Conrad Black is Back in the news

Well, the cat came back. Conrad Black is back in the news. This time he's going back to prison. There were two aspects of Conrad Black's fraud. One obviously was investment fraud. The other was media fraud. Conrad Black was a wealthy very right wing media tycoon who started buying up newspapers and media outlets.

We generally think that news is news and doesn't carry with it a political prejudice. One wouldn't think that a news outlet would intentionally print bad things about a political candidate they didn't like and selectively print good things about political candidates they do like. However, reality shows us that certain media outlets have certain political slants. One could argue the purpose of a political slant is to appeal to a certain type of reader and make more money. Another could argue that it is media controlled censorship and brain washing.

For example, it has been said that if you wrote an editorial in support of workers or organized labour when Conrad Black owned the paper, you would be fired. After all the owner of the paper can fire whoever they want for whatever reason they want.

Fox News is obviously biased. With all the money the Harper and Campbell governments are spending on dishonest adverting for the HST, we can clearly see why the Harper government would want to create his own Fox News North and have a profit making media outlet where he can get all the free advertising and brainwashing he wants. It would save him a ton on advertising.

Yet the criminal charges arise from the fact that Media tycoon Conrad Black and his allies looted the company he created to manage a global publishing empire of more than 400 million dollars since 1997, a report prepared for US court and regulators showed. The report also blamed high-profile members of the company's board of directors for rubber-stamping Black's efforts and failing to question dubious payments being made.

"Not once or twice, but on dozens of occasions Hollinger was victimized by its controlling shareholders as they transferred to themselves and their affiliates more than 400 million dollars in the last seven years. The aggregate cash taken by Hollingers former CEO Conrad M. Black and its former COO F. David Radler and their associates represented 95.2 percent of Hollinger's entire adjusted net income during 1997-2003."

The report went on to say that Hollinger went from being an expanding business -- which at the time controlled Britain's Daily Telegraph as well as the Jerusalem Post and Chicago Sun-Times -- "to becoming a company whose sole preoccupation was generating current cash for the controlling shareholders, with no concern for building future enterprise value or wealth for all shareholders."

We all know Conrad Black was imprisoned for embezzling money from the company but the report claims Hollinger was victimized by its controlling shareholders as they transferred to themselves and their affiliates more than 400 million dollars in the last seven years. Two things come to mind. This sounds an awful lot like the National Heritage scam. Controlling shareholders milked the company for themselves and their affiliates. The flaming question is, who were Hollinger's controlling shareholders and affiliates that befitted from the fraud other than lord cat in the hat.

Locally we know that David Radler, the former publisher of the Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers, had been granted full parole December 2008. He served just under 2 1/2 years for fraud.

Ralder took a plea bargain. He plead guilty to mail fraud and agreed to testify against Conrad Black. He was originally sentenced to 6 1/2 years but was transferred to a Canadian prison and released early. I'm not sure how that math worked out. Statutory release is after two thirds of your sentence has been served. Two thirds of 6 1/2 years is 4 1/3 years not 2 1/2.

Richard Perle is the former co-chairman and director of Hollinger, Inc. Perle is an American political advisor and lobbyist who worked for the Reagan administration as an assistant Secretary of Defense and worked on the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee from 1987 to 2004. He was Chairman of the Board from 2001 to 2003 under the Bush Administration. Richard Perle was blasted for his role in the Hollinger Scandal.

James R. Thompson is a Commissioner on the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The former Republican governor of Illinois has served as a director of Hollinger since 1994. Even Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon's secretary of state was on the Hollinger board of directors. Kissinger escaped both the Watergate and the Hollinger scandals unscathed.



Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Conrad Black. I just want to point out what he did wasn't nearly as bad as the repeated pattern the Bush family fraud did on a regular basis. In CONrad's case, he and his associates spent 95.2 percent of Hollinger's entire adjusted net income during 1997-2003.

