Thursday, June 19, 2014

Pipeline Promises



The Pipeline Protests have begun. After unilaterally removing BC's say in the proposal to build a pipeline for dirty tar sands oil across the province to be refined in Kitamat, Stephen Harper announced they have decided to proceed regardless of local concerns. Time for some court action with Stephen Harper's name on it. Especially when it comes to legal liability for damages when that pipeline leaks. No corporations without legal liability here. We need to make Stephen Harper personally liable.

Before I examine some of the very significant local concerns about the pipeline let's remember that Stephen Harper removed BC's say in the matter. That was yet another step away from democracy and another giant leap away from the principles of the Reform Party Stephen Harper has prostituted. The Reform Party promised referendums. Stephen Harper bans them.

Let me say I'm not against the idea of a pipeline. I'm just totally against how they're doing it. First, it's not refined oil going through the pipeline it's dirty tar sands oil. When that leaks and we know it will, it creates a much more significant amount of environmental damage to our drinking water.

So why not refine it at source? Why risk putting that extra toxic substance though the pipeline? Why? The other obvious concern is what to do with the petroleum coke byproduct. Detroit had a mountain of petroleum coke from Canadian Tar sands oil brought to them by Enbridge and they just didn't know what to do with it. If we don't refine it at source we will need a plan in place what to do with all that byproduct in Kitimat because putting that toxic mess onto tankers is just way too high risk for navigating our precious coastline.

Why Enbridge? They have a horrible record for pipeline maintenance and oils spills in the United States. They have we used tax dollars to create a oil monopoly and thereby destroyed the free market. Years ago the United States Supreme court ruled that illegal when the Rockefellers used ruthless tactics to obtain an monopoly on the oil through Standard oil. Anti trust laws forbade it. Now politicians who get kickbacks in campaign contributions call it good business. That is wrong. An oil monopoly is bad for Canada and most certainly bad for consumers.

Why China? Why give China our oil rights and our oil profits? Selling China oil is good business. Giving them our oil rights and our oil profits is not. Now when we get gouged at the pump because their is no free market, China gets those profits not Canada. That is messed up.

What assurance do we have that Enbridge will do a better job at pipeline maintenance and leak clean ups then they have done in the United States? Right now they are the wrong choice.

Alberta won't pay for BC oil spill clean up

Third Alberta Oil Spill in Six Weeks

Enbridge Oil spills in Wisconsin

A Damning Indictment‏

Enbridge Gag Orders

The Nestucca Story

Nationalizing the oil in Canada would benefit taxpayers and consumers both.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Teachers strike: Everyone’s a Loser



I was trying to bite my tongue on the subject of the teachers strike but it’s just so upsetting. Both sides are wrong and the kids are the ones who suffer. Just like in a bad divorce. I really get upset when I see teachers with signs that say think of the kids or smaller classes matter.

Education does matter. Kids matter. Screwing up their education every couple years with work to rule or strikes screws up their education. You’re only in school once. You only graduate once. The selfishness and the dishonesty is infuriating. So does that mean you are willing to take a zero percent wage increase if they reduce class size? I think not. For the first time in my life I have an uncontrollable urge to yell out Go back to work when I see teachers on the picket line this time.

The Liberal government is no better. Persistent lies to the media. Knowingly breaking court orders. If you legislate someone back to work you have to get a fair arbitrator. Not a loaded deck. OK so the teachers want another raise. Who’s going to pay for it? The taxpayers. Clearly the fiscal mismanagement of the Liberal government isn’t helping. If they didn’t screw up BC Hydro there would be plenty on money for teachers.

Think about it. In Christy Clark’s fudge it budget she claimed that she anticipated extracting a dividend from BC Hydro to balance the budget. That claim was fraud knowing full well after Gordon Campbell privatized the power brokers that sell power to the public company at above market rates they created a perpetual ballooning deficit that is about to swallow taxpayers whole. Yet if they hadn’t privatized the power brokers that sell power to BC Hydro at above market rates, they would have been able to extract a dividend to balance the budget. That would have been good business.

