"I'll show you mine if you show me yours": NDP want to see Harper's Office Staff salaries and expenses

"The New Democrats are countering a request by a Conservative MP to see the salaries of top CBC on-air personalities by asking for the same level of disclosure of pay for senior staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, including chief of staff Nigel Wright and communications director Angelo Persichilli.

Conservative Brent Rathgeber last week tabled an order paper question calling on the public broadcaster to reveal how much it pays anchor Peter Mansbridge and comedian Rick Mercer, as well as produce a list of all CBC staff making more than $100,000 annually. The CBC might have an out via the Broadcast Act and it is uncertain whether it will be required to comply with the request.

But it’s hard to see how the Prime Minister’s Office can dodge the NDP’s request to produce the salaries and benefits paid to, among others, former directors of communications Dimitri Soudas, now with the Canadian Olympic Committee, and Kory Teneycke, who now helps run Sun News Network.  The request also asks for hospitality and travel expenses.

The employees named are “exempt staff,” whose salaries are supposed to be pegged to the pay ranges for equivalent positions in the public service. Where exactly they land in those ranges is not known.

In one of three order paper questions tabled Monday byMP Tyrone Benskin , the NDP asks for:

Mr. Benskin (Jeanne-Le Ber) – With Regard to the Prime Minister’s Office and its current and former employment of Bruce Carson, Dimitri Soudas, Sandra Buckler, Guy Giorno, Nigel Wright, Ian Brodie, Ray Novak, Andrew McDougall, Kory Teneycke, Alykhan Velshi and Angelo Persichilli: (a) what were/are the employment agreements with each of these individuals in terms of (i) salary, (ii) vehicle allowance or provision of car and/or driver, (iii) expense account for food, drink, alcohol and hospitality, (iv) out-of-town accommodations for the individual; (b) in each of the years between 2000 and 2011, how much did each of these individuals expense for (i) food, (ii) travel, (iii) hotels, (iv) hospitality, (v) drink, (vi) vehicle use; (c) what were the itemized amounts and descriptions of each individual’s individual expenses as identified in the answers to (b); and (d) if the PMO provides any of these individuals with a vehicle for his use, as identified in the answers to (a)(ii), broken down by individual, (i) what is the model and make of the car, (ii) how much does this benefit cost the PMO on an annual basis?

Just as Rathbeger asked for a list of CBC employees making more than $100,000 a year, the NDP is also calling for the same from PMO and other ministers’ offices.

And in language nearly identical to one of Rathbeger’s order paper questions for hospitality expenses from overseas CBC bureaus, the NDP wants the same accounting for PMO and other ministerial staff expenses claimed for hospitality, food, drinks, hotels and transportation in Rome, London, Washington, Paris and Boston.

The government will have 45 days to answer the questions." - Glenn McGregor, The Ottawa Citizen. 

Une jeune adolescente aspergée d'essence provenant de bouteilles de bière.

"QUÉBEC – Horrible histoire à Saguenay où trois gamins âgés de 12 à 14 ans ont été arrêtés par la police. Ils sont suspectés d’avoir tenté de mettre le feu à une jeune fille de 12 ans.

L’incident s’est produit vendredi soir, vers 20 h, dans un secteur résidentiel de Jonquière, sur la rue Rembrandt. La jeune fille, qui serait une connaissance des présumés agresseurs, aurait été avec ceux-ci en début de soirée à la résidence d’un des trois garçons.

Elle aurait ensuite quitté les lieux avant d’être invitée à revenir. Selon nos informations, les jeunes à l’intérieur de la maison se seraient moqués de la jeune fille, durant un bon bout de temps, pendant qu’elle attendait devant la porte de la résidence. Les trois garçons, qui étaient accompagnés de deux autres jeunes filles, à l’intérieur, auraient par la suite aspergé la présumée victime à l’aide d’une bouteille de bière, a raconté le lieutenant André Gagné.

Odeur d’essence

Ce dernier a fait savoir que dans son témoignage aux policiers, la jeune fille a raconté qu’elle avait rapidement réalisé, par l’odeur, que ce n’était pas de la bière, mais bien de l’essence qui se versait de la bouteille. Cette information n’a toutefois pas pu être confirmée par le lieutenant, qui a mentionné que les policiers «ont tout de même de bons motifs pour croire qu’il s’agissait d’essence».

Il a aussi indiqué que des témoignages ont permis d’apprendre que les trois jeunes auraient brandi un briquet devant la jeune fille. Aucun projectile enflammé n’a toutefois été lancé à celle-ci, a-t-il ajouté.

Les circonstances et les témoignages ne permettaient pas au lieutenant de confirmer si les jeunes avaient eu l’intention de mettre feu à la jeune fille, ou s’ils voulaient plutôt lui faire peur. Peu importe l’intention des jeunes, selon le lieutenant Gagné, «ça reste un geste d’imbécillité».

La jeune fille s’est ensuite sauvée et a tenté de se cacher, pendant que les jeunes auraient brièvement essayé de continuer de l’asperger. Elle est finalement parvenue à prendre ses distances et à rejoindre ses parents par téléphone, qui ont porté plainte aux policiers, a ajouté le lieutenant.

