Trade Unions and Greed

I’m not going to say a lot about trade unions other than there are good and bad unions just like there are good and bad people and politicians. The defining question we need to ask is are trade unions protecting us from corporate greed or are they themselves consumed in greed. Which is worse – a greedy corporation or a greedy union? They are both the same.

Right now there is a lot of polarization surrounding the teachers strike. The government should pay teachers a fair wage and allot money for education because education is important. No doubt. The government using the kids as political pawns in their campaign to slash budgets so they can keep giving themselves a raise is wrong.

Yet, in the real world, how much taxes we spend on education counter balances with how much money we spend on heath care and other government programs like police, fire as well as road and bridge construction. The money has to come from somewhere.

Likewise the union using the kids as pawns to get a bigger raise for their members is wrong too. Is your dispute really about class size or is it really about wages? Why did you choose to become a teacher in the first place? You’re only in grade 12 once. Cutting out extra circular activities in that crucial year will never be replaced. What if that extra curricular program is the only thing keeping a kid in school? Dropping the program and having that kid drop out of school would be a tragedy.

They say the company gets the union it deserves. If a company is ruthless in exploiting it’s employees, they usually get or create a militant union to counter balance that drive. Some of the most productive and profitable companies are ones that actually consider customer service and genuinely care about how they treat their employees.

Canadian Values

I’m going to make two posts that may seem off topic but do relate to the heart of confronting organized crime before I dive in to the Kelowna summer jam. Since blog posts usually get buried after they’re made, I’ve devoted a web page to keep track of the K Town OC. (Organized Crime in Kelowna)

The term Canadian Values is a term politicians often exploit to promote their own political party while trying to tear their opponent’s political party. Often politics is more about tearing something down then building someone up. The new attack adds against Bob Rae are a prime example.

The liberal party was wiped off the map last election. Yet the Harper government is so paranoid about them that they have issued new attack adds targeting their new leader no where near an election. Bob Rae rightly pointed out that the Harper governed just tears things down. They aren’t capable of building anything up.

Unfortunately, the Liberals have vowed to fight fire with fire and the resulting mess reminds me of that pivotal BC leadership debate between Mike Harcourt, Rita Johnston and Gordon Wilson.

Rita Johnston were fighting back and forth like cats and dogs. Rita Johnston was insulting everything possible about Mike Harcourt including his manhood. Mike Harcourt just stood there and smiled holding a BC Care Card in one hand and an American Express card in the other saying which do you really prefer? As the debate got heatred and Harcourt and Johnston were arguing back and forth, Gordon Wilson said “There you have if British Columbia. This is why nothing gets done in Victoria.” He stole the show.

Gordon Wilson, who’s party was previous nonexistent prior to that debate, stole the show. He was calm, intelligent and constructive. He gave voters a hopeful alternative. Unfortunately, his marriage to one of his MPs was scandalized and Gordon Campbell took over the party and sent it straight down the toilet. Gordon Wilson was hopeful. Gordon Campbell was not. One tried to build something up, the other succeeded in tearing it down.

Which brings us back to the term Canadian Values. Most Canadians have an image of what they feel is important and how they want to be viewed in the world’s eyes. When I think of Canadian Values I think of the Canadian General in Rwanda portrayed in the movie shake Hands with the devil. Canadians have been known for their peacekeeping efforts. Most Canadians want Canada to be peace keepers not war mongers or war profiteers

One of the values that most Canadians cherish is compassion. Compassion is not a bad thing. Christ had compassion. The good Samaritan had compassion. Even Meg Ryan who played a Canadian in the movie French Kiss had compassion.

Unfortunately politicians have tried to tarnish and scandalize the value of compassion. Linear thinking politicians try to related it to a left versus right debate. The right scandalizes compassion while calling it socialist. They claim we shouldn’t have compassion because that takes us down the road that leads to Communism. That is probably the most ironic statement in recorded history.

Hijacked Communism like we saw under Lenin, Stalin and East Berlin was known for it’s lack of compassion and lack of tolerance. It really wasn’t that much different from what hitler gave us in Fascism. Two different roads leading to the same place - dictatorship.

