I am not one for jingoism or blind allegiance to one’s country.  There are many things about Canada that make me ashamed to be Canadian.  And to be frank, I have not always stood up during the singing of the national anthem in the professional sporting events I used to attend (until I began boycotting them quite a while back).  But the story below makes me sick of the parents, the principal, and anyone else who is trying to make everybody kowtow to their idiosyncratic and selfish needs.  I mean, our anthem is pretty tame and inoffensive (oops…it contains a reference to “god”….oh no….) and does not make mention of anything that could be considered bellicose or anything similar.

So who the fuck is any parent to demand that the national anthem not be played?!  I heard on the radio today a Jehova’s Witness who said his faith prevented him or his children from attending to the anthem.  But he simply discussed this with the school and had his children quietly stand outside each day, rather than impose his beliefs on everyone else.  We are THE MOST accommodating country on the planet and it’s disgusting.  We have to respect every single person’s and “group’s” needs, aside from those that represent the beliefs of the founders of this country! (I call them “founders of Canada” because of course they are not the original inhabitants.)

Now, I don’t want to come across as some ignorant, “poor white man” conservative who is stupid and ignorant enough to think that somehow white people in North America have it worse off than any other group.  Of course, in general the “majority”–particularly white men–have it better than any other group in Canad.  And I am all for respecting the needs of other “groups” to a degree.  But when we can’t even say “Merry Christmas” or have Christmas trees in gov’t buildings–yet can have other religious displays from differerent religions in those same places–and can’t even say “Happy Halloween” in certain insane contexts, and now can’t even play the freaking national anthem–yet allow Muslims to have their own space to pray to Mecca during school time (and many other accommodations for people of all backgrounds in school)–I think we’ve gone way too far! Read on:

School slammed for dropping O Canada

OTTAWA – The wrath of the dominion is raining down on a tiny elementary school in rural New Brunswick – a year and a half after it stopped playing O Canada on its morning public address routine.  The September 2007 decision by the principal of Belleisle Elementary School in Springfield, N.B., suddenly found its way Friday to the floor of the House of Commons. “This is political correctness run wild,” Mike Allen, the Conservative MP for Tobique-Mactaquac, told parliamentarians. “There is nothing more inclusive than O Canada. It is a song that belongs to each and every Canadian.”

Allen was soon joined in his condemnation by a junior minister in the Conservative cabinet. “We have soldiers in Afghanistan on a continuous basis rotating in and out and the least we can do is show pride for our country and our flag,” Keith Ashfield, secretary of state for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, told reporters in the Commons foyer.

The storm was unleashed, rather belatedly, after Belleisle principal Erik Millett was quoted in local New Brunswick media explaining the policy. The small, 11-classroom school with about 230 students stopped playing the anthem during a redesign of the morning routine in September 2007.

Two families had complained about the anthem, Millett told the Saint John Telegraph Journal. “There are people of particular faiths who would say the Lord’s Prayer should be brought back,” Millett told the newspaper. “Other people of particular faiths or beliefs say they don’t want their child to sing the anthem.

“It’s not up to me, as a school administrator, to subject kids to something their parents don’t want them exposed to. I have to protect the minority rights as well as the majority rights.” The anthem’s elimination was one of several changes, he said, that made for a more productive start to the school day. The singing of O Canada was reserved for monthly assemblies. “We thought we could give more prominence, more importance, to the anthem than playing a taped version over a crackling PA system,” Millett told the Telegraph Journal. “Our decision to change the time, location and frequency is to provide an enhanced experience for the student.” {THIS IS PATHETIC RATIONALIZATION AT ITS WORST!}

This type of story is, fortunately, relatively rare–the headline says it all:

N.S. woman admits she strangled daughter to keep boyfriend

but I have written about such Arguments for the Death Penalty before (here’s one such story, and here’s one with an international flavour) and am doing so again, as you can see below (thank you, Chester). 

