Free Republic

It isn't often that I hand over that power and subject myself to the will and the questions of another, but that's just what I did a few nights back when I sat down and opened up for an interview by blogmeister Manganic.

ST. JOHN, New Brunswick, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A small Canadian seaside town in New Brunswick has been warned lobsters that wash ashore cannot be eaten because they weren't caught under license. After an Atlantic storm Saturday, the crustaceans began washing ashore at Petit-Rocher on the northeastern coast and word spread quickly, the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal reported. However, John St.-Coeur, a spokesman for the federal Fisheries and Oceans ministry issued a statement warning beachcomber they were breaking the law that says lobster can only be taken in traps by licensed fishermen during open season. Anyone else collecting lobsters could be...

A furious comeback was all for naught as John Carlson has scored in overtime to give Team USA a 6-5 victory in the Gold medal game at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship over Canada. The victory gives the Americans only their second Gold medal in tournament history and snaps Canada's streak of five straight Gold medals. It appeared as though all the momentum was on the Canadians side after Jordan Eberle scored twice with less than three minutes remaining to force the extra frame, however Carlson beat Marin Jones high for his second of the game.

OTTAWA — Gun control advocates briefly hoped Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to prorogue Parliament would kill a controversial private member's bill to scrap the long gun registry. But their hopes have been shot down, thanks to procedural reforms introduced 15 years ago. The bill -- which was under examination by a parliamentary committee after winning first and second reading votes in the House of Commons -- will simply return at that stage once the new session of Parliament opens March 3.

Here are three photos from the “Gaza Freedom March” in Toronto on December 27. The top one, of the chappie with the flag of the jihad terrorist group Hizballah, comes from Shalom Life, where in “Hizbollah Flag in Downtown Toronto,” Jonathan Dahoah Halevi (translation by Elad Benari) gives a useful account of the demonstration. The other two photos come from Lumpy, Grumpy and Frumpy, where there are many more. The two here show pro-Palestinian demonstrators giving the Nazi salute, and Blazing Cat Fur explains the significance of the second one: Something caught my eye in one of her photos which...

MONTREAL, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- Two Montreal-area women said they would head to British Columbia to retrieve a dog that spent three days by his master's body in a lonely trailer. Melanie Pellerin, 34 and Christianne Hendershott, 24, of Beaconsfield did not know Cyril Roy, 58, who died of heart failure Nov. 27, The Montreal Gazette reported. But Pellerin's husband, Frank Palumbo, was moved by the story of Roy and his dog Fred, and offered to help get the dog to Roy's siblings. "Cyril and the dog had such a powerful link," Pellerin said. "When Cyril was sick he refused...

It’s that time again when we make those yearly promises to ourselves. Naturally, I vow to be just as reserved with my opinions and exude the usual warmth, grace, and conciliatory tone when discussing political issues with brain-dead socialists…and Quebecers. Here’s a list of 2010 New Year’s Resolutions I’d like to see:

With the hospitalization of conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, questions about his overall health and ability to maintain his radio schedule have become a matter of concern, especially to his avid followers (reportedly near 14 per week). They are questions that should be considered. What if Rush Limbaugh were unable to continue with his radio show? What if he died? Who would -- who could -- take Limbaugh's place, maintain his audience, and deliver much the same neoconservative message? News broke on Wednesday that Rush Limbaugh was rushed to Queens Medical Center, a hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii, because...

31 December 2009 “LIKE DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN” SNIPPET: “There is overlap in space if not in time between NW 253 bomber Abdulmutallab and various unsavory characters and websites. Perhaps it’s just a case of like-minded people moving through similar places at similar times in their lives, but then again, maybe Abdulmutallab came into contact with some of these people, particularly in what appears to be his critical period of radicalization in London circa 2005-2007. At this point all I have are suspicions and some interesting data points to share.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper will ask the governor general to prorogue Parliament today until early March, CTV News has learned. Parliament is currently on Christmas break and MPs are scheduled to return to the House on January 25. But speculation has been rampant in recent weeks that Harper would ask to shut down Parliament until at least after the Winter Olympics in Vancouver are complete. Such a move would halt the work of Parliamentary committees, including one that is investigating Afghan detainee abuse, an issue that has been plaguing the Conservatives for months. It was unclear late Wednesday morning if...

