Rational Radical

Here are a few…

Nurse loses licence over affair with patient –Man took his own life after suing CAMH

A nurse formerly employed at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health will lose her licence after she admitted to having sex with a patient while she worked there, a disciplinary panel ruled yesterday.  The nurse admitted that “she sexually abused the patient by engaging in sexual intercourse … among other things” during the man’s in-patient and outpatient treatment, according to an agreed statement of facts presented at her disciplinary hearing. She was fired in 2007 when the affair came to light.

Here’s another case of bad police–remember, I am an ardent supporter of the police but will not ignore the bad apples who do exist within the force.  Fortunately, the woman did finally get some justice, which might help in her long road to recovery:

30 years later, $215,000 for officer’s sex assault – Court makes award for ‘despicable’ attack

The Toronto Police Services Board has been ordered to pay Marian Evans $215,000 – plus her legal costs – after she sued for an “outrageous and despicable sexual assault” committed by a former Toronto police officer nearly 30 years ago. The court also ordered John David Sproule to pay $25,000 in punitive damages. Sproule, a constable who fondled and tried to kiss Evans in 1979 after a traffic stop, refused to attend the trial.

<snip>

On Jan. 6, 1979, Evans, then 24, was driving home alone in Scarborough at 3:30 a.m. when Sproule pulled her over in a marked cruiser and found her licence had been suspended for nonpayment of a fine. He said she could go to prison for 14 years and that he would take her to 41 Division. Sproule left her waiting at the scene and returned a short time later in an unmarked car. He then parked her car in a lot, told her to get into his car and drove to a secluded area where he grabbed her breast and tried to kiss her. When Evans complained to police, Sproule was charged. At the time, he was 32 and had been on the force for five years. He pleaded guilty to indecent assault and was fined $1,000. Back in 1979, Sproule’s father headed the Toronto police morality squad. After the conviction, Sproule quit the force and moved to Northern Ontario. He defied a subpoena to attend the civil trial.

During a hearing in September, Evans, now 54, gave an emotional account of her ordeal and the years of embarrassment and shame that prevented her from confronting what had happened. “I’ve never been so scared in my life before or after,” Evans testified during the proceedings. Chapnik wrote Evans “was trapped for a time in a police cruiser in a parking lot in the middle of the night. The fact that she had committed an infraction made her particularly vulnerable to intimidation by the officer.” Before the attack, Evans was a person her sister Kathleen described as “talented, charming, witty, very beautiful and charismatic,” a person who “lit up the room.” Afterward, Evans testified that she became estranged from her otherwise tight-knit Scarborough family, and over the years has battled depression, low self-esteem, sleeplessness and nightmares about “faceless authority figures.” She continues to panic when she sees police cars, she told the court.

And here’s something from one of my favourite columnists re. the recent case in France, where a Muslim asshole (no, not all Muslims are assholes; this guy happens to be an asshole an Muslim, both of which are relevant here) broke up his wedding party to announce to everyone that he was leaving his new bride because he just found out she wasn’t a virgin (they were about to have sex while the party raged on, apparently).  He tried to annul the marriage but the French legal system said, “Screw you, neanderthal.  We are in the third millenium here…”  Now before anyone accuses me of being ___ist, or ethnocentric, or anti-religion/culture, or anti-virginity, etc., I would have no problem with the story if the virginity rules applied to men as well.  If you belong to a certain culture, religion or society that demands virginity before marriage, so be it.  But when the rules are applied to only one sex, we’ve got a problem.

France got virginity ruling right - Rosie DiManno
A cousin of mine, who married into a Sicilian family, was required to show her blood-soiled wedding night sheets to her new mother-in-law for inspection, proof positive of virginity surrendered. I remember being horrified when she told me about this, a few weeks before the event. It sounded so demeaning. And, with all the knowledge of a teenage virgin, I also warned my cousin: “Some girls don’t bleed, you know.” She just shrugged it off.

I would have opened a vein before submitting to such undignified scrutiny. Indeed, some brides do precisely that, cut themselves to draw a bead of blood, because the revolting custom endures in many societies, whether a requisite of culture or religion. So this is not, strictly speaking, about Muslims. Virginity remains mandatory in vastly different conservative societies. Chastity Promise clubs have gained growing popularity among “till-I-do” teenagers in the U.S.

<snip>

The case provoked wide outrage as an attack on male-female equality. One female government minister called the original tribunal ascent a “fatwa against the emancipation of women.” Technically, the tribunal had based its judgment on a fundamental component of France’s Civil Code: A marriage partner can demand an annulment if his or her spouse fails to fulfill an “essential” part of their agreement. That includes “lack of truthfulness.”

But few in France took much note of the legal niceties. They saw this for what it was: Denunciation of a woman for having sex outside marriage, discrimination based on anachronistic traditions, and imposition of religious values on secular law. A broader fury also coalesced around the case – the worry in France of creeping Islamic fundamentalism threatening the nation’s precious aversion to sanctified religiosity.

<snip>

On the matter of annulment for absence of chastity, the higher court got it right. “Virginity can in no case constitute an essential quality. It is not possible to obtain an annulment on such a discriminatory basis; this motive is an attack on male-female equality, the right to dispose of one’s own body, and human dignity. It would be contrary to public order to grant an annulment on the grounds of non-virginity.”

