Monthly Archive: August 2007

The Ministry of Health Promotion is one of those ministries that doesn't seem to do anything unique. Everything it does was either done by another ministry in the past, or worse, is currently being done by another ministry simultaneously.

So I have to say that it looks like this Ontario ministry, with its vague mandate and its generous year-end handouts, seem to be more about promoting the electoral health of Premier Dalton McGuinty.

I am intrigued by the imagery used by the No Gun No Funeral website. It seems completely at odds with what Attorney General Michael Bryant's group wants to accomplish.

The news is that Michael Ignatieff is going to borrow a page from the Americans. He wants his political party, the Liberal Party of Canada, have an animal symbol, as the Democrats have the donkey and the Republicans have the elephant.

In a stroke of brilliance, he has suggested the puffin. It is such an appropriate choice.

Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion has repeatedly promised to avoid personal attacks. The high road would be his, he insists. Indeed, at one point, he said the Liberal Party as a whole would present a positive message to Canadians.

Criticism is not the same as negativity. Stephane Dion can (and does) criticize Prime Minister Stephen Harper's policies.

But when Stephane Dion implicitly allows his image to be used in a partisan political cartoon in which Dion is roasting Stephen Harper alive on a spit, Stephane Dion's promise is seriously undermined.

If you look at the registration records for the two domains attached to Michael Bryant's No Gun No Funeral website, there are two obvious differences.

If those differences are connected, then it suggests a deliberate effort to obscure the link between the website and the constituency office.

Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant has admitted that the website No Gun No Funeral is his. It is promoting his idea of a handgun ban, but is doing so anonymously. Or it was until it was revealed that all the people who administer the site were members of the Michael Bryant's constituency office.

Bryant insisted, however, that constituency resources were not used to make the website.

Perhaps we should revisit that question, since it can now be revealed that the .com version of the domain was registered in the name of the constituency office itself.

But then maybe none of this will matter, as the site itself seems to have suffered a serious technical problem, with the SQL database that serves up content now offline.

Update: The site is back up (it's 1pm on Thursday). No apparent changes that I can see. The registration information isn't any different either (though changes can take up to 24 hours to propagate). I would say they had a serious SQL Server issue, or a major upgrade or patch being applied -- something behind the scenes.

NDP leader Jack Layton will protect Canada's claim to sovereignty in the Far North by making sure it stays cold.

No, I don't know what one has to do with the other either.

A stunning development in the case of the murder of Shemina Hirji. The prime suspect in the case, husband Paul Cheema, has been found dead in the family home. Police have the house cordoned off and little else is being reported.

The key to success for any low-budget grassroots website is inbound links. A blog is a good example. Unless you are a celebrity of some sort, a new blog will get zero direct traffic. That is, no one is going to know the name of the blog or even know to look for it. Instead, you build up traffic by going to like-minded websites (other blogs, forums, etc) and leaving comments and links back to your new site. Visitors come trickling in, and if you are lucky, one day you reach a tipping point when people come to your site because they know about it already.

So when I study the inbound links to No Gun No Funeral, I am struck by the fact that the only inbound links are from conservative blogs who are criticizing the site either for its message or for the way it was being delivered without full disclosure of the source.

There are no links from liberal-minded blogs, from left-of-centre forums, from any site that would send traffic supportive of the No Gun No Funeral message.

Given that this purpose of this site, ostensibly, is to collect petition signatures, this doesn't look good.

The site created by Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant to promote a handgun ban in Canada, No Gun No Funeral, has strong links to the Liberal Party and to Michael Bryant in particular. More information is available, and even more links are discovered.

Garth Turner is embarking on a speaking tour to 10 western cities. Garth Turner was very insistent that taxpayers would not have to pay for this.

But as Dan Cook points out, taxpayer-funded flights will take Garth Turner westward.

Liberal leader Stephane Dion has no choice. The threats must end. If Stephane Dion can make Kyoto work with his plan then he must force an election and just do it, instead of threatening to possibly call an election if Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't implement Stephane Dion's plan on Dion's behalf.

Yeah, I did it yet again. I just can't seem to hit that point where I'm totally satisfied with the way Angry in the Great White North looks and performs. Sometimes when I fiddle with the design I move farther away from that mysterious point. This one, I think, is getting closer. Let me explain some of the changes.

The War Child Canada shock video Camp Okutta raised alarms for many viewers, including me, because of what appeared to be children firing weapons and being exposed to pyrotechnic special effects. Though no one seriously though live rounds were used, even blanks are dangerous, something not always appreciated by people accustomed to mock gun battles on television dramas. Given the recent news of children allegedly being injured on another television production, the concern was real.

War Child Canada immediately responded to those concerns, and gladly provided some insight into how the video was produced, and the precautions taken.