HONG KONG (MarketWatch)-- The Canadian government approved Tuesday PetroChina Co.'s 1.9 billion Canadian dollar ($1.8 billion) bid to buy a majority stake in two Alberta oil-sands projects. Canada's Industry Minister Tony Clement said in a statement he was satisfied the investment is "likely to be of net benefit to Canada."

I've been fighting against Canada's censorious and corrupt human rights commissions for nearly four years now; it was in February of 2006 that the print edition of the Western Standard, may it rest in peace, reprinted the Danish cartoons of Mohammed to illustrate a news story. The "human rights" nuisance suits against the magazine, and me as its publisher, began immediately after that. But it wasn't until December of 2007, when Maclean's magazine got swiped by the jihadists at the Canadian Islamic Congress, and January of 2008, with my own interrogation at the hands of Alberta's HRC, that I came...

Nick Rizzuto Jr., son of reputed mob boss Vito Rizzuto, was shot dead this afternoon in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce district as reported by Marcos Townsend for The Montreal Gazette. Rizzuto was shot near the offices of FTM Construction, owned by Antonio Magi with whom the mob scion had a business relationship, which was raided last month. At this point investigators have no idea who is behind Rizzuto's murder other than running through the usual suspects -- street gangs, motorcycle clubs, Calabrian Mafia or Sicilian Mafia -- although it no doubt is a blow to his father as reported by Aaron Derfel...

(No. 397 – December 27, 2009 – 4:35 p.m. EST) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement regarding Iran’s crackdown on protesters in Tehran: “Canada is deeply concerned by the Iranian regime’s violent crackdown today, December 27, against Iranian citizens who were exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly on the occasion of Ashura. “Iranian security forces once again used intimidation and violence against citizens of Iran. The Iranian regime’s continued effort to restrict freedom of expression and assembly, thereby depriving its citizens of their rights, is deplorable, especially on the holy...

Sechelt dogs that "without provocation" chase any animal — be it a rat, squirrel, seagull, bear or cougar — would violate a dog licensing and control amendment bylaw that passed three readings at the Dec. 16 council meeting. The first draft of the bylaw, prepared by District of Sechelt staff, would only have stopped dogs from chasing, biting or attacking domesticated animals. But at committee of the whole Dec. 9, Coun. Keith Thirkell suggested expanding the bylaw to include wild animals and birds as well. Thirkell argued that this would bring it in line with provincial and federal legislation that...

Really, if you could live in Calgary with its fairly mild winters, closeness to the Rocky Mountains, professional hockey team, and citizens who shower, who the hell would choose to live in Toronto?

The Supreme Court of Canada transformed the country's libel laws Tuesday with a pair of decisions that proponents say will expand the boundaries of free speech. The court ruled that libel lawsuits will rarely succeed against journalists who act responsibly in reporting their stories when those stories are in the public interest. It also updated the laws for the Internet age, extending the same defence to bloggers and other new-media practitioners. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said that Canada needs to keep in step with several other Western democracies that have provided greater protection to the media. “Freewheeling debate on matters...

How sure are you about the gold in Ft. Knox? For those of you who are obsessed with gold accounting -- and there are a lot of you; rumors about improper counting of gold bars in Ft. Knox are legion -- a fresh report from the Royal Canadian Mint about how it miscounted .3% of its gold, and lost $20 million should be interesting. The Times Colonist (via JohnLothian.com): A series of miscalculations and blunders in the mint's gold refinery dating back to 2005 were responsible for 17,500 troy ounces — a system of weights for precious metals — of...

A fundraising gala, set for April 15 in Hamilton Ontario, was initially to be held to benefit two local hospitals; the Juravinski Cancer Centre and St. Peter’s Hospital were to be the recipients of the funds raised. The organizers thought that they had struck gold when they booked former Alaska governor Sarah Palin as the main speaker. They should have known. Shortly after Palin’s presence but made public, Hamilton Health Services began to receive nasty telephone calls and emails. Some people who contacted the organization described themselves as donors and indicated that they would never ever donate again if Palin...

One of my favorite pastimes is fishing. Ever since I was a young boy growing up in Northern Minnesota, I have enjoyed the leisure sport of fishing. In the last 5 years I have taken up the sport of fly Fishing and found it to be even more enjoyable then fishing with a reel and worms. I have fished many rivers and in many states across this vast country, but I have never ventured outside of America to fish. I always thought that someday I might like to fish in Canada. Then after watching this video and seeing how they...

