Mom Boucher's Status

The Toronto Sun and CJAD are quoting a Journal de Montreal article claiming that Mom Boucher has been kicked out of the Hells Angels. I sincerely doubt it, but it's definitely worth looking into. QMI Agency is a good source. The question is, is it true or is it a propaganda campaign to help with his parole. It could just be his position was been suspended while in jail so someone else can resolve disputes between chapters while he's in jail.

The reason I find it hard to believe is because that was the whole point of the Rock Machine leaders crossing over right before he went to prison. So his friends would protect his political interests. Salvatore Cazetta became the Montreal president.

We know that Boucher became a member of the Hells Angels along with Bif Hammel after the Death Riders betrayal and take over shortly after Boucher got out of prison for armed rape. There have been reports that his influence has started to dwindle over the years. He was stabbed a second time in prison back in 2010. The first time he was stabbed there was swift retaliation. We haven't heard about any retaliation the second time.

I am however, very interested in finding out if the allegation is true. The article didn't say his leadership status was suspended while he's in prison it said he was kicked out as in bad standing. If that is true, then that is profound. Usually that would mean it came from his own chapter. I'm not sure what this East coast meeting is supposed to mean. There are no real chapters east of Quebec. The Hells Angels have been basically banned from Nova Scotia. They just have puppet clubs in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. No one with any authority over Boucher. Quebec has always been over them.

James Riach Search Warrant Appeal

People have been asking if I have heard any news about the James Riach drug bust in the Philippines. I have not. Other than the fact that they are trying to get their search warrant thrown out over claims of an illegal search. However, this article claims the police did in fact get a search warrant. The defense claims they didn't have probable cause to get the search warrant which in my opinion is highly unlikely because they were obviously right.

The civil liberty concern is when the police do warrantless searches. In this case the police did in fact obtain a search warrant. They had to of have had some probable cause because they were right. We know that James Raich is a member of the Independent Soldiers which is a Hells Angels puppet club that sells drugs for the Hells Angels. Spike's other niece was with them in the Philippines and has a child with his co accused. James Riach was with IS member Randy Naicker at the Castle fun Park meeting with the Bacon brothers before the Surrey Six and was in the car when Larry Amero and Jonathon Bacon were shot in Kelowna. There have been unsubstantiated reports that the Mexican cartel has put a hit on them after the bust.

Privatized Prisons and the US Incarceration Rate

Someone sent in a link to a very interesting graphic about the US incarceration rate and how that has increased with the introduction of privatized prisons. It's actually quite disturbing.

The United States has the highest prison incarceration rate per capita compared to any other country in the world. That is not a good model. Especially for the "free world." Part of the problem is the introduction of privatized prisons that are mandated to make a profit at taxpayers expense. Privatized prisons are a huge conflict of interest.

Some people interpret these statistics to mean the war on drugs is wrong. I disagree. The war on drugs isn't wrong. It's just that the CIA is on the wrong side of that war. I don't think 30 year prison sentences for nonviolent crime are the answer either. 3 months for selling not using crack is not excessive. 6 months for a second offense and a year for a third offense is not excessive. It is fair and reasonable.

The US has a program called three strikes and you're out. Although the US incarceration rate is not a positive model to follow, the Canadian model is on the opposite extreme when dealing with prolific offenders. The more crime a prolific offender commits in Canada the less time they serve in prison. The judges here have it completely backwards. The VPD launched a campaign called 30 strikes and your out. The sad thing is, they weren't kidding. Without going from one extreme to the other, this needs to change.

White Boy Posse trial underway

The trial of White Boy posse member Randy O'Hagan in the Lorry Santos murder is underway. The court was told that it was not uncommon for members who left the gang to be killed because they would know too much about the organization. Such was the case in the Lorry Santos murder.

A member of the gang named Trevor Cromartie also referred to as TJ had left the gang and there was a hit put out on him by the gang. Sadly the shooters got the wrong house and murdered an innocent mother by mistake.

On day three of the trial testimony focused on the involvement of Randy O'Hagan with White Boys Posse member Josh Petrin. Josh was close friends with Sean Jackson aka Fat Mike. Josh got all the product from him. Sean was supplied by the Hells Angels. Josh has been charged with Mitchell Chambers and Brian Gowers murder.

Tyler Corbett is on the right in the top picture. Fat Mike is on the left. One has to wonder, if Randy and Kyle were ordered by the gang to kill Trevor Cromartie for leaving the gang, why aren't the people who ordered the murder on trial as well?