WorkingFamilies.ca is insisting that it is an independent organization, not tied to the Liberals, and that it is only discussing issues.

When you control a website, it is relatively easy to make sure you don't cross the line.

But once you invite your user base to contribute content, you have to be careful. If you've cultivated a rabidly partisan fan base, your delicately constructed facade of non-partisanship can quickly disintegrate as your users make votes and not issues the most important subject of discussion.

I bring this up because it looks like WorkingFamilies.ca might be planning a move in this direction.

Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government seems to have issues when it comes to protecting the public purse. Nothing criminal, but reckless. The latest involves Attorney General Michael Bryant. First, a legal conference paid for by the government quadrupled in price from one year to the next, in no small part because it was held at a luxury resort instead of a more utilitarian conference centre. An isolated case? Well, it turns out that Michael Bryant spends a lot of money on hotels. Very nice hotels.

A viral video showing Canadian kids firing assault rifles is supposed to make me think about child soldiers. Actually, I was happy that none of the kids in the video lost an eye.

Update: War Child Canada has responded to explain just how carefully the video was managed.

An amusing statement by Elizabeth May on the average shape of the progressive protester in Canada makes me wonder what the Green Party would look like if the membership ate fewer potato chips and went out for a walk once in a while.

I keep coming back to the SSL certificate. Why is the SSL certificate for ClimateForChange.ca listed to be the certificate for stephanedion.ca? The more I think about it, the more uneasy I become. There is just no way that should have happened by accident. What I do understand of how certificates work suggests that this connection is a big deal.

ClimateForChange.ca s going to sue the federal government over its Kyoto Plans. An example of grassroots action? Or a political move by one of the opposition parties?

But how could that be if ClimateForChange.ca is an independent non-profit group?

Quebec police are saying that they have reason to believe that Cedrika Provencher, a nine-year-old girl from Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, who disappeared on July 31, might be alive.

Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant is defending a conferences of judges and crown attorney's paid for by the province and hosted at luxury resorts in Ontario. He is being forced to defend them because the cost has quadrupled since the year before.

The Working Families group is clearly designed to boost the Ontario Liberal Party and hurt the Progressive Conservatives in the upcoming Ontario election. Though the group is very careful to say that it is not working for the Ontario Liberal Party, there are elements to the privacy policy that give me pause to wonder if the wall between the party and this group is strong enough.

Content is king. That is how a media outlet lives or dies -- compelling content that catches the interest of the audience, or some sector of the audience. Any media outlet that thinks it is entitled to an audience because of who they are instead of because what content they are offering will die.

GreenStone Media, the all-woman radio station, has died.

At a town hall meeting in Halton last night, Liberal MP Garth Turner was asked about an upcoming speaking tour he was embarking on. Who was funding the tour and how did it help constituents in Halton?

A simple question and one that ought to have had a simple answer. But Turner's angry reaction as reported by the person who posed the question makes me wonder just why such a simple question should have irritated Garth Turner so.

No Gun No Funeral might be getting a fair share of traffic from me. I've been linked by Instapundit, and the link is bound to drive Americans to the No Gun No Funeral site. Many of them will not be fond of gun control, and even less fond of what looks like an attempt to be underhanded in promoting a gun control agenda. Others will like the idea of a ban in Canada, since it might help their own efforts to promote strict gun control in the United States. Either way, they might make their opinions known to Michael Bryant via the online petition.

And whether these visits are critical or supportive of Michael Bryant's idea of a total handgun ban in Canada, their visits are bound to make things more complicated for Michael Bryant.

Stephane Dion has some harsh criticism for Stephen Harper's new cabinet. Not enough women!

Yeah, well, we could take Stephane Dion's approach of appointing women nominees over the wishes of Liberal constituents. The latest was the appointment of Michelle Simson. Funny, though, how Michelle Simson was furious at how a Progressive Conservative MPP helped out a dying female constituent in his riding get the medical help she needed, and then dared to make a point of the failings of Ontario's health care system by criticizng the Liberals.

For female Liberal candidates like Michelle Simson, the important thing is to never criticize the Liberals, even if a woman's health is at risk. That's the sort of woman Stephane Dion is hand-picking to boost his credibility among women.

Before yesterday, the website No Gun No Funeral was not considered political advertising by Elections Ontario because it did not promote a party or a politician.

Well, hasn't that changed? The silly thing is that it was staring me in the face, and it was only now that I actually realized it.

I love sleuthing. Poking around and seeing what sort of inferences I can draw from the smallest clues. In this case I found a small clue that might point to who designed the No Gun No Funeral website for Attorney General Michael Bryant.

Attorney General Michael Bryant has come out to say that he is responsible for No Gun No Funeral. But it is not political, nor is it designed to have him re-elected, nor is it using Liberal Party resources.

