Read About W-N NP story on W-N Contact W-N & Map Wednesday Night Salon #1220 July 20 2005 Page 2 intro Wed1220 | Wed1220 slide show Drs Mark Roper & Andre Pasternac www.flickr.com More of davidnicholson's photos tagged with wed1220 slide show Wednesday Night Salon #1220 July 20 2005 Report from Paris In the post-decision period for the award of the 2012 Olympic games, cooking not even being considered a competitive Olympic sport, French President Jacques Chirac’s comments were quickly disregarded by the French, who apparently took the defeat in a civilized manner, recognizing the superior British presentation and (somewhat disdainfully) 'lobbying', as well as Tony Blair’s Olympic quality hand-shaking that had won the day. The following day, France was as shocked as the rest of the world and joined in the sentiments expressed by M. Chirac in extending their sympathy to the British on the vicious bombing of the London tube system. London London may very well find itself in debt following the 2012 Olympic Games as did Montreal in 1967, for the same reason. An aging infrastructure will require that many major facilities be constructed from scratch and the east end of London transformed. However, with the size of their population, any debt incurred will not have as serious a long-term effect as it did in this city. [Editor's note: Once again, the bombers struck in London on Thursday, therefore there was no discussion on this Wednesday Night of the second wave of bombings, continuing tension in London, nor of the subsequent police error in killing an innocent Brazilian on suspicion of being implicated. Despite the strong 'business as usual' message following the first attacks, there now appears to be some worry that the already-slowing British economy will be further affected Times they are a-changing There appears to be some anxiety on the part of Canadians about the U.S. decision to extend daylight saving time by two months a year in an attempt to conserve energy, with concern expressed around air traffic control, stock market closings and just in time delivery. On the surface, it would seem that the world lives with east-west time zone borders without concern, but panics at the thought of north south time zone borders. Because livestock are presumably less intelligent than humans, many farm communities are on standard time the entire year. Pilots universally fly on Greenwich Mean Time (Zulu), so where is the problem? The answer to that question is that despite the flexibility of Homo Sapiens in the longer term, the twice a year monthly difference is what will cause the big problem and as is normally the case, Canada will probably follow the U.S. lead ("Canada should follow U.S. in Daylight Savings Time change"), humans will adapt to the change and livestock will continue to leave their eating and milking schedule intact. The next U.S. Supreme Court justice President Bush has nominated fifty-year-old John Glover Roberts Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court to succeed Sandra Day O’Connor. There is every indication that Congress will ratify the appointment. The Supreme Court, being the ultimate arbiter, the tenor of its decisions has a lag effect on the morality and political philosophy of a nation. This is more so in the U.S. than in Canada where compulsory retirement favours a more rapid turnover of judges, thus maintaining a greater synchronization with the evolution of public opinion. The current controversy is the concern that with the eventual retirement of Chief Justice Rehnquist, President Bush will push the orientation of the Court firmly to the right, leading to possible revisiting and changing of such 'liberal' decisions based on constitutional rights as affirmative action and abortion. Where there is a perception of a conflict between constitutional rights and legislative rights, there is much room to manoeuvre in the judicial process. As the number of reasonably young right wing Republican appointees increases, the religious convictions of the majority of the Justices may very well, with the passage of time and the two year electoral cycle, outlive those of the elected members of Congress. John Roberts will face Congress for confirmation of his appointment. He can only be questioned on his past decisions rather than those he might take in a hypothetical situation. He can certainly be asked about his attitude towards the constitution and will probably favour returning more power from Congress to State legislators. Viewed as less conservative than other potential candidates, his confirmation is virtually assured. The right to abortion In the context of the shifting political orientation of the Supreme Court the most cited decision is that of Roe vs. Wade of 1973 whereby (despite an increasingly conservative cast to the Court) the Court ruled 7-2 that women had an unrestricted right to abort a fetus during the first trimester of pregnancy, but that the state had an interest in protecting the fetus after that, when it became "viable" or able to live outside the womb. The decision was based on an implicit constitutional right to privacy and guarantees of due process. There are those, even