From an article on Chantal Kreviazuk in The Star:

As advocates of War Child Canada, which assists children affected by war, she and Maida walked the talk with the hiring of their nanny of six years, Bibiane Mpoyo of Burundi.

"Living with a war refugee is really intense, it's a risk every day," said Kreviazuk. "And there are days where something inappropriate happens. It's not age appropriate, or I know that she can't leave what's happening back home at the end of the canyon on her way into our house. There's a lot of understanding and patience that has to happen, but what she brings into our lives couldn't be without her experiences and we're gaining something far more valuable than what is being risked."

I don't know if this is supposed to make us realize what giving, humanitarians they are...and that they "walk the talk"...but, what came to MY mind was:

Yes...it must be tough living with a war refugee...
...with all the "wah, wah, wah, I was brutally raped by soldiers", and "boo, hoo, hoo my whole family was slaughtered right before my very eyes" crying jags interfering with the laundry and school pick ups.

Tiger Woods alienates black community with white lovers

"When three white women were said to be romantically involved with Woods in addition to his blonde, Swedish wife, blogs, airwaves and barbershops started humming, and Woods' already tenuous standing among many blacks took a beating."

LOL...yeah, black women are missing out!

GTFOH

Mind you, at the rate that the numbers are racking up for Tiger, pretty soon we might find out that I'm the only woman left on the continent who didn't sleep with him.

Please explain to me why this climate conference couldn't be done in teleconference?

Seriously.

At least 192 delegates, 191 of them flying into Copenhagen to discuss climate change.
WTF?

"Not once -- it's probably hard to imagine -- but not once did it occur to me that I was a lesbian. Not once. I just thought, OK, I don't think so, and went off and got married again for a short period of time. And a couple years after that, I entered my next foray into being with a woman, and the penny dropped at that point..."

When someone says that they didn't know they were gay, while having sexual/emotional relationships with people of the same sex..it always shocks and surprises me.

De-nile is not just a river in Egypt.

TTC Increase approved.

Adult cash fare will rise to $3 (from $2.75)

I heard Adam Giambrone on TalkRadio defending the increase.
You know that 0.15 of the 0.25 per ride increase will go toward mismanagement and employee costs...it's not going to go toward building anything more, or fixing what's broken.

It's bullshit of the highest order.
How much more shit will the rider take before finding another way to get around?

Does anyone know how effective today's TTC riders protest was?

Did you refuse to use the TTC to protest the fare hike?

Something really does need to be done.
$2.75 fare for slow service is robbery.

Winchester, a designer who says she set up the protest because of her frustration with passengers' views being ignored, knows that Toronto's transit system receives some of the lowest government funding per ride in North America. But she also believes part of the problem is mismanagement on behalf of the TTC. "Their first reaction to a budget shortfall is usually to put it on the backs of the ridership," Winchester told Torontoist.

Bad management + greedy unions = Screwed passengers

Whose stupid idea was this?

I wish that Toronto would stop being the Sally Field in the Academy Awards of the free world.

"Going to the subway last tuesday was problematic in St. Petersburg because trains got stuck at one station without any chance coming to others in time. The young buddy sitting on the rails was the cause.
As officially declared this was thought to be a suicide attempt but rational thinkers from the platform started giving him advices that it’s more effective for him would be to grab the rails with his both hands, then he would easily be approached to his target with the means of high voltage shock causing his suffering heart to go out of scale."

Oh, those helpful, and pragmatic Russians!

The only thing missing was someone in the crowd yelling out:
"Go ahead and cry, you'll pee less!"
or "You call that 'suicide', you're an amateur!"

This has been the big discussion and deal today.

Frankly, I think that the police officer in the video showed infinite patience.
Most people would have lost their temper, and punched the disrespectful little snot in the head.

Police confirmed the student was insulting the officer in the lead-up to the incident.

The officer tried to identify the student because there was some speculation he was a trespasser in the school, Drummond said.

When the student refused to identify himself, the officer initiated the arrest.

I understand through the info provided by the YouTube poster, that some of the insults included "Fuckin' Paki"...yeah, I'd say that the officer involved showed restraint.

Context people. Context.

