Sheep/poodle story a hoax?

It would appear that the sheep/ poodle story , as reported in the National Post, is a hoax.
Snopes.com account here.

A post for liberal chicks...

who think it's acceptable to play politics with our mission in Afghanistan.

Sally Armstrong is the author of Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power of the Women of Afghanistan and a senior writer and editor at magazines such as Chatelaine, Canadian Living, and Homemakers. From Straight.com on keeping the debate focused on Afghan women.

While Afghan women continue to be singled out for oppression by a violent corruption of Islam, the threat they face from countries like Canada lies in the confused political debates about western intervention in their country. Canadian women should keep the public debates focused on the women and girls of Afghanistan, Armstrong pleaded, and must also fight the stubborn attitude that Afghan women should be simply left to sort out their problems by themselves.

"I can't tell you how thoroughly surprised I am at this kind of commentary," Armstrong said. "Are we going to stand back and say, 'We only do peacekeeping'? I don't know where this stuff is coming from. From my experience, from when I was there, I think we're doing an unbelievable job." She agreed that it may be impossible to defeat the Taliban, militarily. Still, "We just have to beat them back and keep them in their caves."

Armstrong showed little patience for fashionably revisionist explanations for Canada's military mission in Afghanistan. She said Canadian soldiers are there at the invitation of the Afghan people, and we're there because we promised to help, and because, as 9/11 demonstrated, we have no choice.

Read the whole thing girls, as some of the boys seem to have lost their way.

I wish Michael Byers and William Schabas would Flick Off

... or at least sit through the Taliban's latest video production. The video shows a 12 year old boy using a knife to behead a blindfolded man accused of spying for foreign forces.

Taliban commander Mullah Hayatullah Khan said the Taliban would kill anyone helping foreign forces in order to protect their guerrilla fighters.

"We showed the beheading video to warn others," he said by satellite phone from a secret location.

Asked why the Taliban used a boy, he said:

"We want to tell the non-Muslims that our youngsters are also Mujahideens (holy warriors) and fight with us against you."

"These youngsters will be our Holy War commanders in the future and continue the jihad for freedom. Islam allow boys and women to do jihad against occupying non-Muslim troops and their spies and puppets."

Byers and Schabas have named Chief of Staff Gen. Rick Hillier and Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor, in a letter to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, asking for an investigation into possible war crimes.

Evil and horrendous acts against women and children occur every day in Afghanistan . Courageous people look for a means to alleviate those atrocities. Cowards look for any avenue to alleviate their impotence.

Gentlemen you are despicable.

The Old Farm Dog at risk in California

The California Healthy Pets Act, a pet sterilization bill, is up for a vote Tuesday. Watchdogs predict the bill will move on with committee.

Under Levine's bill, every dog and cat would be required to be neutered or spayed by 4 months old. Exemptions would be granted to elite breeders of purebred dogs and cats as well as service dogs and police dogs.

Also backing the bill is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Here's one plank in the PETA platform of an ultimately pet-free society: “What we want is for the population of dogs and cats to be reduced through spaying and neutering and for people to adopt animals (preferably two so that they can keep each other company when their human companions aren't home) from pounds or shelters – never from pet shops or breeders – thereby reducing suffering in the world.”

This isn't going over well with folks who work with service dogs.

Paul Mundell, who breeds about 700 dogs a year for Companion Canines for Independence, which has a training facility in Oceanside, told me that breeding dogs can come from almost anywhere and cannot be identified until they are much older than 4 months. For him, the law could drain a valuable gene pool.

Dogs at risk because of this Bill include working dogs and stock dogs, like the English Shepherd.

Pip is a purebred English Shepherd registered with IESR and ESCR. She's an operational search and rescue dog and a beloved family companion. Of her ten purebred English Shepherd pups in the photo (yes, there are TEN there), two went into training as SAR dogs, two went on to homes where they compete in dog sports with their owners, one became the beloved pet of a veterinary practice manager, and five became working farm/ranch dogs. Under AB 1634, Pip would have been forcibly spayed at four months of age, ineligible for an "intact permit" at any price because she is not registered with AKC or UKC, and was certainly not an operational SAR dog at that tender age

From Peta's press release:

If it becomes law, AB 1634 would prohibit any person from owning or possessing any unaltered cat or dog over the age of 4 months, unless that person purchases an intact-animal permit. Violators would be fined, and the money raised from the fines would be used to fund free and low-cost spay and neuter programs.

If you're a cat person ...

...you might want to skip this post.

We have depended on them for our very survival.

Attila and Fly

Old footage Bird Dogs (ca. 1940s)

Two clips of Pit Bulls doing things you won't expect.

