Stupid Statements (Part XI)

Singer Mackenzie Phillips' half-sister Chynna Phillips has reportedly admitted that her sister's accusation about her father, (Mamas And The Papas singer, John Phillips) incestuous love affair is true. In her new memoir 'High on Arrival', Mackenzie Phillips has revealed that she was drugged and raped by her musician father. Her consensual incestuous affair began when she was 19 and it lasted a decade. Talking about her rape claim, Chynna Phillips said, "Do I believe that they had an incestuous relationship and that it went on for 10 years? Yes." Although Mackenzie Phillips alleges her father as committing incest with her, she has lot of compassion for him. In her tell-all-book, she said, "My dad is a good man." What did that creep have to do to her for her to conclude that he was a bad man?

Michael Vic, an American football player was sentenced to prison for organizing dog fights on his property. The last time he saw his grandmother was just before he surrendered to authorities and was taken to Leavenworth prison to serve his prison sentence of 18 months. She died during his term of incarceration. He had this to say about his grandmother. "I know she would be very proud of me." I doubt she would ever make such a proclamation to him.

In September 2009, a Detroit man in Pontiac, Michigan was sentenced to at least two years in prison for stealing a woman's car after skipping out on the cheque during their first date. Twenty-four-year-old Terrance McCoy was sentenced to two to ten years in prison. Police say McCoy dined with the 27-year-old woman on April 24, 2009 at a restaurant in Ferndale. The woman told investigators that McCoy said he forgot his wallet in her car and asked for the keys. Police say McCoy then took off in the car. Now comes the stupid statement from his lawyer, Terri Antisdale. She said, (brace for it) "McCoy is a very nice man who made a bad decision." McCoy was a very rotten man who made a creepy decision.

In Ontario, a number of crown attorneys (prosecutors) asked the police to do criminal checks on persons who were asked to sit on juries. Finally the attorney general of Ontario put an end to this procedure and in doing so; he backed the report of the Human Rights Commissioner. Sometimes, a police report would say. "Subject hates cops." or, "Subject was an alcoholic for years." In Windsor, the chief of police of that city, Gary Smith, told the Windsor Star in June 2009, "Background checks were routine to ensure that there were quality juries." Am I to interpret that rather stupid statement to mean that if a man was an alcoholic 40 years ago and is and has been sober and has been a family man, and a respected member of the Board of Trade for the past 20 years, he would not be considered qualified to sit on a jury because he doesn’t fit this police chief’s concept of a quality jury member?

The jury at the trial of a Quebec mother charged with the murder of her three children was told on October 5, 2009 that they were killed out "of love" in a suicide pact with her husband. The husband and the children died because he and his wife had both lost their jobs and they felt that the world was cruel. In their suicide note, they said; "We have decided in serenity to leave this world and take with us our three children that are our greatest wealth. It is not a cruel gesture, but one of love. Leaving them behind would have been cruel. The children did not suffer, nor were they conscious of their departure for a better world."

When I was born in October 1933, my parents lived in a two-room shack in a field. They were both unemployed at that time. The shack had no running water or electricity. They didn’t commit suicide or murder me to protect me from a cruel world. My mother remarried many years later and lived in a beautiful home on a beach in Hawaii for almost 40 years. I got married and we have a four-bedroom home and have two daughters and four granddaughters and I and my wife have traveled all over the world and sailed on three cruise ships. My work in the field of justice with the United Nations and elsewhere has had an impact on the lives of millions of people world wide. Who knows what those three murdered children could have enjoyed and achieved when they grew up as adults? We will never know because their crazy parents killed them out of love and to save them from a cruel world.

Four RCMP officers involved in Dziekanski's death at the Vancouver airport have been accused of acting too quickly and using too much force when they confronted him in the early morning of Oct. 14, 2007. Further, they have also been accused at the inquiry into the man’s death of covering up what happened by lying to investigators and at the hearings. The officers were called to the airport after witnesses called 911 to report a man throwing luggage and breaking glass, and Hira said Millington arrived to find a man who appeared to be agitated. He was agitated because he didn’t speak English and was wandering around the airport for hours looking for his mother who was waiting for him at the airport. The lawyer said that Millington calmly approached Dziekanski and used hand signals in an attempt to calm him down and ask for identification, but without success. It was then that Constable Millington used the Taser after Dziekanski picked up a stapler. He pulled the trigger four more times as the Polish immigrant screamed and writhed on the airport floor. Dziekanski died immediately after the final jolt of electricity was shot into him. His lawyer said, "Constable Millington acted appropriately and did not misconduct himself in any way." The police are aware that one jolt from a Taser has been known to kill a person. There were five officers on the scene. One jolt would have been enough to temporarily stun him long enough so that the five officers could restrain him. Millington chose instead to stun him to a point temporary paralysis.

In October 2009, an amateur Muslim soccer team provoked a public outcry after refusing to play against a team that promotes homosexual rights and has gay players. The Creteil Bebel Muslim team pulled out of its planned tie with Paris Foot Gay saying it went against their religious beliefs to play against homosexuals. Zahir Belgarbi, one of Creteil Bebel's directors said, "As a Muslim, I have the right not to play against homosexuals, because I don't share their ideas." If he strictly follows that reasoning, then what would he do if he discovers that the engineer of a train he is riding on or the pilot of a plane he is flying is gay.

