Canada unwelcoming to apartheid heroes

On the subject of racism, there’s a concerning article of the front page of the Epoch Times. It claims Canada unwelcoming to apartheid heroes. Seemingly there is an effective visitor visa ban on members of the apartheid-era African National Congress (ANC).

The ban seems to be related to criminal convictions handed down by apartheid South African government for membership in the ANC, which was outlawed for decades in South Africa.

OK let me get this straight. We all remember apartheid. That was when a corrupt group of racist pigs took over the government of South Africa and discriminated against Blacks in their own country. The world put them under sanctions as a result. We’re going to take their word on anything? That’s like the current dictator in Syria outlawing any opposition and us denying any of the protesters visas to enter Canada. It is absurd. It's like banning the armed rebels in Libya the allied forces helped overthrow Gaddafi from entering Canada.

Nelson Mandela was a political prisoner for years. He was a member of the ANC. After Mandela’s 1990 release from prison, he was elected president of ANC and went on to become South Africa’s first black president after the historic 1994 election. Does that mean Nelson Mandela is not allowed to get a visa to enter Canada? This is both bizarre and offensive. Obviously it’s an oversight but it needs to be corrected immediately.

How about those racist pigs who supported apartheid in the first place? Have they been banned from getting visa to enter Canada? I think not despite the fact that ban would be far more appropriate.

I know two white South Africans living in Canada. Aside from being arrogant, they are racist. All they do is complain about how Africa has gone down hill since they let Mandela out of prison and gave blacks the right to vote. That is totally offensive.

If you don’t like black people then stay the fuck out of their country. If you don’t like black people then leave them alone. Done invade their county and exploit them by turning them into slaves. That is so wrong.

We need to completely reverse this precedent. We need to allow members of the NAC visas to get into Canada and give them our most sincerely apologies while we ban the racists apartheid supporters who enslaved and exploited them for so many years.

Nelson Mandela: as they used to say in West Belfast, Happy Birthday comrade.

Kevin Gregson's murder trial

Another former RCMP officer on trial and in the news. This time for the murder of an Ottawa police officer. Obviously we can’t blame this one on the entire police force. Surely they don’t train their officers to kill each other. Clearly this was one wacko with problems. Yet there are elements of the case that I find disturbing.

During interrogation he claimed that there was a struggle and his training took over and he instinctively killed the other officer. He made the same claim in court arguing that he should be charged with manslaughter not murder. Rather bizarre.

The officer who was interrogating Gregson asked him what he meant by it was part of his training. He asked what training he was referring to because he wasn’t trained to kill in police training. After all he is not a special forces commando engaging the enemy in hand to hand combat where he would be trained to kill the enemy. The police are trained to use reasonable force in arresting suspects. Not to kill them.

Gregson said it was part of his police training. The officer said no it’s not. I’ve been a police officer longer than you and my training wasn’t to kill people. Gregson said well you’re not RCMP. I see. Another dingledorf playing the superior training of the RCMP card. Which would reinforce the stereotype about the abrasive arrogance associated with the RCMP wherein they think their training is far superior to other police force training making them better. Or at least less accountable.

Somehow we need to get over that glaring false stereotype. That the RCMP is the most respected police force in the world and is so much better than other police forces. All we have seen in the past ten years of disclosure is sexist unprofessionalism, rape, abuse and excessive force. Obviously there are good police officers out there. Yet the unending documented complaints of sexual inappropriateness on the job from top officials has made the force the laughing stock of the world and carries with it the stigma of being unprofessional.

Which leads us directly back to Depot. Depot is abusive. If that training was so much better than the other police forces’ training then it would be effective at teaching officers to have self control when it comes to dealing with verbal abuse. Instead it clearly teaches that abuse is ok and since we are so much better than everyone else, we should report to abuse and excessive force to remind people that we are so much better than everyone else. The logic is very flawed.

Some hecklers on the blog think I’m a police officer. I have no desire to prove them wrong my trashing the police. Hecklers will be hecklers and criticize everything I say simply because most criminals don’t want the exposure.

I do support law and order. I do have an idealistic and possibly naive image of what the police should be like Paul Gross in the TV series Due South. When I trash talk gangs selling crack, and the hecklers claim I sound like a cop, then it would appear that on some issues, I totally agree with some officers. Frustration with the judges would be another.

Yet I believe in the sanctity of life and the dignity of humanity. I believe the police are civil servants and that their mandate is and always has been to serve and protect. Civil servants means it is their role to serve the public who they protect and who pay their wages. Lawyers think they are better than the public because they are learned in the law. They use the term my learned friend. Likewise some police tend to think they are better than the public because the public don’t understand what the police have to put up with on the street.

