A Pie in the Face

On Monday, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea got a pie in the face. When Shea was beginning to speak to a group, a woman came up and pressed the pie in her face followed with some offensive words like "Shame on you, Gail Shea.." It was later discovered to an act by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), who want to stop the seal hunt that Gail Shea promoted the continuation of. Gail Shea reacted very well to this attack, simply cleaning the pie off her face and continuing her speech. She later said that the pie actually created more reasons to support seal hunting. None the less, Liberal MP Gerry Byrne of Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte said that acts like this makes PETA a "terrorist". He wants to use this incident as a test case to file PETA as a terrorist organization that would make it difficult to run and make funds.

It is completely wrong for PETA to even try to such a thing like what happened on Monday. I cannot say that it is wrong for PETA to protest about the seal hunting as they have their rights to have their opinion and express it. However, harming other people's lives while doing so should not be approved of and also violates the rights of Canada. It is unnecessary to attack Gail Shea to share their opinion and bring it in awareness, and acts like this should be stopped immediately, even if it means going to far lengths like MP Gerry Byrne. What Gerry Byrne is doing is right as we can see that PETA is not an organization that is helping the society. If making PETA a terrorist organization is the only choice that we have to stop hurting events like this, then it must be done so.

Check this article at:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/01/25/burlington-shea-pie-100125.html

New Rule Bans Texting for Truck, Bus Drivers

In the United States, a new rule has been passed that prohibits texting on cell phones for people who drive commercial trucks and buses. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this law on Tuesday, saying that the government wants drivers of large vehicles to be safe, and will continue to work on making people drive less distracted. Truck and bus drivers who go against this law now will be fined $2750 US.
This law doesn't follow normal rule making processes as it is effective immediately, and many people are unhappy about this. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is one of the largest professional truck driver groups. The vice-president of this group, Todd Spencer, is one of the people who don't agree with this process.
However, nineteen states have passed this law, and even President Obama signed a law that prohibits texting while driving government vehicles. Also, there is a new advocacy group that supports victims or families of victims of distracted driving. It is called FocusDriven.
The reason for all this effort to stop distracted driving is clear. There have been car accidents in 2009 that killed up to 62 people, and almost 6000 people have died due to distracted driving.

It is appropriate that this law is placed as the evidence is clear. There have been many deaths due to distracted driving and stopping the use of texting for just truck and bus drivers alone will save lives. However, the fact that the law is placed immediately is unfair to the people as they will be charged unfairly without being aware of the law. Instead of bypassing the normal rule making process and taking money from people who have never heard of the law, it is much more sensible to have campaigns advertising the law and then making it effective when everyone has heard of it. With the way the rule is made effective now, it may save lives but will bring many complaints from citizens.


Check this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/26/trucks.texting.ban/index.html