The Keating Five

A blog reader sent me this and I think it is highly relevant. The Keating five refers to five US senators, four Democrat, one Republican, who were in a conflict of interest pressuring regulators to go easy on one of their large campaign contributors who was involved with committing fraud. If you read the Wikipedia article on Charles Keating, do a control “f” search for “fraud.” You’ll see what I mean. This is tied to the Saving and loans crisis that incurred a massive tax payer bailout based on fraud and the politicians who helped cover it up because they were given political contributions.

So here we have the S&L crisis, fraud, and tax payer bailout tied to political corruption. Yes, I am going somewhere with this. For now I just want to throw out the name Keating five since it’s the silver anniversary of that scandal and ask readers to think about it and read up on it. It ties in with other things and we will soon connect the dots. My point is, it wasn’t just a matter of banks failing because they took on high risk mortgages. It was about investment fraud that resulted from deregulation. Obama bringing up the Keating Five is as ironic as Romney bringing up Operation Fast and Furious.

Eagles on Harrison

I took the kayak out on Harrison River today to see the eagles. The festival was last weekend but I like to go when there aren’t so many people there. They are really advertizing it a lot now with commercials on TV. Those tour boats are absurd. I had no idea how loud they were. They sound like a diesel train roaring up the river.



For people who want to see eagles I have one tip for you. Eagles are birds. When you’re looking for eagles you’re bird watching. That means you have to be quiet. Roaring up and down the river on a speed boat scares them away and defeats the whole purpose.



I put in a few weeks ago to check it out and the water was very high, very fast with a strong headwind. I could barely make it up to the bridge. This river must be tidal like Pitt Lake and Widgeon Creek. Today the water was much easier to paddle up but we were paddling upstream nonetheless. Right before I started to return home the current stopped and was like glass as though the tide was changing. Then on the way back, by the time I got to the bridge it was like the tide was coming upstream. I must have started when the tide was going out, been there when it stopped and retuned when it started to come it. I didn’t think Harrison was tidal because they claim Pitt Lake is the largest tidal lake in the area and Harrison is a bigger lake. Not to worry.



I paddle up where the speed boats can’t go where it’s quiet in 12 to 6 inches of water. The eagles are everywhere there feeding on the salmon carcasses. Rotting chum. We don’t eat chum. They’re kinda like the dogfish of salmon but the eagles like them. You can see chum spawning in Bear Creek in Surrey at the end of November. They look kinda beat up and radioactive.



While I was there I looked up and all of a sudden I could see over a hundred flying very high over my head. You probably can’t see it very well in the pictures but if you click on the picture and see the enlarged view you can count the dots. There’s a lot. On my way up there was about a dozen flying very high up. When I came back with my car they were all gone.



I saw quite a few flocks of trumpeter swans on the way up and on site. They really don’t like you getting too close to them. The sign said the trumpeter swans show up there when the rivers and lakes up north start to freeze over. The same with Pitt Lake. I’ve seen them there too this time of year.



Harrison, Brackondale, it’s nice to see the eagles. On the way up I spoke with a guy from Langford and he said they have the same thing on Gold stream. They have the same thing in Victoria too. Rivers when salmon spawn and the eagles come to feed on the carcasses. The circle of life.



Another place for bird watching, aside from the Reifel range, (Reifel is the name of a guy not a place where we bring guns to shoot tweetie bird) is Boundry Bay in Ladner. Quiet and obscure, the Alaskan Snowy Owls migrate there during winter once every four or five years. It’s at the south end of 64th or 72nd Avenue off Ladner Trunk Road. Last year was one of those years. The snowy owls are pretty small but it’s interesting to see.



Sounds like the Alaskan Snowy Owl is back again this year.

Vic Toews muzzles Bob Paulson

Vickileaks is now trying to muzzle Bob Paulson for honestly trying to address the problems within the RCMP. No big surprise there. They do fire whistleblowers you know. They didn’t want Paulson to actually fix the problem, they just wanted him to spin it. Vicky needs to get a real job.

Gary Webb was Right

I’m going to start the Gary Webb tribute early because I want to get it all out there for us to think about this December which I have referred to as the Gary Webb appreciation month. The first point I want to make is that Gary Webb was right. He said the CIA were responsible for the US crack epidemic in the /80’s and that drug plague was tied to the Nicaraguan war. He was right. He was ridiculed, persecuted and bullied for saying what he did, but he documented everything and since then many more witnesses have come forward.

