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

CBC: We disagree w/ Don Cherry's comments

"The CBC is skating away from Don Cherry's rant about fighting in hockey that has generated widespread criticism toward the outspoken commentator.

The CBC issued a statement Saturday saying it does not agree with the views Cherry expressed on a Hockey Night in Canadabroadcast Thursday.

Cherry called three former NHL tough guys "pukes" for speaking out against fighting in the sport. Those ex-players were Stu Grimson, Chris Nilan, and Jim Thomson.

In his popular "Coach's Corner" segment, he also lashed out at anti-fighting advocates in general.

He said they used the summer deaths of three former NHL enforcers as a soapbox for their arguments against fighting. Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak died within a matter of weeks this summer.

Kirstine Stewart, the CBC's executive vice-president of English services, says Cherry's comments reflect his own personal opinion.

"While we support his right to voice that opinion, we do not share his position," Stewart said in the statement.

"Player safety is a top priority for CBC, and we support the initiatives of the NHL and others in keeping players safe on and off the ice."

Stewart says she spoke Friday with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and delivered a similar message.

Cherry called Grimson, Nilan and Thomson "turncoats" and "hypocrites," accusing them of not wanting players to make the same living they did.

He also accused those who want to end violence in the sport of taking advantage of the three deaths to make points on fighting. " - CBC.ca

I agree with CBC. Cherry is just an *sshole with outfits that would make even a figure skater go blind.

Amanda Tapping: Vancouver is why "Sanctuary" works

BY ALEX STRACHAN, POSTMEDIA NEWS OCTOBER 6, 2011

VANCOUVER — Amanda Tapping is fighting the early signs of a cold on this early October morning, but she feels energized and reinvigorated just the same. Filming has concluded in Burnaby on the 13 episodes of Sanctuary’s fourth season, and Tapping — an executive producer, as well as Sanctuary’s lead actor — is immersed in post-production, putting the finishing touches on a season she says will take Sanctuary’s followers on a darker, more cerebral turn.

The modest, home-grown science fiction-fantasy series has confounded the doubters who scoffed at the idea that an eight-webisode series, originally conceived for the web in 2007, would ever make it as a full-blown drama series on prime-time TV, let alone one that would survive four years. Sanctuary returns Friday on SPACE. It has become a mainstay for the U.S. Syfy cable channel, and shows little sign of going gently into that good night just yet.

Sanctuary has become a full-time preoccupation for her, thanks to series creator Damian Kindler and a cast ensemble of fellow Canadians that includes Robin Dunne, JPod’s Emilie Ullerup, Stargate Atlantis’s Christopher Heyerdahl and Battlestar Galactica’s Ryan Robbins. Tapping is perhaps best-known from her years playing galaxy-tripping adventurer Samantha Carter in the long-running sci-fi series, Stargate SG-1, but Sanctuary is a personal passion project.

“This season is a little darker than previous seasons, a little more action-packed,” Tapping said. “We go back in time. It’s all part of a master plan.”

The new season will also feature the series’ first all-music episode, Fugue, with music and lyrics by Kindler and Sanctuary’s longtime background composer, Andrew Lockington.

“It’s hugely gratifying to see how far it’s come, and also a little surreal, because it did start so humbly,” Tapping said. “I often have moments where I think, ‘Man, we’re getting to make it into a TV show. Nobody thought we could make it into a TV show.’ There but for the grace of our finances we go, every year. We are a 100 per cent independent Canadian television series. I think that’s an anomaly in this country, and probably around the world, in most countries. To have a television show that doesn’t have the backing of a major studio or a major network is really unusual. We are supported by a couple of networks, but basically, it’s up to us to make the show happen.”

Tapping both acts in and executive-produces Sanctuary. Her supervisory duties include sitting in on story meetings, signing off on casting decisions, and overseeing the day-to-day running of a series that is both a labour of love and a considerable amount of labour.

“We’ll be working in post-production, probably up until a couple of weeks before the last episode airs,” she said.

Sanctuary would not have been possible to make anywhere other than Burnaby and the Vancouver area, Tapping believes, not just for the expansive sound stages and experienced film crews — many who worked on Stargate — but for personal reasons, as well.

“Many of us have small children,” she said. “We all have families. Doing it anywhere else would have been just awful. There’s a real sense of ownership. I don’t know that we could do this show anywhere else, not for the amount of money we do it for.”

Sanctuary has gone the Comic-Con route; Tapping appeared on a panel at the annual pop-culture convention in San Diego, and was almost mobbed in the process. Genre fans have embraced Sanctuary with the kind of passion — some might say obsession — that sci-fi fans are known for.

Those fans are also socially aware, Tapping says.

“They might be the most socially aware fan base there is, certainly that I’m aware of. And unbelievably generous.”

