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Sunday, November 30, 2008

News Criticized by the United States

Posted by Dan Savage on Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 6:09 PM

This sentence in an AP story caught my eye on Saturday:

The program has been criticized by the United States and the U.N. narcotics board, which said it would fuel drug abuse.

Hm... you can safely assume that any drug policy criticized by the United States is a good idea, and this case is no exception. The quote in context:

Dr. Daniele Zullino keeps glass bottles full of white powder in a safe in a locked room of his office. Patients show up each day to receive their treatment in small doses handed through a small window.

Then they gather around a table to shoot up, part of a pioneering Swiss program to curb drug abuse by providing addicts a clean, safe place to take heroin produced by a government-approved laboratory.

The program has been criticized by the United States and the U.N. narcotics board, which said it would fuel drug abuse. But governments as far away as Australia are beginning or considering their own programs modeled on the system, which is credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts.

Swiss voters are expected to make the system permanent Sunday in a referendum prompted by a challenge from conservatives.

Which is just what Swiss voters did today:

A pioneering Swiss program to give addicts government-authorized heroin was overwhelmingly approved Sunday.... Sixty-eight percent of voters approved making the heroin program permanent. It has been credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts since it began 14 years ago.

Sadly, the Swiss also voted down an initiative that would've legalized marijuana.

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Housekeeping This Week in Party Crasher

Posted by Paul Constant on Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 11:58 AM

This week's Party Crasher is an election hangover edition by Erica C. Barnett, about what politicians do when they're all done running for office, and when their side wins big:

A group of local politicos and city employees wanted to do something different to celebrate this year's historic Democratic victories. Rather than gathering at one of the usual political watering holes—Collins Pub in Pioneer Square, say, or Kells behind Pike Place Market—they decided to sing.

I had no idea politicians did this sort of thing, and I bet you didn't either. You should read the whole thing over here.

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Stranger Suggests Today The Stranger Suggests

Posted by The Stranger on Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 11:00 AM

Joy

'The Dina Martina Christmas Show'

After a decade and a half as Seattle's most beloved psycho-drag performer, Dina Martina now belongs to the world. But no matter how many superstar fans she acquires or continents she conquers, she always comes home for Christmas. If Dina's latest Christmas show is anything like its mighty predecessors, it'll be a glorious explosion of brain-twisting oddness and weep-worthy comedy (sample topics: pink eye, camel toes, "rump cancer") that'll fill you with something freakishly close to the holiday spirit. (Re-bar, 1114 Howell St, www.brownpapertickets.com. 7 pm, $20, 21+. Through Dec 31.) DAVID SCHMADER

See what else is happening in Theater on Sunday »

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Books Reading Today

Posted by Paul Constant on Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:08 AM

There is an open mic and one reading today, at Town Hall. They'll be doing a Hanukkah-themed Short Stories Live. If you haven't attended a Short Stories Live performance before, it's actors reading work by different authors, usually on some kind of a theme. Today, they'll read Hanukkah-themed work by Sholem Aleichem, Lemony Snicket, Max Apple, Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer, and Daniel Mark Epstein.

Aleichem and Epstein write some great stuff, but iIf you have not read Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Wouldn't Stop Screaming, you are missing out on the glories of Jewish holidays.

Full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here.

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