All my best wishes and even more of my respect goes out to these girls (thanks for the story, CM):

Afghan acid attack victim vows to continue schooling

KABUL–A victim of an acid attack on schoolgirls in Afghanistan says she is determined to stay in school even if that means risking death. The girl, who gave her name as just Shamsia, was the most seriously injured of a group of girls attacked outside their school by unidentified men in the southern city of Kandahar on Wednesday. “I’ll continue my schooling even if they try to kill me. I won’t stop going to school,” Shamsia said from her bed at a Kabul military hospital.

Shamsia, 17, suffered damage to one of her eyes when the men pulled off the girls’ head scarves and threw acid in their faces. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but it bore the hallmarks of the Taliban, who banned girls from going to school during their rule from 1996 to 2001. The insurgents have attacked and destroyed hundreds of schools across the country since they were forced from power in 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

While some teachers and caretakers have been killed, most of the attacks on schools have been at night and violence against children has been rare. The attack on the schoolgirls has shocked a country long used to violence. President Hamid Karzai said the men responsible were the enemies of education.

Shamsia, much of her face covered in a yellow ointment, said she had to finish her education to help the country. “I’ll continue going to lessons. I’m studying to be able to build our country,” she said. Senior education official Najiba Nuristani, who was visiting Shamsia in hospital, was also defiant. “These incidents, these suicide attacks, cannot stop education in Afghanistan, especially for girls,” she said. Shamsia’s doctor, Mohammad Wali, said the girl had suffered damage to an eye but was in good condition.

I’ve said before that the only reason I don’t support the death penalty is that we know for a fact that too many innocent people would end up killed due to incompetent or evil police, judges, juries, crown attorneys, and witnesses.  But there are always people like these two who are true, Indisputable EVIL Arguments for the Death Penalty.  Pure EVIL.  The only problem is that he says he’s going to spend the rest of his life in jail. Not likely.  Maybe a few years, at that. But the only good thing is that people like him definitely get their karma in jail, so he will finally learn a little of what that poor girl suffered through.  This is one of the hardest things you can read.  The original story the day before is even harder and breaks your heart even worse:

Stepfather ‘didn’t want to kill the little kid’

WINNIPEG–The Manitoba man accused of killing his 5-year-old stepdaughter after months of horrific abuse told police her death will “haunt” him for the rest of his life and sobbed at the prospect of going to jail, court heard yesterday. In a videotaped interview with police played at his murder trial in Winnipeg, Karl McKay said he tried to perform CPR on Phoenix Sinclair when he found her lifeless body in the family’s basement in June 2005. “I tried to save her. I tried CPR,” he told an RCMP officer in March 2006. “We were scared. I didn’t know what the hell to do.” McKay and his common-law wife Samantha Kematch are accused of first-degree murder in Phoenix’s death. The couple is also accused of trying to pass off another child as Phoenix to convince welfare investigators and the RCMP that their daughter was still with the family.

McKay’s sons have testified both Kematch and McKay used to beat Phoenix regularly, sometimes with a metal rod or a broken fridge handle. They said McKay also shot Phoenix with a pellet gun “just for the hell of it” and used to choke her until she lost consciousness. “She was always crying and whining about something,” McKay said in the interview, denying he ever choked or shot Phoenix. The day she died, McKay told police he told Phoenix to “shut up” and threw her about “three or four feet” on the basement floor. But he said she landed on a pile of clothes and was still breathing when the couple left to visit McKay’s father nearby.

Although McKay’s son said his dad “stomped” on Phoenix and beat her before leaving her on the basement floor that day, McKay said he did not recall doing that. The day before she died, McKay said Kematch hit Phoenix over the head although he said he did not witness that. “I didn’t want to kill the little kid,” McKay said. “Once in a while, I would give her a licking. I didn’t intend to do serious harm.” After five minutes of performing CPR, McKay said the couple took Phoenix upstairs and gave her a bath to try to revive her. When it didn’t work, he said they took her back downstairs and wrapped her in plastic. They drove her out beyond the Fisher River garbage dump and buried her in a shallow grave, he said.

“I wish it had never happened,” a crying McKay said. “Maybe now she can rest in peace.” It was Kematch who used to beat up Phoenix, McKay said. She had a lot of “anger in her” which she took out on her daughter, he said. Kematch would say “I wish I could just give her back to her dad or get rid of her,” McKay said. “Samantha would just treat her like an animal,” he said, adding she used to tie Phoenix up in the bathroom. “She had no heart.” During McKay’s video testimony shown yesterday, Kematch often turned around and glared at him as he sat beside her in the prisoner box.

