waterrat

SabrinaR and Kimber are delightful ladies.

The mandate letter given to the Minister of Justice by the PM includes reviewing changes to criminal law and sentencing over the past decade. That would include C-36. It would be expected that this will be done in the first 24 months so that any controversy evaporates before the next election.

Anyone hear more about the fight outside Pigale on the weekend? Apparently staff and patrons were involved and one man was hospitalized. http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/gatineau-strip-club-brawl-puts-ottawa-man-in-hospital

I used APA to get me the best price on a new car. told them what I wanted and they gave me a price. I used that to negotiate with the local dealer (the best price was in Montreal). Wound up getting a better price - end of the month, Friday at 5 pm... That said, Ottawa is a bad place to buy cars. There is very little competition. Basically there are 4 or 5 families that own all the stealerships. Beyond the concentration of market power, they fix prices for service. I once received a fax by accident - they were doing a survey amongst themselves... we pay mechanics x we charge y...

In the next two weeks the Inquiry into MMAW will be launched. One would expect that C-36 will be addressed during the inquiry and that recommendations will be made to amend/repeal. That is in keeping with the pledge to have policies and hence laws that are based upon evidence, not dogma.

Roaming guy has a good suggestion. Sometimes women feel that a gift card is not personal enough. Magazine subscriptions are good - find out what hobby, as his SO if he has a subscription and see what is out there. Chapters and larger Relay stores are good places to look for magazines then you can go on line to get the subscription. It does not even need to be a hobby magazine. I bought someone a subscription to the Economist - it was a long shot but it turns out that they love it. Best of all once you find the right one your gift giving is taken care of year after year. For Christmas gift subscriptions most will even send a card for you. Now that is an answer for those of us who are short of time.

She is a very pleasant lady. I was sorry to see her leave Paradise Spa.

Sexy lawyer??? More likely to find a sexy unicorn :)

So many noble thoughts. I would make this cold weather go away, the snow be relegated to ski slopes and flowers to bloom again in the city. I guess my magic wand is called June. June, are you out there?

I like maturity. I know that it does not always come with age but it often helps. Late 20's is sort of a starting point. They know their way around and have more confidence. One day I was on a long flight and struck up a conversation with a European gentleman sitting next to me. There was a beautiful twentyish woman near us as well as a fortyish woman. He expounded on the virtues of older women. In retrospect I must say that I agree.

Welcome to the board.

In this cold weather the hot tub is great. If you can check in advance as to how the lady feels about it. Not all are equally enthusiastic.

I am Charlie. I believe in free speech. I do not believe that we should have special sensitivities for any faith. There are limits on what one says, in France and in Canada. Inciting hatred is an offence. So is blasphemous libel. Charlie Hebdo was prosecuted, and the case failed. We must accept the verdict. That is the rule of law. Equally, Charlie Hebdo, like other publications needed readers. Readers were fewer and fewer. The publication was in serious financial difficulty. That has now changed. Many of the staff are dead, but others will take their place. Charlie Hebdo's financial future is now secure with donations from the likes of Google (500,000 euros). I am Charlie, because I do not want anyone telling me what to read or believe. I read Salman Rushdie because the extremists said that we should not! As many have said, this is not a question of Islam. It is a matter of extremists. We must all take action against them and not be cowards like the English CBC (French Radio Canada has not taken the same restrictive view). On the question of the Dalhousie students. What some wrote was puerile and distasteful. However the facts are not out. Unfortunately, there seems to be a rush to lynch all of them. The appointment of a feminist investigator is not showing balance. It is not the rule of law. We will not have an impartial report. Bad facts make for bad law, we will have more bad results and more hatred as a result of both incidents. We need to reach out, seek restorative justice for the offended women at Dalhousie and for the marginalized largely male muslim population in France. If we do not the hatred will continue and we will all be the poorer as a result.

War zone failed state - backed up sewage, rotting bodies, On those days cordite is a relief Heavy smoker - permeates clothing really bad b.o. especially obese persons who do not or cannot wash themselves (on a hot day on a long bus ride)

Caution is the word of the day. The same thing happened under the totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe with the one party states. Of course that is what Harper wants. He has eliminated funding of other parties, yet he uses our tax dollars to fund his election posters and ads. He even had his jet repainted in his party colours. Soon we will call him beloved leader...

