Rational Radical

Below is the story of the death of Albert Hofmann, the man who invented LSD.  I know first-hand how dangerous LSD can be, but I also know that its original purpose was noble and, if used properly, it can lead to some of the most amazing experiences ever.  However, as hypocritical as I may be (I literally lost count of how many times I used to use LSD) I strongly oppose LSD use because a) it truly can mess you up badly, especially if you already have “issues“; and b) especially today, you have no idea what kind of poisons are being used by unethical and immoral drug creators/dealers.

However, if you read the LSD link above or the brief story on Dr. Hofmann below, you might be fascinated at certain facts about LSD and its history.  But again, of all the drugs to avoid, LSD ranks among crack, crystal meth, and heroin (although only LSD is non-addictive).

Albert Hofmann, 102: Father of LSD

FRANK JORDANS - The Associated Press

GENEVA–Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD whose medical discovery inspired – and arguably corrupted – millions in the 1960s hippie generation, has died. He was 102.

Hofmann died Tuesday at his home in Burg im Leimental, said Doris Stuker, a municipal clerk in the village near Basel where Hofmann moved following his retirement in 1971.

For decades after LSD was banned in the late 1960s, Hofmann defended his invention.

“I produced the substance as a medicine. … It’s not my fault if people abused it,” he once said.

The Swiss chemist discovered lysergic acid diethylamide-25 in 1938 while studying the medicinal uses of a fungus found on wheat and other grains at the Sandoz pharmaceuticals firm in Basel.

He became the first human guinea pig of the drug when a tiny amount of the substance seeped onto his finger during a repeat of the laboratory experiment on April 16, 1943.

“I had to leave work for home because I was suddenly hit by a sudden feeling of unease and mild dizziness,” he subsequently wrote in a memo to company bosses.

“Everything I saw was distorted as in a warped mirror,” he said, describing his bicycle ride home. “I had the impression I was rooted to the spot. But my assistant told me we were actually going very fast.”

Upon reaching home, Hofmann sat down on a divan and began experiencing what he called “wonderful visions.”

“What I was thinking appeared in colors and in pictures,” he told Swiss television network SF DRS for a program marking his 100th birthday two years ago. “It lasted for a couple of hours and then it disappeared.”

Three days later, Hofmann experimented with a larger dose. The result was the world’s first scientifically documented bad trip.

“The substance which I wanted to experiment with took over me. I was filled with an overwhelming fear that I would go crazy. I was transported to a different world, a different time,” Hofmann wrote.

Hofmann and his scientific colleagues hoped that LSD would make an important contribution to psychiatric research. The drug exaggerated inner problems and conflicts and thus it was hoped that it might be used to recognize and treat mental illnesses like schizophrenia.

For a time, Sandoz sold LSD 25 under the name Delysid, encouraging doctors to try it themselves. It was one of the strongest drugs in medicine – with just one gram enough to drug an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 people for 12 hours.

Hofmann discovered the drug had a similar chemical structure to psychedelic mushrooms and herbs used in religious ceremonies by Mexican Indians.

LSD was elevated to international fame in the late 1950s and 1960s thanks to Harvard professor Timothy Leary who embraced the drug under the slogan “turn on, tune in, drop out.” The film star Cary Grant and numerous rock musicians extolled its virtues in achieving true self discovery and enlightenment.

But away from the psychedelic trips and flower children, horror stories emerged about people going on murder sprees or jumping out of windows while hallucinating. Heavy users suffered permanent psychological damage.

The U.S. government banned LSD in 1966 and other countries followed suit.

Hofmann maintained this was unfair, arguing that the drug was not addictive. He repeatedly argued for the ban to be lifted to allow LSD to be used in medical research.

He himself took the drug – purportedly on an occasional basis and out of scientific interest – for several decades.

“LSD can help open your eyes,” he once said. “But there are other ways – meditation, dance, music, fasting.”

Even so, the self described “father” of LSD readily agreed that the drug was dangerous if in the wrong hands. This was reflected by the title of his 1979 book: “LSD - my problem child.”

