From: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca on behalf of Cdn-Firearms Digest [owner-cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca] Sent: Wednesday, 18 April, 2001 18:40 To: cdn-firearms-digest@broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V3 #730 Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, April 18 2001 Volume 03 : Number 730 In this issue: Trust them, they work for the government Editorial: Longer wait times turn hospital lineups lethal UN's African gun control program firing blanks: P & D ENTERPRISES Lost, non-existent weapons, government style. Ontario: Elderly couple shot UN small arms control fraud ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 08:27:47 -0600 From: J Hayes Subject: Trust them, they work for the government Keep in mind that one of our benevolent leaders in Ottawa thinks that this type of agency is one of the special class who should be allowed to keep firearms, while citizens should not... Remember....Alan Rock (95) "I came to Ottawa with the firm belief that the only people who should be allowed to own firearms are the police and the military..." These are also the people that we (as firearms owners) are supposed to trust with our most sensitive personal data (namely: have we had a failing grade in a school or training course, have we had a marital break-up, etc., etc.). We are supposed to implicitly trust that they will not allow sensitive data to be leaked to any unsavory element(s). Read on and see if your confidence is bolstered in any government agency Later Jason Hayes Graduate Studies Student University of Calgary - Faculty of Environmental Design Ph / FAX (403) 217-6201 E-mail: jthayes@home.com Web: http://members.home.net/jthayes "Tax cuts are only controversial where rich liberals dwell. Everyone else yearns for them and most even understand their value to a weakening economy." --Bob Tyrrell The full text of this article can be found at: New York Times Online (requires a membership to access) April 18, 2001 Agency Is Said to Lose Track of Its Weapons By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, April 17 - The Immigration and Naturalization Service could not account for hundreds of weapons it owned and has not been keeping track of thousands of computers that may contain sensitive information, a government audit has found. The weapons, including six that were eventually linked to crimes, were among 61,000 items worth nearly $70 million that auditors said were missing, the Department of Justice inspector general said. The audit, released today, said that the immigration agency "did not adequately safeguard property" and that "without immediate corrective actions, property will remain at substantial risk."...(snip) ...The report criticized the agency for not requiring inventories of equipment costing less than $1,000, including nearly 12,000 laptop, desktop and notebook computers "The I.N.S.'s lack of physical inventories of computers with data storage capability places its equipment at risk for loss, which could result in unauthorized persons gaining access to sensitive information," the inspector general said. Among items that may have been lost or stolen, the inspector general said, was a gas-grenade launcher at the San Diego border-patrol office. Thirty-nine automatic rifles or machine guns were among the 539 missing weapons, many from headquarters in Washington and an agency training site in Glynco, Ga. The inspector general said two guns had been used in armed robberies, one confiscated in a raid on a drug laboratory and two others during arrests. One was being held as evidence in a homicide investigation. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 08:23:08 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editorial: Longer wait times turn hospital lineups lethal PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun DATE: 2001.04.18 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: Editorial PAGE: A18 SOURCE: Vancouver Sun ILLUSTRATION: Chart/Graph: Vancouver Sun / Actual vs. clinically reasonable wait in Canada from appointment with specialist to treatment, 1999. - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- Longer wait times turn hospital lineups lethal: Better management, rather than money, is key to cure - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- A new study says Canadian women suffering from breast wait much longer than they should for surgery. The delay in this often life-saving treatment puts their recovery and ultimately their survival in jeopardy. With about 5,000 Canadian women dying of breast every year, this news is frightening. Worse, the serious problem unmasked by this study is not unique -- it's just another symptom of an ailing public health system that also fails to take care of many other life-threatening illnesses in a timely manner. The study, published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, was conducted in Quebec, but its findings were extrapolated to indicate a growing problem across the country. It found that the median wait time for the 28,000 women studied to undergo surgery increased from 29 days in 1992 to 42 days in 1998. Half the women waited for more than 42 days to get their surgery performed, and 17 per cent waited for more that 90 days. Dr. Nancy Mayo, the lead researcher at McGill University, says these wait times are a ``potential danger zone'' for patients. Her warning should be heeded -- a 1999 British study of 100,000 patients found that women whose treatment was delayed by three months or more had a survival rate 12-per-cent lower than those who got treated right away. While wait lists are generally growing across the country as the health care system shows ever more stresses and strains, the picture is not the same for every therapy or in every place. When it comes to gynecology services, general surgery, neurosurgery and orthopedic