Stop the December Violence

Last night in what appears to be a domestic dispute, a man in Surrey shot a woman in front of her 10 year old son then put the gun on himself when the police tried to arrest him. What is wrong with these people? I realize December is a stressful month but for God’s sake it’s Christmas. Stop shooting people. Thankfully the woman survived and was hit in the shoulder and or wrist and the shooter didn’t shoot himself. Nevertheless all this violence both gang related and domestic needs some time with Dr. Phil.

Why would a man want to shoot his ex, then kill himself? She cheated on him? If that’s the case, you’re better off without that trailer trash. No need to murder her. How many guys out there cheat on their woman? If every woman shot every guy who ever cheated on them we would see a significant reduction in the population. This if I can’t have you no one can persona is messed up. Get over yourself. If it didn’t work out, then she’s not the one. Someone else is. There’s no need to wish misfortune on someone.

Same with all these gang shootings. You think they’d have a little respect for the season and for public safety but no. They keep shooting rival drug dealers over Christmas because they are consumed in their greed. That is what this is about. Make no mistake. There is no honour in greed.

Take Columbia. Farc offers a unilateral ceasefire during Christmas and the government of Columbia rejects their proposal. What is up with that? US troop backing the government of Columbia because someone discovered oil and now they are rejecting a December ceasefire. Go figure.

Then there was that horrible massacre in the States where a shooter opened fire on young school children. Columbine couldn’t do it. The Dark Night Rises didn’t do it. Killing young children at school did. Now Obama is talking about gun control and there seems to be enough support to push it through.

Murder is horrible. All the massacres are outrageous. Killing young children at school is heart breaking. Yet I’m not sure gun control is the answer. Criminals will always have access to guns. But I am sure there is way too much violence in December that is related to the gangs as well as to domestic disputes.

Within New Zealand with one in three women experiencing violence from a partner in their lifetime, while on average, fourteen women are killed each year by a member of their own family. No doubt it’s similar in Canada. This needs to be addressed.

Where are you Christmas?

Giuseppe Fetta shot in Montreal

More December shootings. Freddy posted this link in the other forum. December 17 Giuseppe Fetta, a man known to the police with mafia ties was shot in Northern Montreal. A police source said that in recent months Fetta is believed to have associated with Andrea (Andrew) Scoppa, 48, a convicted drug trafficker known to have ties to the Mafia in Montreal for several years. Giuseppe Fetta was referred to as a Rizzuto bodyguard.

According to court records, about a decade ago Scoppa got involved in a dispute with members of the Hells Angels over who controlled certain parts of northern Montreal and required the input of Mafia leaders to negotiate a settlement. How’s that settlement holding out now as the Hells Angels continue their violent control of the Canadian drug trade?

Mega Casino Misrepresentation

Gateway Casinos bussed in non Surrey residents for the public meeting to support their drug money laundering operation that required a $1.5 billion debt restructuring. Bribes and dirty tricks to support blood money. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. They're wearing the wrong shirts.

Christmas Preparations

There’s still lots to write and talk about. I have two final pieces for the Gary Webb Series. Likely the final one will comprise this year’s Christmas epiphany. I’ll save my discussion about Redemption and leaving the game in my New Years message. I still have to mention John Bryce’s new music video that makes Weird Hals’ I’m on a boat video look even more ridiculous.

And of course tomorrow is the big day! The planetary alignment. Unfortunately it looks like yet another day of rain so it doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to see it. I’m sure we’ll be able to see some kind of morning alignment around Venus for a few days after the fact in case we get a break in the clouds at sunrise.

Yet I really need to get ready for Christmas. All this work work work is good for paying the bills but it’s easy to miss the spirit of the season. We went on the Stanley Park train yesterday to see the Christmas lights. I haven’t done that for years. The fire department has some lights set up just outside. We’ll have to check out the Bear Creek park train too. They do the same thing.

There’s lots of free places to see Christmas lights. I remember one house in Surrey that would do their lights up every year and had a large train set in their back yard. Usually the paper lists addresses of houses that do their lights up over Christmas. I hear Capalino suspension bridge has lights. If you live local buying a year pass is worth it. That tree top adventure is nice in the summer. Just like the Aquarium or the Planetarium. Buying a year membership makes it worth while.

