From an April issue of the Wanderer -- America's oldest Catholic weekly newspaper]
Of Canons and Culture...
Child Pornography versus Family Farming
Pete Vere
A few columns ago, I mentioned that much of Canada’s political elite spends more time protecting pedophiles and perverts than the nation’s food supply. This past week bore out this experience. Two stories hit Canada’s mainstream media, neither of which bodes well for Canada’s future.
The first story concerns Carl Treleaven from Edmonton, Alberta. As Cary Castagna reported in the Edmonton Sun, “Carl, 49, was sentenced [...] to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to distributing child pornography. He was a key administrator in an Internet child-porn chat room that trades in explicit pictures and live streaming video, including acts of incest, bestiality and **** involving children.” As reported by other local news sources, some of these victims were as young as eighteen months old.
This frightens me. It should frighten every parent and grandparent. At two years old my youngest daughter is older than at least one of Treleaven’s victims. Sexual abuse is a horrible experience at any age, to be ****d as an infant in front of a camera for “entertainment” purposes? Three-and-a-half years seems awfully short for a man with two prior convictions for the sexually molesting young girls.
Yet it is the same story across Canada. Paul Tuns edits the Interim, which is Canada’s largest newspaper devoted to right-to-life and pro-family issues. We happened to be talking not too long after this story broke. “Time and time again,” Tuns stated, “Canadian law enforcement is at the forefront of capturing these perverts. The police are not the problem; they’re working as hard as they can. The problem is with our Justice and political system that lacks the will to punish child pornographers. Even when they are caught, they only get a slap on the wrist.”
Hence three-and-a-half years for a crime that will physically and emotionally scar the victims for the rest of their lives. This assumes, of course, the children survive the abuse. Many do not. Among those that do, the majority will turn to self-destructive behavior such as alcoholism, drug addiction and prostitution. Some of the victims will become child pornographers themselves. Thus the social burden placed upon our communities is surpassed only by the human toll extracted from the victims. This is why law enforcement keeps trying despite the lack of enthusiasm emanating from politicians and the judiciary.
The latter are much more concerned about the chicken and the egg. No, not what came first. Such a philosophical question requires too much reasoning skills for most Canadian bureaucrats. Rather, the big concern is farmers selling eggs on the open market.
Shawn Carmichael is a family farmer and the father of six. He runs a poultry farm just outside of Ottawa in Canada’s capital region. Around the same time Treleaven was receiving a token sentence for his part in the destruction of youthful innocence, Mr. Carmichael was facing down two dozen government officials backed up by just as many police cars.
You see, Mr. Carmichael reportedly had the audacity to sell some of his eggs to his neighbors rather than go through the government-controlled board. These boards set prices artificially low – well below the price of production for all but the largest multinational factory farms. In retaliation for this sin against the government, their puppet board attempted to seize Mr. Carmichael’s eggs, chickens and financial records. Many of Mr. Carmichael’s chickens died after being locked up in unventilated government trucks for several hours.
Coincidentally, this raid came during a week in which family farmers protested a provincial Liberal budget that increased funding to big cities (that just happen to vote Liberal) while cutting funding to rural areas (that just happen to vote Conservative). The attempt to intimidate Mr. Carmichael would have succeeded had his fellow farmers not come to his rescue. Over forty farmers – many of them members of the Rural Revolution – drove over in their tractors and sealed off the end of Mr. Carmichael’s driveway. At this point the police seized the initiative. Despite protests from government regulators, the police negotiated a non-violent resolution that saw the return of the majority of Mr. Carmichael’s chickens, eggs and financial records.
Merle Bowes is a family farmer and a spokesman with the Rural Revolution. “Government policy in Canada is insuring the demise of the family farm,” Bowes shared in an exclusive interview with the Wanderer. “Government policy toward agriculture, particularly small farmers and other businesses in the rural areas, is forcing us off the land.”
“Consumers in our country are becoming vulnerable to the whims of giant multi-national corporations. We need a safe, domestic food supply, however it is not being protected in this country. There’s a lot of money in the food industry, but very little trickles down to the farmer.”
“I am speaking not only from the perspective of a family farmer, but also as a consumer myself. I’m fifty-five years of age. I’m the father of four. I can struggle through what the government is throwing at me, but I fear for my children.”
I sympathize with Mr. Bowes. A nation that punishes farmers while protecting its child pornographers cannot survive the future.
