The Ghomesi files

Note that at the moment Ghomeshi is taking the CBC to court. And is not going after the Star, which would mean that these statements could be legally entered on the record and the identity of the women kept out of the public record. If the statements were really false, the first legal target would definitely be the Star.
... By going after the CBC, these women's identities would not be protected if they made any sworn statements. The issue is not the allegations of abuse. The issue with the CBC contract is dismissal due to moral turpitude. Intimidation of victims is the hammer of the serial sexual abuser. It isn't just a question of sex, often the abuser craves the power of control. Fear of being identified, the emotional wears on a submissive victim a lot more strongly than that of a dominant personality. Dominants are not afraid to use their fame. At the moment, the CBC must justify the use of the turpitude clause of employment. Given the world is on Ghomeshi's side at the moment, it seems unfair for everyone involved.
... While role playing isn't wrongful, immoral, in itself the problem with the role play of BDSM is fertile ground for the serial sexual abuser. The people under control are likely to be more passive and submissive than the average person. They submit to control very easily and the predatory abuser knows that. People with social status possess immeasurable power. Its something called reputation. And reputation for those that have it, is a tool of control.
... Ghomeshi is in a precarious situation. He could've escaped under the camouflage of personal issues. And re-emerged with another great job elsewhere.That's the Catholic Church strategy. Instead he decided to use the Conrad Black strategy of direct confrontation. Its a terrible situation for an innocent person to be in. There is no strategy that really works.
... Blaming the unnamed aggrieved lover is for every sense of the word, lame. Angry ex-lovers tend to be anything but anonymous. Even the docile submissive ones kick the garbage can.





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Well that's at the moment. The problem with the Star's material is that it would be a matter of truth. In the CBC's case, the issue is moral turpitude. The Star material proves something far more serious than a whacko sex life. It may very well prove serial assault/abuse. Indeed if Ghomeshi pressed the Star it might trigger the victims to pursue a path of criminal prosecution. If I were the Crown Attorney I would be furiously trying to gather that information to
... By going after the CBC exclusively in a civil matter, probably means that the plaintiff, can exclude introduction of the Star evidence since it isn't relevant to the vengeful ex lover . Whereas it is very likely if he and his advisers went after the Star since the action would include criminality all the CBC material can be introduced.
... Also the Star can protect its witnesses identity. Its the disclosure of the victim's identity that provides the greatest protection for Ghomeshi. Its the hammer for silence. A judge in the Star defence would protect the identities of the victims. And not likely the same protection for any CBC witnesses since it is a case of reputation not criminality.
... The present challenge for the CBC lawyers is to make sure that the Star material is part of its case.

Dolly. Its simple. The people in the burbs feel alienated. The TTC has entered a phase of operational disaster. Anyone who has been riding the subway east of Vic Park in off peak hours gets the thrill of being on a virtually empty machine.
... Subways really aren't needed in Scarborough. Its city plan isn't conducive to having any subways. It is a place that needs better bus service, better bus scheduling and better timing. Desperate politicians want subways because they can get votes. Toronto residents have been sold a bill of goods.
... People honestly believe that more subways are the answer because it eliminates it. People refuse to understand one outstanding fact that there isn't a subway or LRT system in the world that solves the traffic gridlock.
... Some candidates were citing all these cities as examples of good subway systems. That part is true. But if one actually researches the story, every one of those cities suffer from traffic gridlock. And one of Ford's favorite example, that of Madrid, well if you google the words 'Madrid traffic density' you will find that the focus of Madrid is to improve the surface infrastructure, nothing about expanding the subway system.
... London has probably the best underground system in the world, but still suffers from traffic gridlock. The only way the city alleviated the car crush was to restrict the numbers of cars in their city core.
... Etobicoke residents and many of the Scarborough residents who have cars want subways because they actually think that other drivers will start using newly built subways versus driving a car leaving open surface roads. The problem is that every other driver thinks exactly the same thing. It means Billions of tax money spent on little reward.
... Tory Mayor Tory wants Smart Track. Under his thesis the QE and Gardiner should be traffic free due to the presence of the Lakeshore Go Train. Message to Tory.

A threat to Canada???? Whow that's like over the top a bit. Its definitely a threat to the company called Tim Horton's. It should be pointed out that this is the "market" in action. Now companies are like people. They are born. They die.

Yes the company will lose workers and office staff. This isn't the first time a bunch of callous butted pansy investors take the money and run abandoning the people that created their wealth by their sweat and toil. Its all the fault of the unions. Everyone knows that.


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Jian Ghomeshi created ‘environment of tyranny’

For a 27-year-old journalism-school graduate, it was the perfect job, helping build and produce a brand-new, national show on CBC Radio with Jian Ghomeshi, a reportedly “demanding,” but respected host.

So when the young producer heard lurid stories back in 2007 about Mr. Ghomeshi’s private life — including accounts even then of his hitting and choking dates — she wrote it off as merely kinky behaviour and pushed ahead.

The woman did assist in the birth of one of the network’s most popular and acclaimed programs but, she recounted in a lengthy interview Thursday, the next three years on Q were hellish.

It was marked by alternating charm, emotional “cruelty” and sexual harassment from Mr. Ghomeshi — and a shrug of the shoulders from her manager when she complained about the host’s behaviour, charged the ex-producer.

“We were always on pins and needles, and we were always scared,” she said. “Jian had created this environment of tyranny, no one was standing up to him, everyone enabled his behaviour.”
Related

    Christie Blatchford on Jian Ghomeshi: Proving someone’s guilt is bloody difficult, and so it should be
    Jian Ghomeshi allegations leads Police Chief Bill Blair to encourage sexual assault victims to come forward
    Robyn Urback: The dam breaks on Jian Ghomeshi

When in 2010 she revealed to the show’s executive producer that the host had said he wanted to “hate f—” her, and had groped her buttocks, the manager suggested there was no point confronting Mr. Ghomeshi about his actions, the woman said.

“[The executive producer's] comment to me was …’He’s never going to change, you’re a malleable person, let’s talk about how you can make this a less toxic work environment for you,” the woman recalled. “No one was going to talk to Jian, he was too big. The show was a f—-ing juggernaut at that point. His face and name were inextricably linked with the brand of Q.”

The woman, now 35, also said she observed some unusual dating strategies by Mr. Ghomeshi. He would search for messages about him posted on Twitter or Facebook by women who appeared attractive, then contacted them directly, she said.

“He did this every single night,” the former producer said. “He was soliciting non stop. It was his playground.”

Like many of the women who have come out this week with allegations of sexual misconduct by Mr. Ghomeshi, the ex-CBC employee said she was not willing to have her name published, fearful of backlash on social media, and from the Q star himself.

Neither Mr. Ghomeshi’s lawyer nor his publicist responded to requests for comment Thursday on the producer’s allegations.

    We were always on pins and needles, and we were always scared. Jian had created this environment of tyranny, no one was standing up to him, everyone enabled his behaviour

The show’s executive producer also did not respond to questions about his meeting with her.

None of the allegations against Mr. Ghomeshi have been proven in court and he has not been charged with any crime.

Mr. Ghomeshi was fired by the CBC on Sunday, the public broadcaster saying only that it had received information that made it impossible to continue employing him.

The Q host responded hours later with a lengthy statement on Facebook, revealing that he engaged in “rough sex,” but did so only with consenting partners. He said a jilted ex-girlfriend was behind an attempt to publicly accuse him of sexual abuse, and that the CBC dismissed him because it feared negative publicity around his private life.

Since then, eight women — only one of them revealing her identity — have spoken out through stories in the Toronto Star, saying that Mr. Ghomeshi had punched, slapped or choked them, without their consent. The Star also quoted the ex-Q producer about her workplace sexual harassment charges.

On Thursday, a ninth woman’s story appeared on the Huffington Post Canada website. Reva Seth, a lawyer, said she met Mr. Ghomeshi at a supermarket in 2002 and that one night at his home, they began kissing and he became “super angry,” wrapped his hand around her throat, pulled down her pants and “violently” penetrated her with his fingers.

Ms. Seth said she left immediately, but never went to the police, wanting only to continue with her life free of him.

At work, the former Q employee said the host would usher her into his office and talk about personal matters, leading her to think she was a friend and not just his colleague. But he would also play her off against another young, female producer, she said, treating one nicely and the other very unkindly one week, switching roles the next.

She said she and the other employee would take turns crying in the privacy of a nearby disabled washroom.

Then during a script “read-through” meeting when she kept yawning, Mr. Ghomeshi said quietly, “I want to hate f— you to wake you up.” Later he talked of wanting to “grudge f—” her.

Two years later in 2009, he reached out and groped her bottom as she passed his desk, saying “I couldn’t help myself.”

The woman said she put up with the unpleasant work environment for almost three years because she did not want to undermine her first real job, which happened to be on one of the network’s most successful shows.

When she finally did complain to a union rep, he said she could file a formal grievance, take part in mediation with Mr. Ghomeshi or meet more discreetly with the executive producer. Fearful that a grievance or face-to-face confrontation would torpedo her fledgling career, she chose the third option, she said.

Regardless, the ex-producer said she eventually decided to take a leave of absence and try to kick-start new career in the U.S.

National Post
10/31


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Earlier this week, the CBC announced that it was letting go of popular longtime Q host Jian Ghomeshi in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct from a growing number of women. The CBC's decision—and Ghomeshi's own written response, crafted with the help of powerhouse crisis PR firm Navigator that insists all allegations boil down to "extreme" but ultimately consensual kink and a jilted ex—has led to many necessary conversations about consent and BDSM, sexual predation, rape culture, and the law.

It's also, of course, brought up questions around why said crimes would have gone unreported; a legion of Ghomeshi's fans are casting doubt on the claims for largely this reason. Never mind that, statistically, the overwhelming majority of sexual assaults go unreported. Doubt begets doubt.

Which leads me to suggest we talk about the media industry. Let's talk about closed circuits and small ponds.

But first, let's talk about Canada.

It's important to consider the size of Canada and its correspondingly itty-bitty media industry. It means when there are open secrets, many more of us as a whole are complicit in harbouring them.
Canada is not big. It's so decidedly not-big, in fact, that if you meet someone on holiday who asks you, “Oh hey, do you know my friend so-and-so?” when they find out where you live, there's a better than joke-level chance that you have a Facebook friend or two in common. (The last time one of my American high school pals asked a Canadian if he happened to know me, while the two bumped along Washington state in a Craigslist-facilitated rideshare, the other guy turned out to be my Toronto roommate.) Even Toronto gets dubbed Smallronto, a village that just happens to contain almost three million people, where it's hard to feel legitimately anonymous if you hang around long enough. I know a full handful of people who've skipped town completely to avoid running into their exes.

It's important to consider the size of Canada and its correspondingly itty-bitty media industry, of which I—like Mr. Ghomeshi and several of his accusers—happen to be a part. It means when there are open secrets, many more of us as a whole are complicit in harbouring them.

Nobody has expressed this better than Winnipeg Free Press reporter Melissa Martin, who wrote in her personal blog about the trail of cautioned whispers left in Ghomeshi's wake since he entered public life in the '90s. “Do You Know About Jian?” people would ask. Martin admits that, yes, she did.

I “knew about Jian” too, though not to the sordid and gruesome extent that I do now. What I did know was that he was another one of Those Guys who felt entitled to cross boundaries with young women because, frankly, nobody cared to stop him. I wasn't surprised that two of the women to come forward with allegations of harassment against Jian were fellow CBC employees; I'd heard the stories about awkward elevator rides with him in the broadcaster's headquarters and encounters at professional events.

But I also, like so many others, knew and know about Casual Neck Kisser and Intern Chaser and my young female friends in media who keep running checklists of all the older men in positions of professional power to avoid at cocktail parties. I've watched myself age out of one perennial creep's chase list as other, younger, yet-unwarned industry newbies took my place. And I've watched my friends' running checklists—and my own—grow.

