Pot activist dies on hunger strike

Istvan "Steve" Marton, 69, the local marijuana dealer in Sointula, off the north-east coast of Vancouver Island, died in Port MacNeill Hospital Sunday after more than a month on a hunger strike to protest Canada's marijuana laws. I'm sorry to hear he passed away.

Freddy just posted a link to a Vancouver Sun article about Stop the Violence B.C. which is a coalition lobbying for the legalization and regulation of marijuana. I'm glad this group has drawn the line at pot. I think they will get more support. I cannot accept legalizing all drugs like crack, crystal meth or date rape drug.

There is a large percentage of the population that supports the legalization of marijuana. About 50%. More if you make it the decriminalization of Marijuana. That's where I stand on the issue. I'm not comfortable with pot being sold at the 7/11 or smoked in public. People have a hard enough time dealing with cigarette smoke in public. If I chose not to smoke pot, I don't want it forced upon me by having to hot box it on the bus or in public.

Yet I will completely agree that building more prisons for nonviolent crime is absurd. Especially when our courts and prison systems are clogged up at present and can't effectively deal with violent crime. Harper's extreme of implementing mandatory minimum sentences for growing pot is disproportionate and undemocratic. Since we don't have a two party system in Canada, Harper did not get 50% of the vote. Yet more than 50% of the population support the decriminalization of marijuana. Somewhat ironic.

The Vancouver Sun has published a copy of a letter from four former Vancouver mayors calling for the decriminalization and regulation of marijuana. In it they state: "A recent Angus Reid poll demonstrated that 69% of British Columbians believe that chasing and arresting marijuana producers and sellers is ineffective and that British Columbians would be better off taxing and regulating the adult use of marijuana. We fully agree. Clearly, elected officials are out of step with their public on marijuana prohibition."

Hells Angels clubhouse turned into community space

Thunder Bay City council unanimously voted Monday night to approve Evergreen a United Neighbourhood’s plan to convert the former Hells Angels clubhouse on Heron Street into a community space. Evergreen coordinator Linda Bruins told council that the group currently holds its meetings on a street corner near Minnesota Park. The space on Heron Street, given to the group by the Ministry of the Attorney General, would allow Evergreen to have indoor meetings and have a space to hold events.

Clem Hamel said the area has enough community centres and churches. Council heard from supporters of the idea before making the unanimous decision. Coun. Paul Pugh said this was the best opportunity to see a former negative space turned into a positive one. “It’s got to be about a positive move as I can imagine,” Pugh said. Former police officer mayor Keith Hobbs said he supported the change.

Occupy Vancouver Relocates

I am somewhat amused that the Occupy Vancouver protesters chose Robson Square for their next location after the court ordered them to move from the Art Gallery. I had walked under there a couple of weeks ago and noticed it was basically abandoned and that there was no ice in the rink there. Too bad. Bringing the ice back for the Olympics was a great idea. Maintaining that ice rink is a positive thing for the city. Yet they've been ordered to move again.

When I first heard there was going to be an Occupy Wall Street protest in Vancouver I asked where are they going to occupy? Vancouver doesn't have a stock exchange any more. The Art Galley? They could occupy that until Christmas and no one will notice or care. Unfortunately, protest bashing has become the popular political twist of late. You would think they let Conrad Black out of prison and he was the owner of the local papers again.

I am somewhat outraged by Christy Clark's comments in today's Vancouver Province. The headline read "Enough is Enough" and the article quoted Christy airhead as saying "I don't know what these folks stand for now." Why is that not surprising? Has she ever asked? She doesn't listen. She doesn't care. Yet trampling on lawful assembly is a horrific precedent for the nation.

No wonder Christy Clark wants to seize the opportunity to distract voters for the new disclosure about her own personal involvement in the BC Rail scandal along with Gordon Campbell. It wasn't just her brother, it was her too. How can she call a public inquiry into herself? This is way worse than Fantasy Gardens and way worse than fast ferries. She should be hanging her head in shame but no, she seizes the opportunity to kick the cat. She doesn't know what the protest is about? Maybe it's about her involvement in corrupt politics. We have seen that corruption in Wall street has infiltrated politics.

Someone wrote in to the Province slamming the mayor and Jim Chu for the Vancouver Riot. It wasn't their fault! They asked Christy Clark for more funding for police during the Stanley cup final and she giggled and said no. Then she had to audacity to rub it in their face and say but your concerns have been taken into consideration when we made our decision.

That is the inherent problem of our current political climate. Our pork barrel politicians only care about taking care of their lobbyists who contribute to their campaign. Big Unions or Big Corporations, it's all special interest. Only there are no big Unions any more. Only snakes in the grass like Buzz Hargrove trying to sell out their members so they can continue to exist and stay on the payroll.

In Canada, people have a protest and no one cares. The concerns aren't listened to. They just give them a little parade to express themselves then go on their merry way and do the exact opposite. At least in Egypt the government listens to the people. They protested demanding the government resign. Not necessarily the brightest thing when you don't have a plan as to who is going to be elected to replace him. Now they are protesting because after the government stepped down the military took over. Only the military promised to hand over the power in six months and that's not happening. Big surprise. Political opportunists exist everywhere.

Yet Egypt's military ruler says he is prepared to hold a referendum on transferring power to a civilian government immediately, following a massive demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square that saw tens of thousands turn out. That's a lot better than Stephen Harper or Christy Clark would do. Hold a referendum. Imagine that. Harper would rather spend millions of tax dollars on bogus advertising telling us how to vote rather than listen to the democratic will of the people. Our democracy is in peril.

There are two issues on the table: Tents and protests. I separate the two because although the Occupy Vancouver protest is clearly a political protest, the right to assemble in public places and petition the government for a redress of grievance is a God given unalienable right. No court has the authority to take that away from us. Period. Any court order that bans protesters instead of tents would violate the charter or rights and be an illegal order.

These are serious issues. A couple weeks ago I was standing outside the Vancouver courthouse with a sign that said Lawful Assembly is a Charter Right. The sheriff at the front desk comes out all agitated, reads my sign and says lawful assembly is a charter right but you can't stand there. I crinkle my brow and my nose and in disbelief say What? He said you can't picket here. You have to leave. Picket? I said. I'm not a member of a union. I'm not blocking any one's access to the courthouse. Then I look at his shoulder and notice he's a sheriff. I said if you get a police officer to arrest me for holding a sign that would be an illegal arrest and I will counter sue for lost wages. He gets even more agitated and said you can do what you want but I'm going to make a phone call. Fine I said as I held my position.

I was only going to stay there ten minutes but ended up staying 2 and a half hours just to see who would have the audacity to come and arrest me in violation of my Charter Right. No one showed up and I was furious. How dare he steal my Charter right? How dare he lie and claim that it is not my charter right to stand in a public place with a sign in a political protest. How dare he? People from the Occupy site just laughed and said you really think people won't try and convince you you don't have rights? I had no idea.

