Wil's Rant

Following up on my post about the Canadian Justice systems lack of fortitude... A Canadian man has been given a 15 month sentence for putting a baby in a freezer. The guy said the baby had a fever and this was his way of helping out. The baby got frostbite and was lucky ( or unlucky in this case) to not have died. There you have it, Canadian justice at it's finest.

There are many thing about the battles going on in the Muslim world that I don't understand. Probably the biggest one of these is the concept of going out and killing people and saying it's out of some belief in god. A special place in hell should be reserved for anyone who goes out and kills, deliberately, women and children and then use god as an excuse. Another thing I don't understand is the concept of Muslim killing Muslim. I read that the Sunni and Shiite conflict has been going on since the 8th century. 1300 years! That's a disgrace beyond all comprehension. All those deaths, and for what?

It may already be too late for the world to find peace and solve some of the problems that threaten the very existence of our planet's survivability. If it's not, then that point is coming fast. So long as we keep killing each other in the name of god, this will not happen. God doesn't make murderers, men do.

Once again the American's have set an example that the Canadian justice system would do well to take note of. In California, a child molester has been sentenced to 152 years in prison. I doubt he will ever be released with a sentence like that. I can't remember there ever having been a case in the Canadian courts where such a sentence has been handed down. Pity! Canadians are fed up with our system releasing these monsters back onto the streets over and over again. Our politicians should take note. It is not a matter of rehabilitation, that has nothing to do with it. It is a matter of responsibility to perform the mandate that the justice system has been given. That is to dispense justice and ensure that monsters like this never get the chance to do it again. It's great if they are rehabilitated, it's great if they find Jesus or whoever, that doesn't change the fact that they have forfeited their right to walk among humans in freedom by engaging in acts like this.

My 12 year old daughter came home the other day with a new song loaded onto her MP3 player by one of her friends. The song was Snoop Dog's I Wanna Fu.. You Dirty. I was horrified. For one thing , she is ony 12. I find the very name of the song offensive. I've never said I wanna fu.. you to anyone in my life. There are a lot of these type of songs out there today. What ever happened to the concept of social responsibility? Don't any of these new artists recognize that there are many kids out there who will listen to this music? Don't any of them have kids of there own? Is this the kind of language and example they show their own kids? It's time the artists and their recording companies show a little morality and demonstrate just a little responsibility for the material that they produce. I can't help but wonder if they bothered to put any warnings on the packaging about the crude and offensive material that it contained. I've never had a problem with Snoop Dog in the past. That all changed the day that I had to edit my little girl's MP3 player.

The Canadian government has settled with Mr. Arar for the role they played in his abduction by American authorities and subsequent deportation to Syria to spend a couple of years being tortured. I have no problem with this as he deserved to be compensated for having his rights trampled all over by our government. Now Steve Harper is demanding the Americans remove him from their watch list. The Americans are refusing to do so for unknown reasons. Here's my problem. I don't know why the Yanks are refusing but I don't have to. It is totally within their right to refuse any foreign national that they prefer to not have in their country for any reason they wish. We don't have to agree with their reason. Steven Harper is making a fool of himself to suggest any different.

There's one thing that Canada and the U.S. have in common. That is the incomprehensible number of monsters that our culture seems to generate. The latest is an American man who saw fit to decapitate his four year old daughter and leave her for his wife to find. I just can't understand how any father could do this to his little girl under any circumstances. I also can't understand why we seem to generate so many men ( and women for that matter) who can bring themselves to acts like this.

Had a chance to check out this show on Canada's CBC network last week. In short ... it was great. It is a very humorous look at a Muslim community's efforts to make themselves comfortable in Canada's west. It refreshing to see a show that highlights the racism of many Canadians in the west as well as diminishing many of the stereotypes applied to the Muslims. I enjoyed it very much and hope that the CBC lets this show have it's chance to really take off. Tip of the hat to the CBC for giving this one a chance, it's definitely worth it.

Have been having a hard time posting lately. It seems that after spending the effort to write a piece, I go to post it and I end up losing what I've tried to post. This is particularly frustrating when the post is a long one and it can't be retreived. Such was the case yesterday when I wrote something on the Idaho wolf cull. Very frustrating to say the least. So much so that I won't attempt to re-spend the effort already given to re-create that post. That's unfortunate because I think it's an important issue. The problem is that the second effort will never match the first because of that same frustration so I would rather not spend it. Bummer! I am contuing to experience problems with posting so I am reluctant to attempt anything to lengthy until I am sure that the trouble has been resolved.

I have often had reason to question the logic, ethics, and justice behind the application of law in the Middle East. Most often this has to do with justice for women. Here's another case. A woman is on trial, her second, in Iran for the murder of a man who along with two others was trying to rape her and her young niece. She was 17 at the time. In Iran, she would have been punished no matter what she did. Don't fight and she receives 100 lashes. If married and doesn't fight she receives the death sentence. In this case she fought back and has already received the death sentence, but a new trial was ordered and she may again face the same sentence.

