Swearing an oath to the Queen

Before I catch up on other stories there are two editorials in today’s paper I want to comment on. On the front page of the Vancouver Province and all over the media everywhere is the news about William and Kate’s new baby. While I am happy for them just like I am happy for any other new parent, I really don’t see what all the hoopla is about. A few media outlets even went so far as to say “World Welcomes New Prince.” The world? Really? You think the Queen of England is the queen of the entire world? You’d think this baby was the freaking prince of peace for heavens sake.

I’ve got nothing against William and Kate. I think they are a very nice couple. William’s mother was the best thing that ever happened to the monarchy. I’m even happy for Charles. I think it’s romantic that he finally married the woman he wanted to marry. She wasn’t as young and pretty as Dianna but that was his real true love and I think it’s very noble that things worked out for him in the end. Tragic how Dianna’s life was cut so short but she left us with a lasting impression that will remain forever. Who knows, maybe in the hereafter she’ll be with her true love as well.

I just don’t get this hoopla about the monarchy. Don’t worry, I don’t get the hoopla about movie stars either. They’re all just ordinary people. Show me someone who’s done something to make this world a better place and then I really am genuinely impressed.

It reminds me of many years ago when I was working in London England during the royal wedding. The royal wedding - Charles and Dianna. The media was all over it. The radio was on at work and they were giving us the live play by play. Here it is folks. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. The royal bride is going to step out that door any minute now. There she is folks and this is what she’s wearing... and there the fashion designers go to reproduce her gown for the public.

I shook my head and said out loud what on earth is all the fuss about? You’d think it was the freaking moonwalk and man’s first step on the moon. A Caribbean guy I was working with chuckled but the manager from England got a little perturbed and said Oh but you have to understand this royal family is very important to us here in England. Yeah? Why? I don’t get it. They’re just ordinary people. Well, I still don’t get it.

So the editorial in today’s paper was about how some people object to have to swear an oath of allegiance to the queen of England in order to become a Canadian citizen. The editorial said that’s the way it is, get used to it. But is it really the way it should be? I never had to swear an oath of allegiance to the queen when I was born here. Sure the queen’s picture is on the money but so is the beaver, elk and loon. We can put any historical figure on our money we want. It doesn’t mean anything.

The article claims many Canadians support and appreciate our constitutional monarchy. Our constitutional monarchy? We don’t have one. England does. We are simply part of the common wealth – a loose association of countries that were once colonies before they became free republics. I suppose whether or not we really are a free republic is debatable and that’s why we need to address the issue.

Before we go there let’s talk about inclusion. It’s not just new immigrants who have a problem with swearing another to the queen. I’m pretty sure most Canadians of French ancestry have a real problem with it. That could be one of the reasons Quebec never signed the Charter. Swearing an oath to the queen would be a violation of their conscience. Before I went traveling I was considering joining the reserves. I was shocked and astounded we were supposed to swear and oath to the queen. I’ll swear an oath to defend a country or a constitution but not to a person. We all know there are good kings and bad kings. In our day the queen is literally just a figurehead but historically there have been many bad kings. I certainly wouldn’t want to swear an allegiance to a bad king or be treated like a traitor for not doing so.

The editorial said some claimed that swearing an oath to the queen would harm their right to the freedom of religion. That’s an interesting thought. In Ireland the Church of England persecuted the Catholics. In fact they persecuted other Christians as well who weren’t Catholic just because they weren’t Church of England. Since the queen is literally the head of that church we need to talk about it’s historical origin if we are going to swear an other to her title. (Did I tell you the story of George Buchanan? I’ll save that for another day so I will.)

Never in Israel’s roller coaster history of morality and immorality has there ever been a king of Israel that has actually taken over the church and made themselves rulers over it. Prophets have spoken out against bad kings in the past and many kings rejected the prophets and threw them in jail like they did to Jeremiah or in the case of John the Baptist, served his head on a platter for confronting the king’s immorality. Jean Baptise as our French friends would remember.

