. President Obama waves to the audience, after speaking at Cairo University in Cairo, Thursday, June 4, 2009. In his
speech, Obama called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims", declaring that "this cycle of suspicion
and discord must end". In a gesture to the Islamic world, Obama conceded at the beginning of his remarks that tension "has
been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries
were often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations." " I consider it part of my responsibility as president
of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear," said the president, who recalled
hearing prayer calls of "azaan" at dawn and dusk while living in Indonesia as a boy.Obama said the actions of violent extremist
Muslims are "irreconcilable with the rights of human beings," and quoted the Qur'an to make his point: "be conscious of God
and always speak the truth ..." "Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism - it is an important part
of promoting peace," he said. "Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, and recognize Israel's right
to exist," he said of the organization the United States deems as terrorists. "The Palestinian Authority must develop its
capacity to govern, with institutions that serve the needs of its people," Obama said
World's Largest Passenger Plane Makes Perfect Landing At PIA Monday. On a day that began with the world holding its breath
waiting for word about a missing Air France Airbus A330, Toronto played host to a much different kind of event from one of that company's more celebrated planes. Monday is
the day the world's largest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, made its first ever landing at Pearson International Airport.
The airliner has been used before, but this is its inaugural landing here and it was the first time you've been able
to see it in the skies above Toronto. It was hard to miss. The double-decker Air Emirates craft is capable of carrying almost 500 passengers, has enough room on it for a gym, a casino, a beauty parlour, double beds, a
shower and can even boast stores inside so you can go shopping as you fly.
Playoff time well under way and TSN's experts are weighing in with their predictions. Front and centre is Maggie the Macaque
from the Bowmanville Zoo, who has become a postseason fixture at TSN. This, however, will be Maggie's last season making picks
as she is retiring after the playoffs.
The sunspot's two dark cores are each about the size of Earth, and they are crackling with B-class solar flares. During years of Solar Max (e.g., 2000-2002) we would consider such activity minor, but now, during the deep
solar minimum of 2008-2009, it merits attention. The magnetic polarity and high latitude of the sunspot identify it as a member
of new Solar Cycle 24, expected to peak in 2013. This makes sunspot 1019 a sign of things to come. Readers with solar telescopes should take a look.
Fifty years ago in Westminster Abbey, where English kings and queens have been crowned for 900 years, Elizabeth was
made Queen of the British Empire on June 2, 1953.
The Archbishop of Canterbury administered the Oath, and presented "Queen Elizabeth, your undoubted Queen," meaning by
hereditary right. The people responded with shouts of "God Save Queen Elizabeth." The procession of the royal coach through
Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace was a spectacle unlike any England had ever seen.
EHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer has defended previous sole-sourced contracts as necessary due to urgency. Sources say eHealth
CEO Sarah Kramer signed a contract worth more than $600,000 to headhunting firm Egon Zehnder International to recruit high-ranking
employees for the agency.The letter of agreement is dated Feb. 5, but sources say a verbal deal with Kramer was reached in
November, the same month Kramer took office. The eHealth CEO has defended nearly $5 million in sole-sourced contracts doled
out in the agency's early months as justified due to the urgency of getting the ball rolling on Ontario's electronic health
record system, set for release in 2015, sources say the agency had access to two headhunting "vendors-of-record" at the time,
raising questions about why it didn't continue using those companies. Either one could have done the job under existing rules
on contract tenders. Egon Zehnder International was given the job of recruiting vice-presidents to replace some of the nine
who were fired during the first four months, plus filling several newly created positions of senior vice-president.
Accenture was awarded three sole-sourced contracts worth $1.3 million, two when Kramer was not yet hired but advising the board of directors and the third a couple months after she took office on Nov. 3, 2008. Also in question are ties between the board of directors chairman Dr. Alan Hudson and a consulting firm that was granted about $2 million in untendered contracts. Sources describe Hudson as an old colleague and mentor to Courtyard Group's founding partner Michael Guerriere. Courtyard received contracts from Cancer Care Ontario when Hudson was head of that agency.
NEW TAX LAWS
PAY NO TAX FOR TEN YEARS CLAIM IT LATER, PAY @ ONLY HALF THE ORIGINAL AMOUNT! PASS DA PASTA! Brian mulruney said the reason he asked to meet Karlheinz Schreiber in a hotel
room in The Mr mulruney claims he spoke to a Chinese official at a dinner about giving
weapon money for the UN to Mr Schreiber. First they had a commander of a UN bvase overcrowded with stuff they were thinking
of giving away. Next they talked with Bill ??dd who sat next to Mulroney at the dinner in question. He never heard any such
talk. Also as Ambassador to FRYIN LYIN BRIAN The lead lawyer at the Oliphant inquiry grilled Brian Mulroney Thursday over his sworn testimony at his Airbus lawsuit in 1996, accusing him of not painting the full picture in describing his relationship with Karlheinz Schreiber. Richard Wolson questioned the former prime minister in Ottawa about the testimony he gave in Montreal during the discovery process of his lawsuit against the federal government over the Airbus affair. Lead Counsel Richard Wolson had former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on the defensive at the Oliphant Commission on May 14, 2009. He suggested Mulroney wasn't being completely open when describing the relationship he had with Schreiber because he didn't mention the commercial arrangement he had struck with the businessman. "You're not quite fulsome in your response," Wolson said. Wolson pressed Mulroney, asking about his response to the question of whether he maintained contact with Schreiber after he left office. Mulroney responded in 1996 that from time to time he and Schreiber had met for coffee, but didn't discuss their business relationship or the three cash payments Mulroney received in 1993 and 1994 at three hotels. no one knew about it but you and Schreiber and [Fred] Doucet and someone in Germany. That's why it never came," Wolson responded. Mulroney said under Quebec law, he was under no obligation to volunteer any information. But Wolson asked Mulroney why, if he wasn't there to volunteer information, he testified that Schreiber had retained former Liberal cabinet minister Marc Lalonde. "How do you explain the difference? You're volunteering information about a retainer of Mr. Lalonde, not having been asked, but you don't say anything about your retainer [with Schreiber]? Poll on Mulruney "I like him better than I used to 19% A former aide to Brian Mulroney says he has "no memory" of a memo written to Karlheinz Schreiber confirming that Airbus planes had been delivered to Air Canada. Fred Doucet, who was a chief of staff to the former prime minister, was testifying yesterday at a public inquiry, led by Justice Jeffrey Oliphant, that is probing business dealings between Mulroney and Schreiber, a German Canadian businessman.A memo entered into evidence from Doucet to Schreiber on the number of planes Air Canada purchased is dated Aug. 27, 1993, the day that Mulroney received his first cash payment from Schreiber for lobbying on behalf of a proposal to build German-designed military vehicles in Canada."I have no memory of this memorandum at all," Doucet said, referring to the memo to Schreiber confirming that "34 Airbus have been purchased and delivered to Air Canada."The Oliphant inquiry is probing the Mulroney-Schreiber dealings with respect to a proposal in the early 1990s by Bear Head Industries to build light-armoured vehicles in Canada. Schreiber was chair of Bear Head Industries, a subsidiary of Thyssen AG. Schreiber says he paid Mulroney $300,000 to lobby for the project in 1993-94. He claims the deal was struck just before Mulroney stepped down as prime minister, although the money didn't change hands until later.Mulroney has admitted taking $225,000 from Schreiber but says he violated no federal ethics rules. Evidence yesterday touched on the so-called Airbus affair of the early 1990s. Federal lawyers at one time alleged that Mulroney and Schreiber were involved in a kickback scheme surrounding the 1988 purchase by Air Canada of Airbus jetliners.Mulroney successfully sued the then-Liberal government over that claim and was awarded $2.1 million in compensation in 1997.Doucet told the inquiry a heart operation several years ago affected his memory, but inquiry counsel Richard Wolson suggested his memory was good when recalling details that bolstered Mulroney's position.Oliphant said that while he was not charged with opening up the Airbus affair, he is expected to investigate the payments to Mulroney and where the money came from."One of the questions I am called upon to answer is why certain payments were made to Mr. Mulroney by Mr. Schreiber ... it seems to me that the commission would be remiss if it failed to examine what is behind these letters," he said. Friday's PM Rush Hour Could See Commuter Chaos Downtown...Friday rush hours are usually pretty bad in the heart of the downtown
core. The one that's coming this week could be even worse than usual. As you're looking to escape for your weekend, a series
of events will make it that much harder for you to avoid the gridlock. The biggest crush could well be around the Metro Convention
Centre, where heavy security will be in place for the arrival of former U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Both
are here to make speeches but expect plenty of protestors to gather outside and have their say, too, creating troubles
on the streets around the facility. The worst of it will come when they arrive, with the event lasting from about 3pm-6pm,
but security preparations will be in place well before that. A bike race affecting the routes around the St. Lawrence
Centre - including Front and the Esplanade - will have access to some streets blocked from 4pm to 11pm. Thousands
of people are expected for the Toronto Criterium, which is actually three separate races around a specific route. See the affected area here. While all that's going on, the limping Jays are finally back home after their worst road trip in history.
They'll try to reverse an 0-9 record in a key rematch with the Boston Red Sox. The terrific early showing for the
team has caused a high demand for tickets and big crowds are expected, further swelling the number of people downtown.
That means if you haven't picked up your tickets or plan to try to get some at the last minute, you're likely to experience
delays at the Rogers Centre. Officials are asking those who don't have their admissions yet to arrive early or risk missing
some innings. It's the perfect storm of events and it means getting out of the city on the last workday of a long week may
take even longer.
A South Korean Marine stands guard in alert on Yeonpyong Island, western South Korea, Thursday, May 28, 2009.
