Is the inquest into the police shooting death of Craig McDougall being deliberately botched? By all the evidence, the answer is "Hell, yeah." And if that's the case, the obvious question is 'why?' The obvious answer is because they're hiding something. Something big . Hiding something important that they don't want the public to find out. A week and a half into the inquest, we know next to nothing about what happened that early morning Aug. 8, 2008, when a policeman pumped three bullets into McDougall within two minutes of arriving at 788 Simcoe Street. He fired four shots but one missed and, wouldn't you know it, went who knows where? Oh, and in those two minutes or less, someone shot two taser rounds at McDougall, one of which stuck in his stomach and should have left him quivering helplessly on the ground. Or it did and we don't know. The inquest has called a bunch of witnesses, none of whom saw the shooting, and most of whom...
The origin of the Usher of the Black Rod goes back to early fourteenth century England . Today, with no royal duties to perform, the Usher knocks on the doors of the House of Commons with the Black Rod at the start of Parliament to summon the members. The rod is a symbol for the authority of debate in the upper house. We of The Black Rod adopted the symbol to knock some sense and the right questions into the heads of Legislators, pundits, and other opinion makers.