Rational Radical

Just read.  Become enraged.  Read some more.  Lose all hope for our youth–those whose parents have failed them, and those who will continue to fall victim to the thugs of failed parents.  By the way, that moronic mother whose quote is bold-printed below is too stupid or blind to realize that being suspended from school doesn’t mean the asshole couldn’t have gone back to participate in the assault.  There’s a reason he was suspended in the first place…

All charges against six youths accused of sexually assaulting a young Muslim girl in the bathroom at C.W. Jefferys high school in the fall of 2006 have been dropped.  “An underlining problem in this case is that the police investigation (was) hampered” because of the length of time between the alleged incident and when it was reported, Crown attorney Laurie Gonet said yesterday.  “Memories do not improve over time.”

While the Crown might have a “reasonable” possibility of securing a conviction, “given the problems with the case and the wishes of the complainant, it is not in the interest of the complainant” to continue, Gonet said in court.

Several mothers sitting in the courtroom breathed loud sighs of relief. “This whole thing has been a nightmare,” one said afterwards. “I’m taking days off work. He’s missing school. He walks down the street and people say `Oh, there’s the rapist.’”

In the spring of 2007, a panel investigating safety at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate after the murder of student Jordan Manners heard allegations that in October 2006, a 14-year-old was dragged into a school washroom and forced to perform oral sex on two males.  Police later charged the six youths. In December 2007, officers charged the school’s principal and two vice-principals for failing to report the alleged incident, or suspicions of it, to authorities.  Those charges, which fall under the Child and Family Services Act, were also dismissed because of the delay from the time of the alleged incident to having the charges sworn. The Crown, however, is appealing in that case.

A confidential report submitted to the Toronto District School Board last year by the safety panel, which was obtained by the Star, said some female students at the school believed Grade 9 girls were being targeted by a group of boys for being unpopular or shy. However, the board asked the panel to look into speculation that girls were being targeted because of their religion and ethnic background, which made them less likely to report abuse for fear of reprisal at home.  According to the report, notes taken by one of the former vice-principals stated that the girl said she was forced into the bathroom by several boys, with a few inside the washroom and a couple standing guard outside. She was told to perform oral sex and refused, but complied after being threatened.

A teacher heard of the incident and reported it to the vice-principal, who later said police would not be called because the girl could not identify the boys; the vice-principal had not spoken to the girl directly, the report says. The girl was not offered any counselling and was later transferred to another high school, the report said. The “tragic outcome,” the report stated, was that “a 14-year-old victim of sexual assaults was uprooted from her school, deprived of the support of her parents and left untreated by health professionals for over eight months.”

Michael Caroline, lawyer for the former administrators at Jefferys, said yesterday’s events don’t affect whether an appeal is allowed in their case.  But “the fact that (the accused) were students and not caregivers or parents of the victim is a full answer to the charge against my clients,” he said. The Child and Family Services Act only compels reporting of adult-on-child crimes or suspicion of crime. 

The names of the six youths accused in the sex assault – and their parents’ names – cannot be released under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.  None would offer comment yesterday. After the ruling, several high-fived and hugged family members outside the courtroom. David Wilson, lawyer for one of the accused, said speculation the Crown would drop the charges has persisted for months.  “Basically, the Crown is just acknowledging some problems with the case in terms of proof, specifically, identifying the young persons involved. Identification was a big problem in the case.”  Each of the young men agreed to sign a $250 peace bond. They were ordered to have no contact with the girl and are barred from possessing any kind of weapon.

“It’s a relief, but it’s not over for him,” said one mother outside court. “There’s still this cloud over him.”   The woman said she remembers the day she got the phone call that her son had been arrested.  “My son wasn’t even at school that day. He was suspended. There’s proof of it,” she said. “He missed school, lots of school because of (the court dates) and he can’t go out at night because of the curfew. It’s been really rough.”

The only thing that surprises me about the following story (it’s sadly not surprising that a group of scumbag savages would blindly attack an innocent man because some young drunk, female Argument for Birth Control told them to do it) is that the police are calling it a case of “mistaken identity.”

In what police are calling a case of mistaken identity, a Toronto man was stabbed and savagely beaten late Tuesday by a group of strangers in Owen Sound.  Investigators say a young woman who had been drinking apparently sparked the attack by physically and verbally assaulting the 42-year-old man as he was walking near 2nd Ave. E. and 10th St., just after 11:30 p.m.  With no other option, they say the man held on to the woman with one arm and called the police with his cellphone.

