Pot activist dies on hunger strike

Istvan "Steve" Marton, 69, the local marijuana dealer in Sointula, off the north-east coast of Vancouver Island, died in Port MacNeill Hospital Sunday after more than a month on a hunger strike to protest Canada's marijuana laws. I'm sorry to hear he passed away.

Freddy just posted a link to a Vancouver Sun article about Stop the Violence B.C. which is a coalition lobbying for the legalization and regulation of marijuana. I'm glad this group has drawn the line at pot. I think they will get more support. I cannot accept legalizing all drugs like crack, crystal meth or date rape drug.

There is a large percentage of the population that supports the legalization of marijuana. About 50%. More if you make it the decriminalization of Marijuana. That's where I stand on the issue. I'm not comfortable with pot being sold at the 7/11 or smoked in public. People have a hard enough time dealing with cigarette smoke in public. If I chose not to smoke pot, I don't want it forced upon me by having to hot box it on the bus or in public.

Yet I will completely agree that building more prisons for nonviolent crime is absurd. Especially when our courts and prison systems are clogged up at present and can't effectively deal with violent crime. Harper's extreme of implementing mandatory minimum sentences for growing pot is disproportionate and undemocratic. Since we don't have a two party system in Canada, Harper did not get 50% of the vote. Yet more than 50% of the population support the decriminalization of marijuana. Somewhat ironic.

The Vancouver Sun has published a copy of a letter from four former Vancouver mayors calling for the decriminalization and regulation of marijuana. In it they state: "A recent Angus Reid poll demonstrated that 69% of British Columbians believe that chasing and arresting marijuana producers and sellers is ineffective and that British Columbians would be better off taxing and regulating the adult use of marijuana. We fully agree. Clearly, elected officials are out of step with their public on marijuana prohibition."

Hells Angels clubhouse turned into community space

Thunder Bay City council unanimously voted Monday night to approve Evergreen a United Neighbourhood’s plan to convert the former Hells Angels clubhouse on Heron Street into a community space. Evergreen coordinator Linda Bruins told council that the group currently holds its meetings on a street corner near Minnesota Park. The space on Heron Street, given to the group by the Ministry of the Attorney General, would allow Evergreen to have indoor meetings and have a space to hold events.

Clem Hamel said the area has enough community centres and churches. Council heard from supporters of the idea before making the unanimous decision. Coun. Paul Pugh said this was the best opportunity to see a former negative space turned into a positive one. “It’s got to be about a positive move as I can imagine,” Pugh said. Former police officer mayor Keith Hobbs said he supported the change.

Occupy Vancouver Relocates

I am somewhat amused that the Occupy Vancouver protesters chose Robson Square for their next location after the court ordered them to move from the Art Gallery. I had walked under there a couple of weeks ago and noticed it was basically abandoned and that there was no ice in the rink there. Too bad. Bringing the ice back for the Olympics was a great idea. Maintaining that ice rink is a positive thing for the city. Yet they've been ordered to move again.

When I first heard there was going to be an Occupy Wall Street protest in Vancouver I asked where are they going to occupy? Vancouver doesn't have a stock exchange any more. The Art Galley? They could occupy that until Christmas and no one will notice or care. Unfortunately, protest bashing has become the popular political twist of late. You would think they let Conrad Black out of prison and he was the owner of the local papers again.

I am somewhat outraged by Christy Clark's comments in today's Vancouver Province. The headline read "Enough is Enough" and the article quoted Christy airhead as saying "I don't know what these folks stand for now." Why is that not surprising? Has she ever asked? She doesn't listen. She doesn't care. Yet trampling on lawful assembly is a horrific precedent for the nation.

No wonder Christy Clark wants to seize the opportunity to distract voters for the new disclosure about her own personal involvement in the BC Rail scandal along with Gordon Campbell. It wasn't just her brother, it was her too. How can she call a public inquiry into herself? This is way worse than Fantasy Gardens and way worse than fast ferries. She should be hanging her head in shame but no, she seizes the opportunity to kick the cat. She doesn't know what the protest is about? Maybe it's about her involvement in corrupt politics. We have seen that corruption in Wall street has infiltrated politics.

