People claim to be shocked at the recent death of a disabled and homeless native man in the emergency room of a Winnipeg hospital after sitting unattended for 34 hours.The current government not only fails to see the homeless,they actively do everything they can to disenfranchise and kill them off.They can always find billions to send to disaster areas anywhere in the world but refuse to do anything for the thousands here in Canada.The scrapping of the Kelowna accord was one of the first things this government did once in office.Harper’s disdain for first nations people is no secret.How often has he had to muzzle or apologize for one of his back benchers rants putting down our first nations people.It’s no secret that a large number of our countries homeless are from first nations .This government has cut social housing or at the very least done nothing about it.Their attitude towards anyone with social problems has been to ask for stiffer laws and more prison time for anything to do with the poor and homeless.That this bunch would allow circumstances to exist in which such a needless death could occur is no surprise.Their opposition to Insite is just one example of how their policies lean towards extinction rather than treatment,which is a word they love to pay lip service to and nothing else.Canada is becoming a country in which you have to be upper class or better to live a decent lifestyle.For the majority,it’s a matter of hanging on by their finger nails and taking their own fear out on those with less than themselves.Americans are learning what the true costs of living beyond your means are.Harper is telling Canadians that we have nothing to fear.That may be true for Mr.Harper and his friends but for the disadvantaged what we have is a cold floor and a lonely death on an emergency room floor with no one to talk to but the janitor.We already have been betrayed and have seen our health system sluffed off onto the provinces,most of which have had to turn to a two tiered system with the private sector having the best care and the rest of us are stuck with long waiting lists and often death as the result.The conservatives don’t have to wait for their health care and they don’t care about those of us that do.They feel that if you want health care that’s fast and of good quality,you should be able to pay for it.They pay for it with our money.Next time you pass a homeless man in a wheel chair,take a second to think about his life.We are all no better than the way we treat the least of our citisens.If this is what you feel is fair and equal health care,then vote for Mr.Harper.I can guarantee that as long as he is in charge in Ottawa,this is the best we’ll get.
Category: Uncategorized
Anything but the Tories
If I have to sit through one more scene of Stephen Harper doing whatever he happens to be doing to pander to a section of the voting public I’ll lose my lunch.Why no mention of Afghanistan Mr.Harper?Slipped you’re mind I suppose.You want us to trust you with the economy?You’ve taken a pretty solid surplus and flushed it down the toilet while slashing any and all women’s programs ,child care spaces and any help for social housing.Nice job.Tough on crime?Oh yes,I can see the difference every time I walk downtown.That and you intend to slash whatever help we try to give people in trouble because it’s far more politically savvy to just toss everyone in prison.You seemed to be able to find billions for our armed forces which will never be more than a damned good peace keeping force.No one is afraid of the Canadian armed forces no matter how many billions you spend.Then there’s marijuana.While the whole world is beginning to realise what a stupid thing marijuana prohibition has been,you toughen up the laws.Just keep pushing your religion down everyones throat.You could try to muzzle your backbenchers a little more.Every time one opens their racist mouth it’s back to damage control.It’s small wonder you won’t let anyone else say a word,especially at election time.Gotta keep those reform party white boys quiet.I thought the Liberals were disgusting with the graft and all but at least they had an economy they could pick from.You give it all to the military and then send them to a hell hole to be picked apart by a band of farmers.Young people are always willing to lay down their lives for their country.They trust their leaders won’t sell their lives as cheaply as you’ve sold ours.
Journalistic shift to the right
An article was posted in the Province newspaper in which columnist John Martin claimed that it was a bunch of left wing politicians that were preventing the posting of former police officers to the national parole board.As I had some experience in this area I informed him that it was my experience that this was inaccurate.I had made several appearances before said board and there was always a police officer on the board I appeared in front of.Martin fired back that there were only two such members and that I was basically an idiot.I replied that I was only telling him what my experience had been.Martin went nuts,called me a punk and a thug and told me never to contact him ever again.This man is a professor at the U of F.V. and a teacher of our young people.I will admit to pulling Mr.Martin’s leg a time or two because of his obvious bad temper.I never expected him to turn a conversation into a vendetta.If this is the kind of man that is writing in our newspaper,it’s small wonder that the rag has shifted so radically to the right.It would be impossible for a man with Martin’s temperament to write a logical and well thought out peice.His temper is obviously hair trigger and he discounts anything that doesn’t fit into his very narrow view of the world.I feel sorry for anyone that learns any life lessons from criminology professor John Martin.
