Yesterday's comments about police, race and crime by Public Security Minister Bob Runciman did exactly what such remarks always do - they derailed a worthwhile and necessary debate and ignited a futile, destructive one.
Let's get it back on track.
First, is it true, as Runciman suggested, that "some folks" have a "vested interest" in fuelling tensions between the cops and various ethnic groups, particularly the black community?
Are there "some people in society," as Premier Ernie Eves put it, who enjoy seeing police and community leaders point fingers at one another at endless well-intentioned meetings - while violent youth crime continues unabated?
Do some Torontonians count it as a success when gunshot murders in Toronto - most of them of young people - skyrocket by 70% over this time last year?
Yes, yes, and yes. They're called criminals.
And as Police Chief Julian Fantino has rightly warned, they're having a field day right now.
The chief has targeted some 400 "most wanted" types believed to be behind the wave of guns, gangs and drugs that has plagued the city, and has launched a new strategy to stop them.
Good. Put them away. They won't be missed.
As for Runciman, we note he started out constructively yesterday - saying Ontario laws should be changed to require hospitals to report all cases of gunshot wounds. . . . He also demanded Ottawa hike sentences for gun crime instead of fiddling with the long gun registry.
Francois on the Libertarian Position on Gay Marriage
The French Libertarian Aug. 7, 03 presents a good argument against what I have been saying in reference to gay marriage. Read the excerpt; then go to his site for several posts on the libertarian position.
My kick at the can
Let me try my hand at this. I’m afraid that I won’t be as convincing [as The Canadian in his post August 6, 03] because I can’t offer as much fear or a scapegoat, but I’ll give it a try.
The question of gay marriage is really quite simple. Rights and benefits are accorded to people who’s unions are recognized by the state. Not recognizing gay unions deprives these people of the same rights and benefits enjoyed by heterosexuals.
[. . . .]
The problem is that while we may be part of the hetero majority, we are also all part of a minority as defined by some other standard. Are you fat, skinny, tall or short? Left handed? A stamp collector? Like to wear loud ties? What if the majority suddenly decides that YOU are no longer a full class citizen?
There is no such thing as “gay rights”, there are only human rights. When we allow one human’s rights to be abridged we set the precedent. Sooner or later, our rights will also go under the knife.
Do You Really Think the Same Thing Is Not in the Process of Happening Here?
The following has application to Canada -- whether you think so or not, initially.
Judge rules Scouts 'religious' group, WorldNetDaily, Aug. 6, 2003
Long-standing lease of park considered 1st Amendment violation
The city of San Diego is contemplating an appeal of a federal court decision that sided with the ACLU and a lesbian couple seeking to nullify its long-standing lease of a public park to the Boy Scouts.
A U.S. District Court judge ruled last Thursday the Boy Scouts is a religious organization, and the agreement to use Balboa Park violates the First Amendment's ban on state-sponsored religion.
In a closed session last night, the city council was scheduled to discuss whether it would advise the city attorney to file an appeal.
Judge Napoleon Jones, Jr., said in his ruling the case was brought by a lesbian and agnostic couple, Lori and Lynn Barnes-Wallace, and their "Boy Scout-aged sons."
They were supported by the American Civil Liberties Union. Jones determined the Boy Scouts are a religious organization with a "religious purpose" because adult leaders and youth members are required
to believe in a "formal deity" and to swear duty to God.
Gary Kreep, executive director of the San Diego-based United States Justice Foundation, said he is unaware of any other rulings that regard the Boy Scouts as a religious organization.
While the group promotes belief in God, it represents no particular denomination, he argued.
"If you look at the makeup of the Boy Scouts, they're supported by the [Latter Day Saints], Protestant churches, Catholics – you name it, you got it," he said. "I don't think many of those people think the Boy Scouts are religious."
[. . . .]
The judge noted the June 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, which ruled the youth organization had a constitutionally based right to discriminate on the basis of "sexual orientation." James Dale was an Eagle Scout whose adult membership in the Boy Scouts was revoked when the organization learned that he was an avowed homosexual and homosexual-rights activist.
Eagle Scout James Dale with parents in 1988 (Photo courtesy Dale family) Jones said in his ruling, "After Dale, it is clear that the Boy Scouts of America's strongly held private, discriminatory beliefs are at odds with values requiring tolerance and inclusion in the public realm, and lawsuits like this are the predictable fallout from the Boy Scouts' victory before the Supreme Court."
The local Desert Pacific Council of the Boy Scouts has used the northwest corner of Balboa Park, near the San Diego Zoo, since 1940. It has leased the land for $1 a year since 1957, and the city council approved a 25-year lease agreement at the end of 2001.
The judge noted the lease includes a non-discrimination clause prohibiting, among other things, discrimination based on religion and sexual orientation.
However, the city points out the non-discrimination clause applies only to the Boy Scouts regulation of access to the property by non-Scouting individuals and entities.
[. . . .]
The Boy Scouts engaged in exclusive negotiations on the Balboa land, the court said, as other groups did not have the opportunity to compete. Jordan Budd, legal director for the ACLU's San Diego office, said there are only two solutions, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Either the city council must cancel its lease or the Scouts must change its policy barring homosexuals and requiring belief in God.
My Commentary:
Christians are beset from all sides! Why do you think homosexuals are so adamant that they want their two-person relationships to be called marriage? The courts have ruled against churches more than once. If you have forgotten this example, check out the court decision on Vriend -- an openly-homosexual teacher whom an Alberta Roman Catholic School Board employed, fired because of his homosexual activity, then was required by the courts to reinstate.
Soon it will be a crime to express a Christian--at least a Roman Catholic--belief that practicing homosexuality is sinful, although being homosexual is not.
