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Texas may be the face of opposition to President Barack Obama's executive actions to delay the deportation of some undocumented immigrants, but not all leaders in the state agree. Austin Mayor Steve Adler and Judge Sarah Eckhardt of Travis County, where Austin is located, want the lawsuit that Texas and other states filed against the program dropped, according to the Texas Tribune.

"I urge these state leaders to drop opposition to these federal programs because of the benefits they can provide to our local communities," Adler said Saturday while standing with undocumented immigrants at the nonprofit Workers Defense Project.

Adler said at the rally that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott should meet with immigrant families in the community. Such a meeting, he said, could help in understanding the harm brought on them by trying to block Obama's immigration reform efforts.

In 2014, Obama tried to implement the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, also known as DAPA, but Texas and 25 other states blocked Obama's efforts soon after. Abbott filled the lawsuit while he was state attorney general, the Texas Tribune reported.

Those who have filed the lawsuit are playing politics with people's lives, Eckhardt said. Immigrants are integral to the economic success of the country, she added.

A federal judge in February blocked Obama's executive actions on immigration, saying his administration didn't allow for a longer notification and comment period as required, CNN reported. In May, a federal appeals court sided with Texas and the 25 other states challenging the order, saying that eligible undocumented immigrants can't apply for Obama's program while it is being appealed.

Protesters gathered outside Abbott's home in April, asking him to drop the lawsuit against DAPA and sit down to talk with families about immigration, according to KTRK-TV in Houston.

By: Adam Lidgett

Link: http://www.ibtimes.com/dapa-immigration-reform-2015-austin-city-leaders-want-deportation-undocumented-2139573

Demonstrators squared off outside a Phoenix mosque amid a heavy police presence on Saturday, during the highest-profile of a series of anti-Islam rallies that were planned to be staged nationwide.

Some Muslim leaders had approached the weekend with caution, but many of the so-called Global Rally for Humanity events that had been promoted on social media appeared not to materialise or to be attended by no more than a handful of protesters.

In Maryland, Zainab Chaudry, outreach manager for the Counsel on American-Islamic Relations, said about 30 people of various faiths showed up at 8am at Dar-Al-Taqwa Mosque in Howard County – to support the mosque.

Chaudry said mosque leaders in Murfreesboro, Tennessee reported some protesters, though they were outnumbered by counter-protesters. Imad Enchassi, imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, said no one had shown up by 4pm, the time the protest organizers had scheduled. A handful of protesters, he said, were outside the University of Central Oklahoma, where a conference about the life of the Prophet Mohammad and Islam was taking place.

The Phoenix protest, though, attracted more than 120 demonstrators – and more than 30 law enforcement officials.

It was held outside the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix – where two gunmen killed by police outside a "draw the prophet" contest near Dallas in May had spent time – and followed a far bigger rally earlier this year.

Anti-Islam protesters lined up along a street, faced by a smaller set of counter-protesters, with the sides separated by two sets of metal crowd control barriers. They frequently yelled at each other.

American flags were prominent among the anti-Islam crowd of approximately 80 people, about a third bearing arms ranging from revolvers to assault rifles. Several people on the other side of the street were also toting weapons. Open carry is legal in Arizona.

Greg Burleson, who said he was a militia member who usually spent his weekends at the border tracking cartel members, said the mosque was a breeding ground for terrorists.

"I want them the f*** out of my neighbourhood," he said. "They can practice Islam in their own country. I don't want it shoved down my throat in my own country."

A man who gave his name only as Richard and carried a placard with the slogan "Unite against Islamic terrorists now" said the event was "a wonderful opportunity for people to get out and express themselves".

He added: "We don't want Islam to take over the country and that's what they want to do. They want to take over the world."

Joanne Scott Woods, a counter-protester and community activist, said the anti-Islam protesters "have freedom of speech but they are bigoted. Just bigoted. We can't change that. I'm glad they're not shooting us."

Sumayyah Dawud said that in the current climate of Islamophobia, attitudes towards Muslims were increasingly polarised and "getting more hostile from some people, but other people are becoming more open-minded".

She said the rally was "based on ignorance and fear". As for the guns, Dawud said she was pro-second amendment but the protesters were "carrying guns with the intention of intimidation".

"They say they're standing for the second amendment but what they're really trying to do is intimidate peaceful worshippers," she said.

There was a flashpoint about 70 minutes into the rally, when two anti-Islam protesters crossed the barriers, leading to a brief moment of pushing and shoving that was swiftly quelled by the arrival of riot police.

Several demonstrators – one draped in the Confederate flag – were asked by police to leave. The event broke up after three hours, without further incident.

"We're just exercising our first-amendment [free speech] rights. We're all about peace and love," said the organiser of the rally, former US marine Jon Ritzheimer, a pistol on his hip.

He produced sheets of paper from his pocket which he said were passages from the Koran proving that Islam promotes violence.

"We're educating people," he said. He gestured at the mosque. "Take away their 501c [tax-exempt status]," he said. "Let Donald Trump build something beautiful."

The gates of the mosque were shut. There was no point trying to engage or reason with "bigots", said Usama Shami, the president of the Islamic Community Center.

"What am I going to talk to them about?" he said. "There is no common ground."

Shami said he was encouraged by the lower turnout compared with the May protest but worried about the longer-term consequences of a climate of intolerance and antagonism in a country filled with firearms.

"What these guys are doing is creating an atmosphere of hatred," he said. "We live in a time where we witness mass shootings every day. There are people who are less stable mentally and it could push them over the edge.

"When you plant these seeds in the minds of people – that Muslims are going to hurt you at some point – you could have incidents."

By: Tom Dart, The Guardian

Link: http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/protesters-decry-islam-outside-phoenix-mosque-they-want-to-take-over/ar-AAfl7T5

[especially when it comes to Muslims]

Tom Mulcair says he is willing to work with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau to form a government – and has even written that pledge into his platform – but he could never support Stephen Harper, and says his "No. 1 job" is to oust the Conservatives from office.

The NDP Leader has never been a fan of Mr. Harper's brand of politics. But their divergence on matters of reasonable accommodation – especially when it comes to Muslims – has sent the New Democrats plummeting from first to third in what had been a tight three-way race.

Mr. Mulcair is angry that religious and racial diversity has become an election issue, and he blames Mr. Harper. "The country that I love is in really serious danger if we give this guy another four years," he told The Globe and Mail on Friday.

As the election campaign enters its final stretch, polls suggest Canadians will elect a minority government. That will require one party to seek the co-operation of at least one other to obtain a mandate to govern.

"There is one guy I won't work with and that is Stephen Harper," Mr. Mulcair said after his party released its full 72-page campaign platform. "Economically and environmentally and socially, that's always been clear. Now, with his gruesome behaviour on race in this election campaign, I want nothing to do with his ilk."

The New Democrats are so eager to stress their co-operative nature, they say in their platform document that they would "work with other federalist parties through informal or appropriate stable arrangements to end Stephen Harper's lost decade."

That means working with Mr. Trudeau, whose party is currently topping the polls and who said in April he would be more open to forming a coalition with New Democrats if Mr. Mulcair was not running the party.

Mr. Trudeau "grabbed the door and he slammed the door" on co-operation, Mr. Mulcair said. But, he said, he is willing to get beyond the personality issues with the Liberal Leader because "I know that my No. 1 job is to get rid of Stephen Harper. And I will work with other like-minded people who know that we can build a better Canada."

The NDP campaign was essentially knee-capped by a niqab. Mr. Mulcair's defence of an Ontario woman who successfully challenged the government's refusal to allow her to wear the Muslim face covering as she swore her oath of Canadian citizenship caused his support to plummet in the NDP stronghold of Quebec.

Now, the New Democrats have a big mountain to climb in nine short days if they are to get back into the race before voting day.

Mr. Mulcair's strategy over the past week has been to suggest that Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Harper are cut from the same cloth – that the Liberal Leader's policies are merely those of the Conservatives being uttered by someone with more charisma and less political experience.

The New Democrats want to raise corporates taxes – the Liberals don't, Mr. Mulcair has said at campaign stops.

Mr. Trudeau and his party reluctantly voted in favour of Bill C-51, the Conservatives' controversial anti-terrorism bill, which Mr. Mulcair says jeopardizes basic rights and freedoms.

Now, the two parties differ on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the international trade deal signed last weekend by the Conservative government. Mr. Trudeau says he would consult with Parliament and the provinces before ratifying the agreement. Mr. Mulcair has rejected it outright, saying it would cost tens of thousands of jobs, make pharmaceuticals more expensive and put Canadians' privacy at risk.

NDP officials say the trade deal is the wedge issue they have been looking for to bring the voters they lost over the niqab, and others, back into their fold.

"It really is a question of communicating to Canadians that there is one team and one leader that's going to be standing up for them, standing up for their jobs, standing up for their community, standing up for the environment. And we're that team," Mr. Mulcair said.

There are many sectors of the economy that have approved of the deal – the beef producers, the canola producers and the cranberry producers, to name a few. Even the dairy farmers, whose livelihoods Mr. Mulcair had sought to defend with his opposition, say they can live with it. But auto industry jobs are at risk.

So, standing against the deal did not require a complicated analysis, he said. "It was just a good, honest, personal reflex. My dad lost his job when I was 18. I was still a teenager, I was heading to law school, and there were eight other brothers and sisters at home. I had one other sister who was working as a nurse. She used to lend me money to buy my books. That's who I am."