The Canadian Gas Pump Scam

This one is astounding. It's a perfect example of the boiling frog syndrome. If you put a frog into hot water it will jump out but if you put it in warm water and gradually turn up the heat, it will stay there until it boils. That's why FBI Whistle blower Sibel Edmonds calls her blog the Boiling Frog Post.

Everyone complains about the price of gas. However, this new set of record jumps in price is yet another example of how the government has helped destroy a free market with a corporate monopoly. The oil companies can charge whatever they want whenever they want because there is no competition. They have a monopoly on the market that was created with tax dollars.

The Canadian Association of Energy and Pipeline Landowner Associations states: "Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain, like all pipelines in Canada, is a franchise monopoly. That means it is protected by government from competition. Which means it can do what monopolies always do: abuse customers by jacking prices and cutting service. In theory, government regulators are supposed to protect consumers from this sort of thing. But given the reality of regulator capture it doesn’t work that way in practice."

In 1911 the United States Supreme Court ruled that Rockefeller' Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly. Now the politicians who accept huge campaign contributions form the oil companies call monopolies good business. We have no anti trust laws any more. That is the problem right there and right now it is a bigger threat to our civil liberty than Russia.

On top of that, Stephen Harper sold Canada's oil rights to Communist China so every time we get gouged at the pumps we are funding the military expansion of a Communist dictatorship. China supports North Korea just like the Hells Angels support puppet clubs.

Good Friday

There are more scandals to catch up on but since Vaisakhi celebrations abound I thought it would be timely to mention Good Friday on this Easter Weekend. Several years ago an Indo Canadian friend asked me, "If Friday was the day they killed Jesus, why do Christians call it good?"

I paused for a second and thought, OK this is going to be kind of hard to explain. Then I thought, wait a sec, you really don't know? Seriously? I guess it's something we take for granted. It's something we're taught as kids in Sunday school. Wait a minute. Our kids don't go to Sunday school any more. You mean our own kids don't even know any more? That is sad.

Many martyrs have lived noble lives and have died for their beliefs. Christ's atonement was different. It's kinda like trying to get on a bus and not having the fare to pay. Anywhere other an BC this would be a problem. Justice requires the fare be paid. Yet mercy pleads give me a break. However, mercy cannot rob justice since if the driver gave that person a break he would have to give everyone the same break and everyone would ride for free. Another solution is a friend comes by and pays the fare for you so you can fulfill the demands of justice yet still ride the bus.

That's kind of what Christs' atonement did. The wages of sin are death. Christ died in our place so we don't have to. Yet all of us will die a physical death. The atonement makes the resurrection possible. One day everyone will be resurrected and judged. The body and the spirit will be reunited in it's perfect form. An immortal body that doesn't age or die. Because of the atonement everyone will be resurrected. Where we go after this life depends on the life we led and the type of person we became.

The atonement is something we take for granted. It's like a father who worked on a railway drawbridge that took his son to work one day. There's a video clip of the story called the Bridge. A train full of people was about to cross a railway bridge. His job was to make sure the draw bridge was down so the train could cross.

As the train approached the father noticed his son had wandered onto the train track. He was faced with a heart wrenching decision. Leave the bridge up to save his son which would kill all the passengers on the train or lower the drawbridge which would kill his son but save everyone on the train. At the last minute the father decided to save everyone on the train and mourned the loss of his son. The train was safe and everyone survived without even knowning of the sacrifice the father made on their behalf. This parable is a metaphor of God's sacrifice of His son who died for us.

So the short answer to the question is Christians call Friday good because Christ died to make it possible for everyone to live again. Yet it behooves us to pause and remember the day to respect the magnitude of the sacrifice made on our behalf. Some call it folklore. I call it history.

Now I am certainly not the model Christian nor do I agree with many of the doctrinal diversions many make in the name of Christianity. Many years ago I used to work with a very witty and sarcastic Christian they called Dutchy because of his heritage. He used to boast "You can always tell the Dutch but you can't tell them much." He was a good man and a talented musician.

He put out a CD called Retro that had some stirring songs on it. One of my favorites is called the View from an Ivory tower. It starts of saying "There's a man on the TV telling me God wants me living in prosperity. Millions tune in because they like what they hear, even though his gospel is not too clear." Another one I like is called the Parade. He was very cynical of religious hypocrisy and wrote a song about it. He compared it to a big parade of lunatics chasing a snake oil salesman.

