Wally Oppal seen with Hells Angel Member

Come on guys, give the guy a break. Wally says he didn’t know the guy was a member of the Hells Angels. He was probably just collecting his fee for banning any evidence about the Hells Angels from being admitted into the Inquiry.

For an eminent jurist, Mr. Oppal can be remarkably insensitive. In 1992, when he was a B.C. Supreme Court justice, he appeared at a boozy, men-only dinner hosted by members of the Vancouver Police Department, an annual fund-raiser called the Gentlemen’s Regimental Dinner. He cracked wise about an alleged rape victim, a woman who had come before him at trial.

“In my business, one of the great benefits is that we get to listen to a lot of great cross-examinations,” Mr. Oppal told his audience. “You get a lot of seedy and scintillating material. I want to give you a sample…”

Mr. Oppal then described, in great detail and to much laughter, what the alleged rape victim said she had experienced. The event was tape recorded and was later recounted in the pages of Saturday Night magazine, which also published a reaction from then-VPD chief Bill Marshall, who had attended the dinner. “That was a really difficult night for me,” the chief said. “I’m trying to deal with those attitudes, but I need time. We just can’t have that kind of stuff any more.”

The Shenher manuscript

The bizarre rides of ‘Wally World’ could continue to cost taxpayers

Crews working to contain Alberta pipeline spill

Crews were scrambling to contain a pipeline leak in Alberta that may have spilled as much as 475,000 liters of crude oil into a tributary of the Red Deer River. This is not good. Don't, they have shut off valves within the pipeline? Not a good omen for the new pipeline to the coast. Surely they can build a pipeline with shut off valves every once and a while so they can stop the spill if the pipeline breaks. This is just irresponsible.



Evidently there was another large pipeline spill in Alberta last year.

Three cheers for Jacques Villeneuve!

Jacques Villeneuve, the Quebec-born car-racing champion, is upset at a protest movement that has gone on for months and is now promising to turn up at Formula One Grand Prix events in Montreal all weekend. In a five-minute exchange with reporters Thursday, Villeneuve urged the protesters to go back to school. He suggested they were lazy. He called them an embarrassment to Canada — especially to Quebec. He suggested they were badly raised, by parents who never learned to say, 'No.' Thank god for the voice of reason. What happens when you raise a kid and never tell them no? They turn into spoilt brats.

"It's time for people to wake up and stop loafing about. It's lasted long enough," Villeneuve told reporters at a cocktail benefit that kicked off the four-day Grand Prix festivities. "We heard them. We listened. They should stop. It's costing the city a fortune. It makes no sense."

As for their parents, Villeneuve said: "I think these people grew up without ever hearing their parents ever tell them, 'No.' So that's what you see in the streets now. People spending their time complaining. It's becoming a little bit ridiculous. They spoke, we heard, and now it's time to go back to school."

Three cheers. Someone finally had the balls to say it. So what do the KIDs do? You called us brats? How dare you! We will show you brats. We will throw stones. We will break things. We will kick and scream and throw a tantrum in the middle of the mall and we will Embarrass. You’ll embarrass us alright. You’re embarrassing Quebec, Canada and yourself.

Je me souviens isn't supposed to mean I will remember I am a spoilt brat. Je me souviens is supposed to men I will remember who I am. I will remember I am not a spoilt brat. I will remember that am better than that. A social conscience mean I think about and care about other people than just myself. The elderly, the homeless, a medical system and a pension system ready to collapse. Free university education is a worthy goal not a right. We have to decide which other social, programs will suffer to pay for the brats free ride. Maybe we should tell them no. Maybe that is the best lesson they could possibly learn in their life. Sometimes we have to work hard and sacrifice because we don't get everything we want when we want it in the real world.

Montreal Madness: Little Bo Peep and her mindless lost sheep

I will NOT wear a Red Patch. That represents the wrong side of the Berlin wall.

They may forget but I will remember.

Je me souviens.

Outlaws beat up Hells Angels prospect

Although I don’t support gang violence, here’s a story about some Outlaws in San Francisco who beat up a guy for being a Hells Angels prospect. It just shows you that the Hells angels are not infallible and do have enemies out there.

We remember a member of the Monglos was convicted of shooting and killing the president of the San Francisco Hells Angels. We also remember how the Hells Angels tried to pick a fight with Vagos in Nevada. After losing the fist fight a Hells Angels pulled out a gun and they lost the gun fight too. Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, the 51-year-old head of the Hells Angels San Jose chapter died as a result. At his funeral they started fighting with and shooting each other. It’s rather messed up n’est pas?