In it he wrote that, “The history of LSD to date amply demonstrates the catastrophic consequences that can ensue when its profound effect is misjudged and the substance is mistaken for a pleasure drug.”

Hofmann retired from Sandoz in 1971. He devoted his time to travel, writing and lectures – which often reflected his growing interest with philosophy and religious questions.

He remained active, going for walks in the small picturesque village where he lived in the Swiss Jura mountains, a stone’s throw from the French border. He spoke at a Basel ceremony honoring him on his 100th birthday.

“This is really a high point in my advanced age,” Hofmann said. “You could say it is a consciousness-raising experience without LSD.”

Hofmann is survived by two of his four children. He was predeceased by his wife Anita.

With all due respect to my idol, Mr. Stephen Colbert, I called it!  Last week, in this blog about the Recent Arguments for Birth Control infesting our governments, I predicted that  both provincial and city/municipal politicians would delay doing anything on the TTC issue, when I wrote that their (in)actions would convey this message, “Fuck you, Joe and Joe-ette Citizen.  We’ll say something, pretend to be concerned, then strike some committee and spend millions of dollars on $800-$2,000/hour consultants to have them waste years studying something we already know.”  Plus, I predicted that city council would “fail to come together to draft something ASAP so that McGuinty has no reason not to act on this emergency ASAP, rather than IN THREE YEARS!”

What does today’s paper tell us about these jackals?

1) Angry passengers who want to see the TTC declared an essential service will have to wait at least until September to see what city council will do.

2) [When Councillor Cesar] Palacio made a similar motion [to declare the TTC an essential service] after the wildcat strike in 2006…when the matter went to executive committee, it was “noted and filed,” which means no action was taken.

3) [Premier McGuinty siad] that Queen’s Park would not move quickly on legislating. “I think we’d have three years until the contract expires, so I’m sure that we would want to take our time as well,” he said. 

Now I’m predicting one more thing: If the TTC is declared an essential service at some point, the terms and conditions of their contracts will be far better than they have to be, even on top of the generous terms granted to other essential service workers to compensate for their inability to strike.  This is a guarantee because too many people fail to use birth control when they should…

As a follow-up to my recent post about the TTC screwing us over with yet another strike, as well as some important comments on that post by lily, I wanted to add and clarify a few more points:

1) I agree with lily that the TTC’s fear of their workers’ safety is a good reason to renege on their promise of 48-hours’ warning of a strike, since no matter how big of an A-hole many of the drivers and fare collectors are, they do not deserve to be physically assaulted by irate passengers. However, they should have still given us warning on Wednesday/Thursday that there was a pretty good chance that they could reject the offer on Friday and go on strike Saturday.

2) As lily noted, at the very least the TTC could have finished up their shift on Friday. There is absolutely no excuse for leaving tens of thousands of people stranded Friday night/Saturday early morning! All the partiers/clubbers were screwed over badly enough, but imagine you’re one of the thousands of people who, after working your ass off for maybe 8 or 10 hours in a late shift, you now have no way of getting back home at, e.g., 2, 3, 4 am, unless you’re willing to walk for many hours or spend perhaps your entire night shift’s wages on a taxi. Fuck you, TTC.

3) lily asked, “Aren’t you contradicting yourself though when you say that the TTC members are unrealistic in their demands, and at the same time acknowledge that the government gives them too little?” Yes, that would be a contradiction. But I did not mean that when I stated, “the TTC receives the lowest proportion of government financing from among all public transportation services in North America, if not the entire world!”

What I meant was that the federal and provincial government’s criminal underfunding of the TTC means that the PASSENGERS must make up the shortfall, hence our ever-increasing fares and ever-worsening service. But the TTC employees are certainly not suffering when it comes to salaries, benefits, job security and pensions, as discussed in this previous blog.

4) Speaking of our incompetent governments, remember how I asked what the heck is up with “proceed[ing] with back-to-work legislation at the first available opportunity”?! Well, the province knew there was a possibility that the TTC would reject their contract and go on strike, yet now these impotent pricks and prickettes are saying there could be trouble getting MPPs to attend an emergency meeting in the Legislature on Sunday to deal with this crisis, since many of them are out of town. What the fuck?! First off, the emergency meeting should have been held first thing Saturday morning, NOT Sunday afternoon as they’re discussing. Second, how the heck did they not prepare for this possibility?