treatments, according to the Fraser Institute's annual wait list survey for the year 2000, British Columbians have to wait a little longer than people in most other provinces. But the Fraser survey notes that women with breast don't have to wait as long for radiation treatment in British Columbia as for surgery. In fact, they had to wait for only five weeks on average, while time deemed to be medically reasonable time is four weeks. For other diseases the waits also vary with when and where a patient is stricken, but the pattern is worrisome and clear. According to the Fraser survey, patients with heart ailments wait for elective surgery, on average, five weeks longer than is clinically reasonable. People requiring neurosurgery wait more than four weeks longer than is recommended by doctors. And those waiting for orthopedic surgery, including hip replacements, languish for more than eight weeks longer than their doctors think they should. The knee-jerk response to these kinds of alarming statistics is for politicians to pour more money into the system to reduce waiting times. Their diagnoses of serious problems are sound, but their prescriptions don't ever seem to help get patients treated any faster. Indeed, putting more money into health care, according to the Saskatchewan Commission on Medicare, will not alleviate the dysfunction. In a rebuke of the $67-billion medicare system, Commissioner Kenneth Fyke charges that various health care providers ``have focused their [attention] on their own entitlements rather than their obligations.'' He goes on to say that ``essentially the system pays for activity and is indifferent to results.'' The sad irony is that failure to treat acute medical problems quickly doesn't mean they just go away. It costs at least as much to treat any given problem later, and it may end up costing a lot more if the condition deteriorates. So it's a matter of management, not money. The sooner the health care industry acknowledges that hard truth, the sooner it can start to fix it. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 08:23:21 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: UN's African gun control program firing blanks: PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2001.04.14 EDITION: National SECTION: News PAGE: A1 / Front COLUMN: Exclusive BYLINE: Steven Edwards SOURCE: National Post DATELINE: Reports; Africa; World; Dismissal CORPORATION: Regional Centre for Peace & Disarmament HEADLINE: UN's African gun control program firing blanks: Canadian-backed project has 'very few results that could be described as tangible' - Less than three months before the hosts a major conference on international gun control, its showpiece disarmament project in West Africa has been exposed as an utter failure by a confidential internal evaluation obtained by the National Post. Canada was the first country to sign on to the project, which promised to galvanize international efforts against gun-running in a region where rebels have killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of innocents. Donor nations have given up to $9-million in financing, and pledged more. Total budget requirements approach $20-million. But the evaluation says the project, launched in March, 1999, by the UN Development Program (UNDP), has done little or nothing to fulfill its mandate. "Very few results that could be described as tangible have been identified as a result of [the project's] activities," the evaluators' report says. Presented to UNDP behind closed doors less than two weeks ago, the evaluation has caused great concern. The UNDP reacted quickly, removing the project's director, Ivor Richard Fung of Cameroon. One senior UN official called for an audit, UN sources say. Mr. Fung remains chief of the UN's Regional Centre for Peace & Disarmament in Africa, based in Lome, capital of Togo. But some UN officials fear the controversy will make it harder to renew a West African arms sale moratorium, which expires in October after being established for an initial three-year period in 1998. The officials wanted to postpone Mr. Fung's removal until after the renewal deadline. They were overruled. The document says: "It is essential that some substantive results be achieved [by the project] before the end of the moratorium" to keep West African nations and international donors on side. The turmoil at the top will mean an embarrassing lack of good news to trumpet at the first major international meeting on small-arms control. The Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects is scheduled to take place in New York from July 9 to 20. Though the evaluation contains no allegations of major misdirection of funds, it does list several "financial irregularities." For example, Mr. Fung took over a project vehicle for his "exclusive usage ... on personal grounds," it says, citing the vehicle's log book. It attributes these irregularities to a "lack of competence" in UN bookkeeping procedures in Lome. Reached in Lome, Mr. Fung said, "I have rejected the report because it was written by amateurs. I founded the project. I directed it until last week. The report has totally distorted the facts. "We need first and foremost the consent of the country to go and do weapons collection correctly. To obtain that consent needs a lot of time." He also said the report fails to reflect bureaucratic difficulties within the UN system that "have hampered progress on the ground." But he conceded UNDP had "accepted and acted on" the report. "What is important for me is the survival of the project," he added. Omar Gharzeddine, a UNDP spokesman, said, "The agency has no comment at this time." Illicit gun-running has been on the rise around the world as regional and ethnic conflicts proliferate after the Cold War. It is helped by lax export controls, especially in former Soviet bloc countries. Private brokers and front companies, sometimes working