Rational Radical

I’ve already written about that idiot, Palin, elsewhere, but this article sent as a comment by Fight the Power! deserves its own page to keep people abreast of each and every new revelation about someone poised to become the second most powerful person in the world!  When Bush Sr. took on Dan Quayle as VP–one of the few politicians who could make Bush Jr. seem intelligent, as revealed by this list of his infamous quotes–the “joke” was that he did so to ensure that no one would ever think of assassinating him: not even America’s enemies would want a mentally challenged buffoon with his finger on the Armageddon button.

Unfortunately, these days too many of America’s fanatical enemies wouldn’t mind such a scenario (line up those virgins that await me…).  And too many Americans are just as ignorant and mentally challenged as Palin and thus will forgiver her many transgressions and complete lack of judgment.  Nevertheless, I will keep posting…

A ‘first dude’ with muscle – Todd Palin’s involvement in Alaska state matters, including ‘Troopergate,’ called ‘very troubling’

When Alaska’s former public  safety commissioner was summoned to a sensitive personnel meeting in the governor’s office here, he sat down to discuss the matter not with Governor Sarah Palin, but with Todd Palin, her husband. When the contract terms between the state and the Public Safety Employees Association were reached, an internal government email was copied to Todd Palin. And when a visiting official sought an urgent meeting regarding the state’s native corporations to discuss their priorities and voter perceptions, he got the meeting – with Todd Palin. These are just some examples of Alaska’s self-named “first dude” having his fingers in the middle of government business.

Many of the documents provided yesterday to the Star were ones that had been copied to his private email, fek9wnr@yahoo.com. Long-standing suspicions about Todd Palin’s role in his wife’s administration, beginning first when she was mayor of Wasilla, then as governor of Alaska, may burst into the open in the state investigation into the so-called Troopergate Affair. Todd Palin has been subpoenaed by the investigation into whether Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, abused her power in the firing of the former public safety commissioner Walter Monegan.

Monegan says he was fired because he would not dismiss Alaska state trooper Mike Wooten, who was involved in a messy divorce with the governor’s sister.there is evidence someone in the governor’s office may have pushed to deny workers’ compensation benefits to Wooten. The prosecutor, Steve Branchflower, said the meeting between Monegan and Todd Palin took place in the governor’s office in January 2007, shortly after Sarah Palin took office. “The involvement of Todd Palin in state matters is very troubling,” says Stephen Haycox, an expert on Alaska culture and politics at the University of Alaska. Haycox says there is no state precedent for such a role for a spouse. “Todd Palin holds no elected office,” Haycox said. “He has been appointed to nothing. But it is consistent with Sarah Palin personalizing her responsibilities in office.” The retired state prosecutor hired to probe the circumstances surrounding the firing of Monegan said

Monegan said he told Todd Palin the previous administration had already investigated every allegation and disciplined Wooten, and he saw nothing new to warrant further action, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. That upset Todd Palin, he said. “She (Palin) is not telling the truth when she says neither she nor her husband pressured me to fire Trooper Wooten,” he told ABC News. “I was called to her Anchorage formal governor’s office to talk with Todd Palin about an issue that was a private family matter.” When he told Todd Palin nothing more could be done, he got a follow-up phone call from the governor. “When Sarah later called to tell me the same thing, I thought to myself, `I may not be long for this job,’” he said. But he refused to budge and was fired.

Palin told ABC News last week that Monegan was fired for poor job performance. Critics of the Palin administration in Alaska portray Todd Palin as something of an “enforcer,” the guy who would do much of the dirty work in matters when it would be inappropriate for the governor to get her hands dirty.

The Republican presidential campaign of John McCain continues to portray him as part of a two-fisted reformer package from Alaska on the party ticket. Yesterday, McCain told supporters in Florida that Americans are going to “love” Todd Palin, whose victories in Ironman snow machine marathons mean that nothing in Washington will scare him.

