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Does logic count for anything anymore?

Dale

Ferrel

A small minority of witless, contentious persons with criminal records will always be quick to zealously challenge our Canadian authorities that thankfully set Canada apart from “wacko” governed countries such as Iran or North Korea. I’ll venture that most of those people have

broken our laws, were apprehended by police and processed by our judicial system. Most probably have no remorse and feel they got a raw deal for their indiscretions such as driving drunk, trying to out-run the

police in a stolen vehicle, beating their wife, abusing children, peddling drugs, cheating on their taxes, robbing a gas station or shooting their mother-in-law.

No human being is perfect, but some by nature of their chosen

profession are expected to be more edified. God help any cop who makes a mistake in judgement, even once, in his or her entire career. The rotten minority of cons and their easily-duped supporters will be on them like a hoard of vipers, seeking to transfer their hidden guilt to the recently-fallen righteous. One must attribute their warped sense of reality to our left- leaning judicial system that pampers criminals beyond belief. • Only in Canada could Clifford Olson, the self-acknowledged murderer of 11 children, not be taken out behind the barn and put out of his misery. Instead, we paid his wife $100,000 as part of a plea bargain deal and now spend over $100,000 per year ( total now approaching $3 million) to keep him in prison. We even grant him parole hearings which he can appeal every two years. After he turned 65, we paid him an old-age pension of $1,100 a month now totaling about $66,000. • Last month, RCMP stopped a car with 151 kgs of cocaine worth about $6.5 million on Highway 1 east of Swift Current. I am sure at least a dozen pot-heads are already blogging the police should go find some “real” criminals to harass. • Many violent crimes evolve when dangerous criminals are continually

released on parole. Our system could stop that if politicians had the courage. Career criminal Dale Hill was released in Calgary in March after breaking his parole in January after serving a 10-year sentence. His violent history includes repeated violent predatory attacks on the public, uttering threats and assaulting police. He again broke his parole hours after being released. What happened to our law that provides for habitual criminals to be locked up? • There is also the case of Romeo Cormier case in Moncton. Having done time for terrorizing people with various weapons and armed robbery and bragging he made his living by killing, he even told one judge, “I want you to hang me today.” Somehow released back into society his latest accomplishment was to kidnap a 54-year-old grandmother and hold her hostage for a month. The pending charges of kidnapping, unlawful confinement, sexual assault, theft of money using violence, assault with a weapon and uttering threats are self explanatory. • To round out my argument, our anything-but-illustrious parole board has granted a pardon to convicted sexual abuse hockey predator, Graham James who “may” be somewhere in Canada under an assumed name. James, along with an astounding number of 7,075 other criminals with “serious” records were all pardoned in just 2006/07. A total of 400,000 have been released since 1970. Many conflicting stats have surfaced since this story broke but it appears only about one in 150 applications are initially denied. Apparently only about one in 25 pardons are pulled for poor conduct after being issued. Based on that figure about 283 of the batch paroled with James screwed up. To me, that's is too many screw ups. Potential employers and the rest of us who may require a background check on these wonderful people, will get ... “nothing.” Child molesters are specially flagged if applying for work with children, if they use their correct name. Let me be clear, the parole board has acted according to guidelines given them by our lawmakers. Obviously, neither party has applied much common sense to what they do nor have they questioned the stupidity of their actions.

If that isn’t enough to slightly swing a few more Canadians to the moderate right, there may never be any hope for the desperate change we need for our parole board rules. Are you following the bouncing ball or am I still too right-wing for

you?

Send us your Letters:

Canada needs to get out of Afghanistan

Letters to the Editor

EDITOR:

How many war crimes will NATO forces have to commit in Afghanistan and Pakistan before the good people of Canada demand that this misadventure be terminated and our troops brought home?

• On September 4, 2009 two fuel trucks were disabled by Taliban fighters in Kunar Province. When local people arrived in large numbers to take some of the fuel, German forces called for a U.S. air strike. 142 people were incinerated. Video tapes from the US F15 jet showed most of the people were unarmed civilians filling their containers with fuel.

• On Dec. 27, 2009, American led troops raided a home in Kunar Province, dragged eight school children from their beds and gunned them down

execution style. Their ages were 11 to 18. • On Feb. 12, 2010 American and Afghan forces raided a home during a party and killed five people including a local police commander, a district attorney, two pregnant mothers and a teen-aged girl. • A report by the New American Foundation speculates that U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan have killed between 700 and 1000 people, one third of them civilians. • Surly, anyone with a heart to rend and a few viable brain cells to reason with, will have to conclude that all of these killings are crimes against humanity. We can’t wait 20 more months before leaving Afghanistan. We must demand that our troops be brought home now.

BEV CURRIE,SWIFT CURRENT

Eco-friendly fuels may hurt the poor

EDITOR:

Newspapers reported recently the federal government ordered a study of the environmental impact of making ethanol and biodiesel. The main reason for that study was evidence of harmful environmental effects from ethanol plants and amid growing criticism of biofuel technology.

Of course our federal government didn't

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consider that the production of ethanol also increase the price of cereals and food around the world and would therefore increase the number of starving people in several countries for years to come. Before even considering producing ethanol, our political leaders should remember that there is over a billion people starving on our planet and that it's a main concern for most Canadians.

BRUNOMARQUIS,GATINEAU,QUEBEC

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Friday, April 23, 2010 - 5

RYAN DAHLMAN

Managing Editor

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