In the latest court application, Christy BC Rail Clark was asking for a permanent injunction and the Judge said such a move would be an inappropriate use of the law. No kidding. Speaking of the law, let's talk about generations of British Common law that refer to squatters rights. I was amazed in England many years ago that when squatters gathered they couldn't just move them without finding them a new location to move to. That was during the stone henge festival I visited back in the day. Before the Charter of Rights and before the British North America Act was introduced, our law was British common law. Generations of court decisions formed jurisprudence and became known as common law. Like it or not squatter's rights were part of that common law.

Yet tents and signs are separate. They can get a court order to remove tents but they cannot get a court order to ban a protest on public land. Such an order would be illegal and an act of war.

Harper muzzles the Mounties

From now on, just about every bit of RCMP information shared with the public will have to be sent to Public Safety Canada for approval. The new protocol will also mean more photo ops for government ministers.

This is absolutely outrageous. Stephen Harper in NOT an Conservative. Firing whistle blowers is bad enough, now he even wants to censor the RCMP. Holy propaganda Batman when will it ever end?

Let's take the BC Rail scandal. The RCMP got a wiretap warrant for an MLA because his cousin was a cocaine dealer. Turns out that they found out about another scandal involving the sale of BC Rail in the process tied to Christy Clark and her brother. Why on earth would the RCMP have to clear anything through the BC Provincial government before it released the news that they were under investigation?

What powers of censorship does this new "protocol" have? If the RCMP had to clear the news of the legislature raids with Gordon Campbell before it happened, that would be a conflict of interest. Would Harper's pal, Gordon Campbell have power to censor that information and instruct the RCMP to withhold some information on the State Secret cop out?

The same thing federally. We know Alfonso Gagliano was named by an FBI informant as a made member of the Mafia in Montreal according to the New York Times. We know that Brian Mulroney was up to his eyeballs in criminal activity. What if a federal political party is being investigated? Would this new protocol mean the party in power has the right to censor the RCMP? That is not Canada. That is not a democracy. That my friend is treason. As the frog boils in warmer water.

Kingpin Crew's new Clubhouse

I thought the Pinhead Crew were laying low after Mike and Sam's Oxycontin fraud bust. They've sure gone under cover. They went and painted a fruit stand black and grey but they can't fool us. We know it's still full of fruit loops. It's on Highway 97 on the way to the Kelowna Airport. It has MC on the front door now.



So tell me, is Donwntown Cycle still open? Someone said they were hanging low after the Oxy bust. I guess we're still waiting to see what happens in Dale's pal Joey's murder trial. Dale says if Joey killed Britney then their friendship is over. What a crock of shit that is. Who do ya think got him to do the job? If he was ripping Britney off he would have left town. If he murdered a rat to repay a debt he wouldn't of had to leave town. Only she wasn't a rat you piece of garbage. And Geoff didn't rip anyone off you dirty liar.

I understand that Brittney was quite the photographer. All the landscape photos in the tribute video I made for her and Geoff Meisner were from her facebook. Except for a couple ones of the snow on Big White. I just threw those in to show how awesome Kelowna is in the Winter as well as in the Summer. Awesome if they get rid of the Liquid Zoo good and the Habibs trying to bring it back.

Deputy Police Chief Jennifer Evans’ Pickton Report

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry has promised for weeks the release of Peel, Ont. Deputy Police Chief Jennifer Evans’ 800 page report. On Monday morning, Inquiry Commissioner Wally Oppal called the leak of Evans’ report to CTV “appalling.” But Oppal upheld the objections of lawyer Cameron Ward, acting for 20 missing women’s families not to mark Evans report as exhibit, which would have made it available to all media. Ward continues to call the inquiry a “whitewash,” saying Oppal needs to hear from frontline police investigators. Of course it's a whitewash. The Hells Angels have not been mentioned in it at all. Why oppose making the Peel Report and exhibit? After all, it is a public inquiry.

Man found guilty in Surrey crack shack murder

Steven Patrick Iyoupe was convicted of manslaughter Thursday in the death of Garry Glen Harder in 2006. Harder was killed by a group of people inside a Surrey crack shack on Jan. 28, 2006. He is the fourth person convicted in the murder.

William Thomas Walker, 40, of Langley, and Jordon Vojkovic, 26, of Calgary, were charged with first-degree murder and forcible confinement in Harder's death while Lauretta Marie Stevens, 32, of Surrey, was charged with forcible confinement and assault with a weapon.

Jordon Vojkovic of Calgary, was convicted of unlawful confinement and manslaughter and got 13 years. William Thomas Walker, of Langley, was convicted of unlawful confinement and aggravated assault and given seven years in jail. Lauretta Marie Stevens was convicted of unlawful confinement and assault with a weapon and got three years.

On the night of Jan. 27, 2006, Furman said she and Harder were interrogated about $300 that was stolen from a drug dealer at a crack house on 137A Street in Whalley. Although Harder, who worked as a doorman at the house, had taken the money and the couple spent it on crack cocaine he denied committing the theft.

Furman said she woke up the next morning to the sound of Harder being punched and kicked by several people. One of those people was Iyoupe, she testified. The group also used a board with nails in it to hit Harder in the head. “He was curled into a ball covering his head. I was sitting on the couch, made to watch,” she said before dissolving into tears.

Next Harder was dragged into the kitchen, where he was handcuffed to a chair and Iyoupe hit Harder with a pillow case filled with “food cans,” Furman said. Still cuffed to the chair, Harder was taken to the bathroom and put in the tub. “Steven got into the bathtub and started beating the crap out of Gary’s head,” Furman said.

Furman alleged that Iyoupe and a drug dealer known as “Robbie,” or Jordan Vojkovic, took turns hitting Harder. Harder ended up in a bedroom next, where Furman said Vojkovic and Iyoupe electrocuted Harder by putting live wires in his ears. “They were laughing hysterically,” Furman said. Another drug dealer also assaulted Harder with a string trimmer.

This level of violence is very disturbing. Laughing as the electrocuted the victim after beating him in the head with a board with nails in it. That is inherently disturbed. It reminds us of the murder of Annette Allan just around the corner at the Surrey House of Horrors. Annette's crime was being falsely accused of being a rat.

At the trial of contract killer Mickie (Phil) Smith the court was told one of his murders was done for the East Vancouver chapter of the Hells Angels. Smith killed Paul Percy Soluk at a crack house in Surrey and said a man he called Yurik helped him chop up and dispose of the body. Smith said "Yurik's not an Angel but he works with the Angels. I know he's done a lot of hits." Paul Soluk was killed in 1999.

1) These were crack houses supplied by the Hells Angels. They brought the cocaine into the country and these guys sold it as crack. Both of these crack shacks were close to TBarz, the bar owned by Randy Jones from the Whiterock chapter of the Hells Angles. TBarz was implicated in another Hells angels cross border drug trafficking ring. John Punko was also selling cocaine in Surrey around that time.

2) The level of violence in all of these cases is outrageous.

3) Garry Harder’s girlfriend testified that Steven Iyoupe and Lauretta Stevens tried to make her work off Harder’s debt through prostitution, but as soon as she could she got away. That brings us to forced prostitution and the Hells angels in Surrey, Maple Ridge and Hamilton. Forced prostitution and the Hells angels. Well strike one up for the toy run. Get them adicted to crack and force them into prostitution to pay for the debt. Yeah David Giles is a great guy alright. For a clown.