Or so he says.

No-Gun-No-Funeral is a group dedicated to having handguns banned outright in Canada. The group will apply pressure to the federal government.

It implies that it is a grassroots organization.

If so, why is it that the only information I can find out about this group points to the Liberal Party, both the federal and Ontario wings of the party. Very interesting is the fact that the phone number for the site goes to the riding association for Michael Bryant, Attorney General of Ontario, who has promised to lobby for a handgun ban.

Update: Attorney General Michael Bryant announces that No Gun No Funeral is his website.

Any list that ranks me above Warren Kinsella and Andrew Coyne is clearly insightful and worth checking out.

OK, blame Alexa for the odd rankings, but as a list that provides a great cross-section of Canadian blogs from across the political spectrum, both pros and amateurs, and including Rick Mercer's blog that resists categorization.

The good news is that an American pedophile, on the run from the law, was picked up by police.

The bad news is that Richard Jones is from Texas, he was picked up in Toronto, and he got from there to here by walking off a cruise ship in Halifax.

It should simply not have happened.

Dick Pound of the World Anti-Doping Agency is warning China in no uncertain terms that if they are caught sending doped athletes into Olympic competition, then the Olympics will be a disaster.

True enough. I think the Chinese will work very hard to hide their doping program. But then what about the genetically-enhanced super-athletes?

Huh?

In the case of Raymond Lavigne, the Liberal Senator charged with fraud, breach of trust, and obstruction of justice, there was no stone to be left unturned in investigating the allegations.

Indeed, the shining light of justice was cast into the darkest cracks in order to find the truth.

The question is raised about who invented calculus.

Let me answer that question. Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz share that honour. The Kerala School might have come up with the Taylor expansion of trigonometric functions, but that is not the same as calculus. Nor did they contribute their discovery to the body of human knowledge.

No need to rewrite the history books on this one, even if it means evil Westerners retain the credit for something good.

A huge recall of nearly 20 million toys is underway. Mattel is recalling toys because of lead paint and because of magnets that could come loose and be swallowed.

Another example of the risk of doing business with China? Only partly, I think.

News out of China about the suicide death of Zhang Shuhong, the CEO of Lee Der Industrial, the company that supplied Mattel with toys covered in lead paint, prompting a massive recall.

I found one particular aspect of the story -- the question of just how common these sorts of suicides are in China -- particularly fascinating.

The Hill Times, the weekly covering politics and government, is reporting on the efforts expended by both the Liberals and the Conservatives in courting the vote in different ethnic communities. While the Conservatives are able to point to action like redressing the Chinese head tax, the Liberals are struggling to put the Douglas Jung gaffe behind them, as suggested by the amount of focus Stephane Dion's mistake in front of the Chinese-Canadian Liberal Association was given in this article.

Cliff Tang has made an appearance in court. If you are following the case of this serial scofflaw with a penchant for reckless driving and responsible for one death (so far), this will be the end of the line.

A publication ban has been imposed.

A publication ban? For a case of driving while suspended?

China is implementing even more wide-ranging surveilliance of its citizenry. George Orwell's 1984 come true? Not quite, and it is in the differences that hope for China stays alive.

I don't know how many of my readers are old Dungeons & Dragons players from years gone by when TSR's 1st Edition AD&D ruled the roost, or are current players using Edition 3.5 of the dramatically reworked Dungeons & Dragons now owned by the Wizards of the Coast, but if you are familiar with all the silly archetypes of fantasy and the strange traditions and protocols of pen-and-paper roleplaying, and need a good sustained laugh, head over to Giant in the Playground Games and check out The Order of the Stick.

The Order of the Stick is an online comic that follows the story of a group of adventurers as they fight the forces of evil while trying to get used to the new third edition rules. I know it sounds strange, and if you've never played a pen-and-paper RPG you probably won't get it. But if you have, you'll laugh. Lots.

It seems normal to think that parties navigating the near-centre of the polical spectrum would be attacked from the left and from the right. But when you look at how the far-left and the far-right terms their attacks, you have to wonder if there is really a difference between the far-left and the far-right.

Maybe it's a good versus evil thing.

The story of the Canadian protesters arrested in China is interesting because of what one of the protesters, Lhadon Tethong, revealed about the way Chinese espionage works in Canada.

The hunt is on for the restaurant assassins in Vancouver. I'm not holding out much hope that the killers will be found.

I wonder if the case of Nadeem Jiwa, the man accused in the first degree murder of Constable Robert Plunkett, is turning into a prisoner's dilemma. That would be very bad news for Jiwa.

Whoever made the bogus Colgate toothpaste that was the focus of so much attention last month was a busy guy. Tubes are still being found. In this case, thousands of tubes in Mozambqiue. The spelling errors are still there, but again, they are different from the ones we found in Canada and then again from those in the United States.