among Wednesday Nighters, who believe that abortion at any stage is murder, but illegal abortions which would certainly occur in the absence of legal means of terminating pregnancy, are inherently more dangerous. see wn abortion The issue of the sanctity of life (including the life of a foetus) is not a simple one to resolve. Sub-issues include the agony of rape victims in carrying the infant of their assailant for nine months and the danger to society of unwanted children. With the number of abortions in this country almost attaining the level of live births, the issue becomes even more important. Euthanasia The issue of early pregnancy abortion raises that of assisted suicide to moribund young patients and adults. There is much sympathy for Robert Latimer in the mercy killing of his daughter Tracy. However, the danger lies in the possible conspiracy by greedy relatives who would profit from the death of an aged patient who is not really in agreement with their plan, or in the death of a person who is passing through the well-documented phases from denial to acceptance of a long-term disability. It can be agreed, however, that assisted suicide in the context of a palliative care unit at the end of a patient’s life, might be acceptable to most. [It was regrettable that Dr. Margo Somerville OWN author of Death Talk, The Case against Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide was not with us to argue the case against euthanasia with her usual verve] see wn on euthanasia.asp Friday 07 December 2007 REGINA: CONTINUING JAIL FOR MERCY-KILLER FATHER DENOUNCED The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says the continued incarceration of a father who took the life of his severely handicapped seven-year-old daughter is a "national disgrace." The Association says it's time for the federal government to grant former Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer clemency. Mr. Latimer is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder. On Wednesday, the National Parole Board refused him parole on the grounds that he has shown insufficient remorse. The Association says the Board should focus on risk assessment rather than remorse. Friday Dec 7, 2007 Paroling Latimer would endanger no one ...Tracy had the mental capacity of a 3-month-old baby. She was quadriplegic, mostly bed-ridden, suffered up to six seizures a day and what lay ahead of her was the prospect of many more operations. She was in significant pain, her parents said. Parole Latimer The decision not to grant day parole to Robert Latimer is absurd. Pedophiles are paroled only to reoffend and murderers and rapists are given a second chance to rape and kill, but a man who couldn't stand to see his daughter suffer and ended her life out of love and devotion is kept behind bars. Thursday 06 December 2007 Latimer deserved parole Whatever one thinks of Robert Latimer's decision to kill his severely disabled 12-year-old daughter in 1993, the Saskatchewan farmer he has been properly punished for his crime and has paid his debt to society after spending seven years in prison. ....The troubling ethical and moral questions Latimer's case raise have no easy answers. But he has already served enough time. Now, he should be allowed to start rebuilding his life. LATIMER'S UNCHANGED HEART by Daniel Casey December 6, 2007 Robert Latimer’s mournful gaze and quiet voice are the most eloquent things about the man, who went from simple Saskatchewan farmer to unwilling national symbol when he killed his severely disabled daughter in 1993. Right or wrong, justifiable or not, he is clearly in full command of his faculties and will carry the weight of his fateful act with him for the rest of his life. Though he was described as a model prisoner and his parole officer considers him a low risk to reoffend, the National Parole Board denied his request for day parole after their hearing yesterday. The members are quoted in the Star as telling Latimer that they “were left with a feeling that you have not developed the kind of sufficient insight and understanding of your actions.” According to The National, the board members repeatedly questioned him about what he would do if left alone with his ailing mother and called him “cold.” We may face an intractable moral argument in this case, and the law will have to come down on one side or another in a way that creates deep unease either way; we either constrain the purview of mercy, or condone the murder of a helpless individual. The ability of more immediate human judgements to moderate inescapable calculations of principle, however, was fully in evidence in the decisions made at Latimer’s 1997 trial in Saskatchewan and described in the Globe and the Citizen: the jury recommended, and the judge agreed, that Latimer be sentenced to one year in prison and one under house arrest. An unrepentant Latimer appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which revised his sentence upward to the federal minimum of life in prison and no parole for ten years. Applying for day parole to an Ottawa halfway house, Latimer had hoped to continue to lobby the federal government about euthanasia, and (as the Post explains) try