Nanaimo Assault

Two Nanaimo men face charges after a man suffered life-threatening injuries during a violent home invasion. Nanaimo RCMP say two men, with a baton and pit bull, assaulted a 30-year-old man inside a Giggleswick Place home. The victim, who police say knows the suspects, let them into his home.

Once inside, police say the men attacked the victim, beating him with a metal object and repeated punches and kicks. For as long as 30 minutes the beating continued, said police, which included throwing the victim down a set of stairs and dragging him back up.

RCMP say the incident may have been prompted by allegations a woman may have lost or had an expensive ring stolen at a party at the victim's home on Friday. The suspects were reportedly there to retrieve the ring, which has yet to be found. The men left after taking some money.

Police were eventually called, with the victim telling officers he had received death threat if he spoke to police. Lloyd Thomas, 28, and James Else, 25, face charges of aggravated assault, uttering threats and robbery. One source claims that Lloyd Thomas is affiliated with the Nanaimo Hells Angels.

Kamploops Kidnapping and Assault

Police have two suspects in custody and have issued arrest warrants for three more with regards to a vicious assault and robbery in Kamloops where a man was kidnapped, beaten, stabbed, robbed and run over with a car.

Warrants were issued Tuesday for David Joseph Byford, Brett Kiichi Haynes and Jeff Maxwell Oldford. Gregory Jordan Brotzel and Adam James Colligan were arrested early in the investigation and remain in custody.

All five are charged with aggravated assault, robbery, kidnapping, assault with a weapon (knife and/or bat), assault with a weapon (motor vehicle) and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm. Police say the victim and his alleged attackers are involved in the drug trade and the attack was targeted.

We received a tip earlier where one source claimed Jeff Oldford became the new leader of the Independent Soldiers in Kamloops which police claim is a puppet gang for the Hells Angels.

Looting and Lawlessness

One blog reader pointed out how civilized Japan was after the earthquake and reactor leak and how uncivilized the rest of us are in the West as shown in the Vancouver hockey riot, in New Orleans after the hurricane and in London now. Obviously there are more good people out there than bad and that criminals get empowered by a mob. Yet it is clear that Japan has shown to be much more civilized than the rest of us in the West.

The Vancouver hockey riot was the epitome of spoilt brat stupidity. There was no reason. A bunch of brats just wanted to trash things. The rest of Vancouver was outraged. They came out to help clean up and were vigilant in reporting facebook friends who bragged about rioting. Yet the front page of today's Vancouver province pointed out the cold hard truth. London has already charged 100 rioters. Vancouver has yet to charge any. That is an embarrassment.

My point is lawlessness is self defeating and very short sighted. Kids in a mob can temporarily feel empowered when they are allowed to use violence to vandalize, loot or start fights but the laws they break are the same laws that were protecting them. If they can loot a store, then anyone can take from them what they took from the store. If they can burn someones car or home, then someone else can burn their car or home. If there is no law or police, anyone can assault them for no reason. Lawlessness doesn't just leave everyone blind, it leaves everyone impoverished.

Looting after an earthquake or hurricane is equally absurd. Where are ya gonna plug in that big screen TV buddy? Your house has just been destroyed. I had previously mentioned during the Vancouver riot having spoken with a man who lived in Chicago during the Chicago riots. He said they lived in the suburbs and all had guns. He said they all got together, pulled out their guns and said if you bring that riot to our neighbourhood, we will shoot you dead. Right or wrong it prevented the riot from spreading.

Likewise, Londoners are ready to fight back. Here in Surrey some kids were vandalizing cars. A gang member came out and saw the kids vandalizing his car. He pulled out his gun and shot him dead. Right or wrong it sent a clear message. No doubt if a Vancouver riot was to spread to Surrey, we would fight back to protect our homes and our property as well as the Businesses who contribute to our community.

Trashing all the small businesses isn't sticking it to the man. It's killing your community by destroying small business there and making it so that only the huge corporations that make massive profits and pay crappy wages will be able to survive. It is shooting yourself and your own community in the foot.

Having said that, it is important not to be distracted by the looting and the lawlessness, so we don't forget the stunning injustice which sparked the riot.

London Calling

London is calling and the message is clear but the violence needs to stop or the message will be lost. After three days the London riots have subsided but have spread like a wild fire to neighbouring cities. The vandalism and violence swept through Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham and several other cities.

My first response is hold the door. Vandalism and looting are senseless. You have no idea how important this case is. Don't blow it for everyone. They say where there is no justice there will be no peace. I say there can be no justice without the truth.

