Dog burns in Driving Crash

Around 4 am, police found a car bursted into flames on the GO transit tracks. Sadly, inside the car was a burnt one-year-old dog. Police are now charging the suspect of impaired/drunk driving and animal cruelty. "Incidents involving drunk driving and pets are rare.When people go out drinking they don't tend to bring their pets," said Ian McConachie, spokesperson of the Toronto Humane Society. The 18-year-old Daniel Rodrigues - who also fled the scene - will face severe charges in court on February 19th.

This incident involving an 18-year-old who drove while drunk allows us to look back at the law that was eventually aborted. This is the law that was originally designed to enforce and prevent teen drunk-driving, but overtime was over-ruled and terminated. Yet here we see a teen nearly killed by the crash. Perhaps if the law was still in place, wouldn't the teen have hesitated, thought twice and thus minimizing the chances of this incident? I believe that regardless of the amount of teens disagreeing with the law, it is essential and only beneficial to teen's own lives that the law returns and is enforced.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/564497

Suspicion over the shooting of a 23-year-old

December 31, 2008 2 am, Robbie Tolan and his cousin, Anthony Coooper, were returning home when they were stopped and threatened with a gun on their driveway. The police, who they claimed did not identify himself, was carrying a flashlight and a gun directed in their direction.
"We did not kno it was a police officer," said Cooper. "He said, 'Stop. Stop.' And we were like, 'Why? Who are you?'"
The police officer then ordered them to lie down. Momments later, Tolan's parents came outside wondering what the noise was about. Unfortunately, the mother was involved as "the cop wpushed her against the wall," said Tolan's uncle. Wondering what the officer was doing, Tolan looked up from the ground and asked the offier until he was shot in the chest. Later when the officer was questioned, he claimed he believed that the car Tolan and Cooper were driving was a stolen SUV. Although it was eventually found that it was not in fact stolen. "There's no doubt in my mind that if these had been white kids this does not happen," said David Berg, Tolan's attorney. The police officer was a 10-year veteran of the police force that had a good record.

There is clearly some racism inherent in the global society. To erase and solve the mere existence of prejudice is impossible for there is no such thing as a flawless society. The incident of Robbie Tolan proves this as the white police officer, clearly did not appreciate the black family. Yet there is a way to prevent it. The society has already made a law that all are equal and any actions towards a race is illegal, yet there should be a higher punishment for those who act malevolently against a certain race.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/08/baseballer.shot/index.html

Tokyo requests for a lower pay to workers

Toyoto Motor Corp claimed on Thursday they were to negotiate with workers so they can minimize the salaries to cope with the world's slump in demand. Thus, Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi states that a decision was made to slow the production at all Japan's plants for approximately 11 days over February and March - essentially a stoppage of Japan's top automaker. In addition, 3000 temporary workers are to be "shed" by the end of March. Fortunately, the job cuts have not severely affected the company as there are still 316,000 of those who are employed globally at Toyota. However, as Toyota President says,"Protecting employment is of utmost importance for us, but tough market conditions are likely to continue, and they could get worse."

It is obvious that the global economy is not faring well and the situation has begun to affect everyone. The Japanese, one of the many who recognize the decline in the global economy, will be forced to slow their productions. Who needs cars at a time like this? This will cause a chain effect as when cars stop producing, those who create parts for the cars will be unable to sell their metal, coal, etc. The future seems bleak as industries and companies will slowly crumble.

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090108.wtoyota0108/BNStory/crashandrecovery/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail

Western Canada to soon cut operations at B.C

Western Canadian Coal Corp. claims on planning to reduce operations at mines in British Columbia. If this indeed happens, hundreds of jobs will become effected since there is a decline in demand from steel makers. By reducing operations, it will cause the original rate of 1.3 million tonnes to 750,000 tonnes of coal per year. It is said the event will take place by the end of January. Western Canadian plays a role in the world as they produce metallurgical coal from mines and sell it to world's steel makers. Unfortunately, the world presently has a slumping economy that gives countries such as Asia ideas that there will be no growth in steel sales. As a result, there is a low demand for coal that is usually needed to fuel the furnaces that create steel.

