Rather Outspoken

CTV News just ran a stunning interview with Dan Rather about his new book Rather Outspoken. As we know Dan Rather is a very credible and well establish news reporter who was fired for reporting a true story about how George Bush got an elite assignment within the National Guard because of his father’s influence instead of going to Vietnam. On top of that he didn’t show up for a year. I remember the segment well. I was shocked at Dan Rather’s termination.

In today’s interview he points out that everything in the report was true. When asked what his most profound news story he covered in his career he replied it was covering Dr. Martin Luther king and the civil rights movement. He said it moved him and transformed him. What a great man. Lest we forget a credible new reporter was fired for reporting a true story. It reminds me of the Dixie Chicks documentary Shut up and Sing.

Young Humpback Whale dies on White rock beach

It’s not every day you see a whale on White rock beach. At high tide the water isn’t very deep there. We’re used to seeing crabs and clams but not whales let alone a humpback wale. Today a juvenile humpback whale was beached in White rock but despite community concern died shortly thereafter. It was tangled and cut from fishing nets.

II realize this has nothing to do with gangs but it does has something to do with the environment and sustainability. It’s very dramatic when a young whale dies right on the beach in public view. Yet how many die in the ocean unnoticed. It’s like buying tuna that’s dolphin friendly. Bottom trolling drift nets that clear cut the ocean are still a huge concern. They take everything including coral and leave a barren wasteland in it’s wake and contribute to the ocean’s dead zones. Significant because we get most of out oxygen from the ocean not from the forests.

Odd Squad video of a gang members regrets

The Vancouver Sun and the Vancouver Province both reported on a video put out by a police agency known as the Odd Squad about a gang member sharing some of his regrets before he was gunned down in Metrotown October 2010.

It’s a video of Gurmit Singh Dhak who states: “If I could turn back time, I would never join a gang. I would have just finished off my high school, got a better job, anything else. Anything is better than joining a gang. It is useless. You are going to get killed,” he said. “I want to get out. It is too late now to get out. I have too many enemies.“

The Odd Squad puts out some good videos. I’m less excited about the Joe Calendino one. The guy was kicked out of the Hells Angels for his crack addiction and was busted selling crack at Surrey central. He served on day in prisons. One source claimed a police officer who sponsored him was trying to get in on some movie rights and greatly embellished the story. The guy from you can’t reset this game seem a little more credible.

Loud Pipes are a Selfish Blight

There's a guy in the local news lately who is appealing his ticket for loud pipes on his motorcycle. He went to the papers and got his photo taken. He claims he was railroaded. No, he's an asshole. Loud pipes don't save lives. You don't hear them until they go buy. We had this discussion on the Castanet forum a while ago. One of the yahoos in favour of loud pipes said pretty soon you're going to ban anything that's fun. I think that freudian slip says it all. The real reason he likes loud pipes is because he thinks it's fun. He likes to piss off everyone in the neighbourhood. Prick.

The Vancouver Province wrote an editorial about the subject claiming that loud pipes are a blight and people who have loud pipes are selfish. No kidding. Adam Carolla was a little more graphic and a little less tactful in his position on the issue. Although I prefer touring bikes to sport bikes, I completely agree with his position on loud pipes. I will also have to admit that it doesn't have to be on a Harley. I was getting gas the other day and I saw a guy on a dirt bike filling up. When he drove off it was obvious he had taken the baffles out of his exhaust. Are you kidding me I thought. There is nothing more irritating than the high pitched whine of a two stroke engine. It sounds like a chain saw not a motorcycle.

The tragic thing is the asshole in the paper appealing his loud pipes ticket might have a chance. He claims the cop gave him the ticket based on his own ear not on a tangible, instrument. Kinda like giving someone a speeding ticket without a radar gun. I still think the ticket should be upheld. The court can always order the exhaust's noise to be measured. Providing of course he hasn't put the baffles back in for the test only to take them out again after the test. The bottom line is that loud pipes are just an example of an asshole who giggles like a girl when he pisses people off. They should be ticketed for loud pipes. Cities do have noise bylaws.

Toronto Mayor opposes plastic bag ban

Well this is amusing. Finally there’s something that abusive idiot and I agree on. Recently Toronto City council just banned plastic bags for all retailers in the city. My first impression was that’s pretty stupid. I use the plastic bags I buy to take my groceries home for garbage bags. Now I’ll just have to buy garbage bags and nothing will be saved.

Turns out that Ford thinks it’s a dumb idea too. Yet he was the one that submitted the motion to get rid of the 5 cent charge for plastic bags. What the media describes as his pet peeve. Yet isn’t that interfering with business? Who is he to say that a retail outlet is not allowed to charge 5 cents for a plastic bag? Isn’t incentive a better way to get consumers to reduce the number of plastic bags they use?

