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Black finds God
A new doc on Lord Conrad Black reveals the disgraced media mogul has found solace in his Catholic beliefs during his recent business travails – and has shared e-mails on the subject with style maven Martha Stewart, herself recently sentenced to jail in an insider trading scandal. It seems Martha has found God, too. As questionable as some of their dealings have been, we’re sure that whoever is guarding the Pearly Gates is impressed with their new-found devotion. We in the real world, however, wonder about all those they’ve crushed on the way to their conversion.
Roots’ Rooty-toot-toot
Roots Canada has come clean – well, sort of. It took an article in the UK-based Sunday Herald and pressure from anti-sweatshop groups to get the company to admit last week that some of its Olympic apparel is being made in Chinese factories where labour organizing typically is not allowed and there is no limit on working hours, among other abuses. Roots is still refusing to disclose the location of the Chinese factories where its Olympic products are made. It turns out the company was fibbing about all its Olympic-branded apparel being made in Canada. So much for the ethical gloss in those Roots ads.
Dalton’s leapfrog
Red Hill Expressway protestors in Hamilton are marking their 90th day in the trees this week, just as a report of the Greenbelt Task Force says that the province’s greenbelt plans for the region won’t protect against development “leapfrogging” – the destruction of prime farmland and natural heritage systems further north in the Golden Horseshoe. The Task Force is recommending a widening of the proposed greenbelt.We’re guessing the king of the symbolic gesture won’t listen.
“It was all an act. I can say that now. And, in the end, we got everything we wanted.”
Former police union head turned talk radio show host Craig Bromell on his menacing six years as president of the Toronto Police Association. Who knew?
Prince of pot pinched
If you think you can’t go to jail for one joint, think again. BC Marijuana Party head and self-proclaimed Prince of Pot Marc Emery has been handed a shocking three-month jail sentence by a Saskatchewan judge. Technically, Emery was found guilty of trafficking. In reality, his transgression was passing a joint. Emery’s supporters have begun sending e-mails to Justice Minister Irwin Cotler urging him to overturn the decision. Cotler calls himself a human rights activist. Now’s his chance to prove it by freeing Emery – and tabling a decrim bill that’s for real.
