May 25th, 2008; This morning it is sunny with clear skies with a temperatures of 4°C though we are expecting to warm up to a balmy 21°C by afternoon with variable clouds. That is a nice change after the cool weather we had during the past week. It seems like Canadians are now being abducted in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The latest abduction was a 32-year-old Montreal woman who was in Haiti on a short-term assignment with Doctors of the World. Nadia Lefebvre had arrived in Haiti on May 14 to begin working as a non-medical volunteer on a three-month internship program with the organization. Lefebvre is doing an MBA at the University of Sherbrooke, and was abducted last Wednesday morning after five men broke into her home in Haiti's capital. The abduction appeared to be purely financial. There was no political motive. Port-au-Prince is known as the kidnapping capital of the world. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 139 kidnappings. Haitian police say the anti-kidnap task force, which deals with two or three such incidents each week, has been in touch with Lefebvre and they report that she is in good condition. That is another country Canadians need to stay away from, aside from Mexico and Muslem countries.

Presently, there is a massive California wildfire which has kept almost 2,700 firefighters busy in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Saturday after the flames had spread overnight. Despite the cooler temperatures and calm winds, the area still remains under a state of emergency. The fire has burned centuries-old redwood forests, destroyed at least 17 homes and still threatens hundreds of other structures in the mountainous region. There are about 2,000 people who are preparing to leave their homes to escape the blaze, which has grown to cover 1,375 hectares (3,400 acres) since it was first reported on Thursday, around 24 kilometres south of San Jose. It looks like central Unites States has once again been hit by a string of tornadoes. The twisters have struck Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and Oklahoma. This time, Kansas got hit pretty bad, compaired to the other states. They had major tornadoes sweeping across their state on two consecutive days, which is extremely unusual. At least 10 twisters hit central Kansas, with another seven more landing in the western part of the state. Oklahoma was not hit nearly as badly as Kansas. About 100 people in the United States have died so far this year in tornado-related incidents, according to the U.S. National Weather Service. A minor earthquake was felt in Alaska and around the California Navada reagion around six AM this morning. Seven minor earthquakes were felt in the Yellowstone region around seven AM this morning. There were sixty seven earthquakes in the last six months in the Northeastern USA.

Speaking about earthquakes, here is an update on that China earthquake; It seems like the death toll from the devastating earthquake in central China could rise as high as 80,000 or more, according to China officials. It is a drastic increase from the previous estimated death toll from the May 12 earthquake. People who are missing are now considered to be dead. More than five million people have been left homeless by China's earthquake, which reduced much of the buildings and infrastructure to rubble.

It seems like Canadians are really eager to get involved in the Space program. Within 24 hours of announcing an online recruitment drive for new astronauts, the Canadian Space Agency had already received 600 applications from people who believe they have the right stuff. This is a clear indication that Canadians want to be a part of and participate in the Space program.

Canada Post wants homeowners to smarten up and keep their dogs on a tighter leash. The Crown corporation launched a national campaign on Friday highlighting the wounds dogs inflict on letter carriers and asking dog owners to smarten up and give letter carriers a break. Canada Post said its letter carrier have been attacked, mostly by small dogs. About 500 letter carriers are bitten by dogs every year, Canada Post says. To combat the problem, the corporation is urging dog owners to keep dogs indoors, tied up away from the mailbox or pathway, and away from screen doors or letter slots. Regardless of a dog's size and breed, its bite is always worse than its bark. Canada Post is stressing that small dogs can do major damage to a letter carriers leg. Recently, letter carrier were attack mostly by small dogs while trying to deliver parcels. From out of nowhere, these little dogs come from nowhere and bite the letter carriers leg, leaving a nasty bite and eventually a scar. Canada Post says their letter carriers will not deliver mail to houses where a dog might attack them. People will be told to pick up their mail at the post office. One bite and their mail delivery is over. No questions or excuses. It will make people accountable for their dogs and make the postal workers job a lot safer.