Then, as the man again attempted to get away, police say the female, who is under 18, encouraged a group of men she knew from a nearby apartment to attack him.  The man, who is black, was stabbed in the chest, struck with a piece of wood, kicked and punched by a group of as many as six white men, who fled after the attack.  Police haven’t determined whether the attack was racially motivated, but “we’re not ruling it out,” said Owen Sound Police Deputy Chief Bill Sornberger.  “He is an innocent, innocent victim.”

The victim was taken by taxi to the Grey Bruce Hospital Centre, where he was listed in serious but stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery. As of this morning, police said they had not had an opportunity to talk to him or received permission to release his name. He is believed to be from the Etobicoke area of Toronto.  The victim had been in Owen Sound working for a hydro company, and it appears his attackers did not known him, said Sgt. Ted Kitto.  One suspect was arrested and “we are hoping to make at least a couple more arrests today,” said Sornberger.   Shawn Dyer, 19, has been charged with assault with a weapon and aggravated assault. He was scheduled to appear in court for a bail hearing this morning.

The story speaks for itself.  Fortunately, in Canada we have laws that prevent scumbags from profiting from their crimes while incarcerated (I believe).  Unfortunately, there are scumbags on the outside who do the following kind of crap:

Clifford Olson’s ‘murderabilia’ offered on website (CTV.ca News Staff)

The Correctional Service of Canada is investigating how personal prison items of infamous serial killer Clifford Olson ended up for sale on a U.S. website.  The items, which include letters, legal documents and photographs, are available for auction at www.murderauction.com.

Gary Rosenfeldt’s 16-year-old stepson was one of Olson’s 11 victims. He said it sickened him to learn that the killer’s personal effects were being sold on the Internet.   You have to wonder what’s next,” he said. “Is he going to have the hammer that he used to smash your son’s head in?”

Murderauction.com is one of a number of U.S. websites that sells “murderabilia” — collectible items from serial killers and notorious criminals. They sell everything from serial killers’ paintings, autographed T-shirts, and even hair and nail clippings.
Todd Bohannan runs the website and makes no apologies for making money from notorious criminals.   “I don’t know that I could look at a family member and say, ‘I’m sorry, what I’m doing is wrong or bad,”‘ he said. “I don’t feel like it is bad.”

It is not known if Olson has profited from the selling of his personal items. But family members are concerned with how his material left the prison and ended up on the website.   “(The website) wouldn’t have it unless some one aided and abetted Clifford Olson to get this stuff out of prison,” Rosenfeldt said.   Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has ordered a probe into how Olson’s material left the prison.

This video speaks for itself.  Watch and you’ll see that the Long Arm of the Argument for Birth Control goes out of his way to target and then body check the cyclist.  And then the cops have the gall to claim that “Long, 29, (the cyclist) deliberately steered his bicycle into the officer, causing both of them to fall to the ground.” 

The story can be read in the link from above, but here’s the shortened version:

The video clip shows the officer standing in the street as bikes whiz past. The officer moves toward the cyclist (one of the participants in the Times Square Critical Mass ride, a monthly protest of urban reliance on motor vehicles), identified in a criminal complaint as Christopher Long, and violently knocks him to the ground in front of crowds of people. Another officer comes over, and the two officers wrestle with Long before handcuffing him.

Long was arrested because he was obstructing traffic in the heart of Times Square, the complaint said. He was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.  The complaint said Long, 29, deliberately steered his bicycle into the officer, causing both of them to fall to the ground.  During his arrest, Long squirmed and kicked, saying to the officers, “You are pawns in the game. I’m gonna have your job,” the complaint said. There were no other arrests in the ride.

Thank god for YOUTUBE, otherwise the cops would most likely have got away with their assault. 

How the fuck do these All-Too-Abundant Arguments for Birth Control live with themselves, let alone keep their jobs? Oh yes, because they are just “following orders” without taking the time or brain power to try to actually help people.

Here’s the story, edited slightly for space (and including my commentary) from the Star:

The wife of an Ontario man imprisoned in China said her federal child tax benefits have been cut because she can’t provide the federal government with documents signed by her husband about his income. Huseyin Celil, 39, is serving a life sentence for what supporters say are trumped-up terrorism charges related to his work for his native Uighurs in the 1990s (anyone with a brain, conscience, and newspaper knows that China has a long, disgusting history of imprisoning innocent people on false “terrorism” and other nonsense charges).  He was arrested in Uzbekistan in March 2006 while on a family trip and deported to China.