Iran contra wasn’t just about selling arms to Iran to free some hostages. Not at all. Iran contra was about selling Iran arms to raise money for the contra rebels in Nicaragua. It had nothing to do with freeing hostages. Clearly the first element of the ongoing three part series is arms dealing. Just like in the movie Lord of War, it’s not just arms dealing to our allies. It’s arms dealing to whoever just so we can make money selling guns and ammunition.

Ultimately, Iran contra was about raising money to help Nicaragua fight Communism. The agency rationalized some of their unscrupulous actions with the argument the end justifies the means when it surely does not. Selling weapons was one way to make money. Drug trafficking was another. Even in the movie Lord of War, eventually the war lords started paying for the arms with drugs. This is exactly what happened in Iran contra. Arms went in to Nicaragua on military planes and cocaine came back to the US by the ton. Mena Arkansas was one of the hubs in this drug trafficking network.

Bill Clinton was tied to this operation in Mena and helped crash the BCCI as a result. Hilary Clinton was tied to the operation through her law firm in Little Rock. Barry Seal was one CIA operative caught drug trafficking for the CIA. Chip Tatum was another who came forward. There have been many more.

I want to emphasize the opposition Gary Webb faced in breaking and standing by his story until his untimely death. Catherine Austin Fitts talked about the attack poodles that were sent out to discredit and bury the story. The bullying was so invasive his newspaper started to back away from the story.

Dewey Clarridge is a lying sack of sh*t. He tried to discredit the Gary Webb story by using that same old conspiracy mockery. “Don’t give me that conspiracy bullsh*t. You’re a more intelligent man than that. There has never been a conspiracy in this country.” Dateline was quick to point out that even if the Gary Webb story was false, there has been conspiracies in the United States. Iran contra was one of them. One which Duane Clarridge was involved with. Clarridge was indicted in November 1991 on seven counts of perjury and false statements. On Christmas Eve 1992 in the waning hours of his presidency, George H. W. Bush pardoned Clarridge before his trial could finish. He still has his own private spy firm involved with the opium in Afghanistan.

I just want to pause and emphasize that Duane Clarridge is not a patriot. He used the conspiracy mockery to hide a criminal and treasonous act. That is why I don’t have the time of day for people who keep reusing that same treasonous argument. Gary Webb was not a conspiracy theorist even though they mocked him and claimed he was. Gary Webb was right and those disinformation dogs are not patriots. They are something else. Gary Webb is the real patriot.

Gateway Casino donated $24,500 to Diane Watts campaign in 2011

I stand all amazed. The Vancouver Province ran a profound article in today’s paper with two headlines in the printed edition. The first headline reads: “Donations won’t sway votes: Watts.” The second headline reads: “Casino backers chip in election contributions to Surrey First of $24,500 in 2011.” We could stop right there. Nothing else needs to be said. Except there’s more.

So Gateway Casinos want to build a Gambling Megatropolis in Surrey that will inadvertently be a haven for organized crime. Last year the casino made a huge donation to Dianne Watts campaign. This is Doug McCallum times a thousand. Then Diane Watts has the audacity to say those political contributions won’t sway votes on city council. That’s not very intelligent or honest.

The article also refers to the shady Bob Cheema. What on earth is Diane Watts doing with Gordon Campbell’s bagman? That is distressing and disappointing. No wonder she was so comfortable with Christy Clark and Kevin Falcon at the George Bush summit in Surrey. The article clearly opens the door to Pandora’s box on the Surrey First secret society and their conflicted development corporation that has zero public accountability.



Watts denies widespread corruption in Surrey

Surrey audit cites missing planning funds

Laila Yuile on Surrey City Hall

Court action to seize Kelowna and East Van Hells Angels clubhouses

On the brighter side, big news about how the government has filed court action to seize the Kelowna and the East Vancouver Hells Angels clubhouses. Oh happy day. I have a lot to say about this but will write more tomorrow. I have to clarify some details. It sounds like they have just filed legal action. In Victoria the police seized it. The Hells Angels then went to court trying to have the action undone and thrown out and the courts said it wouldn’t throw it out and may proceed. From my understanding the seizure of the Victoria clubhouse hasn’t been to trial yet. Just the adjournment was denied. To my knowledge.

