« Home | Taepodong... » | London Calling... » | Where were you? » | Run for your lives! » | Haditha and then this » | Most of the US Supreme Court gets it, thankfully » | GIGO at CanWest » | Oops... » | Will the Liberals jump early? » | Senlis Council report poo-pooed by Canadian military »

Hey Rodney!!!

Seeing as how you're all revved up on siccing the cops on Supermarkets for the horrible crime of letting people buy groceries on a Sunday, why don't you try enforcing some other laws, specifically Section 365 of the Criminal Code of Canada:
Every one who fraudulently

(a) pretends to exercise or to use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration,

(b) undertakes, for a consideration, to tell fortunes, or

(c) pretends from his skill in or knowledge of an occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner anything that is supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found,

is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

To begin with, you could go after these guys. Plus, I'm fairly certain both daily papers carry classified ads for fortune tellers and tarot card readers - heck, if nothing else, they both carry horoscopes! Can anyone tell me if Global TV still carries those annoying ads for Miss Cleo? As long as you're going to talk about 'the spirit of the law' how about applying the law of the spirits?

Posted by Dan on Tuesday, July 04, 2006 at 9:48 PM |

If I'm not mistaken, Miss Cleo got taken down for fraud or tax evasion or something a few years ago.
Didn't see that coming, did she?

Posted by Blogger Flash | Wed Jul 05, 11:39:00 AM  

Now that you mention it, Flash - you're right, I remember seeing something about that.

Posted by Blogger Dan | Wed Jul 05, 12:00:00 PM  

CSICOP has a "Miss Cleo Watch", which details her legal troubles, most of which seem to have taken place in 2002:
http://www.csicop.org/misscleo/

Posted by Blogger Flash | Wed Jul 05, 12:08:00 PM  

I love the word 'fraudulently' in the first sentence. Like there is legitimate, non-fraudulent witchcraft or divination...

Posted by Blogger Flash | Wed Jul 05, 12:27:00 PM  

There is nothing fraudulent about it - she provided a service that people thought they needed. From a Darwinian standpoint, it all makes sense. "Fleecing the credulous" is Doug's phrase for it.

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the Catholic Church perform a service which transubstantiates the "body of Christ" into an unleavened, vaguely pasty wafer? Which would this be, witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration?

Book 'em! It will give the cops something else to do on their increasingly busy Sunday rounds. Good luck with that one, Rodney!

Posted by Blogger kevvyd | Wed Jul 05, 01:25:00 PM  

Actually, Kev - it's the other way around, the pasty wafer transubstantiates into 'the body of Christ' - funny though, it still tastes the same, one would think it would now taste like chicken (oh, I'm going to hell for that one...)

Phil Plait on badastronomy.com had some good points on this as regards to astrology - his main argument is that it discourages critical thinking, and in his view if you can't think critically, you're not a functioning human being (i'm a bit less harsh - I think they're functioning humans, I just don't think they should be allowed to vote)

Posted by Blogger Dan | Wed Jul 05, 01:41:00 PM  

Oops, thanks, Dan.

I don't know about the voting thing - there are those that feel we Leaf fans should have the vote taken away, so I have a soft spot for universal sufferage.

Posted by Blogger kevvyd | Wed Jul 05, 02:04:00 PM  

You're welcome, Kev - good to know that stint as an altar boy was good for something.

I don't think of the Leaf fans as uncritical thinkers, Kev - as a Habs fan, for instance, I am fully aware of my chosen team's flaws, I just choose to believe the next season will be different - it's more along the lines of the triumph of hope over bitter experience.

Posted by Blogger Dan | Wed Jul 05, 02:14:00 PM  

And Senators fans like myself live always in a state of unrewarded hope. I'm going to have "Next Year For Sure" carved on my headstone...

I wonder if they have 'Antidepressant Night' at the rink?

Posted by Blogger Flash | Wed Jul 05, 03:17:00 PM  

I see you're taking the whole Charra thing in stride, Flash - hey, at least you guys dumped Hasek

Posted by Blogger Dan | Wed Jul 05, 03:55:00 PM  

On the topic of hockey, it looks like Edmonton is selling the farm. Think they'll make the playoffs next year?

Posted by Blogger kevvyd | Thu Jul 06, 10:20:00 AM  

Post a Comment