Instead they took that tax revenue away from the people and put it into the hands of private corporations that contribute to their political campaigns. That isn’t just bad business, it is a criminal act. If we fixed BC Hydro and got rid of Gordon Campbell’s insider trading power brokers that are ripping off taxpayers at an astonishing rate, we’d have plenty of money for teachers and a balanced budget as well. Imagine that. In the Greek financial crisis what was public money became private money then disappeared. Just like BC Rail.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Hells Angels Associate in Courtenay faces weapons charges



The Times Colonist is reporting that Bryce Cameron McDonald, 32, from Courtenay faces more than a dozen charges six months after a massive cache of weapons was seized from his home. He was arrested Dec. 19, the same day an RCMP emergency response team raided two homes and a storage locker in Courtenay.

Inside the storage locker and lockbox police found 19 firearms, including five handguns, 11 rifles, three shotguns and one loaded nine-millimetre semi-automatic handgun. Police also found thousands of rounds of ammunition, firearms parts, a Taser, a baton, and brass knuckles. Officers also seized six grams of crack cocaine, a machete and equipment believed to be used for the sale of drugs. McDonald's next court appearance is July 10 at 9 a.m. in Courtenay.

Another Hells Angels associate caught with guns and crack. Go figure.

Surrey Shooting 108 Ave and 133 Street



Scan BC reported that Police are on scene at 108 Ave & 133 St with a male that's been shot. Sounds like it's a homicide. Police said residents won't be allowed in the building for a few hours. It's right beside Gateway skytrain station and right around the corner from the Front Room.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Reflecting on Normandy: Maggie What have we done?



To commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the day of the initial assaults liberating Normandy on Tuesday 6 June 1944, the Legion Magazine has put out a pretty spectacular special edition as a tribute to that colossal and historic sacrifice. This Father's Day I want to remember all the noble soldiers who gave up their chance to become fathers and in so doing became fathers of freedom for us all. Lest we forget our freedom was bought with a price and can just as easily be lost if we do not remain vigilant and true to the same principles those great men fought and died for.

World War I and II were clear cut good versus evil. Fascism was invading and oppressing Europe and the world united to oppose them. After that victory there was a dark evil created from within that had the same mandate the enemy on the other side of the battlefield had. To destroy our liberty. Yet this new enemy that was created from within was based on fraud and deceit.

After the war Winston Churchill wrote a book called a Warning to the West. In that book he talked about one of his greatest concerns. He said that everyone was so focused on overcoming Fascism, that they missed another similar threat from one of our Allies, the threat of Communism. He describes in detail how Poland was tricked. How Stalin "liberated" them from the Nazis only to oppress them with Communism which continued to oppress eastern Europe for many years after the war. In east Berlin the machine guns were turned inwards to prevent occupants from escaping.

The Korean War was an extension of that struggle. Communism fueled by China took over north Korea and tried tio invade and oppress south Korea. Canada was right in helping repel that invasion. Vietnam was similar. Canada was wrong for not helping in that conflict. Yet Iraq changed everything and that deception was based on the evil from within that was created after the second world war. It was the creation of the CIA. That was the secret society Kennedy warned us about.

Two significant changes have occurred since World War II. In Vietnam the CIA began it's drug trafficking addiction under the direction of George Bush senior. In Iraq MI-6 began a campaign of deception known as Mass Appeal intentionally sending out false information about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. Bush said Iraq has them, invaded and when proved to be wrong declared mission accomplished. The invasion of Iraq was about oil not weapons of mass destruction.

This is the colossal change that has taken place since World War II. When armies defend corporations not countries and civilians. A change that is continuing in Colombia where Canadian oil companies are protected by Canadian and US troops. These oil companies don't represent Canada. They represent private corporations obsessed with profit at the expense of consumers and taxpayers alike. Just like in Afghanistan.