COPENHAGEN -- Green groups on Friday named Canada "Fossil of the Year" -- an award that carried the additional honorific of "Colossal Fossil" -- for what they said was a strategy to sabotage efforts to tackle climate change. "Canada's 2020 [emissions] target is among the worst in the industrialised world, and leaked cabinet documents revealed that the government is contemplating a cap-and-trade plan so weak that it would put even that target out of reach," said Climate Action Network International and Avaaz.org. "This government thinks there's a choice between environment and economy, and for them, tar sands beats climate every...

One of my favorite pastimes is fishing. Ever since I was a young boy growing up in Northern Minnesota, I have enjoyed the leisure sport of fishing. In the last 5 years I have taken up the sport of fly Fishing and found it to be even more enjoyable then fishing with a reel and worms. I have fished many rivers and in many states across this vast country, but I have never ventured outside of America to fish. I always thought that someday I might like to fish in Canada. Then after watching this video and seeing how they...

I had never heard of KAIROS until I read Colby Cosh's analysis of their partisan politics. That led me to some further reading, and I discovered that KAIROS had issued a denunciation of Alberta's oilsands, and then they went on their fact-finding trip to Fort McMurray. One might have thought it would have been in the reverse order. A quick visit to KAIROS's website shows that their most important goal now is not actually anything to do with religion, let alone with Christianity. It's about getting back to the taxpayer trough. I say let them raise their own money through...

A Toronto Liberal MP is calling on the federal health minister to take steps to regulate the adult sex toy industry in Canada. Carolyn Bennett sent a letter to Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq this week saying that chemicals used in most sex toys pose a potential health risk for women.

In being witness to the plight Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach has found himself in, I cannot help but recall the final year or so of the Bush administration.

A sophisticated hoax has targeted the Canadian government and caused a ruckus at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP15) currently underway in Copenhagen, Denmark. The elaborate prank is an attempt to embarrass the Canadian delegation to the summit, which has received criticism from the world press for its allegedly obstructionist role in negotiations. At the centre of the ruse is a spoof news release in which Environment Canada announces the launch of “Agenda 2020”, an ambitious plan for reducing the country’s carbon emissions. The release in part states: Agenda 2020 sets binding emissions reductions targets of 40% below 1990 levels...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-nsd-1338.html FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday, December 14, 2009 Terrorism Defendants Sentenced in Atlanta Ehsanul Islam Sadequee Receives 17 Years in Prison; Co-defendant Syed Haris Ahmed Receives 13 Years Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 23, of Roswell, Ga., and Syed Haris Ahmed, 25, of Atlanta, were sentenced today in federal court following their convictions earlier this year in separate but related criminal trials, the Justice Department announced. "With their words and their actions, these defendants supported the wrongheaded but very dangerous idea that armed violence aimed at American interests will force our Government and our people...

Proponents of nationalizing the US health care system assiduously point out how popular Canada’s single-payer, government run system is. Polls show that over 80% of Canadians are happy with the system. Poll respondent, Emma Linger rhapsodized about her own experience with the National Health Service. “You just go in whenever you want,” she said. “You don’t even have to bring any money. The doctor writes you a prescription for antibiotics, tranquilizers, placebos or whatever you need and you’re off to the pharmacy.” Linger admitted that the prospect of long waits (an estimated four months—on average) to see specialists might be...

Canada condemned on Monday a series of elaborate hoax emails and a fake website story that claimed the country would cut emissions of greenhouse gases by a much greater amount than previously announced. Officials said they believed environmental activists were responsible for the hoax... Canada is under heavy fire from green campaigners... The initial email, purporting to come from the federal environment ministry, said Canada would set binding emissions reductions targets of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and at least 80 percent by 2050. It also announced Canada would give billions of dollars to African countries for emissions-reduction...

For days now, the health care legislation in the Senate has been stalled. Democrats are divided over a proposed amendment that would let consumers buy pharmaceuticals from abroad. During the presidential campaign, Obama promised to allow such purchases. But earlier this year he announced his opposition in return for pharmaceutical companies promising to spend at least $150 million, and possibly as much as $200 million, to push his health care legislation. President Obama obviously faces a dilemma: either he keeps the campaign promise he made to voters or he keep his later promise to drug companies. Passing the proposed drug...

If Obama's Whacko Health Blanket smothers America, the US will not have enough doctors.

