The management of the Lakeside Bar and Grill, Camden, Tennessee, has exercised its discretion to bar firearms. ...

14 December, 2009

In light of the seemingly imminent demise of Canada's long gun registry, readers may be interested in the latest gun control developments in the United States, where the Associated Press reports that 24 states have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions over the last two years. Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Utah have made it illegal for businesses to bar employees from storing guns in cars parked on company lots. Tennessee and Montana have passed laws that exempt weapons made and owned in-state from federal restrictions. In Tennessee, this would include the .50-caliber shoulder-fired rifle made by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, which the...

14 December, 2009

Haligonian Warren Reed has a sobering take on our discussion about potential "cures" for people with Down syndrome: I am still stuck on the Down Syndrome thread.  As Canadians with disabilities will tell you, Canada has a medical model of disability. The approach is, "let's fix what's wrong with you," rather than, "let's fix what's wrong with us." Hence the inaccessible buses, devilish sidewalks, and antediluvian building codes. The result is a hidden and large group of people who are disenfranchised, undervalued, ignored, and sometimes abused.  See the shocking account in Monday's Chronicle-Herald. One of my big defeats was an unsuccessful complaint...

11 December, 2009

Contrarian reader Cliff White writes: What a wonderful letter: short, succinct, to the point, and balanced. I've personally found this whole affair very disturbing.  Although the media in general have been very good in following it and keeping it on the front burner, they have also, at times, let what seems to me the main issues slide out of focus. The issue is not whether there was proof that Canadian detainees were tortured. Anyone with a scintilla  of sense knew torture by Afghan forces was common place and it you'd have to be a complete fool to suggest that, for some reason, only...

11 December, 2009

Contrarian has learned that the Department of Community Services and L'Arche Halifax have resolved their disputes over funding and staffing levels. The newly constructed L'Arche House in North End Halifax, vacant for six months, will open in early January....

09 December, 2009

The following is the full text of the open letter from 38 former Canadian ambassadors, protesting the Harper government's attacks on Richard Colvin: The issues raised by the Richard Colvin affair are profound. Colvin, a Foreign Service Officer dedicated to discharging his responsibilities to the best of his ability under difficult circumstances, was unfairly  subjected to personal attacks as a result of his testimony provided in response to a summons from a parliamentary committee. While criticism of his testimony was perfectly legitimate, aspersions cast on his personal integrity were not. A fundamental requirement of a Foreign Service Officer is that he or she...

09 December, 2009

Several Globe and Mail reporters who looked looked at the leaked Colvin emails that fueled Christie Blatchford's recent philippics against the diplomat came up with a very different picture. To begin, here's Paul Koring: The Harper government has blacked out large sections of relevant files handed over to the independent inquiry probing allegations of transfer to torture of detainees in Afghanistan, despite the fact that its investigators have the highest levels of national security clearance. The heavily redacted documents...

01 December, 2009

The National Post ferrets out a Canadian army officer's surprisingly critical master's thesis on Canada's handling of Afghan detainees. In an exhaustive critique, the author concluded Canada's decision to hand over suspected insurgents to Afghan authorities with a history of abuse violated Canadian ethical values, could turn ordinary Afghans against foreign troops and likely increased the stress of this country's combatants. The policy might even have contributed to the alleged mercy killing of a Taliban fighter by a Canadian soldier, she wrote. Major Manon Plante's thesis, completed this year as one of the requirements for a master's degree from the Canadian Forces...

28 November, 2009

The Toronto-based International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) reports that at least 21 journalists were killed in a politically motivated massacre of more than 52 people in the Philippines this week. It is the largest group of journalists killed in a single incident ever. Abducted by armed men, many of the victims were beheaded and mutilated; some of the women were raped. The dead were part of a convoy delivering candidacy papers for Ismael Mangudadatu, a local mayor and candidate for governor Maguindanao province on Mindanao island. Mangudadatu's wife and several other relatives were among the dead. The killings have received scant...

26 November, 2009

CBRM Mayor John Morgan has convinced Jim Meek of the Chronicle-Herald, Wendy Bergfeldt of CBC-Cape Breton, and Gillian Cormier of AllNovaScotia.com that the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society is trying to punish him for criticizing a judicial decision. Nonsense. Anyone can criticize a judicial decision. Lawyers do it all the time. Even the most cursory review of Morgan's comments makes it clear that his offense was not criticizing a decision but impugning the impartiality of Nova Scotia judges in general, and Supreme Justice John Murphy in particular. Morgan's comments came in an interview with CBC-Cape Breton's Information Morning host Steve Sutherland on April...

15 November, 2009
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