Has Canada become G.W. Buch-era U.S.?: "Tories axe gun show laws"

Tories axe gun show laws

OTTAWA – The Conservative government has repealed gun show regulations, on the advice of the same controversial advisory committee the prime minister recently distanced himself from.

Meanwhile, Ontario’s chief firearms officer says he fears the decision will eventually bring American-style gun-show problems to Canada.

The changes kill a set of rules that were introduced by the Liberals in 1998, but never brought into force after years of consultations and deferrals.

The regulations would have required the sponsor of a gun show to notify local police and the chief firearms officer of the province before an event, and to ensure the security and safety of the location and the firearms.

The government says it consulted Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee, which felt that gun owners already abided by a set of existing rules.

The decision was published Wednesday in the Canada Gazette, but did not appear on Public Safety Canada’s website. It notes that MPs and senators were given 30 days to request changes to the repeal, but neither House did.

“Canada has a strong gun control system and we will not weaken these protections,” said Julie Carmichael, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews.

“The purchase, transport and storage of firearms continues to be strictly controlled in Canada and these strict rules apply to gun shows. Our government has taken concrete action to strengthen our laws and to stop violent crime and illegal firearms.”

But earlier this month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper candidly rejected some of the committee’s recommendations to loosen other gun laws.

The Coalition for Gun Control has criticized the advisory committee for being stacked with gun enthusiasts including firearms dealers and representatives of the Canadian Sport Shooting Association. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has been unable to get on the committee.

Committee member Greg Farrant, of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, says under the Liberals the same group was stacked in the other direction — with gun opponents.

He says that two police officers among the current group provide balance and valuable front-line viewpoints.

“There’s not always unanimity on the committee,” Farrant notes.

“There are varying degrees of support for certain measures, there are things that are discussed by the committee and put forward to the government for consideration.”

Chief Firearms Officers in the provinces had told the government that they wanted the regulations to come into force, particularly in light of the fact the gun registry was being shut down.

The registry made it necessary for long-gun transactions to be cleared first — the registrar had to verify the license of the purchaser and then issue a new registration in that person’s name.

Ontario’s Chief Firearms Officer Chris Wyatt said there is now no official way to ensure sellers are verifying licenses, and nothing on the books that requires a gun show sponsor to tell police an event is being held.

Wyatt says there are genuine concerns about theft and illegal sales at gun shows.

“Gun shows are a major source of illegal firearms in the United States, and that could happen here. That’s why we thought there should be greater regulation of gun shows now that the registry is gone,” said Wyatt.

“Some of these gun shows, they have hundreds of vendors and thousands of firearms. It might be an attractive target for criminals to steal firearms or acquire firearms. With long guns, the standard is now very low for accountability.”

Canada’s National Firearms Association hailed the decision Wednesday.

“In short, the Conservative government recognized that the gun show regulations were an unnecessary part of an ideological liberal agenda to gradually eliminate firearms ownership and cleared out this ill-intentioned piece of legislation for which there was no justifiable need,” said Sheldon Clare, president of the association.

- Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press/Metro

#GunControlNow

This is what's wrong with the U.S.

Newton, Connecticut Shooting: Decembre 14th 2012

At 9:30 AM (ET) Friday, Dec 14th 2012, the Newton Police Department received a 911 call informing them that there was an incident going on at the local elementary school, Sandy Hook.

Quickly, the news broke nation-wide in the U.S., and world-wide not long after that.

What we know is this:

Adam Lanza, aged 20, shot his mother (a teacher at Sandy Hook) in her home before proceeding to the elementary school where he fired over a hundred rounds, randomly shooting twenty-seven people in two classrooms in one section of the school.

Eighteen children, between ages five and ten, died on-site. Two more children in the same age group died from their injuries in the hospital. Six adults, including the principal (who had run to the classrooms presumably to help the kids) and (unconfirmed) the school psychologist, were also killed on-site. Another, reportedly female employee, is still in hospital, but in stable condition.