Recently, we have seen America's economy go on a decline. From the Lehman Brothers to the GM and Chrysler, America has not been doing well as a whole. Presently, we can see that an economic crisis in one country does not simply stay in that country. Other's problems can become ours as well as Western Canada's troubles clearly show everyone. As Asia has not found benefit in buying coal to create steel, parts of Canada that produce the coal has become affected. As to make matters worse, U.S may no longer be a buyer of coal depending on the situation of the GM and Chrysler. I believe Harper should take immediate action towards company declines such as these as to avoid future problems.


http://business.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090106.wwestern0106/BNStory/Business/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail

Huge plummet in December Canadian auto sales

Canadian sales of General Motor Vehicles dropped a huge amount of 19.5 percent, clearly a horrible year for automakers. An auto analyst claims that the drop in major companies may soon show that Canada is in a "automative recession." For instance, GM sold an approximate of 21,000 cars and trucks last month while it sold 26,090 in December 2007. With observation to these trends, the majority of the automakers suggest a slow Canadian sale for December.

The collapse of General Motor Vehicles will without a doubt cause many to go temporarily unemployed. Yet, the automakers have experience in their line of work and have the expertise to join another workforce that asks for their skill. Thus,the problem of unemployment is minor. Nevertheless, Harper decided to help the automakers with at least 5 billion dollars. Where did this money come from? This money will be recovered by increasing the tax dollars from citizens. More importantly, does Harper's action of helping one company signify that he intends to help other companies in need as well? Certainly, if another company requests for help Harper cannot deny it after he has just helped the GM and Chrysler, or will he? Overal, Harper's action of helping the automakers is one-sided and full of flaws.

http://www.wheels.ca/article/493415

Third-Hand Smoke?

Parents often open their windows or use a fan to clear out the air of second-hand smoke, but recent studies now prove that the 'prevention' of second-hand smoke is in fact of little use. Third-hand smoke is a term given to the next dangers of non-smokers being exposed to toxics. “When their kids are out of the house, they might smoke. Or they smoke in the car. Or they strap the kid in the car seat in the back and crack the window and smoke, and they think it’s okay because the second-hand smoke isn’t getting to their kids,” Dr. Winickoff continued. “We needed a term to describe these tobacco toxins that aren’t visible.” Studies show that although the parents may smoke in a seperate room such as the kitchen, it does not ensure the safety of their children. After smoking, gases and particles hold on to the smoker's hair, clothes and house furnitures and remains even after the smoke is not present anymore. These gases and particles include heavy metals, carcinogens (cancer risk) and frighteningly even radioactive chemicals that children can get on their hands.

Presently, a vast number of parents are addicted to smoking, but attempt to avoid the risk of second-hand smoking to their children. With the new risk of third-hand smoking, a new law must pass in order to avoid the perils of cancer for the children. The new law should include a restriction to smoking in the house if one has children as to minimize the chances of the children ingesting carcinogens.
"The belief that second-hand smoke harms children’s health was not independently associated with strict smoking bans in homes and cars, the researchers found. On the other hand, the belief that third-hand smoke was harmful greatly increased the likelihood the respondent also would enforce a strict smoking ban at home," Dr. Winickoff said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/health/research/03smoke.html?em

Hockey Player Hits His Head On Ice and Dies

21-year-old Don Sanderson died 3 weeks after hitting his helmetless head on the ice during a fight. As the story was recounted,Don Sanderson, the defencemen, was fighting with the forward, Corey Fulton, when Sanderson's helmet came off. Near the end of the brawl, both players fell and Sanderson's head hit the ice causing him to go out cold for 30 seconds before regaining consciousness. Unfortunately, Sanderson fell in a coma over time and was on life support until his death on January 2nd 2009. Presently, Sanderson's death requests for firmer rules on wearing helmets.