Rob ford is trying to exploit the opportunity to get rid of counselors he doesn’t like. If anyone needs to be kicked of counsel, Rob Ford is the first one that needs to go. He is abusive. Maybe he should stop lying about getting drunk and abusive at sporting events or giving his constituents the finger for telling him to get off his cell phone while driving. Refusing to blow in Florida, yeah he’s a real winner alright.

We should rightfully be concerned about the environment. Landfills are a concern but Plastic Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a bigger concern. We need to turn a cargo ship into a plastic recycling plant and anchor it out there to clean up that huge mess.

These oil spills are a bigger concern. The two in Alberta could have been avoided. Every kilometer there should be shut off values in the pipeline. As soon as a break or leak is detected, shut off the valves on either side of the leak. Not doing so is irresponsible. I just find it strange how we get bent out of shape over the little things while we completely ignore the big things.

Former addict benefitted from a longer prison sentence

The Vancouver Province ran an interesting article about a former drug addict from the Downtown East Side claims they benefitted from a longer prison sentence.

I was one who appeared to be 'hopeless'. For some reason, I got out. Let's be real here - I was on the streets from age 11, addicted to the needle at age 16, and completely and utterly homeless and hopeless by age 21. I slept in alleys, did not eat for days, did not shower, had no home, was high 24/7, and 'tweaked' - or otherwise acted really super weird when I got high (which was 24/7).

I sold dope on the corner of Main and Hastings to feed my addiction - thank goodness for the 'Spanish' dealers out there who let me work for them or I would have had to sell my body on the corner for what $10, thank God I never had to go there!

The reason for my post is that people CAN change. I made a choice, after one more arrest in 1999 in which after working a day selling rock on Hastings on a welfare day, I got busted. I was given 20 months - which really you don't hear about, my opinion is people need to be given longer sentences to enable them to access the help that is out there.

For me, after many years of being busted and sent to jail for short periods of time, I was finally considered a 'long term offender' someone with a longer sentence and was able to access the help I needed - such as anger management, conflict resolution, self esteem, and counseling for all the *** in my childhood.

Yay for me. I was released in January 2001. By mid January I was back on the streets in the DTES. By Feb 7th I was on a bus to a new province and made a change. I left.

I was given the choice to move away (yes - geographical moves DO work), I was shown how to make a resume, and get a job - really If I could work for the dealers, make change, barter, etc etc then I think I could work pretty much anywhere entry level lol).

I think the two points here are 1) A longer prison sentence helped and 2) Access to support services helped. This is supported by the former drug addict at the Surrey Crime Prevention meeting who said incarceration is the best thing for these addicts. We’re not talking about ten or twenty years. Three months with no access to drugs if caught stealing to pay for their addiction is not excessive. It’s in their best interest.

W 5 on Canadian Pimps

W 5 aired a disturbing documentary about under cover operations involving abusive pimps in the Canadian sex trade tonight. It talked about how a guy would wine and dine a girl, tell her he loves her then turn her into a prostitute and making big money for him. How after the honeymoon period was over, the pimp became abusive. Other accounts how they are recruited to be an escort, then recruited to prostitution and give half then money to the pimp. Then it turns into handing over all the money to the pimp. Human slavery in Canada. Disturbing.

Others say how they are lured in to make money as strippers then recruited to become prostitutes and eventually handing over huge amounts of money to a pimp. They didn't get into the tragedy of prostitution to pay for drug addiction like we see here and in Montreal.

Yaletown Brothel stabbing goes to trial

Jeffrey Qi Feng Bian was the owner of a Yaletown brothel and was murdered during the peak of the Vancouver gang war on June 11 2009. Bian had been renting the suite for five months, said Vancouver police Supt. Rob Rothwell, and investigators believe several other massage parlors may also have been targeted in a string of related robberies.

"We believe there may be some organized crime aspect to it, which is still being investigated and explored, but it's not attributed to any specific gang," said Rothwell. Let’s see, if the brothels were run by the Hells Angels, there would have been retaliation. Two punks running around robbing brothels during a gang war and murdering the owner of one brothel is somewhat suspicious.

We know that James Riach, Independent Soldier and Hells Angel associate was renting a suite in Yaletown at the time. What would happen if someone set up a brothel in an area the Hells angels claimed they controlled?

Tyrone McDougall is a flaming idiot

Here's another flaming idiot from Surrey. Tyrone McDougall is on the Dirty alright. Twice. Seems like even the police don't recognize the empire gang as legitimate because in two bit Tyrone’s latest arrest they said it was drug related not gang related. Our Gang’s little rascals known as the empire gang are just a couple of Surrey crack head car thieves.

He wants to be friends with little white rock Ryan and the chipmunks alright. Wait a minute isn't that Larry Amero in little Ryan's display pic? Didn't Larry get shot and isn't he in hiding? A Surrey punk ass car thief crack head using the Whiterock Hells Angels name and reputation to kidnap, torture and rip off a rival crack dealer in Surrey. Imagine that. Perhaps those kids should just go play in traffic.

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