Despite its relative infrequency, the fact is that very many mothers and fathers harm their children is similar ways, only less severe.  But the children who survive are still usually scarred for the rest of their lives and usually receive no treatment/counseling for the horrors to which they were subjected; or they receive inadequate counseling due to the incompetence or lack of skills of the therapist and/or delay in finally getting help. 

And the fact is, many of the women do these horrible things in order to stay with their partner, just like this evil woman, and the partner is almost always abusive, just like the women’s long history of abusive partners.  And in virtually every case, these women have a long history of physical, emotional, psychological and/or sexual abuse beginning in childhood.   Just read below and shake your head:

Penny Boudreau sobbed as she apologized in court Friday. She was sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 20 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. (CBC)A woman from Bridgewater, N.S., has been handed a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 20 years for strangling her only child after her boyfriend gave her an ultimatum. Penny Boudreau, 34, pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder in the death of 12-year-old Karissa Boudreau. The girl’s frozen body was found on the outskirts of Bridgewater on Feb. 9, 2008, about two weeks after her mother reported her missing.

Boudreau, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, told the court, “I’m sorry.” When asked about the apology, Paul Boudreau, Karissa’s father, said bluntly: “Crocodile tears.” “Justice has been served,” he added.

Justice Margaret Stewart, who handed down the sentence at the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Bridgewater, said Boudreau can no longer call herself mother. Karissa’s relatives sobbed loudly as Crown attorney Paul Scovil read out the grim details of the girl’s final moments in an agreed statement of facts. The court heard that Boudreau’s boyfriend, Vernon Macumber, told her she had to choose between him and her daughter if she wanted to save their relationship.

Carried body to river

It was dark and snowy on Jan. 27, 2008, when Boudreau drove the girl to a remote spot on William Hebb Road in Hebbville, near Bridgewater. They got out of the car and argued. Boudreau tackled her daughter, knelt on her chest and strangled her with a length of twine. Boudreau could feel the girl’s hands digging into the ground as she struggled.

Karissa’s last words were, “Mommy, don’t.”

Boudreau then put the body in the car and threw away the twine in a coffee cup. She drove to a spot along the LaHave River, and as she dragged the body, pulled down Karissa’s pants to give the impression the girl had been sexually assaulted. She then rolled the body down an embankment.

Karissa Boudreau, 12, was a Grade 6 student at Bridgewater Elementary School. (Bridgewater police)Boudreau later tossed several pieces of Karissa’s clothing in the garbage can at the local swimming pool. When she got home, she told police her daughter had run away. She also called friends and teachers to spread the story.

Paul Boudreau is still trying to comprehend what happened. Karissa was living with him at one point but moved to Bridgewater to be with her mother. “I can’t call it anything other than a senseless act,” said Boudreau, adding his ex-girlfriend had options. “Had I known this was going to happen I would have never let her go back. But what parent is going to say, ‘No, you can’t go back and see your mother,’” he said.

Penny Boudreau was charged with first-degree murder in June 2008. At the time, police said they believed Karissa knew her killer. Scovil said he agreed to the lesser charge of second-degree murder to give the family some closure and avoid a trial. Murder carries an automatic life sentence. Both the Crown and defence recommended parole eligibility after 20 years. “All in all, it was the right thing to do,” Scovil said.

As for Macumber, Scovil said there was no evidence he wanted his girlfriend to kill her daughter. He said Boudreau made it clear that she was solely responsible. “We suspected very strongly that he must have had an idea. But there was no evidence to suggest that he either had concrete evidence or assisted in any way,” Scovil said.

Undercover police investigation

The grim truth of what happened to the girl came out as a result of an undercover police investigation. Boudreau gave the details to officers posing as organized crime bosses, who said they could help her destroy evidence held by police.

Karissa’s story has gripped the small Nova Scotia community ever since her mother made a tearful plea at a news conference for her daughter’s safe return. Boudreau said they had had a fight in the parking lot of a grocery store, and when she came back to the car, Karissa was gone. Several searches of the area turned up no sign of the young girl. Two weeks later, a passerby discovered Karissa’s frozen body on the bank of the LaHave River.

