The Maple Leafs, Luke Schenn and Draft Picks....

I know very little about hockey...more than most Americans...considerably less than most Canadians.

That said, I do know that Luke Schenn is 20 pounds over weight, slow and can't fight.

Listen...everyone was so big on this guy last year. My buddies..."He's a great young prospect"...Duncan ..."You don't notice him on the ice, that's good for a defenceman.."

So, what you're saying is...he hides????

Well, a year later (call it a sophomore slump) old Luke is showing his true colours. He's giving pucks away in terrible places, not connecting on simple passes, fighting like a complete pussy (it looks like a Crosby fight whenever he gets into a tangle) and he's a complete liability.

My point...

I wanted them to trade this guy last year when he had some stock. No one in the league would take this guy for a second rounder at this point. At the beginning of the season they could have traded him and Kaberle for something decent...instead they kept him as a commodity and expected him to blossom into a powerhouse blueliner.

Mark my words. This guy won't even exist in pro hockey in 3 years time.

Hey, I was right about him sucking last year when everyone thought he was great...who's to say I'm 'not right about him being out of hockey in three years when he sucks even worse this year?

He might be the next Justin Pogge...

Anyone else here Slapshot, the Chiefs calling.....oh Luke.....Luke.....

Global Climate Change = Leaked emails paint a different picture

So it's becoming clearer day by day that allegedly, top Climate Change scientists have been manipulating scientific data, or simply not releasing data for years because it would without a doubt squash all theories dealing with man-made global warming.

I think the world has finally realized that Al Gore was a crock of shit simply trying to make money off the people with exaggerated computer models and spectacular scenarios that without a doubt will not be coming to fruition anytime soon. No Al...it turns out lower Manhattan will not be under water within the next few decades....

But the emails provided below are a bit alarming. It's becoming clearer that some members of the scientific community will do anything for a theory --even manipulate numbers to agree with their hypothesis. These are scientists that are making millions off of the global warming theory and will continue to report on it so they can publish books, teach courses and attend world conferences on the subject.

What you read below are a list of emails, the tastiest..., that were hacked by an email hacker. They are from a climate research unit headed by some of the most prestigious thinkers in the world. Well, it turns out these thinkers didn't like how some of the data was portraying the Earth as becoming cooler over the past few years. The emails are remarkable and stuff like this should be front page news....unfortunately, I'm sure most haven't even heard of this story.

Don't get me wrong...The Earth is heading down the wrong path. We are polluting too much and anything to clean our water and air should be done. I believe in using clean energy and I rarely litter. It should not be denied that carbon dioxide is unhealthy and should be eliminated if financially possible. However, I DO NOT believe in a man-made global warming theory and I do not believe the world is coming to an end. I do not believe that the polar ice caps will soon be gone and I think the polar bears will find a way to survive. I simply don't believe in scientists and governments using this theory any longer as a tax grab and money making scheme.

Why can't someone just come out and say that global warming isn't man made and that we're simply taking on all of these green tasks and sustainable improvements to simply improve the world we living in, not save us from a warming earth....

Below are the leaked emails from top researchers who are proponents of man made global warming...

Manipulation of evidence:

I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.

Private doubts about whether the world really is heating up:

The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. The CERES data published in the August BAMS 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate.

Suppression of evidence:

Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4?

Keith will do likewise. He’s not in at the moment – minor family crisis.

Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don’t have his new email address.

We will be getting Caspar to do likewise.

Fantasies of violence against prominent Climate Sceptic scientists:

Next
time I see Pat Michaels at a scientific meeting, I’ll be tempted to beat
the crap out of him. Very tempted.

The lady in the TTC collection booth at Queen St.

The TTC has a kind of reputation for being full of unionized ass holes that are, in some cases, rude and inappropriate towards paying customers looking to get about the city.

The big lady at Queen subway station is a perfect example and exemplifies everything I hate about the TTC and its transit workers.

So goes the story....