Accusations?

Les trois jeunes ont été arrêtés et ont été libérés sous promesse de se présenter devant le tribunal de la jeunesse après les fêtes. La police a confirmé qu’ils pourraient faire face à des accusations de voies de fait armées contre la jeune fille.

Le bureau des enquêtes criminelles travaillera en collaboration avec la Direction de la protection de la jeunesse.

La jeune fille n’a pas subi de blessures. Il a été impossible de savoir si des adultes étaient à l’intérieur de la résidence où a débuté l’incident." - Jean-Nicolas Blanchet, Le Journal de Montreal.

Que se passe-t-il au Canada? Des choses bien épeurantes se passes dernièrement chez les "pré-adolescents"... 

Ces jeunes hommes on clairement planifié leur coups, reste à voir ce que la cour va dire.

Unbelievable but true horror story of bullying!

"OTTAWA - A local mom is demanding a harsher penalty for a 9-year-old girl who she says threatened to kill her 10-year-old daughter and brought a knife to school Monday.

Angelle Bow said she cried when her daughter told her the events of the past few days at St. Marguerite d'Youville elementary school.

"I thought I was going to throw up," she said.

Her daughter Haylee told her that a week ago -- during anti-bullying week -- she intervened when two girls assaulted one of her friends. According to her daughter, one girl held the other while the attacker slapped her.

Bow says it sounds like her daughter's uncharacteristic decision to get involved made her a target as well -- she and her friend were allegedly threatened that bags would be placed over their heads until they were suffocated and that one of the girls intended to bring a knife to school.

Another alleged assault happened Thursday at an anti-bullying assembly at the school when Bow claims her daughter was kicked in the back by the same girl who slapped her friend and threatened her life.

Haylee told her mom about the violence, but not the threat to her life or anything about a knife.

Bow complained to the school, but because Friday was a PA day, no inquiries were made until Monday when Bow claims the girl was found in possession of a knife.

School principal Carole Parent said the student has been suspended and the police are involved.

"We are doing a threat assessment," Parent said. "There will be a safety plan in place when the student returns."

Ottawa Police spokesman Marc Soucy said he could not "confirm or deny" a knife was seized at the school.

"We can confirm we went for a report of an assault," said Soucy.

"We don't confirm or deny pieces of evidence. Both children are under the age that one can be charged."

Bow further claims that when the accused student was asked to write a letter about the slapping incident earlier in the week she penned more threats instead of asking forgiveness or offering an explanation or denial.

"It said I'm going to Google your name, find out where you live and I'm going to come to your house and I'm going to kill your whole family," said Bow, adding she heard the letter also contained threats that the student's brothers have guns.

She said she is considering taking her daughter out of school." - Canoe.ca CNews.

All Bow wants is help for the victims in this bullying, not just help for the bully.

I am gobsmacked that a nine-year-old can think such horrible things! I cannot believe that this is true!

Celebrity Look-A-Like: Jeremy Irvine and Patrick Swayze

Photo editing by: C. F. Pelletier

Funny captions > Dog Agility

Ontario man convicted in girl's assault declared a dangerous offende

"An Ontario man convicted in an attack on a 12-year-old girl has been declared a dangerous offender, a designation that could see him jailed indefinitely.

Stanley Tippett was convicted two years ago on seven counts — including kidnapping, sexual assault and sexual interference — relating to the attack in August 2008.

A Peterborough judge made the ruling today, saying Mr. Tippett has shown a pattern of persistent, aggressive behaviour and a failure to control sexual impulses.

Judge Bruce Glass said only an indeterminate sentence can protect the community from Mr. Tippett, who has shown a pattern of escalating violent behaviour and a tendency to lie and manipulate people.

“Today is a tragic day for everybody involved,” Judge Glass said.

“Nobody is a winner here. It is a sad event to order that somebody serve an indeterminate sentence as a dangerous offender.”

But Judge Glass said it is “wishful thinking” that Mr. Tippett could be treated.

“Mr. Tippett is a substantial risk to the community and will continue to be,” the judge said.

Mr. Tippett claimed he offered safe passage to the drunken 12-year-old girl but was then carjacked by two armed men.

He was arrested just hours after the girl was found half-naked behind a school 70 kilometres from where she was abducted in Peterborough.

Judge Glass said Mr. Tippett's pattern of behaviour stretches back to 1991, when he set fire to a pile of books on his teacher's desk and was convicted of arson.

Then, in 1993, he was convicted, again as a youth, of attempted robbery for following a girl off a bus and putting a gun to her head.

Mr. Tippett was also convicted in June 2005 and December 2005 for two separate counts of criminal harassment. In one incident he was peeping into the windows of a woman's home and in the other he was trying to convince a young girl he could give her a job at the YMCA, when he didn't in fact work there.

Testing administered by a forensic psychiatrist found that Tippett has a sexual preference for pre-pubescent girls and boys, Judge Glass said.