Higher exports of precious metals, especially gold, pushed Canada's trade balance into surplus in October against all expectations after its economy was flattened by the US recession, a government agency said Thursday. A 3.4-percent rise in total exports combined with a slight 0.8 percent drop in imports in October to unleash an unexpected turnaround trade surplus of 428 million Canadian dollars (408 million US), said Statistics Canada. It was only the fourth month since the start of the year that Canadian exports -- which largely drive its economy -- outpaced imports, the agency said. "Industrial goods and materials led the...

With H1N1 poised to enter history as the least deadly of four global flu pandemics, some experts are calling for an end to Canada's mass vaccination program. Nature is already achieving what we would hope to achieve by vaccinating, they say. ~snip~ Fisman can't understand the rational for continuing mass vaccinations. He said that for a virus as contagious as H1N1, less than 30 per cent of the population needed vaccination to reach a critical level of immunity. ~snip~ Despite that view, Canada's top doctor this week pleaded with Canadians to get vaccinated if they have not already done so....

As the U.S. Senate argues about how best to take over the American health care industry, it is worth taking a look at how government health insurance works here in Canada, where I live. Judging from popular opinion, one would think Canadian health care was great. My fellow Canadians by and large love their single-payer, universal coverage, according to a recent Nanos Research poll. Fully 80 percent of the 1,005 Canadians interviewed support universal health care, with another ten percent supporting it somewhat. A mere five percent were opposed or somewhat opposed, with the remaining five percent unsure. Yet these...

A recent headline in the British Columbian newspaper The Globe and Mail reads “Amy Goodman’s Border Woes Have Americans in a Tizzy.” Really? Because this is the first I’ve heard of it. Don’t know who Amy Goodman is? You’re not alone. As host of the television/radio program Democracy Now! (undoubtedly the most ironic misnomer in the history of news media), her activist-style “journalism” has kept her operating on the periphery of mainstream media. Fact is, a quick Google news search shows that the only U.S. news outlets to report on her “ordeal” have been, well, Amy Goodman for Democracy Now!...

Hate mail from Nisar. (See posts below)

OTTAWA — The House of Commons on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation enabling the provinces to harmonize their sales taxes with the federal GST, clearing the way for Ontario and British Columbia to implement the HST this summer. The federal HST bill passed by a vote of 253-37. Only the NDP opposed the legislation. Both Ontario and B.C. plan to combine their provincial sales taxes with the federal goods and services tax on July 1. Economists estimate that combining the tax will save businesses in Ontario billions, because firms will no longer have to pay tax on inputs such as materials...

Mark Tijssen, a major in the Canadian military, stands in front of a meat smoker containing the remains of a pig that could cost him thousands of dollars in fines. Tijssen's family home was raided by members of the Intelligence and Investigations Section of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ottawa Police last month while he was preparing a pizza dinner for children on a Friday night. Mark Tijssen's family has been slaughtering their own animals and handing that skill from father to son for at least three generations. But changes to Ontario's Food Safety Act has landed him and...

Nineteen Greenpeace activists have been arrested after breaching security and climbing the roofs of two Parliament Hill buildings this morning to protest climate change. But red-faced police and parliamentary security representatives have offered no explanation as to how the activists were able to so easily walk on to Parliament Hill laden with gear, scale the Centre Block and West Block buildings and unfurl large signs and banners. Some of the protesters stayed atop the West block for almost three hours before they were removed and arrested. “That’s not something I can talk about right now,” said RCMP spokeswoman Caroline Poulin,...

There's been a SWAT raid in Toronto over a gun scare, and designer Jeremy Bell was temporarily held at gunpoint. Per the Toronto Sun: The partner at digital marketing company Teehan+Lax was surrounded by heavily armed tactical officers, cuffed and held against the wall of his Richmond St. W. office -- until, that is, the cops found the gun he had been holding in front of the window about 90 minutes earlier was a pile of blocks. The BrickGun Semi-Automatic gun (purchased online from BrickGun, "designers and builders of the world's most realistic custom Lego weapon models") arrived at Bell's...

The Canadian government says it will be following Barack Obama's lead at next week's Copenhagen climate summit – and will propose to do no more, no less. In a speech to a Montreal business audience Friday, Environment Minister Jim Prentice said Canada's policy for cutting greenhouse gases would be in lockstep with the United States. He also brushed off critics of his government's climate-change positions, saying he will stick to his convictions despite international pressure at Copenhagen. He cited two reasons why Canada would need to twin its policies with the United States: It would “suffer economic pain for no...

