Politics, Stupidity plain and simple

Ontario doesn’t have a clue about motorcycle safety

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Update here.

You don’t have to have lived in Ontario to know that it perceives itself as a province in Canada where the inhabitants believe that they are ‘speshul’. Ontario has in place legislation that provides for the impounding of a vehicle and immediate suspension of a driver’s licence if the police officer believes you to have been racing — and racing apparently includes riding your motorcycle at very low speed on the shoulder of the road while other vehicles are stopped.

Fortunately, they lost that one in court, and a huge thank you goes out to the individual that challenged the stupidity of the police officer who charged the rider.

Now in Ontario’s infinite wisdom, they see fit to present Bill 117 that would prevent anyone under 14 years of age from riding as a passenger on a motorcycle, sidecar or trike — you know, because there are so many injuries and deaths involved with children younger than 14 riding as passengers on motorcycles, sidecars and trikes in Ontario.

Oops. Apparently not.

“Bill 117 is a solution looking for a problem. I reviewed all seven Ontario Road Safety Annual Reports from 1999 to 2005 and did not find any fatalities for motorcycle passengers less than 14 years of age.

Ontario children were four times more likely to have been injured as passengers on bicycles and 262 times more likely to have been injured as passengers in passenger vehicles than to have been injured as passengers on motorcycles.” — Raynald Marchand, GM, Canada Safety Council

Provincial M.P.P. Helena Jaczek is the author of this monstrosity. You can contact her at hjaczek.mpp at liberal dot ola dot org

The Minister of Transportation is James Bradley. Contact him at jbradley.mpp at liberal dot ola dot org

For a sample letter, visit www.motorcycling.ca/issues/provissues/ontario/index.html

Stupidity plain and simple

The $54 million pants? Not so much.

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Judge Roy Bean lives

Updated Below

Judge Roy Bean, err, Judge Pearson, who sued his Korean dry cleaner for 54 million dollars over a pair of missing pants, finally got his ass handed to him when his suit (minus the pants) was recently thrown out in Washington District’s highest court.

In June of 2007, when Pearson lost his first lawsuit against the dry cleaning store, he also lost his job because “his lawsuit showed bad judgment and reflected poorly on the city.”

Amen to that, brother.

Link to article here.

Link to my initial post here.

Update: This guy has a real obsession going on. Just this month (January, 2009), he filed another petition, this time with the full nine-judge D.C. Court of Appeals, whining that the three-judge panel in the previous ruling didn’t didn’t address all of the issues in his appeal.

What a mockery of the court system – although there’s really nothing new in that.

Politics, Stupidity plain and simple

Danny Williams will try to win another one

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Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland, went toe-to-toe with big oil over revenue-sharing. When the offshore oil companies withdrew their services and said they wouldn’t do business with Newfoundland as a result of the tax revenue Williams wanted for his Province, Danny stood his ground and refused to kiss oil company ass. Consequently, 18 months later, big oil went back to work in Newfoundland and started paying the piper.

Recently in Alberta, Premier Ed Stelmach tried to do the same thing to big oil. The only trouble is, he blinked, and gave in when the price of oil tanked. Like the gutless jerk that he is, he came up with a new revenue plan that will eventually leave the province broke.

Now, Danny Williams is at it one more time with AbitibiBowater, who just closed their pulp and paper mill in Grand Falls, Newfoundland. Danny passed Provincial legislation to take ownership of all hydroelectricity rights from the generating station at Star Lake, as well as timber rights to forests on Crown land which were previously owned or granted to AbitibiBowater.

“That corporation has the right to do whatever it has to do to keep their company profitable … but from my perspective as premier, and on behalf of people of Newfoundland and Labrador, we’re willing to tell them to go on and do their business in other parts of the country and other parts of the world,” Williams said. “You came in with none of those resources, you leave with none of those resources, we wish you well.” — cbc.ca

Link to article here.

AbitibiBowater will be compensated for infrastructure investments, but not for the loss of rights to the natural resources themselves.

Go Danny-boy!

Stupidity plain and simple

It’s another coverup

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UPDATED HERE

But of course, what would you expect when the Mounties investigate themselves?

According to the RCMP whitewash, Robert Dziekanski

  • had a fear of flying, and
  • drank too much, and
  • had a stapler in his hand.

That’s why he died at the Vancouver airport in October, 2007 — at least according to a report released by the RCMP’s own investigative committee. The fact that he was tasered at least three FIVE times with 50,000 volts of electricity had nothing to do with his death.

Robert Dziekanski’s death was not directly caused by the Taser jolts — by STEVE MERTL AND JAMES KELLER, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Yes, of course. It must be so. Canada’s most reputable police force says it is so. But then, what can one expect from big dumb oxen, otherwise known as RCMP officers, who investigate themselves? What a bunch of hypocrites. Cover your big fat dumb asses, boys.

And the Mounties wonder why no one has respect for them any longer.

Here’s a link to another post on how sensitive the Mounties can be when dealing with an 82-year-old criminal in a hospital bed. And another on Mr. Dziekanski.

Riding farther, seeing more