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Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Off-duty officer investigated in road rage incident!

SIU investigates airport assault against taxi driver
Updated: Wed May. 13 2009 17:51:07

ctvottawa.ca

The Special Investigations Unit has been brought in to determine whether charges should be laid against an Ottawa police officer who allegedly assaulted a taxi driver earlier this week.

Sami Aldoboni says the assault happened after a vehicle tried to pass his taxi unsuccessfully on Ottawa's Airport Parkway on Monday.

After that, Aldoboni says the driver followed his cab to the taxi holding area at Ottawa's International Airport where the beating happened.

Police now confirm an off-duty police constable is the suspect in the Monday altercation that put Aldoboni in hospital with three broken bones.

Aldoboni, a computer systems analyst who has driven a cab for the last eight months, says he wants the officer to be charged with assault.

In the meantime, the unidentified officer has been reassigned to desk duty.


With a report from CTV Ottawa's Kate Eggins

Another Cop who could legally steal your car, gets charged!

OPP cop charged in $15-million fraud
Wed, May 13, 2009
By SUN MEDIA

GREAT JOB DALTON

TORONTO - A veteran OPP sergeant is among four people charged after Bombardier was defrauded of more than $15 million.

The officer, a 28-year member of the force assigned to the Toronto detachment, will be appearing in court this morning.

The investigation began in January, 2007 as a result of information received by the OPP Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) in relation to criminal allegations against the officer, the OPP said in a news release today.

Police allege the officer and a female business associate conspired with two employees of Bombardier Incorporated to defraud the company of in excess of $15 million through fraudulent activity and secret commissions.

The Bombardier employees no longer work for the company, police said.

The investigation relates to three distinct incidents, the OPP said.

OPP Sgt. Pierre Chamberland said the allegations against the officer have nothing to do with his duties as a police officer.

He said the officer and his business associate owned a company together and they were allegedly receiving contracts for aircraft repairs with help from the two Bombardier workers.

"There was also some overcharging and other things going on," Chamberland alleged.

Sgt. Michael Leonard Rutigliano, 49, of Mississauga, is charged with corruptly giving a secret commission, three counts of conspiracy, laundering the proceeds of crime, fraud over $5,000, two counts of obstructing justice and breach of trust by a public officer.

Barry Pierson, 56, of Thornhill, and Maurice Clark, 46, of L’Orignal, Ont., are charged with corruptly receiving a secret commission, conspiracy, laundering proceeds of crime and fraud over $5,000.

Lynda Viola, 46, of Woodbridge, is charged with conspiracy, laundering the proceeds of crime and fraud over $5,000.

Rutigliano, Clark and Pierson are being held in custody pending a bail hearing in Brampton today.

Viola has been released on an undertaking to appear in Brampton court on June 8.

Anyone with information is urged to call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

A 'liberal' state of mind

This article speaks volumes about the Liberal party in Ontario

By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN, The Toronto Sun

Last Updated: 10th May 2009, 3:49am


If a gaffe is defined as a politician mistakenly saying what he really thinks, I'd argue Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Michael Bryant committed a huge gaffe last week.

It arose out of a bizarre speech he gave to the Canadian Club on Monday, in which the economic development minister -- a lawyer by training representing a downtown Toronto riding -- waxed enthusiastically about the need for governments to invest billions of taxpayers' dollars into those businesses they deem "winners," as opposed to "losers," on a "company by company" and "industry by industry" basis.

Asked later about Bryant's idea of the state as, to use his phrase, the "uber-entrepreneur," Premier Dalton McGuinty backed away, but only slightly, saying while supporting businesses on a "company by company" basis was extreme, supporting "particular sectors" of the economy was wise public policy. (And indeed, already widely accepted practice .)

But there was another observation Bryant made in passing which received far less attention, but which to me, provided much greater insight into his thinking on this issue.

At first blush, it may seem out of place in a speech by an economic development minister to a largely business audience in Toronto, but, as you'll see below, I don't think it is at all, considering the modern "liberal" political tradition from which Bryant appears to come.

What he said was: "It's preposterous to imagine that government in this century or the last century is not the most impactful institution in our day-to-day lives, outside of the family," as part of his justification for making the state society's "uber" or ultimate entrepreneur. (Which, to an increasing extent, it is, regardless of whether "Liberals" or "Conservatives" are in charge.)

In other words, since, save for the family, the modern liberal state has more impact on individuals (i.e. "in our day-to-day lives") than anything else, it's a logical and just extension of the state's power that it should use public money to pick which businesses succeed and which fail in the marketplace, for the greater social good.

But I'd argue Bryant is actually underselling the activist role of the modern liberal state as he and those who share such views envision it. I'd suggest what they really believe is that the modern liberal state -- guided by wise elites such as themselves -- should take precedence over the family, in the pursuit of what they conceive is the greater social good.

In that sense, Bryant's theory of the modern liberal state as the "uber-entrepreneur" is only part of the equation.

Universal daycare is another -- the state as the "uber" parent.

To understand this aspect of the modern liberal mind (as opposed to classical liberal thinkers who were primarily concerned about the rights of the individual, not the power of the state) we can look to what I suggest is another gaffe by a modern liberal thinker.

That was Scott Reid, then a powerful aide to prime minister Paul Martin, who, in the 2006 federal election, blurted out during a talk show that the problem with Stephen Harper's plan to give parents back a small amount of their own money to help them deal with the costs of raising their own children, was that parents would just -- his words -- "blow" it on "beer and popcorn," compared to the advantage of leaving that money (and perhaps more) with the state, to let it provide for the daycare needs of infant children. (Reid, of course, immediately apologized for his gaffe.)

For those inclined to explore such issues and their implications for society, I highly recommend The Liberal Mind -- The Psychological Causes of Political Madness -- by Dr. Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., an MD and general and forensic psychiatrist, who has testified as an expert in thousands of American civil and criminal cases.

Rossiter argues modern liberalism leads to political madness, because it seeks to override the individual's psychological need for freedom, in the name of social engineering.

As Rossiter diagnoses it: "This bias is destructive to the ideals of liberty and social order and to the growth of the individual to adult competence.

"Instead of promoting a rational society of competent adults who solve the problems of living through voluntary co-operation, the modern liberal agenda creates an irrational society of child-like adults who depend upon governments to take care of them. In its ongoing efforts to collectivize society's basic economic, social and political processes, the liberal agenda undermines the character traits essential for individual liberty, material security, voluntary co-operation and social order."

Sound like anyone we know?

LORRIE.GOLDSTEIN@SUNMEDIA.CA

No more taxes after HST...I promise!

They had No Choice!

They had No Choice!
They wore these or I took away thier toys for 7 days!

No kidding!

"Damn Street Racer"pays with Brusies

"Damn Street Racer"pays with Brusies