The gunman perished either by his own hand or by police fire, it is unclear, as is the motive of Lanza.

Obama fights back tears as he addresses the nation.

President Obama was briefed and later gave this speech, stating so rightly that "our hearts are broken", and "As a country we have been through this too many times".:

Now, what does this unspeakable tragedy mean? Should we now, after having for so long ignored it, open the discussion on stricter gun control laws, especially in the U.S.? I believe so.

On Twitter, the debate raged on almost immediately:

@The_Regionrat: "We can't limit the psychos in the world, but we can limit what they have access to."

@Cath J "After the #Aurora shooting, it wasn't the time or place to have #guncontrol discussions... How about now? Or do more innocents have to die? #ct"

@iamrashidajones: "Thanks, gun lovers, for all your hateful tweets. Good reminder of another endemic nat'l issue : a lack of humanity, civility & accountability"

@washingtonpost: "EDITORIAL: Time to talk about gun controlhttp://wapo.st/UMUuul ”

@Cath J "#GunControlNow It is obviously time for a change. The right to live is bigger than the *privilege* to bear arms. #ctschoolshooting"

@Cath J "The tipping point has come and gone in this #guncontrol debate. People need to wake up and realize that more guns does not = better! #pnpcbc"

“Hours after (CT) kindergarten shooting, Michigan GOP calls for allowing guns in schoolshttp://thkpr.gs/UYhj2o ” And the NRA featured (briefly) this picture on their Facebook page after the shooting. 

@MissKellyO: "Its disgusting that ppl even have access to guns at all! #GunLaws should be stricter! In this day & age things like this should not happen!"

@GabbyGiffords's husband]@ShuttleCDRKelly On #Newtown#CTSchoolShooting: We Need Leadership On Gun Controlhttp://huff.to/TSXXs8 

Two tweets seemed to sum everything up:

@DamianKindler: "Just completely devastated. Gun control. Now. For the love of humanity."

@oliviawilde: "It is possible to grieve and take action on the same day. Remove the selfishness from anger and you're left with determination."

There were also some online essays about gun control.

Now, how can we talk about this? One must be aware of certain facts when thinking about opting for stricter gun control laws, keeping in mind the multiple deadliest shootings in U.S. history: And you should perhaps contact your representative and tell them that this is enough! 

To help out, click here. 

There is also a Facebook page for the young victims.

Catherine Pelletier, Catherine's Encyclopaedia.

Edmonton to be 1st Canadian partner city with Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions

British soldier unexpectedly gives birth in Afghanistan

U.S. city first to proclaim bisexual pride day

Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly to spar

"Green Lantern" to add an Arab-Muslim character

Viewing up in 2011: CRTC

Hummer driver saves lives

SKITTLES CHAMELEON: TASTE THE RAINBOW

Photo montage by: C. F. Pelletier

Fashion & Make-up 2050

Funny captions > Don't touch me!

Funny Captions > Dog tries not to fart

Funny Captions > Dog with pacifier

Trouver l'intru

Record Mega Millions numbers: 2-4-23-38-46, MB 23

"CHICAGO (AP) - Across the country, Americans plunked down an estimated $1.5 billion on the longest of long shots: an infinitesimally small chance to win what could end up being the single biggest lottery payout the world has ever seen.

The numbers drawn Friday night in Atlanta were 2-4-23-38-46, Mega Ball 23. Lottery officials expected to release details about possible winners a couple of hours after the 11 p.m. Eastern drawing.

Forget about how the $640 million Mega Millions jackpot could change the life of the winner. It's a collective wager that could fund a presidential campaign several times over, make a dent in struggling state budgets or take away the gas worries and grocery bills for thousands of middle-class citizens.

And it's a cheap investment for the chance of a big reward, no matter how long the odds - 1 in 176 million.

"Twenty to thirty dollars won't hurt," said Elvira Bakken of Las Vegas. "I think it just gives us a chance of maybe winning our dream."

