Rehabilitation

Obviously the gang war concerns us. Public and private violence is a legitimate concern. Seeing the loss and grief in Chris Mohan's mother's eyes is heart breaking. Ultimately, there can be no justice because nothing will bring her son back. Not even the death of those who murdered her son. Yet doing nothing mocks that wonderful life that was stolen.

Perhaps too much effort is put into trying to rehabilitate sexual offenders. Some call for mandatory castration. The objectives of the judicial system is not just to punish the guilty but to protect public peace. To prevent other victims.

Leaving murder and sexual assault aside, I do want to talk about rehabilitation. There was a Hells Angel who was caught selling crack at Surrey Central. He cried just like the Hells Angels caught selling date rape drug, said he was sorry and promised he'd change his ways. Although confession and remorse are the right steps to take, they aren't the only steps. Perhaps I was too critical of this individual. It's really not my place to judge him. I just thought the whole thing was suspicious since as a result of his real or fake tears, he only served one day in prison.

Yet I will agree change is not only possible, it should be encouraged. Kim Bolan interviewed James Coulter who was with the UN and had a crack addiction. He had gotten off the drug and started giving back by volunteering in East Van. This guy seemed legitimate. Not Like Tony the Hypocrite who was "helping" East Van prostitutes by selling them heroin.

Recently someone sent me the link to another reformed gang member who was now speaking to kids in schools. I hesitate to cite the web site or discuss it in a positive light because that might put him at risk. Yet if the Hells Angels are going to try and continue with their dishonest facade about not being drug dealers, then they really shouldn't have anything against someone speaking to kids against drugs and the gang life.

Dave Habib had a famous boxer come and speak against drug abuse to the boxers in his gym. Anyways, the guy's name is Tom Winget. His web site is called You can't reset this game. He is the former Sargent in Arms for the Manitoba Hells Angels. After doing time in the Zig Zag crew round up, he claims to have seen the light and now speaks to kids in schools about gang life. His conclusion is if kids get involved in the gang life there are two places that road will lead: prison or death. It's a pretty honest message. I certainly wouldn't want to see him die of an unfortunate accident for his work.

My whole point is yes people can change and yes that is our ultimate goal. Martin Luther King taught that the old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. As Christians rally in a mob mentally spirit of criminal vengeance I am reminded of Martin Luther King's conclusion when he said: "I've seen too much hate to want to hate and every time I see it I say to myself hate is too great a burden to bear."

Hate is too great a burden to bear. So is losing a child to violence. We should be concerned with preventing future victims of violence. The first step to rehabilitation is helping people overcome their addictions to hard drugs not by being enablers helping them perpetuate their addiction. Three months in jail for selling crack is not excessive. It is essential. Not doing so is negligence.

Conrad Black on the Prison System

Speaking of prisons, I found this article about Harper's Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety written by Conrad Black somewhat interesting. I am by no means a fan of Conrad Black. I think he is a liar and a crook. Yet just as no two people agree on every issue, likewise no two people disagree on every issue either. Conrad raises a good point about human rights.

Back in the day we had prisoners of war. Understandably, there is a certain amount of animosity directed toward a prisoner of war. After all, they were caught trying to kill you. Yet they are human beings and are entitled to basic human rights. I'm not going to ramble about prisoner's rights as though it is some kind of demand they are entitled to. I'm going to speak from the position that since we are human beings, treating prisoners like human beings is something we owe ourselves if we are to continue claiming to be members of that race.

I will add that since crime should be punished according to the nature of the offence, I am glad Conrad Black was finally incarcerated for Investment Fraud. Just as we need to address the issue of violent crime, we also need to address the issue of investment fraud since it poses such a legitimate threat to the market and pension security. Robbing a bank is wrong. Whether you come into the bank with a gun, or if you come in with a suit and tie and defraud it, both acts are the same.

Concerns have been raised about Harper’s Corporate Prison Plan and indeed they should. California's prison crisis came about because of the privatization of prisons just like Enron. A privatized prison is a conflict of interest. A privatized prison mandated to make a profit has no regard for rehabilitation or human rights.

Obviously, rehabilitation is not the primary objective of incarceration. Public safety is. Nevertheless, in the spirit of public safely, rehabilitation is a factor. It's not the primary factor but it is a factor nonetheless. After all, "Christians" are taught to visit those in prison and equate it with visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and housing the homeless.