We can talk about the social conditions in England all we want but let us remember what sparked the riot. Mark Duggan was shot dead while being followed and arrested by police. The police claimed they shot him after he fired upon them. They claimed he shot an officer in the chest and the bullet hit the officer's radio. They then said after the officer was shot "marksmen" opened fire and shot him dead.

The family said that didn't make sense. They said it was out of character. They held a protest at the Tottenham police station. Many others showed up and it turned into a riot.

Well the ballistic report is in. The ballistic report claimed that the gun found in Mark Duggan's possession had not been fired and that the bullet that hit the police officer's radio was from a police issue firearm. Mark Duggan did not shoot at police. They lied. Not only did they lie, they were caught lying. This is profoundly significant.

We need to take a deep breath, appeal for calm, stop vandalizing and looting and start organizing and marching. Where is Martin Luther King when you need him. It's like Russel Crow in the movie Gladiator. When we see the rioters vandalizing and looting we can hear the words "Marcus Aurelius had a dream for Rome and this is not it." Indeed Martin Luther King had a dream for England and this is not it.

Martin Luther King offered a different way to right wrongs and confront injustice. He walked the high road and made a profound impact on the globe. The IPCC report is profound. I am absolutely shocked they reported the truth. There is no way the police officer's radio could have been hit from a ricochet from the two shots fired at the suspect. They said the suspect fired at them. They lied. It is clear that they shot the radio to make it look like the suspect had shot at them when he hadn't. They were trying to cover their tracks.

This profoundly significant fact needs to be addressed. All of the officers involved need to be suspended without pay and not only face disciplinary action for lying but face criminal charges for falsifying evidence and breach of the public trust. You're not willing to do that you say? Well don't look now but your country is on fire. Where there is no justice there will be no peace. You can't create justice out of a lie. If you want to fight lawlessness you have to come clean and charge the officers who lied with murder and breach of public trust.

There's a lot more I have to say on the subject but that will suffice for now. The violence needs to stop. Vandalizing and looting is pointless. You're trashing your own neighbourhood. That will not right this wrong. It will only make it worse. You need to organize, march and speak out. As the violence is brought under control, the grievance needs to be addressed. All the officers involved who lied about what happened need to be suspended, charged and tried. No justice, no peace. Know justice, know peace. Mark my word.

The Bloc Tory

On the lighter side we once again see a humorous revelation. Turns out that a high ranking member of Harper's caucus used to be, brace yourself, a member of the Bloc Québécois. Gasp. What a scandal. Not. Who really cares?

The Harper media madness has been railing about the fact that the interim NDP leader used to be a member of the Bloc. Who cares? It's obvious that many voters in Quebec switched from the Bloc to the NDP in the last federal election. The federalists should be thrilled and welcome them with open arms. Unless of course Mr. Harper really isn't a federalist. With all the railing accusations perhaps it's Mr. Harper who is the real separatist. After all he does hate the French and he does hate immigration.

The perpetual hysterical hypocrisy is concerning. It's just like when Harper was the drama queen about the evil coalition when in reality a letter was produced showing his intent to form a coalition when the tables were turned. Hypocrisy and censorship are a bad combination.

Syria's sadness and madness

Syria's crackdown on free speech and lawful assemble has just entered the twilight zone. Not only are they using live ammunition to fire on peaceful protesters, now they are firing at mourners at funerals. Such a bizarre crackdown has even earned Syria a rebuke from the King of Saudi Arabia who himself sent troops in to fire on unarmed civilians.

Two lawmakers and a religious leader have since resigned due to the extreme brutality of the crackdown. This is something you'd expect to hear coming out of a Communist country and read about in the Gulag Archipelago.

It makes me question the motive behind the military intervention in Libya. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy that was firing live ammunition on protesters. Not a word was said. Saudi is a friend of the West and let's US troops stay there.

The rebels in Libya took up arms against the government. When the government fired back, the media twisted that to sound like Gadaffi was firing on unarmed protesters like in Saudi or Syria which simply wasn't the case.

Syria's brutality is off the chart and will likely result in the success of the protest. Libya has oil and Gadaffi is left wing. That's why there is military intervention in Libya and not in Syria or Saudi Arabia.

As we can see, the general public get frustrated when dishonest governments start stealing pensions and making huge budget cuts to pay for military fraud, banking fraud and stock market fraud. The motive is suspect.

Grisly details in Vernon Greeks trial

The Vancouver Province has been following the Vernon Greeks murder trial in Vancouver. Pretty bizarre details about one of the murders came out in court.

