The Redoubtable Rick Salutin

Never one to allow either his ethnicity or his political beliefs to overshadow his intellect, Rick Salutin in today's Star has an article of interest to anyone who feels uncomfortable with Stephen Harper's unconditional support of Israel. As well, for those who believe criticism of the Jewish state should not necessarily be equated with anti-Semitism, Mr. Salutin offers some welcome insights.

Journalism You Can Sink Your Teeth Into

For those who think all journalists have lost their bite, I suggest they read Rosie DiManno's column today as she writes disdainfully of the Toronto Police Force and its consistent failure to track down officers who abused citizens during the G20. Making so bold as to accuse somebody within the service of lying, she also expresses her contempt for the application of a double standard in evidence that is obvious in the SIU's failure to accept civilian witnesses as sufficient to go forward with charges.

Let's hope that Rosie doesn't incur any traffic infractions in the near future.

A Couple of Video Reminders of Abuse and Duplicity By Police During G20 Summit

And The Two Chief Culprits Remain silent

Today's story in The Toronto Star shows how the search for the identity of the officer who allegedly beat Dorian Barton is reaching absurdist levels.

Yet despite the increasing evidence of flagrant police obstructionism, Toronto Chief Bill Blair and Premier Dalton McGuinty, the main architects of the massive deprivation of Charter Rights that occurred during the G20 Summit, remain silent.

Despite Police and SIU Obstruction, G20 Lawsuit Moving Ahead

I have already written extensively about the G20 police abuses of our Charter Rights and have cited the McGuinty Government's collusion in those abuses as the main reason I cannot vote for the Ontario Liberals in October. However, a story in today's Star is well-worth reading to remind ourselves of how hard the authorities are working to obstruct any efforts at justice, in this case for Dorian Barton, who was severely beaten for snapping a few pictures last summer at Queens' Park, the so-called official protest zone during the G20.

The refusal of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair to compel identification of the officer responsible for the beating, despite the fact that it was witnessed by 11 other officers, speaks volumes of how politicized the entire process is, as does the failure of the SIU to accept a civilian eyewitness account of the incident.

Yet Premier McGuinty still insists he has nothing to apologize for, despite the fact of his collusion with the police to wait until the G20 was over before revealing that the secret law regarding a five-metre perimeter around the security fence was, in fact, non-existent. I am convinced that it was the fiction about this law that emboldened police to overstep their authority at every opportunity, leading to mass mistreatment and jailing of thousands of people that notorious weekend in June.

Lawrence Martin on the Shortcomings of the Press

Lawrence martin, in a piece called Has the fourth estate lost its tenacity? wonders whether it is the failure to offer much followup on stories of abuse of authority, dirty tactics, etc. that might explain why none of the wrongdoing on the part of the Harper Conservatives seemed to have any effect on their electoral fortunes. Well worth a look.

Harper Collins and E-book Ripoffs

While I have not yet succumbed to the allure of the e-book, I was shocked to learn that the publisher Harper-Collins has decreed that libraries can only lend out their books 26 times before having to once more pay full rights to the company. A small Alberta library has decided to stand up to this unfair and exploitive pricing practice by boycotting e-books from that publisher. One can only hope that libraries across the country find the backbone to take the same measure.

You can read the full details in David Climenhaga's article at rabble.ca.