Anyone know?

Good Day Readers:

We've been following Metis Mama's postings about residential schools on http://www.metisbarefacts.blogspot.com/. Someone left the following comment on her site:

Anonymous said...
You forgot to mention David's favorite trick - HE TOOK GLORIAN TOO! Thursday, April 30, 2009 8:14:00 PM

Does anyone know if Glorian Yakiwchuk also went to the Vatican?

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

Metis residential school survivors!

Good Day Readers:

Metis Mama (www.metisbarefacts.blogspot.com) has made some very insightful comments about residential schools and the Metis. We hope you'll read them!

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

Awwhhh ... Now here is the cry from the bully ...

Following is a press release from the little bully who did not think that Metis Residential School survivors were important enough to bother even taking one when he had the chance....And don't forget that had Mr. Clem Chartier and Mr. David Chartrand lost their attitude about being superior....Phil Fontaine continued to encourage and support them to participate in the negotiations around compensation and reconciliation. It was David and Clem who refused to participate.

For those that don't know....this has meant that many of the Metis residential school survivors have not received compensation. Some were not registered and recorded due to the issues that related with administration of the Residential Schools. The churches and organizations were compensated for First Nations students so they were tracked. Metis students were not applied for so they were often treated like the servants of the facilities and not registered.

There are some survivors who are even in the old pictures of the school but not in the registries. Some were identified as day students. Not that the day students did not get the same beatings, sexual violations and emotional and cultural abuse....but once again because there was no voice for them throughout the discussions....there is not acknowledgement of their abuse.

The other piece that I would tell you is that at least David sees compensation in a different light. He would like the Metis Residential School Survivors to consider having the money they would receive placed into a Manitoba Metis Federation account for the collective use of the President. Who knows maybe our Metis survivors would not mind one more act of abuse being perpetrated on them - financial abuse?

Metis Mama

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Press Release

MNC Disappointed with Métis Survivors Exclusion from Vatican Apology

http://mmf.mb.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=591&Itemid=2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 29, 2009

Métis National Council Vice-president David Chartrand is welcoming the expression of regret from Pope Benedict XVI for abuses suffered by First Nation survivors of Catholic-run residential schools, but says he’s disappointed Métis and Inuit survivors were not included.

“I hope First Nations survivors can find some healing from this genuine statement of sorrow from Pope Benedict XVI,” says Chartrand. “A similar gesture of reconciliation would be of great comfort for the many Métis survivors who suffered in Catholic-run residential schools.”

Pope Benedict XVI made the statement of regret during a private audience with AFN National Chief Fontaine, First Nation elders and survivors. Vice-president Chartrand was invited by Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine to represent the Métis Nation during the visit to the Vatican, but was not part of the private audience.

Vice-president Chartrand, along with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) President Mary Simon, met with Archbishop the Most Reverend James Weisgerber, President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, to voice their concerns over the exclusion of Métis and Inuit survivor from the Pope’s statement. Archbishop Weisgerber has offered to press the Vatican for private audiences for Métis survivors and another for Inuit.“I am heartened by the support from Archbishop Weisgerber,” says Chartrand. “I believe he has a sincere desire to help heal the pain residential schools caused for Métis survivors and the entire Métis Nation.”Vice-president Chartrand says the MNC will continue to work with Archbishop Wesigerber and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops towards reconciliation. To that end, Chartrand and ITK President Simon offered a joint invitation for Pope Benedict XVI to visit Métis and Inuit communities in Canada.

For more information contact Frank Coyle

MMF Communications

(204) 586-8474 ext. 374

fcoyle@mmf.mb.ca

Greg Taylor

MNC Communications

(613) 296-9263

gregt@metisnation.ca

The MNC represents the Métis Nation in Canada at the national and international level. The Métis Nation’s homeland includes the 3 Prairie Provinces and extends into Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northern United States. There are approximately 350,000 – 400,000 Métis Nation citizens in Canada, roughly a quarter of all Aboriginal peoples in the country.

Benchers! Return those bloody law books or we'll sue!

Dear Readers:

According to comments left on the excellent blog Truth To Power (www.accesstoinfo.blogspot.com), the Newfoundland-Labrador Benchers are having their elections. Problem is, some books from the library are overdue:

Anonymous said ,,,

The following books are missing from the Law Society Library. If you have borrowed a book and forgotten to sign it out, please return it as soon as possible, thank you.

1.Goldsmith's Damages for Personal Injury and Death in Canada, Consolidated Digest 1994-2002. Â Â KN 37.1 GOL RES

2. Hanson, Suzanne. Canada Tax Manual.    KM 337.11 CAN 1995+ (Looseleaf)

3. Hutchinson & Bury. Search and Seizure in Canada.   KM 580.2 HUT 1993+ (Volume 1, Looseleaf)4. Phipson on Evidence. 16th ed.  KN 390 PHI 2005

Why not post the names on the internet of the Benchers who are more than 30 days overdue adn triple their fines.

Sincerely,

Clare L. Pieuk

Good on you Google!

To Aid Mexico, Google Expands Flu Tracking

MIGUEL HELFT
Published: April 30, 2009

SAN FRANCISCO — Google has released a new version of its Flu Trends service that is tailored for Mexico in the hope of helping health officials and others track the spread of swine flu in that country.

