MAPTalk-Digest Friday, December 19 2003 Volume 03 : Number 283
001 Re: MAP: January is Snitch Month
From: "Larry Seguin" <>
002 OT: Petition to House Government Reform Committee
From: "kim hanna" <>
003 US KY: PUB LTE: War On Drugs Called 'Ultimate Hypocrisy'
From: Joshua Sutcliffe <>
004 Coersion by police leads to volunantary drug abandonment
From: Tim Meehan <>
005 [drugwar] todd mccormick
From: Tim Meehan <>
006 Iraq: Navy Seizes Hashish; Sees Ties to Al Qaeda
From: Tim Meehan <>
007 Cannabis Health Issue #8
From: Herb <>
008 EXPOSED: Tough love therapy
From: Tim Meehan <>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: 001 Re: MAP: January is Snitch Month
From: "Larry Seguin" <>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 14:04:09 -0500
Elmer,
Listen to Jim, He can get same lte in same paper in 6 days.
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1906.a10.html
Pubdate: Thu, 11 Dec 2003
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03.n1937.a03.html
Pubdate: Wed, 17 Dec 2003
What he'd say? Jim owns the paper! great..
Just kiddin. 8 ^)
Larry Seguin
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim White" <>
To: <>
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 11:42 AM
Subject: RE: MAP: January is Snitch Month
> Elmer,
>
> If you don't send this out as an editorial piece to every paper you can.
>
> I'm gonna send the Vinny and the boys over there for a little Eastern bloc
> partying.
>
> (OK I'm kidding about the Eastern Block party, but this is a masterpiece!)
>
> Peace.
> Jim White
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From:
> > [] On Behalf Of Elmer Elevator
> > Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 11:21 AM
> > To: ;
> > Subject: Re: MAP: January is Snitch Month
> >
> >
> > [sorry if this is a re-send]
> >
> > The Soviet-bloc regimes in Eastern Europe were snitch-driven.
> > I got to hang in one of them -- one of the kinder, gentler,
> > warmer and fuzzier ones -- before the "Velvet Revolution"
> > that finally toppled it and about eight other neighboring
> > Socialist regimes.
> >
> > While these regimes were running full-steam, they actually
> > didn't control things with vast numbers of armed police and
> > soldiers. That was more like an optical illusion or a
> > magician's trick. Of course they had armed police and weren't
> > shy about using them when there was some kind of
> > "counter-revolutionary" trouble in the city square or at the
> > university.
> >
> > But most of what kept everybody well-behaved were the
> > Snitches. Every apartment building had one or two. Every
> > block. Every office, every factory, every school.
> >
> > If jazz or rock n roll or short-wave radio from the West was
> > leaking out of your apartment, a snitch reported it. They
> > sniffed through your mail for foreign mail and anything
> > slightly suspicious. And of course they eavesdropped on all
> > your casual conversations, and reported any sentiments which
> > weren't in full harmony with the Party Program.
> >
> > In return, the Snitches got priority for the material cream
> > the economically stretched, stressed and strained country had
> > to pass around: The best schools for your kids, reserved for
> > the Party Faithful. More liberal travelling. A better car, a
> > bigger apartment.
> >
> > And, of course, like Crime Stoppers, straight cash on the
> > barrelhood for Juicy Tips, no questions asked, plenty more
> > where that came from.
> >
> > If you can't envision life without some minimal guaranteed
> > volume of privacy for thought, imagination, musical taste,
> > political expression, welcome to your Kafka nightmare. For
> > the most idealistic and Utopian of reasons, the state just
> > stripped you totally naked of any and all right to expression
> > or privacy or individuality or daydreaming. Klaus or Senta
> > two doors down the hall would drop a dime on you. Your
> > neighbors knew the local Crime Stoppers number.
> >
> > With civic-minded ever-vigilant neighbors like that, who
> > needs lots of cops?
> >
> > Well, all good things must come to an end, and around 1990
> > all these regimes just collapsed like a house of cards. It is
> > not true that these regimes fell without a single shot being
> > fired. Not a single shot was fired by the protesters. The
> > regimes, on the other hand, didn't like the short-term future
> > they were seeing, and shot lots of people to try to stay in
> > power. In those last weeks, mere prison wasn't good enough.
