"Where else would you go when you have an ax to grind?"

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Calling all nerds!

Once upon a time, in a basement far, far away, I spent an inordinate amount of time playing Dungeons and Dragons and reading comic books and The Lord of the Rings. This bit of internet comic, therefore, made me laugh until I missed my saving throw and fell over on the floor. 

Also, fans of comics, gaming, science fiction and all other things geek could find much worse ways to spend an hour or so a week than  listening to the All Your Basecasts podcast.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Memories of my you't

Growing up in the Sault, many - if not most- of our neighbours were Italian immigrants. They were the nicest, most hospitable people you'd ever want to meet, but a one point my brother and I were largely convinced that the Italian language consisted mostly of gestures and that the vocalizations were just misdirection. I guess we weren't the only ones who thought so.



http://www.wikio.com



Sunday, July 04, 2010

The Toronto Prison experiment

A lengthy account of what it was like to get swept up by the Toronto riot police and jailed in abysmal conditions for no reason at all. Read it and weep.  I especially recommend parts 11,12 and 13 -- and I hope someone or a group of someones catch up with "Special Constable Milrod" and few of the other sadistic disgraces to the law enforcement community someday soon.

 "A young guy on the new officer shift, with reddish hair and a goatee seems ready for a fight. He says to the guys in our cell “I want to see all you guys outside in the parking lot, then we’ll see what’s what. I’ll take you down.” Wow. He walks away laughing. I inform an actual Toronto Police Officer of what he said and his name. Next we saw Milrod, his nametag was gone and he didn’t look at us or speak to us. It’s on camera Milrod, with 30 witnesses."
From all I've read so far, this whole thing looks like the Stanford Prison Experiment writ large.

We keep reading about how the crowd of protesters should have taken control and stopped the actions of  the few vandals among them -- how about applying some of that reasoning to the police?
As discussed in the latest Maple Syrup Revolution podcast, this particular strategy is going to be a disaster the next time it is tried, because the next time a lot of people will resist being arrested for no reason and things are going to get bloody. Don't be surprised if there is a very expensive class action suit by the thousand or so people arrested and held caged and in cuffs for 20 to 40 hours, begging for water.
If you are not at least as outraged by the gross misconduct of sworn peace officers and political leaders as  you are by the misbehavior of a handful of asshole vandals, then you are part of the problem.

But Stephen Harper and the G20 leaders didn't have to be exposed to people shouting mean things at them, so I guess it was worth shredding the Charter of Rights and spending a billion dollars.


http://www.wikio.com