Penny Boudreau can apply for early parole after 15 years under the faint-hope clause.

Life has kept me away from this blog for a few days but I could not let this story pass unmentioned.  If anyone has watched the train wreck that was Blagojevich’s press junket this past week—he hit all the day-time talk shows and related media forums—you witnessed all that is wrong with North America (and elsewhere) these past few years: Namely, too many idiots in North America believe that, regardless of the FACTS, as long as you provide a “counter-argument,” no matter how obviously false it is, it deserves to be considered.  And worse, if there are two (or more) sides to an issue–once again regardless of the FACTS–you should be free to believe whichever side you want to be real. Oy, oy and more oy…

Illinois governor Blagojevich bounced from office

SETH PERLMAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Gov. Rod Blagojevich was thrown out of office Thursday without a single legislator rising in his defence, ending a nearly two-month crisis that erupted with his arrest on charges he tried to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat.

Blagojevich becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment. After a four-day trial, the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict him of abuse of power, automatically ousting the second-term Democrat.

In a second, identical vote, legislators further barred Blagojevich from ever holding public office in the state again.

“He failed the test of character. He is beneath the dignity of the state of Illinois. He is no longer worthy to be our governor,” said Senator Matt Murphy, a Republican from suburban Chicago. Blagojevich’s troubles are not over. Federal prosecutors are drawing up an indictment against him on corruption charges. Outside his Chicago home Thursday night, Blagojevich vowed to “keep fighting to clear my name,” and added: “Give me a chance to show you that I haven’t let you down.”

I’ve written before about how even the best intentions get wasted or bungled whenever any level of Canadian government gets involved.  Here’s one more infuriating example:

A jobs program that fails

  
After Carlos Avilés maimed his hand fixing a machine for his boss, the provincial agency responsible for his rehabilitation came up with a bizarre scheme. The Workplace Safety & Insurance Board decided Avilés would need months of costly but basic math and language training, even though he already had an Ontario high school diploma. At a private learning centre where tuition costs as much per year as Canada’s top law school, Avilés would prepare for life as a clerk earning near minimum wage.

“It was a waste of time,” he said. “So much money wasted. It’s all garbage. The training was inadequate. This is not real school. It’s for kids. (But) I have to go there.” Avilés was caught up in a flawed WSIB program that is supposed to train injured workers to re-enter the workplace and restore their preinjury wage. It is known as Labour Market Re-Entry, or LMR.

But a Toronto Star investigation has found that the $150 million program is running up increasingly high costs while failing to lead nearly half of its 5,000 participants to work. Participants like Avilés were sent to private schools charging high tuitions so that they could get menial jobs as cashiers, clerks and attendants.

Who bears the cost? The WSIB, a collective liability insurance system funded by employer premiums, pays the bill. Under this system, a worker’s retraining program affects the premium of the company where he or she was injured. The higher the cost of an LMR plan, the greater the likelihood an employer’s premium will rise. One CEO said the costs are “exorbitant” and implored the WSIB to rein in the expensive program.

Nelson Fachola’s academic upgrading cost $33,000 over 18 months, considerably more than tuition for a four-year undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto. It was hoped he would find work doing data entry and shelf stocking that paid $11 an hour. He sent out hundreds of resumés but found nothing. Now Fachola, described by one former employer as a “pleasure to work with,” is out of a job. “It’s unfair. It’s a big business,” said Fachola, who developed severe asthma after inhaling wheat and rye at the tortilla factory where he worked. “I went over a year and a half. My English still poor. I don’t know it helped.”

Gladys Canelas pressed 800 shirts a day before both arms gave out to carpal tunnel syndrome. She was sent to a school that charged $21,000 a year in the hopes she would become a “customer service clerk” earning $10.50 an hour. That’s the same wage she earned in her preinjury job that she held for seven years without this expensive training. “Someone has to stop this stupid thing,” said Canelas, who quit her program in frustration and is now unemployed. “Money, money, money for nothing.”

