Amateur NDP and the Dick Cheney Protests

Former Vice President Dick Cheney's book tour was interrupted yesterday by protesters who argue Cheney is a war criminal who's admitted to torture. The protesters went on to attack police officers and choke on of the employees of the Vancouver Club venue.

Now, I expect the left-wing zealots to argue that interrogating 3 terrorists using water boarding, a process signed off by the US Justice Department as legal and which yielded tons of actionable intelligence is "torture". However, what surprised me is that Don Davies, the Immigration Critic in the NDP Royal Opposition (-shudder-) agrees and thinks Canada should have barred Cheney from entering the country.

The idea that "government in waiting" NDP would take such a stance regarding an American Vice President is preposterous and underscores the fact that the NDP is not ready for prime time. This isn't a government in waiting or a royal opposition, its a group of activists and partisans who've found themselves fortuitously on the brink of power.

Talk About The Revolving Doors of the Justice System!

Kash Heed the on again, off again, on again (and now off again) Solicitor General of BC has stepped down again. Kash Heed stepped down the first time because controversial (and it turns out, illegal) campaign literature attacking his opponent was sent out to voters in his riding. When this news broke, Mr. Heed did the honorable thing; Mr. Heed said he didn't know anything about the flyers, but stepped down anyways while a special prosecutor looked into it. Good job. The special prosecutor then came back and said Mr. Heed was clear of any wrongdoing, but several others involved in his campaign broke election laws, notably his campaign manager and his financial agent. Now, while this may raise legitimate concerns over Mr. Heed's judgement and his abilities to manage a campaign, let alone a ministry, the story should have ended there. Unfortunately, the premier reinstated Mr. Heed into cabinet a tad quickly it would seem, because the special prosecutor now has admitted a conflict of interest: the law firm he works for donated to Heed's campaign. Sigh. So Mr. Heed had to resign yet again, because the investigation may have been tainted. And thus, a scandal that should have died a quiet death has new life breathed into it. This really shouldn't have been a big issue but it fits the current narrative of a government in turmoil, a party on the ropes. The funny thing is that the government really did nothing wrong on this file. Mr. Heed resigned when he should have. An investigation was called. Mr. Heed was reinstated when he was found innocent. And with the new information, there really was no other choice but for him to resign again. But my, oh my, when it rains it pours.

Oxygen Masks for Pets

I think I pulled a muscle rolling my eyes over this one. The Toronto Fire Department has joined a host of others in now carrying pet-sized oxygen masks to the fires it attends. This is a great idea! When my neighbourhood is burning down, I certainly want to see a bunch of firefighters trying to fit oxygen masks on Fido, Polly and Mr. Whiskers. And according to the Toronto Star, the masks will even be "small enough to resuscitate a parrot." Thank heavens. I know firefighters have been saving pets from burning buildings for so many years that it's cliched, but this seems to be taking it a step far.

Premier Right to Boycott Vaisakhi Parade

The annual Vaisakhi parade, celebrating the birth of the Sikh faith, went ahead this weekend in Surrey without participation from Premier Campbell and with condemnation from Surrey's mayor Diane Watts. The Surrey Vaisakhi parade has been a source of controversy in the last few years for having floats with images of known terrorists and murderers being celebrated as "martyrs" for the Sikh separatist movement. The reason for the snub this year was the outrageous remarks of one of the organizers that were aimed at MLA Dave Hayer and MP Ujjal Dosanjh. The organizer claimed that these two elected representatives were not welcome at the parade and if they chose to come, they should bring their own security as their safety could not be guaranteed. These comments display an alarming arrogance and hate that has no place in our communities. Hayer and Dosanjh are well known opponents of the kind of Sikh extremism and terrorism that many in the Surrey Sikh community sympathize with. These two representatives have faced repercussions for being moderate and peaceful before. Mr. Dosanjh was severely beaten in the 1980's for his moderate beliefs and Mr. Hayer's father was viciously murdered for being a moderate. This year, by threatening elected officials and refusing to remove the "martyr" floats, the parade has crossed the line. Premier Campbell was right to demand an apology from the organizers and when they outrageously refused to, he was right to boycott the parade. This type of behaviour is unbelievable and unacceptable. So let me paraphrase Mr. Hayer's comments from this weekend and direct them at the parade organizers: "This isn't India. If you are so concerned with India-stay in India." We must expect and demand that those who come to Canada to start a new life actually do so, and don't bring their bitter animosities and violent, extremist baggage with them.