The cartoon does represent one argument. CONrad Black created the company and it was his company to do with the profits what he wanted. Take for example if someone started a small business. Say they were building houses. If they owned the company they could spend the profits however they wanted.

The problem arises when it's a publicly traded company and you aren't the sole proprietor. You're not the only owner. Taking all the profits from the company without telling the other owners and shareholders investing in the company is considered theft. Thus CONrad's incarceration.

However, what the Bush family did on a repeated basis was way worse. According to Al Martin, Neb Bush would get him to set up a fake company. They would then commit fraud by overstating the company's value to trick investors and qualify for bank loans. Real Estate or fake Oil Companies were the most popular.

The repeated Bush Family fraud wasn't just a matter of spending the profits of a legitimate company. It involved creating a fake company, ripping off investors and ripping off banks by purposely defaulting on bank loans. Now, I will admit, not all of the Bush Fraud investors were innocent victims. Some knew the oil company was fake and they knew it was going to go bankrupt. They still invested in the venture because they believed in the cause.

They were promised 50% of their investment to be returned in dividends knowing they could write off the other 50% of their investment from their taxes and come out whole after the fact. Plus an autographed picture of George bush and a warm fuzzy feeling you were helping fight Communism in Nicaragua. By committing tax fraud but after all, in their mind the government should have been funding the contras in the first place.

So, my point is simple. What CONrad Black did was wrong and illegal. Yet it was nothing compared to the myriad of investment fraud the Bush family were involved with. CONrad spent the company's profits while the Bush crime family made fake companies, ripped off investors and knowingly defaulted on bank loans creating multiple bank crisis which had to be bailed out at the tax payers expense. All in the name of GREED. Sure the contras got a few pennies for their cause but the amount and extent of the investment fraud as well as the drug and arms dealing made many in that crime family rich.

Inviting George Bush to come to Canada to speak on the economy is absurd. He'll likely use the opportunity to set up another ponzi scheme like Bre X.

BCCI Banking Scandal

One of the more mysterious aspects of the Inslaw murders was the CIA's involvement in the BCCI Banking scandal. BCCI was known as the Bank of crooks and criminals international since it was heavily involved in laundering drug money.

I don't want to focus on Pakistan's nuclear industry. We know Canada was deeply involved in that. I want to focus on the scandalous nature of the BCCI and how it was tied to the CIA. Illegal arms, laundering drug money as well as fraud all sound frighteningly familiar to the allegations found in Al Martin's book The Conspirators.

Time Magazine reported that Sheik Kamal Adham and Sheik Khalid bin Mahfouz, head of the largest commercial bank in Saudi Arabia, were involved with BCCI scandal. I don't even have to say the name of the U.S. crime family involved with oil fraud in Texas that was tied to Saudi Arabia.

In fact Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi was tied to BCCI and had the backing of Saudi and the U.S. in Iran Contra. Which of course involved Oliver North through the front company Lake Resources.

Albert Hakim pleaded guilty November 21, 1989, to a misdemeanor of supplementing the salary of Oliver L. North. Lake Resources Inc., in which Hakim was the principal shareholder. He also pleaded guilty to a corporate felony of theft of government property in diverting Iran arms sales proceeds to the Nicaraguan contras and other activities. Hakim was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell on February 1, 1990, to two years probation and a $5,000 fine; Lake Resources was ordered dissolved.

Iran Contra didn't just involve Iran. It involved arms and drugs going in and out of Nicaragua. Oliver North was in charge of everything that went in and out of Nicaragua at the time. Under Richard Secord's direction of course. Lake Resources was just one of many shell companies tied to a complex maze of investment fraud. The day before 9/11 Donald Rumsfeld stated the Pentagon could not account for $2.3 trillion. Privatizing the military and removing what little public accountability there is, is not the answer, The answer is to increase public accountability.