Someone from Kelowna contacted me and said they recognized Giles from photos on my web site. He didn't know who he was at the time but thought it was odd he would be wearing Hells Angels colours. He thought at the time it was a clown dressed up as a Hells angels. Turned out he was right. David Giles does look like a Shriner in costume. Yet this forced prostitution thing is no laughing matter.

High-risk sex offender living in Surrey

Andrew Aurie Jefferson, 26, known as the Falconridge rapist in Calgary, has a criminal record of sexual-related offences. Police say his method of attack is to use a knife to threaten and then grab a woman from behind.

It is rather bizarre that a high risk sex offender from Alberta would be released in Surrey thank you very much. I remember when the balcony rapist was released in Surrey. There was a public protest held in Newton. He moved. This time we're not so lucky. He did go to Mission first after his plans of moving to Kelowna fell through.

He has to go somewhere but five years for three armed rapes with no counseling is not right. That's the whole point of our desire for judicial reform. Raising the penalties for nonviolent crime and demanding the provinces pay for it will continue to prevent us from fixing this problem of being able to properly address violent crime. Ten years is not life.

In Kelowna we have a Hells angels associate out on bail having been charged with sexual assault. His case won't go to trial until a year after his arrest. What is his victim supposed to do during that time living in the same small town?

We also are waiting for the results of that gang rape at the Renegades clubhouse in Prince George. Hells angels associates accused to gang raping someone in one of their drug dealing puppet clubhouses. The sad thing is, Andrew Jefferson isn't the only rapist running free in BC. Even police officers have been charged with committing rape. We can't address this like we should if we prioritize nonviolent crime.

Fixing the RCMP

It's impossible to keep up with all the bad press the RCMP is getting. Evey day a new horror story. Police brutality, sexual harassment, sexual assault, impaired driving, hit and run, the list goes on and on and on. We've gone from accusations of the police blackmailing prostitutes to having sex with them and trying to smuggle a prostitute onto a police cruse ship doing security for the Olympics to numerous allegations of sexual harassment at the workplace and even several allegations of police officers raping fellow police officers. The number of cases is absurd. It forces the average civilian to ask what the hell is going on there? The professional image isn't just tarnished, it looks more like a circus of unprofessionalism.

Making a politically incorrect statement is one thing but raping a fellow officer is another. During the Olympics a police officer was accused of raping a fellow officer. We are told alcohol played a factor. Yet back in 2003, Four female RCMP officers alleged they were sexually assaulted by one of their superiors.

We are well aware of the disastrous affair with a witness in the Surrey Six Murder trial. The front page of Friday's Vancouver Province contained yet another accusation from another witness at the current sexual harassment trial involving Cpl. Catherine Galliford. The married female officer claimed she was pressured into having a sexual relationship with her fellow officer after she was caught by her husband who read text messages on her cell phone. It was either consensual or it wasn't. Either way having sex in patrol cars on duty pretty much demonstrates how unprofessional that force has become. It's a huge problem.

Since many of the allegations are of a sexual nature, it is tempting to fix the problem like you would fix your cat and nip it in the bud so to speak. Yet I'm looking beyond the sexual perversions in the force. I'm looking at the root of the problem. Galliford says the command and control structure at the RCMP means Mounties are instructed to do as they're told, or risk getting reprimanded. We need soldiers not sheep. Soldiers like General Romeo Dallaire not abusive idiots and wing nuts.

The problem I see begins at the beginning. It begins with Depot. Ever see the movie Full Metal Jacket? Abusive training breed psychopaths. The theory was break someone down then build them back up. It is a self defeating process because it teaches breaking someone down is good and right when it most certainly is not. It also leads to an undesirable conclusion.

Depot training can be hard and demanding without being so degrading and abusive. Get someone exhausted then build them up. That's how you train a reflex. What you train when you are exhausted trains a reflex. Abusing recruits when they are exhausted trains them to be abusive. That is what we are now seeing in the farce. To change that we have to begin at the beginning and make depot challenging but positive. Build their self esteem, build their self respect, then they will show respect for others.

The Eagles have Landed

Once again, this has absolutely nothing to do with gangsters, drugs, prostitution or the gang war that has plagued British Columbia. It's about what TI and Rhianna refer to as Living your life.

We had a life before the Hells angels came to BC and before the gang war started. Back in the day our motto was Beautiful British Columbia. Gordon Campbell changed it to The Best Place on Earth which is absurd. BC is not the best place on earth and Gordon Campbell significantly diminished it with his insane tenure as Premier. Nevertheless, BC is still beautiful just like many other places on earth.

Australia kinda has the best of everything - nice beaches, warm climate, Kangaroos and even has snow in their mountains during winter. Like that's not fair. They seem to have everything. Nevertheless, we do like our mountains. I remember speaking last year with a girl visiting from Brazil during winter. I said oh you have nice beaches in Brazil. Her eyes lit up and said yes but not like here. Our beaches are HOT. Indeed there are many wonderful places on earth. Yet this is our home and we do appreciate it's rustic beauty.

This weekend is the Bald Eagle Festival at Harrison. The eagles come to feed on the chum after they have spawned. It's wonderful to see. Usually very cold and wet this time of year but something to see nonetheless. Eagles are pretty private. If you get too close they just casually fly away so bring your binoculars. The boat tours don't do it. The motorboats scare them off and too many boats will disrupt their feeding habits.

I put the Kayak in at Kilby at Harrison Mills today and paddled up past the bridge where the Harrison river spreads out wide to less than a foot deep. The boats can't get there but that is where the eagles are feeding on the rotting salmon carcasses.

Insider Trading in Congress

Freddy already posted a link to this but I also just saw it on MSN news. Turns out there's a new book about insider trading in US Politics called Throw Them All Out by Peter Schweizer.

This past Sunday night, Steve Croft of “60 Minutes” exposed how U.S. Congressional critters cheat, lie and benefit from insider trading on defense contracts. He cornered former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with her investments gained from her inside knowledge of multi-billion dollar contracts.

Pelosi boasts multi-millionaire status along with over 200 other members of Congress. She responded that everything she had done as to investments was legal. In reality, she cheated before a law could be passed to stop the cheating.

Consequently, A long-ignored proposal to ban insider trading by members of Congress gained new traction this week following news stories that reinforced the public's low opinion of Congress.

Creating a direct conflict with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, fellow Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow has proposed legislation that would ban members of Congress from using privileged information obtained on Capitol Hill for insider trading on Wall Street.

It reminds me of that movie Distinguished Gentlemen with Eddy Murphy. I like the Duck Hunt scene. He plays a can man gone politician and admits that he did way more sh*t in office than he ever did on the street only the cons he pulled in office were legal. Somehow I think this applies to the Occupy Wall Street protest and continues to give that cause merit. Newt Gingrich reportedly received $1.8 million in consulting fees from Freddie Mac before it was bailed out by taxpayers.

David Johnston's Hunger strike for Occupy

Someone mentioned this guy at the open mike at the Vancouver Occupation and I was surprised I hadn't heard about the story. Seemingly one of the members of the Victoria Occupy has been arrested and has been on a three week hunger strike during his 60 day sentence. Prolific offenders don't even get that much jail time for property theft. He challenged the crown to get a judge to make a ruling on the right to sleep. God love him.

