570News - Jeff Allan

Yesterday on the Gary Doyle Show, he did a story about a parents coalition called Tragically O-Hip. These folks want the provincial government to provide more treatment facilities for teenagers that are addicted to drugs. Currently there are less than one hundred beds for this purpose in all of Ontario! Right now,  government approved teens are sent to the U.S.A for treatment and that costs us taxpayers a fortune. We need to open teen treatment centres here. Don’t underestimate the urgency! This is  growing industry unfortunately,  and we have to deal with it. It also makes good financial sense to build good facilities here so that the OHIP bill is reduced.

One thing to keep in mind; you’ll need a lot of money to set this up initially, because  you’ll have to allow for relapses and insight treatment. Teens have a tough time in recovery for  a number of reasons. Parents need “insight courses” so they know how to help continue the treatment when the kids are released. In addition to this I believe any treatment centre that has a program that is less than sixty days is a waste of time! I know because I have been through it personally five years ago. Most people don’t even detox or “dry-out” in twenty-eight days.  Just as their heads clear up they go back home without learning anything; then they fail. It’s common. The people at AA will tell you that.  Rehab or Treatment Centres are  great but one must remember that ultimately it’s up to the individual to stay “clean” whether they’re fifteen or fifty. People of all ages are directly “infected” and “affected” by their environment.  Remember the treatment centres teach that you can’t touch any drug including the worst drug ever invented; Alcohol. It’s a tough battle, but we have to do something for our youth to give them a fighting chance.

                                                        Jeff Allan

During the last provincial election I asked Premier McGunity if his government would consider paying for the PSA test for men over fifty under OHIP. He told me that he would discuss it with his staff and consider the idea. A week later his local soldier John Malloy called me to announce publicly on-air that the Premier had decided to approve the plan to have OHIP cover the PSA test. I thought I had actually done something constructive. Less than a month ago I questioned Minister Malloy and asked him when the PSA coverage was going to begin. He talked to me like I was a child that should have known better. He said “things don’t happen overnight Jeff”.  I was disturbed by that, but I assumed we were just weeks away from an announcement, I mean come on, we’re talking about a $30 to $35 dollar test not an MRI machine! I thought the PSA test was doo-able!  Was I ever let down the other day when it was announced that the PSA coverage is years away from being covered!!! I’m disappointed. Now I know what you all mean when you say that the Ontario Liberal Party tends to misrepresent themselves from time to time. This one of those times. I was fooled. I won’t be so gullible next time. From now on I will assume that everything that comes from the Premiers office is untrue and I will act accordingly with my Liberal guests. That’s a promise; unlike the Liberal party of Ontario I will keep mine!

                                                Jeff Allan

I believe Prime Minister Harper will regret not removing MP Tom Lukwski from the party for one simple reason; the opposition will replay the awful footage over and over again in attack ad’s during the election! The caption will say something like “look here’s the bigoted, intolerant, redneck face of the Conservative Party that Mr. Harper condones”. Mr. Harper can not win a majority without Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver on his side. How is he going to win without the immigrant vote, the moderate liberal thinking vote, the women’s vote and the gay communities vote? That’s who lives in these cities! That’s who he has to win over and he’s already lost them with his bonehead decision not to even discipline a Party member who made intolerable anti-gay comments on film.  I know Tom Lukwiski apologized, but Tom’s gotta take one for the team here. Too bad the Coach (PM HARPER) can’t see that!

I predict that this will cause them more trouble than the funding for faith based schools issue did for the Provincial Conservative Party in Ontario during the last election.

                                                                  Jeff Allan

On Friday’s show we had a heated discussion about whether or not people change their views with time. We were talking about the “inappropriate remarks” made seventeen years ago by Conservative MP Tom Lukiwiski regarding homosexuals. Many of you said the remarks were made along time ago and he shouldn’t be removed from the Conservative caucus because of the hateful incident that was caught on video tape. I don’t believe that. This man was forty years old when he made the comments. He knew better. If he had made the same kind of remarks about aboriginals, women, or a religious group I think there would be a greater uproar. The truth is many Canadians may not agree with what Tom Lukiwski said, but they don’t really want to be seen opposing it either. That’s bigotry my friends whether you like it or not. 

I would like to say that I was a little overzealous on Friday as well. I didn’t think something through before I said it. I should not have used the KKK example without being more clear. I said that I don’t believe the KKK men who have been tried in the last few years for crimes they committed against blacks in the sixties have changed their opinion one bit about African Americans. I mentioned lynching. I apologise to those of you who found that reference too extreme. I wasn’t talking about the act of murder. I was talking about how the men charged with these crimes forty years later expressed no remorse or change in attitude regarding the African Americans they tortured and killed. The jury noticed it,  so did the judge and the press. I should have used a better example. I’m sorry for my unintentional insensitivity on that one. I screw up now and then.

