My Brain on Diesel Fumes

Pie-throwing activist guilty of assaulting peace officer

By TARINA WHITE, SUN MEDIA

Pie-throwing activist guilty of assaulting peace officer | Alberta | News | Edmonton Sun

Having been found guilty of common assault and assaulting a police officer in an attempt to throw pie filling at the premier, the only question remaining is whether or not Lily Phan should go to jail, and if so, for how long.

Let’s take a second to look at the crime.  Lily Phan was intent on throwing pie filling at Premier Stelmach.  She doesn’t argue this.  Mr. Stelmach’s security stopped her.  Rather than thank her lucky stars she had been stopped, she proceeded to kick and strike an Alberta Sheriff’s deputy.

Miss Phan’s argument against being found guilty of assault is,

“I feel this is in line with the increasing criminalization of political dissent in this province and across the country”
Lily Phan

Is she serious?  Prosecuting someone for assaulting a police officer, which she did, is in no way criminalizing political dissent.  It is punishing someone for committing a criminal offense.

It is sad that, in a nation such as Canada, people still seem to feel it should be permissible to assault government leaders when they are in disagreement with their positions.  Where does this assumption come from?

Many, many, many (is that enough manys) of us are against Bill 44.  Did we throw pies at MLA Lindsay Blackett?  Did we fire hose the premier?  Did we deface public property?  Did anyone assault a police officer in the name of political dissent?  Indeed we did not. 

What did we do?  We blogged.  We protested outside the legislature.  We publicly took our twittering MLA’s to bear.  We made noise.  We stirred the pot.  Not once did we resort to, or cause others to resort to violence.

Miss Phan may disagree with Mr. Stelmach’s positions and policies on homelessness and poverty, as do I for different reasons, but she did not choose to show her dissent in a legal manner.  It is not okay to assault anyone, and especially not our governors over differing opinions.

Miss Phan should receive a jail sentence as seen fit by the court.  She should serve her time as a concerned and LAW abiding Canadian would.  When she is done her time she is welcome to show her dissent.  If she so desires she may choose to write an article on this blog.

The next time she feels she has no other choice but to commit an assault she should get herself to a gym and kick the crap out of a dummy bag.  Assault or destruction of public property is NOT an acceptable form of political dissent in a peaceful country.

 AMTA Website | RAP Website | Email

Urgent to Locate Driver

Calgary Police are seeking the help of the Trucking Industry to locate the driver of a tractor trailer unit involved in the fatal collision that occurred at Glenmore Tr. and 52 St. SE in Calgary at approximately 2:50 AM, Thursday, June 18^th, 2009.  The tractor-trailer unit was eastbound at the time of the collision.  Both are white, with the company name in light colored lettering on the tractor.  The tractor is believed to be a Columbia model Freightliner with a sleeper bunk.  The trailer was struck on the passenger side rear corner and the damage will be noticeable upon inspection.

It is critical that the driver be identified and the vehicle located as soon as possible to insure evidence is not lost that may help to complete this investigation.    Please call the Calgary Police Service at 403-266-1234 with any information on this investigation or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 if you wish to remain anonymous.

Thank you in advance for any information you can provide.

Mayne Root

Executive Director

Alberta Motor Transport Association

403-214-3429

Alberta Motor Transport Association
3660 Blackfoot Trail SE  Calgary, Alberta T2G 4E6
Phone: (403) 243-4161 or  1-800-267-1003
amtamail2@amta.ca 

When I was 5 or 6 my parents bought me a transistor radio for my bedroom.  Not many nights went by, when listening to the top 10 on CHUM radio in Toronto, that the boy band The Jackson 5 didn’t have a song in the list of hits.  The undeniably amazing voice of the youngest member stood out in every song.

As I grew up the Jackson 5 became less and less the forefront as the boy, Michael, started to rock the charts and school dances.  Of course groups like KISS and AC/DC were also becoming more and more popular at the same time.  While I was listening to what is now considered classic rock with my friends, I loved going to school dances, or locking myslef in my room with my stereo, and listening to the not so cool dance music, much of it by Michael Jackson.

With albums like Thriller and Bad, Michael Jackson became an icon to more and more peopls.  The lyrics, the tempo, the dancing and the originality of his music was phenomenal.  He changed the dynamic of MTV and the music video forever.  Undeniably he did it better than anyone.

