They must think we're on crack

It's been a while since I've been motivated to waste cycles challenging the shrill squawking of the irritating we-know-more-than-you tree-hugging harm reduction supporting element of our society. But the racket generated by the cancellation of the crack pipe distribution program in Ottawa has awoken me. I've embedded my comments in the CBC story below. Read on, and if you agree with me, start speaking out. This issue has been hijacked by the illogical and nonsensical pseudo social worker community and we need to put them in their place. Here goes:

Crack pipe program not proven to reduce HIV, hep C: councillor
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 1, 2007 11:43 AM ET
CBC News
There's not enough evidence that an Ottawa program that provides free crack pipes to drug users has directly resulted in lower rates of HIV and hepatitis C infection, says the Ottawa councillor who initiated the program's cancellation.

"We need to have very solid evidence before council endorses any kind of program that sends that kind of mixed message," said Coun. Rick Chiarelli in an interview Tuesday, adding that residents have complained that it encourages illegal drug use.

• Fully agree so far.

Councillors voted in favour of Chiarelli's motion in July to end the program at the end of the month.

Chiarelli said the program's cancellation came amid requests from advocates for $500,000 to study how effective the program was at reducing the spread of disease, "which means there is no conclusive evidence one way or the other," he said.

• Excellent. On the one hand the supporters of the program claim that there's sufficient evidence to prove that it works, and on the other hand they're asking for half a million bucks to run a study to prove that it works. Which is it, people?

He argued the controversy over the program erodes support for the city's overall strategy to fight drug addiction and accompanying social problems.

Program reduces risk: doctor

Meanwhile, advocates of the program said there is plenty of evidence that distributing free crack pipes reduces the risk of disease transmission, even if transmission rates haven't been measured in relation to the program.

• Oh, wait a second here. Based on a leap of logic we should believe what you want us to believe. Okay then, let's play that game from the other side. The supporters of the program claim that it doesn't provide an easy path for people who might not otherwise start using these drugs in the first place. Sorry, but despite there being no direct analysis, common sense tells us that the easier something is to do, the more likely people thinking about doing it will actually do it. So by a leap of logic, handing out the tools to get started with doing drugs simplifies things, and therefore we can conclude that more people will start using drugs than would otherwise. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, and to deny that we can validly conclude that the program makes it easy for new users to start using, thus increasing the number of new users, is hypocritical.

"We know that when folks share drug paraphernalia, that's when they are at risk of transmitting those diseases," said Dr. Dona Bowers, a family physician at the Somerset West Community Health Centre at a news conference held by a group of community agencies Tuesday.
The 10 agencies were announcing their intention to continue the program until the end of the year using their own funding.

Bowers said the program reduces the sharing of homemade crack pipes, which can cause cuts or burns.

She also cited a University of Ottawa study by epidemiology professor Lynne Leonard that showed the program resulted in drug users switching from riskier injection drug use to smoking crack.

• If I had the choice of switching from a sharp pointy, and probably dirty, object which I would have to jab into my body to a nice clean crack pipe, I certainly would. And it wouldn't have anything to do with wanting to reduce harm to myself. If I really wanted to reduce harm to myself I'd figure out how to break the habit or seek help to do so. A crack pipe sure beats having to find an injection site under your toenail 'cause all the other parts of your body have been used. I wonder if the study even addressed the reasons why people switched. And let's go back to the topic of making it easier for kids to get started. No icky needles, a nice clean kit, geez, doesn't seem so dangerous or icky anymore so let's go for it.

"We know that among the IV drug users in our community, there are enormous rates of disease," she said, adding that a fifth of IV drug users are infected with HIV and more than 75 per cent are infected with hepatitis C.

Finally, she added, the program helps drug users develop a relationship with the health and social workers who distribute the crack pipes.

• Excellent. So let's see some stats on the number of people who are getting cleaned up as a result of the program vs. before the program started. Coming into contact is useless unless it changes behaviour. And while we're at it, maybe we can see some stats on how many new users are being produced vs pre-program. I wonder if there's any relationship between the program and the sudden increase in the drug problem we're seeing downtown?

In January, the city's chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Salisbury, told reporters that that the city's HIV infection rate fell from 39 cases in a year to 12 after the program was introduced in 2005.

• Again, let's see the stats on the number of user pre- and during the program, and on whether there are any real benefits that result from the increased contact with the social workers.

Islam and the Pope

His Holiness really put his foot in it this time. It's disappointing that the Pope didn't have the sense to couch his remarks more tactfully or better position the context. But at the same time, one only has to look at the reaction of the Muslim world to wonder whether there might be more than a smidgeon of truth in what he said. Isn't a tenet of Islam supposed to be to forgive and deal with one's detractor's from an intellectual perspective rather than with violence? If so, why the burning of the churches, the death threats, and the violent demonstrations? They do nothing more than reinforce the notion that there's an underlying bloodlust in the hearts of Allah's followers.

