Lower Falls Gold Creek

Took the trail to the Lower Falls on Gold Creek in Golden Ears park this afternoon. Place was packed. The trail to the falls is more of a leisurely walk not really a hike but it's a nice outing all the same. Tons of people at the Gold Creek day area and on the lake. When it's hot like this that's where everyone goes. For me the whole purpose of enjoying the outdoors it to get away from the crowds so I think this summer I'm going to try something new.

Press Gallery Dinner's 150th Royal Roast

On the lighter side, the Huffington Post is reporting that at a roast of journalists and politicians, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair dropped a few f bombs. "It's great to be here at the press gallery dinner and you know why? Because unlike every other person here tonight, I give zero f***s." He was voted out as leader of his party at their recent convention in Edmonton but is staying on until a new one is chosen. He and other party leaders spoke at this year's parliamentary press gallery dinner which celebrated the group's 150th anniversary on Saturday night.

Not to be outdone, Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose had some quality zingers of her own - many of them at the expense of former prime minister Stephen Harper. "Stephen Harper actually loved humanity," she quipped. "It was just people that he couldn't stand." In offering up suggestions for new slogans for the current Conservatives, Ambrose suggested: "The bad man is gone." Harper never attended the press gallery dinner while serving as prime minister, but gave some sharp roasts as Opposition leader.

That's pretty typical of the Harper Government. He would criticize the existing government when he was the opposition but wouldn't even show up to answer questions when he was in government. Harper did not believe in the freedom of the press. He went to great lengths to censor the press and insisted only scripted questions be asked. He was the exact opposite of everything the Reform Party ever stood for. He was just another Brian Mulroney which is what the Reform Party was created to oppose.

Ambrose's suggestion the party distance themselves from him is wise council. In his defence, I would say the one thing he did have over Justin Trudeau was an understanding of the importance of avoiding unnecessary debt that burdens and enslaves our children. Racking up a credit card knowing you won't have to pay it but your children will is sheer irresponsibility.

I'd like to say that Harper was good at reducing the debt but that is simply not true. He made a lot of reckless cuts on one hand and a lot more reckless spending on the other. Only he lied about his reckless spending and hid it from the budget. He was simply dishonest. Giving the banks a $65 billion bailout that they didn't need then denying it after the fact is a prime example. Buying a fleet of over priced jets from the fraud kings Lockheed Martin that don't work in the Arctic and need overpriced US services to be fueled is another. Boeing is good, Lockheed Martin is bad.

Now we are facing the Saudi arms deal. Like that insane trade agreement with China that had nothing to do with free trade and everything to do with throwing away civil liberty, there are penalties for trying to get out of his bad deal. The Saudi arms deal is just another example of hypocrisy and the Lord of War model for making money. The latest CIA smoke and mirrors is to blame Saudi Arabia for 911 and have the courts let the families of the victims sue them for damages despite the fact that it was the CIA that overturned the passport denials. If anyone is culpable in that heinous plot it is the CIA.

Justin Trudeau spoke highly of President Obama again which was indeed nice to see. Justin is a true statesman like unto his father. The only thing we need to get hrough this guys head is that laiding our children with uneccesary debt is iresponsible. Like he said because its 2016 not 1980. That is one area he is still behind the times in.

Face to Face with the Lions

The Lions are a famous landmark in Vancovuer that consists of two mountain peaks some people think look like two lions seated. Years ago I posted a youtube video with some pictures around Vancouver to Bruce Cockburn's song Wondering where the lions are.

When I was young my father always used to take pictures of the Lion from the park at Cleveland Dam at the foot of Grouse mountain on Capilano road. Now I like to take pictures of them face to face from the top of Sky Chair on mount Strachan on Cypress. That is where I went today. It's a nice view of the Lions and of Howe Sound. Cheers.

Gordon Wilson advocates for natural gas - Update

The Vancouver Sun is reporting that Gordon Wilson, a new advocate for liquefied natural gas, claims British Columbia has a “moral obligation” to develop the industry to save the lives of Chinese residents dying of air pollution.

I have two comments to make. First, he's right. We all opposed turning Surrey into an international hub for exporting coal to China for a reason. Transporting the coal locally is bad for people with breathing concerns and coal is not clean burning. China is having massive problems with its pollution from burning coal. As a result people are getting sick and dying. Natural gas is clean burning. They would be much better off burning natural gas than coal.

I lived in Ireland for two year back in 1988/89. At that time they all heated their homes with coal. In the South they had open fireplaces that burned coal while in the North they had enclosed fireplaces that burned coal which heated water that was pumped through the house to heat it. I remember writing my father while I was in Cork telling him how much I enjoyed it there and observed that even though it was a relatively small city, they had a great deal of smog from all the coal fires. He wrote back and said that's what it was like when your mother and I were first married living in West Vancouver. We heated our homes with coal and the pollution from it was pretty bad. Are you kidding me I thought?