Here’s a perfect example of how the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. The FIA Formula One Racing boss is named Max Mosley. He is an Englishman. His father was British Fascist Nazi Party sympathizer Oswald Mosley. (known as the leader of the British Nazi Party during WW2)  So, the father was a Nazi and the son, Max Mosley, has just been accused of being involved in sado-masochistic sex games with hookers dressed up as Nazis and their concentration camp victims!!!! Remember this the next time you say something questionable in front of your kids. Sure people change their minds, but not all people, and not all the time.

                                                  Jeff Allan

On Friday April 4th I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing a local young person who, along with his team,  has developed a robot that can detect landmines! This is great news for the world in general. Imagine a robotic “tool” rather than a human “tool” detecting and defusing landmines around the world. This technology will not only save the lives of our soldiers in Afghanistan, and other world hot spots; it will save the lives of children, men, women, and livestock alike.  There are as many as one hundred million landmines buried around the world. It costs as much as twelve hundred dollars a mine to get rid of them the old fashioned human way; the robotic way is about five hundred dollars without the potential for loss of life. Hats off to Mathew Rendall and his team from the University of Waterloo who have developed this life saving technology. If they can make it work on a grand scale, we may be able to put the people who make artificial limbs out of business and that would be a good thing! I’m nominating this team for a Nobel Peace Prize in advance, because I believe this may be one of the greatest gifts from science to man in over one hundred years.

                                                             Jeff Allan

I had a close call yesterday. It’s a sport in our region to run through yellow and red lights like they weren’t there. This practise is potentially deadly. I realize that the world has changed,  we all have to be everywhere in a hurry,  and we’re all stressed to the max. But that doesn’t give us the right to jeopardize another persons life by driving like an insane person who has no regard for the safety of others. We need more and more RED LIGHT CAMERAS installed to catch people when they break the law. On top of that we need major fines to deter people from committing this deadly offense. I see people running yellows and reds all the time and it has to stop.  Let’s at least try something!

                                                  Jeff Allan

Bringing awareness to energy conservation is a good thing! The Earth Hour event went well on Saturday night according to all accounts. The problem I have is we only reduced consumption by a little more than three percent !!!!!?  When asked about this tiny number, a representation from hydro said that the figure was low because the event was staged at a traditionally low power consumption period. I beg your pardon? So why didn’t the planners of Earth Hour make the event happen in July or August when we consume the most power frivolously with air conditioning, pool heaters and artificial lighting? Plus, with better weather and more sunlight, more people would come out at night. Just my two cents.

                                                            Jeff Allan

I tip my hat to the young Hespeler Atom AE Shamrocks hockey team today. Last night I addressed the team at their Championship season closing banquet at a local Golf Course. I would also like to applaud the parents, grandparents, family members, coaches and administration who volunteered their time all season long.  Last night was fun and refreshing for me. If you want a lift in life volunteer to spend time working with kids. It works for me.  By the way, my message to the boys last night was: NEVER SAY I CAN’T, SAY I”LL TRY. Those are words I live by.

                                                              Jeff Allan

On Sunday night the CBC ran a two hour special report on Afghanistan which  I recorded and watched yesterday.  Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear was an eye opener for me! You know I support the troops and our mission there; but I’ve also questioned our position more and more over the last few years. This documentary made me think about things I never imagined and introduced me to issues in Afghanistan that i did not consider or know about. I don’t usually endorse things that come from our left leaning national network, but this is well worth seeing. I know their reporting was unbiased and balanced because at times some of the things they said and showed me bothered me. You know that uncomfortable feeling you get when you  realize that you’re wrong about something, or someone’s argument makes sense finally and you have to except it? Well, that’s how I felt a lot while watching this excellent documentary. The CBC managed to show the highs and the lows, as well as the pretty and the ugly elements of our mission there. It will make you think, I guarantee it. Check it out yourself at www.cbc.ca/docs.

I learned a lesson while I was away. You never know how much you miss something until it’s gone. When it comes to water, you sure take it for granted until it’s not available or it has to be rationed for some reason. In my building the water we drink comes from a separate tap in the laundry room. The water from our apartment taps is soft water not for drinking. The laundry room has been closed for renovations and the building people forgot that we needed to get in there to fill our water containers. Wow, what a wake-up call for me! Lining up during certain hours to fill a water container. It’s something I’m just not used to. After a day or two of this you start to make a contest of it. For example, I tried to go all weekend on one “ration” of water. I just made it, but I didn’t have water for making coffee this morning because the ”water room” wasn’t available until seven am! (I’m here between six and six thirty am) The thing is, this inconvenience for me will pass by weeks end; however I can’t help thinking that this may be a look into our future, budgeting water to live. There’s something scary to think about. Have a nice day.

                                                       Jeff Allan