Allen Stanford guilty of $7bn Ponzi scheme

Here's the other Potsie. I mean Ponzi. Allen Stanford, the Texan financier, knight of Antigua, Washington power player and billionaire benefactor of English cricket, has been found guilty of orchestrating a $7bn Ponzi scheme. US politicians, the authorities in Antigua and the England and Wales Cricket Board were all left red-faced by their associations with Stanford.

With investors still reeling from the revelations about Bernard Madoff's historic Ponzi scheme, Stanford had become a media sensation. Billions were said to be missing and investors were panicking in cities from Houston to London, Caracas to Switzerland.

$7 billion - that is significant. Did those investors get 50cents on the dollar? I think not. Deregulation opens the flood gates wide open for massive investment fraud that steals life savings and pensions, destabilizes the market and crashes economies.

Earl Jones

Speaking of fraud, another couple of Potsies are in the news. I mean Ponzis. The Royal Bank of Canada, RBC, settled for $17 million with the victims of convicted Montreal fraudster Earl Jones. Jones had his accounts at an RBC branch.

Unfortunately the little old lady doesn't win, she just recoups less than half of her losses. Jones is currently in prison in Ste-Anne-des Plaines, Que. Convicted for theft and fraud, he was sentenced to an 11-year term in February 2010.



Restitution is a fundamental aspect of justice. 50 cents on the dollar is better than nothing but these fraudsters need to be held legally liable for the money they steal.

The Pickton Inquiry continues to Crumble

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was dealt another blow to its credibility Monday with the withdrawal of the last lawyer who speaks for First Nations.

Virtually all key women’s and community groups had already pulled out of the inquiry after they were denied legal funding to analyze 100,000 pages of documents. Robyn Gervais, appointed last Aug. 12 as “independent counsel for aboriginal interests,” left the inquiry after commissioner Wally Oppal refused to hear her statement.

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry has lost any remaining credibility with the aboriginal community after the withdrawal of a lawyer representing aboriginal interests, the leader of B.C.'s chiefs said Tuesday. "It has no credibility," Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, told reporters.

"Given that these hearings are largely about missing and murdered aboriginal women, I feel I shouldn't have to fight to have the voices of the aboriginal heard," said Gervais, who is Metis.

"The delay in calling aboriginal witnesses, the failure to provide adequate hearing time, the ongoing lack of support from the aboriginal community and the disproportionate focus on police evidence have led me to conclude that aboriginal interests have not and will not be adequately represented in these proceedings," Gervais told Oppal.

"While I recognize that it is necessary to hear from police, I became increasingly concerned that you would not hear from aboriginal witnesses," Gervais told Oppal. She said the inquiry has sat for 53 days, has heard 39 days of police evidence and minimal evidence from the aboriginal community.

Oppal pointed out that there has been much criticism of police and the commission wants to correct the mistakes made in the past. He also agreed with Gervais, who complained that of 24 lawyers at the inquiry, most were representing police at taxpayers expense.

Sad but it is clear that Wally Oppal is just in it to scam a pay cheque without allowing the real issues to be discussed. Like the underlining cause of the murder of Ashley Machiskinic.

Nabil Alkalil and Larry Amero

While we're on this stroll down memory lane, let's reflect upon the Loft Six shooting Aug 16 2003. Before Loft Six opened in October 2001 after a $200,000 renovation, the nightclub was owned by Hells Angels member Donald Roming, a member of the elite Nomads chapter. Roming, 40, was fatally shot on March 9, 2001, outside the Bar None club in Yaletown following an argument with two men in the bar shortly before closing time. The men took the dispute outside and Roming was shot.

When discussing the Hells Angels take over of the stripper agencies in BC, Andy Richards said "In the early 1990s, the now-dead Hells Angels member Donald Roming was one of the key enforcers helping push others out of the stripper business -- at one point seriously assaulting one of the owners of another agency."

"Without speaking ill of the dead, he was responsible for laying a very serious beating on a 67-year-old man who was involved with one of the independent companies at the time, to the point this guy was hospitalized," he explained. There were no arrests from these "takeovers" because of the victims' reluctance to report the activities to police, he added.