A visitor walks near the mock North Korean Scud-B missile,
extreme left, and other South Korean missiles on display at Korea War Memorial Museum in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, May 25,
2009. North Korea announced Monday that it successfully carried out an underground nuclear test, weeks after threatening to
restart its rogue atomic program.The U.S. and South Korea put their military forces on high alert
Thursday after North Korea renounced the truce keeping the peace between the two Koreas since 1953.
The North also accused the U.S. of preparing to attack the isolated communist country in the wake of its second nuclear bomb test, and warned it would retaliate to any hostility with "merciless" and dangerous ferocity. Seoul moved a 3,500-tonne destroyer into waters near the Koreas' disputed western maritime border while smaller, high-speed vessels were keeping guard at the front line, South Korean news reports said. The defence ministry said the U.S. and South Korean militaries would increase surveillance activities. Pyongyang, meanwhile, positioned artillery along the west coast on its side of the border, the Yonhap news agency said. The Joint Chiefs of Staffs in Seoul refused to confirm the reports. The show of force along the heavily fortified border dividing the two Koreas comes three days after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test and fired a series of short-range missiles. The test drew immediate condemnation from world leaders and the UN Security Council, where ambassadors were discussing a new resolution to punish Pyongyang. U.S. President Barack Obama called it a "blatant violation" of international law. PARIS - The Church of Scientology could be dissolved in France if it is convicted in a trial that opened Monday in a Paris court, where the group and seven of its French leaders stand charged of organized fraud and illegal pharmaceutical activity. French Scientology Church branch spokeswoman Danielle Gounord, arrives at Paris court house, Monday, May 25, 2009 The group, considered a sect in France, has faced prosecution and difficulties in registering its activities in many countries. The trial comes more than a decade after one of the three plaintiffs originally filed a complaint against the Church of Scientology. A young woman said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of close to US$30,000 on books, courses and "purification packages" after being recruited by the group in 1998. When she sought reimbursement and to leave the group, its leadership refused. Investigating judge Jean-Christophe Hullin spent years examining the group's activities, and in his indictment criticized practices he said were aimed at extracting large sums of money from members and plunging them into a "state of subjection." The investigator questioned what he called the Scientologists' "obsession" with financial gain, and the group's practice of selling vitamins, leading to the charge of "acting illegally as a pharmacy." Patrick Maisonneuve, lawyer for the Church of Scientology in France, dismissed any organized fraud, although he acknowledged there could have been individual abuses. The stories spread quickly across this smattering of tropical islands in southeastern Indonesia, the
only place the endangered reptiles can still be found in the wild: Two people were killed since 2007 - a young boy and a fisherman
- and others were badly wounded after being charged unprovoked.
Komodo dragon attacks are still rare, experts note. But fear is swirling through the fishing villages,
along with questions on how best to live with the dragons in the future.
Main, a 46-year-old park ranger, was doing paper work when a dragon slithered up the stairs of his
wooden hut in Komodo National Park and went for his ankles dangling beneath the desk. When the ranger tried to pry open the
beast's powerful jaws, it locked its teeth into his hand. "I thought I wouldn't survive... I've spent half my life working with Komodos and have never seen anything
like it," said Main, pointing to his jagged gashes, sewn up with 55 stitches and still swollen three months later. "Luckily,
my friends heard my screams and got me to hospital in time."
Komodos, which are popular zoo exhibits from the United States to Europe, grow to be three metres long
and 70 kilograms. All of the estimated 2,500 left in the wild can be found within the 1,810-square-kilometre Komodo National
Park, mostly on its two largest islands, Komodo and Rinca. The lizards on neighbouring Padar were wiped out in the 1980s when
hunters killed their main prey, deer. The giant lizards have always been dangerous, said Rudiharto. However tame they may appear, lounging beneath trees and
gazing at the sea from white-sand beaches, they are fast, strong and deadly.
The animals are believed to have descended from a larger lizard on Indonesia's main island Java or Australia around 30,000
years ago. They can reach speeds of up to nearly 30 kilometres per hour, their legs winding around their low, square shoulders
like egg beaters.
When they catch their prey, they carry out a frenzied biting spree that releases venom, according to a new study this month
in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The authors, who used surgically excised glands from a terminally
ill dragon at the Singapore Zoo, dismissed the theory that prey die from septicemia caused by toxic bacteria in the lizard's
mouth.
"The long, jaded teeth are the primary weapons. They deliver these deep, deep wounds," said Bryan Fry of the University
of Melbourne. "But the venom keeps it bleeding and further lowers the blood pressure, thus bringing the animal closer to unconsciousness."
Four people have been killed in the last 35 years (2009, 2007, 2000 and 1974) and at least eight injured in just over a
decade. But park officials say these numbers aren't overly alarming given the steady stream of tourists and the 4,000 people
who live in their midst.
"Any time there's an attack, it gets a lot of attention," Rudiharto said. "But that's just because this lizard is exotic,
archaic, and can't be found anywhere but here."
Still, the recent attacks couldn't have come at a worse time.
The government is campaigning hard to get the park onto a new list of the Seven Wonders of Nature - a long shot, but an
attempt to at least raise awareness. The park's rugged hills and savannahs are home to orange-footed scrub fowl, wild boar
and small wild horses, and the surrounding coral reefs and bays harbour more than a dozen whale species, dolphins and sea
turtles. Spacewalking astronauts equipped the Hubble Space Telescope with the first of two new science instruments Thursday, launching
the first overhaul of the 19-year-old observatory in seven years."It's a great Hubble day," said Grunsfeld, a 50-year-old astronomer who is making his third visit to the iconic science instrument,
the most by any astronaut.
"Pretty cool," said Feustel, a 43-year-old geologist and rookie astronaut, as he followed Grunsfeld from the shuttle's airlock. "Fantastic." The seven Atlantis astronauts rendezvoused with Hubble on Wednesday, capturing the 13.2 meter telescope with the shuttle's robot arm and mounting it upright in the cargo bay. Toronto Man Accused Of Sending Nuclear Technology To Iran
There's no chance of bail for a Toronto man who's accused of trying to send nuclear technology to Iran. Mahmoud
Yadegari, 35, will remain in jail as his trial continues, judge Sheila Ray ruled on Monday. Yadegari was arrested last month
and charged under the Customs Act and Export and Import Permits Act. He is also accused of violating United Nations sanctions
on Iran. The eight-week investigation was sparked when Yadegari allegedly purchased ten pressure transducers from a company
near Boston. The transducers, which are legal, can also be used to make enriched uranium. As the RCMP and the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security looked into the case, they allegedly found that Yadegari was trying to send the shipment to Iran without
the required export permits.
The offer by Ahmadinejad came at a news conference in Tehran today as he stepped up his campaign for
his re-election in the June 12 presidential vote.
If returned to office, Ahmadinejad says he wants to meet Obama during the UN General Assembly in September
to debate "world issues and the way toward peace."
Ahmadinejad is in a four-way race against a fellow hardliner and two pro-reform candidates.
MATCH AGAINST A FRENCH TEAM. (Received January 2, noon.) THE AMERICAN TRIP. PREMIER'S OFFER ACCEPTED. The Premier's offer that
tha co-lony shall pay the cost qjf the return of the New Zealand footballers via Canada and the States — to give the
players a treat, aad to mark the colony's appreciation — was considered by the Management Committee of the New Zealand
Rugby Union at a meeting to-day. Present : Messrs. G. F. C. Campbell (in the chair), R. M. Isaacs, G.
C. Fache, A. Laurensoh, Wm. Coffey, and N. Galbraith.
It was decided to accept the offer, and to cable the manager of the team (Mr. Geo.'Dixon) informing him to that effect, and
suggesting" that the team play matches in Canada and America en route, and that the team leave San Francisco on 15th February.
This arrangement will give the players three or four weeks in
The church, originally built as the St. James Chapel in 1829, was enlarged in 1866 and renamed Trinity Church. Ray and
Alice Brock purchased the property in 1964 and made it their home. The building has had several owners since the early 1970s.
[5] In 1991, Guthrie bought the church that had served as Alice and Ray Brock's former home, at 4 Van Deusenville Road, Great
Barrington, Massachusetts, and converted it to the Guthrie Center, a nondenominational, interfaith meeting place.[6] The church's exterior is covered with white vinyl siding with the original cornerstone dedications still intact. There
are two public entrances, a ramp for disabled guests on the side of the building and another consisting of two large wooden
doors. The entrance from the side leads directly into the chapel. The front entrance leads into a living room with couches
and a kitchen to the left. Bathrooms are located down a straight hallway to the right. Above this hallway is a sign that says
" One God - Many Forms / One River - Many Streams / One People - Many Faces / One Mother - Many Children -Ma". In the main chapel area there is a stage for performances set up with microphone and other audio inputs. On the stage,
in the rear center, Officer Obie's chair sits as a reminder of the arrest. In the rear of the chapel there is a set of stairs
and a loft which holds a shrine dedicated to multiple religions and also contains a viewing loft. Also, there is a door that
leads to a set of private rooms in which Alice and Ray once lived. In recent years, the Guthrie Center has become a popular folk music venue, hosting the Troubadour Concert series annually
from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Musical guests have included John Gorka, Jaane Doe, The Highwaymen and, of course, Arlo Guthrie.
The annual "Garbage Trail Walk", retracing the steps of Arlo and folksinger Rick Robbins (as told in the song), raises money
for Huntington's Disease research. On Thanksgiving, the Center hosts a "Thanksgiving dinner that can't be beat" for people in need from the local
community.
LEVEL FIVE.sorry folks, until we see whats up with the H1-N1 we will
continue to post updates...... we contend that while most media slogs a story to death this is an important story. Reminds
me on April 28 2009 I saw a journalist stick his mike up to a pig as part of his swine flu story. The porker grunted away
as it came forward thinking to eat the mike. More responsive than ex-Prez George! Perhaps he was the town mayor! The
number of swine flu victims topped the 1,000 mark on Monday 4/5/09 as the UN's most senior health official warned that
a second wave of the virus could be far worse.