The most recent example of the Conservatives' divisive policy, Mr. Mulcair said, was the revelation, first reported in The Globe and Mail, that the Prime Minister's Office directed Canadian immigration officials to stop processing one of the most vulnerable classes of Syrian refugees in the spring and declared that all UN-referred refugees would require approval from the PMO.

Mr. Mulcair said his own family arrived in Quebec from Ireland at the height of the potato famine.

"Quebeckers, in a time of need, threw open their doors and let people in, the neediest on Earth. About 10 per cent of the entire population of Quebec City died from the ship-borne diseases," he said. "And yet, people kept going down to the docks because these were the poorest and hungriest and neediest on Earth. That's the Canada I want to get back to."

Link: http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/federalelection2015/mulcair-seems-to-extend-an-olive-branch-to-trudeau/ar-AAfimVo?li=AAacUQk

By: Gloria Galloway, The Globe and Mail

[Montreal police are investigating after an attack on a pregnant Muslim woman.]

Montreal police are investigating after an attack on a pregnant Muslim woman.

Police say the woman was going to pick up her daughter from school on Tuesday in the city's north end, near the Galeries D'Anjou, when two teenagers came up behind her on their bikes and tried to rip off her hijab.

The momentum of their tugging on her head scarf caused her to fall down.

Const. Abdullah Emran said investigators have few details about the culprits because it happened quickly, but said it appears they were boys around 15 years old.

Police are reluctant to call the attack a hate crime, but haven't ruled out the possibility.

"We want to make sure we confirm the facts," Emran said.

"Are we dealing with two teens trying to pull prank, or an incident where a woman was targeted?"

Investigators say they may go door to door and look at any camera footage in the area.

They also urged the two teenagers to come forward.

Haroun Bouazzi, head of the Association of Muslims for a Secular Quebec, said he's been pushing for Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre to do more to address hate crimes.

"We're very disappointed," Bouazzi said.

"We understand it's a serious matter for him [Coderre] and we hope that he's also going to say to the SPVM [Montreal police] that they have to take seriously this complaint."

By: CBC News

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-police-muslim-woman-1.3253668

A British Isis member living in Syria has complained about the "bad manners" of Arab fellow militants he says steal his shoes, eat like children and don't queue.

In an online blog Omar Hussain, a former security guard at Morrison's supermarket who previously lived in High Wycombe, also said other jihadists invade his space, talk loudly when he is trying to sleep and behave like children.

"The Arabs and the non-Arabs are united in one line," he says, writing under the Islamist name Abu Saeed al Britani.

"However, with the unification of tribes and cultures, there will be clashes".

He warns Western radicals thinking of fleeing to Syria: "Arabs as a whole have a unique culture, which differs dramatically from the western lifestyle"

Under a series of numbered subheadings, Mr Hussain criticises various annoying habits he has encountered while living in Syria.

Attacking Arab's administration skills, he said: "There is no queue in any of their offices.

"You could be waiting in line for half an hour and then another Arab would come and push in the queue and go straight in."

Under the heading of "etiquettes when eating", he writes: "Our Arab brothers, or Syrians to be more precise, lack ... basic manners".

When serving food to his fellow terrorists, he said he "was pounced upon by everyone in the room".

"I therefore refused to give anyone food until every single one of them was sitting down in their seats," he added.

"Unfortunately I had to treat them like primary school students".

Other bizarre habits detailed by Mr Hussain include "stealing shoes".

"In the West, it is common knowledge to walk out of a room wearing the same pair of shoes that you wore while entering the room. Nay, it is common sense," he says.

"However here in Shām, our Syrian brothers ... believe that everyone can share each other's footwear.

"Sometimes you would enter a building and when leaving, you would see the person with your shoes walking 100 yards ahead of you and it can be quite irritating."

Other complaints from Mr Hussain include Arabs "casually tak[ing] your phone off charge to charge their own phone"; going "through other people's property without their permission"; and being "childish in their dealings and mannerisms."

The 27-year-old Hussain fled to Syria in January 2014 and initially trained and fought with al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, before defecting to Isis.

He has since threatened to "bomb the UK" and appeared in propaganda videos urging the West to send ground troops so extremists could send them "back one-by-one in coffins".

By: Alexandra Sims

Link: http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/british-isis-member-complains-of-rude-arabs-who-steal-his-shoes-eat-like-children-and-wont-queue/ar-AAemw0P?li=AAacUQk

Today, students at all three of Toronto's major universities found "White Students Union" posters littering their campuses. These signs featured two young men in winter coats, with the CN Tower in background, as well as a web address.

The posters have appeared at York, Ryerson and the University of Toronto. The group in question, also known online as the Students for Western Civilization, isn't registered at any of these schools.

Officials at both York and Ryerson pulled down the flyers. "I can confirm they're not a sanctioned club. We don't condone this sort of thing," Ryerson spokesperson Michael Forbes told the National Post.

While information about this so-called organization is relatively sparse, its Facebook page includes nearly 450 members and its website says it's based in the city and is made up of students and alumni from Toronto's universities.

By: Amy Grief

Link: http://www.blogto.com/city/2015/09/white_students_union_posters_found_at_toronto_schools

Hajdukovo, Serbia: A Pakistani identity card in the bushes, a Bangladeshi one in a cornfield. A torn Iraqi driver's licence  bearing the photo of a man with a Saddam-style moustache, another one with a scarfed woman displaying a shy smile.

Documents scattered only metres from Serbia's border with Hungary provide evidence that many of the migrants flooding Europe to escape war or poverty are scrapping their true nationalities and likely assuming new ones, just as they enter the European Union.

Many of those migrants believe that using a fake document – or having none at all – gives them a better chance of receiving asylum in Germany and other western European states. That's because the surest route to asylum is to be a refugee from war and not an economic migrant fleeing poverty. That fact has led to a huge influx of people claiming to be Syrian.

Serbian border police say that 90 per cent of those arriving from Macedonia,  about 3000 a day, claim they are Syrian, although they have no documents to prove it. The so-called Balkan corridor for the migrant flight starts in Turkey, then goes through Macedonia and Serbia before entering the European Union in Hungary.

"You can see that something is fishy when most of those who cross into Serbia enter January 1  as the date of their birth," border police officer Miroslav Jovic said. "Guess that's the first date that comes to their mind."

The chief of the European Union border agency Frontex said that trafficking in fake Syrian passports has increased.

"A lot of people enter Turkey with fake Syrian papers because they know that they'll get asylum in the EU more easily," Fabrice Leggeri said.

In Germany, customs have intercepted packages mailed to Germany containing Syrian passports, both genuine and counterfeit, the finance ministry said.

Syrians transiting through Serbia are concerned about the trend.

"Everyone says they are Syrian, even those who are obviously not," said Kamal Saleh, pointing towards a group of people camping in a Belgrade park. "That is not good for us Syrians because of limited number of people who will get the asylum."

Mr Saleh left everyone he loves in Syria – his wife, a baby boy and a shattered home in Damascus.

But, unlike many other migrants surging into Europe, he feels fortunate: he has a Syrian passport that he keeps carefully wrapped in a plastic folder and tucked inside his secret trouser pocket. The document, if genuine, should prove that he is a refugee fleeing war, and not a migrant fleeing poverty –  a huge difference when asylum applications are considered.

His countryman, who identified himself only as Yemen, said:  "There are too many people saying we are from Syria, but he is not from Syria. He is black and he said `I am from Syria.' Unbelievable. "

International aid agencies estimate that nearly 340,000 people have sought to cross EU borders since January. Two-thirds of the latest European arrivals are believed to be from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Eritrea – countries considered by international aid groups to be "refugee producing states," due to ongoing war or records of human rights abuses.

According to the 1951 Refugee Convention, those fleeing violence and persecution are entitled to basic rights under international law, including the right not to be immediately deported and sent back into harm's way. A migrant could be someone who chooses to resettle to another country in search of a better life and is eligible for deportation.

EU rules say the country where a migrant first arrives must process the asylum claim. But Germany last week abolished this obligation for Syrians, triggering a surge of people trying to travel through the EU to get there, adding that only refugees fleeing for their life, and not those fleeing poverty, will be allowed to stay.

Aware of the potential asylum rejection, many migrants fleeing poverty are  dumping their identity documents.

Among those who had no second thoughts about ditching their true identity was Rafik from Pakistan.

"I'm leaving my old life behind," Rafik said,  as he dashed under the fence into Hungary. He  gave only his first name because he feared repercussions when applying for asylum in Germany. "I'm starting a new one."

"I don't have a passport, nor any other identity paper. Let's see which country they will choose to kick me back to."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/migrant-crisis-pakistanis-others-dumping-ids-to-become-syrian-20150906-gjggcn.html#ixzz3lEyGJCAO

A student has been stabbed and seriously injured outside of a downtown high school on the first day of school, Toronto police say.


Paramedics were called to Central Technical School, at Bathurst St. and Harbord St. around 1:11 p.m. Tuesday. The victim, a male, 19, was taken to a local trauma centre with serious injuries but was conscious when responders arrived.

According to Travis, who witnessed the aftermath, the injured teen suffered a wound underneath the arm and was initially treated on a park bench by a teacher and another student who were "putting pressure on the wound" with a t-shirt.

Abdul Alyas, 18, saw the victim try and intervene in a fight and shove one of the people involved.

"The guy just pulled out a knife and stabbed him," Alyas said.

The people involved in the fight then fled.

Alyas, who took an auto class with the victim, said he dreamed of working as a mechanic.