Dawson College and Gun Control

Horrific! The only word to describe what happened at Dawson College this week. Unfortunately, the emotion is clouding the judegement of those who are blaming the government's backtracking on the boondoggle known as the gun registry. According to media reports, the guns used and carried by the homicidal loser were legally registered and he had the necessary permits to own them. In other words, the gun registry didn't do a damn thing to prevent this incident. So stop using this atrocity as a basis for your arguments to keep and/or strengthen the registry - it makes you look like an idiot and only weakens your cause.

While we're on the subject, the media is pissing me off. Idiots who commit these types of crimes are nothing but losers. Flashing their pictures on TV and creating headlines from their attention-seeking blogs only demonstrates to others that if they want fame, the way to do it is to go out in a blaze of glory. Instead of screaming "Angel of Death" with a quarter-page picture of the shithead on the front pages, our media should be identifying him as what he was - a homicidal, sociopathic loser who needed help. Put up the dorkiest pictures of him that you can find, or put up pictures of his victims as a tribute and a reminder of the lives he's taken and broken, but for fuck's sake don't put up the images of him that he wanted the world to see.

OMG. What a fuckhead. He acknowledges it was a mistake to kidnap the two Israeli soldiers. DOH! What did he expect Israel to do based on their past reactions to such provocations which have all been unmeasured responses, especially considering that Hamas had just done the same thing. Israel deserves all the scorn in the world for their reaction, but this guy deserves exactly the same and maybe more for the resulting reign of state terrorism on Lebanon. Even better, he went into hiding on day one of Israel's retaliation! THE ULTIMATE COWARD. Even his holy Quran/Koran/Qu'ran/whatever the fuck you want to call it could be interpreted as considering him to be not worthy of Allah.

C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :
Attack on Israel was mistake, Hezbollah leader says
Last Updated Sun, 27 Aug 2006 18:37:27 EDT
CBC News
The leader of the militant group Hezbollah says that if he could do it all over again, he wouldn't order the capture of Israeli soldiers that ignited the war in Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah in the Aug. 27 TV interview. (New TV/Associated Press)
"You ask me, if I had known on July 11 … that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with Lebanon's New TV station broadcast Sunday.
"He more or less admitted that he miscalculated," CBC Radio's Mike Hornbrook reported.
The war devastated Lebanon, where at least 850 militants and civilians died in Israeli bombardments and land attacks, while Hezbollah rockets and fighters killed at least 157 Israeli civilians and soldiers. Estimates of the cost of repairing damage to Lebanese buildings, roads and infrastructure run into the billions of dollars.
Hezbollah fighters crossed from Lebanon into northern Israel on July 12, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two more. Israel responded with attacks that lasted until a UN-organized ceasefire took effect on Aug. 14.
"We did not think, even one per cent, that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude," Nasrallah said.
While Nasrallah claimed victory over Israel when the ceasefire took hold, he apologized in the interview for the suffering of the Lebanese people.
Talks on prisoner swap
Nasrallah also said negotiations with Israel on a prisoner swap are in the early stages.
"Contacts recently began for negotiations," he said.
"The Italians seem to be getting close and are trying to get into the subject. The United Nations is interested," Nasrallah said. The speaker of the Lebanese parliament, Nabih Berri, is in charge of negotiations, he added.
Israel won't comment on a prisoner exchange, but officials have said that Israel has 13 Hezbollah prisoners, and dozens of bodies of guerrillas.
On Sunday, Vice-Premier Shimon Peres said there were no negotiations underway at the moment, but he suggested there could be talks once the Lebanese government is in control of the country's south.
Nasrallah, who has been in hiding since the first day of the war, said he believed the Israelis would try and kill him if they knew his whereabouts.
When the ceasefire took effect, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olhmert pledged to "continue pursuing [Hezbollah] everywhere at all times."
Nasrallah also said he did not think fighting would break out soon in Lebanon. "The current Israeli situation, and the available givens tell us that we are not heading to another round," he said.
French soldiers rebuild bridges
French soldiers in Lebanon are helping the Lebanese army rebuild bridges knocked down or damaged during the fighting. That's a necessary first step to being able to move supplies and people around southern Lebanon.
The 240 soldiers are not part of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, which will reinforce the Lebanese army as it tries to maintain the ceasefire.
The troops are expected to work on 15 bridges during at least six weeks they'll remain in Lebanon.
France is also contributing 2,000 soldiers to the 15,000 the UN wants in its peacekeeping force.
With files from the Associated Press
Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved

Fast Food On-line/E-mail Feedack

Interesting. I went to the Wendy's site tonight in the hope of being able to provide some on-line feedback as to why they're not going to ever be ahead of MacDonalds unless they change their customer service training (see below). Discovered that the following fast food companies have no obvious way of providing on-line feedback:

• Wendy's
• McDonalds
• Burger King
• Quiznos (awful, fuck the customer but if you want to open a franchise this site is for you)

So tried to find some that do:

• Subway
• Dominos
• Pizza Pizza (bravo - online feedback form)
• KFC (bravo - online feedback form)
• Harvey's (bravo - online feedback form)

So Wendy's, since you've chosen to deny me the opportunity to provide feedback through your Web site, here's my beef:

Twice in the last two months I've walked into one of your so-called fast-food restaurants (about 100 km away from each other) and have had to wait about 10 minutes before placing an order and another 10 minutes to walk out with my food. This is pathetic and a result of extremely poor customer service skills on the part of your managers and employees. I'll use the most recent experience as an example.

The restaurant is a roadside service centre on highway 401 between Kingston and Brockville. On a Monday night, holiday long weekend (the Monday was the holiday), at about 10PM, only one cash was open and taking orders. Two people were behind the counter. One was waiting for food to come up, but I wasn't certain what she was doing with it. She was definitely instructing the much younger lad to keep taking orders and not doing a lot else - she could have been helping him out by filling drinks and preparing ice cream dishes that had been ordered instead of just waiting for the few items of food to come up. If she'd done something the line would have moved a lot faster. Finally got in my order of Chicken Strips, no sauce, no unncecessary paper bag . Stood back to wait for the four other customers who had been ahead of me to be served. They had complicated orders, so my strips came up pretty quickly. Rather than interrupt the orderly processing of orders (ha!), I stood back to watch and see how long it would be before I was handed my box of food. To my horror, I watched both staff members assemble each individual order (in order) before mine, picking the burgers, fries, drinks etc.... as they came up over the next 10 minutes and completely ignoring my lone order of chicken strips until all of the people who ordered before me had been served, in order. And they were given to me in a bag. Why the fuck do the fast food joints insist on using a paper bag for a single item order that's already wrapped or boxed? THIS IS NOT CUSTOMER SERVICE, and is in fact the second time I've seen this happen at two different Wendy's in the last two months.

Contrast this with my experience at the Bronson Ave McDonalds. About three years ago I stopped going there because the service was worse than that described above. Because I was in the neighbourhood about three months ago and had a craving for a Big Mac, I stopped in despite my better judgement. What a difference. There were managers actually chipping in to help during a busy time and I was in and out in less than two minutes. I've been there a number of times since and each time the service has been the same. Even if I'm fifth in line and other orders are waiting and mine comes up, I get it and am on my way. EXCELLENT. The only thing that bothers me is that if all I order is a sandwich and ask for it without a bag, don't give me a bag, and don't look at me as if I'm a freak. It's already wrapped! Why waste a bag which is only going to get thrown out?

The Final Say

From the Toronto Sun

The Final Say

By Eric Margolis
July 30, 2006

The spreading war in Lebanon has bared the bizarre contradictions and self-destructive nature of U.S. Mideast policy.

With one hand, the U.S. sends $30 million of food and blankets to Lebanon for the 20% of its population made refugees by Israel's bombing.

With the other, it rushes planeloads of precision bombs to Israel, one of which may have destroyed a UN border observer post, killing four, including a Canadian major.

In Rome, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week blocked international efforts by Europe and Washington's Arab allies to halt the war. Not since Colin Powell's grotesque lies to the UN about Iraq has American diplomacy so debased itself. Small wonder hatred for America is surging across the Muslim world.

Rice also proclaimed the U.S. was going to midwife the birth of a "new Middle East" by means of the Lebanon war. This latest absurdity comes from the same fools and right-wing ideologues that fathered the Iraq debacle.

However, Canadian PM "Steve" Harper has no doubts. He suggested the deceased Canadian major and his UN-mandated post may have been at fault for being in the way of Israeli bombs, and that Israel's destruction of the southern third of Lebanon was a "measured response." Many Canadians must suspect they elected a prime minister who actually may be George Bush's intellectual equal.

In Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney and his neocon Praetorian Guard's true agenda is becoming clear. Israel's attempted destruction of Hezbollah is the first step in a long-planned bid to strip away Iran's allies and effectively turn Lebanon into a joint U.S.-Israeli protectorate. The second step will no doubt be an assault on Syria. Step three: Isolating and crippling Iran by a massive bombing campaign accompanied by renewed efforts to overthrow its government.
Attacking Hezbollah also serves as the long-predicted (by this column) "November surprise" to boost sagging Republican fortunes in U.S. mid-term elections.