Heightening concern of an outbreak prompted Ontario to partly activate
its emergency management centre, which co-ordinates the provincial reaction to extreme events, such as a flu pandemic. The
news on the weekend that the bug appears to have been transmitted back to pigs in Alberta has raised a new level of concern.
Experts are saying it's perfectly normal for these kinds of things to happen and that the pigs are recovering nicely.
But it's that kind of back and forth inter-species transmission that leaves open the risk of the virus mutating again, being
given back to humans in a new form and potentially returning as a more deadly strain than we've yet seen. There are more
than 800 cases of the flu around the world in countries ranging from the U.S. and Ireland to New Zealand and Israel. Outside
of a Mexican toddler brought to the States for treatment, no one outside of Mexico has died from the disease.
FEVERED REACTIONS About 25 Canadian students have been quarantined in China
amid fears about the potential spread of swine flu in the densely populated country. The students, believed to be mostly from
Quebec universities, had boarded a plane in Beijing. When they got off the plane in Changchun they were met by health officials
who took them to a room at the airport to have their temperatures taken, Martin Deslaurier, a University of Montreal student,
told CBC News in an email. Deslaurier said that no one in his group had a fever, but they were still informed they would be
placed in quarantine for seven days. They were first taken to a dormitory at a local university before being moved to a hotel
on Sunday where they are the only guests, Deslaurier said. The group has been told they aren't allowed to leave the facility
and meals are being provided, Deslaurier said. The students must undergo medical examinations each day of the quarantine,
he said, which will last five more days. Canadian officials in China have declined to comment on the quarantine and have directed
all questions to Foreign Affairs in Ottawa. The ministry has not yet commented. Deslaurier said the students were in China
to study Chinese. They have been told by officials that the quarantine is a provincial measure and not part of a national
plan by the Chinese government, he said. Hans Troeddson, a World Health Organization official in China, told CBC News that
although the quarantine cases are inconveniencies for travellers, China is not doing anything wrong. It is up to each country
to determine how it attempts to control the outbreak of the disease, Troeddson said. What China has done so far is in accordance
with its policies, he said."It's really up to each country and should be in accordance with their own regulations and legislation
on public health and protection of the population."
Iran has killed wild boars at their zoo though negative H1N1
Williams said he doesn't believe there is reason yet for the public to worry because most cases in
the U.S. and Canada have proven to be quite mild. Goel noted that all the province's pandemic plans were predicated on an
influenza strain emerging out of Asia, not North America. "So it's much closer to us and so I think we have to just bear in
mind that this is hitting us much faster," he said. Earlier yesterday, Premier Dalton McGuinty advised people not to panic
because Ontario's public health system is in a strong position to react thanks to its experiences with the SARS outbreak in
2003. "First of all, stay calm," McGuinty said. "There's a real concern here, there's no doubt about that, but it's not a
cause for undue alarm." Tamiflu is effective in combating swine flu if the treatment
is given early enough.
This is an example of media influence. We still don't know much about this virus and panic sets in flamed by media hype.
Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precautionary measure against
the spread of swine flu even though no cases have been reported here yet, the Health Ministry said. The move immediately provoked
resistance from pig farmers. At one large pig farming centre just north of Cairo, farmers refused to co-operate with Health
Ministry workers who came to slaughter the animals and the workers left without carrying out the government order. "It has
been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses,"
Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a cabinet meeting. Egypt's overwhelmingly Muslim population does not
eat pork due to religious restrictions. But the animals are raised and consumed by the Christian minority, which some estimates
put at 10 per cent of the population. Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman estimated there were between 300,000-350,000
pigs in Egypt
10,000 Tamil Protestors Create Commuter Chaos It was an amazing sight, all the more so because it stayed so peaceful. "There are probably thousands, tens of thousands
of Tamils here all trying to bring some attention to their cause," "You can see them on the street corners here trying to
hand out pamphlets just to let people know what they're actually talking about."He believes they more than achieved their
aims. "Their message is 'stop Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka.' If that's what they wanted, that's what they're getting right
now.
Tamil Demonstration To Continue With Human Chain On Tuesday
Monday May 4, 2009
Pot Activists Descend On Queen's Park
Queen's Park was packed with tens of thousands of pro-marijuana activists lighting up for the third annual
Toronto Freedom Festival. About 250 cities around the world took part in the marijuana march - London, Paris and New York
among them - but the one here was the largest.Most of the protesters argued smoking pot should be legalized, with some saying
it's essential for their health."It's important for me because I've suffered a few injuries and it helps me with my pain and
it helps me to sleep. I have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome as well," revealed Kim Sutton. Despite the large numbers
of people illegally smoking pot, police took a hands-off approach at the gathering. "Because of the number of us here and
the size of the crowd, we have to use our discretion," explained Sgt. Sean Narine of Toronto Police.
Raul Castro has dismissed Barack Obama's policy changes toward Cuba as "minimal" and says it
is up to the United States, and not Cuba, to do more to improve relations.
In Third World countries the word evokes images of emaciated bodies clothed in rags, living in squalor next to open sewers. In wealthy nations like Canada, poverty is more nuanced. We have food banks and homeless shelters. But we also have children who are unable to go on school trips because their families are struggling to pay rent. We have people who don't visit friends because they can't afford TTC fares. And others who don't have the right clothes to wear to a job interview. So what does it mean to be poor in Ontario today? Canada doesn't have an official poverty line. But the McGuinty government's promise to come up with a way to measure poverty and a strategy to reduce it has bureaucrats, politicians and poverty activists scrambling to come up with the right definition. Patricia McKenzie has no cable or Internet. She doesn't even have a television. She has had to give them up for a far more basic staple: Food. An unemployed 38-year-old, McKenzie says she has gone days without eating and has often had to choose between paying the rent and paying for groceries. Thus, the Dawes Rd. resident likely would find no surprises in a new University of Toronto study that suggests two out of three families in the city's lowest-income neighbourhoods are unable to even get enough to eat. " 28 per cent of those were in a category that we would call 'severe food insecurity,'" says study co-author Sharon Kirkpatrick, who helped conduct the research as part of her U of T doctoral thesis. "They had indicators like cutting or skipping meals and going a whole day without food being the most extreme," Kirkpatrick says. The research is reported in the current edition of Canadian Journal of Public Health. "What this study is really showing is that even though we have lots of food programs available in our communities, like food banks ... there's still a great degree of unmet need," Kirkpatrick says. "This really points to the need to address the roots of the problem. It's not a food problem, it's a poverty problem." The study surveyed 500 families in 12 neighbourhoods designated in a 2004 United Way report as being among the city's poorest. Each household had children and rented their living space. Some relied on income from Ontario Works or provincial disability programs, but most were employed. "We didn't expect to find that two in three (households) would have trouble accessing adequate food," says Kirkpatrick, who is doing post-doctoral work at the University of Calgary. The study was conducted between October 2005 and January 2007 and Kirkpatrick says the economic downturn has exacerbated the problem. The study chose its subjects based on income levels that fell below Statistics Canada's low-income cutoff and the levels vary based on the number of people living in each household, Kirkpatrick says. A family of four living on an income of less than $40,000 a year, for example, would be considered poor, according to the StatsCan criteria researchers used. Industry Minister Tony Clement. A dirty little weasel yesman we used to call a brown-noser. He has gone way up the ladder of success since he was a lousy lying careless MPP here on Main St. Brampton. He claims America does not understand the "Game" of this recession. Look poo-nose it is not a game okay! Probably in your mind it is, but this is real life ; real people suffering. Hope you get caught doing whatever dirty disgusting things you do just like Lyin Mulruney! GOVT. POSITION...The Canadian Auto Workers union must make more concessions to ensure a proposed cooperation deal between Chrysler and Italian auto company Fiat goes through, Industry Minister Tony Clement said Thursday. He said the union and Chrysler must forge a new agreement within two weeks to allow the Fiat deal to go ahead. If there is no agreement, Ottawa has the right to call its loans to Chrysler, he told reporters. Clement said he understood Fiat's demand the union cut costs further. "We expect that the CAW has to recognize that in order for Chrysler to survive in this country that Chrysler has to be competitive with the rest of the Canadian market," he said. Chrysler has until the end of the month to forge an alliance with Fiat to qualify for long-term U.S. and Canadian government aid. Labour talks between the company and the CAW are due to start next Monday. "There has to be a CAW-Chrysler deal in the next two weeks – the clock is ticking – in order to allow for Fiat to continue with its partnership with Chrysler," said Clement. PERVERSION IN THE COURTS....By Justice Eleanore Cronk handing what amounted to a one-day prison term to a man who admitted strangling a pregnant sex-trade worker, an experienced Ontario trial judge fashioned a "just sentence" that in no way devalues the victim's life, the province's highest court ruled yesterday. In a 3-0 decision yesterday, the Ontario Court of Appeal rejected arguments that the prison term imposed on Wayne Ryczak – 30 months on paper – was outside the range of appropriate sentences for manslaughter, adding the decision to credit him generously for time in pre-trial custody is entitled to "considerable deference" on appeal. "They failed my daughter big time," Alice Dort said yesterday from Nova Scotia. While Justice Stephen Glithero's sentencing decision sparked protests and turned Ryczak into a poster boy for the Harper government's campaign to end "two-for-one" sentencing credits, the appeal court said it fits with sentencing principles dictated by the Criminal Code and shows sensitivity for the life and death of Stephine Beck, 29. Beck's partially exposed body was found dumped in the snow on a street in Vineland, Ont., March 4, 2007, shortly after one of Ryczak's neighbours saw him carrying it. Writing for the court yesterday, Justice Eleanore Cronk noted the evidence did not establish conclusively that strangulation was the sole cause of death and showed Beck had potentially lethal levels of cocaine in her system when she attacked Ryczak in his trailer.