Grow op Degrees and the Hells Angels

The other day I saw an add in the paper for a seminar at UBC on how to get a license for a medicinal marijuana grow op. A few days later the Vancouver Province ran a story about the guy hosting the seminar. Turns out he’s from Kelowna.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that he’s from the Hells Angels retirement village and that he’s hosting seminars in major Canadian cities where the Hells Angels are well entrenched and control the drug trade. Yet the question we have to ask ourselves is if someone gets a license for a legitimate medicinal marijuana grow op, how can they protect themselves from being taken over and extorted by the Hells Angels? What’s stopping this company from giving the addresses of everyone who gets a medical grow op degree to the Hells Angels? That would be the first concern we need to address.

Uncle Joe in Kelowna owned a house that contained a grow op. He got off because he said he rented the house to someone else and the tenants were the ones responsible for the grow op. Even though his truck was parked outside with a Hells Angels bumper sticker on it and the grow op had Hells Angels stickers posted on the walls inside. Since the Hells Angels use such violence to forbid anyone else but them from selling pot in East Van, one has to wonder what Uncle Joe was doing on his way to Salmon arm with a couple of associates and a car load of weapons with a cell phone jammer. Ironic an abandoned grow op was found in Salmon arm shortly thereafter.

Cross border gang forum

Senior police officials from both sides of the border met in Surrey on Monday to discuss border security and to develop co-operative strategies to fight organized crime. Justice Minister Shirley Bond said the purpose of the daylong B.C.-Washington Organized Crime Forum was to share information and strengthen relationships in the face of an increasingly sophisticated gang culture.

Chief John Batiste of the Washington State Patrol added that strong relation-ships will ensure there are fewer cracks in the border that can be exploited. "Whether it is a foreign terrorist, a gunrunner or a drug-dealer, a threat to either of our countries is a threat to both of our countries," he said. "This kind of meeting, this kind of situational awareness, this kind of co-operation, these are our best tools in fighting those who would exploit the border for their own criminal gain."

I have two points here. One from either side of the border. On the south I am convinced that there are some DEA agents who are sincere. Judge Bonner was one of them. From the Robert Shannon conviction and the Trevor Jones indictment, it is clear that the department is sincerely trying to make a difference and address the cross border cocaine trafficking problem.

Yet we cannot talk about the cross border drug trafficking problem without discussing Operation Fast and Furious as well as Operation Wide Receiver. This kind of internal corruption is not new. We cannot discuss the cross border drug trafficking problem without discussing those operations.

Likewise, on the north, we are not free from allegations of internal corruption. The BC liberals have numerous corruption allegations which puts them as a security risk for intel on the drug trade. We need look no further than the Basi Virk case.

Shirley Bond was Deputy Premier when the “deal” was made to chop the (unfinished) trial in order to prevent cross-examination of top politicos and corporate actors and to pay the costs of the convicted men – Dave Basi and Bobby Virk. Her role as Attorney General in blocking the release of documents relevant to that case is suspect.

The Pickton Inquiry ends but the controversy continues

The Missing Women Inquiry has come to an end. Words cannot describe the heartbreak, anger and resentment that circus side show has revealed. We knew Wally Oppal was the wrong choice to head the inquiry. He lost his reelection because of the horrible job he did as AG.

We knew the inquiry would be a circus side show distracting the public from the real issue. Robert Pickton was convicted on the premise that he was not the only person involved. He was convicted on the premise that he was an active participant. The mandate of the inquiry should have been what happened. All the evidence should have been made public not swept under the carpet.

Wally Oppal’s arrogance is offensive. His moonlighting as an actor on a slasher movie was outrageous. Wally Oppal denied huge amounts of highly relevant evidence from being admitted to the inquiry. He denied important witnesses from testifying. He stopped the lawyer for the missing women’s families from discussing the Hells angels known presence on the Pickton Farm.

What could Dave Pickton tell us? Well he told the police where the bodies were buried so the police wouldn’t dig up his whole farm and find out what else they had buried in there. The fact that the Hells Angels had a grow op on site as well as an illegal booze can was highly relevant. The fact that various police agencies had the Hells angels on the Pickton farm under surveillance is very relevant. Refusing to make that evidence public was treason. Wally Oppal is a scoundrel who has committed treason and in so doing has become an accessory to murder.

The only good thing that came from this inquiry is the public discussion of the evidence that Wally Oppal refused to admit. The Hells Angels’ involvement with the Pickton Farm was significant and now the world finally knows it.

Missing Women Inquiry closes, families feel cheated

Pickton inquiry ends as it began, wrapped in controversy

Pickton inquiry ends with notes of resentment and regret

Pickton Inquiry 'has failed,' lawyer argues

Wally Oppal’s slasher film is an exercise in bad judgment

Justice denied

Sun News Network in on fake ceremony

Participants in a citizenship reaffirmation ceremony appeared in a photo posted on the immigration department's Twitter feed last October. Six federal bureaucrats were drafted to appear as new Canadians for the ceremony on a private TV network.