> >
> > It is important to realize that, after 45 or 75 years of
> > Government By Bully, Gun, Jail and Snitch (I don't know if
> > the Greeks had a word for that one), eventually bullies,
> > guns, jails and snitches weren't enough to keep most people
> > well-behaved, or locked within borders, or under control, or
> > ignorant, or obedient.
> >
> > The government made it quite clear: If you challenge us, we
> > will shoot you.
> >
> > It wasn't enough. They're all gone now.
> >
> > These are rare historical moments of close inspection for big
> > snitch machines like Crime Stoppers. Ordinarily, while the
> > snitch machine is running on all twelve cylinders, nobody
> > gets to peek inside the machine, to see its paperwork and
> > memos and directives and mugshots and lists of snitches and
> > who they snitched on and over what and when, and what
> > happened to those who got snitched on.
> >
> > But after the Velvet Revolutions, you bet the New Guys wanted
> > to look inside those file cabinets that the Ministry of
> > Snitches had been filling with paper for forty years. And
> > they kept great records, because they knew (incorrectly) that
> > no one would ever get to see them.
> >
> > Such sadness. Such misery. Such a terrible mirror to hold up
> > to ourselves as a race and a community. Such a terrible
> > reflection, if not of ourselves, of our aunts, our cousins,
> > or co-workers, the postal person, the waitress, other people
> > in the park.
> >
> > Most people soon discovered how simple and profitable it was
> > to use the snitch machine to settle old grudges and spites.
> >
> > Another guy beat you out in high school for Annika's
> > affections? Make up the right story, send him to jail for
> > three months, get him completely bounced to the bottom of the
> > labor and economic food chain for the rest of his life -- and
> > get $50 to boot!
> >
> > Pissed off at that shapely little young tramp upstairs?
> > Couldn't get satisfaction from the guy who repaired your car
> > so badly? Did that teacher insult your kid?
> >
> > And the always-popular grudge against your ex-spouse. A
> > built-in state-designed way to suddenly get the upper hand in
> > those lingering disputes.
> >
> > Drop a dime to Crime Stoppers.
> >
> > People were just settling old scores by the tens of thousands.
> >
> > Maybe, in the few countries that have a snitch machine AND a
> > freedom of
> > information law, some journalist might get Real Lucky and get
> > a substantive look (with a lot of redactions, you betchum) at
> > the nuts and bolts and dirty laundry and moldy old clam dip
> > of Crime Stoppers.
> >
> > Who's using it to settle a score with Roger around the
> > corner? Who's getting bumped up a chair in the civic
> > orchestra since Rita got into all that trouble over pot?
> >
> > We're not going to like what we see in the Crime Stoppers
> > files in Winnipeg or Pittsburgh. But that's how all this shit
> > works. Most psychiatrically healthy people don't give a rat's
> > buttock who's smoking or snorting what. But there are always
> > amongst us the Marginal, the Bitter, the Small, the Venal,
> > the Cowardly.
> >
> > And you can run a government with lots of them, for decades.
> > Eastern Europe has just shown us the most ghastly face of that.
> >
> > Elmer
> >
> > ==============
> >
> > >-----Original Message-----
> > >From: <>
> > >To: Tim Meehan <>;
> > <>;
> > > <>;
> > ><>;
> > <>;
> > > <>;
> > ><>; <>
> > >Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 12:43 PM
> > >Subject: Re: MAP: January is Snitch Month
> >
> > Please turn in Anne McCellan for harm done to the people of Canada.
> > >
> > >-----Original Message-----
> > >From: Tim Meehan <>
> > >Sent: Dec 16, 2003 10:40 AM
> > >To: , ,
> > ,
> > >, , ,
> > >
> > >Subject: MAP: January is Snitch Month
> > >
> > >http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/release.php?id=4823
> > >
> > >Toronto Police Service
> > >
> > >NEWS RELEASE
> > >40 College Street,
> > >Toronto, Ontario
> > >M5G 2J3
> > >
> > >Unit/Telephone
> > >Corporate Communications
> > >416-808-7100
> > >
> > >We are dedicated to delivering police services, in
> > partnership with our
> > >community,to keep the City of Toronto the best and safest
> > place to be.