Someone wrote in to the Province slamming the mayor and Jim Chu for the Vancouver Riot. It wasn't their fault! They asked Christy Clark for more funding for police during the Stanley cup final and she giggled and said no. Then she had to audacity to rub it in their face and say but your concerns have been taken into consideration when we made our decision.

That is the inherent problem of our current political climate. Our pork barrel politicians only care about taking care of their lobbyists who contribute to their campaign. Big Unions or Big Corporations, it's all special interest. Only there are no big Unions any more. Only snakes in the grass like Buzz Hargrove trying to sell out their members so they can continue to exist and stay on the payroll.

In Canada, people have a protest and no one cares. The concerns aren't listened to. They just give them a little parade to express themselves then go on their merry way and do the exact opposite. At least in Egypt the government listens to the people. They protested demanding the government resign. Not necessarily the brightest thing when you don't have a plan as to who is going to be elected to replace him. Now they are protesting because after the government stepped down the military took over. Only the military promised to hand over the power in six months and that's not happening. Big surprise. Political opportunists exist everywhere.

Yet Egypt's military ruler says he is prepared to hold a referendum on transferring power to a civilian government immediately, following a massive demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square that saw tens of thousands turn out. That's a lot better than Stephen Harper or Christy Clark would do. Hold a referendum. Imagine that. Harper would rather spend millions of tax dollars on bogus advertising telling us how to vote rather than listen to the democratic will of the people. Our democracy is in peril.

There are two issues on the table: Tents and protests. I separate the two because although the Occupy Vancouver protest is clearly a political protest, the right to assemble in public places and petition the government for a redress of grievance is a God given unalienable right. No court has the authority to take that away from us. Period. Any court order that bans protesters instead of tents would violate the charter or rights and be an illegal order.

These are serious issues. A couple weeks ago I was standing outside the Vancouver courthouse with a sign that said Lawful Assembly is a Charter Right. The sheriff at the front desk comes out all agitated, reads my sign and says lawful assembly is a charter right but you can't stand there. I crinkle my brow and my nose and in disbelief say What? He said you can't picket here. You have to leave. Picket? I said. I'm not a member of a union. I'm not blocking any one's access to the courthouse. Then I look at his shoulder and notice he's a sheriff. I said if you get a police officer to arrest me for holding a sign that would be an illegal arrest and I will counter sue for lost wages. He gets even more agitated and said you can do what you want but I'm going to make a phone call. Fine I said as I held my position.

I was only going to stay there ten minutes but ended up staying 2 and a half hours just to see who would have the audacity to come and arrest me in violation of my Charter Right. No one showed up and I was furious. How dare he steal my Charter right? How dare he lie and claim that it is not my charter right to stand in a public place with a sign in a political protest. How dare he? People from the Occupy site just laughed and said you really think people won't try and convince you you don't have rights? I had no idea.

In the latest court application, Christy BC Rail Clark was asking for a permanent injunction and the Judge said such a move would be an inappropriate use of the law. No kidding. Speaking of the law, let's talk about generations of British Common law that refer to squatters rights. I was amazed in England many years ago that when squatters gathered they couldn't just move them without finding them a new location to move to. That was during the stone henge festival I visited back in the day. Before the Charter of Rights and before the British North America Act was introduced, our law was British common law. Generations of court decisions formed jurisprudence and became known as common law. Like it or not squatter's rights were part of that common law.

Yet tents and signs are separate. They can get a court order to remove tents but they cannot get a court order to ban a protest on public land. Such an order would be illegal and an act of war.

Harper muzzles the Mounties

From now on, just about every bit of RCMP information shared with the public will have to be sent to Public Safety Canada for approval. The new protocol will also mean more photo ops for government ministers.

This is absolutely outrageous. Stephen Harper in NOT an Conservative. Firing whistle blowers is bad enough, now he even wants to censor the RCMP. Holy propaganda Batman when will it ever end?