One generation ago they heated their homes with coal in Vancouver? When I as a kid we lived in a wood framed house that had a natural gas furnace that pumped hot air through ducts. You turned up the thermostat and the small blue flame would get bigger and heat the house. It was simple and clean. As a result, the pollution from all the coal fires disappeared.

The second point I'd like to make is in reference to the article's reference to Gordon Wilson as the controversial former leader of the B.C. Liberal Party. Let's just get the facts straight. Gordon Wilson put the BC Liberals on the map. Before him they did not exist. It was primarily the Social Credit party and the NDP. There was a televised debate between the three parties and Gordon Wilson shone far brighter than the others. Rita Johnson and Mike Harcourt were arguing left and right back and forth on and on bickering like school children. Gordon Wilson then jumped in and said there you have it British Columbia, you now see why nothing gets accomplished in Victoria.

Rita Johnson went on to insult Mike Harcourt's manhood while Harcourt just stood there smiling holding a BC Health Care card in one hand and an American express card in the other saying which do you want people? Canadian Health Care or American. Obviously the people chose Canadian because the American health care sucks. Don't get me started on that.

The Tyee reported that "Overnight, the near-moribund BC Liberal party he led went from also-ran to contender, as the party won 17 seats in the 1991 provincial election, leapfrogging over Social Credit to become official Opposition. Wilson and the Liberals seemed poised to make a run for government in the next election, but the party soon became embroiled in a tawdry drama of domestic betrayal and political shenanigans."

Gordon Campbell exploited the opportunity to take over the party and send it right down the toilet from which it has never recovered. Gordon Wilson is referred to as controversial because he had an affair with a fellow MLA named Judy Tabchy. He loved her, he married her, end of story. I certainly don't support adultery. However, Gordon Wilson and the likes of Rich Coleman are the virtual antichrist in comparison. We got shafted when Gordon Wilson was cast out. Perhaps he is the golden child that can fix the BC Hydro fraud that they created when they shafted him.



Update: The fact that Gordon Wilson is getting paid $12,500 a month to advocate for natural gas is yet another example of how the Christy Clark / Gordon Campbell Liberals consistently screw things up and have absoulutely no fiscal responsibility whatsoever.



Business is good. Obscene wastefulness is bad. Now we hear that Judy Tabch wrote Christy Clark's new biography behind the smile. Now it all makes sense. Judy does a political favor for Christy and Judy's husband gets a sweetheart job paying $12,500 a month. Big surprise. I'll tell you what's behind that cheshire cat smile - Christie's fiscal irresponsibility and her fudge it budget which perpetuated Gordon Campbell's BC Hydro fraud. That's behind the smile. She said she was going to balance the buget by extracting a dividend from BC Hydro knowing full well that was a lie since they made that impossible by privatizing the power brokers that sell power to the public company at above market rates. They had to borrow money to pay the dividend they didn't have.

Natural gas is clean burning. Coal is not. No one has to get paid 12,500 tax dollars a month just to say that as a kickback for supporting a dirty politician. When will the BC Hydro fraud ever end?

Prince died from a fentanyl overdose

CNN is reporting that "Toxicology tests for Prince concluded that the entertainer died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl, according to a report on his death by the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office. Fentanyl, prescribed by doctors for cancer treatment, can be made illicitly and is blamed for a spike in overdose deaths in the United States. It's 25 to 50 times more potent than heroin and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration."

Update: Prince did an awesome guitar solo in this version of When my guitar gently weeps.

Nanaimo RCMP officer charged with sexual assault

The Nanaimo New bulletin is reporting that a Nanaimo RCMP officer has been charged with sexual assault. Const. Ben Caram is accused of inappropriately touching another person while attending a social gathering. Touching in public is inappropriate but is a little different then full on rape like Tim Shields has been charged with. Time will tell.

David Giles' coaccused sentenced

Castanet is reporting that Kevin Van Kalkeren was sentenced in Vancouver on Friday to 16 years in prison, minus five years and seven months credit for pre-trial custody. In 2012, Van Kalkeren, a Hells Angels associate, was among a group of suspects charged with conspiracy to import a controlled substance and conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance. One down one to go. Now lets get the ringleader. Panama. 200 kilos of cocaine as payment for 500 kilos a month.