Tapping used that social awareness to help establish a small-scale, real-world charitable organization, Sanctuary for Kids, in 2009. The charity, which supports children in crisis on both a local and global level, and has raised more than $250,000 in just two years, has been adopted by Sanctuary’s other cast members and crew.

The idea, Tapping says, is that charitable aid can be just as effective on a modest, case-by-case basis — one school, and one child at a time — as it can on the large-scale NGO, non-governmental organizational level. Sanctuary has given Tapping the opportunity to pay something back for the good fortune she and others connected with Sanctuary have experienced in their lives, she says.

“To me, I’m living this great life; I thought there must be some way I can give back. Smaller charities can do a lot. There are places where a small amount of money can make a huge difference. The mandate is to help people who need help. It’s a small drop in the bucket, but it’s a drop. And it is making a difference.”

Sanctuary’s end days are a long way off, Tapping believes.

“I would like to see it continue for a while. We have a plan in place, and we’ve stayed with it so far. We always wanted it to go at least five seasons. From my perspective, I’m not ready to let it go yet. “

astrachan@postmedia.com

R.I.P., Steve Jobs (Click here to see his top 10 most memorable moments).

Refusing to Kill Daughter, Pakistani Family Defies Tradition, Draws Anger

Rape survivor Kainat Soomro, left / Hilke Schellmann

"A Pakistani girl who says she was kidnapped and gang-raped faces a new threat: honor killings, a tradition here, but one that her family refuses to carry out.

KARACHI, PAKISTAN -- Kainat Soomro is a 17-year-old Pakistani girl who has become a local celebrity of sorts in her battle for justice in the Pakistani courts, a daring move for a woman of any age in this country, let alone a teenager.

She is fighting to get justice for a gang rape that she insists happened four years ago in Mehar, a small town in Pakistan.

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MORE FROM THE PULITZER CENTER:
Outlawed in Pakistan
Life in a Karachi Shelter
Colombia's Mining Boom
Nepal: Adoption Limbo

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We first met her in the office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. A colorful traditional Pakistani shawl covered her head. Her father sat next to her as she recounted the 2007 incident.

"I was walking home from my school and I went to the store to buy a toy for my niece," she said, staring at the floor of the office. "While I was looking at things a guy pressed a handkerchief on my nose. I fainted and was kidnapped. Then four men gang raped me."

As she shared details of her days in captivity and multiple rapes, she kept repeating, "I want justice, I will not stop until I get justice." After three days, she was finally able to escape she said. As she spoke, her father gently tapped her head. He said he tried to get Kainat's alleged rapists arrested, but instead he was rebuffed by the police.

According to the Kainat family's account, the tribal elders declared her kari, (which literally means black female), for losing her virginity outside marriage.

In Pakistan, women and men who have illicit relationships or women who lose their virginity before marriage are at risk of paying with their lives.

"These are matters of honor and the leaders call a jirga and they declare that the woman or the couple should be killed," said Abdul Hai, a veteran field officer for the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan. These acts of violence are most commonly labeled as "honor killings."

The most recent report from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan noted that in 2009 roughly 46 percent of all female murders in Pakistan that year were in the name of "honor." The report noted that a total of 647 incidences of "honor killings" were reported by the Pakistani press. However, experts say that actual incidences of "honor killings" in Pakistan are much higher and never get reported to the police because they are passed off by the families as suicides.

Kainat said that despite the pressures her family refused to kill her.

"It is the tradition, but if the family doesn't permit it, then it won't happen. My father, my brother, my mom didn't allow it," she said.

And that defiance has left the family fearing for their lives. The family's new home in Karachi has been attacked a number of times.

But, according to Abdul Hai, Kainat is lucky: "The woman or the girl usually gets killed and the man gets away," he said. "Over 70 percent of the murdered victims are women and only 30 percent of victims of honor killings are male."

In Karachi, Kainat and her family are now sharing one room in a run-down apartment block, and they have to rely on charities to help them pay for food.

"We go hungry many nights," said Kainat's older sister.

But their fight might never pay off. A local judge has already ruled against Kainat in the case. "There is no corroborative evidence available on record. The sole testimony of the alleged rape survivor is not sufficient," the judge said in a written decision.

Another problem is that material evidence is usually not collected in rape cases in Pakistan since the police rarely believe rape victims and therefore don't order rape kits in a timely manner.

Without medical tests to corroborate her story, it remains Kainat's word against the alleged rapists. But even having lost her case at the local court, Kainat insists, "I am not giving up, I will take this all the way to the Supreme Court of Pakistan." " - Source: The Atlantic.

I admire this family greatly for standing up for what is right in a country that seems to be so sexist... Congrats! I tip my hat off to you, and wish you luck in your endeavors... And wish I could help.

10 things about the Murray trial that you won't see on TV (Click here).