The Cost of Incarceration

Canada's annual prison costs jump 86 percent to $3B in just five years. As we contemplate raising taxes, reducing deficits, and prioritizing expenditures we do need to examine how much tax dollars we spend on what and why.

We have expressed the concern that the current Judaical system for violent crime is flawed. If you commit murder or if a group of people swarm and assault an individual, that crime needs to be taken seriously and have some kind of legitimate consequence to it. House arrest for trafficking cocaine for the Hells Angels is nonsense. Crimes committed with firearms need to be taken seriously.

Yet often our world is full of extremes. Mandatory minimum sentences for violent crime is one thing. Mandatory minimum sentences for possession of pot is another. When we look at the crisis the California prison system is in, it becomes clear that we must be prudent and prioritize our expenditures.

The California prisons are desperately over crowded. Three to a bunk is excessive. As a result of the privatized prison system refusing to adequately address the issue, the courts ordered them to release one quarter of the prison population. That is significant. The most basic and obvious concern is that the release of prisoners has almost become a lottery as they aren't necessarily releasing nonviolent offenders first which is absolutely absurd.

Equally absurd is Harper's promise to get tough on crime then cut funding for the RCMP and the Gang task force. Crime prevention is an important factor in dealing with crime. Having police officers walk the beat in East Vancouver and in Surrey Central is a good thing. A police presence in those areas can help reduce crime. You don't have to spend a lot of money on Crime Prevention for it to be effective. Block Watch is a volunteer program that effectively gets the community involved in reporting crime and being aware of suspicious behaviour. Surrey Place and Guldford mall have volunteers to help patrol which has dramatically helped reduce the amount of car theft in those areas.

In California they incarcerate deadbeat Dads. No one likes a deadbeat Dad but throwing him in jail costs taxpayers money. Garnishing his wages costs the deadbeat Dad money. It really is that simple.

Yes there is crime associated with grow ops but the real problem is when the gangs take the BC pot and trade it in the US for cocaine to be sold here as crack. As soon as you bring cocaine into the picture the violence increases exponentially. As soon as you start selling crack or meth on the street the violence is off the hook.

Enforcement means not letting the gangs sell crack in public. That is the New York model. Mandatory minimum sentences for selling crack are needed. Mandatory minimum sentences for selling pot is disproportionate and since it would be so costly, it would prevent us from being able to incarcerate the violent criminals and in essence shoot ourselves in the foot.

Lindsay Buziak's murder

Speaking of Calgary cocaine, let's revisit Lindsay Buziak's murder. She was the realtor that was viciously murdered after showing a couple a home in Saanich in what police described at the time to be an 'intentionally targeted' attack.

A year and a half later police release video footage to the public it had given to the TV show Dateline which did an episode on the murder. Saanich police did not see the Dateline show before it aired.

Sgt. Dean Jantzen said while some of the information may have been new to the public, it was not new to police. That information includes a trip to Calgary Buziak took six weeks before her killing. She visited her father who lives there, and also caught up with an old friend. That man, Erickson Lopez Delalcazar, was charged a few days before Buziak's murder in the largest cocaine trafficking case in Alberta. Delalcazar, then 28, is from Victoria.

It was speculated that some idiot thought she was the rat and fell to the same fate Britney Irving did in Kelowna. That kind of paranoia is disturbing. Even more disturbing is murdering someone for being a rat when they weren't.

Operation High Noon, which began with a raid in January 2008, netted 42 kg of cocaine from a safe in a home in the 300 block of Hawthorne Dr. N.W. Calgary. Police also found 25 kg of the drug in the same home a week earlier. It was the largest cocaine bust in Calgary and in Alberta's history.

Graham Scott Taylor, 30, of Calgary and Erickson Lopez Delalcazar, 28, of Victoria, B.C. are both charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of property obtained by crime.

So the new information released to the public in the Dateline segment that the police confirm is true, was that Linda took a trip to Calgary to visit her father and met up with an old friend named Erickson Lopez Delalcazar who was charged a few days before Buziak's murder in the largest cocaine trafficking case in Alberta. Delalcazar, then 28, is from Victoria.

Lindsey met an old friend in Calgary right before he was busted and they were both from Victoria. It is an interesting coincidence. The criminal organization hasn't been named but it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out who runs the cocaine trade in Calgary and who runs it in Victoria.

