Useful Quotes to Remember

Next time you are in a debate with a climate change activist and use a non-peer reviewed source of information, if they protest angrily that only peer reviewed material should be acceptable, give them this quote.He said many of the criticisms were based on a mistaken belief that the IPCC could not use so-called grey literature – reports from outside academic journals such as from campaign groups

Our crap-ass justice system

Everybody’s watching the Olympics. Well, not Jane Creba. Actually, since she was shot in 2005, she missed the last Olympics – the twentieth winter games, held in Turin in February of 2006. The resultant legal proceedings, on the other hand, seem to have a life of their own. One of the trials is still running, more than 4 years after the alleged fatal shooting. How is it that it takes longer than an Olympic cycle, or a presidential term, to wrap up a murder case?

Another example: John O’Keefe was out walking on Yonge St in the early morning of January 12, 2008 when he was fatally shot by a stranger. The alleged perp was apprehended within hours, but the trial is only starting now, two years later. In April 2006, 8 members of the Bandidos motorcycle club were murdered near London, Ontario by their associates. The trials concluded in October, 2009 – 3 ½ years later. But then, this is from the same justice system that could only charge mass-murderer Robert Pickton with 6 counts of murder even though there was evidence for 26 (and the real toll was probably closer to double that) because the system just couldn’t process that much information and it was feared that a full trial would collapse. In the event, time from arrest to conviction was almost 6 years.

On the other hand, if anybody actually cared about this it would be a public issue. The legal establishment seems fine with this length of proceedings and the public doesn’t even notice. Back to short-track speed skating . . .

It's the law

Unless you just don't care. CBC reports on suspended drivers leaving the courthouse . . . in their cars. Apparently there are over 250,000 suspended drivers in Ontario. According to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) about 75% of them are driving anyway.

And why not? There's too many to lock up. And besides, it wouldn't be the Canadian way. Certainly an object lesson for those, like Mohawks and polygamists, who are on a collision course with the law as currently constituted. If you dig in your heels, you'll probably win. It's surprising that dope smokers haven't picked up on this and started smoking flagrantly in public; well, more flagrantly. Maybe they're a little zoned out. One or two mass toke-athons this summer would probably be enough to break the back of criminalization, if anybody could be bothered to organize them.

But on the other hand Canadians are naturally so law-abiding that maybe the absence of enforcement doesn't really matter. As long as the ranks of the obstreporous don't swell too quickly we'll probably be ok.

Modern Art

Barbara Kay in the Post:

Conceptual art, whose roots go back to the 1960s, privileges ironic statement and self-reflexive cleverness over talent and discipline.

And about time, too.

Rolled

Canadians face a retirement crisis. So the Globe and Mail. People are living longer, but not saving enough. Private pension plans are on the same track as the Big Three or the newspaper business. None of this is news exactly, having been the preferred wail of actuarial Cassandras for some years now, but the near collapse of the stock market last year seems to have stepped in to play Hurricane Katrina to the private pension sector’s rotten and unprepared New Orleans. Its not a potential mess anymore.

But of course not everybody is without a lifeboat. Try this: Who will survive Canada’s retirement crisis? A. Colonists on Mars. B. Mullah Omar. C. Public sector employees.

Yes, according to the Globe, 84% of public sector employees have pension plans and 78% of those are the good kind (defined benefit). The number of non-public-sector-union scum who get the same deal isn’t exactly zero, but its close enough. So the (pensionless) general public is going to be supporting the bullet-proof, gold-plated entitlements of public sector employees for generations. Imagine that.

In other news, the Canadian Press reports that the cost of building a kilometer of road is 37% higher in Quebec than the rest of Canada. Something to do with collusion among construction companies, allegedly, and also possibly involving the participation of a somewhat opaque organization known as “the Mafia”.

This is not to suggest that these two disparate examples of John Q Public getting rolled are at all similar. Collusion, conspiracy and consorting with shady organizations with a view to racketeering are not just disreputable but also illegal. A person could to prison for that kind of thing. In theory, anyway. Public contracts with public sector unions, by contrast, are openly negotiated and entirely legal. Yes, the public is getting shaved and paying a little too much – or way too much – for what it is getting. But such similarities are purely coincidental. And anyway, roads are still getting built. It’s not like they glommed off all the money. The passport office, the lottery commission and the Immigration and Refugee Board are still running.

The other, somewhat depressing, common element to these stories is how unimportant they are. The CP story reports that the authorities seem determined to peddle the issue as soft as they can. Organized crime expert Antonio Nicaso is quoted as saying “I don't think in Canada there is political will or commitment to fight organized crime.” A national two-tier pension system is just as yawn-worthy. The bedrock fact is that Canadians have been trained to pay. Whether this group or that group siphons some of the money off, well, maybe its somebody’s business, but, really who cares....