Reply With QuotePlease post the book's ISBN number, necessary for ordering it. I'm asking Chapters/Indigo to get it in. Thanks.
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Allow me to introduce myself - the guy who wrote the book about how illegal the street racing law is. I hope this is the best location for this thread. If not moderator, please move it accordingly.
While I don't currently own a bike, I do enjoy bikes. I don't own one for the simple reason that I'm a compulsive Evel Knievel sort when on two wheels. So I opted for four wheels early on in order to prolong my life.
At the beginning of the summer I published a test run of my new book THE REBEL MACHINE IDENTITY - the evolution of a car nut. I'd changed the title of the book from STREET RACER due to how politically incorrect that title had become. I didn't want to become a social pariah over publishing one book.
But the street racing issue kept escalating in the public forum so I thought I'd better add a chapter to the book before I approached Indigo/Chapters/Coles with it.
As I did the research for the chapter, what I was reading in the newspapers and seeing on TV weren't adding up. The numbers being quoted seemed to pop out of nowhere and never seemed to relate to anything.
This made me suspicious.
Most people have hobbies. My hobby or one of them is reading legislation.
That doesn't mean I read legislation like it's the Great Canadian Novel. I read it like a school teacher would a student exam - with a red pen to indicate errors, loopholes and other problems.
As a result of reading the legislation, I've been involved in several issues of varying types.
It should come as no surprise that what I found was a growing record on the part of the Ontario government - it has developed a taste for committing Criminal Code offences against the public and it uses the police to unwittingly obstruct justice to achieve its goals.
To date I've examined in depth five completely different issues and found what I believe to be criminal offences committed by the government each time. All levels of government commit Criminal Code offences I believe but those that commit the offences don’t think they can be prosecuted by police. They are wrong.
I have to say "what I believe" so that I don't get sued as none of the offences or my investigations have resulted in criminal charges. But I believe that there should have been criminal charges laid in each case. That is multiple criminal charges in each case.
I am no lawyer. Let's be clear on that. I'm a regular guy just like you. So it may be that my interpretation of the laws may not be right on the money. It may be that there are ways for the government to sidestep my allegations.
However, if after five years of research into how our legislation works and with a much better command of the legal language than the average person, if my interpretation does not stand up to the test, then there is something very wrong with the way our legislation is applied.
You have to consider that our legislation is by the people and for the people. That is the basis for all of our laws and that is the intent. So if our legislation doesn't cut it for me, it doesn't cut it for anyone.
Remember, "ignorance of the law is no excuse" is how the law is applied. It's a take no prisoners approach that has burned thousands in the past. If the law cannot be readily understood and lived accordingly by the common person then our legislative process is at fault, not the public who is expected to abide by these laws most people never read or know where to find them.
Since that is the case, I decided that what I was finding was worth a deeper look than just rationalizing my street racing adventures in THE REBEL MACHINE IDENTITY.
It took almost a hundred pages to set the issue out in a rational manner and it was a very confusing process at first.
The book is not complete. There will be more to come at some point. That’s because not all of the numbers the street racing legislation was based on are available to the public or The Ministry of Transport.
They have not yet been compiled yet for 2006 or 2007.
My book has the numbers for 2005. Even Jim Kenzie, Toronto Star Automotive Journalist couldn't get those.
So what numbers, you should be asking yourself, was the street racing legislation based on?
I wrote the book and I'm still asking myself that question.
In my book you will find charts that make clearer the accident statistics that MTO assembles. Those statistics are not put together by MTO in a way that would enable anyone unfamiliar with how their charts work to make any sense out of them.
They didn't get around to explaining how the charts actually worked until I'd published my book, so there are discrepancies. But not like the discrepancies published by the Attorney General's office that lead me to do the investigation in the first place.
My investigation is continuing and more information will be supplied to people who buy my book directly from me via e-mail as I acquire it.
I absolutely did not write the book because I'd been charged under the legislation or had a bone to pick with the police. My position at the outset was completely neutral but I was alarmed at the way the new generation of street racers were giving muscle car enthusiasts like me a bad name.
