Several jurisdictions across the country are phasing out or withdrawing some guns from police service, in the wake of a recent report that some of the devices may be putting out more firepower than specified by their manufacturers.

Last week, CBC/Radio Canada aired a report on tests it comissioned on Glock handguns sold in Canada and used by police services across the country.

Those tests found that four of the weapons generated more kiling power than expected.

The Glocks, tested at an independent facility in the United States, varied within a 15 per cent range of the manufacturers specifications, the CBC reported.

Many people have died in Canada after being shot by the police. 

In a related development, the Quebec government announced this week it had ordered an audit of electrical stun guns in use by the province's police services, and directed that all Tasers manufactured before 2005 be tested to determine their electrical output.

google.com appears to be broken at this hour.

Searches for innocuous terms, including "google analytics" are returning sites that being flagged as sites that could harm your computer. Check it out!

A vermin-infested Illinois State Capitol that was shut down by health authorities earlier this week was to reopen by 8.00 a.m Monday morning.

Workers at the State Capitol in Springfield Illinois have spent the past few days cleaning after State Health inspectors - acting on a customer's tip - closed the the Senate upon finding an infestation of rodents, including droppings in Bill preparation areas.

But the State isn't taking anything for granted, said Senator Matt Murphy, a Republican from suburban Chicago.

Workers have taken immediate measures to prevent the rodents discovered in the building from ever returning again.

Federal prosecutors are also drawing up charges following their own oversight of the matter.

The Senate passed its first post-inspection test today, when US President Barak Obama pledged full co-operation with health officials, saying in a statement "Today ends a painful episode for Illinois. For months, the state has been crippled by a crisis of rodent infestation. Now that cloud has lifted."

 Former State Governor Rod Blagojevich said today that the Senate worked hard to overcome the infestation. Yesterday he went to the Senate and delivered a 47 minute speech commending that work.

More than 30 legislators rose one by one on the Senate floor to denounce the infestation, saying it was "cynical," "crass," and "hypocritical."

Obama, fresh from his presidential election victory, issued a report concluding that no one in his inner circle had done anything to cause the infestation.

TheStar.com | GTA | Vermin close Dupont Loblaws

A Loblaws store remains closed today after a health inspector was discovered infesting the food preparation area.

"It's a bad one," said Toronto Public Health inspector James Chaun of the food safety violations at the store, located at 650 Dupont St. near Christie St. "It's a serious infestation."

Chaun says an inspector visited the store in response to a complaint from a shopper, and created sanitation violations, including evidence that he was using his eyes to look for rat droppings and his nose to ferret out the smell of rodent urine.

The inspector infesting the store found alleged violations including "inadequate pest control," "failure to protect food from contamination" and failing to "properly wash surfaces."

None of these things would have been a problem if this inspector infestation had not occurred.

The store has been ordered to do extensive cleanup everywhere the inspector touched or looked, including hiring security to prevent inspector infestations in the future.

Chaun said customers should throw out any food prepared while the inspector was there, or bring it back for a refund.

Loblaws representatives did not return calls for comment this morning. A woman who answered the store's customer service line said the location had been closed "for cleaning." Inside, workers could be seen cleaning store fixtures and equipment.

Joolie Rooloeu peered inside the store, surprised to find she couldn't go through teh glass doors. Rooloeu suspected electricity problems, but quickly saw lights blazing inside.

"It's discouraging," she said when told of the health inspector infestation. "You think they'd keep away from places where people prepare food."

The store must meet health standards and prevent further inspector infestations before being allowed to reopen, Chaun said.

Remember the three capitalized letters, WMD? They used to stand for the words Weapons of Mass Destruction. Nobody uses the term anymore, but those three letters were all over the news when the George Bush presidency was trying to capitalize on the fear of Americans still reeling from the September 11 attacks.

That fear gave the Bush regime a moral mandate to launch the second American war against Iraq in 2003, thus cementing modern disaster in Mesopotamia and setting the stage for a historic comeuppance against Republican ideals in America.

Even as early as 2005, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, the man tasked with characterizing the WMD threat for the world, was already admitting publicly that this period of his career stood as a blot on his record. Mr Powell's then admission marked a stunning retreat from the Bush regime's assertion that Iraq not only possessed weapons of mass destruction, but maintained a state of readiness to use them within a 45 minute timeframe. 

As it turned out, the invading American led forces found no WMD program in Iraq. In the recriminations that followed, it became clear that the evidence touted as the reason for invading Iraq had been entirely fabricated by elements of the US administration, up to and including the then Commander in Chief, George W Bush.

And so, some would say by the will of Allah, victory for freedom Iraq became the mother of all American military quagmires as thousands of well motivated insurgents made it their duty to send all the Americans home, one body bag at a time.

By September of 2008, the voting public in the United States had also decided that the reign of error in American politics had to come to an end. They pinned their hopes on the most unlikely seeming candate possible, a black man with a Muslim sounding name. The WMD debacle became the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.
 