I have mixed feelings about camping in city parks. Homelessness is a genuine concern. Obviously the Occupy Wall Street is a political protest. Many argue that it's becoming a modern Woodstock yet I think the underlining message is important to heed. Corruption on Wall Street is serious. Hiding that with propaganda is self defeating. It raises our taxes and erodes our sovereignty. Pepper spraying protesters, clergy and seniors diminishes all of us. Dorli Rainey is 84 years old. Her photo is a “defining image” of the protest.

Surrey Municipal Election

Saturday is the municipal election and I still have to go through the election booklet to see who all is running. Although I did think Dianne Watts has done some good things for Surrey there have been numerous concerns brought to light after her bizarre and brazen endorsement of George Bush's endorsement of torture and Investment fraud on his recent visit.

Surrey mayoral candidate Ross Buchanan has raised a very valid concern about this new conflict of interest development corporation she created. "Very few people in Surrey are aware that in 2007, Dianne Watts and the Surrey First councillors created a wholly owned development corporation in which the city are the main shareholders," said Buchanan.

"Diane Watts, Coun. Linda Hepner and city manager Murray Dinwoodie sit on the board of directors. How can the mayor and council remain independent of influence when they are sitting on the board of their own development corporation whose goals are at odds with the livability of the entire region?"

Buchanan said the corporation is "riddled with a lack of transparency" and has not been accountable for its activities. "It is highly irregular that the financial statements for the corporation would be consolidated with the city's. It is a separate entity. Requests for detailed accounting are denied," he said. He said valuable city assets have been transferred to the corporation with little or no public consultation.

This is a huge concern. The real cost of Surrey’s $100-million new city hall and the huge budget expansion is another. As we have seen raising taxes is the only way to pay for pork barrel politics and that is what she's endorcing with the gas tax.

It appears that the lovely Laila is endorsing Ross Buchanan for good reason. I think I will too. Watts may well be a shoe in but she did lose my vote over that George Bush fiasco. The Christy Clark like endorsement was shocking. Yet not all the Surrey First candidates are shoe ins. I think my first step is to not vote Surrey First. That will reduce the pork barrel lack of acounatability the Surrey First political party are creating.

Bob Paulson next RCMP commissioner

According to CBC News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has gone back to the ranks of the Mounties and has chosen Bob Paulson as the next commissioner of the RCMP. The official announcement is expected Wednesday. Three cheers. This was my second choice after Jim Chu. That's way better than appointing a lawyer for the Hells angels to the Supreme Court. What was the president of the Conservative party doing representing the Hells angels anyways?

Hey, Harper did something I agree with. Can you believe that? Miracles never cease. Now if he just arrested Brian Mulroney for the two million dollar settlement he defrauded the Canadian tax payers out of...

A civilian in charge of the RCMP is like having a civilian in charge of your military. It doesn't make sense. Promoting from within does. Bob Paulson isn't in Boy George's corrupt camp of pension fraud either. I am told he was involved with the gang task force in BC before things started to go wrong. I'm told he was competent and did a good job. Let's hope he gets the support he needs to inspect the troops and clean house so we can effectively start dealing with the OMGs in BC once again.

The Rock Machine Down Under

We've talked about this before but since there are so many new readers following the blog now perhaps I should reinforce the history of the club(s). This news article gives a fair analysis of the history of the Rock Machine and explains how the Rock Machine in Australia are fighting with another motorcycle club there called the Rebels.

This facebook page also has a good history of the Rock Machine. It claims that around 1982, Salvatore Cazzetta was a member of a white-supremacist motorcycle gang named the SS, who were based in Pointe-aux-Trembles, on the eastern tip of the Island of Montreal. A fellow member of the SS was Maurice Boucher, and the two became friends. As leaders of the gang, they became candidates to join the Hells Angels when that gang decided to expand its international operations into Canada.

In March 1985, a Lennoxville, Quebec chapter of the Hells suspected the Laval chapter of wasting drug profits by using too much of the product themselves. The Laval chapter was invited to a Lennoxville chapter party. When the five Laval members arrived, they were ambushed and murdered. Two months later, at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River, divers located the decomposing bodies of the victims wrapped in sleeping bags and tied to weightlifting plates.

OK let's pause there a moment. Salvatore Cazzetta, the founder of the Rock Machine was originally a member of a white supremacists motorcycle gang called the SS along with Mom Boucher. Both groups have a history of involvement with White Supremacy. Cazzetta kinda sounds Spanish but it's Italian.

Salvatore, like many others, was outraged with the betrayal in the Lennoxville massacre. Hells Angels killing their own just because. That's not what the MC movement is about. Mom Boucher and his other pal Biff Hammel didn't have a problem with it. In fact, they used it to their advantage to climb the ladder and get their patches. In fact Biff Hamel was a prospect of the Laval chapter and was present when they executed his sponsors and seized the opportunity for advancement. That's kind of a dirty politician not a loyal friend. Hells angel hitman Yves "Apache" Trudeau was also a member of that chapter but didn't show up for the execution. After they killed his brothers he became a police informant.

Not surprising, Biff Hammel and Maurice Boucher used a similar betrayal to take over the Death Riders by forming an allegiance with some aspiring members of that club who met with them right after their presidents funeral to become a Hells angels puppet club. The betrayal and murder of the Death Riders president helped the Hells angels take over the entire drug trade in Laval.

So get this, years later history repeated itself. The Rock Machine merged with the Bandidios and the Texas head office ordered a hit on the Toronto chapter and another aspiring leader was more than happy to seize the opportunity to murder his own brothers. Another white supremacist murdering his fellow members. Once again the Rock Machine were outraged and broke off on their own. Unfortunately, their ultimate purpose is the same as the Hells angels - to sell drugs. The turf war is a war over drug territory for drug profits.

After the Bandidio massacre, Salvatore Cazzetta went back with his friend Mom Boucher to join the Hells angels and became the president of the Montreal chapter. I kid you not. This would reinforce the rumour in the book The Angels claiming that Maurice "Mom" Boucher at one time paid his "rivals" in the Rock Machine to murder some of his own people who he saw as political threats to his leadership within the club. The author of the book claims to have received the information from an ex Rock Machine member.

Ya gotta wonder about it since Salvatore was his friend and rejoined him once all the political opposition was eliminated letting him become president of the Montreal chapter once and for all.

A Wake up Call

It appears that even my regular readers misunderstood the allegory in my last post. I have decided to continue with the blog and web site. I'm just getting a little bit burned out and need to cut back how much time I spend so I can balance it with some of the finer things in life. Like climbing mountains in winter with snowshoes or paddling up rivers to see the eagles feed off the spawning chum.

I was sincerely thinking of making my previous post my final post. For a while at least. Then as I got to thinking about it I looked up what the military bugle last post was historically all about. The Last Post isn't a final blog post, it is a historic tune on the trumpet played at remembrance day. One of it's purposes is to remember the fallen soldiers in war. Another purpose in the field of the Last Post was after a battle when it was played to gather the wounded so they could regroup.

