Monday, July 31, 2006

Court crisis?

Why not fix it ? How about regular business hours - and special courts to deal with less serious matters? PR

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Courts in crisis over judicial shortage

James Wallace
Queens Park - Saturday, July 22, 2006

For the past decade, a succession of elected officials helped butter their
political bread by announcing crack downs on all manner of crime.

They've targeted child pornographers, marijuana grow house operators, street
racers and even pit bulls.

They've put more cops on street, built more jails, not only to deal with
increasing and increasingly complex crimes but to cope with a population
that has grown by several million people over that time.

Inexplicably, the same politicians have resisted hiring more judges to hear
the inevitable increase in new cases created by their crackdowns and
population growth.

As a consequence, courts across Ontario are struggling with crushing
backlogs, Crowns are increasingly being forced to plea bargain, police are
letting petty criminals off the hook and children and families are being
forced to wait for justice.

'The whole system is off balance,' Heather McGee, president Ontario Bar
Association, told Osprey News.

'It's been running thin for so long that all it takes is one major trial or
an incremental increase in population and you lose the ability to deal with
things in a timely and effective manner,' McGee said.

The current and looming judicial shortage is a significant part of the
problem.

'Our judicial complement has been more or less static for the last decade,'
McGee said.
'I think the last time new positions were created was 1999, only two positions were created.' "

Words of wisdom


  • Classic Quotes by Milton Friedman(1912- ) US economist


    A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. ------------------------
  • Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it. ------------------------
  • Governments never learn. Only people learn. ------------------------
  • Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. ------------------------
  • History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. ------------------------
  • I am favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible. ------------------------
  • I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal. ------------------------
  • Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation. ------------------------
  • Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "
City man to face justice in U.S.

By Susan Gamble
Local News - Saturday, July 22, 2006 @ 01:00

Brantfords Shane Ferras has lost the last of his appeals in a bid to avoid being extradited to the U.S. following a Supreme Court decision Friday morning.

Ferras, now 41, soon will be moved from the Brantford jail, where he stepped into custody on Thursday evening, to New York State to face trial on charges of fraud and money laundering as part of a high-pressure stock brokerage in the mid-1990s.

He has no further recourse, Ferrass lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said in a telephone interview from Toronto.

Theyll transfer him to the United States and, hopefully, hell get a trial as quickly as possible so the matter is resolved.

Greenspan said his client is a relatively young man with a young family and a bright future.

Working hard

While fighting his extradition order, which was signed in 2002, Ferras has been working hard as a businessman in sales, said Greenspan.

The Brantford-born Ferras was a two per cent owner in a New York brokerage house clearing $2.3 million in his few years with the company, according to court documents.


On Feb. 15, 2001, all 29 of the companys stockbrokers were arrested, including Ferras, who was back in Brantford at the time.

Despite an order in 2002 committing Ferras to be extradited, his lawyers argued that their client shouldnt been sent to the U.S. based on a case relying on hearsay evidence some of it from alleged co-conspirators who have co-operated with the American investigation.

In a surprising move, this weeks Supreme Court decision agreed to some extent. "

The trial usge must consider the las and the facts and not just be a rubber stamp

Friday, July 21, 2006

Sell the World Who You Really Are

Sell the World Who You Really Are: "Sell the World Who You Really Are
by Don Sexton, PhD
Bedrock marketing insights from the author of Trump University Marketing 101
When I was growing up, my family had a business installing water systems for country clubs, farms and housing developments. Whenever I went and worked alongside my father at those places, I could see how much people respected him for his honesty and integrity. He delivered what he promised. If a system failed at any time of the day or night, his customers knew they could call him and he would arrive promptly to fix the problem.
At that time, I had no idea what marketing was. I certainly had no idea that my father, through his honesty and integrity, was actually marketing on a very high level. But he was - and as effectively as any Fortune 500 company.
Today, I teach state-of-the-art marketing techniques at Columbia University and Trump University. But even the most advanced marketing approaches are closely tied to what my father was doing. Through his actions, he told the world that he had something special to offer.
Stop for a moment and think about the businesses in your area. There are dry cleaners, hardware stores and the rest. But are some of them known for doing something special? Is a certain dry cleaner known for its ability to get a spot out of any kind of fabric? Is a certain hardware store known for having experts on staff who patiently answer questions from do-it-yourselfers? Local merchants who differentiate themselves in that way are miles ahead of other businesses that just open their doors and wait for customers to arrive.
That ability to be special, which I learned from my father, is actually the bedrock of good marketing.

Effective marketing does not live or die on clever ads or databases. It hinges on your ability to tell customers that you have to sell that makes you different. It is a way of telling the world what you have to offer, and who you really are."

Saturday, July 01, 2006

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - A little gift for us

winnipegsun.com - Editorial - A little gift for us: "The tax cut will benefit everyone and will make a small dent in the overall tax burden suffered by Canadians. Almost every time we make a purchase, we'll keep some cash that otherwise would have been sucked into the bottomless money pit that is the federal government. That is a good thing.
The Harper Tories promised the GST cut as part of their election platform and, to their credit, they managed to make good on it quickly, despite presiding over a minority government.
It's no accident that the tax cut is taking effect on Canada Day.
The symbolism is just too good for the government to pass up. What better day is there for the Harper government to demonstrate in a real and meaningful way that it's committed to reducing taxes than on our nation's birthday?
As far as we're concerned, then, it's just one more reason to celebrate living in such a great nation that's full of fantastic people and beautiful landscapes.
And if all goes according to plan, we hope to get another Canada Day birthday present in the years ahead, as the Tories have promised to reduce the hated tax by another one point, to 5%, within five years. With any luck, that would be as soon as next year. "

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor

All about the ta assessment rip off -PR

Osprey Media. - Brantford Expositor: "Despite that worry, Haggart said the move had to be made.

�The whole system needs to be re-evaluated. It always was hard to explain. Each time I get questions from a taxpayer I take a shot at it. They look at me while I�m talking and say, Yeah, sure.�

�It�s so confusing nobody believes anything they see or what they�re told. That�s why the system needs to be fixed.�"