Many of the emails showing Todd Palin’s involvement in state matters, including those provided to the Star, were obtained by Andree McLeod, an Anchorage activist and former Palin associate. She is appealing a decision by the state to withhold some 1,100 emails in her freedom-of-information request. At the heart of McLeod’s challenge is Governor Palin’s use of a personal yahoo email account for government business, a practice McLeod says allows her to circumvent government transparency. McLeod’s challenge was launched well before McCain tapped Palin as his running mate. “We were promised open, honest and transparent government by Sarah Palin,” said McLeod. “Clearly, these (personal) emails show we are receiving anything but open, honest and transparent government.  “Sarah Palin is being reckless and careless in using a personal email account for public business. She does not respect the role of governor. I don’t know if it is ignorance, or disdain, or ineptitude, but the respect is not there.”

In March, Frank Bailey, Palin’s director of boards and commissions, emailed Tara Leavy, a department head in the commerce, community and economic development ministry, apologizing for not getting back to her more quickly because “Todd was calling about something else.” Todd Palin was copied on an internal governmental email last April detailing the terms of an agreement between the state and the public safety employees association.  In April, he was on an email list from the governor’s deputy press secretary about a gossip item they were worried might be destined for the Anchorage Daily News. The governor’s husband later learned the item was really about his wife’s opponent.

On the one hand, people with mental disorders such as bipolar disorder (manic depression) should not be discriminated against nor stigmatized.  On the other hand, many times people with severe mental disorders such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders cannot or do not recognize how serious their illness is and do not comply with medications.  More important, too many times people with mental or personality disorders–or worse, those who do not have a “real” disorder–blame their bad behaviours on the supposed disorder when there are other causes.

The following story is possibly such a case.  The bus driver appears to suffer from bipolar disorder but he was reportedly caught smelling of alcohol!  Also, there are far too many cases of psychiatrists–or worse, simple GPs!–misdiagnosing people with certain disorders due to incompetence or a desire to treat them with medication.  Read on:

The medical history of a former school bus driver charged with impaired driving was laid out in detail in court yesterday, as the defence tried to explain Jerry McNeill’s erratic behaviour. McNeill’s psychiatrist, Dr. Leslie Kiraly, took the stand in a College Park court, and said his patient suffered from bipolar disorder, evident through bouts of depression, mild mood swings, and “hypomanic” episodes. “When one is having an episode, they often do things that are out of character for that person,” said Kiraly.

McNeill, 59, was arrested in July 2007 and charged with impaired driving, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and failure to undergo a roadside breath test. He was pulled over by police after he picked up nearly 40 children from a water park in Toronto’s east end and drove them down the Don Valley Parkway. Kiraly said the disorder could lead to driving fast, and rapid and garbled speech – behaviour that police officers at the scene have told the court they witnessed. “People have rapid speech, which can be garbled and sound slurred, but it’s of a different quality than being intoxicated,” said Kiraly. “But to the untrained ear, it may be similar.” But he said there was no medical explanation for why arresting officers said they smelled alcohol on McNeill’s breath when he was arrested. “I can’t explain medically the smell of alcohol, if he didn’t have a drink,” said Kiraly.

When asked by defence lawyer Michael McLachlan if someone in a “semi-manic state” should operate a vehicle, Kiraly said that it was possible, but dangerous. “In general terms, people who are not well should not be driving,” he said. “But if you are hypomanic, it’s a liability.”

As bad as Harper, Harris, Mulroney, Chretien, Rae, Jackobek and many other Canadian politicians have been with respect to scandals, they are nothing compared to the evil scum that have ruled the US for many years.  I don’t think Dumbocrats are much better than the Republicons but I can’t believe that the average US voter is ignorant enough to have elected the same gang of evil-doers twice in a row and are seriously conidering doing it again; not to mention that they let those Arguments for the Death Penalty run the Senate at times as well–again, this is where the Dumbocrats have also proven that they can perpetrate immoral, unethical and illegal scandals as well as any dictatorship.

