My Platform: Gun Control

Yes, absolutely. I've heard too many Canadians recently talk about their second amendment rights. It's scary. Canada does not have a second amendment. There is no right to bear arms in this country. While I'm at it let me shoot down (no pun intended) the few arguments against gun control.

First there is the argument that 'if guns are illegal only criminals will have guns.' That's true, because if you have an illegal gun you will automatically be a criminal. Guns for self defense make no sense and do not work.

"...research has shown that a gun kept in the home is 43 times more likely to kill a member of the household, or friend, than an intruder.(Arthur Kellermann and Donald Reay. "Protection or Peril? An Analysis of Firearm Related Deaths in the Home." The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 314, no. 24, June 1986, pp. 1557-60.) The use of a firearm to resist a violent assault actually increases the victim's risk of injury and death(FE Zimring, Firearms, violence, and public policy, Scientific American, vol. 265, 1991, p. 48)."

By having a gun in the home you are actually putting your family and any potential guests at greater risk.

Then there is the black helicopter argument - that if the government has guns and the population doesn't that the government will become oppressive and 'the people' will have no means of defense. This is almost cartoonishly naive. First even if all firearms were legal for everyone - the 'government' has fighter planes and bombers, helicopters, tanks and missiles your handgun will do you no good. If you look around the world where insurrections are being fought none of them are being fought with hand guns. Very few are being fought with guns at all. In most cases they are either being fought with improvised weapons, sabotage and "terrorism" or the insurrection has acquired military grade weapons. Additionally there are dozens of countries around the world where brutal dictators rule and the population is armed to the teeth. When the U.S. Constitution says "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..." they are talking about the 'National Guard' or other military reserves, not the general population. Having firearms does not defend against repressive government, not even just a little.

So just like you need a license to drive or fish you should need a license to own any firearm. This license should require a background check, a written test on gun safety and no history of violent crime. A license should only be granted to persons over the age of 18. If we don't trust you with a beer we're not trusting you with a gun. Minors should not be allowed to own, possess or use firearms. These licenses should only apply to rifles.

Hand guns should be banned in total. They should not be allowed to be bought, sold or possessed in Canada. Unlike rifles which are used for hunting and defending farm animals there is no legitimate reason to own a handgun. Some will say that they like target shooting with hand guns. To that I can only suggest that you get a new hobby. If a person currently possesses a handgun of some kind of historical significance it should be fixed so that it no longer fires and that work should be verified by law enforcement.

This won't end violent crime but if no one can get hand guns, then fewer people will be shot with them. If the police can automatically incarcerate anyone found with a hand gun it will make the process easier for them and will start to diminish the number of firearms available.

Humanity has made great strides since the 18th century. The thought that the entire civilian population should be armed, which is not even a Canadian concept, should be put to rest alongside a number of other bad ideas from that era that we've already abandoned.

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Previous:
My Platform: Introduction
My Platform: Arts and Culture
My Platform: Poverty
My Platform: Business and Industry
My Platform: Crime
My Platform: Carbon Tax
My Platform: Labour and Workplace Reform
My Platform: Electoral and Ethics Reform
My Platform: Education

My Platform: Crime

Crime is an incredibly complex issue. It is one of the easiest ways for politicians to scare people or gain their approval. The right wing "tough on crime" approach and the left wing fondness for "forgiveness and reform" are both overly simplistic and naive, neither approach actually has much impact one way or another.

In order to fully address crime there is a need to address the question - what do we have a criminal justice system for. In my opinion the answer is simple: public safety. Public safety is what caused humans to band together and form civilizations in the first place. Society only functions to the extent that people feel they are safe and protected in their homes and in their streets.

In order to have any real impact on crime we have to examine what crimes we are talking about, why those crimes are committed and what can be done to prevent them. No single approach handles everything. In some cases the 'get tough' approach actually creates more crime and there are some people who simply cannot be rehabilitated.

Here is what I think needs to be done.

First: Greatly reducing poverty will, all by itself, have a profound impact on crime. Many property crimes and petty thefts are committed by people who are desperate for money. While there is much debate about the correlation between poverty and crime there seems to be strong evidence of a correlation between income disparity and crime - poor people living amid great wealth tend to commit more crimes.

Second: Canada needs to get serious about mental health care. The brain is an organ like any other, it is prone to illness and damage. The difference is that when a person suffers an illness dealing with the brain (as opposed to say the liver, or the heart) they can be unpredictable, erratic, and even dangerous to themselves and others. To date though the resources put into mental health care in Canada are woefully inadequate at best.