The industry is a village, with all its gossip and friendship and open secrets. And while it doesn't take a village to raise a predator, it will to stop one.
It's striking to me that, any time I've visited a journalism school classroom in the past five years, the room has been dominated by young women. Women, I'm convinced, are the future of the industry. You'd never guess it looking at the male names at the top of a majority of print mastheads, or the leading editorial positions for major national outlets that continue to be given to (often unexpected) male candidates instead of the women who would be equally well-suited—and, in some specific cases, much better—to the task. The old boys' club might now be a middle-aged boys' club, but damned if we women are ever going to be given our share of seats at the table (even as the “table” comes to resemble something more like a row of milk crates half-assedly set on the floor).

Sexism and rape culture, of course, exist outside of the media industry. Sexual assault is messy and difficult to prove, fraught with shame on the part of its victims. Ghomeshi's (to paraphrase Navigator's very well-crafted statement) “bitches be crazy” defence is a stance being widely echoed by his supporters. It's no wonder these crimes seldom go reported; as Martin also states in her blog post, I probably wouldn't go through the trouble either.

But, while rape culture exists outside of closed loops and small ponds, there's a greater incentive to keep quiet and play nice where professional decorum and a small community coexist. The industry is a village, with all its gossip and friendship and open secrets. And while it doesn't take a village to raise a predator, it will to stop one.

Kelli Korducki

Chart Attack
10/31

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Yesterday I went into the CBC building and for the first time in the six years that I've been back in Canada, I didn't feel the pang of stress at the thought of running into Jian. Or see the giant image of his smiling face looming above me.

I debated all week whether or not to write this for all the same reasons that most women don't publicly or even privately share similar experiences: judgment, online trolls, the questioning of all your other choices, the accusation that it wasn't that bad, that it was so long ago, and the fact that I don't have the time and ultimately, is there any value in adding my voice or story in a public domain?

The reason I ultimately decided to share this is two-fold: The first is that it shows a pattern that has certainly escalated since I knew him.

Additionally, I feel that while it is exceedingly difficult to publicly put your name forward and open yourself up to all of the accompanying criticism, if you are in the position that you can do so without fearing the ramifications in terms of your family, marriage, personal or professional trauma, then you should do it. Having this conversation can help build a public understanding of the complexity around these issues.

I've been married for 11 years to an incredible man. We have three kids, and I know that I am very lucky to be at that place where this feels possible.

I also decided not to write about this experience abstractly, as I had initially planned. I care deeply about my three boys, who are two, five and eight, and making them understand when they are older that a woman shouldn't be made to feel ashamed of something a man does to her without her consent. I want them to understand that every woman they meet is someone's daughter, mother or sister and they need to remember that. Always.

I first met Jian in the late spring of 2002. I was 26 and after two years with the firm, was just leaving a job as a Bay Street lawyer (ironically at what is now Dentons, the firm Jian has retained for his case). I was about to start a job at Toronto City Hall as well as a Masters in Trade and Competition Law at Osgoode. I share this because one of the themes that his supporters seem to suggest is that the women now accusing him all wanted something professionally from him at the time or were somehow star-struck by him.

Not so with me.

When we met, Jian was hosting a show on CBC called "Play" that I'd never heard of before. I wasn't overly into the music or arts scene and had been too young for the Canadian heyday of his band, Moxy Fruvous. My world at the time was far more about law and politics. The men I tended to date were also engaged on those fronts.

I met Jian at the old Loblaws on the Danforth on a weekend afternoon. We started talking in the water aisle. He was very funny and charming and invited me to come to a taping of the show (which I think was at the old Movenpick restaurant downtown). I never bothered to go to a taping, but I did agree to meet him a few days later for a week night dinner on the Danforth.

We met at the restaurant and it was fun. I remember he thought I was Persian (I'm South Asian) and I think we talked about immigrant parents, sex and shame, as well Love In The Time Of Cholera. After dinner I just walked myself home.

Over the course of the summer we hung out very occasionally. I went to a couple of parties with him and watched a movie at his house. It was all very low key. I was seeing other people and I'm pretty sure he was also.We never talked about anything related to BDSM and had only very casually fooled around -- a bit of kissing.

The incident that changed everything was on a Sunday night. Oddly, I actually remember exactly what I was wearing and the purse I had with me. The evening started out fine. We had a drink, we smoked some pot and we hung out chatting. A while later we started kissing. Suddenly, it was like he became a different person. He was super angry, almost frenzied and disassociated.

I distinctly remember the jarring sense of suddenly being abruptly shaken out of my reverie. I remember thinking "what the fuck is going on here? What's wrong with him?" Jian had his hands around my throat, had pulled down my pants and was aggressively and violently penetrating me with his fingers. When it was over, I got up and it was clear I was really angry. My sexual interactions until then had always been consensual, enjoyable and fun.

I remember he gave me some weird lines about how he couldn't tell if I was actually attracted to him or not, and somehow this was meant to explain his behaviour. I called a cab and I left right away. In the car, I remember feeling sort of stunned, like I couldn't wrap my head around what had just happened. He acted like it was all totally normal and came to the door to watch me go down the stairs and get into the cab.

So why didn't I do anything?

This is the part that I think is so important to understand if we are ever going to change the context in which rape culture and violence against women is perpetuated. I didn't do anything because it didn't seem like there was anything to do.

I hadn't been raped. I had no interest in seeing him again or engaging the police in my life. I just wanted to continue on with my life as it was. And even if I had wanted to do something, as a lawyer, I'm well aware that the scenario was just a "he said/she said" situation. I was aware that I, as a woman who had had a drink or two, shared a joint, had gone to his house willingly and had a sexual past, would be eviscerated. Cultural frameworks on this are powerful.

Equally important, however, was that it also didn't feel like it was worth my effort. Most of my girlfriends had a story about an uncomfortable, sleazy, angry or even scary encounter with a guy. No one really did anything other than avoid them and tell their girlfriends to also stay away. And that's what I did. I never intended to see him again. I felt fine. I was busy and I just put the night and him out of my mind. I ignored his calls and messages over the next few weeks.

It was maybe six or seven weeks later that I next saw him. My mom was in town to attend my call to bar the next day and she was staying with me. We were on our way out when the phone on my desk rang. Without thinking, I picked it up. It was Jian. I told him I couldn't talk since I was going with my mom to get a bottle of wine for a dinner she was attending that night.

A short time later, Jian turned up at the LCBO on the Danforth. I remember being both annoyed, confused and creeped out at him for doing that.

I don't remember much about what was said at the LCBO. We left the store fairly quickly. The next year I got married and moved to the U.K. It was only when I came back to Toronto in 2008 that I realized he was now a huge CBC star. We have never spoken directly since. He once reached out to me on Twitter with a "Hi" and I responded really neutrally, mentioning my three boys.

Last year while my husband was running for the Liberal nomination in Don Valley North, I ran into Jian at a Persian Community event. We were seated at adjacent head tables. His body language made it clear that he recognized me. He seemed angry. I avoided him and we left as soon as it was appropriate to do so.

This morning, I listened to Lucy DeCoutere on The Current sharing her remarkably similar experience and calling for women to not be afraid to tell their own stories and, if they can, share their names. After much thought, I decided to answer her call. I hope it helps in some way.

Huffpost

Reva Seth
10/31


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TORONTO – The emergence of unspecified “graphic” evidence that its former star radio host Jian Ghomeshi had caused physical injury to a person is what prompted the CBC to fire him, the broadcaster said Friday.

In a memo to staff, executive vice-president Heather Conway said it wanted to provide some information to staff ahead of the weekend on the situation involving the co-founder and host of the “Q” program.

“On Thursday, Oct. 23, CBC saw for the first time graphic evidence that Jian had caused physical injury to a woman,” Conway said.

“We determined that Jian’s conduct was a fundamental breach of CBC’s standard of acceptable conduct for any employee.”

Conway said Ghomeshi advised the corporation in the spring that the Toronto Star was looking into allegations by an ex-girlfriend that he had engaged in non-consensual “rough sex.”

READ MORE: Timeline: Sex assault allegations arise after CBC fires Jian Ghomeshi

Ghomeshi has insisted having only consensual “rough sex” with women and said he was the victim of a disgruntled ex. As many as nine women – two named – have since come forward to allege he attacked them physically and sexually without warning. Ghomeshi said Thursday he would meet the allegations “directly.”

None of the allegations has been proven. His lawyer did not return a call Friday.

According to the CBC memo, he also had a letter from two journalists that made allegations about his private life. The Star never contacted the corporation directly about them, she said.

“When directly confronted, Jian firmly denied there was any truth to those allegations,” Conway said.

In early summer, a “Q” employee received a letter from a reporter asking about Ghomeshi’s behaviour, she said. The letter suggested his conduct may have “crossed over” into the workplace.

Conway said an investigation involving CBC’s human resources department followed that included direct interviews with employees and management but did not uncover any complaints of the alleged nature about his behaviour in the workplace.

“We also spoke to Jian at that time and asked him directly if there was any truth to the allegations,” Conway said.

READ MORE: Are there enough services for victims of violence?

Ghomeshi was adamant that he and his lawyers would be able to prove he had done nothing wrong should the Star pursue the allegations and the newspaper did not print a story.

“Based on Jian’s denial, we continued to believe Jian,” Conway said.

The unspecified “graphic evidence” persuaded the corporation that it could no longer accept that position.

However, the Star quoting unnamed sources reported on Friday that Ghomeshi, 47, showed his bosses videos depicting bondage and beating during sexual activities in an effort to show bruising could happen and still be consensual.

Ghomeshi has launched a $55-million lawsuit against the CBC for breach of confidence. He also filed a grievance alleging defamation, a source said.

However, as a contract worker, he could be terminated at any time.

“He could not win that way,” the source said.

The CBC has hired an independent investigator to look at its handling of the situation after at least one former employee said she had complained about his behaviour but nothing substantive was done.

None of Ghomeshi’s accusers has filed any police complaint, something Conservative MP Rob Anders on Friday urged them to do.

Anders said he was “shocked and saddened” no charges had been laid against Ghomeshi.

“At bare minimum, there should be an investigation and sexual assault changes laid,” Anders said in a statement.

“With pictures of bruising or biting, there should also be aggravated sexual assault charges laid.”

© The Canadian Press, 2014
via Global

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You really don't quite get it. This is not a normal legal case. Don't confuse those who engage in sexual role play. The problem is that sexually based abusers tend to thrive in that environment. CBC did not overreact. In fact considering the circumstances, CBC gave Ghomeshi the opportunity to simply walk away under the guise of "personal reasons"'
... He could have simply shut up. Everything kept on the down low. It was Ghomeshi that made it a spectacular issue through his FaceBook page. He was a creature of social media. It will be his undoing.
... This type of crime is almost always a he said, she said or in the case of Gordon Stuckless, he said - he said. It is not unusual for victims to stay silent. It is however very unusual for victims to voluntarily come forward. It often takes years.
... I grew up in a town controlled by a sexual predatory pedophile. And the control he had was unbelievable. The young people knew what he was about from day one. None. And I do mean no one, no adult came forward. The police had records of allegations which were filed and never reopened. But once one victim came forward after twenty years of this toxic environment, in court. Then more came, more came forward, to a point. Still thirty years later there are abuse victims that never did.
... And this is the most difficult, when I had the chance to return to that toxic little town, despite the passage of time that confirmed all the allegations, despite the fact that the predator had been convicted and jailed, there were still people defending him.

Gord C Oct 31
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http://gordc238.blogspot.ca/2009/07/from-macleans-magazine-six-years-ago.html


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Jian Ghomeshi played a high risk, high stakes game. And he lost almost all of it. Now he could lose what may be the last chip he has left to play in his defence — the backing of his union.
The real reasons Jian Ghomeshi is suing the CBC

If Jian Ghomeshi knows, as he must, that his civil case will be quickly dismissed, there appear to be two good reasons to file the suit anyway. Read on

By getting out last Sunday ahead of the news breaking about his alleged violence and harassment against women, Ghomeshi had the opportunity to shape the narrative, all in the legally privileged, libel-proof form of a statement of claim that viciously attacked the CBC.

It was a legally ill-founded claim (since a unionized employee like Ghomeshi has no standing to sue an employer). But it would also have had the impact of scaring off potential complainants who might be intimidated by Ghomeshi’s aggressive litigiousness, not to mention the prospect of being outed — truthfully or not — in his version of events as willing BDSM participants.

