Satire

It's Thursday, May 4th...

Sources report that Mexican President Vincente Fox willl sign a new law decriminalizing drugs. The new bill forgives up to 5 grams of marijuana or opium, 500 milligrams of cocaine and 25 milligrams of heroin. It also allows small amounts of LSD, magic mushrooms, ecstasy and peyote.

Currently...drug dealers in Mexico are protesting the law saying they don't want a flood of illegal Americans pouring over the border, taking their jobs and refusing to learn Spanish. Next thing you know they'll be translating the anthem. Can you imagine "Mexicanos, al grito de guerra!" in English? Eeesh. Oh well, at least you'd be high.

This is The Current.

Glamis Gold: Tape and Accountability

A little less than a year ago, The Current paid a visit to a small, remote area of the Guatemalan highlands that also happened to be at the heart of a potentially lucrative global business transaction. It was there that a Canadian mining company named Glamis Gold was getting set to open a mine that the company figured could produce two-million ounces of gold and 29-million ounces of silver over the next ten years.

At the time, both the Canadian and Guatemalan Governments supported Glamis' venture. But that wasn't the case for a lot of the people who lived there. They worried about environmental destruction and water shortages, as well as contamination from cyanide and heavy metals.

A year later, the operation has gone ahead. Glamis says the project is a success. Local opponents say it's been a disaster. And yesterday, the two sides collided at Glamis' annual general meeting in Toronto as activists took to the streets to publicize their point of view. We heard from a couple of the activists on-hand for Glamis Gold's annual general meeting. The last voice was Juan Tema. He came all the way from Guatemala where he lives - near the Glamis mine-site.

In the end, the two sides did meet face-to-face and those outside were allowed inside - to present an open letter to Glamis shareholders. We heard from one of Glamis' critics, the CEO of Glamis Gold and one of the investors at the company's annual general meeting in Toronto yesterday.

For some answers about what's going on at Glamis' Marlin mine site in the Guatemalan highlands, we were joined by Joe Danni. He's the Vice President of Corporate Affairs with Glamis Gold and he was in our Toronto studio.

Glamis Gold – CPP Critic

Well, if critics of Glamis Gold believe the company's record in Guatemala should be an issue for shareholders then by definition, it should be an issue for just about every working Canadian. That's because the Canada Pension Plan is an investor in Glamis Gold.

And according to our next guest, Glamis Gold is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to controversial CPP investments. Peter Gillespie is the Acting Executive Director of Inter Pares - a Canadian organization dedicated to promoting international social justice. He was in our Ottawa studio.

Listen to The Current: Part 1

(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)

The Current: Part 2

Snakes On A Radio

Tomorrow, Hollywood's summer blockbuster season opens in earnest with the Tom Cruise vehicle, Mission Impossible Three.

And in a city that measures achievement in dollar figures, once you combine box-office receipts with eventual DVD sales and video game spin-offs, 'MI3' promises to be big. But just because a film stands to make millions, doesn't guarantee it a place in the pantheon of genre classics … let alone 'cult' classics.

Ultimately, only time will tell which movies earn that indelible designation. Well, that's the theory anyway. According to one of The Current's producers, Aaron Brindle, there's a film coming out in August called 'Snakes on a Plane' that is turning conventional wisdom about cult films on its head. He joined us this morning to explain how.

Music

We played a song posted on Snakesonablog.com by a group called Subatomic Warp.

Listen to The Current: Part 2

(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)

The Current: Part 3

Gustavo de Greiff Freature

As you heard at the top of the show, the United States-led war on drugs took a bit of a beating yesterday. That's when Mexican President Vincente Fox announced his plans to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs for personal use.

And President Fox isn't the only former ally to break from the fold in recent days. There was a time when Gustavo de Greiff was the strongest and toughest partner the United States could have asked for in its war on drugs. As the Attorney General of Colombia in 1993, he was the country's top cop, charged with taking down Colombia's drug traffickers, especially the ruthless Medellin cartel. Under his leadership, the infamous Pablo Escobar was hunted down and eventually killed.

But now, that seems like a distant memory. In the U.S., Gustavo de Greiff is now persona non-grata. And given his history in his native Colombia, it would be difficult for him to go back home.

Gustavo de Greiff is Colombia's former Attorney General and he was in Vancouver, where he's attending the International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm.

Letters

Rafe Mair is no stranger to the radio studio. He hosted a long-standing phone-in show on CKNW in Vancouver. Among his many credentials, he is an author, columnist and political pundit and he also served as a Social Credit cabinet minister under the leadership of former BC Premier Bill Bennett.

Tomorrow, Rafe Mair will add Friday Host of The Current to that CV and Rafe joined Anna Maria this morning in studio for our weekly look at the mail.

Last Word – Celebrity Snakes

Earlier in the program we spoke with The Current's producer Aaron Brindle about the early cult status of the movie 'Snakes on a Plane'. He talked about how the public has been able to influence and mold the film into what they want it to be. Well, one comedian called DC Lugi went as far as to impersonate several Hollywood stars in a series of make-believe auditions for the movie.

So we ended the show today with his take on Hollywood heavyweights Christopher Walken, Jack Nicholson, Joe Pesci and Robert Deniro flexing their thespian muscles for the new cult film 'Snakes on a Plane.'

Listen to The Current: Part 3

(Due to various rights issues some segments may be edited for internet use)

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