Federal member replaces MPP at provincial cheque presentation

Dalton McGuinty seen as earnest and well-intentioned. Until now.

In March the Bengali Cultural Society, located in Toronto's Crescent Town, was handed a cheque for $250,000 from the Ontario government to help with settlement services for Bengali immigrants.

Coincidentally, the federal Liberal MP for the area, Maria Minna, was invited to attend the glad-handing, cheque presentation -- the NDP's MPP for the riding was strangely left off the invite list.

Turns out the Bangladeshi community in Toronto isn't that familiar with the Bengali Cultural Society, but the Liberals are. The Society's director is a card-carrying Grit and a member of the group also happens to be the VP of Minna's Liberal riding association.

Still More Suspicious McGuinty Slush Fund Grants

New Democrat MPP Michael Prue asked some tough questions of the McGuinty Liberals last week. This week it's John Tory's turn.

In the Legislature today, Tory pressed Immigration and Citizenship Minister Mike Colle to explain the rationale behind two grants to groups connected to the Liberal Party. The International Seniors Club of Brampton received $100,000 from the McGuinty slush fund in March. One of the members of the Board of Directors of the organization is Atma Singh Gill who is the president of the Liberal Party of Canada riding association in Mississauga – Brampton South, a riding represented by Liberal MP Navdeep Bains.

Another group, the Ontario Khalsa Darbar, received $250,000 from the McGuinty slush fund. The group has several board members who are Liberal Party donors. The group has also been embroiled in a court case since 2006 about allegations that $2.5 million in membership fees had not been reflected in the organizations books.

The Minister refused to provide any documentation or justification about the two grants today in Question Period. He has also still not provided information on grants to two other groups with Liberal Party connections – the Bengali Cultural Society and the Iranian-Canadian Community Centre, which has seven board members, 100 percent of whom are donors to the Liberal Party.

Opps: Best not forget to close the barn door after the horse is out.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Mike Colle, who acknowledged last week that there was no formal application process for groups to get the funding, scrambled to deflect criticism today by announcing an online application will be available by week's end so that all community groups can apply.

"Taxpayer dollars must be well spent and well managed," Colle told the Legislature.

Iranian animal protection agency?

Liberal-led group collected $200,000 grant

New Democrat MPP Michael Prue yesterday revealed that the Iranian Canadian Community Centre -- a group categorized as an animal protection agency, according to documents -- received a $200,000 grant on March 27, 2006, only three weeks after incorporating as a charity.

The group's address is listed as the law office of David Farmani, a director of the charity who is also president of the Richmond Hill Liberal riding association with longstanding connections to the party. Another director is Gholam Reza Moridi, the riding's Liberal candidate in the upcoming election.

Mr. Prue said the group appears to have obtained the large grant largely because of its Liberal connections.

h/t Bourque

Update: Thanks to Mike Westcott in the comments. From the Ottawa Citizen

Mr. Prue said the group appears to have obtained the large grant largely because of its Liberal connections.

"We can't see any other reason. There's an established Iranian community centre, established organizations that have been there for over a decade.

"None of them got any money, but a brand new one did."

"It looks like a reward for people who are in the Liberal party," said Mr. Prue. "You can come around, you don't have to fill out a form, there's no due diligence, here's your cheque. That's what it looks like to me."

Mr. Colle said the program, which dispensed as much as $20 million in a massive end-of-year spending spree in 2006, according to documents, has neither a name nor a formal application process.

No Green candidate in St. Catherines?

And so it begins
From A BCer in Toronto

It's far from a done deal, but according to a story in the St. Catherines Standard there is a movement afoot amongst local Greens to not field a candidate in the next election, and instead endorse Liberal candidate and former MP Walt Lastewka

Growing Rural - Urban Economic Gap in Ontario

Economic growth in Ontario’s smaller communities will lag behind growth in Toronto and surrounding cities during 2007, according to the latest Conference Board of Canada outlook.

“In general, most cities in Ontario are struggling because of weakness in manufacturing,” Alan Arcand, an economist with the board, told Osprey News.

Ontario’s overall economic prospects are expected to “remain tame” this year with the provincial economy forecast to expand by just a 1.9 per cent, a negligible improvement on the “paltry” growth in gross domestic product seen in 2006 and the weakest real per capita growth of any province in the country.

Meanwhile, 19,000 manufacturing jobs are expected to disappear from communities across the province this year, exacerbating the loss of more than 140,000 manufacturing jobs (one in eight) here since 2002.

Howard blames Dalton. Whose to say ... but according to the Conference board, Ontario isn't even in the running. Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Saskatoon and Vancouver were the top five economic performers.

