Sunday, March 2, 2008
Province Column
We're not doing enough for the criminals who can be helped
David Berner
David Berner
The Province
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Do you believe in evil? I've seen evil. I've smelled it, shaken hands with it.
A man was out on day parole from a federal prison. I was the moderator at a conference on justice issues. The man talked to me at coffee breaks and the lunch break.
Can you imagine what this man was doing time for? No, you cannot imagine.
One night, when he was drunk, the man slashed his infant daughter to pieces and then did some unspeakable things to the remains.
The social worker assigned to this lunatic's case told me he refused to work with the client after he had read the file. We all have limits.
Why was this convict out on a day pass?
Premier Gordon Campbell has said in one breath that he will review sentencing in the province. In the next, he admits that sentencing of major crimes is a federal responsibility and out of his hands. If Campbell or Prime Minister Stephen Harper would ever like to seriously examine the justice system, they might consider this.
There are two kinds of criminals serving time in Canadian prisons. We all too often do exactly the wrong things with both types.
The first kind is the maniac, the crossed-entirely-over-to-the-dark-side evil psycho. This person is a clear and present danger to the community and always will be.
Much too often, they are released. Why? Because they have served their time, or because the geniuses at the National Parole Board have read a report by a psychiatrist which states, "Subject
presents relatively low risk of re-offending."
Who's the crazy one here?
The second kind of prisoners are the "dumb goofs." They're in the majority.
Never the sharpest reed in the wind section, they consistently make lousy choices.
They might be an addict or a low-level thief, or both -- or a really, really bad bank robber.
But they could be helped. Yes, they could actually be turned around if we bothered to care and to work at it with him.
How do I know this? I have worked with hundreds of men and women who did exactly that.
They worked hard and turned their miserable lives around. They became reasonable human beings and citizens.
They worked hard and turned their miserable lives around. They became reasonable human beings and citizens.
The "dumb goofs" deserve less time in jail and more reality-based counselling, direction, care and help.
Not, "How did you feel when you hit your wife, Lenny?" But, "What could you do with your Wednesday nights beside get smash-faced with your old buddies?"
We needn't hire shrinks to ask all the wrong questions. We already have custodial staff and parole officers who could be taught the methodologies that get results.
We could divert hundreds from the corrections cycle to legitimate integration into the law-abiding community.
The whack jobs, the truly dangerous crazies?
They should be locked up in maximum-security prisons and kept there for long periods of time.
Like, life.
That's what we used to call "protection of the community."
david@davidberner.com
Sightings
On Thursday, we saw an eagle on Kits Beach, lunching on some sea food.
We were only about 50 feet away.
It was a magnificent sight.
Ruining the Hood
Yesterday was bright and sunny.
The pols were out.
First I ran into the entire Vision team, campaigning for the fall civic elections. That was O.K. I like Gregor and Raymond and I'm always happy to stop and schmooze with them.
Later, I was taking an exercise walk and I saw a man and a woman. The man said, "Hi." I stuck out my mitt for the handshake, but he said, "I'm Ivor," and pointed his upturned palm to the woman. "This is Joyce Murray."
Murray wants to be your Liberal party MP for Vancouver Quadra.
Murray tried to hand me a brochure.
"Did you know that there is a Federal by-election in this neighbourhood?"
"Yes. I'm a journalist. I'm well aware of that, thanks."
"Well, are you going to vote Liberal?"
"Not a chance. Not in this lifetime."
"Oh."
"But, hey, it's democracy. Good luck."
It's nice to see people walking these days.
Drunk Drivers are Sick Puppies and Should be Removed from the Roads at Once
The Province is running a week-long series on drunk driving.
The issue is profound.
We live in a society that suffers from, among many others, at least these two major problems.
Everyone feels powerless.
Nobody listens. Our vote doesn't count. Officials make policy that is universally offensive and nonsensical. We don't know our neighbours. We don't want to know our neighbours.
I need to express my power somehow.
I can park under the NO PARKING sign. I can walk across the red light. I can drive drunk. I can drive drunk when I'm on vacation in Maui.
Second, we live in a juvenile society, a me society. If you're not in MY MOVIE, you don't really exist. I HAVE RIGHTS!!!
On Friday, I was driving home along South West Marine Drive.
A man in an enormous black SUV did something unbelievable. He drove very, very fast along the right hand inside shoulder for almost one block to pass me.
Dangerous and illegal, but, hey, he places to go, people to meet.
There is talk of taking peoples cars away when they drive drunk. I'm all for that. And any other punitive measure that may impress these criminals.
I don't care where you work and how bad the transit system is. Maybe after 5 years of living with that, you might figure out that driving sober is the only way to go.
Anybody found drunk driving should be compelled to alcoholism treatment at once.
We Said So First
Both the Sun and the Province have now siad in editorials exactly what we said here on Thursday, February 28th.
Spending $110 Million on a study of homelessness - instead of building homes - is a crime.
Glad to see that the press is monitoring the blog.
A-B-C-D
There is a baby-video industry and it is booming?
This is not a business of people watching videos of cute babies.
This is the business of getting babies to watch videos. Some mistaken hysterical so-called parents want their kids to get a fast leg up in learning their alphabet and numbers.
"The world had gone mad today, and it's sad today..." So goes an old Cole Porter chestnut.