Patient-Focused Funding The Way To Go

The BC government recently announced that it was moving towards patient-focused funding for the province's hospitals. This enlightened move is exactly the kind of thinking the province's health care system needs and is what Minister Kevin Falcon was brought in to do. Our health care system is largely unsustainable with long wait times, rationing of care and a $15 billion dollar price tag that takes up 40% of the budget. With the current block funding model, hospitals get given their budgets ahead of time and each surgery and stitch comes out of that money. With this system, there is no incentive for being efficient. In fact, this funding model creates an incentive to perform fewer and fewer procedures as to not blow through your yearly budget, creating a bizarre scenario where hospitals LOSE money for doing procedures. The patient-focused model announced by the government institutes some funding that follows the patient--it goes to whichever hospital performs the needed procedure. Thus, hospitals MAKE money when they perform more procedures. This injects a much-needed element of competition to the health care system and like most everywhere else the free market is unleashed, choice goes up and price comes down. With the new funding model, hospitals get rewarded with incentives and funding for excellence. For example, if a hospital's maternity ward is exceptional and attracts patients from far and wide, it will get rewarded for that. Unfortunately, the provincial NDP is opposing this new funding model, opting to sound the tired call for more spending and "innovation." One of these demands is unsustainable, the other an empty, meaningless buzz word used by politicians that are out of real ideas. This government plan is a much needed reform, one of several that we need, and will bring down costs, shorten wait lists and improve patient care

Chickens in the City

Vancouver is inching ever closer to allowing residents to keep chickens in their backyards. I'm not sure where I stand on this issue. In general, I am strongly pro-chicken. For a while, I had three chickens in my backyard in Surrey and have had a soft spot for the feathered purveyors of eggs ever since. When I'm at the Safeway, I buy the free range eggs so I know the chickens could run around like mine used to. And the anti-caged chickens wing of the animal rights movement is the one segment I support out of a movement I find grating and naive. My own chicken fancy leads me to want to support allowing chickens in Vancouver. That is, however, until I really recollect my own chicken rearing experience. Chickens are loud. Chickens are really loud. Vancouver is not going to allow roosters, but the male chicken is not the only one who lets you know when morning has arrived. Bright and early each morning, hens have to pass an egg and they let everyone know about it. We never got complaints in the suburbs, but that's because it was the suburbs. With large lots and big houses, there was space between our chickens and our neighbours. Vancouverites won't have that luxury living as close as they do there. Chickens also can attract mice, rats, and play host to a variety of germs and viruses including avian flu and salmonella. These microbial side effects are certain to be worse in the close confines of a city than they ever are on a farm or in the country. And finally, what happens when people get tired of their chickens or the chickens die? What's a person in the West End supposed to do with an unwanted or dead chicken? Well, Vancouver City Council has come up with the solution: a $20,000 compound for unwanted and abandoned chickens. That's a $20,000 tab to the residents of a city with ever escalating property taxes so that they can subsidize the irresponsibility of some of their neighbours. But despite this $20,000 halfway home for farm fowl, I expect this resolution to pass because it helps the city and its eco-Mayor achieve the self-created title of Greenest City in the World. I presume having chickens across the city is supposed to help cut the emissions from all those egg delivery trucks zipping to and fro in Vancouver? But regardless of these concerns, I think I'm going to enjoy this chicken experiment anyways. And what I think I'll like most is the image of all those smug, holier-than-thou, eco-Vancouverites cleaning out chicken droppings and collecting the eggs for their organic egg-white omelets out of the backside of a living, breathing creature instead of from the bright and clean shelves of their neighbourhood Whole Foods. Now THAT will be worth the 20 grand!