In a response to the Star’s findings, the WSIB acknowledges problems and said it is looking for cheaper, more efficient retraining alternatives. “You’ve got three examples that seem somewhat egregious, and the amounts of money seem on their own to be outrageous,” said WSIB chair Steve Mahoney, adding that the LMR program costs $150 million a year to handle only 2 per cent of the WSIB’s annual injury claims. “Given the new economic lens that we’re all looking through, that’s an extraordinary amount of money. Like, holy smokes.”

Since 1998, the WSIB has outsourced the LMR program to claims management firms. Companies such as Crawford Healthcare Management, Sibley & Associates and NRCS Inc. are supposed to assess the worker’s abilities, decide on a suitable job and the training needed to get that job. A typical program lasts 20 months. Several injured workers said they had no choice about what school they attended and very little input into study plans, and that they were instructed to do as they were told or lose their WSIB benefits. These workers attended school three or four hours every day, in some cases leading to tuition bills of more than $25,000.

The claims management firms typically charge the WSIB an additional $80 to $90 an hour to monitor each student’s progress, once or several times a month. The firms often charge another $30 to $45 an hour just to travel to meet with the student. None of the companies mentioned in this article would agree to an interview. In Gladys Canelas’s LMR plan, those fees were expected to total $9,500 over two years. The WSIB said the three-year contracts with these firms expire shortly and the agency will consider changes. And Mahoney said he has spoken to heads of schools who question the value of the management firms. “Why, with an organization the size of the WSIB, with 4,400 employees … can we not manage this kind of retraining internally?” Mahoney said.

But while the costs mount – an estimated $156 million last year, up 19 per cent from 2005 – the results are, at best, mixed. Of the 5,000 injured workers who begin LMR programs each year, 1,000 do not finish and another 1,400 finish but do not return to work in the field the program trained them for. While injured workers attend these schools, they receive wage loss benefits from the WSIB. Shortly after the retraining is done, the WSIB assumes the worker is fit to find the designated job, and often significantly reduces or stops the benefits. Whether the worker finds a job does not matter. The same reduction can be triggered if a worker drops out of the program.

One of the private providers is Grade Expectations, a chain of 45 learning centres that provided English-as-a-second-language and other academic upgrading programs to Canelas, Avilés and other workers. (The company also teaches children and adults not in the LMR program.) Over several days, the Star interviewed more injured workers during their coffee and cigarette breaks at a Grade Expectations on Dundas St. W. They refused to be identified for fear of being thrown out of the program and losing their wage loss benefits. One man said, “They are wasting money. It’s a game.” Another said, “What do you learn here? Nothing. I blame WSIB.” They, like Canelas and Avilés, complained that they were often left to work from exercise books with little instruction. Canelas, who attended the Dundas St. location, said teachers were often late.

Grade Expectations president Michael Bateman disputes the criticism, saying Canelas, Avilés and Avila gave positive reviews in exit surveys. But he would not show those documents or discuss those students any further, citing privacy concerns.

Canelas said she complained to the firm that sent her to the school, Crawford Healthcare, but nothing was done. A Crawford spokesperson declined to comment. Bateman added that students routinely give his schools high marks in satisfaction surveys. “We’re not making a ton of money off a classroom,” he said of his rate of $25 an hour per student. He said his 200 teachers are “board certified” and instruct students as well as assign homework. So why is the WSIB sending workers to expensive, private schools?

It’s a question that was asked 15 years ago, by then-MPP for Mississauga West, Steve Mahoney. Why, he asked during a debate at Queen’s Park in 1994, are workers being sent to private schools at an “incredible cost” when the public system might be a better option. Mahoney also said workers complained of poor instruction and were ordered to participate or lose their benefits. He called for the provincial auditor to investigate “this mess.”  Since his appointment to head the WSIB in 2006, Mahoney has been working on improvements to the program, he said.

Recently, the Star also found academic upgrading courses at publicly funded institutions, such as George Brown and Sheridan colleges, where courses approved by the province are half the cost. Bateman and the WSIB say private tutoring services offer smaller class sizes (three students for every teacher) and continuous enrolment (courses start whenever it is convenient for the worker). Bateman also said the course work is tailored to each student’s needs.