On the video, McKay broke down sobbing when he talked about Phoenix’s death. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life in jail,” he said, worrying he would not be able to see his boys until they were grown. “I made a big mistake. I got to pay for it.” McKay drew a map to show where Phoenix was buried. Her body was found in a shallow grave near the Fisher River garbage dump in March 2006. Earlier in the police interview, McKay said he was on at least 10 different kinds of medication for health problems relating to diabetes, pancreatitis, depression, insomnia and fibromyalgia. The medication would sometimes cause mood swings and caused him to lose 60 pounds in one month, he said. His father had 26 kids by various women and he spent his life in foster care, McKay said, adding he used to get “lickings” as a child. At the end of the interview, he said, “I want to say sorry to Phoenix. She didn’t deserve that. This is going to haunt me for the rest of my life

I know some people question whether “hate crimes” deserve extra penalties and I know that sometimes our definition of such crimes can be misused.  I think this case is a perfect example of a true hate crime and this man should not be walking the streets until he can prove he’s not a dangerous psychopath: 

Lesbians attacked outside school — Man, 43, charged with assault, but moms say it’s a hate crime

Jane Currie and her partner, Anji Dimitriou, both small, soft-spoken women, were waiting with other parents at Gordon B. Attersley public school in Oshawa, when, fists flying, a man attacked them, his blows as harmful as his words.  “Which one of you two ‘men’ spoke to my kid? F—— dyke. Lesbians,” he said, spitting in Dimitriou’s face. As she wiped her face, eyes closed, he punched her on the cheek and wound up again, slamming her backward into her truck. As Currie ran toward him, she remembers him shouting, “F—— dyke bitches,” and punched her on the cheekbone so hard the skin burst apart, blood splattering.

In seconds, it was over. Another man intervened, so did a woman, pushing the attacker aside. Police were called. The principal led him inside to her office, Currie said. A man was arrested and charged with two counts of assault causing bodily harm. It wasn’t the first time the man had called them those names, Currie said. There have been several other occasions where he had verbally attacked them, usually over a parking spot in the school lot.

Insp. Brian Osborne, of Durham Regional Police, said last night that the department will investigate the possibility that the assaults could be classified as hate crimes. The decision to pursue those charges is usually made with the Crown attorney’s office, Osborne said. Charged is Pathetic Argument for Birth Control Mark Scott, 43, of Oshawa.

Maybe there’s more to this story (e.g., severe mental illness), but for now at least one of the parents is an Argument for the Death Penalty and I don’t want them extradited back here. Send them to some island with other evil monsters:

Fugitives in baby death hide under mattress — Montreal couple arrested in Florida after nine-month search

A couple who disappeared before their nine-month-old boy died alone in a Montreal hospital last winter has been arrested in Florida.  The couple was found hiding under a mattress in a small bedroom after police raided an apartment in Tampa on Friday, said Deputy U.S. Marshal Daniel Winfield. He said police had been acting on a tip from Canadian authorities. The arrest ended a nine-month search for the couple.  The baby had been brought to the Montreal Children’s Hospital on Feb. 16 in respiratory distress. An autopsy showed signs the boy had suffered abuse and died from being violently shaken.  Flotvelyne Jean-Louis, 20, and Casy Pierre Mesidor, 26, have been charged with second-degree murder. They will be extradited to Canada, Winfield said.

I’m sure it was a mistake, but this has got to be one of the ugliest mistakes one could make:

Call it a Remembrance Day story that a leading genealogy website would rather not remember. To honour the memory of the Canadian soldiers who died in the First World War, Ancestry.ca was offering, until the end of the month, a free Web search of military databases that contained the records of this country’s soldiers. A half-page ad that ran in a Toronto newspaper on Sunday, adorned with a large red poppy, was titled “My Grandfather. My Hero,” with details of how to do the search.

But the colour ad featured a photograph of a German, not an Allied soldier, a blunder that angered some veterans and historians. “If you’re going to run an ad like that you better make sure you don’t make such a gross mistake,” said David Bercuson, the director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies with the University of Calgary.

“It’s an atrocious, upsetting mistake, especially at this time of year,” said William Campbell, a 77-year-old who served as an infantryman with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment during the Korean War, and lost an uncle in the First World War. “I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the picture of the German soldier,” said Kevin Nikkel, a history buff who said he “teared up” recalling the memory of three uncles who fought in the Second World War.  It’s an outrage to the memory of those who died fighting for this country.”

What can I say about this one? 

Peel police officer pleads not guilty in fake cocaine case — White powder taken from RCMP sting

A veteran Peel police officer has pleaded not guilty in a bizarre case that saw 15 kilograms of fake cocaine disappear from an RCMP sting operation. Police say they found the white powder in a storage area in the Cambridge, Ont., home of Const. Sheldon Cook, along with marijuana and 21 MP3 players. He was arrested in November 2005 and accused of removing the fake cocaine from a truck being used in an RCMP sting.  The seven charges against Cook, 40, include an attempt to possess a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking; possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking; possession of stolen property from a police investigation; and breach of trust as a police officer in connection with the other offences. Cook, a 14-year veteran, remains suspended with pay by the Peel force until his case is dealt with through the courts.  As a result of the arrest, the federal justice department decided not to prosecute at least six drug cases involving Cook as the arresting officer.

And yes, I am allowed to highlight the hate, hypocrisy, discrimination, and backward thinking of the people who run the mosque or adhere to its ugly principles, regardless of their religion. If you want to preach or follow such ugliness, do it in a country that condones it; Canada is not that country, even though we are selectively tolerant of hate.

