1931
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Albert Einstein
I know that philosophically a murderer is not responsible for his crime, but I prefer not to take tea with him
Access to the arts
In this week's TLS there is a reference to novelist Alan Sillitoe who attended 'poor boys' camps, left school at 14 and heard his mother called a prostitute.
Yet Sillitoe developed an interest in serious music, literature and painting. He became a successful novelist.
But Sillitoe did not think the situation odd saying "in this country [UK], we have a public library system, free entry to art galleries, and a radio station that broadcasts classical music and drama all day long".
It's easy to forget but there is plenty of access to the arts and that's true in Canada almost as much (we charge for most art galleries) as the UK.
55,000 jobs lost but unemployment down -- huh?
Today's story on job losses shows how a correct fact can reflect a reality far more complex than would at first appear.
Yes, Canada lost 55,000 jobs (bad Tories!) but the unemployment rate also dropped (huh?).
Since more people left the job market than lost jobs the unemployment rate declined. Is that a good thing?
Probably not but it's hard to be sure.
If people left the job market because they are comfortably off and decided to stop working and spend time, say, improving their French, it's a good thing.
If people left the job market because they couldn't find work at all and decided not to even try to get a job it's a bad thing.
Moreover the types of jobs lost and created matters too -- and here government jobs went up but manufacturing jobs were lost. So overall, what does it mean?
I'm not sure but one thing is certain -- the reality is far more complex than merely noting 55,000 jobs were lost and concluding the economy is in freefall.
CTV: Canada's unemployment rate dipped slightly in July to 6.1 per cent, despite losing 55,000 jobs in the month, Statistics Canada reported.
Still, last month's jobless rate means that Canada's unemployment level remains close to a 30-year low.
Statistics Canada said July's job losses, the largest monthly reduction in 17 years, were offset by the number of Canadians who left the job market.
Story here:
http://news.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/Canadas+unemployment+rate+dips+in+July/Business/ContentPosting?isfa=1&newsitemid=canemployment&feedname=CBC-BUSINESS-V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=False&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=False
Yes, Canada lost 55,000 jobs (bad Tories!) but the unemployment rate also dropped (huh?).
Since more people left the job market than lost jobs the unemployment rate declined. Is that a good thing?
Probably not but it's hard to be sure.
If people left the job market because they are comfortably off and decided to stop working and spend time, say, improving their French, it's a good thing.
If people left the job market because they couldn't find work at all and decided not to even try to get a job it's a bad thing.
Moreover the types of jobs lost and created matters too -- and here government jobs went up but manufacturing jobs were lost. So overall, what does it mean?
I'm not sure but one thing is certain -- the reality is far more complex than merely noting 55,000 jobs were lost and concluding the economy is in freefall.
CTV: Canada's unemployment rate dipped slightly in July to 6.1 per cent, despite losing 55,000 jobs in the month, Statistics Canada reported.
Still, last month's jobless rate means that Canada's unemployment level remains close to a 30-year low.
Statistics Canada said July's job losses, the largest monthly reduction in 17 years, were offset by the number of Canadians who left the job market.
Story here:
http://news.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/Canadas+unemployment+rate+dips+in+July/Business/ContentPosting?isfa=1&newsitemid=canemployment&feedname=CBC-BUSINESS-V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=False&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=False
Saving us all, one chauffeur at a time
An interesting but surprisingly leftist (well, maybe not leftist just grumpy) editorial in the Edmonton Sun. I tend to agree with some comments (thanks J) here that suggest the result in the Hamdan case shows the system works better than perhaps expected. That said the editorial is a good read:
I am relieved that Salim Ahmed Hamdan got his butt kicked in Guantanamo on Wednesday. For a couple of days, it looked as though Osama bin Laden's former driver was going to get away with being a chauffeur to a terrorist. Especially to a terrorist the world can't seem to apprehend.
I am relieved that Salim Ahmed Hamdan got his butt kicked in Guantanamo on Wednesday. For a couple of days, it looked as though Osama bin Laden's former driver was going to get away with being a chauffeur to a terrorist. Especially to a terrorist the world can't seem to apprehend.
But thankfully, this week Hamdan was convicted of "providing material support for terrorism."
He's now facing a five-and-a-half year prison term, and so he should, the callous brute. Already acquitted of the more serious charge of conspiracy, had Hamdan also been let off on the charge of vehicular manipulation, he still wouldn't have been set free. He's the enemy , after all.
That is heartening.
Moreover, should he mount a successful appeal of the sentence, he will not be set free.
Now that is justice. This dude was and is going to the big house no matter what.
This two-week war crimes trial is the first the U.S. has participated in since the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War.
It thankfully corrects an oversight of those trials during which Erich Kempka, Hitler's driver, was not prosecuted as a war criminal.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/09082008/53/saving-chauffeur-time.html
Let Quebec athletes wave their own flags at Olympics: PQ leader
It's hard to say anything in response to this except maybe "no"
CBC Story:
CBC Story:
Quebec's premier should challenge China to allow Quebec athletes to wave the fleur-de-lis during the Olympic Games, an opposition leader said Friday.
Chinese Olympic officials have said only flags from the 205 competing nations can be displayed during the Games.
Parti Québécois chief Pauline Marois, however, said Quebec athletes should be able to represent themselves as a nation, in accord with a parliamentary motion recognizing Quebec as a distinct nation.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/080808/canada/montreal_quebec_olympics
Friday, August 8, 2008
Judge reserves decision in first terror trial
Very little should be read into the fact the judge reserved his decision. Even in the clearest of cases, where there has been more a day or so of evidence, judges usually reserve to consider the form of their decision. Here there is extensive evidence and a strongly presented defence. That said, my sense is a conviction is likely but that's all in the hands of Justice Sproat and remember if he has any reasonable doubt he must acquit. It's not good enough for the judge to think the accused probably did it -- the judge must be pretty well certain to convict.
COLIN PERKEL
The Canadian Press
Fri, 8 Aug 2008
19:54 EDT BRAMPTON, Ont. —
The fate of the first person tried in an alleged homegrown terrorist conspiracy to "cripple Canada" that captured headlines around the world two years ago rested with an Ontario judge Friday as his trial ended with the defence pressing for his acquittal.
Superior Court Justice John Sproat was left to decide between defence suggestions the plot was a "jihadi fantasy" the accused knew nothing about, and Crown assertions he was a knowledgeable and willing participant in a potentially deadly conspiracy.
In wrapping up two days of defence closing arguments, lawyer Mitchell Chernovsky argued a statement the accused gave police just hours after his arrest in June of 2006 was a "dramatic piece of evidence" that proves his client was unaware of any terrorist plot.
For example, the lawyer told Judge Sproat, the accused was genuinely stunned to hear police had seized bomb-making chemicals during the arrests of his alleged co-conspirators."Hold on. Hold on. Before you go on," the accused interrupts RCMP Sgt. John Tost during the videotaped interrogation. "Bomb-making? We? We?"
"That was not staged," Mr. Chernovsky said. "No one could stage that. That was absolutely sincere."
http://m.avantgo.com/ui?ag_url=52616e646f6d4956a67a98ef203f90346d225e2e2180ad27fd77236cb9f7ca586b262707c1801504fa0cca32c922883d3f7cb0b4de19bcdff0f69a52670ef416ce29fa75642fd45a803733d09a57cfac&ag_channel=4179&showNav=0&ms=globeandmail
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Zhen Zhen
At a year old and now weighing 42 pounds, Zhen Zhen (Precious) of the San Diego Zoo, is q lively little bear. She is the fourth panda to be born at the San Diego Zoo. As you can see she has started to eat bamboo although she is still nursing.
Byelections heat up with the launch of Marc Garneau’s campaign
The campaign to elect three new Members of Parliament in Ontario and Quebec picked up steam this week with an official kick-off celebration for Westmount--Ville-Marie candidate Marc Garneau.
"The Liberal Party of Canada is the only truly progressive voice in the country," said Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Bob Rae, who had the honour of introducing Mr. Garneau to the enthusiastic crowd of supporters. "And in this byelection in Westmount--Ville-Marie, Marc is the only real candidate for change, social progress and innovation."
Mr. Garneau re-affirmed his commitment to progressive Liberal values.
"My vision of Canada is one of a progressive country that is fiscally responsible, a country that takes a leadership role on the international stage when it comes to the environment and human rights, a country that is just as competitive and innovative as the very best in the world and a country that is compassionate, tolerant and one of social justice," said Mr. Garneau.
"The Liberal Party of Canada is the only truly progressive voice in the country," said Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Bob Rae, who had the honour of introducing Mr. Garneau to the enthusiastic crowd of supporters. "And in this byelection in Westmount--Ville-Marie, Marc is the only real candidate for change, social progress and innovation."
Mr. Garneau re-affirmed his commitment to progressive Liberal values.
"My vision of Canada is one of a progressive country that is fiscally responsible, a country that takes a leadership role on the international stage when it comes to the environment and human rights, a country that is just as competitive and innovative as the very best in the world and a country that is compassionate, tolerant and one of social justice," said Mr. Garneau.