Third: As we learned from alcohol prohibition in the United States prohibition does not reduce crime, it increases it. The more you crack down on drugs the higher the prices go and the higher the prices go the more people are willing to engage in the trade. The higher prices, frequently in to the millions and billions of dollars, make people desperate and greedy and willing to do terrible things to get at that money. The 'War on Drugs' approach actually amounts to a subsidy of organized crime.

Marijuana should be legalized and regulated, possession and small (personal use) cultivation should be completely legal for adults. Commercial cultivation should be allowed and regulated - if farmers were allowed to devote a small part of their land to cultivation the new cash crop would solve most of their economic problems. Commercial sales should be regulated by the provincial liquor control boards. For drugs other than marijuana Canada should look to European harm reduction methods. Only use police resources on large scale dealers and producers of drugs, let social workers and medical professionals do the brunt of the work with low level users of drugs.

Fourth: In addition to greater investment in mental health care, mental health professionals need to be more deeply involved in the sentencing of and appeals for parole of convicted criminals. People who are deemed to be a danger to society should not be returned to society. Mental health care should be a core part of rehabilitation and it should be within the prevue of the courts to commit people to indefinite psychiatric care or to order psychiatric follow up as a condition of parole.

Fifth: All criminal organizations should be added to the list of banned terror organizations - in this I include known Mafia families, street gangs, the hells angels and any organization which advocates, promotes or engages in criminal activity. Mere membership in such an organization should, at the very least, result in probation.

In short my approach to crime would be to remove dangerous individuals from the streets until such time as they are no longer dangerous as well as removing as many as possible of the motives for crime.

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Previous:
My Platform: Introduction
My Platform: Arts and Culture
My Platform: Poverty
My Platform: Business and Industry

Bribery and Perjury Charges for Conservatives?

Remember the Cadman Affair? the One Stephen Harper is suing the Liberals over? Just in time for the election it's back. The audio tape at the center of the controversy was sent, by Stephen Harper, for inspection and his expert came back with results that aren't helpful to Stephen Harper.

"But former FBI agent Bruce Koenig, the sound expert Harper hired to prove his allegations, submitted a report dated Friday to Harper's lawyer, which also had to be sent to the Liberal lawyer Chris Paliare.

In the report, Koenig concluded that the first part of Zytaruk's interview with Harper, which contains the key portions that the prime minister has contested, was intact.

The second part, beginning roughly one minute and 41 seconds into the tape, was a new recording that was made over the final part of the original recording, he said. But the first crucial minute and 41 seconds had not been altered.
Koenig reported that the tape "contains neither physical nor electronic splices, edits or alterations, except for the over-recording start that erased and replaced the end of the first part of the designated interview.""

On the tape Stephen Harper says

""I don't know the details, I know that, um, there were discussions," Harper said. The Conservatives who approached Cadman believed there were financial issues, he said, and "Of the, uh, uh, the offer to Chuck was that, it was only to replace financial considerations he might lose due to an election."

Last month Harper's lawyer convinced the court to postpone a hearing into the veracity of the audio tape until after the election but Harper has stated in sworn testimony that the tape was edited and has denied saying that he did not know the details of the offer. So in addition to possible bribery charges, there is now the possibility of a perjury charge.

Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke has said that ""This report supports our position that the tape does not represent the complete interview, and as such is favourable to our case," however that does not seem to be the case at all. The fact that the recording was apparently recorded over a different recording does not, in any way, indicate that that tape was edited or altered and while it may not be a recording of the "complete interview" that was never the question.

It remains to be seen whether this information will enter public consciousness before Tuesdays election or, should the conservatives win, what would happen if a Prime Minister were charged with a crime while in office. Perhaps Stephen Harper should reconsider his position on house arrest?

WFT is Wrong With People?

I'm sure you all have heard plenty about the murder of Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus. I haven't talked about it previously and won't really talk about it now except to say - Seriously! What the fuck is wrong with people? It appears that two different groups, both with political agendas, saw the murder as an opportunity to publicize themselves.

The first shouldn't be a surprise I suppose: the Westboro Baptist Church (based in Kansas) had planned to picket at McLean's funeral "to tell Canadians his slaying on July 30 was God's response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homosexuality and divorce and remarriage." Fortunately most of these people were turned away at the border, a few might still show up though. I can't say this group has lost any credibility, they never had any - they have been picketing the funerals of AIDS patients for decades now.