Ron Sparks, a former enforcer for the Greeks gang of Vernon, testified that gang members were angry and agitated when they couldn't reach one of their dial-a-dope lines. The gang tracked down Marnuik and took him to a building they called the office, said Sparks, 45, an enforcer for the gang from 2000 to 2003. (If he had stolen from them, he would have left town, but he didn't)

The office. I'm not sure where that was but we do remember that before the trial started the media reported Marniuk's death was linked to last year's extensive search of a Vernon warehouse that had links to the Hells Angels. The place on Fairweather Road is owned by Zenon Stepkowski whom police confirm is an associate of the Calgary chapter of the Hells Angels.

The media reported that warehouse was involved in the murder. I have no idea if that was the office they were referring to in the trial since I was not present and have heard nothing about the trial except what the newspapers have been reporting.

The court was told Sheldon O'Donnell, one of five members or associates of the Greeks standing trial for murder, taped Marnuik to a chair. O'Donnell - along with a second gang member who cannot be named because of a publication ban - and Sparks then started to punch Marnuik, Sparks said.

A second gang member who cannot be named due to a publication ban. What on earth is up with that. Why would one of the named suspects get a publication ban and not the others. That is very strange indeed. In fact, when I search the court registry for the other names of the accused, nothing shows up. Except for Zenon Stepkowski's 2011 assault charge when his co accused was charged with theft and a 2009 income tax case.

Anyways, Sparks claims they taped the guy to a chair and beat him with their fists, a pipe and a baseball bat. Sparks one of them seriously burned the guys hand with a blow torch. They then took the body into the bush near Enderby, set it on fire and ground it up. Enderby is the same town where Stepkowski had his income tax case.

The five originally charged are: Dale Sipes, Les Podolski, Sheldon O'Donnell, Peter Manolakos and Douglas Brownell. The trial is expected to hear from more than 100 witnesses and involve between 200 and 300 exhibits.

I think the main thing to remember when reading about the details of the Greek's trial is that they were affiliates of the Hells angels. They beat and murdered their own. Police claim one of the five victims was a Hells angels affiliate. Like I say, with friends like that, who needs enemies.



Andre Raymond has already plead guilty to being involved with four of the murders. In November 2004, Raymond helped lure 31-year-old Thomas Bryce, who had allegedly threatened to kill an associate of the Greeks, to a beach near Vernon.

As Raymond distracted the victim, an associate came up behind Bryce and struck him over the head with a baseball bat. Bryce was then repeatedly struck by the bat while lying on the ground. Wearing his Harley Davidson boots, Raymond then struck Bryce on the torso.

As they fled the scene, one of the Greeks used his vehicle to drive over Bryce's body. An unconscious Bryce was taken by ambulance to hospital where he died 17 days later, never having regained consciousness.

In April, Ken Beck pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the killing of Hewison and received a life term with no parole eligibility for 10 years.

William Mastop, a lawyer from Vernon, was charged by direct indictment, which alleges he took part in the activities of a criminal organization between August 2000 and December 2005.

London in Turmoil

Update: Third day of riots spread to Liverpool and Birmingham. This is not good. This does not build bridges. It just tears them down.

I'm saddened to hear of riots in London again. North London, Tottenham. Reminiscent of the riots in /85. I stayed in Brixton, South London a few years after the riots. The front line was a long line of businesses that had been boarded up and abandoned. After the riots the businesses never returned. It left the community decimated. Mind you the Brixton Market was awesome.

So what was the cause? Well it wasn't because someone lost a hockey game. It was because a local resident was shot by police. Mark Duggan, 29, was shot dead by police Thursday while he was being placed under arrest.

A small crowd, mostly consisting of friends and family, had gathered Saturday outside the Tottenham Police Station to protest the killing of Mark Duggan. Others came, violence started and the demonstration turned into a riot.

There are conflicting reports about the conditions of the shooting. Some reports claim Mark Duggan was in a taxi and started shooting at police. When police returned fire Duggan was killed. If that be the case it's hard to understand how that could cause a riot. Unless of course that wasn't the case.

Mark was from the "notorious" Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham. When I stayed in Brixton, I met a guy selling hash on the front line. He gave me a tour of the area and described what happened there during the riots. He mentioned Tottenham and Broadwater Farm Estate. He said don't go there. They'll drop a fridge on your head. So of course I went.

No one dropped a fridge on my head. I heard some Regee music playing in the background. Not blaring offensively. It was just cool and clam. It was nice. It kind of reminded me how everyone used to talk about Divis flats on the Falls Road in West Belfast. I met a lot of really nice people there.

No doubt we'll wait for the ballistic report to come in. Yet the official story does sound suspicious. The police admit it was a covert operation and that they were following the suspect in a taxi. The police claim the suspect fired at them and hit an officer in his radio on his chest. Right after that "marksmen" opened fire and shot him dead. What I personally find suspicious is terms like covert operation and marksmen.

