St. James Park campers given their eviction notice?

City of Toronto ByLaw officers distribute notices on tents in St. James Park. The Occupy Toronto activists have been given notice they can not occupy the park between 1201 and 530 am.

Toronto Now: Occupy Toronto protesters given their eviction notice,

by: RICK MADONIK, TORONTO STAR

November 15, 2011,

Protesters will not be evicted tonight following a last-minute court injunction against the city’s plans to forcibly remove them.

"The City and its agencies shall refrain from enforcing the Notice," reads the decision from Justice David Brown.

Toronto police and city by-law officers served the protesters with eviction notices Tuesday morning, calling for an end to the month-long encampment in St. James Park by midnight tonight.

But the courts have now given them a reprieve, at least for a few more days.

Full arguments for and against eviction will be heard Friday, with a decision delivered on Saturday.

In the interim, the city must preserve the status quo in the park, which has been home to the Occupy Toronto protesters since Oct. 15.

The city’s eviction notice states that protesters cannot erect tents or any other structures in the park and must not use the park between 12:01 a.m. and 5:30 a.m., effective immediately.


my comment.............Have the campers walked into a trap with Ontario Superior Court Justice David Brown's decision to 'refrain from enforcing' the taxpayer's eviction notice?

Prior to this legal advice, they left open whatever options they had!

Should the Trespass to Property Act and the City of Toronto Act, 2006 be upheld, is the court now in the unenviable position of having to dictate removal terms for the few remaining campers who have said that they're not going anywhere and are 'here to stay?'

                                       -30-

Michael Moore: L is for Loser?

Michael Moore’s $2M playhouse: 

Does the hypocrite film director live like the 1% he condemns?

The Michigan View of Michael Moore's playhouse on Torch lake....

inShar

To Al Gore’s power-sucking mega-mansion we can now add Michael Moore’s vast estate on the lake.
Gore was accused of hypocrisy for building himself a massive home many times larger than any one person could require, while criticizing others for wasting energy and using up more than their fair share of the earth’s resources.

Moore is a leading supporter of the Occupy movement, who eviscerates the wealthy while sharing their wealth, and lives in the sort of luxury he despises in others. Britain’s Daily Mail prints pictures of Moore’s lavish “second home” on Torch Lake in Michigan, where he lives near a number of other wealthy entertainers and corporate titans.

The photos, first posted by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart, show a mammoth log and glass home with extensive grounds and lengthy waterfront exposure. The Daily Mail wrote:

Local real estate agents estimate the real value of the compound at $2 million, according to The Michigan View. It places the property near the top one per cent of home values in the Forest Home Township and in the state of Michigan. The township is roughly 98 per cent white residents, according to statistics from 2009.

It’s no secret that Moore has made millions from his muckraking documentaries, and there’s no reason he shouldn’t have. As one of the most successful documentary film-makers ever, he’s successfully tapped a rich vein of anti-capitalist rhetoric that sells well among U.S. liberals.

Alliance Films

Michael Moore declares the New York Stock Exchange a crime scene in his new film, Capitalism: A Love Story

What puts Moore in the Gore  camp is his refusal to admit he shares the wealth of his targets, as if wealth and success in themselves are dishonourable. In an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan he quails when asked to admit “the bleeding obvious”, i.e. that he’s a member of the 1%.

“How can I be in the 1%?” Moore responds. “Even though I do well, I don’t associate myself with those who do well. I am devoting my life to those who have less and have been crapped on by the system.”

Here’s the conceit: Moore, and the Occupy movement, happily lump all wealthy people into one big pot and condemn them for the mere fact of having money. Being among the 1% is enough in itself to deserve Moore’s condemnation and that of the people occupying tents across the U.S., and Canada.

