Let's get this straight: A Winnipeg cop shoots an armed suspect who has just lunged at him with a weapon, and the result is he's called a racist, and a bad cop in the media and has his named dragged through the mud for years. Ultimately after an extensive investigation, his name is cleared.

But, when a cop kills an innocent woman while driving drunk - after a bunch of fellow officers let him behind the wheel - the police force from top to bottom is there to cover it up, and make sure that one of their own gets away with murder.

Apparently Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill testified that he told his officers to tell the truth about what happened that night. Did he follow up that request with a wink and a smirk?

Any credibility the Winnipeg Police had is gone, and it's not because of good cops like Const. Dennis Gburek. It's because our Chief of Police oversaw an incompetent and corrupt police force - and got promoted to Chief of Police. There is no justice in Manitoba.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

The rampant abuse of Canadas Human Rights Commissions has finally come to a head. The case against Mark Steyn and Macleans, along with the complaint against Ezra Levant have raised the public profile of this issue. Finally the Commissions are getting the daily grilling that they rightfully deserve.

On the federal level, Richard Warman has single handedly demolished any credibility that section 13 might have once had. Section 13 is the one which makes it illegal to offend another person. Warman makes a handsome living vicariously taking offense for groups who are not offended enough to complain. Warman's the rich middle-aged white guy who's complaining on behalf of every single Canadian Muslim about Mark Steyn's article "The Future Belongs to Islam".

Then there's the case against Ezra Levant, former publisher of the Western Standard. Some radical Muslim from Ontario is filing a grievance against him in Alberta for re-publishing some of the Danish Mohammed cartoons.

This case is a bit of a personal concern because I too posted one of the 'toons on this very website way back in the day. Thankfully none of my 3.4 readers/month found it offensive enough to file a complaint against me, but the precedent is being set in the Ezra case as I write this. If this complaint against Ezra is successful, there is no reason why I too couldn't be found guilty in the future of being a bigot - for something as simple as posting a picture that was very relevant to the news of the day.

I suspect that both Levant and Steyn's motivations behind their publications were very similar to my own: simply to inform a rightfully curious public about a very serious news matter. After reading various news articles about riots around the world, I found myself curious to see what the fuss was all about. I also found it equally odd that so few legitimate news sources would show the source of the outrage, much less link to it. And like Ezra, after some Googling, I found them - and posted one for others to see. Not to spread hate, and not to offend Islam, but to satisfy the curiosity of ones self and others.

Likewise, Steyn's article "The Future Belongs to Islam", which is in fact an excerpt from his book America Alone, was most offensive to Muslims because of the quotes it contained from various Imam's. In the Steyn-Macleans case, the complaint is against speaking truth - not 'cause it's untrue, but because it's unbecoming.

The differences between the two cases are subtle. In the Ezra case, it's a simple case of freedom of speech vs. the illogical individual human desire to be loved by everybody. The Steyn case, on the other hand, is a little more sinister. In his case a radical Islamic anti-semite is very simply trying to stifle a free Canadian press from saying ANYTHING negative about Islam. Mohammed Elmasry and Richard Warman want to Islamify that old Las Vegas adage: What happens in the Mosque, stays in the Mosque.

These assaults on the freedoms of Canadians should not be allowed to continue. The Steyn and Levant cases are media-magnified examples of what has always been a truly bizarre aspect of Canadian "justice". But the the general public is starting to take notice at the HRCs attacks on mainstream journalism. This is in turn shining light on many of their more lazy and unscrupulous tactics (the light shining on the lazy and unscrupulous tactics of the HRC's not - in this case - those of the media).

The Liberal Party of Canada was the first to grab the ball here. MP Keith Martin is seeking a review of Section 13. While his fellow party members have been far from vocal on the issue, it seems that if it became an issue of debate within the Liberal party, the party would land on the side of Mr. Martin.

Meanwhile the governing Conservatives have been worse than silent on the issue. The Justice Department is so far supporting the status quo. Meanwhile, many Conservative MP's have made statements in favor of the Free Speechers, but Stephen Harper will not clearly state his position in this matter.

The Conservative's may be underestimating the extent to which we Canadians value our freedoms. This is not only a concern of the libertarian sect of their party, but of a whole segment of Canada. Canadians of all cultures value our freedoms, be they Muslim, Arab, Christian, Black, White, Gay, Mormon, Alcoholic, Christian, Cyborg, Agnostic, Pot Heads, Igloo-dwellers, Jews, Old Bastards, Young Assholes, Arachnophobics, People With Bushy Eye Brows, Plasma-fans, LCD-fans, Those Weird Freaks That Can't Twist Their Tongue's, General Racists (of all races), People With Piercings, Tattoos, Hookers, Garbage-Men, Strippers, Italian Plumbers, Deaf Folk, Geeks, Freaks, and I'm spent.... we all enjoy the freedoms Canada represents, and we should endevoure to expand those freedoms, not constrict them.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Conservative Party, Ezra Levant, Human Rights, Liberal Party, politics

As Winnipeg suffers from yet another death caused by car thieves, the government continues to dither and deflect on the issue.

Justice Minister Dave Chomiak is demanding that the Federal government toughen the YCJA. It's a good call, it's definitely a necessary step to put a stop to this epidemic.

Chomiak is barking up the wrong tree. Rather than calling on the Conservative government to introduce the bill, he should be demanding his Federal NDP counterparts to vote for the bill. It's his Dipper buddies who are always watering down the Torie's crime bills when they're not voting against them.

Likewise, Chomiak should be concerned with whats going on in our own backyard foremost. The Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy (WATSS) is obviously not sufficient as a deterrent or a prevention strategy.

