6 — Friday, February 12, 1999 — North Shore News

Fitting fi

ICHAEL Caster got what

he deserved. A jury found

him guilty on Wednesdav of
first-degree murder in the planned
execution of Mohammed Mirhadi.

Mirhadi was shot to death at close
quarters in a crowded North
Vancouver cinema.

It was an extremely violent act.

Caster was born in Iran. His fam-
ily likely movec to Canada to find a
better life.

That promise is now wasted and
has instead turned into a nightmare
for his family and that of his victim.

The jury’s decision was made pos-
sible with evidence generated by an
elaborate police sting orchestrated to
draw out the suspect.

Undercover police deserve praise
for their diligence.

Without it, the case would likely

north shore news

VIEWPOIN

nish
have remained unresolved.

The Criminal Code sets out a sen-
tence of imprisonment for life with-
out eligibility for parole until the
person has served 25 years of the
sentence.

The sentence, although it’s the
most harsh that existing Canadian
criminal law supports, doesn’t rec-
ognize the recklessness with which
Caster acted.

The bullets intended for Mirhadi
could easily have found other vic-
tims. Those sitting near Mirhadi
that night are lucky to be alive.

It is also lucky for us that Caster
was 21 years old when he squeezed
the trigger.

Had he been four years younger
he would have had to serve a maxi-
mum five to seven years before being
eligible for parole.

HEY DUVE, isn'T
WHISTLER. SUPPOSED

To BE FAMOUS FOR m5,
Ee”

NOT ANYMORE...
CPRRETIEN WENT Home

OsRUce9 ¥

~~ Trooping towards totalitarianism

Outlaw everything
about kiddie porn

Dear Editor:

I wish to register my disgust and complete disagreement
with both Doug Collins’ Jan. 31 News article “Kiddie porn
ruling was right” as well as Justice Shaw’s ruling. The issue

“at stake here is not, as Doug seems to think, a freedom of
the press issue nor is it “a struggle for freedom.”

The issue, clearly and simply, is that to possess child
pornography should be illegal. To make child pornography
is illegal, to own it only condones what is a vile and
exploitive crime. Child pornography promotes violence and
the exploitation of a segment of the population who are too
young to be able to stand up for themselves. It is our duty
as adults to see that they are protected against perverts such
as John Sharpe. In order to possess child pornography —
child pornography must be made! How in all reasoning can
it be legal to possess child pornography?

Doug questions that if the possession of one sort of lit-
erature can become iNegal, others can too. He questions
who decides whar hate literature is. Let me clear this up for
you, Doug. Harte literature can be considered any literature
that violates another person’s rights. While [ agree that there
should be a complete freedom of the press, that people are
entided to their own opinions, this docs nor include the
right to abuse young innocent victims. To possess hateful
opinions written by hatetul people will never become illegal

* because, people are entitled to their opinion. Take Doug's
‘letter for example. Doug has his opinion, | have mine.

Justice Shaw found those laws permitting “the invasion
of freedom of expression and personal privacy are pro-
found.” So, you have the freedom to be a pervert in your
own mind.

You can cartoon some drawings if you must. But real
child pornography abuses young non-consenting innocent
victims. You've crossed the line here.

Michele Davies
North Vancouver

Marth “hore News, founded in 196925 an
independent suburtan newspaper and quakes
under Schedufe 111, Paragraph 11 of the
Excise Tax Act, 1S publeched each Wednesdy.
Friday and Sunday by Nosth Shove Free Press
itd and destnduted tn every door on the North
Shore. Canada Past Canadian Pubbcabons Mad
‘Sales Product Agreement NO 0067238

Distribution Manager
986-1337 (124)

Creative Services Manager
985-2131 (127)

61.582 {average orculation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday)

I sincerely don’t think that six
million European Jews died in
the Nazi era Holocaust.