To prevent the Ralph Kleins of this Canadian world from actually using the notwithstanding clause to avoid allowing gay marriage in Alberta, our cater-to-every-minority EXCEPT PRACTICING CHRISTIANS federal government has appealed to the Supreme Court for a ruling on the wording of their latest attempt at social engineering, the issue of same-sex marriage. This is so that it will be impossible for Klein to use this clause so Alberta could opt out.
Note, the federal government did not appeal to the SCOC over Quebec's language laws -- but then, Quebec is always a special case in Canada. Too many PMs from the province of Quebec! Definitely, it is time for a change. Let's elect a conservative Christian--preferably from the West--for balance next time around. Know any?
Why Do White Farmers Not Deserve the UNs Intervention?
Why is this thug--Robert Mugabe--not stopped? And why did our own JC wimp out on sanctions being instituted against Mugabe at the last Commonwealth Conference? JC stays on the side of the cara dura every time!
Zimbabwe's commercial farmers held their 60th annual congress yesterday, but it was a day of heartache, gloom and tears for the dwindling band, some of whom now depend on charity to survive.
As another appeal went out for international donors to replenish emergency food stocks for almost half Zimbabwe's population, President Robert Mugabe renewed expired notices of acquisition on 152 farms yesterday, including five prime ranches in the Matabeleland province, belonging to the Oppenheimer mining dynasty of South Africa.
White commercial farmers hear nothing to lift their gloom at their 60th annual congress Doug Taylor-Freeme, the vice-president of the farmers' union, told the meeting that Mr Mugabe's policies had destroyed the agricultural sector. "Zimbabwe continues on its downward path to economic ruin with no relief in sight," he said. Agricultural production had fallen more than 50 per cent in the past year, he added.
[. . . .]
Until three years ago, agricultural produce accounted for 40 per cent of Zimbabwe's exports. Now it cannot sell beef to the European Union under preferential tariffs, not only because it does not have enough quality cattle left, but because the chaos allowed foot and mouth to spread across the country.
. . . Zimbabwe will grow less than 10 per cent of its normal wheat production this year. . . .
"Zimbabwe will continue to slide until agriculture recovers. That is why we are gathering data for compensation for farmers. . . .
Out of 4,000 productive white commercial farmers three years ago, fewer than 400 remain on their land. About 300,000 black workers and their families working and living on former white commercial farms are in abject poverty, according to the union's president, Colin Cloete. They were left out of Mr Mugabe's land reform programme and are jobless, homeless and hungry.
The only ones who get these farms are thugs -- friends and strong supporters of Mugabe. I understand most of them don't know how to run a farm -- but they support Mugabe, the only requirement.
Check The Telegraph for more of this article and for other articles on this topic.
The Canadian and Debbye (An American in T.O.) have two great posts on the proliferating crime problem in Toronto -- and the problems Police Chief Julian Fantino and his men in blue encounter in trying to combat crime. I have quoted Jack's comments--but not the whole article--below because they deserve to be repeated and READ, noted and acted upon.
Debbye asks some great questions but something must be kept in mind. Julien Fantino, because of his job, is a political animal. He must say the right things or lose the support (read financing) of the Liberal "elite" in this country.
He knows that and so he tries -- DAMN, HOW HE TRIES!
Truth be known -- and I don't care who takes offense -- TORONTO is the immigration focal point of a brand new wave of thugs. Gunmen from Jamaica -- Muslims "Jihadi's" from the Middle East -- "tongs" (and yes, Jihaddi's) from Southeast-Asia.
A lot of fine people come here from those areas of the world and they make Canada a better place but there is the "trash" that comes with them -- the thugs!
Toronto is where they head!
These thugs are struggling for control of a very lucrative market -- Toronto -- a HUGE drug market -- and every time there is a shooting you can bet that is what is going on.
How the hell does Fantino deal with that?
It is a problem foisted off on him by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and they won't even give him the funds or the manpower to sort it out. What a bunch of self-serving jerks!
Have you any idea what kind of "paper" this bullshit generates for police?
I'll share something with you -- NINE HOURS to process a simple common DOMESTIC assault -- because of all the "rules" placed on police by our courts.
GOT THAT -- NINE HOURS!
That cop you pay $60,000.00 per year to protect you is off the road and unavailable for NINE HOURS because he must sit in front of a computer and satisfy a defence lawyer!
Imagine what happens when a murder takes place -- just IMAGINE.
Don't even get me started on THIS situation!
I can rant for hours!
That cop you pay so much money for is in a legal straightjacket thanks to the "feds" and while that is going on these feds YOU PAY SO MUCH MONEY FOR import more of these violent little bastards who kill without a thought -- pay for their defence out of YOUR pocket -- and give them a "walk" at every opportunity.
Julien Fantino has a job I would never want and I applaud him for managing to hold it all together.
Not many men could do that little trick -- but HE DOES!
A final thought!
Perhaps he should run for Prime Minister some day.
Then Canada would have a REAL leader. We have a few you know!
I'm getting very tired of "wimps"!
Commentary:
I concur. We need strong leaders and Chief Fantino is strong on this issue. The rest of us are tired of the wimps too! And a government that supports the rights of foreign criminals over those of the ones who pay the bills -- a government that will bring into Canada anything on two legs that will vote Liberal -- a government that is allowing parliamentary democracy to be usurped by courts full of its left-liberal appointees -- et cetera! Read some great articles on the latter in today's National Post.
Come on Canadians! Let's resolve to not take it any more! Vote for another vision of our country! Vote the b******s out and vote in individuals who stand for re-establishing OUR control of OUR OWN country -- individuals who stand for something beyond political expedience!
Nota Bene: I have added bolding of things I want noted.