Call your MPP. Call your city council person. Find out where the TTC Union Chief, Bob Kinnear, lives and make sure to tell him how displeased you are with his work in fact, it’s been claimed that the TTC’s rejection of their generous contracts is a direct attack against Kinnear’s leadership. We’ll see. If there IS any fairness in the universe, Kinnear will find himself unemployed soon, or at the very least stripped of his position.

As a follow-up to a Recent Argument for Birth Control Recipient, here is a news story sent by a wonderful reader, about George Tilley, former CEO of the Eastern Health authority, and an inquiry that is trying to determine how nearly 400 patients were given flawed results on their breast-cancer tests over an eight-year period, and why Eastern Health and, among others, the Newfoundland government, failed to respond to patients and the public in an appropriate and timely manner.

Toronto Star - Apr 25, 2008 04:30 AM
Government meddled in reporting of tests, cancer probe hears
Keen interest shown in what media told about faulty exams
Tara Brautigam — THE CANADIAN PRESS

ST. JOHN’S, NFLD.–The Newfoundland and Labrador government took such an interest in how a health board communicated with the news media about problems with breast-cancer tests that it vetted its news releases, a public inquiry has heard. George Tilley, former CEO of the Eastern Health authority, said he faced a growing expectation to have the health department review his agency’s news releases before they went out, as the scope of the testing problems grew in 2006.

“We did go through a period of time where press releases that we were issuing on various issues – there was an expectation that we would run those by the department,” Tilley said. It was an evolving process. Certainly in our earlier days it was done to their exclusion and any inclusion would be more by coincidence. But clearly, as time went on, there was a greater expectation that things would be shared and an opportunity for advice to be given.”

Eastern Health staff became increasingly frustrated with delays in getting responses from the province, he added: “It made us wonder what process they might be going through in their circles to assess what we had sent over.” The inquiry got a glimpse into how the health authority kept reporters in the dark about the scope of the flawed tests. On Dec. 11, 2006, Eastern Health briefed reporters about the faulty tests. But two days earlier, Eastern Health communications director Susan Bonnell sent Tilley and other board executives an email noting reporters wouldn’t be told the error rate discovered by a review of 1997-2005 breast cancer tests.

“We can anticipate that this will be a major pressing point with the media, but the approach we will be taking here is that (a) we can’t indicate that an error is actually occurred and (b) the whole process wasn’t about identifying a rate of error anyway – it was about identifying patients whose treatment would change,” Bonnell wrote. “Re: the dead, we must also be prepared. Our statement will need to be that, in this almost 10-year period, individuals have died, either as a result of their breast cancer or for any one of numerous reasons.”

At that time, Eastern Health was aware that more than 300 patients received incorrect results on their breast-cancer tests. But at the media briefing, Eastern Health officials spoke only of the 117 patients whose treatment changed after they were told about the faulty tests. Tilley later apologized for the incomplete disclosure and resigned his post. The inquiry is trying to determine how nearly 400 patients were given flawed results on their breast-cancer tests over an eight-year period and whether Eastern Health or any other responsible authorities responded to patients and the public in an appropriate and timely manner.

You know, a little pillow talk after being screwed up the arse would be nice.  Hell, even a little warning about your intentions, just like you promised–remember, 48-hours notice?–would have been nice.  Even after our Mayor bent us all over and begged the TTC to ram us hard up our nether regions, the TTC decided it still wasn’t finished with us, so they went on strike at midnight Friday/Saturday.

The Premiere of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty–an Ongoing Argument for Birth Control–said he’d “proceed with back-to-work legislation at the first available opportunity.”  What the heck does “first available opportunity” mean?  Why not “immediately“?!