From a biker's perspective my position was less clear since I'd long proven to my own satisfaction that I couldn't spend more than two or three minutes on a bike without doing something most people would find unacceptable, irresponsible or totally insane. But it was so much fun. I don't know if I've ever done anything legal on a bike.
So I have a degree of sympathy for the bikers I see slicing through traffic. I wish it was me. From the bike, you have a much clearer and wider vision of the road than anyone else and consequently, there is more room and time to do things that to others look insane. The trouble occurs when someone else does the something at the same time in a manner that can't be predicted. Or some road condition crops up that can't be anticipated or allowed for in time. But speed is still not always a contributing factor. In fact most bike accidents can be attributed to a car or truck driver's inattention. There are all sorts of mitigating circumstances that being dead and innocent doesn’t help. Regardless, that doesn’t make the legislation legal.
It may go through the courts and I may be proved wrong. But if so, it will undoubtedly be due to some sort of political intervention despite laws to the contrary.
What’s at stake besides the destabilization of all of Ontario’s legislation and credibility is the Ontario government having to pay back to those charged all of the money extorted and all of the cars illegally crushed – with interest and damages of course. That will amount to millions of dollars and should certainly be cause enough to prompt McGuinty's and Fantino's resignations.
That can't happen without a lot more people understanding what has happened to democracy under McGuinty's terms. That’s why this book has to go big time.
My view is that Premier McGuinty is possibly the worst thing to have ever happened to democracy in Ontario and he can only get worse in my view.
The real importance of reading my book is that if the public fails to comprehend how profoundly the street racing legislation has destabilized democracy in this province, then there is nothing stopping another government stepping in and continuing the culture of lies inspired by McGuinty's famous promise not to impose the Health Tax.
Imposing the tax may have been warranted. But the way it was done was the issue. It’s manner of execution was neither honest nor honourable and did nothing to improve the relationship between the public and civil servants.
Right now, street racers are considered outright criminals by the public. But the public fails to understand that it's the general public who are being painted with the street racing brush. Correcting this image and the wording of the law is going to take a lot of publicity and effort.
The book itself is titled THE REBEL MACHINE IDENTITY - ABUSE OF POWER.
That's because it started off to be a chapter in the bigger book. By titling it this way I legally and honestly avoided paying another copy write fee along with the delay in acquiring that and a second ISBN number. Every day that goes by is another pile of wrongful charges and convictions. The delay would have served no one, not even the legal system.
The price started out at $20.00 but when Coles at Scarborough Town Centre decided to let me do the book signing there I had to increase the price to at least partially cover their fees. I can't lower it again because if I do and the book stores decide to carry it, I'll be in a sort of jackpot in terms of keeping everything straight between two books and four different prices.
So I'm sorry for the unexpected price increase but I don't dare do it any differently. If this takes off, I’ll have lots of other things to worry about.
Anyway, thank you for your interest. My hope is that this will enable me to put the spot light on this and other areas that are not so well known but are still crime hotspots the government hopes will never come to light.
John Newell
Please post the book's ISBN number, necessary for ordering it. I'm asking Chapters/Indigo to get it in. Thanks.
For any others, the ISBN appears to be:
978-0-9810028-0-4
Get your local book store to bring it in...
The title and the ISBN may appear a bit confusing and that's because of the way the book was written. It was originally meant as a short chapter at the end of another book I wrote about my adventures as a Street Racer. I intended to illustrate the difference between Muscle Car era street racing and the type of street racing that has been growing in popularity since the mid nineties.
As I wrote and researched it became clear the government had broken Criminal Code laws to make the law. At the same time a friend of mine was charged with stunt driving so a lot of my research was done in an effort to help him defend himself in court. He is a single parent and as such generally without much disposable income. Being charged nearly caused him to lose his house, his job and his kids. He mounted his own defence using our combined efforts and beat the charges.
