Here are the leading legal headlines from Wise Law on Twitter for Friday, June 7, 2013: Defendant said he shot lawyer to death ‘because he made our lives a misery,’ prosecutor tells jury US Marijuana arrest figures show ‘staggering racial bias,’ ACLU report says Severe rusting of ill-fated Elliot Lake
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Things Fall Apart
Humpty Dumpty is teetering on his wall. Michael Den Tandt writes in the Postmedia papers: Edmonton MP Brent Rathgeber’s resignation from the Conservative caucus, which dropped inside the Ottawa bubble like a little concussion grenade late Wednesday, represents more than the loss of a single MP among the 164 Tories
Continue readingRecreating Eden: Location, Location, Location: the Story Behind Montreal’s Mega Hospitals and the Future of Mount Royal
An extremely important conference is being held today on the future of Mount Royal–but it may be too late. In a couple of years, four health establishments on the flanks of the mountain will be vacated as they move to two super hospitals now under construction. Getting agreement on where
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: The new Gomery: Ann Cavoukian
This week, Ontario’s “Information and Privacy Commissioner” – her oxymoronic title neatly lays out the point I am about to make – excoriate some of the folks I know pretty well from the Dalton McGuinty government. She ripped those folks from stem to stern, for deleting – or even apparently
Continue readingDefending Public Healthcare: Ambulances and Public Health get cash while other sectors starve
From time to time there are rumors that EMS (ambulance services) and municipal public health services may move over to the tender mercies of the Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), which fund hospitals, home care, long term care, and other health services. Fortunately– for these services — that has not
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Ford’s friends
Quote: One resident of the home where Mayor Rob Ford was photographed with murder victim Anthony Smith has been convicted of trafficking cocaine. Another was found guilty of possessing a prohibited weapon. In 2011, Elena Johnson, the 51-year-old daughter of homeowner Lina Basso, was convicted of trafficking in cocaine. Her brother, Fabio
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Why the Anti-Choice Position is Wrong.
PZ Myers discusses abortion and how asinine the anti-choice positions actually are. From the article Abortion rights are human rights. […] However, the equivalence of mother and fetus is an untenable proposition. A mouse has more complexity and autonomy than a fetus, and we don’t even hesitate when the choice
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Ride to Conquer Cancer
My ex is riding a bike tomorrow all the way to Niagara Falls. She won’t be alone. Lots of folks are doing likewise, for the Princess Margaret Ride to Conquer Cancer. Suzanne’s personal page, where you can read her story and contribute, is here. She’s been training for months, and
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Carol Goar: why won’t Wynne government help the victims of institutional abuse?
A must-read: Ontario once ran 16 of these institutions. All are closed now. But shutting the doors doesn’t undo the damage provincial employees did to thousands of cognitively disabled youngsters. The province has silenced them for half a century. But their day of reckoning will come — no matter how
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Could This Be the 21st Century’s Most Powerful Idea?
This is a guest post by Chris Wood, adapted from his brand new book, Down the Drain: How We Are Failing to Protect Our Water Resources. What we have here is a system failure. It’s not just that our profligate burning of fossil fuels is winding up the planet’s thermostat. Nor
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Your Daily Nazi: Marc Lemire Throws In The Towel
From Richard Warman’s site: It was only a matter of time after the Supreme Court unanimously upheld civil law controls on hate speech as constitutional in the Whatcott case, but Marc Lemire has finally admitted that his parallel attack on the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibition on Internet hate-speech (s.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Get worried-er #nlpoli
Here are a bunch of stories all of which would deserve a post of their own but that are presented here cut down to the barest of bare essentials. King of the Keystone Kops Strikes Again: Not content to demonstrate his incompetence with his earlier budget shag up, justice minister
Continue readingCathie from Canada: Today in tweets
I was going to make an NSA Twitter joke but they just called & told me they’d heard it already— Thers (@Thers) June 7, 2013 #NSACalledToTellMe that I left my garage door open this morning but not to worry, they’ll close it when they leave.— Two Millimeters (@RebeccaAnn81) June 7,
Continue readingCanadian Political Viewpoints: Ahead of the Eight Ball
Just when we thought things couldn’t get lower in Ottawa, CBC News breaks the story of the PMO’s special fund; an ultra-secret cash reserve that few people knew about. The covert existence of such a fund is bad enough, but the cash trail for it is where things really start
Continue readingAnti-Racist Canada: The ARC Collective: Lemire Cries Uncle
We figure we’ll go right to the source in this one: Marc Lemire throws in the towel It was only a matter of time after the Supreme Court unanimously upheld civil law controls on hate speech as constitutional in the Whatcott case, but Marc Lemire has finally admitted that his
Continue readingthe woodshed: Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words
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Continue readingBuckdog: Here’s a few reasons why Stephen Harper is going to skip out of Friday’s Question Period ….
-PM’s former chief of staff controlled secret Tory fund -Pamela Wallin could pay back another $20,000 in expense claims -Conservative MPs used like ‘trained seals,’ Rathgeber says -Backbenchers support Rathgeber’s bill -Liberals want auditor general to investigate prime minister’s office too
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Stephen’s even: Brent Rathgeber’s out; Peter Goldring’s back, all’s right with the world
Independent MP Brent Rathgeber takes aim at Tory opacity. Now that he’s incurred the PM’s wrath, though, it’s not so likely they’ll let him dress up as a sailor in a real Canadian Navy uniform. Below: Mr. Rathgeber tries out another branch of service, Restored Tory Peter Goldring and Alberta
Continue readingLet Freedom Rain II: Meet "Slush Fund" Nigel Wright
Is this asshole even a Canadian? If I was named ‘Nigel’ I get tougher than this. I’d go to 11.
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