When is a murder charge NOT shocking?

Today's article in the Ottawa Sun about Stephanie Young was so typical of so many others that have come before it. The "girl" accused of killing a fellow human being on Saturday night is being depicted as a happy-go-lucky person who nobody would ever have thought was capable of committing such a heinous act.

Young is described as someone who enjoys snowboarding, playing soccer and a lover of the Ottawa Senators. She is said to be feeling "very badly about what happened". So? Ask Tammy Couture's friends and relatives about how concerned they are about poor Stephanie being so torn up about what she did on Saturday.

Sure, our pathetic justice system wants to see remorse. Our judicial system seems to provide convicts more benefits and support that it gives to victims and their families. So why should we be torn up about how this "poor 18-year-old" feels the morning after she murdered someone?

Every single time this happens someone is interviewed and says something like "I didn't think she was somebody who would do that." Just last week, the man who killed three family members before taking the coward's way out and blowing his own brains out was described as being nice and quiet. Is there anyone out there who would stand up and say "I was just waiting for Johnnie to kill his family, it was just a matter of time" when asked by a reporter?

Of course not.

So here we go... the spin has started. Poor Stephanie Young, the girl who loved snowboarding, playing soccer and was planning to get married in a few years is about to be painted as being the victim. Her friend Brandi Leduc says in the Sun today that "She would never hurt anybody because she wasn't like that" - well guess what... she IS someone like that now. She might have always been there for you in the past, Brandi, but aren't you happy you didn't cross her?

I must commend the Ottawa Sun for having the editorial intestinal fortitude to print a quote from someone who said that they never really liked the accused because of her tendency to start problems. That doesn't happen very often.

November 24th became a tragic day for someone in Ottawa... but not for Stephanie Young. She's not the victim here. It's Tammy Couture, her friends and family whose weekend went to hell in that one moment where Stephanie Young (oh yeah, allegedly) stabbed and killed her. True, it's never a good thing for the accused, but let's not try to paint her as being some poor martyr who would take it all back, if only she could.

She can't.

Just behave if you don't want to be Tasered!

I can't believe the attention some segments of our population and media are giving lately to the Taser and its use. The story seems to have started with the unfortunate death of a Polish man in British Columbia, but I heard at lunch today that Customs officials will be releasing some possibly enlightening information about the incident on Friday.

Too bad it's too late to reserve judgment on the RCMP officers who "pulled the trigger" and on the weapon itself... but with the instantaneous nature of how news propagates itself from coast to coast and into people's homes, knee jerk reactions are becoming commonplace these days.

Take today's Ottawa Sun, for instance. Some poor "30-year-old mother of two" feels "lucky to be alive" and hopes that witnesses will come forward to, I guess, enlighten her as to why she was Tasered the other night.

Well, Marlena Sarazin, how about you read the police report?

According to the Sun article, a vehicle she was driving was pulled over as police suspected she was driving while impaired. She took off, running over a police officer's foot and managed to hit a taxi and another police cruiser before deciding to stop for good. If police had to break the vehicle's windows and pull her out of the car, she clearly did not obey orders to exit the vehicle. If she had to be subdued by being hit with a Taser shot after being removed from the vehicle, she clearly wasn't obeying any commands issued by the police and was likely agitated and possibly appearing to the police as posing a potential hazard to herself and those around her.

Harsh treatment? Has anyone ever watched COPS on American television before? If you lead the police on a chase after running over an officer's foot and sideswiping two cars (including a police cruiser), you get pulled out of a car by an officer who's surrounded by countless colleagues with drawn guns.

This woman is trying to pass herself off as being a victim... here are the charges she's facing: impaired driving, dangerous driving, failing to remain, failing to stop for police, resisting arrest (maybe that's where the Taser came into play, wouldn't you think, ma'am?) and driving with a suspended license. I guess they didn't charge her with causing bodily harm or something for running over the cop's foot, but the fact she did so will likely figure prominently when the Crown presents its evidence.

The Polish man in BC was clearly shown throwing tables and chairs around. He was in a fit of rage minutes before RCMP officers tried to subdue him. Marlena Sarazin ran over a police officer's foot, hit a taxi and a police cruiser while fleeing from the police and (likely) refused to obey commands to exit her vehicle.

She can't remember being Tasered and hopes witnesses can help her out. She was (allegedly, right?) drunk! She clearly had no ability to think properly but had she not had those drinks or driven while under the influence, she wouldn't have been in the situation that eventually led the police to Taser her. The Taser wasn't wrong. The police weren't wrong.

But it's their fault. Sure... save the tears for court.

Before we are so quick to indict the police and the Taser (would we prefer that these people be shot?!), let's wait for all the facts to come out. The Sun story makes it clear that Ms. Sarazin was no angel on Saturday. The report that Canada Customs will release on Friday might shine a whole new light on what happened in BC when a man died after being Tasered twice.