But the gamble didn’t pay off. More accusers defiantly stepped forward, his left-wing supporters like Judy Rebick and Elizabeth May scattered for cover, the social media dialogue turned against him, and now he finds himself abandoned even by his crisis-PR firm, Navigator — a sure sign that worse is coming.
Related

    Jian Ghomeshi’s CBC lawsuit is hopeless — even if he’s telling the truth
    How the Jian Ghomeshi controversy will cost both sides big bucks
    Everyone enabled his behaviour': Ghomeshi turned my dream job at Q into hell, young producer says

Under normal circumstances, Ghomeshi would still have one life raft left — the protection of his union, through which he has said he will file a workplace grievance. Except, there, too, he may be out of luck.

Ghomeshi is represented by the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), which has a history of prioritizing respectful workplace environments. If his allegedly victimized CBC co-workers — who are also unionized — or the guild’s political supporters outside of the corporation complain that their interests are being ignored or even violated (by the union supporting an alleged abuser and harasser), the union has the right to refuse to take his case any further.
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Can a union do that? Absolutely. Its only obligation to Ghomeshi is to not act arbitrarily, discriminatorily or in bad faith toward him. If the union makes a reasoned decision that Ghomeshi is toxic, and that representing him does not do justice to its other members, its own principles, or its pocketbook (the arbitration will be very expensive), it can drop him with impunity.

Ghomeshi still won’t be able to go to court. His only recourse would be applying to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, claiming his union has not properly represented him. The statistical history of success in that kind of case is less than 1%. Even if he fails here, he’s still blocked from a court action; such are the nature of union members’ protections in this country.

Although it was unsuccessful, Ghomeshi’s gambit was not inherently foolish. Given the awful allegations he knew were about to emerge, his only hope for retaining his reputation was to cast himself as the unjust victim of an unfounded dismissal and of false allegations. There was a good possibility that it would have worked. Victimized women have great difficulty reporting on their accusers. They would risk social shaming, (“slut-shaming,” as my 18-year-old daughter refers to it) self-doubt, his legal team’s investigations into their sexual background, unwanted potential publicity, media scrutiny, questions as to their motives, and the glare of the cameras. All of those normal problems are dramatically enhanced by the story of consensual BDSM — something your average accuser wouldn’t want their mother reading about.

In my experience, it is extremely difficult to have women come forward with sexual harassment allegations. Invariably, they want promises of confidentiality. Although those promises are often made, they are invariably false. The accused party also has legal protections, including the right to know the name of the accuser and the details of the accusation.

(Notably, the Ghomeshi publicity appears to be helping more women speak up about abuse in the workplace — already this week, my practice has seen a number of women coming forward, inspired by Ghomeshi’s accusers, revealing incidents of harassment, some going back years).

What would I do if I acted for the CBC? I would come at him hard while he’s down. Issue a defence, scripted in a tone more of sorrow than anger, detailing the allegations. Be vocal about supporting women and respect in the workplace as your motivating principles (and in the CBC’s case, make clear your plan to do a better job at cleaning up the problems that have been reportedly allowed to take root). Make it clear that Q has a large group of dedicated, smart, skilled professionals, just as talented as Ghomeshi, and that the show will go on without impact. Continue investigating and remind Canadians how responsive executives were in cutting him loose, even if they may feel compassion for whatever demons may be personally troubling him.

And if I acted for Ghomeshi? I’d make a virtue of necessity. If he can claim to be mentally troubled with, say, a sex addiction, or anger issues, then play on that. Apologize profusely to all those he has hurt, seek help, blame his advisors for the aggressive approach he initially took (against his own better judgment, if he can claim that). Complain that the CBC fired him after they had agreed he would have time off to recover from his disability. This has the advantage of legal human rights protection. It may be the only shot he has left.


Howard Levitt
National Post
Oct 31/14

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Almost been in the same boat, but the serial abuser liked young males. Very similar experience. Many fellow students and kids passed on mutual warnings years before the bastard was caught. It was part of the reason I escaped being a direct victim.

But please, please, please, if my personal experience means anything, its very important to bring support and total compassion for the victims of the abuse. Believe them. Let them know how much you believe them. Listen, and cry with them. I really don't give a fig for Ghomeshi guilty or not guilty. Its the victims and that are the most important and people must rally around them.

comments blogto.com

Nov 3
In response to.

http://www.blogto.com/arts/2014/11/students_were_warned_not_to_intern_at_q_over_ghomeshi/

.....

Students were warned not to intern at Q over Ghomeshi

Posted by Natalia Manzocco / November 3, 2014
9 Comments

Ghomeshi internsJust how much the media world knew about former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi before he was publicly accused of sexual assault is beginning to come to light. On the same weekend that saw a third woman come forward with allegations, journalism profs at Western University admitted they began warning students away from taking internships at his show, Q, after one intern reported Ghomeshi had repeatedly tried to touch her inappropriately, invite her out for drinks and send her flirty text messages.

Another student going through the program two years ago tells the Toronto Star that Q internships were considered "off limits" due to Ghomeshi's behaviour. At Carleton University, meanwhile, faculty are reviewing the records of every intern they ever sent to Q, on the strength of tweets from the now-infamous @bigearsteddy Twitter account that accuse Ghomeshi of assaulting Carleton media students, and a Q producer told Canadaland this weekend that they were well aware of Ghomeshi's behaviour.

A former classmate of Ghomeshi's at York, meanwhile, alleges in a Facebook post that the pattern goes as far back as his school days in 1988. The writer says residence staff allegedly met with all the women in her residence hall to warn them about being near Ghomeshi in co-ed washrooms, stairwells, or at house parties.

In other Ghomeshi news from the weekend, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a glowing profile of the fallen star, Star reporter Kevin Donovan gives the lowdown on one very awkward dinner, and an old video from the Moxy Früvous days will probably make everyone uncomfortable. On the bright side, the Ghomeshi story has started an international conversation about rape culture that has been a long time coming.

BlogTO Monday November 3.


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This is another article about the Ghomeshi affair. Three women finally came forward in this case and the police need three to proceed with any criminal charges.

Old age can be a bitch sometimes. I really don't give a flying anything about people like Ghomeshi, or Stuckless, or Springer, or Mt.Cashel. I really don't care if they are charged, convicted or suitably have their tombstones pissed on by Yorkshire Terriers. The most important thing is the victims.

They are totally guilt free. Listen and believe them. Simply state that you support them.

I've seen what this abuse can do to a small town. Even after the abuse, many people didn't believe the victims. To this day there are still a few in that town that believe that the allegations were false and defend that worm eaten corpse. He's long dead for almost two decades now and people are still suffering from that.

Really, people do make mistakes. But people like this are extremely smart when it comes to picking out likely victims. They rarely error. And always the victims feel crushing guilt, self recrimination, and fear exposure to family, friends, and even the community at large.

You see many people who tend to communicate fearlessly make very bad victims and the predator shuns them. I was never afraid to tell my parents. I told them about a full decade about the abuser in the town but since the predator was smart enough to avoid me.

You know how the guy did it. Very similar to this case. This guy, was a vice principal and had access to all the students records. Two of the victims I know for sure and every other I suspect lived under the same condition. You know Parent - Teacher interviews that happen at least once a year. Well their parents didn't show for the meetings. My parents did show every single time. And if they didn't have a meeting they phoned to ask why. That's all recorded. And that's how he began the sorting process.

The guy was very smart. He managed to have me transferred to another class despite the fact that I should have been in his Grade six class. I didn't even get to go to his cub pack. or Scout Troop. Smart man. His potential victims, earned the right. And all the major organizations in the community supported and believed in him before they believed in their very own kids.

So the kids in that town were left to their own devices. In around 1970 I attended a dance. And we were at the entry doors of a school dance. And we were laughing and doing yacks about this that, I mentioned the guy in a joke. There was a teacher who overheard, the person interjected that I could be taken to court for slander. I knew better. I said go ahead. Nothing came of it. But the abuser sure knew about my attitude. I never did get invited to any of his "parties."

About fifteen years later, in an interview with my good friend, a reporter for the local rag, that very same teacher denied categorically ever having known about the abuser's proclivities. In fact it was a complete surprise. Ya right.

Now I did write as a stringer in the same town in the mid 1980s. Information sort of trickled down. Nothing one can write about, or "prove". The abuser had died apparently. He claimed that there was a ring of more than just one abuser. But after the bugger was run out of town the abuse did stop, I believe. People left for other parts.

Its, what, forty years now passed and after at least one murder, several suicides, broken marriages, domestic violence the damage remains. And that cursed community still protects secrets. There were other victims who never came, nor ever will come forward. And one has a good idea, not a provable idea of who the members of the abuse ring were.

But the victims are first and if they want to keep it a secret that is entirely okay. I don't really know who all the victims are. I never went into that. They are first. How they deal with it, I support. That's the other thing I came to realize, is that while it is entirely therapeutic for some victims to come forward, for many others... no it isn't..

So that is the sort of perpetual damage these serial abusers do to a community or in the CBC case, the CBC. To their credit, when a verifiable evidence did come to their attention the CBC did take immediate action. A few victims are coming forward, and the walls of silence that the abuser had carefully constructed are coming tumbling down.

And like the Mt.Cashel, the Gordon Stuckless scandal, these things seem to have a disturbing consistency and evolution to the story. And one of those consistencies is the circle of potential victims at the bottom of the food chain rallying to protect as many members as it can by gossip. Never ever say that gossip is always a bad thing. When every social structure prevails to support the abuser, and would eat the flagrant angry victim, gossip remains a vital necessary tool of protection.

And this tale of woe. Case to that point.

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David Cooper / Toronto Star file photo

Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi, pictured in 2014, used a CBC-owned smart phone to show managers information that led to his firing, a source has told the Star.
By: Robert Benzie Queen's Park Bureau Chief, Katrina Clarke Staff Reporter, Alyshah Hasham Staff Reporter, Kevin Donovan Investigations, Published on Mon Nov 03 2014

Jian Ghomeshi used a CBC-owned phone to send lewd text messages to women, a source has told the Star.

The public broadcaster believes its ownership of the smart phone refutes the former radio star’s claim that he was fired because of how he conducted himself in his “private life.”

“The contents of that phone belong to the CBC — it’s the CBC’s property,” said a source familiar with? the situation.

The source says Ghomeshi ?lied to CBC management when he was asked “eyeball to eyeball” about allegations of violent sexual behaviour being investigated by the Star.

Ghomeshi showed texts and other material to CBC officials to bolster his claim, but the source said they were so shocked by what they read and saw that it had the opposite effect.
Related videos

“(CBC) didn’t know the scope of what they were dealing with,” the source said, adding it is unclear whether CBC information technology staff have begun poring over Ghomeshi’s work email acco?unt for other evidence.

It is also unclear whether police, who announced Friday they are investigating Ghomeshi, are in possession of the phone. Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said police do not discuss details about an investigation.

Asked if CBC turned over the phone to police, spokesman Chuck Thompson told the Star in an emailed statement that, “We are cooperating fully with Toronto Police Services.”

Pugash said he had nothing to add to what was said at a police news conference Saturday, where it was revealed that three women have come forward with allegations against Ghomeshi.

The news comes as a former journalism student and current journalism professor at the University of Western Ontario said that students were cautioned against pursuing internships at Ghomeshi’s popular CBC radio show Q due to concerns about “inappropriate” behaviour toward young women by the now-fired host.

Jeremy Copeland, a journalism lecturer at Western, said the concerns stemmed from a 2012 incident in which Ghomeshi allegedly “prey(ed) on a young grad who wanted to work (at Q).” Because of this, he recently stopped a female student from pursuing an internship at Q.

Students were told two years ago that internships at Q were “off limits” due to concerns about inappropriate behaviour by Ghomeshi, a former Western student told the Star.

Students were not given specifics, but were told that there was concern about “overly flirty” behaviour by Ghomeshi when dealing with female university students, the former student said.

The journalism program did stop sending interns to Q after one intern (a male student) was placed at the show in 2008, said Thomas Carmichael, dean of the faculty of information and media studies at the University of Western Ontario. But he said the reason was to do with the nature of the internship.

“We insist that our interns do entry-level journalism work, and the report on that internship indicated that the student was asked to run everyday errands not connected to journalism,” he said in an email. “Consequently, we decided not to pursue further placements at Q.”