Which means I’m going to have to clarify just who in fact seized the Victoria clubhouse. Was it the police, the gang squad or the government? This action of the government seems to be new. Three cheers. Historically the Campbell government has done SFA about organized crime in BC. Better late than never. Seizing the Kelowna clubhouse is a must. With the David Giles drug bust and the fencing stolen cars ring and all. Not to mention the Vernon Greeks. Much.

Ricky fat ass Ciarniello is still spewing bullshit. He claims it’s so much easier to seize civilly where the police don’t have to prove any criminal activity. That guy is really offensive. Not just to look at but to listen to as well. You can’t seize property under criminal organization legislation until you have proven the parties involved have been convicted of criminal activity. How do we know Ricky fat ass is lying? His lips are moving. How about those videos Tony Terezakis made of him beating the life out of crack addicts in east van that owed him money. He was selling drugs for the Hells Angels. What does the fat ass have to say about that?

Instead of hearing from an obese idiot, why don’t we here from Randy Jones? Let’s hear from the Walrus himself. Let’s ask him why he registered Tbarz in his mothers name and let’s ask him who the “new” owners really are. So the police can seize that bar which was implicated in the US cross border drug trafficking indictment. Let’s hear what he has to say about that. Oh, Randy doesn’t talk to the media? Well maybe Rainbow Ricky should stfu too.

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Kim Bolan is reporting that Revenue Canada is also involved in the court action to seize the clubhouses. That's an interesting development.

Surrey the Centre of Stupidity

In local news we read that the emergency ward of Surrey Memorial hospital has flooded and will be closed for two weeks as a result. They’re setting up a portable emergency facility in the parking lot. This is unprecedented. All that construction and not a penny for proper drainage. Bad planning to say the least.

Next we read that the promised express bus across the Port Mann won’t be stopping in Surrey. Stupidity once again. Recently the news reported they were planning on reopening an express bus service across the new Port Mann Bridge since they shut the service down and banned it for so many years. It was a time saving and money making run. From Guildford to the PNE took about 15 minutes. Rerouting everyone through bus, skytrain – stop and go, then bus again took forever. Aren’t we supposed to be supporting business? Taking a bus from Guildford to the PNE encourages people to go to the PNE.

So now we get a promise the service will return with the insanity amendment: it won’t be stopping in Surrey. Who gets these ideas? They obviously have no business sense whatsoever. Then there’s the non existent counter flow lane on the Port Mann Bridge.

Years ago, after they spent all that money to expand the existing Port Mann bridge they now want to spend more money to tear it down. As a result, they added a lane of traffic to the bridge. Only unlike the Lion’s gate bridge or the Dease Island tunnel, they never made it a counter flow lane to ease morning rush hour. They simply made it an eastbound lane to help ease afternoon rush hour traffic which did absolutely nothing to ease morning rush hour traffic into Vancouver. We still had two lanes of traffic going into Vancouver over the port Mann and three lanes returning home. Insane.

Then to ad insult to injury, they open up half of the new bridge. Wonderful. Five lanes of east bound traffic but wait… they still only have two lanes of westbound traffic during morning rush hour. Not only that, but the three lanes eastbound on the original bridge is left empty with no one on it. So while everyone is so excited about half of the new bridge being open, we still had only two lanes open to go into Vancouver in the mornings with traffic at a snails pace backed up to the moon.

Here I am, shaking my head over the fact that for years they never made the eastbound lane a counter flow lane astounded that after opening up five lanes of eastbound traffic on the new bridge we still only had two lanes of traffic open going into Vancouver in the morning commute while three lanes on then old bridge is empty. Now I’m like where’s the hidden camera? This is a joke right? Well it is, but they didn’t intend it to be.

So they announce they were opening up the new bridge on Saturday to westbound traffic. So I comment at work and say finally they have more than two lanes going into Vancouver over that bridge in the mornings. No they reply. They just opened up two lanes westbound because the other lanes aren’t finished. Are you kidding me? What are they doing with all the lanes on the old bridge? Well, they have to take up some of those lanes for the new lanes at the exit ramp. OMG. Now they have five lanes eastbound two lanes westbound and a whole bridge of five lanes sitting empty while there is still only two lanes open west bound in the morning. All we really needed was a counter flow lane for rush hour traffic. Was that too much to ask? Evidently so. Surrey has clearly become the centre of stupidity. One day we will be free. Free from stupidity. But not yet. I’m afraid there’s a lot more to come.