No one thinks Lindsay was involved in the drug trade. No one thinks Lindsey ratted out her old friend during that short visit. However, given the timing of the visit and the frenzy of the vengeance it is highly possible someone affiliated with that drug bust decided to blame her and that was why she was murdered. Tragic.

Night Club Racism

This three part documentary is from Calgary but I've heard similar stories here. I find it very disturbing. Private businesses are allowed to be racist? That just isn't right. The police are being paid by the nightclub to enforce racism. Insane. This clip is of a cop punching a black guy in the head when he is on the ground, handcuffed and not resisting arrest. These acts diminish us as human beings.

Money matters delay murder case

Curtis Lynds' preliminary hearing has been postponed until he can pay for a lawyer. Curtis Lynds? That's Hells Angel Jeffrey Lynds' nephew. Jeff confessed to murdering Randy Mersereau and is on trial for three other murders. If someone can't afford a lawyer, one is appointed by the court. This looks like a very strange stall tactic.

Curtis Lynds, who lived on Hiram Lynds Road until his arrest on drug trafficking charges in 2007, was charged on with being an accessory after the fact in Mersereau's death for allegedly helping his uncle, Jeff, escape custody.

He was a drug dealer who lived at the mansion on the hill. The delay, Burke argued, would give him an opportunity to put forth an application on Lynds' behalf to request that four parcels of seized land in Lynds' name be sold, and the money used to cover his legal fees. Ah so money really isn't the issue. He just wants the proceeds of crime back.

One reader pointed out that the Mansion on the hill that Lynds lived in was mysteriously on the same street as where Randy Mersereau's body was found - Hiram Lynds Road in Colchester County.

Sounds like the whole freakin family were drug dealers. Chris Lynds, Curtis' brother, plead guilty to 11 counts of trafficking cocaine. Crack heads. Randy James Lynds, wife Janice Elizabeth Lynds and daughter Jessica Lynn Hamilton have been charged with possessing proceeds of crime. Jessica is Curtis' girlfriend. Is she Randy and Janice Lynds daughter or daughter in law?

Phone-hacking whistleblower found dead

Police say Sean Hoare, the whistle blower reporter who alleged widespread hacking at the News of the World, has been found dead. Wow. And his death is not considered suspicious. Wow. How can an unexplained death, not be suspicious?

Hoare gave an interview to the New York Times in 2010 that bolstered allegations the phone hacking was a widespread and accepted practice at the tabloid. He also said that Coulson encouraged the practice. Hoare was let go from the News of the World for problems related to drinking and drugs.

Well one of those two allegations I believe. I believe the phone hacking was widespread and was an accepted practice but I don't believe he was fired for drinking and drugs. He might have been fired for drinking and drugs but there is not a snowball's chance in Hell I believe those allegations to be true. He was a whistle blower. Whistle blowers get fired. That's illegal but common. They also get slandered.

Hoare had been in contact with the Guardian and the New York Times only last week, stating that the News of the World staff used police technology to track phones. That's believable too since we just heard how the scandal has extended to include police resignations.

David Cameron claims they turned a blind eye to the allegations previously because they are media whores and want the media on their side. No kidding. This brings us to the next logical conclusion which was my gut feeling all along. Where on earth did these tabloids get the technology to tap telephones at Buckingham palace? Yes that would imply a police connection but it would also imply a secret service connection, MI 6.

We know MI 6 are also media whores. We saw that in Operation Mass appeal. That whistle blower died of a suspicious suicide as well. MI 6 have been keenly interested in having an in with the media ever since Operation Ajax back in Iran during the /50's.

Andy Coulson has been cleared of any wrong doing now that the witness is dead. The crisis has roiled the upper ranks of Britain's police, with Monday's resignation of Assistant Commissioner John Yates - Scotland Yard's top anti-terrorist officer - following that on Sunday of police chief Paul Stephenson over their links to Neil Wallis, an arrested former executive from Murdoch's shuttered News of the World tabloid whom police had employed as a media consultant.

Yates was Scotland Yard's top anti-terrorist officer. Gee ya think that Scotland Yard's top anti-terrorist officer just might have some contact with MI 6 and the British Secret Service? Ya think? Go figure. Corners weren't just cut to sell the Iraq war. They maliciously gave the media false information to sell it.

The Murdoch Empire and it's nest of vipers were connected to Scotland yard. The former police officers who formed a secret private investigation company were connected to the British Company. MI6.

