When the driving force of our lives is the bettering of ourselves and the rest of humanity instead of the aquisition of things, then there will be no such thing as poverty.
Sorry to go Star Trek on you.
Flame away.
The question is, who are we really attempting to better, the rest of humanity or just ourselves?
The temporary regulation, which was passed in secret June 2, did decree that all streets and sidewalks inside the fence were a public work until 11:59 p.m. Monday. Under the Ontario Public Works Protection Act, that allowed police to search people trying to enter that area.
But there was no power to search people coming within five metres of the fence, said ministry spokeswoman Laura Blondeau.
“The area designated by the regulation as a public work does not extend outside the boundary of the fence,” Ms. Blondeau said.
Asked Tuesday if there actually was a five-metre rule given the ministry’s clarification, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair smiled and said, “No, but I was trying to keep the criminals out.”
Yeah, this made me laugh (from the article)....you display things - even purposefully single out things - that you know aren't even related or relevant, and then pull the "yeah they weren't but look over there! look at these things!"
Toronto Police staged a display of weaponry to demonstrate “the extent of the criminal conspiracy” among hard-line G20 protesters, but several of the items had nothing to do with the summit.
...
Chief Bill Blair, who told reporters the items were evidence of the protesters’ intent, singled out arrows covered in sports socks, which he said were designed to be dipped in a flammable liquid and set ablaze.
However, the arrows belong to Brian Barrett, a 25-year-old landscaper who was heading to a role-playing fantasy game when he was stopped at Union Station on Saturday morning. Police took his jousting gear but let Mr. Barrett go, saying it was a case of bad timing.
In addition to the arrows – which Mr. Barrett made safe for live-action role playing by cutting off the pointy ends and attaching a bit of pool noodle covered in socks – police displayed his metal body armour, foam shields and several clubs made of plastic tubing covered with foam and fabric.
....
Police also displayed a crossbow and chainsaw seized in an incident on Friday that they said had no ties to the summit. When asked, Chief Blair acknowledged they were unrelated, but said “everything else” had been confiscated from demonstrators.
Toronto police say they attacked a G20 crowd singing the national anthem because of the Maple Leafs; once you hear "O Canada", you know the locals are about to get beaten
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Toronto police say they attacked a G20 crowd singing the national anthem because of the Maple Leafs; once you hear "O Canada", you know the locals are about to get beaten
(golf clap)
__________________
We may curse our bad luck that it's sounds like its; who's sounds like whose; they're sounds like their (and there); and you're sounds like your. But if we are grown-ups who have been through full-time education, we have no excuse for muddling them up.
The question is, who are we really attempting to better, the rest of humanity or just ourselves?
If it starts with ourselves, and then our kids. This isn't to say don't look after yourself. Its the idea of changing values and getting a sense of accomplishment from contributing something to the world as opposed to buying something for yourself.
Yeah funny how the police don't have much patience for the protesters after a bunch of them walked around Yonge and the financial district smashing shops and police cars. Jeez, after that, who saw the police getting more aggressive? That's like me going to the bar with a group of guys who are only there to scrap, and then screaming at the bouncers when we all get thrown out because "I personally didn't do anything". Don't wanna get caught in a firestorm? Then when a large portion of your fellow protesters reduce themselves to degenerates by attacking innocent shops and the whole thing turns into a sh*tshow, maybe you should consider dispersing. That's just common sense.
I'm all for people fighting globalism in its current context, as it definitely is a problem that needs to be examined more. But I find it really hard to get behind these people when stuff like this happens. Man this whole "cops are damned if they do, damned if they don't" crap really grinds my gears. I feel sorry for a lot of the crap these guys are subjected to. Always the villain, no matter what they do.
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Excellent article by Margaret Atwood. At first glance, the Kingston protest and the Toronto one – and the very different responses to them – seem miles apart. Yet something unites them: They’re both about what kind of country we want to live in. They are about crime, or what is perceived to be crime, and they are about punishment, and what kind of punishment our society deems appropriate.
Let’s consider the context. With the secrecy and autocracy we are coming to expect, the federal government has moved to close down Canada’s long-running prison farms, and to implement a mega-prison system modelled on some of those in the United States. The overall plan – called “A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety” – has now been denounced by, among many others, Conrad Black. “It is painful for me,” he said, “to write that with this garrote of a blueprint, the government I generally support is flirting with moral and political catastrophe.” (As he points out, he’s not exactly your average bleeding heart.)
As for the Truth in Sentencing Act, the Parliamentary Budget Officer has produced an exhaustive report showing the government’s estimates of $2-billion in additional costs are way off – the PBO says the increase will be more in the range of $5-billion. It’s clear that neither the act nor the road map will do anything to decrease crime, but they will do everything to increase costs. Not “tough on crime,” but “stupid about crime,” as Jeffrey Simpson has written.
