Coke smuggler nabbed in SUV with 'SMUGLER' plate

The Vancouver Province is reporting about Jasmin Klair, the B.C. resident, was nabbed with 10 kilograms of cocaine at Smuggler's Inn in Blaine. I didn't realize the owner of the Inn was involved. That is tragic. They do a lot of good work for kids camps.

Gurjit Singh Sandhu, 24, Narinder Kaler, 25, and 20-year-old woman Jasmin Klair were arrested last December. Kim Bolan reported that Jasmin Klair (pictured above) told U.S. agents he needed to earn money to pay off a $325,000 debt he owed for losing 115 pounds of marijuana about 18 months earlier.

So are these part of the Dhure Dak Pak or did they owe the debt for the Marijuana to the Hells Angels? Either way they don't appear to be very bright. The sad thing is, if he lost 115 pounds of weed and 10 kilos of cocaine, he doesn't have long to live. Tragic indeed. Sometimes the easy money isn't that easy.

2 Years for sexual abuse

Graham James received a two-year prison sentence for sexually abusing ex-NHL star Theoren Fleury and Todd Holt, Fleury's younger cousin. Fleury and Holt said the decision was a national national travesty. They are absolutely right. This ties in with our earlier concerns about judicial arrogance.

Is the public really that stupid? D owe really need to be educated in the law and brainwashed by watered down jurisprudence until we come to understand that two years for sexually abusing two boys is a fair and equitable sentence? I think not. It's time the judges realize their arrogance and their refusal to be publicly accountable is in fact treason.

Fleury and Holt issued a joint statement about the decision:

"We know that childhood sexual abuse has reached epidemic proportions in our country," Holt said. "Graham James once again . . . spread his sickness right through the courts of Canada.

"He conned the judge with his 'poor me' and 'I regret' statements. His lawyer defended the indefensible, and he's been rewarded for doing so . . . Graham James is laughing all the way back to the life he's always led knowing that justice for him is but a blip on the radar."

I don't know if childhood sexual abuse is more prevalent now as oppose to 30 years ago but I do know it is heinous as is this "judgement."

In another case the Crown's appeal of a conditional sentence for a Surrey woman who exposed her three-year-old niece to scalding bathwater, leaving the little girl with extensive burns, has been dismissed.

The offences began on Oct. 21, 2007, when the accused severely shook the infant and then placed her in an over-hot bath for about 10 minutes. Three days latter the tot was taken to Children's Hospital. The girl had extensive burns and bruises to her body.

Sounds like this is the year of failure to defend the child. Canada has now officially de evolved into a backward nations with this glaring flawed system that mocks justice.

Guilty plea in the Guthrie McKay and Lisa Dudley murder

Big news in the Guthrie McKay and Lisa Dudley murder. Jack Douglas Woodruff plead guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and has been sentenced to life in prison.

We remember the tragic story well. Police described it as a targeted hit at the time. Police responded to a shots fired call but the person who called first called the non emergency number and said they weren't 100% sure it came from that house. As a result the officer didn't even get out of his car to investigate while Lisa lay wounded for days before she was found and eventually died.

Yes it was a tragedy but remember the police officer wasn't the one who shot her and her husband. People had contacted me and said Hells Angels attended some kind of fundraiser for their kids. That was somewhat strange. What did the Hells Angels have to do with this wonderful couple? Guthrie rode a sports bike not a Harley.

The news today reports that the husband was running a grow op and had been doing so for some time. So the question is, who was he running the grow op for? Is there a grow op in mission not run by the Hells angels? Don't they use violence to take over the grow ops in that area?

So if Guthrie was running a grow op for the Hells Angels, why would they shoot him? Was he told to go away on holidays and someone did a grow rip while he was gone? Was he shot by a rival? Unlikely. The rival(s) would have been taken care of. The real question that needs to be answered is what is the motive for the murder?