Can TF now expect someone to make a
complaint to the B.C
human rights police?
And will I, and the
North Shore News,
receive a much hersher
punishment than the one
levied against the paper
and Doug Collins —
since the sole tribunalise
in that (second) Collins
case, Tom Patch,
ordered the paper and
the now-retired colum-
nist to “refrain from
committing the same or a similar contra-
vention” of the Human Rights Code,
and, having been warned, the News and
I weuld have then contemptuously flout-
ed that order?

Ifso, there’s no use worrying whether
this province is lurching toward totalitari-
anism, It’s here.

Mr. Amateur Justice Student Lautens
speaking: Patch hasn't got even a consti-
tutional or common-law toe to stand on
in making that order, an order that is
nothing less than anticipatory censorship
by the state.

Equally, Patch’s order, believed to be
unprecedented in Canadian history, that
the paper publish his summary of the case
— i.e., the state dictating editorial copy
to a privately owned publication — is
utterly repugnant inc free and democrat-
ic society.

As is the weasel section of the B.C.
Human Rights Code that prohibits

Bee Dhaliwal
Human Resources Manager
. 985-2131 (377)

PETER SPECK
Publisher
985-2131 (101)

Torry Potess
Photography Manager
985-2131 (160)

Stepheasos
Classified Manager
986-6222 (202)

Doug Feo
Comptroller
985-2131 (133)

Enltite contents © 1997 North Shore Free Press Lid, Ail rights reserved.

speech that is “likely to” expose a person
or group to hatred or contempt,” which
would give everybody in Canada licence
to run to the human rights apparatus.

I write about this matter glumly. 1
wouldn’e want to be
the newspaper execu-
tives who will have to
decide whether to
appeal Patch’s ruling,
perhaps eventually, and
expensively, te the
Supreme Court of
Canada. (B.C.’s
Marxist-and-water gov-
ernment won't Lesitate
to spend taxpayers’
money to defend its
repressive legislation.)

I've stated betore thar [ part company
with Collins — whose columns on some
other matters | often admired and almost
always envied for their technique and
clarity —- on the issue of the Holocaust.

I thought that he was at his least
admirable when he wrote as if the death
at the Nazis’ hands of Jews — whether
six or six million — didn’ stimulate his
compassion or engage his humanity.

Those deaths are so horrific, che Nazi
racial doctrines so odious, that our lan-
guage stumbles to describe them ade-
quately.

Which brings me to my opening sen-
tence. | can’t swear beyond a doubt that
six million Jews died in the Holocaust. I
haven’r examined the records, any more
than F have checked out the French
Revelution to make sure that it tao really
happened.

So I rely on the best scholarship I
know of. For the Holocaust, I accept the

estimate of Raul Hilberg, who spent his
career studying records of Jewish dearhs
under the Nazis.

Hilberg — now retired as professor of
political science ar the University of
Vermont and himself an Austrian-born
Jew who got out as a child before the
butchering began — concluded that the
figure is 5.1 million.

Tintersiewed him a few years ago
when he came to speak ata Vancouver
tabernacle, specifically asking about the
six million figure. .

He said it had two origins. First, a
“back-of the-envelope” estimate by the
Red Cross soon atter the war. Second,
Adolf Kichmann’s vile sneer that when he
jumped into the grave, he was taking six
million fews with him.

Even one such death is sickening. But
Hilberg’s disparity of 900,000 deaths,
about 15% less than the widely cited six
million, is significant.

Surely Hilberg couldn’t be accused of
being anti-Semitic. But — who knows,
under B.C.’s sinister code? — someone
might feel thar anyone publicly diminish-
ing Holocaust deaths by 15% is “likely
to” expose Jews to hatred-and contempt.

’ Bottom line: After nwo kangaroo
court hearings, there is nor an iota of evi-
dence that reading Collins’ views inspired
a single person to a single anti-Jewish act.
For this, freedom was made hostage.

~ O00

Stout-hearted but threatened little Sr.
Monica’s Anglican Church, on Marine
Drive above Horseshoe Bay, is holding a
Valentine's celebration and community
wine and cheesé party and raftle 7 t0 9
p.m. tomorrow night, tickers S20. Help
the church, help yourself. -

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