Month: August 2011

RIP Jack Layton – NDP Leader

Mulder

I disagreed with his politics. I cringed when he put on that smug smile. His left wing soundbites were like finger nails on the chalkboard to my ears. He reminded me of a used car salesman…or even worse, the guy from the Computer learning CD commercials who would say “Please try my products.” But he sure made politics interesting.

He carried the NDP to heights only he could take them to. His recent success helped to dismantle the Liberals by giving Canadians two choices. Conservative or NDP. Capitalist or Socialist. The creation of the great divide has served my chosen party well and, I believe, it will continue to moving forward so for that I am grateful to him.

He was a darn good adversary. If he fought cancer as hard as he fought for his political beliefs, he sure gave it his all. Cancer also took my father and one of my best friends way too early in their lives. My sympathies go out not only to Olivia and his family. But they go out to all members of the NDP as today is a day they are all in mourning. And even though I disagreed with his politics, his death has saddened me along with many other conservatives.

RIP Jack Layton. I hope CTV doesn’t mind me sharing a clip that I put up on my blog a few years ago. The lighter side of the man. Hopefully he has his guitar with him in heaven.

Society: Humane? Or Ass-Backwards?

Mulder

Today while listening to CFRA, I heard that the Humane Society is warning about the dangers of leaving pets in cars during the heat of summer. Great. No objection here.

They also said that they have received over 100 complaints so far of people leaving pets in cars this summer season. Wonderful. I am glad people are observant and willing to make a call to help save a family pet.

Then they said that anyone caught leaving their pet in a car with the heat going will be charged. And they even said fines can range from $500 to 2 years in jail.

The agency maintains that if a pet must be rescued from a locked, hot car, charges will be laid against the owner.

Penalties can range up to $500 and a maximum of two years in jail.

The operative word above is “will”. They WILL be charged. Pretty definitive word.

Everything seems hunky dorey to me.

But wait. Did we not just have a case in Ottawa of a couple who left their month old baby in the back seat of a car on a 30 degree Celsius day while they shopped in an air conditioned Home Depot for an hour? And did that couple NOT get charged?

Yup. This most certainly did happen.

Even though they could under the Criminal Code, Ottawa police, unbelievably, are not charging a couple with the stunningly irresponsible act of leaving their infant alone in a vehicle Saturday for almost an hour in a humid, sweltering temperature of 30C while they were shopping at an air-conditioned Home Depot.

How the hell could they not have known better?

Not that first-time parents is any excuse, but they aren’t. They have several children.

How the hell can they not be charged by the police, one of whom saw the infant in the vehicle, broke the window, after which the infant was rushed to hospital by paramedics, and — luckily — found to be in stable condition.

The 30C temperature was outside.

God knows what it was inside the closed-windows vehicle.

The child had no say in the matter.

It was only a month old.

A human being.

This is simply OfficiallyScrewed. This comparison of the way two similar situations are treated with the only difference being the animal is treated like a human and the human is treated like an animal. It sure says something about how “humane” our society really is.