The same with the gondola on Grouse Mountain. A year pass is worth it. Now that’s festive. A sleigh ride on the mountain, a small ice rink and even live reindeer. It’s worth bringing the kids. Although I don’t think they have horses pulling the sleigh any more. They do on Silverstar. Lots of nice things to see and do on Silverstar and Big White.

So here it is, Get festive. Enjoy the season. Take time out from the road rage and the mall rage to look at the lights and enjoy your freedom. Yeah I had to go and use the F word again. One blog reader was asking my opinion about Giles spending Christmas in prison this year. I have to admit it’s a little comforting knowing that justice has finally arrived with that guy. Dale Sweeney was trying to get parole for Christmas in the wake of his cocaine trafficking trial. The big house crew isn’t very bright. Spending Christmas in prison isn’t very fun.

Nevertheless, don’t forget that part of being a good Christian is to visit the sick and those in prison. Strange as it may sound. Anyone can change but the key word there is change. You can’t change unless you admit you’ve done something wrong. Crack and crystal meth are horrible drugs. Profiting from that is wrong. Torturing addicts for drug debts is deranged. Lies and denial won’t change that. Be a man. Face the facts and come clean. You’ll feel a lot better about yourself.

So here’s a little tribute to Davie Giles and all the boys in the dumb house crew spending this Christmas in prison. Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson singing Folsom Prison Blues. And to the rest of you out there who think you can live a lie while you torture addicts and live off the avails, don’t kid yourself. Buyer Beware. God’s gonna cut you down. Word.

Vernon Greeks lawyer pleads guilty to criminal organization charges

William Jacob Mastop is a lawyer who represented the Vernon Greeks and was himself charged with participating in a criminal organization. Today he plead guilty to those charges. One of his bail conditions was a no-contact order with past or current members of the Hells Angels or the Greeks. Interesting that it specifically named the Hells Angels. We know the Vernon Greeks were a puppet club who sold drugs for the Hells Angels. Hells Angels support gear was found in their office.

Haslett said Mastrop wasn’t involved in murder or drug dealing but he assisted the Greeks by providing them with documents that they wouldn’t normally be able to access that aided their criminal activities. “He was aware of the murders, everyone in town was,” he said. “He would have known they were killing people.”

Speculation arises about the possibility of those court documents including names of police informants which is what some claim got Ron Thom killed. Thom, who the gang mistakenly believed had cooperated with police, was lured to a road near Vernon in the middle of the night and shot to death. Smart said when Thom’s bullet-ridden body was left on Commonage Road, it was “to send a message to others involved in the illegal drug subculture.”

Hells Angels members pleaded guilty to extortion and assault

Two members of the Hells Angels in Hamilton, James (Bubba) Sherwood, 42, and Joel Rollin, 29 plead guilty to extortion and assault yesterday. A statement of agreed facts claims the pair went to a Greenhill Avenue residence on Aug. 8, 2011, around 6:30 p.m. and entered through an unlocked door.

The pair, one of them wearing a gold and diamond necklace with the biker gang’s name spelled out, was hired to force two former owners of an east-end bar to transfer a liquor licence in a sale dispute, court heard. Once inside, Sherwood confronted one victim and punched him in the neck. He then demanded the two former owners sign a document to settle the sale of their bar and punched one of them in the face, said Leitch.

“In the house were three young people, one still a child,” Leitch added. Once the document was signed and before leaving, Sherwood told one victim he was being taxed $5,000 for mentioning the Hells Angels and had a week to pay or they’d be back to take his car. Bubba received a three year sentence. Joel will b sentenced on January 29.

New Port Mann Bridge closed for falling icicles

Just when I was going to renege on my Surrey the Centre of Stupidity post. After all, they opened up more lanes on the new bridge going into Vancouver finally so things were finally improving. Until today. Two inches of snow and the thermometer hovering around zero has produced icicles on the cables of the new bridge. As it warms the icicles melt, fall and smash windshields of cars driving below. I’m not talking about one or two cars, I’m talking several. Great another brain surgeon escapes with his pocket full of money while the tax payer is left to pick up the pieces. It’s like the new wonderful sky train that doesn’t work when it snows. Brilliant.

Gee the old bridge didn’t do that. Twining it would have been cheaper, safe and we’d be able to use it all year round. The same thing doesn’t happen on the Alex Fraser bridge because those towers are on the sides of the bridge so the cars don’t drive under the cables like on the new and almost improved Port Mann bridge. I don’t want to be a pessimist all the time but I’m really not excited about the design of the new bridge. The whole thing held up by two concrete towers. It’s hard to tell if all those cables are holding the bridge up or if they’re holding those Babylonian towers up so they don’t tip over. I guess time will tell. When the earth quake hits we’ll see how it does. I personally prefer steel arches. They’re much more reliable.