The court heard that Lisa Dudley, 37, was the target of the plan carried out on Sept. 18, 2008. Guthrie McKay, her boyfriend, was to be killed "if necessary," according to prosecutor Jodie Harris. Wood-ruff was designated in advance as the shooter. Sounds like an organized plan to me. Who ordered the hit and why?

The shooter, Woodruff dated Karen Batke of Surrey before she disappeared around February 2007. Now it turns out he has confessed to murdering Karen but won't be charged due to a lack of "evidence". He claims she attacked him with a baseball bat in a drug fueled rage. So far the only evidence is his word. Sad.

Cop cleared in fatal shooting

The Office of the Police Com-plaint Commissioner has ruled Vancouver police Const. Lee Chipperfield didn't use excessive force in killing Paul Boyd during a 911 call on Aug. 13, 2007. Only I disagree.

Resisting arrest is a serious offence. Yet the law and more importantly the moral obligation governing the use of force addresses the concept of reasonable force. If someone pushes someone, pulling out a gun and shooting them in the head would not be an example of reasonable force. That would clearly be excessive.

In this case the police respond to a 9/11 call. Thanks for doing that by the way. It can be a thankless job as we all know. When police arrived at the scene after receiving a report of an out of control man on Granville, they came across Boyd.

One officer, while seated in a police cruiser, was approached by Boyd, who appeared to be holding a hammer. The second officer drew his gun, and ordered Boyd to drop the hammer and get on the ground.

Boyd, 39, complied, but when approached by police jumped up and struck the officer several times with a bicycle chain. Attempts were made to stop Boyd, but he ran into the street, swinging the chain. Const. Lee Chipperfield, one of the officers at the scene, fired several shots from his service pistol, with a fatal shot hitting Boyd in the head. Boyd was suffering from bipolar disorder and hadn't taken his medication that night.

OK bipolar not taking his meds. The police had no way of knowing that nor does it excuse his conduct. It just puts it into the perspective of mental health. He put what the police thought was a hammer down. Then he ran into the street swinging a chain. Shooting him in the head is excessive. In that case the officer should have pulled out his truncheon, trapped the chain and broken disabled the suspects knee.

If he had a knife and was making stabbing motions at the public that would have been more serious but what ever happened to putting one in his leg? Why do we always have to go for the kill shot and put one in his head or chest. Guy with mental health issues swings a chain and gets shot in the head. Then someone tells us it OK because the officer didn't do anything wrong. It's not OK.

My Wild Albertan Rose

We've all heard of the term my wild Irish Rose. Well yesterday the wild rose party of Alberta made the news. Everyone was making fun of them for their silly bus(t). They said it was a mistake and everyone was saying if they can't get a bus right, how on earth are they going to get the government right should they get the job.

I have two points on the matter. First, I don't think it was a mistake. I think some male capitalist in the party thought it was a good eye idea. They thought it was an eye catcher. Kinda like writing the word sex discreetly in an ice cube advertising some form of alcohol.

Second, I think the Wild rose party is worth looking at. They are supposed to be VERY conservative. More Conservative and separate from the "Progressive Conservative" party. Progressive, regressive. Tomato tomato.

When an older lady from the party was asked about the bus fiasco she said "We need to focus on heath care and we need to focus on seniors. That's what we need to do." Did I hear her right? An ultra conservative talking about protecting health care and Seniors? Why that sounds more like a Traditional Conservative than a modern Neo Con.

They even appear to be concerned about changing the drunk driving laws from .08 to .05 which I agree is stupid. We want to stop drunk driving. The people who are obviously driving impaired. Yes some alcohol can impair your driving but seizing your car after two drinks is insane.

Alberta’s Wildrose Party has come up with a unique way of fermenting populist anger against the ruling Progressive Conservative party. Wildrose members have recently been spotted giving away drink coasters outside of local watering holes, to protest the province’s new drinking and driving law. One side of the coaster features a slash through the number “.05” with the text, “drink responsibly,” while the other side has a red line through the letters “PC” and reads, “vote responsibly.” A novel campaign tactic, to be sure.