Clearly what the Williams Lake police officer did to that young girl was wrong. Clearly. Clearly there is something wrong with a man punching a woman in the face repeatedly. Reasonable force means using a restraining hold not punching them in the face over and over to let you vent your anger issues built up since Depot. Clearly we do need to aspire to something higher.

Williams Lake Police Officer accused of assault

An assault charge has been recommended by police probing a Williams Lake Mountie who allegedly punched a teenage girl repeatedly last year while she was handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser.

Obviously there are several concerns here. The girl was allegedly running away from a street gang and asked a bystander to call 911. Her mother gets a call and rushes to the scene. All of a sudden the girl running from the gang is arrested and thrown into the back of a police cruiser. She starts kicking the window shouting out Mom.

Couple things... if she was the one that asked for the police to be called, why was she arrested? Why was she so afraid of being taken away by them? One would think that if you are innocent of nay crime that you have nothing to fear and will sit calmly waiting for the misunderstanding to be reveled. Perhaps she was afraid she wasn't going to be believed.

There are two questions that arise. First is if a prisoner starts kicking the police car window from inside the vehicle, what is the police officer supposed to do? One could reasonably argue that letting the kid freak out and have a temper tantrum would be fine as she would eventually tire. Just like a kid in time out.

The whole concept of a grown man punching a woman, any woman, especially an underage woman in the face is very disturbing. Punching her multiple times in the face causing that much physical damage is very disturbing.

It makes me think of a youtube video I saw of a police officer in the States arguing with a woman on the street. All of a sudden he winds up and punches her in the face. I'm like where on earth did that come from? What part of the police training manuals says when a suspect doesn't obey you command at the snap of your finger, you are justified in punching her in the face?

The first thing I'm forced to ask is does he beat his wife and kids? Evidently Const. Andy Yung has past history. Seemingly this story was first published in The Province Sept. 28, 2011 and it's taken this long to consider doing anything about it.



Violence against Native Women

Another thing we need to talk about is racism. This whole issue of violence against Native women needs to be addressed. I do not understand how people can think that using violence against a native woman is ok because it’s not.

Discussing it is timely but also relevant since the last lawyer representing First Nations women has just withdrawn from the Pickton Red Herring Inquiry. Not all the women found on the Pickton farm were native but a large number of them were. There continues to be a large number of Native women missing and mistreated in the DTES.

Yet their mistreatment is by no means limited to east van. There was that horrific case of a court Judge in Prince George who was convicted of violent sexual abuse of under age Native girls. That is somewhat bizarre. Historically we’ve heard about the abuse that Native children suffered in the early school system. Physical abuse as well as sexual abuse. Tragic and bizarre. This still needs to be addressed.

Corporal Punishment

The next thing we need to talk about is discipline. When I first had kids, I wanted to be a good parent. I took a series of courses called discipline without shouting or spanking. There was a lot of talk about how corporal punishment was wrong but not a lot of talk about healthier forms of discipline. You can’t just say to a parent spanking is wrong without giving them tools to replace it with. The last thing we want to do is raise a generation of spoilt brats.

My father was big on fences. He said we all have fences. Even as adults. As a child we are placed in a virtual fenced area. You’re allowed to play in the yard or the street but if you go beyond that you’ll have your freedom restricted. Sure enough I learned that lesson well. My father used to say as a kid demonstrates he can handle the rules within a fenced area, then he is given more freedom and his fences expand. As he shows that he is unable to keep the rules within his fenced area, then his freedom is restricted and his fences shrink. It’s simple cause and effect.

Yet it’s not a police officer’s role to punish suspects. That role belongs to the courts. If a kid is chained in a cell or handcuffed in a police car and they throw a temper tantrum, let them vent. Eventually they will tire. You can say, if you don’t stop doing that, you are going to spend the night in jail. That is totally reasonable. Parents know that following up on a consequence is essential. If you say don’t do that or this will happen, then you better be prepared to do whatever you said the consequence was or chaos will be the result. That is as long as the consequence is reasonable. You can’t say stop kicking the car or I’ll punch you in the head until I cave your face in. That is not an appropriate consequence. You can say stop kicking the car or I will shackle your feet. Ooo scary they laugh. Shackle the feet and they can’t kick any more. Problem solved. The goal is to solve the problem not to punish the suspect.

Sure it takes more time to use the fence model but it is a better way. It doesn’t provide the same venting of displaced aggression beating a child does but that is a good thing. Don’t kick the cat. If you have anger issues deal with them don’t take them out on someone else. Tasering someone after they have been hogtied is a crime in itself.

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