Google Flu Trends, which was first released in the United States, in November, tries to track the incidence of flu based on the ebb and flow of searches for keywords related to influenza. The company called its Flu Trends for Mexico experimental because unlike in the United States, it does not have historical surveillance data to validate that its search data correlates to actual infections.

Google said Wednesday that it had created the new version of Flu Trends at the suggestion of scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. Google said that it had experienced an increase in flu-related queries in Mexico around April 20, suggesting that the service was accurately detecting the spread of swine flu.

By then, however, Mexican health officials had known for some time that there was a spike in flu cases.

Dr. Henry L. Niman, a biochemist in Pittsburgh who runs Recombinomics, a Web site that tracks the genetics of flu cases worldwide, said that Google’s service appeared to provide only limited advance warning. “I am not saying that it is not useful. It probably works to complement other sources of surveillance and data,” he said.

Voted the "Golden Arsenism Award" for April!

Your sins will always find you!

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton will reveal more about the suspect at a news conference Thursday.

DNA leads to suspect in 1970s Los Angeles serial killings
By Alan Duke

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man charged this month with killing two Los Angeles women more than three decades ago may be linked to as many as 30 unsolved murders and "numerous sexual assaults," Los Angeles police said.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton called a Thursday news conference to reveal the suspect's name and details of the cases against him.

The man, who was arrested April 2, "has been linked by DNA evidence to two LAPD cold case murders and three others in Inglewood and the County of Los Angeles," an LAPD statement said.

"Detectives believe that this suspect could be linked to as many as 25 other unsolved murder cases and numerous sexual assault cases," the statement said.

Inglewood, California, detectives and the grandson of one of the women killed will also attend the news conference, police said.

The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that the cases involve mostly older women who were raped and strangled in the mid-1970s and in a second wave of killings a decade later.

The first wave of attacks happened mostly on the west side of Los Angeles, attributed to what reporters then called the "Westside Rapists," the Times said

Will he get in Yes/No - vote today!

Metis Mama

www.metisbarefacts.blogspot.com

Good Day Readers:

Metis Mama rides again - another excellent article.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aboriginal People receive an Expression of Sorrow from the Pope

Firstly – I am not a residential school survivor – generations that went before me were mostly spared the experience. We did have a few cousins and more distant relatives that were affected but most of them remained loyal to their Catholic faith until their passing.

I have been to many of the activities, conferences and meetings where there were residential school survivors. To hear the atrocities that resulted from a generational genocide of a people from policies that created the struggles of some of our survivors would shake the very core of anyone’s beliefs. It has altered my own but that is not what this is about.

Firstly, I do believe that whether you are a fan of Phil Fontaine’s or not – you have to acknowledge that during his leadership he has worked diligently to try to address and have the Residential School issues acknowledged and understood. For Canadians – they have become more aware of the issues that resulted from the residential school experience. For our survivors there has been a great deal of effort towards acknowledging their struggles in an attempt to help them find healing.

I do hope that some of them do find healing in the apologies that were made. I also pray that the programs and compensation that is a part of the work of the Truth and Reconcilliation Commission bring further progression towards a place of peace.

Now folks I want to deal with the Métis politics of this story – because as much as the event is significant – Métis politics is always a place of its’ own expression.

Phil Fontaine invited other Aboriginal leaders to come and participate. The Inuit leader, Mary Simon went to the Vatican City, Jim Sinclair – one of our past Métis leaders was invited to attend and then Clem (Metis National Council President Clement Chartier) was invited. As many of our Métis people here have come to know – Clem will not participate with the Assembly of First Nations or Phil Fontaine in most things. He is generally invited to participate and if AFN is the hosting organization – Clem normally ignores the invitation.

In fact folks – one of the reasons that Métis and the issues related to most of them have not been addressed through the Residential School initiatives is thanks to Clem not participating.

This time though he sent our infamous David Chartrand. Now there was room for two Métis – so our infamous leader could have taken a Métis residential school survivor. Now that would have made sense for them to participate in an audience with the Pope.

Well my Métis friends – we did not take a residential school survivor – we took our well paid Métis contractor – Mark Leclair. I am trying to make sense of these things so what I am speculating is that was due to the behaviour of the Métis bully – David Chartrand - he needed to take his main henchman and himself to get a special blessing – so he may repent for his bullying and find his way to the pearly gates some day.

Now just to be clear – when the Pope gave a private audience to the Aboriginal delegation for the 30 minutes they got – David was not invited into the private meeting. Maybe he will have to do some more repenting to find St. Peter.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!"

While many attribute the quote to William Shakespeare, it actually comes from a play called the "The Mourning Bride" (1697) by William Congreve. The complete quote is "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned/Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."

Leslie Weslock

Former jet-setter hunts down her ex
Her husband left her penniless in 1995, but that wasn't enough to defeat amateur, now professional, sleuth Lesley Weslock

PAUL WALDIE
Globe and Mail
April 30, 2009

Lesley Weslock doesn't fit the image of a private detective. She's 65 years old and spent much of her life living in a palatial apartment on New York's Fifth Avenue, jetting between homes in Beverly Hills and Vermont, and hobnobbing with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and singer Dolly Parton.