Let's take the BC Rail scandal. The RCMP got a wiretap warrant for an MLA because his cousin was a cocaine dealer. Turns out that they found out about another scandal involving the sale of BC Rail in the process tied to Christy Clark and her brother. Why on earth would the RCMP have to clear anything through the BC Provincial government before it released the news that they were under investigation?

What powers of censorship does this new "protocol" have? If the RCMP had to clear the news of the legislature raids with Gordon Campbell before it happened, that would be a conflict of interest. Would Harper's pal, Gordon Campbell have power to censor that information and instruct the RCMP to withhold some information on the State Secret cop out?

The same thing federally. We know Alfonso Gagliano was named by an FBI informant as a made member of the Mafia in Montreal according to the New York Times. We know that Brian Mulroney was up to his eyeballs in criminal activity. What if a federal political party is being investigated? Would this new protocol mean the party in power has the right to censor the RCMP? That is not Canada. That is not a democracy. That my friend is treason. As the frog boils in warmer water.

Kingpin Crew's new Clubhouse

I thought the Pinhead Crew were laying low after Mike and Sam's Oxycontin fraud bust. They've sure gone under cover. They went and painted a fruit stand black and grey but they can't fool us. We know it's still full of fruit loops. It's on Highway 97 on the way to the Kelowna Airport. It has MC on the front door now.



So tell me, is Donwntown Cycle still open? Someone said they were hanging low after the Oxy bust. I guess we're still waiting to see what happens in Dale's pal Joey's murder trial. Dale says if Joey killed Britney then their friendship is over. What a crock of shit that is. Who do ya think got him to do the job? If he was ripping Britney off he would have left town. If he murdered a rat to repay a debt he wouldn't of had to leave town. Only she wasn't a rat you piece of garbage. And Geoff didn't rip anyone off you dirty liar.

I understand that Brittney was quite the photographer. All the landscape photos in the tribute video I made for her and Geoff Meisner were from her facebook. Except for a couple ones of the snow on Big White. I just threw those in to show how awesome Kelowna is in the Winter as well as in the Summer. Awesome if they get rid of the Liquid Zoo good and the Habibs trying to bring it back.

Deputy Police Chief Jennifer Evans’ Pickton Report

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry has promised for weeks the release of Peel, Ont. Deputy Police Chief Jennifer Evans’ 800 page report. On Monday morning, Inquiry Commissioner Wally Oppal called the leak of Evans’ report to CTV “appalling.” But Oppal upheld the objections of lawyer Cameron Ward, acting for 20 missing women’s families not to mark Evans report as exhibit, which would have made it available to all media. Ward continues to call the inquiry a “whitewash,” saying Oppal needs to hear from frontline police investigators. Of course it's a whitewash. The Hells Angels have not been mentioned in it at all. Why oppose making the Peel Report and exhibit? After all, it is a public inquiry.

Man found guilty in Surrey crack shack murder

Steven Patrick Iyoupe was convicted of manslaughter Thursday in the death of Garry Glen Harder in 2006. Harder was killed by a group of people inside a Surrey crack shack on Jan. 28, 2006. He is the fourth person convicted in the murder.

William Thomas Walker, 40, of Langley, and Jordon Vojkovic, 26, of Calgary, were charged with first-degree murder and forcible confinement in Harder's death while Lauretta Marie Stevens, 32, of Surrey, was charged with forcible confinement and assault with a weapon.

Jordon Vojkovic of Calgary, was convicted of unlawful confinement and manslaughter and got 13 years. William Thomas Walker, of Langley, was convicted of unlawful confinement and aggravated assault and given seven years in jail. Lauretta Marie Stevens was convicted of unlawful confinement and assault with a weapon and got three years.

On the night of Jan. 27, 2006, Furman said she and Harder were interrogated about $300 that was stolen from a drug dealer at a crack house on 137A Street in Whalley. Although Harder, who worked as a doorman at the house, had taken the money and the couple spent it on crack cocaine he denied committing the theft.

