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Saturday, February 10, 2007

Justice really IS blind!

Back in 1959 there was a 14 year old kid here in rural Ontario who was convicted of killing a girl he knew and sentenced to hang.

Since he was only 14, his appointment with the executioner was changed to life in prison.
Outrage over his conviction from some area locals who knew that he was really innocent grew to such an extent that he was paroled about ten years later.

Ever since he has been trying to clear his name and has been blocked at every turn by the Crown (prosecuting) lawyers whose job it was to convict him in the first place.


We now also know the police got it into their heads that he did it, and evidence was "gathered" that supported that view!

It also became known, in the decades since, that a pedophile lived in the area but this information was not presented. (He was later arrested for the rape and murder of another young girl.)

Truscott's case is being heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto and I'll let you read a condensed version of what is going on now before giving a few thoughts of my own!

(CBC News) Crown lawyers put forward their case Thursday against Steven Truscott, saying there's no fresh evidence that would have changed the guilty verdict against him almost 50 years ago.

Rosella Cornaviera took the opening swipe at the new evidence, arguing that the rules that governed disclosure of information to the defence in 1959 differ from today.

"In our submission, the application of those rules to the proposed fresh evidence compels the conclusion that the verdict remains unaffected by the fresh evidence and the conviction remains valid," she said.

In 1959, Truscott, then a 14-year-old school boy, was convicted of raping and murdering his 12-year-old classmate, Lynne Harper, near Clinton, Ont.

He was sentenced to hang and that was later commuted to a prison term.

He was paroled in 1969.

For days, Truscott's lawyers have argued before the Appeal Court that new evidence casts doubt on the credibility of evidence used to convict him.

They have claimed that the evidence undermines the coroner's testimony about the timing of Harper's death and contradicts the testimony of some child witnesses who claimed they saw Truscott along the county road with Harper at an incriminating time.

But, Crown lawyer Greg Tweeney argued Thursday that the new revelations aren't enough to acquit Truscott.

"To put it bluntly, there's nothing new here," Tweeney said.

"What's being advanced as fresh evidence either isn't new — it was known to the defence at trial and wasn't used — or couldn't have impacted on the proceeding.

"It's our submission the proposed fresh evidence does not affect timing and couldn't have been used at trial as a way to undermine the verdict," Tweeney said.

But, the sitting Judges challenge lawyer's arguments and took Tweeney to task on several points.

"Even if undisclosed information wouldn't affect the outcome, there's an issue of fairness of trial," Justice Karen Weiler said.

Justice Michael Moldaver pointed several times to inconsistencies in the Crown's case, including testimony by a 13-year-old boy who admitted to initially lying to police, then went on to discredit other witnesses.

Moldaver also said there appeared to be an inconsistency on the crucial matter of when key witnesses said they saw Truscott and Harper along the county road.

He also criticized the Crown for suggesting the times given by some young witnesses were approximations.

"You come to us and say, 'Don't fuss with the particular times,'" Moldaver said, noting the Crown at trial went to "great pains" to trace the time line of events. "I'm not sure you can play this both ways."

The Crown will continue its arguments for several days.

The judges could acquit Truscott, order a new trial, dismiss the appeal or halt the proceedings.

Even if new evidence about the pedophile can't be used after-the-fact, it is a disgrace that prosecutors don't give a shit about guilt or innocence, but rather only care about their "CONVICTION"!

This proves to me that our legal system is seriously flawed.

Trail lawyers couldn't care less about guilt or innocence. Prosecutors will go after a guilty verdict no matter what the cost and defense lawyers will defend their clients regardless of the facts of the matter.

Anything that can be done to further their particular agenda will be done, while things that hinder it are ignored or suppressed.

In other words, guilt or innocence is a sham since they are not really trying to get at the TRUTH, but rather just further their own cause.

In the long run this means the guy with the best lawyer wins! The guy with the most money has the best chance. Just look at O.J. Simpson!



And, it also means that Justice really IS blind!





Your "just the facts, ma'am" scribe;

Allan W Janssen

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I thought I wouldn't, but I have to!

I did a little piece on Anna Nicole Smith a few weeks ago where I thought that our fascination with her was indicative of what was wrong with North American society.

That, as far as I thought, was the end of it! However, something came up that I just couldn't leave alone.

First of all, Anna has been compared to a modern day Marilyn Monroe, (Even though she looks more like Jayne Mansfield) but, there is a big difference. Marilyn Monroe was a certified, genuine movie star! She did pictures with the likes of Jack Lemon, Tony Curtis and Clark Gable.

(Plus, if the press is to be believed, she had an affair with the President of the United States, and married Joe DiMaggio.)

Anna, on the other hand, has never done anything of note except being "Playmate of the Year" in the early nineties.