to get an explanation from the Supreme Court for some of the arguments used in sentencing him, namely their assertion that better pain management options were available. This was possibly part of the Parole Board’s reasoning, given that they look for “significant and lasting change” in a prisoner’s attitude towards his or her crimes when making their assessment. It is a grim testament to our faith in prison’s ability to totally remake an offender that the Parole Board would deny a man who poses no threat to society the right to live among us, only because he refuses to consider himself a criminal in his heart. CTV NEWS: “Parole Denied: No parole for Robert Latimer, 14 years after killing his disabled daughter” Saturday Jan 24, 2004 Latimer says he is =grateful= for the support he has received from many Canadians. He is serving a life sentence, with no chance of parole for 10 years, for killing his severely disabled daughter Tracy in 1993. =I know the thinking people in this country are on my side,= he said yesterday Latimer 10 years on: No regrets Says he killed daughter to end her pain Has now spent three years in prison VICTORIA—A decade after killing his disabled daughter, Tracy, and igniting a national debate on euthanasia, Robert Latimer offers no regrets, no excuses and no apologies. "It was the right thing to do," Latimer said yesterday in a rare interview, at the minimum-security William Head Institution, 30 kilometres west of here Thursday Dec 18, 2003 cbc KILLING DAUGHTER RIGHT THING TO DO: LATIMER Robert Latimer still believes he did the right thing more than 10 years after he ran a hose from the exhaust to the cab of his pickup truck and put his daughter Tracy inside to die. PETITION TO THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA RE: ROBERT LATIMER Fri 3/2/01 NEW CORRECTIONS POLICY BAD NEWS FOR LATIMER Robert Latimer's wife says she's terrified her husband will have to spend the first two years of his life sentence in a maximum security prison. 11/Feb/2001 Latimer allies press on By: PAUL CHERRY CATHERINE SOLYOM The Gazette Since Robert Latimer started serving a life sentence three weeks ago, Jamie Bassett's phone has been ringing off the hook. "We have received thousands of phone calls from people saying they can't sleep at night, people all across Canada in tears," said Bassett, who with his wife has led a campaign to support Robert Latimer ever since he was convicted of killing his severely disabled daughter Tracy in 1993. 25/Jan/2001 RALLY CALLS FOR CLEMENCY FOR LATIMER Supporters of Robert Latimer held a rally Wednesday to urge the federal government to shorten his sentence for killing his severely disabled daughter. 20/Jan/2001 CANADIANS REACT TO LATIMER CASE Within a half-hour of the Supreme Court decision on Robert Latimer's fate, e-mails began flowing into cbc.ca with the opinions of Canadians who wanted to register their point of view. Jo Lynn Sheane reports for CBC TV Patient-assisted medical clinic The patients of Vendôme Medical Clinic have established a controversial foundation with the intention of enabling that clinic to remain open despite continual increases in operating costs, given the shrinking number of medical practitioners (estimates are that the province is short of approximately 800 general practitioners). As we have heard from Dr. Mark Roper OWNDr. Mark Roper OWN and Dr. Martin Dawes on several occasions [see particularly: wednesday-night.com/Wed1200.asp], Québec’s attempt to increase medical coverage in the rural regions has resulted in increasingly unacceptably poor coverage by family physicians in urban areas and very little concomitant improvement in the outlying areas, with the exception of La Mauricie, which has, indeed, benefited, - as have neighbouring provinces who have welcomed our current medical graduates. There has reportedly also been a perceptible improvement on Montreal’s south shore but this is said to be more apparent than real. [Editor's note: On Thursday morning the problem became even more acute when we learned that this year, an unprecedented number (36%) of graduates of the McGill family medicine program failed to pass the province's licensing exams, even though most of them passed the two Canada-wide exams. montreal.cbc.ca/regional/ ] Energy An unusual phenomenon on the energy scene may very well portend the future. Short-term oil is now being offered at a premium, rather than a discount, to the established price. In a flexible market such as this, it is unlikely that Canadians will perceive the effect until the price of petroleum reaches a level of about one hundred dollars a barrel. In the end, we may very well come to realize that nuclear energy is the cleanest, most acceptable form of energy available to us. see wn on Energy Canada's entrepreneurs In the United States, the entrepreneurial spirit is revered and admired, something to be aspired to. This does not appear to be so to the same extent in Canada where there is a lack of serial investors, and of serial entrepreneurs. For too long the government has been involved in making poor investments in businesses and losing money, leaving individual investors wary and unwilling to