Perhaps one of the greatest issues in hockey is the fighting that is seen as "part of the game." Should brawls be banned in hockey? Although the security of helmets play an important role, it was ultimately the fight that began the perils towards death. An increase of penalty towards those who choose to fight on ice must take action as to decline the amount of possible misfortunes. The "enforcers" on ice are not completely neccessary when one could simply raise the punishment. Therefore, the presence of penalty instills the hestiation to those who may choose to break the rules thus minimizing the amount of 'accidentts.'


http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/560798

Madoff's Ponzi Scheme

The name Bernard Madoff was a legendary name on Wall Street until he was arrested December 12, 2008 for pulling off a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. His scheme is most likely the largest scandal in Wall Street's history. His actions are considered and related to history's Ponzi Scheme. The Ponzi scheme is named after the man Charles Ponzi who managed other's money promising a 50% profit within 45 days. However, in reality Ponzi only took the money the new investors invested in him and gave it to the old investors who wished to withdraw some money. As long as old investors did not withdraw too much at a time, the plan would work well. As for Madoff, he began to run out of new investors who would have "payed" off the old investors. Thus, he ran out of money to pay for the "profit" he promised to the investors. Overall, the vast amount of companies that had trusted Madoff to manage their money and had not withdrawn their money, ended up losing million/billions of dollars. Not only did the companies that invested in Madoff suffer, the companies/people that invested in those companies ultimately suffered as well.

Madoff's actions undoubtfully affected Canadians as well. As Madoff is a well-known money manager, there must be Canadians who had trusted him as well. Madoff's actions had caused companies to lose as much as 50 billion dollars, which is completely unacceptable. It is in fact fearful that a 70-year-old man is able to pull off such a scheme without being caught before resulting in such damage. There must be a firmer and enforced force that monitor such people's actions to avoid future misfortunes.





http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/bernard_l_madoff/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=madoff&st=cse

Man confesses to slaying 12-year-old girlfriend's family

Jeremy Steinke, a 25-year-old man living in Calgary was accused of slaying his 12-year-old girlfriend's family as he claimed, was due to the reason of being on drugs. The girl is only known as J.R. As he recounted, when he origninally met J.R, he assumed she was 16, not 12. "At the time I really didn't think too much about it,” Steinke said, deciding that when she would be 18, he would be 29 and they planned to get married. The devastating murder occured on a night when Steinke was on booze, marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy as he went to the girl's house. He claimed J.R had wanted to sneak out from her house as usual with him. Steike crawled through the basement window and saw J.R's mother who screamed. Panick took the hold of Steike and he whipped out his knife, stabbing the mother 12 times. Not long after, the father arrived with a screwdriver and a fight broke out. Steike was again forced to take out his knife. Eventually, both parents lay dead with their son, who was slashed to death by his own sister, J.R.

The murder of the three lives must be blamed on the fact that there is still a vast amount of child abuse in the society. Jeremy Steinke was abused and excluded from the society as even at a small age, his parents had divorced and his mother constantly choosing different husbands and boyfriends; some who had abused him. Not only did Jeremy suffer at home, he faced problems alone as he was bullied and eventually took drugs since he wanted to be 'cool.' Overall, the amount of child abuse that is present within today society is horrific. Jeremy Steinke's murder shows everyone the result of those who endure abuse for an extended period of time. Thus, the law of child abuse must be enforced and a higher punishment placed for offenders of this crime.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081201.wsteinke1201/BNStory/National/home

To have or not to have Wind Farm?

Approximately 1000 people filled the Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate's auditorium as the chief executive of Toronto Hydro, David O'Brian, promised a meeting on Monday. The meeting consisted of deciding against or for the wind farm project that would potentially cover a 26-kilometer span to 2 to 4 kilometers offshore. Some residents involved with this situation, were afraid of the soil being reaped of his natural beauty and property values. On the other hand if this project were to initiate, the job loss in the manufacturing sector of North America would improve and balance. Premier Dalton McGuinty claims the province must become more accepting when matters that involve the future of power generation comes at hand. Toronto Hydro and City Councillor Paul Ainslie's office have discussed before, but still not date has been determined.