Prof. Rick Linden, member of the Manitoba Auto Theft Task Force, sums it up best: "Just hours after being released, they'll be back doing it again. We thought that with youth knowing police are following them more intensely it would be a deterrent, but many of these kids aren't deterred at all. It's just part of youth culture in some areas."

The police can only act as a deterrent if the courts will hand down real consequences for the criminal. In the case of youth car thieves in Winnipeg, The Law is a catch and release program where the kids have no reason to fear being caught.

Gary Doer and the NDP need to take some new action on this still-growing problem. Chomiak's comment that, "We've now had several (stolen car deaths) and several is too many", does not instill a lot of confidence. Isn't ONE DEATH too many?

Labels: Canadian Justice, Conservative Party, Gary Doer, Manitoba, NDP, politics, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

The NDP are not ones to waste time when there's a chance to score cheap political points. By moving to remove Conrad Black from the Order of Canada, the NDP are jumping the gun.

First of all, Conrad Black may have been convicted by a jury, but his lawyers have announced that they plan will appeal. Considering that Black was acquitted of ten of the thirteen charges against him, it's not a stretch to imagine a successful appeal on the remaining charges. If Lord Black were to be ultimately acquitted of all charges against him, the NDP motion would be totally unjustified and wrong.

There has currently been only two recipients who've been removed from the Order of Canada. Both of them were convicted of crimes in Canada. Conrad Black has not been charged with a crime in Canada.

Alan Eagleson, who was an agent for over 100 hockey players and worked for the NHLPA, Labatt's, and Hockey Canada, was not removed from the Order until after he plead guilty to his crimes and was in jail. He plead guilty to eight counts in Canada, and many more in the US.

In the case of former Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians David Ahenakew, the Governor Generals office, when pressed to remove him from the Order, "decided to defer further discussion on the matter until the legal proceedings under consideration by the Attorney General of Saskatchewan are completed."

The Governor Generals office has always taken a passive roll in these cases, as they should. It is not an award given away on a whim, nor should it be taken away in a cavalier fashion. The individuals above were given the right to due justice when charged with crimes in Canada; why shouldn't Conrad Black be given the same right when he's only been charged with a crime in America, and none in Canada?

Why is it that the NDP are so quick to try to destroy a great Canadians reputation? Conrad Black earned his Order of Canada from years of hard work. The NDP can't even wait until the end of the trial to further embarrass Black. Conrad Black is being unilaterally judged by the NDP according to American law, and that's not fair.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Lord Conrad Black, NDP

Here's yet another reason why Canada's schools suck.

King said he was threatened with police action by Principal Susan Wilson previously after making the case that marijuana was less harmful than alcohol.

"In my opinion, cannabis is safer than they say, it is not worse than alcohol or tobacco," said King, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student.

A curious student goes home and researches a subject in which he's interested. He then discusses his findings with friends at school.

This is how people learn. When you find something interesting, and you dig up all the information you can on the subject. When you find people with similar interests, you share opinions as a group and learn from each others experiences.

Except in Canada. If your facts aren't contained in an education-board prescribed text book that's fifty years old, your opinion not only carries no weight, it's deemed to be dangerous. Asking questions which are not answered in the prescribed reading is exactly how an individual gains greater knowledge of a subject. Any fool can remember that 1+1=2, but if the pupil doesn't ask "Why?", or "How?", then they really haven't learned a damn thing!

What kind of message does this send to kids in our schools? If you ask too many questions and start to think independantly (ie. not agreeing with the school board), you're sorry ass will get suspended, and you're life will be ruined.

Kieran King is no slacker. He's an honor student with all of his grades in the 80's and 90's. And damn lucky for him. Due to his suspension, he'll be forced to miss his final exams. Due to his excellent academic work he'll still be able to pass. And unfortunately his transcript will reflect his ability to think independently as a negative.

With a school system that penalizes students for "thinking outside the box", it's no surprise that:

Compared with other industrialized countries, Canada is sinking in a pool of mediocrity that threatens to pull down our standard of living, says a new report from the Conference Board of Canada. [...]

The report card's results "tell a story of governments, businesses and people punching below their weight," its authors say. Even though the country is rich in natural resources and its population well educated, "too often we trail the pack. The failure to innovate is a large part of the explanation for our mediocrity -- a mediocrity that is hampering what we can do and what we can be."

Labels: Canadian Justice, drugs, etc, Kieran King

It's a very simple proposition: if someone commits a crime with a gun, that person should spend a period of time in jail.

Most of the Canadian population would agree with the Conservatives gun bill. After all, it was one of their key platforms during the last election, and the Conservatives won.

Unfortunately, Manitoba Liberal MP's don't agree.

Neville said the bill was poor legislation because it stripped the judiciary of its sentencing powers and refused to support it.

"It flew against the advice of many people in the justice system," said Neville, adding sentencing is often best left to judges after they've heard all the evidence in a case and not legislators.

"You have to leave the discretion to the judiciary."

She said her main concern with the bill was an escalating clause that would send criminals to prison for longer sentences with subsequent offences.

Except that judges have been saying for years that new legislation is needed if Canada is to get tough on gun crimes. They've claimed that there are precedents that prevent them from handing down "tough" sentences. The only solution to this problem is new legislation.

The "escalating clause" of the bill which Neville is so opposed to, is one that would have criminals serve longer sentences the second time they commit an offense. As the bill currently stands, for a first conviction of a gun crime, the minimum sentence handed down would be a five year jail term. On that persons second offense, the minimum sentence would lengthen to a seven year jail term. If you keep doing the crime, you keep getting more time. It seems fair.