with national intelligence agencies, have fuelled wars in Colombia, Afghanistan, the former Yugoslavia and Sri Lanka. But African countries have suffered the most. In some, "it is easier and cheaper to buy an AK-47 [assault rifle] than to attend a movie or provide a decent meal," says a U.S. State Department study. The West African bid to end small-arms trafficking was sparked by Mali, a landlocked Saharan state, which asked the UN for help in ending a conflict in its north in 1993. A UN advisory commission that visited seven countries in the region concluded small-arms controls were "essential for ... economic and social development." That led to the three-year moratorium on manufacturing and trading in light weapons. The UNDP's project, formally known as the Program for Co-ordination and Assistance for Security and Development (PCASED), aimed to publicize the moratorium, set up a registry to track arms sales and help West African countries establish commissions to destroy confiscated weapons. Mr. Fung was to head the project until he could be replaced by a deputy director, based at the project's headquarters in Bamako, capital of Mali. Canada's Liberal government, which considered international gun control to be central to its "human security" goal of protecting civilians in war, quickly signed on. The Canadian International Development Agency chipped in $400,000, a fraction of the $30-million Ottawa has earmarked for "peacebuilding." No CIDA official with knowledge of the project was available for comment. But by last summer, donor countries had begun to suspect progress was less than as advertised and called for a study. Two evaluators scrutinized the project from Nov. 22 to Dec. 14. Their report rejects Mr. Fung's claims the project has helped destroy weapons, as well as train border and security forces in weapons detection. The evaluation complains about Mr. Fung's "unwillingness ... to recognize the weakness of the program," but admits he has been effective at raising money. "The director has been instrumental in securing donor funding," it says. He is also praised for "facilitating dialogue with [weapons] producers and suppliers." The evaluation suggests Mr. Fung clung to the job, saying he has shown "little inclination to transfer his functions to the deputy director, as originally intended." In deciding to support the project, donor nations had been most impressed by its promises to set up commissions in 16 West African countries to rid the region of illicit light weapons and to establish an arms register to track arms sales. So far, only three commissions have materialized -- in Mali, Niger and Guinea -- and the first two existed before the project began. Plans for the arms register not only remain unfulfilled, but are too grandiose, says the evaluation. Instead of developing a simple information Web site, the project budgeted $360,000 for a sophisticated regional network with "an advanced intranet system or elaborate software configurations." The evaluation recommends pulling the plug on this system, which it says has a "technological capacity far in excess of PCASED's requirements." The money saved should be used to beef up efforts to gather small-arms information from member states. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 10:05:10 -0600 From: Dave Tomlinson Subject: P & D ENTERPRISES P & D ENTERPRISES It has come to my attention that a vicious and unfounded rumor is circulating about Phil of P & D Enterprises. I checked it out. It seems that Phil was once seen, in a gun show parking lot, sitting in a truck with an RCMP officer. That has since resulted in someone sewing an entire vest onto a button -- as can happen in the mind of someone who sees "conspiracy!" -- everywhere. It happened. Why? Phil was buying a handgun from the off-duty RCMP officer. At that show, later, and at other shows that Phil has attended, much later, various people got into trouble -- mild to severe -- for illegal sales and deliveries of firearms. Someone, unknown, linked Phil's conversation with the RCMP officer to the troubles, and started spreading the story that Phil was informing the police about irregular sales and deliveries. Phil was not doing that. He is not doing that. Phil is far too smart a businessman to ever destroy the confidence his customers have in him and his business by becoming a police informer. I know him well, I don't believe it, and I recommend that YOU refuse to believe this false story. Please try to STOP this vicious rumor. The firearms community NEEDS honest and successful dealers -- because where will we get the stuff we need if they disappear? I have great admiration for Phil and Diane ("P & D"). They set up a new firearms business at a time when others were folding because they had lost faith in the firearms community. The "folders" claimed to see "handwriting on the wall", and got out of all firearms-related business. Phil and Diane went in the opposite direction --they started a new business, because they believe in the firearms community and are dedicated to helping it survive. They quickly became a valuable asset to the firearms community, and their successful business is a valuable asset for all of us. Phil hauls large quantities of firearms and firearms-related goods to gun shows. He and his stuff are a major attraction at gun shows. He makes his major profits -- both in the store and at gun shows -- from sales of reloading supplies, accessories, etc. Firearm sales provide relatively minor profits. Phil and Diane have found themselves a successful niche in the firearms community, and are doing well by serving their customers well. Now they and their business are threatened by a vicious rumor that is damaging to their reputation and to their business. I, personally, stake my reputation on this statement: That rumor is false. To my certain knowledge, Phil has been approached -- twice -- by firearms control bureaucrats who tried to get him to finger people he suspected of illegal dealing, and he flatly refused to cooperate, both times, for ethical reasons and business reasons. There are quite enough people dedicated to destroying the firearms community. Anyone who spreads vicious rumor -- with no proof -- that is damaging to the reputation and/or business of a valuable member of the firearms community is aiding and abetting those who would destroy us. David A Tomlinson, personal ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 18:26:00 -0600 From: "Jules Sobrian" Subject: Lost, non-existent weapons, government style. