RSS FeedGovernment Seems Skeptical About Science
Although Canada ranks as a top nation when it comes to scientific research, this just isn’t a characteristic shared by the Canadian government.
An editorial in the journal Nature this week provided a scathing critique of the current government.
Concerns can only be enhanced by the government’s manifest disregard for science. Since prime minister Stephen Harper came to power, his government has been sceptical of the science on climate change and has backed away from Canada’s Kyoto commitment. In January, it muzzled Environment Canada’s scientists, ordering them to route all media enquires through Ottawa to control the agency’s media message. Last week, the prime minister and members of the cabinet failed to attend a ceremony to honour the Canadian scientists who contributed to the international climate-change report that won a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Their complete disregard for some pretty simple scientific issues is usually explained and justified by economic policies depending on energy production.
But Canadian voters have consistently ranked the environment as a top concern for them in all recent polls.
Julia Langer of WWF-Canada said,
Ontario voters are looking for leadership on environmental issues, creating an electorally significant swath of unclaimed green turf up for grabs if parties can distinguish themselves in the coming weeks. Ontario voters want clear, non-partisan information on what constitutes a solid environment platform and we are ready to help on that front.
Despite rhetoric on the lack of Liberal leadership, the Conservative government’s inconsistency on environmental issues alone may be enough to cost them the next election.
Martial Law in North America?
It’s possible, or at least NORTHCOM says so in a news release this month.
…Americans can be assured the U.S. military is ready and capable of responding to attacks within the United States.
But critics are questioning the legality of this,
The establishment of USNORTHCOM has helped blur the lines between police and the military. It is an illegal and unconstitutional entity that should be abolished.
They also cite two troubling legal developments:
- The National Security and Homeland Security Presidential Directive, which in the case of a Catastrophic Emergency would appoint the President as coordinator of an Enduring Constitutional Government, a cooperative effort among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.Despite the use of constitutionality in the name, critics state that this erodes the distinction between the three branches, and effectually makes the President a dictator, because they would “lead the activities”.
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An FBI public-private partnership program that would enable private business entities to spy on citizens and allegedly use lethal force in emergencies.The ACLU has opposed the move in a report that states that the program would turn businesses into surrogates of the FBI. Last week the Senate approved of immunity to private companies that conduct surveillance on behalf of the government.
Canadians may also have cause for concern, as the goals of “Binational Integration” of the American and Canadian militaries has been suggested by some to amount to effectual annexation of Canada, as NORTHCOM would control all of North America.
Specific concerns include:
- Its borders will be controlled by US officials and confidential information on Canadians will be shared with Homeland Security.
- US troops and Special Forces will be able to enter Canada as a result of a binational arrangement.
- Canadian citizens can be arrested by US officials, acting on behalf of their Canadian counterparts and vice versa.
In conjunction, all four of these developments suggest that in the right circumstances the President of the United States could unilaterally enter a foreign country like Canada with troops to impose martial law, employ businesses to assist them enforce and monitor, and arrest Canadian citizens within Canadian borders.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EonjqFPKVU[/youtube]
Dirty Diary Disclosed
James Michael Bomek, a sex offender and former lawyer in Sask., is on trial for obstruction of justice.
Police found seven volumes of diaries that contained information on provincial court judge Terry Bekolay, a former president of the Saskatchewan NDP, who Bomek knew through the gay community. Bekolay resigned early last year, citing medical reasons.
The allegations suggest that Bomek used his relationship with Bekolay to intervene on behalf of a friend, Norman Custer. Bomek defends himself by saying that as a recently outed gay sex offender, he was too ashamed to go through normal channels. He also shares stories of abuse and homophobia while within the criminal system.
After having sex with young male clients between 2001-2002, Bomek was sentenced for 3.5 years and disbarred. His current term is related to sexual assault and child pornography charges.
The CBC reports.
Canada Still Complicit in DU
Colin Powell recently denied the harmful effects of Depleted Uranium (DU), which has been used in every major American conflict in recent years.