Understandably, those who are not in favour of the wind farm are so because of NIMBY (Not In My BackYard)However, it is vital to understand that by taking action and creating the wind farm, it will provide benefit to our society as whole. The immense job loss in North America (manufacturing sector) will be offset and our environment will become a cleaner place. Just as Dalton McGuinty recognizes the major resident concern, "I understand that. But we have some tough choices to make. We need to open up our minds to these possibilities."

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/543359

York strike to change 50,000 students lives

With the York University strike by the 3903 teacher assistants, graduate assistants and contract faculty have unevitably forced the 50,000 York students to change their plans for their lives. As the strike has lasted 14 days already,the majority of the students, particularly fourth year students have begun to plan otherwise for their future years. With the growing time, the chances of plans being distrupted for summer jobs, earning money for their university fees,etc will be higher. "I paid $800 to apply to law school, which would be wasted if I don't get my degree this year," a student said. "This is a big deal."


The fact that unions are able to form is clearly the reason why 50,000 students must sit and wait for the outcome of the strike while their future plans are being ruined. Unions must not be allowed in the general society and the York University strike is the perfect reason and example. Unions are only a selfish group which thrives for their own good and in the process destroys the society and economy, hardly considering the overall outcome. As such, the union in the York strike must be aborted so the 50,000 students can once again return to their studies.




http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/540192

3-year driver curb for youths

Ontario's young drivers have now faced a new legislation of driving. Young drivers now face up to three years of restriction rather than the previous two. Changes of the legislation include zero tolerance of drinking and speeding and a limit of one teenage friend passenger. According to the law just presented today, November 18th, 2008, young drivers with G1 and G2 licenses would be on probation for 18 months rather than 12. G2's advantage is to be able to drive as many passenges that is wanted except for the times between midnight and 5 am. "Teenage drivers are 3 1/2 times more likely to be involved in a fatal collision," said a source familiar with the legislation being introduced by Transportation Minister Jim Bradley.

As the new legislation of driving is introduced to the Ontario society, the list lengthens with the amount of laws imposed for the young drivers. Clearly, teens who are introduced to this new law are not in favour as it restricts their actions and plans.Yet the enforcement of prohibiting drinking and driving will have a significant future benefit. The original high percentage of teen deaths from crashes will ideally decrease and the streets at night will become a safer place.


http://www.rmiia.org/Auto/Teens/Teen_Driving_Statistics.htm
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/538684

Brandon Crisp Found Dead

15-year-old Brandon Crisp ran away from home after his parents confiscated his video games on October 13. A week after, his body was discovered and his death seemed to have been caused by a trauma to the chest, falling out of a tree. As the family recounted the story, Brandon Crisp was addicted to the popular Xbox game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warefare and it was affecting his social life and education. After the parents removed the Xbox console, Brandon threatened to run away. His father, believing he would soon return, helped him pack and let him leave. But Brandon never returned. Many were involved in the search of Brandon Crisp such as his schoolmates and Microsoft. (helped by asking online players on the Xbox)Unfortunately, deer hunters found him dead in a thick forest 2 kilometers from his abandoned bicycle.

Although video and computer games are simply a form of entertainment, there are undoubtfully more of those similar to Brandon whose social life have been broken by games. Brandon Crisp's death unmistakeably represents those who are addicted to games in today's society. But should we blame the parents or kids? The majority of the fault can be found in the parents as the parent's job is to monitor their child's actions out of their own best interest. To have allowed Brandon to go to the extent where his life was a part of the game is mostly his parent's fault for not taking earlier action. Thus, video and computer games can be exposed to children, but it is the parent's montoring that is needed in order to refrain the child's addiction.



http://www.thestar.com/article/531591
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/536910

Earth on its way for Eco 'crunch'

Globally known, the world will eventually "overpopulate." Studies from the Global Footprint Network shows that overpopulation or ecological debtors will lead to a world where natural resources will not be available to all. Ecological Debtors are those who consume or overuse lands and resources to satisfy their own needs. A member of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) states that by 2030, the needs must extend to another planet in order to appease the average's "ecological footprint." A footprint is essentially the amount of Earth's land and sea needed to provide the resources used by a person. On Earth, the available amount of hectares per person is 2.1. Canada alone requires 7.83 hectares per person.