The coasters refer to a recently passed law, which will penalize drivers who have a blood-alcohol content (BAC) of .05, even though the legal limit under the Criminal Code is .08.

“We’ve done polling on this and we know that two to one Albertans don’t want the .05 legislation. They don’t like it,” said Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson. “They think it’s a gross abuse of government power. It infringes on people’s rights and it doesn’t go after the real problem on our streets, which is people who are well over the legal limit.”

They've done some polling have they? Now we know they don't have anything to do with the Harper government. The Harper government doesn't poll their constituents like the Reform Party. The Harper government spends money on attack adds to brain wash their constituents.

Harper's new attack adds against Bob Rae are a prime example. First, it isn't anywhere near and election. Second, Bob Rae's response was right on the money. He said the Harper Government only destroy things. they only tear things down. They are not capable of building anything constructive.

I'm not a fan of Bob Rae. I think the party made the wrong choice at the leadership convention. I think they should have elected Trudeau Jr. Yet I agree with his response to the Harper attack adds. Although I don't agree with the fight fire with fire approach. That is the same message.

Saint Patrick’s Day

I guess people were expecting I’d have something to say about saint paddy’s day this year. An old post I made about Ireland was getting a lot of traffic. For me Saint Patrick’s day is about a lot more than getting drunk. It’s about a cultural reflection. Two traditional songs that come to mind are A Nation Once Again and The Town I loved so Well. Both powerful and moving.

Scotland has the Saber dance where highland dancers dance with their arms and hands raised. Traditional Irish dancing on the other hand is with the hands at the sides symbolizing being in bondage to a foreign enemy.

The Harp is a traditional instrument of Ireland. There’s a lot of harp music out there that is nice but I find kind of lame and boring. Loreena McKennitt on the other hand is a Canadian harpist that breathes new life into that wonderful instrument rekindling the ancient with a voice and melody that glows.

I remember going to see a local band called Three Row Barley perform at the Rusty Gull in North Vancouver several years ago. I really enjoyed them. They were very good. One of the lead singers was from back east. Two songs that stood out were the Majestic Shannon and Get up you drunken Bastard.

When I was at the Vancouver Occupation I had my bogran and was talking with someone with a tin whistle. Someone came up to us and asked us where we were from. I said I’m from Surrey but they’re from the Holy Land. Oh, Israel they said. No, Ireland I answered. It depends on where you’re from as to what you consider holy. Yet this is our home now and that makes this land holy too.

Charges dropped in one of the Truro murder cases

Charges against one of the accused in the murder investigation of outlaw biker Randy Mersereau have been dropped by the Crown. Crown Attorney Shauna MacDonald made the unexpected announcement in provincial court in Truro this morning that two charges against Leslie Greenwood would not be proceeding.

He is also charged in the Windsor jurisdiction with first-degree murder in the September 2000 deaths of Mersereau's brother Barry and his common-law wife Nancy Christensen. Greenwood remains in custody on those charges.

Dean David Whynott, of 541 Truro Heights Rd., also had his charge of accessory after the fact withdrawn last year in provincial court. He was charged with assisting Jeffrey Lynds escape custody between Oct. 29 and Nov. 5, 1999, while knowing Lynds had killed fellow Hells Angel member Randy Mersereau. Mersereau’s body was discovered in a wooded area in North River in December 2010.

Jeff Lynds admitted to Randy's murder for the Hells angels but was not charged for that offense. He is said to have committed suicide in prison.

Outside the courtroom, after the charges had been dropped and Greenwood had been placed back in the holding cells, MacDonald said the ongoing criminal investigation in which five individuals are facing related charges prevented her from going into details.

“We have numerous accused and numerous charges involved in this operation and an investigation ongoing so I can’t comment a lot,” she said. “But we’ve had to do an assessment of when and where the best place to call evidence is in order to ensure accountability for everybody involved and at this time we felt it appropriate to withdraw these charges against Mr. Greenwood, bearing in mind he still stands charged with two first degree murder charges out of the Windsor jurisdiction.”