Journalistic shift to the right
An article was posted in the Province newspaper in which columnist John Martin claimed that it was a bunch of left wing politicians that were preventing the posting of former police officers to the national parole board.As I had some experience in this area I informed him that it was my experience that this was inaccurate.I had made several appearances before said board and there was always a police officer on the board I appeared in front of.Martin fired back that there were only two such members and that I was basically an idiot.I replied that I was only telling him what my experience had been.Martin went nuts,called me a punk and a thug and told me never to contact him ever again.This man is a professor at the U of F.V. and a teacher of our young people.I will admit to pulling Mr.Martin’s leg a time or two because of his obvious bad temper.I never expected him to turn a conversation into a vendetta.If this is the kind of man that is writing in our newspaper,it’s small wonder that the rag has shifted so radically to the right.It would be impossible for a man with Martin’s temperament to write a logical and well thought out peice.His temper is obviously hair trigger and he discounts anything that doesn’t fit into his very narrow view of the world.I feel sorry for anyone that learns any life lessons from criminology professor John Martin.
The cause is unknown
That’s what the feds would have us believe after six inmates were transported in ambulances and an air ambulance after five were stabbed and one was shot.This occured in the Edmonton federal lockup on Canada day which was,coincidentally,the first day of the federal prisons ban on smoking and tobacco
Goofy: No Smoking
The cause is unknown
That’s what the feds would have us believe after six inmates were transported in ambulances and an air ambulance after five were stabbed and one was shot.This occurred in the Edmonton federal lockup on Canada day which was,coincidentally,the first day of the federal prisons ban on smoking and tobacco.The link below is from you tube and posted well on scribefire but all that came over here was the three words.The riot was kept quiet because the feds know this smoking ban is going to explode.They just want to try to minimise the damage.Remember,you heard it here first.
Goofy: No Smoking
Look at what they give us now
No sooner is Sam’s CAST program tossed in the bin than we see police chief Chiu lobbying for prison instead.CAST may have been a deeply flawed program but it was at least humane and an attempt at a solution other than warehousing people at $45,000 per year.Foolishly,some of us had dared to hope that the NAOMI program would have been re-opened and some other solution found.How can anything be worse than tossing people into prison when this has been tried before and is common practise in the US.Is there anyone so jaded that they think the situation down south is better?Prison is the answer to nothing.There are people too dangerous to be among us and it’s these folks that prison’s were made for .To suggest that we throw small time thieves in federal prison for petty theft,no matter how many,is giving up.If we really want to give up why not just prescribe them what they want?How can this be any worse than life on the installment plan which is what addicts were faced with when we jailed them federally in the past.Asking the government to change the law so that federal prison is allowed for petty theft is a cowardly and evil way out of a nasty problem.If Chiu is so far out of his depth that he has to request a change in legislation.Why not ask for drug reform instead of asking to warehouse people once again.How many times does something have to be shown to fail before people like Jim Chiu get it?With drug treatment statistics at below 10% for hard core addicts.Suggesting this as an alternative is disingenuous and wrong.We need a police chief with vision and drive.Not a man with no ideas asking us to take a step back and put sick people in jail.
Look at what they give us now
No sooner is Sam’s CAST program tossed in the bin than we see police chief Chiu lobbying for prison instead.CAST may have been a deeply flawed program but it was at least humane and an attempt at a solution other than warehousing people at $45,000 per year.Foolishly,some of us had dared to hope that the NAOMI program would have been re-opened and some other solution found.How can anything be worse than tossing people into prison when this has been tried before and is common practise in the US.Is there anyone so jaded that they think the situation down south is better?Prison is the answer to nothing.There are people too dangerous to be among us and it’s these folks that prison’s were made for .To suggest that we throw small time thieves in federal prison for petty theft,no matter how many,is giving up.If we really want to give up why not just prescribe them what they want?How can this be any worse than life on the installment plan which is what addicts were faced with when we jailed them federally in the past.Asking the government to change the law so that federal prison is allowed for petty theft is a cowardly and evil way out of a nasty problem.If Chiu is so far out of his depth that he has to request a change in legislation.Why not ask for drug reform instead of asking to warehouse people once again.How many times does something have to be shown to fail before people like Jim Chiu get it?With drug treatment success statistics at below 10% for hard core addicts.Suggesting this as an alternative is disingenuous and wrong.We need a police chief with vision and drive.Not a man with no ideas asking us to take a step back and put sick people in jail.