Well, one of the victims of the August 2003 Loft Six shooting was Mahmoud Alkhalil, a 19 year old from Vancouver. His older brother, Khalil Alkhalil, died in a hail of bullets in Surrey in January of 2001.

As a side note, it was Alkhalil's family and friends who allegedly attacked lawyer Phil Rankin outside a New Westminster court a month after that shooting. Rankin was defending Michael Naud who was accused of the second degree murder of Khalil.

I am told that Nabil one of the Alkalil brothers had a wedding this summer in Ottawa in which Larry Amero and Jonathon Bacon attended. Nabil Alkalil was caught with 11 kilograms of cocaine in Ottawa back in 2008 and served a seven year sentence less statutory release.

I am told that Nabil's brother's Terry and Hisham are involved in Ottawa and Vancouver. One of my sources claims Larry Amero is in charge of their business venture. Must be similar to that courier company the guy who was shot in Walnut grove set up in Montreal. Ya gotta wonder who Larry's hanging out with these days after getting shot up with Jonathon Bacon in Kelowna.

I certainly wish no harm upon Larry. I also hope he's no longer involved in the drug trade. Clearly it is a dangerous business as we have seen that steroids don't make you bullet proof. We know that Larry's friend, Jonathon Bacon was involved in the drug trade. We know the organization Larry is a member of is also involved in the drug trade. Unfortunately, that organization has a tendency of eating their own when they no longer need their services. That is what I mean by greed.

The murder of Terry Watts‏

Let's take a walk down memory lane. Remember the Christmas in Vancouver back in 1995? Sept. 11, 1996 there were some drug related murders in Abbostford. Maclean's claimed the Mounties struggled to keep a tight lid on other aspects of the case and "the gang's" role, not only in the Abbotsford massacre but also in the contract killings of two RCMP informants, Ernesto Albornoz in Montreal and Eugene Uyeyama in Vancouver.

In fact, Maclean's has learned, "the organization" is responsible for more than a dozen, possibly as many as two dozen, murders in Canada, including the August, 1996, shooting of former speed-skiing champion Terry Watts in Vancouver. And Morrisroe, a primary police source in at least nine of the homicides, was the RCMP's main pipeline into a Vancouver cell under the Cali cartel's control.

Terry Watts was killed over over an unpaid drug debt. So if he was killed for a drug debt, who was the drug debt to? The same people who killed Eugene Uyeyama? "The Boys" hired Bobby Moyes to kill him and sent wrapped Christmas presents of gasoline to burn him and his house after they killed him. It is my submission that "the Boys" they are referring to is the Hells Angels.

The court was told Salvatore Ciancio was the one who hired Bobby Moyes to kill the police informant after the was arrested in a large cocaine bust tied to Salvatore Ciancio's associate Tony Terezakis. Who as we all know was affiliated with you know who.

Tony Terezakis was the guy who video taped himself beating the life out of drug addicts for drug debts in East Vancouver. So my question is this - if they were killing police informants and killing people for drug debts back in 1995, who's doing it now? Please advise.

If Maclean's knew about this secret gang, if the police knew and if all the locals except for me knew, then why on earth did Vancouver city hall give the Hells angels $2 million out of social housing? I'm not talking about buying the Drake hotel from the Hells angels.I'm talking about giving them $2 million more than it was worth. That money was earmarked for social housing. That's like stealing from the poor and giving it to the rich.

And if everyone knew about all these drug related murders,why on earth did Stephen Harper promote a lawyer for the Hells Angels to the Quebec Supreme Court? Quebec of all places.You can't get any more offensive than that. They just went through all that effort to crack down on the Hells Angels and built that expensive high security courthouse for the trails and Harper goes and does something as insane as that.

Sure lawyers have a right to represent whoever they want. But why was the president of the Conservative party representing the Hells Angels? That's so Gomery and Gagliano.

Tornado Devastation in the US

It is hard to watch the devastation left after a huge number of tornados touched down in the southern States. They say it isn’t even tornado season yet which means when the season hits more likely will be on the way. Tragic. It’s hard to prepare for something like that. Hearing news of a 16 month old toddler being found in a field after being picked up by the tornado and hurled away from her home was tragic. As was the news that she succumbed to her injuries and died along with her mother, father, and brother.

