new info on the airport tasing keeps popping up almost daily, this is a disgrace!

VANCOUVER – An email from the RCMP's top officer in B.C. asserting that the four members involved in the Vancouver airport incident with Robert Dziekanski planned to use the Taser even before arriving at the scene has caused a halt to the inquiry into the death of the Polish immigrant.

Commission chair Thomas Braidwood called the disclosure of the email "appalling" and "highly relevant."

He ordered this morning the public inquiry be shut down until September for more evidence to be presented.

Chief Superintendent Dick Bent of E Division wrote an email Nov. 5, 2007, three weeks after Dziekanski's death, that said the four officers had discussed using the weapon while en route to the airport after the initial 911 call was reported.

Dziekanski, 40, was left wandering for hours by himself in the international arrivals wing of the Vancouver airport after he could not locate his mother. Ten hours after getting little help and assistance, he began picking up chairs in the lounge and throwing furniture on the ground. A 911 call to Richmond RCMP brought four officers to the airport and within 30 seconds of their arrival, Dziekanski was shot five times.

Commission counsel Art Vertlieb said the email was only received on June 16 and said the correspondence is significant because the four officers testified under oath that they had no discussions with each other and did not develop a plan of action.

"The email appears to tell you a significantly different story," said Vertlieb and recommended the final submissions be delayed while the officers return to the stand to testify again before commission chair Thomas Braidwood.

Federal government lawyer Helen Roberts broke down in tears as she explained that the email was overlooked.

"I would like to apologize to you, the commission counsel and to sincerely apologize on behalf of the government of Canada," said Roberts as she choked back tears.

Roberts said however that it appears that the email from the RCMP's top officer was a misunderstanding.

"It's entirely possible he misunderstood what was sent to him," said Roberts.

The email was sent from the chief superintendent to deputy commissioner Al MacIntyre and given to the federal government lawyers in April but not found until earlier this week.

"The members did not articulate that they did not see the symptoms of excited delirium," wrote Bent. "But had discussed the response en route that if he did not comply that they would go to CEW."

All four officers insisted that no one discussed during the few minutes drive from the detachment to the airport what action to take after the 911 call of a distraught man in the international arrivals lounge.

Lawyers for the four officers said they had talked to their clients after learning of the email earlier this week and all the four members stand by their testimony

"Chief Superintendent Bent must be mistaken about the conversation that occurred," said Ravi Hira, the lawyer representing Constable Kwesi Millington, the officer who fired the Taser. "What is happening here is that reputations are being damaged."

i can't believe that we need judges to force this info out!

Canada's 'toxic secret' soon to be made public

Last Updated: Thursday, June 18, 2009 | 2:27 PM ET Comments8Recommend10

CBC News

Environmental groups have long called the tailings lakes in the Alberta oilsands Canada's toxic secret, but companies operating there will soon be required to disclose exactly what pollutants are there.

In April, a federal court ordered Ottawa to make the mining industry release a complete inventory of what material they release into the environment. Now companies in the oilsands will also have to comply, CBC News has learned.

"It'll be the first time that Canadians have actually known what is in these tailings facilities and the extent of the pollution that these companies are producing," said Justin Duncan, a lawyer for the environmental groups that took the federal government to court on the issue and won.

Environment Canada has confirmed the lakes of sludge produced in the Alberta oilsands also fall under the ruling.

The pollution data will be ammunition for critics like David Schindler, a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta.

"The magnitude of the numbers is going to really shock people," Schindler said. "It's huge compared to any other mining development anywhere on the planet."

The contents of tailings lakes have not been kept secret, insists Alberta's Environment Minister Rob Renner.

"It certainly will improve transparency, and anything that can improve transparency is fine with me," Renner said Wednesday.

The court ruling forces mining companies to provide pollution data going back to 2006. By law, the information must be stored in an online database that the public will be able to see simply by typing in a postal code. For example, people living in Fort Chipewyan, in northern Alberta, will be able to type in their postal code and learn what kinds of pollutants are in their area.

There is no timeline for when the information will be available online, but it is expected to be in the next few months, Duncan said.

The Mining Association of Canada is worried about how the new pollution numbers will be interpreted by the public, Justyna Laurie-Lean, vice president environment and health, said Wednesday.