One minute the US oil companies are wining and dining the Taliban trying to win the contract for the Central Asia Gas pipeline through Afghanistan and as soon as they award the contract to a firm from Argentina, they were invaded and that decision was reversed. Afghanistan is a clear example of the double deception of modern times. Military used to promote corporate interests as well as the "intelligence" communities addiction to drug trafficking. Right before the invasion of Afghanistan the Taliban had almost completely stopped the production of opium. After the allied invasion the production of opium increased each year to record levels with US military actually protecting the opium crops.

Libya was another example of a war we should not have been involved in. It was about oil not freedom. One minute Sarkozy was trying to convince the world we should trust Gaddafi with nuclear power then as soon as Gaddafi turns down the bid to buy a French Reactor and buy one from somewhere else, we helped that dirty dog invade and execute his biggest campaign contributor.

It's like the Pink Floyd album The Final Cut Requiem for a Post War Dream where they ask Maggie, what have we done? Referring of course to Maggie Thatcher and the noble ideals we once fought to uphold. Things have indeed changed considerably since them. Who hath done this? Who hath corrupted the fruit of the vineyard? An enemy hath done this. An enemy from within.

We cannot talk about criminal organizations like the Hells Angels without talking about criminal organizations like CSEC. CSEC's mandate is to break the law and spy on Canadians and allies without a warrant. In Brazil CSEC was caught spying on people on behalf of corporations. This has taken us to a place where corrupt politicians say one thing and do another. They say they are right wing and believe in protecting freedom, balancing budgets and reducing taxes but they do the exact opposite. A $1.2 billion spy palace is indeed a waste of money. So is losing billions of tax dollars a year from their budget. If that isn't terrorism I don't know what is. What have we done?



Nationalizing the oil or mining rights is not a bad idea. It balances the budget and reduces taxes. One of the purposes of Operation Fast and Furious was to overturn the Nationalization of Mexico's oil and take those profits out of the hands of the people and put it into the hands of a corporation.

Hells Angels can’t keep Toronto clubhouse



The Toronto Star and the Metro News is reporting that Hells Angels can’t keep Toronto clubhouse says Ontario’s top court. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club has lost a bid to hang on to its old clubhouse on Eastern Ave. On Friday, the Ontario Court of Appeal quashed a court challenge by the bikers to win back their fortified east-end clubhouse.

“The property was the quintessential example of real property as offence-related property,” they argued. “It was not a residence by any conventional stretch of the imagination, but was instead a fortified bunker and served as the pivot point around which multiple designated substance offences revolved.” Ontario courts are much better than BC courts but Ontario courts are still at risk.

The Hells Angles lost control of the building in April 2007, when dozens of police with battering rams burst in and seized control as part of a project against drug trafficking. In the trial that followed, the downtown Angels’ charter was not declared a criminal organization but several members were found guilty of drug-related offences.

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Interview with Kerri Krysko’s Nanny



I had the opportunity to meet and interview Kerri Krysko’s Nanny the other night. Everyone talks about this supposed Nanny Kerri had so I thought it would be prudent to seek her out and find out what she had to say. Turns out she was a baby sitter not a nanny.

She first started working for Kerri and her husband when she was 15 years old. Kerri asked her to baby sit her kids on New Years Eve one year. She said that she was very close to Kerri claiming that Kerri helped raise her and was like a second mother to her.

I obviously asked her about the violence. I asked her if she ever saw Kerri’s ex hit her. She was clear and said yes she had. She had seen him hit her, threaten to hit her and she saw the physical signs of beatings. Sad. It’s still hard for her to talk about it years later. She said it was hard for her to deal with it when she was young and was amazed Kerri was able to write it all down in a book. She said that everything Kerri described in her book about the violence was true.

She described one instance when she saw Kerri’s ex grab Kerri by the throat and punch her in the left eye. She admits that when people asked her about it previously, she was scared and denied she actually saw that at the time. Now she clearly states that she did indeed see that. She states she was afraid of the ex’s violent temperament and his membership with the Hells Angels.

