The faith based funding issue should have been about simple human rights. The U.N has already indicated that the practice of funding only Catholic schools in Ontario is unjust. John Tory hoped to address this issue by fixing the problem and allowing fairness. Fund all or fund none, and he opted to fund all. Unfortunately, reality occurred and we found out that Ontarians are actually a lot more racist, ignorant and bigoted then they like to believe. Not all Ontarians are like this, but based on call-in shows and the general mood of people, many are. In reality the question should have been “would you like Islamic schools to get public funding”. Many Ontarians have extreme stereotypes about Islam, to some no fault of their own. The images they see, and are bombarded with, tend to be on the extreme. On the radio comments, in regards to faith-based education, revolved around fundamentalist Islam elements and “terrorists”. I have even heard a voter say that they do not what terrorist schools to get funding. Now a lot of this is based on fear, since 9/11, but in essence we still extremely fearful and ignorant in Ontario. Now the question is, does that fear show how successful the media has been in planting the wrong image about Islam in the minds of Canadians? Because it’s absolutely amazing how clueless people are about various religions in Ontario. Rather than be properly educated about any group of people, we like to remain in our sheltered domain; ignorant to the facts around us.

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A Star investigation into Toronto’s Prayer Palace congregation finds that despite the members’ dutiful tithing, the church spends little on charitable projects.

After worshipping at the Prayer Palace this morning, Hyacinthe Houghron will, as she does every second Sunday, stuff her tired green minivan with a small feast: six coolers of homemade soup, a mountain of sandwiches, cakes and sweets.

Loaded down with second-hand clothes pulled from the ceiling-high piles in her hair salon, she’ll give out the goods to homeless people on downtown Toronto’s grittiest streets.

Missions like this aren’t cheap for people like her and other volunteers at the church. “We’re poor folks,” says Houghron, describing the majority of the 3,000-strong congregation who attend the spaceship-shaped church at Hwy. 400 and Finch Ave.

The hairdresser scrapes together $600 of her own money each month to keep up the program because the Prayer Palace – one of Canada’s largest evangelical churches – stopped running it five years ago. Other charitable works, like a promised orphanage in Brazil, either dried up or never materialized.

Meanwhile, the three white pastors – Paul Melnichuk and his 40-year-old twin sons, Tim and Tom – lead lavish lives in contrast to the mainly working-class black families that make up the bulk of the church.

Between them, the pastors have amassed a real estate fortune worth about $12 million. Each owns a multi-million-dollar country estate north of Toronto (Tim’s is worth as much as $5.5 million), they share a Florida vacation villa, and the pastors and their wives drive luxurious cars – among them a Porsche Cayenne SUV, a Lexus RX 330 SUV and a Mercedes-Benz CLK 320 convertible.

Congregants are largely unaware of the pastors’ extravagant lifestyles.

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Booting Linux from a external drive with the applications and settings of your choice has never been easier after this week’s release of Puppy Linux 3.0. Like Damn Small Linux, Puppy is small enough to fit on a USB thumb drive, and like Knoppix , you can boot it from a live CD.

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So, north of Toronto there have been instances of racism against Asian Canadians. It’s unfortunate that, hear in Ontario, this issue has not had a lot of press in the media. We like to assume only happens in the United States of America. Racism is something we must face and deal with. As far as I am concerned there is no excuse for targeting any ethnic community. We are all Canadian, and the accounts of racism are greatly disturbing and must be taken seriously at all levels. Fishing is not a right only to be bestowed upon certain Canadians. Asian Canadians should be able to enjoy fishing like everyone else, without fear of discrimination, harassment or violence.

In November, you’ll be able to buy a new laptop that’s spillproof, rainproof, dustproof and drop-proof. It’s fanless, it’s silent and it weighs 3.2 pounds. One battery charge will power six hours of heavy activity, or 24 hours of reading. The laptop has a built-in video camera, microphone, memory-card slot, graphics tablet, game-pad controllers and a screen that rotates into a tablet configuration.