"The Mining Association of Canada maintains reporting mining pollution and tailings output shouldn't be taken at face value, because some materials deemed toxic are naturally occurring," Laurie-Lean said. "So excavating dirt would be considered creating pollution."

For that reason the association wants a separate reporting mechanism for mining and the oilsands.

Feds to give cops Internet-snooping powers

Feds to give cops Internet-snooping powers

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i really agree with this....addiction seems more like laziness to me

Addiction is voluntary, author contends in new book

Updated Wed. Jun. 17 2009 10:08 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The idea that addiction is a disease and that addicts do not have control over their disease, has been a pillar of belief of the psychology community for decades. Yet Gene Heyman, a lecturer in psychology at Harvard Medical School, has set off a firestorm by questioning this time-honoured assumption in his new book, Addiction: A Disorder of Choice.

Heyman argues that addiction is very much governed by personal choice and is not an involuntary illness. He says the long-held belief that addicts cannot control their addiction may be well-meaning but is ultimately wrong.

The proof, Heyman says, lies in the number of people who are able to beat their addiction and the reasons they do.

"When people say that addiction is a disease they mean that drug users have become involuntary, that they simply can't say no," Heyman told Canada AM Wednesday.

"I asked the question: What factors influence drug use to halt in addicts? Things like values and laws, being worried about being arrested, financial matters and respect from family -- these are the things that influence decisions.

"And so I looked to see if those factors influenced drug use in addicts. And it turns out when you look at the literature broadly, that's exactly what happens. So I take a different conceptual framework."

The problem with the field of addiction is that people have restricted their analysis, says Heyman. They contend when you consider the terrible toll that addiction takes on the lives of addicts, "no one would choose to be an addict."

Heyman agrees that yes, addicts are self-destructive, but this does not mean they will not change their behaviour once the costs of continuing their addiction become too great.

"I began looking at biographies, at the epidemiological literature, at studies where anthropologists lived with addicts, and what we see again and again is the pattern of behaviour where the factors such as the desire for the respect of children or parents or worries about finances lead addicts to stop using drugs. So that's the real test," he explains.

He says when addiction experts tell addicts their addiction disease is "involuntary," it doesn't help them. If anything, it may give them a crutch to enable them to continue.

"What the data show is that most addicts actually quit. And this is encouraging. To be told that you have a chronic relapsing disease that has no cure cannot be helpful -- but especially if it's not the truth," says Heyman.

"But the truth, when we look at the data, is that most addicts quit, and they can be encouraged to quit much sooner. I think what is required to help someone quit is the knowledge that it is possible and that there's a better life once you do quit.

"Smoking is an addiction. And since the 1964 publishing of the U.S. Surgeon General's report, about 80 per cent of smokers have quit, and they typically quit on their own. So we know that people can quit an addiction."

good grief! again.....and suspended with pay! bah1

CTV News has learned that a Calgary police officer has been charged with impaired driving.

The off-duty officer was arrested by the RCMP two weeks ago near the town of Olds.

He is a constable working out of the District 2 station in Calgary and has been with the service for just over a year.

Sources tell CTV that he was pulled over by RCMP officers who observed him driving on a road near Olds last month.

He was alone in the vehicle.

Kevin Brookwell of the Calgary Police Service says police were made aware of the charges on May 29. He says it is up to police in the juristiction of the alleged offence to decide if the information will be released to the public.

The officer has been charged with impaired driving and driving over the legal limit. He has also been suspended with pay pending a review by the chief of police.

Chief Hanson will decide if the officer can return to work or will face further disciplinary action. A hearing is also held after the court proceedings are over if the officer is still an active member of the service.

The officer will be back in court to face the charges later this month.

Full Dash Cam Video of Oklahoma Highway Patrol vs EMT

another fine moment from the police! an ambulance driver has to get a lady to the hospital. a cop is on his way to a stolen vehicle report. the ambulance gets over when it can, but has to go around a parked car on the highway!

the situation that follows when the cop catches up with the ambulance later is scary stuff.

i am online right now looking at an 'around the world ticket!!!'

wwwwhhhhhhoooooooooppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!  i think i am going to do it!