Governor-General Michaelle Jean, has referred to herself twice as Canada's "head of state" --- a position occupied by Queen Elizabeth. The phrasing is controversial because the governor-general is normally referred to as the "Queen's representative in Canada," a vice-regal delegate who routinely performs the functions of the head of state but does not carry that title. Ms. Jean's controversial speech was made on October 5, 2009 at an executive meeting of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which strives to promote global unity through the promotion of the arts and intellectual development. She focused in her address on the merits of fostering cultural diversity as a way to help achieve international harmony. She said in part; "I, a francophone from the Americas, born in Haiti, who carries in her the history of the slave trade and the emancipation of blacks, at once Quebecoise and Canadian, and today before you, Canada's head of state, proudly represents the promises and possibilities of that ideal of society." Later in the speech, while discussing her efforts to promote education among Canada's youth, Ms. Jean again styled herself as Canada's head of state: "Everywhere that I have travelled as head of state ..." The idea that the governor-general is Canada's head of state conflicts with some of the federal government's own references to the position. An online guide to Canada's constitutional monarchy published by the Department of Canadian Heritage, a section titled The Queen as Head of State: Personifying the Country states: "As Queen of Canada, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is our head of state and a powerful symbol of Canada and Canadian sovereignty. Ian Holloway, dean of law at the University of Western Ontario in London, said, "Formally speaking, it's incorrect for the governor general of Canada to describe herself as the head of state. He says, “The Constitution Act of 1867 provides that the executive government of Canada is vested in the Queen."

Many defence lawyers are no different than prostitutes. They will do anything they are paid to do; even if it is stupid. Lawyers representing three of the four RCMP officers at an inquiry delving into the death of a man at the airport in Vancouver adopted a new line in defence of their clients yesterday: Beware the video. The video, of course, refers to what others believe is the clearest, most impartial piece of evidence presented at the inquiry, being held to examine events that led to Mr. Dziekanski's death at Vancouver's airport. Were it not for footage of Mr. Dziekanski's encounter with the four RCMP officers, it would have received scant notice. His death would not have caused the international outrage that it did. "The video is unreliable." said Reg Harris, who represents Corporal Benjamin Monty Robinson, the senior officer at the scene. He said, "Unlike a human, this video witness lacks depth perception." David Butcher, the lawyer representing other RCMP officers said, "The video evidence has limitations. The camera Mr. Pritchard used is not still; it moves from side to side and up and down." In a statement to investigators, Const. Bentley said he and his fellow officers had wrestled a defiant and fighting Mr. Dziekanski to the ground; this, after the 40-year-old Pole had already been zapped once with the Taser. The Pritchard video proves Mr. Dziekanski was toppled by a Taser jolt and while on the floor, the officers grappled with him. He was then zapped several more times. He died minutes later. The video shows the event quite clearly and was sufficient evidence that clearly contradicted the notes taken by the officers.You can be sure that if a police officer was being assaulted and it was seen on video and the video was shaky, you can be sure that the police would say it was sufficient to get a conviction.

Canadian Liberal Leader, Michael Ignatieff has told a British newspaper that Canada dispatched Maher Arar to Syria to be tortured. Ignatieff made the erroneous statement in an interview published in September in The Observer while clarifying his stand against torture. He said in part; "Canada sent Maher Arar (a Canadian engineer) to Syria, and a court found that he had been subjected to extraordinary rendition, that his claims (of torture) were true and that he had delivered no intelligence to anybody." Arar was sent to Syria by the United States in late 2002 after he was detained while in transit to Canada through JFK Airport in New York. Canada actually chastised the American authorities for sending Arar to Syria to be tortured.

More than 100,000 Italian women have signed a petition saying they are offended by Premier Silvio Berlusconi – an initiative launched by a newspaper after the premier made a sexist remark to an opposition politician. Berlusconi, already under fire for his dalliances with young ladies, made the jab during a call in to a late-night talk show October 7, 2009 that featured, among other guests, Rosy Bindi, a 58-year-old former minister who dresses conservatively, wears glasses and has short, grey hair. The premier said to her, "You are always more beautiful than intelligent." Berlusconi's remark sparked outrage, and prompted three prominent Italian intellectuals to draft a feminist manifesto of sorts, stating that Berlusconi uses women's bodies for his political ends, denigrating women and democracy in the process. Berlusconi's scandal began earlier this year when his wife announced she was divorcing him, citing his presence at the birthday party of an 18-year-old model and his decision to run former showgirls as candidates for European Parliament elections. Several women, including a prostitute, came forward with stories that they had been paid by a Berlusconi associate to attend parties at the premier's homes. Berlusconi denounced what he says is a media campaign to smear him. He said, "I am no saint. I love beautiful women and Italians want me this way." I doubt that Italian women who represent half the population of Italy, want this fool to continue being their premier.