Mosque fights for human rights as it smears West, Jews online — Centre backs womens’ complaint of violation of religious rights while denouncing other faiths

A mosque asking that Canadian workplaces respect a strict Muslim dress code is at the same time disseminating slurs against Jews and Western societies, and warning members against social integration. The Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque near Kipling Ave. and Rexdale Blvd. serves as the religious authority for eight Somali women complaining to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that UPS Canada Ltd. violated their religious rights at a sorting plant. The mosque, founded in 1990 and serving upwards of 10,000 people, preaches strict adherence to sharia, or Islamic law, and no compromise with the West.  Teachings on the mosque’s website, khalidmosque.com, refer to non-Muslim Westerners as “wicked,” “corrupt” and “our clear enemies.” Sometimes Jews are singled out.

“Is it permissible for women to wear high-heeled shoes?” begins one posting in question-and-answer format. “That is not permissible,” comes the reply. “It involves resembling the Disbelieving Women or the wicked women. It has its origin among the Jewish women.” Modern pastimes are condemned. “What is the ruling on subscribing to sports channels?” another question begins. “Watching some of the female spectators, when the camera focuses on them time after time” stirs “evil inclinations,” the lesson reads. “Some (players) may not even believe in Allaah.”

Mosque leaders refused repeated requests for an interview. A  disclaimer on the website says questions and answers do not necessarily reflect the mosque’s views. But the About Us page says: “All questions and answers on this site (are) prepared, approved and supervised by (the mosque’s imam) Bashir Yusuf Shiil.”  The mosque’s stand on the UPS case also appears contradictory. In September, a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal heard two weeks of testimony from eight mosque members alleging “Islamophobia” at the company’s west Toronto plant. Three final days of testimony are scheduled for next week.

The eight women, who lost their jobs at UPS, say Islam dictates that they wear a full-length skirt for modesty. The courier company insists that any skirt be knee-length for safety, as workers climb ladders up to 6 metres high. Under their skirt, the women wear full-length trousers but say they do not want the lower part showing in case the shape of the calf can be discerned. The complaint originally centred on the company’s use of temporary workers and uneven enforcement of its safety rules.  But the key question remains: Is UPS insisting on shorter hems for safety or is it violating religious rights by denying the women permanent jobs unless they conform?

So far, no Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque representative has attended the sessions, but the women cited the mosque as their place of worship and religious authority, and tabled a letter from its administration. “This is to certify that the religion of Islam requires all Muslim women to cover her entire body inclusive of the legs, arms, head, ears and neck,” the letter reads. “As such, (the women) would not be able to wear pants as an outfit.” On the other hand, the mosque’s website teachings forbid women to work outside the home in the first place. “It is known that when women go to work in the workplaces of men, this leads to mixing with men,” one such posting says. “This is a very dangerous matter,” it reads. “It is in clear opposition to the texts of the Shariah that order the women to remain in their houses and to fulfill the type of work that is particular for her …”We ask Allah to protect our land and the lands of all Muslims from the plots and machinations of their enemies.”

Two of the women making the complaint – Dales Yusuf, 46, and Nadifo Yusuf (no relation), 36 – said in an interview that they live in Canada now, and are free to pick and choose from Islamic law. “We must work,” said Dales Yusuf. “I’m a single parent raising my kids.” Jacquie Chic, a lawyer with the Workers’ Action Centre representing the women at the hearings, said neither she nor her clients were aware of the mosque’s posted teachings. “I, the Workers’ Centre and these women are concerned enormously about any expression of anti-Semitism or any other form of racism,” she said.

Questions to the mosque about its teachings were met with evasiveness over three weeks. Mosque chairman Osman Mohamed three times agreed to an interview and three times cancelled at last minute. Imam Shiil was said to be in Saudi Arabia and unreachable. Mosque administrator Abukar Mohamed confused matters further by appearing to agree with UPS, saying: “The Quran says women must be covered – it doesn’t give you the specific clothes. But I am not a religious authority.”

I know we’re far too soft on teen monsters, as our laws have not kept pace with changes in society and we want to treat 17 year-old animals as if they were 7 year-old “scamps” (don’t think I’ve used that word before).  But in Arizona, they’re looking to try an 8 year-old as an adult for killing his father, even as they investigate the possibility that he may have been abused (just speculation at this point).  The story raises several important questions, but I’ll let the questions manifest themselves:

Boy, 8, accused of shooting father dead — Arizona man had asked priest if boy should learn to use weapons

ST. JOHNS, Ariz.–A man who police believe was shot and killed by his 8-year-old son had consulted a Roman Catholic priest about whether the boy should handle guns and had taught him how to use a rifle, the clergyman said yesterday. The father, Vincent Romero, 29, was from a family of avid hunters and wanted to make sure the boy wasn’t afraid of guns, said the Very Rev. John Paul Sauter of St. Johns Catholic Church. The boy’s stepmother had suggested he have a BB gun, the priest said. Romero taught his son how to use a rifle to kill prairie dogs, Sauter said. Police say the boy used a .22-caliber rifle Wednesday to kill his father and another man, Timothy Romans, 39, of San Carlos. The priest did not say how he advised the couple but said yesterday that the boy “was just too young.” “That child, I don’t think he knows what he did, and it was brutal.”

