I am a geek, world history buff, my interests and hobbies are too numerous to mention. I'm a political junkie with a cynical view.
I also love law & aviation!
TORONTO — A court decision that effectively loosens Ottawa's tight grip on access to medical marijuana has been upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal.
The court dismissed an appeal today from government lawyers who argued Ottawa's monopoly on medical pot was the only way to provide a safe and reliable supply.
On March 17, 2003, former Prime Minister Jean Chretien announced in the House of Commons that Canada would not send troops to Iraq. That same day, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in an address to the nation that Saddam Hussein must leave Iraq within 48 hours.
The next day, on March 18, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard delivered an address to the Australian House of Representatives to express support for sending Australian troops to Iraq – one of only four nations in the world to do so [1].
On March 20, the U.S.-led invasion began – without the backing of NATO – with U.S. forces launching their “shock-and-awe” bombing raid on Baghdad. Stephen Harper Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Later that day, Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper – then leader of the Official Opposition – delivered an address in the House of Commons. It was in response to a motion of the Bloc Quebecois which had called for Canada to stay out of the war. He later voted against the motion [2].
Almost half of Mr. Harper’s speech was an exact word-for-word replicate of Mr. Howard’s speech given less than two days earlier [3].
Mr. Harper also used that plagiarized speech as a basis for several editorials on the subject. They appeared in such as publications as the National Post [4], the Toronto Star [5], the Ottawa Citizen [6] and the Wall Street Journal [7].
Mr. Harper’s desire to join Mr. Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing” was widely condemned. And history has shown that condemnation to be well-targeted.
When the plagiarism became public, the reaction was swift.
Maclean’s magazine Paul Wells said:
“I find it extraordinary that on a central issue or claim of Stephen Harper to superior moral force, which is his foreign affairs and defence policy, he was clipping speeches off cereal boxes instead of doing his own thinking … I have no idea how the prime minister will respond to the next war, except to look at how he responded to the last war. And if Harper was so cavalier to choose his words on such a decision, it doesn't flatter him in terms of how he treated the fundamental decision itself. I think that's what matters.” [8]
And the Toronto Star’s Chantal Hébert said:
« Dans une salle de rédaction ou dans une université, le texte du discours prononcé en mars 2003 par Stephen Harper dans le cadre d’un débat aux Communes sur la participation du Canada à la guerre en Irak ne passerait pas ce que les anglophones appellent le “smell test”. » [9]
References [1]Link to Mr. Howard's speech on the Parliament of Australia's official website: http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/reps/dailys/dr180303.pdf [2] Link to Mr. Harper's speech on the official Parliament of Canada website: http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=771117&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=37&Ses=2#Int-464588 [3] Click here to watch Mr. Harper and Mr. Howard deliver their speech: http://www.liberal.ca/video_e.aspx?guid=4666DC99-F70E-4FFD-A461-FF1B3A060706 [4] “The Canadian Alliance refuses to be neutral,” Page A20, Byline: Stephen Harper, Friday, March 21, 2003 [5] “The case for joining war,” Page A25, Byline: Stephen Harper, Friday, March 21, 2003 [6] “Canada should stand with its allies,” Page B7, Byline: Stephen Harper, Saturday, March 22, 2003 [7] “Canadians Stand With You,” Byline: Stephen Harper and Stockwell Day, 3/28/03 [8] CBC Newsworld, September 30, 2008 [9] Chantal Hébert, blog, September 30, 2008
This is my public service announcement to the idiots who have decided to shine green laser pointers into the cockpits of airplanes either taking off, landing or ascending to cruising altitude. Stop doing it! You could kill hundreds of people and I or some of my friends might be one of them. For those of you who don' know, when a laser of any colour is shone into your eyes, it can take the optic nerve a minute or two to recover normal vision and depth perception to say nothing of being able to see the colours of warning lights on the instrument panel. According to Government of Canada data, these incidents have occurred 46 times in 2008 alone. The good news is, none of these victim aircraft suffered any technical problems that would put anyone at risk. To illustrate, anyone using an optical mouse has probably had the red laser light shone into their eyes after putting in new batteries. You will see spots for a very long time. Repeat exposure may permanently damage the eyes which is not good for anyone in general and especially if you are pilot. So, to the morons who think this is fun, I will remind you that if you ever have to fly, you better hope that none of your friends flash the aircraft you are on.
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Airbus SAS issued an alert to airlines worldwide after Australian investigators said a computer fault on a Qantas Airways Ltd. flight switched off the autopilot and generated false data, causing the jet to nosedive.
The Airbus A330-300 was cruising at 37,000 feet (11,277 meters) when the computer fed incorrect information to the flight control system, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said yesterday. The aircraft dropped 650 feet within seconds, slamming passengers and crew into the cabin ceiling, before the pilots regained control.