Not to Anita Neville however. Neville would rather leave that up to the judges discretion, to let the criminals justify there behavior, and get a slap on the wrist. We're not talking about punk auto-thieves, or shoplifters here; we're talking about criminals that point a gun at their victims and threaten their lives. They have absolutely no place on our streets.

The truth of the matter is that for three consecutive Liberal governments, the laws of this land were watered down in favor of criminals. If Liberal MP's were to vote in favor of these "tough on crime" laws, it'd be an admission that their reign was a failure. You need to look no further than the Youth Criminal Justice Act for evidence.

The Liberals would rather spend billions of dollars on a gun registry, which has proven to be a failure, while letting the criminals off without taking any responsibility.

In fact all of Manitoba's Liberal MP's voted against the legislation. That includes Tina Keeper, MP for Churchill; and Ray Simard, MP for St. Boniface. For the Liberal MP's from Manitoba it was a free vote, they had no instructions as to how to vote. They voted how they thought their constituents would have wanted them to vote. But even the typically soft-on-crime NDP voted for the bill.

To those folks living in Winnipeg South-Center, contact Anita Neville and let her know how you feel about her "stand" to keep as many gun criminals on the streets as possible. She can be e-mailed at Neville.A@parl.gc.ca or at email@anitaneville.ca.

Update: Right in Manitoba raises another point:

Even more ironic is that just this week we heard Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty demanding that the federal Conservatives toughen up gun laws. Rather than call on the Conservatives Dalton, you may do better talking to you brother David [Liberal MP for Ottawa South] and his cronies!

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Conservative Party, Guns, Liberal Party, Manitoba, NDP, politics, Winnipeg Crime

Now this is almost unbelievable. An Australian human rights tribunal has upheld the right of a gay bar owner to ban all women, and heterosexual men.

Human rights group Liberty Victoria supported the decision, vice-president Michael Pearce said.

"There are numerous places where heterosexual people can go," he said.

"I think what (the tribunal) has said is that there aren't that many places where gay people can go and meet without the risk of being harassed or vilified, and that they are entitled to have their own spaces to do that in."

Now that Australia DOES have a place for gays to go without being "harassed or vilified", does that mean that straight bars will be allowed to send gays down the road? Not bloody likely.

One can only imagine the outrage if a bartender were to tell a couple of gay dudes that they weren't welcome in his bar, simply because they were gay. There would be protests, and boycotts, and riots and all those other things that leftists call hobbies.

Update: A Quebec woman by the name of Audrey Vachon is launching a human rights complaint against a Montreal gay bar that refused to serve her because she was a woman (h/t). It should be interesting to see what happens in this case. If Canada truly doesn't discriminate by sexual orientation, she should win easily.

Labels: Audrey Vachon, Australia, Canadian Justice, Human Rights, Quebec

When you see the words "Liberal" and "tough on crime" in the same headline, you know it'll be funny.

Getting tougher on car thieves is the main plank in the Manitoba Liberals' justice platform.

Jon Gerrard, on the first day of the provincial election campaign, says his government would impose an automatic lifetime ban on holding a driver's licence for anyone convicted of two auto thefts.

Here's an idea for Doctor Jon: Throw the bastards in jail!

The fact that the Liberal's actually believe that the absence of a drivers license would deter a serial car thief makes me wonder if Mr. Gerrard wasn't smoking on the Legislative Buildings front lawn with all the potheads on April 20th.

Come to think of it, he does seem a little confused:

Gerrard says poverty and mental-health issues are the root causes of many of Manitoba's crime problems. He would fund support for children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and provide adequate community centre facilities to keep kids off the streets.

Jon also doesn't buy into Anita Neville's head-in-sand approach to crime:

The Liberal leader says Winnipeg is no longer a safe city. Winnipeg has a national reputation as the car-theft capital of Canada.

Will Anita Neville demand an apology from Jon Gerrard for sullying Winnipeg's good name? Not likely, they're good friends. Anita Neville actually chaired Jon Gerrard's 1999 campaign. They also both like to blame crime on so-called root causes.

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Manitoba, Winnipeg Crime

Last week I wrote a bit about local blogger Curtis Webb at WinnipegTheft.com. Curtis is under investigation for linking to a YouTube video that disclosed the names of a few of Winnipeg's notorious juvenile car thieves.

Curtis' bravery has been trumped by the brazen stupidity of Starblubber at WinnipegPunks.com. While attempting to vilify Curtis Webb as a criminal-linker, he gone and done the very act he finds so offensive; he identified the same three youths that Curtis is accused of IDing. I guess Starblubber was trying to justify his anger by posting a screen-shot of WinnipegTheft.com with the names visible, but the end result is a smoking bullet wound in his own foot.

The page was here, but since it was noticed by Curtis it's been taken down. I wonder why? Thankfully, Curtis grabbed a screen-shot of the screen-shot (still with me?) in question.

Also, the good folks at Google still have page in their cache. The cached version doesn't actually have the names on it anymore, because WinnipegTheft doesn't have them displayed any longer. How? Because Starblubber used an inline frame to display Curtis' site on his board. What an inline frame does is display another webpage inside the current page. Therefore, when Curtis had the so-called "illegal video" on his main page, it was also displayed by Starblubber's post. Seeing as the time-stamp on Starblubber's post is April 17th, at 10:47pm. If the "illegal video" was on Curtis' site after that time, it was also on WinnipegPunks.