The boy, who faces two counts of premeditated murder, did not act on the spur of the moment, St. Johns Police Chief Roy Melnick said. Police are looking into whether he might have been abused. “I’m not accusing anybody of anything at this point,” he said yesterday. “But we’re certainly going to look at the abuse part of this. He’s 8 years old. He just doesn’t decide one day that he’s going to shoot his father and shoot his father’s friend for no reason.’

The boy’s father and stepmother were married in September, said Sauter, who presided over the wedding. Romero had full custody of the child. The boy’s mother had visited from Mississippi the previous weekend and returned to Arizona after the shootings, said Apache County Attorney Brad Carlyon.

On Friday, a judge ordered a psychological evaluation of the boy. Under Arizona law, charges can be filed against anyone 8 or older. The boy had no record of complaints with Arizona Child Protective Services, Carlyon said. “He had no record of any kind, not even a disciplinary record at school,” he said. “He has never been in trouble before.” Police are pushing to have the boy tried as an adult even as they investigate possible abuse, Melnick said. If convicted as a minor, the boy could be sent to juvenile detention until he turns 18.

The boy’s lawyer, Benjamin Brewer, said his client is in good spirits. “He’s scared,” he said. “He’s trying to be tough, but he’s scared.” Police are also investigating whether there were any domestic violence calls to the Romero home in the past, Melnick said. Melnick said police got a confession, but Brewer said they questioned the boy without representation from a parent or attorney and did not advise him of his rights.

Okay, slight exaggeration. However, the flip side to the USA’s wrong-headed “justice” policy (e.g., jailing people for years for tiny marijuana possession, executing far too many innocent people, pardoning the worst criminals b/c of their connections, etc) is that many times the true monsters get what’s coming to them.  They may not get rehabilitated but at least they’re off the streets for years.

And then we have Ontario/Canada.  Here are a few headlines with links to their original stories in the Star (and/or the story below).  Disgust is not nearly strong enough to describe my reaction:

Rights infringed in bust, judge rules - Couple charged with making counterfeit documents acquitted

A young Markham couple charged with faking hundreds of passports, university degrees and government documents was acquitted yesterday after a judge ruled York Regional Police officers violated their rights when they entered their house without a warrant, and arrested them. Calling it the toughest decision of his four years on the bench, Justice Argument for Birth Control Richard Blouin said the breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by the officers was “so serious” he had no choice but to suppress all the evidence against Yan Shen, 26, and his wife, Ruiqiong Zhong, 27.

That evidence included hundreds of forged government documents, including Chinese passports, Ontario drivers’ licences, marriage certificates and diplomas for prestigious universities in Canada. In throwing out charges of possession of forged documents and instruments of forgery, Blouin warned the couple not to look on the acquittal as vindication. The evidence found in their home, the judge said, was a “serious crime” that could impact national security. “Short of violence I can’t think of many more serious offences.”

But he found the actions of the police even more serious, saying officers had entered the house without “much in the way of grounds.” It was only after entering the house, and arresting the couple, that police obtained a search warrant. Charges against three other residents were withdrawn earlier.

All five accused were Chinese visa students on March 6, 2007, when police stumbled on the forgery den in the basement of a house on Eastpine Dr., near Kennedy Rd. and Steeles Ave. E., while investigating car thefts and break and enters in the area. Const. Sony Dosanjh, on patrol in an unmarked car, testified he believed a break and enter was in progress after a male in a car across the street flashed his lights at another male parked in the driveway of the house. As his partner detained the two men outside, Dosanjh entered the house after finding the front door open in —20C weather. After yelling out “Police!” Dosanjh said he was met by Shen, who immediately turned and ran into the basement. Dosanjh followed and found the couple throwing documents around while yelling in a language he did not understand. He called for backup and the arrests were made.

“An open front door is not an invitation for police to come in and gather evidence,” defence attorney Mary Cremer said outside of Newmarket court yesterday. “Life was breathed into the Charter today. It’s a decision, that if it stands it upholds the sanctity of individual rights.”

Defence lawyers suggested that police had lied in court, because their timeline of events did not match that recorded by the dispatcher at headquarters. Zhong’s lawyer, Scott Cowan, said he was outraged police had handcuffed his client, who was 8 months pregnant at the time, and was in pyjamas and slippers when police entered the house at about 11 p.m.

Shen, in jail since his arrest 18 months ago, remains in custody on an immigration warrant alleging that he entered Canada with a forged Chinese passport. Police heralded the bust as the dismantling one of the most ambitious counterfeit document rackets in Ontario history. Senior York Region officers said the operation was a “full service” forgery mill that would allow people to obtain entry into Canada or stay here illegally. “This was quite a brazen operation. You could create an entire false identity,” with the range of documents produced by the high-quality printers, York Police Chief Armand La Barge, said at a news conference to announce the bust.

“In my 30 years on the job, I’ve never seen forged university degrees or mark transcripts – they even produced high school diplomas,’ York Det. Fred Kerr said then. Police displayed university degrees, passports, drivers’ licences and even fake legal stamps from colleges and lawyers. The degrees were from the University of Toronto, York University, University of Western Ontario, Concordia, Brock, Carleton, Seneca College, George Brown College, Fanshawe College and Cape Breton University.

