Canada's Criminal Pardons and Sex Offenders

In 1990, Jim Massen of Amherstburg was convicted of "gross indecency" for acts committed against a 13 and a 16 year old boy.

Judge Kenneth Ouellette called Massen a "disgusting human being" and a "menace to young boys."

Massen also has four convictions for indecent assault from 1965.


"A lot of that was not very true," Massen said Monday, adding Ontario Provincial Police "wanted to make a big show."

He said of his time in jail, "To be honest, it was a big, nice vacation."

Do these sound like the words of a man sorry for his past? Do these sound like the words of a man who realizes the damage done to his victims? Do these sound like the words of a man who should have his record expunged? No? Well guess what?

Massen says he applied for and received a pardon from the National Parole Board in 2004.

These are not run of the mill break and enter charges or even the more serious assault or drug dealing. These charges should have put him on the Sex Offender Registry for life! Shame on our Government for allowing the pardon and shame on Mr. Massen for now threatening to sue. His name on a venue that thousands of young children will be using?

What goes around comes around and I'm sure that Mr. Massen's days in the small town of Amherstburg are not going to be terribly pleasant though I'm sure not as awful as the days suffered by those children.

Where did the last three months go?

I have been a terrible slacker, blog-wise! There's been so much happening in the world and in my life that I've just not talked about anything!

Becoming a Grandma, (yikes!,) Christmas with so much company, birthdays, firends and well, just day to day life sometimes just swoops over you and leaves you wordless! It's a good, busy and full life for which I am grateful.

I will make a better effort at keeping up the chatter on my end. That is my belated New Year's resolution.

Remember

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsCVlM1CSPU

An interesting map of the cholera outbreak in Haiti

Click on the picture for larger view: (healthmap.org)

direct link to the map here



This is based on reports from everywhere; Twitter, Facebook, Google, blogs, Newspapers etc. It shows a different picture than being officially reported so far though some of these cases, apparently, are still to be confirmed by tests.

It's going to be a late night in Copiapo Chile and my house!

I remember watching the rescue of Jessica McClure and how thrilling, heart wrenching and emotional it was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKfz3jFVLME

I just listened to CBC radio replay the Moose River Mine rescue of 1936. Here's the link. http://archives.cbc.ca/economy_business/natural_resources/clips/3860/
"This was North America's first live 24 hour news event."

They're only an hour ahead of our local time in Copiapo Chile, so that means the lifts won't start until quite late tonight. CNN is covering it live, of course. I cannot wait to see the first man come up after 68 days, 1,630+ hours... and endless number of minutes! How excited they must be, well maybe a little less so for the poor fellow with the wife and mistress both waiting for him? I bet even he will be smiling... for the moment!


http://24timezones.com/current_time/chile_copiapo_clock.php

Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Tyler Clementi & Raymond Chase... 5 lives lost.

It's time to say enough is enough! Bullying cannot/should not be tolerated anywhere, especially at school! Young people have enough questions, worries and self doubts without their peers belittling them!

It's the end of the world as we know it! Facebook is down around the world!

It's the talk of the net... Facepalm! Facebook is down across the world! Gasp...

Service Unavailable - DNS failure is all you get!

“Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings.” Heinrich Heine 1821

Every burned book enlightens the world. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This Saturday, read a book, spark an idea, fire your imagination and fan the flames of knowledge. Only the ignorant and the paranoid burn books.

Here is a link to the City of Gainseville, Mayor's letter: It would be a tough job he has right now. Send him some positive thoughts!
http://www.cityofgainesville.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=d045MZi0PNg%3d&tabid=82&mid=403

Windsor/Essex County Humane Society, Pepsi contest

For my Windsor readers. Actually, for any reader! Here's an easy and very deserving Pepsi contest. The Windsor Humane Society is in the running for a $100,000.00 grant to build a Vet Clinic at their new location. Vote and vote often! Thanks! :)

http://www.refresheverything.ca/windsorhumanevetclinic

Turtles and Dolphins and Birds... oh my! :(

Of the 691 turtles verified from April 30 to July 19, a total of 473 stranded turtles were found dead, 58 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Eleven live stranded turtles were released, and 43 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers.



Sixty-one dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on four dolphins.