Make War, Not Love
Let me see if I understand this.
The U.S. is selling nuclear capabilites to India.
The U.S. is helping Pakistan train their military.
India and Pakistan have rockets permanently aimed at one another.
I suppose that's a good way to ensure the votes of all those folks who make armaments in Tennessee.
The Amazing Race
For those who may think that Barak Obama's surge in the Democratic primaries is just some mysterious miracle, fueled entirely by his extraordinary rhetoric, read this piece in the today's NY Times.
The article chronicles the enormous amount of money raised and being spent by the Obama team, more, apparently, than that of Hillary Clinton.
Just looking at them, grabbing food on the run, and hop-scotching from one state high school auditorium to another, makes me sit back in wonder at their stamina and determination.
How do they do it?
Why do they do it?
To be President of the United States, I guess.
Clearly, I am suffering from an Ambition Deficiency.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Vote. Then, Vote Again
I'm leaving my NUTTY MAYOR survey up for a bit longer (to the right), because I want to use it for a future Province column.
Don't be shy. Exercise your franchise.
The future of humankind depends of YOU...sort of, more or less, uh...
Emperor's New Clothes Washed Here
What has Miro been smoking?
In an apparent effort to bring renewed pride to British Columbian's, the Sun ran a front page story about what geniuses we are - "20 Great Ideas born in BC."
Along with Generation X and Rafe Mair, came this gem: Insite, "Canada's first facility that allows heroin addicts to shoot up in a public environment."
I think I'll spend the rest of the day banging my head against the wall.
Beware Government Ideas. They give new depth of meaning to the word, "Shallow."
John Les, the Solicitor-General of the province of BC, has a new program.
The story was buried on page B7.
It is so bad, it should have been buried on page Z11.
The program is called...wait for it...POMP.
I kid you not.
Prolific Offender Management Program.
The idea is to give the worst repeat offenders health care and treatment for addictions and a variety of other unavailable options...mental health, housing...
Where exactly, Mr. Les-is-less are these offerings, because I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of addicts, mentally ill and homeless who would love to know.
Perhaps this stroke of bureaucratic genius could be renamed The Society to Undo Political Excrescences, or STUPE.
Or, how about, Department of Un-Manageable Programs, or DUMP.
The Tech (R)evolution is Amazing
The video below, sent to us by Mike & Edith Sims, is remarkable in a thousand ways.
Not only is it an astonishing sight, but the technology that allows you and me to view it is mind-boggling.
The Sims sent this to me in an email from their iPhone. I mouse-clicked the YouTube entry, and clicked "SHARE" to put it on this blog.
Now, you are watching it.
I realize that there are 20 year olds who just assume these wonders have always existed.
But, pardon this 65-year old for being thunderstruck.
Apple Gets Healthy Bite, Vancouver Take Note
Editorial: New York Times
A Streetcart Named Healthy
Published: March 1, 2008
Health experts have taken to calling low-income neighborhoods “food deserts,” and it is easy to see why. Supermarkets are usually in short supply and specialty produce and health-food stores are even rarer. Residents are often forced to do their food shopping in small grocery stores that carry few fresh fruits and vegetables.
Not surprisingly, these are the same communities that suffer most from obesity and related diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council have come up with an innovative solution. Pressed by Speaker Christine Quinn, the Council withstood protests from the retail food industry and approved 1,000 new licenses for mobile fruit and vegetable stands — designating them for the parts of the city that need them most.
There are already about 4,000 so-called green carts, but they rarely venture far from the tonier — and healthier — neighborhoods. The new initiative will put green carts on the sidewalks of the poorest areas, which are home to a disproportionate share of roughly half of the city’s residents who are overweight.
These neighborhoods are packed with fast-food burger and fried chicken restaurants. A city survey found that the chances of finding bananas, oranges or apples were small. No more than 6 percent of the bodegas the city looked at carried fresh greens.
The city could help even more by publicizing the green carts in their new neighborhoods, reminding residents of the benefits of a healthy diet, and handing out recipes for cooking with fresh produce.
Mr. Bloomberg and his health commissioner, Dr. Tom Frieden, and Ms. Quinn deserve credit for turning common sense into good health policy: banning smoking in public places, limiting trans fats in restaurant food and forcing calorie disclosure from chain eateries. We can now add the green carts to that sound list.
Tzena, Tzena, Tzena - The Weavers
This Hebrew Folk Song was an unlikely pop hit. We all played guitars and ukeleles and our idea of partying was singing. I had the pleasure of working with Ronnie Gilbert (the lady)at SFU in the theatre department 30 years ago.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Lies and Bribes - And this is New, How?
Like many Canadians, my cynicism about political life has become so deep and thorough that the Cadman bribery story has hit me like a major yawn.
How sad is that?
Yes, by all means, investigate, probe, poke, study.
The real question is this:
What will it take for me to believe again in some basic level of honor and integrity in the entire crapheap of politics?
Darned if I know the answer.
The Law of Unintended Consequences
Headline: More Americans Behind bars than ever.
Lest we think Yanquis are taking up mixology at an alarming rate, the sub-heading provides instant clarity: Report finds 1 in 100 US adults is in custody.
AT LEAST THAT'S ONE WAY TO GET HEALTH CARE.
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