Management firms turn to Grade Expectations because they have found public offerings “were not costing … much money but they weren’t getting the outcomes,” Bateman said. “Students weren’t completing their courses, they weren’t succeeding.” Nevertheless, the WSIB says it is in talks with provincial education officials to see if it can send more injured workers to public schools that could add features such as continuous enrolment. The WSIB is also asking unions if apprenticeship programs would be better than academic upgrading for some. Meanwhile, the head of one for-profit school agrees that the program needs to become more practical.

At Career Essentials, which has 30 locations serving 220 injured workers, president Kate Bird says she has grown concerned that her courses were not adequately serving injured workers. She says she is changing her approach to ensure each worker gets the essential skills to hold an entry-level job instead of “teaching geometry to people who are going to be office clerks.” She wonders why the WSIB does not set standards that schools like hers must meet. In Nova Scotia, she adds, the workplace insurance system requires she submit a proposal for approval.  “If the WSIB said that you need to register with us in some way, and you had to demonstrate with us that you have X, Y and Z in place, I would encourage that. I would be first in line.” Mahoney said he will consider Bird’s idea.

TWO DAYS AFTER he travelled from his home in Ecuador to the Jane and Finch neighbourhood in 1975, Carlos Avilés went to work. First as a spot-welder, then 13 years in a window factory, followed by a stint in a sewer pipe plant that paid $16 an hour. In 2000, trying to improve his prospects, Avilés attended an adult learning centre in a high school in Toronto’s north end. He earned a diploma and an honour roll certificate that he keeps preserved in manila envelopes.

So he was surprised when, after crushing his hand while trying to fix a machine that makes glass syringes, the WSIB asked him to attend Grade Expectations to learn old material.  The course work was to be part of a $48,000 plan for Avilés that also included job-search training, computer tutoring at another training facility and an internship. All so he could find a job paying $10.65 – 15 per cent less than what he took home at Interglass. A case manager from the firm Sibley & Associates would monitor his progress at the rate of $85 per hour. “I asked Sibley: Why did you send me to that place?” said Avilés. “I have my diploma. Why not put me in college? Why not Humber or Seneca?’ They said, ‘You are not in that position.’ ” A Sibley executive did not comment, citing confidentiality concerns.

Avilés said he floundered at his internship as an auto parts clerk, unable to understand the technical lingo. His internship attendance was poor and he sputtered to the end of his LMR program. Once finished, he saw a substantial loss of his WSIB benefits. Avilés is unemployed though he says he is looking for work. In the meantime, he has been using credit cards to cover his monthly expenses. A for-sale sign sticks out of his lawn. His cellphone, sitting on the table, lights up with a call. Avilés picks it up, looks the call display. Another collection call. Avilés groans. “All day long,” he says. “What am I going to do? I’m broke.” Still on pain pills for his hand and antidepressants for the anxiety he says was caused by the WSIB, Avilés remains upset at how much money schools like Grade Expectations and firms like Sibley have made from the workplace insurance system. “A lot of people benefit from us,” he said. “We get left in the dark. Injured workers, we need help.”

Love him or hate him, you have to appreciate pioneers.  And Howard Stern is definitely one such pioneer.  I’ve followed him for years and love to go to Youtube to hear old bits that still crack me up.  Here is one example from 2006 that shows why everyone tries to imitate him.  There are 8 segments and it takes over an hour to hear it all, but it is F-U-N-N-Y!

Five months ago, I wrote a thread about an article on a real Argument for Birth Control moving company.  Today, Don provided this update–thank you very much!–and I hope he or others will provide more updates on this or any other stories I cover here:

It may be of interest to the victims of Desi Movers, aka Dynamic Movers, Dynamite Movers, Comfortable Movers etc. that there is activity currently aimed at getting these goons into court (both civil & criminal). In fact, Mr. Syed has already pleaded guilty to one civil charge in area court room. Sentencing is due to take place shortly.