One year plus a day for Surrey murder

The Vancouver Sun is reporting that "One of two men charged in connection with a fatal stabbing in Surrey nearly two years ago has been convicted of assault. Tyson Darryl Cole, 29, was charged with manslaughter in the death of 63-year-old Donald William Deweyn. During an appearance in provincial court in Surrey last week, Cole was convicted of the lesser included charge of assault causing bodily harm. According to court records, he was sentenced to time served plus a day in jail, and a year of probation. Cole spent more than a year in custody before his conviction."

"At about 5 a.m. on July 25, 2014, Deweyn was stabbed during an altercation with two males in a parking lot near 106th Avenue and 135A Street. Deweyn was taken to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries less than 30 minutes later.Deweyn was a retired millworker, a widower and homeless at the time of his death, though he was staying in the area. Deweyn had no criminal record and no negative contact with police. "

This once again highlights the exploitation of the homeless on the infamous Surrey strip that has been in the news. One year plus a day for murder is a disgusting insult to human dignity. Two guys were arguing with a homelssman on the Strip and stabbed him. What do you think the odds are they were arguing about a drug debt? They sure didn't kill him for his wallet. He was homeless. Yet both suspects had a long history of threats and theft. Robbing the homeless on welfare day is nothing new either. They stabbed Donald Dewey in the early morning hours of Friday July 25th 2014. Right after Welfare Wednesday.

The victim Donald Deweyn was a retired millworker, a widower and homeless at the time of his death. Deweyn once owned a property in New Westminster that was foreclosed upon in October 2011. This was a retired millworker who ended up homeless after they foreclosed his property. Giving the homeless drugs, then beating the life out of them for payment is predatory yet the victim had no criminal record. One year plus a day for murder is an outrage.

Dylan Dempsey, Tyson's coaccused was found guilty of uttering threats last month but the crown filed a stay of proceedings on the assault with a weapon charge. These are repeat offenders.



Tent city plagued by violence

Surrey and Vancouver Devils extort more money from the public purse

The Mayors's glutton council want to raise taxes again to pay for Translink expansions after that failed referendum on raising sales tax to pour more money into the over budget a billion dollars a year fiscal disaster. These two nutcases should be in jail. Linda Hepner is just taking up when Dianne Watts left off continuing the largest debt in the city of Surrey's history what with her Ivory Tower and her all expense paid junkets and all. Gregor Robertson is just as bad. Insisting we expand Translight before they balance it's budget. They already burn an extra billion dollars a year in a regional gas tax and they still want more because they insist on expanding it when it sucks and they give away a million free rides every year.

Earlier this month the Vancouver Province reported that "The City of Vancouver appears to have breached its procurement policy after Vision Mayor Gregor Robertson reportedly approved a contract worth almost $95,000 for a prominent supporter of his party, according to a legal expert."

Why was the contract for the Evergreen line, which we don't need because Translink sucks, given to SNC-Lavalin after it was banned from world contracts due to it's involvement with corruption and fraud. Giving them the contract was a criminal act. Now they want more money above the billion extra dollars a year they already burn simply because when you're a glutton, enough is never enough. Notice the new Translink CEO was nowhere near this one. He's too smart for that. He has business sense. These two devils do not. They are gluttons out of control that need to be restrained for the public good. Why would we toll the Lions Gate bridge after it was already tolled and paid for? Selling crack is not a Charter Right but mobility rights sure are.

"Delta Mayor Lois Jackson said she was concerned the mayors were backing down on their stance against increasing property taxes after 'we stood that line for a long time,' while looking to slap more fees on drivers - especially in communities south of the Fraser River where they don’t have the transit services in place." Indeed. Keep her, fire Hepner and Robertson. It's that simple.

Delta MLA Walter Davidson was right - scrap the GVRD and the Mayors glutton counsel. It's a costly bureaucratic and ineffective organization. We already have a provincial government.

VPD Officer shoots knife wielding suspect in the leg

The Vancouver Sun posted some pictures from that police shooting in East Vancovuer May 24th a witness took on their cell phone. This story has a happy ending. She put one in his leg not in his chest. You don't always have to shoot to kill. Just like with the suicidal man in Safeway.

Hey lady, here I come.



Ouch. You shot me. Why the f*ck did you do that? That's police brutality.

You charged me when I had my gun drawn dumb ass.



I guess it could be worse. At least you put one in my leg and not my chest.



I couldn't see the knife but the fact that he charged her with her gun drawn means shooting him in the leg is well within reason because even if he was unarmed he could have grabbed the gun.



I think I can see the knife now. Since he was bleeding from the stomach in what appears to be a self inflicted wound he clearly appears to be on something. Shooting him in the leg showed professional self control and restraint. Well done. Very different from the Hudson Brooks case.