Mark Hasiuk

Doktor Feelgoodentag

I’ve been keeping taps on a mysterious character in the local harm reduction community.

Dr. Michael Krausz, the Hamburg psychiatrist and resident addictions expert at St. Paul's Hospital, is largely responsible for a four-year “heroin treatment” trial slated to start sometime this year.

According to Krausz’s diabolical plan, addicts will receive free heroin to manage their addictions.

A source close to Krausz notified me of a midnight meeting last week inside a darkened Farris Hall at UBC. It was a chilling scene.

Speaking before a wild-eyed crowd of supporters, Krausz outlined his plan for the final solution to Vancouver’s heroin problem.

“Do you vant total treatment?” he shouted in his thick German accent. “If necessary, do you vant a treatment more total and radical than any treatment ve can even imagine today?”

Krausz pounded on the lectern and accused harm reduction skeptics of sedition. “This stab in the back vill not be forgotten! Their day of reckoning vill come!”

Following his speech, Krausz led the frenzied crowd in a stirring rendition of “Das Deutschlandlied” before goose-stepping off stage and collapsing into the front row of spectators.

He was carried unconscious from the hall to a waiting black BMW, which tore up large chunks of manicured sod as it sped east towards University Boulevard, disappearing into the foggy night.

For more on Dr. Krausz and his heroin experiment, click on my latest Courier column below.

http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/opinion/story.html?id=d496d6f5-d199-44ad-b75e-f1204ddd4212

More 2010 predictions

In addition to my 2010 predictions in a recent Courier column, here are two more dates to consider next year:

March 14: Cops arrest a predatory crack dealer outside the Patricia Hotel on East Hastings, prompting outrage from the B. C. Civil Liberties Association, which releases the following press release. “This arrest was conducted without any public discussion or defined policy for the safe and proper apprehension of said resident. This ill-considered and backward approach toward law enforcement ignores the harsh realities of marginalization and urban displacement.”  

March: 16: The accused crack dealer is back on the street after enrolling in a court-appointed drug treatment program, prompting outrage from the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, which releases the following press release. “This court order places onerous conditions on the accused and ignores the harsh realities of disenfranchisement. We plan to flash mob city hall in the name of justice and respect for all.”

Banned Christian club

(Published December 24, 2009, Vancouver Courier)

Everyone knows about the Grinch—the green and ghastly antihero of Dr. Seuss lore who graces television sets every Christmas season.   He steals Christmas, experiences a spiritual awakening, and returns to Whoville with his sled full of stolen loot.  

In real life, however, metaphysical warm fuzziness often isn't enough. Consider the situation at Prince of Wales secondary, where the school's lone Christian club remains banned by school administration. 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ (also known as BASIC) holds true to its acronym title. Once a week a handful of Christian students meet to sing quietly, play Biblical-themed word games and pray. They meet despite Prince of Wales principal Jack Bailey, who denies the club official sanction and the accompanying right to advertise and assemble. Those privileges are reserved for more stately student organizations such as the Prince of Wales Yo-Yo Club and, of course, the Environmental Club—an offshoot of the world's fastest-growing religious movement.  

Back in September 2008, then 13-year-old Hannah Lin, co-leader of BASIC, met with Bailey and was told her club clashed with Prince of Wales policy. Bibles and prayer, said Bailey, had no place in his hallowed halls.   So like blacklisted churches in China, BASIC went underground... sort of.  

Banned from advertising in the hallways, the club attracts members through word of mouth and Facebook. A sympathetic part-time teacher allows the club infrequent access to a classroom, yet they often congregate in quiet hallway corners.   Lin, now a 15-year-old Grade 11 student, shrugs her shoulders at her club's outlaw status.   She doesn't proselytize in school hallways or thump Bibles during science class. She's a Christian. And she wants to "be" Christian at home, at school and everywhere else—a right guaranteed under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  

Fearing controversy, Lin turned down my original interview request, but after a few days, perhaps inspired by the Christmas season, reconsidered and we met at a Starbucks near her school.   Lin's not your typical high school subversive. Petite and soft-spoken, she plays the clarinet, hangs out with her friends and regularly attends the Chinese Tabernacle Baptist Church in Mount Pleasant.

Her school club, she says, helps strengthen her faith. "We pray for each other and that everyone is having a good week," she says, "and that we can stay strong during the week and not let the stress of school and other things get us down."   According to Lin, back in 2008 Bailey explained why prayer is prohibited at Prince of Wales. "We said we don't think it should be a problem if we meet amongst ourselves," says Lin. "He said our religious club discriminates against people who aren't comfortable with prayer, you know, if someone walks into a room when we're praying."  