I have written before about how incompetent and unethical the IOC (and the Olympic judges etc.) is in this blog as well as this one (and other blogs).  Well, this article from the Globe and Mail gives us one more reason to despise the extremely corrupt IOC:

{As an addendum to the following article, here is a video of an interview with the CEO of the charity in question, being extremely diplomatic and classy while discussing the decidedly un-classy IOC and their petty, mean-spirited decision against his charity (thanks FTP!)}

***IOC sinks to new low by severing ties with charity — World Olympic body has banned Right to Play from 2010 Games and ended its relationship with the humanitarian group***

VANCOUVER — In what surely is one of the worst decisions in its often-troubled history, the International Olympic Committee has banned the international charity Right to Play from attending the 2010 Winter Games.

In fact, it’s gone even further. It’s completely severing its ties with the organization without explanation.

I’m struggling to convey just how much this reduces the IOC. The degree to which the world Olympic body can be small-minded, spiteful and imperious appears boundless.

For those who missed the introduction to this story last October, let me brief you.

Right to Play is a highly regarded humanitarian organization that advocates using sport to improve the lives of children in some of the most disadvantaged and distressed corners of the globe. Its president and founder is Johann Koss, a four-time Olympic gold-medal speed skater from Norway.

The organization was born out of the Olympic movement, springing to life at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. At subsequent Games, the organization set up headquarters in the athletes villages, where it was allowed to gain international media attention and recruit Olympic athletes to work on its behalf and promote the organization.

It had planned to be in Vancouver next year.

That is, until the people at the Vancouver Organizing Committee learned that Right to Play had recently signed a major sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi Motor Sales, a rival to General Motors, a major sponsor of the Games. GM and VANOC were worried that Mitsubishi was going to use its sponsorship with Right to Play as a way of getting Olympic exposure. One GM official described it as a form of “guerrilla marketing.”

So Right to Play was told it couldn’t set up an information table in the Olympic village, as it had in the past.

Well, when word of the decision got out, Canadians were furious. Many wanted to boycott GM. A compromise was suggested: What if Right to Play agreed not to hand out any promotional material at the Games with Mitsubishi’s name and removed any mention of the car manufacturer on the charity’s website for the two-week duration of the Games? Right to Play was comfortable with that arrangement and so, it seemed, was VANOC.

Then, for some reason, the whole matter was turned over to the IOC. Perhaps that was because VANOC wanted the IOC to take the heat for any ultimate decision. Who knows.

Mr. Koss went home to Norway for Christmas not knowing where things stood. But when he returned to the charity’s Toronto headquarters earlier this month, there was a letter waiting for him from the IOC.

“It was dated Dec. 23,” Mr. Koss told me yesterday. “I guess it was my Christmas present.”

In a few paragraphs, the IOC said the group would not be able to promote itself within the confines of the athletes village during the 2010 Winter Games. Furthermore, it was ending its association with the charity, which meant that the Right to Play-related Sport for Development and Peace secretariat would no longer be able to use the Olympics to promote its cause either.

The SDP had been convening meetings of political leaders from around the world at the Olympics with the aim of promoting ideas on how governments can use sport to drive development goals. At the Beijing Olympics, the group unveiled 50 recommendations to help make this happen. The government of Canada contributed to the findings.

When I contacted VANOC president John Furlong about the IOC decision, he said it was the first he’d heard about it. He said he thought there was a way around the sponsorship issue between GM and Right to Play.

“But that area is the IOC’s responsibility so we had to turn it over to them,” Mr. Furlong said yesterday.

While I’m skeptical, we’ll have to take Mr. Furlong at his word. VANOC says it wants to help Right to Play any way it can.

As for Mr. Koss, he was biting hard on his lip, not wanting to say what he probably really thought of the IOC’s ruling.

“I’m disappointed but we’re moving on,” he said. “We will continue to work on behalf of children and sport because I think children around the world are in desperate need of help more than ever. The IOC may not want to have anything to do with us, may want to sever our relationship for some reason, but they can’t change history. We were built out of the Olympics and the best values of sports will always be at the heart of what and who we are.”

