The Separation between Church and State

I have two moral thoughts before catching up on some biker news back east. The first involves the separation of church and state. Someone brought this to my attention on facebook and I’m astounded it’s even being considered. In Riverside, California there’s a popular hiking trail on Mount Rubidoux.

Mount Rubidoux is a public park beloved by the community and has had a cross on its top since 1907. It is home to what locals say is the longest-running outdoor Easter sunrise service, which began in 1909. A group of extremists calling themselves advocates for the separation of church and state have threatened to sue city council if the cross isn’t taken down. As a result, the citizens are rallying together to preserve the religious and historical monument.

Before we weigh in and debate the issue we need to clarify one thing. This group that claims to be advocates for the separation of church and state are anything but. They are not advocates for the separation of church and state. They are advocates for the elimination of church. Before we go anywhere let’s be honest about that simple fact before we let anyone pervert and destroy the sacred constitution.

If this is a religious and historical monument, then tearing it down would be a violation of the constitution and their freedom of religion. It’s not about preserving Christian principles, it’s about preserving the constitution. Tearing down all the statues of Buddha or Islam or any religious symbol is not supporting the separation of church and State. It’s supporting a Marxist Leninist Atheist sate I.E. Communism where you’re not allowed to worship how where or what you may. That is where we are going with this. Just so we’re clear.

It is Communism that tells us we’re not allowed to go to church. It is communism that tells us we’re not allowed to pray or have religious symbols. It is the Constitution that tells us yes we can. It is the Constitution that tells us, yes we are allowed to pray and have religious symbols. First they came for the Christians, then they came for the Muslims. Then they came for the Buddhists. All we were left with was a Communist state with no human rights. That is not the road any of us want to take.

Come to think of it, there’s a group in California that want to outlaw circumcision. Next they’ll want to outlaw personal hygiene. Jews and Muslims both believe in circumcision. That is their constitutional right. Violating the constitution is against the law. Everyone gets all freaked out as soon as someone threatens to sue. Let them sue and make a counterclaim for costs and damages. The constitution needs to be preserved. We know what the end result is if it isn’t.

Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan under investigation

I’m all for scandals and conspiracies but this one is simply tabloid trash and when you put it together with the recent resignation of the director of the CIA, it smells fishy. Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is now under investigation for what is being described as "inappropriate communication" between the general and a woman implicated in the scandal swirling around former CIA director David Petraeus.

An unnamed Pentagon official told the Associated Press that between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of emails and other communications between Allen and Jill Kelley are under review. A senior defense official would only tell AP that some of the emails could be described as "flirtatious." However, other top officials have told AP that generally speaking, the messages are not sexually explicit.

Kelley was the recipient of threatening emails from Paula Broadwell, the 40-year-old woman with whom Petraeus, 60, admitting to having an extramarital affair. As the world turns. Who the hell cares? This is just soap opera drama. However, it does launch a parade of red flags. First we have big brother combing through 30,000,000 pages of private e-mail after searching their entire home for whatever they’re really looking for. Second, we have the Pentagon sending out press releases giving the media updates. That’s a red flag. If they weren’t out to get these guys, they’d be hushing it up. Instead, they’re on a character assignation campaign which is the first thing they do to a potential whistleblower.

Remember the Secret Service agents in Columbia that were caught stiffing a prostitute? There were tons of high ranking officials involved. No Pentagon press releases about that one and low and behold, it’s all swept under the carpet. Surprise surprise. Another red flag is that fact that General John Allen took over the command in Afghanistan from General David Petraeus. That means they knew each other and have worked together. It’s even possible that they were friends with each other.

Let’s put this in perspective. I certainly don’t condone adultery. Yet I find getting all freaked out because General Allen had private correspondence with some woman completely disproportionate when we say nothing about US troops helping protect the Opium farms in Afghanistan. That’s the real scandal right there. Not a word said about that though because the pentagon aren’t sending press releases out about that.

Reversing the contract for the oil pipeline is a way bigger scandal then a bunch of flirtatious e-mail. Yet that doesn’t matter because that’s the party line. What’s the matter, weren’t these guys gonna tow the party line any more?