The second group is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

An animal rights group has posted an ad on its website comparing the recent stabbing and decapitation of a young Winnipeg man to how humans kill animals for food.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the advertisement is meant to make people understand how animals suffer when they are killed in slaughterhouses. The group posted the imageless advertisement on its blog site Wednesda

Look, I'm a vegetarian and everything but to use a grizzly murder to promote your politics is completely beneath contempt. Whatever credibility PETA had is completely and totally gone.

There are only two things I can say about it beyond what I've said
1) The church group has nothing whatever to do with God (maybe the other guy though.)
2) PETA is no better than the church group.

More Stolen Gear

The crime spree in stolen gear continues and while it appears that 'stolen music' is actually good for the business. Stolen gear definitely is not. The theft in montreal of the Stooges gear has created an outpouring of support and publicity (currently 226 results on Google News) but this is becoming an all too frequent occurrence across North America. Last week it was Wintersleep in Baton Rouge, Louisianna and simply typing the phrase "Music Stolen Gear -stooges" (which means without the recent furor over the Montreal incident) will yield 246,000 results. If you know anyone involved in these things, seriously turn them in for the love of music.

Tour Vans Targeted: The Gear Theft Epidemic

In case you didn't know bands having their touring vans (or other vehicles) broken into is epidemic. I remember the epic search for Patrick Krief's Fender last year. Just today there were reports from both the the Blood Lines and Born Ruffians both reported break-ins. I seem to hear about such crimes regularly enough that I did a search for "Band van broken into" on google to see how bad the problem was. The search netted an ugly 2,710,000 results including StonlenGear.Org whose tagline is "Get Your Stuff Back".

If you thought that downloaders were "stealing from musicians", at least downloaders aren't walking off with their gear. If you're in a band and thinking about touring - seriously get a good alarm system, keep a big dog in the van or both.

Breaking Links: Sunday, January 20

Sadly in yet another act of spineless cowardice (not to mention ass kissing) Canada is removing the US from the torture list. This is not because the US doesn't torture, it is because the US doesn't want to be on the list.

"OTTAWA, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Canada's foreign ministry, responding to pressure from close allies, said on Saturday it would remove the United States and Israel from a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured."

Via Quillblog: Congrats to Marjorie Celona who has picked up this years Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.

"Last night, the winner of the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers was announced. This being the first year the award is sponsored by the RBC Foundation, the ceremony was held, appropriately enough, in the 40th floor reception suite of the RBC building on Toronto’s Bay Street. Below are some photos from the event."

CBC's Fortune Hunters profiled on Digital Journal

"Digital Journal — The Web is changing how people do business, but it’s also injecting new life into how TV covers business. Case in point is Fortune Hunters, a new show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Newsworld channel. It analyzes adventurous entrepreneurs, their ideas and their potential to profit from their ventures. The upcoming show airing on Jan. 19 profiles a social-networking upstart in Toronto, for instance. "

The Toronto Star reports that in Toronto You're safer than you think.

"Q: For the average Torontonian, what are the odds of getting killed in a random crime, like, say, a stray bullet?
A: In Toronto, about 12 people per year are killed by a stranger. There are 2.6 million people in the city, so your chances of getting killed by a stranger are about one in 220,000."

Breaking Links: Thursday, December 18

Via J-Source: Reuters is reporting that 64 Journalists have been killed in the past year.

"For the fifth year in a row Iraq was the deadliest dateline with 31 journalists killed, most of whom were targeted and murdered, the watchdog said. All but one of the journalists killed were Iraqi, with nine of those working for international organizations, including Reuters and The Associated Press."

The East Coast Music Award nominess for 2008 have been announced and Halifax's Joel Plaskett has garnered a whopping 7 nominations.

"The band's 2007 album Ashtray Rock has three nominations, including recording of the year and its single Fashionable People earned nods for best single and songwriter of the year for Plaskett."

Volcanoless in Canada have posted their top music picks for 2007

"Damn I love the end of the year... there's something about snow on the ground, a frozen ice world outside, frost that physically hurts, that makes a guy just want to curl up someplace warm, forget about every single outside obligation, and for the first time all year, take the time to nostalgically make reference to breakthrough/amazing music encompassing another completed year. Team Volcanoless recently experienced some warmth by the fire, partaking in mad discussion about 2007 and the albums that made us want to make another one."

68 year-old John Peters, the latest RCMP taser victim is accusing the agency of a whitewash. In related news a new study has determined that tasers do not reduce shootings.

"Peters's wife Ann, who was in the car at the time, said her husband only put his hands over his face after the officer punched him in the mouth, and that the officer used the Taser twice on her husband while he was still in the car. "John never hit the officer. He was never tased outside the car. He was tased both times inside the car.""

