Obama was right all along on swine flu!

So heres my first ever take at satire. 

Two major Catholic archdiocese in Canada, have asked their parishoners to stop shaking hands during mass in an attempt to curb the spread of the h1n1 virus.   

/It's clear now that Barack and Michelle Obama were ahead of the curve all along, with what Fox News called, their "terrorist fist jab".

 

Homeless man rescues teen, gets baseball tickets as reward

Very cool story from the Globe and Mail's 

PATRICK WHITE

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

May 5, 2009 at 9:15 PM EDT

WINNIPEG — The morning before every politician in town wanted to shake his hand, Faron Hall woke up on a park bench spray-painted with the tag “Not super.”

He's called this stretch of riverbank overlooking the Provencher Bridge home for the last seven years, staying away from the homeless shelters even when a 50-below chill took a portion of his ear several years ago.

“I'm a chronic alcoholic,” he says, sitting on the bench. “I don't bother nobody and over here nobody really bothers me.”

But for a split-second decision on Sunday, Mr. Hall would have remained in this hazy seclusion. He's the first to admit that his memory isn't nearly as sharp as it used to be when he was taking classes at the University of Manitoba, but he recalls clearly jumping into the turbid Red River and pulling a young man to the shore – an act that has garnered him a thousand handshakes, season tickets to the Winnipeg Goldeyes courtesy of the mayor and the unanimous moniker of hero.

Enlarge Image

Faron Hall, shown at the home of Marion Willis in Winnipeg, recounts his rescue of a young boy in the Red River on Sunday.(John Woods)

“I did my best,” says the 44-year-old Mr. Hall. “That's all.”

It was around 2 p.m. when Marion Willis saw a teenager who had been running across lanes on the Provencher Bridge disappear between a gap that separates the car deck from the walkway.

“There was an absolute look of terror in this boy's face,” she said. “He didn't realize there was such an opening. I looked at my son then and said, ‘This won't be a rescue; this will be a recovery.' “ Little did she know, Mr. Hall was on the scene. He was sharing a beer with a friend, Wayne Spence, downriver from the bridge when he heard a loud splash. In a light-hearted mood after a long day of collecting cans, he remembers saying, “Damn, that must have hurt.”

But humour turned to shock when they spotted the teen screaming for help 40 metres out on the fast-moving river. Living life on the margins helped him decided what to do next. “People ignore me,” he says. “But I don't ignore them. We look out for one another out here.”

He threw off his backpack, kicked off his old black dress shoes and jumped into the chilly water.

“When I got to the kid, he started fighting me,” says Mr. Hall, pointing to a bloody scar on his forehead where the teen socked him. “I had to smack him back, tell him, ‘Hey, I'm here to help you.' “ He'd pulled the teen within 20 metres of shore when his adrenalin stalled and fatigue set in. “It's too damn cold,” he remembers yelling to Mr. Spence, who was standing along the shore.

“You can't let go, you can make it,” Mr. Spence yelled back, before wading up to his knees in the water to drag his friend and the petrified teen to the shore.

Paramedics soon arrived and took the boy and Mr. Hall to hospital. The teen has since been released.

Within a few days, strangers were coming up to congratulate Mr. Hall. “Yes, I saved that boy,” he would say. “I just did my best.”

Mr. Hall's best hasn't always been good enough. From a foster-home upbringing, he worked his way through courses at the University of Manitoba and eventually became a high-school teacher's aide, only to be set back by his mother's murder 10 years ago. He struggled with an urge to drink the grief away until his sister was murdered about seven years later.

“That's when he really slipped,” said Nicole Morin, a close friend and teacher. “He started to believe that hard times, drinking and living on the street were his destiny.”

By helping avert tragedy, Mr. Hall may also have altered that destiny. The witness, Ms. Willis, is a former social worker and has been housing Mr. Hall since the rescue while several local groups work to put a more permanent roof over his head.

By Tuesday afternoon he was back sitting on his bench, describing the rescue, when a well-dressed man trod down the path towards him. “That's Sam Katz,” Mr. Hall said, recognizing the Winnipeg mayor. “That was very special what you did,” said the mayor, jutting out his hand. “If you're in the mood you can come to my place. Do you want to come?”

Sensing an opportunity, Mr. Hall hugged the mayor and said, “I just want you to promise me one thing: I wanna come to a ball game.”

“How about if I get you a pair of season tickets?” said the mayor, who also owns the local ball club.

