International Law

'Orwell Would Laugh'

Posted on April 27, 2009
The indispensible Cathie from Canada:...using a term "enhanced measures" instead of "torture" is like a drug addict calling heroin "my medication". George Orwell would laugh.- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

British Press Floods Family Courts, Newly Opened to Media

Posted on April 27, 2009
As noted last week, effective today, British media has new-found access to the nation's Family Courts, which had previously been closed to the press.Times Online obliges with a series of reports from various Family Courts throughout the U.K., including coverage from Central London,  Cardiff,  Manchester, Bath , and this report on a child welfare matter from Haringey Family Court:If judges and court staff were ready for what has been hailed as a revolution in the family courts, lawyers at Barnet?s Civil and Family Court Centre were slightly taken by surprise by the arrival of the media...

On Courts, Khadr and Canada's Conservatives

Posted on April 26, 2009
CTV News reports today that Stephen Harper's Conservative government continues to hedge on whether it will abide by an April 23, 2009 Federal Court ruling, require it to formally request the repatriation of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen confined at Guantanamo Bay since 2002:  Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Sunday the federal government is still pondering whether to appeal a Federal Court order on the Omar Khadr case...

Government of Canada Introduces Federal Anti-Spam Bill

Posted on April 26, 2009
CBC reports today on potent anti-spam legislation introduced Friday by Canada's Conservative government. In the article, Industry Minister Tony Clement commented on the proposed Electronic Commerce Protection Act: ... Clement said the new legislation would give the government more power to prosecute spammers, and help protect consumers and businesses...

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Quotable

Posted on April 26, 2009
Talk Left's Big Tent Democrat:Stuart Taylor, along with his Newsweek accomplice Evan Thomas, famously urged President Obama to do what Dick Cheney did on torture. What is it about these people? Are they so afraid that they insist on the United States following them into depravity and war crimes? Of course today they, like much of the Village, excuse a policy of war crimes - but when it came to private conduct of President Clinton, they wanted the President removed from office...

Divorce Lawyers Alarmed as Media Gains Access to U.K. Family Courts

Posted on April 24, 2009
U.K Lawyers concerned that Open divorce courts will lead warring spouses to 'blackmail.'- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

"Plain English"

Posted on April 24, 2009
From Andrew Sullivan:To put this in plain English: We had a president determined to torture a prisoner to get false evidence on which to justify a war.And apparently, additional photographs documenting U.S. abuse of detainees in Guantanamo and Iraq are about to be releaased by the U...

Video: Bybee Torture Memo - Words and Music

Posted on April 24, 2009
No further comment necessary, I hope.- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

Ontario Drivers' Cell Phone Ban Passes Legislature, Law Takes Effect Fall, 2009

Posted on April 23, 2009
The Countering Distracted Driving and Promoting Green Transportation Act, 2009, Ontario's new law banning use of cell phones while driving, was carried in its Third Reading by by our Provincial Legislature on Wednesday, April 22, 2009.The new law amends the Highway Traffic Act to provide:Hand-held devices prohibitedWireless communication devices78...

Lightening Up For A Moment...

Posted on April 23, 2009
(h.t - Susan M)- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

Obama Reversal: A.G.To Decide on Torture Prosecutions

Posted on April 22, 2009
President Barack Obama "elaborated" Tuesday on his position regarding possible criminal investigations arising from recently-released Bush administration "torture memos:"OBAMA: The OLC memos that were released reflected in my view us losing our moral bearings...

Bill Clinton, George W. Bush to "Debate" in Toronto, May 29

Posted on April 22, 2009
Think Progress:Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will meet for a debate late next month. The event will take place on Friday, May 29th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. ThinkProgress has been told the ?debate? will occur in the form of a moderated question-and-answer session, rather than a more lively exchange between the two Presidents...

Report: U.S. Torture Sought Proof of Iraq, Al Quaida Link

Posted on April 22, 2009
Not surprisingly, as the facts emerge on the American deployment of "harsh interrogation methods," the Bush Administration's rationale for the use of such tactics appears increasingly thin. According to a McClatchy News article today, a primary objective of waterboarding and other violent methods of interrogation was the pursuit of evidence of an operational link between Saddam Hussein's deposed regime and the Al Quaida terrorist organization...

Senate Committee: Aggressive Interrogations Damaged America

Posted on April 22, 2009
A Senate Armed Services Committee report, released yesterday, addresses America's abusive treatment of detainees and the resulting harm to American interests:The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of ?a few bad apples? acting on their own...

Update on Ontario Small Claims Court Changes

Posted on April 22, 2009
Ontario's Small Claims Courts, which are the busiest civil courts in the Province, will be getting considerably busier on January 1, 2010.As we noted in our December 11, 2009 post, the arrival of the new year will bring an increase in the Court?s maximum monetary jurisdiction from $10,000 to $25,000 and a significant influx of new, larger cases is likely to follow...

183 Times

Posted on April 19, 2009
Star-spangled torture in action - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003 alone. Abu Zubaydah, by contrast, was waterboarded a mere 83 times in August 2002.President Obama has ruled out prosecution of the CIA agents who carried out these gruesome interrogations because they received explicit authority and assurance of legal cover by the U...