> > >
> > >Visit our Web site at http://www.TorontoPolice.on.ca/
> > >
> > >For Broadcast: 01:27 pm Date: 2003-12-15
> > >
> > >JANUARY IS CRIME STOPPERS MONTH
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > -------------
> > Attachment: http://www.mapinc.org/temp/part8127.html
> >
>
------------------------------
Subj: 002 OT: Petition to House Government Reform Committee
From: "kim hanna" <>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 17:38:59 -0500
Considering the FBI attrocity at Rainbow Farm over marijuana; some list
members may wish to see the FBI get investigated further, for some other
misdeeds.
It may lead to some FBI reform (yah, in another life) in the future.
Here's a chance to sign.
=====
Here's the new petition to the House Govt Reform Committee asking them
to include thr Reign of Terror & the case of Leonard Peltier in their
investigation of the FBI.
Please sign & distribute widely.
John G
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/balpsg01/petition.html
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe, send a blank message to
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to
To change your email address, send a message to
with your old address in the Subject: line
To unsubscribe, click on the following web page.
This message was launched into cyberspace to
Make your home warm and cozy this winter with tips from MSN House & Home.
http://special.msn.com/home/warmhome.armx
------------------------------
Subj: 003 US KY: PUB LTE: War On Drugs Called 'Ultimate Hypocrisy'
From: Joshua Sutcliffe <>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 19:41:00 -0500
Good lte below, but also note the work of the author he refers to.
Charles Byrnes has been adopted by the Daily Independent.
http://www.mapinc.org/writers/Charles+Byrnes
Josh
Newshawk: chip
Tracknum: 18183.001501c3c686.38ad61b0.6400a8c0
Pubdate: Tue, 16 Dec 2003
Source: Daily Independent, (Ashland, KY)
Copyright: 2003 The Daily Independent, Inc.
Contact:
Website: http://www.dailyindependent.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1573
Author: Scott Russ
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1923/a03.html
WAR ON DRUGS CALLED 'ULTIMATE HYPOCRISY'
Thanks so much for publishing the honest letter from Charles Byrnes.
Our government's war on drugs is the ultimate hypocrisy.
The war on drugs isn't about justice or protecting our children. We've spent
over 30 years under that pretense, and what have been the results? Increased
crime, death, disease, budget deficits and increased spending on prisons
instead of education and other critical programs.
Current and past presidents have used some of the very substances that have
sent others straight to prison, so what message are we really sending our
kids?
Our senators and representatives have conveniently exempted themselves from
drug testing while Drug Czar Walters tours the country pressuring school
boards to implement drug testing for our children. The hypocrisy of this is
so thick it stinks.
Our "leaders" need to find the courage to end this insanity before another
generation is forced to endure the hypocritical prosecution of American
citizens in the name of the drug war.
If our "leaders" can't find that courage, then they need to be voted out to
make room for those who have the conviction to do real justice and end this
domestic policy disaster.
I urge all Americans to contact their representatives and let them know that
we will not support this fraud any longer.
Scott Russ, Baton Rouge, La.
------------------------------
Subj: 004 Coersion by police leads to volunantary drug abandonment
From: Tim Meehan <>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 21:11:13 -0500
Herb said:
http://www.simcoe.com/sc/alliston/story/1575545p-1850449c.html
Newshawk: Herb
Source: Alliston Herald (CN ON)
Pubdate: December 19, 2003
Contact
Website: http://www.simcoe.com/sc/alliston/
Address: 169 Dufferin Street South, Unit #22, Alliston L9R 1E6
Fax: (705)435-3342
Copyright: 2003 Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distributing
Author: Jason Ballantyne
Local schools raided
Forty-nine students turned over illegal drugs at two local local high schools
Thursday morning to avoid being arrested.
The seizure of the drugs were part of an operation co-ordinated between police
and administration at Banting Memorial High School in
Alliston and St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School in Tottenham.
John Fallis, principal at Banting Memorial High School, said the police had
prearranged to enter the school.
Nottawasaga OPP, six dogs from the OPP's K-9 unit and one dog from Barrie Police
Service descended on the school.
Students were kept in classrooms and those in hallways were taken to libraries
and gymnasiums.
Nottawasaga OPP spokesperson Const. Darren Milley said students holding drugs
were given a choice.
"(They) were provided an opportunity to voluntarily surrender any drugs in their
possession prior to each classroom being checked,"
he said "Voluntary surrender meant the student would be dealt with under the
Safe Schools Act and not by criminal proceedings."
In total 29 students from Banting and 20 students from St. Thomas Aquinas
voluntarily turned over drugs to police.
