By Christopher Bird

Amazingly, Maher Arar is still on the US government’s terrorist watchlist. No, seriously. No joke. He’s still on it.
Metro police place three closed circuit cameras around Dundas Square for the holidays. Remember, nothing deters criminals determined to shoot at people in the busiest intersection in Toronto like cameras.
Ontario Hydro’s combined costs have risen 50 percent in five years; during the same time period revenues have increased only 15 percent. At the press conference, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan tried to speak really fast so people would think he was repeating the same number twice.
24 Peel Region cops charged under the Police Act for holding an on-duty “drinking party” and then threatening witnesses who caught them doing it. It’s understandable that they’d use the term “drinking party” to describe what happened – it’s accurate if nothing else – but does anybody else hear that term and just flash back to high school?
Stephen Harper says he doesn’t want an election. Given that the newly-led-by-Stephan-Dion Grits have a sizable lead in the polls, file this right next to Lance Bass being gay in the “incredibly obvious” section of the news.
A Toronto judge has banished a Christmas tree from the Ontario Court of Justice lobby, citing it as a religious symbol. (This is because Jesus Christ was crucified on a pine tree, you understand.) Dalton McGuinty courageously condemned the judge’s action as wrongheaded once it became obvious that the general public reaction to this was “that’s dumb.”
Finally, the world’s tallest man has saved the lives of two dolphins. And quite possibly given an AP headline writer the single best day of his entire life.