Oh McCain ... You've Done It Again

John McCain who is turning 182 next week, has slipped up again. This time, in an effort to please the GOP conservatives, McCain was making sure that he wasn't going to stumble on any of the moral issue policies. It seems though with all this responsibility that he isn't sure if condoms stop HIV/AIDS. On the "Straight Talk express", a reprise of the bus tours that he used as part of his election campaign back in 2000, McCain stumbled, paused, mumbled and called on help from his advisors. What was his position? Help please...

The transcript: 

Reporter: “Should U.S. taxpayer money go to places like Africa to fund contraception to prevent AIDS?”

McCain: “Well I think it’s a combination. The guy I really respect on this is Dr. Coburn. He believes – and I was just reading the thing he wrote– that you should do what you can to encourage abstinence where there is going to be sexual activity. Where that doesn’t succeed, than he thinks that we should employ contraceptives as well. But I agree with him that the first priority is on abstinence. I look to people like Dr. Coburn. I’m not very wise on it.”

( McCain turns to take a question on Iraq, but a moment later looks back to the reporter who asked him about AIDS.)

McCain: “I haven’t thought about it. Before I give you an answer, let me think about. Let me think about it a little bit because I never got a question about it before. I don’t know if I would use taxpayers’ money for it.”

Q: “What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush’s policy, which is just abstinence?”

McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”

Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”

McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”

Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”

McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian(press secretary), would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”

Q: “But you would agree that condoms do stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Would you say: ‘No, we’re not going to distribute them,’ knowing that?”

McCain: (Twelve-second pause) “Get me Coburn’s thing, ask Weaver(senior adviser) to get me Coburn’s paper that he just gave me in the last couple of days. I’ve never gotten into these issues before.”

This must be scary for a many people. A potential US president who doesn't know if condoms stop HIVAIDS or sexually transmitted disease. Having to ask an aid what his own position is on government funded sex education including the use of condoms is more than just a McCain gaff. It is typical of how the GOP have allowed religion and neocons to overtake their core party ideology. I am sure The Republican party of old would be vastly unhappy with the direction the present day GOP has taken. Apart from minimalist governments, no nation building and personal rights, keeping people safe is another fundamental GOP cornerstone that the current Republican party members in power are happily ignoring.

Another Statistic

Recent surveys found that 79 per cent of adult males detained on property offences tested positive to a drug of some type (excluding tobacco and alcohol) 

- (Source: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2006)

It is more than likely that the 79% mentioned are addicts resorting to theft to feed a drug habit. It must be obvious, even to the most optimistic of us that there is an underlying problem not being addressed here. The current solution to this problem is jail. Not a good place to send someone with a medical condition especially addiction. It grates on me that when you are sick, you are normally sent to hospital unless that sickness is addiction. One growing solution is to treat addicts with the drug they crave. Some countries now take this approach with extremely successful results. England still provided addicts with their drug of addiction up until the 1970s when they fell in line with the US "War on Drugs" and switched patients over to methadone. Some doctors can still legally prescribe morphine, cocaine or heroin to addicts but the UK health department usually don't approve it. There are about 300-400 patients still prescribed heroin in the UK. Recently the British government embarked on a scientific trial with prescription heroin and cocaine to 500 addicts but this time carefully monitoring the success rate. The problem was that those who already received prescription heroin had very little crime activity and had caused no problems at all. It all seemed to be working well but to expand the program they needed scientific evidence and this was undertaken a few years ago. The results are still to come.

I don't endorse just handing out highly addictive drugs to anyone. Abstinence should always be the goal. The problem is that sometimes addicts take longer than expected to get clean and sometimes it just never happens. These are the cases where we should look to the past where drugs like heroin, cocaine & morphine were prescribed to treat addiction and drug related crime was almost unheard of. Interestingly, the addiction rate has not really changed since we first started recording this information over 100 years ago.

Grampa Munster - The Next US President?

US drug policy is arguably the most unsuccessful strategies implemented by a government. The "War on Drugs" was originally a smokescreen campaign to steer attention away from a failing Nixon administration back in 1971. Nearly 40 years on, the "War on Drugs" has produced the opposite effect to what was first envisaged. This failure is mainly due continual demonising of drugs for political gain. Heavily backed by the powerful religious right, the US has embarked on numerous campaigns to portray all drug user as malfunctioning, addicted lowlifes who threaten American society if not locked up. Fortunately the campaigns were wrong as drug use grew massively. Tens of millions of Americans now use drugs regularly and they cause very few of the problems promised by government rhetoric. Instead the "War on Drugs" created it's own massive problems that has spread throughout the world costing millions of lives. As experts call for a stop to this insane policy, the hierarchy cling to their morals based ideals and refuse to acknowledge that the "War on Drugs" is unwinnable. 