But when her husband, former shoe company executive Edward Weslock, walked out in 1995, allegedly taking most of the couple's cash with him, Ms. Weslock was forced to become a part-time sleuth.

She moved in with her mother in Toronto and took odd jobs to make ends meet. In her spare time she tracked Mr. Weslock's movements through Monaco, London, Zurich, Vail, Colorado, Florida, New York and Ontario.

This week her detective work paid off. She discovered Mr. Weslock was in Burlington, Ontario visiting relatives, and tipped off Halton regional police. On Tuesday, police arrested him on a committal warrant issued by Ontario's Family Responsibility Office, which enforces court-ordered support payments. Mr. Weslock, 73, owes his ex-wife roughly $1.5-million in alimony and another $3.5-million or so in divorce payments, according to allegations filed in court.

He is expected to remain in jail pending a default hearing. A judge could force him to pay the owing alimony immediately, work out another arrangement or hold him in jail for up to 180 days. Mr. Weslock was unavailable and had yet to hire a lawyer.

"I'm so relieved," Ms. Weslock said yesterday. "It's the end now."

She added that the arrest came just as she was about to list her condominium for sale because she can't afford the payments. "It was the 11th hour," she said. "I've been going through whatever savings I have and living so frugally you wouldn't believe it. It got to the point where I said, 'I can't remain here any more.' "

That's a far cry from the 29 years she spent with Mr. Weslock, when he was a rising star in the retail world and she was living the high life, working alongside him and travelling the world.

They met in 1965, while working together at a plastics company in Toronto. Mr. Weslock, who is from Iroquois Falls, Ontario was a senior executive while Ms. Weslock worked in sales. They were married within six months, taking their vows in Lake Placid, N.Y.

After a brief stint in Britain, where Mr. Weslock worked for a manufacturing company, he was recruited by Church's English Shoes, a high-end British retailer that catered to the likes of actress Greta Garbo, singer Frank Sinatra and Mrs. Thatcher's husband, Dennis.

Mr. Weslock was sent to New York to expand the company's presence in the United States beyond its flagship store on Madison Avenue. Within a few years he had established around 25 outlets and introduced a range of new products. The couple, who have no children, enjoyed the fruits of his success. They moved into an apartment overlooking Central Park and kept a home in Los Angeles and a condo in Vermont.

In court filings, Ms. Weslock said the marriage soured in the mid-1990s and she wanted out.

When she handed Mr. Weslock divorce papers, he left. According to allegations filed in court, he cleared out the couple's bank accounts, cut off credit cards and cancelled payments on the apartment.

Ms. Weslock said she was left penniless and had to work at a bakery to get by. She was eventually evicted from the apartment and returned to Toronto, after winning an order for support payments from a New York judge.

She began tracing Mr. Weslock through Monaco and got lucky in 2000 when she found out he had flown to New York to get a new hairpiece. She alerted local police who arrested Mr. Weslock at Kennedy Airport, charging him with failure to pay support.

He spent a few days in jail, paid $70,000 and told the judge he had no money and that Ms. Weslock was to blame for problems in the marriage. Then he left again during the subsequent divorce proceedings, which were finalized in 2002.

In a court filing, Ms. Weslock's brother, John Hutchinson, alleges Mr. Weslock called him several times complaining about Ms. Weslock. During one conversation he allegedly said: "She is going to get nothing. No man, let alone a woman, is going to make me pay."

Ms. Weslock kept up the chase. She seized a condo he owned in Toronto and traced his movements between Florida and Burlington, Ontario. Her quest gained international attention, with one newspaper referring to Mr. Weslock as "America's worst husband" and another the "toupéed tightwad tycoon."

Ms. Weslock got so good at pursuing her ex that she managed to find a new career. She's been hired as a private investigator by Trillium Resources Ltd., a Toronto-area investigation company.

"She impressed me very much," said Roger Wilson, who runs the company. "She is just simply relentless."

Ms. Weslock agreed. "I don't give up."

About time!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oakland Council Backs a Tax on Marijuana

By STU WOO

Wall Street Journal

April 30, 2009

Page A4

OAKLAND, California -- Leaders of this economically hard-hit city are proposing to tax medical marijuana as a way to help close a record budget shortfall.

Oakland's City Council last week approved a 1.8% tax on medicinal marijuana sold in the city. If voters pass the proposal in a July election, Oakland would become the nation's first city to directly tax the drug, medical-marijuana advocates say.

Such an outcome would further legitimize medical marijuana in California and represent the latest victory for advocates. Prospects for such a tax were made brighter in February, when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would no longer raid state-approved dispensaries.

Backers of the Oakland tax on dispensaries said they hope to encourage other cities to follow suit. The tax would prove "that government-regulated dispensaries are good neighbors," said James Anthony, a lawyer who represents the Harborside Health Center, one of Oakland's medical-marijuana dispensaries.

California is one of 13 states that have legalized medical marijuana, allowing it to be sold to people with a doctor's recommendation. It is relatively easy for anyone over 18 years old to obtain such a doctor's note. Advocates estimate there are 200,000 or more approved medical-marijuana users in California. Users already pay a sales tax on the drug.

A city tax on medical marijuana could generate at least $400,000 and perhaps more than $1 million annually, said Rebecca Kaplan, the Oakland City Council member who pushed the proposal. The city of 400,000 residents is facing an $83 million shortfall in a $455 million budget.