The International Credit and Investment Corporation of Grand Caymans was termed BCCI’s “bank-within-a-bank” in the Kerry Committee report. Thus, James Bath’s Skyways Aircraft Leasing is an enterprise related to Mahfouz’s BCCI via “IC Inc.” The company was found by investigators to be at the very centre of a chart found in Oliver North’s White House safe, showing the banking network of the Iran-Contra operation.

Hitman Jimmy Hughes

I was just going to put Hitman Jimmy Hughes in the gang member registry but there really is too much to write about him. Jimmy Hughes is a born again preacher who admits to being a hit man before he saw the light. Since then he was charged in the Octopus murders yet those charges were shamefully dropped.

It's a cold case in more ways than one but the puzzling thing is how can a Christian Minster who makes money off the fact that he admits he used to be a hitman refuse to confess to who he murdered when he was a hitman? Doesn't that mock God?

Doesn't the word hypocrite ring like a bell of warning? I had a friend who was a very witty and sarcastic Christian. He was a musician and wrote a song called Jimmy. It had profound imagery and was about a parade led by another man named Jimmy. There were three Jimmy's in his song each leading the parade. All were con men. One was Jim Jones. The other was Jim Baker and the third was Jimmy Swaggart. All three religious con men and hypocrites. No doubt we can add Jimmy Hughes to that list.

Jimmy Hughes Ministries supposedly helps battered women and dope addicts in Central America. Kinda like how Tony Terezakis was "helping" heroin addicted prostitutes in East Vancouver.

Here's the deal. Jimmy Hughes admits he was a hitman. Three people were murdered. They were murdered because they knew something and were going to make that information public. Once source claimed they were murdered over Bingo on the reservation. Yet that does not make sense because the reservation already had a casino. Another source claims they were murdered because they found an organized crime figure was skimming the profits from the casino. That theory doesn't make sense because what casino doesn't launder money and skim profits for organized crime?

It was called the Octopus Murders because it was tied to the INSLAW affair which journalist Danny Casolaro called the Octopus. Referring to a huge organized crime ring who's tentacles spread everywhere even into government. That same journalist was murdered the day after he was given key documents exposing the Octopus.

The fact is, Jimmy Hughes was a hitman. Three people were murdered and a former Hells Angel named Glen Heggstad was accused of hiring Jimmy Hughes to commit the murder. Justice would obviously be nice but the real question is, what was the real reason they were killed? What information was the hit supposed to cover up? That is what's most significant.

OK so one source claims that William Turner worked for the IRS and had given Danny Casolaro key information about specific individuals the night before he was killed. Hmmm not likely.

Another source claims Turner was an engineer for Honeywell until it had been acquired by Hughes Aircraft. Turner alleged that he'd uncovered evidence of fraud by Hughes Aircraft, and that his whistleblowing was ignored by the Department of Defense. Casolaro seems to have thought that Hughes Aircraft might have been involved in the Octopus as well. Well that seems a lot more plausible than Bingo and the IRS.

The theatrical production "Danny Casolaro Died for You" written by Danny's cousin claims Casolaro found high level corruption in the Reagan/Bush Justice Department. Gee other than drugs, arms, murder and fraud, I wonder what that could possibly be?

Honeywell employs people in Huntsville, AL which Al Martin described as the vortex of corruption. Hmmm Hughes Aircraft is involved with Huntsville, AL as well. In fact, not only did Danny Casolaro receive death threats during his investigation, a book about his research claims he met a U.S. Army Special Forces covert intelligence officer in the very hotel room he was found murdered in. I mean sporadically decided to commit suicide in.

Inslaw Lawyer Elliot Richardson has some interesting things to say about software to die for. He cited the October Surprise and the Iran-contra scandal. Personally I think the Regan administration delaying the release of the Iran Hostages until after the election to be nothing surprising or news worthy. I think it all had to involve drugs, guns, murder and fraud. It always does.

