Earl Jones and Other Nonsense

Earl Jones to get his very own Statute

The master con artist may very well become famous for something other than his notorious fraud, he is the inspiration for a soon to be made change in the law that allows first-time, non-violent criminals to be released on parole after serving just one-sixth of their sentence. Read about Jones' sentence

The present law will allow our friend Earl to walk out of jail sometime around Christmas, this year. Wonderful! 

Of course this is not sitting well with his victims, the public and even politicians of all stripes.

The Bloc Quebecois has been holding up the Conservative government's crime bill that would eliminate this practice. The Bloc had other issues with the bill and so the delay allowed Quebec's most famous fraudster, Vincent Lacroix to be freed after a very short stay in prison, a fact that annoyed Gilles Duceppe to no end. It seems the Bloc and the Conservatives both have put a little water in their wine to make sure that this won't happen in the future.

"The Harper government has agreed to split up one of its crime bills to obtain the support of the Bloc Québécois and scrap the law that allows non-violent offenders to serve only one-sixth of their prison sentence." LINK

But alas, it's not likely that even with the passage of the new law, which might very well become known as "EARL'S LAW" that Mr. Jones will be subject to its provisions, having been convicted under the old statute. Try as the government might, it's well nigh impossible to impose new conditions on an old sentence.
That being said, Earl Jones can take some credit for being the inspiration for a some much needed reform!

Blog authorities have been advised!

Those who read the comments section of this blog have been amused by promises and threats by some angry posters that this blog is being duly reported to authorities as some kind of subversive element.
Since we don't live in North Korea or Iran, I don't much take the threat seriously, after all if vigle.net can publish, so can I!
Anyways, those raging commenters can be satisfied that we are indeed on the radar of those who may very likely rule the future Quebec. One of those anonymous posters sent along an email telling me that our material is not only being monitored and archived, but being republished as well!

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Link
  

Jacques Duchesneau cleared

I am glad to hear that a report to be published soon by the Directeur général des élections (DGE) will  clear my friend Jacques Duchesneau of any wrong doing. Mr Duchesneau was accused of election irregularities in his campaign for mayor, many years back. At the time of the accusations he was heading a task force looking into corruption in the construction industry and took a leave of absence while under investigation. The accusations against him mysteriously appeared ten years after the fact and it's fair to ask if those behind the 'campagne de salissage' weren't trying to derail his inquiry.

When the charges first surfaced, the media took a hammer to him and treated him rather shabbily. The Journal de Montreal included his picture in a rogues gallery and the lynch mob had their sport with him.

Not many were prepared to defend him, even those who knew him personally, and who should have known better. For me that fact is a little sad.
Jacques is the least corruptible person I know, and I'm proud that I was perhaps one of the very few (maybe the only one) willing to step up and defend him publicly.

The Assassination of Jacques Duchesneau -November 23, 2010

Concordia shells out big compensation, again.

As I predicted in an article last month;

"Her (ex Chancellor Judith Woodsworth) decision to fire two senior members of the audit staff, Ted Nowak and Saad Zubair over a wrongly expensed $250 restaurant bill is going to cost the school hundreds of thousands of dollars." No Dogs or Anglophones January 11, 2011

And so it comes to pass. The two men recently settled out of court for substantial sums, but in keeping with Concordia's history of secrecy, the poor taxpayers who are on the hook for the money are kept in the dark. In addition to the cash, the University had to eat humble pie;

"In a written statement, the university depicts Nowak and Zubair as honest, loyal employees they would happily take back into the university." LINK

Antisemtic apology laughable

Martin Raymond , a coach for a minor league team associated with the NHL Anaheim Ducks in California, in a letter of apology for a slew on antisemitic remarks he made towards one of his players, pulled out the old chestnut that he too suffered from racism having been called a "FROG"

The Bakersfield coach was forced to write a letter of apology for having harassed and humiliated  a player mercilessly, taunting him over being Jewish.

In that letter, Mr. Raymond said that he was only joking and was trying to have some fun. Hmm....

It's obvious the team didn't ask the coach to put much effort into the letter in which he casts himself as a French-Canadian victim!

"It was not my intention to offend you. The intent was to have a jovial moment. Please understand that prior to this incident, I was not trained to handle such a sensitive matter as a coach. As a French-Canadian, I too have come face-to-face with bigotry and understand how such remarks can negatively affect lives. I can certainly relate to you as I have repeatedly been called 'frog' through my playing and coaching career. This has affected me on and off the ice. Now that I understand that you were offended, I will no longer engage in this type of behavior nor condone it. I look forward to moving on and making a run for the playoffs as a team."

"Not trained to handle such a sensitive matter"  WHAAAT!!!!!!

I guess to this Drummondville native, having a Jewish player on the team rates as a extremely sensitive matter!

The player, Ottawa native Jason Bailey, who has since moved to another team, was not impressed with the apology and is suing the organization. If you want to read the sordid details, read this story

Ironically the Anaheim Ducks are owned by a Jewish owner.

Montreal Canadiens a bargain at $550 mil.

There was a collective gasp in the media when the Molson family shelled out a whopping $550 million for the Canadiens and the downtown arena in Montreal, considering that George Gillett paid less than half that just eight years earlier. Forbes magazine who assessed the value of the Canadiens at just $408 million, accused the purchasers of overpaying LINK

But the Molsons seem to be doing okay by that deal and have already paid back $100 million that they borrowed for the transaction, less than two years after the purchase. If the new owners continue to pay off the loan with profits, they will likely be debt free less than tens years after purchasing the team!

All this brings me to wonder about the price for a potential team in Quebec City. The price of $400 million has been bandied about as the cost for a new arena. Coupled with the purchase price of a NHL franchise of about $150 million, the total package will be similar to that paid for the Canadians.

The question begs-
Who'd you rather own for $550  million, the Canadiens or the Nordiques?