Values the IOC seem to have forgotten.

I intentionally avoided writing about Obama’s inauguration (that was soooo….ummmm….EVERYONE…).  Unfortunately, he gets mentioned in this article about the fact that Harper keeps acting like a dictator:

Watchdog alarmed by Harper’s information clampdown

OTTAWA – Canada’s information watchdog says the public knows less than ever about what its government is doing – a stark contrast to Barack Obama’s push for openness in the United States. Information Commissioner Robert Marleau said Thursday the grip on federal files is tightening, largely because of the Conservative government’s “communications stranglehold” on the bureaucracy. “There’s less information being released by government than ever before. And that’s alarming.” In Washington this week, Obama marked his first full day in office by serving notice to officials they must favour disclosure of records under the Freedom of Information Act over keeping them secret. “The government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears,” said his memo to the heads of departments and agencies.

Canada’s Access to Information Act, which has changed little in a quarter of a century, is often criticized as poorly administered, antiquated and generally neglected by the government. It means those who plunk down $5 to request information from federal agencies face delays of several months and frequently receive little of value. Marleau’s office is so backlogged it can take a year or more for his staff to investigate complaints.

The Conservatives took office in early 2006 partly on the strength of promises of new accountability, including reforms to Canada’s outdated Access to Information regime advocated by Marleau’s predecessor. However, the Harper government made good on only a handful of changes, including opening the law to some additional agencies. But the issue of access reform was handed to a Commons committee for more study.

They got it right.  Simple:

Death sentence in China milk scandal

SHIJIAZHUANG–A Chinese court condemned two men to death Thursday and gave a dairy boss life in prison in the first sentences handed down in the tainted milk scandal, which ignited public anger and accusations of coverups.

Investigations showed that middlemen who sold milk to dairy companies were watering down raw milk, then mixing in the banned industrial chemical melamine in dairy products to make them appear to have higher protein content.  Infant formula tainted with melamine was blamed in the deaths of at least six babies and the illnesses of nearly 300,000. A court in the northern city of Shijiazhuang gave a life sentence to Tian Wenhua, 66, the former general manager and chairwoman of Sanlu Group Co., the dairy at the centre of the crisis. She was the highest-ranking official charged in the food safety scandal, which was exposed in September. Tian admitted she had known of problems with her company’s products for months before informing authorities. Tian pleaded guilty to charges of producing and selling fake or substandard dairy products. Tian was also fined $2.92 million US while Sanlu, which has been declared bankrupt, was fined $7.3 million.

The court sentenced Zhang Yujun, 40, to death for running a workshop that produced a melamine-tainted powder branded as protein enriching – which was added to milk apparently to fool quality tests, said spokesman Wang Wei. Melamine is rich in nitrogen and the protein content is measured by nitrogen.

Geng Jinping was also given the death penalty for producing and selling toxic food. A third man, Gao Junjie, was given a suspended death sentence, which is usually commuted to a life sentence. Among the 21 sentences announced, two other life terms were handed down, while the remaining were given jail terms of two to 15 years, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Victim outraged by sentence — Woman, 22, assaulted last year faces attacker in court

The young woman had just stepped off the bus when she saw her attacker moving toward her.”I didn’t have a chance to do anything,” she said. “If I had five more seconds I would have made it inside my building but I knew I wasn’t going to.”

He kicked and hit her hard enough to crack four of her teeth and leave most of her body black and blue for weeks, all the while trying to drag her behind a building. During the assault – as she begged for mercy and offered her cellphone and iPod in exchange for her release – he told her he was going to rape and murder her, she said.

Yesterday she faced her attacker at his sentencing hearing, glancing at him quickly but unafraid as she walked to the front of the room to read an impact statement.

After a moment’s pause she stood, unwavering, and told court how the late-night assault outside her Toronto home has caused her to lose faith in humanity and has derailed the life of a once-promising student and volunteer. “I am jealous of the person I used to be, the person I was before the attack,” the 22-year-old, who cannot be identified, told the Finch Ave. W. court. She’s also filled with anger at what she views as a lenient sentence.