So, apparently...on my car insurance renewal, I've got the option of "Accident Forgiveness".

Yes.

Now, for a monthly fee I can prepay for an accident I might have, instead of paying for it 10 times over after I've filed a claim....and if I never have an accident, they get to screw me with my consent.

What a deal!

"According to a restraining order, that was never filed, Miller, who played for the Indiana Pacers, met Ms Kay at a party in July last year.

In March of this year he then bumped into her at a grocery store, then waited outside for an hour until she left, before following her up a motorway.
Former NBA basketball player Reggie Miller

Allegations: Former NBA basketball player Reggie Miller

He also allegedly harassed her by phone, including sending her 53 text messages over the course of less than four hours.

According to the document, when confronted by Mr von Furstenberg, who owns a surf shop in Malibu, Miller turned threatening.

'He said he had friends with guns. He implied I would get hurt if I didn't stop questioning him on his inappropriate pursuit of my fiancee and his attempts to subvert his efforts,' Mr von Furstenberg wrote."

I just don't get it.

You're famous, and can have your pick (probably)...why embarrass yourself?

People are just stupid, and no amount of fame or money can buy sense.

CNN brings MJ back from the dead for a broadcast...



Honestly, CNN is a joke.

So, I caught the episode below of Hitched or Ditched, and I was torn.



While Torrino's mother is totally a racist, I kinda see some of mom's points.
Ok...not the white devil one...that was stupid...but, when she pointed out to his girlfriend El Lana that she never cooked, or helped out around the house when she was living with Torrino at their home, I was feelin' mom.

I dunno, this whole "I don't cook and clean" badge of honour many 20something women are wearing is really baffling to me.

El Lana, states rather firmly to Torrino's mother that she "doesn't do/enjoy that"...and then starts crying and playing the victim card when his mother states her concerns about the kind of wife she thinks El Lana will be to her son.

Torrino's mother calls her manipulative, and I can see what she's talking about.
Anyone who stands up for herself and states pretty firmly all the things that she will and won't do, generally isn't the kind of person who dissolves into a puddle of tears because someone tells her a few things.

Unless she's manipulative.

Listen, if you love the person you claim to love, you at least make an effort to not put them in a position of hurt, and difficulty when it comes to the people they love other than you..no?

Would it kill her to take a cooking lesson or two from his mother?
Perhaps bond a bit with her?
Help tidy up after dinner?

Jesus Christ...I just don't get it.

If I got started on all the things my West Indian Mother in Law taught me, there wouldn't be enough room on this blog...and while I was learning all those things we became family.

I'd like to see things from his point of view but I can't get my head that far up my ass.
.
.
.
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What a pussy.

Mary Louise Abrahamse, at her Glo salon on Avenue Rd., is suing eight former staffers for $6.4 million, accusing them of stealing her business. (June 17, 2009)

The kind of person who sues former staffers for taking their own clients with them when they quit her, is the kind of person who loses 8 staff in a short period of time.

I can only imagine what kind of boss she is.

Intellectual Property Asshole Competition

via Funkaoshi

Legal, Bureaucratic Extortion

March 24th, 2009
On a rainy March night, I make a right turn on Victoria Park and St. Clair E on an amber.
Lightning strikes, and then I realize that it wasn't lightning, but the red light camera.

April 3rd, 2009
I receive a $180 ticket for making a right turn on an amber, which turned red when I was 1.9 seconds into the intersection. Considering I've been told on numerous occasions that I should get new plates because my number isn't clear enough. My license plate number is surprisingly clear in the photo.
I decide to fight said ticket, since had I attempted to stop, I probably would have lost control of my vehicle since the conditions were wet, and my tires suck.
I have until April 8th to set a court date in person. Contrary to what it says on my ticket, I cannot make an appointment by phone. Rather obvious, since the telephone number on the ticket is manned by automated prompts that repeat the same things, with no "person" option, and with a built in disconnect if you hit "0"...HAHAHAHAHAH!!! Oh, that's hilarious!