Turns out court records show the former CIA director and Gen. John Allen intervened last September in a messy custody dispute on behalf of Jill Kelley’s sister, whom a judge described as dishonest and lacking integrity. This photo is of Petraeus with Jill Kelley’s twin sister Natalie Khawam. I’m not sure what all those beads he’s wearing represents but he looks like he’s having a good time. Somehow I don’t think there was anything secret about any of these relationships.

St. John's inmate mistakenly released from jail – again

A New Brunswick inmate who was released by mistake from a Saint John jail last month is now facing charges in a home invasion that resulted in a death. It's not clear if McCutcheon duped the administration at the detention centre or if it was a paperwork error.

In 2010 another inmate was mistakenly released from jail in St. John's Newfoundland even after trying to persuade guards, sheriff's officers, court staff and police that he should remain locked up.

Remembrance Day 2012

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 the hostilities of World War I came to an end. In Flanders Fields is a famous poem written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae during that war that referred to the poppies that grow in the fields of France where some of the bloodiest battles of the war were fought. As a result, the poppy has come to symbolize remembering the sacrifices made on our behalf in times of war.

The other day the Vancouver Province ran an editorial cartoon of a solemn memorial for all the soldiers who died in war. The picture beside it was a memorial for all the civilians who lost their lives in war. That monument was three times the size. That is indeed tragic. Last year one reader said it was a 10 to 1 ratio of civilians killed in war compared to soldiers. Certainly Hiroshima and Nagasaki were examples of that. Just as the poppy has come to symbolize the sacrifices made in war, the paper crane has come to symbolize the civilian casualties of war. Something we need to remember as we embark on drone wars to kill suspected terrorists and civilians.

Last year on the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year I wrote a post about how we’ve gone from the poppies of Flanders fields in France to the opium poppies grown in Afghanistan after the allied invasion. Times have sure changed and it hasn’t been for the better. We have changed the mission and distorted the dream. I’ve been surprised how much traffic that old post is getting this month.

I’m not going to restate the same concerns here but I will expand upon them. WWI and II were pretty clear cut good versus evil. A madman rises to take over the world and the world responds to stop him. It is important to remember the steps Hitler used to con his people and convince them into giving him more power then he ever deserved.

Even Korea and Vietnam, as controversial and unpopular as those wars were, were fighting for a specific cause. It was a stand against a nation who wanted to invade another nation and bring them into bondage. It was still a fight for Freedom. The invasion of Iraq changed all that. It introduced war profiteering and propaganda which resulted in the occupation of foreign land based on a lie. We were tricked in Afghanistan and lost many wonderful sincere soldiers as a result. The loss of life does not make a struggle wrong. Fighting for oil pipelines and control of the opium trade does.

An article in the Vancouver Province recently cited how much money the Harper government is spending on advertizing. A new trend mirrored by the flailing Christy Clark government here in BC. A government starts to sink in the polls and instead of heeding the democratic will of the people, they spend millions on advertizing trying to convince voters why big brother knows best.

Yesterday morning I was awoken by a commercial on my clock radio. It was a Harper attack add on Thomas Mulcair. I found it offensive, obsessive and dishonest. It went on and on about how Mulcair supports a gas tax that could be as high as ten cents a litre and how we can’t afford Thomas Mulcair because he wants to spend huge amounts of tax dollars. It was indeed dishonest, offensive and obsessive. This isn’t even an election. Back in the day we would only hear election ads during an election.

Harper’s obsessive paranoia started off with attack ads against the federal liberal leader Bob Rae after the election. The liberals were wiped off the face of the earth after the election. The criminally dishonest robocalls played a role in that. Spending money on attack ads after a political party were wiped off the map was very obsessive. Now the ongoing attack ads have turned to the leader of the opposition and are inherently dishonest. Stephen Harper’s pal Gordon Campbell was the one who supported a gas tax as well as the HST. The NDP and the provincial conservatives in BC do not. Friday I filled up with gas in Abbotsford. There already is a 9 and a half cents per litre difference in the price of gas in Surrey compared to Abbotsford. That is criminal.

Aside from attack ads after the election is over, we also have these crazy ads the Vancouver Province talks about which are paid for with tax dollars just like the Christy Clark government is doing in BC. Why no wonder. They both have the same Pee Wee Herman advisor. The Clark government went so far as paying for a self promoting commercial during the Super Bowl. Insanity to the extreme.