How much more evidence do we need that our TTC employs thousands (65% of 9,000…you do the math) of selfish, ungrateful, unrealistic workers, and that our local/city and provincial governments have no balls or ovaries, and that our provincial and federal governments are equally culpable in all this shit, since the TTC receives the lowest proportion of government financing from among all public transportation services in North America, if not the entire world!  FU TTC!  FU McGuinty!  FU Stephen Harper!  And FU Jean Chretien/Paul Martin, and Mike Harris, all of whom contributed to the lack of funding for the TTC long before the recent regimes.

For anyone still not convinced that giving China the Olympics was a slap in the face of those who believe in human rights, humanity and decency, please watch this link to see how dogs are treated in China.  It is a very disturbing video of Chinese horribly abusing dogs, so please be forewarned.

Now, before anyone complains that we treat chickens and other animals equally horribly, I agree completely.  I also agree that Canada’s brutal seal hunt is as awful as anything you can see in the video I’m linking.  Inhumane treatment of animals is inhumane treatment.  And if anyone wants to post terrible torture video links (of animals), please do.

We need to recover some of our lost humanity.  I know in Canada that our impotent, incompetent, UNELECTED senators have repeatedly refused to change our ANCIENT animal cruelty laws to reflect the fact that we’ve supposedly progressed somewhat over the past few centuries.  And our provincial legislation is equally impotent and toothless, which leads to millions of animals living in deplorable conditions because the law does little to nothing against people who should never be allowed to be anywhere near these poor creatures.

The Most Recent Argument for Birth Control is Attorney General for Ontario, Chris Bentley, (along with Premier Dalton McGuinty), for refusing a public inquiry into the Robert Baltovich case, in which he was accused and found guilty of murdering his girlfriend, Elizabeth Bain, in 1990. Here are Bentley’s thoughts on the matter, after Baltovich was finally found not guilty of the charges:

“My first instinct is that this case followed the process….This is not the type of case that would merit or warrant an inquiry….It is unhelpful and not respectful of the process to engage in a possible analysis….There are very unusual cases, such as this one, that do take a long time but at the end of the process Mr. Baltovich was found not guilty.”

That last sentence is what really clinches Bentley’s douche status, since he’s talking about an 18-year ordeal, despite the mounting evidence over the years that Baltovich was innocent, and the fact that the Crown never had any evidence to convict him in the first place!

In North America, there are far too many cases such as this one, in which the prosecution and/or police THINK they have the criminal and then develop “tunnel vision.” Once they get to this point, for various reasons they often lie, manipulate evidence, fudge data, get false statements from people, coerce testimony from witnesses, etc. We must never forget this.

Because douches like McGuinty will lie and say things such as, “It’s a troubling story obviously. We now have two sad cases, one affecting the Bain family and the other affecting Mr. Baltovich…I think it affects all of us, and we ask ourselves, well, how did we go wrong? As a society, how could this have happened? What do we need to do make sure it doesn’t happen again?”

Looks reasonable, right? But then McGuinty oozes out this beaut: “But I will listen to the attorney general and I’ll consult him on this, get his best advice.”

Remember, the Attorney General, Bentley, has ALREADY SAID THERE’S NO NEED TO INVESTIGATE THIS TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE FOR 18 YEARS!

McGuinty acknowledged that there is precedent for financial compensation in cases such as Baltovich’s, although Bentley said no request has been made.

“If a request comes, that would be considered in due course,” Bentley said.

Kormos said the lack of clear answers from Bentley about what went awry in the Baltovich case and his refusal to call for a public inquiry is “highly objectionable.”

“The Crown concedes it has no evidence,” said Kormos, a lawyer by training.

“It’s objectionable and deplorable that this government would not want to know why an innocent person could be convicted in the first place, would not want to know why it would take so long for that person to be cleared by a process in which the Crown tenders no evidence whatsoever.”

He accused McGuinty and Bentley of playing “good cop, bad cop” on the prospects for a public inquiry with the premier open to it and Bentley saying no.

“Mr. McGuinty is trying to hide behind his attorney general,” Kormos said. “There’s some intellectual dishonesty going on here.”

When will the courts really crack down on “Road Rage”? The Most Recent Argument for Birth Control is Martinez Bugveno, 22, of Toronto, who sent a man to hospital with the help of his friend/passenger, who struck the other driver with a metal bar.