His wife, Kamila Telendibaeva, who lives in Burlington, said yesterday that her child tax benefit was cut off because she didn’t apply her husband’s income.  “They need the signature, but how am I going to get the signature?  “I have sent them no income, but (they won’t accept it),” she said.  His mother and sister have only been able to visit him three times in the last seven months and China will not permit Canada to have consular access – despite pleas by Prime Minister Stephen Harper – because it does not recognize Celil’s Canadian citizenship.

Telendibaeva has faced government trouble due to her husband’s imprisonment before.  After the birth of the couple’s son in August 2006, the province of Ontario wouldn’t give her a birth certificate with Celil as the baby’s last name because it needed his father’s signature.  The family and their lawyer Chris MacLeod finally appealed to the Ontario ombudsman for help and got the birth certificate (they had to get a lawyer to go all the way to the ombudsman to get help?!  I really hope he didn’t charge them too much).  Said the lawyer, “I hope they will take judicial notice he’s in jail [and thus] hasn’t filed his income taxes.  At any event, he’s not making any money” [and thus his wife deserves] the Canada Child Tax Benefit [which] is a tax-free monthly payment made to eligible families to help them with the cost of raising children under 18.

This is one of the most inspirational speeches you will ever see, especially when you consider that this is his last lecture before his death this week. I don’t envy many people, but I do envy every student who was ever fortunate enough to attend his lectures. I hope some people will watch it and be inspired (despite its 1-hour, 15 minute running time) and maybe send it to others:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

If you would like a much shorter version of this, which summarizes the major points of his lecture and includes the powerful ending:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8kUTUIveyA 

A couple of years ago, there wan an infamous youtube video of a little kid smoking a joint.  Well, here’s what happened to the Most Recent Argument for Torture
who gave the kid the joint.  At the bottom of the story I’ve posted some links of other videos like that, one of which explains how a mother who watched her kid smoke a joint (although he didn’t have any weed in his system afterwards) was allowed to keep him!

It was one of the most shocking scenes many had ever seen - a video of a teenager coaxing his nephews to smoke pot. The ages of the ‘volunteers’ - just 2 and 4 years old.  The footage, which has since been seen around the world, was discovered while Watauga, Texas police were searching a home in connection with a burglary investigation. And now the man cops say was behind the incident has admitted he did it.

Eighteen-year-old Demetris McCoy pleaded guilty to two charges of injury to a child and causing bodily injury and was also found guilty of robbery. He was sentenced to two eight year terms in prison and has agreed to testify against a 19-year-old co-defendant, who remains in jail awaiting his own day in court.  The video clearly shows a teen lighting up a joint as it sticks out of the mouth of the 2-year-old. The flame ignites and the child begins to cough, sparking laughter from the observing duo. The pot is then passed over to the older child, who has the same reaction.

At one point, a voice is heard calling the little kids “potheads” and asking them if they “have the munchies.” Drug tests would later show the kids had both marijuana and cocaine in their bodies. The mother of both youngsters was sleeping in a nearby room while the pot party was going on and insisted she didn’t know what was happening. She wasn’t charged with anything but the kids have since been placed in foster care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPgKZOfG89Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb-2RbuePHI&feature=related 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-S83Q_ub_I&feature=related

Every time I read something like this, I get incensed.  When are we going to get a batch of GOOD city councilors  whom we can elect to get rid of the little piggies lining up at the tax trough?  Read on to see how one of the few fiscally responsible councilors, Rob Ford (who’s a jerk in other ways, e.g., his drunken profanity-laced bullying outburst at a hockey game last year), cajoled council last week into acting at least a little more responsibly.  And as always, Mayor Miller did the WRONG thing:

We can thank Councillor Rob Ford for the latest restrictions placed on the outrageous spending habits of some Toronto city councillors.  Council had to be dragged, prodded and embarrassed into the new regime this week. Normally immune to the kind of criticism that moves mere mortals to reform, the outcry this time was too pointed and persistent.  And it was Ford’s relentless, confrontational, sassy, irreverent tactics that turned the trick.

He got help from skinflint Councillor Doug Holyday. The integrity commissioner and auditor general got in their jabs. The city clerk finally stiffened her back to challenge some indiscretions. But it was Ford who led the assault in the face of strident, petty opposition and hostility from his colleagues.  The mayor didn’t help. He provided cover for the profligate few who sullied the reputation of the many.

Veterans, insulated by a sense of entitlement and an acquired taste for public largesse, operated as if oblivious to the discontent over spending.  They took $200 limo rides outside the city late at night, with no explanation of which constituent they were visiting. They used taxis as their private autos. They eschewed coffee machines just outside their office door to purchase espresso machines. They funded all kind of teams and agencies and enterprises that returned the favour – and votes – come election time. They wined and dined on the public purse, supper after lunch after supper.  And some rookie councillors arriving at city hall immediately fell into bed with the spendaholics.