This is the one day of the year Stephen Harper and Peter McKay should hang their heads in shame and be in hiding because they have betrayed the Canadian military they exploit. As we speak there are law suits and complaints of cuts to funding for soldiers, pensions and support services. Jack Layton would not have done that but Stephen Harper did.

It’s like getting elected on a tough on crime platform then cutting funding for the RCMP and the gang task force while at the same time spending millions on advertizing for the RCMP trademark. This is Stephen Harpers bizarre new world that looks more like a bad acid trip down the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland then anything we had hoped for. Millions on insider trading jets that can’t be used in the arctic to protect Canada but nothing for the soldiers or coast guard. Billions on the banks that didn’t need a bail out why we cut pensions and raise the age of retirement. What have we done?

When I was looking through youtube videos of the Pink Floyd’s song Requiem for a post war dream, one had a clip of a sky full of parachutes as a multitude of soldiers descended to a bloody battle for freedom. It’s overwhelming to think about how many soldiers volunteered for that colossal cause. It also showed clips of soldiers killing each other and it made me ask, what makes us different from the enemy?

The first difference was we weren’t invading another country trying to conquer them. We were helping to stop that. The other difference was that we don’t torture our prisoners. Sadly in modern warfare both distinctions have been lost. This is not what our soldiers fought for. This is not the dream they died for. What happened? What happened to the post war dream? Take heed. Take heed of the dream. That’s what makes us different from the enemy. Lest we forget. Lest we forget who we are. Je me souviens. Blessed are the Peacemakers. That is what we used to be.

The FU Crew and the Outlaws

Looks like the Ontario Village Idiots have just become the hunted. A second shooting in London Ontario targeting the Hells Angles appears to be linked to the FU Crew tied to the Outlaws. I’d say that’s a natural consequence... of being an idiot.

The fires and shootings erupted because the FU Crew and the Outlaws motorcycle club are pushing back at the Hells Angels' attempt to take over the drug trade in London, multiple sources said. "The Hells Angels have terrorized everyone for 10 years," said one man.

Ten months after a Hells Angels leader was shot in London, police have arrested a fifth person in the attempted murder. The attempted murder charge indicated Jason Greenwood is accused of counseling another person to murder Diamond Ialenti, the reputed Hells Angels leader shot Jan. 11 during a tense turf war in London.

Besides the shooting outside the Hells Angels clubhouse, a strip club, tattoo shop and two massage parlours believed to be connected to gang members were set on fire, and a house was shot at over a two-day period, with total damage estimates at almost $200,000.

Political Pedophiles in the UK

A growing political scandal in the UK has just exploded. BBC's Newsnight claimed that a 'leading politician from the Thatcher years' was embroiled in a widespread pedophile ring - and repeatedly raped boys from a children's home in Wales. Alleged victim Steven Messham told reporters he was raped 'more than a dozen times' by the man, described on the program as a 'shadowy figure of high public standing'.

Mr Messham, now 49, was one of hundreds of children horrifically abused in children's homes in North Wales during the 1970s and 1980s. He lived at the now closed Bryn Estyn boys home, Wrexham during the 1970s. Allegations of abuse at the homes began to emerge in the 1990s and the Waterhouse Inquiry Report in 2000 looked into the claims.

OK let’s pause there for a moment. The BBC produces a witness who claims he was raped numerous occasions when he was young at the Bryn Estyn boys home in Wales. That’s pretty significant. Yet the allegations are not new. Numerous allegations were made back in the 1990’s and an inquiry was held.

William Hague, the then Secretary of State for Wales, announced in 1996 a judicial inquiry into abuse in North Wales children's homes, he described it as one of the "saddest chapters" in the history of social care and insisted there would be "no cover up". Yet it was. He announced that a "senior figure" would investigate "truly dreadful" child abuse claims some of which involved a senior Tory figure who was prominent under the Thatcher regime. But he didn’t.

In steps Sir Jimmy Savile. A media personality from the BBC who was knighted in 1990. Last month, a year after his death, a TV documentary about Sir Jimmy being involved in child sexual abuse allegations was aired and triggered Scotland Yard to begin a criminal investigation of child abuse allegations that covered six generation. Now we have more witnesses come forward and David Cameron promises to get to the bottom of it as he runs off to do some arms dealing in the Arab world.

