I’ve let this article sit in my browser for a few days now while I have pondered if my initial reaction stands up to my attempts to rationalise the actions of those involved. I can’t find it in my heart to justify them.

The article is about an Anglican church in Tsawwassen, British Columbia continuing to pay a reduced salary to their youth pastor who has been convicted of molesting a young Mexican boy in Mexico in 2004. At this point the parish is paying Brad Firth at least until his appeals are exhausted. Their reasoning seems to be since he has faced the courts in Mexico and they are different than ours, then his conviction doesn’t carry the same weight.

I was almost able to sway my thinking to some level of compassion and understanding that maybe, just maybe the conviction was bogus and good for the parish for standing by him. Then I found the part of the article that tells me once Firth does return to Canada, the police will be waiting for him. They have outstanding charges of possessing and accessing child pornography.

This man serves in a ministry which provides access to young vulnerable children. The fact he has been convicted anywhere in the world and faces additional charges here at home is more than enough reason for the parish to terminate any financial payments to him immediately. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been reading and listening to the reporting about the detainee issue over the last several weeks. The Opposition parties in Parliament have been after trying to get to the bottom of finding out just who knew and when about detainees being turned over to the Afghans from Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. As much as the government has tried to characterize those who continue to push these questions as either Taliban supporters or not supporting our troops, nothing could be further from the truth.

Over the weekend, I was listening to a podcast of TVOs “The Agenda”. The podcast was talking about the failure of the Conservatives to show up at the parliamentary committee hearings trying to investigate this mess. The Cons failure to show up effectively killed the committee meeting over the Christmas break as the lack of Cons in attendance ensures there is no quorum to allow the meetings to take place.

Laurie Hawn, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defense claims that ordinary Canadians are not interested in this ’so called issue’, that only the Opposition parties are interested in playing political games. Lowell Green, supposedly a highly respected Canadian radio personality, was also heard on the podcast claiming that the only Canadians who care about this issue are the ‘lefties, who read the Toronto Star, are opposed to the mission in Afghanistan and want the troops brought home immediately’. That no other Canadian cares about this matter. Read the rest of this entry »

The e-Justice Blog has posted a very interesting piece about Google and what they know about you. You may be very surprised to learn just how much of a profile they can put together about us.

The blog lists 25 pieces of information Google can access about us some without our knowledge. In these days of increasing concerns about online privacy, you need to be aware of as much as possible about who can find what about you. Read the rest of this entry »

Fox News network is reportedly one of the highest rated in the USA. I’ve never been a particular fan of it, I’ve generally found a lot of their reporting more along the lines of a national gossip show, sort of like the broadcast version of the National Enquirer. I’m a Canadian, so for the most part, what passes as news south of the border isn’t really my business.

I’ve grown up with an awareness that a lot of Americans have very little awareness of their neighbour to the north. I can remember as a kid encountering other children in Algonquin Provincial Park, (that’s in Ontario) and them asking me what ’state’ I came from. When I told them I lived in the Province of Ontario, the usual response was “what state is that in”?

I well remember how strange I thought those kids to be that they couldn’t fathom that they were standing in the province I came from. It was later I learned that ignorance came from a lack of information about this country and even less interest in knowing.

Back to Fox News. One of their so called news shows is called “Red Eye” hosted by Greg Gutfeld. For the most part Gutfeld and the cronies who participate on the show with him think they are rather funny in their perspective. Sort of Fox’s answer to the Leno or Letterman. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tom Zytaruk would like to sue the Conservatives for their continuing claims that the tape which launched the Chuck Cadman affair was doctored. The problem is that he would need a lawyer willing to work on a contingency basis or pro bono in order to afford it.

So the defamation of this author continues unless that happens.

The court has found the tape was not doctored. There was a break in the tape, Zytaruk turned it off when Harper walked away from the conversation and back on when he returned. Pretty normal move to make. The Conservatives continue to claim as fact that the tape was doctored. Sort of a tell the lie often enough and it might be seen as truth.

