Abraham Martin and John-Dion 1969
From a friend...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Freedom's Just Another Word
We are a sleepy self-satisfied nation.
Democracy without vigilance is soon a memory.
Today we have three separate stories that remind us of these themes:
1. The National Post is asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision that demanded that the paper reveal its sources in a story. The rights of newspapers are enshrined in the famous and often annoying Charter. In this case, the Charter is bang on. We can only hope that the Supreme Court will hear this appeal and then reverse the previous dangerous conclusion.
2. The RCMP's information provided about its use of tasers is heavily edited. Why? To protect whom? I am first protected by knowledge and information. I don't want to learn that the police have secrets they need to hide. Transparency is everything in this case.
3. The Victoria police chief has been on payed suspension of duties for almost 6 months now. Why? No one will tell us.
When the Top Cop is under a cloud of suspicion, shouldn't I know what this is about? Where is the great Wally Opaque on this matter? Cutting more ribbons?
When these three stories are strung together, an unhappy scenario begins to emerge.
I ask my usual question:
What gulag are we living in exactly?
Headlines we can live without
"Cigarette Company Paid for Lung Cancer Study By GARDINER HARRISThe revelation that a researcher’s study was underwritten by a tobacco company has caused an appearance of bias."
You think?
But I was Just Gone for a Minute
To the commenter who asked, "Why didn't you call 911?"
Because last year when exactly the same thing happened on West 1oth Avenue (An infant in a van with the sliding door open and no sign anywhere of a parent...) and I immediately called the police, here's what happened.
Before the police arrived about 10 minutes later, the "mother" emerged from a tanning spa with a fashion mag in her hands. I asked her if this was her car and child. She said they were. I told her the police were on their way. She thought I was a public nuisance. She laughed at me.
When the police arrived, one officer stood by me. The other stood with the "mother," and the two of them - the "mother" and the police officer laughed a lot.
I asked them what was so impossibly funny.
A month before this incident, a friend who used to own a plant store down the street had precisely the identical experience - baby in car, no parent, police, much amusement...
Apparently there is something inherently hilarious about irresponsible senseless parents who are born to shop and tan and the crazy lunatic old men who accuse them of reckless child abandonment.
Watch for the new ABC reality show based on this growing trend called "Lose Your Kid, Find a Grumpy Old Man." The early returns from the focus groups say it's a smash run-away winner.
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