All this new information has us all wondering about Rusty Halls murder and his wife Ellen. Defence lawyer Al Begin said he too was surprised about the Crown’s change of heart when he was informed earlier in the week of the pending move. "First of all, I just want to put a stop to the rumour mill," he said, "there are no deals between Les Greenwood and the Crown." Time will tell.It always does.

Fatal stabbing a gang-related home invasion

There’s been more shootings in the Lower Mainland. The latest news is a couple of gang related home invasions. One was a stabbing in Fraser heights on Saint Paddy's Day. The other was on Feb. 26, when Kacey Rogers, 31, was shot dead in his home in the 14000-block Grosvenor Road in Surrey in what police said was a targeted attack linked to a home invasion.

10 human heads latest grisly find in Mexico's drug wars

Authorities in a town in Mexico's Guerrero state made a grisly discovery Sunday, finding 10 severed human heads near an open-air market, officials said. More gory gang related violence in Mexico.

We’ve talked about the extreme nature of the gang related violence in Mexico before and how it appears that their criminals have no respect for the sanctity of life. The violence keeps getting more and more deranged until one is forced to ask oneself who on earth are they trying to impress?

When someone commits a deranged act of criminal violence, that most certainly does not earn them the respect and admiration of the public. Fear yes, but respect and admiration, absolutely not. People don’t admire someone like Robert Pickton or whoever else was involved in the murder and mutilation of sex trade workers from the Downtown East Side. People don’t admire deranged murderers who hack up dead bodies just for kicks. People are repulsed by it. People question the metal stability of those who engage in it.

Ya gotta wonder, don’t these guys fear God? Life most assuredly does not end at death. Do they really think they can scare God? Why on earth would God be scared of these deranged criminals? They can’t even stand in his presence. Do they really think they can fool God? Do they think saying a couple of Hail Mary’s or a couple of Our Fathers will save them when they have committed a brutal murder? Do they think after they rape someone’s daughter and say Abracadabra, I believe in Jesus, that all will be well? Guess again. The devil knows who Jesus is and that knowledge doesn’t save him.

The bottom line is that we are free to make choices and we are accountable for the choices we make. If we have caused pain and suffering we will experience what we have done for ourselves. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes and no matter what we have done there is a road back to redemption, but it isn’t as simple as some people think. When we start to glorify deranged acts of brutal violence, then we are asking for eternal justice to stop us from digging ourselves a bottomless pit.

I remember being back in Ireland many years ago. I was in a town called Limerick in a strong IRA area. It was actually a branch of the IRA called the INLA. I was sitting down having a heart to heart with a guy who claimed he was a mercenary and was just back from Lebanon. He talked about the violence and how he witnessed someone take the lord’s name in vain and someone else blew his head off because he thought the guy was religious.

I said to the guy, have you ever thought about a career change? He was a bit surprised by the question and said like what? I said gee I dunno, farming maybe? To my surprise he sighed and got all sincere. He said I thought about farming. My father’s a farmer, my brother’s a farmer. I tried it but it just wasn’t for me. Then I thought to myself I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. This guys two choices for career plans was being a farmer or being a mercenary?! Isn’t there something else in between those two extremes he could try?

Then I think about the brutal violence in Mexico and I say God help them. Not just the good, God fearing people of Mexico but the deranged criminals who are begging to be wiped off the face of the earth by committing those deranged acts. God help them because their time is short. They don’t have to wait for some far off judgment. Some other gang will give them a taste of their own medicine long before that. Sometimes justice isn’t so slow. Buyer Beware. As ye so, so shall ye reap. Word.

One group appears to be willing to call a ceasefire for the Pope's visit. Nice, but not nice enough.