Pickton Inquiry Report is a Fraud

Wally the limp fish Oppal blamed the police for failing to arrest Robert Pickton sooner. Yet we all know that circus side show was a fraud and that the public inquiry wasn’t public. Aside from being in a position of conflict of interest right from the get go, and aside from his offensive side job in a slasher movie, Wally Oppal censored the inquiry and shut it down as soon as other possible suspects were mentioned which was highly relevant to the mandate of a Missing woman inquiry.

Wally blamed the police for such a disaster from happening while he himself was the root of the cause of it happening again which we have seen in Whalley recently. There was a great deal of information about the Hells Angels involvement on the Pickton farm that came to light during the inquiry and Wally ruled that information inadmissible. He then shut the inquiry down and transformed it into a less “adversarial” panel discussion to prevent key witnesses from testifying.

The judge’s instructions to the jury in the Pickton trial was that they could find him guilty even if he wasn’t the only suspect. He even went so far as to say they could find him guilty even if he wasn’t the primary suspect, just and active participant. On that basis he was convicted. Any missing woman’s inquiry needs to ask what other suspects were involved if it sincerely hopes to prevent that tragedy from reoccurring. Wally Oppal isn’t just a fraud, he is now an accomplice to murder.

Wally Opal is the last person on earth to make any recommendations about a Regional police force. Neither the RCMP nor the city police forces want that. That is something we can objectively look at but we should not let that distract us from Wally Oppal's criminal failures in the commission.

Police Negligence

I will however, say a word about police negligence in this case which went far beyond apathy and indifference. When a witness accused Willy Pickton of murdering a prostitute, a member of the Coquitlam RCMP went to Willy on the farm, told him about the accusation and told him the name of the witness. That was a crime. That officer should be charged and that whole tarnished detachment should be under review.

There are two mayor concerns on the table. The first is the overwhelming climate of unprofessionalism that permeated the RCMP as well as the VPD at the time. It was far more widespread in the RCMP. It was a climate of sexual harassment. Don Ray is the epitome of that dark reality. Catherine Galliford was the public face of the police investigation into the Pickton case. Her testimony about the ongoing sexual harassment she experienced by that investigation team is astounding. It was a climate of unprofessionalism that was rampant. Likewise, members of the VPD were accused of blackmailing prostitutes into having sex with them. Telling them if they didn’t have sex with the police officer, the officer would arrest them for prostitution. That’s the first concern. The climate of unprofessional that was pervasive.

The second concern is the huge cover up. The police covered up the Hells angels involvement on the Pickton Farm because the Hells Angels were under investigation at the time and they didn’t want to come across as having bungled that investigation which they clearly did. Just like Operation Phoenix. So the Hells Angels involvement with Dave Pickton and the farm was extensive and that fact was obsessively covered up by the police during the inquiry. Relevant police reports were not admitted as evidence in the not very public inquiry.

The Globe and Mail reported that the inquiry will hear that off-duty officers “frequented” Piggy’s Palace, that evidence was not submitted. We all know about the Jim Brown scandal. The police assisted that cover up by raiding the whistleblowers home.

Obviously the other purpose of the fake inquiry was to give the police a slap on the wrist and absolve them of any legal liability for telling Pickton the name of a witness who made allegations about him and for covering up the fact that they bungled the investigation into the Hells Angels involvement with Dave Pickton and the farm. I know paying the families of the victims compensation would cost a lot of money, yet that is no excuse for withholding evidence in the inquiry. Since there was no public inquiry perhaps civil litigation is the only remaining avenue to get a full disclosure of that important evidence Wally Oppal denied.

Woman assaulted in Whalley over a drug debt

More details have emerged about the brutal assault in Whalley. The Surrey Leader is reporting that the witness who discovered the body found her chained to a tree moaning, trying with a weak voice to call for help. Her underwear was pulled down around her ankles, and she drooped from a tree, her arms chained to a big limb and her knees touching the muddy ground.

Some people in North Surrey are saying that in addition to being beaten, the woman was sexually assaulted and had one of her eyes scratched out over a drug debt. Over a drug debt. Where have we heard that before? Edmonton and Lloydminster? Who was responsible for that one?