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A laptop for third-world children has a camera, communications ability and a high-resolution screen. Buy two: keep one and the other goes to a child overseas.

And this laptop will cost $200.

The computer, if you hadn’t already guessed, is the fabled “$100 laptop” that’s been igniting hype and controversy for three years. It’s an effort by One Laptop Per Child (laptop.org) to develop a very low-cost, high-potential, extremely rugged computer for the two billion educationally underserved children in poor countries.

The concept: if a machine is designed smartly enough, without the bloat of standard laptops, and sold in large enough quantities, the price can be brought way, way down. Maybe not down to $100, as O.L.P.C. originally hoped, but low enough for developing countries to afford millions of them — one per child.

The laptop is now called the XO, because if you turn the logo 90 degrees, it looks like a child.

O.L.P.C. slightly turned its strategy when it decided to offer the machine for sale to the public in the industrialized world — for a period of two weeks, in November. The program is called “Give 1, Get 1,” and it works like this. You pay $400 (www.xogiving.org). One XO laptop (and a tax deduction) comes to you by Christmas, and a second is sent to a student in a poor country.

The group does worry that people might compare the XO with $1,000 Windows or Mac laptops. They might blog about their disappointment, thereby imperiling O.L.P.C.’s continuing talks with third world governments.

It’s easy to see how that might happen. There’s no CD/DVD drive at all, no hard drive and only a 7.5-inch screen. The Linux operating system doesn’t run Microsoft Office, Photoshop or any other standard Mac or Windows programs. The membrane-sealed, spillproof keyboard is too small for touch-typing by an adult.

And then there’s the look of this thing. It’s made of shiny green and white plastic, like a Fisher-Price toy, complete with a handle. With its two earlike antennas raised, it could be Shrek’s little robot friend.

And sure enough, the bloggers and the ignorant have already begun to spit on the XO laptop. “Dude, for $400, I can buy a real Windows laptop,” they say.

Clearly, the XO’s mission has sailed over these people’s heads like a 747.

The truth is, the XO laptop, now in final testing, is absolutely amazing, and in my limited tests, a total kid magnet. Both the hardware and the software exhibit breakthrough after breakthrough — some of them not available on any other laptop, for $400 or $4,000.

In the places where the XO will be used, power is often scarce. So the laptop uses a new battery chemistry, called lithium ferro-phosphate. It runs at one-tenth the temperature of a standard laptop battery, costs $10 to replace, and is good for 2,000 charges — versus 500 on a regular laptop battery.

The laptop consumes an average of 2 watts, compared with 60 or more on a typical business laptop. That’s one reason it gets such great battery life. A small yo-yo-like pull-cord charger is available (one minute of pulling provides 10 minutes of power); so is a $12 solar panel that, although only one foot square, provides enough power to recharge or power the machine.

Speaking of bright sunshine: the XO’s color screen is bright and, at 200 dots an inch, razor sharp (1,200 by 900 pixels). But it has a secret identity: in bright sun, you can turn off the backlight altogether. The resulting display, black on light gray, is so clear and readable, it’s almost like paper. Then, of course, the battery lasts even longer.

The XO offers both regular wireless Internet connections and something called mesh networking, which means that all the laptops see each other, instantly, without any setup — even when there’s no Internet connection.

With one press of a button, you see a map. Individual XO logos — color-coded to differentiate them — represent other laptops in the area; you connect with one click. (You never double-click in the XO’s visual, super-simple operating system. You either point with the mouse or click once.)

This feature has some astonishing utility. If only one laptop has an Internet connection, for example, the others can get online, too, thanks to the mesh network. And when O.L.P.C. releases software upgrades, one laptop can broadcast them to other nearby laptops.

Power users will snort at the specs of this machine. It has only one gigabyte of storage — all flash memory — with 20 percent of that occupied by the XO’s system software. And the processor is feeble by conventional standards. Starting up takes two minutes, and switching between programs is poky.