So in England we had the famous King Henry who was guilty of both adultery and murder. He was a Catholic and the Catholic church didn’t allow divorce so he kept beheading the wives he didn’t like so he could remarry without getting a divorce. Finally he started feeling guilty about being a murderer (after the Pope excommunicated him) so he decided to take over the church and make a new one that would allow divorce so he wouldn’t have to feel guilty about murdering another wife he didn’t like. Low and behold King Henry becomes the head of the Church of England. If that’s not enough blasphemy for lightening to strike, I don’t know what is. I’m not saying the church shouldn’t allow divorce btw. I’m saying King Henry had no right and no authority to take over the church and make himself the head of it.

Other reformers like Martin Luther were good men. King Henry was not. He didn’t just create a new church and let it run. He created a new church and seized control of it. Adopted it as the state religion and persecuted everyone who didn’t embrace the new state religion. That is the problem with forsaking the constitutional freedom of religion and adopting any state religion. Kings and citizens have the right to join or leave any religion they choose. Adapting a single state religion is just as bad as abolishing all religion completely. It is a violation of civil liberty.

Historically, the Act of Supremacy of 1534 confirmed the King's status as having supremacy over the church and required the nobility to swear an oath recognizing Henry's supremacy. Gag. That act was repealed and restored many times since. Yet today the queen of England is still considered the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. So tell me, does swearing an oath to the queen also an oath recognizing the queen’s supremacy over the church? That is something I completely object to and I was born here. To be continued…

I will point out that before King Henry the Catholics church was even worse. During the Spanish Inquisition they killed and persecuted everyone who wasn’t Catholic. I guess that’s why they called it the dark ages when mankind was groping around in the darkness thinking the world was flat. Both crimes show why adapting a single state religion is just as bad as abolishing religion altogether. Both are wrong and one leads to the other.

Hells Angel crashes after Langley Party

Well Kim’s back from holidays. She’s reporting that a Saskatoon Hells Angel drove off the freeway near Hope on his way home from a party at Jaba’s palace in Langley yesterday. I certainly don’t wish misfortune on anyone. Kinda strange how he mysteriously drove off the freeway into a rock wall. I have no idea if they did blood work.

Kim’s reporting that it was five years ago at their 25th anniversary she started her blog and did a live play by play coverage of the event. She was the one that noticed Scott Jamieson’s hummer from Showgirls in Edmonton showed up at the party. Has it been five years already?

I’m sure she had her blog going just before I started my web site and blog. Now five and a half years later we’re on the verge of breaking our 8 million hits mark. June 2012 we just broke 4 million hits. That makes 4 million hits in just over a year. That’s kinda hard to imagine. I recognize that the success of this blog has been from the many contributors that have sent in pictures and tips. So thanks to the many contributors over the years who actually care about their community. It gives us hope for the future.

Spotlight on two great Surrey Restaurants

I have several stories to catch up on but since the topic of diversity and Surrey pride came up, I wanted to highlight two tiny resultants in Surrey that have awesome food. The first is Binghi's Reggae Café 13593 King George Blvd. It’s at King George and 108 Avenue. It’s tiny but the food is awesome. They even have a facebook page.

I think the owner is Indo Canadian but it serves Caribbean food. The guy with the hat is an awesome chef. I had some curry goat with some rice and peas along with a Guinness stout. Now that is what I’m talking about. It doesn’t get any better than that. It came with a unique salad and a Jamaican patty. He even put the rice in a timbale. Now that is old school. The sauce was fabulous.

The other restaurant I wanted to spotlight is right around the corner. A tiny Mexican restaurant called Taqueria Jalisco at 13646 Grosvenor Rd. It’s on 108 Ave and King George right behind where Caps Bicycles used to be many years ago. It’s tiny but the food is awesome.

Everything on the menu is great. It even has some old wanted posters on the wall from the 1900’s. They have their own web site. They even have an assortment of naturally sweetened pop from Mexico. The Jarritos is awesome. It’s lime flavor. Supporting small business is a good thing. Especially when they have such great food. Diversity is a culinary pleasure.