The typos are real zingers.

Nadeem Jiwa is now facing first-degree murder charges in the death of Constable Robert Plunkett. Jiwa's lawyer is Azam Murji, and he has offered subtle hints as to the defence strategy. But one thing Murji demands is that his client not lie to him.

Michael Ignatieff is adding to global warming in a big way by crisscrossing the country, visiting riding association after riding association. This immediately after his much talked-about New York Times piece in which he made it clear that the Liberal Party was right and that he agrees with them now.

It walks like a leadership campaign. It talks like a leadership campaign. But Michael Ignatieff insists that it is not a leadership campaign.

A lot of bloggers and other observers of politics are weighing in on the question of mixed member proportional representation. Well, time to join the herd, like my individual opinion actually matters.

I guess I need to work in concert with other like-minded people to convince as many different people as possible...hey...

It is being reported today that Lloyd Dewitt Tiller of Shreveport, Louisiana, has been charged with sending two threatening emails to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, allegedly because Tiller was angry over the decision to tax income trusts.

Interestingly, the news brings out of the shadows a little known branch of US law enforcement, the Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service.

When $32 million in grants distributed by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration was determined to have been distributed without transparency and without oversight in a scathing report from the auditor-general, Premier Dalton McGuinty did not argue. The minister in charge, Michael Colle, was out of a job, and "corrections" are being implemented.

But the biggest correction of all -- recovering the $32 million and redistributing it under proper management -- is not being pursued. Indeed, Greg Sorbara, the finance minister and the man in charge of the province's books, seemed uninterested in the issue when asked.

When you think about it, the Liberals can't really afford to do the right thing.

We know that police investigating the disappearance of nine-year-old Cedrika Provencher are interviewing registered sex-offenders in the area.

Seems like a prudent step.

But when I learned just how many registered sex-offenders are potential interview subjects, I was shocked.

I thought maybe...what...ten?

I was way off.

If Nadim Jiwa's charges on possession of break-in tools, mischief, and theft had been dealt with four months ago, Robert Plunkett would be alive today.

That seems to be the harsh truth of the matter.

On the other hand, if he is denied bail, time spent in pre-sentencing custody will reduce any sentence he might receive.

The search for missing nine-year-old Cedrika Provencher has shifted to a search for the man who was seen approaching other young girls in the area, and who is suspected of approaching Cedrika.

There has been a serious breach of trust at a Tory provincial riding association in Alberta. An arrest has been made. Thank goodness that the justice system has been allowed to do its job without interference.

Though I applaud Peter Regan for acting on his convictions, at the end of the day, he will learn that his action was essentially pointless.

The brutal death of Constable Robert Plunkett while trying to arrest alleged car thieves has brought into focus the lucrative business of auto theft for parts. In this case, the alleged thieves were trying to steal airbags. Components such as these are sold for lucrative profits to unscrupulous auto shops to sell to unsuspecting customers.

Given, therefore, that the alleged thieves weren't working alone, but quite likely had a buyer lined up for the airbags, you can be certain police will be working hard to roll up the entire operation.

Update: Both suspects were known to the criminal justice system.

Cedrika Provencher of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, is nine-years-old and has been missing for 40 hours. We know that she was looking for a lost dog, but we don't know whose dog it was or who asked her to look. That is very disturbing.

The story of Cliff Tang is a remarkable one.

He is a scofflaw and a repeat offender, having been in and out of jail for various offenses, but mostly for street racing and other serious vehicle crimes.

Including criminal negligence causing death.

And yet despite this history, he continues to drive while under suspension, and was picked up again.

No doubt his driving suspension will be extended now.

I think that is entirely the wrong approach.

A disaster has struck Minneapolis, Minnesota. A major bridge, the I-35W, has collapsed into the Mississippi River.

News of two books, now withdrawn, offered by the German Ministry of Family Affairs advocating sexual touching of children is creating a buzz. But I managed to find the books online, and in truth, the vast majority of the text is devoted to mind-numbingly boring psychobabble.

Does this mean that the concerns are overblown?

I don't think so. Something about the boring bits has me even more worried.

Chuck Strahl's attempt to dismantle the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly on barley sales through a regulatory change was rebuffed by a judge who said that such a change required a change in law, and that means going to parliament.

Disturbing news about a pedophilia site encouraging pedophiles to attend a Children's Festival in Montreal to "watch". Police are worried, but because the site strictly discourages approaching children, it is not illegal.

But here's the thing. This site is in Amsterdam. On a completely unrelated story, I was poking around the dark corners of the Internet looking for two books. I found those books, official German government publications which encourage sexual touching for the health of the children, at an Amsterdam site that is for pedophiles who claim to like only to look at young girls.

Well, then why are those books there?