The owners and managers of Oakland's four medical-marijuana dispensaries said they approached the city with the idea. "We wanted to further legitimize the medical-marijuana paradigm to show that we are truly willing to assist [Oakland], and to show other cities that there are social benefits to this," said Keith Stephenson, executive director of Purple Heart Patient Center.

No formal opposition has formed against the proposal, and Ms. Kaplan and medical-marijuana advocates said they are confident voters will approve it.

But Paul Chabot, a Southern California resident who recently founded the Coalition for a Drug Free California, is opposed to the idea because he thinks the "quasi-legalization" of marijuana would add more of the drug into the black market. "It's a front; it also sends the wrong message to children," he said. "What are you doing to do next, allow prostitution and tax that? Allow methamphetamine to be sold and tax that?"

Write to Stu Woo at Stu.Woo@wsj.com

Best of the stupidos - anyone you know?

Mr. Lone 'Fat Arse!'

Fat Arse has left a new comment on your post, "Thank you Mr./Ms One Lone 'Fat Arse!'"

Clare,

I too am glad I have found your blog.

Re: Mr./Ms just so there is no confusion, asked my wife to take a look at the profile of my "arse" to make sure it still has the desired effect on women."Nope it's definitely still a male arse," she said, "here take out the garbage!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr. Fat Arse:

Thank you for writing. So as not to offend the Ladies we thought maybe this time we should display other images which help capture the essence of Arsenisms.

Sincerely,

Clare L. Pieuk

Thank you Mr./Ms One Lone 'Fat Arse!' - http://arsenisms.blogspot.com/!

Good Day Folks:

Had a call earlier this evening from a regular reader who told us the Blog "Arsenisms" (http://arsenisms.blogspot.com/) had linked with us. We'd like to thank its Blogmaster Mr. or Ms 'Fat Arse' for the honour and privilege.

We always like to use images and photographs in our postings to hold audience attention. Since your site doesn't reveal gender and the bucolic sunset image belies its hilarious, zany but very well-written content, we didn't quite know what to choose. Hope you don't mind our selection.

With postings such as:

The Whore of Babylon
Regine, Regina: what rymes with Regina?
The Bruinooge Report: A Hamster's Delight

Blog links to:

..... 1 Eyed Pecker
Galloping Beaver
The Waxing Moon
Blogging a Dead Horse
Truth To Power
Never Eat Yellow Snow
Beer Belly Buddah
Just Damn Stupid
My Left Nut

and even a contributor with the pseudonym 900 ft Jesus, you've got to love it!

Increasingly, researching, writing articles and answering e-mail is taking us farther away from our site's hardcore technology. Therefore, if you see this Browkin could you please link us to Arsenisms? Why not place it directly under

DEFAMATION LAWSUIT
Manitoba Metis Federation
Murray N. Trachtenberg
Arsenisms

Perhaps highlight it in a colour such as green to symbolize all those thousands of Canadian taxpayer dollars the Manitoba Metis Federation is spending to sue the now defunct www.CyberSmokeSignals.com this site's precursor - that should surely attract a lot of attention!

To explain. The Great Browkin is someone whom we've never seen nor met. All we know is they're a computer engineering genius who has helped us in the past. We once asked for a recent photograph and this is what they sent:

"The Great Browkin?"

Thank You!

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

"I still love you 'Dear' let's elope!" Huh?

With the Cape Cod Times who needs Facebook?

Good Day Readers:

Came upon the Cape Cod Times (http://capecodonline.com) recently on our internet travels - what a delightful newspaper (serving The Cape, Martha's Vineward and the Nantucket area - circulation approximately 60,000). It's online version is packed with information and exceptionally well designed. Reminds us a little of Kingston, Ontario's Whig Standard of bygone days which was an outstanding publication for a town its size - excellent writers. Have lost contact with it so can't comment on the present quality.

Seems to us newspapers such as the Winnipeg Free Press and Winnipeg Sun could learn much from studying the CCT.

One feature that caught our attention was its Court Reports covering thee Judicial Districts (Orleans, Barnstable and Falmouth). With coverage like this who needs Facebook, MySpace or Twitter to find out the latest on their "friends?"

Now why couldn't the WFP or WS with significantly larger circulations do the same?

Sincerely,

Clare L. Pieuk

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barnstable District Court
April 29, 2009

In court Friday:

DISPOSITIONS

ARCHAMBEAULT, Dawn M., 25, 13 Bayview Road, Sandwich; guilty of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol (OUI) for the second time, Jan. 26 in Yarmouth, 90 days (suspended) Barnstable County Correctional Facility, 14-day inpatient treatment program, two-year license loss, two years probation, $1,560 costs and $300 fees; not responsible for another traffic violation.

MACK, Robert P., 58, 45 Spring St., Hyannis; guilty plea to OUI for the second time, March 8 in Barnstable, 90 days (suspended) county correctional facility, 14-day in patient treatment program, two-year license loss, two years probation, $1,032 costs and $50 fee.

ARRAIGNMENTS (The following pleaded not guilty)

BISHOP, George, 38, Brockton; larceny of a value more than $250 by single scheme, Nov. 18 in Barnstable. Pretrial hearing May 15.