In order to save time, I maintained the original title of the first book - THE REBEL MACHINE IDENTITY and added the secondary title by which this second book is known: Abuse of Power so I wouldn't have to lose time reapplying for a new copyright and ISBN.
I did the single book signing at Coles in Scarborough Town Centre and am going to arrange others today for sometime later in October if possible in the Barrie and Brampton areas in Indigo/Chapters and/or Coles.
The book isn't in any store as yet because of the ponderous process of getting it through their distribution system.
So I self published it. The only way it can be obtained for the foreseeable future is from me by PMing me on this site.
The problem with that is that I've already been flagged for advertising and that is a no-no I understand and certainly don't want to upset the people who run the site.
But without telling you how to get the book, I don't see how any of you can protect yourselves or learn what you need to know to make any sort of meaningful comments in opposition to the law with respect to your loss of rights to your MPPs.
So I'll leave it up to the discretion of this board's administrators and moderators to make the judgment call.
Great book, im half way through and most of it leaves me dumbfounded in the shitter, not in a bad way...Just baffled at how much i didnt realize about the ONT GOV...
Again, thanks for writing this. A real "eye opener"!
This is a great book folks!!! I particularly like the section on the Blood Sugar levels... very true. You know that if the number of people on meds for this sort of thing is big... those that don't even know that they have it must be HUGE!!!!
Ontario at bottom of class in opennessOriginally Posted by gullyfourmyle
Provincial government the worst in disclosing records of interest, national audit shows
A shroud of secrecy surrounding government-held records in Canada is keeping volumes of public-interest information – from municipal finance details to police use of Tasers – hidden from Canadians.
That's the conclusion of an annual audit of information laws in Canada designed to ensure public access to government records. The fourth annual national audit, conducted by the Canadian Newspaper Association, takes the pulse of government openness by filing formal requests for records ranging from public health spending to internal audits and briefing notes prepared for ministers.
"Every time we do this, it's like a mountain climber that gets a sense of just how steep the mountain is ... and how deeply ingrained the desire to keep information from the public is at some levels of government," said David Gollob, vice-president of policy and communications with the association which represents newspapers across Canada. "I think the public would be alarmed to see how closely the curtain of silence is drawn around basic information that should be available."
Based on the responses to 219 written requests for information, Ontario fared worst among provincial governments when it comes to openness with a grade of C- (shared with British Columbia) and fewer points for speed and completeness of disclosure than any other province. For the second straight year, Saskatchewan topped all other provinces on the openness scale with an A- result.
Toronto, meanwhile, was in the middle of the pack among Canadian cities with a score of C (along with Hamilton), while Ottawa was awarded a D+, Windsor a D and Thunder Bay a D-.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which first became subject to the federal Access to Information Act in 2007, was at the bottom with a D grade after taking a six-month time extension to respond to a request for the salary ranges of its top employees.
"After coming under the Act, we received an enormous volume of access to information request, orders of magnitude greater than other federal institutions," said CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay. "We immediately moved to ramp up our capacity to deal with the high volume we weren't expecting and we've been increasing our capacity to deal with it (the backlog)."
Robert Marleau, Canada's federal information commissioner, responded to the audit findings this week, saying the CBC, as a publicly funded media outlet, "should be the standard bearer of freedom of information and perform accordingly when it is the subject of requests."
In an email response to an interview request from the Star, Marleau called Canada's Access to Information Act an "outdated piece of legislation with a weak compliance model fashioned in the early 80s."
"This latest CNA audit demonstrates the need for national (freedom of information) standards and national performance incentives so that citizens can get the same answers and the same timely service whatever public bodies they seek information from in any jurisdiction," he said. "Federally, we are slipping backwards. ... (We) need more angry Canadians to write to their elected members and urge them to update and strengthen these laws."
Among the most conspicuous underperformers in the audit were police departments across the country asked for reports on their use of Taser devices. Each time an officer uses a Taser, they fill out a report documenting the circumstances, sometimes called a "use of force" report. The audit team asked police departments to provide copies of those reports as a way of determining how often officers deploy the conducted-energy devices and the outcome of those incidents.
