G20 - Crossbow report

Now that summer has started and I am no longer IB I have more time on my hands to direct to one of my passions, politics. I love politics - it's just so fun to watch and dissect. The G20 being in my city don't help the growing fire and the latest thing I have to laugh about is the recent arrest of a 53 year old man.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/24/g20-security-threat-car.html

This 53 year old man was arrested on the charge of possession of dangerous weapons - what a joke, he had a chainsaw, gas cans, and a crossbow. What are you going to do with a chainsaw, gas cans, and a crossbow in an area guarded tightly but a enormous amount of police. I mean if my friend was downtown he could have been arrested to (he does archery), I mean if my friend was say, on his way to archery practice and the police saw him would they arrest him? If they arrested him then his future would be ruined. Charged with weaponry possession at age 16. Future bosses would LOVE him.

I understand the cops are concerned about what could happen during this time period but this is just ridiculous - the above mentioned items are things that people use everyday. They questioned this poor guy over and over and over again . I'm willing to bet this guy is pretty traumatized right now - all he wanted during the "interview" was to find out if his dog was ok - isn't the fact a dog with the guy a sign that the guy isn't some protestor wanting to kill or send a message. Who would bring their dog to a future bombing job.

The whole G20 thing is a bust and a HUGE waste of money. The cost of G20 2010 in Toronto is over 1 Billion$ and that doesn't include the fact businesses have to be closed. The Telus centre in downtown Toronto was basically empty according to CP24. Through the grapevine I have heard that the University of Toronto has unofficially told its students not to show up to class (well, I've heard that some profs may have told their students to not show up for class but to join the protest). Many offices have told their employees not to go to work - which may be fine for them b/c their employees can work from home. But, the small businesses downtown aren't going to fare as well - my dad isn't going to work tomorrow b/c of the G20. Just think how much money is potentially lost by the small businesses downtown b/c of the G20 - their employees and customers have issues getting the business b/c certain TTC lines are shuffled, certain streets are closed, certain areas are blocked, and certain highways are diverted. For these small businesses, each and every work day is important to bringing in the money to support their families and to lose a few days is detrimental for them.

The G20 sounds like a good idea - oh the world is getting together to work out issues and move forward but that's a load of bull. The G20 is really just a photo-op, these so-called world leaders will talk, sign a few papers, take a few photos, conduct a press conference, fly home, and forget about whatever happened. The cost of the G20 just isn't worth this photo-op but what do these people care about - it's not them paying the bill. It's not their neighbourhood that now hosts a huge-ass chain fence. It's not their business that had to close down for potential 4 days. It's not their hard-earned money that went toward building a fake lake (honestly, Harper, what the hell are you thinking). They say the government works for us but really we work for the government for no pay (in fact we front the government with our taxes) but the government really works for the corporate society - the corporate sectors rule the nest and it's up to the governments to be their bitches. I'm telling you, even if the the world leader agrees to something discussed at the G20 if their corporate backers don't agree then the deal is off - but then there really was no intention of following whatever is signed at the G20. The G20 is just a hell-of-an-expensive photo-op. Over 1 Billion and change. Thanks.