Odds are good that all people who get in confrontations with police were breaking the law. The way to avoid getting Tasered or shot is pretty clear to me. Obey the (*$#@(*@) law! Pure and simple!

What's so complicated?!

Suggestion to help eradicate possibility of having to hike municipal taxes

Members of Council and Mayor O'Brien:

While I understand and almost unconditionally support the attempt to balance the books for 2008, I could not believe what I read in today's Citizen. It seems that Council pulled a fast one when the lights dimmed after the Albion Road reconsideration vote and the initial budget presentation took place.

To what, exactly, am I referring?

A motion to nix the ridiculous $50 charge that a taxpayer must incur in order to acquire a paper copy of this year's budget documents was defeated in the name of saving a few bucks. While I believe we should all be able to get a copy to examine in the privacy of our home (as opposed to travelling to a "library to be closed later" to see the copy in the reference section), I could buy in to the concept if those who voted against the motion were also against the so-called expense the city would have to cover each time a citizen dropped by to request one.

Amount the city saved by killing that idea? Around $6,000 according to Councillor Deans or $12,000 if one were to believe the staff response to someone else's question prior to voting.
But once that "fiscally prudent vote" was taken, another vote loomed ahead: not only will the City of Ottawa hand over a prime parcel of land to Algonquin College (a provincially funded educational institution) for nothing more than a song, Council voted to allocate $5 million for a pedestrian overpass! According the tiny Citizen article, councillors apparently believe that this bridge will help with some mixed-use development project. Did members of City Council not learn a lesson from the Rideau Canal pedestrian bridge fiasco?

While I understand the difference between the operating and capital sides of the budget, I cannot understand how any Councillor can look at a taxpayer in the eyes and explain why they have to pay higher taxes (and $50 for the budget document) because the City has to tighten its belt and then vote two hours later to spend millions for a bridge! I know that Woodroffe Avenue is a busy and possibly "dangerous" arterial road, but that's what the traffic control signals are for. They're working just fine right now.

Spending $5 million on a bridge rather than asking people to use the already available signals is utterly ridiculous when you're telling communities across the city that libraries, community centres and wading pools have to close. It's assinine when you're hiking user fees for those who use skating rinks for recreational skating or Oldtymers hockey. It is unfathomable when another item on the chopping block is graffiti removal or grass cutting. Has Council not learned its lesson on that subject? It's easy to cut grass cutting in November or December. Remember how quickly the dandelions and weeds take over and grow to two or three feet high in the spring? Council after Council votes to cut grass cutting at budget time, only to reinstate the funding after residents complain about how unsightly the City keeps getting year after year.
I think we all agree that raising taxes is undesirable. A neat trick past Councils have used has been to move fees (and then hike them) to the water bill. Most have yet to catch on to that shell game.

Let's assume we don't want to do this again this year - here's a tool that I don't think anyone has considered in the past... and it's guaranteed to increase revenues and yet residents will be COMPLETELY in control of whether they will incur the expense - meaning it gets the City and all elected officials off the hook! Double all parking fines effective January 1, 2008. Bylaw control officers will always be needed to write tickets because people are too stupid to see or obey directional signs. Stupid might be a bit harsh, but how else can one explain the ever-growing revenue associated with parking tickets?

While the inconsiderate sod who parks in a handicapped spot near the shopping mall will be hopping mad when the fine he faces grows from $300 to $600, he'll think a thousand times before doing it again... and that extra sum of dollars can go towards keeping skating hours for children affordable, an extra wading pool might stand a chance and a few extra bucks might save a library or two.

Think about it! Everybody is affected by a tax hike. Everybody hates rising taxes. Find your administrative efficiencies, kill the ill-timed bridge idea (anybody up for a reconsideration vote on that one?) and double the City's take associated with parking infractions. The vast majority of Ottawans can then be spared a tax hike and Mayor O'Brien can keep the "zero means zero" promise. I can't find the numbers for Ottawa, but the City of Toronto issues 2.8 million tickets each year - even if Ottawa were to issue but 25% of that sum, that's lots of tickets and at the average current cost for an infraction, that's a few bucks. Multiply it by two and all of a sudden there's that much more room in the budget.

Just think about it!

Does MADE IN CHINA mean "standards be damned"?

Yet another huge toy recall was announced yesterday.

Once again, it was a product that was made in China. Once again, according to a Wall Street Journal article published today, this recall is the result of cutting corners by substituting safe ingredients or materials with cheaper ones in the manufacturing process. It wasn't lead paint this time, but it is only be a matter of time before another announcement of seventeen million toys contaminated with lead paint being pulled off the shelves will come along.

What's the latest "error" or "flaw" coming out of the Chinese factories? A cheap glue that has properties that mimic GHB, the date rape drug, when swallowed. The kicker? This toy, Aqua Dots, was on Wal-Mart's "Top 12 Toys of Christmas" list and consequently was expected to be one of the most requested toys this holiday season... and we know how TMX Elmo and other "top toys" of years past have sold. That is lots and lots of presents under lots of trees. Or was, anyway.