REUTERS/Mark Blinch

Michael Moore has made millions from his muckraking documentaries

Neither Moore nor his supporters will concede that not all wealthy people are greed-driven charlatans from Wall Street, or that many of them — probably the majority — give generously to those in need. Just as generously as Moore himself. The two wealthiest men in the U.S.,  Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, have combined to support a foundation that will give tens of billions of dollars to education, health, science and to development causes in the world’s poorest countries. It’s far more than Moore could ever hope to give.

Moore tars everyone with the same brush, exempting only himself, and on the self-serving basis that he doesn’t “associate” himself with the 1%. So, if he makes millions of dollars and lives like a pasha, but sympathizes with the downtrodden and doesn’t “associate” himself with his fellow millionaires, he’s not really a rich white man with a big house? Yet he’s free to lambaste other millionaires, many of whom may be far more generous than him. Why? Because they don’t wear a baseball cap on TV? Is the determining criteria for membership in the hated 1% a willingness to wear a tie?

Moore would be much more worthy of respect if he were more honest, and acknowledged his own wealth and lifestyle if he wants to condemn others. Success is nothing to be ashamed of, or justification for the kind of public ridicule Moore likes to direct towards it. The real evil is greed, and the corruption that often accompanies it. But greed is not a private preserve of the wealthy, and  isn’t nearly as easy a target as the crime of being rich.

by: Kelly McParland of the National Post
Nov 14, 2011

November 14, 2011,

EU stresses privacy in new airport body scanner rules,

Toronto Star,

The European Union on Monday adopted a new set of guidelines governing the use of body scanners and addressing privacy concerns that have delayed their use at airports across the continent.
                            
Siim Kallas, the EU commissioner responsible for transport, said that under the rules the technology will only be used with strict safeguards to protect health and fundamental rights. "Security scanners are not a panacea but they do offer a real possibility to reinforce passenger security," he said.
                            
The scanners, some of which produce nude-like images of passengers, are already used in the United States and elsewhere as a more effective method of screening passengers than metal detectors. Scanner technology is developing rapidly and has the potential to significantly reduce invasive pat-downs. The latest machines are equipped with software that displays a generic outline of a human body, with a red box around the area where a passenger may be concealing an object.
                            
EU member states and airports do not have an obligation to deploy security scanners, but if they decide to use them, they will have to comply with the operational conditions and performance standards set at European level, the transport commission said. Under the new legislation, security scanners must not store or copy any of the images, and the security staff analyzing the images will be located in a room separate from where the actual screening is conducted. In addition, passengers must be informed and be given the right to choose an alternative method of screening.
                            
And in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens' health and safety, only security scanners that do not use X-ray technology can be used at EU airports, the commission said.

my response....If anyone hasn't noticed, terrorist hijackings are fewer today because we've learned how to thwart these murderous attempts! But still, there are those who would rather complain at rules put in place to save their life! It's pointless to challenge security agents when singled out for a body scan or a body pat-down. If complainers want to express their anger, at least they should direct it where it is due!

Security Agents have been directed by law to ensure the safety of all passengers after the 9/11 attacks, when 19 terrorists, 15 from Saudi Arabia, two from the United Arab Emirates and one each from Egypt and Lebanon, 14 with "al" in their names who took over commercial aircraft with box-cutters. Afterwhich, both the Canadian and American governments banned sharp objects from planes.

It wasn't that long ago when I waited patiently behind an 85 year old lady in Logan Airport who came up for special treatment. I think they called it 'random testing' at the time! Despite finding it difficult to comply, she did her best and didn't complain.
    
Airport security began confiscating little old ladies' knitting needles and breaking the mouse-sized nail files off of passengers' nail clippers. Surprisingly, no decrease in the number of hijacking attempts by little old ladies and manicurists was noted.
    
After another terrorist, Richard Reid, AKA Tariq Raja, AKA Abdel Rahim, AKA Abdul Raheem, AKA Abu Ibrahim, AKA Sammy Cohen (which was only his eHarmony alias), tried to blow up a commercial aircraft with explosive-laden sneakers, both governments prohibited more than 3 ounces of liquid from being carried on airplanes. On my last flight, I had to finish the contents of my water bottle before clearing customs.
    