Police are investigating two possible suspects who may have run back into the school after the incident, said Const. Victor Kwong. He confirmed the stabbing took place in a laneway outside the school, but it's not immediately clear if the scene is on school property.

Police have also found a knife which they believe to be the weapon involved in the stabbing. A forensics team is currently documenting and performing tests on the knife.

The school has been put under a lockdown and police are currently investigating on scene, the Toronto District School Board says.

By: Michael Yang

Links: http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/student-seriously-injured-in-stabbing-outside-toronto-school/ar-AAe46IQ

[A white woman who sued after she was accidentally impregnated with the sperm of an African American man will be forced to refile the lawsuit after an Illinois judge tossed out her claim against the sperm bank.]

A white woman who sued after she was accidentally impregnated with the sperm of an African American man will be forced to refile the lawsuit after an Illinois judge tossed out her claim against the sperm bank.

Jennifer Cramblett filed suit against Midwest Sperm Bank in 2014 because she was artificially inseminated with sperm from the wrong donor and gave birth to a mixed-race daughter.

The sperm bank apologized and refunded part of the cost to Cramblett and her partner Amanda Zinkon. But Cramblett's suit alleged that the mistake caused her and her family stress, pain, suffering and medical expenses. And, the suit said, in Cramblett's predominantly white community, she feared that her daughter, Payton, now 3, would grow up feeling like an "outcast."

But DuPage County judge Ronald Sutter threw out the lawsuit Thursday, agreeing with attorneys for the sperm bank who argued that it lacked legal merit, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Attorneys for the sperm bank had argued that "wrongful birth" suits typically apply to cases where the child is born with a birth defect that doctors should have warned parents about; in this case, the child was healthy. Cramblett had also sought damages for a "breach of warranty." The judge rejected both claims but said that Cramblett could refile the suit as a "negligence claim," the Tribune reported.

At the heart of the lawsuit was Cramblett's claim that she was unprepared to raise an African American child and that her community and her "unconsciously insensitive" family members might not be accepting of a child of a different race.

"Getting a young daughter's hair cut is not particularly stressful for most mothers, but to Jennifer it is not a routine matter, because Payton has hair typical of an African American girl," the lawsuit said. "To get a decent cut, Jennifer must travel to a black neighborhood, far from where she lives, where she is obviously different in appearance, and not overtly welcome."

According to the suit, the couple chose sperm from donor No. 380, a white man; instead, they were given sperm from donor No. 330, a black man. They blame a paper records system that allegedly caused an employee to misread the numbers.

"Jennifer's stress and anxiety intensify when she envisions Payton entering an all-white school," the lawsuit says. "Ironically, Jennifer and Amanda moved to Uniontown from racially diverse Akron, because the schools were better and to be closer to family."

"Jennifer is well aware of the child psychology research and literature correlating intolerance and racism with reduced academic and psychological well-being of bi-racial children."

She sought at least $50,000 in damages.

By: Abby Philip

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/05/white-woman-accidentally-impregnated-with-black-mans-sperm-loses-legal-battle/

I agree with everything in Creativity.
All except one thing... Nietzsche.
I will be honest. I haven't read his books, taken time to learn about his beliefs etc. BUT I do know that he absolutely hated Germans. So I can't fathom how we can really respect him when he says Germans are "made up of the most extraordinary mixing and mingling of races" and he says, "It is even part of my ambition to be considered as the despiser of the German par excellence. "
I don't understand this at all!
Explanations or justification would be appreciated I suppose.

ATLANTA — A police officer was shot and critically wounded Monday when he responded to a call of a suspicious person and showed up at the wrong house, authorities said.

The homeowner was also shot in the leg and his dog was killed in what DeKalb County police Chief Cedric Alexander is calling a complicated shooting. Officers fired their weapons, the chief said, but it's not clear if the homeowner had a gun.

Alexander said his department would typically handle the investigation since it did not involve a fatality, but because of the unusual situation, he asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into it.

"We did respond to the wrong residence tonight and then these other circumstances unfolded," he said.

Alexander said the situation happened like this: A neighbourhood resident called 911 at 7:34 p.m. to report a suspicious person and described a home to the dispatcher. Three officers responded to a house that fit the description the caller gave 911. The officers went to the back of the home and found that a screen door and a rear door were unlocked.

"That in and of itself would probably suggest to anyone that it is possible that there could be intruders inside, but it turned out not to be the case," Alexander said. "Somewhere at the rear of that home, some things happened that have yet to be determined."

The officers had just entered the home when the gunfire erupted.

"There was gunfire, I just cannot tell you who fired and who did not," he said.

An officer was shot in the leg and lost a lot of blood. He was rushed to the hospital and was undergoing surgery. The homeowner was also taken to the hospital.

The homeowner's girlfriend was at the home at the time of the shooting and called 911.

Derek Perez told The Associated Press that he reported the suspicious person. He said he was walking his dog when he saw a man knock on a neighbour's door and then just stand in the yard. He said he then heard a loud noise, a dog barking and didn't see the man anymore. There had been break-ins in the neighbourhood recently, so he called 911, he said.

Just as he was about to go into his house, he heard the gunshots, but they didn't come from the house where he had reported the suspicious person.

Police were still investigating whether there was a burglary at the home where the suspicious person was spotted.

All three officers have been placed on administrative leave.

The shooting happened in a neighbourhood about 5 miles from downtown Atlanta.

It's official: Canada fell into recession in the first half of the year.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that Canadian GDP fell 0.5 per cent at annualized rate in the second quarter of the year, following a 0.8 per cent decline in the first quarter. Two consecutive quarters of contraction are generally seen as the technical definition of a recession.

But StatsCan's numbers also showed a surprisingly large bounce-back in GDP in June, up 0.5 per cent on the month, suggesting the country entered the third quarter of 2015 on a stronger economic footing.

There was no sign of a bounce-back in the oil industry. The oil, gas and mining sector saw output fall a significant 4.9 per cent in June compared to the same month a year earlier. Industries supporting oil extraction saw output collapse by 18 per cent.

But the recession was felt outside the oil industry as well, with construction dropping by 3.1 per cent in June from a year earlier, and manufacturing output dropping 1.7 per cent.

Bright spots included finance and insurance (up 6.5 per cent), real estate (up 3.2 per cent) and retail (up 1.4 per cent).

Exports were a bright spot in the second quarter, adding to growth after being a drag on it in the previous two quarters.

StatsCan also revised downwards Canada's performance in the first quarter of 2015. It now shrank at a 0.8 per cent annual pace. It had earlier reported the economy shrank at a 0.6 per cent pace that quarter.

But many economists argue Canada is in a "technical recession" -- the economy meets the definition of a recession, but is missing some of the hallmarks of an actual recession. For instance, overall employment levels have been growing in Canada, despite job losses in western provinces.

That led CIBC economist Avery Shenfeld to conclude that Canada is "not yet [in] a recession."

In a client note Tuesday, Shenfeld said the first half of the year was "as weak as advertised" but the strong performance in June suggests that the third quarter of the year "will provide a breather as the economy, at least for a quarter, returns to growth."

 Racially speaking, the inhabitants of Egypt at this period in time were divided into three groups. Skeletal evidence from grave sites show that the original white Mediterraneans and Proto-Nordics were a majority in the area.

  A well preserved body found in a sand grave in Egypt dating from approximately 3300 BC, on display in the British Museum in London, was nicknamed "Ginger" because of his red hair—a racial trait only found in persons of Nordic ancestry. - Arthur Kemp, March of the Titans

Nordic Nobility in ancient Egypt: above left, Yuya, Egyptian nobleman from 1400 BC, father of Tiy, the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Yuya's blond hair and Nordic facial structure have been well preserved by the embalming process; Alongside, his equally blond haired wife, Thuya, great grandmother of Tutankhamen. - Arthur Kemp, March of the Titans

Racial imagery from Tutankhamen's tomb: the ecclesiastical throne, shown assembled, and a full view of the footrest below. Bound Semitic and black prisoners appear on the footstool. The Egyptian king would rest his feet on his foes.

Another graphically racial image found in Tutankhamun's tomb is found on one of his walking sticks. The handle is made up of a bound Semite and a bound black—when the Egyptian king went for a walk with his royal walking stick, he held the enemies of Egypt in his hand.

Racial imagery from Tutankhamen's tomb: the Egyptian king's sandals have bound black and Semitic prisoners inlaid into the soles. When the king walked in these shoes, he would crush the enemies of Egypt underfoot.

Tutankhamun's famous wooden chest, which was found in the antechamber of his tomb, contains yet another striking scene. On its sides, it shows the Egyptian king riding a chariot and trampling the enemies of Egypt: blacks and Semites.

An inscription that was written by Count Uni, governor of the South, and an official of the Old Kingdom, reads as follows: "His majesty made war on the Asiatic Sand-Dwellers and his majesty made an army of many ten thousands: in the entire South . . . among the Irthet blacks, the Mazoi blacks, the Yam blacks, among the Wawat blacks, among the Kau blacks, and in the land of Temeh." - Arthur Kemp, March of the Titans

On Ramesses the 2nd:

Professor P. F. Ceccaldi, with a research team behind him, studied some hairs which were removed from the mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was 90 years-old when he died, and his hair had turned white. Ceccaldi determined that the reddish-yellow colour of the mummy's hair had been brought about by its being dyed with a dilute henna solution; it proved to be an example of the cosmetic attentions of the embalmers. However, traces of the hair's original colour (in youth), remain in the roots, even into advanced old age. Microscopic examinations proved that the hair roots contained traces of natural red pigments, and that therefore, during his youth, Ramesses II had been red-haired. It was concluded that these red pigments did not result from the hair somehow fading, or otherwise altering post-mortem, but did indeed represent Ramesses' natural hair colour. Ceccaldi also studied a cross-section of the hairs, and he determined from their oval shape, that Ramesses had been "cymotrich" (wavy-haired). Finally, he stated that such a combination of features showed that Ramesses had been a "leucoderm" (white-skinned person). [Balout, et al. (1985) 254-257.]

