Partially good news…. Still… Time to throw away the key……

“Two boys are safe and a 35-year-old convicted sex offender is in police custody on Wednesday after a standoff at a farm near Kipling, Sask., ended late Tuesday night.”


Peter Robert Joseph Whitmore

When are the courts going to finally “get it” that animals like this shouldn’t be out on the street?

A chronology of offenses by this “model citizen”, from the National Post:
1. March 1993, North York, Ont. – Peter Robert Joseph Whitmore abducted an 11-year-old boy from a pool and sexually assaulted him during a 24-hour confinement. Whitmore was later arrested in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. He was convicted of charges stemming from the incident and served less than a year in jail.
2. August 1994, Guelph, Ont. – Shortly after being released from prison, Whitmore, posing as a professional babysitter, picked up an eight-year-old girl in Guelph and drove her to Toronto, where he sexually assaulted her.
3. August 1994, Shelburne, N.S. – A Nova Scotia inn owner called police after Whitmore checked in. He was arrested in connection with the assault on the Guelph girl.
4. April 1995, Toronto – Whitmore pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching, one stemming from his assault on the Guelph girl, the other from a separate assault on a nine-year-old boy. He was sentenced to 56 months in prison. The court imposed a rare, lifetime prohibition against his being alone with children under the age of 14.
5. January 2000, Mexico – After being released from prison, Whitmore fled to Mexico, where he was arrested again.
6. October 2000, Toronto – After being released from prison, angry neighbours ran Whitmore out of the neighbourhood where he tried to settle. In an interview arranged by his then-lawyer, Whitmore told the National Post he planned to be “celibate from children” in the future.
7. November 2000, Toronto – Whitmore was found in a downtown hotel with a 13-year-old boy, breaching conditions imposed by the court. He was sentenced to another year behind bars.
8. February 2002, Chilliwack, B.C. – Three months after being released from prison and already wanted for breaching probation by having contact with a five-year-old boy in Scarborough, Ont., Whitmore was arrested in Chilliwack, B.C., with a “rape kit” that included zip ties (plastic fasteners that can be used as handcuffs), duct tape, lubricant and latex gloves. He agreed to return to Ontario in exchange for having the B.C. charges dropped.
9. June 2002, Toronto – Whitmore was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to breaching his probation by having contact with the five-year-old Scarborough boy. He served his full sentence.
10. June 2005, Chilliwack, B.C.- Whitmore was released into the custody of an aunt in Chilliwack.
11. July 31, 2006, Whitewood, Sask. – RCMP issue a Canada-wide warrant for Whitmore for the abduction of 10-year-old Zachary Miller of Whitewood
Now that he’s in custody and charged with abduction, it’s time for the wrist-slaps to stop and to invoke “Dangerous Offender” status.
Unfortunately, when courts give 14-month sentences for child rape instead of 8 years because “no weapon was used to threaten the child” and when judges opine that such assaults don’t leave “lasting injuries” when physical injuries are absent, how can justice ever be served?

The Machine Stops, by E.M. Forster

If you have never read this classic short story… DO!
Written in 1909, it is a classic piece of science fiction which accurately presages the Internet and computer technology.
Despite some of the imagery being couched in High-Victorian terms — “The room was filled with the noise of bells, and speaking-tubes” and “pneumatic post”–, the story is amazingly accurate in its description of the use of technology that would have been unthought-of at the turn of the last century.
The main character, Vashti, lives her life in isolation, even from her son, living in cocooned comfort in her own cubicle within a honeycombed society hidden beneath the earth. She is, like all humans of the day, unused to and offended by the touch of another human being, has rarely traveled from her cubicle, and dependent entirely up on “The Machine”.
I would recommend that rather than buying the book “The Machine Stops, and other stories”, you read the online text. The other stories, mired in Victorian imagery unredeemed by credible stories, fall seriously short of the quality or visionary impact of the title story. They remain seriously outdated.
There is a tendency in science fiction to “explain” how futuristic technology works rather than simply letting our imaginations do the explaining. Unfortunately, contemporary explanations often serve to “date” something. It is, in fact, precisely because Forster managed to avoid over-describing the technology and thus avoided embedding in the reader’s mind what he was perhaps seeing in his own mind when writing that “The Machine Stops” succeeds where his other stories (seriously) fail.