Not only does an overpopulation affect the daily needs of an average human, lack of resources will influnce stocks and the economy as a whole. An ecological recession will evidently devastate the world as resources and lands will become scarce and little. For example, international president of WWF, Emeka Anyaoku,claims that more than 2 trillion dollars lost on stocks and shares was raised to 4.5 trillion dollars worth of resources destroyed forever each year.Such dangerously potential futures must be countered and actions done in order to prevent an ecological downfall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7696197.stm

When to use Aspirin?

As it is commonly known, aspirin is used for decreasing the risk of coronary artery disease, heart attacks and strokes by about 25%. As a result, those with diabetes believed to have a great chance of having a stroke and heart attack, take these pills hoping to minize the chances. However, these pills have their bad side. Study leader Professor Jill Belch, from University of Dundee, said aspirin was infamous cause of hospital admission for gastrointestinal bleeding. In addition, study showed that those who have not already had a heart attack or stroke and take aspirin, does nothing to the chances of disease. "We need to think again about using it for primary prevention." Unfortunately, aspirin's characteristics is overviewed by many and thousands buy it over counters. Judy O'Sullivan, a British Heart Foundation cardiac nurse, concludes:"This study adds weight to the evidence that aspirin should not be prescribed to prevent disease of the heart and circulation to people with diabetes, and other high risk groups, who do not already have symptoms of the disease."

Evidently, many people believe that aspirin is beneficial and hardly do they realize that there are severe effects. For instance, those who have diabetes fear a stroke or heart attack thus taking aspirin, yet they do not neccessarily have the disease. As a result, they eventually get gastrointestinal bleeding, a common cause for admission to hospital. Should there not be a stronger warning? I believe that the studies found should be told to the doctors as so they can ensure that patients especially with diabetes are aware and conscious of the dangers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7673587.stm

Dion's Signficant Loss and Harper's minority

On October 14, 2008, Stephane Dion expierenced the most pressing defeat in history
by the Conservatives who were led by Stephen Harper. The dramatic diffence in the loss of seats compared to the previous elections, may eliminate Dion and cause him to step down from his position. Already, the Liberals are planning to prepare a vote for Dion's step down. Dion's losses were due to his lack of insight in his decisions to improve the economy. In addition, the Quebecers did not appreciate Dion from previous years of John Chretien. However, Harper is not in a perfect position despite his win. Steven Harper had not recieved a majority mandate and may face troublesome times if other parties confront Harper's minority government

Clearly, Harper's win in the election will not keep him smiling for too long. As Harper has only achieved a minority government, trouble may find him fighting for his seat once again. As a minority government, Dion and Jack Layton have the chance of beginning of a coalition. One wrong move by Harper will possibly start a coalition and remove him from his seat he happily recieved. It is to my belief, that regardless of Harper's actions, Dion will find a chance to strike back at the Conservatives.

http://www.thestar.com/federalelection/article/517641

A "new" listeriosis outbreak at Maple Leaf Plant

The massive cleanup assigned to prevent the listeriosis outbreak seems to have been rendered useless. The re-opening and tight inspection of the foods seem to be flawed, as there is "new" listeriosis at the Maple Leaf Plant. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency states that there have been 4 samples tested positive out of thousands of samples. Already, listeriosis has killed 20 people worldwide. The plant was originally closed on August 20, until it re-opened on September 17. Fortunately, no products were sold to the public. With information that only 4 products were tested positive out of five thousand, the company and Canadian Food Inspection Agency will withhold the distribution of products, quarantine related products and improve their sanitation efforts.