Balout and Roubet were under no illusions as to the significance of this discovery, and they concluded as follows:

"After having achieved this immense work, an important scientific conclusion remains to be drawn: the anthropological study and the microscopic analysis of hair, carried out by four laboratories: Judiciary Medecine (Professor Ceccaldi), Société L'Oréal, Atomic Energy Commission, and Institut Textile de France showed that Ramses II was a 'leucoderm', that is a fair-skinned man, near to the Prehistoric and Antiquity Mediterraneans, or briefly, of the Berber of Africa." [Balout, et al. (1985) 383.]

Ramesses' head is crowned not with woolly hair, but a helmet. Peter Clayton has noted, that in this depiction of the Pharaoh, Ramesses wears a distinctive crown. [Clayton (1995) 146.] Clayton has referred to this particular piece of head-wear as:

"the helmet-like khepresh, the so-called Blue or War Crown." [Clayton (1995) 118.]

Therefore, the spirals that are detectable on the statue, represent decoration on a helmet, not woolly hair. This point is further confirmed by the fact that in coloured depictions, the crown is painted blue, hence its name: the Blue Crown. [Geddes & Grosset (1997) 435.] It would never be this hue, if the paintings were meant to represent hair. It would appear that the distinctive Blue Crown was made from leather, and that it was invested with great ceremonial significance: it seems to have represented the Pharaoh's supremacy over the earthly realm. [Desroches-Noblecourt (1972) 128-132.] Equally, the uraeus (hooded cobra), which protrudes from the front of the crown, as well as the clearly delineated bands that mark the edges of the helmet, all reveal that the head-hair is covered. Exactly what the circles that cover the surface of the Blue Crown are supposed to represent, is debateable, but it has been suggested by F. D. P. Whicker, that they are meant to imitate the markings of a carapace (tortoise shell), this being the material from which, he believes, the original helmets were manufactured. [Whicker (1990).]

In addition to this, we should note the findings of the study that was performed upon the hair of Ramesses' mummy. It is possible to determine the race of an individual by taking a single hair from their head, and studying the structure of it. When observed in transverse section, the wavy scalp-hair of a Caucasoid is oval, or rather widely elliptic in shape, with the least diameter amounting to about 70% of the greatest. In contrast, the spiralled, woolly hair of a Negroid individual, is narrowly elliptical in shape, with the lesser axis of the ellipse being rather less than half the greater. [Baker (1974) 208, 296-297, 308.] The team of scholars that studied the hair of Ramesses II, under the direction of Professor Ceccaldi, noted that when seen in cross-section, the structure of the hair was oval in shape, and therefore concluded that Ramesses had been cymotrich (wavy-haired). [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]

This clearly demonstrates that Ramesses did not have woolly hair, and consequently, that the Turin portrait statue does not prove that Ramesses was black. In terms of evidence evaluation, the results produced from a study of Ramesses' mortal remains, are of higher value than any amount of conclusions that have been drawn only from portraits. Therefore, Diop's claims are completely baseless. - Karl Earlson, Redheaded Pharaoh Ramesses II

Really love the lack of facts you have here.
Blond hair is exclusively European, meaning any other group that possess that trait is PART European.
The hair is wavy, a trait found most commonly in Northern Europe or Europe. It is not kinky like Negro hair or curly like Hamitic hair.
The hook nose looks fairly European, although albeit not Nordic. It likely is a result of some admixture.

Reply ↓   

There is pictorial proof of every assertion made, and, as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Do yo have anything to back your claims- picture or otherwise? Is there any link, any article, any dictionary or lexicon which you can use to back up even one thing that you have written? I dare you to try to find even one, and provide it here.

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I can offer you GREAT proof. In fact, you can check it out for yourself. If the Ancient Egyptians were Blacks, why hasn't another great nog empire risen up in it's place? Why do nogs have the lowest IQ if they are the founders of such a great civilization? Why can they not manage their own countries in Africa, even with foreign aid? Why do they commit the vast majority of crimes in all countries they inhabit?
Surely the Egyptians weren't at this disgustingly low level.

["It's got to go." "Ban it altogether." "We need to stop carding."]

"It's got to go." "Ban it altogether." "We need to stop carding."

In consultation meetings now being held across the province on the controversial police practice of carding, the ministry has been getting answers to a question it has not been asking.

While Ontarians are being surveyed about the fine-grain aspects of street checks, better known as carding — Should there be limits on the information collected? What type of training should police officers receive about carding? Where should the data go? — some critics are saying the real question is absent: Should 'street checks' be banned altogether?

Niggers play the Race Card to stop Carding

Carding, the police practice of stopping, questioning and documenting someone not suspected of a crime, has drawn mounting concerns about Charter violations and racial profiling. A series of Star investigations has shown carding disproportionately affects black and brown men.

Anyone stopped by police in a non-criminal investigation has the right to walk away. However, as noted in a 2009 Supreme Court ruling, visible minorities "may, because of their background and experience, feel especially unable to disregard police directions and feel that assertion of their right to walk away will itself be taken as evasive."

In June, Premier Kathleen Wynne's government announced plans to regulate the practice, launching a consultation process involving online feedback and meetings province-wide.

Some critics have pointed to what they consider the fundamental flaw in the Liberal government's action on carding: Why try to fix a practice that should be tossed?

"Carding and street checks are a Charter of Rights violation; you cannot regulate a Charter violation," said Toronto lawyer Howard Morton, an outspoken opponent of the practice and legal counsel for a new anti-street checks group in Peel.

Yasir Naqvi, minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, has defended the province's review, saying it is guided by "two very important overarching principles.

"One, there's zero tolerance for any kind of racial profiling or discrimination and two, that we, as government, stand opposed to any arbitrary or random police stops that take place without cause . . . simply to obtain (personal) information."

In advance of Toronto's consultation on Tuesday, a look at three concerns raised by critics about the province's street checks review and responses from the ministry and police associations.

The definition of "street checks" is too broad

In an online form the ministry calls its "discussion document," street checks are defined as a tool police use "to engage and record interactions with individuals whose activities and/or presence within their broader context (e.g., location, time, behaviour, etc.) seem out of the ordinary."

But Knia Singh — who has launched a Charter challenge against police carding and says he has been stopped by police 30 times — says the ministry's definition is does not capture the reality of street checks, which involve arbitrary detentions.

The majority of community members who are concerned about carding are not opposed to police having the ability to stop and question people for a legitimate investigative purpose.

"What we've always been fighting is the non-criminal investigation of people," Singh said. "What they're missing is the whole point of people just walking on the street, standing on the corner or minding their own business are getting stopped."

"If they are going to use the word 'street check,' they have to define it correctly," Singh said. "Then we can have a discussion."

Jonathan Rose, spokesperson for Naqvi's ministry, said it's in the process of updating the content of its street-check document online "to reflect the feedback that we have heard from our public consultation and online channels," though he did not specify what changes were being made.

"We intend to make these changes to the web page content in the coming days," Rose said in an email.

It misses the root problem of racial discrimination

In a lengthy submission to the ministry, the Ontario Human Rights Commission states its central concern with the street checks review is that it does not go far enough to address the "systemic issue" underlying the overrepresentation of racialized people in street-check interactions.

Ruth Goba, the OHRC's interim chief commissioner, says the ministry does not go far enough to define when it is appropriate to perform street checks.

The OHRC challenges the suggestion that police may perform street checks when individuals' activities "seem out of the ordinary." That is just simply too broad, Goba says — and unguided officer discretion to initiate street checks is "fertile ground for racial profiling," the OHRC writes.

Also, the larger issue "of racial profiling is not explicitly mentioned," Goba says, "and that is a significant gap given how the issue has manifested itself."

Rose said Naqvi has made it clear the government "takes the protection of human rights very seriously and that we have zero tolerance for racism or marginalization."

It is taken for granted that street checks solve crime

In its description of street checks, the province describes the practice as "a necessary and valuable tool for police" that helps solve and prevent crime.

Chris Williams, an outspoken carding opponent and member of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition, says stating carding's usefulness as fact is problematic. Numerous groups, including TPAC, the Law Union of Ontario and the OHRC have argued there is a dearth of objective evidence supporting the claim that street checks solve crime.

Police forces and associations across Ontario often cite the importance street checks can play in solving crime; Toronto Police Association

that because it would show the value of carding in solving crimes.

https://www.google.com.au/search?&q=ontario+carding

A 25-year-old from Alberta's Enoch Cree Nation has become the first First Nations woman — and the first Canadian — to win the Mrs. Universe pageant.

Ashley Callingbull, whose married name is Ashley Burnham, was crowned as the winner in Belarus Saturday night.

"I'm really overwhelmed right now," Callingbull said.

"My phone is blowing up. Everything is blowing up. I love it."

The Mrs. Universe competition, which started in 2007, is an international beauty pageant that focuses on married contestants.