Carmichael did not respond to followup questions about whether concerns about Ghomeshi’s inappropriate behaviour toward female students played a role in stopping internships at Q.

The student involved in the alleged 2012 incident, a recent graduate who shared her story with Copeland and other professors at Western, agreed to speak with the Star on condition of anonymity because she is concerned about a possible negative impact on her career.

She alleges that after she attended a taping of Q at the downtown Toronto studio in Dec. 2012, Ghomeshi inappropriately touched and texted her.

She had asked Q’s executive producer for an invite to a taping, she said. She said she hoped to land a job with CBC.

Seeing a new face in the control room, Ghomeshi invited her into the studio after the show, she said.

Alone in the room, the two chatted about Q and guests Ghomeshi had interviewed. The conversation was friendly and she assumed they were networking — despite a comment about how good she looked, she said.

“I was under the impression . . . he thinks I’m smart, he thinks I’d be a good fit for working at Q,” she said.

When conversation wrapped up, she alleges Ghomeshi said, “Aren’t you going to give me a hug?”

“He gave me a bear hug and he lifted me up,” she said, adding the situation was “weird” but she thought perhaps he was just friendly. She had heard rumours he was flirty, she said.

But when she turned to leave a second time, she alleges Ghomeshi came up behind her, placing his hands on her waist and pressing his body against her backside.

“As I’m walking towards the door, he was behind me, kind of hugging me from behind and walking with me,” she said. “That’s when I thought, whoa, this is kind of a bit much.”

She said she does not know if anyone else witnessed the incident.

As they walked, with Ghomeshi still holding her, he mentioned she should laugh at his jokes, she said.

She left and returned to work, still shaken and unable to focus.

One hour later, she received a text from Ghomeshi asking her to meet up for a “non-work related drink,” she said. He added a winky face — ;) — to the message, she said.

“I didn’t want to date him, but then I thought this would maybe be a good opportunity to speak to him about the industry,” she said, responding by text and telling him a “friendly meet up” would be OK.

“If you could help me get a job that would be cool, too,” she added.

Ghomeshi texted back saying he wasn’t interested in a personal friendship and didn’t want to be used as “conduit to a job,” she said. The text messages stopped shortly after, she said.

In the months to follow, she continued second-guessing her handling of the situation. She wondered if perhaps he had misinterpreted her sarcasm as flirting.

She gave up trying to get a job at Q, she said.

It was only when the Star reported allegations from women against Ghomeshi that she felt a final sense of relief, she said. “Thank God I didn’t agree to meeting up with him,” the woman, now 28, told the Star Sunday.

She now says his behaviour was inappropriate and unacceptable in the workplace, and adds that she told former professors about the incident because she was still friendly with them, not because she expected Western to do anything.

Copeland, who learned about the alleged incident from the graduate, said he finds it “disturbing.”

“For her to go down there and have that happen, have someone abuse his authority and position to hit on her in a very strong way, crossing her boundaries, is unacceptable and unprofessional behaviour.”

Copeland has taught television journalism part-time at Western since 2010, full-time since 2012 and is one of the faculty members who supervises internships.

So when he learned in the fall that a student had listed Q among her top three choices for an internship this coming winter, he brought up his concerns at a faculty meeting to discuss internships, he said. It was agreed that the student should not be placed at Q, he said.

The former student who told the Star that Q was declared “off-limits” said the show had previously been a very popular choice for interns who wanted to get experience in radio. She said that some students had a “fan girl feeling” toward Ghomeshi, who was seen as a “celebrity.”

“Professors had a protective feeling” toward their students, she said. (Copeland had not told students that Q was “off-limits” — the meeting this fall was the first time he raised concerns about Ghomeshi).

Students were not given specifics but were told that there was concern about “overly flirty” behaviour by Ghomeshi when he dealt with female university students, the former student said.

Ghomeshi was fired on Oct. 26, after his CBC bosses saw “graphic evidence that Jian had caused physical injury to a woman,” CBC has said in an internal memo.

Since then the Toronto Star and other media outlets have published the accounts of nine women accusing Ghomeshi of harassment, physical abuse and sexual assault. One of the women, a CBC employee, alleges that on one occasion on his way out of the Q studio, Ghomeshi approached her from behind and cupped her buttocks.

Ghomeshi has said that he will meet the allegations “directly” and has maintained in a Facebook post and through a $55-million lawsuit against the CBC that all his sexual interactions have been consensual.

Other women who allege they were attacked by Ghomeshi continue to come forward. The Star has now heard of incidents dating back to his time as member of the band Moxy Früvous, and more allegations from his time as host of >play on CBC television and from his time as host of Q.

Generally, the women coming forward with new stories allege that Ghomeshi asked them on dates and, without their consent, attacked them, usually by grabbing them around the throat, squeezing their throat and striking them on the face. The Star is continuing to investigate.

In the wake of the allegations — and a recently noticed tweet from April that reads “Hi there @jianghomeshi. Remember louring me to ur house under false pretences? Bruises dont lie. Signed, every female Carleton U media grad” — journalism schools have been going through records of past internships at Q to ensure students were not subjected to any inappropriate behaviour.

No concerns had been flagged about Q internships in the journalism programs at Carleton University and Ryerson University, program heads say. “We have placed interns at Q in the past and we have never had any indication that there was a problem with one of our interns,” said Ivor Shapiro, chair of the Ryerson School of Journalism.

“I’ve spoken to all of our faculty supervisors who supervised internships at the CBC over the past 10 years and nobody had an inkling of a problem.”

“Our school didn’t have a policy, either officially or unofficially, of avoiding field placements at Q,” said Susan Harada, head of the journalism department at Carleton University.

With files from Jacques Gallant

Kevin Donovan can be reached at kdonovan@thestar.cakdonovan @thestar.caEND or 416-312-3503

the Star

Nov 3 2014


...........
New reports in the Toronto Star and Canadaland podcast detail further allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace by former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi.

Ghomeshi was fired by CBC on Oct. 26, leading him to defend his "tastes in the bedroom" on Facebook and launch a $55-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit. In the days since, several women have made allegations in media reports of sexual and physical abuse as well as workplace harassment. Toronto police have also opened an investigation after three women filed complaints. Now, there are new allegations involving CBC employees, interns and jobseekers.

The Toronto Star reported today that, according to a former student and a journalism professor, Western University J-school students were warned against internships at Ghomeshi’s CBC radio show "Q" due to "concerns about 'inappropriate' behaviour toward young women by the now-fired host."

The dean of Western's journalism school confirmed that students were no longer being sent to "Q," but refused to answer if Ghomeshi's behaviour towards female students was the cause, saying only that "the report on that internship indicated that the student was asked to run everyday errands not connected to journalism."

An anonymous student involved in an alleged 2012 incident told the Star that she was "inappropriately touched and texted" after she had contacted Q's executive producer to attend a taping in hopes of landing a job.

She says Ghomeshi invited her into the studio after the show, commented on her looks and engaged in small talk. She says she thought he might be considering her to work at Q but then "he gave me a bear hug and he lifted me up. As I'm walking towards the door, he was behind me, kind of hugging me from behind and walking with me. That’s when I thought, whoa, this is kind of a bit much."

He later texted her, asking for "non-work-related drink" date but took offence when she inquired about employment. "Thank God I didn't agree to meeting up with him."

Carleton University's journalism program launched an investigation late last week in light of a tweet from April alleging sexual violence involving Ghomeshi and one of their current or former students.

On Monday, journalism officials from both Carleton and Ryerson told the Toronto Star they are not aware of any incidents involving their students.

Over on Jesse Brown's Canadaland podcast, the media critic spoke to former Q producer Roberto Veri, who said "we all knew about Jian" and apologized.

Veri says he saw the sexual harassment incident that was described in the an Oct. 26 Toronto Star article, in which a woman alleged Ghomeshi said he wanted to "hate f--- her" and "cupped her buttocks."

    "I FB messenger'd her to tell her that I was sorry that I didn't do anything, that I saw it first of all because I turned my head away when he went up behind her. She was leaning over her desk between the corridor of the executive producer's office and her desk. So she was leaned over contrary to where she sat. And she's bending over working on some papers. And he came up behind her, grabbed her by the waist and humped her four or five times. He drove his pelvis into her buttocks and a big smile on his face. So I looked over at that and just sort of put my head down again. I didn't know what the nature of the relationship was or if she was okay. When stuff like that does happen...

    I think he might have even looked over at me when I turned my head. I was there. It felt like an episode of HBO's Rome where they do anything in front of the slaves. I was apologizing to her. She said, 'If you back me up' because the union has no record. I witnessed it. This is the only reason I'm weighing into this matter is because I love that person and I was sorry that I didn't ask about it afterwards. I ignored it."

The anonymous woman Veri was referring to also elaborated on the alleged 2010 incident in the National Post, where she said she informed an executive producer.

"[His] comment to me was …'He's never going to change, you're a malleable person, let’s talk about how you can make this a less toxic work environment for you. No one was going to talk to Jian, he was too big. The show was a f—-ing juggernaut at that point. His face and name were inextricably linked with the brand of Q."

The second woman, a Montreal-based CBC producer who "dreamed of being on Q," told the Toronto Star she met Ghomeshi at a book signing and alleges he took her to his hotel room and threw her against the wall. She says she performed oral sex “to get out of there” and didn’t complain to managers because “I felt like Jian was CBC god."

Yet another report emerged on Friday, published in Headspace and written by Elisabeth Faure, whom the site describes as "a Concordia journalism graduate, former CBC Montreal employee and Q intern."

Faure says that Ghomeshi never sexually harassed her, but the opening of her article indicates that his behaviour was known at the CBC.

    "So, did Jian Ghomeshi try to sleep with you?"

    This was the first question the then-Director of Current Affairs for CBC Radio in my hometown asked me the first day I got back from a 6-week unpaid internship at Q in Toronto. Her question, asked in front of a small group of co-workers in an open newsroom, elicited gales of laughter from all assembled. Because, you know, back then, it was funny what a reputation Jian (or JG, as he was known in Q circles) had for being a total sleazebag.


Huffpost Nov 3. 2014

Banking on the Apalachicola

One of the reasons I've been so lax in regular updating has been the work that I've been doing on the British Fort at Promontory Bluff on the banks of the Apalachicola River in 1816. The nickname for the place was "the Negro Fort". It was destroyed by an elite squad of US Army officesores sent south from Georgia to officially protect supply ships but secretly designed to obliterate the facility. Almost done.

Dalliance of the absence

I should apologize for the long absence from the blogs. I've been taking the Farce Book hiatus. Its good communicating with relations, old friends, acquaintances, and neighbors. Not much unexpected has happened really. To that point the mundane, the expected and the opinions expressed by others mimic my interpretation. There was no urgency to replicate the mundane.

And I have been doing more work on the Ft. Gadsden/Negro Fort which was destroyed on July 27th, 1816. Its a simple topic about one of the single greatest immoral crime or war crime in the 19th century. Yet this War Crime occurred in a time where this brutal behavior ruled human morality. Whether the winner or the defeated little mercy demonstrates. Torture and death held hands with military action.

The worst crime occurred after the time of the actual event which gives a result far worse than the crime itself. Both American and British authorities swept the crime under blankets of obvious excuse, lies and inaccuracies. Economic health and the greed of the rich created a situation where the magnet of greed conquered all ethics. And the worst crime appeared, humanity as a whole forgot this terrible episode.

Off blog

I have been working on a special project which takes away from blogging. I am almost finished with that project. It will be published here and on other blogs.

A warning though. That blog entry will be long and for some tortuous. The ideas expressed in this work embrace a new approach to a century old question.

Leaving it to Beaver

Are the memories of the falling skyscrapers full of innocent peoples of all nationalities, cultures and religions plunging in mortal terror into the dust, so far. Those flying bombs were not just pointed at those towers, they were pointed at you, your loved ones. The very same evil persons who perpetrated that deed are the very same people who committed that act.

It doesn't matter that one is a pacifist or not. The terrorists are total evil. So long as they breathe or walk free, they are committed not to steal your land, or steal property. They don't grow or sell drugs. These aren't rapers. These are ruthless, callous killers. They are trying to kill you.