All passengers were required to take off their shoes for special security screening, which did not thwart a single terrorist attack, but made airport security checkpoints a lot smellier.
    
After terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria tried to detonate explosive material in his underwear over Detroit, the authorities began requiring nude body scans at airports.
    
The machines, which cannot detect chemicals or plastic, would not have caught the diaper bomber. So, again, no hijackers were stopped.
    
After explosives were inserted in two ink cartridges and placed on a plane headed to the United States, but flying over Canada from Yemen, authorities banned printer cartridges from all domestic flights, resulting in no improvement in airport security.
    
Can we stop a terrorist attack simply by searching for the explosives? Some say, 'not any more than you can stop crime by taking guns away from the good guys'.
    
In the 1970s, liberal ideas on crime swept both countries. Gun owners were treated like criminals while actual criminals were coddled and released. If only we treated criminals with dignity and respect and showed them the system was blind and dumb, liberals told us, criminals would reward us with good behaviour.
    
As is now well known, crime exploded in the '70s. It took decades of conservative law-and-order policies to get crime back to near-1950s levels.
    
It's similarly pointless to treat all Canadians as if they're potential terrorists while trying to find and confiscate anything that could be used as a weapon. We can't search all passengers for explosives because terrorists stick explosives up their anuses. 
    
You have to search for the terrorists.
    
Fortunately, that's the one advantage we have in this war. In a lucky stroke, all the terrorists have been swarthy, foreign-born males, so far. This would give us a major leg up, if only the liberals weren't involved.
    
Is there any question that we'd be looking for Swedes if the 9/11 terrorists, the shoe bomber, the diaper bomber and the printer cartridge bomber had all been Swedish? If the Irish Republican Army were bombing our planes, wouldn't we be looking for people with Irish surnames and an Irish appearance?
    
Only because the terrorists practice a common religion do we pretend not to notice who keeps trying to blow up our planes.
    
It would be harder to find Swedes or Irish boarding commercial airliners in Canada than terrorists. Swarthy foreigners stand out like a sore thumb in an airport. The Canadian domestic flying population is remarkably homogenous. An airport is not a Bay department store.
    
Only about a third of all Canadians flew even once in the last year, and only 7 percent took more than four round trips. The majority of airline passengers are middle-aged, middle-class, white businessmen with about a million frequent flier miles. I'd wager that more than 90 percent of domestic air travellers were born in Canada.
    
If the government did nothing more than have a five-minute conversation with the one passenger per flight born outside Canada, you'd need 90 percent fewer security agents and airlines would still be as safe as they are now.
    
Instead, the government keeps ordering more invasive searches of all passengers, without exception, except members of Parliament and other government officials, who get VIP treatment.
    
Is it becoming increasingly obvious that we need to keep government hacks and assorted hanger's on as far away from airport security as possible?

                         -30-

Is the closure of the Air Museum in Toronto a disgrace?

The continuing saga about closure of the Air Museum in Toronto is a disgrace and I hope by shining my light, this little piece of our history will remain! Looking at the images brought to mind the hundreds of 'Rosie the Riveters' on the Lancaster line at Victory Aircraft and the dedicated work that they did in those dark days and thought that my readers might be interested in a little look back, again!

In the later years of WW2, my parents were both in their late teens and like most of their peers, decided to join the war effort. My father signed on to the RCAF, receiving his Flight Officer's commission when only 19; in fact, I still have his commission, his medals and his Flight Officer's uniform. My mother becoming one of the many 'Rosie the Riveters', at Victory Aircraft Limited, Malton, Ontario, building the Lancasters that my Dad would fly!

The work force at Victory escalated from 3,300 in 1942 to 9,521 in 1944, most of them initially unskilled and about a quarter of them women. To facilitate the manufacture, an RAF Lancaster from England (R-5727) was flown across the Atlantic in August, 1942 to act as a 'pattern' and the Canadian prototype, with serial number KB-700, rolled off the assembly line on August 1, 1943.