Taser use by police has emerged as a controversial public safety issue. In 2007, Robert Dziekanski died in a Vancouver airport shortly after being jolted with a police Taser, attracting international attention and raising serious questions about safe use of the devices by police.
While some forces willingly provided the information without charge, others denied the records or demanded high fees to produce them. Winnipeg police imposed a $4,600 fee on the records. Montreal police wanted $662.50 and Ottawa's levy rang in at $125.40. Toronto police claimed a 30-day time extension which expired in late October. To date, no records have been released.
"These are officials using power on our behalf and, as a result, perhaps have the greatest onus on them to be transparent," said Gollob. "It's astonishing that there's no sense among some police forces that there's a duty to be transparent about when and how they use these weapons."
The City of Toronto failed to release any records in response to a request for details on payments it has made for goods and services, the audit reports.
In a letter to the audit team in October, city officials said the scope of the request was "too broad" and that "fulfilling it would unreasonably interfere with the daily operations of the institution."
"They just said, `Forget it, it's too much work so we're not going to do it,'" said Fred Vallance-Jones, a journalism professor at the University of King's College who managed the audit. "The City of Toronto has got some room for improvement."
Suzanne Craig, director of the city's corporate access and privacy office, which administers freedom of information requests for the city, said the records were not kept in a database that easily allowed access to the information.
"We have the information. Our frustration is that we can't get at it in that way. To tell requesters that we can't is not what we like to do. What's been identified here is a need to better manage our information. If it is not managed in a way that is accessible, then a person filing a request for something that seems straightforward is going to do a lot of waiting or paying."
The results of this year's audit resemble those of the previous three years with a patchwork of policies across the country and a majority of records being delayed, subject to high fees or withheld altogether.
"There's incredible inconsistency across Canada around access to these records," said Vallance-Jones. "One municipality would say, sure we can give you those records while others said no. It really seems to be a bit of a roll of the dice. If you live in one place, you have access, if you live in another part of the country, you don't."
What an extrordinary amount of work, time, typing and worthless bitching and moaning.
Wouldn't it be a lot easier to obey the law?
Moderator
No doubt people have said the same thing, down through the centuries. At least they did, before the advent of universal democracy. When the law is unjust it must be fought.
Morally Ambiguous (submissions welcome)
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." - Oscar Wilde
Things you don't seem to understand:
1. I have not broken the law.
2. The Legislature has broken the law. Fraud is a criminal code offence even if you are a member of the legislature.
3. Investigating crimes by governments is my hobby. You ride your motorcycle; I try to put crooked government officials behind bars. You have your fun, I have mine. You having fun contributes little to society unless you are Riding for Sight or some other worthwhile cause. What I do - every day with no days off - is intended to help my fellow man - including you. You have a problem with that?
Hunters who get gored by Cape Buffaloes are those who insist on scratching their balls first instead of squeezing the trigger. In a democratic society, things are no different; if everyone sits back and scratches their balls, pretty soon, you have a former democracy run by organized crime. Mexico is a great example. If you don't think your rights and freedoms are worth sticking up for, move to Mexico.
Fixed it for you!
It seems I forgot one word...what an extraordinary amount of arrogance as well!
Name one traffic law that anyone likes....
If you have not broken the law (neither have I...LOL), has it occured to you that if the police catch some IDIOT at 50-60-70 + over the speed limit, maybe they deserve having the book thrown at them?
Should that jerk have his day in court first? Probably, but again, if he wasn't a complete fool, he woulnd't be standing on the side of the road complaining in the first place.
Sorry - I have zero sympathy or time for people who think the law is for everyone else.
I got tagged on the 400 at 130 last year...the officer was decent and pleasant, and I treated him the same way. We both knew I was speeding and he wrote it at 110...instead of 130. Either way I deserved it.
If the effort & time spent bitching and whining about the law, the Gov't, the Police was put in to riding & driving like you actually belong on the road, there might be fewer cops knocking on doors to tell Mom & Dad that their one-watt son is dead because he was doing 170 in a 100 zone.