Canadians have a volunteer army. And they volunteer for the combat. And they are committed to that view. They are there, on the ground, doing the very best that they can.

Whether or not one agrees individually with the grand strategy of getting involved or not in Afghanistan was exactly the brightest thing to do is irrelevant now. Canada is a democracy. Which means, that outwardly we must be united regardless of our internal doubts or personal disagreement. The Prime Ministers put this country into history as supporting the action to bring those terrorists to account for their terrible deeds. This is a question of historical accountability.

At the moment, that job is not done. An action like this isn't on a schedule or timetable. It is task oriented. It could've taken an hour. It could've taken a week. A decade seems like a long time, but in history it is but a blink. In a thousand years from now in an electronic library some student scribe will be authoring an article on the character of the people known as the Canadians. What they write then will be about the action we take now.

People around the world watch how Canadians behave in the action to protect the Afghan people from these terrorists. It does nothing for global reputation, whether the observer is friend or foe, to see a country waive its commitments on the battlefield. Withdrawal from this particular theatre of conflict, whether by end of contract or simply leaving while the conflict burns, is a defeat. There is no middle ground. No grey area. If Canada leaves next year, it was a defeat. You want that title impressed on your children, or their children.

Every thing that Canada stood for or now stands for becomes tainted with the name of loser, coward, lukewarm. We become like so many European little powers like Denmark. All mouth. All vanilla. Not worth listening too.

Look I am in complete favour of leaving Afghanistan to the Afghans. These terrorists that bomb innocents around the globe in their quest to impose a twisted vision of a religious utopia on the rest of humanity also terrorize and cruelly oppress Afghans. Our troops remain willing and able. I say, ...stay and finish the damn job.

Check this out... Hibernating

With it being winter this blog will not be updated until later in April when the weather is better. The only working blog at the moment is over at Wordpress. Photography in the parks is about as much as fun sewing underwear.

Check out this working blog at the this time.

http://gordeecampbell.wordpress.com

Snowbourne conspiracy

I was drifting though the photo albombs last night and came across an image of one snow drift on the guard rails of the front porch. Lot of snow.

Unbearable choices

Confronted by choices this week, my bloggong ratio decreased. If the Canadian political leadership declares that they will abscond forwith on Holiday seasons ungreetings then it should be an allowance for the plebes such as you and me.

Without the need to wake and volunteer gives me more choice also. At the moment I feel like hibernating. Black Bears have this right. Instead of whining about the cold their species evolved a biological answer to winter. Humans opted to try to increase brain capacity. The primates might have gotten it wrong. At the moment the bears are quite content.

uPdaTe truck ruts

Someone repaired the front lawn in Moss Park where the CityTV media TV truck got accidently stuck. Good on them.

I don't know if they did it or someone else repaired it. The thing needed fixing. I appreciate the work the fixers did. They are heroes.

Scanning

Is there anytime that Julian Fantino doesn't try to get his face on the news. As the head honcho of the Ontario Provincial Police, Fantino just made an announcement on the tube to the effect that the OPP now had plate scanning technology which can scan thousands of plates per day.

Fantino claims this a powerful anti-crime tool. Fantino is a tool. What does he think criminals are stupid? Would if the plates are fake? Or duplicates? Or stolen?

Media abuse of park system

A couple of days ago in the late afternoon, a City TV truck got stuck in the front lawn of Moss Park. This happens. Is it part of the good neighbor policy not to repair the damage in the lawn?

Do these guys care so little that people could trip over these ruts in the evening walks? I mean you left a tripping hazard. Of course the area is only populated by poor people. This likely excuses you from any responsibility whatsoever.

Do you guys care so little about the community that you don't repair your mess? You complain over the air about taxes and the waste but here is the case where you cost the taxpayer for the repair you did on a public space?

Fast upladles

Woke up a half hour ago, and sort of surprise, nothing is happening man. Nothing. Better for reconstruction of started topics but weren't long enough for a decent blag.

This is an occassional digest of concerns which I put into blygs every so often. They are topics that don't deserve major treatment but now for a medley.

Notes: November 1st

Anne Rohmer saw Borje Salming naked. She's bragging since she was one of the first female sports journalist into a hockey dressing room at Maple Grief Gardens. Big deal she's a lez.

I know, I know the - who saw the what?

..............

Last night's TMZ program, present a working theory about Tiger Woods accident. Its identical to the one hypothesis that I had put forward in a blag. And its a story that is emerging, from Woods inner circle. And almost word for word.

I got something right? Your stunned. I'm stunned. I mean its like I got eyes in the front of my head.

.............

The federal, provincial governments are participating in the reconstruction of Maple Laugh Gardens, in order for it to be usable by Ryerson University. They have a hockey team. You know the city core university loaded with journalism professors from Budapest. On the main floor will be a food store.

The provincial and federal governments are kicking in dollars, yes tax dollars. They have to find something to spend the new HST revenues that will be flushing in, in the new year.

Apparently Maple Laugh Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) had a conclave and blew white smoke on the project. Probably part of anything they can do to prevent Rim Jim Balsillie from buying Loblaws and moving the building to Hamilton.
........................

Quality time

No kidding. Today I go deprogramming. The media and press run amuck while I clean out the bowels of my brain.

Deer me

The event got front page news, the lead story in the television news. You would think it was a murder or a political scandal or a sex porn corn tale. No.

A stupid deer, wound up in the middle of the stupid city. Around seven in the morning someone spotted this doe sitting patiently in some brush hedge downtown. The animal obviously must be a threat to the general civil population.

They had squad cars of police, plus the SWAT team. Obviously, deer and human interactions are violent events. The media had helicopters and teams of video people, reporters, and on and on. All the numbers of humans and it still took three hours to catch the dumb thing.

They used a dart gun. When the animal began to run, the cops joyfully tasered it, ... twice.

If this would have been rural Canada, it would have been one cop, one gun, one pickup truck. And the humanitarian place they moved the animal too? A Conservation Park north of the city? Nope. Algonquin Park? Nope? Toronto Zoo? Nope.

They moved the animal to the Leslie Street Spit. Which is attached to the middle of the city. Which will work until breeding season or when the ice forms enough to allow the animal to move. Such dickheads.

Skeptical prescription

Today the skeptical sailor. The eyes have seen a lot. Perhaps too much to remain optomistic.

Today, the government went into catch the evil doer mode. Catching child pornographers, is laudable. However whenever a federal government program is invented to address public concerns, I am reminded of the gun registry, and Ontario's E'health.

Well the federalis have decided to compel all the ISP's to report individuals who get and spread child porno. While a laudable effort, the skepticism begins.

It is the same software that would be used by a government to control the internet, to control the information flow, to filter out political opposition. And when the self righteous get their grimy little paws on these technical controls even for the best intentions like the extinction of child porno, it is always a first step. Control this, they can control political opinion.

Maple Leafs the next level

Tired and lonely the Maple Leafs ponder a fall to 3 wins in 20 games. Ready in the wings lies piles of other Leafs waiting to take their place. Piles and piles of replacement workers. The combination of Burke and Wilson brought a new culture to a hockey team. They succeeded where few could never do worse.

Greed and the phonies

Over the last few weeks, Canadians got exposed to two spurious sides of a debate. The television networks want cable companies to provide funds for local television.

In Canada, Cable TV companies swipe local broadcasts and programs out of the air. It has been going on for years. They do not pay for the signals. But they are totally willing to force their cussytomers to pay for cable, everything on cable.

Now at first glance this is all very simple. Yes the larger television stations broadcasting locally should get funding from cable. However most of their broadcast purchases are from the USA. Not much of their program broadcasts are homegrown.

And the cable companies have a legitimate argument. Why should they pay for free air broadcasts for programming that already exists, and they pay for on competing cable and USA television channels.

It should be noted that the CRTC has turned the broadcasters down twice already. This is the third strike. Broadcasters are threatening to close down the smaller local stations. For the cable companies this is idle threat because their revenue derives from distant sources in the beginning.

The CRTC commission doesn't want to be the bad guy and impose an additional fee. And everyone else is blaming the other participants. The CRTC wishes the two sides to negotiate and play nice. The buck stops at station greed.

Purple pecker pucker pet

Robin Gill of some local Channel. Was yackin on the snow board of authority. I was startled.

Gill remains an intelligent beautiful woman. But this night she was God Damned Purple. Her jacket was purple. Her lipstick was purple. And her eyeliner was purple.

Oh please, don't let this happen. Maybe it was a flu snot side effect?

Goose that gander

The Fan590 has a double standard. In the recent firings of coaches throughout sports, this Roger's Communication Company yikes it up. However, when surreptitiously canning their own staff for questionable corporate reasons, they stand very silent.

Stand up and tell us why Mike Toth, and Stormin Norm Rumack were fired in the dead of night. While they were media people which caused aggravational circumstances. This was no cause to dismiss them so callously.

One guy has a wife and young child and a newly bought home. He moved all the way here from Calgary to appease the corporate wishes. Now a couple years later he was turfed for little reason.

And the latter.... Rumack... All those strippers who dependent on his lungs and voice. I mean really.

NEW NORMAL

Normal?
You want normal?
Slap Neat hair remover
On the top of your head.
Try pulling your hair.
Stick your thumbs into your eyes
Ten times light and fast.
Get twenty pound weights attached to fish hooks.
Skewer them through the meat of your cheeks.
Feel gravitas drag on your facial skins.
Stick pins in your neck and shoulder joints.
Slug back a mickey of whiskey.
Sit on your hands for ten minutes,
On a block of Lake Winnipeg ice.
Stick earplugs in those drooping ears.
Now look in the mirror.
That's your normal,
New in twenty years.

G. Duncan Campbell

Dictated

The single impediment to sanity is being told how to vote. George Smitherman, seen here with husband Christopher, proclaimed his intention to seek the Toronto Mayor's job.

With incumbent David Miller, visualizing reality and not running again after the Toronto Garbage Strike debacle, Smitherman seeks to run against former leader of the provincial Conservatives, John Tory.

What is really annoying is that all the media are painting this as a two face race. The election is still a year away. Other mayorality candidates are sure to toss the vomit of their promises into the political carnage as well. So why let only two names harbor the press as the leading contenders.

On examination, there are people more skilled and qualified than these two rather tepid political animals. I just don't like being dictated that I only have two choices.

ChewBackIt

The fans of murder CSI dramas manifest a wide acceptance for coincidence. As long as the TV program has a hot babe, the malodorous plot templates gets a higher level of tolerance. But I reached a limit.

In all the programs one statistical anomaly is the high percentage of killer DNA that winds up under victim’s fingernails. “Oh yes your DNA wound up under the Vic’s fingernails.” – investigator.

“But I couldn’t have murdered him, I shot him with a M-16 at 100yards.”
Blig secret. According to our scientific survey, one can avoid getting murdered in the USA by chewing your fingernails.

Under the hat. Keep it secret.

Poppy U Lar

Take away the veneer of glory. War hunts in horror. On November the 11th , 2009, Canadian Remembrance Day comes again. In this year, 95 years after the outbreak of the First World War, the Royal Canadian Legion's Poppy campaign continues. The campaign contains important values in a simple symbol. Remember them.

More than a symbol, I first wore the poppy as a Cub Scout at a ceremony on the dirt floor of a town hockey arena. Artificial ice didn't exist. The whole town seemed to be inside that place, at that ceremony. Many of the surviving veterans, militia, cadets, police, and volunteer firemen assembled there. The only exceptions, those who were on shift in the local pulp mill.

Sorrow swam in everyone's eyes. While poppies for me represented all those who gave their lives, in the eyes of the war veterans the poppies also meant individuals, buddies, and friends. It meant that they were physically free from the horrors haunting. It symbolized neither victory nor defeat, political leanings, racial bias or shopping. A poppy represents soul to soul far beyond the clutches of time.

Over the years, I witnessed the Legion Poppy ceremony many times on Remembrance Day and at individual funerals. One individual ceremony given to my father contained that Poppy Ceremony. Of the whole funeral, that is the only scene that sticks in memory. A lot of people liked and respected old Ziggy. I knew this. But the poppies were special for they were from his companions, co-workers, and men of his generation who shared a necessary horror.