No doubt being so young, it was also hard for her to choose sides like any child in a domestic dispute. Kids don’t want to have to choose sides in a marital breakdown and they shouldn’t have to. They should have to lie about violence either. Letting them be honest about what they saw and heard helps them deal with it.

The Nanny is referred to as Desire in Kerri’s book to protect her identity and is introduced on page 240. Desire told me about another instance when she was visiting them at a apartment while they were building a new home. She was standing outside in the hallway by the fire door and could hear Kerri’s ex yelling at her ordering her to stand in the bathtub so that when he beat her she could wash the blood off before the ambulance came. There was another instance where Desire saw Kerri’s lip bleeding after she was hit in the face with a pool stick.

Again it was hard for her to talk about these situations as she was young and it brought back bad memories for her. Interestingly enough, going through these traumatic experiences helped her choose a career path and is trained to work as community outreach in Transition homes.

She told me her only concern was to protect a mother and her wonderful children from violence. She remembered after the separation, Kerri brought the kids to see her ex to a home where they could visit their father in a supervised access visit. With tears in her eyes she said she couldn’t understand how they would let the father see the kids after what he had done.

I promptly asked if he had ever hit the kids and she said no. I then explained that the courts can seem heartless. If the parents argue and the husband beats the wife, that is seen as a different matter than him beating the kids. If the mother and father are separated and he doesn’t beat the kids, the courts tend to believe that continuing the fathers access to the children is in their best interest. That way they don’t have to deal with feelings of abandonment as they process some of the violent acts they witnessed.

In fact, having been a single parent myself, I clearly remember watching an important video on Parenting after Separation. The father just got off the phone with his ex and in front of the daughter started going off on what a b*tch she was. Then the video showed the daughter thinking to herself, If my mother is a b*tch and I’m half my mom, then I must be a b*tch. It was heartbreaking and instilled in me early on how important it is not to trash the other parent in front of the kids.

Which kinda makes writing a book about an abusive marriage problematic. You don’t want to trash the other parent but you want to be honest about what happened so the kids understand what is normal and acceptable and what isn’t.

Previously I used the example how do you tell Luke Skywalker his father is Darth Vader? Simply by being honest about it. Your father did some bad things but he was not all bad. No one is. He did have some good in him. In Darth Vader’s case, it was his son’s belief in the good in him which helped him forsake the dark side and return to the light.

Desire did mention three occasions where she found some pretty bizarre things in the guestroom. I’m not even going to go there. I’ll just say that it’s pretty shocking as those items were things you’d expect to see in a prison shower not in a Hells Angels' guestroom.

Desire was clear that her concerns had nothing to do with the Hells Angels and that she still had a closet full of support gear. She was just concerned about the kids being exposed to such violence and for Kerri’s safety. She did admit that a lot of the conduct contradicted what she normally thought was acceptable for Hells Angels members and agreed that in Kerri’s next book, that aspect of the conflict will become clear. Desire was clear that Kerri did not use drugs.



Kerri Krysko will be releasing her e-book in July.

Mayors' Glutton Council is out of control



The Metro Vancouver Mayors' Council of Gluttons is completely out of control and should be disbanded. That was the prophetic warning of a wise MLA many years ago. Now we can clearly see why. Their mandate is to tax and spend consumers right into slavery so they can fill their pockets and justify their indulgence. This is not right wing. This is not progressive. These are not conservative values. This is Corporate Communism in action gouging consumers and binding them with debt. They should be fired.

The new news is the announcement that Mayors’ Council approves transportation vision as though this insane tax and spend vision of slavery is somehow a good thing. They are trying to pretend to be right wing and build roads to improve transportation but that is very far from the truth. Everyone knows the Pattullo bridge needs to be replaced. That is not what this is about. This is about pouring over 7 billion more tax dollars on top of the billion dollar a year metro Vancouver gas tax into the fiscal nightmare known as Translink.