The demons in Michael JAckson’s life may be more what some people will remember of him.  Accusations of pedophilia, and simply the fact that he acted plain strange, stood him out more than his music in later years.  Sad though it is, this as much a part of his legacy as his music is.

Perhaps his private life was unforgiveable, but his talent was, and will remain, largely insurmountable.

Who, of our generation, doesn’t remember the little boy singing Got to be there, or the young teenager singing My Girl or What Goes Around Comes Around?  I made out with my first serious girlfriend to the song Girlfriend from the 1979 album Off The Wall.  I danced my first dance with my future wife to the song I’ll be There.

I had almost grown out of Michael Jackson and pop music when out of the blue Thriller hit the airwaves and MTV.  Hooked again, I was old enough to marvel at the longevity this artist was enjoying.  Just as Thriller was starting to wane, out came Bad.  This guy seemed unstoppable! Or was he?

Whatever drove Michael Jackson to his weirdness, from turning himself white, to dangling his baby over a balcony, to alledgedly molesting little boys, one thing we can never take away from him is…  Musically, Michael Jackson is, and forever will be UNTOUCHABLE.  I felt for him when he was facing the music for his actions and his eccentricities.  Though brought upon himself, it must have been hell for him to look at the man in the mirror and see what he could have been, and what he had become.

Now I remember, not the tortured man, but the talented boy, teen, young adult who joined the ranks of Elvis Presley and the Beatles, changing the face of music forever.

Thanks for the music Jacko.  Rest in Peace!

Equality is one thing.  Being more equal, or above equality is another.  This all smack’s of the Orwellian, “All animals are equal, but pigs are more equal,” mentality.  While being of the more left leaning variety of “conservative”, it behooves me to state that I am sick and tired of the GLBTaQ community and their hyper-sensitivity.  Is it offense, hyper-sensitivity or simply their need to be in the spotlight that causes these special interest groups to reach out and grab on to every little statement made by anyone, resulting in backlash and front page publicity in every newspaper on the face of the earth?

Doug Elniski is now the target of the GBLTaQ community and of women in general due to comments made on Twitter and on his blog.  Come on!  Doug, probably against the best advice of the PC Association, made a point of representing his constituency at the 2009 TD Canada Trust Celebration on the Square. Presenterd by: Pride Edmonton.  This is not a “for the weak of heart parade.”  What other groups throw a parade in Alberta, or Canada where partial, or in some cases, damned near total nudity is permitted?  Do groups of any other sexual orientation have parades which, by their very nature, are celebrations of sexuality?  I can’t think of one.  When will the Vampires, the Straights, and the Zoophiliacs start having their parades?  Interesting thoughts, while I LMAO.

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Just when we thought we had heard it all, Bill 44, from the provincial PC party in Alberta, the federal party (CPC) comes along, and with the help of the liberals, passes yet another unthought out, vote driven piece of  legislation, Bill C-15: An Act to amend the Controlled
Drugs and Substances Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts

Mandatory Sentencing for people convicted of “drug offences” is just that, bad law.  The same experiment was already tried in the U.S. and it has failed.  Drug trafficking has increased almost as steadily as the prison population has exploded.  Today, 3.2% of the U.S. population is either incarcerated or on some sort of probation or parole.  The vast majority of these offenders are serving time for small time drug possession charges.  Is it just me, or does this prove mandatory sentencing is not the answer to the drug problem?

“There is no question that putting violent and chronic offenders behind bars lowers the crime rate and provides punishment that is well deserved,” said Gelb, who as director of the Center’s Public Safety Performance Project advises states on developing alternatives to incarceration. “On the other hand, there are large numbers of people behind bars who could be supervised in the community safely and effectively at a much lower cost — while also paying taxes, paying restitution to their victims and paying child support.”
New High In U.S. Prison Numbers Growth Attributed To More Stringent Sentencing Laws

The net result of mandatory sentencing is going to be extreme overcrowding of federal and provincial jails, as well as overcrowding of remand centres on a scale never seen before.  With complaints to the Corrections Ombudsman, the courts, and reaching as far as the U.N. regarding over crowding in remand centres and prisons, is now a good time to be creating law which will only serve to stretch the walls of these prisons?

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The title of the entry really means NOTHING, beyond the fact I was born that year.  Being a child of the 60’s has definite benefits.  The next generation has no idea what they missed!!  here’s my list of things making being born in the 60’s awesome:

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