The North American distributor of Aqua Dots has recalled three other products made in China in the past and any Google search will yield dozens (if not hundreds) of hits when one searches for recalls of hazardous Chinese products of all kinds. When will these companies learn? In the case of Aqua Dots distributor Spin Master Ltd., how many more recalls will it have to issue before it reconsiders using Chinese plants to manufacture its products?

What's it going to everybody to take notice? Earlier this year, countless families lost their pets due to poisonous food that came from a Chinese company. Contaminated wheat gluten was the culprit. Aqua Dots are being pulled from the shelves because, among other reasons, a 20 month old child went into a coma after ingesting several dozen Aqua Dot beads. Fortunately, the toddler lived - but what if he hadn't? Who would end up being accountable for that death? It seems that nobody has suffered any significant setbacks stemming from the pet food deaths as yet, so what kind of recourse do we as consumers have?

Far be it for me to be anti-capitalism, and just like everybody else, I do love a bargain, but where do we draw the line? If it's not poisonous dog food, children's toys containing lead or chemicals that can have the same effect on a human as an illegal substance currently used to mentally incapacitate victims in bars and pubs... where exactly is it? Sure, China is becoming an economic super power, but in the quest for the almighty buck, accountability and safety must always be in the back of company executives' minds. Is Fisher Price making a few bucks more on a given toy or a mom saving those same dollars buying the toy worth the risk?

Why is it that some US toy company executive can be tarred and feathered (and jailed!) for stealing a few dollars from the company or overstating revenues in fiscal reports, but other company officials continue to get "get out of jail free cards" while watching their companies outsource the manufacturing of products and use banned materials in the process?

I have a new nephew of sorts now and I will some day have children of my own. Before heading out shopping for Christmas, I will to go check a US government website I read about earlier this week. The Americans have put a recall database online for consumers to check and it has lots of valuable information. I'd love to go to a Canadian site, but as of yet, there is no centralized source of Canadian information on the subject of safety recalls.

This business of killer toys and other consumer products coming out of China has to stop. This Christmas season, try to find something "Made in Canada" or even "Made in the USA". It will be tough and might cost more, but at least you'll be supporting North American workers and their families. You'll know that North American standards will be met or exceeded and that toy or gadget won't potentially make you sick or kill your child.

We need to take a stand - and now is as good a time as any.

Stick your $200 bill idea in a deep dark place, Bank of Canada!

A story in today's Montreal Gazette reports on two studies commissioned by the Bank of Canada in 2005 that examined the Canadian currency system. One of the new "currency models" would see $5 coins and $200 bills introduced to our coin purses and wallets some time in the not so distant future.

It seems that they have understood from the start that taking the five dollar bill out of circulation and replacing it with a coin might not be very well received. They do not, however, seem to have the foggiest clue about their $200 bill idea.

Not too long ago, I decided not to bother getting into an argument with a gas station clerk about using a crisp new $100 bill to pay for $70 of gasoline and convenience store merchandise. My payment for these goods with that note was refused, citing some company "policy" where no bills larger than $50 are to be accepted. I would have loved to grab another $30 of merchandise and leave in a puff of smoke after dropping the $100 payment on the counter, but I'm hoping to get a job offer soon and having a police report (right or wrong) with my name on it right now would not advisable... even if an ensuing court case might better the retail side of Canadians' lives from coast to coast.

One hundred dollars doesn't buy what it once did. One wouldn't have to stretch things too thin to equate the purchasing power of today's $100 bill with that of a $20 bill from twenty or thirty years ago. That must be why the Bank of Canada believes that introducing a $200 bill is worth contemplating. Though the economy may make the use of $100 or $200 bills more commonplace and convenient when handling larger quantities of cash, virtually nobody will accept one of these bills despite the Bank of Canada's continuous efforts to make counterfeiting more difficult as each year passes.

Here's a bulletin, retailers, $10 and $20 bills are counterfeited much more regularly nowadays than $100 bills are. When will "policy" dictate that only debit and credit cards will be accepted? After all, coins should be outlawed too due to the greedy and irritating banking industry that has recently made coin deposits a chargeable transaction... so businesses won't want to accept bills because they can be copied and coins because it costs too much to bring them to the bank!

All this to say that our currency system doesn't seem to be broken right now... it works reasonably well as it is. If this new "system" were to be introduced right now, I'd have over $27 in change on me right now with the twonies, loonies and three five dollar bills I currently have in my wallet. Forget it. As for $200 bills, find me a gas station that charges a buck a litre or more for its product AND will accept a $100 bill as payment and then I'll think about buying into the idea that we need a $200 bill floating around.

Until then, stick to reality, folks - nobody wants a $5 coin and nobody will take a $200 bill. Any money spent studying our money right now is an outright waste.