Ok hold the door. A private TV network? Broadcasting the news? A “private” news outlet broadcasting propaganda for the Harper government. Things that make ya go hmmm. Fox News North. OK let’s back up a bit. Stephen Harper’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenney sets up a fake citizenship swearing in ceremony and bureaucrats take the place of actual new Canadians during a televised citizenship ceremony last fall.

That’s rather bizarre all on it’s own. Why on earth not televise a real swearing in ceremony? Why on the earth would someone fake that for ascetics? The “private” network denied knowing they were fake stand-ins at the time. Kenny’s staff even went on Twitter and in various media outlets saying neither Sun News nor the minister's office knew about the stand-in bureaucrats and even apologized on air to the network. The network had said its viewers were "deceived" by a bureaucrat. Now we find out that is simply not true. Sun TV did know. It is inconceivable to believe Kenny didn’t know.

On it’s own it’s not earth shattering but put together with a bizarre list of abnormalities we see a disturbing picture emerge. The whole concept of brainwashing voters with propaganda as opposed to polling the electorate disturbs me greatly. Saying one thing, doing another then spending huge amounts of tax dollars trying to convince voters lies are truth. That pattern is concerning. The robocalls thing is disturbing. Dean Del Mastro and other Tories hired U.S. telemarketer during election, contrary to Stephen Harper’s claims. Conservatives are supposed to support democracy yet these conservatives are doing the exact opposite. That’s because they are not conservatives.

I don’t want to go on and on about how we should elect a new political party. That’s obvious. What I do want to stress is that the Conservative party needs new leadership. Desperately. This leadership has apostatized from traditional conservative values completely and utterly.

In today’s news we read of scientists adding their concern about more cuts from the Harper government. What we see is dramatic extremism. We see very strange dramatic cuts on one hand and amazingly reckless spending on the other. Just look at Peter McKay’s $47,000.00 photo shoot in today’s news. Again for advertizing. He’s trying to sell us on a huge undisclosed expenditure on a whole fleet of jets that aren’t designed to be used in the arctic. This conflicted sale is to Harper lobbyists.

We all agree we need some jets but a whole fleet of jets that can’t be used in the arctic? Instead of being used to defend Canada one has to assume their purpose is to perpetuate the oil wars like in Iraq and Libya. There is no other reason for their purchase. Conservatives are supposed to support a strong military. While Harper’s partner in crime is gallivanting around the country on ridiculous expenses trying to promote an insane expenditure, he is at the same time cutting funding for the military. Cutting their pensions, cutting their mental health support. Even closing coast guard stations.

What we are seeing is a raging lunatic in action. He gets elected on a tough on crime platform, then cuts funding for the RCMP and the gang task force. Introduces a ridiculous crime bill that targets nonviolent offenders making it fiscally impossible for us to target violent offenders then cuts funding for prisons and closes a huge institution with no replacement whatsoever. This man is a lunatic.

Giving up our pensions and raising the age of retirement to pay for a $65 billion bank bailout Harper denies doing? That is insane. The Conservative party needs new leadership. Don’t get me started on Harpers doom and gloom about the Greek Bailout. Stop supporting investment fraud with tax dollars.

And then there’s this whole assault on the environment. It’s rather bizarre.

The 2012 Transit of Venus

On a lighter note, for all you astronomers out there, Venus is eclipsing the sun as we speak. For us in the Pacific Northwest it happens from 6:45 PM until sunset. Venus can be seen as a sunspot on the sun that gradually moves across it over a six hour period. Don't look directly at the sun. Sunglasses aren't good enough. You need a welder’s glass or punch a whole in a piece of cardboard and use that to project the image on a blank piece of paper. Yet for us in the Pacific Northwest, it's raining so we'll have to watch it online or on TV.

Body Parts delivered to two Vancovuer schools

A day after the suspect in a gruesome Montreal killing and dismemberment was arrested in Berlin, Vancouver police said a human hand and foot were delivered in separate packages to two area schools. Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke told reporters Tuesday afternoon the first package containing what appeared to be a human hand was opened by a staff member at False Creek Elementary School shortly after 1 p.m. local time.

Another package containing what appeared to be a human foot was found by staff members at St. George's School later Tuesday afternoon. "There is no indication of identity (of the victim) at this time," Lemcke said at a news conference. Freaking wackos.

Turns out that the hand and foot sent to Vancouver schools were from the same victim of the whacko who sent other body parts to Ottawa.