take risks. JACQUES CLÉMENT: REPORT ON THE ECONOMY is not available for July 20, please refer to:Wednesday-night.com/Jacques-Report.asp#1219 Near-term trading Range Outlook Wed July 13 2005 Euro: -$1.20 U.S. - $1.22 U.S. Crude oil: $59.00 U.S. to $61.00 U.S. (heading for $75) Gold:- $424.00 U.S. - $428.00 U.S. (heading for $450) Dow-Jones: D.J.: 10,500 -10,700 after a gain of over 300 points in the latest week. The T.S.X : T.S.X. 10,500 year-end July 25, 2005 Tuesday Jul 19, 2005 nyt A Jar of Red Herrings The leaking of a C.I.A. operative's name to a conservative columnist is a complicated matter, and it's been made more so by a raft of distracting issues. By RICHARD W. STEVENSON Officials faced a barrage of queries about whether a top adviser disclosed an undercover operative's identity. ...For those who are still confused, the Economist Global Agenda maintains a running update Monday Jul 18, 2005 nyt Reporter Says He First Learned of C.I.A. Operative From Rove By LORNE MANLY and DAVID JOHNSTON In this week's issue of Time magazine, Matthew Cooper details how Karl Rove supplied information about a C.I.A. officer. Vacancy at the U.S. Supreme Court John G. Roberts, Herb Bercovitz OWN more img Herb's Show Gerald Ratzer OWN his WN page Friday Jul 22, 2005 nyt Interactive Graphic: Judge Roberts's Opinions A look at the 49 published opinions of Judge John G. Roberts, President Bush's nominee for the Supreme Court, reveals a philosophy that aligns him in many ways with the conservative wing of the current court. [Update: John G. Roberts, Jr., Jurist Born: 27 January 1955 Birthplace: Buffalo, New York Best Known As: 2005 nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court John G. Roberts, Jr. was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President George W. Bush on 19 July 2005. At the time of his nomination, Roberts was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals (D.C. Circuit), a position which he assumed in 2003 after also being nominated by President Bush. According to the Washington Post, Roberts "has long been considered one of the Republicans' heavyweights amid the largely Democratic Washington legal establishment." He served as a legal aide in the administration of Ronald Reagan, in private practice at the firm of Hogan & Hartson, and was deputy solicitor general in the administration of George Bush the elder from 1989-93. He earned an undergraduate degree from Harvard in 1976, and a degree from Harvard Law School in 1979, after which he clerked for Supreme Court justice William Rehnquist. Roberts's 2005 nomination was to the seat vacated by retiring justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman ever to sit on the Supreme Court. Roberts took only three years to complete his undergraduate degree at Harvard... His middle name is Glover... He is married to Jane Marie Sullivan, also a lawyer; they have two children, Josephine and Jack. FOUR GOOD LINKS Washington Post: John G. Roberts, Jr. The newspaper offers a quick precis of his life and career so far A Change at the Supreme Court CNN covers the Roberts nomination from all angles dKosopedia: John G. Roberts, Jr. Good background details from the left-leaning political encyclopedia Two Alums May Be Tapped for Court 2005 report from The Harvard Crimson; worth it for the old class photo Thursday Jul 21, 2005 WASHINGTON Complete Coverage: The President's Supreme Court Nominee NYTimes.com's coverage of the John G. Roberts nomination includes analysis by Times writers, an interactive graphic highlighting Judge Roberts's career, and video and a transcript of Tuesday night's press conference. The Gomery Commision See Martin, vs Chrétien . We remind you that given the devoted following generated by Jacques Clément's Reports on the Economy, are now published on their own special pages and are linked from each week's summary page. UNITED STATES Current Beige Book June 15, 2005 Fed reports growth in 11 of 12 regions Beige Book: Retail mixed, jobs improve, price pressure up Note Wednesday-Night creates charts and follows stocks, including timely related financial news items, in which Wednesday Nighters are interested and in order to demonstrate a service that could eventually be developed and marketed. Wednesday Nighters are invited to participate and help to test the service. see WN Flip charts QUOTES of the EVENING from recent Wednesday Nights From #1220 Roe vs. Wade is not a theological issue. It is an issue of rights The Hitlers of this world are the product of unloved children In our society, I think that it is unacceptable that we think nothing of terminating a life by abortion but don’t permit the ending of a miserable life (through assisted suicide) Families sometimes have strange and evil dynamics If you make it to a palliative care unit, you should have that choice (assisted suicide) There is a lot going in the economy but people don’t feel prosperous. ... There is the sense that other people are getting wealthy but not they Interest rates are low, unemployment is low, but most people feel that they are just treading water You speak to thirty year-old Canadian couples who complain that they haven’t enough money to have