The Machine Stops, by E.M. Forster

If you have never read this classic short story… DO!
Written in 1909, it is a classic piece of science fiction which accurately presages the Internet and computer technology.
Despite some of the imagery being couched in High-Victorian terms — “The room was filled with the noise of bells, and speaking-tubes” and “pneumatic post”–, the story is amazingly accurate in its description of the use of technology that would have been unthought-of at the turn of the last century.
The main character, Vashti, lives her life in isolation, even from her son, living in cocooned comfort in her own cubicle within a honeycombed society hidden beneath the earth. She is, like all humans of the day, unused to and offended by the touch of another human being, has rarely traveled from her cubicle, and dependent entirely up on “The Machine”.
I would recommend that rather than buying the book “The Machine Stops, and other stories”, you read the online text. The other stories, mired in Victorian imagery unredeemed by credible stories, fall seriously short of the quality or visionary impact of the title story. They remain seriously outdated.
There is a tendency in science fiction to “explain” how futuristic technology works rather than simply letting our imaginations do the explaining. Unfortunately, contemporary explanations often serve to “date” something. It is, in fact, precisely because Forster managed to avoid over-describing the technology and thus avoided embedding in the reader’s mind what he was perhaps seeing in his own mind when writing that “The Machine Stops” succeeds where his other stories (seriously) fail.

Blood Tea and Red String

A terrific little (award-winning) animated film. A creepy, imaginative fairytale. Make sure to check out all the links!

And then this (turn your speakers down)

Blood Tea and Red String

A terrific little (award-winning) animated film. A creepy, imaginative fairytale. Make sure to check out all the links!

And then this (turn your speakers down)

Kewl!: daddytypes.com The Weblog For New Dads

Following the links from someone who visited my Fotki site, I came across this.

Being as there are babies popping out all over the place at work, I thought this was pretty kewl!

Kewl!: daddytypes.com The Weblog For New Dads

Following the links from someone who visited my Fotki site, I came across this.

Being as there are babies popping out all over the place at work, I thought this was pretty kewl!

"Saddened"… but not enough to protest.

Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener

“”I am deeply saddened by reports that Major Hess-von Kruedener serving with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) mission in south Lebanon is missing and presumed dead as a result of an incident yesterday,” said Harper.”
Harper indicated he did not agree with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s characterization of the Israeli hit as “deliberate targeting” of UN personnel.”
“”I certainly doubt that to be the case, given that the government of Israel has been co-operating with us in our evacuation efforts, in our attempts to move Canadian citizens out of Lebanon, and also trying to keep our own troops that are on the ground involved in that evacuation out of harms way. So, I seriously doubt that,” he said.
Harper later accepted a telephone call from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who, according to Canadian officials, expressed his “deep regret” for the incident and apologized to all Canadians on behalf of his government.”
This, despite evidence that Isreal had been repeatedly warned and aprised that they were targetting the UN observers’ post and despite their assertions that they would stop.
I’d like to know when Harper is going to act like a Canadian Prime Minister and demand that Israel stop this current aggression. I want to know when he is going to act like a Canadian Prime Minister and stand up for the innocents being killed in Lebanon.
It is time for him to stop acting like Bush’s bum-boy and act like a Canadian.

"Saddened"… but not enough to protest.

Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener

“”I am deeply saddened by reports that Major Hess-von Kruedener serving with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) mission in south Lebanon is missing and presumed dead as a result of an incident yesterday,” said Harper.”
Harper indicated he did not agree with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s characterization of the Israeli hit as “deliberate targeting” of UN personnel.”
“”I certainly doubt that to be the case, given that the government of Israel has been co-operating with us in our evacuation efforts, in our attempts to move Canadian citizens out of Lebanon, and also trying to keep our own troops that are on the ground involved in that evacuation out of harms way. So, I seriously doubt that,” he said.
Harper later accepted a telephone call from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who, according to Canadian officials, expressed his “deep regret” for the incident and apologized to all Canadians on behalf of his government.”
This, despite evidence that Isreal had been repeatedly warned and aprised that they were targetting the UN observers’ post and despite their assertions that they would stop.
I’d like to know when Harper is going to act like a Canadian Prime Minister and demand that Israel stop this current aggression. I want to know when he is going to act like a Canadian Prime Minister and stand up for the innocents being killed in Lebanon.
It is time for him to stop acting like Bush’s bum-boy and act like a Canadian.

All the handshakes in the world can’t "fix" this problem….

“With anti-American sentiment at unprecedented levels around the world, Americans worried about their country’s low standing are pushing a grassroots campaign to change foreign perceptions of the United States “one handshake at a time.”

Unfortunately, the effect of American policy and complete lack of a recognizable form of diplomacy on the part of the US government, handshakes ain’t gonna fix what’s broke.

Of course, the complete inability for the US to tell the difference between criticism of policy and actions and “anti-Americanism” doesn’t do much to improve dialogue between “them” and “us”. Nor does the inability to understand that criticism about policy and actions does not amount to “hating Americans”.

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