Yesterday, Roderick MacDonald was sentenced to 21 months’ incarceration, in addition to time served, as well as 3 years of supervised probation. The judge recommended MacDonald, 30, serve the remainder of his sentence at the Ontario Correctional Institute in Brampton, which offers treatment for violent sexual offenders. He is prohibited from drinking or owning a weapon, must register as a sex offender and submit a DNA sample. He will serve up to two-thirds of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, court was told.

“There is no sense of justice. We don’t have a justice system, we have a legal system,” said the young woman outside court. She said she is not concerned for her safety, but for other women. “He’ll get out, and there is no doubt in my mind he will do it again and it will be worse.”

Last Feb. 19, just after midnight, she stepped off a TTC bus in the Vaughan Rd. and St. Clair Ave. W. area. When she crossed the street MacDonald chased her, then attacked. She fought him off, her screams attracting the attention of two teenagers in her building, who came running. Her attacker fled, but was located a short distance away. He was charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm, threatening death and forcible confinement, police said.

He pleaded guilty to the first charge; the second and third were dropped as part of a plea agreement. Court heard during deliberations how MacDonald, who is of aboriginal descent, lost his mother at a young age, a brother to murder, struggled with alcohol addiction and was extremely intoxicated during the assault. Particular attention, only as one factor, was given to his status as an aboriginal man, as required under section 718.2 (e) of the Criminal Code.

At the sentencing he stood and apologized for the harm he’d done. It didn’t mean much to a young woman who had everything to lose. Stylish, with vibrant streaks in her brown hair, she carries herself with poise and speaks eloquently. That trait serves her well as she expresses her frustration and anger. At court she was flanked by family and friends. Outside court, her mother said, “It is just astounding to me that someone chooses to smash someone who is so idealistic, such a part of society and the repercussions are so light.

“It was extraordinary that my daughter was able to save herself that day, but I don’t think the next girl is going to be able to,” she said. Before the attack her daughter prepared meals for the homeless and volunteered with injured animals. She had just gotten a raise at a job she loved; she had lived at that apartment for less than a month. After the attack she left Toronto, moving back home with her parents. She has a job, attends school, is able to walk home alone, but struggles to sleep without medication.

The first time she saw MacDonald after the attack was a week before sentencing. She looked him right in the eye. “I wanted him to know, no matter how pathetic our justice system may be, I had more power than him at that moment.” She said her case has opened her eyes to the need for more rights for victims. She plans to return to Toronto and wants to volunteer again, this time with sex assault victims. “I just want to fight for longer sentences, it just needs to be more balanced,” she said. “That he is just serving a few years is horrifying.”

AND HERE IS A PORTION OF THE WOMAN’S VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT, WHICH APPARENTLY HAD NO IMPACT ON THE ARGUMENT FOR BIRTH CONTROL JUDGE:

‘What a change to my life now…’

“I have quite literally lost my faith in humanity. I have a very different view of my role within society. I now realize that the emotional impact that this attack had on me has been much more far-reaching than I could have ever imagined. I feel like a leper sometimes – people don’t know what to say to me.”

“Before the attack, I feel that I did a lot of good for others and people tell me that this was in fact true. I used to live in Toronto and I had a job I really loved … I had to give it up because of a fear of living and travelling alone throughout my city and even my very own street. This feeling of fear I now feel is through no fault of my own. No one has the right to take away another person’s feeling of emotional safety. The apartment I was living in was directly across the street from a bus stop on a busy street in downtown Toronto. The very fact that a person cannot be safe while walking across the street to their home in the city where they live is horrifying.”

“I was a productive, tax-paying, law-abiding citizen while in Toronto. What a change to my life now. I no longer hold any of this previous enthusiasm or promise. I can’t regain the spirit with which I used to face the day. My attacker has taken that away from me. Where do I go from here? My friends tell me that I seem to be lost when it comes to the future. My greatest fear is they are right. Each night when I go to sleep I wonder if I will ever get over this.”