I've had that knock on the door....different circumstances and cause...but the end result is exactly the same.
Why do you think helmet laws exist? .....To protect people from themselves, because we're generally not smart enough to do it on our own.
Moderator
I can show quite a number of roads where traveling at 50k over the speed limit is NOT dangerous (except maybe on a day like today). Reason - the speed limit is posted too low!
The only way to get laws changed is to protest against them. There IS NO other way. If nobody protests, government will run everybody over like a steamroller. The Ontario government is already trying to do this ...
I would not be arguing against all of this if the various speed limits etc were set based on sound traffic engineering principles that take into account a *reasonable* balance between risk and benefit, and the SAME balance were applied universally (so that roads of a given type and circumstances have consistent limits). It is recognized generally that speed limits should be set to the 85th percentile speed of actual traffic flow, and enforcement should be no lower than the 90th percentile. This would result in almost all speed limits being 20, 30, sometimes 40 km/h higher than they are right now. And, anything that even remotely resembles a "punishment" must be strictly in accordance with due process. No exceptions.
You can show quite a number of roads where 50 over is safe !? Who made you an expert??
Don't you get it? The condition of the road, or the weather, is not the issue.
The issue is whether or not the clown doing 170 is in way over his head or not...and he probably is about 70 kph over his head. Don't believe for a second a bike won't kill people in a car...it's not so hard for a bike to pretty much cut a car in half.
Every speed limit in North America (most of the world) is the same, on the same type of road..give or take 10 MPH / KPH..are you smarter than the legislators all over the continent. I hardly think so.
You, on the other hand, sound like a whole dump truck load of sour grapes...how many tickets have you got? Is your insurance through the roof?
The 407 is "safe" for as fast as any bike today will go...but the laws are not designed to protect us from lousy roads and poor weather...they're there for the idiot who thinks he knows which roads are safe to motor along at stupid speeds.
Take it to the track...that's where it belongs...unless of course you can only go fast in a straight line.
And please....don't give us that crap about caring about my well being and the betterment of humankind. You have some sort of personal agenda because of a perceived injustice...it'd make a great song - something like "Why's all the cops pickin' on me?"
I'll do just fine without you...and I bet the vast majority of us will as well.
Last edited by Pete E; 01-18-2009 at 11:57 AM. Reason: Typo's ....
not probably.....definitely
as a citizen....if you did something towards me that offended me....and I decided that I'm going to punish you by taking your property for a period of time that I feel will make you think about your actions.....then I just commited a crime regardless of what you allegedly did
IMO.....the law should behave the way every ordinary citizen is expected too....and under HTA172 that's not happening
if a driver is behaving like a tard....charge them appropriately....leave the property alone....and let them have their day in court
FWIW....the neighbour's little punk kid kept riding across my lawn last year....and I was dying to swipe the little bastard's bicycle for a couple of weeks just to make the little brat tear up.....but I didn't cause it's illegal
Moderator
And as with so many others who support this law you have neither an understanding of how our laws are supposed to function, nor an understanding of all that this particular law entails. Arrogance is making definitive statements about something you don't understand.
Morally Ambiguous (submissions welcome)
"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." - Oscar Wilde
John,
There are quite a few people on here that are failry knowledgable or can be of great assistance.
Since we do not have the power to get on TV or mainstream media what about bringing mainstream media to us.
What if you and a few others crafted and presented the information in simple terms for others to REALIZE what is happening and how it EFFECTS THEM?
For example...you list Bill 172 (I forgot) stunting and 50 over law...
Then you highlight the passages that are glaring.
Then you break it down, but keep it simple so folks can follow along. SHOW them the IMPACT it has to their life eg insurance rates etc... SHOW them how they have lost their RIGHT to a court date first..
It think you can use the POWER of the internet to get this going.
Whether you use Facebook (free) and or setup or link to another website (for the non Facebook users...like me).
The next step would be to ask people here to email the information around to their friends and family. I think it will grow and have an impact faster than most would think. They key is Organization and simplifying the information.