The irony here is that Starblubber thinks that Curtis should be jailed for the longest term allowable under the law. I suspect Starblubber's opinion will change a bit now that his own innocence is depends on Curtis'.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police, YouTube

An interesting story is developing with local blogger Curtis Webb regarding his blog WinnipegTheft.com (h/t Dust My Broom).

The controversy surrounds this post. The accusation flying through the newspapers today is that Curtis broke the law by identifying a handful of dangerous young offenders, which bizarrely, is against the law in Canada.

The problem here is that Curtis didn't actually (as far as I can find) publish the names. He linked to a video on YouTube that ID'd them. So, if linking to a video is illegal, why isn't it illegal for newspapers to "link" to his website by writing about it? Just because the newspaper medium doesn't allow for clickable hot-links, they still achieve the same effect of driving traffic to a site.

One specific case boggles the mind.

The site also posted the photo of a 16-year-old suspect wanted in connection with the March 26 murder of Tom Phillips. A judge granted police and media special permission to publish the photo for a five-day period, which expired last weekend. The photo was still up on the website yesterday.

Of course it's still up on the website! The picture is still in every paper that published the picture as well. Did the local papers go around collecting and destroying every copy that contained the picture? Not bloody likely. So why should a blogger have to remove an old post? Would the photo published in the local papers not also be available in their archives?

What's really disturbing is the attempt to police blogs. Worse yet, is that "the law" is trying to hold a blogger to a stricter code. Best of luck to Curtis Webb, stop by his site and drop him a line.

Update: Winnipeg First reports that the Winnipeg Police are "investigating". By "investigating", apparently they mean sending intimidating e-mails.

Also, the Winnipeg Sun ran an online poll asking the question, "Should the media be allowed to identify young offenders?" At the momment, there have been 1181 responses to the poll, with a stagering 95% agreeing that media should be able to identify young offenders.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Real Life, Winnipeg Crime, YouTube

The thugs and gangsters really are taking over this fine city of Winnipeg, despite what Anita Neville has to say.

The judicial system in Manitoba has been ruined by social activist judges for years already. Every day you read the paper here, you'll see a killer getting off with time-served, or a serial pedophile recieving house-arrest. All the while, the police are too busy to prevent any crime because they're chasing chronic car thieves all around the city.

The last layer of defense for law-abiding citizens was the Crown, who prosecute criminals. But the thugs and scumbags are starting to undermine that department as well (link):

A senior Crown attorney is under police protection after four men allegedly armed with knives forced their way into the woman's Winnipeg home early Saturday - just hours after she got a phone message saying, "We're going to kill you."

It's an obvious attempt to undermine not just the Crown attorney's who prosecute cases, but the entire justice system. It's a clear message to judges, jurors, and prosecutors alike: "We can get to you".

The likely response in Manitoba will be, "No harm, no foul." Since the woman didn't get hurt, all is well. Unfortunately all is not well. While the woman may be fine physically, she's certainly going to be a little more stressed out on the job now. Particularly when she's prosecuting gang members, and it could easily cause her to slip up in her work.

And affect her work it will, this was no subtle warning to her. The woman has apparently lost her voice from screaming during the incident, and it has yet to return. These weren't street-punks that were sent to her home either, they were experienced criminals.

One of the four suspects, Alphonse Stanley Traverse, has been convicted of manslaughter. While on parole he plead guilty to breaking and entering. He has charges pending of assault and uttering threats and was out on bail at the time of this weekends incident.

Winnipegers might remember Alphonse Traverse from a couple years ago. He's one of those "Worlds Dumbest Criminal" types. He was in the news for breaking into a home and stealing almost $5000 worth of goods. The only problem was, his victim owned a pawn shop, and Traverse tried to sell the stolen goods there. Whoops.

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Manitoba, Winnipeg Crime

Anita Neville is demanding an apology (again). The last time she got so cranky was when somebody pointed out that Winnipeg has a crime problem.

This week Neville's got a beef with Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice.

Prentice said that he hopes $50.8 million in taxpayer grants and contributions to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs isn't used "in planning illegal and disruptive blockades."

"I am prepared to order forensic audits of every organization that participates in blockades and civil disobedience to ensure that monies intended for children were not used to plan these activities," he wrote.

Neville accused Prentice of making threats to "quash the democratic voices" of aboriginals who wish to show their disapproval with the Tory budget.

What Neville doesn't understand, is that some things should not receive government funding, ie. road blocks that damage the economy and property. Do taxpayers pay millions of dollars for highways, just to spend millions more on shutting them down in protest? Hell no! It makes life more difficult for many communities.

It's about time these terror tactics stopped because it's getting out of hand.

• March 2, 2007 - A blockade in Northern Manitoba comes down.


• March 6, 2007 - Railway blockade comes down near Marysville, ON.


• March 13, 2007 - A blockade in Quebec comes down.


• March 23, 2007 - Mohawk protesters blockade a road near Deseronto, ON.


• The occupation in Caledonia has been going on for over a year.

And thats just this month alone!

The standoff in Caledonia has cost Ontario taxpayers over $46 million to date. Dalton McGuinty's pathetic performance on this file is now costing the federal government over $26 million.

Worse than the cost incurred to taxpayers is the message this sends to the citizens of Canada; Justice will not prevail, welfare payments will. When our federal MPs start defending criminal actions, you know there is a problem.

Anita Neville should be turfed in the next election. When problems arise, she sticks her head in the sand. When confronted, she feigns incredible insult and demands apologies. When will she actually stand up for Winnipegers?

Labels: Anita Neville, Canadian Justice, Dalton McGuinty, Dirty Liberals, politics

Jon Gerrard is starting to get close to understanding Winnipeg's auto-theft pandemic. But with most problems in our society, the politically correct bullshit gets in the way of the truth.