"Judging the Judges"

Posted on April 19, 2009
In an editorial today, former Sun Media counsel Alan Shanoff looks at the Canadian Judicial Council,  a body of senior Canadian judges designated by Part II of the federal Judges Act to investigate and rule upon complaints of misconduct against federally-appointed judges...

N.Y. Times: Investigate Torture Memo Lawyers

Posted on April 19, 2009
From a Times editorial today, The Torturers ManifestoTheir language is the precise bureaucratese favored by dungeon masters throughout history. They detail how to fashion a collar for slamming a prisoner against a wall, exactly how many days he can be kept without sleep (11), and what, specifically, he should be told before being locked in a box with an insect ? all to stop just short of having a jury decide that these acts violate the laws against torture and abusive treatment of prisoners...

Presidential Justice: A Constitutional Question

Posted on April 19, 2009
While I note President Obama's "decision" that CIA  agents who participated in torture will not be prosecuted, I am left wondering.Where at law does the President derive this ultimate authority to determine on political grounds who will or will not be prosecuted in America for alleged criminal offences?Has there not been an ongoing investigation ongoing over suggestions of that very kind of political interference by the Bush White House  in the Justice Department's 2006 firing of nine U...

Waking Up Canadian

Posted on April 18, 2009
The Government of Canada went to YouTube last week to announce changes to Canada's citizenship laws:Under the new law citizenship is restored to:People who:became citizens when the first citizenship act took effect on January 1, 1947, including people born in Canada prior to 1947 and war brides...

George Bush on War Prisoners - A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Posted on April 18, 2009
George Bush, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld demand consequences for inhumane treatment of American POW's by the Iraqi Army in March, 2003:"If there is somebody captured," President George W. Bush told reporters on March 23, 2003, "I expect those people to be treated humanely...

Spanish Judge Overrides His A.G. - Will Pursue Torture Investigations

Posted on April 18, 2009
From the Center for Constututional Rights:April 17, 2009, New York ?The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which represents many of the men detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo, praised Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon?s decision to pursue a criminal investigation into the actions of six Bush administration lawyers for providing legal cover for torture at the base...

Video: American Torture-Lovers Gather at Fox

Posted on April 18, 2009
Torture - it works, by golly.Just ask the lovers of freedom at Fox News.Perhaps we shall rebrand them the Fox Friends of Torture:- Garry J. Wise, Toronto Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net EMPLOYMENT LAW ? CIVIL LITIGATION ? WILLS AND ESTATES ? FAMILY LAW & DIVORCEORIGINALLY POSTED AT WISE LAW BLOG ? SUBSCRIBE TO WISE LAW BLOG

Don Henley Sues Congressman Over Unauthorized Song Use

Posted on April 18, 2009
I guess it's never too early for lawsuits over the 2010 U.S. election cycle to begin.CNN reports that Eagles drummer and frontman Don Henley has filed a copyright infringement suit against Rebublican Congressman Charles DeVore, alleging unauthorized use of two Henley hit songs by DeVore in the congressman's campaign to unseat California Senator Barbara Boxer in 2010:The suit filed Friday in federal court in California claims Charles DeVore is using Henley's hit songs "The Boys of Summer" and "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" without authorization...

Sullivan on Torture Memos: Ticking Time Bomb Scenarios MIA

Posted on April 17, 2009
Andrew Sullivan hitting the nail on the head on the newly-released torure memos:No: what is far more important and far graver is the decision after the 2004 re-election, after the original period of panic, to set up a torture program, replete with every professional and bureaucratic nicety...

Update on Alaina Templeton, Pet Pig With A Surname

Posted on April 16, 2009
When we first wrote about poor Alaina Templeton in a November 2007 article, Pig-Sitter Faces Charges for Fattening the Hog, we left off with this cliffhanger:Misdemeanor charges against the sitter were indeed laid, and are pending.So, now it will be up to the Minnesota courts to decide...

More U.S. Torture Memos Released

Posted on April 16, 2009
U.S. Torture Technique Number 9 - Insects Placed in a Confinement BoxFrom ACLU: The Bush Administration's Secret Legal MemosOn April 16, 2009, the Department of Justice released four secret memos used by the Bush administration to justify torture: A 18-page memo, dated August 1, 2002, from Jay Bybee, Assistant Attorney General, OLC, to John A...

Same Sex Marriage Momentum: Legislation in New York, Maine

Posted on April 15, 2009
AmericaBlog's Joe Sudbury updates on  legislative initiatives on gay marriage now pending in Maine and New York State:Okay, Vermont is done. Iowa is done. The New Hampshire House passed a marriage bill in March, but may get "tangled up" in the NH Senate...

"Bush Six" Likely to Face Torture Charges in Spain

Posted on April 15, 2009
Lawyer and Harpers columnist Scott Horton provides an update:Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, several reliable sources close to the investigation have told The Daily Beast...

Actuaries Oppose Bill 133

Posted on April 13, 2009
I'm late in posting this, but in view of recent legislative progress of Bill 133, I wanted to share the following letter to Ontario Attorney General, Chris Bentley, from James Jeffery and Kelly McKeating, two London, Ontario actuaries who regularly provide pension valuations in Family Law proceedings...

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