She is, rather, a product of the modern media, who create celebrities whose only claim to fame is that they are celebrities.

Between the likes of Anna, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie, we have a new breed of "Star" that is created with an image, but absolutely no substance. Listen to anything they have to say, and they come across as without any depth or value.

I could include the likes of Jessica Simpson and a few others in this class, but at least Jessica put out a few records and had a fan base, not just a bunch of dedicated strokers!

Anyway, before I get too far off topic, the latest news is what made me decide to have one more "kick at the cat!"

The latest person who claims to have fathered Anna's baby is none other than Prince Frederik Von Anhalt who is husband number eight to Zsa Zsa Gabor! (I thought she died years ago, but apparently not.)

It seems that saying you slept with Anna Nicole Smith is now as popular in The States as every guy from Timmins here in Canada who claims to have banged Shania Twain!

But, back to Freddy. He, in spite of all the claims, has been a friend of Anna's for many years, and with Zsa Zsa's spending habits it's no wonder he is trying to cash in on the publicity as well.

The latest twist to this story is that during this friendship Anna once tried to get Freddy to "ADOPT" her so she could be a Princess as well!

This one is just about weird enough to be true!

The only thing that put a damper on that was that Zsa Zsa refused to go along with it!

What a bitch eh! ;-)

Your "hush hush and on the Q.T." Scribe;
Allan W Janssen

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Friday, February 09, 2007

Noah's Ark

The government of Norway revealed a project today to build a doomsday vault for the seeds of the world.

It is to be carved deep into frozen rock on an island not far from the North Pole and act like a Noah's Ark for nearly every food crop of every country.

This will safeguard the agricultural heritage of the planet in the face of increasing global environmental changes.

"The Norwegian government hopes to contribute to combating the loss of biological diversity, to reduce our vulnerability to climatic changes, and to enhance our ability to secure future food production," said Norway's minister of agriculture and food Terje Riis-Johansen.

"Every day that passes, we lose crop biodiversity," said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust. For instance, of the 7,100 named varieties of apples grown in the United States in the 1800s, more than 6,800 no longer exist.

The Global Crop Diversity Trust is helping to fund the vault's operations and pay for the transport of seeds to the Arctic Isle of Svalbard.


The island was chosen for the vault in part because its ground is perpetually frozen.





Project architects also considered how to offset any potential impacts that worst-case scenarios of global warming might have on the island.

For instance, the vault is located roughly 425 feet above sea level.

This puts it well above a roughly 20-foot rise in sea level that would accompany the melting of Greenland's ice sheet, or even a 200-foot rise that would come with an unlikely total meltdown of Antarctica.

Researchers also saw the deeper the vault was, the colder it would remain. To help keep the seeds safely refrigerated, the vault will be located nearly 400 feet into the side of a mountain, ensuring that rising outside air temperatures will not influence the surrounding permafrost.

At the end of this tunnel, the project will build two chambers capable of holding a total of three million seed samples, making it the largest such seed bank in the world.

"Even climate change over the next 200 years will not significantly affect the permafrost temperature," said project manager Magnus Bredeli Tveiten, with the Norwegian government's directorate of public construction and property.

While scientists are not sure what the precise impacts of potential climate changes might be, "we certainly know it's going to have a major impact on certain growing areas and affect the diversity in the field," Fowler said. "So climate change will both pose a threat to the diversity we have, and make that diversity much more valuable."

The project's cornerstone was laid in June 2006. Construction is set to start in March 2007 and to finish in September 2007, with an official opening planned in late winter 2008.

Your "Johnny Appleseed" Scribe;
Allan W Janssen

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Thursday, February 08, 2007

Sorry I haven't written lately

Been way to busy at work to write, but will do so on the weekend!

P.S. I was just reading how Mexico City now has a population of OVER 20 million. A report on population growth said that a woman has a child every two minutes there.

She Must be stopped!

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Sunday Morning Funnies

A 6-year old and a 4-year old are upstairs in their bedroom. "You know what?" says the 6-year old. "I think it's about time we started cussing."

The 4-year old nods his head in approval. The 6-year old continues, "When we go downstairs for breakfast, I'm gonna say something with 'hell' and you say something with 'ass'.

The 4-year old agrees with enthusiasm. When their mother walks into the kitchen and asks the 6-year old what he wants for breakfast, he replies, "Aw, hell, Mom, I guess I'll have some Cheerios."WHACK! He flies out of his chair, tumbles across the kitchen floor, gets upand runs upstairs crying his eyes out with his mother in hot pursuit, slapping his rear with every step.

His mom locks him in his room and shouts, "You can just stay there until I let you out!"

She then comes back downstairs, looks at the 4-year old and asks with a stern voice, "And what do YOU want for breakfast, young man?" I don't know!" he blubbers, "but you can bet your fat ass it won't be Cheerios."

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