Doc Jon is getting close to understanding the problem. He's a doctor, he should know:

"People with FASD have brains that are wired differently from birth and they have real difficulty understanding consequences," Gerrard said.

"Diagnosed early and given support, they stay out of trouble."

What Doc Jon misses is that serial car-thieves and FASD kids have something else in common: bad parents.

To suggest that theres a link between parents who are pounding hooch at the local tavern when their 8-months pregnant, and parents who don't care that their son just got convicted for their 200th auto-theft is not a stretch. A mother who drinks while she's pregnant does not care for the welfare of her child. If a family cares so little for the health of their child, why would they care anymore about the child's safety fifteen years later when he's involved in high-speed police chases?

While many parents of FASD kids genuinely care about the kids' future and well-being, there are also those who don't. Parents who are letting their kids criminally run rampant on the streets should be held responsible for their childs actions.

What Doctor Jon needs to realize, is that this problem will not be solved with social programming or bribery. And while the Manitoba courts have been sad and pathetic in dealing with the problem, the federal government has done nothing to improve the YCJA. Meanwhile, the Winnipeg Police, who do everything they can to stop these bastards, are losing the motivation to keep up the fight.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Police

What in the hell, you might ask, is "informational equality"? Well, its apparently the basis for the Supreme Court of Canada upholding this country's ancient election blackout law.

First and foremost, is this thing called "informational equality". It's the idea that voters in the Western provinces should not be privy to any information that was not privy to those in the East when they were voting.

The problem is that informational equality will never exist across a country as vast as Canada. Everybody reads different newspapers, watches different TV stations, and socializes in different circles. Furthermore, informational equality doesn't matter. In a process like voting, each voter has particular issues that they care about, and if they intend to vote intelligently they'll actively find out each candidate's positions on those issues.

The problem is that the Supreme Court is trying to protect the population from the folks out there who don't vote intelligently. And lots of people don't vote intelligently. If Newfie Joe who's working the rigs in Alberta decides on election night that he's going to vote in Alberta, for whichever party in Newfoundland wins in his home-riding, he'll do it.

Not that it matters, Joe's going to do it either way. He can still find out, with a simple call home, or by checking some blogs, or even turning his Satellite TV from CBC Calgary to CBC St. John's.

The problem is that the SCC thinks that there should be controls on what information voters get, and when. North Korea is probably the most "informationally equal" nation on the planet. On the other hand, the United States is one of the most "informationally unequal" country on the planet. In the USA, they have free speech. You can say or write all kinds of offensive shit and most people wouldn't bat an eye. In North Korea, if you were to write say, that Kim Jong Il is a gay alien from Saturn's second moon who signed a deal with David Koresh for control of the DPRK, you'd be thrown in jail and tortured.

Which is why Free Speech should be more important than "informational equality". This is why Free Speech is actually in our Constitution; whereas "informational equality" is something that the SCC seemed to invent.

Thanks to the archaic elitists that are the SCC, Canada is moving to become more like North Korea, and less like the United States. But who needs Free Speech in a country where saying something offensive is the cardinal sin?

Labels: Canadian Justice, democracy

The crime:

Police have caught three teens who they accuse of playing what Safioles called "some kind of sick game" where they tried to clip the runners with the car's mirrors.

Oh, and the car was stolen. Another example how the YCJA has failed the kid who was the ringleader, and failed society.

The 16-year-old driver is considered a Level 4 offender -- the highest rating under the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy. He has done jail time at the Manitoba Youth Centre and was on probation for auto theft offences, but had been missing for at least two weeks before his arrest Monday.

In Manitoba, you don't need to be a genius to find a young offender, who is a renowned car thief and should be charged with attempted vehicular manslaughter (link).

Police say in the early morning hours on Sunday, one of the 16 year olds allegedly stole a Jeep Cherokee in the Island Lakes area, dumped it and stole another vehicle.

He later allegedly stole a third vehicle, then police observed two cars speeding. They pursued the vehicles until a crash with a light standard near Nairn Avenue and Watt Street.

Because of the YCJA, the courts no longer have any control over out of control kids, and the general public knows it.

"It's good news that they've been arrested but I'm not sure the justice system will do anything to keep these kids off the streets," said Dennis Pickerl, who found one of the injured runners bleeding and staggering on Thursday. "The one fellow is already as prolific a car thief as they come and they still can't keep him behind bars. I'm not sure the police have all the tools they need."

Even the cops are sick and tired of the catch-and-release treatment, and have given up.

Three teenage boys face numerous charges in connection with a hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent. The most serious charges laid are driving dangerously causing bodily harm.

Police said Tuesday that charges of attempted murder weren't laid because it was "pretty clear" that the suspects were not trying to kill the victims.

"It looks more like it was some sort of sick game where you might just want to hit them with the mirrors," Sgt. Doug Safioles said.

One jogger states the obvious.

Leilani Kagan, who was among several other joggers who dodged the stolen car, said she can't understand why more serious charges weren't laid.

"People are vulnerable in that they've got no weapons. They've got no form of defense. You've got them cornered between two high snow banks on a road and you're driving a vehicle toward them," she said.

"I find that hard to believe, that by doing that four times to us, and to all the other people out there that morning, that you weren't trying to kill them. I don't know what else could really result."

And the great news from Manitoba Justice is that this isn't over yet!

"Having it down to five kids is pretty significant in some ways," said Carolyn Brock, executive director of youth corrections for Manitoba Justice.