Living on the family farm on Yonge Street, near Finch, public transit to Malton would often take her 90 minutes each way and the work was loud and hot but she told me she worked with a great crew who had a job to do!

Eventually, production reached the level of one aircraft per day with a total of 430 Lancaster Mk. X's being built. Of the Canadian-built Lancs, some one hundred were lost in wartime service, approximately seventy missing in action and about thirty others crashing upon their return to England or in training. KB-732 flew the most operations of any Canadian-built Lancaster, completing 83 during its tour of duty with 419 squadron.

Following victory in Europe, three of the Canadian Squadrons began ferrying ex-Prisoners of War, many of whom were Canadian aircrew, back to England. But the war in the Pacific was still raging and the rest of Canadian Lancasters were flown home to be prepared for service against the Japanese. This bomber group was to be known as 'Tiger Force', training out of CFB Comox, on Vancouver Island where my father was stationed but plans were cancelled after the unconditional surrender of Japan in August, 1945........the roar of squadrons of mighty Lancasters was heard for the last time.

For those who are interested, they can still see the 'Andy' Mynarski Memorial Lancaster at the Hamilton Warplane Heritage Museum that just flew in the CNE Air Show.

                                          -30-

Christmas 2011 -- the Birth of a New Tradition?

November 13, 2011, Christmas 2011 -- the Birth of a New Tradition? As the holidays approach, giant foreign factories are kicking into high gear to provide Canadians with monstrous piles of cheaply produced goods....merchandise that has been produced at the expense of Canadian labour.  Let this year be different!  This year can be the year to give the gift of genuine concern for your neighbours.  It is no longer an excuse that there is nothing that can be found that is produced by Canadian hands at Christmas time because the answer is....yes, there are plenty of ideas!  It's time to think outside the Christmas box, people. Who says a gift needs to fit in a shirt box, wrapped in foreign produced wrapping paper?  Everyone -- yes EVERYONE can have something supplied locally for Christmas! #1 - everyone needs a hair cut some time? How about giving a wag jag gift certificate from your local hair salon or barber? #2 - some may like a gym membership? Isn't it appropriate to give a wag jag coupon for those who are thinking about weight loss? #3 - car detailed? Who wouldn't appreciate getting a wag jag coupon from small, Canadian-owned detail shops and car washes. Are you one of those extravagant givers who think nothing of plunking down all those loonies on a foreign made flat-screen? Perhaps that grateful gift receiver would prefer a wag jag coupon to get his.... #4 - driveway sealed, or #5 - lawn mowed for the summer, or #6 - driveway plowed all winter, or #7 - some games at the local golf course.   #8 - restaurants -- There are hundreds of local restaurants offering wag jag gift certificates for every taste. Now we can plan our holiday outings at local, owner-operated restaurants and leave our server a nice tip.   #9 - local breakfast joint -  what about a half dozen breakfast wag jag coupons Remember folks, this isn't about big National chains -- this is about supporting your neighbour so they will keep their doors open. If you don't care, who will? What about...... #10 - an oil change for their car, truck or motorcycle - How many people couldn't use a wag jag coupon for a shop run by the typical Canadian working guy who lives in your neighbourhood? #11 - a local cleaning lady for a day - thinking about a heartfelt gift for mom? Mom would LOVE a wag jag coupon! She may even put her feet up...like you do! #12 - a computer repair - who's computer could use a wag jag coupon for a tune-up? OK, you were looking for something more personal. what about a wag jag coupon from local crafts people who.. #13 - spin their own wool and knit them into scarves?  #14 - make jewelry? #15 - make pottery? #16 - or make beautiful wooden boxes? Who wouldn't appreciate an evening... #17 - at their hometown theatre - what about a wag jag coupon to see a play or ballet? #18 - listening to a local band - Musicians need love too, so what about a wag jag for an evenings entertainment? Honestly, people, do you REALLY need to buy another ten thousand foreign lights for your home? When you buy a five dollar string of lights, only about fifty cents stays in the community. If you have those kinds of bucks to burn, leave the mailman, trash guy or babysitter a nice BIG tip. You see, Christmas is no longer about draining Canadian pockets so that others can build another glittering city somewhere around the world. Christmas can be about caring; encouraging Canadian small businesses to keep plugging away and follow our dreams. And, when we care about other Canadians, we care about our communities, and the benefits come back to us in ways we couldn't imagine. Giving a wag jag or two can be the new Canadian Christmas tradition...and you won't have to stand in line at the mall, either! Forward this to everyone on your mailing list -- post it to discussion groups -- throw up a post on twitter -- send it to the editor of your local paper and radio stations, and TV news departments. This can be a revolution of caring about each other.....and isn't that what Christmas is all about? It has just been reported that Ontario has lost 300,000 good-paying manufacturing jobs since 2002 and if, by their dumping, they succeed in killing off what little is left of our manufacturing, just watch prices rise!  BUY CANADIAN - BE  CANADIAN - The job you save might be your own!!                                                       -30-