Judicial Arrogance not up for Review

The Vancouver Province is reporting that the judges don’t want their independence to be under review and claim that they need to educate the stupid public about what it means to be learned in law. No big surprise there. No doubt the police didn't want a civilian body to deal with police complaints either.

Before a judge becomes a judge they have to be a lawyer first. At one public demonstration about judicial unaccountability, one man comes up to me and says, all judges at one time were lawyers. At what point does a crooked lawyer become an honest judge? Is there some kind of epiphany that’s supposed to take place because I’m not seeing it.

Judicial arrogance is nothing new. Lawyers and judges think they are better than everyone else because they are learned in the law and the public isn’t. That makes them better in their eyes. That’s why they refer to each other as their learned friend in court. I remember getting in a fight with one lawyer once as we were arguing in front of the trial coordinator about what direction the judge gave us for our next court date. I referred to him as my friend then proceeded to state my objections.

The other lawyer snapped. He went on this tirade about this and that then insisted I wasn’t a lawyer, I was unrepresented. The trial coordinator was surprised as she thought I was a lawyer and told me I’m not allowed to refer to him as my friend which obviously gave the implication that I was a lawyer. I said I am the other party and I am representing myself. I have the same rights as any other lawyer. I can’t call him my friend? He’s not my friend? How about buddy? Can I refer to him as my buddy? You could see the steam spewing out of the other lawyer’s eyeballs. He was furious.

Right before that he tried to get me to withdraw my application. We had made cross applications in court. He saw I was winning so he withdrew his application. I said to the judge that I had also made an application and have already served the other party with it. If they want to withdraw their application, I want to proceed with mine. He freaked. He asked me to withdraw and I just said I’m sorry but I believe proceeding with my application is the right thing to do. He came unglued and started yelling and freaking out right outside the courtroom.

After he left a friend noticed me and said Hi. I jokingly said sorry you had to see that. They asked why the other lawyer was so upset. I said he’s losing and he knows it. He wants me to withdraw my application and I said no. I joked and said when the other lawyer starts yelling at you, that’s a good sign. It means you’re right and they’re scared so they want you to back down. When the other lawyer is laughing at you, that’s isn’t a good sign. It means you’re screwed.

Aside from being arrogant, judges don’t want to be accountable because they don’t see interpretation of the law as a survey of public opinion. On the surface that argument has merit. Interpretation of the law isn’t a matter for Pontius Pilate to survey the mob. However, we do have a problem and their arrogant denial of that fact isn’t going to help solve the problem.

Right now we have no real mechanism to get rid of a bad judge. We need one. Peter Leask is a prime example. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to understand what justice is and isn’t. Giving someone house arrest for trafficking cocaine is not right. I don’t care how much watered down jurisprudence you’ve memorized. The law answers to natural justice. Most lawyers and many judges have no concept of natural justice whatsoever.

I remember back when we started this blog and website there were several demonstrations calling for more judicial accountability. One group kept showing up with signs that boldly declared : “Judges are the Problem.” They printed up T-shirts that said “Revolving Door makes Judges Accomplices” and “100% Contempt for BC Judges.” Their beef was property theft.

They had a guy named Jamie Pool in their neighborhood who kept ripping them off. The police knew who he was. Every time he was arrested he was given less time served not more. This infuriated the residents, understandably so.

In the United States they have a policy called three strikes you’re out. After making the same mistake three times, you get the book thrown at you. In contrast the VPD launched a proposal called 30 strikes and you’re out. As ludicrous as that sounds, they weren’t kidding. Our current system has a huge problem with chronic offenders. That still needs to be addressed.

Some people, mostly judges, claim you’re not allowed to criticize a Judge. Retired Judge Wallace Craig disagrees. He has seen the judicial pendulum of justice swing in the wrong direction and he claims that criticizing judges who make bad decisions is a moral duty. I agree. If our arrogant court judges aren't publicly accountable, then we don't have a democratic system. In the United States court judges are elected and can be impeached. Here they are untouchable.