Callingbull said winning the Mrs. Universe crown is a blow against the stereotypes surrounding First Nations people. When competing in previous pageants, she said she was judged for coming from the Enoch reserve, west of Edmonton, and told that she wasn't expected to place well in the competitions.

She gained attention after becoming the only First Nations contestant in the 2010 Miss Canada pageant. She said that while she got a lot of support, she was also the target of racist comments.

"A newspaper (wrote) 'what is she going to do for her talent, write a welfare cheque with her toes?'" Callingbull said.

"Just horrible, horrible things."

That made her only more determined to showcase her culture. During the competition, she wore a jingle dress, often worn during pow-wow dances. For the talent competition, Callingbuill chose to sing a traditional song while wearing a white buckskin dress.

"Everything basically stated 'this woman is First Nations native and she's proud of it,'" she said.

'A success story'

Callingbull, who is a trained dancer and professional actress, has taken part in several pageants in the past. But she said she was particularly drawn to the 2015 Mrs. Universe competition because of its theme: battling domestic violence and child abuse.

As a survivor of sexual and physical abuse, she wanted the chance to help others dealing with the same pain.

"I was picking bottles for food. I would have never thought I'm going to be Mrs. Universe someday," she said.

"Growing up and dealing with that, I thought this is a perfect platform to share my story ... to be a success story for them," she said.

Callingbull said she hoped her win would be a blow to stereotypes about aboriginal contestants and encourage other First Nations women to participate.

Note: I've cut out most of the crap, it's an old article but I heard something similar on the radio today.

A disproportionate number of Toronto-area children in foster and group-home care are black. Advocates are blaming poverty, cultural misunderstanding and racism.

In the Toronto area, black children are being taken from their families and placed into foster and group-home care at much higher rates than white children.

Numbers obtained by the Star indicate that 41 per cent of the children and youth in the care of the Children's Aid Society of Toronto are black. Yet only 8.2 per cent of Toronto's population under the age of 18 is black.

Other figures obtained by the Star indicate the overrepresentation is province-wide.

"The gross overrepresentation of black kids in the CAS is like a modern-day residential schools system," says Margaret Parsons, executive director of the African Canadian Legal Clinic, which advocates on behalf of the province's 590,000 black residents.

"This is another form of racial profiling," she says. "They're profiling black parents in a very negative way."

Patricia knows first-hand how cultural misunderstandings can lead to black children being removed from their homes.

She was shocked when police and a Toronto children's aid worker came to her tidy bungalow two years ago to say her granddaughters were being taken into care.

They were living a comfortable life in Toronto. "For the little one, I was the only mother she ever knew," says the soft-spoken woman.

That all changed in 2012. Her teenage granddaughter, facing suspension at school, told the principal she would be beaten with a baseball bat if her grandmother found out.

"She told them I was going to kill her," says Patricia, who admits she disciplined her granddaughters with a slap now and then[.]

Patricia was charged with numerous counts of assault with a weapon, involving multiple incidents. A landed immigrant, she says she was advised by her legal aid lawyer to plead guilty to some charges to avoid possible deportation.

Of children in care in Toronto, 31 per cent were born to black parents. A further 9.8 per cent of children in care had one parent who is black.

The data also showed that many of the black children in care were of Jamaican heritage.

Lawyers, black community leaders and child advocates say the overrepresentation of black children is due to cultural misunderstandings and stress and neglect created by poverty. They also believe systemic racism in the child protection system, and within the police and schools, is at play.

Everton Gordon, executive director of the Jamaican Canadian Association, believes police go into black homes with the same bias that results in black youth being racially profiled on the street.

"These institutions have problems with black people to begin with," Gordon says, referring to police and schools. "The minute it's a black family it sets off alarm bells."

A recent provincial survey of about 7,000 Ontario children who have been in care for more than one year shows that about 12 per cent are of African or Caribbean descent. Meanwhile, only about 5 per cent of Ontario's children under age 18 are from those communities.

A 2012 report by a provincial commission into child welfare found that "the system was not responding effectively to the diversity of Ontario's population."

Paul Chapman, 23, who works in the provincial child advocate's office, was 9 years old when he and his six siblings were taken from their struggling single mother. He was placed with white foster parents. On Sundays, he missed big breakfasts with Caribbean dishes, and going to church.

He recalls one dinner when his foster parents served him perogies.

"I had no idea what the hell a perogy was. I said I'm not eating that," says Chapman.

"I think a lot of (black) youth struggle," he says.

"It's because they don't know who they are. They don't know what to do. They kind of lose themselves. They lose their identity."

The Canadian dollar hit an 11-year low Monday as oil prices fell more than 6 per cent and global markets tanked in the wake of China's stock rout.

As of mid-morning Monday, the loonie was trading at around 75.6 cents U.S., having bounced back from around 75.2 cents, the lowest level for the Canadian dollar since 2004.

"There's certainly some panic out there," Karl Schamotta, director of FX Strategy at Cambridge Global Payments, told the Wall Street Journal. "The reality is that we are looking at a global economy suffering widespread disinflationary conditions."

The Canadian dollar typically follows the price of oil and other commodities. Bloomberg reported Monday that commodity prices are at a 16-year low.

Prices for Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, were down 6 per cent as of mid-morning Monday, at six-and-a-half-year lows, Reuters reported. A barrel of Brent crude was trading at $42.51 U.S.

North American oil prices have been doing just as badly, trading at around $39 U.S. a barrel Monday, having fallen below the $40 mark, to six-year lows, last week.

The collapse in commodity prices reflects concerns about the strength of China's economy, the world's largest buyer of raw materials. The Shanghai composite stock index fell 8.5 per cent Monday in what traders there are now calling "Black Monday."

"Today's falls are not about oil market fundamentals. It's all about China," Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, told the Reuters Global Oil Forum. "The fear is of a hard landing and that things get out of the control of the Chinese authorities."

China's stock market soared last year and in the early months of this year, largely as a result of government policies designed to help ordinary Chinese citizens into the stock market and prop up stock prices.

But in a classic bubble pattern, the market turned downwards in the second quarter of the year, and has lost 38 per cent from its June peak.

Despite extraordinary measures by the Chinese government to prop up stock prices — including cash injections, a ban on IPOs and an order forbidding some insiders from selling for six months — Chinese stock prices have continued to fall.

The bad news in China darkens the prospects for an economic recovery in Canada, which likely fell into recession in the first half of this year on the back of falling oil prices.

With stock and commodity prices sliding, analysts are seeing a higher chance of another rate cut from the Bank of Canada this year. Some now also expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to delay an expected interest rate hike in September, which could help to keep global interest rates low.

CLEVELAND — Opening a new front in the abortion wars, abortion opponents are pushing Ohio to make it illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion if a woman is terminating her pregnancy to avoid having a baby with Down syndrome.

The legislature is expected to approve the measure this fall because lawmakers endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee, which supports the bill, make up more than two-thirds of both houses.

Gov. John R. Kasich, a Republican who is running for president, opposes abortion but has not yet taken a position on this bill. Since his election in 2010, he has signed a variety of abortion restrictions, including a law requiring women to have an ultrasound and be offered a chance to see an image of the fetus before undergoing the procedure.

Mike Gonidakis, the president of Ohio Right to Life, said his group had made the bill here a legislative priority because Down syndrome is so recognizable, so easily diagnosed in pregnancy — and so likely to lead to abortion.

"We all want to be born perfect, but none of us are, and everyone has a right to live, perfect or not," he said. "You go to any supermarket or mall and see these families who just happen to have a child with Down syndrome, and they will tell you how fortunate they are to have those children. Pretty soon, we're going to find the gene for autism. Are we going to abort for that, too?"

But abortion rights lawyers say such a law would violate the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, which guarantees a woman's right to seek an abortion until the fetus is viable. They also say that by focusing on the diagnosis of a fetal condition, it edges toward recognizing the fetus as a person, setting up a conflict between the mother's interests and those of the fetus.

Between 60 and 90 percent of fetal Down syndrome diagnoses lead to abortion, according to an academic article reviewing research studies from 1995 to 2011 on the percentage of women who choose to terminate their pregnancies.

Over the last four decades, dozens of states have regulated access to abortion through waiting periods, clinic regulations or limits on how far along the pregnancy can be. Laws banning abortion based on motivation are far less common.

In 2013, North Dakota made it illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion because of fetal genetic anomalies, including Down syndrome. Indiana, Missouri and South Dakota considered similar laws this year. Seven states — Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and South Dakota — have laws banning abortions if the reason is gender selection. In 2012, the United States House of Representatives rejected such a measure.

Arizona's law also forbids abortion when the doctor knows "that the abortion is being sought based on the sex or race of the child, or the race of a parent of that child."

Advocates are not aware of enforcement of any such laws in the states that have them.

"They're trying to encroach on the right to abortion, step by step, and turn a woman's health care decision into an issue of discrimination against the fetus," said Sara Ainsworth, the director of legal advocacy at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women. "I can't imagine how any of these laws would be enforceable."

There have been no prosecutions under the 2013 North Dakota law, advocates on both sides say. Nor has the law changed anything at the state's only abortion provider, the Red River Women's Clinic in Fargo, said Tammi Kromenaker, its director.

"We have not had any women who presented saying they need an abortion because of a fetal diagnosis," she said. "I believe there are real women affected by this, but not at our clinic. If someone did come in saying that, we would refer her to a clinic in Minneapolis."