In many cases justice is something that just doesn't exist at all for women in the middle east. It seems when a man commits horrendous crimes against a woman, he seldom receives anything near what could be considered justice. No matter what the woman does, she can expect the most severe penalties, almost as if it was her fault that some animal decides that she just has to be raped or killed, burned or beaten. There are many Muslim women who are working hard to change this ugly fact of life. Many who risk their lives doing so, such as the Canadian journalist who was killed in Iranian custody. There are also many Muslim men who are taking the brave action of speaking out against this type of crime and the lack of appropriate legal response to it. The world needs more of both if it is to be stopped. Everyone must speak out about it, in fact, if the life of a 17 year old girl is to be saved simply for trying to protect herself from human monsters.

An excellent articel on the legal concepts and religious aspects is this one.
http://volokh.com/posts/1143702317.shtml

For Amnesty International's petition for the girl's safety go here.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Nazanin/

It;s unknown if this petition will do any good whatsoever, but they have worked in the past. In any case, at least it's something.

This one would be humorous if it wasn't for the fact that the guy was fired. Apparently, this teacher is an artist who uses his butt and privates to do his work in his off time. Word got out and he was fired. The school board says it was because he's expected to act in a proper manner while off duty. I'd have to say his rights are being violated in this case. Artists often use unconventional means to create their art. Many I find offensive. That doesn't mean their work deserves to be censored. In fact, this may actually be beneficial for his students to know because it may cause them to think outside the box when it comes to art, and life in general. Hardly a bad thing. Effectively, the man has been fired because this board is making a moral judgment over a pretty harmless activity. I don't think we would have to be psychic to see a lawsuit in this school board's future.

According to the report, Israel has created a nuclear attack plan for Iran. Hardly surprising considering the words coming out of the nutcase Iranian President's mouth since he came to office. I do have to consider the wisdom of this plan being leaked at this time however. The last thing Iran needs is more excuses to continue down the path they have been following of late.

Kenya has deported Somalian refugees and closed it's borders after helicopters mistakenly ( of course) bombed Kenyan positions while trying to stop fleeing Somaliians. Hard to fault them really although this one is a tough call. The situation in Somalia has been a mess for years. It's easy to understand why people would want to escape it. That being said, it's also easy to understand why Kenya would not want to import those same problems. If it is morally wrong to interfere with the internal politics of another nation, then certainly the neighbors of said nation have a right to prevent the violence from spreading to their country.

We knew that this one was just a matter of time. Australia has now added it's voice to the protests over the American's total disregard for international law in Guantanamo. This follows Britain, who managed to get their citizens released. Another recent development is France's Chirac pointing out that the American's disregard for those same laws has de-stabilized the entire Middle East and thrown Iraq into a full blown civil war. The politics in the U.S. may be changing, but it's the old case of maybe a too little, way to late. The damage to American credibility and influence in the world will be felt for years to come. I fact, they may very well have permanently surrendered their position of the voice of freedom and democracy in the world.

This one is interesting. A Brazilian model is taped having sex on the beach. A Brazilian court first orders you-tube to remove the video and when it is re-posted orders you-tube removed from the Brazilian internet. The interesting part is this..... They were having sex in a public place. If it were you or I then we not only would not get this verdict but we might possibly face prosecution for public lewdness of indecent exposure. In this case, the judge orders you-yube shut down. As I see it, if you choose to have sex in public and it gets taped and put on you-tube, you have no-one to blame but yourself. It would be altogether different if you were in private and someone taped you without your knowledge. This is obviously not the case here.