Russia forces on edge of South Ossetia capital: website
By Margarita Antidze
Full story here:
MEGVREKISI, Georgia (Reuters) - Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern edges of the capital of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, the separatists' press service reported on its website on Friday.
Full story here:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080808/n_world_reuters/international_georgia_ossetia_dc
Waiver of a Charter Right
A Charter right may be waived.
Thus, a search that would otherwise be unreasonable may be consented to in which case the reasonableness, or otherwise, is irrelevant.
All that said, waiver of a right will not be found by a Court except where the waiver is informed and clearly proven.
While not required, a videotape of the waiver being given is useful and any uncertainty of the giving of the waiver will enure to the benefit of the party denying giving the waiver.
Today's Court of Appeal decision in
R. v. Simon, 2008 ONCA 578 is helpful in summarizing this law. The Court rules:
[48] Section 8 of the Charter protects individuals against unwarranted state intrusions upon their privacy interests. One of the values animating the right protected by s. 8 is personal autonomy. Personal autonomy, however, also dictates that an individual must be able to waive his or her right to be left alone by the state and to consent to what, absent that consent, would be an unreasonable state invasion of personal privacy. If an individual provides that consent, what would otherwise be a search or seizure, is no longer a search or seizure. The reasonableness standard mandated by s. 8 has no application where the individual has consented to the state intrusion upon his or her privacy: R. v. Dyment (1988), 45 C.C.C. (3d) 244 at 257 (S.C.C.); R. v. Borden (1994), 92 C.C.C. (3d) 404 (S.C.C.); R. v. Wills (1992), 70 C.C.C. (3d) 529 at 540 (Ont. C.A. ).
[49] The quality of a purported s. 8 waiver must be commensurate with the importance of the right being relinquished. Courts will be slow to infer a waiver, particularly where the individual who is said to have waived his or her s. 8 rights is detained and is the target of a criminal investigation. The Crown bears the burden of demonstrating that any waiver relied on by the Crown is in all of the circumstances an effective and informed waiver of an individual's s. 8 rights.
Thus, a search that would otherwise be unreasonable may be consented to in which case the reasonableness, or otherwise, is irrelevant.
All that said, waiver of a right will not be found by a Court except where the waiver is informed and clearly proven.
While not required, a videotape of the waiver being given is useful and any uncertainty of the giving of the waiver will enure to the benefit of the party denying giving the waiver.
Today's Court of Appeal decision in
R. v. Simon, 2008 ONCA 578 is helpful in summarizing this law. The Court rules:
[48] Section 8 of the Charter protects individuals against unwarranted state intrusions upon their privacy interests. One of the values animating the right protected by s. 8 is personal autonomy. Personal autonomy, however, also dictates that an individual must be able to waive his or her right to be left alone by the state and to consent to what, absent that consent, would be an unreasonable state invasion of personal privacy. If an individual provides that consent, what would otherwise be a search or seizure, is no longer a search or seizure. The reasonableness standard mandated by s. 8 has no application where the individual has consented to the state intrusion upon his or her privacy: R. v. Dyment (1988), 45 C.C.C. (3d) 244 at 257 (S.C.C.); R. v. Borden (1994), 92 C.C.C. (3d) 404 (S.C.C.); R. v. Wills (1992), 70 C.C.C. (3d) 529 at 540 (Ont. C.A. ).
[49] The quality of a purported s. 8 waiver must be commensurate with the importance of the right being relinquished. Courts will be slow to infer a waiver, particularly where the individual who is said to have waived his or her s. 8 rights is detained and is the target of a criminal investigation. The Crown bears the burden of demonstrating that any waiver relied on by the Crown is in all of the circumstances an effective and informed waiver of an individual's s. 8 rights.
Parents forget child at airport
News of the weird.
On the other hand other Israeli couples have made similar mistakes -- see Luke 2:41 ff:
41Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
On the other hand other Israeli couples have made similar mistakes -- see Luke 2:41 ff:
41Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. 42When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. 43After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
Israeli parents forget three-year-old daughter at airport
JERUSALEM - An Israeli couple going on a European vacation remembered to take their duty-free purchases and their 18 suitcases, but forgot their three-year-old daughter at the airport, police said Monday.
The couple and their five children were late for a charter flight to Paris Sunday and made a mad dash to the gate. In the confusion, their daughter got lost.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080804/koddities/oddity_home_alone
Spelling
There's a human interest story in today's Globe where the writer -- apparently tongue in cheek -- suggests abandoning spelling conventions because too many people misspell words.
Seeing as how almost all documents are now produced electronically and how spell-checkers are ubiquitous it seems odd for spelling errors to be coming up now as opposed to, say, twenty years ago.
That said, remember our current spelling conventions are merely the result of 19th Century style guides and dictionaries. Read Blackstone, for example, in an 18th Century edition and you will see "it's" used to denote a possessive. And Blackstone was hardly uneducated.
However, reading speed is kept up by following convention -- who would read 'ghoti' as 'fish'? In today's world of texting and signs on high speed roads keeping reading as simple as possible is important.
So my vote -- let's keep speeling words write!
Drummer Hodge
I heard this poem last night in a movie (The History Boys). One point made about it was that, in these South African campaigns, common soldiers were seen for the first time as individuals worthy of recognition. Until then, throughout military history, every common soldier had been the Unknown Soldier. Hodges may have been buried “uncoffined” in a mass grave but he had a name. Previously, private companies simply swept up the bones from battlegrounds and made them into fertilizer.
I assume this poem refers to the Zulu Wars. Surely there were no drummers in the Boer War.
Drummer Hodge ~Thomas Hardy
They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest
Uncoffined – just as found:
His landmark is a kopje-crest
That breaks the veldt around;
And foreign constellations west
Each night above his mound.
Young Hodge the Drummer never knew –
Fresh from his
The meaning of the broad
The Bush, the dusty loam,
And why uprose to nightly view
Strange stars amid the gloam.
Yet portion of that unknown plain
Will Hodge forever be;
His homely Northern breast and brain
Grow to some Southern tree,
And strange-eyed constellation reign
His stars eternally.
Today Is A Most Auspicious Day
And, of course, today is the start of the Olympics for a reason
Friday: a lucky lucky lucky day
TORONTO (CBC) - Many Chinese say this Friday is going to be a very special day.The date, Aug. 8, 2008, translates into 8-8-8 - and in Chinese culture, the number eight signifies wealth and good fortune.
In Toronto, many couples have chosen Friday as the most auspicious day to get married.
Full Story Here:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/080806/canada/toronto_chinese8
Canadians In Afghan Gunbattle
Six Canadians hurt in gunbattle in Afghanistan.
Six Canadian soldiers were treated and released from hospital after sustaining injuries in a gunbattle with insurgents in Afghanistan early Friday.
The firefight erupted in the Zhari district west of Kandahar city after the soldiers were forced to evacuate their vehicle when they struck an improvised explosive device.
The soldiers were ambushed by the insurgents soon after leaving their vehicle, and wounded in the ensuing gunbattle.
Full story here:
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080807%2fcanadians_hurt_080807
Six Canadian soldiers were treated and released from hospital after sustaining injuries in a gunbattle with insurgents in Afghanistan early Friday.
The firefight erupted in the Zhari district west of Kandahar city after the soldiers were forced to evacuate their vehicle when they struck an improvised explosive device.
The soldiers were ambushed by the insurgents soon after leaving their vehicle, and wounded in the ensuing gunbattle.
Full story here:
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080807%2fcanadians_hurt_080807
Chinese Group Threatens Olympics
Al Jazeera reports on a group in China threatening the Olympics -- let's not forget Munich -- violence is not unknown at the Olympics.
Chinese group 'threatens Olympics'
A video purportedly from an armed group based in western China has released a video threatening an attack on the Olympic games in Beijing, according to a US internet-monitoring group.The video, reported by the IntelCenter and SITE groups on Thursday, shows graphics of an explosion over a venue and a burning Olympics logo.
"Do not stay on the same bus, on the same train, on the same plane, in the same buildings, or any place the Chinese are," the SITE intelligence group quoted TIP as saying in a video entitled "Call to the Global Muslim Nation".
Story here:
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Russian Helicopters In Afghanistan
Canada is leasing Russian helicopters for Afghanistan.
This is a good thing (Canadian Forces have long been hampered by inadequate resources and it will take a long time to get them up to snuff -- new helicopters ordered today will arrive 2012/13) but ... Russian helicopters in Afghanistan? (in fairness, there really isn't much option -- and the feds were prudent to take leased Russian machines and used American ones to save Canadian lives -- but ... Russian helicopters in Afghanistan?)
Didn't Russian helicopters previously have some issue with Stinger missiles? And weren't those missiles supplied by Western allies, mainly the United States, to Afghan rebels who used them to shoot down Russian helicopters? And didn't America try to buy back those missiles with mixed results?
