Business as usual for the Godfather of the House

What really amazes me is that even in disgrace, former Liberal cabinet minister, Quebec party bagman and quite possibly the most corrupt politician this country has ever seen, Alfonso Gagliano, was able to extract a $500,000 loan from an obscure arm of the federal government called Farm Credit Canada to buy a vineyard, apparently.

Gagliano was the central figure in the Adscam debacle which ultimately undid two Liberal Prime Ministers, though both deny that essential and plainly obviously fact. He was also named by FBI snitch and career mobster Frank Lino, as a "made" guy and member of the Bonnano crime family.  

Is it true? I don't know. But I do know that he had much to cozy a relationship with Augustino Cuntrera when he was the accountant for some companies of the family dubbed the "Rothchilds of the Mafia."  He was also a founding member, along with Cuntrera, and on the executive of a "club" called the Siculiana / Cattolica Eraclea Society in the 90's.  I also know that Lino had no reason to lie at that point.

Gagliano came out denying it all in the media claiming Italian discrimination.  Really, it's all a plot against the Italians.  He threatened a lawsuit, but none was forthcoming.  One suspects that was because he could never allow himself to be cross-examined on the question.  Unlike our Human Rights kangaroo courts - oops sorry - tribunals, in civil court the truth is an absolute defence.

Well, the "Godfather" of Parliament no longer has his "walk and talks" out behind the Parliamentary library as he smokes his cigars.  But apparently, he is still able to reach into the bowels of government and extract his "taste" as needed.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime.gmail.com

Under-support equals under achievement

Well, now that the summer’s over it must be time to get back at it. Summer’s end also marks the end of the Beijing Olympic Games.

While I was on vacation I posted a quick hitter suggesting that Canada’s efforts in these Summer Games was less than stellar. I got accused of being everything from a fascist – although that one’s not particularly new – to being anti-Canadian.

I thought that one was a bit rich. Are we supposed to live in this over-taxed, under-achieving nation of naval gazers, this land of two founding notions and say everything is fine lest we be accused of being anti-Canadian?

What did we do at the Olympics? Sure there were some great individual achievements. I stayed up very late one evening enraptured by the race Simon Whitfield ran in the Triathalon. And the women’s diving was outstanding especially with the silver won by Emilie Heymans.

And then there was Priscilla Lopes-Schliep winning Bronze in the women’s 100 metre hurdles – outstanding. The race for the gold medal captured by the men’s eight in rowing, the heavyweight event of the Olympic regatta, was gripping.

But realistically, our federal government contributed a grand total of $8 million to our Olympic effort. It’s going to double for the next games. Big whoop. Australia, a country of similar size and GDP spends over ten times that. Oh, and they won 46 medals in this Olympics compared to our 18. In fact they won nearly as many Gold medals as we did medals.

The media was crowing about our total of 18 medals, of them, only three were gold. We are a G-8 nation people. Go take a look at how other G-8 countries like Australia or the UK did.

Face it, we are a nation of under-achievers. Caspar Milquetoast on valium. And, I should add, that is not our heritage. It is what we have allowed ourselves to become. We are a product of a system where our children are taught by the trendy-lefties dominant in the school system that it’s good enough just to show up, that we are all equal, that everyone who participates gets a ribbon or a medal or a trophy. Of course that is absolute nonsense.

But nonetheless, that is what we are allowing the socialist suckholes teaching our kids to do. While it may protect the feelings of some fat kid who can’t see past his next Twinkie, it does nothing to prepare the next generation for what awaits them in life, let alone instill in them the competitive fire in the belly necessary to be the best in the world.

If we want to be the best in the world, or at least be competitive with the best in the world, we must remove the barriers for our athletes. We cannot keep them living like paupers as they bow and scrape to some butthead bureaucrat to get a few crumbs from what should be a heavily laden table.

Some of the members of the Canadian Olympic team did absolutely outstanding things in these Games and for that they are to be cheered and their achievements celebrated. But they were able to achieve because they are outstanding people who understand what it takes to be among the best in the world and that it simply isn’t good enough just to show up. Their stories are the lessons our children should be taught. I don’t think that is anti-Canadian. Wanting our country to achieve more is pro-Canada and accepting mediocrity is not.

This isn't about our athletes underperforming, it is about the country underperforming in support our athletes are not given.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

Truly Canadian....

I'm on holidays on the East Coast, golfing during the day and basking in the liquid sunshine that seems to define this Maritime summer.

In the evening I must confess to succumbing to my masochistic side by watching Canada at the Olympics in the Totalitarian People"s Republic of China.

At this point it seems that American swimmer Michael Phelps will get more gold medals than our whole Olympic team.

We are a nation that accepts mediocrity. Our broadcast on the the Canadian Broadcorsting Castration is sponsored by the Chicken Farmers of Canada.

I'm trying to get my head around what could possibly be more embarassing. It's not coming....

Leo Knight
Primetimecrime@gmail.com
- Leo Knight on Blackberry

True to form, released murderer reoffends

There is no doubt that the justice system in Canada is fundamentally flawed.  But every now and again, a case that perfectly illustrates the fact comes to light.