Dogs are funny that way

I once knew a poodle who loved grapes. He'd hide them between the cushions of the chesterfield. Today, most people know not to feed their dogs grapes.

The reason why some dogs develop renal failure following ingestion of grapes and raisins is not known. Types of grapes involved include both seedless and seeded, store bought and homegrown, and grape pressings from wineries.

It has only recently been discovered that Collies and other herding dogs are extremely sensitive to, not only ivermectin, but a host of other commonly used drugs.

In 2001, veterinarian Katrina Mealey of Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Pullman, Wash., and her team found that ivermectin sensitivity is caused by a mutation in the multi-drug resistance gene (MDR1), which controls a protein that helps pump drugs and toxins out of the brain.

But as the research continued, the scientists discovered that the gene may react to more than 50 drugs, such as Loperamide (the over-the-counter antidiarrheal Imodium); the popular tranquilizer Acepromazine, often called "Ace" for short; the heart drug Digoxin; pain-control medication Butorphanol; Cyclosporin, an immunosuppressant used in allergy treaments; and several chemotherapy drugs, including Doxorubicin, Vincristine and Vinblastine.

Steve has been following the confusing and often bizarre pet food recall closely. Including the toxicity of the chemical melamine.

This is just weird.

Rice not wheat.

Dogs not cats.

Even the source of the rice protein is different. The wheat gluten came from Xuzhou Anying Biologic. The rice protein came from Binzhou Futian Biology Technology.

Either the scientific understanding of the toxicity of melamine is grossly inadequate, or it isn't melamine but aminopterin, or melamine is found all over Chinese raw foodstuffs, or melamine was added later, or it was deliberate, or...or...or...

What is most bizarre to me, is not what is making these pets sick, but that both cats and dogs are sensitive to it. Now that is weird.

Hat Tip to The Doggerel Party

Ice Cold

Red is my favourite colour.

Le gars de Boston

I understood, at best, 40 percent of this.
But, if you've ever been to Montreal when the Boston fans are in town you have got to watch.

Le gars de Boston.

Bloc MP Louise Thibault leaves party to sit as an independent

MP Louise Thibault says she is leaving the Bloc Quebecois to sit as an Independent.

Thibault has represented the riding of Rimouski-Neigette-Temiscouata since 2004,when she replaced Suzanne Tremblay.

David has more here.

Update: According to my babelfish translation, the issue is merry marriage.

Facebook

Worth repeating is this CTV story on Facebook.
Hat tip to Jack's Newswatch. Where I notice he's added guest bloggers.

Single school system

A growing number of boards calling for a single school system across the province.

The Bluewater District School Board of Bruce and Grey counties recently passed a resolution asking the Ontario Public School Boards' Association to push for amalgamating the English public, English Catholic, French public and French Catholic systems.

No one expects the separate school boards to embrace this move but they are going to have to let go of the very old notion that public means Protestant. Those days are long gone.

There are voices pushing not to eliminate publicly funded Catholic schools, but to start equally funding schools of other religions. Mohamed Elmasry, a University of Waterloo professor and president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, is one of them.

"I think this is an equality issue," he said. "If one faith group, in this case Catholics, have the right to be supported by the Ontario government, other faith groups should be treated equally.

It wouldn't necessarily cost a lot, because the province would still be serving the same number of students, Elmasry said. The public boards calling for a single school system are "self-serving," because they want to protect their funding and their jobs, he added.

Visit the Doggerel Party for a post on the Ottawa board.
Posts from the past here and here.

Something the Easter Bunny needs to know

I took the pledge. In February, Hershey announced that it would be closing its plant in Smiths Falls. This will result in the loss of 500 jobs, the market for thousands of litres per day of Ontario milk and the Hershey Chocolate Shoppe, which attracts over 400,000 visitors a year to Smiths Falls.

I'm going to enjoy the Hershey chocolate this Easter because once the plant closes I'm not sure I'll be able to stomach it any more.

Mike has the details.

So ... The Big Meeting is on Thursday .... I'm eternally hopeful, but I have a funny feeling that we are going to hear a final closing date. Hershey met with the union in Toronto last week & told them the decision was final. The union presented a 5-year agreement for consideration.

Hershey Pledge is supporting the following Hershey's products currently manufactured in Smiths Falls,

# Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars
# Hershey's Milk Almond Bars
# Hershey's Milk Almond Toffee Bars
# Hershey's Special Dark Almond
# Hershey's Cookies & Creme Bars
# Eat More Bars
# Oh Henry Bars
# Reese Peanut Butter Cups
# Cherry Blossoms
# Glossettes Raisins, Almonds, and Peanuts
# Chipits
# Chocolate Syrup
# Caramel Syrup and
# Dessert Fondue