Earth Hour Dims to New Lows

British Colombians who participated in this year's Earth Hour saved the least amount of energy yet, achieving only a 1.04% drop in energy use. Earth Hour is designed to raise awareness for global warming--er, climate change, an issue I would have thought didn't need any further awareness. I think people are aware enough, I think fewer people this year care. Whether its the leaked Climategate emails showing that scientists fudged data and blocked any dissenting scientific opinions from being published, or its the Nobel-winning UN science team citing anecdotes, off-the-cuff comments and articles from hiking magazines as scientific sources, people have had their faith in the global warming threat shaken, and are accepting less the doomsday scenarios painted by environmentalists. To me, Earth Hour is yet another in a long-list of stunts that do little but grab headlines. After all, dimming the lights for an hour will do nothing to halt whatever climate change we may be experiencing. Perhaps this year's decline in Earth Hour savings is mere coincidence, the result of a few too many people watching a movie instead of genuflecting to this newest eco-tradition. But just maybe, the dim Earth Hour this year is due to people realizing that climate change is too complex an issue to be dealt with by do-gooder yet do-nothing stunts. Perhaps they realize that any reasoned debate on the issue doesn't revolve around the tar sands or the seal hunt or the Chicken Little posturing of the David Suzuki crowd, but rather involves painful trade-offs and implications for our future growth, prosperity and our very way of life and dimming the lights only dims the debate on these real-world obstacles and issues.

Olympic Protesters A Sad Display

The 2010 Olympics kicked off yesterday with a great opening ceremony. However, during the final day of the torch relay, the route was interrupted several times by a sad display: olympic protesters. This ragtag group of provocateurs have been chomping at the bit to have their 15 minutes of fame and shine a light on their cause. And what is their cause? Well, judging byt the signs and placcards yesterday, it includes everything from homelessness to the oil sands, from native land claims to a corporate new world order. I even saw a "free Marc Emery" poster for god's sake. This isn't an organized protest against a particular issue, this is a group of rowdy anarchists and activists bent on complaining about something--the olympics is just the cause de jour. If we weren't hosting this international event, you can bet your bottom dollar they would have found something else to complain about. There will be no pleasing the constant griping of Vancouver's protesters. If the government gave them all a $1000, they'd demand more. If we build them houses, they'll march to City Hall for better furniture. If the skies opened up and rainbows and puppy dogs flooded the city, they'd probably be bitching about the bright lights and the noise. It's time we stop giving these people a soapbox everytime they demand one, especially when they don't even have a coherent message and there's nothing they can accomplish. The Olympics are here, that's certainly not going to change now. These "activists" had a city-wide referendum and numerous elections at all government levels to try and convince people of their beliefs. They didn't. People support the games. We can squabble over costs here and there, but the deed is done and the vast majority of people support it. Now here's hoping these fringe protesters don't get any more publicity during the next 2 weeks, lest the world leave Vancouver thinking all we have are pot-heads, drug addicts and whiners.

Hands Off My Coke!

A study from the University of Minnesota was released today which states that drinking more than 2 soft drinks a week increases your risk of getting pancreatic cancer. Since I live off a steady stream of cola, should I be worried? The study's author states that it isn't anything in pop specifically, rather it is the "high levels of sugar in soft drinks [that] may be increasing the level of insulin in the body, which we think contributes to pancreatic cancer cell growth." While the authors did test fruit juice (which is MORE sugary than most pop) and found no link, they did not test iced tea, coffee with sugar, flavoured waters, beer, wine or any of the other sweet beverages around. And if the sugar is the culprit, there is a lot of sugar in a lot of things. Did you have a glass of milk with breakfast? As much sugar in there as half a can of pepsi. What about some low-fat, prebiotic strawberry yogurt? You'll get more sugar there than in a can of 7up or Schweppes Ginger Ale. Put ketchup on anything? That's 5 grams a tablespoon. The list of items with sugar, whether added or natural, is a long one and any one of them could have similar pancreatic effects as pop. Finally, it is important to note the authors themselves point out that"people who consume carbonated, sugar-sweetened soft drinks on a regular basis tend to have a poor behavioral profile overall," meaning that it's most likely that the participants who got cancer in this study had poor diets and other contributing health and lifestyle factors besides a twice-weekly soft drink habit. Oh, and on top of that, some warn "that the study may be based on too few cases (only 140 participants developed pancreatic cancer) and that other risk factors such as smoking may have contributed to the results." Now, where's my Coke?