The saying goes–and available stats do seem to support the contention–that stiffer penalties don’t deter criminals because they rarely think of the consequences when planning or committing their crimes, and/or they don’t think they’ll get caught.  However, many criminals are “special” (obviously in a bad way) in the way they think and process things, whereas it’s been claimed that “anyone” can get involved in “road rage.”

I know that, when some people get “caught up” in the moment, they might not be thinking much about the consequences.  But most people should have the capacity to stop and think about what they’re doing.  And if they do that and realize the next decision they make and thing they do can land them in jail for 10-20 years, some people might actually stop behaving like a wild animal.  This is especially true because, in most cases, it’s pretty obvious that you can be identified easily by your license plate, unlike in other crimes where the perp believes (s)he won’t get caught.

Anyone who cannot control their impulses while driving should be charged accordingly.  What is the crime?  Assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, reckless endangerment of lives, etc.  Then again, we don’t have the balls or ovaries to lock up criminals for using a firearm during a crime, so why should I expect our lawmakers to do the right thing with “road rage”?

Whatever is decided, let’s stop making excuses for the ever-increasing number of people who commit acts of “road rage.”  The more we try to rationalize it, the more we normalize it.  And the more we normalize it, the more likely it is that “normal” people will join in the ugliness.  If you don’t believe me, look at the stats.

The Most Recent Argument for Birth Control is also the impetus for a suggestion I’ve wanted to make to our police and politicians for many years. Whenever there is an automobile accident on the highway or any other roads, each of the real victims–those of us who are inconvenienced for hours–should be allowed one free hit or kick or spit against the idiot(s) who caused the accident.

Now, I’m not making light of the actual real victims: anyone hurt that didn’t contribute to the accident through their own stupidity, selfishness, deficient skills, ignorance, carelessness, recklessness, intoxication, bad judgment, etc. But those who do demonstrate the preceding idiotic traits or behaviours and end up causing an accident–and it can be determined through reasonable eyewitness accounts on the spot–should be made, regardless of their injuries, to withstand the anger, revulsion and revenge of hundreds or thousands of inconvenienced motorists…Motorists who could very easily have been the victim of these pathetic wastes of space.

Here is the story of the most recent asshole who deserved to have his ass kicked by every driver forced to wait for hours as several lanes were closed due to the investigation:

A 39-year-old man is in hospital and facing street racing charges after a crash on Hwy. 401 Sunday night. Witnesses said the man’s Jeep Cherokee was headed westbound on Hwy. 401, cutting in and out of traffic and travelling upwards of 160 km/h around 6:50 p.m…The Jeep went out of control, slammed into the right concrete wall and rolled several times…No other cars were involved [THANKFULLY!]…The driver, who was alone inside, suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital.

To continue with the theme of the previous recipient, the Most Recent Argument for Birth Control is George Tilley, the CEO of Newfoundland’s largest health board, who agreed on a strategy to not speak to the news media about errors in breast-cancer testing three years ago. So far, Tilley’s been caught in TWO MAJOR lies (or “inconsistencies” for those who don’t want to acknowledge how big of a douche this creep really is) in this inquiry, which was ordered to determine how nearly 400 patients were given inaccurate results on their breast-cancer tests over an eight-year span. It’s also trying to determine whether Eastern Health or any other responsible authorities responded to patients and the public in an appropriate and timely manner.

To give you some insight into the answers to these questions, here are Tilley’s two major lies, as described in the Toronto Star:

1. “Tilley defended his staff as hard workers and maintained that Eastern Health’s primary focus was informing patients about the test results. But at that time, breast-cancer patients began publicly complaining that they weren’t being notified about their reviewed tests.”

2. “Tilley testified he was under increasing pressure from the province…to trim at least $8 million from Eastern Health’s budget in 2005….just as the faulty tests came to light. “The question was, `Where am I going to find the savings?’ ” Tilley said. That statement contrasted with testimony he gave Thursday that he rebuffed offers of additional financial resources from the provincial government in 2005 to deal with the testing problems.”

Douche…