InformationLiberation reports,
Members of WeAreChange Ohio confronted former Secretary of State Colin Powell about the use of depleted uranium in four separate wars– including Gulf Wars I & II, Kosovo and Bosnia. Powell admitted to its use, but denied its relative harm, repeatedly calling it “useful.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAwVasj3o68[/youtube]
Canada is the largest exporter of Depleted Uranium, with millions of dollars of revenue per year, up to 60% going to the U.S. Some assert that all of the DU used in the Balkans has some Canadian content.
Doug Westerman of Global Research presents a hypothetical scenario,
…Terrorists acquire a million pounds of the deadly dust and scatter it in populated areas throughout the U.S. Hundreds of children report symptoms. Many acquire cancer and leukemia, suffering an early and painful death. Huge increases in severe birth defects are reported. Oncologists are overwhelmed. Soccer fields, sand lots and parks, traditional play areas for kids, are no longer safe. People lose their most basic freedom, the ability to go outside and safely breathe. Sounds worse than 9/11? Welcome to Iraq and Afghanistan.
A Japanese Citizen’s Tribunal (having no legal standing) recommending banning DU, in connection with allegations of war crimes due to use of indescriminate weapons such as DU.
Nikhil Shah argues in Depleted Uranium And International Law over the legality of the use of DU, and concludes,
Public pressure should also continue to force the U.S. and NATO countries to clean up the contaminated sites that they are responsible for.[198] In addition, legal action should be brought in specific cases for negligence in order to get some redress from the negative health effects of DU.[199] These local judicial decisions can be utilized as a subsidiary means to determine the rules of international law according to article 38(1)(d) of the Statute of the ICJ.[200] To help better define the legality of DU, pressure should also mount to get more conclusive and objective studies about its effects on combatants and non-combatants and to stop parties like the U.S. from compromising studies put forth by UN and the WHO.[201] Such pressure has been successful in the past with the anti-nuclear weapons campaign leading to the World Court opinion against the use of nuclear weapons.[202]
Clinton/Obama… Ready or Not
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY2jmgwwmFk[/youtube]
Don’t Save Us Through Privatization
Lorne Gunter of the National Post commented yesterday on the Kawacatoose First Nation proposal for a private MRI service,
For defenders of Canada’s government-monopoly health care system, there is only one goal that truly matters. And, no, despite their earnest insistences to the contrary, that goal is not the health of patients. It is the preservation of the public monopoly at all costs, even patients’ lives.
But Gunter’s thinking is short-sighted. Private services would ease wait times in the short-term, but would exacerbate them in the long. She explains the rationale herself in quoting health critic Judy Junor, who says that private facilities poach services from public hospitals.
The larger implications are that many hospitals operate on a global budget, offering some services at a modest profit, and others at a loss. Private clinics choose to offer only the former, usually at the expense of the latter. The end result is that public systems operate on an even narrower margin and risks collapse, thereby providing an even greater hazard to patients’ lives.
The one positive factor of the scenario is that the Aboriginal band proposed offering services to all Canadians, without cue-jumping. They would probably be better positioned to provide culturally appropriate services for their community. But most importantly, they are considering revenue generation beyond casinos.
Patenting Mother Nature
Biomimicry, or engineering based on naturally occurring principles, is one of the newest emerging technologies in patent law.
The Biomimicry Guild states,
Life has been performing design experiments on Earth’s R&D lab for 3.8 billion years. What’s flourishing on the planet today are the best ideas—those that perform well in context, while economizing on energy and materials. Whatever your company’s design challenge, the odds are high that one or more of the world’s 30 million creatures has not only faced the same challenge, but has evolved effective strategies to solve it.
Time magazine explains further,
Some 3.8 billion years of evolution have exposed the design flaws of roughly 99% of nature’s creations — all recalled by the Manufacturer. The 1% that have survived can teach powerful lessons about how things should be built if they’re to last.
American Way shares a story on some of the developments in this field based on naturally occurring technology, which include:
- self-cleaning paint based on flowers
- Spider-Man velcro emulating geckos
- clothing dyes as vibrant as a peacock
- hydrodynamic swimsuits from sharks
- “cool” architecture copying termite mounds
- more energy efficient equipment
- quiter airplanes using owl feathers
Of course the issue raised is who gets to patent designs naturally occurring in the environment.