Last week I enter the station with 10 dollars looking to secure entry into the subway system for 2.75. As I get to the collection boot I approach a grisly looking older large woman, who obviously hates her job, with a smile. I ask for "one please" meaning a single entry into the subway system.

She hands me back a five dollar bill and a bunch of change so I picked up the money and proceeded to walk through. Right as I'm ready to walk through she puts the lock on the gate and blocks me. I turn around to see what happened and it turns out I forgot to drop the change into the collection box before entering.

Now, I usually buy a metropass but on this occasion I was letting a friend use it. Basically, I feel I'm a valued customer that contributes to the TTC's bottom line every single month and during my time in Canada I've given them somewhere around 1,000 dollars +.....

So I look back at the lady and she's shaking her head at me and then yells out..."YOU NEED TO LISTEN BETTER"

Oh really...

So I go back and drop the change back in and politely say..."you need to learn how to treat the customers that pay your salary..."

I wanted to say some worse things and I can think of many....but I didn't because at that time I realized that I was the one moving about the city and she was the one in the small TTC box...

Anyway...what's up with people like that? These people think they are owed something and they need to come down off their high horse. It's not like I was some kind of kid trying to cheat my way into the system...I was a paying customer that was trying to get through the gates.

Maybe next time I walk through queen station I'll give her a wave and ask how her day has been. Heaven knows she most likely has no one at home to comfort her when she comes home from her daily job of being a rude ass clown.

The main reason Canadians think Americans are stupid

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/11/18/maloney.ar.girl.tasered.KHBS

Okay...so I know there are stupid people everywhere and I've met more than enough ridiculous humans in Toronto, but this police station in Arkansas really needs to be looked at.

It's no wonder I walk around and people tell me how wasteful, inappropriate and ignorant Americans are...well now they can make fun of me because I live merely one state up and over from the one in question --Arkansas.

Wow, what's going on in that state when you have to electrically shock your third graders just to get them to go in time out.

And the officer in question is like "Well I guess I could have used a metal rod on the girl."

What?!? Dude this girl was 10. You should be putting her in the corner for timeout, not tasing her bro.

Arkansas....Not a real representation of the US

It's official, the city raised transit prices today in the middle of a rough recession..

Alright, so Macdonald's is already more expensive then in the states:

-Double Cheese in the states = 1.00
-Double Cheese in Toronto - 1.39

And to make matters worse, the TTC has officially voted to raise our monthly bus pass from 109 per month to $121 per month.

As I was telling my buddies last night, I understand having to pay more for better service, faster service, cost of living ect...Which is why a reasonable raise of a few dollars or may even five dollars would have been acceptable. But it just seems like this city is jacking up the price of things as people are losing their jobs.

I understand that even at $121 the TTC metropass is still a good deal. I will most likely use it more than enough to get my monies worth because a single ride now costs $3.00 --more than any other city might I add.

I guess it's just the idea that the councillors and people at the top of this joke don't seem to care about the user. If they cared about the user they wouldn't have gone hundreds of millions of dollars over budget therefore enabling them to hike up our costs.

Maybe an extra $12 a month isn't a lot to Adam Giambrone (ttc chair) but it's a lot to people just out of college that are trying make ends meet and are trying to pay back student debts and start a life.

If the people of Bloor-Lansdowne don't vote that joker out next year something is wrong with that community.

It's a difficult thing to swallow that everytime your down, your city and provincial gov. is their to hit you even harder with an HST, land tax, TTC price increase and more...

It's equally as difficult to swallow that it doesn't matter how much they hike up costs...people are still going to use mass transit because they are like me, they have to choice but to obey the nanny state, suck it up, and hand over the extra 100 bucks a year because it's still cheaper than owning a car.

At least I can say i'm green!

Canada as the "Nice and tolerant" country...

When it comes down to it, there's not really a difference between, say, a Minnesotan and a Canadian, but for some reason, up here north of the border we like to say that Canadians are respectful, tolerant and the nicest people on Earth.