Sadly, about the only “mainstream media” you’ll see cover such scandals are foreign papers, the Daily Show, the Colbert Report, and sometimes Keith Olbermann.

To follow up on what I was saying in my previous message on the lies of 9/11, by nice coincidence, on Thursday, Septembr 11, the Bloor Cinema (on Bloor, 1/2 block east of Bathurst) is showing Loose Change - The Final Cut (9 pm) and another movie, Zero: An Investigation into 9/11 (7 pm). It’s $10 for one or $15 for both (or $5 for one or both if you’re a senior citizen or the “unwaged”).  Or you can find these films online and from file sharing sites.

The “Zero” movie enages in a little too much overkill/drama in their presentation/techniques (you’ll see what I mean if you watch it), but it’s got some fascinating interviews with people who know what they’re talking about and who provide evidence that clearly proves that the official 9/11 story is false.  Critical thinkers need to watch these films, while also remembering that the producers of these films have an agenda and will be selective in the information they present.

I don’t care what you think about “conspiracy theories/theorists.”  Many people have a knee-jerk reaction to the phrase but I have spent many, many years investigating such claims and what I see really scares me.  Now, many times the theories are off the wall or leave out important information that contradicts their theories.

However, many times, there are too many “coincidences” that, statitstically speaking, leads one to conclude that SOMETHING must be going on.  A perfect example is the internet phenomenon, LOOSE CHANGE.  I’ve seen every version of the film and there are radical differences in each one, as new information comes up, old theories are discredited, etc.  One of the film makers (Jason Bermas) is an arrogant jerk who acts like a mildly intelligent teenager at a coffee shop discussion, as you can see in this link to a debate between two of the Loose Change boys and the editors of Popular Mechanics, who claimed they had properly discredited all conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11.

And many people dislike these guys for the many, many problems with their earlier versions of the film.  But if you watch “Loose Change - The Final Cut” you will see that there are still too many unanswered questions, too many contradictions in the official stories, too many bad practices during the supposed investigations, too many “coincidences,” and too many instances of the US gov’t and other officials acting in a way that shows they’ve betrayed their people on so many levels. 

And all of this is evident even after you take out speculation.  That is, there is clear evidence of serious problems with the “official story” of 9/11.  I’ve done more reading on this issue than most people because I look at ALL sides of the story, not just the side(s) that I believe in.  It’s human nature to look for/look at only things that confirm or conform to one’s beliefs.  I also look for things that will disconfirm my beliefs.

Finally, the way to tell that somebody has no idea what they’re talking about is when they claim, “but our government would never do that…” or “our government would never harm its citizens.”  WTF?  We have no problem accepting that the governments of most countries (if not all) have done some astoundingly horrible things to their people over history.  And the US gov’t is no different.  Most important, look at who makes up the gov’t, look at how they and their cronies have made billions/trillions of $$ off of 9/11, look at how these same gov’t officials are basically CEOs of various companies and/or are in bed with CEOs of companies and individuals who have already proven they will do ANYTHING for a dollar, even if it costs millions of people–AMERICAN people too–their lives or livelihoods, and look at how the gov’t itself has aided and abetted these corporate criminals and murderers in their evil-doing. 

Knowing all this, why would anyone be stupid enough to say that the gov’t would never do anything to harm its people? “Only” a few thousand people died during 9/11.  In gov’t calculations, that’s a tiny price to pay for the benefits they knew they could accrue from 9/11.

I don’t claim to know what really happened during 9/11 and I’m not saying the gov’t was directly involved, although I am certain that various people within the gov’t, CIA, FBI, military/pentagon, and other organizations related to the gov’t, were directly involved.  At the very least, the gov’t knew beforehand what was going to happen, just as they did re. Pearl Harbour.  And I do know for sure that it’s impossible for the story to have gone down as they’ve claimed.  Hell, the gov’t has already been busted making so many lies about 9/11–lies that cannot be attributed to misinformation/mistakes.