“Honest? I love baseball.”

“You did something a lot of people would not do,” said the mayor.

“No, I did my best.”

Thoughts on the swineflue/h1n1 virus: A response

I think that my recent post on the h1n1 virus may have been interpreted a little more extreme than I intended. 

Bob Wenger responded to my post with these two points:

1.  The fact that it (pandemic hysteria) has been "a little bit exaggerated" may have contributed to the fact that it has not been as great a pandemic outbreak as thought possible.

2.  The fact that it is yet to have been eradicated does not preclude the possibility that a more virulent strand manifests itself in the fall for example.

He's absolutely right. I had the same thought about point number 1. I have often thought that people criticize the media alot, but in reality, it is in situations such as these where the media as a tool to spread knowledge to the public becomes absolutely useful. 

And on point number 2, the 1918 spanish flu epidemic started exactly the same way. it started slow on the spring but mutated in the fall, and ended up killing between 50-100 million people. 

My main point with the last blog was that we need to constantly take a measured approach to things, take a close look at whats really happening, and speak to the experts before we get carried away by frantic ideas.

I've gotten some pretty outrageous emails lately claiming that swine flu is a beta test for a biological weapon.

My friend and soon to be LSE colleauge Mark Kersten writes a pretty good in depth look at the root causes of swine flu: pinpointing globalization and population explosions as major culprits (from an explanatory perspective).  

   

My thoughts on swine/h1n1 flu/pandemic/end of the world

I was at a party with a friend last week and a discussion about the swine flu came up.

My take:

As much as I think it is important that we continue to take such contagious viruses seriously, I argued then and I still argue now that this whole "pandemic hysteria" has been a little bit exaggerated.

First off, in this blog I will continue to write about it as "swine flu" not the "H-1N-1 virus"
as North American news networks have formally re-named it following a wave of complaints by the pork industry.

BBC hasn't changed a thing, whats good for BBC is certainly good enough for me.

Anyways to go back to my point.

In Canada, there now have been 165 confirmed cases of swine flu, 2 of which are actually of serious nature, the rest being minor (Editor's note: By the time you read this, that number will likely have gone up). Worldwide there have been 1,490 with 29 deaths as a result.

In comparison, the SARS outbreak in 2003 killed 44 people in the Greater Toronto Area alone.

That's not to say that this is the end of the outbreak, and I'm certainly not trying to dehumanize the numbers, but I still think that we need to maintain a bit of perspective before we start freaking out.

Why are there disproportionately more cases in Canada than in the US?

What I also find interesting is that there are only 403 confirmed cases in the US compared to 165 in Canada.

I write only because, if you consider that the US has:

-10 times the population of Canada
-and many more high population density clusters
-much closer proximity to Mexico,
-a much higher Mexican population

then the rate in Canada seems disproportionately high. Why is this?

My guess is that, with nearly 90 million people, or 1/3 of the US population under 65
without Health Care insurance the US numbers are vastly under-reported as people with mild flu like symptoms simply don't go to the doctor.

In contrast, Canadians are far more likely to actually go to the doctor because of signs of flu-like symptoms, thus the number of cases here is more accurate.

The Dark Side of Dubai...

Great article unearthed by my friend Ryan Mullins. A highly touching and also grounding read:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

The International Criminal Court and Al-Bashir: Tension between Justice and Peace

My good friend Paige Morrow wrote the article below and I decided to post it on here. My comments and thoughts on this topic are below the article:

Peace or prosecution: Should the indictments against Sudanese president al-Bashir be suspended?

A decade after 120 states approved the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Court indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes on March 4, 2009. The charges stem from the conflict in Darfur, where al-Bashir is claimed to have intentionally directed attacks against the civilian population, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of individuals since early 2003. The indictment underscores the troubled relationship between peace and justice. The Security Council has the authority under article 16 of the ICC’s founding treaty to suspend investigations and prosecutions for renewable one-year periods where the suspension is in the interests of international peace and security. A viable peace still has not been reached in Sudan, and critics have argued that the charges laid against al-Bashir should be suspended because of his instrumental role in the peace process.