Covert operation is a term used by intelligence agencies not under cover police. A covert operation with marksmen on scene would reinforce that. Sure an under cover drug investigation could technically be referred to as covert and such an operation would have SWAT or whatever the British equivalent would be, yet I find those terms suspicious. Why would the family hold a peaceful protest if Mark was a know drug dealer who shot at the police?

There are many unanswered questions and I'm not sure an inquiry will be able to answer them. One thing for certain is that this is a horrible thing to have happen right before the Olympics. No one wants riots during the Olympics and no one wants London to turn into a police state either. Let's rebuild a better future.

Banksters

William Black was a regulator during the Savings and Loan scandal in the /80's. He wrote an interesting book called "The best way to rob a bank is to own one." He claims that the current financial crisis and economic meltdown is driven by fraud. Micheal Moore interviewed him in his movie Capitalism a love story where he stressed the difference between Capitalism and Democracy. Greed is not good. With regards to bank deregulation it has been said, When you destroy financial regulation you create a financial catastrophe.

Just for the record, you're not going to hear me make statements like, share the wealth. You're going to hear me make statements like stop the fraud. Stop letting white collar criminals steal from the public purse. It has nothing to do with left or right. It's just common sense. If you let criminals steal from the public purse, there will be less money to balance the budget which adversely affects the economy. Privatizing and deregulating everything simply opens the door for fraud and theft. We've seen it with the prisons. We've seen it with Enron. We've seen it with the Banks and we've seen it with Wall Street. Or in our case the VSE.

US Debt Fraud

I'm having a little bit of trouble with the math. The US's national debt is in the news of late and I'm trying to pinpoint just how much of that debt was stolen from fraud. The day before 9/11 Donald Rumsfeld said the Pentagon can't account for 25% of what it spends and has lost $2.3 trillion. That is mucho dinero.

We're told that the US debt has now hit $13 trillion. The reason people are concerned is because it's starting to over take the GDP. So $2.3 trillion missing is a large chunk of that debt.

The invasion of Iraq was based on a lie. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Another $3 trillion later Bush said "Mission Accomplished." That's another $3 trillion stolen from fraud. Add that $3 trillion to the mission $2.3 trillion and we get $5.3 trillion which is an even bigger chunk of the $13 trillion debt.



England is also reeling from over expenditures and much of their debt has result from what John Rees from Stop the War Coalition refers to an addiction to war. England spend a lot of money on the invasion of Iraq and their bank bail out. Now they are scrambling to pay for that by stealing pensions and recking havoc on public programs.

John Rees pointed out that on the very first night of the attack on Libya, over 100 cruise missiles were fired. Those missiles are $100 million worth of resources blown up in one night. It doesn't take a great deal of imagination to calculate how many places at University that would mean. How many libraries that would mean. How many hospitals that would mean.

The rebels in Libya were not peaceful protesters. They took up arms against their government and have killed their own leader and two top aids. Funding that rebellion is not cost effective.

Back to the US debt. The War in Afghanistan is more of a grey area since we were told they were responsible for 9/11. Even though Bin Laden was found in Pakistan not Afghanistan and even though Unicol was wining and dining the Taliban prior to 9/11 trying to win the contract for the oil pipeline in Afghanistan. The US troops in Afghanistan, aside from cultivating and harvesting opium are also defending the oil pipeline now that the Taliban's decision to give the contract to Bridas has been reversed.

So we'll give them the benefit of doubt and we won't include the money spent on the invasion of Afghanistan as being directly related to fraud. But we will include the money spent on the Invasion of Iraq as contributing to the fraud debt as well as the $2.3 trillion Donald Rumsfeld claimed was missing before 9/11. I will however say privatizing the military is dangerous.

Now let's look at the money spent on the bank bail out. The Greek financial crisis was created by investment fraud. Just as the US and the British Bank bail outs were. The pattern of defrauding a bank then bailing out out with tax dollars has been tried before. It is a scam. BCCI was a scam tied to money laundering and arms smuggling. Bailing that out with tax dollars is wrong.

OK so how much did the US bank bail out cost? $700 billion. So Iraq, the missing $2.3 trillion and the bank bail out cost $6 trillion. That is a large portion of the 13 trillion national debt that has everyone so concerned. Some claim the Wall Street bailout is much larger. My point is, stealing pensions and closing schools and hospitals to pay for white collar crime is wrong. Controlling that debt by reconsidering the mission in Libya and safeguarding ourselves from pump and dump investment fraud is crucial for our own sovereignty.

Once again Michael Moore points out the obvious.