On Remembrance day the Last Post is played and after a moment of silence is followed by the Rouse which is a wake up call so to speak. Very similar to the First Post which is a call to inspect the troops. On remembrance day we remember the dead and arouse our sense of duty by waking up to the cause.

In the Matrix, Morpheus offered Neo two choices. He could take the blue pill and when he woke up life would be back to normal. Everything would be as it was and he would have no knowledge of the Matrix or that anything else that was amiss. However, if he took the red pill that would waken him from a deep sleep so that he could see how deep the rabbit hole really goes.

When I look at the gang war as well as the political climate that is affiliated with it and enables it, I think we all can agree that the public needs a wake up call. Yet whether or not the public decides to waken from it's apathetic slumber, we all as individuals have to decide what we will do as individuals. Obviously we can't solve all the worlds problems. Yet we can chose to be informed. We can chose to look beyond the official version of things we are fed and make our own decision on the various issues at hand.

Most of us would agree that if we are going to address the gang war, reform the police, fix the judicial system, repair the prison system and confront the crooks on Wall street that embezzle pensions, we need to look to a political solution. I submit that the US Constitution is a marvelous political model to accomplish that task. Yet many misquote, misunderstand and manipulate the Constitution to promote their own welfare above that of others. The pledge of the preamble states:

"We the People, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution. I got a kick out of how Michael Moore pointed out it doesn't say the word Capitalism anywhere in the Constitution but it does say "We", "Union" and "general Welfare." He jokingly said that sounds more like the other ism. It's not but the point is promoting the general welfare striving to create a more perfect union is not a Communist plot to take over the free world. We've been had by the Kings and Queens of Wall Street.

Remember those old Schoolhouse Rock commercials about the Constitution? That was back when they had commercials for kids teaching them grammar. How about that old I'm just a bill song explaining how a bill becomes a law. There's one about the real Boston Tea party. The one Sara Palin missed about the ride of Paul Revere and one about the 19th Amendment.

There's a more modern rendition of the Bill of Rights which is similar to our Charter of Rights in Canada. There's an interesting founding fathers rap as well. I know Canada has a different history than the United States. Our forefathers were loyalists. Yet democracy, free speech, lawful assemble, these are unalienable rights to which we all aspire. So which will it be, the blue pill or the red pill?

Last Post

This was going to be my Last Post. Instead it's going to be my First Post. First and Last. I shall explain. The Last Post is a bugle tribute to a fallen solider. The First Post is the bugle call for inspection. The Rouse is simply a wake up call.

I've got another vindictive fruitcake in my grill threatening to post my picture, home address and the name of my daughter online, knowing full well what harm that would put my daughter in. I never did like the idea of being anonymous. It is being a bitch. I fully admit it. Yet so is threatening to rape my daughter. That is off the hook. The reason I decided to do this anonymously was to protect my family and to protect my former associations. I am responsible for what I post. No one else is. Threatening someones family is low life. Yet that is what it has come to.

Me, I'm an old man. My kids are all grown up. What happens to me doesn't matter any more. What happens to them does. So we all make choices and we all live with the consequences of those choices. The theme behind the movie Braveheart was Every man dies, not every man really lives. To that I might add, every man dies but some are already dead before they go to the grave. I shall explain.

It is no secret that I don't like liars and I don't like crack dealers. People who lie about selling crack really piss me off. I saw a kid buy some crack in Surrey central from a Hells Angel associate. Then I saw him turn his girlfriend over to the crack dealer who was trying to get the girl alone with half a dozen dirty crackheads. She looked about 14 years old. Younger than my daughter. That kind of stuff makes me come unglued. If I saw that and didn't say anything about that, I would be dead already.

There has been some bizarre things come out at the Pickton inquiry. Accusations of police officers blackmailing prostitutes. Claims of off duty police officers attending parties at Piggy's Palace. We know the Hells Angels had a grow op on site. We know Dave Pickton was a Hells Angels associate. If I knew the Hells Angels and the police had anything to do with the murders on the Pickton farm and I didn't say anything about it, I would be dead already.

If I knew the Hells Angels were using violence to take over all the grow ops in BC and if I knew the Hells Angels were using violence against anyone who was selling pot or anything else in their area and didn't say anything about it, I'd already be dead inside. So my Last Post is indeed a wake up call and a call to inspection. Let's inspect the troops and lets expose the lies. We owe it to the missing women and we owe it to ourselves.

Ottawa Police Videos

More videos released of police brutality in Ottawa lock ups. Six incidents in total. "We have a problem. There's not doubt about it." Gilles Larochelle Acting Ottawa Police Chief.

Constable Ravinder Dosanjh's trial

December 15 2003 Constable Ravinder Dosanjh was suspended with pay by Victoria police in connection with an ongoing investigation. Police Cheif Paul Battershill later says the suspension was in connection to a drug investigation and the raids at the legislature.

In a dramatic and riveting video recording made by the RCMP anti-corruption squad, Const. Ravinder (Rob) Dosanjh looked wan and drained when confronted with the results of a six-month investigation into his family ties and honesty.

He steadfastly maintained throughout the Dec. 15, 2003 interview with RCMP Insp. Don Adam that he did not compromise any case or leak information to his relative, accused drug-dealer, Mandeep Singh Sandhu. "I'm not involved," Dosanjh stammered. "I know the difference between right and wrong. At least I think I do. I see what you got. It's not looking good." He appeared devastated by the accusations.

Sandhu's home was raided Dec. 9, 2003, and he and eight others face federal drug conspiracy charges involving cross-border trafficking. Six days later, Dosanjh was arrested and suspended from his job with pay. A year later he was charged and fired.

Ravinder Singh Dosanjh is accused of counselling his cousin, Mandeep Sandhu, to lie to police about the source of $30,000 that was seized by investigators during a raid of Mr. Sandhu's house on Dec. 9, 2003. The court heard that police believe the cash is drug money.

The Sandhu raid was part of a larger investigation into drugs, money laundering and organized crime that, on Dec. 28, 2003, led police to the legislative offices of David Basi and Bob Virk, top aides in the Liberal government.

Mr. Sandhu was part of a group of B.C. Liberal Party fixers who were known in political circles as "Basi's Boys." One of their strengths was the ability to quickly sign up supporters for candidates.

In court yesterday, defence lawyer Ian Donaldson argued that while his client admitted in the witness box that he told Mr. Sandhu to lie to police, he never intended for him to follow through on the advice.

Ravinder Dosanjh has "vast property interests". Dosanjh is director of Dosam Developments Ltd., which lists its address as 4487 Densmore Ave. in Victoria. Corrections officer Jarnail Samra is co-director of the business. Dosanjh is listed as an additional owner of a single-family home at 1289 Walnut St. in Victoria, assessed at $167,900. Samra, a worker with the Children's and Family Ministry, is listed as the owner.

He is also listed as owner of 2163 West Weiler Ave., in North Saanich assessed at $310,000. Mandeep S. Sandhu, a courier, is listed as an additional owner. Mandeep Sandhu is his cousin caught with $30,000 police beleive was drug money that Dosanjh told him to lie about where it came from.

