DRIVING IS A LIFE AND DEATH BUSINESS

Last Thursday's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story "Parents call intersection unsafe after daughter's fatal collision". This is such a sad story and all too common. While my heart goes out to the parents I believe the statistics across North America would indicate that this is literally a daily occurrence. In fact that might well be a daily occurrence in Canada and probably ten times more often based upon population etc. in the U.S.. I have driven the particular intersection where the younf woman was hit by the transport truck many times. It is a highway and the southbound trucks have a downhill. With what I have long believed are shorter yellow lights than in previous decades it is basically impossible for a loaded tractor trailer to go from 80-100 km/hour to a dead stop in the time that the lights are currently yellow. Hence when they are very close to the intersection, knowing that an emergency stop may well put them into and through the intersection anyways; most times it's safer to go on through. Notice I say most times. If a stopped car is waiting to make a left turn and their light turns red it is much too easy to assume the oncoming vehicle is braking and it's therefore safe to go in order to clear the intersection for the now east and west bound traffic. As horrible as the results are it's neither the first nor the last time that exact thing has and will happen. Perhaps the parents' idea of a dedicated left hand turn light prohibiting through traffic and allowing the left hand lane to go would be helpful. I truly don't know what other ramifications of that there might be. The current system however is indeed dangerous and all drivers need to know and recognize that they are taking their lives in their hands each and every time they drive. Even without drinking or reckless driving our roads are not and never have been "safe".

MORE ON OUR ANTIQUATED BAIL SYSTEM

So a 22 year old woman after being held in jail for four months has been released on bail. Doesn't this beg the question: Why put her behind bars in the first place? She has been charged but not convicted of a criminal offense. The actual charge appears to be a allegedly non violent offense on her part. She was charged with being "an accessory after the fact in the murder of Tim Bosma." O.K. the Tim Bosma murder was horrific, gratuitous and an innocent person had their life snuffed out. But note this woman is neither charged for the murder nor charged as an accessory to the murder. She is charged with being an accessory "after the fact" which I believe could include as little as offerring the accused murderer a meal, a night's sleep or almost anything. July 24/14 I posted here about the ridiculous percentage of jail inmates in Ontario who are unconvicted of any crime. If the Crown feel that she doesn't need to be in jail now then why did she need to be in jail for the last four months? Or is it simply that the system doesn't give a crap. Throw citizens in jail, mumble some legal mumbo-jumbo and everything is just fine. Let the citizen or her friends or parents hire a lawyer, pay big bucks and eventually get her out while everybody waits more years for the trials to get underway. What a system. Today's Waterloo Region Record carried this story "Girlfriend in Bosma murder case granted bail".

G20 CLASS-ACTION LAWSUITS

Not bad. It's only been four years and two months to this point so far. Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story "G20 class-action lawsuits to move forward". Hundreds of people detained by police aka "kettling" is only part of the lawsuits. The other part deals with the treatment of those who were held at a "chaotic" detention centre during the summit.

Justice Ian Nordheimer wrote the following "In essence , in this case, we have a broad class of persons who were allegedly arbitrarily detained in each instance by the police through the use of a single sweeping order.". That indeed is the crux of the matter. Legally police can not arbitrarily arrest and imprison people without evidence of criminal activity. They grossly overstepped their authority and the biggest shame to date is that those responsible indiviuals haven't themselves done a day of prison time. That and that alone will be the only appropriate punishment for those persons legally allowed to walk around with weapons and who unfortunately feel that the laws of the land don't apply to themselves. It is also unfortunate that the outgoing Toronto police chief couldn't have spent some quality time in prison prior to his departure. Might give him and his sucessors a whole different attitude about throwing Canadain citizens in jail without legal cause.