So what exactly would happen if the country spent that $1.5 billion on something other than a distant dream?

For starters, it could cure the everyday worries of hundreds of thousands of American families hit by the Great Recession. It costs an average of $6,129 to feed the typical family for a year - meaning the cash spent on tickets could fill up the plates of 238,000 households.

As gas prices climb faster than stations can change the numbers on the signs, the money spent on tickets could fill the tanks of 685,000 households annually.

Or it could play politics. So far in this campaign, Republicans and President Barack Obama have spent $348.5 million. The amount spent on Mega Millions tickets could cover that tab four times over.

Could the money dig governments out of debt? That's a problem that even staggering ticket sales can't solve. It could trim this year's expected $1.3 trillion federal deficit by just over a tenth of 1 percent. In Illinois, the money would disappear just as fast into that state's $8 billion deficit.

On a personal level, that much money staggers. Giving $1.46 billion to a broker could purchase 2.4 million shares of Apple stock. (It would also be enough to buy about 2.4 million iPads at the starting price of $499. That's almost as many as the 3 million new iPads that Apple has already sold.)

Or consider the whimsical: A family of up to 12 could live for more than a century at Musha Cay, magician David Copperfield's $37,000-a-night private island resort in the Exuma Cays of the Caribbean.

For a more celestial vacation, the nearly $1.5 billion wagered could purchase about 7,300 tourist tickets for a ride into space aboard Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. And it would pay for 26 rides for U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

It would even buy a stake in pop culture. Want to influence the next winner of American Idol? If it costs a quarter to text in a vote to Ryan Seacrest, and it takes 122 million votes to win as it did last season, the money could control the outcome of the next 47 seasons.

For the states that participate, the money spent on lotto tickets is hardly a waste. It doesn't all end up as the winner's personal fortune - much of it is used by states to fund education and other social service programs, which is why advocates promote the lottery.

Though the specifics vary among the 42 participating states and the District of Columbia, only about half of ticket sales go into the actual jackpot. Another 35 percent goes to support government services and programs, while the rest funds lottery operating costs.

On Friday, the lottery estimated that total ticket sales for this jackpot, which has been building up since Jan. 28, will be about $1.46 billion, said Kelly Cripe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Lottery Commission.

You're about 20,000 times more likely to die in a car crash than win the lottery, but that doesn't matter to most people.

"Part of it is hope. ... The average person basically has no chance of making it really big, and buying a lottery ticket is a way of raising the ceiling on what could possibly happen to you, however unlikely it may be," said George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University who has studied how rich and poor consumers make a choice to buy lottery tickets.

The odds are much better that someone will begin their weekend a winner. Aaron Abrams, a mathematician at Emory University, said he calculated that there was only a 6 percent chance that no one would hold the winning numbers.

"Every time the jackpot gets higher, more and more people buy tickets, which makes it more and more likely that someone will win," Abrams said. "So the chance that it rolls over this many times in a row is very small. It's quite a rare event."

The estimated jackpot dwarfs the previous $390 million record, which was split in 2007 by two winners who bought tickets in Georgia and New Jersey.

The rarity of Friday's jackpot was fueling the fervor. Lines formed at grocery stores, gas stations, liquor stops and other venues across the country.

In Arizona, a café worker reported selling $2,600 worth of tickets to one buyer. In Indiana, hundreds lined up for a giveaway of free tickets. Hundreds from Utah and Las Vegas streamed in to neighboring California or Arizona to buy tickets because their states don't participate.

Accountant Ray Lousteau, who bought 55 Mega Millions tickets Friday in New Orleans, knows buying that many tickets doesn't mathematically increase his odds, and that his $55 could have gone elsewhere. He spent it anyway.

"Mathematically, it doesn't make a difference, and intellectually we know that. But for some reason buying more tickets makes you feel more lucky," Lousteau said. "Even people who know better are apt to feel that way."