The Poppy Ceremony is extremely simple. Friends and colleagues wear a poppy to the funeral. At a certain point they line up and one by one they approach the coffin and places his/her poppy into a special pillow. The last member places their poppy, picks up the pillow and presents the poppy filled pillow to surviving family members.

And through two decades after my father's passing on, each funeral used fewer and fewer poppies. In the early part of this century, there was only about three poppies in the pillow to be presented to the widow. This thought also occurred to surviving Legion Members. One can tell.

As one ages in Canada, that poppy so cheap to buy, so easy to wear, haunts in wealth. Now like those survivors I stand with memories of those people, friends and other souls lost to duty. Of course those souls are not only soldiers involved in the Afghanistan conflict, but police, firemen and volunteer heroes who gave their lives to make Canada and the world just a little better place.

Bananada!

Welcome to the new country of Bananada. Half Canada, half Bananas, now merged. Let's fire off straight ahead.

David Miller and his scurvy piratical gang of councillors, jacked up the TTC Fares, increased the garbage collection fees, skimped on hundreds of maintenance infrastructure repairs, all the while claiming poverty. The province, jacked up the automobile fees, harmonized sales tax which is simply a scam to get a massive increase of taxpayer savings.

The province whistled into massive debt. Its government agencies spend money in personal needs for every privileged board member. Hospital Board Members use their contacts to step way ahead of the cues and shortages to get immunized then pretend that they are actually vital to society.

Now if you didn't have the brand name Canada attached to all these shananigans. Ignore the name Canada just a moment...... Out of the mind?

Okay, now put all that together. You would think this is a tropically deconstructed country government by privilege and elitism. Just a like a banana country.

Kinda figured

In a post a couple of posts ago, I postulated obtusely that the maker of the Canadian H1N1 vaccine decided there was more money in exporting vaccine. Apparently, this was true. Too true.

Of course they had a ready excuse at hand. Every pharmaceutical company usually does. The excuse was that they didn't have enough little bottles or the little bottle fillers was too slow.

This wasn't the same excuse they used a couple of weeks ago when the company implied that there was production problems in producing the actual vaccine. And you knew that was a fishy excuse, like consider the sources. One source was the pharmaceutical company and the other source was politicians. This a fertile ground for fibulations and verdant truths.

So the company cheerily exported the "surplus" vaccine despite the fact that there were grievous shortages and delays in the immunization process. The company's name is Glaxo-Smith Kline, headquartered in the United Kingdom and in the past subject to investigations including, tax fraud, billing fraud, misleading advertising and other deceptive practices. So diverting vaccines from a contractual commitment is not outside its moral compass.

And to further the Canadian H1N1 mess, apparently the Calgary Flames jumped the vaccination cue lines and had a private clinic for its staff, players and families. Now this is not surprising. What is surprising is that they got caught.

The province of Ontario to top off the scandals with their boondooglingaling at the medical record E-Health followed this up with poorly run flu snot clinics. Only the critically vulnerable people first, children, young women and upscale businessmen types. Yes, Medi-Can a privately operated health clinic on York Street in the downtown core of Toronto was supplied with 3000 doses for the well healed and totally unvulnerable.

Kinda figures.

No straight lions please

At John Innes Community something. It is a lion. In Toronto. For no reason. There must have been a reason. A squirrel sits. Its a male lion. Of course, this statue may have nuts. I didn't check. And I won't check.

Hot off the presses

As promised by the webbrain. These are shots of the fire that savaged the interior of the Mirch Masala. Incidently, Mirch Masala apparently is Hindi
for Hot and Spicey.

Now this is just across the street from where I live... sort of.
I will be tracking the progress of the renovations.
It is an evil reason naturally.
I am rather put off by the prolongationatinjg of the Fred Victor Centre.
They had a fire months ago less damaging than this little stove topper.

Anyway back to this fire.
After perusing the interior pictures I have come to the conclusion about how the fire became started. In fact this is a surprise even to me.

You see it had its roots in the sound system buried in the ceiling.
The people who owned it previous to the present owners, embedded a sound and stereo system in the ceiling. The installer was a Russian immigrant who did some electrical work, on the cheap for cash.
Now I couldn't help noticing that the Ruski would join connections with electrical tape only. The present day power connections require turrette connectors and then wrapped in electrical tape.
Of course this is by the code, just the code ma'am.

But then no one asked me.
I spoke directly to the City of Toronto Fire Inspector guy.
That man is useless. He asked me nothing.
As a result. He got nothing.

The fire was an accident sort of. It would not have occurred if the cheapo former owner of the business had employed a proper certified and trade electrician.
Zit,.... Zit..., Kerpoof.

Strange though. The bar did not have a fire sale on the beer or liquour.

Local pub succumbs to fire

Pictured here in happier times, the Mirch Masala suffered from a burn out. This used to be the Navaron. It went through owners.

Around 5:30 AM I awoke to the sounds of shattering glass and the smell of burning building. I looked up the street in ponderment. But saw nothing. Nothing I say.

No one got injured. The fire started when the place had been closed for the night.

At 11:00am this morning one of the ragingest piss tanks in the whole city shook his head. "A great tragedy."

Moral of story: Remember coat with camera in vest pocket.

Happy Birthday XX

Halloween emerges tomorrow. The celebration of the perverse and evil explodes into the dear hearts of children baited by the galloons of candy from strangers. People hide their faces. Hide their personalities. They think.

Lets put it this way. I don't like Halloween. It is also the birthday of my ex. ex. girlfriend. I think. Well its when it is celebrated. Here's a picture of downtown Toronto... The horror.

New schools?

Rather than dwell on planes of existence, which can never exist, Canadians encountered the flu season with a new strain of flu, and few new ideas. Schools should have closed for the duration. Since it is senior medical staff and senior executives and their families have access to the first batches of vaccines.

Schools are so scared of shutting their physical doors. In reality, with modern technology schools require much less space than schools thirty years ago. The computers and the internet have permitted the concept of students learning at home.

Schools and the concepts of education appear antiquated. It should be very possible for a student to learn something from miles and miles away without being physically in the room with teacher. The spread of the H1N1 virus was wantonly unnecessary for that very reason.

Yes I believe in having actual schools and classrooms. But mandatory presence of the student is not. School students must access real classes and central services frequently. The schools' systems are the last sector of society to undergo significant technological improvements.

Meowing the yawn

Current with our study of the decline of the media, the day the last part of the study was posted here, here was this on the front page of the Toronto Sun. To make matters worse, the editors of this particular paper like this story.

The editors claim that these sorts of stories spur circulation on the days that they are printed. If true that says a lot for the modern Toronto readers.

Boggle, gobble

Tally this fussifying. Turkeys suffered from H1N1. Yesterday the story led all the television produced news. Its not a big deal. Nor expression of any surprise over this be made.


No turkeys got sick enough to be culled. Frankly, the wrong species is being scrutinized.

Runner's up

Another Toronto Marathon? Having two isn't really all that bad. Driver's appear upset but after all its only a Sunday morning. Still some people complain.

One must ask though. Why the downtown all the time? People should have a change every so often. Can't they run in Etobicoke from North to South? How 'bout Scarborough?

Here's an idea. Run from Etobicoke to West Hill along Lawrence or Eglinton. Maybe run the other way next year. Let's get pumped with a little variety every so often.

Ambling respect

At the first instant, I held off making a blog for several days before tacking this blog into the site. Making a blog every day as I had hoped to do, makes for panic writing sometimes. I am not a professional writer at this moment. There are no absolute publishing deadlines.

I should point out that while making barbs at a persons political stance or viewpoint this means in no way means any rant means entwines a personal distaste for the person. After being on the inside of the political process, I hold a very high level of respect towards those who run for elected political office and those who put their names forth for any elected post. I've appreciated even if the political views of the candidate appear disagreeable.

Even those involved in some sort of discordant political scandal deserve respect. Unlike others who complain from the deep shadows about political scenarios, these people put out beseeching the unwashed masses to select them. One such notorious was Edmonton, Alberta's, the late William Hawrelak, who didn't mind lining his pockets with atypical bonuses and publicly admitted such actions. At least the electorate held him in high esteem because unlike some, he delivered on promises.

In so many ways, I hold a Hawrelak in a far greater esteem than the environmentalist mercenary David Suzuki. The latter preaches but never backs his mouth. For instance, his cross country environmental tour a few years ago was done in a diesel fueled mobile home bus.

After being involved in several political movements where I truly believe he had been mentioned as a candidate, he always reversed himself at the last moment. Suzuki made a commitment to the defunct National Party then backed out in order to continue receiving his annual two hundred thousand dollar CBC salary. He would've easily became a Canadian Prime Minister. In the end, his bank account came before global future.

One key to political impact, is participation. If you want to ingrain your ideas and views into the fabric of a national culture, personal involvement on some level emerges as necessary. Especially in the modern era, this proves true. The internet achieves a wider democracy than ever before. But a democracy only succeeds when all voices sound to the issues and when all stand willingly for that view.

When critical of a politician or political spokesman, express and demonstrate your opposition. Just keep those ideas separate from issues of personality. One only respects an argument when that respect is exchanged.

Decline of the print media ... III

In this final part, economics plays the prime role. In our image is a small bank of street newspaper boxes. Not so long ago there was the regular dailies also in this group. You can see the scratch marks of an absent box on the concrete to the left of the nearest (Now Mag) box.

One of the most important influences on the physical circulation is the increasing use of the internet as the primary source of news information. Most newspapers use revenues from the print media revenues to sustain the online version of their news papers.

The challenge is that most newspapers do not understand or appreciate the power of the internet. First it is growing. Second, it is not going away. Third the revenues of generated by the online is not as lucrative per story as the old style print media was.

News papers and news letters are not going to disappear completely but clearly they are going to have to change their format, their information resources and their revenue models to survive. A lot of papers are contemplating turning their online sites to pay sites. It has been tried before. And it has not worked, nor will it work in the future.

Revenues over the internet can only be generated by the numbers of people seeing their stories. Ad revenues depend on the numbers of hits. This is not all that much different in the print media. Advertising rates depend on the numbers of subscriptions per day. It depends on the numbers of eyes that see the page.

The downside of print media is that circulation is an arbitrary number. While online pages and sites clearly get statistics far more precise. One only has to log the numbers of visits or hits to the page in order to determine a rate.

Another challenge to the print media is the ability to gather content. Good journalistic type of sites or printed publishings depend on content. In recent decades, accountants moved to control media companies and the journalistic side of the control of print media has drastically declined.
Bean counters only envisage the area devoted to commercial ads. Ads have become more important to newspapers than the news content than ever before.

Compounded with this is the price of printing. While paper companies are awash in inventory the price of newsprint has not declined. The solution the paper makers use is to close mills to maintain the price.

If you look at the newspaper like the Toronto Sun over the years, the size of the paper has slowly gotten smaller, the advertising content has shot over 60% ad printing, the vendor price of each copy went up. The latter has shed readership. With the delines in readership, ad revenues decrease. Its a vicious cycle with no upside.

Within the next five years in the City of Toronto, two of the three major daily newspapers will close print production due to the costs of printing. News publishers are locked into a vicious decline into a model. They rarely notice that search engines like Google assemble the stories and gather them into a set of links providing readers with a option of which version to study.

So when the traditional news media tries to impose a subscription price, search engines like Google can provide a choice of sources for the same information. At least one of those sources will provide the same story for free. The free link gets more hits and more ad revenues while the priced links decline and get less ad revenue.

What the traditional news media must return to is what was their strength which was the skill of their reporters and writers. So many of these people got laid off, and now work on the internet. Ouch.

Print media decline... II

In the following images, the symptoms of the print media decline appears.
We photo imaged the front pages of two local sheets, scrutinizing them. The reason to use these images allows an impression of the substantive relevance of each.

In this one, the Sunday feature deals with a pathos photo of a cute dog.

While in this one from the Star's front page, another animal story about naked chickens makes the top. These papers didn't suffer from a lack of print quality. Rather the story content is much weaker than years ago. There is just as much front page material around. Newspapers are in the midst of a transitional change.

Starvation holds the reason for change. There isn't a shortage of story material. Rather the numbers of reporters has declined. The emphasis is on ads, not content. Today stories of chickens and dogs make it because they are easy, and not too controversial.