BBC names the shadowy politician to be Lords a leaping Robbie McAlpine. Robbie denies it, threatens to sue and heads start to roll at the BBC. Sad. Very sad. Sounds like Alfonzo Gagliano and Jim Brown. You can’t sue someone for telling the truth.

The fact is, there were many real victims in a widespread pedophile ring. That needs to be investigated before we run off and do any more arms dealing, drug smuggling and money laundering. We’ve seen where that road leads.

Director of the CIA resigns

David Petraeus, the retired four-star general who led the U.S. military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, abruptly resigned today as director of the CIA after admitting he had an extramarital affair. "Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours," the retired general said in a statement.

Wow, that’s shocking. That he resigned. Maybe he’s going to make a run for the presidential bid just like Newt Gingrich. Rumors are swirling that the Evil Hilary is stepping down to prepare for her presidential bid when Obama’s second term expires. Isn’t that frightful. I’d vote for John McCain before I’d vote for Hilary Clinton. She was tied to the drug smuggling and money laundering out of Mena, Arkansas along with Mr. Bill.

The thing that bugs me is that Obama goes on about David Petraeus’s extraordinary military service. Let’s see, the unlawful invasion of Iraq based on a lie that incurred trillions of tax dollar debt for war profiteering like Dick Cheney's Halliburton and who knows what else since the Pentagon can’t account for half of what it spends.

Petraeus was also involved with the invasion of Afghanistan reversing the Taliban’s end to opium cultivation there and returning Afghanistan to become the largest opium producing nations in the world. That’s extraordinary alright. Obama’s blind support of the CIA including Operation Fast and Furious is a huge concern. Looks like we just got a better spin doctor.

The State of the Union

Although I’m relieved Obama won the election, I’m not celebrating. In his victory speech Obama said the best is yet to come. I’m not so sure. Operation Fast and furious is a huge concern. Guantanamo bay is still open. The Patriot Act was bad enough. The National Defense Authorization Act was even worse. Wall Street and Bank bail outs from investment fraud continue to choke tax payers unconcious and builds a dangerously consuming debt. It’s a dark road ahead.

I do see the obsession with off shore accounts and large scale tax evasion as not healthy for a free republic. No one wants to be over taxed yet the fact that Warren Buffet pays less tax than his secretary shows there is something wrong with the system. Over taxing the rich or the large corporations isn’t the answer but letting them pay no or very little tax isn’t the answer either.

Obama is a great orator. Yet my concern with Obama is the same as my concern with any other politician, that is of saying one thing and doing another. We know when Romney started talking about lowering taxes for the middle class he was full of it. Yet in many ways, so is Obama.

For Canada, letting a Communist country take over our oil rights is absolutely insane. The bizarre compensation awards under NAFTA chapter 11 has shown us that chapter 11 has to go and has shown us how insane these over reaching trade agreements really are. These new trade agreements, like the recent one with China, are not about free trade, they are about giving up our freedom and liberty. A dark road indeed.

Hells Angel Associate charged with murder

Ryan Wolfson, a man with ties to the Hells Angels has been charged with two murders and three attempted murders carried out in the Laurentians, north of Montreal in September and October. One of those murders was of Antonio Pietrantonio. Oddly enough, Tony Suzuki has the exact same name. However, this news outlet claims they are different people so I’m going to have to sort through who’s who.

Joe Di Maulo gunned down Sunday night

It's all over the news now. Rizzuto advisor, Joe Di Maulo was gunned down Sunday night in Blainville, 50 km northwest of Montreal. He was 70 years old. He is also the brother-in-law of Raynald Desjardins, charged with the 2011 murder of former Bonanno crime family boss Salvatore Montagna.

Di Maulo was of Calabrian origin and was linked to the clan Cotroni and Violi before they were eliminated by the Rizzutos, which he then joined. Former Montreal police investigator Richard Dupuis said Di Maulo might have angered Rizzuto for failing to strike back following the murders of Vito's son Nick Jr. in 2009 and his father, Nick Sr. in 2010.

It’s interesting to note that he is Calabrian and the Calabrians are making a come back with the help of the Hells Angels. I’m going to have to sit down and do the math on this one. He could have been taken out by either side. Either way, shooting a 70 year old man is pretty lame.

Meanwhile, the Montreal mayor steps down amid corruption allegations.