children, then you go to Africa where people have no money but the kids are running around all over the place Notes by Herbert Bercovitz OWN & Edited by Diana Thébaud Nicholson OWN Mouse bio Herb Bercovitz OWN Galbraith imges his page W-N Links for #1220 Thursday Jul 14, 2005 ts Aerospace group to unveil its plan For the last two years, a collection of aerospace industry stakeholders in the province, including GTA politicians, union heads and parts manufacturers, have dwelt on how to chart the future of this fast-changing manufacturing sector. Stephen S. Poloz VP EDC Economics Weekly Commentary Should Italy abandon the euro? - July 20, 2005 European monetary union always seemed like a good idea, in theory. One currency for all would simplify things, reduce volatility and lead to better-functioning economies across the union. Past issues | his WN page Maisonneuve Magazine with Derek Webster the Publisher ; a NewYorker Cartoon every 30 sec. see w-n Right Menu => Harper's | Home Canadian dollar vs euro | Dow 30 w-n chart | TSX Paul Martin 2005 Notes for #1220 Friday Jul 22, 2005 rci MONTREAL: DOCTORS FAILED KEY EXAM IN LARGE NUMBERS One of Canada's leading universities, McGill University, is investigating why so many family medicine graduates failed their licensing exams this year. More than one-third of new family-medicine graduates failed the exam required by the province of Quebec. McGill University is in Quebec's largest city, Montreal. The usual failure rate at Quebec's four medical schools is zero to 10 per cent. The unprecedented failure rate is raising concerns that the new doctors will leave Quebec and search for work elsewhere. The Quebec Federation of General Practitioners says that the province needs about 800 family practitioners. July 20, 2005 mw Greenspan sees good times ahead Says Fed must stand ready to keep raising rates Growth should remain fairly steady in 2006, the FOMC said. Real GDP growth should be in the range of 3.25% to 3.5%. ...With Mr Greenspan expected to step down in January, two months before his 80th birthday, this may be his swan-song before the legislative body. Time to Fix our clocks July 20, 2005 ts U.S. puts Canada in time crunch Canadian business leaders fear major economic disruption if this country does not get in step with an American move to extend daylight saving time. July 20, 2005 ts Brief history of daylight saving time Studies have shown extra daylight in the evening July 20, 2005 ts Get set for darker November mornings The sky will be darker as you stumble to the kitchen for your morning coffee Monday Jul 18, 2005 nyt Unprepared for a Flu Pandemic Neither the United States nor international health authorities are prepared to cope with an avian influenza pandemic. July 20, 2005 tsScotty`s words to live by It`s the most repeated line of the old Star Trek series, whether or not Capt. Kirk actually said these words in this order: "Beam me up, Scotty." No matter. It`s taken on a life of its own. Sunday Jul 17, 2005 BOOKS Review: 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' A harrowing denouement that sees the death of yet another important person in Harry's life renders this the darkest and most unsettling installment yet. • Featured Author: J. K. Rowling Kimon Valaskakis KIMON' wn page Thursday, July 14, 2005 Message from Kimon Valaskakis, President, Global Governance Group "I would first like to take this opportunity to add my voice to the collective anger and indignation at the recent terrorist events in London. As in the case of other similar events, I cannot conceive of any possible justification or excuse which can, in any way, condone, excuse or even offer mitigating circumstances to the wanton and cruel killing of innocent people. This is savagery at the highest level. It is violence that is not targeted or rational and in my book there is no way to be ambivalent about it, whatever the “root causes”. It is Humanity at its worst. The global ungovernability which it reflects, lends even greater urgency to what we are trying to achieve in our mission statement at School of Athens (SOA) of exploring new ways of governing our world. If, one day, our work contributes in helping to prevent even one such incident and save even one life, it will all have been worthwhile." , Newsletter of the Global Governance Group (GGG) see also wn MedicalNotes Would you like to click for Wednesday-Night Story by Terry Jones Stephanie Lalut on W-N the Computer Box Click Here To Add Wed1220page2.asp To Your Favorites More Info About... Read Cookie for Site Please click here to see new/updated pages since last visit www.iedm.org/ coming Events Martin Barnes Wed 1219 July 13th, 2005 Me Marie Cormier intro Blake H. Sutherland, BSc, MSc, MBA, CFA Sylvie & Gregory Saumier-Finch intro friends Peter Perkins & Martin Barnes OWN on Literacy & the Gala with RECLAIM & Udo Stundner OWN, Me Allan Mass & Louise des trois Maisons , Gerald Ratzer OWN Jacques Clément & his report Please click for Wed1219 invite | Wed1219 photos Wed1219 report Wed1220 invite Wed1221 The views above are neither those of the authors nor the owner of the website, but merely reflect discussions that took place on a this evening