Here, in a leafy residential neighborhood on Cleveland's east side, where Naral Pro-Choice Ohio shares offices with Preterm, a nonprofit abortion clinic, local abortion rights advocates say the bill drives a wedge between supporters of disability rights and backers of abortion rights.

"This is interference with a medical decision following a complicated diagnosis," said Kellie Copeland, the executive director of Naral Pro-Choice Ohio. "For us, it comes down to who makes the decision and who's going to have to live with it. Not knowing the family and the circumstances, the legislature can't possibly take into account all the factors involved."

The head of Naral Pro-Choice Ohio, Kellie Copeland, said legislators can't "possibly take into account all the factors involved" in a decision to abort. Credit Michael F. McElroy for The New York Times 

National and local Down syndrome associations have not taken a position on the bill. But some parents of children with Down syndrome are strong proponents.

At a May hearing on the bill, Heather Bellegia-Ernst, a mother of a child with Down syndrome, testified that "with nine out of 10 babies with Down syndrome being aborted, extinction is what we are really talking about."

Rachel Mullen, 43, a mother of three who heads the recently formed Cuyahoga County chapter of Ohio Right to Life, said in an interview that her doctors had pressured her to have an abortion after an early screening test in one of her pregnancies showed a possibility of Down syndrome.

This is a terrible bill. The whole point of choice is that a woman has the right to her own body, and that includes the right to terminate a...

It seems that the Ohio legislature is Pro Birth not Pro Life since this bill does not include funds for the family to care for such a child...

The right-wing is constantly looking for ways to control women because they really don't believe that women should be respected and treated...

"They told me that I should get an abortion fast, so no one would know I was pregnant and I wouldn't have the stigma of abortion, that it would be doing the child a favor," she said, adding that subsequent testing ruled out the Down diagnosis. "As soon as babies are born, they're protected by the Americans With Disabilities Act, but we need this bill so that they can be born, and not culled."

Some doctors in Cleveland — where the most abortions in Ohio are performed — fear the bill would discourage patients from having honest discussions about a tough decision.

"If abortion on demand is legal," said Dr. Marjorie Greenfield, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, "and you can have an abortion just because you want to, what does it mean to say you can't abort for Down syndrome? It seems bizarre."

Indeed, there is currently no requirement for a woman to disclose her motivation for terminating a pregnancy.

Ohio is one of the most anti-abortion states in the nation, the first to introduce a bill that, had it passed, would have banned abortions after six weeks, when a heartbeat can be heard. In July a federal appeals court found such a law in North Dakota unconstitutional.

Another bill, which would prohibit abortion after 20 weeks, is still pending in Ohio. The legislature, which reconvenes in mid-September, has also imposed new regulations on abortion clinics.

Since Mr. Kasich took office, the number of clinics in the state that perform abortions has decreased to nine, from 16. Mr. Kasich appointed Mr. Gonidakis, the Ohio Right to Life president, to the state medical board.

At the Preterm clinic, about 66 of the 5,000 abortions that will be performed this year will be for fetal abnormalities, including Down syndrome and conditions, like anencephaly, that are fatal, said Chrisse France, the executive director.

"They're very sad, because these are mostly intentional, much-wanted pregnancies, where they paint the nursery one day and find out the next day that something's wrong," she said. "Most people who have abortions already have children, and they say things like, 'I just can't be the kind of parent I want to be to this child.' "

The main effect of restrictive laws, she said, is to "squeeze vulnerable women and make them feel more ashamed, and that's what the Down syndrome law would do, too."

[GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Police have arrested and charged three teenagers in connection to the death of a 74-year-old man.]

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Police have arrested and charged three teenagers in connection to the death of a 74-year-old man.

Police found the body of Larry Eugene Brown on Greenbriar Road - just off N. Church St. - July 29. Investigators say Brown was robbed and assaulted, around 5:30 a.m., while walking to the bus stop. He suffered, what police call, "significant" blunt force trauma to his head and died from his injuries.

Police say they received a Crime Stoppers tip that led to the arrest of 17-year-old D'Angelo Matthews. He is charged with first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

"My heart's broken. He meant the world to me" says Lonnie Brown, Victim's Son.

Matthews, a rising junior at Page High School, was 16 at the time of the murder and turned 17 Wednesday. He spent his birthday in court as he made his first appearance, via closed-circuit television, at the Guilford County Courthouse. A judge issued Matthews a court-appointed attorney, and did not set a bond for the suspect.

His next court date is September 3.

https://www.google.com.au/search?&q=Larry+Eugene+Brown

Latin is the ideal language for the future of the White race. It is the perfect combination of simplicity, versatility, and precision.
Yet, Creators have always seemed to have cold feet towards Latin for two reasons, the image of Latin being a difficult language, and for the general lack of resources to learn Latin.
You have no reason to not learn Latin, and every reason to learn Latin. With a bit of hard work and perseverance it can be learned, and there are quite a few good resources to learn Latin with.
In summary, though it will most certainly be a challenge, and even though you will undoubtedly fail along the way, Latin is a language I strongly recommend every Creator, no, every member of the White race study, learn and speak.

According to Abby Wilson, the deputy director of the Department of Health's Bureau of Public Policy and Community Relations in Allegheny County, there are too many White people in Pittsburgh.

She left Pittsburgh to work in South Africa and then study in the Netherlands, but now that she's back, she wants to change it.

"My two main gripes (about Pittsburgh) are: too many white people and not enough public transportation," said, according to NextPittsburgh.com.

"The homogeneity and provincialism that accompany working here frustrates me at times..."

Triblive.com contacted Wilson to ask her to clarify her comments.

"That was part of a much larger conversation," she told Triblive, "(It was) a bit of a slip,"

"I don't think there are too many white people in Pittsburgh,"

"It was taken out of context,"

When Triblive contacted NextPittsburgh, the author of the article defended Wilson, saying "too White people" is just another way of calling for "diversity".

Just what context are we suppose to take this in?

We are now in a world where being "too White" is bad, and "diversity" (a White minority) is the solution. This campaign is usually called "anti-racism", but it only targets White areas, so it is in fact anti-White.

Let me explain this thought: no one cares about "diversity" in a Black area or Asian area, and certainly no one is trying to turn Black or Asian people into a minority wherever they are the majority.

This entire "multiculturalism" and "diversity" scam is all about getting rid of White areas.

It's White genocide plain and simple, because deliberately trying to make us a minority is legally defined as genocide.

Link: http://whitegenocideproject.com/too-many-white-people-in-pittsburgh-says-government-official/

[HEMPSTEAD, Texas — A police dashboard video released Tuesday shows that a Texas state trooper tried to pull a black motorist out of her car, then drew his stun gun and threatened her after she refused to follow his orders during a traffic stop.]

HEMPSTEAD, Texas — A police dashboard video released Tuesday shows that a Texas state trooper tried to pull a black motorist out of her car, then drew his stun gun and threatened her after she refused to follow his orders during a traffic stop.

The roadside encounter swiftly escalated into a shouting confrontation as the officer attempted to drag 28-year-old Sandra Bland from her vehicle, with the officer at one point saying, "I will light you up," a possible threat to use the stun gun.

Days later, Bland was found dead in a jail cell in a case that has caused her family and supporters to dispute that she hanged herself with a plastic garbage bag, as authorities have said.

The video posted by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows the trooper stopping Bland for failure to signal a lane change. After he hands her a written warning, the trooper remarks that Bland seems irritated. The Illinois woman replies that she is irritated because she had changed lanes to make way for the trooper's car.

The conversation quickly turns hostile when the officer asks Bland to put out her cigarette and she asks why she can't smoke in her own car. The trooper then orders Bland to get out of the vehicle. She refuses, and he tells her she is under arrest.

Further refusals to get out bring a threat from the trooper to drag her out. He then pulls what appears to be a weapon and says, "I will light you up."

Bland's death comes after nearly a year of heightened national scrutiny of cases in which blacks have been killed by police officers.

The case has resonated on social media, with posts questioning the official account and featuring the hashtags #JusticeForSandy and #WhatHappenedToSandyBland. Others referred to #SandySpeaks, the hashtag Bland used in monologues she posted on Facebook in which she talked about police brutality and said she had a calling from God to speak out against racism and injustice.

The dashboard video shows that when Bland finally steps out of the vehicle, the trooper orders her to the side of the road. There, the confrontation continues off-camera but is still audible. The two keep yelling at each other as the officer tries to put Bland in handcuffs and waits for other troopers to arrive.

Out of the camera's view, Bland continues protesting her arrest, repeatedly using expletives and calling the officer a "p****." At one point, she screams that he's about to break her wrists and complains that he knocked her head into the ground.

The trooper said in an affidavit that after handcuffing her for becoming combative, she swung her elbows at him and kicked him in his right shin.

In the affidavit released Tuesday, trooper Brian Encinia said he then used force "to subdue Bland to the ground," and she continued to fight back. He arrested her for assault on a public servant.

The trooper has been placed on administrative leave for violating unspecified police procedures and the Department of Public Safety's courtesy policy. The agency would not address questions about whether the trooper acted appropriately by drawing his stun gun or pulling her out of the vehicle.

"Regardless of the situation, it doesn't matter where it happens, a DPS state trooper has got an obligation to exhibit professionalism and be courteous ... and that wasn't the case in this situation," said Steven McCraw, the department director.

Bland was taken to the Waller County Jail about 60 miles (100 kilometres) northwest of Houston on July 10 and found dead July 13. A Texas Rangers investigation into her death is being supervised by the FBI.

