Of mice and men, jerks and assholes!

Dear Readers:

This is probably one of the most deserved "Asshole of the Day" awards we have given out in quite some time!

OTTAWA -- An Ottawa man jailed for his part in a terrorist conspiracy says a federal move to strip him of Canadian citizenship violates several constitutional guarantees, including his right to vote.

Hiva Alizadeh is the latest to challenge new provisions that allow the government to revoke citizenship from someone convicted of terrorism, treason or espionage -- as long as they hold nationality in another country.
In an application to the Federal Court of Canada, the Iranian-born man says the provisions breach the principles of fundamental justice enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
He also argues taking away his citizenship would improperly deny him the right to vote and prevent him from freely entering and remaining in Canada.
Alizadeh, 36, was sentenced to 24 years in prison upon pleading guilty last year to possessing explosives with intent to do harm.
The custodian and part-time student was arrested in August 2010 along with two other men. Police seized terrorist literature, videos and manuals along with dozens of electronic circuit boards -- devices designed to detonate homemade bombs remotely.

The federal Conservatives argue terrorism is a crime so grave that perpetrators are unworthy of holding citizenship. Critics say stripping someone's right to be a citizen is akin to the medieval practice of banishment.
Alizadeh's lawyer, Leo Russomanno, said Wednesday his client was "pretty devastated" by the decision to revoke his citizenship, seeing as he took full responsibility for his crime the day he was sentenced. "He gave an impassioned and heartfelt expression of remorse to the court."
Alizadeh is now effectively being punished twice for the same crime, which is unconstitutional, Russomanno contends.
"Mr. Alizadeh agreed to accept the Crown's offer for 24 years, which is no small sentence. And now they seem to be piling on with this, and it doesn't seem very fair."
Alizadeh could face deportation to Iran, a country where he faced persecution as an ethnic Kurd before attaining refugee status in Canada.
His case will proceed in tandem with those of several other convicted terrorists challenging the citizenship revocation provisions.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and Asad Ansari, who was convicted for his role in a 2006 bomb plot, are spearheading the process.
Misbahuddin Ahmed, found guilty of conspiring with Alizadeh, is among those contesting the provisions.

 http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/convicted-terrorist-cites-right-to-vote-in-challenging-move-to-strip-his-citizenship-1.2609965

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AND WHILE WE'RE ON THE SUBJECT OF ASSHOLES:

A father, mother and their son, all convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of four family members, have asked Ontario's highest court for new trials.
In documents filed with the Ontario Court of Appeal, Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed argue, among other issues, that their trial judge should not have admitted "overwhelmingly prejudicial" evidence from an expert on so-called honour killings.
The victims' bodies were found on June 30, 2009, in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ont. The Crown at the trial asserted the murders were committed after the girls "shamed" the family by dating!

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/shafia-father-mother-and-son-ask-ontario-court-of-appeal-for-new-trials-1.2609304

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STILL WITH AN "ASSHOLE" THEME: Here's a "two for one" interview with Donald Trump!



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My wife, (The Mrs. Herself) and  lot of other people I know are all health nuts who take all sorts of vitamin supplements,  pills, creams, drinks etc. on a regular basis BUT, multivitamins, diet pills and energy boosters may not be the harmless substances you think they are.

 By Ariana Eunjung Cha
In the first study of its kind, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers estimated that 23,000 people end up in the emergency room each year suffering from heart palpitations, chest pain, choking or other problems after ingesting dietary supplements. Most of those patients were young adults, children or the elderly.
While that number is a small fraction — just 5 percent — of the number of ER visits involving pharmaceuticals, the issue is a cause for concern because the market for herbal and complementary nutritional products remains largely unregulated. Surveys have shown that about half of U.S. adults used at least one dietary supplement in the past month and that there were more than 55,000 products on the market as of 2012. Out-of-pocket expenditures on these products is estimated to be about a third of  what people spend on prescription drugs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/10/14/more-than-23000-people-wind-up-in-the-er-each-year-due-to-dietary-supplements/

AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF, GET A LOAD OF THIS: On Tuesday, former Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Lamar Odom collapsed after taking "herbal Viagra" pills called Reload that the FDA had previously issued warnings about.

The FDA had said the supplement "contains [a] hidden drug ingredient" that could cause severe reactions.

(Odom remains on life support, according to news reports.)

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And Finally: For a slight change of direction. (Remember kids, ya never know what you're gonna get on these pages!)

The one song that perhaps defined and shaped my generation more than any other was this little ditty by Bob Dylan:


Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone (vinyl) from dispensable library on Vimeo.

Everybody and his brother sang along with Bob when "Like a Rolling Stone" came out in the mid-sixties, and now it's your chance to do so one more time with this "Karaoke" version of the song ........, wail away kids, wail away!