Last week, I pointed out that Calgary's Official Jews invited notorious anti-Semites to co-sponsor a Jewish rally against anti-Semitism. I know, it sounds too strange to be true. But it is. One of those Jew-haters is Syed Soharwardy, a vicious, anti-Semitic bigot who trivializes the Jewish Holocaust, spreads blood libels against the Jewish Talmud, says Israel is perpetrating a Holocaust of its own against Palestinians, publicly calls for sharia law to be implemented in Canada, and participated in a pro-terrorist rally in the Jewish neighbourhood of Calgary, replete with a flag of Hezbollah. I first came to know this odious...

The City of Calgary introduced its blue box, curbside recycling program this year, and there was rejoicing. Calgary, the last major Canadian city to offer it, had, until recently, asked citizens to deliver their own recyclables to green bins located every few blocks, or to hire, at $10 a month, a private pickup service. To those concerned about environmental appearances, it was embarrassing. "It means something to me that we're the last large city in Canada to implement curbside recycling," said Druh Farrell, the alderman championing the program. Approving the $50-million plan (plus another roughly $50-million a year recycling tax...

OTTAWA — The United States Embassy has confirmed that negotiations are underway to see if the massive concrete barriers on the perimeter of the property can be removed without jeopardizing its security. The city wants the barriers on Sussex Drive and MacKenzie Avenue replaced with bollards and lanes freed for traffic, and an embassy spokeswoman said talks are going on with the National Capital Commission and the city about the projected road improvements. Sophie Nadeau would not discuss details of the planned changes to security arrangements around the embassy, which were put in place in 2003 after the 9/11 attacks,...

Friday December 4, 2009 Pastor Boissoin Exonerated: Judge Rules Letter on Homosexuality Not "Hate" Speech By Thaddeus M. BaklinskiCALGARY, December 4, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Christian pastor who was hauled before the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal (AHRT) for writing a letter to the editor on homosexuality has been exonerated by a Court of Queen's Bench judge who ruled the letter was not a hate crime but legitimate expression allowed under freedom of speech.Pastor Stephen Boissoin told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) that he was "overjoyed and relieved" that the lengthy, stressful and expensive seven year legal battle over his letter to the...

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama's national security advisor said on Friday the United States hopes Canadian troops will "stay as long as they possibly can" in Afghanistan and encouraged NATO nations to avoid "summary announcements of total withdrawal" from the war zone. But retired General James Jones did not say if Washington had asked Ottawa to extend the Canadian combat mission past July 2011, the date on which the U.S. expects to start withdrawing its forces. "Canada has made such a huge contribution to the mission in Afghanistan for so long that it is a charter member of the effort. So...

Housing markets in the United States and Canada are similar in many respects, but each has fared quite differently since the onset of the financial crisis. A comparison of the two markets suggests that relaxed lending standards likely played a critical role in the U.S. housing bust. Despite their many points of similarity, housing markets in the United States and Canada have fared quite differently since the onset of the financial crisis. Unlike the U.S., Canada has not experienced a dramatic increase in mortgage defaults, nor has any Canadian bank required a government bailout. As a result, observers such as...

The relations between Russia and NATO have been put to the test. One of the members of the North Atlantic Alliance – Canada – blocked the approval of all documents which were supposed to be discussed at the meeting of foreign ministers of Russia and NATO members on December 4...

Well, it finally happened. Much of Canadian media broke radio silence on Climategate today. There really wasn't much choice but to report it, now that Environment Minister Jim Prentice had officially described the allegations as "serious", coupled with the day-old news that CRU head Phil Jones was "stepping aside" in preparation for his encounter with a double-decker. As of this evening, there are 23,100,000 Google results for "climategate" - and exactly one on-air report from the CBC. It's been 14 days since the cork was pulled from FOIA 2009.zip And as it turns out, the concerted efforts of a protective...

I will preface this editorial by saying that I REALLY don’t like Barack Hussein Obama. No secret there. I didn’t like him when he was running for the leadership of the Democratic Party. I liked him even LESS when he was running for the Presidency. And now that he’s the President, I thought it would be near impossible for me to like him even LESS THAN THAT. BUT I DO. This insult to the Presidency of the United States of America and pretender to the title of Commander In Chief and World Leader has REALLY pissed-me-off. Let me tell you...