Murdoch denies responsibility for hacking scandal. No kidding. So does Coulson, Cameron and MI6. Now that the witness is dead, the case is closed. Big surprise.

But David Cameron did say he will apologize if his former communications chief is found to have lied about his role in the phone-hacking scandal. That's so nice. We're so sorry uncle Albert. We're so sorry your witness died.

Ontario Hells Angels: Village Idiots

Take a look at this recent photo of some Hells Angels from Ontario. I didn't photo shop it, I just added the arrows and circles. Take a look at the shorts, sneakers and the full face helmet. That is bizarre. People who ride motorcycles make fun of people who ride with shorts and sneakers.

Standard safety equipment on a motorcycle are motorcycle boots. The reason being, if your front end slips on water, gravel or ice, you can kick yourself back up again. You can't really do that with sneakers on. It's like working construction without steel toe boots. It's not very bright.

Shorts on a Harley look dumb. The idea behind wearing long pants and ideally leather is if you put the bike down you slide. Otherwise your skin would turn into hamburger meat if you went down. The ultimate joke is seeing a guy with sneakers and shorts on a motorcycle with a full face helmet. Like that helmet is going to save you. You'll probably just get decapitated because the helmet won't let you tuck your chin to roll from a fall.

What on earth is that guy on the rear left riding? It's a small sports bike. Maybe they're gonna have Vespas now like William van Boxtel in Holland. Come on people. These are the guys that started the Winnipeg gang war because they killed one of their own in Thompson Manitoba? That's what happens when they start smoking too much of their own product. They aren't bikers they're patchovers. The only respect they deserve is a call to crime stoppers to get those little rats off the street.

That sports bike in the rear left looks an awful lot like a bike owned by Reynold Williams and the bike beside it in the rear right looks an awful lot like a bike owned by Mark Sanschagrin. I sure hope it's not them riding around looking like idiots with sneakers on.

Fire Fatality in Winnipeg

With all these firebombings in Winnipeg, there's finally been a fatality. Emergency crews were called to a working fire in the 200 block of Austin Street North around 2 a.m. Saturday, said officials. Eight people were inside the 12-suite rooming house. Six were sent to hospital in critical condition. Of those, two remain in critical and four died in hospital, said police.

Winnipeg police have made an arrest in connection with the weekend rooming house fire that killed four and left two others critically injured. Police said the fire is considered a multiple homicide. Neighbours told CBC News that the rooming house is often home to people struggling with addictions.

What a real tragedy. Police are treating this fire as a homicide but aren't claiming it's related to the biker war between the Hells angels and the Rock Machine in Winnipeg. They have a woman charged in custody. When you burn someone's house down with people inside, there are going to be innocent casualties. Report them.

According to CBC, members of the Redlined Support Crew, the street enforcers for the Hells Angels, operate out of a building in an industrial park on Bowman Avenue in Elmwood.

Bush Lies, Palin is an idiot

Talk about brain dead drama queens. Sarah Palin twisted the slogan about Bush's invasion of Iraq from Bush lied people died to Obama lies the economy dies. That is an insanely offensive statement from a brain dead idiot.

Bush lied about Iraq's WMD. He lied. MI 6 were caught red handed giving false information about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction to the media in Operation Mass Appeal. It was a malicious premeditated lie that not only cost thousands of innocent lives, it wasted millions of taxpayer dollars.

Palin the Air head claims Obama is over exaggerating the debt so he can raise taxes. Hold the door. Bush lied about how much debt there was and he was instrumental in the crash of the economy with all the investment fraud his family was involved with.

Bush lied about how much debt there was. Both Bushes. The day before 9/11 Rumsfeld warned that the Pentagon has misplaced $2.3 trillion. Misplaced! Trillion! That was before Bush kept sucking money out of congress for his lies.

Obama has said if the US doesn't raise it's debt ceiling, they will have to raise taxes. That is pretty fundamental math. He prefers to raise the debt ceiling. That's why he made the comparison. Obama is not lying or over exaggerating the seriousness of the unprecedented debt the Bush regimes incurred. It is serious and we need to look at it because if the US doesn't get it under control, they will suck us down with them.

Nevertheless, as tax increases are discussed it's important to remember the massive public rallies in England. Raising taxes, stealing pensions and cutting hospitals and education because of reckless and fraudulent military spending is absolutely criminal. In more ways than one. We do need a Canadian Arab spring in this country. Just ask the Rogue Page from Ottawa.