NASA's Swift satellite and an international team of astronomers have found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when
the universe was only 630 million years old, or less than five percent of its present age. The event, dubbed GRB 090423, is
the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen.
This image merges data from Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical (blue, green) and X-Ray (orange, red) telescopes. No visible light accompanied the burst, which hints at great distance. The image is 6.3 arcminutes wide. "The incredible distance to this burst exceeded our greatest expectations. Swift's X-Ray Telescope (XRT) captured an apparent expanding halo around the flaring neutron star SGR J1550-5418. The halo formed as X-rays from the brightest flares scattered off of intervening dust clouds. Gamma-rays flares from SGR J1550-5418 may arise when the magnetar's surface suddenly cracks, releasing energy stored within its powerful magnetic field. DEAD SEA SCROLLS JIHAD?
A planned Toronto exhibit of ancient Middle Eastern manuscripts is threatening to plunge Canada, along
with the Royal Ontario Museum, into the thick of the long-running conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Beginning in
June, the ROM will host a six-month exhibit of the famed Dead Sea Scrolls, organized in co-operation with the Israel Antiquities
Authority. But top Palestinian officials this week declared the exhibit a violation of international law and called on Canada
to cancel the show. In letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and top executives at the ROM, senior Palestinian officials
argue the scrolls – widely regarded as among the great archaeological discoveries of the 20th century – were acquired
illegally by Israel when the Jewish state annexed East Jerusalem in 1967. "The exhibition would entail exhibiting or displaying
artifacts removed from the Palestinian territories," said Hamdan Taha, director-general of the archaeological department in
the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. "I think it is important that Canadian institutions would be responsible
and act in accordance with Canada's obligations." The Palestinians say the planned ROM exhibit violates at least four international
conventions or protocols on the treatment of cultural goods that were illegally obtained. Both Canada and Israel are signatories
to all of the agreements, the Palestinians say. The letter of protest sent this week to Harper was signed by Salam Fayyad,
prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and its second-in-command. The letter to the ROM bore the signature of Khouloud
Daibes, minister of tourism and antiquities. "I'm just hearing about this issue," William Thorsell, CEO of the ROM, said yesterday.
"I do understand the Palestinians are making an issue of the ownership. But I'm quite certain the scrolls fall within the
parameters of the law."
Minimum Wage Increases Tuesday, Will Rise Again Next Year
Hourly earners, take note. The minimum wage in the province increased Tuesday and it will go up again in 2010.
The rate is now $9.50 an hour in Ontario. That's an increase of 75 cents over the previous total. Next year, we'll see another
75-cent bump, bringing the payout to $10.25 an hour. Last week, Premier Dalton McGuinty had hinted that the 2010 wage hike
might be cut due to the faltering economy. He changed his tune on Monday after much pressure from both the legislature - the
opposition parties criticized his about face - and the street, where minimum wage earners in the province accused McGuinty
of thinking only about the "big guys."
Gridlock Warning: DVP To Be Closed All Weekend
It's an annual rite at this time of year: spring cleaning. And no one is going to hate the chore more than
drivers this weekend. The Don Valley Parkway will be closed for more than 48 hours this Saturday and Sunday, leaving
those trying to get downtown facing the usual commuter chaos.
Street racing! Fun, Wow!In the Greater Toronto Area, street racing seems to be centred in the area of Peel between Orangeville and Brampton, spilling over into nearby areas of York Region
around Kleinburg and Woodbridge. A driver clocked at nearly 190 km/h on the Gardiner Expressway Wednesday lost his licence
and his 2006 Audi A3. At least 798 drivers have had their licences suspended for extreme driving on Toronto streets since
March 23, the Ministry of Transportation says. In the latest case, a patrol officer noticed the 34-year-old suspect heading
westbound near Kipling Ave. at a high speed around 10 a.m. The Audi was travelling at 186 km/h, almost double the Gardiner's
100-km/h speed limit, police say.
WAKE UP CANADA BIG BROTHER NOW HAS YOU COMING AND GOING.....Police are free to search through a person's garbage without a warrant, even if it means crossing a residential property line, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled. In a 7-O ruling today, the court said a former national swim star had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the trash set outside on his property. Beyond searching for evidence of a specific crime, law enforcement officials would be free to collect information for databases of personal biological information. In extreme cases, they might consider collecting trash in troubled neighbourhoods to construct profiles of people living the community. Patrick argued that snooping through his trash constituted an unreasonable search and seizure. While agreeing that police did not violate Patrick's Charter rights, Justice Rosalie Abella broke with her fellow judges in characterizing the privacy interests at stake in the case. "The home is the most private of places," she said. "Personal information emanating from the home that has been transformed into household waste is entitled to protection from indiscriminate state intrusion." "Household waste left for garbage disposal is 'abandoned' for a specific purpose – so that garbage will reach the waste disposal system," Abella said. "What has not been abandoned is the homeowner's privacy interest attaching to personal information. Individuals do not intend that this information, such as medical or financial information, will be generally accessible to public scrutiny, let alone to the state." And if not convinced yet...Big brother could be coming to a bus shelter near you!Once the habit of the rich and famous and cool characters like Joe Camel, Marlboro Man and classic film stars, cigarettes
now hold the reigns as the biggest social faux pas going. Can't smoke outside buildings or inside casinos. Bingo halls and bars are out. Can't light up under umbrellas on restaurant patios. Even some of the most smoke-friendly European cities have stubbed out leisurely ciggies in their espresso-savoring hangouts. Been at an airport lately? Long gone is the inside smoking room. Many airports now have a small outdoor shelter to hold smokers. They pack into a see-through box thing and kind of look like creatures at a zoo. Soon they (they being the Big Brother government types) might go so far as nixing that after-sex ciggie. Now that would be something. But, before entertaining such ridiculous cruelties, Toronto may soon be clamping down on tobacco as the TTC mulls over an idea to ban smoking anywhere new transit stops. The space between smoker and transit stop being proposed is 10 metres. Seeing as there are 10,000 bus and streetcar stops across Toronto, trying to clamp down on this would be a very interesting experiment indeed. Dish out those tax dollars people because we've got to bust those naughty tobacco-loving criminals! This plan is about as useful as paying guys to troll around city parks in search of family dogs running off leash. Forget Toronto's thriving gang activity, shootings of innocent bystanders, drug deals, drunk driving deaths, child abuse and animal cruelty cases, someone's smoking near a bus stop! Get him! Yeah, that's a biggie. Does the city really need to pay out more fat salaries to monitor this nonsense? A BIG MONEY SHOWDOWN
A judge on Friday rejected Brian Mulroney's bid to delay an inquiry into the former prime minister's dealings with businessman
Karlheinz Schreiber. Justice Jeffrey Oliphant ruled hearings will begin on March 30, not two weeks later as Mulroney's lawyer
Guy Pratte had requested. The first witnesses at hearings that will delve into the business relationship between former prime
minister Brian Mulroney and German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber will testify on Monday in Ottawa. Former Conservative
cabinet minister Bill McKnight and former Liberal cabinet minister Marc Lalonde will be the first witnesses. Mulroney's former
chief of staff, Derek Burney, and Beth Moores, the widow of former Newfoundland premier and Mulroney confidant Frank Moores,
will testify on Tuesday. A ruling by Justice Jeffery Oliphant clarified the legal terms of the inquiry last week and allowed
the hearings to go ahead. Oliphant indicated he intends to cast a wide legal net in assessing the business relations between
Mulroney and Schreiber. But the inquiry, which was ordered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, will not come to any conclusions
on criminal or civil liability. The inquiry will look at the money Mulroney received from Schreiber, who is facing extradition
for tax, bribery and fraud charges in Germany. New Democrat MP Pat Martin said the hearings would give Canadians the chance
to get answers about the money. "I think we're finally in a format and a setting where we can expect answers," Martin said.
Martin acknowledged that the House of Commons ethics committee accomplished little in getting to the truth of the dealings
between Mulroney and Schreiber. "If we hadn't taken action, Karlheinz Schreiber would've been wheels up and sitting in a jail
in Germany and this opportunity would've been lost to us forever," Martin said. In testimony to the federal ethics committee
in 2007, Mulroney said he received cash payments from Schreiber after he left office in June 1993. He said he was paid $225,000
in three instalments, and that the money was payment for his efforts as an international lobbyist on behalf of Thyssen, a
German company. He has acknowledged waiting until 1999 to pay tax on the money. Schreiber has argued that the total was $300,000,
and that the arrangement was reached while Mulroney was serving his last days as prime minister in 1993. Schreiber, who appeared
before the ethics committee on four separate occasions, said Mulroney did nothing to earn the money. Schreiber is expected
to testify on April 14.
Last Canadian Standing For World's Best Job. Erik Rolfsen is hoping his third visit to Australia will be a charm as he heads Down Under, one step closer to landing what's been dubbed
"The Best Job in the World." Rolfsen, online news editor for The Vancouver Province, made the final short list of 16 candidates vying to become caretaker of Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef . The winner will receive a six-month contract worth
150,000 Australian dollars - around C$134,000 - to live in a three-bedroom house with views of the Whitsunday Islands while
writing a blog to promote the area. The caretaker will also be expected to capture moments for a video diary and photo gallery.
The 39-year-old father of two is the last Canadian left standing in the contest, which started off with a pool of nearly 35,000
applicants. Rolfsen was among seven Canadians who made the top 50 finalists shortlisted last month for the job. The public
had the chance to view video applications from the top 50 finalists on the job ad's website and vote for their favourite to
become the lone wild card entry. Rolfsen took a playful approach in his video, which featured him watching "Finding Nemo"
to learn more about the Great Barrier Reef. He will now join the top wild card vote-getter, Clare Wang of Taiwan, and the
remaining 14 finalists chosen by the tourism board of Queensland, who will be flown to Hamilton Island next month for interviews.