From the interview we are told: "This [$35,000] is drug money he's talking about, and you're talking about it," Adam added. Dosanjh choked up and, for a moment, it appeared he was going to break down emotionally. "You okay?" the empathetic Mountie asked.

"I'm fine," Dosanjh replied. "It's probably drug money." He paused, then conceded: "I'm sure it's drug money." "This sounds like you're partners," Adam said. "It's criminal is what it is. . . . Full partners' discussion, that's what this is. . . . It's beyond stupid." Dosanjh said: "My head's spinning right now trying to recall. I would not tell [Sandhu] about a search warrant and jeopardize an investigation like that." Basi-Virk Trial Timeline.

Basi's impared charge held over

My oh my, BC Mary is a wealth of information. She quotes a Times Colonist article about how the shortage of judges has resulted in Impaired cases tossed due to clogged courts. This is another reason why Stephen Harper's lopsided crime bill is preventing us from addressing violent crime.

... In 2005, the provincial court had 143 judges. The current provincial court judge count is 127. Victoria provincial court used to have 13 to 14 full-time judges. It now has the equivalent of 91⁄2 judges. The lack of court resources also led to another impaired driving case being adjourned twice this week.

Aneal Basi, an accused in the B.C. Rail matter, was stopped for impaired driving on Nov. 29, 2008. His first court appearance was on Jan. 15, 2009. The defence requested adjournments of the first two trial dates — March 10 and Sept. 9, 2010 — because the B.C. Rail matter was before the courts.

After the charges against Basi in the B.C. Rail matter were stayed, a new trial was set for July 20, this year, but the trial could not proceed because of an issue over the disclosure of documents.

The case was adjourned until Thursday, but two other cases were on the list for trial in that courtroom. The Crown chose to proceed with a two-day sexual assault trial because expert witnesses from Vancouver were waiting to testify. The Basi case was adjourned until Friday, when it was adjourned again due to lack of court time and resources. A new date is to be set Nov. 15.

"There's cause for concern that if the matter is not set for trial quickly, there's a real possibility the charge will be stayed for overly long delay," said Crown prosecutor Nils Jensen.

As for the RCMP's involvement in the Pickton case, Vancouver police Deputy Chief Doug LePard testified that VPD investigators were never told that the Mounties had interviewed Robert Pickton in 2000. VPD investigators also weren’t told about what the Mounties learned during their questioning of Pickton, he said. “It was obviously of great interest to the VPD and it was inexplicably not shared with the VPD,” LePard said. He also said VPD investigators also were not informed that the Pickton interview was going to happen.

At the time, Coquitlam RCMP had jurisdiction to investigate Pickton because of an active investigation stemming from a 1997 attack on a prostitute, LePard said. The woman died in hospital but was revived. Pickton was charged with attempted murder and unlawful confinement but the charges were dropped by the Crown in 1998.

LePard testified that after the 1997 attack by Pickton, the RCMP seized his clothing, which was kept in a storage locker and was not tested for DNA until 2004 — two years after Pickton’s arrest for murder. Police then learned that the DNA of two missing women — Cara Ellis and Andrea Borhaven — was also found on Pickton’s jacket and boots.

Vancouver police had received two tips in July and August 1998 that Pickton was responsible for the death of one and maybe all of the women who were going missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. LePard recalled that in September 1999, an RCMP officer had attempted to call Pickton to arrange an interview but reached Pickton’s brother, Dave Pickton, who suggested they were really busy with work.

Christy Clark Implicated in BC Rail?

Someone posted a link tying Christy Clark to the BC Rail scandal from Alex Tsakumis's blog. His blog is back up again so I'll just leave the link. Although I think the BC Rail scandal is significant, I do think it's peanuts compared to the allegations of drug trafficking that were the reason for the initial wire tap.

Christy Clark's involvement is not surprising. Her brother was. Don't let that airhead persona fool you. She does have the cruel heart of the NPA. The image lingers of her smiling and giggling as she writes Mayor Gregor Robertson denying his request for funding for more police during the Stanley cup riot and assuring him that they did listen to his request and take it into consideration before they made the decision to say no. There's nothing worse than a heartless airhead.

As for allegations of the RCMP being complacent in dropping the charges and helping the cover up, why would they do that? They were the ones that laid the charges in the first place. As a trade off to renew their contract and stay in BC? That would be dirty.

BC Mary reminds us how the current Sexual Harassment case at the RCMP is going on virtually unnoticed by the AG. "Attorney General Shirley Bond is completely unruffled by the news. Negotiations with the RCMP for a 20 year contract with B.C. will go on as if nothing has happened, she has – in effect – said. Ms. Bond, I suggest, is aware that the RCMP has so much on the Gordon Campbell Liberal Cabinet and its successors that she dare not suggest there will be any hitch in completing the new contract. I suggest the BC Rail Scandal is governing the conditions under which the cabinet of British Columbia can negotiate with the RCMP."

Basi-Virk Trial Timeline.

Ziggy Matheson

We've already talked a little bit about one of Jason Zailo's friends named Ziggy Matheson. Here are a few more pictures of him. Ziggy's on the left in each picture. In the first picture he's with Brent Moreland on the right.



He has quite the criminal history both in Victoria and back in Saskatchewan where he's originally from. They say don't hate the player hate the game but I dunno. This player has some pretty dark associations.



In fact, February 2000 he was charged with murder. Oct 1995, Sept 1997, May 1998, October and August 1999 he was charged with trafficking in a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking in Saanich, Duncan and Victoria. There's a publication ban on his January 2006 case. This is one of Jason Zailo's friends?

From Flanders Fields in France to Opium Fields in Afghanistan: Maggie, what have we done?

Flanders Fields is a famous patriotic poem about poppies growing in the spring of 1915 on the battlefields of Belgium, France and Gallipoli. The medieval County of Flanders spans the southern Belgium and north-west France.

The symbol stirs us to remembrance, mourning and duty. Today I was speaking with someone who works in a local grocery store. They said there was an announcement over the PA at 11:00 AM that called for one minute of silence. One of the customers said what's the matter did the computer freeze? No we're having a minute of silence for Remembrance Day. Are you kidding me?

It reminded me of a moving song and video by Terry Kelly called A Pittance of Time which one blog reader recently just sent me. Is it really that hard to stop for one minute and remember the great sacrifices made on our behalf for the freedom we now enjoy?

Yet others understandably have mixed feelings about war and glorifying murder. One blog reader wrote a post in their blog about how they're not wearing a poppy today out of remembrance of the civilian casualties of war which one source claims is a 10:1 civilian to soldier loss in war.

Then there's the politics of war. Self serving politicians and war profiteers exploiting the moment. Peter McKay's publicity stunt in Kandahar comes to mind. Of anyone Stephen Harper and Peter McKay should be hanging their heads in shame on Remembrance day not exploiting it for a photo shoot.

I remember reading a news release about some vets being offended by a cartoon about glorifying murder. They said if you oppose the mission in Afghanistan blame the politicians don't blame the soldiers. Yet at some point our duty is to doing what's right not doing what we're told.