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ASHINGTON, April 17 - The Immigration and Naturalization Service could not account for hundreds of weapons it owned and has not been keeping track of thousands of computers that may contain sensitive information, a government audit has found. The weapons, including six that were eventually linked to crimes, were among 61,000 items worth nearly $70 million that auditors said were missing, the Department of Justice inspector general said. The audit, released today, said that the immigration agency "did not adequately safeguard property" and that "without immediate corrective actions, property will remain at substantial risk." An agency spokesman, Greg Gagne, said the report offered a "snapshot of a lot of our past inadequacies." The agency is now requiring more record-keeping and employee training, Mr. Gagne said. "We're in a whole lot better shape than when this snapshot was taken," he said. "We have tightened the entire process." The agency, with 32,000 employees, operates under the Department of Justice and is in charge of citizenship requests, border patrols and the deportation of illegal immigrants. Mr. Gagne said agency employees who enforce immigration laws needed to carry firearms. The report criticized the agency for not requiring inventories of equipment costing less than $1,000, including nearly 12,000 laptop, desktop and notebook computers. "The I.N.S.'s lack of physical inventories of computers with data storage capability places its equipment at risk for loss, which could result in unauthorized persons gaining access to sensitive information," the inspector general said. Among items that may have been lost or stolen, the inspector general said, was a gas-grenade launcher at the San Diego border-patrol office. Thirty-nine automatic rifles or machine guns were among the 539 missing weapons, many from headquarters in Washington and an agency training site in Glynco, Ga. The inspector general said two guns had been used in armed robberies, one confiscated in a raid on a drug laboratory and two others during arrests. One was being held as evidence in a homicide investigation. Mr. Gagne said bad record-keeping was a major problem. More than 100 of the weapons thought to be missing never existed, he said. So now we need to arm the customs and immigration officers in Canada. Jules ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 18:27:25 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Ontario: Elderly couple shot PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2001.04.18 EDITION: All but Toronto SECTION: Canada PAGE: A4 COLUMN: West to East SOURCE: National Post DATELINE: ORILLIA HEADLINE: Ontario: Elderly couple shot ORILLIA - Provincial police have charged a 37-year-old man with two counts of attempted murder after an elderly couple were shot and wounded at Riley Lake near Gravenhurst. Marlies Mueller, 61, is being treated for a gunshot wound to her chest and her husband, Hans Mueller, 70, is being treated for a leg wound. Police believe the couple interrupted an attempted break-in at their cottage on Monday. Reports suggested there were other suspects, but police have called off a search for anyone else. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 18:39:44 -0600 From: Barry Glasgow Subject: UN small arms control fraud Steven Edwards' April 14th National Post article exposes yet another example of incompetence, failure and misdirected funds within the United Nations. An independant audit's report has resulted in the removal of Regional Centre for Peace & Disarmament directorn, Ivor Richard Fung. The audit highlighted Mr. Fung's "unwillingness ... to recognize the weakness of the program," and accused Mr. Fung of clunging to his job and that he had "little inclination to transfer his functions to the deputy director, as originally intended." This should come as no shock. The small arms disarmament movement within the UN (like the landmine initiative before it) is comprised mainly of ambitious individuals who would rather see their name in lights than to see actual, tangible results. The cost of these misguided efforts matters little to them. Total budget requirements for the latest feel-good exercise is approaching $20-million. Rather than invite affected parties to small arms global workshops, Canada's Foreign Affairs minister, Lloyd Axeworthy thought it best to fund Coalition for Gun Control president Wendy Cukier instead. The gun control plan that she helped foist on Canadian's is well past the $600 million mark and is doomed to the same abysmal failure as the mini-experiment in Africa. Coincedence ? Is this cause for concern on the international cocktail circuit? Not at all, their narrow vision still holds the hope for a Nobel Peace Prize. At least Axeworthy had the good judgement to bail out when the outcome was obvious. Barry Glasgow Woodlawn, Ontario 613-832-2449 (h) 613-763-3097 (w) / ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V3 #730 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:acardin33@home.com List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v03.n198 end (198 is the digest issue number and 03 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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