The Surrey Fusion Festival

I finally broke down and attended the end of the Surrey Fusion Festival today. I haven’t been in a few years. Ever since Godzilla started building her Ivory tower I haven’t been feeling very patriotic. My Surrey Pride has disappeared.

Yet tonight it was nice to see. It’s billed as a celebration of music, food and culture and that it is. As I walked in on one side there was ear piercing Bhangra and on the other side there was bone chilling country twang and I was left looking for somewhere else to fit in. It wasn’t really Bhangra it was something else and if they just turned it down a bit it wouldn’t have been so ear piercing. They did perform several pieces that were very nice as did the country group. They even finished off with like a rolling stone and I started feeling much better.

Tons of cultural pavilions and lots of food from many different cultures. It was like a world tour of cuisine. Many from Africa, Latin America and Tonga. I was interested in the Kangaroo burgers from Australia but settled on some chicken and rice from Bolivia and some vegetable pakora from India. It was really nice to see the celebration of cultural diversity.

A few hecklers on the blog previously made some outrageous statements denouncing multiculturalism and I saw a similar offensive letter printed in the Vancouver Province recently. Cultural diversity what being a Canadian is all about. That is the great Canadian Mosaic as opposed to the American melting pot. We can be Canadian but still retain our cultural heritage. A woman can wear a sari and a man can wear a kilt. That is freedom and that is multiculturalism. Diversity makes us strong. In fact there’s a group in Vancouver called gung haggis fat choy that celebrates Asian and Scottish culture together.

The Surrey Fusion Festival helped restore a little Surrey pride but also Canadian pride. After all, Surrey’s little oasis of cultural peace is a model of what Canada is all about. I’ve noticed my nationalism has slipped of late with all these attacks on the charter and the erosion of our civil liberties. Looking at the flag now makes me feel a bit diminished. Yet events like these help rebuild that tarnished image.

Not all Canadians are polite and tolerant. That is something we still have to work on. A friend at work went to Disneyland a while ago and saw a kid with a Canucks shirt on. He asked the family where they were from and the mother was really rude. He said ya know, I’m from Vancouver too. Everyone keeps talking about how rude Americans are but you are more rude than any American I’ve ever met.

My daughter had a friend visit from Texas several years ago. He said everyone here is so angry. Everyone wants to fight me. I said yeah, this is Surrey. He said people are more friendly back home. People are more friendly in America? Texas? That kinda blew away the previous stereotypes. It reminded me of how I was driving along a side street in Blaine and an old man waved his hand at me. I slowed down to see what he wanted and thought oh great, he’s gonna bitch me out for going too fast. Instead he just smiled and waved as I went by. He was just being friendly. Imagine that. Kind of unheard of in our society.

I’ve had a little bit of a conflict lately with some Punjabi pride so to speak. Pride as in arrogance. So here’s me cheering on the Vancouver Bhangra dancers eating vegetable pakora. Obviously there is good and bad in every culture. We need to embrace the good and shun the bad. My daughter works with a young Indo Canadian who is trying to follow the path of his religion. Another Indo Canadian girl comes up to him and says isn’t it hilarious and Vasakhi is on 420 this year? We can get baked and go to Vasakhi. Isn’t that awesome she said. No it’s actually dumb and very disrespectful to our religion was his wise response.

For me diversity means equality. It doesn’t mean we cheer louder for one group above another. The Punjabi Hindu conflict coming here concerns me. People are welcome to bring their culture here just make sure you leave your pride and prejudice at home because that has no place in the society we want to build.

I stopped in at the Palestine booth and looked at some of the beautiful pictures. They even had a poster of the doors of Jerusalem like they have for other countries. They still call it Jerusalem. Salam means peace in Arabic. I realize that conflict is very problematic because Palestinians in Israel are residents not citizens with a passport. Yet the Jews have a right to a home too. Not an exclusive right to the land but an equal claim to it which makes that whole mess very problematic

Some people claim that the Palestinians were there first and the Jews took over after England conquered it and gave it to them. Yet Jews were there before that. Then people claim that the Jews obtained that land originally by genocide. True, but the history of all land ownership has been one group conquering another at some point.