The counterfeiters advertised over the Internet in Chinese, including prices beside each item for sale and the headline. “Best Price! Best Service! Fastest!” Police and university officials said the fakes were virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. Also confiscated during the raid were two high-quality printers, five computers and two laptops. A fake Chinese passport was still sitting in the tray of one printer when police raided the home.

Here’s something I’ve been stressing for so long:

Book on sex assault blasts justice system - Treatment of women, children has changed little in last century

A new book is calling into question the justice system’s treatment of women and children in sexual assault cases, arguing a century of law reform has done little to dispel suspicion surrounding their testimony.

I’ve written about this Argument for the Death Penalty before.  She’s at it again.  I feel bad for the police, since they are trying to do their job but our just-ass system fails time and again:

Dangerous driver, 52, charged again 

A Toronto woman whose driver’s licence was suspended for 10 years for dangerous driving was arrested yesterday, faces criminal charges and had her car impounded, Toronto police said. Gloria Clouthier, who once hit a pedestrian and dragged him to death, was held in jail overnight and will appear in College Park court for a bail hearing today at 10 a.m. She is charged with driving while disqualified, failing to stop for police and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, said Det. Richard MacCheyne. “We take this sort of driving offence seriously,” said MacCheyne. “We ask for forfeiture of the vehicle upon conviction.”

[YEAH, YOU TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY; UNFORTUNATELY, THE JUST-ASS SYSTEM DOES NOT.]

I want to call this mother a Made in Japan Evil Argument for the Death Penalty. However, as is often the case, it’s more complex than that. And several people deserve as much contempt for failing in their various duties:

Japanese girl held captive by mother for 8 years

TOKYO–A Japanese girl was held captive at home for eight years by her mother, officials revealed for the first time Thursday, acknowledging that authorities repeatedly missed the abuse despite several warning signs. The girl was first locked away in 1998 – when she was just 11 – and kept in confinement until 2006, when she was rescued after a neighbor reported possible abuse, officials in northern Sapporo city said. Officials had planned to keep the case from the public to protect her privacy, Sapporo official Hisashi Okada said. But after it was reported in local media on Thursday, the officials gave a news conference.

Okada said the victim, now 21 years old, has lost all memory of the confinement – a typical symptom of trauma – but that the abuse has left its mark, and she is still undergoing rehabilitation. Among the effects of the abuse are intellectual disabilities: The woman only has the reading ability of a 6-year-old. Okada said Thursday that authorities missed several opportunities to catch the abuse. “Regrettably, we had repeatedly missed important signs, even though we had a feeling that something was wrong with the family,” Okada said. “We should have taken another look and gone a step further.” The mother started pulling her daughter out of school in her third year of elementary school. In the sixth grade, she attended only one day of school and just two the following year. In 2000, she stopped attending altogether. But teachers did not suspect abuse. School officials contacted the mother by phone and arranged house visits, Okada said, but the woman never let them see her daughter.

At the behest of city officials, the girl – by then a young woman of 19 – was finally rescued by her father and other relatives in August 2006, when a neighbour reported hearing yelling and hitting coming from the home. She was found sitting against the wall inside a room, unable to talk or stand, despite having no obvious injuries, Okada said. She did not show signs of malnutrition either. No other details were given of her condition. Kazunaga Shibata, director of the city’s juvenile center, said she is considered a victim of neglect, rather than physical abuse. Authorities have not pursued criminal charges against the woman’s parents. But her mother has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized. The victim’s father, who separated from his wife in 2004, contacted city officials several times but consultations only focused on his wife’s mental state, Okada said.

Child abuse is a growing problem in Japan, where the number of cases rose to a new record high of more than 40,000 in the year through March, nearly a 10 per cent jump from the previous year, according to the health ministry. Government efforts to fight abuse have been hindered because children were long considered the belongings of their parents, who often justified the use of violence as discipline. Child abuse has grabbed headlines in recent years with several shocking cases. Last year police arrested a mother whose 3-year-old son died after she allegedly forced him to swallow large amounts of hot red pepper.

Ontario bill would ban cellphone use by drivers - Province may seek ‘next-generation’ legislation prohibiting behind-the-wheel use of mobile devices 
The Ontario government may table a bill to ban drivers from using electronic devices as early as Tuesday, a move that would see the province follow Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, which have all banned drivers from chatting and texting on handheld devices while on the road.

Transport Canada’s 2008 report on driver and phone use rates states that 37 per cent of drivers reported using a cellphone while driving and those people had “the most commonly seen unsafe driving behaviours,” such as tailgating or speeding.  Also, the Ontario Medical Association has concluded that driving and talking on a cellphone creates the same risk for the driver as being at the legal limit for alcohol consumption. OMA research, conducted in September, found that talking on cellphones impaired drivers’ visual concentration, the speed at which they process information and their reaction time. Some drivers also abandoned checking their mirrors entirely while on the phone.