Micro Lofts Just a Micro Solution

Property developer Reliance Properties unveiled plans to build so-called "micro lofts" in Vancouver that average a paltry 270 square feet. Many claim that these smaller units, which will likely rent for around $750, can be a solution for Vancouverites of more modest means, especially students and single service-sector workers. These people, and frankly many more, are finding themselves priced out of the Vancouver market, which is now being dubbed the most unaffordable in the world. The entire region, and not just the downtown core either, has seen years and years of rising prices. This growth, in my opinion, is unsustainable. House and condo prices have exploded across the region; home prices have more than doubled in some areas. These micro lofts aren't much of a solution for the sky-high real estate market in Metro Vancouver. Instead, fiscal policies should be adopted by government to curb this growth before people must abandon the dream of home ownership and settle for renting or at best, cramped apartment living like pictured above, where the toilet is literally in your shower and your bed has to fold up inside the wall. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty opined last month that the federal government may take steps to cool the housing market, including shortening the allowable duration of mortgages (currently 35 years) or increasing the required 5% down payment. I urge the finance minister and the federal government to strongly consider doing both. The government needs to act to stamp down the runaway inflation in the housing market. Yes, require larger down payments. Yes, reduce the amortization period. I suggest also that it's time interest rates begin to creep back up from their current historic lows. The low cost of mortgages is a key driving force in the real estate market right now with people scrambling to buy-in while interest rates are as low as they are. Begin to ratchet those rates up and hopefully we can see home prices descend back to earth. If left unattended, as it has been for the last decade, real estate will continue to grow itself a nice shiny bubble that will burst just as Canada has finished climbing out of the great recession of '08-'09 and I'd rather endure the pain of deflating it now than wait for the 'pop'.

BC Teachers Start Annual FSA Bellyaching

It's that time of year again when BC grade 4 and 7 students write the standardized Foundation Skills Assessment tests, a reading, writing and numeracy evaluation. It is therefore also the time of year when the BC Teachers Federation and their legion of educators get out their self-serving soapboxes and start the annual season of FSA complaints. Each year BC Teachers come out in force to advocate against students taking this particular test. This year, teachers are not only advocating through the media their ideological position, they are also using students are conduits for handouts and letters aimed at getting parents to try and have their child opted-out. The BCTF argues that the FSA wastes classroom time, forces teachers to "teach to the test", and takes attention away from more effective learning tools like field trips, such as the annual trek of school aged kids to Playland amusement park that masquerades as a physics lesson, or a trip to an IMAX theater to watch a movie about warm water coral reefs, both of which are clearly educational goldmines! However, the BCTF's constant griping is wearing thin. The FSA is just one test of many that students must take throughout their lives. It tests kids for reading comprehension, writing skills and numeracy abilities, all things that teachers should be passionate about. Teachers should want to know how their school is doing in these areas and should welcome any such data. The FSA takes a total of 4 hours to complete, which is spread over multiple testing days. 4 hours out of 10 months of instructional time is hardly the waste of time the BCTF claims. As for educators having to "teach to the test," wherein they allegedly must forgo meaningful teaching and curriculum to help students prepare for the test, I would expect no less! The FSA asks questions such as this:

To make 2 dozen cookies, they need 350 g of chocolate chips.

What mass of chocolate chips is needed to make 15 dozen cookies?