Bailey remembers that conversation and stands by his convictions—yet misses the point entirely. "I don't believe in a public school we should try to promote a particular religion," he says, ignoring BASIC's meek mission of fellowship among the faithful. "And I don't believe public school settings should be the place for prayer."  

Due to the lack of coherent Vancouver School Board policy regarding religious clubs, Bailey is free to make that call. Nevertheless, when gaping holes exist in pubic policy, common sense usually steps in.  

At other Vancouver secondary schools, Christian clubs operate freely, blessed with sanction from the principal's office. At University Hill, they advertise in the daily bulletin and invite guest speakers to the school. At Killarney they meet in a classroom and make announcements over the PA system. At David Thompson secondary, the Christian club appears on the school website along with other clubs such as Challenge Homophobia At Thompson (CHAT) and the Sewing Club. The club's mission statement should be studied and digested by any school administrator fearful of Christianity's creeping vines. "David Thompson Fellowship is a Christian Club," it reads, "whose mission is to encourage and support Christian students in their faith. DTF provides a place for teens to bond with each other as they each grow physically and spiritually."  

Back at Prince of Wales, Bailey was surprised to learn that BASIC still exists and that club members pray in his hallways, yet refused to speculate on the club's future. "I don't know where they're doing it or how they're doing it—no teacher's reported that to me."  

Thank God for that.  

And so, during this festive season, let us pray—if you're so inclined—for Jack Bailey, the Grinchy principal of Prince of Wales secondary. That his heart may swell with the spirit of Christmas and make room for all the Whos in Whoville.  

Recent interview

Check out my interview with Vancouver broadcaster Joseph Planta.

http://thecommentary.ca/ontheline/459-mark-hasiuk/

In defense of Don Cherry

People say stupid things to news reporters all the time.

Politicians, activists, celebrities, whoever.

But every now and then, someone says several things—to a wide audience about a serious topic—which have absolutely no basis in fact and reality.

Enter Dr. Charles Tator, a so-called renowned neurosurgeon, who was interviewed by the Toronto Star after attending a conference in Regina about concussions.

Tator, obviously an expert on Canada’s national sport, took dead aim at former NHL coach and Canadian icon Don Cherry, who according to Tator, is the root cause of most on-ice head injuries.

“We've been too gentle with [Cherry] over the years,” said Tator. “We've allowed him to change the culture of hockey."

Change the culture of hockey?

While it’s true the culture has changed, Tator’s got it backwards.

Hockey used to be much wilder. For most of the 20^th century, players welded their sticks like swords at other players without helmets. During the 1970s and early 1980s, bench-clearing brawls were commonplace at all levels—pro and amateur.

But due to a bevy of rule changes at the pro level, coupled with harsh penalties for rough play in minor hockey, things have calmed down.

So what the puck is Tator talking about?

Has he ever heard of Maurice Richard? Or the Broad Street Bullies? Or Mark Messier? 

Does he know about the instigator rule and zero-tolerance checking-from-behind penalties?

Has he ever seen a hockey game? Seriously?

Tator ended his Star interview with following comment.

"And if we could get [Cherry] to change his message—if he came out with a safety message, if he came out strongly for safety and the elimination of hits to the head, then that would go a long way.”

Anyone who’s watched Coaches Corner in the last 20 years knows the Cherry is the preeminent champion of tough clean hockey.

He comes out “strongly for safety” in minor hockey on a regular basis. He helped launched the STOP SIGN program, which graces the backs all minor hockey players in Canada. He treats spinal chord injuries with the reverence of a saint. He regularly excoriates NHL cheapshot artists and advocates rule changes to protect pro players.

Cherry has done more for hockey safety than Tator ever will.

Tator’s not anti-hockey violence, he’s anti-hockey. He should crawl back to his laboratory and let the rest us run the rinks.

Pro-pimp carnival

For those who missed it, the pro-prostitution carnival came to town last Monday night at the Vancouver Public Library’s main branch downtown.

The evening’s first speaker, a middle-aged brunette with a thick Swedish accent, appeared on a large white projection screen in a 10-minute rambling webcam attack on the Swedish approach to prostitution—a decriminalization strategy targeting johns and pimps, which has been widely hailed by feminists, academics and police organizations worldwide.