EVANS, Janet L., 58, 96 John Ewer Road, Sandwich; possession of heroin with intent to distribute and possession of Hydrocodone as a subsequent offense, Thursday in Sandwich. Pretrial hearing May 19.

EVANS, Ross M., 22, Plymouth; possession of heroin with intent to distribute, Thursday in Sandwich. Pretrial hearing May 19.

JACKSON, Stacey A., 44, Quincy; larceny of a value more than $250 by single scheme, Nov. 18 in Barnstable. Pretrial hearing May 15.

JOHNSON, Sterlistick, 22, 44 Yarmouth Road, Hyannis; assault and battery, Thursday in Barnstable. Pretrial hearing May 15.

LAROSEE, Arthur J., 60, 96 John Ewer Road, Sandwich; possession of heroin with intent to distribute, Thursday in Sandwich. Pretrial hearing May 19.

LONGOBARDI, Nicholas A. Jr., 21, 2 Taylor Road, Yarmouth; receiving stolen property of a value more than $250, March 22 in Yarmouth. Pretrial hearing May 22.

QUINDLEY, Amanda J., 18, 23 Jody Lane, Forestdale; breaking and entering in the nighttime to commit a felony, larceny of a value more than $250 and vandalism, Feb. 23 in Yarmouth. Pretrial hearing Friday.

TURNER, Carrie M., 26, 12 Spring St., Hyannis; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (shod foot) and assault and battery, Thursday in Barnstable. Pretrial hearing May 15.

"Beware the Ides of March!" - no wait ..... Yikes it's the blogs!

Work Blogs Take Off, and So Do the Suits
By Tresa Baldas
The National Law Journal
September 18, 2008

They're wildly popular, yet loaded with liability.

Attorneys are cautioning employers about getting swept up in the blog craze, stressing that bloggers are creating a range of legal problems for employers.

Disgruntled workers are trashing their employers and co-workers on blogs, which is slang for Web-based personal logs. Others are posting confidential corporate information on blogs. Some are landing employers themselves in court, being sued for comments someone posted on company-sponsored blogs.

"It's the modern-day version of the suggestion box," management-side attorney Zachary Hummel, a partner in the New York office of Bryan Cave, said of employee blogging. "It's growing exponentially and so more and more employers are facing the issue of how far do we let employees go before we take action."

In many cases, Hummel said, employers are letting employees rant and rave on corporate blogs so they can monitor the workplace.

"They let it go on because it's another means of keeping tabs on the temperature," he said.

"Some companies would be afraid of it, and others are [saying], 'We'd rather hear the concerns and problems.' "

VENTING AND PROMOTION

Venting aside, blogs are also being used as company marketing tools, said Glenn Patton, partner in Atlanta-based Alston & Bird's labor and employment practice group. Patton, who is currently working with a Fortune 50 company on a corporate blogging project, said many employers, such as Southwest Airlines and International Business Machines, are embracing employee blogging, ignoring fears of negative repercussions.

"When blogs first started, employers were implementing blanket prohibitions against employee blogging activity," Patton said. "Today, many employers are not only permitting employee blogging, but they are actually setting up official corporate blogs and establishing guidelines to help their employees get positive messages and images about the company out on the Web."

Even law firms are getting into the act. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, for example, is letting several younger associates blog about their experiences as a marketing tool to reach potential recruits.

The blogs were launched during the summer, just in time for recruiting season, to give potential associates a flavor of what it's like to work at WilmerHale.

But many blogs are causing legal problems. In the past five years, a number of lawsuits, involving defamation, retaliation and discrimination claims, have been filed against employers over comments posted on blogs.

Earlier this year, Cisco Systems and one of its lawyers, Richard Frenkel, were sued for defamation over an anonymous blog in which Frenkel allegedly accused two Texas attorneys of engaging in criminal conduct in a case against Cisco. Ward v. Cisco, No. 2007-2502 (Gregg Co., Texas, Dist. Ct.); Albritton v. Cisco, No. 2008-481-CCL2 (E.D. Texas).

In Georgia, a former Delta Air Lines flight attendant who claims she was fired after she posted photos of herself in uniform on her blog sued the airline for sexual discrimination. The case was stayed last year while the airline is in bankruptcy. Simonetti v. Delta Airlines Inc., No. 5-cv-2321 (N.D. Ga. 2005).

In Colorado, a group of Quiznos Master franchisees last year sued the company for wrongful termination, claiming they were retaliated against for posting on their blog the suicide letter of a former franchisee, who attributed his suicide to troubles at work. The case settled in December. Bray v. QFA Royalties, No. 06-cv-02528-JLK-CBS (D. Del.).

Meanwhile, all this litigation hasn't scared employers away from employee blogging, said Evans Anyanwu, a principal and Internet law attorney at Evans Anyanwu & Associates in Newark, N.J. Instead, he said, it's pushed them to enact more robust Internet usage policies.

"Employers are indeed facing great liability risks by allowing employees to blog on the company's behalf," Anyanwu said. "But I think many employers are aware of the liability risks and, as such, constantly remind employees to be aware of their policies."

Take the Cisco case, Anyanwu said. Within six months of the anonymous blogger revealing himself, and triggering a lawsuit, the company revised its Internet posting policy, mandating that all employees state that their opinions are their own, not the company's.