"The OPP gave the kids the choice to hand over the drugs without charges,"
Fallis said. "They were told that if they didn't hand
(the drugs) over, then the police might (charge them). What I saw was kids
handing it over voluntarily."
Police said two students from Banting and three from St. Thomas chose not to
surrender their drugs and were subsequently charged
with possession under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Two knives were
also seized from students at St. Thomas.
A call to St. Thomas' administration was not returned Thursday.
Police said among the drugs seized were a "significant" quantity of marijuana,
cannabis resin, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), cocaine
and various drug paraphernalia.
At Banting, the search took longer than one period. The students were kept in
place for about two hours while police were conducting
the operation.
Debbie Clarke, a spokesperson for the Simcoe County District School Board, said
the joint operations are now fairly routine.
Milley said they are a way to keep drugs out of school and serve as a deterrent
to more coming in.
"Routine drug sweeps of high schools are a part of the ongoing partnership
between the police and area school boards and are
designed to reduce the presence of drugs in school," Milley said.
Thursday's sweep comes on the heels of an operation last week in which five
people were arrested for various drug charges and five
others were warned. In that case only one arrest took place on school property
at the behest of staff. The rest took place across
the street from Banting.
Despite how the recent arrests and searches may look in the eyes of the public,
both officers and school staff insist the problem of
drugs is small when the size of the school is taken into account.
"We have 1,800 students in the school," Fallis said. "The bulk of them
co-operated. I'm quite certain this will help students make
better choices."
------------------------------
Subj: 005 [drugwar] todd mccormick
From: Tim Meehan <>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 21:16:34 -0500
Preston Peet said:
HI all,
In time for the holidays, in case anyone else besides me hadn't yet
heard this, as of just last week Todd McCormick is finally out of prison
after 5 long years/ Thios is a happy occasion, and I wanted to let anyone
know who might not hve heard this.
Peace,
Preston
<]=-----------------------------------------------------------------------=[>
[ Moderated by: Preston Peet | http://www.drugwar.com ]
| -=/[ To Subscribe: ]/=- |
| To Unsubscribe: |
[ DrugWar List in Digest Format: ]
<]=-----------------------------------------------------------------------=[>
------------------------------
Subj: 006 Iraq: Navy Seizes Hashish; Sees Ties to Al Qaeda
From: Tim Meehan <>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 21:21:45 -0500
Source: New York Times (NY)
Contact
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/
Address: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036
Fax: (212) 556-3622
Copyright: 2003 The New York Times Company
Pubdate: December 20, 2003
Author: Thom Shanker
Navy Seizes Hashish; Sees Ties to Al Qaeda
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 — The United States Navy seized two tons of hashish and
detained three men it said had ties to Al Qaeda when it halted and boarded a
boat in the Persian Gulf on Monday, military officials announced Friday.
"An initial investigation uncovered clear ties between the smuggling operation
and Al Qaeda," the Navy said in a statement.
Pentagon and military officials declined to give any details of the information
that linked the shipment or the three men to Al Qaeda, but they said they had
evidence that the cache of drugs aboard the 40-foot boat was intended to raise
funds for terrorist activities.
Three men among the 12 on board were taken to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan for
further questioning, a senior military officer said.
The Navy boarding team was operating from the Decatur, a guided-missile
destroyer, near the Strait of Hormuz at the time of the mission. A Navy
statement put the street value of the hashish at $8 million to $10 million. The
drugs were contained in 54 bags, each weighing about 70 pounds, officials said.
"This capture is indicative of the need for continuing maritime patrol of the
gulf in order to stop the movement of terrorists, drugs and weapons," said a
statement from Rear Adm. Jim Stavridis, commander of the Enterprise aircraft
carrier strike group.
The White House official in charge of drug control policy said that as the
administration achieved success in cutting off state sponsorship of terrorist
organizations, those groups were seeking other sources of money, including
narcotics smuggling.