First a little background. Several months ago my wife and I decided to separate after 15 years. We have been getting along great since, strangely enough. I traveled to Canada's far Northwest for work to make things a little easier. She knew a woman from work who told her of her own separation and her need to find a place to live. My wife is an exceedingly trusting, giving, and caring person. The kind of person who can't see wrong in others, only the good. I met this woman and had serious misgivings. I felt that she was not all she appeared to be. In any case, my wife chose to rent the lower half of our large house to her anyway. I supported her in this decision as I have chosen to support her in any way that I could following our separation for the good of all involved, especially the kids. Suffice it to say, all has not gone well. My wife asked me back for Christmas but she said that I would be shocked by the changes. That was an understatement. It seems that shortly after my departure the woman brough her self-described guard dog to the house. She had agreed with my wife to put the dog in a kennel that had been acquired for that purpose. Suffice it to say that the woman decided after the dog and kennel were here that she just couldn't bear to put the beast into it. She called this 150 pound vicious animal her " silly little puppy". Her silly little puppy destroyed 3 separate rooms of the downstairs unit. It tore through the bathroom door and casement, shredded the doorknob, ripped apart the sheet flooring, shredded the carpet in another room, and fouled the carpet in a third. That's just the start. Her rabbit left excrement in 2 other rooms and her birds in a third. The entire downstairs had just had 30,000 dollars in renovations in preparation for the sale of the house so my wife could buy a much smaller place that she could handle in my absence. When my wife went down one day and discovered the damage to the property, she immediately told the woman that the dog had to go outside as she had agreed to and that she could then start to make the repairs. The woman went nuts and absolutely refused to put the dog outside as she had agreed. This even after the dog went after my daughter in the stairwell. My daughter made it up the stairs before it got her but she is still now terrified of dogs one month later. The total damage exceeds 10,000 dollars. All this in less than 2 months. I am not so nice as my wife. Once I arrived and had been informed of the situation and my wife's now terror of this irresponsible and dangerous woman and her pets I took immediate action. It took me 12 days to get her out and that only because she still refused to put the dog outside. It would have taken me longer but she decided to bolt before the total of the legal filings had arrived. I only managed to get the first one filed before she fled. There are many more to come. My wife informs me that she left her job after receiving another summons from her previous landlord not 2 days after I had arrived. I understand that their damage exceeds 20,000 dollars and includes every room in their entire house. Every carpet and floor in that house has to be replaced. My wife has now decided that she is simply not mean enough to be a good landlord. She was just trying to help this woman and now all her plans have been put back significantly if not destroyed all together. It will take an immense effort to clean up and repair the damage. I must return North shortly so it will take me time to return and continue with this task. My wife's Christmas was all but ruined by this. I am fortunate that I know a fair bit about tenant laws in Ontario as well as the Ontario Dog Owners Liability Act. It also doesn't hurt to have a sister who is a licensed paralegal in Ontario. In any case the expenses will keep mounting in our attempts to track, serve, and collect from this woman. I feel like telling my wife I told you so, but i just can't be that cruel to her after all that she has endured since I left. Landlords or potential landlords be warned. One tenant and a couple of months could very well destroy your life for years to come unless you are firm enough to handle the problem head on and do the proper background checks prior to letting anyone enter into your property.

I've written many times about the farce that our justice system has become. Here is another example of how it should be done. In this case it's Thailand that has shown the proper response to a vicious crime. A man has murdered his Canadian wife while in Thailand. In Canada we might expect to see him walking the streets in as little as 10 years, less if he was convicted of manslaughter. In Thailand the sentence was 34 years. Now that's a lot more like it. Canada might take note of it and similar sentences in the U.S. when some monster gets convicted of this type of crime. Canada's justice system does very little to punish those it convicts in the majority of cases and miserably fails in it's responsibility to the people to make them safe from a repeat of this type of crime from the same person. The case of the Peterborough man convicted of contracting an undercover officer to kill his wife is a great example. He even asks the officer about the sound her neck made when breaking. He got four years. He will likely be out in two and a half. Where the hell is the justice in that? It's all fine and dandy to want to rehabilitate. That logic fails when it comes to things like this. The law has a responsibility to the people that goes beyond this concept. The laws first responsibility should be to prevent that person from ever getting the chance to do it again. We can't stop the person from doing it once but we sure can prevent them from doing it again. When we fail to do this the responsibility becomes ours.

Well, it's a doe deal now. He's dead. The butcher of Baghdad is gone. I wish this all had gone some other way, almost any other way then the way in which it has. We are now getting the reports of the dishonourable way that his execution was performed complete with taunts right up to his final moments. I remember the days leading up the Bush's great attack on the weapons of mass destruction and the terrorist base that he claimed Iraq to be. The U.N. inspectors were reporting that there efforts were working and that he had no such weapons. These reports were ignored, they didn't fit into George's agenda. Billions of dollars later, 3000 dead American soldiers, many more dead innocent Iraqis, and no end in sight to what has now become a full blown civil war, and all for Bush's political agenda. History will judge this incompetent fool very, very harshly I suspect. Rumsfeld is now gone, good riddance, but Cheney is still around. Thankfully the next elections are not very far away and Bush's time will come. The devastating mess in Iraq and the U.S. that is left will be paid for by the next generations, pity. It's an awful shame that the American leaders apparently learned nothing from Vietnam. The major lesson there was quite simple. You cannot force your ideals on a nation when a major portion of the population resents your presence. The only way that this could done is with a vast genocidal approach. Thankfully, the American people would no longer allow that to happen, even if they did during the campaign to seize control from America's first nations peoples.

Meanwhile, the reports are coming in about Saddam's execution. Opinions are going both ways as to it's merits. I've already stated my opinion, so I won't repeat it. The legal issues are also being discussed. This points to my major concern: the complete disregard for international law and the concept of a fair trial. Some are arguing that he didn't deserve any more fairness than those he exterminated. I disagree. We should always endeavor to rise above such pettiness and apply the law to all equally fairly. Should we fail to do so, than none of us is safe from the same treatment when the notion comes to our leaders at the time.