Basis for the Charges

Darfur has long been rife with tension over grazing and land rights between the primarily nomadic Arabs and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zaghawa communities. The current conflict dates back to early 2003 when two armed opposition groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equity Movement (JEM), began to launch attacks on government targets, claiming that the Arab-dominated government discriminated against Black Africans. Darfurian refugees allege that the Janjaweed, fighters on horseback accused of attempting to forcibly remove and kill Black Africans in vast swathes of territory, follow behind air raids by government aircraft, riding into villages on horses and camels to pillage, loot, rape and slaughter. The Janjaweed, widely believed to have been armed by Khartoum, have wreaked havoc in the region. Khartoum admits mobilizing ‘self-defence militias’ to quash the rebel groups but denies any connection to the Janjaweed.

Is there a peace to jeopardize?

The question of whether to prosecute the perpetrators of gross violations of human rights forms an integral part of conflict negotiations. Difficult compromises have been reached in post-apartheid South Africa, Liberia, Sierra Leone and East Timor, amongst others. African and Arab countries believed that the arrest warrant could diminish Khartoum’s willingness to negotiate a lasting peace, while UN officials feared that the warrant could lead to reprisal attacks against civilians, aid groups or international peacekeepers deployed in Darfur. But many observers deny that there is a credible peace process to jeopardize. Heba Aly reported in The Christian Science Monitor that heavy fighting continued between government and rebel factions in areas of Northern Darfur held by the only rebel group to have made peace with Khartoum, contrary to the cease-fire entered into in 2006. There is broad concern that removing al-Bashir from the presidency would endanger the already shaky peace treaty between the Sudanese government and rebels in the South that was signed in 2005 to end the civil war that claimed 2.2 million lives. Human rights activists counter that al-Bashir is no longer instrumental to the peace treaty. Although al-Bashir fought members of his own party to approve the negotiations, the peace treaty is now considered desirable to Khartoum, which has an incentive to stabilize its relations with the South in order to access the large oil deposits found there.

Tension between Justice and Peace

More generally, supporters of the indictment argue that peace should not be obtained at the expense of justice for the victims. If the indictment were shelved in order to achieve national reconciliation, it would set a dangerous precedent. It would also be extremely difficult to reinstate the charges, even if in theory the suspension expires and must be renewed after one year. The suspension would weaken the moral and legal authority of the ICC, which represents a symbol of the fight against impunity. At the end of every armed conflict, difficult decisions must be made regarding who will be punished for their crimes and who will be allowed to escape criminal prosecution. Sudan continues to be embroiled in fighting, and there is not yet an envisageable end to the turmoil. Allowing al-Bashir to evade the charges laid by the ICC would mean granting a large concession to an individual who has failed to cooperate with UN peacekeeping initiatives, pursue peace negotiations or pursue war criminals on Sudanese territory.In some instances it is necessary to choose between peace and prosecution. The international community should view with skepticism the argument that such an ethical dilemma is present in Sudan.

My Thoughts: Will this be a dilemma that will continue to resurface in future conflicts?

This is an interesting article because it highlights a unique problem that the ICC may have when it comes to its role in prosecuting those responsible for conflicts that are still ongoing.

Some of the posters responded to Paige's article on Facebook, by suggesting that this just highlights the problems of the ICC that, in their view, render it useless.

I will respond both to them and to the initial question of this article:

1) Just because the ICC has serious problems in its ability to do its job (one problem specifically cited was one of "selectivity" ie. why does the court go after al-Bashir, but don't lay charges on Eelam Tamoul (in Sri Lanka) and/or Bush and Cheney) doesnt make it illegitimate or mean that we should just disregard its contribution to the international system.

Its has problems for sure. I think too many international organizations are handicapped and impeded in decision-making and action when it comes to either controversial issues which widely split the international community, or issues which for whatever reason, a large portion of the population tragically don't seem to care about (Haiti being one example).

But just because the ICC as an institution has flaws does not mean we should discard it entirely. In my mind that is merely an excuse used to mask the larger concern many countries that do not support it have (like the US) that their leaders could be charged by the court at any time without impunity.

The concept of an authoritative international body which can without impunity arrest and charge international criminals, is, I think most of us who don't fear the international communicty can agree, a good one. Just because we cannot achieve the ideal right off the bat does not mean we should just neglect striving for the ideal altogether.

2) In response to the question of this article, whether or not the court should continue to prosecute al-Bashir if it might impede the Peace process? That is really interesting as it has some implications for similar scenarios in the future. In many situations, I think that I would argue for the protection of the peace process over the rapid indictment of the individual.