Attack Ads paid for with Tax dollars

Monday the Vancouver Province printed several articles about how Christy Clark’s Liberals used taxpayer resources to make an attack Adrian Dix web site. Numerous people have written in expressing their disgust as have numerous editorials been written. One of which raises a point I would like to address. The B.C. Liberal Party is being asked to cut a cheque to taxpayers and submit itself to an independent audit after it was revealed this week that employees in the legislature used taxpayer-funded resources to craft an anti-NDP attack website.

There are three issues on the table: Attack ads, Attack ads paid for with tax dollars, and paying back tax dollars misappropriated for political partisanship. First let me address the issue of attack ads. Attack ads used to be unpopular and unCanadian. If someone used an attack ad that was like shooting themselves in the foot because Canadians didn’t have the time of day for them and it would turn voters off the party making the attacks. My point is there are three types of attack ads: true allegations, false allegations and down right nasty.

We know Kash Heed was caught putting out a down right nasty attack ad on the NDP during his campaign for the BC Liberals. Someone who worked for the federal NDP were caught making a fake twitter account called VivkiLeaks that started leaking out info from Conservative MP Vick Towes divorce. Everyone said that crossed the line. Personally I think voters have a right to known if their “Christian” candidate had an affair and fathered a child with a younger woman. I personally see that as relevant. All the mudslinging in custody battles isn’t relevant but if that fact is true, then it’s true and voters have a right to know. If he was in the US military, he’d be facing charges.

Likewise the attack ad of Adrian Dix. Were the accusations true or false? The whole concept of “We can’t afford Dix” is something the Harper government is doing for Thomas Mulcair. It’s irritating because in Harper’s case it is absolutely false and is playing on a very old and outdated stereotype that he has broken.

In the past we were told the left likes to tax and spend while the right likes to balance the budget and reduce taxes. Brian Mulroney’s GST changed all that and Stephen Harper’s HST is even worse. Millions of dollars for a fleet of insider trading jets that don’t work in the arctic and billions on the banks that didn’t need a bail out. Canadians can’t afford that kind of pork barrel politics. The first aspect of the attack ads that I take offense to is that they are false.

The second aspect of the attack ads that I take offense to is them being paid for with tax dollars. It’s pretty clear that both Stephen Harper and Christy Clark are using tax dollars to promote their political party. No doubt it’s their same Pee Wee Herman advisor’s brainstorm. Someone please buy that guy a new tie.

Using tax dollars to promote your political party is very offensive and very big brother. Right now Harper has two sets of ads. One set is a BS propaganda campaign about how great his party is for the environment and the oil sands when in reality his party has done the exact opposite. These ads are clearly paid for with tax dollars which is inherently wrong.

Yet there is another set of attack ads that are ongoing. They are becoming very invasive and are everywhere. When I get woken up by a Harper attack add on my clock radio, then I take great offense to that obsessive big brother paranoia. The question is, who are paying for Harper’s attack ads. I would assume that is coming out of their political party’s contributions. Again, attack ads are bad enough but when they are flooding the airwaves when there is no election on, that is offensive. There needs to be a financial disclosure of how much these cost to make sure they fall under election guidelines. They are allowed a budget during an election. These attack ads are a part of that budget.

All this brings us back to political parties paying back taxpayers when they have misappropriated tax dollars for political purposes. Returning those tax dollars is essential as is paying a fine to act as a deterrent. Without a fine there is no deterrent. Let’s get taxpayers to pay for our ads. Worse case scenario is we will have to pay it back if we get caught. That is why a fine is in order.

Clearly the most important and the most significant misappropriation of tax dollars is when Brian Mulroney committed perjury and lied about his relationship with Karl Heinz Schreiber in the Aribus scandal when he sued the government for slander and thereby fraudulently obtained an out of court settlement. Number one: that scoundrel should be in jail. Number two: that scoundrel should pay back the 2.1 million tax dollars he fraudulently stole from Canadian taxpayers. This still needs to be addressed.