Although a medical examiner has ruled Bland's death a suicide, supporters insist she was upbeat and looking forward to a new job at Prairie View A&M University, where she graduated in 2009. Bland's family and clergy members have called for a Justice Department probe, and an independent autopsy has been ordered.

However, Bland posted a video to her Facebook page in March, saying she was suffering from "a little bit of depression as well as PTSD," or post-traumatic stress disorder. Family members have said nothing in her background suggested she was mentally troubled, and at least one friend said she was just venting after a bad day.

The Waller County Sheriff's Office has acknowledged violating state rules on jail training and the monitoring of inmates.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards last week cited the jail for not providing documents proving that jailers in the past year had undergone training on interacting with inmates who are mentally disabled or potentially suicidal.

The citation also showed that jailers fell short by not observing inmates in person at least once every hour.

The sheriff's office said Friday in a statement that jailers checked on Bland via an intercom on one occasion rather than in person.

Commission Executive Director Brandon Wood has declined to say if the citation is related to Bland's death. But sheriff's officials mentioned her when explaining the violations, noting that they don't believe "either one of these deficiencies had any part in the death of Ms. Bland."

Who were the greatest fighters of all time - I already know the Spartans and some Germanic tribes, I haven't decided which produced the finest fighters.
Any suggestions?

A paedophile Jewish scholar who fled to Israel after his crimes were exposed has been jailed for over 13 years.

Todros Grynhaus was branded an 'utter hypocrite' for professing his Orthodox faith while 'cynically condemning his victims to suffer'.

The 50-yesar-old fled the UK in February 2013 and tried to exploit Israel's 'Law of Return' to get citizenship and escape prosecution here, the Manchester Evening News reports.

But in a landmark ruling top judges in Israel, where he arrived with false papers, rejected his case and deported him back to Manchester to face justice in September last year.

His conviction for sex offences against girls in Greater Manchester has led to a change in attitudes in the Haredi Jewish community, the court heard, and prompted the country's chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, to urge members to report child sex abuse.

As the son of rabbi, a teacher of scripture, a successful businessman and father-of-ten, Grynhaus enjoyed high standing in Salford's tight-knit ultra-Orthodox community.

But behind closed doors he subjected a teenage girl to a campaign of abuse, Manchester Crown Court heard. He tried to force her into a sex act, telling her 'you might as well make yourself useful'. For the next three years the young girl was repeatedly groped by Grynhaus, who even took her to a hotel and molested her in the jacuzzi.

Another teenage victim was abused over a three-month period by Grynhaus, who was found guilty of seven sex offences between 1996 and 2004.

He had maintained his innocence in two trials, the first ending with a hung jury, the second with a conviction, only admitting what he had done after he was found guilty.

Grynhaus, 50, formerly of Castleton Road, Salford, has now been jailed for 13 years and two months, with an extended licence period of four years for the public protection. He must pay the first victim £45,000 in compensation, another £35,000 - and he must pay £35,000 in prosecution costs.

Manchester Crown Court heard both women had been 'ostracised' by their community as a result of speaking out about their ordeals. Both have suffered 'serious psychological harm' - but braved the process because they feared Grynhaus would harm other children if he wasn't stopped.

In a statement, the woman who was abused over three years said: "We live in a relatively small community - he made sure everyone knew it was me making these' ridiculous allegations of abuse'.

Be under no illusions as to the toll this has taken on our standing in the community.

We were ostracised by many parts of this community and even gave serious consideration to moving away from the country.

"Not once but twice I had to ensure the humiliating experience of going through my statement in court, I had to relive the traumas and recount all the filthy" things he did to me. His holy friends even sat in court, adding to my embarrassment, trying to make me even more humiliated and uncomfortable than I already was. I had to defend myself from allegations I was making the whole thing up."

Grynhaus second victim said all aspects of her life had been 'tainted by his touch'.

She said: "I'm constantly afraid. His position in the community means my entire belief system is lost. He was a respected teacher, his activities were ignored by rabbis - how can I belong to the community when people like that are still in power?"

Jonathan Goldberg QC, sentencing, said Grynhaus had sought treatment in Israel for his 'tendencies to misbehave', was now 'older and wiser', and hadn't committed offences since the sex offences, which he described as 'touching, kissing, interference - and a great deal of generally inappropriate and smutty behaviour'.

Mr Goldberg said Grynhaus offences were 'at the mild end of the scale', adding that he had not used force or violence, and had stopped when the girls asked him to.

He added that Grynhaus's 'public face was good' - conceding that 'people couldn't know his darker psychosexual side'.

"Part of the punishment for this man is of course the shame and exposure and social ostracisation within his own community," Mr Goldbery added.

Mr Goldberg went on to describe the Israeli Supreme Court's decision to deport Grynhaus as a 'landmark judgement', where the court had ruled 'we are not going to be a repository for Jewish criminals from other countries'.

"Jail time is hard time for Haredi Jews", he went on. "They have a very distinctive appearance, their daily routine involving as much prayer as it does, is distinctive and they receive unwelcome attention from other inmates. Unless they are lucky enough to find a person of the same persuasion in their immediate custody they find it difficult to make friends or pass the time the way other prisoners can. He is now on the vulnenable prisoners wing and is incarcerated for 23 hours a day on the wing."

Mr Justice Holroyde told Grynhaus: "All the offences involved a grave breach of trust. Both were vulnerable by reason of their young age. You took cynical advantage of their vulnerability."

The judge added that the abuse had 'profound and lasting harm' on the victims, who are both undergoing counselling, and that 'their personal relationships had been severely affected'.

"You have in addition, harmed them in their religion. This was a refined degree of cruelty on your part, and you knew what harm you would cause.

"You are an utter hypocrite. You professed your religion whilst giving yourself licence to abuse those who were under your care; The evidence at trial was that the Haredi community is changing its attitude to allegations of sexual abuse, and is becoming more willing to acknowledge that such crimes require investigation by the police.

"I was glad to hear that evidence, and I was glad to read after the trial the wise words of the Chief Rabbi making emphatically clear that allegations of this nature must be taken seriously and must not be hidden away from outside investgation.

Sentencing him for seven sex assaults, including specimen counts which reflect a course of conduct, as well as the Bail Act offence, the judge described him as an intelligent and highly manipulative liar who knew the consequences of his 'wicked actions'.

Det Sgt Joanne Kay said: "Grynhaus had gained the trust of his victims before sexually assaulting and abusing them. He thought he could get away with his crime but thanks to their bravery in coming forward and supporting this investigation, we have been able to prosecute him.

"This case goes to show no matter when the offence took place, justice will eventually catch up with you. We take all sexual crime reports extremely seriously and victims will be supported by specialist officers thorough out the investigation. If you have been a victim, please do not suffer in silence and call police.

"I would also ask those who may be aware of such crimes taking place within their community to report them to police. All reports will be treated with the strictest of confidence."

Police in London, Ont., say a man wanted in connection with the death of a teenager who was fatally shot while trying to recover a cellphone has turned himself in.

Mohamed Ibrahim Sail, a 24-year-old from Calgary, is facing a second-degree murder charge in connection with the death of 18-year-old Jeremy Cook. Police said on Twitter that Sail turned himself in shortly before 8 p.m. ET.

Muhamed Ibrahim Sail, of Calgary, is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant in the death of Jeremy Cook in London, Ont.© Provided by CBC Muhamed Ibrahim Sail, of Calgary, is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant in the death of Jeremy Cook in London, Ont.
Cook lost the iPhone while visiting London, and later used an app to track down the device. Police have said he was killed on June 14 after tracking the phone to a car with three men inside. Investigators said Cook was shot multiple times when he grabbed the car as it began to drive away.

Another Calgary man, 23-year-old Muhab Sultan, was also wanted for murder in connection to the incident but was found dead in the Rideau River in Ottawa on June 27 after police say he ran away from officers and went in the water.

A third person has been identified by police but has not co-operated with the investigation.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce won't remove Bill Cosby's star from the Walk of Fame because it's "historic," but leftists won't make that argument about the Confederate flag.

L.A.-area activists started a campaign to remove the star, which Cosby received in 1977, from its location on Hollywood Blvd. after newly-released court documents revealed that Cosby admitted to obtaining Quaaludes with the intention of giving them to women he wanted to sleep with.

Despite Cosby's admission, however, the Chamber of Commerce said his star would remain.

"Once a star has been added to the walk, it is considered a part of the historic fabric of the Hollywood Walk of Fame," Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive, Leron Gubler, said. "Because of this, we have never removed a star from the walk."

The Chamber made a similar statement in December after someone wrote "rapist" on the star.

"When people are unhappy with one of our honorees, we would hope that they would project their anger in more positive ways than to vandalize a California state landmark," its statement read.

Leftists won't make similar arguments about the Confederate flag, however, which they successfully had removed from the South Carolina capital grounds on Friday after it had been displayed on the property for 54 years.

Interestingly, when compared to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce's defense of Cosby's star, S.C.'s Republican-controlled legislature didn't seem to defend the Confederate flag quite as strongly.

"Governor Nikki Haley signed a bill to remove the Confederate flag from Capitol grounds at 4 p.m. Thursday after both South Carolina's House and Senate chambers passed a bill to remove the flag from a monument in front of the State House," Fox Carolina reported.

[McKnight may have been trying to board a bus when he bumped into a 'black dude.']

This will never count as a hate crime. That's only for when White Devils do it to Black "people."

