Canadian Cynic raises an important issue and I disagree with him on his verdict

I understand the emotion Cynic is expressing here.
He is frustrated at the so called “Troop loving” Tories using the good name of our armed forces to slander a good man and to refuse to actually get to the facts about who in our government thought it would be okay to hush up a policy lapse [...]

Enabling torture is not a Canadian value, it’s a US one – Does this mean that the CPoC is unCanadian?

By the standards of a lot of right wing water carriers in Canada the answer is yes. Honesty, fairness and openness are values that Canadians would claim to embrace and hold as part of the Canadian identity. Our charter indeed insists on equality and due process for all. So by the standards of our charter [...]

The Last Witch of Langenburg – T Robisheaux: at the twilight of christian sharia law.

This was a great read. It wasn’t  a book that you could read while enjoying a whisky though. There were numerous citations to follow and you needed to constantly remind yourself that you had to read it bearing in mind the knowledge of the day.
It was a great legal and social drama and intrigued and [...]

“Torture doesn’t work” – Professor J Schaller

“In 1658, Jacob Schaller, professor of philosophy and ethics, had published a treatise marshaling all the compelling arguments against torture: that it stupefies the senses and makes it impossible to get at the truth; that it produces false confessions; that the Bible does not justify it; that torture produces tyranny and injustice; that nature itself [...]

Vaccinations – possibly the greatest protector of life ever devised by humankind, but the Americans don’t appreciate it. Woo gets in the way.

Vaccinations made the news this week.
First of all we find out that Wired magazine points out that the irrational sectors of society are refusing to immunise their children against childhood killers, because their middle class sensibilities lead them to believe in all sorts of irrational crap, aka woo. This attitude is supported by many an [...]

New conservative logic – they really should buy a dictionary so they can use words properly

To have an honest conversation, you shouldn’t have to temper your words and back them up with statistics and verifiable truth.
A lawyer said this and guess what you are so wrong. If somebody disputes what you claim as the evidence for your offered statement of belief, then yes you need to show that the claim [...]

The cross is not an xtian symbol – the perverse logic of a conservative who denies Jesus 2000 years after Judas

“I don’t think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that the cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that’s an outrageous conclusion.”
Thus spoke conservative Justice Scalia.
Some of those who are trying to stuff their religion down the the throats of others in an attempt [...]

Victim in the Polanski case continues to suffer

Apparently Polanski’s ex sister in law says that the act that led to the current situation was consensual. Well guess what Debs the law said and still says it can’t be, so it isn’t.
“there is rape and then there is rape… I am a victims’ advocate and I know the difference.”
Clearly you haven’t got a [...]

Polanski – an example of a messed up case by all concerned where the victim was forgotten

Roman Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland ready to undergo extradition charges to the US.
Polanski in the 70’s had sex with a 13 year old female. That was and still is a crime. In order to get a confession the judge in the case and those representing the state and Polanski came to an agreement. [...]

Taser International – Macho corporatism as policy

The Braidwood inquiry found that the repeated tasing of a victim of RCMP brutality caused Robert Dziekanski’s death. This is was backed up by a lot of evidence too.
Taser International don’t like inconvenient facts so have set out to intimidate folk into changing the record and findings of an extenseive inquiry. Not by introducing new [...]