Rotzy’s ranting about the penal system in Canada/Ontario. There’s much food for thought in this rant.
A Pot (*see below) of Rotzy’s Con Carne….
….was on the menu for Miz Jo’s first dinner when she arrived home from BGH just before Xmas….as per request….and it was enjoyed by both of us, largely because it was/is Miz. Jo’s recipe, which I have previously alluded to in this “F/N” space. Thing is, ‘a pot’ (*see above) doesn’t do the amount I made justice, so ‘cauldron’ might be a better description. Anyway, we had a lot left over so yours truly bagged it all in a X/L Zip Loc (*tm) bag and froze the mother. So….SO….last Wed would be Chili Nite, hence I took the mother out to thaw at 6:00 ayem and got to thinking “Hey Toad….you gotta ‘perk this up’ a bit….what about some fresh chopped onion”? Bingo, I still have a few Sweet Texas Onions in the bottom left crisper. Well, I reached into the mesh bag to get one and there are TWO of our own grown Spanish Onions I dug early last Sept! over at the Hope Gdn, both still in good condition, so I used half of the small one and saved the biggie for next tyme we have burgs! Well Rotzy’s Hotzy Spanish onions were a great ‘perk’, tho I hardly needed the extra can of ‘Bush’s Original Baked Beans’ I foolishly dumped in, hence the ‘new’ leftover chili is in a Tupperware(*tm) bowl in the ice box and I’m thinking ”Say Toad….y’all got another meal there if you add a can of Aylmer ‘Accents’ Tomatoes (*t/m). And some chopped Rotzy Hotzy Onions….you think?”
Readers Write….
….and, I figured this one to be quite ‘timely’, what with the NFL Playoffs getting underway on the w/end past, but with 30 or 40 teams making the Big Money Cut, the Super Bowl is still a fair ways off. However, it matters NOT whom your favourite team is in regard to our “F/N” reader’s comment. Check this one out: *No one EVER says “It’s just a game!” when their team is winning….especially when they’re up by 7 and the other team is ‘1st and goal’ at your 6-yard line with 10 seconds remaining on the clock”!
”Catch And Release”
This item landed in the “F/N” Inbox last Tues or Wed from a ‘northerner’….altho he’s a long way from the ‘north’ these days….but, as such….a ‘northerner’….the phrase ‘catch and release’ refers to fishing. You ‘release’ the fish you just hooked back into the water it came out of, happy and healthy and ready to get on with life. And even if you’re not a ‘northerner’, well, ‘catch and release’ would still ‘relate to fish’. Even whilst ‘Google-ing'(*tm) C & R would/will get y’all the same response. However, the term has taken on a ‘new’ meaning. It is being taken on by the Cdn Judicial System, Canada-wide, in all provinces and territories, Of course some are worse than others….but NONE have a clean slate! The most common arguments vs these ‘repeat offenders’ seldom stray from these three….*he/she should have a longer sentence; *he/she should have been denied bail and/or bail shoulda been doubled/tripled; *he/she should not have made parole. Not now….not ever!
How about a ‘bottom line’ at this point? ‘Catch and release’ is for fish! OK? It is NOT working in Canadian courtrooms or halls of justice! At all!! We are WAY too soft!!….every where imaginable….*law and the interpretation of it; * law enforcing AND *trial sentencing, including parole. You want some stats? No? Neither does Rotzy like them. The statistics. That was until I read Chris Wilson’s item….and it blew me away! Remember the knife-wielding maniac who totally ‘lost it’, resulting in 11 (ELEVEN) dead on the Reserve out in Sask last Sept?! Well sir/m’am, at the tyme of his rampage of death the killer had a total 30 prior convictions….not charges….CONVICTIONS!! THIRTY!!! The last T.O. cop killer was ‘out on parole four and a part years after the murder, the Board ‘betting’ he won’t re-offend. And lastly a guy charged with ‘assaulting’ a lady in the GTA….59 convictions (!) of mostly similar charges already on his record. Like, WTF is this guy NOT in prison?! Ditto for the guy in SASK?! Don’t tell me ‘they just fell through the cracks’. Please! Fifty-nine tymes for one and thirty for the other?? C’mon man! How does ANYBODY manage to ‘collect’ THAT number of Convictions? and still be walking/driving on the ****ing streets??!! Like, after 10 or a dozen does NOBODY at Corrections Cda (or whatever gaol(s) it is they frequent) ‘clue in’??!! As to the most frequent excuse used….’but the gaols are so overcrowded’. Hello?? So….SO….build more gaols. And here’s ‘the icing on the cake’ for Rotzy’s Penal System Rant…Part III. T.O’s EIGHT teenage murderers are either out on bail or in the process of it (for Murder 2) but you may have noticed they now face additional ‘assault’ charges for wreaking havoc at 2 or 3 locations along the subway line going downtown, where 20-30 minutes later they hacked and stabbed poor Ken The Wino to death. Hence, if Murder 2 isn’t enough to hold them/deny bail, you think a couple of additional ‘assaults’ might do it? Me neither!
*Thought Of The Day…Parole Boards….Ignorance vs Apathy? Who knows? Who cares?