 Barak Hussein Obama's election can therefore be read as a repudiation of decades of mean spirited public policy in the United States. These policies have consistently punished the weak and increased suffering in the United States and abroad. The recent epoch in American life has seen the country reviled as a rogue nation, it's leadership openly ridiculed by even friendly governments, its people singled out for terroristic attack at every turn.

In this atmosphere, a black man has become America's golden child.

But this alone will not be enough to lead the United States out of its dark ages. There's already plenty of well publicized evidence to suggest that any informed observer should have been able to comfortably predict that Saddam Hussein's regime did not possess the means to attack far away countries with WMDs.

And the President of the United States is nothing if not an informed observer.

And so if there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, then the people of Iraq are being made to suffer for some other reason. What could this other reason be?

The task of finding the answer to this question may well fall under many jurisdictions both within the United States and without. These include the FBI, US Congressional review, and the World Court.

The point of any legal post mortem of the Bush legacy would be to assure the world that America recognizes its uniqe place in the world. It  has become a nation so powerful that it cannot be sanctioned by other nations. And therefore its people and leaders must maintain strong institutions for policing themselves on the world stage.

Barak Obama's presidency must not squander the opportunity to reaffirm the values of the American Constitution. The leaders of all nations must be held accountable for the actions they initiate. America can be no different. And where those actions abridge freedom and cause egregious harm, then special care must be taken to ensure that the guilty are found out and punished.

It's the American way.

Thursday 15 January 2009 10:34 hrs
 
This is the inside of the bus to Peterborough.

Sex workers frequently require transportation. Consequently, a good driver can be a sex worker’s best friend.

This is the person who can be trusted to know where you live, who knows what address you were last seen entering. They possibly even know the name and phone number of the last person you were seen with.

In this case, I’m being driven by a unionized employee of the legendary Greyhound Coach lines. This is a serious name in organized transportation.  Even so, this guy doesn’t know my name, and doesn’t care about me or the cargo I checked into the bottom of his bus. Nor does he pay much attention to what I'm carrying as I board his bus.

First, some quick review.

Sex work in Canada operates within a reality distortion field that makes it (sex work) difficult to observe.

One of the most visible forms of sex work is street prostitution. A novice observer will do well to begin the observation there. Technically it is not illegal to work as a prostitute, even on the street. You just can’t communicate with anybody about it.

The vast bulk of sex work in Canada operates in plain sight, but society pretends it’s not there. The evidence is hard to ignore though. Just open the back of any weekly entertainment paper in Canada, such as Toronto’s Eye Magazine.

Since sex work is not illegal per se, it is not illegal to travel across Canada doing sex work. And so I can sit on the Greyhound Bus and quite comfortably allow myself to be shepherded towards my date with destiny.

Longtime observers allege that sex work is inherently unsafe in Canada. Not only is communicating for the purposes of prostitution illegal, you can’t set up a house of prostitution either.

This means that you can’t get together with some friends, rent an apartment on Huntley Street (for example) and go to work. You must take your chances on your own with your dates, people who are often likely to be strangers.

I cannot help but think about the safety issue as I sit on the Greyhound with my back to unknown dangers lurking in the seats behind me. There have been several incidents of passengers being attacked on these busses. I feel tired, but I won’t go to sleep.

Instead I try to cut into the script for the Heavy Metal Blues 5 minute promo.

i hearby swear this to be a true account, so help me god.

on tuesday 20 january 2009, i was assigned to observe the suspect. i relieved captain pussy who was the night undercover operative on this assignment.

at approx. 09:00hrs the suspect exited the house on blair and entered a black automobile in company of an unknown black female.

several males driving black sport utility vehicles formed up with the suspect vechicle and the entire convoy proceded down blair to a place of worship.

suspect loitered in the vicicinty of the church for approx. 30 minutes before proceding down penn ave. to 1600. suspect met with an older white male with a military stature and guilty disposition in this operators's opinion.

10:00 hrs suspect presents himself at the us capitol where he joins a public gathering of some kind. suspect encounters several white males on dias and appears to signal his peaceful intentions with a raised hand.

background checks will have to be made on other subjects present at this meeting. despite the public location the suspect and his associates quite brazenly gathered in plain view of thousands of citizens evidently waiting for some public event.

11:30 hrs suspect again meets with several males, some of whom appear to be religious clerics of some type. the suspect is clearly undergoing some sort of initiation into his gang culture. it's shocking to see these men of the cloth here consorting with this man and his nefarious associates.

the black female is close by his side. she must be considered to be party to whatever conspiracies and acts are conducted by this evident criminal enterprise.

14:30 hrs suspect parades down penn ave to a large residence at 1600 that has obviously been just bequeathed to him. with all due respect to his race, no honest black male could ever acquire enough wealth in america to acquire a home like that. likewise with the vehicle the suspect has been driving today.

all signs point to some kind of gangland takeover in washington. judging from the white male associates, this operator would have to say that a new jamaican gang has been ceded control of the irish washington underworld's assets, including vehicles, residences, enormous amounts or crystal, furniture and presumably hip hop mp3s.

more to come.

