Sunday, December 2, 2007

AN INVITATION TO TAKE CARE OF OUR CHILDREN


THIS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT MESSAGE WAS SENT IN A COMMENT ON YESTERDAY'S POST "NUMBERING OUR ILLS, PART I."


PLEASE READ IT AND REGISTER YOUR SUPPORT.


The list of supporters for Jordans Principle has now grown to over 800.


A private members motion in support of Jordans Principle is expected to pass though the House of Commons on December 12, 2007 - this creates a MORAL duty on the federal government to implement it but not a legal one.


As the Canadian Paediatric Society reports -no province or territory has taken the step of adopting or implementing Jordans Principle meaning that First Nations children across the country are routinely denied government otherwise available to Canadian children.


You can help - register your personal or organizational support for Jordan's Principle at www.fncaringsociety.com and let your MP and MLA know that now is the time to fully implement Jordan's Principle and end this needless discrimination against First Nations children.


Your action is the best memorial to Jordan and his family.

ATTENTIONE, SI PREGA


I have slightly altered the front page of the blog so that you can now scroll through the most recent 20 posts without bothering to click "older posts," as the very phrase, "older posts," conjures up for many of us a sight more grizzly than ... well ... yes, that bad.

Some Good Signs


For so many years now, I felt that I was one of a handful of voices crying in the wilderness.


When would the Harm Seduction strategies be exposed for the muddle-headed, silver bullet dreaming, uncaring and ineffective mistakes that many of us knew them to be?


When would drug addiction treatment be recognized, funded and welcomed?


Well, perhaps I am suffering from a small and forgivable case of optimism these days, but I am seeing some signs of hope.


1. Susie and Robert Ruttan have worked tirelessly with their group, From Grief to Action, to bring a therapeutic community-styled residential treatment program to BC. Portage, which has been serving the cause for 30 years now in Quebec is on track to open a facility in Keremeos.

That's the good news. The bad news is much more money is needed to bring this important reality to life. Help them.


2. MLA Lorne Mayencourt has been working tirelessly to open a similar program near Prince George, this one modelled on the San Patrignano success.


3. Alex Tsakumis writes with great passion on a regular basis in 24 Hours about the dreadful misguided ideas flowing from City Hall and the office of The Nutty Mayor.


4. Justice Wallace Craig maintains a steady flow of informed and knowledgeable insight on these subjects in his column in the North Shore News.


5. More and more people from every walk of life, wherever I wander these days tell me that they are appalled at the drivel and lies and fake statistics and self-serving spin coming from the Harm Seduction, Free Needles, Free Drugs, Free Substitutes, Clean Shooting Galleries people who are causing immense public harm, growing the problems exponentially and personally profiting from the continuation and expansion of The Misery Biz.


More and more people everywhere in our communities are demanding Prevention, Enforcement and Treatment. Remember those? They were the other 3 pillars in the endlessly promoted - but hardly realized - Four Pillars approach.


The way the official voices speak of the Four Pillars you would think this is Torah handed directly down from God. Philip Owen is God? We're in deep trouble, kids.


Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly the tide is turning.


Do whatever you can as often as you can to convince your friends and neighbours and even those poor blighted souls who have been elected to office that Treatment is crucial, that Treatment is affordable, that Treatment is Now.

"I Only Shoot People To Kill Them"


Well, it's good to see that at least some people in this province take their work seriously.


On the other hand...


The author of this marvelous boast has just pleaded guilty to killing someone.


The Victoria judge sentenced this avowed career hitman (very young and ambitious for a contract killer, nevertheless...) to "the "maximum youth penalty of 10 years with no more than six to be served in custody. With time already spent in custody, his sentence was reduced to four years."


Am I following this correctly?


Hitman, who is also on charges of conspiracy to commit 2 more murders, pleads guilty to a planned murder, gets not more than 6 in custody, reduced to 4 because of time served????


And the judiciary wonder - if in fact they do wonder - why the public and the police are so frustrated with them.


And the cry-babies of the universe scream about Harper's Get Tough on Crime proposals.


True, we don't need little pot smokers crowing up the jails.


But we do need to sentence truly dangerous, antisocial criminal sociopaths to very long, long, long prison terms.


Is it that difficult to distinguish between silly people and dangerous people?