Furman said she woke up the next morning to the sound of Harder being punched and kicked by several people. One of those people was Iyoupe, she testified. The group also used a board with nails in it to hit Harder in the head. “He was curled into a ball covering his head. I was sitting on the couch, made to watch,” she said before dissolving into tears.

Next Harder was dragged into the kitchen, where he was handcuffed to a chair and Iyoupe hit Harder with a pillow case filled with “food cans,” Furman said. Still cuffed to the chair, Harder was taken to the bathroom and put in the tub. “Steven got into the bathtub and started beating the crap out of Gary’s head,” Furman said.

Furman alleged that Iyoupe and a drug dealer known as “Robbie,” or Jordan Vojkovic, took turns hitting Harder. Harder ended up in a bedroom next, where Furman said Vojkovic and Iyoupe electrocuted Harder by putting live wires in his ears. “They were laughing hysterically,” Furman said. Another drug dealer also assaulted Harder with a string trimmer.

This level of violence is very disturbing. Laughing as the electrocuted the victim after beating him in the head with a board with nails in it. That is inherently disturbed. It reminds us of the murder of Annette Allan just around the corner at the Surrey House of Horrors. Annette's crime was being falsely accused of being a rat.

At the trial of contract killer Mickie (Phil) Smith the court was told one of his murders was done for the East Vancouver chapter of the Hells Angels. Smith killed Paul Percy Soluk at a crack house in Surrey and said a man he called Yurik helped him chop up and dispose of the body. Smith said "Yurik's not an Angel but he works with the Angels. I know he's done a lot of hits." Paul Soluk was killed in 1999.

1) These were crack houses supplied by the Hells Angels. They brought the cocaine into the country and these guys sold it as crack. Both of these crack shacks were close to TBarz, the bar owned by Randy Jones from the Whiterock chapter of the Hells Angles. TBarz was implicated in another Hells angels cross border drug trafficking ring. John Punko was also selling cocaine in Surrey around that time.

2) The level of violence in all of these cases is outrageous.

3) Garry Harder’s girlfriend testified that Steven Iyoupe and Lauretta Stevens tried to make her work off Harder’s debt through prostitution, but as soon as she could she got away. That brings us to forced prostitution and the Hells angels in Surrey, Maple Ridge and Hamilton. Forced prostitution and the Hells angels. Well strike one up for the toy run. Get them adicted to crack and force them into prostitution to pay for the debt. Yeah David Giles is a great guy alright. For a clown.

Someone from Kelowna contacted me and said they recognized Giles from photos on my web site. He didn't know who he was at the time but thought it was odd he would be wearing Hells Angels colours. He thought at the time it was a clown dressed up as a Hells angels. Turned out he was right. David Giles does look like a Shriner in costume. Yet this forced prostitution thing is no laughing matter.

High-risk sex offender living in Surrey

Andrew Aurie Jefferson, 26, known as the Falconridge rapist in Calgary, has a criminal record of sexual-related offences. Police say his method of attack is to use a knife to threaten and then grab a woman from behind.

It is rather bizarre that a high risk sex offender from Alberta would be released in Surrey thank you very much. I remember when the balcony rapist was released in Surrey. There was a public protest held in Newton. He moved. This time we're not so lucky. He did go to Mission first after his plans of moving to Kelowna fell through.

He has to go somewhere but five years for three armed rapes with no counseling is not right. That's the whole point of our desire for judicial reform. Raising the penalties for nonviolent crime and demanding the provinces pay for it will continue to prevent us from fixing this problem of being able to properly address violent crime. Ten years is not life.

In Kelowna we have a Hells angels associate out on bail having been charged with sexual assault. His case won't go to trial until a year after his arrest. What is his victim supposed to do during that time living in the same small town?

We also are waiting for the results of that gang rape at the Renegades clubhouse in Prince George. Hells angels associates accused to gang raping someone in one of their drug dealing puppet clubhouses. The sad thing is, Andrew Jefferson isn't the only rapist running free in BC. Even police officers have been charged with committing rape. We can't address this like we should if we prioritize nonviolent crime.

