Jeffrey Klassen convicted of assault

Jeffrey Klassen has finally been convicted of assault. He was the use of force trainer that beat and robbed a newspaper delivery man with two other cops when they were off duty in Vancouver.

Kelowna Grow Ops

Are there any grow ops in Kelowna not run by the Hells Angels? We know this East Vancouver Hells Angels support hoodie was found at a Kelowna grow op. We know that David Giles from the East Vancouver chapter of the Hells Angels lives in Kelowna. We also know that Joseph Bruce Skreptak, a full patch Hells Angels from the same chapter, also lives in Kelowna.

Bruce is the one that rented out a house in Kelowna to someone who had a grow op. He claimed it had nothing to do with him even though his truck with a Hells Angels sticker was parked outside the grow. A door leading into the mother-plant room had a sticker on it reading, "Support Your Local Hells Angels White Rock." For all practical purposes that would let everyone know it was a Hells angel grow op as in not to f*** with it.

Bruce has a history of violence. He was caught with Cory and a few associates speeding through Salmon Arm with a car full of guns, bear spray, bullet proof vest and a cell phone jammer.

Many people speculated that they were on their way to do a grow rip. Kinda makes you wonder when not long after they were caught a grow op just outside of Salmon Arms was abandoned.

Which kinda brings us back to Brittney. If she lived on a grow op that was recently busted, was it not a grow op for the Hells angels? Would Joey, a low lever drug dealer rip off someone who did business for the Hells angels? Some claimed he owed money and that murder would wipe away his debt. Yet who wanted her dead? Were the hells Angels really stupid enough to think Brittney was the rat that had her own home busted?

There was a grow op in Kamloops tied to a double murder which neighbours say was thought to have been connected to the Hells Angels. The Hells Angels are making their support for Kamloops finger puppets public.

We know that someone claiming to be from the East Vancouver chapter of the Hells angels ran into the American Backpackers Hostel with guns looking for a kid who was selling pot there. They claimed he had to leave town and wasn't allowed to sell pot in their area and that if anyone there wanted to buy pot, they had to buy it from them at the black door.

This would clearly imply that if there was a grow op in Kelowna not run by the Hells Angels, they would use threats of violence to take it over. Once again, why would a low level drug dealer rip off Britney who was selling pot for a Hells angels grow op? If he did, he would have left town but he didn't. When he was arrested he was walking around town without a care in the world. To me that would clearly imply that the Hells angels sanctioned if not commission Brittney's murder. After all Geoff Meisner was tied to the Hells angels and the Kingpin Crew. The pinheads were even in Kamloops with their puppet master recently.

To Serve and Protect

Another problem we are clearing seeing in Canada or at least in B.C. along with the police brutality is the sheer arrogance that goes along with it. The underlying mandate of to serve and protect has been completely lost.

Of course not all police officers in Canada are bad. Yet the documented problem is much worse than a few bad apples. I had a conflict with an off duty police officer not long ago myself. He was a confrontational bully who bold faced lied about something to get his way. I was shocked. It reminded me of the New Westminster use of force trainer who got drunk before assaulting and robbing a newspaper delivery man in Vancouver. His recollection of the events was a complete contradiction to the victims recollection and two witnesses observations.

Being a bully and assaulting someone is bad enough but lying in court. Coming from a peace officer that is shocking which once again brings us to the lost mandate of serving and protecting the public.

When the use of force trainer is caught red handed beating the tar out of an innocent victim then using his station as a use of force trainer to intimidate a younger police officer from pressing charges, that use of force trainer cannot be the use of force trainer any more. To continue to do so would be to mock the public interest and demonstrate further arrogance and disregard for public safety.

It is past time for a civilian agency.

Conservatives would bungle crime bills

Stephen Harper said a Conservative majority government would bundle unpassed crime legislation into one bill and push it through Parliament within 100 days. And after that, he'll cram the HST through. He'll bungle the crime bills alright. In fact he already did. It's a bungle in the jungle and that's not alright by me.

There is no question that Stephen Harper intentionally screwed BC with the tough on crime bills. The bill as it stands is over reaching. The Liberals tried to amend the bill in the Senate to fix it but because Harper broke his promise to create an elected senate and exploited every opportunity to stack the Senate, they refused to accept the amendment to the bill fixing it.

So now he tells us he's still refusing to fix the bill and insists he will railroad it through without thinking through the necessary amendments. Which isn't surprising since Stephen Harper refuses to listen. He exploited our misfortune for his own personal gain. He doesn't care about us or our problem. If he did he would have fixed it but he didn't. He purposely didn't take the amendment because he wanted the public to get angry at the Liberals for voting down his over reaching crime bills and give him a majority so he can govern.

Stephen Harper does have a hidden agenda. It's not about abortion or same sex marriage, he won't touch those time bombs with a ten foot pole. He wants to privatize everything under the sun and completely remove public accountability from every possible social program from pensions to medical. His first target on his list is doing away with medical and the Canada Health Act.

