THE FACADE OF COURT JUSTICE & IMPARTIALITY

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record has a very disturbing article titled "Man alleges Detroit police framed him". Wow that's certainly not subtle. It's an in your face allegation of criminal conduct by a specific police force. The evidence presented in the article is very compelling and disturbing. Desmond Ricks was convicted of second degree murder 25 years ago on what he states was "...sham evidence- bullets that didn't come from the victim.".

The University of Michigan law school have an Innocence Clinic. Their director states that Detroit police used to be infamous for taking constitutional shortcuts in order to close murder cases. Further he states that "the Detroit police lab was shut down after a 2008 audit revealed sloppy work, including the botched analysis of gun evidence.".

Meanwhile a witness originally against Mr. Ricks has recanted her testimony stating that she was frightened by police and bullied by a prosecutor.

Hand it to homo sapiens. We are capable of taking institutions allegedly dedicated to truth and justice and perverting them at will to suit the purposes of those in charge. Shameful and a wake up call.

NURSING HOME ASSAULTS

They are not rare. They are not exceptional. They are however both disgusting and under reported. My God we call ourselves a civilized society and allegedly we can't stop these assaults from happening in our Nursing Homes here in Ontario. Bullshit!

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following story titled "Daughter takes father's beating case to Hoskins". Her 86 year old father was attacked while sleeping and suffered head trauma, bleeding on the brain, a swollen bruised and bloody face and black eyes. He has been in hospital since the attack in January. The culprit was beaten by another resident who had Alzheimer's and who wandered into his room at 2 am. in the morning.

My own father suffered the loss of part of his finger in an intentional "accident" at Sunnyside Home in Kitchener, Ontario years ago. Then he either fell or was pushed and broke his hip. Surgery was done to repair it and while successful he died of pneumonia afterwards.

My father was a good family man and provider. He was a veteran of the second world war serving on corvettes with distinction for five years. He ended up with Alzheimers disease in a local nursing home and it killed him. Nice thank you from Canada for his years of hard work, dedication to his family and service to his country.

CAS IS "BROKEN"

Yesterday's Waterloo Region Record carried a Letter To The Editor from Barry Little, Executive Director of Kids "n" Dad Shared Support. Mr. Little quotes a number of comments from Superior Court Justice Grant Campbell. Justice Campbell stated that the child and parents "have been consumed and trampled by the Frankenstein process.". He further refers to the child welfare system as broken and that our family law system is only going to get worse. He further asserts that these conditions have created an "unworkable and abusive " system. Wow! That pretty much sums up my attitude in regards to much of the legal system not just family law and the lack of timely transparency and accountability of the Children's Aid Society. The title of Mr. Little's Letter To The editor is "Solution needed for "broken" system".

TRUSTEES VS. BOARD STAFF & PROVINCIAL EDUCATION MINISTRY

At first I thought I was in an alternate universe. This story was published in the Waterloo Region Record last Saturday and titled "Harassment and "toxic" environment found at B.C. school board". Allegedly the elected trustees of the Vancouver School Board were harassing and bullying the senior management team of the Board. At least an external investigation done by a single lawyer says so. Of interest to me is that the Minister of Education came in and fired all but one of the elected trustees. Wow that's bizarre and perhaps even worse than bizarre. Then the same minister publicly stated his great confidence in board staff and the one trustee he reappointed. Coincidentally or not the single trustee reappointed is a former school district superintendant in nearby Delta B.C.. Hmm I'm beginning to get a whim of something rotten here.

What seems to have brought things to a head is the issue of school closures. Apparently a number of publicly elected trustees were against so doing whereas the board staff and the province were in favour. The plot thickens. Why I find this bizarre is the gamesmanship and dirty dealings I've personally witnessed here in Waterloo Region. They were beyond compare and yes the trustees were somewhat strongly split. Many were former teachers and in my opinion co-opted in favour of board staff and the status quo. Others I would describe as reformers and far more unbiased in their belief that students not board staff, teachers and their unions came first. To me it appears that things came to a head and staff walked out. In normal businesses when staff walk out (especially non-union or mid contract) they all get fired, but school boards are not remotely normal. The addition of comments from another provincial agency namely WorkSafeBC simply add to the nonsense. Who the hell got them involved and why? Were the senior management team treated disrespectfully or worse by some trustees? I don't know for certain. What I do know is this whole things smells of a manufactured crisis for political purposes.