[I KNOW SOME PEOPLE CLAIM THAT TALKING ON THE PHONE IS NO DIFFERENT FROM ADJUSTING THE RADIO OR SOMETHING, BUT THE FACT IS THAT TALKING ON THE PHONE IS USUALLY A LONGER PROCESS AND OFTEN INVOLVES EMOTIONS AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES.  AND THE FACT IS, HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU SEE YAPPING AWAY ON THE PHONE, WITH THE OTHER HAND ON THE WHEEL, THUS THEY CAN’T SIGNAL; OR, THEY’VE GOT THE PHONE BETWEEN THEIR HEAD AND SHOULDER AND THUS CAN’T LOOK OVER THEIR SHOULDER BEFORE CHANGING LANES ETC.  BOTTOM LINE, ALTHOUGH MANY OF US CAN TALK AND DRIVE AT THE SAME TIME, TOO MANY PEOPLE CAN’T.  AND THEY ARE THE ONES WHO RUIN IT FOR THE MINORITY OF US.  AND YES, I KNOW THAT ALMOST EVERYONE CLAIMS THEY CAN TALK AND DRIVE WELL, BUT THEN AGAIN, MOST PEOPLE HAVE NO REAL CLUE ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR TRUE ABILITIES…]

Justice reform reports virtually ignored, critics say

Just last week, at virtually the same time a 15-year-old was charged with murdering Brampton teenager Rajiv Dharamdial, government printing presses were gearing up to publish a major new report on preventing youth crime. Commissioned last year by Premier Dalton McGuinty after 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot dead in a Toronto school, the report examines the “root causes” of youth criminal behaviour. It represents months of work by Roy McMurtry, Ontario’s former chief justice, and former Liberal cabinet minister Alvin Curling.

In recent years, the province has appointed a host of prominent people to find ways to fix big problems affecting the justice system, including a legal aid program in peril, a civil court system that bankrupts users and a victims’ services regime that’s confusing and insensitive.  One by one, the reports have piled up. But in most cases, they have produced few perceptible changes, leaving some to question whether the government is truly committed to reforms.

“I’ve been disappointed at the lack of any formal reaction by the government to my report,” said Michael Trebilcock, a University of Toronto law professor. His blueprint for repairing the legal aid system was quietly slipped onto a government website one Friday at the height of barbecue season last summer, without even a press release to notify reporters.  Attorney General Chris Bentley acknowledges many recommendations in the reports would cost little, but is focusing his attention on reducing waiting times for criminal trials. It’s what he calls his “Justice on Target” strategy and “the right thing to do.”

That may be so, but Joe Wamback, who met with McMurtry for several hours for a report on assisting crime victims, says governments are engaging in a “deliberate manipulation of the conscience of the public” when they announce, with great fanfare, that experts are being appointed to study a problem – only to have the results disappear into an abyss.  Officials assume the public’s attention span is short and there will be little political fallout from ignoring recommendations that arise from inquiries, said Wamback, a victims’ rights advocate. The lesson was driven home eight years ago when he attended “candidates’ school” after deciding to run for federal office as a Conservative. “One thing they told us is, ‘If you really screw up and it hits the paper, don’t worry about it: the public’s memory is 48 hours,’ ” Wamback said. “It’s a tragedy, but that’s the way our system works.”

[OF COURSE, THE GOVERNMENT’S IDIOCY AND LAZINESS AND INCOMPETENCE IN THIS AREA HAS LEAD TO THE NEXT AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY:]

‘Extremely dangerous’ man sought in murder of innocent bystander Bailey Zaveda outside Duke of York tavern

The Argument for a Death Penalty has a lengthy criminal record, including weapons offences and aggravated assault.  He also has a lifetime ban on owning a firearm. And the police have said he is extremely dangerous/violent.

[HE’S THE KIND OF PERSON WHO CANNOT BE REHABILITATED AND SHOULD BE LOCKED UP FOR LIFE (OR TERMINATED).  BUT OF COURSE OUR SYSTEM WILL REPEATEDLY LET HIM OUT AND RISK THE LIVES OF MANY PEOPLE BECAUSE NO JUDGES HAVE THE BRAINS TO SEE HOPELESS CAUSES FOR WHAT THEY ARE.  THEN AGAIN, THE NEXT HEADLINE SHOWS THAT SOMETIMES JUDGES SORT OF GET IT RIGHT:]

 “Demon” killer of elderly couple gets 25 years, no parole

Imeson, 23, of Windsor, pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree murder in the killings that terrorized several communities in July 2007.

[THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT THIS GUY WAS OBVIOUSLY TROUBLE FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE.  HE HAD A TRAGIC PAST (DISCOVERED THE BODY OF HIS FATHER AT 9 YEARS OLD AFTER HIS FATHER KILLED HIMSELF) BUT NOT EVERYONE WITH SUCH A PAST BECOMES A PSYCHOPATH OR SOCIOPATH, WHICH IS WHAT HE IS.  ALSO, HIS LAWYER IS ALREADY TALKING ABOUT SEEKING A SHORTER PAROLE INELIGIBILTY PERIOD…FEEL FREE TO READ HIS STORY VIA THIS LINK WHILE IT’S STILL ACTIVE.]

