"Enemy to those who make him an enemy ..... friend to those who have no friend - that's Blackie!Anonymous has left a new comment on your post, "How say you VJH?"
Good Morning again,
I've been watching the newspapers with regard to Madam Justice Douglas, and am amused that both the major ones in Winnipeg seem to be calling for her resignation.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/rare-and-public-but-necessary-125129419.htmlhttp://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/07/06/judge-should-be-disrobed
http://www.winnipegsun.com/2011/07/07/watch-for-judge-to-quit
While the Free Press doesn't outright call for her resignation, it does allude to the fact that the inquiry will be very public and a media frenzy. The Sun, well, as a border-line tabloid, it is much more direct in its demands.
Myself, I would be very surprised if she doesn't resign at this stage. The very public airing of her dirty laundry will, no doubt, destroy what little credibility and dignity she may still have.
I think that the inquiry will not be able to ignore that at least SOME of the Canadian public wants her removed.
Whatever happened to our petition anyway?
VJH
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Dear VJH:
As always thank you very much for contacting CyberSmokeBlog.
Completely agree, Justice Douglas should resign to spare herself, family and colleagues on the Bench any further embarrassment but will she? Recall the $8-million public inquiry of a couple years ago chaired by Manitoba Justice Jeffrey Oliphant that looked into "Mulroneygate." Did anything happen as a result? Could it have been because full disclosure was not allowed? Reporters who had covered the Air Bus scandal from the get go noted, on numerous occasions, much of that salient evidence was deemed inadmissible.
Fast forward to today. What will the terms of reference be for the Canadian Judicial Council's inquiry - for example, what does "public" mean in this context? That's why we're reserving judgment - Lori Douglas could still escape relatively unscathed.
A blog we regularly follow is Above the Law (http://abovethelaw.com/) operated by Harvard educated lawyer Elie Mystal now based in New York. It claims a monthly readership of over half a million professionals. The other day it quoted extensively from CBC Manitoba's recent article announcing there would be an inquiry. A couple of our favourite quotes:
"So Judge Lori Douglas could end up getting disrobed. We're not sure we want to see that."
Or from one of the site's readers:
"So she had sex with her husband (and no one else), he makes some private pictures of her and without her knowledge the husband posts them on the internet then tries to get some other guy to have sex with her. Other than marrying the wrong guy, I dont' see what she did wrong."
Here's what the reader fails to appreciate. Supposing this scenario had happened to the Chief of Police in their city or town. Would you really want them to remain in that position? We're somewhat surprised Ms Douglas hasn't already divorced lawyer husband Jack King or at least wrung his scrawny little neck!
The petition? Here's our recollection please correct us if we're wrong. You'd suggested the idea a few months ago and were even kind enough to draft a copy which we subsequently bounced off a couple lawyers. The word came back it was good to go. We then offered you might wish to consider being the petition co-ordinator at which point the trail seems to have gone cold.
Fast forward to today. As you've probably noted, CyberSmokeSignals has been receiving regular updates from a site that specializes in online petitions http://www.change.org. Check it out - a petition can be transcribed directly and poof! Best of all it's a free service. It recommends for maximum results it be linked to a Facebook page (which we have) and would be prepared to share. Our problem is writting a daily blog is very time consuming indeed so we haven't kept our Facebook page current. Ditto for our Twitter account which has gone largely unsued to date.
But it just gets better VJH. We found another site which offers the same free service - http://www.thepetitionsite.com. Notice it accepts petitions from a lengthy list of countries including Canada. Check out one calling upon "The Harper Government" to change it's policy on asbestos exports - its already received more than 23,000 signatures.
Here's our proposal. Why don't we post the ready to publish Lori Douglas petition followed by an as yet unwritten one calling for support of CyberSmokeBlog's "Save Blackie!" campaign?
If you wish to see the "learned friends" at The Law Society of Manitoba scurry like little ants underneath the well-polished conference table at LSM headquarters to avoid the hot white light of media attention, watch their reaction should the "Save Blackie!" petition go viral.
How say you VJH?
Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk
P. S. If the petitions were to get off the ground, resonate and gain traction we could always send updates to the CJC, as well as, Federation of Law Societies of Canada/Law Society of Manitoba respectively.
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