IS SOMETHING "OFF" WITH "MAN SHOT BY OFFICER ..." STORY ?

So was the man shot with a taser first and then shot with a gun? Or in the alternative was the officer shot with a taser and then he responded with his service handgun? To say details are sketchy is an understatement. Then we find out that the man has been charged with "attempting to disarm a police officer". What the hell? Was this before or after he was shot with a taser? Was it before or after he was shot with a handgun? Which or both (assuming the taser was the police officer's) did he try to take away from the officer? Finally was the man now in hospital, impaired at the time of the incident? It seems as if that is somewhat sketchily implied with the inclusion of a 911 call fifteen minutes prior claiming an erratic driver at Belmont Avenue and Highland Road. It was fifteen minutes later that the accused was stopped on Lilac St at Ottawa Street.

Was the driver stopped at Lilac and Ottawa St. the same driver who allegedly was reported for erratic driving fifteen minutes earlier in a different location? Did the police get the right guy or the wrong guy? Was the officer over enthusiastic/aggressive or was the accused seriously behaving in a dangerous manner? We the public need to know what the hell happened here. Fortunately local police shootings are rare but they do happen and citizens do die because of it. Are our police officers appropriately trained to deescalate situations or do some of them go rogue and over react to any verbal disrespect or refusals to obey their orders? The article in today's Waterloo Region Record is titled "Man shot by officer is charged".

WATERLOO CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD MAY BE DISREGARDING NEEDS OF AUTISTIC BOY

At least Luisa D'Amato of the Waterloo Region Record seems to think that they are. The title of her article in today's Record is "Board disregards needs of autistic boy". Luisa starts her article with "They don't give out service dogs to just anyone". She follows with "But the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, which has no expertise in the matter, has decided that this advice isn't important, and that the dog isn't necessary or welcome with Kenner at his school.". Of further interest is that the waterloo Region District School Board has twelve service dogs with students in classes whereas the Catholic Board has exactly zero. It certainly does look like a pattern there to me. The Board have been taken to the Human Rights Commission by Kenner's father. Amazingly Kenner's mother is a sitting Trustee with the Catholic Board yet no ground has been given to date by the Board to accomodate Kenner. This may change after the Human Rights Commission make their decision.

POLITICAL PROCESS REGARDING ENVIRONMENTAL APPROVALS IS BROKEN

Why is all the heavy lifting done by unpaid, volunteer citizens? Whether it's Chemtura Canada in Elmira failing to clean up the drinking water aquifers on time (2028), or the ongoing and ever twisting and turning Jigs Hollow Gravel Pit saga, it has been citizen volunteers who have been on the case literally for decades. In some cases local politicians don't even have any respect or appreciation for the time, effort and positive contributions citizens have made to the Elmira cleanup. Currently the proposed but overdue improvements to the cleanup of the Elmira Aquifers are solely the result of steps the last CPAC took in May 2012 in calling out Chemtura and the M.O.E. over their pathetic cleanup efforts.

The process for gravel pits follows the same pathetic process for contaminated sites with the notable exception that it is the Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry acting as the alleged professionals promoting the public interest versus the Ont. Ministry of Environment so pretending regarding environmental matters. The M.O.E. here in Elmira Ontario have long ago been exposed as nothing but a mouthpiece and a shield especially for large polluting industries.

The process entails well off corporations hiring shills disguised as consultants who then produce reports by credentialed individuals whose opinion is very helpful to the wishes of the corporation who hired them. Occasionally peer reports will be requested by municipal or regional bodies but certainly in the case of Chemtura Canada, not nearly often enough. Their consultants have been producing drivel, junk science and overall CRAP for at least thirty years. This is why and how they get their way while both human and wildlife pay the price in order to save them millions of dollars.