Brock said there are times when as many as a dozen such thieves are on the run.

And so the escalation continues. The kids steal more cars, and do more dangerous things with them. Meanwhile, the police and courts punish them less, and sometimes not at all.

It fails the kids most of all, which is sad because it creates more victims in the future. These kids don't understand how to function normally or productively in a civilized society. The courts do nothing to help them change.

The kid has committed a very serious crime here, and is old enough to do hard jail time. Because it will keep him from steal our cars for one, but it will also give him a good hard look at where a life of crime will get him.

---

In a somewhat related note, this is more of a question for people out there. Wellington Crescent, where this mayhem took place, has a sidewalk between the split-lanes. And it's very wide. But for some reason all the folks who run there seem to need to run on the road, and the dog-walkers are the only ones who use the sidewalk. Why in the hell is that?

I just want to know why they insist on running on the road. Why don't the joggers on Wellington run on the sidewalk?! I drive that road every damn day, and the street always has joggers on it, and I need to know why!

Labels: Canadian Justice, Liberal Party, Winnipeg Crime

Now this is dead-ass wrong.

A written contract specifying that a man does not want to be considered the father of his common-law wife's child isn't enough to excuse him from the responsibilities of parenting, an Alberta court has ruled.

The case involves a woman who became pregnant by artificial insemination with another man's sperm. Her partner did not want to be a father, however, so the two signed their contract before she gave birth in 2005.

The couple went to court seeking a legal validation for the agreement. But a three-member Appeal Court panel rejected their arguments and ruled the man will legally be considered the child's father despite his wishes.

Despite the fathers wishes AND the mothers wishes. This court has effectively stolen this womans child from her, and given half of it to somebody who actively disconnected himself from her conceiving the child. In the process, they've put daddy in quite a predicament.

The court has made it clear where the responsibility for the child lies, but when the relationship goes sour, how many rights do you think Daddy will have in a custody battle when this signed document is thrown back in his face? This should be reviewed.

Labels: Canadian Justice

Convicted kiddie killer Karla Homolka continues to make children her victims.

Details are sketchy, but it appears the freed schoolgirl killer may have secretly had a baby.

Rampant rumours, tips and a string of circumstances suggest Homolka is now married and, in the past few days, gave birth to a boy in a Montreal hospital.

Chalk up another victim for Homolka.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Wish You Were Dead

Protecting Stephen Harper:

A young man waving a penis-shaped squirt gun was warned yesterday not to enter a building where Prime Minister Stephen Harper was about to speak.

A plainclothes member of Harper's security detail was overheard telling the youth it would not be advisable for him to enter the building with the squirt gun.

The red-faced youth walked away from the building followed by several friends.

But compare this to Cameron Ward's story:

A B.C. Supreme Court judge awarded more than $10,000 to a Vancouver lawyer suspected in 2002 of conspiring to throw a pie at then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

After a four-year legal battle, Justice David Tysoe on Wednesday found Cameron Ward was wrongfully imprisoned and strip-searched, after the lawyer was arrested during a ceremony to open the Millennium Gate in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Funny, Real Life, Stephen Harper

The FLQ group known as the Camille Laurin cell has written another letter to Jean Charest, and French President Jacques Chirac. Like the first letter sent out by this cell, they have named February 15 as the date their bombing campaign will begin.

In this weeks letter, they specifically mention highways and high-traffic areas as targets along with airports and crowded shopping malls, adding "a combination of vehicles, letter bombs, remote-control explosive devices will be used and most of these devices are already in place."

The RCMP is mum on the situation. RCMP Corporal Luc Bessette said "We have no indication that they are able to carry out what they threaten. Is it a hoax? That's possible. Is it real? That's possible too. The RCMP takes seriously all threats against our citizens." They have also indicated that they're working with CSIS on this threat.

The timing of the threats may be important as well. With a federal budget about to drop in mid-March, the FLQ cell may be hoping to effect a Federal election which could follow, or the Provincial election to soon follow as well in Quebec.

Interestingly, the federal budget is alleged to contain an extra $2 billion for Quebec in equalization payments. That, along with the Canadian governments recognition of the Quebecois as "a distinct nation within Canada", may blind Quebecers to the "anglo-saxon imperialism" which motivates this cell.

If the RCMP finds anybody connected to this threat, they should be treated like the terrorists they are, and not like the terrorists in Caledonia.

Labels: Bloc Quebecois, Canadian Justice, Quebec, RCMP, Terrorism

More proof of Manitoba's short sightedness:

Following the arrest of a Winnipeg caretaker the province is urging landlords to check for criminal backgrounds and bond caretakers before handing over keys to apartment suites.

"Most landlords already do it, but I would say it would be prudent for all landlords to take those measures," said Roger Barsy, director of the provincial residential tenancy branch. [...]

The province is taking the step after a caretaker was arrested last week, as was reported in the Sun, for allegedly letting himself into suites and stealing alcohol and women's underwear.

There are no regulations or legislation mandating the bonding and background checks on caretakers, but landlords are on the hook if cash or property disappears from tenants' suites, Barsy said. [...]

Tory justice critic Kelvin Goertzen said the province should introduce a new law requiring the screening of all caretakers before giving them keys to tenants' suites.

Okay, I'm just begging for an actual reason why we'd want such legislation, somebody please help me out here!

First of all, the caretaker in question clearly broke the law, was arrested and charged, and will pay whatever consequences deemed appropriate by some bleeding heart judge. This is supposed to deter caretakers from breaking the law.

Secondly, the landlords are on the hook for any property stolen, even though it should be the caretaker in this instance. This is the landlords incentive to do background checks on caretakers.