[BUT HAVE NO FEAR, SINCE OUR PM WILL ALWAYS BE SAFE (SEE HEADLINE BELOW), WHILE ORDINARY CITIZENS ARE AT RISK OF BEING KILLED FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON–HOWEVER, LET’S NOT GET INTO FEAR MONGERING AND PRETEND THE RISK IS ANY GREATER THAN IT REALLY IS.  THE ODDS OF GETTING KILLED BY THESE MONSTERS IS VERY LOW; HOWEVER, WHY SHOULD THE RISK FOR MILLIONS OF GOOD PEOPLE INCREASE AT ALL FOR THE SAKE OF THESE ANIMALS WHOSE LIVES TRULY ARE WORTH MUCH LESS THAN THE AVERAGE PERSON?]

$30M to protect Harper since 2006

Nearly $30 million has been spent to provide security for Prime Minister Stephen Harper since he took office in 2006, newly released documents show. And the rising cost of protecting the Prime Minister suggests he may have faced new threats since taking the job, a security expert says. Harper’s security costs totalled $10.7 million during his first year in office and rose to nearly $13 million in the 2007-08 fiscal year, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press through Access to Information laws.

The two headlines below are prime examples of why we need to put aside political correctness and address the real issues.  The first is the case of the first person to be charged with 1st degree murder for knowingly spreading the HIV virus to at least seven women, two of whom died.  Some have worried that it will stigmatize against people with HIV/AIDS and against certain nations in which this disease is rampant.  The second is about the funeral of a 14 year-old who was stabbed to death by two animals who deserve to die, not be locked up for 5 years.

For the first case, knowingly spreading a deadly disease has nothing to do with contracting it.  It’s the same as someone knowingly spreading TB or some other disease.  With the knowledge we have of HIV/AIDS, there’s no excuse for this monster’s actions and he deserves to be put to death.  Yes, the women who had unprotected sex with him were foolish, but that does not excuse this scumbag’s evil intent.  He knew what he was doing and did not care.  He committed pre-meditated murder and does not deserve to live.

For the second case, the boy was a well-loved, good kid minding his own business, when two animals murdered him in cold blood.  We don’t know the details yet but we do know he’s dead for no discernible reason.  I don’t care that the two evil scumbags are black.  I don’t care if they come from a broken home.  I don’t care that they are teenagers.  The fact is, human beings understand the consequences of our actions by that age.  We may not fully appreciate certain things, but we understand that certain actions bring certain consequences.  If you can’t get that, you don’t deserve to be on the streets so that you can ruin other people’s lives.  Yes, some murderous animals can be rehabilitated, but why should we risk millions of people’s lives for the few rare cases?

I’ll concede that maybe we shouldn’t kill them at such a young age; however, we should be 100% convinced that they do not pose a risk before letting them out.  We may all be born equal, but certain people do things that make their lives less valuable than others’.  These animals fit the bill and thus no “good” people should have to be put at risk once they are caught.  If they can prove that they are 100% rehabilitated, fine.  If not, lock them up for as long as it takes and make their parents pay the bill (as much as is feasible).

In fact, I believe that if we are not willing to do the right thing with little evil beings such as these two punks, at the very least I think parents should be held criminally and civilly accountable if it can be shown they were neglectful in their duties as parents.  Now some will say this discriminates against the poor, since many times the parent(s) are working and can’t supervise them properly.

I disagree with that because, as mentioned in previous blogs, it’s an insult to the many poor and/or over-worked parents who still manage to raise good kids.  Moreover, in many of the cases–trust me, I know this very well–it’s very obvious why kids turn out bad: their parents are bad parents/people.  Once again, not all people with bad parents turn out bad, so let’s stop pretending that bad people have magically become that way and should not be held accountable for their evil.

Please understand that I am writing about more severe crimes here.  Also please understand that my hope is that, if parents are actually held accountable for their kids’ behaviours from a young age, they’ll be more motivated to do their jobs as parents and help reduce the chances of their kids turning out bad.  I’d also argue that any parent who could prove that they’d sought help and tried to address their kids’ problematic behaviours from a young age would not necessarily be held responsible for their kid’s later transgressions.  Thoughts?

Lover’s HIV trail laid out - Accused well educated on his ‘responsibilities’ toward sexual partners, murder trial told

The accused, court heard, was diagnosed with HIV in late 1996 and started receiving medical counselling early the next year. All the sexual liaisons at issue occurred between 2000 and 2003, right up until the morning of his arrest. The Ugandan-born civil servant was married with three children when his condition was first confirmed. Power told the jurors they would hear that Aziga had been thoroughly educated about the virus, the risks and which sexual acts were most likely to transfer infection. He was also instructed about “responsibilities” surrounding sexual activity, the need to disclose and how essential to use condoms.

In fact, Aziga allegedly admitted to a public health nurse in 2002 that he’d had sex with at least one partner and not told her of his HIV status, nor used protection at all times. As a result, Aziga was twice issued with orders, under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, to abstain from sexual activities involving penile penetration unless he disclosed that he was HIV positive and wore a latex condom “from onset of erection.”

One of the deceased women says, in her sworn statement, that she phoned Aziga after testing positive urging he get tested. He allegedly later told her that he had done so and the results were positive. They discussed treatments and medication; she even recommended support groups. “She will tell you in her statement that, the way he talked, it was as if this was new to him,” said Power.

Mother weeps at service for slain 14-year-old

Police say they have determined that Rajiv was follolwed by two young black males. Both of the wanted teens are described as being between the ages of 14 and 16.