It is fortunate that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency carries out their jobs respectfully. Without the help of this agency, another major outbreak of listeriosis could have devasted the society resulting in an addition of deaths. As a citizen of Canada, the Maple Leaf Plant was expected to have improved their sanitation and meat products. Their actions of nearly allowing yet another outbreak of listeriosis products may completely lose the society's trust for any of meat products sold in Canada. It is apparent the consumation and business of meats will slide down in Canada drastically.




http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/514585

Man charged in bus slaying to go in trial

In late July, Mr. McLean,a young carnival worker was stabbed to death and his head severed, a second-degree murder by Vincent Li. The murder took place on a Greyhound bus in Alberta when Mr. Li suddenly stood up and began attacking Mr. McLean. “If someone commits an offence while suffering a disease of the mind and they don't know their actions are wrong, they can't be held criminally responsible," said defence lawyer Allan Libman. To ensure that Mr. Li is indeed mentally ill, Mr. Li has been co-operating with doctors and consenting to treatment. Although there will be results on his mental state of mind, details of the psychiatric assessment will not be released as it may violate Mr. Li's rights. A trial is soon expected on November 6. If he is criminally responsible, he would receive treatment and be instituionalized. Clearly upset with the news, Mr. McLean's family is suing Greyhound, the federal government, and Mr. Li


Does the fault truly lie in the man with a diseased mind who had no intention to kill? Although Mr. Li may be one of the many victims to murder others upon the mental state of mind, any murder relating to the reason of mental illness should be punished accordingly. The excuse of mental illness gives no rights to kill an innocent person. If Mr. Li was to have been charged falsely, this instance is essentially showing that anyone with mental issues are legal to murder anyone by "accident." It would be only right for Mr. Li to be placed in an asylum under watch for the same amount of time that should be done in a prison.







http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081006.wgreyhoundtrial1006/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

Court extends driving ban to seven years

Two young men who have killed a taxi driver while speeding, avoids jailtime after the Ontario Court of Appeal rejected the Crown's attempt to overturn their conditional sentences. Although the two 20 year olds will not do time in jail, they will have to spend the rest of their sentences under house arrest. In addition, they will be banned from driving for 7 years. Originally, in March 2007, Justice John Moore sentenced each to a year of house arrest and curfew and two years of probation. The decision was the fuel to a fiercesome uproar from the public as the decision was extremely looked down upon. This was because the victim was an immigrant of Pakistan and was about to become a citizen when he was killed the night of Jan 24, 2006. Moreover, his family, would be living without a father or husband.


The fact that two teens can evade jail time with the actions of murder is simply wrong and unjust. Their actions have affected the victim's family severely and set an example to the society's teens that actions such as theirs can be let off. Rather than house arrest, these teens should do their respective time in jail instead of becoming "conditioned." Such decisions from the court raises the question, would the teens have been let off if they had killed a pregnant women rather than an innocent man?





http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/510928

Criminal Justice System fails a innocent man

David Milgaard, an innocent man accused for a crime he did not commit, sat in jail for 23 years. It is only just for Millgard to be released from prison, according to a Saskatchewan inquiry into the case. David Milgaard was 16 at the time when a man named Gail Miller was killed in 1969. David was convicted a year later and only released from prison in 1992. As DNA tests were not available then, Larry Fisher, the real criminal was eventually convicted. The case was only reopened after DNA tests were available. "The criminal justice system has failed David Milgaard," concludes Edward MacCallum, the Alberta judge who headed the inquiry. As a result of this misunderstanding, Milgaard eventually recieved a $10 million compensation package from the Saskatchewan government.


Is a $10 million compensation package worth the time for a 16 year old who spent 23 years in prison? The Canadian criminal justice system is flawed and requires a great deal of improvement. For a teenager to have lost half of their life sitting in prison for a crime that they didn't commit is clearly unjustified. After the experience of wrongfully accusing David Millaard, the Saskatoon Police service claim to have new methodologies and technologies to reduce the chances of wrongfully accusing. Despite the assurances of the police department, there will be undoubtfully a great deal of victims in Canada who will suffer the unjust punishment. Overall, there should be a greater amount of money spent towards improving the justice system than the amount spent on compensation packages.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/09/26/milgaard-advance.html