The Octopus is a good name for it. It just goes on forever. Most people have a ten second attention span when it comes to conspiracy theories and this Octopus even overwhelms me. I don't want to minimize the death of good honorable people but unfortunately nobody really cares. It's like Catherine Austin Fitts asking a group of a hundred people who will push the big red button? Only one in a hundred would. The Last Circle - Exposing the Labyrinth has more in depth pertinent information about the Octopus.

Robert Booth Nichols had been in contact with Danny Casolaro. Nichols worked for MCA Corporation which was tied to the Gambino crime family. Thomas Gates from the FBI claimed that "high level DOJ officials were tied to illegal activities of MCA." However, it went far beyond MCA.

Michael Riconosciuto served as Director of Research for the Wackenhut facility at the Cabazon Indian reservation in Indio, California. He confirms it's all about drugs for arms. Although Michael Riconosciuto is sitting in prison I find him meticulously articulate and credible. His claims are the same claim as Gary Webb and all the others. "Who's behind this ring?"

"It's The Company. Arms get shipped to the Contras, the Afghanistan rebels [Mujahaden], the Middle East. You know, to fight the Soviet influence. But the Contras and the Mujahaden don't have money to pay for arms, so they pay with drugs, cocaine or heroin. The Company handles the drug end of it in the U.S ..."

Oh and here's some of the investment fraud that connects CIA asset Robert Booth Nichols with the Bush administration. No big surprise there. Robert Booth Nichols cheated a guy out of $10 million. That fraud was sanctioned by John P.Ellis. Ellis is the first cousin of former President George W. Bush. Seemingly Robert Booth Nichols, died in Geneva, Switzerland on February 14, 2009. Others claim he's still alive. With that kind of money involved one has to wonder about the Clinton's involvement in this whole thing as well. They were seemingly tied to the Promise software in Arkansas.

In his Grand Jury testimony, Riconsciuto says his software modifications were used to launder drug money from the Mena, Arkansas operation - as well as for secret intelligence eavesdropping purposes.

Does Larry Amero know where DY is?

Forrest Schab, also known as DY is a Canadian rapper raised in Vancouver. He's missing. Someone on the Dirty claimed that Hells Angel Larry Amero and Rob Velek fronted Forrest money for his rapping career. Rob Velek is a MMA fighter from Revolution which has ties to the Hells Angels.

We know that DY, aka Forrest Schab was raised in Vancouver. Just like Mad Child's Shane Bunting who also has connections to the Hells Angels and Revolution. Only Mad child paid his drug debts. Shane claims he blew millions on his Oxycontin addiction.

Forrest Schab went on a holiday to Mexico. He told his family he'd be out of contact for two weeks. Only he never regained contact and has completely disappeared. With friends like the Hells Angels, who needs enemies?

Fine Them

Kim Bolan raised some interesting points about the Vancouver riot. She recounted how the rioters that were caught vandalizing things and assaulting people at the beginning of the Olympics basically got off with all but one of the charges being dropped. No wonder they came back to do it again.

The other point she raised was about how the current judicial system is in such a crisis having laid off all those sheriffs which has resulted in trial delays and adjournments. Convicting rioters would be expensive and the current system is out of money. Or is it?

Let's think about it for one minute. Gordon Campbell and Stephen Harper know how dead set against the HST the citizens of BC really are. They are spending a huge amount of tax dollars on dishonest adds trying to get us to vote in favor of raising taxes.

Laying off the sheriffs and putting the judicial system in a manufactured crisis was a publicity stunt. OK Gordon Campbell isn't there any more but all his former cabinet members are. All his MLAs that unilaterally drove ahead with the HST contrary to pubic opinion are there. Christy Clark is just a poster girl to resell it like Kim Campbell tried to resell Brian Mulroney's GST.

I don't believe there is a huge budget shortfall. These are the same people that closed Riverview and closed seniors homes while they gave themselves two huge pay raises and the very gold plated pension Campbell campaigned against when he was initially elected. They are inherently dishonest.