As a kid, I lived in the centre of a large city and school was out in the 'burbs (fresh air and all that). The bus ride was an hour and then there was 15 minutes by subway. In the evening, the direct walk to the subway was through an area where ladies met their customers. The ladies liked to have fun at our expense, but that was just good sport. One day a new boy walked ahead and started a conversation with one of the ladies. He came back to me with an excited smile on his face. "She wants 100F, that is too much for me. What if we both chip in 50F?" Even at that age, I understood that this would not work. However, it took some time to explain that a twosome would probably cost more, not less.

While the thought of "outing" those who voted for the bill that should not be named has appeal, I applaud the ladies who have said that they would not do so. The hypocrisy of Conservative MP's should be no surprise. The Harper government has been guilty of hypocrisy since it was first elected. The solution is to vote them out of power this year. Also be on the lookout for cars with Ontario plates starting with the letters MHC or SEN.

Thank you all for the kind wishes!

I shall watch a few episodes of Downton Abbey and retire early.

There was quite a bit of litigation around the Nespresso pods (old style not the vertuoline). In the end Nespresso lost. In Europe it is possible to buy other pods for the machine at better prices. There is even a system that lets you fill your own with any extra fine grind coffee (remind you of roll your own cigarettes?).

Back in the pre smart-phone days, pagers were popular among drug dealers. It was not uncommon for police officers to take notes of the incoming calls. The same for cellphones with caller id. The difficulty for LE today is the sheer number of cases to investigate and the incredible volume of information on a smartphone. In anything but the most serious cases, police do not have the time to investigate. In the last week in Ottawa, I counted two home invasions, 8 robberies, 9 sexual assaults, as many motor vehicle thefts and then we have dozens of thefts, assaults and break and enters. In 2013 there was one "call for service" to police for every 3 residents of the city. That does not include minor provincial offences such as traffic stops.

The Green Party in Germany (not just one politician as suggested in the Citizen) proposed this. Like many contracts there would be a notice period, if neither party gave notice then the contract would renew. Community property would be an issue, however please consider that in Europe people are less driven to buy a home, instead they rent. Also pension plans are more transparent. The philosophy is that there are three pillars to retirement planning. First pillar is the state plan (CPP or QPP) the second is the employer plan and the third is personal investment. Because there is so much discussion of these, both parties to a relationship plan together, but under the 5 or 7 year contract of marriage, they would need to plan for where the funds go at the end. By planning up front for eventual separation of assets there is less surprise and bitterness when the parties do separate (since the majority of marriages do end in divorce this is a good idea). The same applies to issues of custody. It is also important to consider the Green Party proposal was not conceived to encourage couples to break-up. In fact it was the reverse. Both parties, knowing that the contract would be up for renewal would be less likely to take the other for granted. Instead they would be inclined to engage in on going courtship, especially in the second half of the term when such things typically wane. Heck, this might have a negative impact on the business of some people, as both partners were more inclined to keep the spark going.

Thanks for posting the link. If government regulation defies common sense it fails. Case in point, speed limits fail, traffic calming measures (reduced sight lines, traffic circles) work. The country was a better place when politicians were paid a pittance and only "legislated" a few weeks a year.

There are a number of options available to the Federal Government in the next year. 1. Do nothing. Unfortunately that means that 5 months before an election the Government will leave itself open to criticism from its own power base. Not that the diehard conservatives would vote for someone else, but they mint stay home. 2. Make prostitution itself illegal. This would probably not pass a Charter test but could take years to resolve. 3. So called Nordic model. Make the client the "criminal". The Hollande government in France is doing this (by the way Francois Hollande is the least popular President in French history at this time). That would fail a Charter test because it creates the same risks for sex workers. 4. Other European model. Do not criminalize, but regulate. Control where the activity can take place, ensure the health and safety of the sex workers. Periodically check status of the workers, "support staff" and customers to ensure that human trafficking is not taking place, and that those involved are not underage. Places that do this have much less visible "street trade". This would fall to the provinces and then to municipalities to regulate. But rather than just letting the matter fall to the provinces and the Government appearing to do nothing, it is possible to adopt a framework at the federal level that clearly criminalizes some activities "coercing sex work", "operating an unlicensed sex club", "abuse of a sex worker" etc. Most of this is already illegal, but our Criminal Code is full of politically expedient duplication of offences. This solution accepts that prohibition is dangerous, but that with certain minimum rules it is possible to make things safer and to reduce neighbourhood nuisance.

Frank magazine (yes, it seems to be back) has a "photo" but I am never sure if it is real or a prank in very bad taste. It is in bad taste