We’ve seen a fair bit of devastation globally of late. Oil spills, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes. I’m not even going to get into the destructive weather patterns affected by global warming. Seeing those kinds of tragedies makes me ashamed. It makes me ashamed that here we are stuck in a yuppie greed war that is absolutely senseless and selfish.

We do know Vancouver will get it’s turn. It doesn’t take Nostradamus to predict that an earthquake will eventually hit Vancouver. Seismologists state it’s a matter of when not if a major earthquake will hit. We know that when an earthquake does hit, the water main will break and Surrey will be without water. All those gas heated wood framed homes will go up in flames and there will be no water for the fire department to put it out.

We know that Richmond is built on a delta in the river and when an earthquake shakes all that sand, Richmond will sink. I scoffed when I hear people go on and on about a tsunami hitting Vancouver. It will have to go through Vancouver Island first. No doubt the remnants of a tsunami could very well reach around Georgia Straight, yet the bulk of it would be taken by Vancouver Island.

So when the earthquake hits Vancouver, the downtown core will crumble, Surrey will burn, Richmond will sink and Vancouver Island will be flooded. Eat drink and be merry? Maybe not. Maybe we should appreciate the sanctity of life and appreciate what’s really important. The materialistic greed war fueled by drugs is not it.

Stephen Harper begins to Sink

More bizarre accusations continue to fly out of Harper's mouth long after they were proved wrong. Stephen Harper is still boldly declaring that the Liberals were the only party that used a US firm for their robocalls. That single statement contains two falsehoods.

The Liberals didn't use a US firm for their robocalls. That was proven. If he keeps repeating it long enough and if he starts yelling loud enough, will that make that false statement rue? I think not.

The Conservatives did use a US company for some of their robocalls. Saying that the Liberals were the only party that used a US company is also false because even if they did, which they didn't, they would be the only party that used them because the Conservatives did.

This was clearly pointed out in the media and the commentators are starting to ask what planet this guy is on to continue making false statements that everyone knows isn't true. Their credibility gap isn't just widening it's sinking like the titanic.

Firm linked to robocalls has shady past in U.S.

"The company" that handles the Conservative Party's computerized voter-identification system and powerful fund-raising machine has a checkered legal history in the U.S., where it operates call centres that have repeatedly been the subject of lawsuits and complaints over its telemarketing practices.

Formal election complaint filed

A North Vancouver man has filed a formal complaint with Elections Canada, alleging that an attempt was made to deceive him about where to vote in last year's federal election.

Bruno Bisaillon, 39, said Thursday that a machine-generated phone message purported to be from Elections Canada told him his balloting venue had changed from nearby Upper Lynn Elementary to a location three kilometres away.



Guy Giorno, Conservative campaign chairman for the last federal election has denied that the party was behind any dirty tricks being alleged in the robocall scandal. But that's simply not true. As soon as the story broke, a Conservative staffer resigned over it. Michael Sona, who until Friday was a staffer in Conservative MP Eve Adams's office, also worked for Conservative candidate Marty Burke in Guelph, Ont.

Harper got on his high horse and insisted they would get to the bottom of it and bring the people responsible to justice. They instantly found a scapegoat and demanded his resignation. Only when it was obvious the voter suppression operation was bigger than one riding and one kid, Harper completely changed his story and denied anyone from the Conservative party had anything to do with it. But we already caught and fired Michael Sona. The next question that needs to be addressed is who else was involved?

Giorno also said Tory staff couldn’t make ‘despicable’ robocalls without party knowing. Is that so.

Calls traced to Racknine

Nine Conservative campaigns used the services of Racknine, the call centre whose services were used for the fraudulent calls. It's not unusual to use call centres for legitimate campaigning.

Ridings across the country reported fraudulent calls on May 2, 2011, redirecting voters to the wrong polling station. The RCMP told CBC News on Thursday that Elections Canada is investigating the matter.

Sona made news before the election when he allegedly tried to grab a ballot box at the University of Guelph. He claimed the polling station was illegal. A statement released by Burke's campaign said nobody from their team touched a ballot or ballot box. Elections Canada allowed the ballots to be counted.