And just for the record, the HST is very much the Harper Sales tax. Harper was the one that bribed Gordon Campbell to push it through in BC. All the CONservative MP's towed the party line by voting in favour of it. Donna Cadmen said she opposed it but ducked the vote because she wasn't allowed to vote against it.

Kim Bolan suggested that since the system is so over budget, we should drop all the vandalism and theft charges and just proceed with the violent charges so we don't run out of money. Hold the door. The system isn't out of money and setting cars on fire, breaking store windows and looting businesses are violent crimes. Rioters getting in fist fights with each other is a natural consequence. We cannot drop charges against people who set cars on fire and loot businesses.

The answer is simple. Fine them. Fine them like you would for a parking ticket. If they want to, they can fight the parking ticket but they don't get a free lawyer to do so. If they don't pay the fine they don't get their car insurance renewed. It's that simple. This would save a ton of money and might actually pay for itself in fines. Not only that it would be easy to enforce. If a thousand people broke windows and stole things a thousand people could get tickets for vandalism and it would be totally manageable to enforce.

As one poster pointed out, dropping the charges against those caught on camera setting cars on fire, vandalizing and looting businesses will only see the problem increase dramatically. Issuing City fines for rioting like parking tickets would actually work. It's no different that red light cameras. You don't have to get a search warrant to find stolen property. That is way too costly and time consuming. If they are caught on camera looting and vandalizing then fine them. However, I do agree that the villains caught ganging up and assaulting the heros that were defendign persons and property should be criminally charged to the full extent of the law.

HST Dishonesty

The amount of money the government is spending on HST advertising is shameful. Everyone knows that adding a 10% tax to something that was not previously taxed is a tax increase. The government wouldn't be spending that much money on advertising trying to trick us into keeping the HST if it wasn't a tax increase. Yet not only are the adds clearly biased, they are also clearly dishonest.

The HST is not 10% it is 12%. They claim that some time in the future they will reduce it to 10%. Yet once it's in there is absolutely nothing stopping them from keeping it at 12% or increasing it after they dropped to 10% for a few months.

Then the adds come out with the most outrageous statement in recorded history. Paid actors saying "I have no reason to believe they won't drop it to 10% like they promised." If that is not the most absurd thing I have ever heard, I don't know what is. Just because they lied to us consistently about everything else, that doesn't mean they will keep lying to us about dropping the HST.

Harper lied about not taxing income trusts. He's already forming a long list of proven lies. Gordon Campbell lied when he was elected on the promise to oppose the MLA gold plated pension. Forget recall. We need to hold politicians criminally responsible for breach of contract when they consistently break their election promises. Letting a politician get away with lying is no different than letting an anarchist get away with setting a car on fire. They are the same thing. Both are wrong and we need to hold both parties accountable.

They lied when they said the adds wouldn't be biased. Why wouldn't they lie about dropping the HST? Regardless, the amount of tax dollars they are spending on HST advertising is a scandal, a scam and a sham. They would send out a bogus survey asking us how we want to spend the increased revenue from the HST if it wasn't increased revenue. I tell ya one place I don't want them to spend the increased revenue. On more prisons for nonviolent crime like possession of pot. Or for enforcing a non patriot act that removes our civil liberties.

Important Lessons from the Vancouver Riot

I think the first simple but important lesson we have all learned from the Vancouver riot is that the police need locking gas caps. We all do. Locking gas caps has become as important fundamental crime prevention tool as the steering wheel club.

Who would have thought it was that easy to set a car on fire. These idiots weren't using petrol bombs, they were just stuffing rags in the gas tanks and lighting them. Locking gas caps would be a simple but important deterrent.

The other good thing we learned is that bragging about that kind of stupidity will see your friends turn you in which is wonderful. Setting cars on fire, vandalizing and looting businesses is stealing from us. Nothing to brag about. Reporting those idiots is automatic.