New Three Stooges Movie on it's way! What a revoltin' development! Or so you might think with the news that the cast
of a new Three Stooges movie seems all but set. Reports out of Hollywood have confirmed only one name for sure. And you may not believe some of this
casting. Oscar winner Sean Penn has been signed to star as Larry Fine, the so-called middle Stooge with the curly hair just
made to be ripped out by Moe. It will be his first comedy since 1989. So who's in charge of this notorious threesome?
It's said to be none other than Benecio Del Toro, who will play the noggin cracking, skull pounding, hammer knocking, bowl
haircut-wearing leader of the trio. But perhaps the most amazing cast member will be a man who's badly in need of a hit after
a series of less than blockbuster starring roles: Canadian Jim Carrey (top left) is said to be all but confirmed for
the pivotal role of Curly, although he may have to gain 40 lbs. and be shaved bald to fit the role. Can he do it? Soitanly!
VANCOUVER –RCMP on trial at Inquest. A Mountie denied Wednesday he collaborated with his fellow officers to "cook up" a fabricated story to justify why a Polish man was Tasered five times at Vancouver airport in 2007. The officer was responding to allegations put to him by Don Rosenbloom, a Vancouver lawyer representing the government of Poland, the country Robert Dziekanski left to come to Canada. He died at Vancouver International airport shortly after 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2007. The lawyer accused Millington of colluding with three other officers involved in the fatal incident, intentionally misleading homicide investigators and continuing to lie on the witness stand. "You and your fellow officers collaborated to fabricate your story in the expectation that it would justify your conduct to your superiors. Do you deny that?" Rosenbloom asked. "I'm suggesting that you and your fellow officers intentionally misled ... investigators and you continue to lie under oath at this commission. Do you deny that?" Rosenbloom charged. Millington said it never happened. Asked why all the officers to testify so far made similar mistakes in their recollections of what happened, Millington replied: "I don't know." He denied Rosenbloom's suggestion that the officers who dealt with Dziekanski made "terrible mistakes" and did not act in a prudent manner. "I didn't think he was going to die," Millington added. He said he spent 10 seconds trying to ask Dziekanski for his passport and identification. "He moved away and ended the communication." He said he zapped Dziekanski with 50,000 volts when the agitated man grabbed a stapler off a counter and held it in his hand in a threatening manner..... the video says otherwise. Millington, who had never used a Taser before or since, said he repeatedly pulled the trigger because Dziekanski was struggling with other officers trying to get his hands handcuffed behind his back. Millington said Dziekanski turned blue shortly after he was handcuffed. He died at the scene. The fourth officer involved in the incident, Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson, won't testify until March 23, when the inquiry resumes after a two-week break. The inquiry is being followed closely in Poland, said Marcin Wrona, the Washington D.C. bureau chief of TVN Poland, who has been attending the inquiry this week. He noted that Polish prosecutors are investigating the incident. "If a Polish citizen dies abroad, Polish prosecutors can conduct their own investigation." Walter Kosteckyj, representing Dziekanski's mother, Zofia Cisowski, said outside the court police testimony has undermined public confidence in the RCMP. Kosteckyj, a former Mountie, said the inquiry has found police notes and statements were riddled with errors. "They won't admit they were in error," he said, accusing the officers of giving phony explanations that defy common sense instead.The RCMP realizes the level of public trust in the force has dropped as a result of evidence emerging at the Braidwood inquiry, . Monday's inquiry, which heard testimony from RCMP Cpl. Monty Robinson, the senior commanding officer in the early morning hours of Oct. 14, 2007, when Dziekanski was Tasered five times and died minutes later. "We're going to work extremely hard to get it back to a level we would like to see," RCMP said. A reporter raised the fact that all four officers involved in the fatal in-custody death have admitted their police statements were wrong in describing the events that led to Dziekanski's death. "Why have these officers not been fired?" a reporter asked."how things can be rectified" if deficiences are found. Excerpts from study by National Technical Systems,Test Report 41196‐08.SRC: Four units that were tested generated currents above the +15% limits Taser International recommends that a daily “spark test” should be conducted by police officers once every 24 hours or prior to the start of their shift. The purpose of this spark test is to verify that the Taser device is working properly and the battery is adequately charged, and because: “There are components in the high voltage section of the X26 that are more reliable when energized (“conditioned”) on a regular basis”...The reduction of ventricular fibrillation threshold due to repetitive extrasystoles is an important aspect of our electrical safety analysis. Going indirectly from a normal cardiac rhythm to ventricular extrasystoles and finally to ventricular fibrillation requires less current than going directly from a normal cardiac rhythm to fibrillation. This reduction of threshold due to repetitive extrasystoles is not taken into consideration by the proponents of the Taser device who base their safety analysis on the effects of a single pulse (Green model, Peleska model), or consider a stream of pulses as a sinusoidal current. Considering that a strict application of the risk assessment method described in the IEC60479-2 Technical Specification suggests that X26 Tasers with intermittent, abnormally high output can have a significant probability of cardiac arrest when the barbs impact the chest in the vicinity of the heart and the current impulses trigger premature cardiac contractions, we recommend: A moratorium on the use of older X26 devices. An Ontario judge has handed a senior member of the Hells Angels nine years in prison for ordering associates to deal cocaine. Gerald (Skinny) Ward was found guilty of directing the commission of a criminal offence for the benefit of a criminal organization. The 61-year-old founding member of the Niagara Hells Angels chapter had pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking and possessing the proceeds of crime. Court heard Ward directed five other members and associates of the Hells Angels to deliver four kilograms of high-grade cocaine to a former member of the Oshawa chapter of the gang who became a police agent. Justice John McMahon says Ward was clearly behind the drug transactions. McMahon said 14 years is an appropriate sentence for Ward, but credited Ward with five years already served in prison since his arrest in September 2006. GST And PST To Become HST ...It's official - The GST and the PST are about to be joined in what some taxpayers say is
an unholy union that will cost them a lot of money. That was the major announcement confirmed as Finance Minister Dwight Duncan
rose to deliver the long awaited recession-fighting budget at Queen's Park Thursday afternoon. As was widely expected, the
government is following the lead of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador by harmonizing the 5
per cent GST and the 8 per cent PST into one blended tax - the HST or harmonized sales tax - that will add 13 per cent
to a wide range of items and services that weren't covered by the provincial levy in the past. Ottawa will give
Ontario $4.3 billion in assistance to ease the difficult transition. The change means another blow to drivers - they'll
pay even more for gas, as the new charge will up the taxes they'll have to shell out after every fill-up. Your morning
cup of coffee will eventually cost you a bit more. So will airfare and taxi rides. The government will be softening the blow
a bit by sending out three cheques totaling $1,000 to families earning less than $160,000 a year. If you're single and make
$80,000 or less, you'll get just $300. The first cheque will come in June 2010, the second before Christmas of the same year
and the final payment will arrive in June 2011. Critics are already calling it a shameful tax grab at a time when
the economy is in tatters and people are already short of money!
budget highlights.
Nickelback arrives at the juno awards show.
The energy at more than 100 pre-Juno parties and performances, and the screaming fans who lined the red carpet show were a great practice run for the 2010 Olympics — and a wildly successful one. GM Place was jammed to the rafters with fans and industry folk for the Canadian music industry's biggest celebration of the year. (Actually the industry folk were on the floor — the fans were in the rafters.) In a very un-West Coast display of unabashed delirium, fans lined a red carpet outside GM Place’s Gate 10 for hours before the show. There was plenty of screaming and hair shaking when anyone stepped out of a limousine, although because most of the musicians dressed down and everyone else — including many fans — dressed up, the hair shaking might have been as much from confusion as from excitement. But if there was any fear that new artists wouldn’t be able to blow away the smoke from Nickelback’s explosive opener, the first award, Songwriter of the Year, settled the matter, with the award going to City and Color’s Dallas Green. Loverboy got a standing ovation as they took the stage for their Lifetime Achievement Award, and their appearance, complete with spouses and some slightly abashed looking teenagers in the audience, showed that the best old rockers just never go away. Ultimately what was missing from this year’s awards was the spectacular single break-out act, the Feist, the Nelly Furtado or Sarah McLachlan, but like a mother giving goodie bags at the end of a birthday party, the Junos had something for everyone. Even without a breakthrough artist — someone with enough record sales to please the industry and enough edge and originality to thrill the new generation of music-lovers — it was a night where old school met new school and everyone got along. A large tree frog, Nyctimystes sp., with enormous eyes that was discovered in a rainforest in The discoveries were
announced Wednesday by Washington D.C.-based Conservation International, which spent the past several months analyzing more
than 600 animal species the group found during its expedition to the South Pacific island nation in July and August. Of the
animals discovered, 50 spider species, three frogs and a gecko appear to have never been described in scientific literature
before, the conservation group said. The new frogs include a tiny brown animal with a sharp chirp, a bug-eyed bright green
tree frog and another frog with a loud ringing call. One of the jumping spiders is shiny and pale green, while another is
furry and brown. Jimi Hendrix STILL IN THE NEWS A demo tape of Jimi Hendrix playing 14 acoustic songs,
recorded in 1968 and traded to a neighbour, is to be auctioned in April. Hendrix gave the tape to Carl Niekirk, who owned
a photography studio beneath the late rock icon's London flat. The green box contains 1,800 feet of quarter-inch tape recorded
when Hendrix was working on his third album, Electric Ladyland. "It was a constant stream of people coming and going
and partying," Niekirk told the Independent newspaper, recalling the guests included Beatle George Harrison. One day, Hendrix
asked Niekirk whether he could borrow some sugar. When the photographer handed over the ingredient, Hendrix gave him the tape.