Translink is completely mismanaged. It should be self reliant. If it was the billion dollar a year metro gas tax could easily pay for the new Port Mann and Pattullo bridges without any tolls whatsoever. Instead we see sweetheart deals between corrupt politicians and the developers that contribute to their political campaigns that results is a colossal waste of tax dollars. Take Gwyn Morgan for example. Please. Take him far far away.

Here we have a Pee Wee Herman spin doctor that pretends to be right wing when in reality he is anything but. He's just another pork barrel politician that lines his pockets at taxpayers expense. When Translink gives millions of free rides away every year, that is mismanagement. No private company would survive doing that in the real world. Spending billions of tax dollars to expand the Evergreen line when they can't balance their existing budget is fiscal irresponsibly.

Ya know why? Gwyn Morgan got the contract for the Evergreen line awarded to SNCL when he was acting CEO after they were charged with massive fraud in Quebec. If that is not a criminal act, I don't know what is. The World Bank has banned SNCL from World Bank projects for the next 10 years so we give them billions of tax dollars for a mismanaged Translink project and they still want more money to line their pockets. Go figure. That is bad business.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Large Pot and Heroin bust in Edmonton



CTV is reporting that three Edmonton men and two from Chilliwack, B.C., are facing charges after 292 kilos of marijuana, 14.1 kilos of heroin and 6 kilos of hashish were seized as part of a joint partnership between the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) in Edmonton on June 4.

Global is reporting that on June 4, three Edmonton men were arrested at a west Edmonton storage facility and 95 kilograms of marijuana and six kilograms of hash were seized. Two men were arrested on the same day at the Canada Border Services Agency’s commercial facility at the Edmonton International Airport. The two men were driving a semi-tractor trailer. One hundred ninety-seven kilograms of marijuana was found inside the trailer, and 14 bricks of heroin were discovered in a hidden storage compartment underneath the trailer.

“Our information suggests this shipment originated in Vancouver. It made a stop in Calgary, before arriving in Edmonton, and the transport truck was also scheduled to stop in Regina and Winnipeg, with a final destination in Toronto,” said Inspector Darcy Strang, ALERT. those are all HA distribution points. Not surprising since the Hells Angels control the BC bud but surprising to see them with the largest heroin bust in Alberta's history. We know that Big tony sold heroin for the Hells Angels in East Vancouver.

Five people have been arrested, and are facing a number of drug charges: Dustin Stone, 24, from Edmonton, Douglas Dach, 51, from Edmonton, Samuel Hutsulak, 24, from Edmonton, Barry Grindrod, 55, from Chilliwack, Kodie Grindrod, 21, from Chilliwack. Police believe the five men are connected to large organized crime groups. Gee I wonder which one?

Global has pictures of three of the suspects on their web site. The picture above is of Barry Grindrod from Chilliwack. He owns a long haul trailer. Kodie is Barry's son. Looks like Barry is the Rob Shannon replacement. That mush heroin shows that the Hells Angels have worked with the Triads since before the loft six shooting. Notice that this was an ALERT bust not a EPS bust.



It's obvious that Barry worked for the Hells Angels. Yet it's also obvious Barry wasn't a Hells Angel member or associate nor was he some hardened criminal. Barry was just a normal guy with a normal family trying to make ends meet. Just like Rob Shannon he got a bit greedy from the amount of money to be made hauling drugs for the Hells Angels. Locking him in prison for 30 years won't stop the Hells Angels drug trafficking network. There will be a line up of guys to take his place. Arresting the people he worked for will make a dent in the misery that network profits from.

Heroin bust at YVR



CTV is reporting that a Vancouver International Airport employee and another man have been charged after police found 35 kilograms of heroin secreted away in shipped goods. Airport worker Randy Norman Per, 42, and Tenny Guon Lim, 34, were arrested and charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

I'm a bit confused as to why a heroin bust is such big news when it comes into the country but the police let them sell heroin cut with fentanyl on the street and not arrest the drug traffickers in the DTES. A bust like this is good and makes for a great headline but why stop there? Why not follow through and arrest the dealers on the street. It makes no sense to me at all.