April 8th, 2009
I decide to go to the Markham Rd office on this day because I'm rarely in Scarborough, but I would be on that day.
I take a number in a room that has people packed into it like sardines. I'm T417, and they are currently serving T009. Only 3 wickets are open, and there are 4 categories of ticket numbers. I've been to offices in the west end. I've never seen shit like this before.
I'm there for an hour and a half and they are only at T089. I realize that I only paid for an hour and a half in the parking lot, and wouldn't it be sardonic if I got a ticket trying to get a court date to fight a ticket.
I then realize that there appears to be a method to this madness.
If you cram 800 people into a small room with only 100 chairs, and 3 wickets open, and it takes an hour and a half to service 80 people...anyone who can afford it will leave, and pay the ticket...because it's just not worth it.

It's license to print money.
It's fucking genius...I tell you.

Yeah.
It's about time.

Zippers on pants were getting too long.

"A day or two after my daughter was born, a girl walked into our recovery room with a folder of papers and brochures. There were all kinds of release forms and medical advice and, of course, the birth certificate application. I had a pretty good idea which forms were required for our insurance. We filled those out, leaving off everything but the barest minimum required information. Then we got to the birth certificate, with the incongruous SSN checkbox stuck into a corner at the bottom of the second page. I left it blank, of course. I suspected what was going to happen, and when the hospital admin returned the forms to us to put our final signatures on, someone had very considerately checked the box for us."

I confess that I don't get most anti-establishment activists.
To be honest, when I read the "column" all I could think about was how self-righteously contrary he sounds. As though he enjoys the "funny look" that comes across any Admin persons face with whom he refuses to comply.

I don't know why you'd have to get the number at birth in the States, but I know that a SIN number in Canada proves that you exist in the working world, and you don't get one until you need to...at least I didn't.

“It’s her choice,” I said, turning my head to my newborn.

“Social Security is voluntary. It’s a contract. She’s not old enough to understand it or make an informed decision. So, we believe it’s a decision that should be left to her. She can always sign up when she’s older, and knows what she’s getting into.”

...and that's true.
I'll never understand why Administrative peons are so invested in the whacked out decisions of the general public.

So that’s it. My daughter is not a number. It will be her choice to enter the system if she wants. If she chooses, she can be self-employed and never pay income tax. She can keep the fruits of her labors for herself, or she can sign up for the social trough when and if she thinks it is appropriate. She will be educated on what it entails and how it works. She may have to learn to drive without a driver’s license. She may have to learn to save for health expenses. She may have a more difficult life than many people, but she will have an opportunity of freedom that most people in America never receive. I can’t make her take it. I can’t make her embrace the difficult life of freedom in America . But I can give her the chance.

Is there such a thing as being self-employed and not paying taxes?
Learning to drive without a permit or license on the road with the rest of us?
The ones with insurance?

The last two lines kill me.
Laugh.
I thought I'd die.

Rigo's Church

I watched this episode of W5 last night on The Dominion Christian Centre in Hamilton, Ontario last night.

You can watch it too, if you follow the link and click on the video links on the upper right.

It once again solidifies my belief that extreme sects take advantage of people who are on the edge of mental health.

It makes sense to me that someone who is mentally fragile would seek extreme religious sects because the "church" can dictate how they should be living, and thinking. Therefore a person can lift their hands from taking responsibility for their own lives.

Believing in God can help block anxiety and minimize stress, according to new University of Toronto research that shows distinct brain differences between believers and non-believers.

In two studies led by Assistant Psychology Professor Michael Inzlicht, participants performed a Stroop task - a well-known test of cognitive control - while hooked up to electrodes that measured their brain activity.

Compared to non-believers, the religious participants showed significantly less activity in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a portion of the brain that helps modify behavior by signaling when attention and control are needed, usually as a result of some anxiety-producing event like making a mistake. The stronger their religious zeal and the more they believed in God, the less their ACC fired in response to their own errors, and the fewer errors they made.

Now, while it's enticing to have less stress about your mistakes...the problem with that is that without the stress, there are more mistakes to be made...that's where the con comes in.
You can get your sheep to do all kinds of things that are damaging to society and mankind...I dunno...war comes to mind...

Opiate of the masses, indeed.

Don't get me wrong.
I believe in a higher power...I just don't believe that some con taking money from people on the premise of 'spreading God's word' is something that is good, or needed.

Faith is free.

Being a zombie in the name of religion is not.