I really liked Carol James. She tried to restore dignity to British Columbia with the motto “Because everyone matters.” She cared about seniors getting exploited and shut out. It was a heart warming campaign that made you feel proud. It restored our dignity in ourselves and in our country. So do Jack Layton.

Jack Layton had been around as a politician for many years. No one really took him seriously because he was labeled as a left wing union loving socialist. They kept saying the NDP would tax and spend us dry when they were the ones that did exactly that with Mulroney style pork barrel politics. Brian Mulroney was not a good man. That is why the Reform party separated themselves from him. Stephen Harpers brought the party full circle into enduring the very insanity they originally sought to correct.

As people because disenfranchised with the corruption within the Liberals and the heartless intolerance and extremism within the Harper Government people started to take Jack Layton seriously and heard him out instead of listening to the silly stereotypes that not longer were believable.

Jack Layton came across as a friendly politician who really cared. Not just someone who kissed a baby on camera while holding a knife in his hand to stab voters in the back. Jack Layton personified his motto of love, compassion, hope and optimism. Those are all good values that most of us cherish.

Another politician who historically inspired us was Lester Pearson. He was a man who built things up. Her accomplished many great things as a result. I have heard it said by a Reformer of old that Old Age Pension was welfare for the aged. In one sense I can understand what he meant. OAP is separate from CPP. CPP is a pension that we all pay into. OAP is not. It’s just a top up that everyone gets when they reach 65.

Should someone who ism independently wealthy get OAP? That is a valid question. The problem is that many companies payed a better wage 20 years ago then they do now. Compare that to the skyrocketing cost of housing in the last 20 years and you see a huge discrepancy. That’s not even including the fact that most large corporations keep many employees as part time to reduce their wage increases and benefits.

Most seniors now are in the poverty range. Most retirement pension plans take the OAP and the CPP into consideration when they calculate their pay outs. Cutting the OAP from most seniors would have tragic results. However, to question whether or not the extreme rich should receive the OAP at all is a valid question.

The problem is that the heartless right gets it’s campaign donations form the extremely rich. If the Harper government was to submit legislation stopping the OAP for people with a certain amount of assets then those campaign contributors would complain.

I’m just trying to say that we should indeed remember the spirit of Jack Layton. Love, compassion, hope and optimism are good things. Rolling up are sleeves and working together to build a better country with a vision of Canadian values is a good thing. Attack adds that tear each other down is not.

Kelowna Summer Jam 2012

Word is there's going to be a lot of media attention on organized crime in Kelowna this summer. What with Brtiney Irving and Dain Phillips murder trial and all. Word is there's going to be a lot of heat in Kelowna this summer and I'm not talking about the sunshine. I'm talking about the Kelowna Summer Jam 2012. "If ya get jammed up don't mention my name." Much. Stay tuned, more to come. Much more. If you would like to participate in shedding the light on organized crime in Kelowna this summer, drop me a line. Cheers.

Woman killed at the Cobalt Hotel

Vancouver’s latest homicide at a rundown Downtown Eastside hotel has renewed calls for the city to clean the building up. A woman in her 30s was killed in the Cobalt Hotel in the 900-block of Main street early Monday. The woman reportedly was stabbed.

The victim was among three stabbed in a violent spree in the upper floor of the hotel at around 6 a.m. Police say the woman was found in critical condition inside the Cobalt, but are not releasing any further details. The Cobalt is known for its hard-to-house tenants, many of whom have serious drug and alcohol problems.

The Cobalt is owned by slum lords Pal and Gurdyal Sahota. Gurdyal Sahota was recently fined $115,000 under the Residential Tenancy Act for repeatedly allowing a Surrey property to fall into disrepair and dodging his responsibility to make the property livable. It was the first time an administrative penalty had been imposed under the act.

Tony Terezakis was a Hells Angels associate in East Vancouver who video taped himself beating drug addicts who owed money as he shouted Praise the Lord and spit in their face at the Cobalt and the American Hotel in East Vancouver. Gee, I wonder what organization is running the drug scene there now?

Greeks Trial: Witness describes how three gang members gunned down ‘informant’

The Vernon Greeks trial continues. They are the ones that had Hells Angels support gear. The Vancouver Province is reporting that the court heard the leader of the Greeks ordered the murder of a police informant.

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.