For one, this proposed law would drive up the cost of getting "quality" caretakers simply by disqualifying a percentage of those people who would take such a job.

Also, those living in buildings where there is a high turnover of caretakers would likely be left in the dark (perhaps literally) when their landlord can't find a "suitable" caretaker in a short period of time.

The problem here isn't that we need a new law. It's that we need to enforce the ones we currently have. Caretakers are put in a position of trust, and when that trust is violated they should bear the full consequences of the law.

It blows me away sometimes how this province likes to create new laws, while the justice system refuses to apply the current laws on the books. Are you listening Mr. Geortzen?

Labels: Canadian Justice, Manitoba, NDP

I think that this city is on the verge of turning into a vigilante's wet-dream.

On Sunday night, Winnipeger Stanley Ross received the beating of his life. His attacker Samir Salihovic, beat him with a baseball bat, leaving Ross in a doctor-induced coma, with life-threatening brain damage.

It's the circumstances of the beating that are truly revealing. Ross and Salihvic were involved in a car accident, and an "altercation" ensued, leading to the savage assault.

The catch is, that Ross was driving a stolen car, and is a known serial car thief. However, Salihovic didn't have a clue that the car was stolen at the time of the beating.

Here comes the shocker: The Winnipeg Sun is running a poll (archive) on their website asking the question "Do you agree with some Sun readers that convicted car thief Stanley Ross got what he deserved?", and so far the Yes' are ahead with almost a 2-1 ratio.

The problem here is not what happened to Ross, it's how it happened. If a judge were to have handed down a sentence of beating-by-bat to Ross for car theft, I could support that. But thats now what happened here. Ross got a beating simply for being in a car accident, his assailant didn't know he was a car-thief, or that he was driving a stolen car.

The Sun tries to account for this lack of compassion by blaming it on the cities high rate of car theft, and the fact that the people who commit these crimes rarely face any real punishment, but I think the cause is deeper than that.

Rarely in this province does a criminal receive an adequate punishment for his crimes. Further evidence of this is in the same pages of the Sun today. Some douche-bag gets wasted, repeatedly slams a fifteen year-old girls head into the bathroom floor, fracturing her skull in the process, and his sentence? Six months of house arrest.

I think that this city has grown so sick and tired of seeing scumbags get off with a slap on the wrist, that most people are just happy one of them received some actual form punishment, even though it was administered for all the wrong reasons, in all the wrong ways.

I hope Ross makes a full recovery, but both of these guys deserve to do some serious jail time.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Winnipeg Crime

Don't police have anything better to do:

A B.C. Supreme Court judge awarded more than $10,000 to a Vancouver lawyer suspected in 2002 of conspiring to throw a pie at then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

After a four-year legal battle, Justice David Tysoe on Wednesday found Cameron Ward was wrongfully imprisoned and strip-searched, after the lawyer was arrested during a ceremony to open the Millennium Gate in Vancouver's Chinatown.
(snip)
Ward said he was there to watch the ceremony when he was confronted by police, who asked him whether he was planning to throw a pie at the prime minister.

"And I said, 'No of course not.' ... It would never cross my mind to throw a pie at him."

Police arrested Ward because they said he matched the description of a man running down a nearby street and who was reported to have been overheard planning a pie assault.

Police searched the lawyer's car. No pie was found, but Ward's car was towed anyway -- and the lawyer was put in handcuffs and taken to prison where he was strip searched.

The city was ordered to pay $5,000 for wrongful imprisonment, and $100 for the seizure of his car. The province must also pay Ward $5,000 for violating the right to be secure from unreasonable search.
(snip)
Tysoe said police sincerely believed Ward had a pie, and that the officers did not act maliciously when they took him into custody and were not negligent or personally liable.

There are so many things wrong with this story. First of all, the police blatantly violate a guys Charter Rights, and he gets a measly $10,000 for it.

Secondly, would it actually be illegal to carry a pie around? It's not exactly your typical "dangerous weapon". What about birthday cakes, or even a carrot muffin? Where do they draw the line? The government needs to make clear which baked goods are considered dangerous, and which are not.

Anyway, thats one for the record books, arrested for suspicion of carrying a pie. Cameron Ward says he'll donate his newfound "wealth" to charity, and I've got just the one: The American Pie Council. By the way, January 23rd is National Pie Day in the USA.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Funny, Real Life

Last week, three Winnipeg police officers were shot while executing a drug warrant. The suspect is Daniel Anderson, who police believe to be a "loose associate" of the Zig-Zag Crew.

Yesterdays Winnipeg Free Press, the defender of scumbags nationwide, printed a stunning story penned by Gordon Sinclair portraying Daniel Anderson as the victim. It's behind the subscription wall, so I'll copy the "best parts" here.

Danny -- the son his father calls the most caring and considerate of his three boys -- faces attempted murder charges following a drug raid late Thursday night at the Anderson's Fort Rouge home. Three police officers were shot in the incident and hospitalized.
(snip)
It would be 24 hours before his family would hear from Danny again. He called from the Remand Centre about 11 p.m. Friday night.

Danny was crying, his father said.

"The first thing he was saying was, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't know.'... He was concerned about his mother and myself and his girlfriend and he kept repeating, 'I didn't know, I didn't know.' "

What he "didn't know," according to his father, was that the people who rushed into the Andersons' house while Danny was there with his girlfriend and his mother were police officers executing a drug search warrant.

Poor kid, he was just trying to defend his mother and girlfriend - while he was blindly firing shots into their home.