In this particular case, if it could be reasonably assessed that without al-Bashir the Peace Process would comepletely collapse, then I might argue that we should consider stopping the idictments. But in my opinion, there is often only a small window of opportunity in which you can get a peace agreement signed, if you let that pass, you risk the deaths of another thousands of people before you get that window again. But the indictment of al-Bashir could be a prolonged process anyway. So generally, I would chose to sign the peace deal and potentially save hundreds of lives, over expedient justice for the families.

However, given that al-Bashir is "an individual who has failed to cooperate with UN peacekeeping initiatives, pursue peace negotiations or pursue war criminals on Sudanese territory" it would seem to me that he wouldn't contribute much to the peace process anyway.

Moreover, the unfortunate reality of legal process is that they have to consider everything they do as "establishing a precendent". So if they halt the indictment for the peace process, as the article says it, would set a dangerous precedent for an already vulnerable court. It is unfortunate that the Court does not have the ability to look at things at a more case-by-base basis, but such is the reality for so many legal decisions in all Western legal systems over the years.

In the case of al-Bashir, I agree with Paige, it makes sense to continue the indictments full throttle, but perhaps this should highlight the need for a more flexible process of prosecuting war criminals? I'm not the lawyer though, you tell me.

My experience in Canadian ER...

Ok, so admittedly the title of this belated post is a little dramatic.

Just to get the context out of the way: last monday I was playing basketball, as I do, in the YMCA league every week. I was under the basket with my back to the out of bounds reaching up for a rebound. A couple of players on the opposing team were also reaching for the ball and one of them, as players often do, slapped at the ball, at the very least trying to keep it out of my hands. Instead, he drove the ball right down on to my left pinkie.

I let out a yelp, and grabbed my hand thinking that, "oh well, another jammed finger". Then when I pulled my hand away to have a look at the damage I was horrified to find my left pinkie in the shape of a Z. The middle digit (see below), hand been driven up and was sitting partly on top of the base digit.

Anyways, I ran to the head office where one of the organizers had a first aid kit. They were pretty sure it was dislocated so they held my arm down while I pulled on the tip of it. After a couple slow and caustious pulls, the bone slid back down into place. It felt AMAZING, but the immediately after started swelling and throbbing (I am currently typing this with only 8 working fingers). Not wanted to take any risks (as I already have once earlier this year with my middle finger soccer accident (as those of you close to me know)), I decided this time, I would go to emergency.

Let me make something clear. I usually don't go to the doctor. Pretty much every time I've gone, I've found that they just tell me exactly what I already knew anyways. (ie. get some rest, drink lots of fluids, stop playing sports for a while, etc. etc.). But this time I just wanted to make sure it wasn't broken, plus, I figured they can give me the supplies I would need to support my finger subsequently.

So I drove home one handed, changed and picked up Laura and off we went to the hospital. Luckily, the Main Campus Hospital is only about 12 minutes away by car.
Despite the all night affair (the injury happened about 1030 at night so it was 1130pm when we arrived), I was lucid enough to take notes of my observations on my iphone.

Below are my unedited notes:

--------------------

1130 We walk into the emergency room, its a small room with a tv (theres hockey on, thank god something to watch while I wait). Id say theres about 30 people in there. Lots of people with face masks, wonder if they are legitimately sick or just paranoid because of the swine flu hysteria going on right now?

1135 The guy at the front desk behind the glass, Jason, a friendly...male nurse? (not sure what he is actually) takes my vitals and I tell him whats wrong.

1140 Laura and I have settled comfortably into chairs in the waiting room. She is reading while I am watching the San Jose-Anaheim playoff game and talking with a guy next to me who is here waiting on his roommate who came down with a violent case of the flu in the past 48 hours.

1142 A nurse brings me a fresh bag of ice and a couple of blankets for Laura and I. For some reason I chose to wear sandals and shorts tonight and I'm beginning to think I might regret that decision.

2350 They call my name and I enter another room where a secretary/clerk like nurse registers my name and address details with the hospital. She then gives me a card and a bracelet which immediately reminds me of the bracelets I see on dead and sick people in movies (I really dont go to the hospital much).

The woman turns out to be Romanian as well, so I invite Laura in and they have a little chit-chat.

0000 I return to my seat in front of the tv. I see Chicago has lost to Calgary and Anaheim has scored twice so now San Jose is pretty much out of it. I feel bad for them. Laura and I observe a couple across the way from us, he has been in a bar fight, clearly, and looks either still drunk or maybe ashamed. His GF looks pretty pissed.