Sona graduated from the University of Guelph in 2010, according to a web page showing his professional history. He worked for Conservative MP Rob Moore from June 2010 until March 2011 and from May to September 2011. He also worked for Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore for four months in 2009.

Feedback in the Vancouver Province

The Vancouver Province ran some interesting voter feedback on the matter.

How many more scandals can we tolerate with The Conservatives. He has been Prime Minister for 6 years and from Bev Oda, to contempt to robo-calls it is clear he has no respect for democracy or Canada.

--David C Jones, Vancouver

Nothing will come of it.....a complete waste of time. Politicking at its worst. Lets get on with running the country and the opposition making sane suggestions as to how things can be improved.

--John Sykes, Abbotsford

Of course, Harper will deny knowing anything about this misleading tactic…just another step in the attempt to monitor everyone all the time. George Orwell, here we come.

--Paul Davey, Vancouver

I think Mr. Harper knows more than what he saying, a lot more! I wouldn’t be surprised if this was his idea! This is one of the most corrupted governments this Country ever had, It reminds me some guy called Gordo. Politicians should all adopt a middle name beside Honorable as soon they are elected: Pinocchio.

--Tony Paone, Port Coquitlam

It sounds like the Conservatives are back pedaling. If it can be proved that the Conservatives participated in dirty politics, then a vote of non-confidence should be taken to force Harper to step down. Regardless if he knew about it or not, he is ultimately responsible for his team.

--Donna Rae, Surrey

A Kingdom of Conscience

Rick Steve’s Europe was on the other night. This episode was about Paris. I never realized at the centre of Paris is an island in the middle of the river just like Montreal. They showed Notre Dame and Rick Steves pointed out the meaning of the name. Notre Dame – Our Lady. In Ireland Our Lady is the Mother of Our Lord. It is the same in France. I never realized that Notre Dame was literally a cathedral in tribute to Notre Dame. OK I’m a bit slow.

I’d really like to visit Paris one day. I really need to work on my French though. When I was young I had a wonderful visit to Quebec. Every time I spoke French they answered me in English. They didn’t like the way I butchered their wonderful language.

It reminds me of the time I went to the Hen Long market and asked for some dit da jao. The person working there asked me to repeat my request three times and just stood there with a puzzled look on their face not having a clue what I was wanting. Then I explained it’s a liniment used in the martial arts for shin or hand conditioning. The light went on. Ah liniment. You mean dit da jao. I’m like yeah, that’s what I said. What I said and what they said sounded the same to me but obviously it wasn’t.

There was another episode of Rick Steves Europe that moved me. It was an episode of Toledo, a Muslim city in Spain, that was conquered by the Christians. Toledo's history is a complex mix of three great religions with an impressive record of peaceful co-existence.

Physical reminders of Toledo's multi-cultural history are everywhere. In the year 711, zealous members of the world's newest religion — Islam — conquered the Iberian peninsula. For seven centuries, these North African Muslims — called Moors — dominated Spain.

The Moors were impressively tolerant of the people they ruled, allowing Jews and Christians to practice their faiths freely. And, with cultural ties that stretched from here, across Africa to Arabia and beyond, Spain's Moorish culture was a beacon of learning in Europe's so-called "Dark" Ages.

Mathematics, astronomy, literature.and architecture.all flourished. After Christians took back Toledo in 1085, many Moorish craftsmen and builders stayed on leaving their Arabic imprint on the city for generations to come.

The architecture was amazing and it included large baths for washing according to their religious traditions. It made me sad to see that culture lost as they were conquered and cast out.

Last night I watched the Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom. Orlando Bloom was a good elf in Lord of the Rings and a good side kick in Pirates of the Caribbean but he sure played a weasel in the movie Troy. Nevertheless, the character he played in Kingdom of Heaven was profound.

It was all about good and bad. Not one force for good and one force for evil but the good and bad found within each aspect of society. They had a good king and a bad king. They had good knights and bad nights. They had good Christians and bad Christians. They had good Muslims and … well they didn’t have any bad Muslims in the movie like they did have bad Christians who would murder and exterminate indiscriminately.

In the movie the Muslim character Saladin was good. He aspired to something higher. The whole movie was about the lure that Jerusalem had for the various religions. The message behind the movie became apparent when a knight said to Orlando Bloom’s character, Jerusalem has no need of a perfect knight. To which he responded, no, It is a Kingdom of Conscience or nothing.