The new album from Gentleman Reg is just about done.

"And it became apparent that all the songs we had recorded, even though they were all good, didn't make up a complete album.So, in the last few months many adjustments have been made. Adding songs, taking some away, re-mixing, editing,,,adding horns....And it's finally feeling finished. This week we go through the mixes and pick our favorites, and then assemble the album.It has a name too. I'll tell you later."

Vive Le Canada on the Tory plan to muzzle Canadian minorities.

"If passed, the proposal would give B.C. seven new MPs, Alberta five and Ontario only 10 – fully 11 fewer than if the province was treated the same as Canada's other fast-growing regions. This means effectively disenfranchising some 1 million Ontarians in the next decade, or approximately one in every 10 citizens of voting age."

MTV is referring to 2007 as The Year The [music] Industry Broke.

"In April, Trent Reznor released Year Zero, a concept album about a future society teetering on the brink of apocalypse. It was supposed to be a grand work of fiction, but it could just as easily have been about the music industry in 2007 — a bleak, burned-out world where the sky fell on a daily basis and the rivers ran red with the blood of record execs. (That the album didn't sell well only furthers the analogy ...)"

Police are looking for a man who murder a 74 year old while he was delivering Christmas cards in Kitchener Ontario and in Winnipeg they are looking for a man who abducted and assaulted an 11 year old girl. On the off chance you might know something please read the suspect descriptions in the articles.

Breaking Links: Sunday, December 2

Via Boing Boing the US has asserted, in front of a British court, it's right to kidnap Brits or anyone else it wants to.

"The US has told Britain that it is legal under US law to kidnap British citizens from the UK (ineed, anyone from anywhere) if they are suspected of crimes in the USA -- and that this can be done instead of using formal extradition procedures."

Whistler film fest the new Sundance?

"Actresses, film directors and producers have all been rolling into this mountain resort for a film festival that hardly anyone had heard of when it started seven years ago.
Now, it is touted as having the potential to become the next Sundance."

cordweekly.com with another Hidden Cameras interview about new material:

"That said, he will provide very little information about his new material. When asked about new songs and new stage ideas, Gibb says, “I don’t know if we’ll be ready for Waterloo, but there are new songs and new tricks.”"

The story is a couple of days old, but in case you missed it: Environment Canada is predicting the coldest winter in 15 years.

"In its first winter outlook of the year, the agency predicts that until February, climates across most of the country will be the coldest in 15 years, with the exception of a small pocket in southern Ontario."

Translators Not Tasers

Murder is a harsh word, but that's exactly what this video shows. An RCMP officer asks, before they've even arrived and assessed the situation if he can taser the polish tourist and is told that he can. The man does not appear in any way to be threatening or hostile toward the RCMP officers, he is in fact moving away from them (and unarmed) when he is assaulted. I didn't really want to use the M. word, but after watching the video several times there simply isn't another word that fits. Had this been a Canadian national arriving in Poland (or Mexico, or the US) Canada would be in an uproar and no one would be using any word other than murder.

The RCMP is not wholly responsible - someone at the foreign arrivals area of the Vancouver airport should have been able to find a translator - either the airport or Canada Customs should have been able to resolve the situation before it got to this point. Certainly Vancouver airport officials and Canada customs are guilty of negligence at the very least. But that does not excuse the RCMP. Because of this incident tasers should immediately be banned nationwide, for all officers (and civilians) in all situations. Amnesty International has has already called for such a ban worldwide.

Short of an outright ban, with 17 deaths attributed to them so far in Canada, they can no longer be considered "non-lethal" - a taser attack should bear the same scrutiny as shooting a 'suspect'. In any case reviews should be undertaken to insure that adequate translators are available at any crossing point into Canada.

Short of a taser ban and improved translation services it would probably be best for foreign nationals (at least any who don't speak English) to stear clear of Vancouver for the foreseeable future. Including, sadly, 2010.

Criminal Advertising by Audi

Via Boing Boing: In an attempt to circumvent city signage bylaws Audi defrauded the city of Toronto by applying for fake film permits.

Audi wanted to erect six foot signs to advertise their new TT automobiles. They applied to the city of Toronto for permits to shoot a fictional film from the Film and Television Office of Toronto. They then erected 6x15 foot statues in the locations they had shooting permits for but then didn't shoot anything. Apparently they never intended to.

More information is available at illegalsigns.ca. If you would like to express your displeasure with Audi and their resorting to criminal activity to advertise their cars there is a contact form for Audi Canada here.