So, I've said it before, Stephen Harper has lost my vote on the crime bills. Jack Layton on the other hand, like Penny Priddy, Adrian Dix, Mike Farnworth and Bruce Ralston, is putting forth his own suggestions to deal with crime and gangs. Throwing everyone in jail for minor offenses is counter productive and too costly. Mandatory minimum sentences for prolific offenders who commit an insane number of property crimes. They should spend three months in jail. Period. That is not excessive. Not doing so is irresponsible.

Larger sentences for violent crime and for hard drugs would be helpful. But it's all counter productive when Stephen Harper turns around and appoints a lawyer for the Hells Angels to be a judge in the Quebec Supreme Court.

Fleetwood grandma stabbed 126 times

This story doesn't involved gangs or drugs but it is a crime. A heinous one at that. It is a case of domestic violence. Surrey grandmother Maria Catroppa was stabbed 126 times in the Fleetwood townhouse she shared with her second husband, Sebastiano Damin.

The husband, Sebastiano Damin has confessed to the murder. He said his wife was wanting to end their 11 year marriage and told him it was over. So he snapped and stabbed her 126 times. An autopsy revealed 51 stab wounds to the 69-year-old woman's head and neck, 69 to her torso, five to her arms and one to her thigh. Damin was 74 at the time.

That is absolutely bizarre. Stabbed 126 times, 51 times to the head and neck area. That is deranged. And I'm not talking let the guy off for not being of sound mind like we did the guy that decapitated the guy in the greyhound bus. I'm just saying stabbing anyone 126 times is sick especially when it was a case of domestic violence.

It doesn't take a feminist to realize that kind of violence against anyone not to mention women is wrong. Time Magazine wrote a powerful article about domestic violence in Afghanistan. After reading about one case where a man cut off his wife's nose after she threatened to leave him a female friend of mine said she was ready to take a gun and kill all the men in Afghanistan.

No doubt some cultures have some pretty backward views about gender equality. Yet here we have a case in our own town of an equally if not worse case of domestic violence. I don't know what to say other than it is a very sad horrific autrocity. No doubt Maria Catroppa is in a better place and Sebastiano Damin will not be with her or her family in the eternities.

U.S. Government shutdown

I've been asked about what a U.S. Government Shutdown means. I had to look it up because I didn't know. In Canada we can have non confidence votes which will result in an early election but the United States have relatively fixed election terms. I wasn't aware about the Government Shutdown clause.

Apparently this happens when they can't agree on a budget. Essential services like police and military continue but all other nonessential government workers stop going to work. Personally I find that somewhat bizarre but apparently that is the way their system works. Or rather doesn't. Doesn't keep working in a shut down that is.



They can agree to spend billions on the unlawful invasion of Iraq based on a lie and they can spend billions on the bail out the banks scam but God help Obama if he dares spend money on health care. Those selfish conflict of interest politicians will voter no and rather shut down the government. Go figure.

However, part of the controversy appears to be over the use of tax dollars to fund abortions.

Renegades get ripped off

The Prince George Citizen claims it was the Renegades Clubhouse that was broken in to. No one was injured but a quantity of alcohol was stolen. I wonder if there was anything else stolen they didn't report to the police? Any GHB missing? That clubhouse was the site of the recent gang rape before the Hells Angels fund raising dinner in Kamloops where one of the accused resides.

Brittney Irving - one year later

Castanet ran an article about Britney Irving one year after her murder. The day before she was murdered, her boyfriend said she told him she was going to meet someone that is a real bad person. The question that I have is how could she be referring to Joey Verma, the one charged with her murder? Joey was bad but was more of an idiot. He was a low leve drug dealer. Hardly the type of person that would generate fear in anyone.

In fact if, Brittney was selling pot to supply her Oxy habit, then surely she had done business with Joey before. Wouldn't she be concerned if she was meeting a supplier further up the food chain so to speak? May Brittney and Geoff Meisner both Rest in Peace.

Geoff Mantler: Another Public Betrayal

This latest shameful decision is more proof we need a civilian agency to monitor police complaints. Constable Geoff Mantler got off charges in the Jeremy Packer case even though he had physical evidence included a lost tooth. Seemingly this was Mantler's third documented offence. There was another case involving Manjeet Singh Bhatti as well.



Before we spend undisclosed amounts of tax dollars to fill our over crowded drug infested prisons with more people for minor offenses, we need to establish a Civilian Agency and we need to clean up the prisons that we do have.

Privatizing the Military is Dangerous

We have seen the dangerous conflict of interest Dick Cheney's Halliburton created in Iraq. While George Bush kept going to the Senate to ask for more taxpayers money to spend on the unlawful invasion of Iraq, Halliburton was raking in the profit. Not even mentioning the insider conflict of interest that existed within Halliburton, it clearly establishes a very bad precedent.

Privatizing the military to circumvent public accountability is dangerous. Instead of having a Military mandated to provide for the common defense, we have a mercenary force mandated to profit from war without any public accountability whatsoever.

What's even worse is Blackwater's abuse of the laws covering war crimes. Blackwater is a privatized contracted military. They claim that they cannot be sued as civilians for war crimes because they are part of the US Total Force. Yet they also claim that since they are civilians they are not subject to military discipline.

Removing public accountability is not a good thing.