As the crowd watched, Miss Sweden painted an idyllic picture of prostitution, replete with loving embraces and benevolent johns.

She made no mention of pimps or human trafficking or confinement or drugs or rape or death.

She refuted the notion that most prostitutes “have little to no other choice” to participate in the sex trade.

And in a jaw-dropping analogy, she compared disgruntled street prostitutes to night shift nurses fed up with late hours—as if the iron grip of pimps and the harsh demands of drug addiction are tantamount to occupational inconveniences.

When the film ended and the lights flickered on, event emcee Scarlett Lake (head pimp of Scarlett’s House escort service) venerated the message for the rest of us.

“So that’s the state of things in Sweden,” she nodded. “Interesting.”

It was a wacky show, man.

To read more about the event, check out http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/opinion/story.html?id=c8635c5c-fe88-4b93-993d-9fdd775d002b.

 

Smokescreen (UPDATE)

The park board has pulled the anti-smoking survey from it's website.

Here's why:

http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/opinion/story.html?id=edf5cb90-ac9b-4302-9271-2bbffbf155c6

Smoking ban smokescreen

Check out this ridiculous online survey crafted by the Vancouver park board, meant to garner "public support" for a city wide smoking ban. I've seen more even-handed questions on Fox News.

FYI: You have to copy and paste because it's a dead link.

file:///Users/mhasiuk/Desktop/Smoking%20column/smoking%20survey.webarchive

I write more about the anti-smoking crusade Wednesday at www.vancourier.com.

Iran, you say?

Tomorrow, American state department officials meet with their Iranian counterparts in Geneva to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.

The meeting follows last week’s news of a heretofore unknown nuclear enrichment facility near the holy city of Qum.

Unknown, that is, to the so-called international community.

Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, on Tuesday reinforced his country’s right to a nuclear program, yet welcomed international debate.

"We are not going to discuss anything related to our nuclear rights, but we can discuss about disarmament, we can discuss about nonproliferation and other general issues."

The Obama administration—which owns a terrifying armada of nuclear weapons—is developing sanctions aimed at Iran's energy and telecommunications sectors, in addition to the preexisting United Nations sanctions.

Meanwhile, in a story ignored by big media outlets such as CNN, two weeks ago Arab states in the U.N. nuclear assembly passed a resolution urging Israel to allow U.N. inspectors access to Israeli nuclear sites. Israel owns more than 400 nuclear bombs.

The Arabs also asked Israel to join the U.N.’s Non-Proliferation Treaty, and urged the Atomic Energy Agency to tackle the issue. (Only Israel, India and Pakistan operate outside the treaty.)

Israel dismissed the requests.

"Israel will not cooperate in any matter with this resolution, which is only aiming at reinforcing political hostilities and lines of division in the Middle East region," said David Danieli, chief Israeli delegate at the U.N.

(Israel has ignored more U.N. resolutions than any other country. Many of the resolutions target Israel's illegally owned nuclear arsenal. Remember, Saddam’s refusal to comply with one U.N. resolution helped justify the American-led invasion of Iraq.)

There is no justice or sense of fair play in the Middle East. The region is controlled by America—led by Mr. Hope and Change—and Israel, which receives $3 billion each year from American taxpayers.

Iran, which never invaded anyone, is being threatened by America, which invades anyone it wants. Israel has invaded Lebanon three times in 30 years. Israel killed more than 1,400 civilians in Gaza last year, with American-made bombs and white phosphorus. And Netanyahu keeps building settlements.

Don’t listen to Wolf Blitzer. These are wicked, wicked men.

Obama's talking head

President Barack Obama appeared via video in school classrooms across the United States earlier today, following one week of controversy fuelled by "conservative" outrage over Obama's perceived "socialist" plot to brainwash America's young.

Much of the outrage was partisan—Republicans attacking Democrats. Silly stuff, causing Canadian observers to roll their eyes and snicker.

But there's legitimate reason for concern.

Would you want Canadian school children exposed to a 15-minute fireside chat by Uncle Stephen from Ottawa? Never thought of that, did ya?

Every move by the White House is politically calculated. 

Does Obama believe his speech can inspire youngsters to greater heights? Maybe.

Have Democratic operatives considered the branding "get 'em when they're young" potential of classroom chats? Absolutely.

So let's keep the politicians, the churches and the special interest groups out of the schools. Give students a break from our mass-media culture, so they can concentrate on the three Rs.

No videotaped speeches. No busts in the lobby. No giant despot-style billboards in the gymnasium.

Just school. What a concept.