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Mayor apologizes for assaults on Asian Canadian anglers, anti-Semitic and homophobic vandalism. The mayor of Georgina has denounced recent attacks on Asian Canadian fishermen, as well as anti-Semitic and homophobic vandalism, and has apologized on behalf of his community.

“The people that I have the privilege of representing are shamed and embarrassed that this would have happened in our community,” Robert Grossi said yesterday after meeting with leaders of B’nai Brith Canada and the Chinese Canadian National Council.

Grossi’s comments came after swastikas and anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs were painted on nine vehicles in Keswick, while York Region police investigate a series of attacks on Asian Canadian anglers at Lake Simcoe.

“From what we’ve heard so far, they’re isolated incidents,” said the mayor of the lakeshore community of 40,000 north of Toronto.

Grossi was praised for meeting with local faith groups and educators about the attacks.

“We see leadership from the mayor on this,” said Victor Wong, executive director of the Chinese Canadian National Council. “We’re quite appreciative of it.”

Grossi noted that police are investigating the attacks, and have stepped up patrols around the lake.

“York Regional Police have been very responsive, very respectful.”

Immediately after reports of the incidents last week, Grossi’s office issued a public statement saying that “broad-stroke painting of our community as a place that is unwelcoming to some groups or nationalities is unjustified.”

Yesterday, he said he still considers his community to be tolerant.

“We are a very welcoming community,” Grossi said.

In one of the recent incidents, a man was left in a coma after a violent confrontation between anglers and community members.

In other recent incidents, a man and a boy were pushed into the water while fishing.

Two related cases are before the courts, including one involving a high-speed chase that began when youths approached anglers fishing off a pier, and demanded to see their fishing licences.

The youths began shouting racial slurs and then chased the anglers as they fled, ramming their car from behind with a pickup truck.

Meanwhile, in the town of Westport on Big Rideau Lake, police are investigating at least two incidents in which locals have allegedly attacked Asian-Canadian anglers in the past two months.

In one incident, a man who was fishing with his 73-year-old father-in-law on a bridge at midnight was beaten up and thrown off the bridge by a group of young men.

In another incident, men wielding baseball bats and an axe forced some Asian-Canadians to give up their fishing spot on a local bridge.

In both cases, the victims were said to be from Toronto.

Residents of this hamlet say while they are fed up with people poaching fish from local reservoirs, they deny the incidents have anything to do with racism.

“People are really angry and I’m afraid sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt,” said Charlie Jones, who heads a local group of conservationists.

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Why do many Conservatives, not all, hate the Charter of Rights, Multiculturalism and Immigration in Canada? Why does the Charter of Rights make them feel that it is a flawed justice system? Why does the world multiculturalism ante up thoughts of destroying “their” culture? What is the fear about immigration? However, I had to take a look at history to realize that what they actually hated was the loss of power to control the lives of others; using discrimination, prejudice and ignorance as a way to dominate.

In essence, in Canada the courts aren’t above parliament. This is generally, a lie being pushed by people who think Canadians are not bright enough to know better. Parliament makes laws and those laws are limited by the constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If somebody believes that a law exceeds the limits put in place by the Constitution and Charter, they can challenge it in court. The Supreme Court of Canada has the final word on whether a law actually breaks the Charter or not, but most laws are struck down at the provincial level and the government doesn’t challenge the provincial courts on it. If the courts strike down a law, the government then has the option of rewriting the law so that it abides by the Charter.

That law is there to protect minorities against what is known as the tyranny of the majority. If the Charter of Rights did not exist, then I guess it would be fine for the majority of Anglo-Saxon Canadians to continue to discriminate against any one group of individuals. There is a need to limit the powers of majority in order to keep democracy from becoming something it should not be.

Multiculturalism is a way to recognition of the many, vast cultures that built, and continue to build, this country. It is amazing that so-called Canadians love to say that other cultures are eroding the Canadian culture. Please tell me, what is the Canadian culture anyway? Are Anglo-Saxons so much better than other cultures? Have we forgotten all of the groups that made of Canada anyway? Have we forgotten the history of Canada, which is based on a group of people that came to a place that was not their own? Also, remember that many things that we call Canadian are actually the essence of other cultures.