Well, I've come to find that this is simply not true. One ride on the TTC (subway...bus...street car...) during rush hour will show you just how nice that fellow Canadian is and just how respectful that TTC driver is. If you've ever experienced being ushered into a bus or street car like cattle you know just how irritated people can get.

Further, Toronto isn't really a good representation of Canadians anyway because of the amount of immigrants that have flooded the city and could care less about Canadian customs or freedoms (I suppose that includes me although Americans aren't really foreigners here. They are simply glutton, capitalist, health care grabbing pigs).

Alright, I took that too far. Most Canadians are very respectful, just as Americans, Brits, and western Europeans are, but there are bad apples among every bunch. However, my experience tells me that, in the end, tolerance is thrown out the door in many situations both north and south of the border. So why is it that Canadians always say they are the most accepting people in the world? I really don't see any difference....

Canada v. US hockey...The only reason why Canada is dominant...

1. Football - 13.8%
2. Mountain biking - 7.7%
3. Basketball - 6.0%
4. Soccer - 3.5%
5. Skateboarding - 2.7%
6. Baseball - 2.6%
7. Softball - 2.3%

"According to USA Hockey—which has jurisdiction over the vast majority of youth leagues nationwide—there are 347,061 players under the age of 20 registered with the organization across the country."

vs.

"4.5 Million Canadians involved in hockey" according to cmaj medical journal


When sitting around having beers with my Canadian buds, we commonly watch hockey and sometimes debate why Canada is so dominant in the NHL and in the Olympics.

For me it's simple. There are way more youth hockey players in Canada then there are in the US. As a result, those youth hockey players fall in love with the game from an early age and stick with it as fans, referees or participants throughout their lives.

Just look at the numbers I've provided. The most striking to me is the percentages. The most dangerous youth sport in America is football followed by mountain biking...on down to seventh which is softball. However, hockey is nowhere on the list. So in the US...softball is more dangerous then hockey meaning more softball players are injured yearly than hockey players.

We all know how dangerous hockey is so why isn't hockey on this list? It's simply because only around 300K youth play hockey while there are over 4.5 million involved in hockey in Canada.

It's actually remarkable that the US is anywhere near Canada in terms of the Olympic games.

Hockey has about the same amount of registered players in the states as lacrosse does. Soccer, on the other hand, is the fastest growing sport in America while baseball is still the most popular.

It's no wonder that (just as Canada is dominant in hockey) Canada will never compete against the US in soccer, football or baseball. These sports are driven by our youth and there is simply nowhere to even play hockey in most US jurisdictions.

While all of my Canadian friends played hockey as youths...I on the other hand have yet to hold a stick, take a slapshot or skate around in an ice hockey rink....I'm 23.

Toronto, a city full of Euro Snobs

First let's define Eurosnob...

A Eurosnob is someone who believes with all their heart that European soccer leagues, players and statiums are the best in the world....Are they too far off....maybe not, but I'm sure a lot of brazilians, mexicans, Ghanaian's and Argentians might have something to say about that...

Anyway....

Eurosnobs...include Englishmen, Italians and the portugese/spanish that come over to North America and won't shut up about how great European soccer is. In fact, they won't give the Toronto FC the time of day because they think American and Canadian soccer is pretend and not worth their time....

Well, Hey Italians...at least our league doesn't have a multi million dollar gambling problem in which players are paid by the mob to throw games. I wouldn't go to an Italian soccer game if you paid me simply because I'd rather drink beer instead of red wine at the game.

Eurosnobs think european world cup qualification is so difficult too...

Did they even take a look at the tables...did they see the group the netherlands had? Dear lord...Scotland, macedonia and iceland and some other country that's smaller than PEI? Any one of the final six teams in Concacaf would dismantle those guys with the exception of Trinidad.

Anyway...Eurosnobs have Christiano Ronaldo like haircuts and they all think they're gods gift to soccer. They're the ones that get into fights outside in the parking lot of the scarborough indoor soccer centre...they're the one's that cram into bars just to see which team the mob paid off this week in league cup action.