"Because I asked him, he just gave it to me," Niekirk said. "As simple as that." Niekirk eventually passed the tape on to
his sister, who owned a pub in London. And that's where it was stored for years in a closet until Mark Sutherland and Paul
Jackson, owners of London's Cafe Music Studios, bought it for a "nominal fee" 10 years ago. On the tape, Hendrix covers Bob
Dylan, plays Tears of Rage and All Along the Watchtower, which appeared on Electric Ladyland. A
few tracks include an unidentified harmonica player. The auction will go ahead April 28 on the site famebureau.com, with bids
expected to reach between £50,000 to £100,000 ($88,700 to $177,400 Cdn). Hendrix — known for his scorching version of
the The Star-Spangled Banner as well as hit singles such as Foxy Lady and Purple Haze — asphyxiated
in his sleep on Sept. 18, 1970, in London. He was 27.
From concerts, to stargazing, to playing board games by candlelight, Canadians found lots of ways to switch off the
lights to participate in Saturday night's global Earth Hour. In Toronto, the iconic CN Tower slipped into darkness at 8:30
p.m. ET, along with many of the skyscrapers in city's financial district at 8:30pm local time, Toronto joined . We were one
of nearly 4,000 other cities in 88 countries participating in the World Wildlife Fund-sponsored event. Some of the city's most iconic symbols - including
the CN Tower, Toronto City Hall, and Honest Ed's infamous 23,000 light bulb sign at Bloor and Bathurst Streets - took
part in the campaign. Now in its second year, the WWF aims to draw attention to climate change by having everyone reduce
their electricity use for 60 minutes.This year, a lot more Torontonians got involved, reducing the city's energy consumption
by 15 per cent during the event. Last year, electricity demand dropped 8.7 per cent.
Canadian researchers have uncovered an internet spy network, based mostly in China, that has hacked into computers owned
by governments and private organizations in 103 countries. The findings released Sunday follow a 10-month investigation by
researchers from the Ottawa-based think tank SecDev Group and the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University
of Toronto. The group was initially asked to look into allegations that the Chinese were hacking into computers set up by
the Tibetan exile community, but their work eventually led them to a much wider network of compromised computers. Once the
hackers infiltrated the systems, they installed malware — software that sends and receives data. By doing this, they
were able to gain control of the electronic mail server computers of the Dalai Lama’s organization, the group said.
The researchers said the spy network, dubbed GhostNet, infiltrated at least 1,295 computers, many belonging to embassies,
foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centres in India, Brussels,
London and New York.
Image of Jupiter aurora in UV by the Hubble Space Telescope. Bright streaks and dots are caused by magnetic flux tubes connecting Jupiter to its largest moons: Io: bright streak on
the far left . Ganymede: bright dot below center, Europa: dot on the right.
Earth Day...this Saturday!
Turn out the lights for one hour this Saturday. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging citizens around the world to join
WWF's Earth Hour to demand action on climate change. In a video-taped address, the Secretary-General said that Earth Hour
— which takes place on Saturday 28th March — promises to be “the largest demonstration of public concern
about climate change ever attempted.” WWF's Earth Hour is being hailed as the biggest ever global movement – a
vote for the future of planet earth. Hundreds of millions of people are expected to take part by switching off non-essential
lighting for an hour. Cities from Las Vegas to Sydney, from Cape Town to Beijing will go dark for an hour.Gordon Kubanek, left to right, Frank de Jong and Chris Bradshaw hold candles below the unlit Peace Tower
on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Saturday, March 29, 2008, in observance of Earth Hour.
City Will Pay You To Pretend To Be Homeless
Three years after the city released the results of its first Street Needs Assessment on Toronto's homeless,
they're at it again - and they need your help. There's a controversial plan in the works to pay participants who will pretend
to be homeless for one evening. The volunteers will receive a Visa card loaded with a $100 honorarium for their work.They
don't have to dress up, but they do have to attend a training session and answer all survey questions. They'll act as a control
group for those conducting the assessment, scheduled for April 15. The researchers are true volunteers and will not be compensated
for their time. The Street Needs Assessment has come under fire from community organizations, who argue the money spent on
the study should go to other endeavours like housing. "There's no methodology that's been used
anywhere in the world that gives us reliable numbers," countered Michael Shapcott of the Wellesley Institute. "So in the end what they're doing is spending a few hundred thousand dollars - or more - to find out
stuff that we already know." In 2006, the city says it counted 5,052 homeless people on April 19th. Officials noted,
though, that the number doesn't reflect the number of "hidden homeless" who may be staying with friends or family temporarily.
Chinese Craft Whacks the MoonThe Chinese people are often stereotyped as being inscrutable, meaning "difficult to fathom or understand."
And that about sums up my reaction to yesterday's news that the flight controllers at the Chinese National Space Administration
intentionally sent the Chang'e 1 orbiter crashing into the Moon. Xinhua news agency say, ground zero was 1.50° south, 52.36°
east. That's a nondescript tract of Mare Fecunditatis about 90 miles (145 km) from the crater Messier. The spacecraft, which
carried eight experiments, rocketed toward the Moon on October 24, 2007, and had been in lunar orbit for 16 months. And it
was beefy, weighing in at more than 2 tons. That's comparable to the mass of a Centaur rocket that NASA's hopes to drill into
one of the lunar poles later this year, along with the LCROSS spacecraft. Chang'e 1's impact undoubtedly made a sizable splash that should have been observable
from Earth. So here's what I don't understand: (1) The end came at 8:13 Universal Time, which is 4:13 p.m. in Beijing's time zone. That means the Moon was up, but sunset was still about two hours away — not ideal conditions for lunar observing. (2) The near-side impact site was in daylight, yet the crash would have been closer to the terminator, or even in shadow, just a couple days ago. So why pick March 1st and not February 27th? (3) NASA officials are lining up an army of telescopes to try to record the LCROSS finale, now scheduled for early September or thereabouts. Wouldn't it have made sense for Chinese scientists to alert their Western colleagues of Chang'e 1's impending crash? At the very least, it would have been a useful test exercise. It seems everyone is talking about the impending blockbuster Watchmen these days, positioning it as "the
end of superhero movies" or "the beginning of a new era in superhero movies" or debating how faithful to the original comic
book it'll really be. Based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' 1986 groundbreaking graphic novel — the only one to make
Time magazine's "100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present" — Watchmen introduces an alternate timeline
where superheroes walk the earth, for better or worse.The alternate universe of The Watchmen breaks out
TO 175 Timeline Part 2: Back To The Future: The 1900s Arrive
Toronto celebrates its 175th birthday on March 6, and leading up to the big event we will be posting
stories, photos, and video about this city, past and present.
Front and Bay After The Fire, 1900: The industrial revolution is underway and Toronto is in the centre of the action, as the city becomes a major commerce and business town. Population is now well over 200,000. April 19, 1904: The Second Great Toronto Fire Some 55 years after most of the city was destroyed by fire, the downtown core was ravaged again, ironically in the same month as its devastating predecessor. December 2, 1905: We Love A Parade Who would ever have thought that something so huge could grow out of this? It's the start of the big Christmas holiday merchandising season and Eaton's is looking for a gimmick to set it apart from its competitors. The solution: get Santa Claus to arrive at Union Station and walk with the celebrated first family of retail to their store at Yonge and Queen St. The very first Santa in 1905For some reason, this silly simple stroll caught on and got the company the publicity it was looking for. From then on, it got more and more elaborate, adding a horse drawn carriage, footmen and trumpeters. These were the roots of the Santa Claus parade, an annual tradition in Toronto that has been going non-stop for more than a hundred years Nov. 12, 1931: The Carlton St. Cashbox Opens It hadn't been that long since the Toronto St. Pats morphed into the Maple Leafs. Clearly, the owners were on to something profitable. Now they need a good place to play that the team could call its own. Enter Maple Leaf Gardens, a storied building near College and Yonge which would become to many the hallowed hall of hockey in the world. The land itself was purchased by Leafs managing director Conn Smythe from Eaton's for $1.5 million, a lot of money back then but still said to be below the real value. In an unprecedented rush to get it done, the entire place was built from start to finish in an astonishing five months and two weeks. It opened on a November night at the height of the Depression with a game against the Black Hawks. The price of admission for the best seats: $2.75, spare change today but pretty pricey back then. The Leafs lost their first game 2-1 in their new home - some things never change - but the legacy they set there won't fade for generations.They wound up winning 11 Stanley Cups in that building, including one in the first year and their most recent - if you can call 1967 recent. But the Gardens would become known for so much more than just hockey. It was the main place for concerts, shows, and even political conventions, and famously hosted both Elvis and the Beatles. Other sports events called the place home, too, including weekly wrestling bouts and the famous George Chuvalo-Muhammad Ali fight in on March 29, 1966. And of course, there was the yearly visit of the ubiquitous Ice Capades (below.) March 30, 1954: The First Toronto Subway Opens It wasn't really very long and if you didn't live near Yonge St., it took a long time to get there. But Toronto moved into the modern age with the opening of its first subway line, which only ran from Eglinton to Union. The hype surrounding the unveiling of the underground railway had been building since construction started in 1949. But its roots really stretch back to WWII, when gas rationing forced thousands to use the system to get anywhere. The profits generated help fund the subway that would come later.
By the end of the week, we could be into double digits and well above the norm of 2C. It can't come soon enough for one GTA
family. A water main break - another frequent problem in these conditions - led to an incredible scene in a Scarborough driveway.
As the liquid poured out onto the pavement, it trickled onto a driveway in the Highway 2 and Midland Ave. area. When the tenant came outside in the morning, she was in for a huge surprise. The tires of the vehicle
had frozen to the driveway and the rest of the surface was a sheet of ice, imprisoning the car where it sat.