But most people would rather foolishly pretend that the gov’t has their best interests at heart, no matter how many times the gov’t proves this to be false. Go to sleep my little babies…go to sleeeeeeeeepppp…….

Did anyone ever believe that PM Dolt McGuinty or Mayor Milquetoast would have the brains, guts or heart to fix a problem that has plagues the health of Ontario cities and all of their residents since Mike the Axe Harris fucked up the province during two successive majority governments?  I didn’t.  And now we have the evidence:
Cities back to begging for crumbs

Ontario cities are now doomed to fiscal ruin – locked in a paternal relationship that forever binds them to their masters, the provincial government. That’s the inescapable conclusion after Premier Dalton McGuinty yesterday failed to deliver the promised freedom that seemed so possible two years ago. McGuinty went to the gathering of Ontario reeves and mayors and councillors bearing gifts, as usual. He received thunderous applause when he delivered $1.1 billion in goodies for infrastructure, a windfall possible when the provincial surplus netted out higher than projected. But the room fell silent when McGuinty said, in effect, that this could be the end of the gravy train.

Already, McGuinty had dampened expectations by saying the results of a provincial-municipal review of the funding relationship between the two would not be released that day. It needs more work, provincial officials say. The economy is tanking. Don’t expect that the province can do much repair any time soon. Lower expectations. Yes, the Liberals promised to fix all the dastardly damage former premier Mike Harris inflicted on municipalities, but his hands are tied.  And the municipal politicians swallowed it. They took the crumbs when what they need is the loaf. They did what their predecessors have done; what the province was hoping they’d do.

Yesterday was supposed to be Emancipation Day, a municipal celebration greased by a permanent plan that would see the province take back at least some of the financial burdens dumped on cities in the 1990s.  The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) pegged the required take-back or upload at $3 billion across the province, if Ontario is to treat its municipalities like they are in the rest of Canada.

Relief was not pegged to a definite date, only a timetable reasonably outlined by the premier himself.  Now, it might never happen. For sure, the relief will not approximate the extent of the download. And, if the economy worsens, it may be abandoned altogether.  So, the cities got snookered. Again. This was their last great chance to fix their fiscal woes. The provincial economy was humming. McGuinty appeared in their corner. He admitted it was wrong to burden municipalities with the cost of welfare and housing and dental plans for seniors. And he was going to fix it.

Spring of 2008 was a convenient timetable to get the issue past the provincial election last fall. Municipalities obliged and the provincial Liberals received a free ride on the issue. Imagine: For years, government of every political stripe cheated the cities out of their tax dollars and, instead of making it an election issue, the municipal politicians kept quiet, hoping that McGuinty would fulfill his promise.  Now, instead of rewarding them by removing the burden, McGuinty put a Band-Aid on it yesterday, sending some much-needed cash to soothe the pain. But it is another one-time grant, subject to the good graces of the masters at Queen’s Park.

Toronto Mayor David Miller accepted the gift yesterday with a prepared statement, unavailable to answer reporters’ questions. Just as well. What’s there to say?  Miller could’ve recalled how he absorbed a political beating last year by imposing new taxes on Toronto ratepayers – a sign of good faith to the province. But what’s the use? On this plantation, once a slave, always a slave.

The only good thing about the following story (thanks C.M….I already saw it and was the first commenter :)) is that every person who wrote to the Star was as livid as I was that this repeat-offender piece of shit was given only 7.5 years for slaughtering two innocent people.  With time off for good behaviour, this Argument for the Death Penalty will likely serve less than 2 years.  Remember his name.  If you ever see him out in public, do the right thing, whatever you think it is, because obviously our just-ass system obviously wouldn’t know what the right thing was if it came up behind it in a 2-tonne automobile and pushed it into an oncoming train.
A “habitual drunk driver” whose vehicle pushed a Rockwood, Ont., couple into the path of a GO train has been sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.  Andy and Nettie Miller, who were 66 and 65, were stopped at a level crossing in Milton on July 19, 2007, when Ingram Bakhsh struck the rear of their vehicle, forcing it onto the tracks. The Millers died instantly when the train hit their car.  Bakhsh’s car continued through the crossing and struck another vehicle on the opposite side of the tracks before it came to rest.

