Going too far

I'm not the biggest fan of cyclists. When I go out on the bike, I try pretty hard to hug the curb and stay out of cars' way. Petrol taxes pay for the roads and cyclists are free riders; hugging the curb is my way of thanking the cars for their contribution when I'm free-riding.

But this is ridiculous.

Charles Alexander Diez, the former North Carolina firefighter who shot cyclist Alan Simons in the head, has been sentenced to four months in jail.

In an Asheville courtroom last week, Diez pled guilty to shooting Simons during a July 26 roadside confrontation. Said to be upset that Simons was riding his bike with his 3-year-old child, Diez fired his .38 caliber pistol as Simons walked away after the two exchanged words. The bullet struck Simons' bike helmet, narrowly missing his skull.

As much as cyclists irritate me, declaring open season on them seems a bit excessive.

Caledonia

Three and a half years later, the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario continue to abdicate their responsibility to protect property rights in Caledonia. It's one thing to declare yourself as having a monopoly on the use of force and to punish anyone who disagrees; it's quite another to both ban folks from purchasing their own protection against criminal gangs and simultaneously refuse to provide any kind of protection at all against that gang, for more than three years.

Native protesters claiming ownership over land being developed into a subdivision, known as the Douglas Creek Estates, occupied the site in February, 2006. The following April, OPP officers raided the site and ejected the protestors only to be driven back when several hundred natives from the nearby Six Nations reserve arrived.

The natives then erected barricades, which police have since respected, with the couple's home cut off from the rest of the community.

Life in their isolation has meant having to present a "passport" to natives when leaving or returning to their house, having their car searched by masked men at barricades, being refused access to their property, having no mail or garbage removal and enduring noise, fires, bright lights and their house being ransacked and defaced with vulgar and racist graffiti.

They have been threatened and intimidated and, all the while, police refused to intervene, the couple alleges.

Further acts of lawlessness will be highlighted in the case, such as newspaper and television reporters being beaten and equipment stolen or broken, a van being pushed off a bridge onto a roadway, and court orders and injunctions being ignored.

"This has created a lawless oasis in which the plaintiffs exist without police protection and in constant fear of harm," said Mr. Evans.

From the National Post. See also Christine Blatchford's piece at the Globe and Mail. She notes that when Mr. Brown, the homeowner, got uppity about having to present a passport at the illegal blockade on his street, he's the one who was thrown in jail for the night.