Man Hit By Brampton Transit Bus Dies. A 33-year-old man has died after being struck by a Brampton transit bus near Queen and Main Street North. It happened just before 8:00pm Tuesday. Peel police closed off the intersection of Main and Alexander for the investigation. The victim's name hasn't been released. TTC Talks Barriers In Wake Of Subway Pushing. It's a plan that's already in place in Tokyo, Paris
(pictured), London and other major transit hubs, but could subway platform barriers soon be coming to Toronto? In the wake
of a terrifying event Friday that saw two teens shoved onto the tracks at Dufferin Station, it's looking more and more likely. "There are security reasons for doing it, safety reasons for doing it - but also efficiency
reasons," noted city councillor Joe Mihevc. But it won't be happening anytime soon. Right now trains are manually controlled,
but safety barriers require an automatic system, which won't be installed for another seven years. "We are at the beginning
of installing that system on the Yonge-University line, and that won't be ready till 2016," Mihevc revealed. And that's if
they're implemented at all. One big barrier to the barriers is the price: it would cost the cash-strapped system anywhere
from $5 million to $8 million per station to implement the devicesSubway Shoving. The idiots at TTC want to put up barracades!
This will cost millions per station, but then people with a loose screw or two will push you into traffic. putting
up barriers is dumb. We don't erect nets to catch crashing planes! The obvious answer to me would be to
identify dangerous people and have their movement restricted. Adenir De Oliveira the 47-year-old accused of pushing two teens off a subway platform at Dufferin Subway Station last Friday, and allegedly attempting to topple a third youth. The suspect, who was tracked down by a TTC collector and several other
bystanders, stood quietly and said nothing during his short time before Mr. Justice Patrick Sheppard. The story has horrified
commuters across the city, after a man apparently snuck up behind five friends waiting for a train at the Bloor-Danforth station
during rush hour and tried to push them over. Two fell, and while one escaped injury, the other wasn't so lucky - the train
wound up running over his foot.
'Just get the hell out of here' Single Female Voter struck out Wednesday because of bad timing.
Television comedian Geri Hall's attempt to mock Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty at the provincial legislature fell flat when she interrupted him fielding reporters' questions about job layoffs. In character as Single Female Voter from the CBC show "This Hour Has 22 Minutes," Hall was attempting to poke fun at McGuinty's new rule requiring reporters to stand five feet back when they question him. "I'm going to come a little bit closer and you tell me when you feel nervous," she said. "I get your point OK, because if a pack of guys I didn't know approached me every day, shoved their stuff in my face and expected me to just stand there while they recorded it, I'd be a little freaked out too." But there were few laughs as Hall vainly attempted to get McGuinty to hug one of the reporters after she walked into the middle of questions on U.S. Steel's decision to shut down the former Stelco mills in Ontario. NOT A NICE STYORY ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT....
turn away if you are squeamish.....
GET AHEAD ON GREYHOUND...........
Accused Found Not Criminally Responsible For Beheading on Greyhound Bus
A man who believed he was following God's orders when he stabbed and beheaded a fellow passenger
on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba has been found not criminally responsible. Justice John Scurfield said Vince Li's attack on
Tim McLean last summer was "grotesque" and "barbaric" but "strongly suggestive of a mental disorder." "He did not appreciate
the actions he committed were morally wrong. He believed he was acting in self-defence." Scurfield said Thursday. Both Crown
and defence psychiatrists had testified at Li's trial that he was suffering from schizophrenia and believed God wanted him
to kill McLean because the young man was a force of evil. Li was charged with second-degree murder but pleaded not guilty.
He will be institutionalized without a criminal record and will be reassessed every year by a mental health review board to
determine if he is fit for release into the community. The decision brings an end to a trial that barely lasted two days and
only heard from two witnesses - both psychiatrists - who testified Li is mentally ill and didn't realize that killing McLean
was wrong. McLean's family has dismissed the trial as a "rubber stamp" that is allowing Li to get away with murder. They are
vowing to now turn their attention to fighting the law that allows people who are found not criminally responsible to be released
into the community once they are deemed well without serving a minimum sentence in jail.
Peel Police are looking into whether suspicious fires set at two Brampton construction sites may be connected.
The first blaze broke out at about 3am at a site on Laurelcrest St. near Queen St. and Highway 410. Three townhouses in the process of being built went up in flames. Nearby homes had to be evacuated but fortunately there
were no injuries. About half an hour later, flames shot into the night sky at another townhouse development on Airport Rd. near Mayfield. Again though, there were no injuries reported. Indications that an anti-urbanization group which has been terrorizing construction
sites in the area for years are responsible.
Tamil Protest Stops Traffic In Downtown Core. About 1,000 Tamil protesters blocked traffic into a downtown intersection Monday
night where they had gathered to protest what they call genocide in their homeland. The rally was organized by Tamil Canadians
who are upset over Sri Lanka's crackdown on Tamil rebels. But as the crowd swelled, people spilled into the intersection of
Front and John streets. Officers from several divisions were called in to help control the peaceful crowd, which soon started to disperse.
"I am honoured to accept the first Distinguished Research Chair at the Perimeter Institute..." -Stephen Hawking
Spider-Man has a new sidekick: The
president. Barack Obama collected Spider-Man comics as a child, so Marvel Comics wanted to give him a “shout-out back”
by featuring him in a bonus story, said Joe Quesada, Marvel’s editor-in-chief. “How great is that? The commander
in chief to be is actually a nerd in chief,” Quesada said. “It was really, really cool to see that we had a geek
in the White House. We’re all thrilled with that.” The comic starts with Spider-Man’s alter-ego Peter Parker
taking photographs at the inauguration, before spotting two identical Obamas. Parker decides “the future president’s
gonna need Spider-Man,” and springs into action, using basketball to determine the real Obama and punching out the impostor.
Obama thanks him with a fist-bump
a page from Spider-Man comic book featuring President-elect Barack Obama
Canadians May Get Chance To See Barack Obama During Ottawa Visit After All. It seems you just can't keep
a lid on all that Obama love. Police forces involved in planning for the American president's visit next Thursday are relaxing
their security plans a bit to let some of his fans in on the action. Details are still being worked out, but the RCMP will
set aside some space on Parliament Hill for Canadians who want to catch a glimpse of Barack Obama when he arrives and leaves.
Ottawa police are also planning for the adoring crowds. Supt. Charles Bordeleau says there'll be a massive police presence
along the city's roads to help direct the crowds who want to send a wave his way. It's a switch from the days when police
were planning for angry crowds of protesters greeting the American president. Obama Visit Designed To Remain Harper's Show.
The Opposition leader has been banished to an airport hangar. The TV cameras are being kept away from Gov. Gen. Michaelle
Jean. And the involvement of cabinet ministers remains a state secret. The logistical arrangements for Barack Obama's Canadian
visit have relegated all Canadian actors to the sidelines save for one: Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Prime Minister's
Office provided long-awaited logistical details Tuesday for the U.S. president's visit. That briefing session suggests Harper
will seek to establish close personal ties with the popular new president - and to make sure it gets noticed by Canadians.
The prime minister's spokespeople spent nearly as much time Tuesday pointing out personal similarities between the two leaders
as they did discussing the issues to be raised Thursday.
In 2009 we celebrate the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), a worldwide education and public outreach effort
to honor the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo. A primary goal of IYA is to "expose as many people as possible to the wonders of astronomy." Informing everyone about
the nature of the universe was a goal that Galileo pursued at risk to his livelihood and his life. In his hands the telescope
became the instrument of an intellectual revolution. His observations of the moon, his discovery of the moons of Jupiter,
and the resolution of the Milky Way into "...a mass of innumerable stars ..." transformed people's view of their place in
the grand scheme of things.
MARS ALIVE! NASA says a surprising and mysterious belch of methane gas on
Mars hints at possible microbial life underground; it could also be coming from changes in rocks. The presence of methane
on Mars could be significant because by far most of the gas on Earth is a byproduct of life - from animal digestion and decaying
plants and animals.
After the inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol, Barack and Michelle Obama walked part of the way down Pennsylvania
Avenue to the White House.
Waves Of Water Gushing Down Into Union Station. In the words of Bette Davis in All About Eve, 'Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.' The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority issued a flood warning
for the city Wednesday as 25 millimetres of rain is expected over the next 24 hours. Most of it was expected
to arrive before midnight. The GTA spent the day melting down in the highest temperature ever reached on February 11th.
The 8C we hit in the early morning hours - it was just after midnight - already exceeded the 7.3C set back in 1981. And
forecasters were convinced we'd get to close to double digits before the inevitable downturn arrives. But it comes with
a price and we were paying it after sundown. Environment Canada issued two weather warnings for most of the province, stretching
from Windsor all the way to Ottawa - and including the GTA. One is a rainfall caveat that could see heavy downpours and even
a rare February thunderstorm hit the area. The precipitation we're expecting will easily smash the 10 mm that made
1981 the previous soggiest day in history. It could come down at a rate of 5 mm an hour during the worst of it. In fact, it's
already hit Toronto. Hard. City crews blocked off Etienne Brule Park along the Don River. "The ice churns are immense and
some can take out trees. So, I mean if you look behind us ... and there goes the flood in front of us," outlines area
resident Kenny Hill. A parking lot near the Old Mill that had the unfortunate luck of being located alongside the Humber River
was fully submerged Wednesday afternoon.