I picked up a hitch hiker on the way to Tofino who claimed to be the war chief from Flores Island and claimed that his uncle was the hereditary chief of that nation. He said that historically there was a conflict between their tribe and another much larger tribe. The larger tribe was greedy and wouldn’t let them hunt or fish in the same territory. They even killed their chief, gutted him and put him on a stick to warn the others.

They responded with a war that ended up driving the bad guys south to California and north to Alaska. He said it’s quite the David and Goliath story because they were a much smaller tribe than their aggressors. He said trading with the white settlers helped them because they got guns from them which helped them defeat their enemies.

Which kinda reinforces what I previously said about how the local natives in Fort Langley benefitted from trading with the settlers because they helped defend them against rival tribes that would raid them and carry them away as slaves. The point is, the Nation that now resides in Tofino conquered it from someone else. Claiming that the California tribe that tried to squeeze them out has a current legal claim on the land because they at one time resided there is a bit silly.

In Israel the Palestinians weren’t the original inhabitants of Gaza. They were the Philistines who were conquered by Ramses in Egypt. If anything Gaza would be better of as a part of Egypt then on it’s own but that conflict is much bigger than you and I. Palestinians have a wonderful culture as well and are welcome here. My point is celebrating diversity is good. Rehashing old disputes is not and the Surrey Fusion Festival is worth supporting.

They even had a really cool booth where you could get your picture taken with whatever background you wanted - the Eiffel tower, the leaning tower of Pizza, even Ayers rock. Come to think of it, there weren't that many European countries represented. They has Polish sausage and perogies from the Ukraine but nothing Irish Scottish, French, German or Swiss. The festival still has room to grow. It's a great place for local restaurants to advertize.

Blueberry Fields Forever

Time for a breath of fresh air. Yesterday I hiked up Hollyburn ridge on Cypress. There was a ton of people on the mountain for a Five Peaks running race through the cross country area but they didn’t go up to Hollyburn ridge. It was the perfect day for a hike. Sunny but not too hot. Slight cloud cover and even a cool breeze on the way down. I chose Hollyburn instead of Sky chair because unlike Sky chair, Hollyburn has a bit of shade from the trees on the way up. People like to feed the whiskey jacks out of their hand there.



You actually get a better view of the mountain panorama in winter because you’re aboive the treetops in the snow but it’s still nice in the summer.



In the summer upper Romstead turns into a wild blueberry field that seems to go forever. When I fist saw everyone eating the wild berries I asked a guy if he was sure those were safe to eat. He pauses and says he was kinda waiting to see what happened to everyone else who was eating them before he tried them. Then a woman said no they’re safe. They’re wild blueberries. They kinda looked like blueberries.



I thought they’d be out by now but I guess the berries come out in the late summer early autumn. You have to be mindful of the bears then because they really like them. I guess it’s good they have something else to eat when you’re around them. It’s kinda like the poppy fields in Flanders.



It reminded me of the Beatles tune Strawberry fields forever. Living is easy with eyes closed Misunderstanding all you see Let me take you down ‘Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields Nothing is real And nothing to get hung about Strawberry Fields forever. Kinda like the Main Stream Media in our Brave New World but I suppose it’s nothing to get strung out about.



It's still a beautiful world if you know where to look.

Woman raped in Dubai sent to jail

A Norwegian woman was sentenced to 16 months in jail in Dubai for having sex outside marriage after she reported being raped. That isn’t just hypocrisy, it is insanity. It is a violation of Islamic Law and the people that sent her to jail should be the ones in jail not her. Don’t get me started on sharia lawlessness. This case shows not only the importance of the separation between Church and State but the importance of the separation of State and Insanity.

Having sex outside of marriage is a sin not a crime. Rape is a crime. So is sending someone to jail for being raped. It’s like the age old hypocrisy of stoning women for adultery. She didn’t commit adultery all by herself. Where is her coaccused? Even in Islamic law, rape is a more serious offense than consensual sex outside of marriage.