------------------------------
Subj: 007 Cannabis Health Issue #8
From: Herb <>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 19:53:27 -0800
FYI-
Cannabis Health
Issue #8 January / February 2004
http://www.cannabishealth.com/issue08/index.html
------------------------------
Subj: 008 EXPOSED: Tough love therapy
From: Tim Meehan <>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 23:58:45 -0500
http://www.ffwdweekly.com/Issues/2003/1218/the3.htm
Newshawk: Herb
Source: FFWD (CN AB)
Pubdate: December 18, 2003
Contact
Website: http://www.ffwdweekly.com/
Address: 228 - 18 Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta. T2S 0C1
Fax: (403)244-1431
Copyright: 2003 FFWD
Author: Martin Morrow
Tough-love therapy exposed
Saving Grace is a shocking true story about abusive teen rehab centre
Review
SAVING GRACE
Foxglove Theatre Productions
Starring Anne-Marie Leigh, Len Harvey, Erin Millar, Duane Jones and Caroline
Buzanko
Written by Leanne Padmos and Anne-Marie Leigh
Directed by Leanne Padmos
Runs until December 20
Pumphouse Theatres
Saving Grace, a new play by Foxglove Theatre Productions, has all the hallmarks
of one of those TV movies of the week. It's an
exposé of an outrageously abusive American treatment centre for problem teens,
based on the real experiences of a young Calgary
woman who spent time there. And, like the better TV movies, it makes for
compulsive viewing despite its dramatic limitations.
Grace Fielding (not her real name) is handed over to the centre, located near
New York City, after her exasperated single mother has
given up trying to steer the rebellious 14-year-old away from drugs and
promiscuous sex. The facility, run by an unseen psychologist
called Dr. Mallard (who is, as the pseudonym implies, a quack), takes the
tough-love concept to the extreme. The kids are bullied,
shouted at, penalized for the smallest infractions and forced into a punishing
routine of endless group therapy and paperwork. They'
re deprived of food and sleep and restricted in their contact with their
families. It's like a cross between prison, boot camp and a
religious cult, complete with the classic cult trappings - a leader whose wisdom
is never questioned, a private jargon and no room
for independent thought.
Mallard's method, meanwhile, is a 12-step program gone berserk, with the teens
continually losing what little ground they've gained
due to the fascistic rules. Everyone talks hopefully of "graduating," but
progress seems almost nonexistent and the few who've
successfully jumped through the endless hoops appear to have stayed on as
employees.
Where the play departs from the standard TV drama is in its sporadic use of
monologues addressed to the audience - Grace tells her
story to us, and other characters occasionally unburden themselves in
soliloquies - and in its backwards storytelling. Act 1 covers
Grace's seven soul-destroying years in the centre, while Act 2 is a flashback to
the three years leading up to her treatment - a
structural choice which playwrights Leanne Padmos and Anne-Marie Leigh seem to
have made to drive home how extreme the "cure" has
been in contrast with the problem. Grace does need guidance, but not the kind
this rehab provides, where the deprivation and
self-loathing fall just short of hair shirts and flagellation.
Running two and a half hours, Saving Grace is too long (the first act especially
needs editing), while the minor characters are
stereotypes and the writing sometimes descends to the level of earnest clichés
and instructional videos. But the story is both
fascinating and shocking enough to overcome such weaknesses and Foxglove's
five-member cast delivers committed, convincing
performances.
Leigh is an excellent Grace, giving the older character the sturdy sanity of a
survivor and skilfully embodying a mercurial young
teenager in the second part. Erin Millar, as the mother, and Len Harvey, as
various young men in Grace's life, are suitable types
but never move beyond the two-dimensional. Duane Jones is allowed more depth as
one of the centre's hard-ass counsellors, who turns
out to be wracked with doubts about the program, and Caroline Buzanko is scarily
accurate as an impressionable girl brainwashed into
a stone-faced convert of the Mallard cult.
Padmos's direction is sometimes awkward and, at one point (a stylized depiction
of Grace's deflowering), outright embarrassing, but
otherwise her no-frills staging moves the story along.
Happily, the real treatment centre on which this play is based was shut down in
1999 and the real-life model for Dr. Mallard has
been successfully sued by his former clients and is no longer practising. But
there are still treatment centres using similar
abusive methods in the U.S., Canada and abroad. If nothing else, Saving Grace
will serve as a caveat emptor to the parents of
troubled teenagers who are considering therapeutic options.
------------------------------
End of MAPTalk-Digest V03 #283
******************************
Mark Greer () ___ ___ _ _ _ _
Media Awareness Project /' _ ` _ `\ /'_`)('_`\
P. O. Box 651 | ( ) ( ) |( (_| || (_) )
Porterville, CA 93258 (_) (_) (_) \__,_)| ,__/
(800) 266-5759 | |
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/lists/ (_)
|