Now I support the mission in Afghanistan -- but I note the irony here. Or maybe the blowback.
Maybe, in hindsight, it wasn't so smart to arm Afghan rebels with easily hidden rockets that can shoot down nearly anything flying below 11,000 feet; leastways not if anyone was to go to war against those rebels later.
Am I the only person who watched Charlie Wilson's War and wondered if the message was somewhat mixed? Didn't that Russian pilot who got blown out of the sky sound a bit like Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) in Topgun? Was that intentional by the director/writer?
I work with people who have served in the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan and, oddly, with a Russian whose family served there too -- they speak of the same place names and the same dangers.
Interesting Stinger article here:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/stinger.htm
HERE'S THE CTV STORY:
Canada's military will soon be getting new medium-lift helicopters and unmanned surveillance drones, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced on Thursday.
At a press conference in Longueuil, Que., MacKay said Ottawa will lease up to six Russian-made choppers and later buy six used U.S.-made Chinook helicopters. Those choppers, manufactured by Boeing, will have the ability to transport both troops and equipment.
The short-term lease of the Russian helicopters through the Toronto-based Skylink includes a contract for civilian pilots for the choppers.
But the government did not say much about who will be piloting the helicopters that will be carrying Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, which worries the opposition.
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080807%2fmckay_choppers_080807
This is a good thing (Canadian Forces have long been hampered by inadequate resources and it will take a long time to get them up to snuff -- new helicopters ordered today will arrive 2012/13) but ... Russian helicopters in Afghanistan? (in fairness, there really isn't much option -- and the feds were prudent to take leased Russian machines and used American ones to save Canadian lives -- but ... Russian helicopters in Afghanistan?)
Didn't Russian helicopters previously have some issue with Stinger missiles? And weren't those missiles supplied by Western allies, mainly the United States, to Afghan rebels who used them to shoot down Russian helicopters? And didn't America try to buy back those missiles with mixed results?
Now I support the mission in Afghanistan -- but I note the irony here. Or maybe the blowback.
Maybe, in hindsight, it wasn't so smart to arm Afghan rebels with easily hidden rockets that can shoot down nearly anything flying below 11,000 feet; leastways not if anyone was to go to war against those rebels later.
Am I the only person who watched Charlie Wilson's War and wondered if the message was somewhat mixed? Didn't that Russian pilot who got blown out of the sky sound a bit like Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) in Topgun? Was that intentional by the director/writer?
I work with people who have served in the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan and, oddly, with a Russian whose family served there too -- they speak of the same place names and the same dangers.
Interesting Stinger article here:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/stinger.htm
HERE'S THE CTV STORY:
Canada's military will soon be getting new medium-lift helicopters and unmanned surveillance drones, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced on Thursday.
At a press conference in Longueuil, Que., MacKay said Ottawa will lease up to six Russian-made choppers and later buy six used U.S.-made Chinook helicopters. Those choppers, manufactured by Boeing, will have the ability to transport both troops and equipment.
The short-term lease of the Russian helicopters through the Toronto-based Skylink includes a contract for civilian pilots for the choppers.
But the government did not say much about who will be piloting the helicopters that will be carrying Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, which worries the opposition.
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080807%2fmckay_choppers_080807
Political Crisis in Bolivia
Interesting post on the Huffington blog on the political crisis in Bolivia. It's quite partisan but if you read through the cant you get a good sense for what's happening:
La Paz, Bolivia -- On Sunday, Aug. 10, Bolivians will go to the polls to vote on whether or not to recall the president, vice president and the governors of eight of the nation's nine departments. Just two-and-a-half years into the term of President Evo Morales, his government is racked by political crises.
This week alone, two miners participating in a protest for higher pensions were killed in clashes with police; a meeting in the Bolivian town of Tarija between the presidents of Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia was canceled when protesters tried to storm the airport; and President Morales will not attend the traditional independence celebration in Sucre on Wednesday, August 6 for fear of anti-government violence.
While the president and vice-president are expected to survive the recall, perhaps even overturning a few opposition governors (seven out of nine governors are in the opposition), the tensions tearing at this divided nation's social fabric will persist.
On one side of this struggle is the impoverished indigenous majority in the western highlands who, along with Bolivia's first indigenous president Evo Morales, are trying to redistribute power and wealth towards poor communities.
Pitted against them is a mostly white elite based in the eastern part of the country who want to keep tight control over the nation's wealth and are using their money and control of the media to foment widespread discontent. Sadly, the U.S. government, instead of embracing social transformation in Latin America's poorest nation, is aiding and abetting the opposition.
Full story here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/medea-benjamin/bolivia-racked-by-politic_b_117214.html
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
La Paz, Bolivia -- On Sunday, Aug. 10, Bolivians will go to the polls to vote on whether or not to recall the president, vice president and the governors of eight of the nation's nine departments. Just two-and-a-half years into the term of President Evo Morales, his government is racked by political crises.
This week alone, two miners participating in a protest for higher pensions were killed in clashes with police; a meeting in the Bolivian town of Tarija between the presidents of Venezuela, Argentina and Bolivia was canceled when protesters tried to storm the airport; and President Morales will not attend the traditional independence celebration in Sucre on Wednesday, August 6 for fear of anti-government violence.
While the president and vice-president are expected to survive the recall, perhaps even overturning a few opposition governors (seven out of nine governors are in the opposition), the tensions tearing at this divided nation's social fabric will persist.
On one side of this struggle is the impoverished indigenous majority in the western highlands who, along with Bolivia's first indigenous president Evo Morales, are trying to redistribute power and wealth towards poor communities.
Pitted against them is a mostly white elite based in the eastern part of the country who want to keep tight control over the nation's wealth and are using their money and control of the media to foment widespread discontent. Sadly, the U.S. government, instead of embracing social transformation in Latin America's poorest nation, is aiding and abetting the opposition.
Full story here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/medea-benjamin/bolivia-racked-by-politic_b_117214.html
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Lindsay Liberals Ready For Election
Interesting piece in yesterday's Lindsay Post -- maybe we will have an election soon? The byelections will tell a tale.
Liberal ready for a fight
'There needs to be change,' says Federal candidate
Posted By MARTHA PERKINS, OSPREY NEWS NETWORK
It's time for Canadians to decide the future of this country, according to the riding's Liberal candidate.
Marlene White said she and her party are ready and willing to wage a fight for people's votes in a federal election.
"With the Green Shift plan this would be a wonderful time for us to go to the polls," the MP hopeful said during a visit to Haliburton late last week. "People need to talk about this plan and its impact on our country and our planet. We need a Liberal government to be elected and in power to put these policies in place.
"I'm passionate about our country. I'm not happy with the way it's drifting and there needs to be some change."
Story here:
http://www.thepost.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1146237
Liberal ready for a fight
'There needs to be change,' says Federal candidate
Posted By MARTHA PERKINS, OSPREY NEWS NETWORK
It's time for Canadians to decide the future of this country, according to the riding's Liberal candidate.
Marlene White said she and her party are ready and willing to wage a fight for people's votes in a federal election.
"With the Green Shift plan this would be a wonderful time for us to go to the polls," the MP hopeful said during a visit to Haliburton late last week. "People need to talk about this plan and its impact on our country and our planet. We need a Liberal government to be elected and in power to put these policies in place.
"I'm passionate about our country. I'm not happy with the way it's drifting and there needs to be some change."
Story here:
http://www.thepost.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1146237
Bin Laden driver given 66 months
"On any rational analysis this is a loss for the prosecution.
Note the prosecution asked for at least thirty years and with time served he should finish his sentence in FIVE MONTHS (now he may not be released then, having served his sentence, because he remains an 'enemy combatant' which makes one wonder as to the point of the trial -- the sentence is notional because serving it doesn't lead to release and it certainly isn't a helpful show trial politically).
Perhaps more to the point, even if he served the full 66 months now that hardly sounds like a sentence for a serious terrorist. The sentence suggests the jurors (army officers, so not bleeding hearts by any stretch) didn't see the case as all that serious. A blow for the prosecution for sure"
This was the first US war crimes trial since World War II Osama Bin Laden's former driver has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison at the first US military trial in Guantanamo Bay.
Salim Hamdan was convicted on Wednesday of supporting terrorism, but acquitted of conspiracy to murder. Prosecutors had demanded a sentence of not less than 30 years.
On time served Hamdan could be released in five months but the Pentagon has said he will still be retained as an "enemy combatant". The US has always argued it can detain such people indefinitely, as long as its so-called war on terror continues. The Pentagon said Hamdan would serve his sentence and then be eligible for review.
Regret
The BBC's Kim Ghattas at the trial says the sentence is a dramatic snub to the Bush administration and came after just one-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
The jury of six US military officers, not the judge, imposed the sentence under the tribunal rules. "It is my duty as president [of the jury] to inform you that this military commission sentences you to be confined for 66 months," a juror told Hamdan.