All law - Jewish law, Islamic law, Secular law and Christian law speaks to natural justice. This offense of imprisoning the victim of rape is not only barbaric, it is a violation of natural justice and is therefore unlawful. Just as falsely accusing someone of a terrorist attack is. We need to shun all extremism not just this one.

Christ was a Jew. He confronted the religious leaders at the time calling them liars, hypocrites and extortionists. Do you really think Mohammad would not have the same thing to say about these criminals in Dubai who sent a victim of crime to jail? Alas alas for you, blind fools.

Communists would argue that this is an example of why we should outlaw religion. Wrong. It is an example of why we should outlaw criminal activity which is exactly what this insane decision is. The woman’s name is Marte Deborah Dalelv. I’m not sure what the status of her case is but a facebook page has been set up calling for her release. Are we not men? We are DEVO.

The sentencing of Laura Szendrei’s murderer

The sentencing of Laura Szendrei’s murderer has been in the news of late with several comments and recommendations from forensic physiatrists. I’m going to touch on two statements that were quoted in the media and set the record straight. This is a very serious and important case.

One psychiatrist testified that the murderer should be sentenced as an adult because he will not get the treatment he needs if he is sentenced as a youth. Although I agree with the conclusion and one is tempted to say whatever it takes, we need to clarify the obvious.

Thanks to the advocacy of Chuck and Donna Cadman, young offenders who commit violent crimes can be tried as adults. You can’t get any more of a violent crime than murder and rape. This murderer should automatically be tried as an adult. It’s not about him. At this point I don’t care what’s in his best interest. He just committed murder. Failing to try him as an adult would be criminal negligence. It would mock Laura Szendrei as well as her parents and in so doing mock justice altogether. Although rehabilitation should be a factor, it most certainly is not the factor and comes second to justice and public safety. Especially in the case of murder.

The other flaming concern I have is two ridiculous statement made by Robert Ley. Ley claimed that the reason the murderer attacked Laura was because of his alleged shyness and anxiety around women. Before I tear into a long and drawn out rant on Freud, Dr. Paul Janke points out the obvious. He states that theory has "essentially no credibility." Thank God. Robert Ley needs to find a new profession.

We were all baffled by the motive for Laura’s murder. Now we hear claims that the murderer had three previous incidents and originally wanted to rape her but ended up killing her when she screamed and made too much noise. To me it sounds very suspicious. Who isn’t going to make noise when you try and rape them in a public place. It sounds simply like a made up story to get second degree charges instead of first degree charges.

By claiming he initially wanted to rape her means he gets around the premeditated requirement of first degree murder and cops a plea for second degree murder. Yet we know the case law states that when murder follows a rape, that automatically becomes first degree murder not second. First degree murder is defined as any murder "while committing or attempting to commit sexual assault." That would apply here. This case is clearly first degree murder not second.

This other victim thing is totally new. There were no news reports of other victims in the area at the time. This whole delusion about rapists committing rape because they are shy around women is offensive and absurd. Rape is all about power and control over woman in a very disturbed and unhealthy manner. It’s like our friend the freak Jim Brown who brags about his violent sexual fantasies of criminal acts. Harboring those kinds of desires is deranged. It’s got nothing to do with being shy around women.

Robert Ley also told a sentencing hearing that he believes the offender is a motivated and intelligent person who would be receptive to treatment and should be detained in a provincial institution rather than in a federal prison, where rehab programs would be less effective. Is this guy smoking crack? Everyone else reports that the man posed a high risk to reoffend and that he showed no remorse for the murder. There is something wrong with Robert Ley. After we flush his submissions down the toilet, we need to correct his career mistake in a hurry before he damages more victims’ lives.

Although I agree that it is in no prisoner’s best interest to be mistreated in prison, this guy committed murder. In all fairness he should be put to death. Keeping him alive is doing him a favor not society. I’m sure many will argue, including Amnesty International, that a civilized society does not tolerate capital punishment. In contrast, I submit that a civilized society cannot tolerate murder. To do so diminishes all of us.