"Blogging should not be prohibited," Anyanwu said. "But only curtailed with disclaimers to safeguard employers."

Subscribe to The National Law Journal

Please God not another Sarah Palin!

Manitoba Metis Federation President excluded from audience with Pope!

Pope apologizes for residential-school abuse
NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
April 29, 2009

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict says he is sorry for the abuse and “deplorable” conduct at church-run residential schools.

The Vatican says the pontiff expressed his sorrow at a meeting today with victims and representatives of native Canadians. During the meeting, Pope Benedict emphasized that “acts of abuse cannot be tolerated.”

From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 natives in Canada were made to attend state-funded Christian schools as an effort to assimilate them into society. The aim was to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture, which the government at the time considered inferior.

Nearly 75 per cent of the 130 schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.

Pope Benedict XVI arrives to lead his general audience in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican April 29, 2009. (REUTERS/Max Rossi)

The visiting Canadians, some in native headdresses, attended the Pope's general audience and stood up and waved when they were introduced to the crowd of thousands in St. Peter's Square.

Afterward, they were to meet privately with the Pope.

The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant. Many students recall being beaten for speaking their native languages and losing touch with their parents and customs.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology in parliament last year, calling the treatment of children at the schools a sad chapter in the country's history. He said the policy of forced assimilation was wrong, had caused great harm, and had no place in the country.

Canada has also offered compensation, part of a lawsuit settlement between the government, churches and the approximately 90,000 surviving students that amounted to billions of dollars being transferred to aboriginal communities.

The Catholic Church alone paid some $79 million, the Canadian bishops said.

The United, Presbyterian and Anglican churches have all apologized for their roles in the abuse.
Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations who himself suffered abuse at a residential school, has said that survivors want the Pope to acknowledge the role of the Catholic Church in their suffering.

Mr. Fontaine, who was in Rome for the audience, has noted that Pope Benedict expressed personal shame over a clergy sex abuse scandal when he visited the United States and Australia last year and he wanted the pontiff to do the same in this case.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coming Up on Information Radio: Wednesday, April 29, 2009

6:50 am: Will the Pope say he's sorry? A delegation of Canadian aboriginal people is at the Vatican to meet with Pope Benedict. They are hoping to receive an apology for the abuse many residential school children suffered at the hands of the Catholic church. Manitoba Metis Federation President David Chartrand is part of that delegation. We'll speak to him shortly after the papal audience.

As advertised Mr. David Chartrand was indeed interviewed. He was among a group of delegates who were excluded from meeting with The Pope and were waiting to be briefed by the others.

Sincerely,

Clare L. Pieuk

Number 11 is .....?

To the power of "s!"

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post, "Do you know this man? Maybe you should it's tax time!"

The Web address is actually plural: taxpayersrights.gc.ca
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Anonymous:

Thank you for writing. We've gone back to made the change. However, what we discovered in the process was you could still link to the site from CyberSmokeBlog even without the "s" in the URL. To avoid any future confusion maybe the Canada Revenue Agency should change it to a dollar sign. Interesting.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

Coming to a city near you?

Have you ego-surfed yourself today yet on company time?

Why Google Wants You To Google Yourself
By Tom McNichol
Saturday, April 25, 2009

The act of Googling oneself has become the digital age's premiere guilty pleasure — an activity enjoyed by all and admitted by few. The phenomenon has even been the subject of scholarly research. Last year, a team of Swiss and Australian social scientists published a study concluding that the practice of self-Googling (or "ego-surfing," as it's sometimes called) can partly be traced to a rise in narcissism in society, but that it is also an attempt by people to identify and shape their personal online "brand." The authors of the survey no doubt returned to their cubicles and Googled themselves to see if the study was posted online. (It is: right here.)

The folks at Google are well aware that their site handles millions of vanity searches every day, and that users aren't always thrilled about the results that pop up when they Google themselves. (See TIME's photo gallery "Google Earth Adds Historical Photos.")

"The reason people search for themselves is that they're curious about what other people see when they search for their name," says Joe Kraus, Google's director of product management.

"One problem is they don't have any control over the search results. Either they don't like the search results, or what happens most of the time is, they're not listed on the first page. If your name is Brian Jones and you're not the deceased Rolling Stones guitarist, you don't exist."

To give people a bit more control over search results, Google introduced a feature this week it calls a "Google profile," which users can create so that a thumbnail of personal information appears at the bottom of U.S. name-query search pages. Once users create a Google profile, their name, occupation and location (and photo if they choose) appears in a box on the first page of the search results for their name. Next to the thumbnail info, there's a link to a full Google profile page that in many ways resembles a Facebook page.

The similarity to Facebook is no accident. Google profiles are the search giant's fiendishly clever attempt to turn your ego-surfing pain into their gain. By giving users a modicum of control over the results that appear on a search for their name, Google hopes to establish a social network beachhead and take on wildly popular sites like Facebook and MySpace. Facebook users who otherwise couldn't be bothered to set up a separate profile page on Google might find the idea appealing if it gives them some control over the Google search results for their name. And if you're already using Gmail for e-mail, Google Maps for directions and Google's Picasa for photo-sharing, you may wind up spending more time with your Google profile than your Facebook or MySpace page.