Full story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7547261.stm
Note the prosecution asked for at least thirty years and with time served he should finish his sentence in FIVE MONTHS (now he may not be released then, having served his sentence, because he remains an 'enemy combatant' which makes one wonder as to the point of the trial -- the sentence is notional because serving it doesn't lead to release and it certainly isn't a helpful show trial politically).
Perhaps more to the point, even if he served the full 66 months now that hardly sounds like a sentence for a serious terrorist. The sentence suggests the jurors (army officers, so not bleeding hearts by any stretch) didn't see the case as all that serious. A blow for the prosecution for sure"
This was the first US war crimes trial since World War II Osama Bin Laden's former driver has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison at the first US military trial in Guantanamo Bay.
Salim Hamdan was convicted on Wednesday of supporting terrorism, but acquitted of conspiracy to murder. Prosecutors had demanded a sentence of not less than 30 years.
On time served Hamdan could be released in five months but the Pentagon has said he will still be retained as an "enemy combatant". The US has always argued it can detain such people indefinitely, as long as its so-called war on terror continues. The Pentagon said Hamdan would serve his sentence and then be eligible for review.
Regret
The BBC's Kim Ghattas at the trial says the sentence is a dramatic snub to the Bush administration and came after just one-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
The jury of six US military officers, not the judge, imposed the sentence under the tribunal rules. "It is my duty as president [of the jury] to inform you that this military commission sentences you to be confined for 66 months," a juror told Hamdan.
Full story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7547261.stm
Service Ex Juris As Of Right
Service ex juris of initiating process is permitted as of right in certain circumstances related to the nature of the relief claimed.
What if only some of the relief claimed falls within the scope of service ex juris as of right? Can service ex juris still be effected as of right?
Today's Court of Appeal decision in Precious Metal Capital. Corp. v. Smith, 2008 ONCA 577 suggests 'yes'.
The Court holds:
V. THE SERVICE EX JURIS ISSUE
[35] Rule 17.02(h) permits service ex juris
In respect of damage sustained in Ontario arising from a tort, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty or breach of confidence wherever committed.
[36] The plaintiff seeks damages by way of an alternative remedy. The damage claimed is not as thoroughly articulated in the statement of claim as are the plaintiff's other claims. The damage claim is, however, essentially a claim for the money equivalent of the potential profits lost to the plaintiff when, according to its allegation, the defendants misappropriated the various mining opportunities in Peru.
[37] The plaintiff, as indicated above, is an Ontario corporation with a registered office in Ontario, carrying on business in Ontario. It is a reasonable inference that its financial records and infrastructure are maintained in Ontario.
[38] The motion judge held that damages flowing from the alleged breaches constituted damages sustained in Ontario, thereby bringing the claim within rule 17.02(h). I agree with that conclusion. As held by Osler J. in Skyroters Ltd. v. Carriere Technical Industries Ltd. (1979), 26 O.R. (2d) 207 at 209–210 (H.C.J.):
In my view, the corporations here bringing action to the extent that they have suffered a loss of profits and a loss of use of the machine, were disadvantaged and were so disadvantaged at the place where their financial records were kept and where they did business, namely at their head office in Ontario. The damage sustained was so sustained, in my view, within Ontario…
[39] I think the damage claim brings the action within rule 17.02(h)
Iraqis: Deal close on plan for US troops to leave
If true this is a very big story indeed
BAGHDAD - Two Iraqi officials say the U.S. and Iraq are close to a deal under which all American combat troops would leave by October 2010 with remaining U.S. forces gone about three years later.
A U.S. official in Washington acknowledges progress has been made on the timelines for a U.S. departure but offered no firm date. Another U.S. official strongly suggested the 2010 date may be too ambitious.
Full story here:PETA tries to run ad comparing Manitoba beheading to animal rights abuses
Oh my -- hard to say anything except, oh my... . (well, I suppose they did get press but I'm not sure they'll necessarily get a "big tent" crowd on side with this).
By The Canadian Press
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. - An animal rights group has tried - and failed - to run a newspaper ad comparing the beheading of a passenger on a Greyhound bus last week to the treatment of animals by the meat industry.
Story here:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080807/national/bus_beheading_peta
Man Accused in Sexual Assault on Preteen was Suspect in Killing of 15-year-old Sharmini Anandavel
I am told the bail hearing for Tippett is going on right now -- I would be astonished if he made bail. That said, it is a media circus -- for unclear reasons since there is assuredly a publication ban and nothing of any significance can be reported.
Of course, what is being reported now may be wildly erroneous but it is troubling that a suspect in the unsolved murder of 15-year-old Sharmini Anandavel would be detained for a nasty crime like this. Police will take some blame, and likely unfairly; they may have suspicions but if they don't rise to a level where a charge works there is precious little they can do.
Of course, what is being reported now may be wildly erroneous but it is troubling that a suspect in the unsolved murder of 15-year-old Sharmini Anandavel would be detained for a nasty crime like this. Police will take some blame, and likely unfairly; they may have suspicions but if they don't rise to a level where a charge works there is precious little they can do.
Suspect in custody after 12-year-old Ont. girl sexually assaulted
Jenny Wagler , Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, August 06, 2008TORONTO - The man arrested in the abduction and sexual assault of a 12-year-old Peterborough girl Wednesday is a convicted stalker who reportedly admitted being a suspect in the 1999 disappearance of a murdered Toronto teenager.
Stanley Tippett, 32, was charged after a girl was abducted in a van as she left a Peterborough birthday party at about 1:30 a.m. She was sexually assaulted, and taken to Courtice High School, said Sergeant Walter DiClemente of Peterborough-Lakefield Police Service.
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=2ea1f7a7-e716-448a-9139-0a5d90f038a5
Validity of Restrictive Covenants
Yesterday’s Court of Appeal decision in H.L. Staebler Company Limited v. Allan, 2008 ONCA 576 contains a useful discussion of when restrictive covenants are enforceable:
[33] There is no dispute about the legal principles that apply when determining whether a restrictive covenant in an employment contract is enforceable, as those principles have long been settled. Several decades ago in Elsley, the seminal Canadian case on this matter, Dickson J. described the principles as “well-established”. He stated the test in plain terms: such a covenant is enforceable “only if it is reasonable between the parties and with reference to the public interest”.
[34] This test reflects the competing principles that must be balanced when a court is called on to decide the validity of such a covenant. On the one hand, there is the “important public interest in discouraging restraints on trade, and maintaining free and open competition unencumbered by the fetters of restrictive covenants”. Open competition benefits both society and the affected employees. Society benefits from having greater choice and employees benefit as they have greater employment opportunities. On the other hand, however, “the courts have been disinclined to restrict the right to contract, particularly when that right has been exercised by knowledgeable persons of equal bargaining power”.
[35] While an overly broad restraint on an individual’s freedom to compete will generally be unenforceable, the courts must recognize and afford “reasonable protection to trade secrets, confidential information, and trade connections of the employer.” In the present case, there is no suggestion that trade secrets or confidential information is involved. It is Staebler’s “trade connections” that warrant protection.
[36] Reasonableness is the mechanism by which a court decides whether a covenant is “overly broad” or is only that which is reasonably required for the employer’s protection. But how is a court to determine whether any given restrictive covenant is “reasonable”? Elsley offers a framework for making such a determination. The starting point is “an overall assessment of the clause, the agreement within which it is found, and all of the surrounding circumstances”. Thereafter, three factors must be considered. First, did the employer have a proprietary interest entitled to protection? Second, are the temporal or spatial features of the covenant too broad? And, third, is the covenant unenforceable as being against competition generally, and not limited to proscribing solicitation of clients of the former employer?
[37] Before turning to an assessment of the Restrictive Covenant and a consideration of the three factors, two additional principles that operate in this area warrant mention.
[38] The first such principle relates to the nature of the restrictive covenant. A restrictive covenant may restrain either competition or solicitation. A non-competition clause restrains the departing employee from conducting business with former clients and customers whereas a non-solicitation clause merely prohibits the departing employee from soliciting their business.
[39] In
The non-competition clause is a more drastic weapon in an employer’s arsenal. Its focus is much broader than an attempt to protect the employer’s client or customer base; it extends to an attempt to keep the former employee out of the business. Usually, non-competition clauses are limited in terms of space and time.
[40] Elsley makes it clear that a non-solicitation clause is normally sufficient to protect an employer’s proprietary interest and that a non-competition clause is warranted only in exceptional circumstances. At pages 925 and 926 of Elsley, Dickson J. wrote:
The next and crucial question is whether the covenant is unenforceable as being against competition generally, and not limited to proscribing solicitation of clients of the former employer. In a conventional employer/employee situation the clause might well be held invalid for that reason.
…
Nevertheless, in exceptional cases, of which I think this is one, the nature of the employment may justify a covenant prohibiting an employee not only from soliciting customers, but also from establishing his own business or working for others so as to be likely to appropriate the employer’s trade connection through his acquaintance with the employer’s customers. This may indeed be the only effective covenant to protect the proprietary interest of the employer. A simple non-solicitation clause would not suffice. [Emphasis added.]