An excellent link to what is happening in the Gulf is:
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/topic_subtopic_entry.php?RECORD_KEY(entry_subtopic_topic)=entry_id,subtopic_id,topic_id&entry_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=809&subtopic_i

Google Street View... look what I found! Sonic Boom?

View Larger Map


Move it left and right you can see where "it" comes out of and goes back into the sky.

Drill Baby Drill!

This is a map of the Ocean currents from the Gulf stream. The forecasting of a very active hurricane season, often involving the Gulf, gives great pause.



So lets prohibit undersea drilling within a certain distance of land, forcing them to go to deep water instead of simply just prohibiting drilling into the sea bed altogether. This way it can appear that Government is doing something to protect the shoreline and livelihoods of those who live there. Now... allowing deep water drilling should have set off some questions about what would be a very obvious problem. How do you stop it if it goes wrong under about 5000 feet of water? Obviously not very quickly and not very easily. Sadly, it appears no one thought about this before allowing it. Do failsafe blowout preventers fail... apparently.

So while I'm not in favour of any underwater drilling into the bloodstream of our planet, drilling closer to shore, in shallower water would have allowed more and easier options to stop this despicable violation of our planet.

Here's the live feed of the spewing into the Gulf:

http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream2&hpt=T1

Oh and then there's this little tidbit!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/us/30rig.html

Ah, the irony of adsense!

I had barely finished posting when this ad appeared! Gosh but Google is quick eh?

Was it you number one...?

*photo CNN*

Who me? Not me! Was it you number two? Who me? Not couldn't be! Was it you number three?

Who cares who's fault it is? Fix it damn it!

http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/11/news/companies/BP_hearings/index.htm?hpt=T2

Gimme that old time religion...

So... the link below should pretty much speak for itself! Click it... if you're dressed appropriately of course!

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/04/20/iran.promiscuity.earthquakes/

Is this what 17 looks like? Moscow suicide bomber was a child.

Regardless of cultural or religious differences, this is not what I picture as a 17 year old girl. The widow of a 30 year old terrorist, killed in Russia last December. Apparently the girl, Dzhennet Abdurakhmanova, also called Jennet Abdurakhmanova in some reports, met Umalat Magomedov on the internet. It is reported that after their first "date" he refused to let her leave and "kept her."

http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/terror/02-04-2010/112817-subway_bombers-0

Janis Ian wrote the sad song, "I learned the truth at 17,"
I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired.

A 17 year old girl wrapped herself in explosives and walked onto a train and blew herself, and others to pieces. What "truth" did she learn to make this happen? No god, supreme being, call it what you will, deserves this "truth." This is a lie, this horribly distorts "truth."

The Border... a fictional line or reality bites?

Lloydminster Alberta is one thing, half the town in Alberta, half in Saskatchewan. Stanstead Quebec and Debry Line Vermont... quite another! Seriously after all these years of peaceful existance. They share a library for pete sake! In behaving like this we are simply giving in to the terrorists. Move along, nothing to see here... go to where something real is happening. I despair over this attitude and policy. Sometimes, Americans just can't see what's good for all the bad they percieve!

http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100327/mtl_borders_100327/20100327/?hub=MontrealHome

So... this is one of our most pressing issues in Canada?

O Canada lyrics to be reviewed

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=23570847

Oh... give me a break! I'm a "daughter" and I can live with it! As a person who actually uses words like "whilst" and "whinge," "thou dost in us command" may resonate but why? Really, why?

**Update** So this was a tempest in a tea pot and served to divert attention from the real business of "Parliament." Oh really?

American Idol...

American Idol? Not so much... it's actually painful to watch! This is the best of the best? I'm thinking it's time to move on. Oh but not to Dancing With the Stars... Kate what's her name? Seriously? It's back to real, as opposed to reality tv for me!

*Buzz Aldrin* on DWTS is one of my life long heroes! From walking on the moon to Dancing With the Stars? He's danced with the REAL stars for heaven's sake... why?
(All puns intended.)

When stereotypes live up to their well... stereotypes!

*credit CNN US news* February 26, 2010

Ok then. Lets look at the "South." Dogs, cows, bison and a guy shooting his wife. All we're missing is some beer and a truck! Seriously, go to CNN.com but click US instead of home page and look at the stories. It's like this every day! Click the link and go to the bison story... it's a good one! "It's unclear why the animal was being transported or where to."

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/22684679/detail.html