In Chicago, Peter Muiznieks bought a ticket at a liquor store. He knows his chance of winning is a long shot, and that the money the country is spending on tickets could go elsewhere. He still couldn't help himself, and laughed as the apparent contradiction of his opinion and his actions.

"Lottery and games of chance are a stupidity tax and the more we all buy into this, the less rational we are as a society," he said." - Noreen Gillespie and Paul Wiseman, Associated Press.

Mega Millions winners are rich, but not THAT rich

"ST. LOUIS (AP) - Congratulations, Mega Millions winners! You've just won the biggest lottery in history! Move over Bill Gates and Warren Buffett!

Not so fast, Richie Rich.

There's no doubt that you're now each a member of the 1 percent. A life of comfort and leisure awaits, and managed wisely, it just might await your friends and family for generations to come.

Let's just not get carried away.

A luxury box at the stadium you can afford, but forget about buying the franchise and becoming the "No. 1 fan" of your favorite NFL or Major League Baseball team. The Los Angeles Dodgers just sold for $2 billion, besting the NFL record price of $1.1 billion for the Miami Dolphins by nine times your take-home winnings.

If you'd like to turn the keys at the sweetest pad in New York City - an $88 million apartment at 15 Central Park West - you'll have to spend nearly all of it to close the deal. But don't get into a bidding war: You're sure to lose out to the current owner, the 22-year-old daughter of a Russian billionaire.

Even if you're looking to become the next great philanthropist, your good deeds can't compete - at least in terms of dollars and cents - with that Gates guy. His foundation has given away close to $26 billion since it was established in 1994.

So, you've got some catching up to do. Don't worry, you're starting from a good place.

In the hours before the dramatic Friday night drawing, the jackpot was estimated at $640 million. If you each take the lump-sum payout, the cartoon checks made out to you will be worth about $150 million. Uncle Sam gets his share, and your state might, too.

All told, you'll each have roughly 100 million reasons to call April 2, 2012, the best Monday morning of your life.

If you follow the advice of those who know money, you won't splurge on those big-ticket items that you can afford, such as a top-of-the-line Gulfstream G650 jet ($64 million, excluding pilot, maintenance, hanger and fuel costs) and a place to fly it, your own private island (let's call that $25 million even).

Had you won the whole pot, and invested the $300 million conservatively, Steve Fazzari, an economics professor at Washington University in St. Louis, said you could have expected to collect a nice "salary" of about $7 million "after taxes every year for the rest of your life and the rest of the life of your heirs."

Put another way, that's $19,000 a day. Forever. And even a one-third share of that is pretty sweet. "If you put it in perspective, you're pretty rich," Fazzari said.

It's more than enough to join up with the 1 percent, which the Congressional Budget Office pegged as households with incomes that average more than about $350,000 a year.

But it's still not all THAT much, at least according those buzzkills at Forbes. Just 30 years ago, the total after-taxes take of $300 million would have been more than enough to land a single winner on the magazine's annual list of the 400 richest Americans. In 2011, you would have needed $1.05 billion to tie four others for last place on a list topped by Gates.

In fact, your $100 million isn't even two-tenths of 1 percent of Gates' estimated $61 billion net worth. Using Fazzari's math on conservative investing, the Microsoft co-founder can expect to bring in an annual salary of $1.4 billion - or 14 times your share of the historic jackpot.

But that's Bill Gates, America's richest man. Surely you'll be the richest guy on your block?

Perhaps, but not in the city centers of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. In Chicago alone, Forbes says there are 18 billionaires, including six members of one family.

Even in a smaller city such as St. Louis, you're likely to find yourself a handful of zeros from the top: Under the Gateway Arch, the big money belongs to Enterprise Rent-A-Car's Jack Taylor and his family. They're worth an estimated $9 billion.

But none of that matters, right? So what if there are hundreds of billionaires out there whose wealth makes yours look like that of a pauper, or that there are limits you never imagined facing to a jackpot you could ever imagine winning. Surely that $100 million will at least solve all your cares and provide a lifetime of happiness.