The next step is to enforce fines and civil damages for theft or vandalism. That's an important step. If you're caught trashing something in a riot, you will be forced to pay monetary fines and damages. And if you're an employable anarchist who is out there to crush social peace while you scab off the system and live off welfare, you just got cut off and disqualified yourself for social assistance. Bye bye. Welfare is an important safety net for the down trodden, but not for those employable men who abuse the system.

The other good thing we learned is that if something bad like that happens, the public can volunteer to help clean and rebuild. Something that would take much longer and be much more expensive without volunteers. Smurfs rock.

Bikers and Nazi's

I never really clued in to the association of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and Nazi enthusiasts. The general public pretty much views anyone who displays a swastika as an extremist and a drama queen looking for attention. Young kids trying to go for the shock value. Wayne Kellestine liked Nazi symbols and confederate flags. He even danced a jig and sang the German anthem when he murdered the Shedden Eight.

Mom Boucher and Salvatore Cazzetta formed their own white supremest biker gang called the SS. Mom Boucher went on to join the Hells Angels while Salvatore Cazzettan went on to form the Rock Machine. The SS were Hitler's Storm troopers that were symbolically represented in George Lucas's Star Wars saga.



I'm kind of surprised at the Rock Machine's affinity for Nazism and the SS. On their facebook group they posted a picture of someone wearing Rock Machine colours with a SS license plate. The SS symbol isn't nearly as notorious as the swastika but it clearly represents the same thing. In fact a gumbie on the Rock Machine facebook group even used a profile picture of him wearing one of those girlie Halloween masks and a baseball cap with the SS logo on it.

Hitler invaded France. It's hard for me to understand how anyone especially anyone of French heritage would wear the symbol of the country that invaded them. It's rather bizarre.

Don't get me wrong. Germans are wonderful people. Their history and culture is much more than Adolf Hitler. Yet Hitler conned the Germans. At the time, no one really knew for sure what was happening to the Jews. First it was segregation. Then they started disappearing not to be heard from. People began to wonder but by then it was too late. What could they do? The gestapo were ruthless.

The point is, we can't blame all Germans for Hitler. Yet anyone who wears a swastika or an SS symbol now, have no excuse. They are knowingly perpetuating racism and intolerance. That is what we fought to oppose. Wearing those symbols now mocks the sacrifices our forefathers made on our behalf.

Yet the Hells Angels have even taken it one step further. They used to use the SS lightening bolt symbol on their Filthy Few patch. Until they replaced it with a skull with devil horns and the number 666. I kid you not. Grown men bragging about the number 666. Now that is really dumb. I really don't think that's something an Irish Catholic or a French Catholic would do.

Even more bizarre is the Hells Angels association with Nazi symbols and white supremacists on one hand and their exploitation of Greg Wooley on the other. They never did let Greg join the Hells Angels but they did let him join the Rock Machine so he could lead a Hells Angels puppet club called the Syndicate and the Crack Down Posse who supplied the Montreal crips with cocaine. So here we have white supremacists, exploiting someone of African ancestry and poisoning the black community in Montreal and getting rich off it. No wonder the other Haitian brothers were upset with them.

Small man syndrome

The Vancouver riots were very disappointing. Small losers empowered by the mob thirsting for their five minutes of fame. Yet times are changing and mob rule just isn't cool any more. People are ratting out their friends and making fun of them for being jerks which is a good sign.

Take Stephane Gillet. From the outside he looks like a really nice guy. You'd never know that by looking at his criminal history. He has this huge chip on his shoulder. He wants people to think he's deranged so he commits deranged acts of drug related violence. Even against women and children. Oh his fan denies that but even the French version of the article admitted he kidnapped a woman and children at gun point. The English paper just got that event mixed up with one of the many other violent acts in his criminal history.

Ya see he doesn't want you to think he's a nice guy so he overcompensates by doing bizarre acts of violence and the new leadership of the Rock Machine is goating him on. What a shame. There's nothing noble in a drug war. No one wants to bring that back. No one in Quebec or Vancouver. The public won't stand for it any more.