As the US prisoner population has become the largest on the planet and other countries continue to prove a different approach will achieve significantly better results, the rhetoric remains the same. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a 5000+ group of drug squad police, judges, DEA and other police officers give a sure sign that even those involved in fighting the "War on Drugs" now accept that a new approach must be implemented.

A member of LEAP question's McCain on his opinion:

As usual, McCain cherry picks his sources or uses snippets of information to come up with his own logic. The argument about a few drinks is OK but drugs give mind altering effects instantly is wrong. Alcohol produces an instant calming effect as soon as the alcohol reaches the brain. No different to most drugs which increase their effect as you use more.

McCain mentions experiments in Europe where drugs were freely & openly used and had to be shutdown because they were a failure. These were experiments to try new strategies. They were analysed scientifically and were shutdown when they didn't produce the required result. What McCain left out was that these experiments didn't cause any more problems than existed already and actually had some minor success or that one experiment, called Needle Park, was replaced with the heroin prescription project which had complete success. It has since been repeated in Canada, Spain, Belgium and England. Another experiment was the Dutch "Coffee Shops" which sold marijuana openly. Drug use has not increased at all and The Netherlands has a reducing drug problem ... the opposite to the US.

John McCain & His Superior Foreign Affairs Knowledge  

Republican presidential candidate John McCain has about a 50% chance to be the next US president. One of McCain's arguments for why he is the best choice for the presidency is his claim of extensive foreign policy expertise. McCain recently made an official visit to the Middle East to emphasise his superior knowledge in foreign affairs over the democrats presidential contenters.

The 71-year-old said:

"It's common knowledge and has been reported in the media that Al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq. That's well known"

Surprised at McCain's comments, the reporters pushed for more details. McCain continued:

"We continue to be concerned about the Iranians taking Al Qaeda into Iran and training them and sending them back."

It took fellow Senator Joe Lieberman to whispered into his ear that Al Qaeda are Sunni Muslims and the majority of Iran are Shiite Muslims.

McCain:

"I am sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not Al Qaeda, not Al Qaeda, I am sorry"

The Australian, Religious Right, Huckabee and Australia's Worst Poet

The Australian Speaks the Truth about Drugs?

An article last Friday in the Australian explains the scepticism of today's youth when confronted with drug propaganda. It's refreshing that The Australian has taken an almost polar view to other Murdoch papers and equally refreshing that many older Australians are going to be shocked. Shocked that youth don't believe what they have believed for years for years ... that all drugs are evil (unless it's alcohol or tobacco) and all use leads to addiction.

Note: I know of 2 people aside from myself who have added a comment to The Australian article but after 4 days, the comment count has not changed?

Australia's Religious Right

These three articles from firesnake.org give an insight into an incredible story that will seem impossible in a few years time. The rise of the religious right and the influence on Howard's government is documented in detail with some surprising revelations. These are must read articles.

Australias Religious Right: Part 1

Australias Religious Right: Part 2

Australias Religious Right: Part 3

Most Powerful Scary Man on Earth?

Though it's probably not going to happen, there is a slight chance that Mike Huckabee might become the American president - the most powerful man on earth. The scariest of the possibilities obviously needs some research. 

Here's a few facts:

Mike Huckabee once said on TV he has a degree in theology ... he doesn't.

He believes the earth was made in 7 days.

He believes dinosaurs roamed the earth with man

He believes a really big boat carried all the animals, bacteria, insects to saftey after a very big flood and fresh water & salt water fish can live together.

Has been investigated on 14 occasions by the ethics commission.

Mike wants to change the US constitution to permanently ban abortion

...and he actually said this when asked about the growing number of delegates for John McCain: 

'I didn’t major in math ... I majored in miracles and I still believe in them, too.' 

Australia's Worst Poet

Dr. John Ray is that person. I first read one of his poems on GrodCorp.  Incidentally a few posts on has the funniest picture ever of Dr. John Ray. It's a cracker! Anyway, I was so enthralled with the poem titled Sweet Music that when I threw my head back with laughter, I kicked my foot out and hit it on the leg of my desk and hurt myself. Damn poets.

I know it's probably old news but poetry like this needs to stay relevant.

Poetry Here