My 2 cents.
Let me say you can keep it very simple but if you want to provide a longer explanation then allow people to click the link to "read more"...like reviews on the web.
Please use REAL #'s and scenarios so people can IDENTIFY with one and REALIZE how it IMPACTS them. WE may be in different seats but we are all on the SAME boat.
Let me know if I can assist. Guys like Brian P ,Rob M, and 82Seca...along with a few others are very good at information gathering also...lol
Moderator
Responses to Pete E in line preceded by ** because too many questions. He's got me figured out so wrongly it's almost silly.
You can show quite a number of roads where 50 over is safe !? Who made you an expert?? ** I am a licensed mechanical engineer - nearing 20 years of experience. In areas where I'm not qualified, others can be found who are.
Don't you get it? The condition of the road, or the weather, is not the issue. ** Oh really? Why not? The design of roadways is an engineering matter. What is the alleged purpose of a speed limit if it is not "safety" - although it has been tilted towards revenue generation and who knows what other political motivations.
The issue is whether or not the clown doing 170 is in way over his head or not...and he probably is about 70 kph over his head. Don't believe for a second a bike won't kill people in a car...it's not so hard for a bike to pretty much cut a car in half. ** Irrelevant. Nobody is saying we ought to have the right to go 170 km/h through school zones on Tuesday mornings, that would be absurd. In other circumstances it MAY not be dangerous. This is why the setting of speed limits is supposed to be an ENGINEERING exercise ... not a political one.
Every speed limit in North America (most of the world) is the same, on the same type of road..give or take 10 MPH / KPH..are you smarter than the legislators all over the continent. I hardly think so. ** Motorway speed limits have now become almost universally higher than ours throughout the USA and in some cases 80 mph. On secondary roads, most roads in USA are 55 mph, which is higher than ours (although not by much). European motorway speed limit is 130 km/h almost everywhere with some unlimited sections in Germany. By the way, German autobahns have a better safety record than North American highways. 130 km/h is probably quite close to the 85th-percentile speed. Even if one confines themselves within Ontario, I can show quite a few instances where roads are posted 20 or 30 km/h lower than other roads despite similar width, number of driveways, visibility, amount of traffic, etc.
You, on the other hand, sound like a whole dump truck load of sour grapes...how many tickets have you got? ** One minor 15k-over on my record 2 years ago. Last one before that was more than 5 years ago. Never had an at-fault collision, either.
Is your insurance through the roof? ** No.
The 407 is "safe" for as fast as any bike today will go...but the laws are not designed to protect us from lousy roads and poor weather...they're there for the idiot who thinks he knows which roads are safe to motor along at stupid speeds. ** Given the AVERAGE travel speed on most roads, it is not reasonable to say that 99+% of the population are "idiots".
Take it to the track...that's where it belongs...unless of course you can only go fast in a straight line. ** No argument from me on that point.
And please....don't give us that crap about caring about my well being and the betterment of humankind. You have some sort of personal agenda because of a perceived injustice...it'd make a great song - something like "Why's all the cops pickin' on me?" ** The cops don't pick on me - at least they haven't so far.
I'll do just fine without you...and I bet the vast majority of us will as well. ** And I would do just fine without you. And Cam Woolley. And Julian Fantino. And Dalton McGuinty. We don't need the garbage they have been ramming down our throats.
I think we've been all doing fine here without your expertise .... Everyone is entitled to opinion and certainly you are as well. We've heard you soundly. I bet that majority disagrees with you. Just end it right here and go enjoy hoping that you will never run into a bad cop who will call a tow truck on you for something you haven't done. I bet you would hope for your day in court in such a case. Or maybe not, judging by your posts ....
The point is you dont have to be speeding to get this law stuck in your ying yang, could be weaving for a pothole or something silly like it and a cop having a bad day can say you were stunting....I am sure you would be singing a different tune then as you saw you car or bike hooked on the back of a tow truck. the is just a BS law....we already have careless...this is just a cash grab!
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