I JUST BOUGHT MY LAST EVER FISHING LICENSE

Fuck you every politician who ever dreamt up another tax on citizens. Municipal property taxes, provincial sales taxes and income taxes, federal income taxes and sales taxes. PST, GST, HST, taxes on the money we earn, taxes on the money we spend, taxes disguised as penalties (speeding taxes) and even victim surcharge taxes. Such bullshit! Enviro taxes, fishing licenses, hunting licenses, driving licenses honest to God please fuck off government. Wastewater charges (taxes), incoming water charges, dog licenses and on and on. I was told this afternoon that as I turn 65 this fall I no longer have to buy fishing licenses. I turn 65 in two months . I just paid $16.46 for the privelege of going fishing this evening for the first and probably last time this year; down the road near Wallenstein. Yes I paid exhorbinant taxes on the gasoline in my car to get there. Remind me again what exactly did my government do to earn this fishing tax from me? Oh yes they have a court system in place to harass me if I'm caught fishing in my own country once without a license. They also pay cops and others far more than I was ever paid for much harder work; to apprehend me. Oh and then there is the f...ing judge's well paid time. I say to you fuckers look out. Revolutions have occurred for less. My father and two uncles didn't go overseas in World War Two just to let the slime inherit this country. They went overseas to protect their and my freedom. That freedom is worth fighting for and that includes fighting home grown terrorists otherwise known as politicians.

SOME SENATE REFORM IS POSSIBLE

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this article by Geoff Stevens titled "Taking politics out of the Senate". Mr. Stevens has four suggestions which would improve/reform the Senate, none of which would require provincial input or agreement. Firstly abolish the Conservative caucus in the Senate the exact same way that Justin Trudeau abolished the Liberal caucus. Secondly let the provinces choose their own Senators. This could be by citizen voting or by the provincial Premier making the appointment. Thirdly have the Senate elect their own speaker versus the Prime Minister so choosing. Lastly instead of a daily question period in the senate have the prime Minister perhaps on a weekly basis present himself for an hour or so of questions. All of these ideas would reduce partisanship and increase productivity. We just moght get the Senates of old which were staffed by people of knowledge, integrity and experience.

GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRACIES ROUTINELY LIE TO THE PUBLIC

Iron bacteria are a significant part of the problem in the West Montrose well field. These four wells and pumps are infected with iron bacteria. These bacteria feed on iron in the water and produce a slimy sludge which blocks the pumps. In a private single well the homeowner can "shock" his well with chlorine and leave a very strong solution in the system for 24 hours or more. Then he empties it out and probably the bulk of the iron bacteria are dead and won't be a problem for several more months or longer. In West Montrose with seventy or more homes on the system you can't very easily shut everything down for 24 hours or more while the high concentration of chlorine kills the iron bacteria.

The water being delivered to homes, after being pumped from the wells, is treated to remove the iron and thus homes in West Montrose should not have excess iron. What is interesting is that it appears as if the Regional government aren't prepared to let residents know that these particular bacteria are present in the system. Normal chlorination and chloramination take place after the water has been pumped from the wells, hence they have no effect on the pump and directly related piping blockage caused by iron bacteria. The bottom line may be that either isolating one well and pump at a time from the rest of the system in order to "shock" the well and pump etc. cannot be done sucessfully or this is all bunkum designed to hide the fact that the colifirm and E.Coli bacteria are too plentiful to destroy with normal chlorine contact. Therefore ongoing massive chlorination is required to kill pathogens including bacteria and the lack of pumping capacity is just BS. Who knows when you are dealing with government at any level.

POLICE STINGS AND ENTRAPMENT

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story "High court warns against stings due to unreliability, abuse". Well normally I could immediately support that court decision simply because tricking someone into either commiting a crime or confessing to an alleged past crime is wrong on so many levels. Since when does deceit, manipulation and blatant lying produce the truth in anything? It's like trial by ordeal or obtaining information via torture. It is unreliable and reprehensible. The state has no business behaving on my behalf or anyone else's in such a manner.

Now we get to the specifics. Oh boy! In whose universe is bragging about murdering anyone's children considered an asset or a positive? Here we have a man who was convicted of murdering his two very young children. Convicted that is after he allegedly bragged to a "Mr. Big", a supposedly big time crime boss. What kind of idiot would think that confessing/bragging about such an act could ever be used for his benefit? On principle I believe that stings and entrapment are wrong. What if, and I say what if, that really was the only way to convict a parent for a heinous crime? You sure don't want this person anywhere near his or anybody else's children ever again. Is it even possible for an innocent parent to ever falsely accuse themselves of such a crime? Perhaps under torture. Otherwise I would think never.