Lastly, check out the last names in your area and the meals you eat. All sorts of groups brought their foods and customs with them; slowly integrating them into Canada’s greater culture. There is nothing wrong with immigration; since it made the country we now call Canada. Those against it essentially live in a world of ignorance and fear. Somehow, they were better than any other culture that comes to Canada. There is so much unwarranted fear around the issues of immigration. In the end, many immigrants today still thank Pierre E. Trudeau for their chance to enjoy Canada. So it is no wonder why there is such a move for immigrants to vote for Liberals or NDP candidates during elections. Not to say that there are not minority groups that vote for conservatives. Those who do are generally either fiscal or religious conservatives. I am generally fiscally conservative myself, but I guess I would be labelled progressive. The problem is the baggage that comes along with conservative style parties. In addition, the Conservatives like to play to the religious side on issues to morality, albeit history has shown that many conservative types themselves were prejudice and immoral, in that fashion, themselves.

Canada will go on and change for the better. There is nothing anyone can do to stop that change. Learn and adapt. Learn about others, as they come and are forced to learn about you. Just because someone does not look like you, eat your food and think like you does not mean we cannot live together. We can all be Canadian, from different strips. We do not have to live in fear. This is one planet, and we are all in it together.

By: Torontomatic

Ubuntu is finally following leading Linux versions from Red Hat and Novell that include snazzy 3D graphics in the user interface. Specifically, the version 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon” uses Compiz Fusion, software that uses OpenGL graphics technology to make windows transparent, map desktops to the faces of a cube, let windows wobble as if made of JELLO.

Various 3D effects can be downloaded and plugged in. Some folks find this eye candy to be a CPU-sucking annoyance, but Mac OS X and Windows Vista have it, and a lot of enthusiasts find it an engaging domain.

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Microsoft touts performance and reliability as the key benefits of Vista’s SP1, but a close look at the beta shows a significant change Microsoft doesn’t seem to want you to know about — you can now easily change your default desktop search tool to Google Desktop Search, or any another one.

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The fact that Dalton McGuinty and his Liberals will probably win this election is actually not about anything he did. As he said, he would let the people view his record and judge him accordingly. He has constantly said that there is more work to be done. Added with a long list of broken promises, the choice would seem to be clear? No, in fact it is not! The problem is not on the Liberal or NDP side, but the PC side. The reasons that the Liberals are leading in Ontario polls are actually due to problems faced by John Tory. John Tory’s problems are actually three-fold, along with additional problems of Ontario history.

Faith-based funding

This has been a “Pandora’s Box”, issue in Ontario. What John Tory is trying to do is admirable and just. We need to, in Ontario; face the issue of only funding Catholic based education with public dollars. It is wrong and the status-quo is not good enough anymore in our changing mosaic. John Tory said himself “the fact is that we must either FUND ALL or FUND NONE”. I would have preferred that this issue had been brought to the legislature as an open vote, within parliament. A straight-forward question, which would have required all MPP’s to vote on the issue as a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’, would have settled this issue. However, it is too late for that now. John Tory decided to support the fund all option, since the other option would have been political suicide. A fund ‘none’ option would have brought out the majority of Catholics to challenge their rights under the constitution of Canada. In addition, people in John Tory’s own party have come against the issue. This does not bode well in the GTA. Not that their stance on the issue is admirable. I mean, just because it is unpopular within their constituency, it does not mean they should change their principles. What is ironic is that amongst minorities in the GTA it makes them look “ignorant” and against minority rights in Hindu, Islamic and other communities. Unfortunately, people do not want to hear conservatives say that they are against funding, however unfair that label is. But lets be honest, all political parties would have faced difficulties if they decided to deal with the issue. So again, I do applaud Mr. Tory for bringing this issue into the limelight, since we MUST deal with the problem. Albeit, this one issue alone has greatly affected the campaign in Ontario; causing people to lose focus on the other pressing issues. In the end, another party may bring this issue to the surface during parliament, with the focus on removing funding, which would be ironic.