Historically many knights raped, murdered and plundered. Yet in the movie Liam Neeson declared Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong. That is your oath. The oath of a good knight.

After the bad knights had inflamed the Muslims by needlessly wiping out an innocent city of Muslims, Saladin gathered his armies to take Jerusalem. Protecting the city Orlando Bloom asks Which is more holy? The Jewish Temple? The Muslim Mosque? The Christian Sepulchre? All have claim to these. We fight not to defend these stones. We fight to protect the people in this city. Protect the helpless. That is your oath.

It reminded me of a scene from the movie Shake Hands with the Devil. The Canadian commander is discussing the future of Rwanda with a local leader. The local leader says he wants to fight to save Rwanda. And what is that the commander asks. These trees, that dirt, those hills? How do you save Rwanda if you don’t save the people in it?

In the movie Kingdom of Heaven there was another scene when the city was under seize and they had to burn the bodies of the dead. The religious leaders said you can’t burn the bodies. They will not come forth in the resurrection. Orlando Bloom’s character said if we do not burn these bodies the whole city will die of disease. God will understand. And if he doesn’t, he is not God and we have no need to worry.

Indeed the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It is in the hearts and minds of all those who aspire to something higher. That is something all of us can do. We can hope for something better and we can aspire to something higher.

Skyrocketing Hydro Bills

The news has been showing numerous cases of people reporting skyrocketing Hydro bills. Recently there was a case of a senior who lived in a small suit who reported insane jumps in his hydro bill. After the news ran the story, Hydro claimed they looked into it and the problem was someone mistakenly applied a $170.00 payment to his bill which was being recouped. Yet that alleged payment was smaller than the spike in his bill and he is not the only one. Their excuse is not believable.

Today CTV news reported several people reporting massive spikes in their hydro bill in the last couple of months. Many claimed the huge spikes in their hydro bill came after their smart meter was installed. BC Hydro claims that isn’t true and that they are receiving more complaints of spikes in bills from people on the old meter systems.

Clearly there are two separate problems. Smart Meters are a serious concern. Aside from the security threat of government surveillance, increases over daytime usage bills are eminent. Yet those spikes which surely will come aren’t included in the current spikes. The current spikes represent a huge concern.

Hydro subsidiaries that have been privatized and mandated to make a profit, were accused of false billing along with Enron. Massive spikes in residential hydro bills are in themselves a serious concern. It represents an unaccountable monopoly that can rip people off without any dispute mechanism. Where did this bill come from?

Today’s highlighted example was a woman in a small suite with only two baseboard heaters. There is no believable reason for the massive spike in her bill. She has been forced to cut off the heat in one room and forced to use a toaster oven instead of a conventional oven. I don’t want to be a perpetual drama queen but this is really serious.

This is not the country we want to leave to our children’s children. Leaving them an unaccountable Enron monster that consumes everything in its path would be socially irresponsible. Right now it is forcing seniors on fixed income to limit their food intake, cut of their heat, stop using their ovens and wash dishes by hand. Massive increases to their bill after they have made these sacrifices is not only wrong, it is criminal.

Bill McKinnon's daughter arrested for drug trafficking

Well this is a bizarre new development. Lisa McKinnon, 22, who now resides in Richmond, was arrested Tuesday along with a 19-year-old Kelowna woman Tuesday in Kelowna. According to court documents, McKinnon faces two charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking in heroin and cocaine. Lisa is the daughter of Kelowna RCMP Superintendent, Bill McKinnon. Flewelling says once investigators realized who they were dealing with steps were taken to isolate Supt. McKinnon from the investigation. "Supt. McKinnon was not aware of what was going on and that the investigation was allowed to go on keeping in mind the integrity of the investigation," says Flewelling. He says this should not be seen as a black mark on the Kelowna Detachment but underscores the fact drugs and crime can affect anyone. "I think it speaks to the point that criminality and drugs is something we all have to face. Any one of us are not immune from that type of thing," says Flewelling. "We are all susceptible to drugs and what it can do. He and his wife are not different. They're victims, they're parents. I can't stress that enough. They are at home dealing with it."