Eurosnobs suck...

The Canadian Justice System and other systems around the world are WEAK

This story has me going...

In the U.S. we celebrate Veterans Day, a time to remember lost lives, war, hardships, terror and everything that comes along with it. In Canada we have what's called Remembrance Day which is the equivalent.

On Remembrance Day in Canada it is customary to purchase a red poppy from a vet that stands outside in the cold selling them for spare change. The vet then pins the poppy on you and thanks you for your time, consideration and admiration. The money goes to help vets serving everywhere.

So yestersay, a man described as dark skinned, with a mask and all black fatigues invades a vet legion centre trying to steal Remembrance Day proceeds from the 80-year-old men who were counting it. It was estimated that somewhere around 10k the vets had collected was nearly stolen after a masked man ran into the legion, with a gun, and attempted to take off with the cash.

Are you kidding me...stealing from the same vets, soldiers and army personel that have given you the freedoms you experience today?

The best part of this story? The Army vets manage to wrestle the would-be thief to the ground before the thief took off without the money.

My question is...would this happen if the Canadian and American justice systems weren't so weak? Maybe this guy decided to attempt a major theft because he knew if he were caught he'd most likely spend a night and jail and then get a year's probabtion.

Here's my suggestion....how about we gather these individuals, the kind of people that would do something like this, and send them to the northwest territories. Canada has so much uncharted territory and tundra that we would never hear from these people again. Instead of giving them a slap on the wrist why not send them to the arctic? We would give them food and a bit of shelter but it sure as hell might make people think about getting into legal trouble if they knew they were going to subzero temps in the polar regions.

Instead we'll just allow them to keep on stealing, shooting people, and assaulting others while giving them weak sentences and early release.

How about for once we think of the vets that gave their lives for Canada...how about we think of the vets that gave their lives so Canada could retain the Great White North...better yet, how about we send our criminals to the great white north never to be seen from or heard again....

Homeless people in Toronto

There are at the very least hundreds, maybe even thousands of homeless bums scattered throughout the Greater Toronto Area. These are people that live on the streets year round under bridges, in door ways and in bank ATM outlets. Nonetheless, they are people with severe mental issues that for some reason choose the dead of winter over attempting to better their lives by finding a decent place to live and, at the very least, a job at mcdonalds.


So why am I discussing the bums today? I don't know, I just really don't like how they're so good at making people uncomfortable. For instance, If you walk into a drugmart, as soon as you come out there's a bum asking you for any "spare change" you have. what really makes this an issue is that...yes of course I have spare change, I just bought some toothpaste and a scratcher ticket. But honestly, I don't feel like giving a perfectly able human being money.

Maybe I'll start carrying around granola bars and handing those out instead.

Hear is what really grinds my gears. These bums are always smiling and are always telling you to "have a nice day" and so on....do they really mean that? Or are they just trying to get a loonie out of you?

I'll end with a story from last week...I'm walking into an ATM machine area when I see a rather large native woman laying on the floor. By this time my girlfriend Sinead is so horrified she decides to not even go it. The ATM machine area smells like a ciggarette because the lady has been illegally smoking indoors and she has what's left of a blanket thrown over her. Somehow she has one eye open and the other is as if she's sleeping. I go to pull 60 bucks out of the ATM machine for a laugh and a chat when I hear "excussssseemeeeee, can youuuuu, sparrrrrre someeeee change???"

Ya lady....I just pulled 20s out of the machine and I'm going to make it rain on you?

I simply didn't anser her and as I left I told her she should stop smoking in the enclosure. She didn't seem to hear me and instead went back to her slumber.

BLACK FACE: Canada and Political Correctness

Picture this: A group of University of Toronto students dress up for a Halloween costume party in what I think is a pretty unique and decent costume idea while at the same time pretty tasteful and not offensive.