Yeah, not so much.

"After they win the jackpot, most of them self-destruct and they end up much more unhappy than they were before," Dr. Tom Manheim, who offers financial therapy in Solana Beach, Calif. "It's really kind of a sad state of our economy where we think that money, once again, is going to bring us happiness and it doesn't."

So, uh, yeah, congratulations, we guess, to the Mega Millions winners.

(And no, those of us who didn't win aren't bitter. Not one little bit.) " - Jim Salter and Michael Tarm, Associated Press.

Lin-surgery! Knicks guard to have knee operation

"NEW YORK (AP) - Say so long to Linsanity.

Jeremy Lin will miss the rest of the regular season because he needs knee surgery that will sideline him six weeks and could leave the Knicks without their star point guard in the playoffs - if they make it that far.

Lin had an MRI exam this week that revealed a small, chronic meniscus tear and he has elected to have surgery next week in New York.

With the regular season ending April 26, the biggest story in basketball this season is done unless the Knicks make a deep postseason run.

Speaking slowly during a pregame press conference, Lin was unable to hide his disappointment with the decision that was reached earlier Saturday after a painful workout.

"It (stinks) not being able to be out there with the team," he said.

Later, he updated his Facebook page with the message: "Thanks for all the love! (I'll) return from this surgery stronger and better than before ... and hopefully in time for the playoffs!"

Upcoming: Lin-surgery.

He was barely holding on to a place in the NBA back in February. Now, after the back-to-back Sports Illustrated covers and popularity around the world, and now it's over.

"If this was done very early in the year, obviously ... I don't know where my career would be. I could be, would be definitely without a job and probably fighting for a summer league spot," Lin said. "But having said that, this happening now hurts just as much, because all the players, we really put our heart and souls into the team and into season, and to not be there when it really matters most is hard."

The Knicks will continue to turn to Baron Davis in place of Lin, the undrafted Harvard alum who became the starter in February and turned in a series of brilliant performances, kicking off a phenomenon that was called Linsanity.

Lin is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists, but the numbers only tell a small part of the story.

The Knicks were under .500 and looking like a mess when Lin was given a chance to play extended minutes at point guard for then-coach Mike D'Antoni on Feb. 4 against New Jersey.

Lin, the first American-born player of Taiwanese or Chinese descent to play in the NBA, scored 25 points with seven assists in that New York victory, was inserted into the starting lineup two days later against Utah, and took the Knicks on a seven-game winning streak that gained world-wide attention.

The 23-year-old Lin left the Knicks' easy victory over Detroit last Saturday after feeling discomfort, saying afterward he could have returned for the fourth quarter if the game had been close. He took part in shootaround before their game Monday and at first believed he could deal with the pain.

Though the swelling went down, the pain never did. He said he got three or four opinions that all said the same thing, and after testing it again Friday and Saturday, he decided to have the surgery.

"I can't really do much. Can't really cut or jump, so it's pretty clear that I won't be able to help the team unless I get this fixed right now," Lin said before the Knicks played Cleveland. "It's disappointing for me, it's hard to watch the games and I think I'd want to be out there obviously more than anything right now. But hopefully, it's a six-week rehab process but I tend to heal fast, so hopefully I can come back as soon as possible and still contribute this season hopefully."

It's the second serious injury loss of the week for the Knicks, who are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Amare Stoudemire is out two to four weeks with a back injury, leaving the Knicks without their second- and third-leading scorers for perhaps the remainder of the regular season.

Davis still isn't 100 percent after a herniated disk in his back kept him out of action until February. The Knicks also have Mike Bibby and Toney Douglas, plus rookie Iman Shumpert as point guard options, but none as good as Lin.

"We've got to go on, but he's a big piece of our puzzle and what we were doing as of late before he actually went out," interim coach Mike Woodson said. "All's not bad. Again, we've got three veteran point guards sitting over there and the rookie we could play some at the point. We're just going to have to make do until he's able to get back into uniform. But it is a big blow."

