DUC IN ALTUM

Wasn’t sure which image to use. My friend Geoff posted a good one this year. I posted Jessica Simpson last year.

…it’s all good.

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 Sorry, got that one wrong.  It’s OPUS… yeah.  The new chip card to take the city bus/metro in Montreal.

Since July 1st, there are little blue people in the metro stations (usually three for every metro station) directing traffic.  These little people wear bright blue STM shirts so we can’t miss them.  It even says “information” on their shirts.

The first little blue person I talked to couldn’t tell me about the personal information issue, she directed me to the STM web site.  How nice to have people there to inform me ABOUT THEIR WEB SITE.  How useful.

Will my personal data be kept confidential ?

Every security measure will be taken to uphold the confidentiality standards that govern all public transit authorities.

Wow.  How informative.  EVERY measure will be taken…  Doesn’t say what information it will hold.  ATM card info?  PIN number info?  Personal address?  Full name and age?  Who knows.

My plan, since I’m not a student and not allowed a reduction of any kind, is to NEVER volonteer any info.  True, if my card gets lost or stolen, I’ll never see it again.  Big deal.

Basically, the OPUS card only costs 4 bucks.  4 bucks plus the price of a monthly pass.  I will keep this card til the end of times and just reload it month after month.

Hopefully, before long the little useless blue people will be gone and the lines to pay will also be gone.

Now if only we could have some standing room in the metro between 4:30 and 6:30 PM, that would be great! 

I’ll try to get you a picture.  Taking the metro is no fun at rush hour, even if it’s nowhere close to Japan’s situation.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The monthly bus pass is tax deductable.  The french version of the site mentions this:

Y aura-t-il encore un crédit d’impôt accordé à l’achat de titre mensuel?

Oui. Lorsque vous chargez votre carte OPUS d’un titre mensuel, un reçu sera émis. Ce reçu pourra être utilisé dans votre déclaration de revenus pour obtenir un crédit d’impôt; conservez-le.

You get a receipt when you recharge/reload your OPUS card.  Keep it, put it in your tax return.

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This is a great victory…for Hezbollah.

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…kind of… The Human Rights Commission has stopped the prosecution.

Ezra Levant mentions this on his blog…

So they blinked. Against everything in their DNA, they let Maclean’s go. That’s the first smart thing they’ve done; because the sooner they can get the public scrutiny to go away, the sooner they can go about prosecuting their less well-heeled targets, people who can’t afford Canada’s best lawyers and command the attention and affection of the country’s literati.

Maclean’s response spells out everyone’s concerns about free speech in Canada:

TORONTO, June 26 /CNW/ - Maclean’s magazine is pleased that the Canadian Human Rights Commission has dismissed the complaint brought against it by the Canadian Islamic Congress. The decision is in keeping with our long-standing position that the article in question, “The Future Belongs to Islam,” an excerpt from Mark Steyn’s best-selling book America Alone, was a worthy piece of commentary on important geopolitical issues, entirely within the bounds of normal journalistic practice. 

Though gratified by the decision, Maclean’s continues to assert that no human rights commission, whether at the federal or provincial level, has the mandate or the expertise to monitor, inquire into, or assess the editorial decisions of the nation’s media. And we continue to have grave concerns about a system of complaint and adjudication that allows a media outlet to be pursued in multiple jurisdictions on the same complaint, brought by the same complainants, subjecting it to costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars, to say nothing of the inconvenience. We enthusiastically support those parliamentarians who are calling for legislative review of the commissions with regard to speech issues.

Well said.  Freedom of speech isn’t free.  Just ask Ezra Levant how much money he’s spent for his own defense.

And don’t forget that the Canadian Islamic Congress HAS NOTHING TO PAY HERE.  They bring up their complaint and we (the tax payers) pay the expenses of this circus.

^{Found this on LGF which keeps me updated on this issue.  Big thank you to Charles Johnson, I’m in Canada and this isn’t mentioned on Google News or on my local news outlets.} 

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The country’s top court has absolved former Vancouver radio personality Rafe Mair of defamation for a commentary in which he made reference to the Ku Klux Klan and Adolf Hitler.The Supreme Court of Canada decision in the defamation suit also broadened a key defence often used by journalists to ward off libel actions. In a 9-0 judgment Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Mair was engaging in fair comment in the 1999 radio editorial that was critical of Kari Simpson, a high-profile player in a campaign opposing the use of teaching materials about gay lifestyles in local schools.(…)

“We live in a free country where people have as much right to express outrageous and ridiculous opinions as moderate ones.”

A key component of the fair comment defence has long been that the person making the comment must sincerely believe in it. In the course of the ruling, however, the high court modified that test.

Commentary must still have a factual basis, be made without malice and be in the public interest, said Binnie.

But the test of honest belief is not whether the specific person holding the opinion believed it. The yardstick is whether any person might honestly hold the view based on the facts at issue.

Binnie acknowledged that is “not a high threshold” for any defendant to met. But neither is it appropriate to rule out “a piece of devil’s advocacy” in any debate on a matter of public importance.

1999. It took 9 years to be absolved. Wow.

Will this have any bearing on Mark Steyn’s case before the HRC? Yeah, ten years from now, maybe…

Start filling in the paperwork, boy!

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I was on Google, doing a search for marigold, the word. It was mentioned in this book I own, Dave Letterman’s Top Ten lists. This is a bit random but it goes to show how being hooked up to the internet sometimes leads you to interesting things. Having a computer without an internet connection is like an electric razor…when the power is out.

Ok, so the list was Top Ten bioengineering projects in devellopment. #3 is: Angry, Read the rest of this entry »

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205 ppm: Plants start to die? Whoa. Never heard about that before. 385 ppm is the current level of CO2 (according to Timothy Ball).

So who’s telling the truth?

Al Gore, the politician? Let me ponder that a moment.

David Suzuki, the tv show host? Let me ponder that a moment…

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VANCOUVER — A prankster is responsible for a sixth foot that washed on British Columbia shores, a hoax that raised fears among the families of missing persons and prompted the RCMP to launch a separate investigation.

The B.C. Coroner’s Service said Thursday and RCMP confirmed that the foot found on a Vancouver Island beach the day before was not human, but in fact a skeletonised animal paw stuffed inside a sock and a running shoe.

“We have to say that this is a despicable act; we’re not going to sit back and let this go,” said RCMP Const. Annie Linteau. “We’re now embarking on a whole new investigation, which could involve public mischief charges against the person or persons involved.”

Cool.  What a relief!

Oh wait!  Weren’t there 5 other feet that weren’t hoaxes?

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