I am a big fan of civil liberty and the US Constitution as well as the Irish Proclamation and the Canadian Charter of Rights. My free ebook which was released on the 10th anniversary of Gary Webb's murder was entitled "Stand True: Civil Liberty and the Hells Angles Drug Trafficking Network." It is interesting to see how civil liberty relates to drug trafficking throughout Iran Contra.
The US Constitution says "No State shall deny to any person within it's jurisdiction equal protection of the law." What a romantic concept. Imagine a judicial system where everyone has the same rights, rich or poor. That doesn't really exist in our current system. In our system a poor man and a rich man don't get the same representation. Not only that, but sometimes the police do not enforce the laws equally. That's exactly what I saw in South Seattle during the US Crack epidemic in the /80's. If a crack house opened up in a rich white neighborhood, you can bet the cops would shut it down in a hurry. We didn't see that in Rainier Beach.
We also don't see that in the incarceration of Clay Roueche. Not only is locking someone up for 30 or 300 years counterproductive, it also forces us to ask serious questions about who the real criminals actually are. Why is Clay in jail and not Sonny Barger or Randy Jones? Why did they use a slime ball illegal act to arrest Clay on US soil when they refuse to extradite Randy and Trevor Jones? That is unequal protection of the law.
People have asked me, why am I supporting Clay's art and his book? His art is awesome. All too often we see confused renditions of modern art that look like someone threw a bucket of paint on a canvas. Clay's art is colorful, talented and thought provoking. His book is along a similar theme as mine. Expounding on the Chinese virtues taught in the martial arts is what lead me to Zen. George Christie shares that ideal.
Although I have made it clear that I don't have beef with the entire club, it is no secret that I can't stand the Surrey girl chapter of the Hells Angels. When I read Clay's book, who do you think I'm going to support? The trailer trash Surrey Girls or the Terracotta warriors? One has honor, the other does not. Ricky Carmella is disgusting. The sordid tale of his pals bullying and sodomizing a hippie with a broomstick is all explained in chapter seven of my free ebook.
Don't get me started on Big Tony and Piggy's Palace. Anthony Terezakis sold drugs for the Hells Angels in the DTES. He filmed himself beating the life out of drug addicts who owed him money. These are the kind of people the Hells Angels have working for them in the drug trade. Like Larry Mizen on the Surrey strip. It is impossible for me to respect guys like that. Like the bikers and cops who gang raped Dianne Rock. So if Clay does something good, I'm going to recognize it.
When the police allow the Hells Angels to sell pot and the Black door and the bulldog cafe but arrest Marc Emery across the street, that is unequal protection of the law. I have a problem with unequal protection of the law because it implies corruption. I didn't find out about the police corruption in Brooklyn when I was in New York until a few years ago.
Clay deserves a prison transfer back to Canada.
There are a lot of completely valid questions there. I have not questioned your support of Clay Roueche, you are of course free to support whomever you like, and I too like his art. Better than 90% of the other shit out there calling itself that. I'm simply saying that he's guilty of what he was charged with, he's admitted all that, and he's not getting out of a US Prison until he's done 27 years of the 30 he was given according to Federal guidelines. As far as how they got they're hands on him, yeah I think it's pretty clear DEA called up their compadres SOTB and said "Hey, we'd appreciate it if you'd deny him entry and put him on a flight back to Van that coincidentally has a US stopover". They even had time to get a US Marshal down there to ride to Dallas with him. He should not have been leaving Canada at all after he got that big. That was his fatal mistake, Canada would probably never have extradited him either.
ReplyDeleteIt's undoubtedly cold comfort, but he might have been dead by now but for his incarceration. A lot of his peer group is.
I personally wouldn't have a problem with him doing 20 years instead of 30, but the only way that's going to happen is if he gets that transfer to Canada so he can do 10 years on parole. Unfortunately for him that's as likely as Hillary Clinton doing time for all the felonies she did.
That's kind of my point. What we are seeing is unequal protection of the law. I didn't say you questioned my support of Clay Roueche, others have.
DeleteWhat was Clay charged with? Drug trafficking. Usually people in the US plea because of the crazy alternatives they face. 30 years for drug trafficking is a long time. Freeway Ricky, the LA King of crack cocaine got 16.5 years. Seeings how his arrest was unlawful, letting him transfer back to Canada would be the right thing to do.
All Canadian citizens ought to have the right to be brought back to Canada to serve their sentences. American prisons are not a good place for anyone, even criminals. I'm not saying Canadian prisons are a whole lot better, but at least people will closer to their families and support network.
ReplyDeleteMany American prisons are FOR PROFIT, PRIVATE CORPORATIONS. The prison system ought not to be a method of making money on the N.Y. stock exchange. Bring the guy back to Canada.
Actually private corrections operations in the US are fewer than years ago, largely of course due to various scandals and abuses that became public. In any event none of that is relevant here, the US Bureau of Prisons is a Federal agency and is most assuredly not privatized.
DeleteIn line with the theme of you (e.a.f.) often not having a clue WTF you're talking about, the Federal system is a much better place to do time comparative to the various State Departments of Correction, some of which are absolute nightmare's.