Lin flourished in D'Antoni's offense, and there was immediate speculation he would struggle - or even lose his starting spot - when Woodson replaced him on March 14. Instead, Lin kept on rolling, leading the Knicks to six wins in seven games before he was hurt.

Woodson said he's known of players that have played through meniscus tears, but that only Lin knows his body. Lin knew he would need surgery eventually, but hoped to delay it until after the season.

"He's elected to have the surgery and we've got to respect that, because only he knows the pain that he's feeling. And there is a problem, so it's got to be fixed," Woodson said.

The Knicks had already tried three point guards when they finally turned to Lin, who had been cut by Golden State and Houston before signing with the Knicks. D'Antoni immediately elevated him to the starting lineup after his performance against the Nets, and Lin responded with the greatest beginning stretch ever for a starter.

He was the first player with at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first five starts since the Elias Sports Bureau began charting starts in 1970. He had a 3-pointer to win a game in Toronto, scored 38 points to outplay Kobe Bryant in a national TV victory over the Lakers, then had 28 points and 14 assists in another nationally televised victory over the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.

All along, the frenzy around him increased. Commissioner David Stern said he had never seen so much interest created by one player in such a short period of time. Knicks games were picked up by TV stations in basketball-crazed Asia, and Lin actually pleaded for privacy for his family in Taiwan.

Lin will be a free agent after the season and said he hopes to return to New York, but otherwise wasn't thinking that far in the future.

"I'm not even worried about that right now," he said. "It's not like a career-ending thing or it's not something that will bother me. Once it's fixed, it's fixed, it's the most simple surgery you can have and so I'm more concerned about the season."" - Brian Mahoney, Associated Press.

Tim Hortons is focused on expanding in its "core" U.S. markets near its Canadian base, including Ohio and Michigan

"TORONTO -- Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee shop chain looking to make deeper inroads south of the border, is under mounting pressure by animal rights activists to assure that its U.S. pork and egg suppliers adopt more humane practices.

The Humane Society of America said on Tuesday it will propose a shareholder vote in May on whether the chain should work to stop the practice of confining hens in cages and sows in gestation crates.

"When it comes to addressing cruelty to animals, an issue that American consumers feel strongly about, Tim Hortons is severely lagging," Matthew Prescott, food policy director at the Humane Society, said in a statement announcing the proposal.

In response, Tim Hortons said it was actively working with its suppliers to make "realistic long-term improvements" in animal welfare. It said it will provide an update on the initiative and address the shareholder proposal in the next month.

"While we are not directly involved in the raising or handling of animals, Tim Hortons has significant initiatives and procedures in place to make sure our supply chain practices are consistent with both regulatory and industry norms," spokeswoman Alexandra Cygal said.

The Humane Society can claim a string of successes in persuading the U.S. food industry to treat its animals more humanely.

Fast food chain McDonald's Corp said earlier this month it would work to phase out the use of gestation crates.

The Humane Society said 70 per cent of the U.S. pork industry confines its pregnant pigs to the crates, which are banned in the European Union and eight U.S. states - including California, Ohio and Michigan.

Sows are often confined in the crates - which are typically too narrow to allow them to turn around - from just before the birth of their piglets until the young pigs are weaned months later.

Tim Hortons is focused on expanding in its "core" U.S. markets near its Canadian base, including Ohio and Michigan.

The Humane Society said it owns 130 Tim Hortons shares, just enough to submit the proposal at the chain's annual meeting.

Named after Tim Horton, a Hall of Fame hockey player who was one of the founders, the chain dominates the coffee and light-lunch trade in its home market, blanketing the country with its Spartan yellow and red stores. It says it brews eight out of every 10 cups of coffee sold in Canada.

The company is facing tough competition from McDonald's, which has been renovating Canadian stores, promoting its coffee and introducing espresso drinks. For its part, Tims has beefed up its menu with items like lasagna casserole." - Alistair Sharp, Reuters.