[41] Similarly, at para. 33 of
[42] In short, a general principle flowing from Elsley and reiterated in
[43] The other legal principle that warrants mention is this: the fact that a clause might have been enforceable had it been drafted in narrower terms will not save it. The question is not whether a valid agreement might have been made but whether the agreement that was made is valid.
Beyond crime and punishment
Obviously I like this piece, because I wrote it. That said, the Vancouver Police Department report on chronic criminals is worth a read:
http://vancouver.ca/police/media/2008/ChronicsSentencing.pdf
Beyond crime and punishment
http://vancouver.ca/police/media/2008/ChronicsSentencing.pdf
- 7 Aug 2008
- National Post
Beyond crime and punishment
William M. lives in
In 1991, William moved west and began offending in the Lower B.C. Mainland, most often in
William is not alone. In cities across
A trial program in the Australian state of
Money is not an issue. By contrast with the $20,000 cost per criminal per month of the current system — and that doesn’t include the costs to victims — the cost of keeping a prisoner in a provincial institution is about $4,250 per month, with reintegration into the community adding no more than another $1,500. On that financial basis alone, a program integrating the criminal justice system and the mental health system makes sense. Working together, the two systems can at least begin to address the problem, but either system by itself is doomed to failure.
Because chronic offenders tend to commit minor crimes, drawing fairly short sentences, their lives shift rapidly between jail and the neighbourhoods where they find their drugs — in
Petty as their crimes may be, collectively William and his fellow chronic offenders cause enormous hardship. Their victims number in the thousands. Those victims are left not only with a monetary loss, but also with a lingering fear that affects their sense of personal safety and their trust in the justice system.
We clearly need protection from chronic offenders, and we are clearly not getting it. But blaming the criminal justice system, as many do, misses the real problem — our failure as a society to deal with severe drug and alcohol addiction.
Punishment alone doesn’t work for a simple reason. The idea of punishing criminals for their crimes is premised at least partly on the concept of specific deterrence. Applied most strongly to property crimes, specific deterrence assumes that the criminal is a rational actor who will consider: Is it worth it? In fact, specific deterrence often works; many offenders actually do swear off crime after fairly short jail sentences.
The problem is that specific deterrence presumes a rational actor, which is exactly what we do not have with offenders like those of the Downtown Eastside, who are drug addicted and often mentally ill. They do not pause to consider the possible punishment for the crime they are about to commit. As a result, punishment acts as little or no deterrent to them.
We could use longer sentences to “warehouse” those too dangerous to allow on the streets, but that would be using a very high-cost mechanism to deal with what is really a public health issue. The criminal justice system is not designed to treat addicts; while prisons provide some treatment, it is almost always short-term and under-funded. By the same token, voluntary drug treatment, as available from the public health system, seldom works either, because kicking an addiction is extremely unpleasant and demands willpower and money, both seldom found in criminal street addicts.
The first step is to recognize that the issue is one of both public health and criminal law. The next step is to include compulsory drug treatment, as that trial program in
In principle, it seems unfair and arguably unjust for a court to impose mandatory drug withdrawal and psychiatric treatment. Most people do not want to be treated against their will, even for a serious illness. Canadians feel strongly about the right to choose what to do with their own bodies, and that is usually appropriate. But our moral intuitions can fail us when it comes to the few hard cases, which include chronic offenders.
We have to move on from the “war on crime” to an approach that will protect society while rehabilitating those who can be rehabilitated. This means making some tough choices. But these choices can be avoided no longer.
Canada to make groundbreaking Arctic claim
Perhaps the most important news of the day -- although it seems to be getting only very moderate press.
There will be no flag waving or patriotic chest thumping, but Canadian scientists are set to make one of this country's most important assertions of Arctic sovereignty in decades Friday at a geology conference in Norway.
A year after Russian scientists planted their nation's flag on the North Pole seabed -- a controversial demonstration of their country's interest in securing control over a vast undersea mountain chain stretching across the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Ellesmere Island and Greenland -- Canadian researchers have teamed with Danish scientists to offer proof that the Lomonosov Ridge is, in fact, a natural extension of the North American continent.
Full story here:
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=705136
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Somalia
If we want to be peacekeepers sometimes we have to be peacemakers.
By Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
By Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
HALIFAX - Canada has sent a Halifax-based frigate to waters off the horn of Africa to prevent pirates from attacking food shipments bound for Somalia.
Story here:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080806/national/cda_frigate_africa
Bus Rage
Greyhound Canada is removing all ads that were part of a campaign related to "bus rage" in the wake of last week's horrific attack against a Greyhound passenger travelling from Edmonton to Winnipeg.
The campaign featured the slogan, "There's a reason you've never heard of bus rage".
Probably prudent... .
Probably prudent... .
Futility of Law
Today I finished a futile case.
In fairness I had warned my client from the get-go that he should likely abandon his claim.
Why? Was my client wrong in law? Hardly -- he was totally right. He had been defrauded (well, likely yes but in any event certainly ripped off) of a sizable amount of money but the bad guy was a total scamp and had spent the money. And the bad guy was prepared to go to court, himself, and plead poverty until finally, last week, he went bankrupt.
And there was nothing to collect.
Sentence Appeals
The role of a court of appeal depends critically on what the court is doing. Sometimes the court will consider directly, as in an error of jurisdiction, whether the body appealed from was wrong. Other times the court will look more narrowly and ask if the decision below was unreasonable.
In considering a criminal sentence appeal the court's role is not to decide whether the sentence imposed was that the court of appeal would choose but rather whether the sentence was unfit.
An fit sentence may well differ from that which the court of appeal would have imposed at trial.
This point is illustrated in the recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision in R. v. Godkin, 2008 BCCA 287. Here a very significant sentence was imposed on a remarkably inept robber (basically ten years although modified somewhat to reflect pretrial custody).
The tone of the Court of Appeal decision suggests some sympathy with the view the sentence was too high. That said, the Court found the sentence was fit and so the appeal was dismissed.
The Court held:
[11] I recognize that Mr. Godkin has expressed an intention to break his heroin use by participating in a treatment program, and it is very much to be hoped that he will do this as his offending is clearly related to his addiction. However, the issue before this Court is whether these sentences are unfit. As I have concluded they are not, the sentences must remain as they were imposed.
James Morton
In considering a criminal sentence appeal the court's role is not to decide whether the sentence imposed was that the court of appeal would choose but rather whether the sentence was unfit.
An fit sentence may well differ from that which the court of appeal would have imposed at trial.
This point is illustrated in the recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision in R. v. Godkin, 2008 BCCA 287. Here a very significant sentence was imposed on a remarkably inept robber (basically ten years although modified somewhat to reflect pretrial custody).
The tone of the Court of Appeal decision suggests some sympathy with the view the sentence was too high. That said, the Court found the sentence was fit and so the appeal was dismissed.
The Court held:
[11] I recognize that Mr. Godkin has expressed an intention to break his heroin use by participating in a treatment program, and it is very much to be hoped that he will do this as his offending is clearly related to his addiction. However, the issue before this Court is whether these sentences are unfit. As I have concluded they are not, the sentences must remain as they were imposed.
James Morton
Crime: Pembroke Daily Observer
A rather harsh OpEd is in today's Pembroke Daily Observer -- see below -- dealing with the drop in crime. That said Goldstein has a point; crime is down from a few years ago but way up compared to the 1960's.
I suppose one response is to say we're going in the right direction (save on property crime).
That said, to my mind, the key is to deal with the crime that seems to be motivated by something other than greed. And our current system is based on the assumption crime is based on greed -- even sex crimes are seen as, generally, rational and merely a way of getting a benefit improperly.
In fact much crime is based on mental illness and irrational impulse. It is here that we should focus our attention.
The next time the 'hug-a-thug' crowd crows about lower crime rates;
Pembroke Daily Observer (ON)
Wed 06 Aug 2008
Page: 4
Section: Editorial/Opinion
Byline: LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
Column: Viewpoint
Today let's take a break from the BS we're being fed about global warming to examine the BS we're being fed about crime statistics.
Specifically, about how 'low' they are today compared to the past, how anyone who believes otherwise is paranoid and how the best way to make the crime rate even lower is to go even softer on criminals than we already are.
First, let's examine what the crime rate actually is compared to years ago, as opposed to what we've been told it is.
Here are some figures you probably didn't see widely quoted in the media earlier this month when Statistics Canada released its 2007 data on falling Canadian crime rates.
* First, violent crime is up 320 per cent since 1962, when modern records first started being kept.
* Second, property crime, which rights groups that crime has been going down for years?
See here:
http://www.fpinfomart.ca/img/aixpubs/pedb.gif
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
I suppose one response is to say we're going in the right direction (save on property crime).
That said, to my mind, the key is to deal with the crime that seems to be motivated by something other than greed. And our current system is based on the assumption crime is based on greed -- even sex crimes are seen as, generally, rational and merely a way of getting a benefit improperly.