The psychiatrist suggested that if Mr. Tippett were to be released into the community, medication to reduce sex drive would be required, but Judge Glass said he doubted Mr. Tippett would take it.

“He will say whatever he thinks he needs to say in order to obtain his release,” he said." - The Globe and Mail.

7 billion and counting...

"The United Nations had projected world population to pass the seven billion mark on October 31, and several countries announced a "7 billionth baby" to mark the milestone.

The Filipino baby, Danica Mae Camacho, was born just minutes before midnight on Sunday October 31. Cheers erupted from hospital staff and U.N. officials waiting outside the delivery room of the Dr. Jose Fabella Hospital.

Camille Camacho, mother of the newborn, said she could not contain her happiness despite being exhausted from labour.

"We will do our best to take care of her. This baby is a blessing," she said.

Government officials and private donors congratulated the family and gave the child a birthday cake and a scholarship grant, while the parents were given a livelihood package to start a small store.

Fabella Hospital is one of the largest maternal and newborn hospitals in the Philippines, catering mostly to low-income families. It has been called a baby factory, as it delivers roughly a fifth of Manila's babies, a local daily reported.

The Philippine population ranks second largest in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia with 94.9 million people.

United Nations Resident Coordinator Jacqueline Badcock, who was at the Fabella hospital to see the baby, said a country that utilises its resources well can manage a large population.

"Well, the thing is whether you have a large number or a small number, you need to plan for your population, and you need to provide the services that you need to live a productive life. So it is not only for the countries with large population, it is for all countries," Badcock said." - The Telegraph.

The World Without Us...

285 Indian girls replace names meaning ‘unwanted’ to rise above gender discrimination

(Associated Press) - "Girls hold certificates stating their new official names during a renaming ceremony in Satara, India, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Almost 300 Indian girls known officially as “Unwanted” have traded their birth names for a fresh start in life. Given names like “Nakusa” or “Nakushi” (or “unwanted” in Hindi) they grew up understanding they were a burden in families that preferred boys in Maharashtra state."

"MUMBAI, India — More than 200 Indian girls whose names mean “unwanted” in Hindi have chosen new names for a fresh start in life.

A central Indian district held a renaming ceremony Saturday that it hopes will give the girls new dignity and help fight widespread gender discrimination that gives India a skewed gender ratio, with far more boys than girls.

The 285 girls — wearing their best outfits with barrettes, braids and bows in their hair — lined up to receive certificates with their new names along with small flower bouquets from Satara district officials in Maharashtra state.

In shedding names like “Nakusa” or “Nakushi,” which mean “unwanted” in Hindi, some girls chose to name themselves after Bollywood stars such as “Aishwarya” or Hindu goddesses like “Savitri.” Some just wanted traditional names with happier meanings, such as “Vaishali,” or “prosperous, beautiful and good.”

“Now in school, my classmates and friends will be calling me this new name, and that makes me very happy,” said a 15-year-old girl who had been named Nakusa by a grandfather disappointed by her birth. She chose the new name “Ashmita,” which means “very tough” or “rock hard” in Hindi.

The plight of girls in India came to a focus after this year’s census showed the nation’s sex ratio had dropped over the past decade from 927 girls for every 1,000 boys under the age of 6 to 914.

Maharashtra state’s ratio is well below that, with just 883 girls for every 1,000 boys — down from 913 a decade ago. In the district of Satara, it is even lower, at 881.

Such ratios are the result of abortions of female fetuses, or just sheer neglect leading to a higher death rate among girls. The problem is so serious in India that hospitals are legally banned from revealing the gender of an unborn fetus in order to prevent sex-selective abortions, though evidence suggests the information gets out.

Part of the reason Indians favor sons is the enormous expense of marrying off girls. Families often go into debt arranging marriages and paying for elaborate dowries. A boy, on the other hand, will one day bring home a bride and dowry. Hindu custom also dictates that only sons can light their parents’ funeral pyres.

Over the years, and again now, efforts have been made to fight the discrimination.

“Nakusa is a very negative name as far as female discrimination is concerned,” said Satara district health officer Dr. Bhagwan Pawar, who came up with the idea for the renaming ceremony.

Other incentives, announced by federal or state governments every few years, include free meals and free education to encourage people to take care of their girls, and even cash bonuses for families with girls who graduate from high school.

Activists say the name “unwanted,” which is widely given to girls across India, gives them the feeling they are worthless and a burden.

“When the child thinks about it, you know, ‘My mom, my dad, and all my relatives and society call me unwanted,’ she will feel very bad and depressed,” said Sudha Kankaria of the organization Save the Girl Child. But giving these girls new names is only the beginning, she said.

“We have to take care of the girls, their education and even financial and social security, or again the cycle is going to repeat,” she said." - By Associated Press, Published: October 22

Apparently women are not the only ones to have a biological clock. (Click here)

Apparently quality of sperm is linked to men's age. So, the older a man gets, the lower the quality of his sperm.

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, new trailer!

The movie is set to hit theatres December 16th, 2011.

Taylor Lautner Receives Apology From GQ Over Offensive Gay Question