Game-changer at Main & Hastings

The Vancouver Province ran an article today about another development project that includes low income and social housing with private condos. As I’ve said before, these are ideal. Again local extremists complain that the development project will chase away addicts. I’m sorry if I find that amusing but most people think getting the drug addicts out of the neighborhood is a good thing. If a new development project will bring working people into East Van and get rid of all the drug addicts, than that is a good thing.

I’m not talking about crushing the homeless. This project includes spaces for low income as well as social housing. So that would mean 97 more low income units than what currently exists in that location. And get this: they are low income units in a nice building not a disgusting slum that is a health hazard like the American hotel were Tony Terezakis was beating the life out of drug addicts who owed him money.

The builder refers to the project as a game changer and I agree. This is what we need. Usually it’s hard to convince business to move into bad areas. Now they are doing it all on their own, they’re included low income housing and we have extremists still complain. They must be the ones selling drugs out of Vandu. Drug dealers oppose the project because it will reduce their business.

Did you know there is some magnificent stained glass at the Carnegie centre? I noticed it one day wading through the drug dealers on East Hastings. It’s low, right about the street level. Turns out on the inside there’s a marble swirling staircase and a magnificent stained glass portrait of Milton, Shakespeare and Spenser. Everyone should be able to see the magnificent history the Carnegie Centre has to offer. Right now all the drug dealers are preventing the general public from seeing it. That isn’t right. The Institute for Stained Glass Canada has documented it on their web site.

Surrey’s Casino Megatropolis

Residents expressed concerns at a Town Hall meeting about a proposed casino Megatropolis in South Surrey. No doubt those concerns will once again fall on deaf ears. Personally I am totally opposed to the project. BC has a gang war driven by the drug trade that is known to launder drug money through casinos. Building a drug money laundering megatropolis in Surrey is in my opinion absolutely insane.

I am opposed to the social problems gambling creates. I know of people who have lost their homes and their marriages from gambling problems. I am astounded how people can have a gambling problem with just slot machines. I can understand roulette wheels where people can lose an insane amount of money in a short period of time but slot machines? I just don’t get it. People who sit in front of slot machines all day and spend their entire pay cheques. Why on earth would people do that? Yet they do. It’s an addiction. It’s a problem. It’s something we shouldn’t support.

As a parent sitting on committees fund raising for dry grad, I know how hard it is for concerned parents to stand up and say I’m not comfortable with supporting a casino night for dry grad. They make so much money. People respond with yeah how many car washes are you willing to do to make up that kind of money? It is a real temptation. That doesn’t make it right.

Aside from my concern about not wanting to support gambling addictions which are very real and do exist, I am deeply concerned about supporting the gangs laundering drug money. Don’t tell me it doesn’t happen because it does. Don’t tell me you’ll take steps to prevent that from happening because you already haven’t.

Yet another flaming concern that was brought to my attention today was Gateway Casino’s $1.5 billion debt restructuring. How does a company that owns 9 successful casinos in BC and Alberta get $1.5 billion in debt? That is a flaming red flag. How did that happen? Who stole that money and where did it go? Just like with these bank collapses, banks don’t collapse all by themselves. Someone has to commit investment fraud and steal from them for them to collapse, usually someone who owns the bank.

So again I ask, how did Gateway Casinos get $1.5 billion in debt? Before we let them build a Casino Megatropolis that will become a haven for organized crime we need to answer that question. Don’t tell me it was a sluggish economy. I don’t believe that. Even when jobs are short people still gamble and people still spend money on drugs. Even more so when jobs are tight. So where did this $1.5 billion debt come from?

Recently we heard news about how the HSBC was caught laundering money for the Mexican drug cartels. So what happened? Absolutely nothing. It’s business as usual. Why? Because people want to invest in companies that launder drug money. They think those are good investments. They don’t realize that people who sell drugs are dishonest. When they launder drug money they are consumed with greed and always accompany that with investment fraud which steals from and crashes banks. We saw that at BCCI. We saw that at Banco Ambrosiano. We saw that at Nugan Hand bank in Australia. It keeps happening over and over again and we just aren’t getting it.

Catherine Austin Fitts refers to it as the tapeworm economy. It sucks the life out of the economy just like a tapeworm sucks the life out of it’s host. Gateway Casino’s $1.5 billion debt restructuring with Catalyst Capital Group needs to be examined before we create an organized crime megatropolis in Surrey.