0020 I return from the x-ray place, and Jason brings me a couple of tylenol to take for my finger. Its uncomfortable and throbs from time to time but otherwise I am ok. He tells me that I may have to wait a while but its really important that I wait because if theres ligament damage, I will have to see a plastic surgeon.

0030 I am sent to receive x-rays. I am surprised that I go to get x-rays before the guy in the bar fight because I would think that he would be higher priority than I given that his injuries are on his face.

On the walk down the hallway to the radiology department there is a guy in ragged clothes strapped to a stretcher. His dirty, white, shoeless socks are sticking out the end. His hair is wild and rangy and he's clearly tripping out on something. There are about 5 cops sitting on chairs next to him just watching him and (I suspect) waiting for him to come out of his trip. He screams something to Laura and I as we walk by.

(Some critics of the Canadian medical system say that this is the sort of thing that bothers them. That a guy like this will get treated before other, more "productive members of society" who actually contribute via taxes to the free health care system. While I understand their frustration, just because someone is homeless and/or on drugs doesn't mean they deserve to be left on the streets to die. As a taxpayer who HARDLY EVER uses the system, I have no problem with the idea that I waited to get my finger treated while drunk homeless guys in critical condition came in. If they hurt their finger and I'm in critical, I will get the same courtesy).

0045 I'm back in the waiting room. I notice the waiting time sign has been changed to 4-5 hours (it was 3 when we arrived). I hear Jason, the hardworking, polite, filter for the entire process, telling someone that "some idiots who did some stupid stuff" just came in on the ambulance so it may take a while.

0050 Speaking of idiots who do stupid stuff. Some cops come in and talk to a group of girls and a guy sitting behind me. Apparently they were at a party when a girl came in and attacked their group. One of them got acid thrown on them and the other one almost got stabbed. The police tell them that they are charging this girl with attempted assault with a deadly weapon. Wow, that sounds like quite a party.

0115 Laura returns with bagels and tea for us, what a woman. I recount to her the story that I just heard, about the group behind us. I figure its going to be a long night and break out Tolstoy's War and Peace, got 40 pages left, tonight might be the night.

0130 A voice comes over the loud speaker calling code white. Jeez, I dont know what that is but it sounds serious. You can sort of hear a flurry of activity behind the front desk.

0145 The place has quieted down, I'm pretty much the only other person left apart from some people sleeping who dont look sick or injured so I figure they must be waiting for others. I don't feel my finger much I think the Tylenol is starting to kick in.

0205 I'm starting to get really sleeping. Laura is fast asleep next to me. When you're small you can curl up and pretty much sleep anywhere. Two nurses are talking about how hard it is to fall asleep after doing a night shift. One of them says that she heard melatonin is good to take. (It is, I can vouch for that having taken it numerous times to get over jetlag when travelling).

0210 The ambulance brings in an old man who for some reason doesnt have a shirt on. He is noisily coughing and retching repeatedly in the other room where they take him. After about 5 min, I stop hearing him, I guess they moved him.

0345 They move Laura and I into a small curtained off room with a padded (massage type) table. They seem to think it'll take a while which either means that the x-rays on my finger came back negative so I have been bumped on the priority list, or theres a whack of people who have come in with more serious injuries than I.

I'm feeling like this whole thing maybe a little ridiculous for a finger, albeit a mangled one.

0630 A nurse wakes us up to say that, as we are next in line, the doctor will likely be seeing us soon. We get up, naively, and begin to wait expectantly.

0700 I strike up a conversation with the Romanian clerk to tells me that they only have 1 doctor working during the night shifts which is why it can take a long time. I am shocked to realize that. Either no one wants to work the night shift (an Ontario Medical Association (essentially a union) issue, or a shortage issue), or there isnt deemed to be a need to have more than one work the night shift.

0800 The med student assitant of the doctor checks me out, hes very gentle and cautious.

0830 My doctor sees me, tells me, as I expected, exaclty what I already knew. He tapes and splints it and says to keep it like that for a week or 2 and then get it re-looked at at the military hospital (since I work there I can get access quicly), and they will be able to tell them the extent of the ligament damage and if I'll need sugery.

0900 Laura is driving home (she got much more sleep tonight of the two of us). I call my Platoon 2i/c (2nd in command) and tell him I'm taking the morning off to sleep and I'll work from home.

The End.