Sunday, August 14, 2005
Mothers rage against the system
Two interesting stories have emerged this week in North America with respect to mothers lashing out against "the man". In Canada, an Ontario woman is questioning when the country became so damned left-winged. Meanwhile, in the United States, a mother of a solider killed in Iraq is into week two of her protest at Crawford, Texas.
First the Canadian story. A 15 year-old mystery, that haunted Carol Taylor and her family, was finally solved earlier this week. Lynda Shaw's mother, however, felt no relief, no sense of closure when OPP officers shared the name of her daughter's killer about two weeks ago.
Shaw, 21, was abducted, raped, beaten, stabbed and dumped off Highway 401 near London in 1990 by a convicted double murderer named Alan Craig MacDonald -- about a year after he was paroled and living in a Brantford halfway house.
Her mother says that she feels a deep sense of anger over a justice system that failed her daughter by freeing MacDonald after he served 12 years of a life sentence for the 1975 killing of Dartmouth, N.S., police officer Eric Spicer, 28, and cabbie Keith E. McCallum, 23. Also, she is extremely frustrated over a police decision to withhold MacDonald's name from the public out of privacy concerns because the burly construction worker committed suicide in 1994 and thus could never be tried.
Taylor concluded by saying she was told because the convicted was deceased, his name needed to be protected for 30 years. Authorities state that this is standard practice under privacy legislation. Taylor, she thinks it’s incredible and the country has become so left wing.
Meanwhile in the United States, Anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq, is calling for Bush's "impeachment," threatening not to pay her taxes, calling for Israel to get out of Palestine and discussing her hatred of pants - ok, I added that last part! You may as well aim for the fences if you are swinging.
Sheehan, who is asking for a second meeting with President Bush, says defiantly: "My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004. You killed my son, George Bush, and I don't owe you a penny...you give my son back and I'll pay my taxes. Come after me (for back taxes) and we'll put this war on trial."
The 48-year-old California mom remains tented up in a ditch along the one-lane road that leads to Bush's Texas ranch. As her protest entered its second week, hundreds of people with conflicting opinions about the war in Iraq descended on the area.
Bush has not handled this situation well either. He dispatched Stephen Hadley, national security adviser, and a deputy White House chief of staff, to talk to Sheehan on Saturday. Sheehan said the meeting, which she called "pointless," lasted 20 minutes. The White House said it lasted 45 minutes. This has just added fuel to the fire and gave her case some legitimacy.
Sheehan declares that if America got out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine then you'll stop the terrorism.
I am actually glad that the world doesn't take policy advice from grieving parents since both of these problems are a little more complex than they have made them out to be.
First the Canadian story. A 15 year-old mystery, that haunted Carol Taylor and her family, was finally solved earlier this week. Lynda Shaw's mother, however, felt no relief, no sense of closure when OPP officers shared the name of her daughter's killer about two weeks ago.
Shaw, 21, was abducted, raped, beaten, stabbed and dumped off Highway 401 near London in 1990 by a convicted double murderer named Alan Craig MacDonald -- about a year after he was paroled and living in a Brantford halfway house.
Her mother says that she feels a deep sense of anger over a justice system that failed her daughter by freeing MacDonald after he served 12 years of a life sentence for the 1975 killing of Dartmouth, N.S., police officer Eric Spicer, 28, and cabbie Keith E. McCallum, 23. Also, she is extremely frustrated over a police decision to withhold MacDonald's name from the public out of privacy concerns because the burly construction worker committed suicide in 1994 and thus could never be tried.
Taylor concluded by saying she was told because the convicted was deceased, his name needed to be protected for 30 years. Authorities state that this is standard practice under privacy legislation. Taylor, she thinks it’s incredible and the country has become so left wing.
Meanwhile in the United States, Anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son Casey was killed in Iraq, is calling for Bush's "impeachment," threatening not to pay her taxes, calling for Israel to get out of Palestine and discussing her hatred of pants - ok, I added that last part! You may as well aim for the fences if you are swinging.
Sheehan, who is asking for a second meeting with President Bush, says defiantly: "My son was killed in 2004. I am not paying my taxes for 2004. You killed my son, George Bush, and I don't owe you a penny...you give my son back and I'll pay my taxes. Come after me (for back taxes) and we'll put this war on trial."
The 48-year-old California mom remains tented up in a ditch along the one-lane road that leads to Bush's Texas ranch. As her protest entered its second week, hundreds of people with conflicting opinions about the war in Iraq descended on the area.
Bush has not handled this situation well either. He dispatched Stephen Hadley, national security adviser, and a deputy White House chief of staff, to talk to Sheehan on Saturday. Sheehan said the meeting, which she called "pointless," lasted 20 minutes. The White House said it lasted 45 minutes. This has just added fuel to the fire and gave her case some legitimacy.
Sheehan declares that if America got out of Iraq and Israel out of Palestine then you'll stop the terrorism.
I am actually glad that the world doesn't take policy advice from grieving parents since both of these problems are a little more complex than they have made them out to be.
# posted by Shaky @ 11:19 a.m. 