Cultivating and harvesting Opium in Afghanistan mocks the sacrifice made in Europe in the great war. If there really is such a thing as a great war. As Yoda once said Wars not make one great.

It reminds me of the movie Passchendaele written, performed and directed by Paul Gross. It's a story about his grandfather's experience in World War I. It became a love story which in turn was how my own grandparents met. My father's father was wounded with mustard gas burns on his back and met his future wife who was a librarian from New Brunswick serving as a nurse in England during the war. I remember seeing a building in Vancouver near the arts centre with a statue of what I thought was a nun. Turns out that was the uniform of a nurse during the war.

In an interview about the movie, Paul Gross recounts a heart wrenching story his grandfather told him about the war. He said his grandfathers patrol as taking heavy sniper fire from the enemy. There were many casualties but they finally broke through. His grandfather came across one wounded German soldier who was just a kid who reached out his hand and in broken English with childlike innocence said "camera"? He claimed the Germans heard that the allies had cameras and were intrigued by them. After incurring all that loss of his patrol he explained how he then raised his rifle in the air and drove a bayonet through the child's skull ending his life instantly. He said that memory haunted him ever since.

It's a stirring message we don't normally hear. The humanity of war. All the torture, oil wars, war profiteering and opium production has clearly tainted modern warfare. It's not so clear cut good verses evil any more. There's a lot of blurred areas that call upon our duty to stand up for what's right. Torture is not right. Invading a country for oil is not right. Smuggling cocaine to raise money for war is not right.

In Flanders Fields, it says take up our quarrel with the foe to you from failing hands we throw the torch. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders's fields. The Afghanistan mission has broken faith with those who died in Flanders despite the fact that we have lost many very good, sincere and genuine soldiers there. The invasion of Iraq was completely wrong. Doing our duty means honouring the dead by doing what's right. Not by exploiting them for a photo op to promote war profiteering. Maggie, what have we done? What happened? What happened to the post war dream? Mind how ya go. Take heed of the Dream.

Kelowna's Cocaine Christmas

"It's a shoe store, not a drug store." so we're told. But the window display, would suggest differently. Steven Johns Shoes, had a front window display of a gold reindeer beside a table with what looked like a line of cocaine and a rolled up dollar bill sitting on top of it.

The reindeer was beside a Christmas tree donned with "little baggies" filled with a cocaine like substance (Ajax) and measuring utensils. The display went up on Sunday, and store employee Mary-Anne Litzenberger says the phone has been ringing off the hook with complaints. "This was not my motivation, it was the owner's. He wanted to shock (people) and that is exactly what he did."

Steven Johns, set up the display and took off for Mexico leaving Lizenberger to deal with the brunt of his actions. Johns told Lizenberger before he left not to take the display down for any reason, and now she fears she could be reprimanded for her actions. "I told Steven it would kill his business, but he said what business? It has been really slow, so I guess we kicked it up a notch."

If the business has been really slow, how can he afford to go on a holiday to Mexico? That's rather suspicious. The reindeer snorting cocaine is one thing but the signs that say Let it Blow, Let it Blow, Let it Blow is another.

Vancouver Civic Elections

I met someone from the George Bush in Surrey protest at the Occupy Vancouver site and he came right out and asked me who we should vote for in Surrey because as he said, no one at that demonstration is going to vote for Dianne Bush. I told him that even though the election is coming up soon I still have to go through the booklet and see who is running for what.

In Vancouver, they have a humours plastic Humpty Dumpty on site with a sign calling it Mayor Gregor Robertson telling everyone to be careful not to push him off the wall. Yet we do need to be careful because sometimes the devil we know is better than the devil we don't know. Suzanne Anton is indeed a devil. She represents the same cruel NPA that was defeated by the legendary Larry Campbell at the time of the Woodwards squat. Vancouver's own Da Vinci.

Typically we have COPE on the left and the NPA on the right with Vision Vancouver reaching above and beyond the two. I won't refer to them as centralist because often we have seen centralist parties in Canada take the worst from the left and the worst from the right instead of taking the best of both worlds. I'd say Vision Vancouver is different. I wouldn't say they are linear left and right I'd say they are visionary looking at issues not party preferences. I like Raymond Chow. I think he's a good man.

As I keep saying no two people agree on every issue. Although many candidates run for mayor in Vancouver usually the people that get in are the ones who have been counsellors or have experience in the filed. Although I hate strategic voting, Darrell Zimmerman doesn't have much of a chance of winning that election. Don't get me wrong, everyone has a chance. It's just opinion polls do have some merit in predicting who the candidates are with the most popularity. Zimmerman didn't even get his picture or write up in the Vancouver's Voter Guide.

Right now Gregor Robertson is firmly ahead in the polls. Unfortunately, he lost some of his popularity of late with regards to his determination to shut down the Occupy Vancouver site and those supporters are voting for other candidates. Unfortunately Suzanne Antoinette appears to be rising slightly in the polls. This is not the person we want to be Mayor of Vancouver. This would be a time warp back to the era of cruelty prior to the Woodwards squat.

The good news is if she is defeated, then we get rid of her on counsel. This is not the time to split the vote. Gregor Robertson got carried away and made a mistake with the court application. Yet I do think he is capable of reason. Suzanne Anton is not. I will note that Adrianne Carr is also running for counsel and I think that would be a good choice. She was the leader of the BC Green Party.

That was my Surrey friend's conclusion. Vote green. People who are concerned about the environment are more likely to be concerned about the people as well. He said BC should be proud for having elected the only Green Party MP in Canada. Indeed. Banning her from the last debate was wrong. She is smart and has a lot to offer the discussions.

The Friendly Faces of Occupy Vancouver

This is a picture of Sean O’Flynn-Magee from the Occupy Vancouver site. He is the one named in the City's court injunction. I can't over stress the nonviolent nature and quest of the Occupy Vancouver movement. During the first week there was a guy silk screening T-shirts for free with his own designed logo. It was an open hand with Vancouver in the background and the caption "You can't shake someone's hand with a closed fist."

They just ran out of the more recent buttons in the information tent that said Vancouver Occupation with a big red heart on it. Day one we saw the peaceful meditation section. Now there's a tent devoted for that.



I went to the site yesterday and they had the sacred fire lit again and a wonderful young lady with an amazing voice was singing hymns for the sacred fire. Then she broke out in a chorus of O Canada to which many joined in. Then to my amazement she even sang Amazing Grace. It was wonderful.



Another talented musician pulled out the guitar and sang some stirring pop songs. Not everyone likes the same kind of music but everyone has their say. This is a political protest but it's much more than that. It's a movement. A movement of awareness, of unity, of listening, of activism and of nonviolence. It's a wonderful thing to see. Go down and check it out. Gandhi would be proud.

With regards to bylaws there are some real concerns and some manufactured concerns. We all know how the City or the Corporate drive like to use technical bylaws to shut down lawful assembly. A few years ago there was a heart wrenching story of a homeless women on a busy Vancouver street who had a candle in her make shift tent to keep warm on a cold winter's night. The candle tipped over and she tragically died in the fire. Very sad. No one wants that to happen on the Occupy Vancouver site. Especially when tents close together could pose a risk for the fast spread of fire if one started. No one wants that to happen.