But it's conceivable, given the suddenness of the event -- the pounding at the door and Bonnie Anderson's screaming as police burst in -- that Danny didn't hear them identify themselves before hiding in the main floor bathroom, from where he allegedly shot blindly from behind the door.
"He thought it was a home invasion or something," Monty Anderson said.

That could be understandable, given Danny's personal history in the same home.

Danny was at home, three or four years ago, his father said, when a group of men broke in reportedly looking for drugs and money.

The brothers and a friend managed to fight them off, his father said.

"You just don't forget stuff like that," Monty said.

But the 12 police officers involved in the raid Thursday would have no record of that event.

Monty said it wasn't reported.

According to Monty, he had three long rifles locked in the basement that are registered. If police had checked the registry, they presumably would have known about them.

One would think that should prompt the calling out of the better-armed and more experienced Emergency Response Unit.

But there's more to Danny's being victimized by violent people in large numbers.

About two years ago, the former Grant Park Pirates linebacker -- who stands over six feet and weighs more than 200 pounds -- was swarmed outside a Pembina Highway bar.

"They stabbed on his neck, on his face. They stabbed him in the chest."

Monty said his son was "in serious shape" after the attack.

"He was in the hospital for a week or two or three."

Those two incidents, Monty suggested, would be enough to spook anybody about large numbers of people suddenly breaking through one's door late at night.

Those two incidents also raise the question; Who doesn't report a home invasion to police? People with something to hide, thats who. I could understand, possibly, that the kids wouldn't want to call in the police, but what kind of mother and father would just let it slide by, when it was their own children who were attacked?

The answer to why police don't politely knock during drug raids, has to do with the element of surprise, and having a better chance of finding evidence before it is "flushed."

"Whatever they were looking for," Monty said, "it wasn't there."
Police asked Monty early Friday morning at the Public Safety Building if his son dealt marijuana from the house.

Monty said he told them not to his knowledge.

Coincidental that they found him in the bathroom then, is it not? You would also think that a father would deny the drug-dealing charges a little more vehemently, if he thought his denials had a chance of standing up under investigation. Update: Police have confirmed that drugs were found during the raid.

But, it should be mentioned, at least one of the Anderson sons is well known as a member of the drug underworld by young adults in affluent south Winnipeg neighbourhoods such as Tuxedo.

The Andersons' middle son, Darren, who turned 23 on the day of the raid, was arrested last January on drug and related charges and is expected to be released from jail at the end of the month.

Danny has no criminal convictions.

The reason his father contacted the Free Press was to stress that last fact.

"He isn't a gang affiliate or anything. He had some assorted friends who have gotten in trouble."

"People who know Danny know this isn't him," his dad said.

"He isn't a monster like everyone thinks," said his girlfriend of five years, Ashley Cochrane. "Anyone who knows Daniel knows this is not him."
His father echoes that: "Anybody who has ever met him has nothing but good things to say about him."

Now riddle me this; if the guns were locked up securely in the basement, as Daddy Dearest says, how did Danny have time to get to the basement, unlock the cabinet, grab a gun, load the gun, and still manage to get up to the bathroom and lock himself in? Or are we to believe that Daniel carries a rifle with him to the shitter?



A quick examination of the map of the house, raises some interesting questions. As the story goes, Danny was in his bedroom when he heard his mother screaming in the kitchen. He then promptly dashed across the hall, and locked himself in the bathroom.

Daddy Dearest says the guns were in the basement. As you can see from the map, to get to the basement, you'd have to go through the kitchen. The same kitchen where the cops entered the house. So clearly, Danny didn't fire the shots with any of the guns that were in the basement.

The other question that I'm just begging to hear an answer to is: Why run to the bathroom? If he truly thought it was a home invasion, his bedroom would have been a much safer place. I'll bet the gun was in his closet. And while his bedroom does have a window to escape from, the bathroom does not have a window. Why the bathroom?!

Even though Daddy Dearest is quick to point out that Danny has no prior convictions, his neighbors had their own suspicions (again, behind the Freep's subscription wall).

Numerous neighbours of the family said the back lane behind the house has received frequent vehicle traffic for the brothers throughout the day and night for the last decade.

Some said they had complained to police about the activity, but their complaints went unheeded.

One neighbour said Daniel Anderson simply stared at her when they encountered one another after she expressed displeasure with the nighttime traffic.

Since big brother was in jail on drug charges at the time of the shooting, I don't think it would be a stretch to think that Daniel had taken over Big Brothers operations while he was away.

Gordon Sinclair is at it again today, defending Danny's lifestyle. One neighbor recalled the house saying, "There was nice cars always coming there, Jaguars and other fancy cars that I admired. They had nice, beautiful girlfriends there at all times. I used to think how lucky they are. Tall, good looking. They have everything. You just never know what's cooking in your neighbor's home."

Sinclair defends this, by once again quoting Danny's father Monty, who seems to be Sinclair's only source on the story.

According to father Monty Anderson, 54, Daniel earned his living through online betting.

"He was into gambling," the elder Anderson told the Free Press. "He played on the Internet. Hold 'Em tournaments. Pro-Line."

In today's Freep article, Gordon Sinclair extensively quotes Daniel's defense lawyers (two of them), friends, and his father. Thats far from balanced reporting.

Also of note, today the Winnipeg Sun said Monty Anderson was unavailable for comment, yet Sinclair got an exclusive interview with him the day before. I find that a little too much to be coincidental. Especially after seeing how much blatant bullshit Sinclair has published on this subject in the last three days.

Labels: Canadian Justice, Daniel Anderson, Winnipeg Crime, Winnipeg Free Press, Winnipeg Police