Letter: Attempt to spread Occupy protest to Queen’s Park fails,

Attempt to spread Occupy protest to Queen’s Park fails,

by: Alyshah Hasham, Toronto Star, Staff Reporter,

Saturday, November 12, 2011,



Despite threats by the mob; who don't even add up to 1% mind you, their failure to condemn the giant Ponzi schemes of government entitlement programs and public sector greed while instead rejecting taxpayer's values of working hard to create a good life is what renders their concerns mute!

Who do they think they're fooling?

So count me as part of the 98% who condemn financial fraud and political corruption on one hand and the absurd and blatantly inconsistent on the other!





                                                                -30-

Letter: Greek PM, a glimpse of expediency?

November 2, 2011,

Greek PM faces showdown.

Is Papandreou saving his career at the expense of the global economy or is a referendum the only way to save it? Some see his referendum as a reckless move by a cornered politician who refuses to shoulder the legacy of brutal cost-cutting measures. Others charge it is a brilliant, gutsy strategy designed to silence his critics and ultimately garner the support the bailout needs to be successful.

When we hear French President Nicolas Sarkozy say, "This announcement took the whole of Europe by surprise," on the steps of the Elysee Palace in Paris yesterday. "The plan ... is the only way to solve Greece's debt problem" with Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers saying, "Greece could go bankrupt if voters rejected the bailout package" and Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi saying, "Everyone is bewildered."

You know the players are getting desperate, especially when we read "That's enough now: Greeks out!" from Kronen Zeitung, on the front page of Austria's biggest-selling paper with more vitriol from the Greek press; including dailies traditionally friendly to the government, almost unanimously condemning Papandreou. Centre-left newspaper Eleftherotypia even described the prime minister on its front page as “The Lord of Chaos.” Ethnos, another pro-government paper, called the referendum “suicidal.”
 
Which brings us to question Ontario's future should the Greeks decide that onerous debt brought to them by back-room money dealers and assorted hangers-on does not fit into their future plans. Once the economic engine of Canada when Bill Davis was Premier and after only 6 years of unbridled socialism under Dalton McGuinty's leadership, no less, Ontario became an official have-not province in 2009 collecting a government cheque for the first time in our history! Shameful!!

With little to show since and notwithstanding taxpayer encouragement, is it possible that Dwight Duncan's meager attempt at finally reigning in his uncontrolled spending habits by reviewing the deceiving FIT energy program could be just a long overdue attempt to forestall a bond holder haircut resulting from Ontario's mind-boggling annual budget deficit of $16.3 Billion dollars," as in $16,300,000,000 and the "accumulated debt exceeding $235 Billion dollars," as in $235,000,000,000? I mean, little Greece was allowed to grow their accumulated debt  to $500 Billion before they came to the crossroads! When will the ponzi-schemers in Ontario realize we have come to ours?

