No!! to the niqab

Jason Kenney says no niqabs at citizenship ceremonies:

And Tarek Fatah on the vile veil:

[via]

The dopey push for legalized pot

Brian Hutchinson asks some pertinent questions:

What is it about Vancouver and its determination to make pot smoking a regular activity, like drinking coffee?

... four former Vancouver mayors [Mike Harcourt, Philip Owen, Larry Campbell and Sam Sullivan] ... waded into matters well beyond any local jurisdiction, penning an open letter last month that demanded the end of marijuana prohibition in Canada.

... Last week, sitting Mayor Gregor Robertson chipped in with a tweet: "Good to see 4 Vancouver ex-mayors calling for end of cannabis prohibition. I agree, we need to be smart and tax/ regulate."

... A key flaw in the legalization and regulation argument, what proponents such as the four ex-mayors and Mr. Robertson ignore, is the assumption that underground markets would just disappear. In fact, they would continue to thrive. [True. In my hometown in Manitoba the RCMP spent most of their time chasing bootleggers. Also the drug gangs who peddle marijuana also peddle just about every other illegal and dangerous substance. They’ll continue to sell it all.]

... What damage, one must ask? The mayors weren't talking about physical and mental health, which would seem paramount.

... The facts are: Cannabis products are laden with harmful chemicals; marijuana smoke contains carcinogens and damages respiratory systems; consumption impairs cognitive functions, especially among youth, who are susceptible to more serious psychological and physiological effects than adults.

... What about long-term health and productivity effects? Have those been punched into any cost-benefit analysis? ... work-related intoxication, and certainly impaired driving .... Would a bus driver be free to smoke a joint - or three, or five - before or during his shift? How could anyone detect if he had?

All good questions.

Assisted suicide and euthanasia - the slippery slope

What always begins as a campaign for legalization of physician-assisted suicide in strictly defined circumstances quickly morphs into easily acquired suicide and euthanasia. There were a couple of examples in today’s Vancouver Sun.

From Oregon, a letter from a doctor:

... my 76-year-old patient had a sore on his arm which turned out to be cancer. I referred him to a cancer specialist for evaluation and therapy.

... he became ... depressed, which was documented in his chart.

... He expressed a wish for assisted suicide to the cancer specialist, but rather than taking the time and effort to address his depression, ... she asked me to be the "second opinion" for his suicide.

I told her that I did not concur ... two weeks later he was dead from an overdose prescribed by this doctor.

In most jurisdictions, suicidal ideation is interpreted as a cry for help. In Oregon, the only help my patient got was a lethal prescription intended to kill him. Don't make Oregon's mistake.

In Holland, mobile clinics for euthanasia home-delivery:

Mobile medical teams able to euthanize people in their own homes are being considered by the Dutch government. The teams of doctors and nurses would be sent out from a clinic following a referral from the patient's doctor.

... Dutch medics have been accused of practising euthanasia on demand.

... Twenty-one people diagnosed with early-stage dementia died with the help of their doctors last year, according to a 2010 report on euthanasia.

The figures showed another year-on-year rise in cases with about 2,700 people choosing death by injection compared to 2,636 the previous year. ..

Attawapiskat - John Robson's fearless take

Robson's rant in writing.

Attawapiskat - "a disgrace not a surprise" says Blatchford

Maybe it's a disgrace, but  like Ezra (below) I don't feel guilty. If it's a problem that has a solution, only the Indians themselves can figure out how to solve it.

Christie seems to think we can, and should, do it for them.  For example:

Christie: "... I’d dispatch the Canadian army, with its fabulous engineer corps, up to Attawapiskat pronto. ... I’d have them repair or throw up housing sufficient for the 2,300 residents ..."
['Giving' them stuff, doing it for them, solves nothing. Among the biggest problems on the reserve is that the residents have no employment and, worse, have no skills. If crappy housing is the problem wouldn't it be better to train the locals and get them to build their own houses? A bonus would be that they'd be more able and likely to maintain them later (and to build new ones when needed). A further bonus would be that they'd have skills they could take south with them should they choose to escape the reserve.]

Christie: "... The longer term one would see some of the big brains in Canada (that would necessarily also include some strategic thinkers from the military) locked in a small room until they figure out something better than the infantilizing Indian Act and the paralysis engendered by the reserve system. ..."
[Here we go again, the "big brains" in the south figuring out how to solve the Indians' problems. Infantalizing them further. The Indians need to figure out for themselves what they want, and what it is practical to do. Christie gives the Indian so-called "leaders" too easy a ride. They've been a giant flop up to now. Make them get their act together. And perpetual welfare subsidizies (throwing more money at it) isn't a solution.]

Attawapiskat - everything you need to know

Via Five Feet of Fury where you'll find the rest ot the show.

Peter MacKay’s helicopter trip - a tempest (and a couple of dumb-ass colonels) in a tea-pot

My initial reaction to the press generated ‘furor’ over Peter MacKay’s ride in a Cormorant SAR chopper was near complete indifference. It’s much ado about bugger-all. I don’t see the scandal in the MND commandeering a ride in a military aircraft once in a blue-moon. Big deal!

Having read the latest story about the "scandalous emails" I’m still indifferent about MacKay’s helicopter trip, but disappointed in some of the military officers involved. If there’s any embarrassment in this situation it will be mostly because of stupid, indiscreet comments and speculation in emails that have been leaked [or FOI’d] to the press:

... At one point during the discussion, a different officer, Col. Bruce Ploughman of One Canadian Air Division Headquarters in Winnipeg, raised concerns about the optics of picking the minister up from a fishing trip with a military helicopter.

"When the guy who's fishing at the fishing hole next to the minister sees the big yellow helicopter arrive and decides to use his cellphone to video the minister getting on board and post it on YouTube," Ploughman wrote, "who will be answering the mail on that one?" [And he puts this in writing?! Good grief!]

Ploughman expressed reluctance to have the military accept the mission. [If true, Ploughman is truly an idiot. A tasking coming from high up the chain, in support of the MINISTER of Defence, isn’t something you’d expect a mere colonel to“express reluctance” about “accepting”.]

"If we are tasked to do this we, of course, will comply," he wrote. "Given the potential for negative press though, I would likely recommend against it, especially in view of the fact that the Air Force receives regular [freedom-of-information requests] specifically targeting travel on [military] aircraft by ministers." [Oh the irony! It doesn’t seem to have crossed Ploughman’s pea-brain that his own email musings might be even more damaging should they be made public.]

The next day, July 7, 2010, Lt.-Col. Chris Bulls wrote that the "mission will be under the guise" of search-and-rescue training. [“ ... under the guise of ...”!!? Kee-ryste - how about (at least) “... the mission is search-and-rescue training”??]

What a couple of dumb-asses! My bet is that those colonels’ careers will be suffering a severe set-back. Their bosses, right up to the CDS, will be livid.