WRONG....

A group of U of T students dressed up as the 'All Black' Jamaican bobsled team from the movie Cool Runnings. Pretty creative right? At least I thought it was.

These (white) students painted their skin black in order to better align themselves with the characters they were portraying.

Guess what....A group of black Canadians didn't think the costume was amusing and, in fact, deemed the costume outrageous, inappropriate and offensive. They went as far as to proclaim the costume racist and demanded the students submit a written apology for painting their faces black and imitating the actors from Cool Runnings.

Does anyone else think this takes political correctness to a new extreme?

So, apparently it's okay for girls to dress like total whores and walk around with their rear ends hanging out but it's not okay for a group of students to imitate movie characters?

Apparently it's okay for people to walk around in costumes portraying Jesus Christ and George Bush as horrible people, but it's not okay to paint your face black and give yourself dreadlocks?

Apparently it was okay for a black student to dress up like John Candy and go to the party as the "bobsledders" coach....yes that's right....The group of students had a black friend that even went along with the costume and dressed up as the team's white coach just to fill out the group costume idea.

Needless to say, the group of college students were in the spotlight and have since completed a formal written apology to the coalition of black students at U of T. I hope one of them has the balls to dress up like the Trinidad and Tobago ice hockey team from Mighty Ducks 2 next year.

Ruby Dhalla and the Brampton area of T.O.

Brampton, On is an area known for the massive amounts of East Indian inhabitants that comprise the area northwest of the city. Their Member of Parliament (MP), or congresswoman, is Ruby Dhalla, a pleasant lady of east Indian descent that will do just about anything to get elected. To be honest it doesn't really matter though because the Indians of Brampton will continue to elect her simply because she's Indian...I know...seems kinda....uhhh...racially motivated? Well, it is, but your allowed to do things that are racially motivated as long as your motivation isn't caucasian.

No matter, let's make this short and sweet.

MP Dhalla is pushing a bill through parliament that will change the way senior citizens receive welfare and retirement payments. Basically at this point you have to live in Canada for something like 10 years to receive gov. pension and assistants. This is becaus of the enormous number of overage and elderly immigrants Canada takes in each year. This is fine, Canada is a place of accetance and goodwill.

The problem?

Ms. Dhalla's new bill is looking to allow new immigrants that have been here for just 3 years to begin receieving gov. benefits! 3 years! So even though your grandparents and parents have been working hard for decades to save and earn social insurance, security and a pension, the people of Brampton and the east Indian community believe they should be allowed to ship over mass amounts of elderly people and have the gov. pay for their every need..which means YOU are paying for their every needs.

I fully don't expect this bill to pass simply because of its ridiculout nature. Even the most socialist and liberal of parliaments wouldn't touch this joke....but honestly....come to a country for three years..and by the third year be receieving gov. assistant cheques, and pension money?

Don't re-elect Ruby Dhalla....oh wait...you will for one reason...and one reason alone. What's sad is that it's perfectly acceptable too.

Stop the wastefullness, why are you throwing money at ridiculous programs?

Conservatives = Tax cuts for everyone!!!! Right?!?!

Wrong

For me it's about responsibility. What upsets a true conservative is not paying taxes, not watching money drift into the pockets of the US/Canadian gov. , it's how we've seen countless examples of wasteful spending, pork and bloated budgets.

For instance... We all know health care is a debate being waged south of the boarder and, at times, in Canada. People, for the most part, are happy with Canadian health care but it without a doubt can stand to be improved. Hospitals in Canada are underfunded, waiting lists (like it or not) are increasing and people can't even receive h1n1 shots -- i still don't have one and have been told i won't get one until after christmas.

Where am I going with this....

Instead of giving more and more resources, money and funding to hospitals and health care workers - the most paramount of services on this planet...What have the ontario liberals been giving money too....