Sam’s gone and so is CAST
When Peter Ladner defeated Sam Sullivan for the NPA mayoral nomination,a lot of people were more than pleased.I don’t think anyone thought Ladner’s first statement would be to dump Sam’s CAST program.This program was hopelessly flawed and unworkable from it’s inception and Sam never delivered on the necessary funding from Ottawa.How he could think that a government like that of Stephen Harper would provide funding for such a program,only Sam knows.It never happened.Ladner,however,says he wants to promote only abstinence and treatment programs which is even less palatable than CAST.At least Sam was willing to try different approaches and not just spout the same rhetoric that we’ve heard for the last 100 years.If there was a treatment program with recovery statistics that were beyond the statistical rate of error this would be a little more believable.We hear things like the 70% cure rate that Dianne Watts was throwing around when she returned from Europe.This is an outrageous claim that will never be within telescope range.They spoke of forced treatment for at least three years.Forced treatment has never worked and that isn’t going to change because people want it to.The problem with the abstinence approach is that it infers a willingness on the part of the participants.There is no such willingness here.There’s no question that these people mean well.Unfortunately,They have no concept of what addiction is about nor do they seem to care.There is almost a century of information showing that prohibition has been a terrible and expensive failure.There are two kinds of people contesting approaches to this problem.Those that have been involved and have an insightful and honest approach.And those who,for political or dogmatic reasons don’t care to know the facts and just want the problem to go away.The later are willing to say and do anything in a vain attempt to control human behavior with laws and prisons.Their arguments have never changed and are no more valid today than they were in the past.We can only hope that whoever is elected Mayor of Vancouver.They will continue the progress that has been so hard won and not take us back down the path of prohibition that leads exactly nowhere.Except for enriching gangsters.
How stupid are we?
The spring session is over and although the Campbell government have shown themselves to be secretive,corrupt,arrogant and rife with patronage the B.C. voter still seems to be standing firm with their heads planted firmly in the sand.Likely,this is due to the uninspiring and often misguided NDP leader,Carole James.Her policy screw ups and her demand for lock step obedience are as undemocratic as the Liberals Back room dealings and secret policy signings.I have no idea what James stands for at this point other than that she wants more women to hang with.Decreeing that a party must give preferential treatment to any one segment of society is so transverse to everything this country is supposed to stand for that I can’t imagine that she’ll make friends of many voters with this policy.Her waffling on the back room pay hike only to pull off the same thing later on was another chance to separate the NDP from the Liberals that she let fly right on by.Greed and self interest seems to be a trait shared by all politicians.They wax eloquent on how important it is for everyone else to tighten their belts but are always the first to grab the money and run.Not only did they raise their pay by an unconscionable margin but they passed a gold plated pension as well.Small wonder that politicians rank at the bottom of the public approval ratings.The Liberals rammed through without any real debate their unpopular carbon tax,the gag law and a number of other legislation that should have been set aside and properly debated in the fall.How the people of this province can even consider electing this bunch of arrogant and self serving oligarchs for another term eludes me.They have broken every major promise they made to get elected.Their philosophy of selling off the province to private business concerns will come back to haunt future generations.Of course the government and their families will be so well off from the back room dealings that they have been doing that they won’t care about the hardships the rest of us and our prodigy are forced to endure.The Liberals always blame the NDP of the 90’s for everything that is wrong with this province.It’s about time people began looking at things like the Olympic give aways that this government has made behind closed doors.The sale of our power grid and the ferries will cost our children for years to come.If this government is allowed to have another four years to plunder this province the damage may be beyond repair.Take a look at the legislation that was rammed through in the last day of the sitting and you will agree that what was done is tantamount to dictatorship.Government by decree.How is this government leading in the polls?They must find B.C. politics like herding sheep.Just remember that sheep eventually are led to the slaughter.
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