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/07/06/police-man-injured-in-anti-white-assault/29775635/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3155248/Cincinnati-police-chief-asks-hate-crime-charges-Fourth-July-beating-white-man-black-youths-lower-ranking-officer-denied-race-related.html

Police backed away Monday from an officer's incident report that described the Saturday night assault on a man near Fountain Square as an "anti-white" crime.

In a police incident report filed at 3 a.m. Sunday, the reporting officer stated the assault that left Christopher McKnight, 27, bloodied and unconscious involved hate or bias. The officer's typed explanation was that the violence was "anti-white."

At a Monday afternoon news conference with other police and city leaders, Capt. Mike Neville said that description was incorrect.

He spoke just minutes after The Enquirer had obtained the incident report and posted a story on its contents.

As of Thursday afternoon, no one has been charged with the beating.

It's been reported that it may have been Christopher McKnight's beating Saturday night that sparked an hour-long riot CHIMP OUT at Fountain Square that sent two police officers to the hospital and landed seven people behind bars.

The disputed police report, which has been obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer, states that McKnight, a visitor from Albany, Indiana, was attacked and beaten bloody during an 'unruly crowd situation stemming from (the) Fountain Square event' around 11.30pm.

Eyewitness Jariah Noel posted a video of the attack on her Facebook page Sunday. It has since been viewed more than 133,000 times.

The 4-minute, 28-second clip shows a white male, later identified as Chris McKnight, dressed in a dark T-shirt and light-colored shorts, getting into an altercation with a group of young black men next to a bus parked at Government Square.

The grainy cellphone footage shows the brawlers rolling on the ground, surrounded by a crowd made up of men and women.

A shirtless man is seen holding McKnight down while another youth runs over and punches him in the face.

McKnight tries to put up a fight by kicking his attacker, who then proceeds to stomp on the tourist's head.

Responding to a commenter's question about the cause of the beating, Jariah Noel wrote that McKnight may have been trying to board a bus when he bumped into a 'black dude.'

Sunday night in Los Angeles as a 30 year-old white woman walked with her boyfriend near Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, a mysterious Black man walked up behind the couple and without saying a word fired a shotgun blast to the back of the woman's head, according to police.


   
 



LA WOMAN EXECUTED by Shotgun Blast to Back of the Head By Black Man on Hollywood SidewalkSunday night in Los Angeles as a 30 year-old white woman walked with her boyfriend near Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, a mysterious Black man walked up behind the couple and without saying a word fired a shotgun blast to the back of the woman's head, according to police.

The killer was seen carrying the shotgun as he ran to a car and drove away.

The search for the killer continues.

Video by KNBC-TV

The Los Angeles Times reported:
"The man walked up from behind the woman as she walked with her boyfriend in Hollywood near Sunset Boulevard. He aimed a shotgun and killed her just after 10 p.m. Sunday, then stepped into a black sedan and disappeared.

"The motive for the slaying on a McCadden Place sidewalk remains as mysterious as the gunman.

"John Skaggs, a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department's West Bureau homicide detail, said there is no evidence suggesting the shooting was part of a botched robbery. And there was no conversation between the couple and the gunman before he opened fire.

""We just don't know," Skaggs said. "On one hand, she didn't have any known enemies. On the other hand, it looks like it was directed toward her. ... We're looking at all angles.""

KTLA-TV reported:
"The gunman approached the couple from behind and shot the woman in the back of the head using a shotgun, police at the scene said. It was unclear how many times she was shot.

"Witnesses and the boyfriend report that the suspect just appeared and fired the gunshot," Skaggs said. "There were no words exchanged."

KABC-TV reported:
"The shooting was reported shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday. Police said the victim, identified as Carrie Jean Melvin, 30, of Hollywood was found on Sunset Boulevard and McCadden Place near Hollywood High School.

Bill Cosby's controversial conservative lecture to black parents on how to raise their children might have been his downfall.

Judge Eduardo C. Robreno shed light Monday on why the 2005 deposition where Cosby admitted to giving women Qualludes in order to have sex with them was unsealed.

"The stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct, is a matter as to which the AP -- and by extension the public -- has a significant interest," Judge Eduardo C. Robreno wrote on Monday.

Cosby's attorney argued the case didn't feature a politician, public official or public company, and celebrities are entitled to the right to privacy.

"It was a private dispute between two individuals over their personal relationship," attorney George Gowen argued.

The Judge wasn't having any of it.

"This case, however, is not about [Cosby's] status as a public person by virtue of the exercise of his trade as a televised or comedic personality. Rather, [Cosby] has donned the mantle of public moralist and mounted the proverbial electronic or print soap box to volunteer his views on, among other things, childrearing, family life, education, and crime."

Robreno added, "He has voluntarily narrowed the zone of privacy that he is entitled to claim" and that Cosby lost his right to privacy by addressing the allegations made by dozens of women: "By joining the debate about the merits of the allegations against him, he has further diminished his entitlement to a claim of privacy."

[Leah Hennel/ Postmedia News]

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/calgary-cab-driver-suspended-after-gay-man-says-he-was-called-disgusting

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/calgary-taxi-driver-suspended-for-kicking-out-gay-man-and-calling-him-disgusting-for-kissing

Leah Hennel/ Postmedia News

The city has suspended a taxi driver's licence for one month after a gay man complained the cabbie called him "disgusting" for kissing another man while riding the vehicle home from the Calgary Stampede.

Nolan Hill reported the incident to 311 and turned to social media after he says he was kicked out of a Calgary United Cab on Saturday evening.

"I was just kicked out of a taxi and told that I was disgusting for kissing another man. I have lived in Calgary my whole life, and have never been disrespected as much as I was tonight," he stated in a Facebook post that has been shared and liked hundreds of times.

Naeem Chaudhry, manager at Calgary United Cabs, said the driver was suspended by the company, as soon as he was made aware of the incident on Monday morning.

"He's not driving with us," he said.

"We don't allow (our drivers) to make comments on someone's personal lifestyle."

Chaudhry said the city's Livery Transport Services became involved in the case and video footage from the cab was turned over to investigators.

"The moment I heard, I called the driver, asked his side of the story, then we pulled the memory card from his camera," Chaudhry said.
 
On Tuesday afternoon, the city announced that licensed taxi driver Stephen Eze is suspended until August 5, following "a complaint alleging discriminatory behaviour . . . toward two male passengers."

Once the suspension has been served, the future of Eze's licence will be determined at a Licence Review Hearing.

It's possible Eze's licence could ultimately be revoked, or he could receive additional suspension time or training related to diversity sensitivity.

Our investigation has shown the driver's actions were neither professional nor courteous

"Calgarians and visitors alike should feel safe when travelling in Calgary by taxi," Mario Henriques, chief livery inspector, said in a city news release.

"In this situation, our investigation has shown the driver's actions were neither professional nor courteous."

Hill said in a prepared statement that he's processing "what has been an overwhelming couple of days."

He said he appreciates the "incredible support" he's received since bringing the issue forward and noted he wanted to share his story to "highlight a broader issue in the city."

"I am happy that people are talking about this. It is an important conversation to be having here in Calgary," Hill said in the statement.

Chaudhry said the driver at the centre of the investigation has worked at United Cabs for about three months.

He said it's unknown whether United Cabs will allow Eze to return to driving with the company following the Licence Review Hearing.

REGINA — With the economy posting negative growth in the first four months of the year, some economists say Canada is heading into a recession. But Finance Minister Joe Oliver says the country is still on course to post two per cent GDP growth in 2015. So is Canada entering a recession and, if so, is there anything the government can do about it? As a former finance minister and prime minister, Paul Martin is uniquely qualified to answer both of those questions.

"Recession is a technical term,'' said Martin, referring to the definition of a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. "And we're going to find out if we're in one ... as soon as the next quarter's results are out. But if you look at the projections, they will tell you we are in a recession.''

For Martin, who was in town Monday attending federal Liberal Party meetings, the more important questions are: "What should we do about it, and what should we have done about it.''

Martin, who served as finance minister in the Chretien Liberal government from 1993 to 2002 and prime minister from 2003 to 2006, said when he and Wascana MP Ralph Goodale were finance ministers, they ensured monetary policy and fiscal policy complemented each other.

"It doesn't make much sense, when the Bank of Canada is an expansive mode, for the federal government to be in a restrictive mode and that's what's happening,'' Martin said, citing the Harper government's "failure to invest in infrastructure, discovery research, and education.''

He said the federal Conservatives are fixated on balancing the budget, not building infrastructure, at a time when the economy is struggling to keep its head above water. "Anybody who says 'I'm not going in invest in infrastructure because of the deficit' simply doesn't understand how the economy works.''

The federal government is also underfunding discovery or medical research. "The Canadian health care system is an enormously important social program. We should have invested in pharmacare, we should have invested in home care. These are the best ways of bringing hospital costs down,'' Martin said.

"But the health care system ... also gives us an enormous opportunity in the development of new pharmaceuticals, stem cells, and genomics."

Finally, funding education is the best investment a government can make. "I don't think there's an economist around who would not agree that the greatest return on investment any government can make is an investment in education.''

While education requires more federal funding "across the board," it's particularly needed in "very early years'' education and on-reserve aboriginal education. "The federal government, which is financially responsible for the education (of aboriginals) on reserves, is underfunding it to the extent of almost 50 per cent,'' said the founder of the Martin Aboriginal Education Initiative.

If Canada wants to compete with nations of hundreds of millions of people, "you'd better invest in education of the population, and that includes the education of the most vulnerable, who happen to be (aboriginal people),'' he added.