London Calling

Boris is bonked out by the looks of things

Hello to my funnily-accented friends from various quaint backwaters across the Pond.

I understand that congratulations are in order for the multi-ethnic immigrant underdog Al Kemal, new Grand High Vizier of Londonistan.

Yes, the long shot has triumphed over the Career Bureaucrat, despite a few false starts and a campaign website optimized for and displaying correctly on no browser known to science or religion. We at the ol’ raincoaster blog are vastly relieved to be on the other side of the planet, well away from the anticipated violently uncontrollable celebrations of the cricket louts, the derby-topped swarms of bankers lumbering down sidewalks high on Earl Grey and looking for trouble, and of course the looming presence of his old homies in the Bullingdon Crips, who will now become quite impossible to deal with on a reasonable level. One of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world will be under the ruthless control of a small, formerly marginalized group of cronies whose life experiences fall so far outside the norm as to constitute positive aberration.

The hordes have already destroyed Boris’ website (which has crashed) and so the mob furls their umbrellas and moves on to Boriswatch.

Smashing.

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New Beijing Olympic Logo

Beijing Olympic Logo from Beau Bo D\'Or

At that point – I would have you see – the force to which one yielded mingles with one’s will; and no excuse can pardon their joint act.
Absolute will does not concur in wrong; but the contingent will, through fear that its resistance might bring greater harm, consents.

Dante, Paradisio IV 37


The Hand That Feeds: Nine Inch Nails

Alas, once again so much to say at one-thirty in the morning with two hours of work left before bedtime and Wordcamp in the morning. As with our recent post about Flora and the grey market in interracial babies, be aware that this train of thought is only temporarily sidelined. In the meantime, there is plenty to ponder here.

Insite Court Challenge

Community Groups take Federal Government to  Court over Safe Injection Site

Sunday, April 27, 2007

On Monday, April 28, Pivot Legal Society director John Conroy will be representing the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users in a 10-day trial challenging the Federal Minister of Health’s ability to close Insite, the safe injection site in Vancouver.

Joe Arvey, representing the Portland Hotel Society which manages the site, will also be testing the federal government’s power to close Insite.

Where: B.C. Supreme Courthouse

When: Monday, April 28, 10am

Duration: 10 days

Case name: VANDU v. AG Canada and Minister of Health; PHS Community Services Society et al v. AG Canada

Presiding Judge: Judge Pitfield

It has been more than four years since Insite, the first supervised injection site in North America, opened with the goal of increasing access to drug treatment, reducing street disorder, and preventing overdose deaths and disease transmission among Vancouver’s drug user population. Numerous scientific studies in medical journals such as the Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine have shown the effectiveness of the site in meeting those objectives. The Federal Government’s select advisory committee on Insite also published a report two weeks ago documenting the success of the site.

Despite the medical evidence, the Federal Minister of Health has refused to grant a permanent exemption to Section 56 of the Narcotics Control Act for Insite, which allows the injection of drugs on the facilities. Instead, the Minister has granted to two temporary extensions to the exemption. The most recent exemption is due to expire on June 30, 2008. After that, the future of Insite is uncertain.

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About Pivot Legal Society
Pivot’s mandate is to take a strategic approach to social change, using the law to address the root causes that undermine the quality of life of those most on the margins. We believe that everyone, regardless of income, benefits from a healthy and inclusive community where values such as opportunity, respect and equality are strongly rooted in the law.

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Buddy, can you spare ten trill?

Total Information Awareness, yo

Well, I have been asked for money for a latte before. And a friend of mine has an email signature, I live for the day schools have all the funding they need and the Pentagon has to have bake sales. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at this. Actually, having lived here for so long I shouldn’t really be surprised at anything.

It appears that the US Department of Homeland Security, having exhausted the normal funding routes of bleeding taxpayers and selling the next few generations to China as indentured servants, is muscling in on territory normally occupied by organizations like the Cancer Society, the SPCA, and the Make-A-Wish foundation.

It’s holding “charity” fundraising galas.

Oscar Wilde would’ve been ecstatic at the juxtaposition of life and art at the Brooklyn Museum earlier this evening — and not just because it involved an abundance of luxury goods. As guests arrived for the opening of an exhibit celebrating the art of Takashi Murakami and his collaboration with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton, they were greeted by an outdoor scene more common on Canal Street: logoed merchandise piled on tables or hung on metal pegs, graffiti-covered walls, stalls closed “by court order,” and persistent vendors promising “best quality” and “best price.” The difference? Those piles of LV Multicolore bags were real…

As real as my recognition of Das Unheimliche.

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Who does Karl Rove work for now?

Who do you think?

Cthulhu as Nixon

Well who ELSE would he be working for?

via CelebratingTheAbsurd

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