In fact much crime is based on mental illness and irrational impulse. It is here that we should focus our attention.
The next time the 'hug-a-thug' crowd crows about lower crime rates;
Pembroke Daily Observer (ON)
Wed 06 Aug 2008
Page: 4
Section: Editorial/Opinion
Byline: LORRIE GOLDSTEIN
Column: Viewpoint
Today let's take a break from the BS we're being fed about global warming to examine the BS we're being fed about crime statistics.
Specifically, about how 'low' they are today compared to the past, how anyone who believes otherwise is paranoid and how the best way to make the crime rate even lower is to go even softer on criminals than we already are.
First, let's examine what the crime rate actually is compared to years ago, as opposed to what we've been told it is.
Here are some figures you probably didn't see widely quoted in the media earlier this month when Statistics Canada released its 2007 data on falling Canadian crime rates.
* First, violent crime is up 320 per cent since 1962, when modern records first started being kept.
* Second, property crime, which rights groups that crime has been going down for years?
See here:
http://www.fpinfomart.ca/img/aixpubs/pedb.gif
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
NorthWest Passage
Today's Globe talks about the NorthWest passage being free of ice and open for shipping.
Regardless of why (and we can talk about global warming endlessly) the opening of the NorthWest passage (if not a one time fluke) poses all kinds of issues for Canada.
Is the waterway an internal Canadian passage (we say so)? And if so, does Canada have enough naval support to defend the passage (maybe and maybe not)? Or will we have to rely on American naval support (which means allowing, in practice, unlimited US use of the passage)?
Now America is a democracy and Canada's closest ally -- I'd prefer to rely on American support rather than, say, that of China -- but if we can't defend our waters perhaps we need to boost our naval power? (And perhaps even buy the boats in Canada -- but that's yet another post).
Frozen Northwest Passage expected to open up
TU THANH HA
Globe and Mail
Even though this summer's ice melt hasn't approached last year's record conditions, the once-frozen Northwest Passage through Canada's Arctic is expected to open again soon, for only the second time in recorded history.
Already, a shallower, more southern route has freed up, according to high-resolution sea ice charts extracted from satellite microwave imagery by German researchers at the University of Bremen's Institute of Environmental Physics.
The more traditional Northwest Passage route, further north, is still clogged but it could be ice-free later this month, said Mark Serreze, a senior researcher at the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center."Our view is that it may well open in the next few weeks," he said in an interview yesterday.
Full story here:
http://m.avantgo.com/ui?ag_url=52616e646f6d4956cba9ffae5db9c437f69240e15893747cedd8586619affea03c61fc434fb6f9325d731b6b6f1a7d9870abeb49665cbb7880ea71f9ef8a01e9aa47653c249338125c446b2b3daed10b&ag_channel=4179&showNav=0&ms=globeandmail
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Regardless of why (and we can talk about global warming endlessly) the opening of the NorthWest passage (if not a one time fluke) poses all kinds of issues for Canada.
Is the waterway an internal Canadian passage (we say so)? And if so, does Canada have enough naval support to defend the passage (maybe and maybe not)? Or will we have to rely on American naval support (which means allowing, in practice, unlimited US use of the passage)?
Now America is a democracy and Canada's closest ally -- I'd prefer to rely on American support rather than, say, that of China -- but if we can't defend our waters perhaps we need to boost our naval power? (And perhaps even buy the boats in Canada -- but that's yet another post).
Frozen Northwest Passage expected to open up
TU THANH HA
Globe and Mail
Even though this summer's ice melt hasn't approached last year's record conditions, the once-frozen Northwest Passage through Canada's Arctic is expected to open again soon, for only the second time in recorded history.
Already, a shallower, more southern route has freed up, according to high-resolution sea ice charts extracted from satellite microwave imagery by German researchers at the University of Bremen's Institute of Environmental Physics.
The more traditional Northwest Passage route, further north, is still clogged but it could be ice-free later this month, said Mark Serreze, a senior researcher at the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center."Our view is that it may well open in the next few weeks," he said in an interview yesterday.
Full story here:
http://m.avantgo.com/ui?ag_url=52616e646f6d4956cba9ffae5db9c437f69240e15893747cedd8586619affea03c61fc434fb6f9325d731b6b6f1a7d9870abeb49665cbb7880ea71f9ef8a01e9aa47653c249338125c446b2b3daed10b&ag_channel=4179&showNav=0&ms=globeandmail
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Tories slammed for burying negative reports
In fairness this is hardly something very new or limited to this government (i'd like to say it was but that just ain't so!). Indeed, it's a common enough lawyer's trick to bury a very damaging document in a host of other, not very important, documents -- not a nice trick perhaps but hardly new. One interesting point, though, is that the National Post slammed the Feds for this in a front page editorial -- perhaps the trick, though old, surprised them?
By Daina Lawrence, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - The Harper government's timing for the release of some unflattering reports has critics scratching their heads over the Conservatives' concept of transparency.
The Tories took office promising clean, open governance and vowing not to practice the same old politics as previous governments. But they've stuck to one tried and true tactic - releasing negative news when it will get the least media attention.
Full story here:http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080805/national/tories_bad_timing
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Toxic Text
This is, in fact, a very good book on environmental contamination and real estate but gosh, what a cover!
Rita MacNeil -- A Canadian Mata Hari?
This is totally bizarre -- Rita MacNeil?!? Seriously, in the time of the FLQ and the Weathermen the RCMP spies on her! Makes you wonder if CSIS is better at picking targets now? (And there are some legitimate targets out there).
RCMP spied on Rita MacNeil; Feminist singer of 'women's lib songs,' among
dozens under scrutiny in early '70s
Jim Bronskill
The Toronto Star, Aug. 5, 2008
RCMP spies infiltrated the women's movement in the early 1970s, monitoring
marches and rallies to keep an eye on feminists including Rita MacNeil, who
would become a much-admired Maritime songstress.
An undercover source reporting on a March 1972 gathering of women's
liberation groups in Winnipeg compiled biographical sketches of several
delegates, noting MacNeil was in attendance from the Toronto Women's Caucus.
"She's the one who composes and sings women's lib songs," says the RCMP
memo, portions of which remain secret.
MacNeil, who lent her musical talents to the feminist cause before turning
to music full-time, was among dozens of women from across the country who
came under Mountie scrutiny, new research reveals.
Full story here:
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/472240
RCMP spied on Rita MacNeil; Feminist singer of 'women's lib songs,' among
dozens under scrutiny in early '70s
Jim Bronskill
The Toronto Star, Aug. 5, 2008
RCMP spies infiltrated the women's movement in the early 1970s, monitoring
marches and rallies to keep an eye on feminists including Rita MacNeil, who
would become a much-admired Maritime songstress.
An undercover source reporting on a March 1972 gathering of women's
liberation groups in Winnipeg compiled biographical sketches of several
delegates, noting MacNeil was in attendance from the Toronto Women's Caucus.
"She's the one who composes and sings women's lib songs," says the RCMP
memo, portions of which remain secret.
MacNeil, who lent her musical talents to the feminist cause before turning
to music full-time, was among dozens of women from across the country who
came under Mountie scrutiny, new research reveals.
Full story here:
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/472240
Hammer Rampage In Vancouver
Note the reference to mental illness. This unlies much crime -- and ignoring the fact means that much crime will simply go unchecked:
Man in custody after nine people attacked in hammer rampage
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
August 5, 2008
A man is facing 17 criminal charges - including 12 charges of assault after a flurry of attacks in a space of a few minutes Sunday night, Vancouver Police Constable Jana McGuinness said yesterday.
Around 10:20 p.m. Sunday, a man stole some pop drinks from Tutti convenience store on Davie Street in the city's west end, police said.
He then attacked nine people on the street or at nearby lounges and restaurants with a hammer in the space of less than five minutes, before several people were able to hold him down until police arrived.
Most of the injuries were minor, Constable McGuinness said, although some victims stayed overnight in hospital for observation.
"There was bruising, some cuts to the head. I know one guy got stitches," she said.
Constable McGuinness said the man is known to police and has a history of mental illness. She said she thinks these are his first criminal charges.
Full story here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080805.ATTACK05/TPStory/National
Man in custody after nine people attacked in hammer rampage
ANNA MEHLER PAPERNY
August 5, 2008
A man is facing 17 criminal charges - including 12 charges of assault after a flurry of attacks in a space of a few minutes Sunday night, Vancouver Police Constable Jana McGuinness said yesterday.
Around 10:20 p.m. Sunday, a man stole some pop drinks from Tutti convenience store on Davie Street in the city's west end, police said.
He then attacked nine people on the street or at nearby lounges and restaurants with a hammer in the space of less than five minutes, before several people were able to hold him down until police arrived.
Most of the injuries were minor, Constable McGuinness said, although some victims stayed overnight in hospital for observation.
"There was bruising, some cuts to the head. I know one guy got stitches," she said.
Constable McGuinness said the man is known to police and has a history of mental illness. She said she thinks these are his first criminal charges.