Fixing the RCMP

It's impossible to keep up with all the bad press the RCMP is getting. Evey day a new horror story. Police brutality, sexual harassment, sexual assault, impaired driving, hit and run, the list goes on and on and on. We've gone from accusations of the police blackmailing prostitutes to having sex with them and trying to smuggle a prostitute onto a police cruse ship doing security for the Olympics to numerous allegations of sexual harassment at the workplace and even several allegations of police officers raping fellow police officers. The number of cases is absurd. It forces the average civilian to ask what the hell is going on there? The professional image isn't just tarnished, it looks more like a circus of unprofessionalism.

Making a politically incorrect statement is one thing but raping a fellow officer is another. During the Olympics a police officer was accused of raping a fellow officer. We are told alcohol played a factor. Yet back in 2003, Four female RCMP officers alleged they were sexually assaulted by one of their superiors.

We are well aware of the disastrous affair with a witness in the Surrey Six Murder trial. The front page of Friday's Vancouver Province contained yet another accusation from another witness at the current sexual harassment trial involving Cpl. Catherine Galliford. The married female officer claimed she was pressured into having a sexual relationship with her fellow officer after she was caught by her husband who read text messages on her cell phone. It was either consensual or it wasn't. Either way having sex in patrol cars on duty pretty much demonstrates how unprofessional that force has become. It's a huge problem.

Since many of the allegations are of a sexual nature, it is tempting to fix the problem like you would fix your cat and nip it in the bud so to speak. Yet I'm looking beyond the sexual perversions in the force. I'm looking at the root of the problem. Galliford says the command and control structure at the RCMP means Mounties are instructed to do as they're told, or risk getting reprimanded. We need soldiers not sheep. Soldiers like General Romeo Dallaire not abusive idiots and wing nuts.

The problem I see begins at the beginning. It begins with Depot. Ever see the movie Full Metal Jacket? Abusive training breed psychopaths. The theory was break someone down then build them back up. It is a self defeating process because it teaches breaking someone down is good and right when it most certainly is not. It also leads to an undesirable conclusion.

Depot training can be hard and demanding without being so degrading and abusive. Get someone exhausted then build them up. That's how you train a reflex. What you train when you are exhausted trains a reflex. Abusing recruits when they are exhausted trains them to be abusive. That is what we are now seeing in the farce. To change that we have to begin at the beginning and make depot challenging but positive. Build their self esteem, build their self respect, then they will show respect for others.

The Eagles have Landed

Once again, this has absolutely nothing to do with gangsters, drugs, prostitution or the gang war that has plagued British Columbia. It's about what TI and Rhianna refer to as Living your life.

We had a life before the Hells angels came to BC and before the gang war started. Back in the day our motto was Beautiful British Columbia. Gordon Campbell changed it to The Best Place on Earth which is absurd. BC is not the best place on earth and Gordon Campbell significantly diminished it with his insane tenure as Premier. Nevertheless, BC is still beautiful just like many other places on earth.

Australia kinda has the best of everything - nice beaches, warm climate, Kangaroos and even has snow in their mountains during winter. Like that's not fair. They seem to have everything. Nevertheless, we do like our mountains. I remember speaking last year with a girl visiting from Brazil during winter. I said oh you have nice beaches in Brazil. Her eyes lit up and said yes but not like here. Our beaches are HOT. Indeed there are many wonderful places on earth. Yet this is our home and we do appreciate it's rustic beauty.

This weekend is the Bald Eagle Festival at Harrison. The eagles come to feed on the chum after they have spawned. It's wonderful to see. Usually very cold and wet this time of year but something to see nonetheless. Eagles are pretty private. If you get too close they just casually fly away so bring your binoculars. The boat tours don't do it. The motorboats scare them off and too many boats will disrupt their feeding habits.

I put the Kayak in at Kilby at Harrison Mills today and paddled up past the bridge where the Harrison river spreads out wide to less than a foot deep. The boats can't get there but that is where the eagles are feeding on the rotting salmon carcasses.