We aphathetic cause too much elections just as bad as one long drawn out election plus none of them Canadian politicians as charismatic as Barack. Wha we would even be happy if they was as charismatic as McCain to tell the truth. Chupse!

Anyway Guyana Girl, one a me favourite blogs, nominate me for this thing hayso



I really not sure what it is but she write a few nice words bout me so I thankful and I say I going pass it on to somebody else.

The rules is as follows:

a.) Pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

(b.) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

(c.) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

(d.) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Okay, here I go:

1) Amadeo is one of my favorite bloggers. There is just something about the way he breaks down things that make me think of certain situations from a different perspective. Ya know like he will write something and you'll read it and think but wait that makes a lot of sense how come I never think of things like that before. Eye opening.

2)Pam Mordecai@Jahworld is another nice blogger. Deep, deep thoughts mostly from a literary perspective. Like I cant read her blog and be half into it. I have to give it my full attention. Plus she's from the T-dot so you know she has to get props.

3)This Vincy fella Will. I just discovered him a few months ago but I like his way with language. I duz read him and think sometimes boy I wish I could sway my words to do my bidding like that.

4) Mighty Afroditee is an interesting one. She has a way with the storytelling. Always making me smile. Hey storytelling aint easy ya kno? It tek a certain person to pull a proper story from a situation. Read the one about how she hasn't mastered the art of shoe throwing. I tell ya this young generation tisk tisk :-)

5)The Empress Ruthibelle. Well I only discover this one a month or two back too but I like it. Actually I think is only a few months old but I think this blog has loads of potential.

Dey say 5 so I going to just leave it there although ya kno that dont mean you cant stop by and visit perennial Jdid favourites like Melody and Kami and de Blogfadda Mad Bull.

TO: 08 welcomes the world

History is indeed written by the winners and sometimes the losers themselves forget.

Most people remember that the 2000 Olympics were in Sydney, the 2004 in Athens and know that the 2008 are currently being held in Beijing. (Most not including me as I actually had to google the 2004 Olympics to verify they were in Greece) but do you remember which other cities bid for these specific games and lost?

Not a clue right?

Well in general me neither except that I do remember that Toronto made an unsuccessful bid for the 2008 games.

Yep it was big news back in those heady days of 2001. Toronto, world class city that we claim to be needs to do more to publicize our greatness and we need to bring the Olympics here said one camp. The games will put us on the map! There was hype, there was excitement, there were waterfront plans and plans for building a new Olympic stadium. There were slogans, there were celebrity endorsements, there were even t-shirts from Roots.

Meanwhile another camp took a different perspective. This Olympics thing is a real waste of time they said. Sure it will or could be an amazing spectacle but at the end of the day events like the Olympics and other major sporting spectacles (read Cricket World Cup) lose money for the host city and then its the poor taxpayers who live there that feel the pinch. Toronto already isn't the richest city so why put ourselves into further poverty to show off to the world for two or three weeks.

But the bid went off with much pizazz and fanfare.

And at the end of the day in 2001 when the votes were counted to choose the 2008 venue we lost. Soundly beaten by Beijing.

Some say it was because Vancouver got awarded the 2010 winter games and the IOC didn't want back to back games in Canada, some blamed Toronto mayor Mel Lastman and his idiotic "I'm not going to Africa because they might put me in a pot of boiling water and eat me" comments, (as if people in Africa so hungry they want dry up, tough meat like he to eat. chupse!) for losing us votes, others just accepted that the Beijing bid was just too strong and we couldn't compete with the overall politics of holding the event in an emerging superpower China.

To be honest most locals were probably a bit let down by the loss, it would have been fun holding the event here, but at the same time we all had mixed feelings because some of us might have wanted the spectacle but all of us sure as hell didn't want to have to pay for it out of our pockets.

Still when I see the Olympics on television this week I cant help thinking what if, what could have been and wondering do Torontonians actually remember that this could have been us?

Oh well, wasnt to be. We weren't the winners but maybe in hindsight we weren't exactly losers either. Still sucks that we've been forgotten by history though.

Still sucks.

Shame on PETA

Thats why I think these people are idiots. Read this.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, said on its website it would run the ad in the Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic.

However, city editor Tara Seel said the newspaper had no intention of running the ad, which uses imagery of "an innocent victim's throat" being cut, in reference to the slaughter of cows, chickens and pigs on factory farms.

"His struggles and cries are ignored ... the man with the knife shows no emotion ... the victim is slaughtered and his head cut off ... his flesh is eaten," reads the ad, which is posted on the website.

Madness! Those PETA people are crazy and sick. How do you compare killing a chicken or cow to killing a man. Ridiculous!

Then there are these morons

"God handed us a gift," Phelps-Roper said in a phone interview on Thursday.

She said McLean deserved his death by beheading on a Greyhound Bus last week.

"(His death was) supremely unemotional. You got God shaking in rage. There is no emotional component ... He was a rebel against God. He was taught to be a rebel by his parents. He came from a rebel country ... They brought this wrath upon his head. And it sucks to be him and it sucks to be them," Phelps-Roper said.

This is a comment about the guy who got beheaded up here by some so called Church from the U.S. These people call themselves Christian but only giving Christian bad name.

Shame Shame Shame

Shame on Owen Sound

By now everyone has heard of the beheading story that happened up here in Canada. As details emerge it gets freakier and freakier by the minute. If you thought the beheading part was bad the details about him eating the victim is like something straight out of Silence of the Lambs.

It'll be interesting to watch the fallout from this because I think the fact that the perpetrator was a recent immigrant will get much play.

I'm just thinking I ain't sleeping on the TTC no more.

Anyway a story that may have slipped under the radar with all this talk of beheading is the stabbing of a black Toronto man up in Owen Sound last week which is being seen as a case of possible mistaken identify and possibly as having some racial overtones.

I guess we all look alike right. Poor dude is in critical condition cause someone accused him of a crime and then beat the crap out of him. Could have happened anywhere I guess so I wont be too harsh on Owen Sound. There are probably people like this crimes perpetrators everywhere.

The ironic part I guess is that Owen Sound marks the northernmost point of the secret route to freedom for American slaves and they were just about to have a big Emancipation day celebration when this incident occurred. Sad. I hope dude recovers from this attack.