. 1.875 kg
. 2.45 kg
. 2.625 kg
. 5.25 kg

I would expect 12 year olds to be able to answer this question. I expect teachers to have been teaching math skills such as this. If teaching this kind of math is the type of "teaching to the test" that the BCTF wants to get rid of, what kind of teaching do they want? More colouring? More field trips? More of the limp curriculum that has our kids lagging behind many other countries in basic skills? More of the kind of teaching that has resulted in 21% of kids, that's 1 in 5, not being able to answer this type of question, or write a proper paragraph, or understand the content of a short piece of reading, as the FSA results have shown? Dig a little deeper and you begin to see what all this bellyaching is about. The BCTF is a left wing entity with strong ties to the NDP. This ideology leads them to scoff at anything that resembles meritocracy, whether its standardized testing or capitalism. They ideologically oppose allowing some kids to succeed and others to fail. They'd much rather let everyone slide through with whatever hand-holding and educational pablum it requires. The BCTF announces proudly in a YouTube video that the opposition to the FSA is all about "social justice," yet another leftist plank they share with the NDP platform. Isn't it about time the BCTF and its teachers started caring a little less about politics and a little more about teaching?

A Spark Away From Disaster

On Christmas Day 2009, an Airbus 330 carrying 279 passengers exploded over the city of Detroit during its descent. Flaming debris showered down across city blocks and neighbourhoods many more people on the ground were killed as the wreckage fell. This is the scenario terrorists had in mind when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to ignite explosives he had snuck onto the plane. Many people do not seem to understand the gravity of this attack. And that's what it was, an attempted terrorist attack. It was not a botched plan, or an uncovered plot, or a threat. This was an attack that would have, but for the chance failure of Abdulmutallub to ignite, killed hundreds, terrorized millions, bankrupt the aviation industry and likely plunged the US deeper into recession. For some reason, because this was a failed attack, many people are brushing it off and are moving on to complaining about the full body scanners and the country of origin profiling that is being implemented in its wake. Those people need to wake up and realize that this was an attempt organized by Islamic terrorists that was a spark away from fruition. I'm glad to see Canada taking the lead in installing the full body scanners that would have thwarted this kind of attack. Privacy concerns are legitimate, but largely overemphasized. The images are not as detailed as many imagine and aren't downloaded to some pervert's USB for fun time back at home. In fact, the person screening the images can't even see you--they're kept behind the scenes in a separate room. Also implemented is a list of countries from which travellers heading to the US will be doubly screened. Coming to New York from Libya, for example, will garner extra scrutiny. This kind of profiling should have been enacted years ago and it should be expanded to include all past trips as well. Check everyone's passport and if they've visited a "terror-prone" area-- recently been on a jaunt to the Swat region of Pakistan?--flag them for extra security. Almost all recent terrorists have been connected to these terror-prone states: the London bombers travelled to Pakistan prior to their attacks, the 9/11 hijackers visited and trained in Afghanistan, the mastermind of the Madrid bombings trained in Afghanistan and the Christmas Day bomber visited terrorist cells in Yemen. It's time the countries that foster this kind of extremism are flagged and those people travelling to, from and through them get the most rigorous security screening available.

Canada relies on US for Justice

Today in the United States, Clay Roueche, leader of the Canadian based "UN Gang" was sentenced to 30 years in prison. This violent gang leader, who made millions smuggling drugs into both Canada and the United States got the kind of sentence that is the stuff of dreams here in Canada. Considering these were only drug and money laundering charges, there is no doubt in my mind that if Mr. Roueche had been tried in the true north strong and free, he'd be walking free in far fewer years than 3 decades, assuming he got any sentence at all. Canada has long taken such a soft approach to crime that many big American cities are safer than their Canadian counterparts and now we are relying on the Americans to dole out the justice we seem incapable of dishing out ourselves. How pitiful is this? We send our pregnant women to the US because we run out of hospital rooms, we send our criminals to the US because we can't deliver justice, we send out troops into combat on American planes and boats because we won't fund our own military adequately, and the list goes on. Let's hope Canadian prosecutors and politicians wake up and try to deal with our problems ourselves.