Rating agencies, in a clear declaration of skepticism regarding this government's capacity to rein in its spending have already expressed their concern that these folks are capable of implementing a multi-year financial plan, with the intention of restoring a balanced budget by 2018. Meeting that target would require ongoing expenditure restraint in divergence from historical growth trends while achieving forecast revenue targets through projected tax increases.

But with the province’s long-term debt rating already at a AA downgrade; resulting in a raising of Ontario’s cost of financing and reducing our credibility in global markets, has the 'proverbial horse already left the barn'?

Another downgrade, with others to follow as we roll down the other side of this mountain is frustrating for those who see the folly of onerous public debt as new bondholders will doubtless demand double-digit yields; but they'll be taking a greater risk, assuming they are willing to part with their capital at all and certainly would expect to earn a greater reward for buying any sovereign debt, should they ever get paid out! But with interest payments threatening to become our largest expenditure after health; as Greeks and Americans are finding out, many know this can't go on much longer!

But the way things have been; up to yesterday, at least, that risk was being masked by an insidious fairy tale that sovereign debt somehow comes with a repayment guarantee but the unfortunate victims of this fairy tale are young Greeks, Americans, and yes Ontarian's, too when they realize they are tied to a debt run up by an older generation. If the Greeks can walk away, why can't we?

Attracted by unprecedented yields, will high-risk betters bail before the inevitable bondholder haircut leaving the hapless to pick up the pieces anyway? Just like the credit squeeze in the run up to the Great Depression, ignoring the reality that bills have to be paid and instead choosing endless band-aids only feeds a deep moral abyss creating an even deeper hole for the younger generation. In Ontario specifically, some fault lies with the post-Davis administrations, specifically the Peterson Administration, doubtless more with the Rae Administration when assistance from the IMF was starting to look good, but some fault lies with investors for making risky bets! Shouldn't they pay too?

As unpleasant as it may sound, to default and restructure remains the method of last resort for loans that should never have been made in the first place. The reality is that governments do default; it has happened before to Argentina and will happen again! If Papandreou’s Socialist government falls, it would not be the first in Europe to be toppled by the austerity demanded by European debt relief. In Ireland and Portugal, governments fell after accepting bailouts from the European Union and the IMF, and last month the Slovakian government fell over a vote on whether to participate in the European Union’s rescue package. But these lessons are being ignored in an over-borrowed Queen's Park as if it doesn't fit with someone's economic fantasy. But all of this may be a moot point if, and when investor's say, enough is enough, as France and Germany have just done to the Greeks and China has just done to the Americans! The only question is...should Greeks, and then Italians, Spaniards, Americans, and yes Ontarian's, too continue to pay never ending interest on top of interest payments, seemingly without end or say NO and pull the plug?

Despite plenty of complicating factors, not the least of which is the viability of myopic banks who are now treading water with debt tied to stagnant CDO's and who no doubt regret pouring as much as they already have into these deep holes, don't our young deserve a new beginning?

Should Papandreou’s referendum gamble result in a “no” vote; as a recent poll says 60% do not support his government's austerity measures, this would have enormous consequences not just for Greece, but possibly for the rest of the world. It would no doubt lead to a disorderly Greek default, force Greece out of the 17-nation euro zone, certainly topple many European banks as well as other fragile banks around the world. Rejection by the Greeks of the continuing European bail-out saga; where the bondholders have already agreed to increase their haircut from 21% to 50%, will certainly cascade destruction through Europe and maybe into North America, too, so we may not even have a choice but to watch the unraveling of our joint financial architecture, such that it is that condones the mortgaging of our children's future.

Is it possible that wiping the slate clean with a general bondholder haircut may have always been the inevitable result when socialists are allowed to run amok? We may know the answer to that question before the end of this year!


 

                     -30-