Full story here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080805.ATTACK05/TPStory/National
Engaged in Employment
The Superior Court decision in Collings v. Jew, 2008 CanLII 38259 (ON S.C.) deals with the interesting, albeit very narrow, issue of whether a person working out of town, on behalf of her employer, is engaged in her employment when driving from the day's work to the hotel she was staying at. The Court held she was saying:
[11] Accordingly, the narrow question to which I referred at the outset is whether the drive from the locale of the training session to the hotel contains the required connection or nexus to the employment of Christine Jew by Newell. I find that it does. It is not that the activities of Christine Jew while in Toronto were inexorably tied to her employment.
[11] Accordingly, the narrow question to which I referred at the outset is whether the drive from the locale of the training session to the hotel contains the required connection or nexus to the employment of Christine Jew by Newell. I find that it does. It is not that the activities of Christine Jew while in Toronto were inexorably tied to her employment.
Treat the presumed innocent as innocent
Good story in the Post today. The conditions in Toronto's Don Jail are appalling. And this failing has been well known for 40 years!Remember the people in the Don Jail on remand are not convicted; they are presumed innocent and some of them, in fact, are.
Such people, seeing as they are presumed innocent, ought to be held in conditions appropriate to ordinary Canadians unable to go home for some other, non justice related, reason. The conditions ought to approximate, say, those in a hospital (absent the medical support) -- luxury no, but decent accommodation.
Regardless, even if everyone held was guilty in fact there is no reason for them to be held in humiliating conditions such as exist at the Don. As William Buckley noted "sometimes it is necessary to execute a man but it is never necessary to insult him"; regardless of the death penalty comment Buckley has a good point on humiliating people.
Treating prisoners as beasts does nothing for society and merely makes people who have criminal tendencies worse.
Debate rages about the fairness of Canada's sentencing provisions
Shannon Kari, National Post
Published: Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Peter Redman/National Post
The court testimony was graphic last month as Thomas Bogiatzis described the conditions he faced in Toronto's Don Jail while awaiting trial on charges of selling one kilogram of cocaine to a former biker turned police agent.
"It is like living in some Third-World country," testified Bogiatzis, 42, who weighs nearly 400 pounds and suffers from diabetes. "There is a stink throughout the whole jail."
It is common at the infamous facility for three men to be housed in a two-by-three-metre cell originally built for one inmate.
One man must sleep on a mattress next to the open toilet, which cannot be flushed at night.
The jail is frequently locked down because of staffing shortages. Yard time is restricted to a handful of days a month, admitted a jail official who testified.
Bogiatzis, who was convicted of trafficking cocaine, was testifying in an attempt to receive enhanced credit for his 15 months in pretrial custody when he is sentenced this Friday.
The allegations about the Don Jail are nothing new. It was first singled out for criticism for its "primitive" living conditions in a 1968 Royal Commission report.
The long-standing problems have also had an impact on sentencing for many years --not only in Toronto but, arguably, across the country.
The standard credit for pretrial custody at the time of sentencing in Canada is two for one -- six months in jail ends up being 12 months toward the sentence. Overcrowding at the Don Jail and other facilities led some judges in the Toronto area to grant three-for-one or even a four-for-one credit.
While the two-for-one standard evolved in the 1970s as a result of changes to the Criminal Code, in recent years critics have called for a review of the practice. They also argue that the conditions in Toronto jails have effectively set a standard that has been incorrectly applied in other parts of the country.
Speaking of speeding and accidents ...
JACKSON, Miss. - Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was hospitalized in serious condition Monday after the car he was driving left a rural road in the Mississippi Delta and flipped several times.
Full story here:http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080804/entertainment/morgan_freeman
Street Racing -- Not Likely
Today's radio reports that every three minutes a car was pulled over during the holiday weekend for some highway traffic offence and over 140 cars were impounded for street racing.
Now, I agree that cars driving way too fast should be taken off the road but I doubt that there were even 10 cases of actual street racing.
What the radio calls street racing is in fact a car going 50km/hr or more over the speed limit.
That's a pretty awful thing and very dangerous, but street racing it's not. What we have here is a classic example of mission creep. Legislation designed for one thing -- street racing -- is being used for another -- absurdly high speed driving.
I suppose it doesn't really matter -- too fast is too fast -- but let's keep our definitions clear.
Now, I agree that cars driving way too fast should be taken off the road but I doubt that there were even 10 cases of actual street racing.
What the radio calls street racing is in fact a car going 50km/hr or more over the speed limit.
That's a pretty awful thing and very dangerous, but street racing it's not. What we have here is a classic example of mission creep. Legislation designed for one thing -- street racing -- is being used for another -- absurdly high speed driving.
I suppose it doesn't really matter -- too fast is too fast -- but let's keep our definitions clear.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Happy Birthday British Columbia
Support his policies or not the Prime Minister is surely right to say Canada's future is B.C.'s future -- this is exactly the sort of thing Canadians across the country ought to celebrate!
Prime Minister helps cut birthday cake as B.C. celebrates 150th anniversary
VICTORIA - In between bites of a huge strawberry-covered birthday cake, Prime Minister Stephen Harper participated in celebrations marking British Columbia's 150th anniversary by calling the province a shining light that is helping guide the future of Canada.
"British Columbia is today more important to Canada than at any point in our history," said Harper to rousing applause. "As our Pacific gateway, to the unbridled economic opportunities of the 21st century, Canada's future is inextricably linked to the future of B.C.."
He said British Columbia is leading the way on many fronts and is certain the province's next 150 years will be even more productive and fruitful.
Harper said British Columbia has always symbolized a place of new hope and opportunity, calling the province the jewel of the Pacific.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080804/national/bc150_celebration
Prime Minister helps cut birthday cake as B.C. celebrates 150th anniversary
VICTORIA - In between bites of a huge strawberry-covered birthday cake, Prime Minister Stephen Harper participated in celebrations marking British Columbia's 150th anniversary by calling the province a shining light that is helping guide the future of Canada.
"British Columbia is today more important to Canada than at any point in our history," said Harper to rousing applause. "As our Pacific gateway, to the unbridled economic opportunities of the 21st century, Canada's future is inextricably linked to the future of B.C.."
He said British Columbia is leading the way on many fronts and is certain the province's next 150 years will be even more productive and fruitful.
Harper said British Columbia has always symbolized a place of new hope and opportunity, calling the province the jewel of the Pacific.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080804/national/bc150_celebration
Watch what is on that laptop or cellphone when you go to the USA
U.S. border agents given power to seize travellers' laptops, cellphonesU.S. authorities now have the power to seize travellers' electronic devices, including laptops and cellphones, and make copies of their contents at an off-site location.
The policy gives border agents at any point of entry into the United States the authority to also take documents, books, pamphlets and hard drives. The items can be seized from anyone crossing the border and may then be copied and shared with other government agencies, according to Department of Homeland Security documents dated July 16.
"Officers may detain documents and electronic devices, or copies thereof, for a reasonable period of time to perform a thorough border search," the policy says. "The search may take place on-site or at an off-site location."
Full story here:
http://technology.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/US+border+agents+given+power+to+seize+travellers+laptops+cellphones/News/ContentPosting?isfa=1&newsitemid=border-searches&feedname=CBC-TECH-SCIENCE-V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True
The policy gives border agents at any point of entry into the United States the authority to also take documents, books, pamphlets and hard drives. The items can be seized from anyone crossing the border and may then be copied and shared with other government agencies, according to Department of Homeland Security documents dated July 16.
"Officers may detain documents and electronic devices, or copies thereof, for a reasonable period of time to perform a thorough border search," the policy says. "The search may take place on-site or at an off-site location."
Full story here:
http://technology.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/US+border+agents+given+power+to+seize+travellers+laptops+cellphones/News/ContentPosting?isfa=1&newsitemid=border-searches&feedname=CBC-TECH-SCIENCE-V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True
Jonathan Kay summaries the pro-life position
As summaries of the pro-life position go this is useful regardless of where you stand on the issue:
Joseph Ben-Ami of the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies has just come out with a concise, lucid paper entitled Why Canada Needs An abortion Policy. None of what Mr. Ben-Ami writes will be entirely new to anyone who's followed this issue closely in recent years. But he does a nice job of bringing together the arguments for an abortion law into a short essay of a few thousand words.
See here:
16 Chinese police officers killed
GEOFFREY YORK
Globe and Mail Update
Mon, 4 Aug 2008
BEIJING — With the Olympics just four days away, China has been hit with a violent attack that killed 16 police officers in its troubled Muslim region of Xinjiang, one of the bloodiest assaults on Chinese authorities in many years.
Chinese authorities called it a "suspected terrorist plot."
Full story here:
http://m.avantgo.com/ui?ag_url=52616e646f6d495679ef0ea49d2a2545384463e3b202f6c771f21485b32ce64d3af6665113a41c92834dfe68ed58fe297b5c0479ec4d32895641c3bce584f1dd7bcdc54e9f98a71c3be81149a036ca15&ag_channel=4179&showNav=0&ms=globeandmail
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Globe and Mail Update
Mon, 4 Aug 2008
BEIJING — With the Olympics just four days away, China has been hit with a violent attack that killed 16 police officers in its troubled Muslim region of Xinjiang, one of the bloodiest assaults on Chinese authorities in many years.