Posts for Copenhagen - #2

You've got to admire the idea Ecuador is peddling at the climate conference in Copenhagen. The Ecuadorians are suggesting that "rich" countries pay it $3.5 billion to NOT drill its crude oil reserves, which unfortunately are located beneath parts of the Amazon rain forest. This "novel idea" (as the Wall Street Journal puts it) sounds like blackmail to me. If Ecuador is passionate about reducing greenhouse emissions, then it should simply not cut down the Amazon and drill for oil. What it certainly should not do is hold a hacksaw up against a tree and try to extort other countries for money. Where will that end? Do we pay Japan to stop whaling? Let's cough up billions and bribe Brazil from clear-cutting tacks of its forests too! And since the world is in such a giving mood, will Canada get a fat cheque if it scales back the oil-sands? I won't be holding my breath for that one. Countries should adopt environmental policies because they believe in the cause or want to increase their efficiency or cut oil imports or for myriad other reasons; they should not be looking to Copenhagen for a big, fat payday.

Posts for Copenhagen

The UN Conference on Climate Change began today with a "Cultural Opening Ceremony" which involved a 4 minute video featuring a young girl dreaming that climate change is going to:
1) change her lush playground into a desert
2) cause earthquakes to split the earth swallowing up her stuffed polar bear friend
3) create black swirling skies that shoot funnels of wind down from the heavens to devour her city
Quite alarming. But the actual conference won't be filled with such alarmist talk will it? If we want to lower carbon emissions, go ahead. But did I miss the evidence that if we do not start this month, we're hooped?

Fort Hood according to Mark Steyn

Since Mark Steyn will always say it better than most others could:
"Major Hasan was the first mass murderer in US histroy to give a powerpoint presentation outlining the rationale for the crime he was about to commit. And he gave the presentation to a roomful of fellow army psychiatrists and doctors. Some of whom, glanced queasily at their colleagues, but none of whom actually spoke up. And, when the question of whether then-Captain Hasan was, in fact, "psychotic," the policy committee at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center worried "how would it look if we kick out one of the few Muslim residents." This is your brain on political correctness. So instead he got promoted to major and shipped to Fort Hood."

"[there was much concern in the media] to 'get at the root causes of soldier stresses.' As in post-traumatic stress disorder. Operative word 'post': you get it after you've been in combat. Until Nov. 5, PTSD was something you got when you returned from battle overseas and manifested itself in sleeplessness, nightmares, or, in extreme circumstances, suicide. After Nov. 5, PTSD was apparently spread by shaking hands and manifested itself in gunning down large numbers of people while yelling 'Allahu akbar!' This is your brain on political correctness."

Bloodied, Bruised, and Live on CBC?

The new CBC News Network show "Power & Politics" made an embarrassing debut today when it covered the enviro-activists who disrupted Parliament today with their shouts and demands. I don't have a problem with the how covering the story, it was newsworthy, in so much that a bunch of provocateurs disrespected the central democratic institution in our country to get their eco-activism heard. Where CBC and host Evan Soloman went wrong is that they immediately brought a group of the protesters onto the show. This move suggests that the CBC misplaced its judgement when it switched studios over the weekend as giving these protesters a forum on live, national television only serves to encourage future activists to besiege Parliament to get their messages out. What's the consequence of breaking protocol and shouting at the House of Commons from the gallery? You get a live news segment. And in a flabbergasting display, CBC allowed one of the eco-activists to come on the show covered in cuts and blood, spouting off about his "mistreatment" at the hands of Parliament security. The CBC should have demanded the man wash up before appearing on the show. Allowing him to appear as he did is cheap sensationalism at its worst. Giving the protesters a forum to voice their concerns is bad enough, but to participate in such a stunt as to parade a bloodied and bruised protester onto live television to attack the government, the House, and security officials is appalling. If this is the "new" CBC, count me out.