Ontario Court Justice Richard LeDressay called Bakhsh, 29, a “habitual drunk driver” who had killed two people after an “egregious” sequence of events.  At the time of the crash, he was awaiting trial for two previous drunk-driving related incidents, including a collision with a tractor-trailer on Highway 401, and was prohibited from being behind the wheel of a vehicle and consuming alcohol under bail conditions.  On the night of the collision, he had been driving at a high speed and had a breathalyzer reading almost four times the legal limit. He pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death and breach of his bail conditions.

Look at these two headlines from today:

Fewer impaired driving charges laid across province

Hospital stays shorter for mentally ill (thanks, C.M.)

Now, if you didn’t read any further, you might think that fewer people are drinking and driving and that mentally ill people are receiving more efficacious treatment–and possibly getting better help/support in the community.  However, reading a bit further also reveals:

- The number of provincially funded RIDE spot checks have fallen off. Police checked 505,000 cars, boats and snowmobiles last year, compared with 616,000 checks in 2001.

- Robert Solomon, professor of law at the University of Western Ontario, said impaired driving charges may be going down but there has been little change in the number of deaths and injuries at the hands of impaired drivers (estimated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving at 60,000 people per year in Canada)

- Police are laying fewer formal charges because the laws are too complicated and leave officers drowning in paperwork, Solomon said. It takes police almost three hours to process a single case, only to watch the charges get backlogged and pleaded down in court, he added.

- “So basically what you have is a growing de facto decriminalization of impaired driving,” Soloman said. “What is supported by the research is the growing reluctance of police to lay the charge and the incredible burden on Crowns.”

- Other countries, particularly in Europe, do a better job than Canada, Solomon said. Many have lower blood alcohol limits, conduct random roadside breathalyzer testing and automatically test for alcohol following a serious accident, he said. “They take drinking and driving seriously and they enforce it rigorously,” Soloman said. “We don’t do that.”

As for the mental health issue:

- Drop (in hospital stay [for psychiatric patients]) reflects greater pressure on health system and is not a good-news story, officials [physicians and consumer advocates] warn

- There are fewer mental-health patients admitted to hospital per capita than five years ago. For those who do seek treatment, the average stay has plummeted 55 per cent, to 16 days in 2005-06 from 36 days in 2000-01.

- While the report did not include data to indicate levels of patient health at the time of release, it did reflect significant changes in the treatment of mental disorders, which have largely shifted from the realm of psychiatric-specific care facilities, where the most common length of stay is 26 days, to general hospitals, where the most common stay lasts eight days.

- “If people don’t understand what’s behind the numbers, they’ll think this is a good-news story. That worries me,” said Phil Upshall, national executive director of the Mood Disorders Society of Canada.

- Patrick White, president of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, said the drop in patients’ length of stay reflects overall “pressure on the system.” Because of hospital bed shortages - or inefficient use of beds allocated for psychiatric care - patients are being discharged more quickly even though they are sicker and more unstable than in the past, he said.

- While 16 days may seem like a long time to spend in hospital…for a patient with chronic schizophrenia who suffers a relapse, it is much too short…It should probably be a least 30 days, but there is pressure to free up the bed for someone else.

- Hospitals and hospital administrators have traditionally discriminated against mental-health conditions and people with them. That’s principally because of, in my view, the stigma attached to mental illnesses,” he said.

- “They’re discharging people into the community without the necessary supports. You would never discharge a patient with a broken back in need of a wheelchair without a wheelchair.”