Americans, steeped in deep ignorance and prejudice about the Mideast, are now being misled by the administration and its media allies that Lebanon is a new front in the so-called war on terrorism. As I recently learned doing radio shows across the U.S., a great many Americans cannot distinguish between Hezbollah, al-Qaida, Taliban, the PLO, Hamas, etc. All are terrorists. Listeners even called in to ask if the fighting in Lebanon was the prelude to Armageddon.

Bush has failed to stop al-Qaida and is stuck in lost wars in Iraq and Afghanistan costing $300 billion. His answer: Start a new crusade in Lebanon against the latest bogeyman, Hezbollah, and its Syrian and Iranian allies. War fever wins elections.

Having covered Israel's disastrous invasion of Lebanon in the 1980s, I am appalled it is again getting sucked into another bloody, dirty, pointless war there. Hezbollah, which represents as much as a third of Lebanon's population, won't be defeated by bombing or limited ground assaults: It fought Israel for 18 years and won.

Hezbollah's 3,000 tough fighters just battled Israel's mighty armed forces to a standstill for two weeks. Only the ethnic cleansing of southern Lebanon's Shias will push it back.

Israel's new government under Ehud Olmert is allowing itself to be used by Washington as a battering ram against Syria and Iran. It could likely have avoided this war and Hezbollah's rocket barrages by a low-key response, some ritual artillery fire, and the usual prisoner swap.
But Olmert allowed the chief of defence staff, an air force general, to take charge and go destroy much of Lebanon, guided by emotions, not sense. Now Israeli soldiers are being once again sent into the Lebanese quagmire.

The bitter lessons of Israel's 1980s disaster in Lebanon are forgotten, just as the U.S. military in Iraq forgot the lessons of Vietnam. A triumphant Hezbollah may even emerge as the victor of this battle. The big winner? Osama bin Laden.
---
margolis@foreigncorrespondent.com

WTF Kind of Logic is That?

Israel bombs a building in Qana, Lebanon and 54 civilians sheltering in the basement are killed, 34 of them children (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5228224.stm). They come up with a couple of doozies explaining why this happened:

1. The civilians were warned to leave and shouldn't have been there.
I'm sure they would have loved to leave using the vehicles that they didn't have on the bombed out roads and bridges that would have taken them to safety, not to mention running a guantlet of precision-guided Israeli bombs that would have been dropped on them (in case the fair reader has not been following the news, Isreal has been using convoys of fleeing civilians for target practice over the past couple of weeks). They had no safe way to leave, and for Israel to use the "they shouldn't have been there" excuse is pure bullshit.

2. It's Hezbollah's fault that the civilians were killed because it used the town as a base to launch rocket attacks. WTF? Hezbollah's rockets had a note on them that requested Israel to bomb a specific building in Qana? Note that they did not say the specific building was used as a launching point. They are admitting to collective punishment of the town. "But mommy, some kid broke my toy while we were away - that's why I broke every kids' toy in the neighbourhood - it really is his fault."

Food for Thought 2

"There is something fundamentally wrong with a war where there are more dead children than armed men."
UN humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland

Food for Thought

A retired Irish peacekeeper with experience in the Middle East was interviewed on CBC radio this morning. A summary of what he had to say with respect to Israel's bombing of the UN post in which four unarmed peacekeepers were killed:

• The building that was bombed is large, painted bright white, and has "UN" written on it in large lettering. It has not moved for decades.
• Israel is well aware of the location of the building, and it should be expected that the coordinates of its location are available to anyone targetting artillery or bombs.
• The incident took place at night. Because Israel has knocked out the power for most of southern Lebanon and the UN facility has it's own generator, it would have been the only illuminated building in the area, thus making it unlikely that a targetting error occurred.
• The building was directly hit by three precision bombs, not one.
• Hezbollah is using a series of tunnels and hidden passages to move around. The Irish commentator has suggested that the next phase of routing out the fighters will be to use white phosphourous, which will be a potentially illegal act but definitely an immoral one. Thus, it is in Israel's best interest to ensure that the UN is not there to witness the event (this is the same substance that the US used in Fallujah). Thus the deliberate bombing of the UN site.

I'm appalled by Prime Minister Harper's response to the bombing. Asking why the peacekeepers were there in the first place is akin to saying that a provocatively dressed woman who is raped had it coming. The fact that the post was manned is irrelevant to the fact that it was bombed by a military that claims to take great pains to hit only legitimate targets. Targets such as civilians convoy and trucks transporting humanitarian aid, obviously.