Speaking about dogs, while I was looking up on the Internet what kind of food is harmful to dogs, I read an article about Cocoa Mulch. What is Cocoa Mulch? Cocoa Mulch is a Cocoa bean shell by-product of chocolate production and is popular as a mulch for landscaping. Homeowners like the attractive colour and scent, and the fact that the mulch breaks down into an organic fertilizer. However, some dogs and cats like to eat it and it can be lethal to dogs and cats. The reason for this is because Cocoa Mulch contains a lethal ingredient called "Theobromine. Theobromine is the ingredient that is used to make all chocolate, especially dark or baker's chocolate, which is toxic to dogs. Cocoa bean shells contain potentially toxic quantities of theobromine, a xanthine compound similar in effects to caffeine and theophylline. A dog or cat that ingested a lethal quantity of Cocoa garden mulch made from cacao bean shells can develop severe convulsions and died 17 hours later. Analysis of the stomach contents and the ingested cacao bean shells revealed the presence of lethal amounts of theobromine. Cocoa mulch can be dangerous if a dog or cat starts eating it. It contains two key ingredients found in chocolate; Theobromine and caffeine. It is similar to eating chocolate, and just a few ounces of ingesting cocoa mulch, dogs and cats could start having stomach problems and it could get worse if it eats more. Puppies and small breed dogs are highly sensitive to these chemicals, called methylxanthines. In dogs, low doses of methylxanthine, 2 ounces, can cause mild gastrointestinal upset (vomiting, diarrhoea, and/or abdominal pain); higher doses can cause rapid heart rate, muscle tremors, seizures, and death. In contrast, a 50-pound dog can eat up to about 7.5 ounces of milk chocolate without gastrointestinal upset and up to about a pound of milk chocolate without increased heart rate.) Cocoa Mulch is sold in hardware stores like Home Depot, or most garden supply stores. It is known for its fine texture and had the sweet smell of chocolate and it really attracts dogs and cats. They will ingest this stuff and die. Several deaths of cats and dogs have occurred in the USA. Just a word of caution, check what you are using in your gardens and be aware of what your gardeners are using in your gardens. Some manufacturers of cocoa mulch (such as the Cocoa Mulch brand) now proclaim that their products are theobromine-free and pet safe. The mulch sold by Home Depot containing cocoa shells goes through several cleaning processes, including a high heat system in order to strip the cocoa fat from the shells without the use of any chemicals. Responsible people should take care in their selection of cocoa mulch brands. If in doubt about the product, it might be wiser to choose another form of soil enhancement for gardens, such as cedar-based products, rather than gamble with cocoa mulch.

I see that the gasoline pump prices continue their inexorable climb. Canadians fear oil prices will soar ever higher, and are blaming the oil industry of gouging the general public. Oil prices had fluctuated around US$132 a barrel last Thursday after setting a new record high of US$135.09 in overnight trading. It is expected that oil prices will rise to $150 a barrel according to the latest forecast. Soaring gasoline prices is causing some people to drastically cut down on their driving whenever they can. Other people are starting to look for other ways to get out from their reliance on gasoline run products. I suspect that Government officials are going to start hearing a lot from the general public soon, about allowing the use of electric cars on our Canadian roads, as the price of gasoline continues to rise. So far, low-speed electric cars are not allowed on Canadian streets, roads or highways. Canadian electric car manufacturers are crying foul over a bureaucratic tussle that it believes is blocking its low-speed cars from being driven on Canadian streets, roadsand highways. Government officials say that there is no conspiracy to stall or prevent electric car from going on our public roads. No? Then why are electric cars not being allowed on our Canadian streets, roads or highways? People who can afford to buy these vehicles, will not buy them because they are not allowed on our Canadian streets, roads and highways. Maby that should be a major topic on the next upcoming elections! It is obvious our provincial and federal government have been incompetent on this score. Electric cars are the future, dummy! Our electric car manufacturs, not to mention our environment, is being wasted away by our Canadian governments lack of action, and not allowing our Canadian-made electric cars on our Canadian roads. Canadians are quite willing to buy our Canadian-made electric cars if they can use them on our public roads. If our provincial and federal governments do not permit electric cars on our streets, roads or highways and if we don't give the electric car manufacturers the kind of breaks they need to be able to have their cars driven in Canada, our economy in the electric cars sector will suffer immensely. We have such a good shot to have a prosperous electric car industry in Canada, yet our provincial and federal governments are dragging their heels in allowing these pollution free vehicles from being driven on our streets, roads or highways. Canadians are quite ready to buy these low-speed electric cars if they can drive them on our public roads. Get it? Our Public roads, not privet roads. If we loose these electric car manufacturers, our governments will surely be to blamed for that. They do a lot of talk about wanting to cut down on smog and pollution, but government agencies have blocked the access of electric cars from running on our public streets, roads and highways for the past ten years. If our provincial and federal governments do not soon move on this and allow Canadian-made electric cars to be used on our public roads, they will prove themselves to be nothing more than a bunch of bureaucratic hypocrites!