Chinese authorities called it a "suspected terrorist plot."
Full story here:
http://m.avantgo.com/ui?ag_url=52616e646f6d495679ef0ea49d2a2545384463e3b202f6c771f21485b32ce64d3af6665113a41c92834dfe68ed58fe297b5c0479ec4d32895641c3bce584f1dd7bcdc54e9f98a71c3be81149a036ca15&ag_channel=4179&showNav=0&ms=globeandmail
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Solzhenitsyn's death
I remember Solzhenitsyn coming to the West and thinking the end of the Soviet Union was near -- I was wrong by a decade or so but he proved that, sometimes, words are weapons.
Nobel laureate, novelist and chronicler of the Russian gulag Alexander Solzhenitsyn died of a heart ailment earlier today. The Russian literary giant was 89.
From the International Herald Tribune:
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose stubborn, lonely and combative literary struggles gained the force of prophecy as he revealed the heavy afflictions of Soviet Communism in some of the most powerful literary works of the 20th century, died late on Sunday at the age of 89 in Moscow. His son Yermolai said the cause was a heart ailment.
Solzhenitsyn outlived by nearly 17 years the Soviet state and system he had battled through years of imprisonment, ostracism and exile.
Solzhenitsyn had been an obscure, middle-aged, unpublished high school science teacher in a provincial Russian town when he burst onto the literary stage in 1962 with "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." The book, a mold-breaking novel about a prison camp inmate, was a sensation. Suddenly he was being compared to giants of Russian literature like Tolstoy, Dostoyevski and Chekov.
More here:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/08/03/russian-dissident-novelist-alexander-solzhenitsyn-dies-at-89.aspx
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Nobel laureate, novelist and chronicler of the Russian gulag Alexander Solzhenitsyn died of a heart ailment earlier today. The Russian literary giant was 89.
From the International Herald Tribune:
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose stubborn, lonely and combative literary struggles gained the force of prophecy as he revealed the heavy afflictions of Soviet Communism in some of the most powerful literary works of the 20th century, died late on Sunday at the age of 89 in Moscow. His son Yermolai said the cause was a heart ailment.
Solzhenitsyn outlived by nearly 17 years the Soviet state and system he had battled through years of imprisonment, ostracism and exile.
Solzhenitsyn had been an obscure, middle-aged, unpublished high school science teacher in a provincial Russian town when he burst onto the literary stage in 1962 with "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." The book, a mold-breaking novel about a prison camp inmate, was a sensation. Suddenly he was being compared to giants of Russian literature like Tolstoy, Dostoyevski and Chekov.
More here:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/08/03/russian-dissident-novelist-alexander-solzhenitsyn-dies-at-89.aspx
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Harry Turtledove -- Yesterday's Wars Today
Harry Turtledove is certainly the best-known writer of alternative history. He takes a single event and by changing it creates a fictional world. So, for example, he wrote a fine book based on a North America where George Washington made peace with King George and the American revolution didn't happen.
Turtledove's books are interesting and easy to read and, until now, not political. After all, what politics comes from Britain being at peace with America?
But his new book, The Man With the Iron Heart is different. Here Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich was not killed in 1942 but rather survived to lead a resistance to occupying forces after 1945. And how do they resist? With IEDs and suicide bombers. And how do the Allies react? By brutal overkill while looking to cut and run.
Sound familiar?
But wait, if this is like Afghanistan and Iraq then the Taliban and friends are really Nazi? Or just as bad?
Well maybe that's reading too much into an otherwise (well written and clever) escapist read but maybe not... .
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Turtledove's books are interesting and easy to read and, until now, not political. After all, what politics comes from Britain being at peace with America?
But his new book, The Man With the Iron Heart is different. Here Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich was not killed in 1942 but rather survived to lead a resistance to occupying forces after 1945. And how do they resist? With IEDs and suicide bombers. And how do the Allies react? By brutal overkill while looking to cut and run.
Sound familiar?
But wait, if this is like Afghanistan and Iraq then the Taliban and friends are really Nazi? Or just as bad?
Well maybe that's reading too much into an otherwise (well written and clever) escapist read but maybe not... .
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Potential juror says he's a racist and a liar
Some people will do anything to avoid jury duty!!!
A Cape Cod man who claimed he was homophobic, racist and a habitual liar
to avoid jury duty earned an angry rebuke from a judge on Monday, who
referred the case to prosecutors for possible charges.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11909495/from/ET/
James Morton
1100 - 5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
Bike thefts and organized crime?
Alleged bike thief Igor Kenk was released from the Don Jail earlier on Saturday. Kenk is facing 58 drug and theft-related charges stemming from a series of police raids that found hundreds of bikes and quantities of drugs.
When questioned as to his plans he said 'I'm a dead man'. Perhaps that's just the natural reaction of someone facing a potentially significant jail term or perhaps it means something else.
There is little doubt that the bike theft rings recently uncovered are far more organized than a few kids stealing bikes from school. Thousands of bike and millions of dollars are involved. Perhaps Mr. Kenk has more serious concerns than jail?
Israel allows in Gaza fugitives?
Today's BBC story, see below, cuts both ways. If either side is seen as being allied with Israel then that side is history. On the other hand, Israel surely does not want Hamas (but then Fatah isn't exactly the boy scouts).
Israel allows in Gaza fugitives
Israel has allowed 180 members of a beleaguered clan loyal to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to enter its territory from the Gaza Strip.
The Fatah faction supporters ran to a border crossing after a day of bloody fighting with their bitter rivals Hamas, who control the territory.
An Israeli army spokesman said some had laid down their weapons as they approached the crossing.
The injured among them were sent to Israeli hospitals, he added.
Fatah and Hamas blamed each other for starting the fighting on Saturday, in which nine people were killed.
Reports say that the clashes broke out during a raid by Hamas on the stronghold of a local pro-Fatah clan.
Hamas had accused Fatah supporters of involvement in a bombing a week ago that killed five Hamas members and a young girl. Fatah denies this.
An Israeli border commander, Col Ron Ashrov, said the Fatah supporters were allowed in after a group including injured people and armed men ran up to the Nahal Oz crossing.
It was the bloodiest round of internal fighting in more than a year.
When Israeli soldiers went to open the fence, they came under heavy fire, presumably by Hamas, he said.
The Fatah supporters were hand-cuffed and stripped for security screening as they crossed into Israel.
Col Ashrov counted 22 injured among them.
Israel opened the border after both Egypt and President Abbas asked for the Fatah supporters to be allowed in.
The office of Israeli Defence Minister
Ehud Barak said Israel had agreed out of humanitarian motives.
Hamas fighters had tried to storm the family home of the Hilles clan in Gaza City on Saturday morning, using grenades and mortars, reports say.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7537434.stm>
Israel allows in Gaza fugitives
Israel has allowed 180 members of a beleaguered clan loyal to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to enter its territory from the Gaza Strip.
The Fatah faction supporters ran to a border crossing after a day of bloody fighting with their bitter rivals Hamas, who control the territory.
An Israeli army spokesman said some had laid down their weapons as they approached the crossing.
The injured among them were sent to Israeli hospitals, he added.
Fatah and Hamas blamed each other for starting the fighting on Saturday, in which nine people were killed.
Reports say that the clashes broke out during a raid by Hamas on the stronghold of a local pro-Fatah clan.
Hamas had accused Fatah supporters of involvement in a bombing a week ago that killed five Hamas members and a young girl. Fatah denies this.
An Israeli border commander, Col Ron Ashrov, said the Fatah supporters were allowed in after a group including injured people and armed men ran up to the Nahal Oz crossing.
It was the bloodiest round of internal fighting in more than a year.
When Israeli soldiers went to open the fence, they came under heavy fire, presumably by Hamas, he said.
The Fatah supporters were hand-cuffed and stripped for security screening as they crossed into Israel.
Col Ashrov counted 22 injured among them.
Israel opened the border after both Egypt and President Abbas asked for the Fatah supporters to be allowed in.
The office of Israeli Defence Minister
Ehud Barak said Israel had agreed out of humanitarian motives.
Hamas fighters had tried to storm the family home of the Hilles clan in Gaza City on Saturday morning, using grenades and mortars, reports say.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7537434.stm>
Stanley Thompson
Stanley Thompson was one of the world's greatest golf course designers; a Canadian who was world famous, Thompson is not as well known locally as he should be. His work certainly is famous among golfers world wide. Among many other courses he designed Jasper Park in 1924. This post has a picture of Sleepy Hollow (also built 1924).
A leader of golf course designers on a par with Donald Ross, Alister Mackenzie and A W Tillinghast, Thompson was born in Toronto in 1894 and died in Guelph in 1952.