-An all black afrocentric school in downtown Toronto to help keep black culture alive in the community
-An E-health scandal that has wasted around 1billion dollars after untendered contracts were given out to people making around 2,000 dollars a day.
-OLG executives charging the tax payer for things like coffee and candy bars
-Let's see....one councillor in Toronto charged the tax payer for a Bunny Suit she planned on wearing during easter.
-And the list goes on....

100,000 for an art mural under a highway, Sick bank for tens of millions for city garbage collectors following a month-long strike, removing existing car lanes to install bike lanes on Jarvis st., the HST will now allow you to enjoy a 13 percent tax on a whole host of items you purchase....

That's all for now..

Please do your part and elect someone who will cut some of these services and wastefulness....

then again, the next person who says they will save us all money will most likely do the same thing.

The Canadian Transit System says: Sure, we'll raise your fare by 18 %

Just when it looks like things can't get anymore expensive, taxes can't get any higher, and the economy can't get any worse, the PUBLIC transit system decides to raise it's fares once again.

For those of you that aren't familiar with the Toronto Transit Commission, it's a fairly average system that gets you to where you want to go. Nice work. Thanks for doing your job decently.

It's also one of the most expensive in the world. 2.75 for one ride...109$ for a monthly pass.

I, myself, am a monthly pass purchaser who, for the most part, was pretty happy with the deal I was getting every month.

Well, it turns out the Toronto Transit Commision went over budget last year by tens of millions of dollars for some reason and will therfore be raising all prices in 2010 on just about everything.

That bus pass will jump up to nearly 130 bucks and that single ride fair will be at 3.00. Doesn't this make anyone else mad? Why aren't people storming the bus terminals?

Listen, I understand raising prices 3, 4, even 5 dollars...maybe even more...But to raise the cost by somewhere around 20 percent is simply outrageous.

It makes me even more upset when I think about the city transit councillors going over to vienna last summer for a "transit conferenc." Wow, how much did that cost the TTC users and tax payers...something like 40Gs per TTC board members.

How about Adam Giambrone and the people at the top take a pay cut? How about not driving a dagger into our hearts when we've alredy lost our jobs? How about not wasting money on installing bike racks on every bus hat absolutely no one uses?

Quit wasting out money!

Why I'm writing this blog from now until whenever...

November...the leaves change...friends and family gather to dine...and Greyhound Canada bus services stick it up your arse!

That's right, I'm starting this blog because I've had just about enough of rising costs, taxes and prices on just about everything during what most have been calling the most challenging economic situation dating back to the "Great" one.

First things first, disregard any punctation; speling and runn on sntence mistakes because I'm most likely writing this quickly and in a rage.

But let's get on with it....

What propelled me to start in on this blog?

A close friend of mine that I hold near and dear to my heart --Matt Meszaros -- is coming to Canada. He's coming by way of Greyhound bus which seems to be a decent and affordable way to get between two destinations that are reasonable distances apart.

We decided Mez (my buddy matt) would purchase a ticket to come meet me and then we would leave from Toronto to head down to upstate New York where his family lives. He purchased his ticket just fine and I informed him I would purchase the tickets from Toronto to Buffalo.

No big deal..right?

Well it turns out, in Canada, if you purchase a bus ticket using Greyhound Canada for someone other than yourself you have to pay a ridiculous "gift fee companion" tax of somehwere around $10US and change. On a bus ticket that should have been around 40 bucks that's an added 25% tax!

Anyway, I purchased the tickets because it's not like I have any kind of choice in the matter, but needless to say, as a fiscally conservative American living in RED Canada, how can a 25% tax be acceptable on anything?

Don't worry, I made sure to right them a snarky email that I'm sure they won't even read. It did make me feel better. Thanks to Matt for propelling me and giving me the wherewithall to start a blog where I can discuss my reasonable and rational point of views...

PS: If for some reason this blog is taken off line before the end of the day it was deleted by the Canadian gov. China style.

I'll probably post on this thing every other day or so. I work in the newspaper industry so it's not difficult for me to find things to rage and become unruly about.

Cheers