Dutchy explained the imagery in the song to me many years ago. He said the parade is led by three different Jimmies: Jimmy Swaggart, Jimmy Baker and Jim Jones. He thought all three Jimmies were the same. When discussing the parade of snake oil salesmen he says he's seen this circus before and he just wished they'd take their side show away from his front door. It's a very appropriate song. Kinda like how Christ called the religious leaders of the time liars, hypocrites and extortionists. He chased the money changers out of the temple for pimping the church for their own personal gain. That was not the intent of his sacrifice. Peace.

Pot causes Brain Damage

The Vancouver Province ran an article that has been floating around of late claiming that pot causes brain damage. No kidding. Everyone knows that pot doesn't make you smart. Stoners aren't very bright. That was the whole point behind the comedy Cheech and Chong.

However, the study claims that the size and shape of two brain regions involved in emotion and motivation may differ in young adults who smoke marijuana at least once a week. There is a difference between mood alteration and brain damage. There is also a huge difference between pot and crack or crystal meth. We used to say Crack Kills when speaking to the youth about drugs. I would sometimes add to that Pot Kills Ambition.

Pot is not nearly as harmful to the body as crack and is likely just as bad as alcohol but one thing excessive pot use does do is kill ambition. It's not surprising the new study discovered pot use affects the part of the brain dealing with motivation.

Obviously the legalization of marijuana supporters want to promote it's use. Some people even claim pot cures cancer. That is false. Pot alleviates the pain of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy cures cancer. However, I personally know someone who has numerous health problems and after getting a prescription for medical marijuana, his symptoms have significantly improved.

I totally agree that mandatory minimum sentences for growing or possessing pot is stupid. It's a waste of tax dollars and prevents us from dealing with violent crime. Yet we do need to be honest about the harmful effects of pot because there are some. Alcohol abuse is likely more damaging than pot abuse but that doesn't mean pot abuse is good. Driving stoned or going to work or school stoned is not a very intelligent thing to do.

Transit cop disciplined for posting racy pictures

Another twilight zone moment. Front page of today's Vancouver Province is a dramatic story about a female transit cop named Tabatha Swadron who was disciplined for posting "racy" photos of herself. However, when you look at the pictures, it's just her in a bikini. The Vancouver Province quoted a police spokesperson as stating “We were aware that she was involved in fitness activities and bodybuilding, but were not aware of the other ... activities.”

I'm not sure what these other activities include but this is nothing compared to Jim Brown. Tabatha was posting pictures of herself in bikini competitions. Jim Brown was posting pictures of himself naked wearing nothing but RCMP boots while holding a knife cutting off the lingerie of a female model. Pictures of Jim Brown naked are a crime all in itself. That guy is nasty. Yet fantasizing about raping someone at knife point isn't healthy. Especially for a cop.

The Province claims there is one "dominatrix" picture of Tabatha partially masked swinging and biting on a black leather whip in a tight cat-woman suit. Hardly sounds like it's worth all that drama to me. Once again it's nothing compared to what Jim Brown did and he most certainly wasn't in a bikini competition. He was posting BDSM pictures on a BDSM site looking for sexual partners who are into BDSM. I have a problem with portraying Tabatha as a dominatrix in some bizarre attempt to minimize the sexual harassment she faced at work.

There is a huge amount of sexual harassment within the RCMP and various other police departments in Canada. It is a huge ongoing problem. That's why there's a class action lawsuit before the courts. In Tabatha's case there was alleged to have been a lot of sexual banter from male coworkers that she was subjected to and on one occasion a male officer allegedly pulled Tabatha’s head toward his crotch. Tabatha didn’t complain, but a witness did. That became a sexual harassment complaint.

So here we have sexual harassment 101. If someone makes a sexual joke and the person they're telling it to isn't offended but someone else who hears it is, that's still sexual harassment. That is the law. That's what every other employer in Canada explains to their employees to fulfill their legal obligations to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. That is why this ongoing culture of sexual harassment within the police department is so archaic and bizarre. Tabatha participating in a bikini competition does not justify sexual harassment at work.

Speaking of bizarre, how many high ranking Surrey RCMP officers with aspiring political careers have done the dance of the flaming asshole naked in front of female coworkers? What heterosexual male would want to watch another man do that? At least they gave it the appropriate name.

The fact that Don Ray is still employed with the RCMP is proof the RCMP do not take their legal obligation to eliminate sexual harassment from the workplace seriously. The fact that he's in the BC Head office in the Surrey Green Timbers building with a bar on site paid for with tax dollars adds insult to injury. The fact that Stephen Harper continues to slander and harass whistle blowers is evidence he does not take his legal obligation to remove sexual harassment from the RCMP seriously either. It's called criminal negligence. Is there a breathalyzer outside the RCMP bar in Green Timbers for their drive home? Please advise.