Quebec's commission on bilingualism and the accommodation of religious and cultural minorities tabled its final report in Montreal on Thursday, urging people in the province to embrace their society's ethnic and cultural plurality. The consultation commission on accommodation practices related to cultural differences was chaired by sociologist Gérard Bouchard and philosopher Charles Taylor, who spent 31 days in public hearings last year, listening to people's views on so-called reasonable accommodation. The minority report made 37 recommendations on culture and religion. To read the full list, go to CBC News. On the issue of bilingualism, I have my own views on that. The commission recommends that Quebec francophones should learn more English. I can except that. Canada became a predominately English speaking country. The French had also played a major role in the development of forming Canada. The French people, particularly in the province of Quebec, were greatly concerned of loosing their French language to English, and called for some form of bilingualism to protect it. So after much debate, we came to have bilingualism, French and English, as the working language across all of Canada. From Newfoundland to British Columbia. After that was in place, Quebec took the stance to abolish the use of English and have all their signs in French only in the province of Quebec. I was greatly disturbed when Quebec abolished the use of English and had all their signs in French only in Quebec, while the rest of Canada had become bilingual. That is having the Canadian working language in both French/English. But when Quebec made that into a Quebec law, to abolish the use of English and have all their signs in French only in the province of Quebec, I started to re-think the whole concept of bilingualism, and became totally against the whole idea. Personally, I am sick and tired to hear people in Quebec insist to have French only spoken in their province, while the rest of Canada bends backwards to accommodate French speaking people in other provinces. Either we have a true form of bilingualism, a bilingualism all across Canada, including in Quebec, or not have it at all. Given the present attitude of the ruling parties in Quebec, with their French only stance, I regret to say that I no longer hold to the ideal of bilingualism, and that it too has failed as did multiculturalism. I could not help notice that we now have French only schools, French only medical centres and French only churches that are cropping up everywhere in North-eastern Ontario. What do that say about bilingualism in Ontario? The commission recommends that Quebec francophones should learn more English. That would be a small step to repair the damage done to bilingualism in Canada. The next step is to abolish the French only law and have all their signs in the province of Quebec, bilingual. While the minority report gives their lofty ideals on what is meant by multiculturalism, here are my down-to-earth views on this whole issue. In this report, it states that the commissioners argue that the "discontent of a large part of the population" over accommodation demands by Muslims, and other religious minorities appears to be the "result of partial information and false perceptions". The result of partial information and false perceptions? I hardly think so! We are one of the most well informed societies in the world, and are quite aware what Muslims and their religion of Islam is all about. The report also addresses a number of "unfounded objections" to the role of religion in Quebec society. What kind of "unfounded objections" might that be, Mr. Commissioner? Most Quebecers as well as most Canadians are well aware what religions have done during the history of humanity. Most Quebecers as well as most Canadians are fully aware what is going on within the Muslim world and their religion of Islam. In that multiculturalism report, they seem to forget that you can not force people to accept these Muslim people with open arms, while they go on a killing spree of men, women and children with their suicide bombings, their rioting and threats of death to anyone who so much as utter a disparaging word against their warped minded, so-called prophet, and their pagan religion of Islam. While these Muslims take advantage of our society of rights and freedoms, their Muslim society deny those rights and freedoms in their Muslim religion of Islam, and in Islamic countries. We are fully aware that their religion of Islam deny people of their basic human rights. There is nothing wrong for Canadians to feel a sense of insecurity for the survival of their culture when Muslims have spread far and wide within our boarders. Canada is a country built on immigrants and refugees, but they had integrated into our Canadian society, not try to take it over, as Muslims are sworn to do in the name of their god, Allah, their pagan deity. I can fully accept multiculturalism when people try to work on the same page and be "Canadians" and adopt to the Canadian way of life. But when multiculturalism creates gethos and pockets of cultures who do not blend-in, eventually erodes in cultural clashes. During the 1990s, Pierre Trudeau was ask the question..."Do you think multiculturalism is more a success or a failure?" Trudeau, who was the architect of Canadian multiculturalism, sadly replied, "It was more of a failure, rather than a success". Multiculturalism failed because it has created cultural gethos and pockets of immigrants who were not willing to conform and blend into our Canadian society. Multiculturalism did not mean that Canadians should have to adopt to a way of life from other countries. If I moved to England I would expect to live as an Englishman. If I moved to China, I would be expected to live as a Chinese. Multiculturalism does not work as witnessed by the fact that Negroes in Toronto are wanting to have black only schools, police forces and other Canadian institutions are forced to adhere to foreign cultural traditions. Foreigners insisting that Canadian customs be usurped in order to accommodate their customs and traditions from another nation and culture. Foreign minorities expect Canadians to change its laws in order to accommodate their foreign customs and traditions. If multiculturalism worked, then these things would not be an issue.

Note; I just came across the views from an Englishman in Great Britain, on Muslims and Islam in Great Britain and Europe. He expresses quite candidly what I am trying to say here, concerning Muslims and Islam within our Canadian society. It is on the Walter Bingham show on Israel National Radio. The first part of the Walter Bingham's program is about "Is there a Case for Acting Morally Against Immoral Enemies"? The last part of Walter Bingham program is about the spread of Muslims and Islam in Europe. Go there and have a listen.

Latest storm watch reports a new string of tornadoes had swept through the midwest USA today. The weather system stretched from western Kansas to northwestern Minnesota early Monday morning and was headed through Illinois toward Wisconsin and Indiana. Tornadoes swept through the north-central Iowa town of Parkersburg at about 6 p.m. killing five people before moving 10 miles east to New Hartford, where two others died in the storm. Tornados also struck the nearby town of Dunkerton, with reports of structures damaged in both cities and in rural Black Hawk County. A toddler and 20 people are missing after a severe storm swept through the suburb of Washington County, Minn. 40 to 50 homes were uninhabitable in Hugo and 150 to 200 others were damaged to some extent. In Minnesota, a violent storm that struck the St. Paul suburb of Hugo killed a 2-year-old child and critically injured a sibling of the victim. The children's parents also were hospitalized, as were three other adults and another child. Large hailstones damaged homes in the Twin Cities. At least a dozen homes were destroyed and another three dozen homes were damaged. Power lines have also been knocked down in the area, leaving many residents without power.