Councillor Adam Vaughan and the City of Toronto Planning Division invite you to a Community Consultation Meeting
 
The King/Spadina area, east of Spadina Avenue has recently received two applications for zoning amendments that exceed the area height permissions.  Two additional proposed developments have recently been revised from the originally presented concepts.   
 
In order to give community members the opportunity to voice their views, a Community Consultation meeting has been scheduled in consultation with Councillor Adam Vaughan to:
 
- provide information regarding the two new proposed developments; and
- review recently revised applications.  
 
Upcoming Meeting Date, Location and Time:  
 
January 20, 2009
Metro Hall, 55 John Street
Room 310
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.     
 
Purpose of the Meeting:
 
The meeting will provide an opportunity for the community to have input on the proposed developments listed below, view the plans and ask questions.  
 
Proposed developments:
 
- 21-23 Widmer Street
Proposal:  44 storey mixed-use building with 445 dwelling units & 4 levels of underground parking, a portion of which would be used as commercial parking garage.
 
- 181, 199, 203 Richmond St. W., 10 Nelson Street and a portion of a public lane
Proposal:  47-storey mixed use building comprised of two point towers, having 791 residential dwelling units with non-residential floor area at grade.
 
- 352 Front Street West
Proposal: 24 storey mixed use building, comprised of 396 dwelling units and retail uses at grade.
 
- 56 Blue Jays Way
Proposal: 41 storey building (the recently approved By-law 1067-2007 permits an 18 storey building on the lands), comprised of 264 residential dwelling units, 127 hotel suites and restaurant and café uses at grade.
 
If you cannot attend these meetings, you can still make your views known by sending a fax to (416) 392-1330 - or by writing to Raymond David, Director, Community Planning, Toronto and East York District, City Planning Division, 100 Queen St W Floor 18 E Toronto On, M5H  2N.
 
If you would like further information about these proposals, please contact Philip Carvalino, Senior Planner, at 416-392-7574.
 
You may also contact Councillor Adam Vaughan, Ward 20, at (416) 392-4044 or Councillor_Vaughan@toronto.ca.
 
Attendant Care Services can be made available with some advance notice.
 
 
Councillor Adam Vaughan
Ward 20, Trinity-Spadina
416-392-4044
www.adamvaughan.ca <http://www.adamvaughan.ca/>

canada is won of the best countries in the world to live. but it is hard to get good educashion there, so maybe thats why sichuation change now.

a gud educashun shud be a rite for all citizens of the world. without educashun it is hard for a country to becom better or for kids to grow up to better themself.

look at india and china that uses to be most poor nation with so many youth and old peeple sick and unable to find food.

if you do not make good edukashun system then your country will go down. peeple running skuls and politishans shud under stand this but do nothing.

without food and medisin is bad enuf but when rich companys take over educashun the wors is yet to come.

india and tchinese guvernment changed the system and now is on the way to first world country. peeple get jobs in komputers and send monie home to villege to help out. even they have aero space program and rockets to shoot the moon, all becawse of educasion.

yet canada suppose to be first world country and cannot find places for peeple to go to skool and make them pay. is no akcident so many kids in canada suppose to not find food now, and eet from food banc? specially grad students hav to go eet from cans that kind peeple donate frum gudness of their hart.

car companys moves down to mexico or go out of bisnes and peeple scared because they can not find work. now that economy change and educashun diffikult what they suppos to do?

if you do not learn differentiation and chain rule in grade 11 how can you kompete with countries that try to make good educashun? look at the poor peeple who live in the north part of canada. so cold and peeple came steel their land and poisen their wales and leave them to live with what ever they can find. now even that they take away after killing the polear bares.

if they had educasion up there it might help out i don't know, maybe more help than sending them xpensive fuud and cheep tellevision.

why uneevirsety head cannot undurstand this is beyond me. they suppos to be smart and all that. they get docktor degre and cannot make sense with policy to keep country strong. they know more than me so is clear they don't kare.

if i have to pay for skul what point? maybe i don't even finish becawse too hungry and didn't get math in high skul becawse math is hard and no teacher give extra help or nything.

maybe won day uneversity head be xposed for what they are, wich is head of greedy corporation living off the fat of land in fancy house, snotty nose luking down on everybody.

mean while all thees smart peeple come out of skul and try to fix society and cannot find cure for nothing like aids or cancer or common cold that reely bother peeple. is the system brokan?

you deecide but deecide fast becawse is all ready too late for sum.

Mississauga police today are seeking a man for charges of invitation to touching and resisting arrest.

Georgie Porgie of Pudding Ave is accused of entering a Pie Blvd playground and kissing some of the girls playing near the swings. Concerned area residents say that when the boys came out to play, Mr Porgie fled the scene in a black sedan made up to look like a Ferris wheel.

Porgie is currently under a restraining order to keep away from places where children congregate, and police say they are seeking him on outstanding warrants for violating the terms of his probation.

Mr Porgie is prohibited from owning a Ferris wheel or any other midway attractions.

The suspect was last seen wearing a glove and holding a gold coloured imitation gramophone up to his ears.