Turmoil in the Ukraine

There are a few stories to catch up on but I wanted to pause and linger on something positive for a while first before rehashing more conflict. We've had some interesting discussions about the recent conflict in the Ukraine. Well things got complicated. Just to recap, Russia and the EU have both been trying to win over the Ukraine to join them. Russia handed over a sum of money and protesters rallied to oppose the idea of joining with Russia. Live ammunition was used on the protesters and the elected president who was pro Russia went into exile.

Putin took Crimea which is a pro Russia peninsula of the Ukraine and committed not to take any more land by force. At the time I thought that was a fair compromise. Part of the Ukraine clearly does not want to join Russia but Crimea did. Problem solved. So we had hoped. Yet it has become a bit more complicated than that.

Other areas in the Ukraine which were pro Russia started having demonstrations of their own in favor of joining with Russia and an internal conflict has broken out. Now Putin is threatening to cut off the Gas. If you look at the map the entire eastern region of the Ukraine is pro Russia. They voted for the pro Russian president.

After Russia took Crimea, Yulia Tymoshenko, the presidential candidate that lost the last election said she is going to run again. Ironically enough the elected president in exile said that Russia made a mistake taking Crimea and should give it back. No doubt he was referring to his own political future. With Crimea in the polls there was enough pro Russian supporters in the Ukraine to elect him. Without Crimea, his opponent might have a chance at getting elected.

The whole point is whoever is in charge of the Ukraine after the president went into exile is not a democratically elected president. It was a coup which makes the prospects of a peaceful solution to the conflict somewhat problematic. Instead of supporting coups we need to support the democratic process. Perhaps a legitimate referendum with the option of annexing the eastern region in blue. The west of the Ukraine does not want to join Russia but should be governed by an elected leader. The EU bankers are not to be trusted. They caused the Greek financial crisis. Nevertheless, hopefully the matter will be decided at the polls in the coming election.

Fake Pamphlet requires Jews to register

Now we cross over into the absurd. Media reports claim three masked men were handing out fliers telling Jewish citizens of Eastern Ukraine to register with the pro Russian forces. The pro Russian forces deny the requirement and claim the flyer is likely the work of provectuers. No kidding. The claim doesn't make sense at all. Everyone knows there is a huge popularity struggle going along with the tensions in the Ukraine. We also know there is a huge propaganda campaign against the pro Russian forces making statements that are simply not true. It is clear that Western Ukraine does not want to join Russia but Eastern Ukraine does.

This fake request simply doesn't make sense. Nowhere in Russia are Jews currently required to register. Why on earth would the pro Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine make that request knowing the world would oppose it passionately? The answer is they wouldn't. Even if that was their real goal, they wouldn't be handing out pamphlets making the request at this crucial time. They would wait until after they had secured their independence and after the dust had settled. Even if that was their true goal, they would not be handing out pamphlets saying so now. It doesn't make sense and is not believable. What is believable is that it is the work of provectuers. The suspects are obvious.

If the FBI paid James Cromitie $250,000 and a new BMW to plant bombs at Jewish targets in New York, "they" would certainly pay someone to hand out fake flyers in Eastern Ukraine. If it wasn't for the Russians, the USS Liberty would have been sunk as ordered by President Johnson.

Big Brother is not always right but they're not always wrong either. Stalin and Lenin were both evil. Yet so was Hitler and we don't still hate on Germany now that Hitler is gone. That war is over. Now the war continues and the greatest threat to our civil liberty is the enemy from within.

Finian's Paradise

In contrast with Finian's Inferno let's take a peak at Finian's Paradise. Yesterday I climbed the Stairway to Heaven on Seymour. This is probably one of my favorite places in Vancouver. The last stretch on the way to First Peak. From the other direction it looks like sand dunes made of snow.



I made it up to Second peak



and stayed for the sunset.



Things are very hit and miss on the coastal mountains. I've been at First peak at times when there was zero visibiity and a cold blowing wind that made me bundle up and say this is as far as I'm going today. Other days when the visibility is good, the view is awesome.



Especially the city lights from the mountaintop at night. I remember seeing them for the first time from Hollyburn Ridge. It was breath taking. It was a clear night and the moon cast a shadow. Winds were relatively calm and the silence was humbling. This is my quiet place.