The Google profile lets you set up a personalized page on which you can include links to your blog, Twitter feed or company website, plus share online photos and link to your other profiles on sites such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. There's room for a brief bio, along with a place to list your current interests, places you've lived and schools you've attended. There's also a space that asks you to list your "superpower," proof that the engineers at Google have a sense of humor. Or think they do.

Like Facebook, your Google profile doesn't display any private information unless you've explicitly added it. You can share info with friends and family and control who sees what. There's no Google profile feature that lets you "friend" another user — at least not yet. But there is a "Send a message" feature that lets anyone with a Google account e-mail you without revealing your e-mail address. Another feature called "My places" displays all the cities you've entered on your profile and your current location on a map. A Google map, of course.

The more information you add to your profile, the higher your page is likely to be ranked on a Google search for your name and associated keywords, such as the name of your hometown, your job title or where you work or go to school. And the more richly detailed your Google profile is, the more Google knows about you. There's no advertising attached to Google profiles, but in the future, the company could easily sell ads targeted to your personal details, much as they've already done on Gmail.

These days, Big Brother isn't just watching you — he wants to know your superpower and the name of your childhood pet. And he already knows you like to Google yourself, so don't try to deny it.

Ah ....!

The FCC has embarked on a crack down of indecent content on broadcast TV and radio after pop star Janet Jackson briefly exposed her bare breast during the 2004 broadcast of the Super Bowl halftime show. (Win McNamee/Reuters)

U.S. Supreme court upholds TV ban on F-word
'Even when used as an expletive, the F-word’s power to insult and offend derives from its sexual meaning'

James Vicini, Reuters

Published: Tuesday, April 28, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court has upheld a U.S. government crackdown on profanity on television, a policy that subjects broadcasters to fines for airing a single expletive blurted out on a live show.

In its first ruling on broadcast indecency standards in more than 30 years, the high court handed a victory to the Federal Communications Commission, which adopted the crackdown against the one-time use of profanity on live television when children are likely to be watching.

The case stemmed from an FCC ruling in 2006 that found News Corp's Fox television network violated decency rules when singer Cher blurted out an expletive during the 2002 Billboard Music Awards broadcast and actress Nicole Richie used two expletives during the 2003 awards.

No fines were imposed, but Fox challenged the decision and a U.S. appeals court in New York struck down the new policy as as "arbitrary and capricious" and sent the case back to the FCC for a more reasoned explanation of its policy.

The FCC, under the administration of President George W. Bush, had embarked on a crackdown of indecent content on broadcast TV and radio after pop star Janet Jackson briefly exposed her bare breast during the 2004 broadcast of the Super Bowl halftime show.

Before 2004, the FCC did not ordinarily enforce prohibitions against indecency unless there were repeated occurrences.

By a 5-4 vote and splitting along conservative-liberal lines, the justices overturned the ruling by the appeals court and said the FCC's new policy and its findings in the two cases were neither arbitrary nor capricious.

"The agency's reasons for expanding its enforcement activity, moreover, were entirely rational," Justice Antonin Scalia said in summarizing the court's majority ruling from the bench.

"Even when used as an expletive, the F-word's power to insult and offend derives from its sexual meaning," he said.

Government lawyers in the case have said the policy covered so-called "fleeting expletives," such as the "F-word" and the "S-word" that denote "sexual or excretory activities," respectively.

© Thomson Reuters 2009

Do you know this man? Maybe you should it's tax time!

Good Day Readers:

He's J. Paul Dube a lawyer and Canada's first Taxpayers' Ombudsman appointed to his position in February of 2008.

The Canada Revenue Agency (formerly Revenue Canada) has been heavily criticized in the past by both the courts and citizens for some of its heavy-handed techniques and approaches to conducting audits. It has been described as a collection agency for the federal government with police powers and an attitude you're guilty until proven innocent.

Mr. Dube is in the news because he recently released his first interim report. You can find all the information you need at the Taxpayers' Ombudsman website http://www.taxpayersrights.gc.ca/. Here's what the Montreal Gazette said about its first year of operation.

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

P.S. Good luck with your income tax return.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

J. Paul Dube, Canada's taxpayers' ombudsman, said that his office was forced to intervene in some of the 900 files it has received in its first year of existence, leading to apologies from the agency and in some cases the removal of penalties or charges against taxpayers (Photograph by: Mark Blinch, Reuters)

Tax agency collects mixed review
By Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service

March 12, 2009

OTTAWA — A new independent investigator gives Canada's tax-collecting agency mixed reviews over its handling of complaints about its treatment of taxpayers.

J. Paul Dube, Canada's taxpayers' ombudsman, has opened about 900 files in his first year on the job and resolved about 800.

Those include getting the Canada Revenue Agency to cancel penalties and interest for a man with a brain tumour who lost his tax records in a fire, and was not able to file his return on time.

But Dube and Revenue Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn noted complaints can sometimes be expected at an agency that handles 26 million income-tax returns from individuals every year.

Even with a 99.9 per cent satisfaction rate, Blackburn said it would still mean about 26,000 complaints.