Ford, in an extreme way, would have none of it. He violated council rules himself by not filing expenses that the rules say must be recorded, though the money came from his own pocket. Seizing on this, councillors sought to persecute him. But on this, the irascible Ford was on the side of the angels. While council this week made some changes, based on a report from the city clerk, don’t go back to sleep thinking all is well.

Two recommendations were rejected, including a proposed ban on handouts to sports teams and ward agencies and groups. That was too sweet to let go.  Councillors have become adept at currying favour with local groups by using their office budget as a slush fund to finance favoured friends. The disbursed money is in addition to the $30 million in city grants to such groups. There is no open ward grant system. Money is not openly available to all ward groups who apply and are judged on merit. It is usually distributed quietly to those in the know and is rightly viewed as inappropriate and a form of political patronage.

Yet the practice will continue.  Take the heralded annual limit of $500 placed on restaurant meals (sans alcohol) that councillors can have with staff and each other. One councillor was flabbergasted that she was expected to live on that. You can expect she and others will find loopholes to get around it: Call in a councillor friend from Vaughan or Mississauga and, bingo, you can charge beyond the $500 limit.

The new rules are tighter, better. Expense claims will be posted on the city’s website. That should keep honest people honest. But you can’t legislate integrity.  All things considered, the office budget, at $53,100, is $13,000 too high. It’s this extra play money that ensnares them. And that’s why there’ll always be room for a Rob Ford at city hall.

This is a controversial issue for sure and I personally don’t know what the answer should be.  On the one hand, I think the unarmed, agitated Polish man who couldn’t speak English should not have been tasered at the BC airport last year; as we know, he unfortunately died after this inappropriate uses of excess force.

On the other hand, the following story is not so clear cut. That is, the 17 year-old was robbing something from a car and refused orders to drop a knife (police said).  What are cops supposed to do?  Risk their lives trying to disarm him manually? Shoot him with a regular gun?  Please read on:

The incident began shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday when two people spotted the teen allegedly stealing something from a vehicle behind a home in the city’s west end. Police were flagged down and confronted the suspect.”They encountered this male who was armed in the rear lane of a residence,” said Const. Jacqueline Chaput of the Winnipeg Police Service. “They repeatedly requested that he disarm himself and drop the knife.  “The male refused to comply with that request and at that point the electronic control device was deployed.”

The teen was taken to hospital in critical condition, Chaput said, and was pronounced dead there. An autopsy should shed light on the Taser’s role in his death.  Chaput couldn’t say where the Tasers probes hit his body, how many times he was shocked or if the youth injured himself when he fell.

The victim wasn’t named by police, but CTV Winnipeg quoted Sharon Shymko as saying it was her son Michael Langan.  She told the station her son, an amateur boxer, had dreamed of becoming a cabinet maker.  “This should not have happened. My son’s not here, and there’s nothing else I can say,” she said.  Shymko called for a moratorium on stun guns, although it’s not yet known if the Taser shock contributed to the teen’s death.  “They should have just taken a gun and shot my son right there instead of using the Taser,” Shymko said. “Basically it did the same thing.”

It was the first death involving a stun gun and a Winnipeg police member, Chaput said. Police have used Tasers there since 2005.  The stun guns, and the way police use them, have come under intense scrutiny in recent months, since the death of Robert Dziekanski, an agitated but unarmed Polish immigrant who died last October at Vancouver’s main airport within minutes of being hit by Tasers by RCMP officers.  Video shot by a bystander at the airport was broadcast internationally and helped prompt almost a dozen probes and inquiries.  Since then, deaths after Taser incidents in communities including Norfolk, Ont., Montreal and Halifax have prompted more questions about the stun guns and their frequent use to subdue suspects.

Another story from The Star, courtesy of CM, about a racist group recruiting more rednecks/bigots so that their COLLECTIVE IQ might finally reach triple digits…:

A white supremacist group in Calgary is recruiting new members with an offer to pay the security deposit on a new rental apartment if they move to the city.  A member of the Aryan Guard made the offer in an online posting at stormfront.org entitled “White Nationlist Relocation Program - Destination Calgary.”

In a study released in June, Statistics Canada reported that Calgary has the highest rate of hate crime in the country, with 9.2 cases reported to police per 100,000 people. The national average is 3.1 cases per 100,000 people.