Check out this morning’s story below re. the TTC union and management agreeing that TTC workers should be allowed to hold the city and surrounding areas hostage (thanks as always, C.M.!).  As I commented in The Star’s comment forum, arguing that essential service arbitration leads to higher costs is another example of our politicians’ limited intellect.  Namely, the only reason they argue this, as shown below, is that the arbitrator may lack the necessary knowledge to arrive at the best decision and instead tends to “split the difference” between the two sides’ demands.

Simple solution–>Create a position in which the arbitrator has knowledge of public transportation, city planning, social services, and any other relevant factor so that he/she can arrive at a fair/reasonable decision.  But such simple, rational thinking is beyond the scope of our municipal and provincial politicians. “Enjoy”…

TTC management and its union can finally agree on something – don’t declare the transit system an essential service.  In a report for next week’s commission meeting, senior staff argue that TTC workers should be allowed to strike, saying labour disputes should be settled at the bargaining table. It’s believed to be the first time that TTC management has taken such a public position.  The report says the Montreal model, which prohibits workers from striking during morning and evening rush hours and late at night, can prolong labour disputes.  It argues removing the right to strike can boost wages as much as 6 per cent, which in the 2005 contract would have been $11.2 million.

If the province were to declare the TTC an essential service – like health care workers or police officers – contracts are often sent to arbitration if there’s an impasse. “What happens is the arbitrator ends up splitting the difference between the union’s request and management’s. More often than not, it ends up costing the system more money,” said TTC spokesperson Brad Ross.  As well, non-monetary technical issues are often in dispute. “To leave it to a third party who may not completely appreciate and understand the system, we feel is a risk,” Ross said.

TTC union president Bob Kinnear said the union firmly believes in the right to strike, and “we’re not about to relinquish it.”  While Kinnear had not read the report yet, he said: “It’s great, for once, the TTC and our organization can agree on something.”

After a weekend strike in April, some councillors argued TTC workers should be prevented from walking off the job because of the public disruption. Riders were surprised when service suddenly came to a halt after union members soundly rejected a tentative deal.  They were ordered back to work the next day under provincial legislation, and the dispute is before an arbitrator. A one-day hearing is scheduled for September.

TTC passenger John Leckie, who was outraged by the strike, argues the TTC is essential to the regional economy.  “We can’t afford to be shut down. We’re already gridlocked when everything is running,” said Leckie, a member of a citizens’ group on essential service designation, organized by Councillor Cliff Jenkins.  “The threat of a strike is almost as bad as a strike. It looms over the public for months,” Leckie said.

At first, Mayor David Miller rejected any talk of essential service designation, arguing it leads to more expensive deals. He then said given what happened in April, the idea should be studied.  City manager Shirley Hoy will deliver recommendations to the executive committee in September.

I’ve been warning about this for years, ever since I learned that bottled water companies had unfettered access to Canada’s fresh water supplies and were originally paying nothing–yet charging ridiculous prices for their product–for the water (they now pay a tiny fee).  In short, we’re running out of fresh water in Canada, as you can read in this story (while the link is still active over the next two weeks), yet our Liberal and Conservative governments have done literally nothing to remedy the problem.

Next, check out this story and especially the picture of a two-mouthed, mutated fish in Alberta, likely a product of pollution from Alberta’s infamous tar-sands.  More important, the rates of cancer in the area are abnormally high, so you do the math…

And finally, Toronto’s impotent mayor Miller has returned from vacation to tackle the issue of bottled water, as this headline reads: Toronto will consider bottled water ban: Mayor.  I agree that we need to reduce the trillions of plastic bottles piled in our landfills and littering the streets due to ignorant, selfish assholes and/or insufficient city planning and poorly run services–i.e., not enough recycling receptacles or they are not emptied frequently enough.  But what about the many other bottles, cups and cans?  Banning bottled water would merely be a drop in the bucket.  How about educating people re. the fact that bottled water is essentially no better than tap water?  Or how about making sure the few water fountains around the city actually work?  Or how about putting pressure on the federal government to ensure that bottling companies have to pay significantly higher costs for sucking our country dry?