Who controls the drug trade in Surrey after Eric Sandberg promised “they” were ready to eliminate all the competition in Surrey. A sex trade worker in Maple ridge was brutally raped by someone who claimed her husband had a drug debt to the Hells Angels. This is why we don’t turn a blind eye and let the Hells Angels get a monopoly on the drug trade. Torturing addicts for debts is not acceptable. That blood money is not worth it and we should not be laundering it in our casinos or on Wall Street.

Surrey RCMP claim they didn't find the woman bound to a tree when they responded to a call at 12:40 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 2. They are saying she was a victim of a serious assault and suffered life-threatening injuries, including broken bones. As of Monday December 10th, the woman remained in hospital in critical condition, clinging to life.

Several people in Whalley are angered that police didn't release a warning to the public immediately following the discovery of the beaten woman. It was only after calls from The Leader days later that police released some scant details publicly. Smith isn't surprised. "This is the dead zone," he said as he walked north of 104 toward 108 Avenue. "They don't tell you when bad stuff goes on up here." The Vancouver Province expressed a similar concern in a front page article in their paper. Although they did write about it on December 5th. Perhaps the December 5th article was a tip not a press release from the police.

Torturing addicts for drug debts is a huge concern. Handing out free needles or crack pipes does not prevent addicts from being tortured. It just feeds the drug dealers greed. We need another solution. In this MSN video one local claims the first thing we have to do is get rid of all the drug dealers in that area and he is right. When we create no go areas that are tolerant of drug sales in hopes to contain it, we contribute to these kinds of outrageous assaults.

Rattan Mall has some interesting insight on the matter. He claims the Delta Police are more transparent than the Surrey RCMP when it comes to reporting crime statistics to the public. He asks if news is being deliberately suppressed to give Surrey a good image. Rattan even quotes the Balcony Rapist decision in Ontario. He recounts that in 2002, the Surrey RCMP were reportedly pressured to stop reporting every shooting incident as it was giving the city and then-mayor Doug McCallum a bad name. That tradition is now being continued under the new administration and has expanded to other districts.

It is time to turn the clock back and go back to reporting all serious crime to the public and stop surprising crime statistics. We keep hearing how safe Surrey is and we keep asking who’s smoking what. Over all Surrey is safe, yes but this dead zone in Whalley they refer to is just as bad as the DTES. Over all crime has dropped but in that area violent crime has increased and most of it doesn’t even get reported. Laundering that drug money in a new Mega Casino in Surrey is wrong.

Foreign ownership of Canadian oil is very problematic

Foreign ownership of Canadian oil is very problematic in times of war. We could easily not only find ourselves with a contractual obligation to trade with the enemy but to fuel their invasion as well. That is not right. It doesn’t matter what country it is.

Giving our oil rights to Communist China is even more problematic. Remember the Korean War and the Vietnam War? China supported both. In World War II Japan elected a fascist government and started invading other countries. The US put them under a naval blockade cutting off their supply of oil to fuel their invasion. Japan responded with the bombing of pearl harbor.

China has a horrific history of human rights abuses. We all remember pictures of the tank man in Red Square but we forget the Communist military used live ammunition on the protestors in the middle of the night. Over 2,600 people protesting for democracy were killed in Tiananmen Square. Many more were wounded. Do we really want to fund that in a time of peace? I think not. We certainly don’t want to fund that in a time of war. China has a need for foreign fuel. We can supply that need in times of peace by selling them fuel. Not by giving them ownership of our fuel. Giving any foreign country ownership of our oil is insane. Giving a Communist dictatorship ownership of our oil is treason.

Giving the Dutch foreign ownership of our grain is also problematic. What if, after a few years of profiting from owning Canada’s oil, Communist China decides to buy out the Dutch and take control of our grain too? Ever head of the potato famine in Ireland?

Blennerville was the main port of emigration from County Kerry during the Great Famine (1845 to 1848). In the year 1800 there were over 100 working windmills in Ireland, now only 3 survive. One of them is the Blennerville Windmill at Tralee in Kerry. During the famine corn was shipped out of Ireland to England through this port and mill as well as others.

Being forced to ship Canadian grain out of Canada during a famine would be unwise but is the exact situation we create by allowing foreign ownership of our grain. Foreign ownership of our resources is very problematic. Communist ownership of our oil is treason. History matters.