Even the Australian Waffler from the Rock Machine down under can't change the fact that the Rock Machine in Australia can't get along with anyone. They can't even get along with the Rebels. They can't get along with the Hells Angels. They broke off from the Bandidios after the Bandidio massacre in Ontario. They even kicked out their new National President and totally trash him who has since joined Vagos so they've burned that bridge too. So who can they get along with? Only the trained monkeys who kiss their ass and groom their frail ego. That is sad, very sad.

Drug wars are not noble. They are just about money and greed not honour or brotherhood. They betray their own for the almighty dollar. The good news is that people can see through them and don't think that kind of off the hook violence is cool so they are using social media to report them to the police. Welcome to the new world.

Making money from misery in Surrey

The Surrey Now ran a bizarre full page article about rogue recovery houses that prey on the addicted in Surrey. I know the Front Room is basically a drug house but that's a shelter not a recovery house. It is unwise to put a homeless shelter beside a needle exchange then give them in and out privileges all night. They don't even get in and out privileges at the Dell. As a result the Front Room is just a Provincially funded drug house where the staff are regularily abused. The Front room shelter and the needle exchange share the same civic address: 10667 135A Street, Surrey.

The recovery house scams are shocking. "There's good money in recovery houses; 10 clients will gross the operator nearly $6,000 a month and those who exploit their clients by providing substandard accommodation and meals can realize a tidy profit."

Corey is a 22-year-old recovering crack addict who lives in one of Robinson's recovery houses. He's been wrestling with substance abuse of one kind or another since he was seven. He spent four weeks in a recovery house run by an organization that has at least five houses in Surrey.

"They got $560 a month from me and it was pretty much just a meal a day and a bed to sleep in. I wasn't put on any restrictions and I was allowed to keep my phone," Corey said. He said within the first week of his residence there, he and the house monitor - the person in charge of the place - were on their way to a recovery meeting.

"While we were out, the monitor bought some crack. Both of us were using crack. After a while, I figured there wasn't much point being there."

Steve Burke and Charlie Morton both live in Whalley and both have bad recovery houses in their area. They claim the majority of recovery houses have more residents than the rules allow, are poorly managed, and are nothing more than money-making enterprises that take advantage of people who have fallen on bad times.

"We have more compassion for a dying seal on a beach than we have for human beings in our city. It's not right. I think the province is misappropriating our tax money, supposedly to help these people, and they're not doing anything."

Burke agreed. He said profit is the prime motive for most recovery house operators. "You can't make a profit with just six people in that house. You've got to have more people there - a lot more."

City hall can only regulate zoning and land use; it has no direct control over the recovery process itself. Nobody knows for sure just how many drug and alcohol recovery houses are operating in Surrey. Some estimates run as high as 200, but Surrey's mayor thinks the actual number is smaller.

"From what I understand, there are about 130 here in our city," Mayor Dianne Watts told the Now. However many there are, the vast majority of the recovery houses in Surrey - about 90 per cent of them - are not subject to provincial regulation and inspection and that's a problem. It's a problem for the city, for police, but most of all, it's a problem for their residents, addicts trying to get clean and sober.

The situation dates from December 2001 when the government of former premier Gordon Campbell changed the rules governing recovery houses. The Liberals amended the Community Care Facility Act to create a new class of facility called supportive recovery residences that are not required to have a provincial licence to operate.

In order to qualify as a supportive recovery residence, operators are required to provide "a safe and drug-free environment" for recovering addicts, but cannot "provide most or all of the services" required of licenced houses. The changes essentially created a class of boarding house for those addicted to alcohol and drugs.

In many cases, what it created was a network of flophouses where people trying to overcome addiction are exploited by unscrupulous operators who take clients' welfare cheques, but deliver little in the way of support or supervision.