GRAMMY FEVER
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY
08: Singers Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift present the Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album award to Robert Plant and Alison
Krauss during the 51st Annual Grammy Awards held at the
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO HOW MANY EGGS IN YOUR BASKET
silly warning labels have become commonplace in a world where spilled hot coffee allows lawyers to sue fast
food outlets for thousands of dollars in damages. But even authorities think one company went too far. According
to England's Daily Mail, the Happy Egg Company has boldly printed this warning label on a 6-pack carton of the product it's named after: "Allergy Advice: May Contain
Eggs
Brett Favre, who 11 months ago retired from the N.F.L. in a tear-filled news conference only to return for another season,
has told his agent to tell the Jets he is retiring again after 18 seasons.Brett Favre informed the New York Jets on Wednesday
he will retire after 18 seasons, ending a record-setting career in which he was one of the NFL's premier quarterbacks. The 39-year-old instructed agent James (Bus) Cook to tell the team of his decision, six weeks after Favre's only season with the Jets ended in disappointment as New York failed to make the playoffs. In an e-mail to ESPN, Favre said he has no regrets about ending his career in New York and praised owner Woody Johnson, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and fired coach Eric Mangini. Guns Found Within Half An Hour Of Each Other At Two Toronto Schools. What is going on in GTA schools? For the third time in
less than a week, guns have turned up on local campuses, this time within half an hour of each other. The first
incident took place around 9:30am Monday when an officer on patrol at Marc Garneau C.I. on Overlea Blvd. stopped two students leaving the school. One was allegedly in breach of some court-imposed conditions. The second is accused
of carrying a loaded revolver. The age of both kids: just 14.
OBAMA, ACT ONE: In maybe his first act as President a judge grants Obama's Request To Halt Omar Khadr Proceedings At Guantanamo Bay
Obama pledged during his presidential campaign to shut down Guantanamo
Bay, or 'Gitmo' as it has become known, and now detainees not considered dangerous could also be sent back home. Omar Khadr's
war crimes case at Guantanamo Bay has been put off for 120 days, following a request by U.S. President Barack Obama. In
his first few hours in office Tuesday, Obama ordered prosecutors to make the adjournment request while he figures out what
to do with the Canadian prisoner and 244 other Guantanamo detainees. A day later the military judge presiding over Khadr's
case agreed to postpone it for the time being. Khadr's defence team didn't oppose the motion. Khadr is accused of killing
an American soldier in Afghanistan in July of 2002. He was only 15 years old at the time.
President Barack Obama told the world on Tuesday that his administration will be looking
for a "new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect." In his inaugural address, Obama pledged to begin to
leave Iraq, to "forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan," to lessen the threat of nuclear weapons and to "roll back the spectre
of a warming planet." Obama pledged broader engagement in the world, telling people "from the grandest capitals to the small
village where my father was born" that "America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future
of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more." He also warned "those leaders around the globe who seek
to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West" that their "people will judge you on what you can build, not what
you destroy." "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on
the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist," Obama said. Obama pledged
to work with the world's poor. He said rich countries like the United States "can no longer afford indifference to suffering
outside our borders. The world has changed, and we must change with it." He said the United States "will not apologize
for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and
slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we
will defeat you."
GROUNDHOG DAY!!! COLD GRIP TO LAST Gwen Gilbert, mayor of the town of South Bruce Peninsula, listens as Wiarton Willie makes his annual winter weather forecast in Wiarton, Ont., Monday, Feb. 2, 2009 A groan arose from a large crowd gathered in Wiarton, Ont., to hear Wiarton Willie's prediction when the furry forecaster made it known there would be six more weeks of winter. It was clearly not the answer the crowd of about 200 people, some wearing groundhog noses or carrying signs pledging love for Willie, wanted to hear. There were a few cheers at the prospect of a long winter, but most people looked disappointed - and cold - and then shuffled off to work on a Monday morning. He emerged from his den just after 8 a.m. ET and saw his shadow, which according to groundhog lore, means more winter is in store. Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam also saw his shadow Monday morning. The groundhog was roused by a town crier and the skirl of bagpipes at the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, about an hour north of Halifax. Had they not cast a shadow, as has been the case for Willie the previous four years, it would have signalled an early springNo such luck this year, said Mac McKenzie, who founded the Wiarton Willie Festival 53 years ago. He said Willie's never wrong. "Not Wiarton Willie," said McKenzie, 82. "He always is bang on - and I use the expression bang on loosely, but that's the way it is." He said he can't argue with the groundhog's gift of foresight, but wishes the pronouncement had been different. "This has been the worst winter we've had in years," McKenzie said. "Snow, snow and more snow. So we want less snow next year. Shubenacadie Sam, Nova Scotia's furry season forecaster, spots his shadow as he emerges from his enclosure in Shubenacadie, N.S. on Monday, Feb. 2, 2009. Sam is anticipating six more weeks of winter with a storm heading to the region on Tuesday. Sam and Willie's U.S. cousin, Punxsutawney Phil, also predicted six more weeks of winter when he stepped into the Pennsylvania sunlight.His forecast was announced in front of thousands of revellers gathered at Gobbler's Knob, about 100 kilometres northeast of Pittsburgh. German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow Feb. 2 - the Christian holiday of Candlemas - winter would last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early. Ignatieff said his party would not seek to bring down Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his minority government. The Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc had joined forces to bring
down the government in response to the Conservative government’s economic update last fall. Former Liberal leader Stephane
Dion was the one who signed onto that coalition, before resigning and handing the reins to Ignatieff. He noted the budget
contains a number of concessions forced on the Conservatives by the Liberals and other opposition parties. The New
Democrats and Bloc still appear intent on voting against the budget, scheduled to come before the House of Commons soon. However,
without Liberal support, the New Democrats and Bloc do not have enough votes to oust the Tories. Back-to-work legislation aimed at ending a 12-week strike at York University in Toronto has passed in the Ontario legislature. That means about 45,000 students will be able to return to their studies at Canada's third-largest university.They've been out of class since Nov. 6, when 3,400 teaching assistants, contract faculty and graduate assistants walked off the job.The union backed off its threat to challenge the legislation in court. Union officials say the students have already paid a heavy price for the strike.
Obama Take Two. In a week of so many firsts, there's now been another one in Washington: U.S. President Barack Obama has retaken the oath of office he so publicly accepted in front of thousands of people on Tuesday (left). The unusual move comes after a bizarre series of mistakes that marred the declaration the day before, when Chief Justice John Roberts and the new leader mixed up the words to the time honoured pledge. It's supposed to say "I ( the president's name) do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Roberts put the word 'faithfully' in the wrong order, it threw off the carefully rehearsed Obama, who immediately tried to repeat the error and wound up getting ahead of the judge.
Several hundred thousand people gather on
the National Mall on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009 in Washington, during the " We Are One: Opening Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln
Memorial.
Martin Luther King Day Takes On New Meaning. The third Sunday in January, known as "King Sunday" in Atlanta after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., easily could've
been called "Obama Sunday" this year. King's words again filled the pews and pulpits at black churches across the country
on the eve of the federal observance of what would've been his 80th birthday. Only this time, they found new weight with Barack
Obama's pending inauguration as the nation's first black president. Many black preachers touted the moment - the 23rd federal
observance of King's birthday falls on the eve of the inauguration - as a mark of
His "Bushisms" have become the stuff of legend, a mangling of the English language at once so bizarre and so absurd
that it will stand in stark contrast to the polished oratory of his successor. Here then, is a final look at some of the great
sayings of George W. Bush.
"I heard somebody say, 'Where's (Nelson) Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead. Because Saddam killed all
the Mandelas." -- George W. Bush, on the former South African president, who is still very much alive, Washington, D.C., Sept.
20, 2007
Please don't misunderestimate them. "I've abandoned free market principles to save the free
market system." Dec. 16, 2008 "You know, I'm the President during this period of time, but I think when the history of this period is written, people will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived in President, during I arrived in President." Dec. 1, 2008 They have no disregard for human life." July 15, 2008 "Throughout our history, the words of the Declaration have inspired immigrants from around the world to set sail to our shores. These immigrants have helped transform 13 small colonies into a great and growing nation of more than 300 people." July 4, 2008"I don't particularly like it when people put words in my mouth, either, by the way, unless I say it.""All I can tell you is when the governor calls, I answer his phone.""You know, when you give a man more money in his pocket -- in this case, a woman more money in her pocket to expand a business, it -- they build new buildings. And when somebody builds a new building somebody has got to come and build the building. And when the building expanded it prevented additional opportunities for people to work.""As yesterday's positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured." "More than two decades later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way.""Give my chance a plan to work.""My concern, David, is several.""I've reminded the prime minister-the American people, Mr. Prime Minister, over the past months that it was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship.""Those who enter the country illegally violate the law.""We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job."This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table.""I think it's very important for the American President to mean what he says. That's why I understand that the enemy could misread what I say. That's why I try to be as clearly I can.""Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." 'I don't know why you're talking about Sweden. They're the neutral one. They don't have an army.'' "Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling." "The vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice." "I'm the master of low expectations." "First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren't necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn't mean you're willing to kill." "One year ago today, the time for excuse-making has come to an end." "There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says, fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again." "I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn't here." "The problem with the French is that they don't have a word for entrepreneur." "I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace." "And one of the things we've got to make sure that we do is anything." "We've tripled the amount of money - I believe it's from $50 million up to $195 million available." "I couldn't imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah." "They underestimated America. They underestimated our resolve, our determination, our love for freedom. They misunderestimated the fact that we love a neighbor in need. They misunderestimated the compassion of our country. I think they misunderestimated the will and determination of the Commander-in-Chief, too." "Border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better." "Arbolist . Look up the word. I don't know, maybe I made it up. Anyway, it's an arbo-tree-ist, somebody who knows about trees." "You know, sometimes when you study history, you get stuck in the past." "I'm sure you can imagine it's an unimaginable honor to live here." "For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It's just unacceptable. And we're going to do something about it." "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.'' "I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well." "I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure." "Laura and I are proud to call John and Michelle Engler our friends. I know you're proud to call him governor. What a good man the Englers are." "Never again in the halls of Washington, D.C., do I want to have to make explanations that I can't explain." "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." I think we agree, the past is over." "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." "One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures." "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" And finally some famous last words that seem all too appropriate as George W. Bush fades into history. "There's no such thing as legacies. At least, there is a legacy, but I'll never see it."
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