The ignorant thorns within the PC party

No matter how you cut it the Progressive Conservatives still look too “Conservative”, in the immigrant communities. Sorry to offend those right-wingers, but it will almost be impossible for them to get a foothold within these communities; unless it is by force. The legacy of Mike Harris has not helped either. Within many immigrant communities, right or wrong, he was seen as anti-minority and a bit racist. I do not feel that he is at all, but this was the image and impression left imprinted in the minds of the voters. They say that the election will be decided amongst the 905ers. With that being said, the PC party needed to have a somewhat ‘Red Tory’ feel. However, again, with candidates, like Bill Murdoch speaking out against the faith-based funding issue, it does not make them look good. Some individuals I have spoken with, in various communities, have even said that they are getting racist comments like “I will not support any south-Asian or Asian candidate”. The sad thing is that these are card carrying PC members. So again, no matter how much a person may have a fiscal conservative swing, the issue becomes, “do I want to associate myself with that”. In addition, websites like http://www.freedominion.ca and campaigns from within to support conservatism, and not John Tory only show how right-wing elements of the PC Party scare 905ers into sticking with the Liberal red, regardless of the corruption problems. I think that Dalton McGuinty knows this. They know that the election will be decided by 905ers, so what do they have to lose? The sad thing is that polling shows that John Tory would have made a better leader than Dalton McGuinty; however the party support is way back of those numbers. So essentially, they are comfortable with Mr. Tory, just not the Tories themselves. Maybe he should have run for leadership of the Liberal party of Ontario?

Times are good and people are just too comfortable

The Ontario economy is generally strong. The Canadian dollar is high. Real Estate is at an all time high. So what does this mean for the election? What is means is people will stick to the status quo. Ever hear the old saying “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”? With all of the corruption in the Liberal party of Ontario, and the “slush-fund issues”, you would think people would want change? But in fact they don’t. People are angry with Dalton McGuinty. I have heard card-carrying Liberals say that “Dalton is a liar and untrustworthy”. However they are not angry enough to change political allegiances. Dalton would probably have to threaten to take 95% of their take home income before they would budge. What is truly sad is the problems that occurred under the Liberal government, with money and slush-funds, will probably continue. However, people seem to be willing to give him one more chance. I think another thing the NDP and the PC parties misses is the transit issue. With the Move Ontario 2020 plan, coupled with the “Transit City” plan, by promising to spend over 17 billion (we will see if that even happens), people want to give him a chance. The NDP and Conservatives should have focused on other issues that affect the everyday lives on Ontarians. Unfortunately, the faith-based issue has clouded any other policies they had and people just want the status-quo. Again, times are good in Ontario. However, remember, when the NDP came into power in Ontario the mood was different. When Mike Harris got into power, we swung the pendulum to the other side, opting to fiscal conservatism and an end to waste. When Dalton came to power we wanted to end a Mike Harris era that “cut too deeply and too fast”.

The end-game might actually be the sad part for the PC party. They should stick to John Tory and go forward, however I gander that they will opt to remove him from leadership of the PC party of Ontario. John Tory is the best leader for the party and anyone else just simply will not work. I almost sense a split in the party, internally, similar to what happened federally. This would be devastating for the party, as a whole. On the NDP side, I am not sure what the end-game is at all. The ghosts of Bob Rae still haunt the party in Ontario. Albeit, the label was simply unfair during a recession; they just should have not tried to implement their party policies during this time. It seems like Ontario will be painted red for a long time. In the end Dalton’s smartest moves may have been the preset 4 year elections and the Ontario referendum on electoral reform. All bodes well for the party and baring any major gaffs or if Liberals forgot to vote. Unless something major happens in the next few days, it seems that we will have either a minority or majority Liberal government again.

By: Torontomatic