Vive la resistance

Long lived resistance movements resurrect themselves in the moods of leadership futility. Apparently most of the readership says I have to continue the digital watchers blog.

Which I won't now. Its not a democracy but common sense. Give people what they want, as long as it isn't too expensive. To date though there be no return on investment.

So the digital watchers continue.

Decline of the media

For the next couple of blogs over several days, the topic of the decline of the media will be examined intensely. Well maybe not that intensely. Several causes lead to inescapable conclusions.

Primary to the decline of the print and internet media quality emerges from this image. It is of course a cup of coffee. And it is good coffee.

Yet one must ask oneself in a detached logical accent of a voice, does the increase of good coffee directly effect the sliding quality of the media reportage?

The relationship appears to be yes. In days gone by, reporters and editors could not get quality cups of coffee. Now that they can, coffee breaks are longer. Which means the storytelling around the coffe tables appears so excessive that it diffuses originality and the creativity of any sort of bullshitting.

So a turbid equation emerges. A theory proposed. Increases in the quality of coffee, leads to a comparative and proportional decline of print journalism.

Not what it seems

Beware the Hydra's temple. It seems not to be what you see.

Such are the constructions of a city that is used to building movie facades. Its in the pictures.First we have the mottled patchwork of a building in the throes of renovation.


And later the same building converted into a concrete building appearing like a concrete fortress.

Sports and shit.

Sigh @. The good thing about Toronto and its sports teams is that once the regular season is over... its over.

Balsillie appears to have been shut out from the National Hokey League. Claims that he wasn't qualified, or possessed the moral character to be a league owner. A laugh riot. Guess he had no pending criminal charges.

Chicago got shut out of the Olympics in favor of Rio de Generate. Like who cares. See National Hokey League.

Complaints about Cito Gaston, by the Blue Jay players means a great upheaval over the winter. General Manager of the Blue Jays, J.P. Ricciardi, claimed over the Fan590, a local radio station, that no player approached him with the problem. JP has also acknowledged that he lies.

Sometimes a mess like this is good for a team. It should have happened before. Certainly no one had the courage to approach Cito face to face. That is where the disconnect occurred. I seen it beforehand.

Now for basketball. You think the Jays have problems. Wait for the CRaptors.

Taking a few days off for rebraining.
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All the help

Politics haunts the land. For the global problems, us digital watchers seek outside help.

Millertime

Miller backs away from running again.
People snicker in the knowledge that he wouldn't
have won again.

Its a conspiracy of the left. David Miller abandoned
the left wing and now he can't garner support
from the same group.
The civic strike did him in.
Much like torture though,
it will take 14 months to see
the saloon door slap that ass.

Hidden spignals

Wifi signals lack strength today. It means no photo. Been conspiring to get goal posts for rugby and soccer. For the park. They are needed.

Back at ya in 24.

uMine

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Car Freak day

Today is car free day. I am in there. No car at all. Busy as heck though.

She didn't leave any room on her bench for any company.

So I won't tell her where to pick up the free car.

In memory of a person and the national folly

Remember the name and face of Jonathan Couturier, who achieved the age of 23, and no more. Couturier represents the worst fear of a Conservative government perilously clinging to political power. In its short mandate, the Conservative government of Canada changed the operational goals of the Canadian military from one of security and reconstruction to one of outright combat and killing. Couturier died because of that flawed strategy. Couturier's words beg to haunt the Canadian government unlike any other critic before.

An obscure Taliban soldier ended Couturier's promising life by setting up an explosive trap. On the one hand, the political supporters of this war would have you believe that this was a cowardly terrorist attack. Nothing could be further from the truth. That Taliban was a soldier who planted a weapon to rid his homeland of an invader. Terrorists attack unarmed noncombatants indiscriminately. This was an attack on another armed soldier who was carrying a weapon pointed at his interpretation of freedom, and his life. Its the type of message not likely to be spread in Couturier's homeland. Couturier, a private, the lowest rank in the army, recognized the patently obvious about this war, he said, referring to his own army in the third person "... they are wasting their time over there."

Couturier appears not to be the only one in the army who died and expressed those same opinions. It appears that their is a schism in the ranks of the Canadian military. In the view of those with the rank of Major and higher, the war is a good thing. It appears that at the company level and down there is growing discontent and another message permeating through the army. One problem that the Stephen Harper led government will be encountering is that in a democracy the word of a Private carries the same validity as the word of a General.

Couturier's words ring true. He was fed up. He did say that we are wasting our time. He died the 131st Canadian casualty in that futile war.

Lets put this into context. It was in 2002 that Canadians entered Afghanistan. Only 131 Canadians have died. This is a terrible number, but compared with most wars, compared with most deadly conflicts it is barely a scratch militarily. It is about the number of a single company of infantry complete with officers.

The problem remains in the original goals. Our original goals were to rebuild their infrastructure to usability and train their army to defend itself. Ultimately its the Afghans who must defend themselves and provide their own security. Its been about seven years. Just how long does it take to train a fucking police officer or soldier. In the Canadian army its eleven weeks of boot camp. In the Canadian police academy, about two years to train a constable. Just what has our military been doing over there. Obviously not what they say they were going to do, obviously they lack the competency to train an Army or that would have been done a long time ago.

It is a good dedicated person just like Couturier who points us in the right direction, much like another hero Terry Fox did. Unlike any other soldier who might desert, Couturier died at his post. He did not abandon his duty. Lets get focused on training up the Afghans and getting the hell out of their country.

Greyhound update

Good news for a change. Greyhound Bus Lines and the government(s) of Canada are sitting down and talking. The bus company stepped up first and withdrew its ominous threat to withdraw vital transportation service to the more remote areas of Canada. The provincial and federal governments stated they are more willing to help Greyhound if the company was willing to provide it with the financial data on the routes that were not economically viable at the present time.

Greyhound's profit margins have never been over the top. Recent rises in fuel costs and the sudden economic decline impacted the areas that would have seen a cessation of bus service. Economies are cyclic and resources the same cycles and more so. The government(s) supported other sectors of the economy why would Northern Ontario and Manitoba not likewise supported. At the moment, bus service has been preserved.

Warning, warning about H1N1

Warning, Warning about H1N1

This you should be aware of. It concerns H1N1 influenza or Swine Flu.

The contagious period for Swine Flu appears to researchers to be longer than first thought, and much longer than the normal flu virus. This is perhaps the reason why the disease continued to spread out of Mexico so swiftly despite quick response and detection by local health authorities.

Apparently, humans continue to shed the contagion about two weeks after the symptoms have completely disappeared from the host. Normal influenza hangs on for about 24-72 hours after the symptoms abate.

From USA Today,

"We were a bit surprised to see patients who were still positive on Day 12," Lye told the American Society for Microbiology in San Francisco.

This means that instead of going back to your work, or having co workers return to the work place on short turn around from the flu, companies should keep these employees on a 14 day leave after the disease appears clear in the victim.

So if you do catch this influenza be aware that you are still sick for two weeks after you feel you're not.

Greyhound crisis

Greyhound thinks its in a driver’s position in its fight to get $15M out of the various governments. Holding peoples of Northern Ontario and Manitoba hostage appears to work for the Limeys and Yanks that now run the bus line. To save a lot of ink, simply they are vile kidnappers and extortionists.

If I were residing in Northern Ontario I would crapping furious. It matters little if Greyhound backs out of its position and maintains service. The thought of it steams me.

For the last thirty years, I’ve been advocating Northern Ontario independence. This stands as another reason to set a course to freedom. A long list of federal and provincial governments, constantly mismanaged the northern economy. Compared with the early 1960s, its in tatters.

There are countermeasures that can the municipal governments in Northern Ontario can take now. They must be united though. Simply put, they ban Greyhound from entering their jurisdictions. If every community on highways 11 and 17 forbid the bus line from stopping, servicing or refueling or switching drivers, this would cause Greyhound second thought.

It all depends on the Cities of Thunder Bay, Sault St. Marie, Winnipeg and Sudbury falling into line. It would mean that every Greyhound bus travelling north of Parry Sound would not be legally able to stop til it reached the Saskatchewan border. No bus carrying people can do that.

Greyhound assumes that it still can keep the Winnipeg to Toronto run going. The province must step up and remove an exemption that Greyhound has always enjoyed. The provincial government could insist that all buses which are not permitted to stop and pick up or discharge passengers, must now stop in every truck weigh scale and endure safety inspection. There are about four stations to the Manitoba border.

People in each community, Greyhound serves now could protest. Having demonstrators meet the bus at every stop carries a powerful message.

In the winter, snow plowing personnel can stall all these units. What the Yanks and Limeys forget is that all these bus routes work fine in the summer and warm weather but it’s a long way from Parry Sound to Winnipeg and back. There are just so many things that people can do.

Of course this may seem weird but I also find that the Greyhound request for aid is totally appropriate. They did give good service to these areas. And the decline in the economy has hit these areas hard. It hit Greyhound similarly. The federal and provincial governments gave out billions to underwrite their stock broker and banker buddies. The federal government sends billions to prop up drug running warlords in Afghanistan.

It would be inexcusable not to help Greyhound maintain essential service during this economically difficult time. Its not the level of support for Greyhound, it’s the method of their request that truly makes one furious.

Ban the bike part 4

The interview with Prof. Rellim Van Otnorot continues. Part four.

Otnorot finishes:

Factual evidence provided by the pro-bicycle lobby is spurious at best. One instance of the deceptive information is the issue of bike lanes. To support the argument they trot out the example of Holland to be applied to the Canadian context. The only thing similar about Holland and Canada resides in the people and culture. Out of 180 nations in the entire world, they trot out Holland? In geography, climate, topography, and sheer size generates no comparative whatsoever.

They want bike lanes along narrow routes dedicated, exclusively to the few bicyclists that commute in Canada. They cite road safety as we discussed before. What most cyclists really want is a free pass through traffic. They pay no road related taxes. They are not required to have any liability insurance. The vast majority of cyclists run stop lights, run stop signs, and open doors of street cars. The vast majority of cyclists use sidewalks beyond necessity. They will only adhere to laws when it is convenient for themselves.

The police practice lazy fair when it comes to enforcing traffic laws. Oh sometimes the senior staff has a brain wave and conducts “a blitz”. Blitz is bureau speak to encourage their staff to actually do their work which is to enforce the law. Never mind the blitz. When a bike is stolen, the police rarely makes any move to recover it. Law enforcement practices discretionary enforcement in the area of cycles. A stolen bike, is stolen property, period. For the victim its as serious as if a bank was robbed. The attitude of police sucks.

The other users also practice lazy fair. Call the police and politicians when there is any infraction by someone on a bicycle. Pedestrians do the same. They can't take the trouble. Police and politicians only when compelled by complaint. To solve the bicycle issue it takes a drastic social change. The reason is that the problem has gotten this out of control is that society has ignored it.

The solution to the issue is neither complex nor difficult. It appears drastic. The solution demands that it change attitudes in a very short time. The first step is to Ban the Bike.

To some it appears drastic. It is. Unlike the failed efforts at registration and attitude change, changing the attitudes of cyclists and society, requires a shock treatment. I never said Ban the Bike permanently. Desirably the date of the ban would begin in a November.

As of that date, driver licensing changes to include all ages and all vehicles. Every driver must be tested. A special category on the license to permit the operation of active or human powered transport. To encourage the license of young riders, allow good penalty free ridership means a reduction in the probationary period to obtain a motor vehicle license and a reduction in the insurance rates on the first ownership of motor vehicles. This allows youth to accumulate a good traffic behavior before they ever drive a car and own one.

Every vehicle using public roads must be registered, plated and possess valid liability insurance. It includes bikes. A call reporting center be set up for a period of five years to take calls on all complaints regarding bicycle law breakage and theft.

This will give most riders time to establish those criteria. For the very few, professional riders like bike couriers in Toronto and Ottawa special transition times and methods can be negotiated if they apply for the time exemption to take a driver's test. Then all cyclists must now have a driver's license, registration and insurance on their vehicles.