Sri Lankan Boat People's Suspicious Timing

The Sri Lankan migrants that arrived illegally by boat in BC this past week have very suspicious timing. Why are they arriving now? Sri Lanka has only this year finally seen peace restored after a 26 year civil war between the Sri Lankan army and Tamil militants and terrorists. It would seem that with Sri Lanka in peace, there is no basis for cross-Pacific, human-smuggling-based, "refugee" claims.
The civil war started in 1983 with Tamils fighting against their own country out of nationalistic demands for a Tamil state. The Tamil Tigers, throughout this period, were brutal. This is the group that first invented the practice of suicide bombing. They've conscripted child soldiers to fight for them, they've fired on civilian populations, and they hid amongst civilian targets so they could claim "war crimes" against anyone who dare attack them. But this bloody war is now over. The Sri Lankan government pushed forward with a determination and brute force that while terrible and costly, resulted in the Tamil Tigers admitting defeat and peace being restored. Tamils are no longer caught in the middle of a civil war; Tamil civilians are being given welfare and support while Tamil militants are being rehabilitated. So why are these migrants here now?
They either preferred living under civil war, which is unlikely, or they were Tamil militants themselves or supporters of the terrorists. Either way, they are not needed in Canada. They broke our immigration laws and flouted our sovereignty. They may have also used human smugglers to get here. Allowing them to stay would reward such behaviour and encourage more human trafficking to occur.
News is now coming that at least one of them has laready been identified as a wanted terrorist.
(http://www.globaltvbc.com/world/Boat+refugee+wanted+terrorism/2132714/story.html)
The Canadian government already has a very lenient immigration system. We already allow hundreds of thousands of immigrants to settle in Canada each year legally. There is no argument for allowing illegal immigrants or migrants to successfully seek residency and citizenship. And these Tamil migrants are certainly no exception.

Pot Activist Trumps Officers

At least, that's the way it seems to be in the court of public opinion and the bleeding-heart BC media. I'm of course talking about the shooting last week of Michael Vann Hubbard, the homeless man who when questioned about a near-by robbery pulled out a box-cutter and advanced on two VPD officers. Let me give an overview of exactly how this sad circus has played out:
At first, the media was consumed with Adam Smolcic, the pot activist who claimed the cops erased his cell phone video of the incident that would have shown that Vann Hubbard was cooperating with police and was not aggressive. Global BC paraded Smolcic, who by the way is described on this myspace page as "The Marijuana Awareness Initiatives Rev. Adam Smolcic" (http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=137195536&blogId=478670868) on to every newscast and even paid for his cellphone to be sent to a forensics expert to recover the deleted files. Never mind that Smolcic was high at the time or that other witnesses reported Vann Hubbard advancing on the officers. Ridiculous! The VPD behaved admirably in light of all this, remaining silent, not commenting on the furor in the public square over this. The VPD broke that silence over the weekend, albeit unintentionally, when an internal VPD memo was leaked in which it becomes clear that security cameras around the area show a very different story from that of 'Reverend' Smolcic. According to Chief Jim Chu, the officers talked calmly with the man until he pulled out a exposed razor blade and advanced on them. The officers drew their guns but backed away and tried to calm Mr. Vann Hubbard while also warning bystanders to be careful and back away. Only after his continued aggression was a single shot, not the several shots Smolcic claimed, was fired. In fact, the VPD has no evidence that Mr. Smolcic was even at the incident or that he witnessed anything at all! If this version of events proves to be true, and I expect it will, the law should be unleashed in full against Smolcic. His false charges and accusations were surely some form of obstruction of justice and quite certainly slanderous against the officers and the VPD. Making false claims such as these, whether it was to garner some sad form of fame or accidentally out of some pot-induced drug confusion, should be taken seriously and punished seriously.
I've included a lovely photo of Mr. Smolcic who also describes his heroes as "Me, Myself, and I" designates himself as a "Swinger" and notes that his education includes a major in Pot and a minor in Alcohol. The Rev. is apparently also "right now listening to alot of electronica."