Although I have expressed my concerns over the father’s decision to invite patch wearing Hells Angels to his daughter’s funeral, I will point out that feelings of retaliation or taking the law into one’s own hands are completely normal and understandable in that situation. Although we all agree that we must take the higher road and trust in the law, when the law betrays public trust victims never heal.

My concerns about the Hells Angels are clear. They are a criminal organization violently involved in the drug and sex trade. Befriending them for any reason is a bad choice. Nevertheless, my heart does go out to Laura’s father. Her mother as well but I suppose I can relate more to her father. When something traumatic happens to your daughter like murder or rape and the offenders are walking around with no remorse and a high likelihood of reoffending, it is very hard not to take care of the matter oneself. Very hard. Even if one takes the higher road, if the law fails public trust there is a wound there that never heals. It becomes an unresolved issue so to speak. Pushed to the side to be dealt with at a later day. The only hope and peace that I can find is the knowledge that life does not end at death and in due process, truth and justice will one day prevail. As they say in Ireland, “Our day will come.”

Hells Angel president cries in court

Speaking of crying like a baby, BDN dot com is reporting that “Mark ‘Lightning’ Baker stared down the FBI agents, U.S. marshals and prosecutors who were sending him to jail. Then, he grinned and lifted his shackled hands, extending his middle finger.

He did it again and again, sometimes using both middle fingers to make his point, as he waited Wednesday morning for his sentencing hearing to begin. Within 30 minutes, however, the 50-year-old Baker was crying as he begged U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie to have mercy on him. ‘A meth addiction caused me to make some bad decisions,’ Baker said.

A crystal meth addiction. Maybe they shouldn’t be selling that sh*t. Maybe he shouldn’t be a bully then cry like a baby wanting mercy when he refused to give mercy to anyone else. This is one of three Rock Hill based Hells Angels convicted of drug trafficking and gun running in South Carolina. They were killing rival drug dealers to secure a monopoly on the market. Then he cries in court when faced with a 15 ½ year prison sentence. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

It reminds me of that Hells Angel associate in Toronto that was caught selling date rape drug for the “club.” He brought his wife and niece to court and cried like a baby. He didn’t seem to care about all the people and families he would ruin from the use of the drug he was selling. What if someone used it on his wife or niece? The old adage of treat others the way you want to be treated is pretty common sense.

Federal agents and local police displayed more than 100 machine guns, rifles, shotguns, revolvers, semi-automatic pistols and silencers that had been seized from Hells Angels members in “Rock Hill.” (Rock is another name for crack) They also displayed dozens of bags of drugs that had been confiscated, including methamphetamine, (crystal meth) cocaine, prescription drugs and “bath salts.” 100 machine guns and bath salts. Now that is a nasty drug.

My daughter thinks they’re gonna put bath salts in our drinking water to trigger the zombie apocalypse. It’s an interesting theory but I’m a bit confused where people get this idea of a zombie apocalypse from in the first place. One thing is for sure and that is there clearly is no loyalty, strength or honour in the Hells Angels. Word. This Gumby looks like a pencil neck used car salesman. Mug shots on WCCB and Mug shots on WCNC.

Mugger gets owned

This is a rather amusing surveillance video of a guy who snatches a cell phone out of a woman’s hand. She beats him with her purse. Kicks him in the balls dropping him to his knees. Gives him the good old double ear slap and knees him in the face. Then finishes him with a hook kick to the head. She is half his size. Now that’s what I’m talking about. Sometimes crime doesn’t pay. Word.

Gun found under crib mattress in PEI

Here’s a popular girl from PEI. She has a history of drug trafficking despite the fact that she has wonderful young children. Wednesday her and her boyfriend's home was raided were cocaine was seized as well as cutting agents and a firearm under a crib mattress. That is very concerning. Valerie Anne Burke (MacArthur), 28, and Vance William Atkinson, 24, were taken into custody and each charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, careless storage of a firearm, and breach of firearms prohibition. I understand this isn't the first time she's gone to jail for a boyfriend who promised her the world. Each arrest she's only had a very small quantity of drugs but she's got to start thinking about those kids. Who isn't paying their child support?