But none of these technologies are exact replicas, and do require research and development to emulate and generate synthetic duplicates, and it is this investment that will likely justify the issuing of patents.
You can Build Them, But They Won’t Always Come
The Galloping Beaver has an interesting post on a modern CIA-ops gone bad.
Millions of dollars were spent setting up fake businesses. In Europe. To fight terrorism.
Because investment bankers are behind it all, of course.
After realizing how futile the exercise was they all went insolvent.
American tax dollars, hard at work. No wonder the economy is hitting a rough spot.
Law is Frugal
Most of the critique around law school center on the crushing debt students will incur.
A lawyer collegue of mine (they seem to abound) once warned me,
Live like a lawyer when you are a law student, and you will live like a student when you are a lawyer.
I’ve taken this advice under serious consideration, and tried to keep the expenses to the minimum.
Here‘s a site that has been an invaluable resource:
First OHS Fatal Negligence Conviction
A new positive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent bodily harm was added to the Criminal Code in 2004 under Bill C-45.
Transpavé Inc. is the first company to be convincted under these new provisions for criminal negligence resulting in death.
Norm Keith of Gowling Lafleur Henderson has a brief report on these developments.
Athens Petitions PSC to Add Sparta to Entities
The city-state of Athens has petitioned Public Safety Canada to add Sparta to it’s list of terrorist entities.
The list can be found under the Criminal Code, as enabled by the Anti-Terrorism Act.
83.05 (1) The Governor in Council may, by regulation, establish a list on which the Governor in Council may place any entity if, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Governor in Council is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that
(a) the entity has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity; or
(b) the entity is knowingly acting on behalf of, at the direction of or in association with an entity referred to in paragraph (a).
Socrates, an Athenian spokesperson, said,
What we find deeply troubling is that a large segment of the Canadian population sympathizes with Sparta and its political goals and ambitions. They are using popular propaganda such as the film 300 to spread their message of anti-colonialism, available in Canada only through satellite television services like pay-per-view.
Canadian teens are already running our streets screaming “This is Sparta!” while kicking anyone that remotely resembles Xerxes’ Persians. The Spartan themselves have been known to practice eugenics by throwing any children too weak or deformed off cliffs. We’re already seeing these practices infiltrate into Canadian society. Those that survive this initial scrutiny then go through a vigorous and mind-numbing training intended to encourage a blood-lust.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDiUG52ZyHQ[/youtube]
The entire complaint can be read in full here.
Defending Liebeck v. McDonald’s
The scope of negligence in tort law expands and contracts over time.
One of the landmark cases in product liability, Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants, has received much criticism as a frivolous lawsuit, and has been the basis for many calls of tort reform.
Even Seinfeld mocks the case, with Kramer’s lawyer reprimanding him for using a balm that heals his coffee burn, thereby making the lawsuit void.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzowSs9mNOM[/youtube]
Stella Liebeck ordered coffee in a McDonald’s drive-through, spilled it on herself while driving, and received third-degree burns. She successfully sued McDonald’s as a result, with an award of $640,000.
Similar cases with other proprietors have been observed since.
But David Brannen defends the decision, explaining that the jury in the case was upset at the defendant’s conduct. For example, Liebeck offered to settle for her medical bills ($20,000), but they offered her only $800.
Brannen also states that over 700 reported similar cases previously gave the defendant ample opportunity to rectify the problem.
Although they subsequently lowered the temperature of their coffee, some claim it was an incomplete victory tainted by lobbyists:
In a sense, this case wasn’t won by the plaintiff or lost by the defence. It was won by those lobbying for tort reform. They won a public relations campaign by misleading the public and unfairly characterizing certain details of this case. As a result, Ms. Liebeck was further victimized by jokes that made a mockery of her injuries and the harmful actions of McDonald’s.
Which raises further questions as to whether justice is subject to public relations campaigns and perceptions of the public.
Tort liability is adjusted over time to societal expectations, but in an age of mass media this could suggest that a legal defence may have less to do with the law than with access to the public.