The reason for this type of social action resides in observing the failure of the gun registry in Canada. It would have been far better to set a ban date for guns than the complex bazaar of critical dates involved. In a way setting the Ban the Bike day, then preparing the groundwork to bring the vehicle back into a new regime is easier on the psyche of the society and allows the public road users a definitive direction of choice.

FMPD: So your saying Ban them. Then let them come back on the streets. Yes.

Better shoot that dog

Greyhound Inc. is not only changing colours, its changing. After going through several ownership changes in the last twenty years the stability of the venerable company appears threatened. Presently it is owned by a limey company with the unlikely name of FirstPlace PLC. PLC must stand for pretty lousy company.

Historically, Greyhound fought Via rail subsidies to bring passenger transport to those communities along Hwy's 11 and 17. It also backed the 1987 deregulation of the National Transportation Act.

Before that, it was a law in Canada that no company may serve a route for less than the operational cost per passenger, or seat, or per parcel pound. Since Via Rail of that time was government owned it could receive government subisidies on fare schedules under cost. No more Dominion or Canadian on the Superior routes and only spasmodic rail passenger service outside that corridor.

Now a past supporter of deregulation, becomes a victim of that deregulation. More efficient small firms have emerged like Mega Bus which cherry picks the good routes so much that they have rates between Toronto and Montreal lower than the cost per seat. Before Greyhound got bought by Laidlaw, they were doing very good in the markets they served in Canada.

Greyhound kept expanding to the point of inefficiency. At if you cannot see it, above the two buses in the picture is a wall mural ad for MegaBus flogging a $1 standby fare to Montreal. Now instead of admitting that this is where the main problem is, Greyhound prefers to have vulnerable people in Northern Ontario and Manitoba held hostage.

The reason for this political kidnapping is not the high costs of operations in Northern Ontario. It is the heat from the competition in the major intercity routes.

The solution is simple actually. Greyhound should be given $15M for the next three years. Government must reintroduce a new National Transportation Act where the fares charged to passengers must compensate the operational cost of that seat. Second, if any new bus carrier enters service between major cities it must also service all points in between at least once a day each way.

For passengers it might seem more expensive, but in the longer term it will bring stability to the transportation market. Or if Greyhound continues to be troublesome, shoot that damn dog.

Occupational hazard

Walking along Dundas,

Waiting for the street car,

Hoping to connect,

But with three blocks to walk,

Why wait I said strolling along,

Looking back,

Seeing the street car roll on by.

Ban the cycles part three - Injury pronation

The interview with Prof. Rellim Van Otnorot continues. Part three.

FMPD: Moving on from the arguments regarding environment bicycles are efficient designs. It was bicycle mechanics that invented the airplane after all.

OTNOROT: Yes and flying in an airplane is far safer per passenger mile than a bicycle. Bicycles do efficiently convert human power into motion to move a single person. Yet, like I said before, they would not be approved for use on modern roads if the device was introduced today.

The standard bicycle has a very high center of gravity. Two wheels means the stability is determined by the athletic skill of the rider, not by any mechanical stability. Three wheel vehicles are more stable. Four wheel vehicles are the most stable.

Clothing entrapment occurs in the exposed power train. The steering mechanisms can be knocked off by road dangers and curbs. No passenger protection exists on the vehicle in the case of accident or collision. Many accident injuries occur due to entanglement in bicycle features.

We demand by law that other vehicles using tax payer funded public roadways to have passenger protections. To date the political leadership of North America have not legally demanded that bicycles be made operationally safe. Clearly the leading unsafe vehicle on those roadways is the bicycle.

Yes bicycle fatalities are far less due to the lower usage and lower speeds. But all the various accident statistical records point to the fact that one is far more likely to be injured on a bicycle than any other commonly used vehicle. Many bicycle accidents are not reported because the injuries are not severe, but injuries do happen.

Bicycle couriers, very experienced cyclists tumble off of bicycles frequently. Yes some don't but many do. They almost never report any injury unless they must be hospitalized. Per capita, a committed cyclist will suffer some sort of cycling injury once every five years. Inexperienced cyclists are the most likely to suffer injury on a per kilometer basis.

From a health cost standpoint, bicycles add extra burden to health care costs than most other vehicles on a per capita basis. If cyclists equaled the numbers of motorists health costs would be doubled. The goal of getting people out of cars onto bicycles isn’t economical. The future of bicycles as a mode is rather limited as you can see.

Ban the bicyle Part II

The interview with Prof. Rellim Van Otnorot continues. Part two.

FMPD: Ban the Bicycle?

OTNOROT: Ban it. Statistical and factual evidence indicates such a drastic path. The advocates of bicycles provide enough evidence for this themselves.

FMPD: They do?

OTNOROT: Yes they do. By simply lobbying for exclusive bicycle lanes they provide evidence support banning the bike. Understand one thing. Bicycles were only meant to be an interim step of human mobility.

As soon as the small motor evolved, it was mated to the bicycle. The technology of the motorcycle still exceeds the quality of any modern bicycle. Over the years motorcycle design substantially lowered the center of gravity closer to the roadway and broadened the width of tires to provide more stability. One of the most dangerous aspects of the bicycle has been its vehicular instability due to the very high center of gravity.

Bicycles only predated the motor car by only fifty years as a mechanical substitute for the horse in an urban environment. Its all in the timing. If the invention of the bicycle was today, the vehicle design would never be approved for use on the tax payer funded roadways. No question, these are unsafe vehicles.

Recumbent bicycles which do have a low center of gravity, are operationally uncomfortable and a paradox to the physical aspects of animal mobility. Where physical exertion is required the head should be comfortably level and vision unimpaired.

In the recumbent design, the head follows the body. I didn't like the knees bouncing up into my sightlines and my feet pumping up and down. Recumbent position during physical activity in the passive attitude diminishes the biological advantages of traditional animal evolution. All this counters all genetic evolution. In all animal design since the Cambrian epoch, where the body is close to the horizontal during the physical exertion of movement, head goes before asshole.

FMPD: Are you saying that bicycles aren't safe?

OTNOROT: No. The bicycle lobby points to this lack of safety.

FMPD: How do you mean?

OTNOROT: Carefully examine the issue of dedicated bicycle lanes. Its all how you interpret all the data and evidence usually provided all by the bicycle lobbyists themselves. The cyclists insist that they should have exclusive use of the public roadways in dedicated lanes.

They insist that they are the champions of society and the environment. When it is easily proven by their own statistics that the bicycle is actually far more inefficient per mile in the terms of fuel use, and hydro-carbon emissions than the automobile.

Now understand, that due to my studies, I believe that the hydro-fueled electric vehicle is the most efficient energy vehicle outside of the electric rail locomotive. But in the energy profiles conversion provided by the cyclists insist that their mode of transport is environmentally more sound. Humans are terrible energy converters compared with the mechanical reciprocating engine.

The classic court case for all this is found Scott vs. the Queen. Wayne Scott, an advocate of active transport, challenged Revenue Canada to allow bicycle couriers to receive equal treatment to contract motorized couriers. Contract car and truck couriers received a tax exemption related to the energy consumed in delivering cargo. The long and the short of it is that Scott won the court battle and Revenue Canada was compelled to let contract bicycle courier an energy cost exemption of about $11.00 or the daily cost of food in receipts.

The concept was called food as energy. And a very valid argument it is because bicycle couriers do eat more than most other people because their occupation requires food energy. Yet, where one carefully examine the energy cost profiles of gasoline powered vehicles versus the profiles of human powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles), gas engine power always proves far more efficient than the latter.

Cyclists always cite the emissions of gas motors. This is true, but when discussing that environmental aspect they never, ever, never, ever let the human powered energy cycle into the equation for equal scrutiny.

Their arguments in this fact and other facts are always dramatically one sided. Almost always no one has the gonads to challenge their contentions. Their planks should be contested. Its always their facts, and always a position of severe bias. Here is my contention. In the end result, human power vehicles probably produce more air pollution than the motor vehicle.

Human power needs food. Almost always that food is brought in by truck, ship or airplane from distant places. That extra food, that extra energy, already costs more. The calorie fuel cost of food exceeds the calorie benefit to the human powered vehicle.

And, one cannot use the total calorific nutritional benefit of the food intake. One must discount the fact that most of the food value is not absorbed by the body. Rather, most of the material is passed through the bowel. Cyclists, in their version of the universe seem to eat more but don't shit as much. In short, the cyclist's lobby expounds total crap.

Using the dollar value of energy illuminated by Scott vs. the Queen, a cyclist can safely move about 15kg per day over about 100km. These figures you must understand are estimates. Locations, routes and specific vehicles vary. Cyclists always exclude bicycles from the energy cost equations. Always remember that there is a fuel cost per dollar of food already in the equations. A courier driver can move 200kg(plus) over 200km per day at the same dollar/energy unit value.

Bicycles must move cargo and the operator/motor. The laws of physics demand energy versus weight to lift. Once you include all the energy cycles. Once the sources of energy are included, then one can see the inefficiency of human power. The ultimate fuel in the blood is glucose of some sort. Muscle cells burn oxygen in a oxidizing chemical reaction and that sugar burns to an energy unit to provide sufficient power.

Cyclists always state that they do not pollute the urban landscape. Horse feathers. Any oxidation of hydrocarbons regardless of the type of energy converter, produces carbon dioxide. And for cyclists their exhausts come out of two systems. Lung respiration expels carbon dioxide a global warming gas. Extra effort to move cargo delivers that much more carbon dioxide. Their digestive tracts expel all sorts of gases like all other animals. More food means more fart gas.
The energy cost per Kg is more expensive when delivered by the bicycle or any human powered vehicle.

FMPD: And this means!

OTNOROT: It means that as energy converters in transport movers bicycles are very poor. Bicycles require human power. Humans barely possess the power to move their own weight. The fuel consumption of human power exceeds the comparable gross fuel consumption of motor vehicles. The environmental damage in the real equation regarding mass per kilojoule is worse for human power vehicles than motor vehicles. Humans are enormously inefficient energy converters.

So banning the bike means less, not more pollution. Use all the calorie/power equations, not just those inadequate biased arguments provided by the bicycle lobby. To save the environment - Ban Bikes!

FMPD: In your version of the situation, there seems to be no significant energy or environmental savings to use the bicycle.

OTNOROT: Only with the movement of cargo. When a person moves only that person bicycles do fare better. There are savings, although cyclists need more energy food per kilometer, when the rider is compared to the driver.

End of part 2.

One of the good things about city parks in Toronto is simple watching
and appreciating the finer things in life.

Look at those legs. Look at the rear end. Look at the figure. That is one determined Yorkie.

Ban the Bicycle - Part 1

Prof. Rellim Van Otnorot, LLB, QC, GL

With the absence of piles, and the legal battles to begin to recover our trash we hired legal expert Prof. Rellim van Otnorot to lead the impending court actions and to register his opining opinions. There was a lot of “to's” in the opening. Regardless here is a transcript of the first discussion.

FMPD: Good day Prof. Van Otnorot.

OTNOROT: (nods) Hello Friends. A fine morning to you. Do I bill for this?

FMPD: No this is not legal work regarding the recovery of our garbage and dump status. The readers would like to know where your brilliant legal mind lies.

OTNOROT: Sounds pretty chintzy to me. Go ahead though.

FMPD: Recently, there was a dispute between a former Cabinet Minister, Michael Bryant and a bike courier, Darcy Sheppard. What do you think Prof?

OTNOROT: Terrible tragedy. Terrible. This is going to be a very difficult legal case to bring to court. Every one seems to forget that a person lost life and he had four children.

FMPD: How would you solve this crisis between bikes and autos?

OTNOROT: The attitude of everyone involved sucks. Cyclists, motorists, police, politicians all are to blame. Bike lanes while an interesting bandage, doesn't address the underlying issues. Also the issues exists in all of Canada and the US.

FMPD: Yes its very complex to take any action on.

OTNOROT: Its too complex to deal with every issue. What is forgotten by everyone is that these are shared publicly funded roadways. This allows a fundamentally basic solution.

FMPD: A single solution to solve all?

OTNOROT: Could solve it tomorrow.

FMPD: Tomorrow.

OTNOROT: Yes... BAN Bicycles. Ban them period end of story.

---Note: This interview continues in tomorrow's posting.--- end of part 1