Most recently, the Parliamentary Secretary to Harper, Pierre Poilievre rose in the House in response to a question from NDP Bill Siksay to ask if Zytaruk would receive an apology for the false accusations against him. Poilievre responded that it was a fact that the tape was doctored and the lawsuit had been settled with both pleased with the settlement. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2004 the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Enbridge Gas in a class action suit brought against them over their excessive (and illegal) application of late fees on customers accounts. Enbridge agreed to pay $22million as a settlement after the ruling. Now that seems like the appropriate and responsible move. They likely collected a lot more than that before they were challenged but at least they had to surrender some of that cost.

Now you’d think that would be the end of it, lesson learned, they (and other over charging utilities) would adjust their late fees and get on with life. The shareholders would have to eat some dividends and life would go on. No, that wasn’t the end of the story. Read the rest of this entry »

A Toronto principal charged with two counts of assault and a subsequent charge of breaching a non-contact order has been given an absolute discharge on one charge while the other assault charge and the breach charges have been withdrawn. The judge ruled that Maria Pantalone had suffered enough from the charges and should be rewarded with no criminal record for throwing excrement at two youngsters last June. Pantalone is the sister of Toronto’s Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone.

She has been on paid leave since the charges were laid. While that is galling, it does speak to the fact that we still have a system where we’re innocent until proven guilty even if we are as guilty as hell. Pantalone now has to face a review of her position by the school board.

It will be interesting to see the outcome although I suspect few will be surprised if she retains her job. I don’t think very many will be wondering too long if her relationship with a prominent politician played a role in her getting off scot free with abuse of children. It seems rather obvious to me that her political connections has let her away with this.

She reportedly said in her own defense ‘that she just couldn’t take it any longer’. Wonder where she got the supply of crap she used? Did she have it tucked in her purse for when her snapping point came? Maybe she was letting her pet use her desk as a washroom to have it close to hand for just such an occasion.

Yes, I know kids can be bloody irritating and they will push the limits. I’m well aware that parents often don’t give the teachers the support they so badly need in keeping order when their little Jane’s and Johnny’s act up. However, what parent could give any support to a supposedly responsible trained ‘professional’ who resorts to this sort of abuse to respond to youngsters?

My thanks of course to the judge and the lawyers on both sides who have so obligingly sent the message to these youngsters that it is okay for an adult in a position of authority to abuse and humiliate them. Good move folks.

It was only a week or so ago that some youngsters were suspended from another Toronto school for cyberbullying after they participated in an online forum in which another school principal was being personally attacked. The kids claimed their freedom of speech was being denied. I support the move on the part of the school because those kids needed to learn that with freedoms come responsiblities and they had not lived up to theirs.

When I see decisions like this one rendered in the favour of the abuser, I start to have some understanding (not to condone) of why kids resort to the actions they do sometimes. I certainly hope some parents scream long and hard at the school board to not allow Pantalone to retain her job after her getting away with criminal sanctions for her abuse of others.

Fresh from his smears at Liberal MP Navdeep Bains over his father-in-law, the boy Harper was emboldened yesterday in his slurs at two Montreal area women MPs. The slurs arose during debate over a move by the government to having political appointees on the panel that makes up the Immigrant and Refugee Board. A move that prompted the resignations of several members of the board this week.

The Liberal government moved away from political appointees during their time in office because of the patronage inherent in the process.

Harper rose in the commons to claim “We are putting in place a new selection system so we do not have what we had before — like the member for Westmount-Ville-Marie (Lucienne Robillard) appointing her former husband as a member of the board, like the husband of the member for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Lachine (Marlene Jennings) as a member of the board,” He further stated “That is the mess we are cleaning up. That is the Liberal culture of entitlement and we are getting rid of it.”

Were either accusation true they would be serious ethics breaches. Neither accusation was even remotely true as Robillard’s ex-husband was appointed by Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1990 and Jennings husband was on the board in 1996 which was before Jennings was even elected to Parliament.

Harper and his band of bullies have been engaged in smears through fiction with just enough truth attached to make the unaware believe them, but this round, this is blatant lying. This is what wants to have a majority government? Are Canadians really crazy enough to elect the likes of this and give him a majority?

Over at the Woostock Ontario Independent News he comments:

Harper when in need, relies on bullshit fear and propaganda to enforce his view. He fits well into the
historical perspective of other failed leaders that Canada was built on fear, lies and coercion backed up ith violence.
…
Say no to bullying…say no to Harpers’ mindless CONservatives.

enough said.