Of Canons and Culture...
Child Pornography versus Family Farming
Pete Vere
A few columns ago, I mentioned that much of Canada’s political elite spends more time protecting pedophiles and perverts than the nation’s food supply. This past week bore out this experience. Two stories hit Canada’s mainstream media, neither of which bodes well for Canada’s future.
The first story concerns Carl Treleaven from Edmonton, Alberta. As Cary Castagna reported in the Edmonton Sun, “Carl, 49, was sentenced [...] to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to distributing child pornography. He was a key administrator in an Internet child-porn chat room that trades in explicit pictures and live streaming video, including acts of incest, bestiality and **** involving children.” As reported by other local news sources, some of these victims were as young as eighteen months old.
This frightens me. It should frighten every parent and grandparent. At two years old my youngest daughter is older than at least one of Treleaven’s victims. Sexual abuse is a horrible experience at any age, to be ****d as an infant in front of a camera for “entertainment” purposes? Three-and-a-half years seems awfully short for a man with two prior convictions for the sexually molesting young girls.
Yet it is the same story across Canada. Paul Tuns edits the Interim, which is Canada’s largest newspaper devoted to right-to-life and pro-family issues. We happened to be talking not too long after this story broke. “Time and time again,” Tuns stated, “Canadian law enforcement is at the forefront of capturing these perverts. The police are not the problem; they’re working as hard as they can. The problem is with our Justice and political system that lacks the will to punish child pornographers. Even when they are caught, they only get a slap on the wrist.”
Hence three-and-a-half years for a crime that will physically and emotionally scar the victims for the rest of their lives. This assumes, of course, the children survive the abuse. Many do not. Among those that do, the majority will turn to self-destructive behavior such as alcoholism, drug addiction and prostitution. Some of the victims will become child pornographers themselves. Thus the social burden placed upon our communities is surpassed only by the human toll extracted from the victims. This is why law enforcement keeps trying despite the lack of enthusiasm emanating from politicians and the judiciary.
The latter are much more concerned about the chicken and the egg. No, not what came first. Such a philosophical question requires too much reasoning skills for most Canadian bureaucrats. Rather, the big concern is farmers selling eggs on the open market.
Shawn Carmichael is a family farmer and the father of six. He runs a poultry farm just outside of Ottawa in Canada’s capital region. Around the same time Treleaven was receiving a token sentence for his part in the destruction of youthful innocence, Mr. Carmichael was facing down two dozen government officials backed up by just as many police cars.
You see, Mr. Carmichael reportedly had the audacity to sell some of his eggs to his neighbors rather than go through the government-controlled board. These boards set prices artificially low – well below the price of production for all but the largest multinational factory farms. In retaliation for this sin against the government, their puppet board attempted to seize Mr. Carmichael’s eggs, chickens and financial records. Many of Mr. Carmichael’s chickens died after being locked up in unventilated government trucks for several hours.
Coincidentally, this raid came during a week in which family farmers protested a provincial Liberal budget that increased funding to big cities (that just happen to vote Liberal) while cutting funding to rural areas (that just happen to vote Conservative). The attempt to intimidate Mr. Carmichael would have succeeded had his fellow farmers not come to his rescue. Over forty farmers – many of them members of the Rural Revolution – drove over in their tractors and sealed off the end of Mr. Carmichael’s driveway. At this point the police seized the initiative. Despite protests from government regulators, the police negotiated a non-violent resolution that saw the return of the majority of Mr. Carmichael’s chickens, eggs and financial records.
Merle Bowes is a family farmer and a spokesman with the Rural Revolution. “Government policy in Canada is insuring the demise of the family farm,” Bowes shared in an exclusive interview with the Wanderer. “Government policy toward agriculture, particularly small farmers and other businesses in the rural areas, is forcing us off the land.”
“Consumers in our country are becoming vulnerable to the whims of giant multi-national corporations. We need a safe, domestic food supply, however it is not being protected in this country. There’s a lot of money in the food industry, but very little trickles down to the farmer.”
“I am speaking not only from the perspective of a family farmer, but also as a consumer myself. I’m fifty-five years of age. I’m the father of four. I can struggle through what the government is throwing at me, but I fear for my children.”
I sympathize with Mr. Bowes. A nation that punishes farmers while protecting its child pornographers cannot survive the future.
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