Banning candles from inside tents is a good idea. Yet the Arts centre was the site of the candlelight vigil for Jack Layton. You can't really say no one is allowed to have a candle in the open. Yet that does make candles in tents harder to enforce. I went down one day with a propane barbecue and a whole bunch of hamburgers and food I bought. The place was crawling with City workers and they said I wasn't allowed to set up the barbecue even in an open area because of the propane flame so I took it all home. The spirit of the law and the letter of the law had become confused.

The key thing here is intent. Is the real intent personal safety or is the real intent shutting down a political protest and lawful assembly? This is a political protest not a safe injection site. The police do have the right to come in and make an arrest if anyone is doing hard drugs on site. A society without laws leads to chaos. No one on site wants anyone to come and steal their personal belongings. Enforcement of law and order is in everyones best interest. Abandoning them with the intent of giving them enough rope to hang themselves is not.

The whole point of the movement is to build a better society. That better society does include police. At first the place was crawling with young bright eyed enthusiastic police officers who were pleasant and polite. After using violence to put out the sacred fire which was safe, self contained in the centre of the open area, things changed. Now that Jim Chu has publicly pledged to shut the political protest down and has threatened physical violence against anyone who doesn't leave on their own accord people's backs are up against the wall. Even in Canada we have the legal right to defend ourselves against violence with equal force. Yet no one on site wants that. They truly are nonviolent pacifists who want to lobby for change.

Instead of focusing all our energy on the negative, trying to find reasons to shut it down, let's take a page of inspiration from the movement and take a look at some of the valid concerns the movement is addressing. Protecting the environment is one and facing corruption on Wall Street is another. We need to remember why Vancouver doesn't have a stock exchange anymore because that is a key focal point of the protest.

MacKay marks Remembrance Day in Kandahar

MacKay marks Remembrance Day in Kandahar: Torturing prisoners and cutting half a billion dollars for Veterans. Yeah we remember. Lest we forget. Another Harper U turn: Recent events suggest that despite its past rhetoric about transparency and accountability, this government is determined to silence whistleblowers rather than protect them.

Murdoch phone-hacking hearing

James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, the embattled News International executive facing mounting evidence that he knew about widespread phone hacking at the News of the World, insists that he was kept in the dark about the illegal practice before the scandal broke.

Former News of the World editor Colin Myler told MPs in September that Murdoch was not telling the truth by denying that he was made aware of the "for Neville" email. That assertion was backed up by Tom Crone, the tabloid's former legal affairs manager, who also told MPs in September: "I told [Murdoch] about the document."

In late October, the Independent newspaper in London reported that, far from being a secret at News of the World, a special cellphone known as "the hub" and devoted to phone hacking was kept at the paper's news desk.

"Despite detailed company logs recording every call made on the hub phone, it was left unexamined by two internal News International inquiries, which dismissed the notion that phone hacking was rife at the title," the Independent said.

Specialist detectives from London's Metropolitan Police found that the hub phone was registered to News International and used illegally to access 1,150 numbers between 2004 and 2006, the paper said.

In one particularly heated point of questioning, Labour MP Tom Watson asked Murdoch whether he was "familiar with the term 'Mafia,'" and said that word could be used to describe the "criminal enterprise" that was the News of the World.

"You must be the first Mafia boss in history who didn't think he was running a criminal enterprise," said Watson, who has been told that he was targeted by News International for surveillance, among other politicians.

Arthur Porter steps down as Canada's spy watchdog

The chair of Canada's spy watchdog committee has resigned his position, Thursday, amid reports he had questionable ties to a lobbyist. Dr. Arthur Porter is also the chief executive officer of the McGill University Health Centre. Porter has been noticeably absent from that job busy with a few other enterprises.

Porter’s moonlighting has raised questions after the National Post reported about his activities as chairman of Canada’s Security and Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC). The article revealed that Porter wired $200,000 in personal funds last year to an international lobbyist named Ari Ben-Menashe based in Montreal for an infrastructure agreement in Sierra Leone that ultimately fell through.

A former Israeli government employee, Mr. Ben-Menashe was arrested in the United States in 1989 and charged with illegally attempting to sell three military transport airplanes to Iran. He went to trial and was acquitted in 1990; a jury believed his account, that he had simply acted on orders from his government in Israel to attempt the aircraft sale. He then wrote a memoir called Profits of War, filled with accounts of international espionage and conspiracies he says he either participated in or was privy to.

“This is the book the Israelis tried to stop, written by the man they said didn’t exist — the book that the CIA tried to sabotage,” reads the book’s provocative dust cover.

Wow, an Israeli government employee, accused of selling military planes to Iran but that was OK because he was simply acting on orders from his government. He even mentions the "C" word - conspiracy. His book is about US and Israeli arms dealing tied to Iran Contra. Surprise surprise. It sure does sound like a spy novel.

In June, 2010, Dr. Porter signed a consultancy agreement prepared by Mr. Ben-Menashe and his privately owned, Montreal-based company, Dickens & Madson (Canada) Inc. Dr. Porter signed on behalf of his own company, Africa Infrastructure Group (AIG), which is one of numerous private “entities” he says he maintains in his native Sierra Leone and in other countries.

The contract obliged Mr. Ben-Menashe to secure a US$120-million grant from Russia “for infrastructure development in Sierra Leone managed by the Africa Infrastructure Group.” Dickens & Madson also agreed to “use our best efforts to secure an opportunity for Sierra Leone to be considered as a site for the development of new port facilities for the use of the Russian Federation for non-military purposes.”

This all sounds like CIA shell companies to me. So here we have a crook, keeping eye on crooks that reports to crooks. Why does this not surprise me?

Arthur Porter is the federally appointed chairman of Canada’s Security and Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC). The committee reviews on a regular basis the activities of Canada’s spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), and examines complaints made against it. According to SIRC, its committee members have “access to all information held by CSIS, no matter how highly classified that information may be,” with the exception of federal cabinet secrets.

Western Wind Skipper gets caught with another 400 kilograms of cocaine

Well, speak of the devil. We all remember the Hells Angels 2 1/2 tonnes of cocaine on the Western Wind that was seized and the senior RCMP official who prevented charges from being laid. Well this time that same skipper has been caught with 400 kilograms of cocaine off the coast of Florida. Wow, Gyrator lost 400 keys this time. Somebody's gonna pay.

Latest news from Kim Bolan is:

“The plaintiff Marlene Stirling also told the defendants that two Hells Angels members sat at her kitchen table and had coffee on multiple different times,” the documents said. “The defendants have videotape evidence of the plaintiff John Stirling threatening to kill more than one person at gunpoint,” the documents said. “On Sept. 10, 2011, the defendants were informed that the plaintiff John Stirling has been seeking to hire people to burn down the defendants’ house and cause physical harm to them.”

Martin and Beckman said “a man calling himself Ryan showed up at the defendants’ residence wearing a black leather jacket with a Hells Angel patch and was looking for the plaintiff John Stirling because John apparently owed this guy Ryan money.” Martin said in the court statement that he called Stirlings’ house and warned Marlene that someone was looking for John “and that he sounded really p---ed off.”