The government will soon introduce a new policy for employees at call centres to announce their identification numbers, in order to: help taxpayers keep track of whom they have spoken to; keep more accurate electronic records; and scrutinize whether services were provided properly, Dube added.

"For me, it's important to humanize this agency, because the taxpayer, when facing this giant machine with enormous powers that could seize a bank account or house, (would see) there's a lot of power in our agency," Blackburn said. "When one has a lot of power, there's the potential danger of abuse."

Dube's position was created in February 2008 as an impartial officer who's required to keep an eye on the Canada Revenue Agency, reporting his findings to the minister.

Dube is scheduled to release his first annual report in December, and said it would more closely examine his own office's role, and any systemic problems with services provided by the agency.

A copy of the ombudsman's interim report can be found at www.taxpayersrights.gc.ca.

mdesouza@canwest.com
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

Addicted to Facebook are we - Twitter too?

Twitter - the new source for emergency information?

Buzz about swine flu on Twitter is stirring conversation abou it how people get health news.

Swine flu creates controversy on Twitter
By John D. Sutter CNN
April 27, 2009

(CNN) -- The swine flu outbreak is spawning debate about how people get information during health emergencies -- especially at a time when news sources are becoming less centralized.

Some observers say Twitter -- a micro-blogging site where users post 140-character messages -- has become a hotbed of unnecessary hype and misinformation about the outbreak, which is thought to have claimed more than 100 lives in Mexico.

"This is a good example of why [Twitter is] headed in that wrong direction, because it's just propagating fear amongst people as opposed to seeking actual solutions or key information," said Brennon Slattery, a contributing writer for PC World. "The swine flu thing came really at the crux of a media revolution."

Twitter's popularity has exploded in recent months, and Slattery said it's a new development that a wide number of people would turn to the site in search of information during an emergency.

Others take a softer approach to the buzz on Twitter.

Writing for CNET, a CNN partner site, Larry Magid advises online readers to take medical advice with a grain of salt.

The Internet is "a great way to get general information, prevention tips and information on how to handle a known condition, but be cautious when using it to try to diagnose yourself,"he writes.

Several dozen cases of swine flu worldwide have been confirmed by the World Health Organization and hundreds more are feared. Read more about the situation

That information needs to be put in context by journalists, especially given the fact that so many deaths from the common flu occur each year and go underreported by the news media, said Al Tompkins, who teaches broadcast and online news at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists.

About 36,000 people die from flu-related symptoms each year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The fast pace of new swine flu cases and their relevance to global public health policy makes the situation newsworthy, Tompkins said.

Tompkins said there is a tendency for television stations to hype health emergencies to boost their ratings, but so far coverage of the swine flu outbreak has been responsible. Coverage of the story is just ramping up, though, he said.

Of the swine flu news on Twitter, Tompkins said, "Bad news always travels faster than good news. I'm sure that was true in smoke signal days."

Unofficial swine flu information on Twitter may lead people to unwise decisions, said Evgeny Morozov, a fellow at the Open Society Institute and a blogger on ForeignPolicy.com.

For example, some Twitter users told their followers to stop eating pork, he said. Health officials have not advised that precaution. Read about how the virus is transmitted

Morozov said there's incentive for Twitter users to post whatever is on their mind because it helps them grow their online audiences.

But in an emergency, that tendency means people write about their own fears of symptoms and widespread deaths, which can create an uninformed hysteria, he said.

The debate about swine flu on Twitter is not one-sided, however. And the site is not the only place online where people are talking about the outbreak.

Some Twitter users have expressed concern that the swine flu story is being hyped. Several media outlets, including the BBC and CNN's iReport.com, give readers and viewers a chance to express their own views about the outbreak.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also maintains its own Twitter account where official government information is given straight to the public.

And on Monday, President Obama seemed to try to calm national fears by saying the outbreak is "cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert," but is not a "cause for alarm," CNN reported.

Twitter traffic about swine flu has been strong. According to Nielsen Online, swine flu has worked its way into about 2 percent of all notes posted on the site on Monday. You can follow that Twitter conversation here.

Chatter about swine flu is also loud elsewhere online. About 10 times more people are writing online about swine flu than wrote about the salmonella and peanut butter scares from this winter, Nielsen says.

On Google, an interactive map lets Internet users see where outbreak deaths have been confirmed and where they are suspected. See a CNN map

Slattery, the PC World writer, said he generally was excited about Twitter until recently. Now he finds the site to be "an incredibly unreliable source of information."

Tompkins said people who post information on social media sites should think about the credibility of their sources before they pass something on.

That's the "online equivalent of washing your hands," he said.

Long live the traditional newspaper!

Lorne Broker has left a new comment on your post, "Death of the newspaper industry as we know it?"

I don't see the end of newspaper industry either. I think they will always be here and people will never convert to the online news only. It's just the feeling that you have when you have a piece of paper in your hands instead of a computer screen to stare at. That will never disappear. Plus, this business will always live off ads and those will never die out. Anyways, thanks for a great article.

Lorne

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Lorne,

Thank you for writing and the kind words. Completely agree. People are tactile which probably explains why books have not gone completely electronic. However, what the newspaper industry will have to do is develop a new business model to stop the financial hemorrhaging it's currently suffering at the hands of the internet.

Sincerely,

Clare L. Pieuk

Tony Hawk tweets too!