What's in a word?

Junkie.

Dope fiend.

Oooooo...so sorry.

The Harper government has sent a mailing to many Canadian homes, including my own.

There is a photo of a discarded needle in a children's playground. The word "SAFE?" is engraved on the photo.

I think this is legitimate and realistic and healthy commentary.

The text talks about keeping junkies off the street and in rehab.

Sounds good to me.

But oh, my.

Every mistaken weeping fool and his uncle has come out in outrage at this cruel attack on the sanctity of heroin addicts.

Here's some news for you.

Heroin addicts call themselves "junkies."

Get over it.

The word is not the message.

I have experienced this problem for over 40 years now.

Every time I talk in public about dope fiends and junkies, some cunning linguist rises in morally superior objection.

Never mind my track record in helping junkies become clean and sober citizens. Never mind that the dictionary people have never helped anyone.

Mark Townsend, the man responsible for running Insite said he was depressed to find the Conservative mailing at his home.

Really?

Well, you know what, Mark?

I'm depressed every time I hear about the killing machine known as Insite.

I was delighted by this mailing.

And your depression, Mark, is not my concern.

My concern is that, rather than providing treatment and more treatment and then some treatment, completely wrong folks like you are helping junkies to stay stupid.

Calling junkies junkies is not offensive or an indicator of being out of touch.

Giving drunks booze and shot glasses and giving dope fiends anything other than real help is extremely ugly and sick.

Libby Davies is a kind and thoughtful and lovely person. But she is completely and totally wrong on this issue.

So is Ujjal Dosanjh.

The Harper government is heading in the right direction on drug addictions and crime.

They will be excoriated by the Enablers and by editorial writers.

Help them, encourage them, tell your MP and the Prime Minister that you want treatment now.

The Tyranny of Language - Victor Comments

Today, the CNN news scrolled up on my laptop, as it does a few times a day, and I noted that a sweet old man had died in Iowa. His name was James Hoyt. He was 83.

When James was 19, he was one of 4 US soldiers who liberated Buchenwald. For anybody who doesn't know what that means, I scorn your ignorance.

The soldiers took photos. The photos are beyond Dante's imagination. James kept a journal . Young James walked through the camp in horror. Machine gun on his arm. Chewing gum in his kit. He realized in seconds that neither the gun nor the gum had any use. He was greeted by walking skeletons. Somehow they found what he described as "the incredible reserve of human strength", to throw him in the air.

James, in his own words, saw" hearts freshly taken from living bodies." He saw skeletal people die while clapping for him.

James went on to a quiet life, a farmer in a very small town, among good people. But James never got over it. He was tortured by that best of all cameras, the memory, until he died. At 19, he was one of 4 soldiers to see hell. At 83, he was still transfixed. Still 19.

I know Deniers. I have a young European friend, age 40, incredibly rich and successful , who denies the holocaust. He is English, not German. We communicate weekly but I despair.

But what infuriates me is when David Suzuki, Bill Good and Gordon Campbell label anybody who doesn't use a blue box as a Denier. My European friend denies that James saw the horrors in that camp. He is a Denier. If I ask for a plastic bag at CAPERs, I am not on the same plane as the people who scorned James Hoyt or scoff at what he saw.

He was still a baby at 19. With his gun and gum.

Rockabye, Sweet Baby James.

I did not know you James.

But my cheeks are wet at your passing.

God holds you.

Le Boulavardier

A Little Clarity

Some friends of the blog have been confused by an announcement I made about a week ago regarding guest columnists.

To be clear.

I have decided that I will not publish friends' columns in their entirety on this site.

What I will do is provide links and recommendations to columns that I think you will enjoy or find worth reading.

From time to time, I will continue to publish other's comments as I chose.

Hey, It's my sandbox.

LRT - Yah, Real Noisy

A Certain Band - You Might've Heard of Them