And so it is with a story out of Winnipeg about the exploits of an utter waste of skin named Martin Junior Hayden who for 32 years has been a boil on the butt of  society.

In July 2000 Hayden and two other equally talented knobs attacked 33-year-old George Terrence Monias.  They invaded his home, beat him with fire extinguishers and one of the idiots, Valentino Ben Harper, dropped a fifty-pound  (20 kg) television on Monias’ head as he lay supine.

Needless to say, Monias died as a result of the attack.  In the first demonstration of a justice system gone wrong, Hayden was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter.  He was given a mere eight years in prison. That was the second demonstration of how badly the system is broken.

The killing of Monias was planned and deliberate and those involved should have been charged and convicted of first degree murder.  The sentence then would have been life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

But no, this is Canada and we must give every opportunity to thugs. 

So, after serving two-thirds of his sentence, Hayden was released.  And, being the thug that he is, it only took a matter of a few days before he very nearly killed someone else and evidently, for no apparent reason. 

At three o’clock in the morning Hayden confronted a 34-year-old man walking down a Winnipeg street with a woman.  Hayden and his fellow traveler that night, Michael James Butson, a 31-year-old waste of good oxygen, began assaulting the man and when the woman tried to intervene to stop the attack, she was beaten too.

The male victim was rushed to hospital and luckily for all involved, they saved his life.  Unluckily for Hayden and Butson, they were promptly tracked down and arrested by Winnipeg police.  They spent the weekend at Winnipeg Remand.

Unfortunately they won’t be there for long I’d wager.  Despite everything, there is little doubt they will get bail pending their trial.  You see, in this demented Dominion it is very hard to go to jail.  And even when you do go there, Corrections Canada does their level best to ensure you get out as quick as possible.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

 

Judicial hypocrisy continues to offend

O, hypocrisy, thy name is Justice. Or at least it should be.

In the same week, and very nearly on the same day, three different arms of what passes for justice in this disturbed Dominion made decisions which are as hypocritical as they are mired in either political correctness run amok or systemic corruption. You pick.

The first and perhaps most offensive is the decision of the BC Supreme Court issued yesterday saying that Crown prosecutors are protected from testifying about their decision to allow bail to an actual killer and that they weren’t protected in testifying about why they decided not to lay charges in the case of an aboriginal man, Frank Paul, who died of exposure after being released from the Vancouver Police drunk tank.

Unbelievable. What kind of leaps in mental gymnastics must Mr. Justice Thomas Melnick have made to arrive at this conclusion? To paraphrase a rather unfortunate MP who chose a curious way of pointing out a hypocritical cabinet minister, the judge can’t suck and blow at the same time.

This is a simple question: Are members the Crown Prosecutor’s office compellable as witnesses to explain their decisions or are they not?

Mr. Justice Melnick seems to have decided that if the potential accused is a police officer, or as in this case, two, they are compellable. But if the individual is a wife beating lunatic who is released on bail when any sane system would have opposed bail, who then goes on to kill his whole family, well, then they aren’t compellable. Presumably because they might have to actually explain why the justice system in this country is an absolute failure.

Or has political correctness reared its ugly head? Frank Paul was an aboriginal man and the family slaughter was committed by a man who was ethnically Chinese. Or is Mr. Justice Melnick simply prejudiced against the police? Either is a possibility for I cannot see any legal justification for making Crown compellable in one case but not another.

And then there is Mr. Justice Max Teitelbaum, a retired judge of the Federal Court who is still working. He has found a way to ignore the incredibly obvious. 

He actually struck down a finding by Mr. justice John Gomery following his well-publicized inquiry into the Liberal Party of Canada diverting advertising funds into the hands of their friends in business and laundering a portion of those funds back into their own coffers by way of donations. 

You can spell corruption any way you want, but the rotting fish still stinks from the head first. Gomery merely stated the obvious. Adscam was only a piece of it. What about the Billion Dollar Boondoggle. (Actually nearly four billion but why quibble over a name?) Project Sidewinder and the subsequent whitewash to protect the Liberal pals in China. Someone remind me, where is Maurice Strong living now after he got caught with his hand in the Oil for Food scandal? Oh yeah, right, he found sanctuary in the People’s Republic of China. Oh and that’s long before we talk about Chretien’s chief Quebec Lieutenant, the disgraced former Minister of Public Works Alfonso Gagliano. 

Welcome to the political toilet that masquerades as a proper Western democracy.

And just for laughs there is the story about the two lesbians who appeared drunk and were definitely obnoxious who showed up at the appearance of comedian Guy Earle. They disrupted his performance in a drunken, obnoxious manner and so, being a stand-up comedian, Earle engaged them head on.

What did he get for his trouble? The hate-seeking misses went directly to the BC Human Right folks to say they were offended. Well, boo-hoo! You can’t start something then be offended. Or more accurately, you can’t start a battle of wits when you are unarmed then whine because you were beaten.

And the BC Human Rights hand-wringers are actually taking the complaint which is going to cost Earle big bucks to defend himself and what about the obnoxious lesbians? Not a farthing. Nope, the good taxpayer of BC will fork over all of the cost for their right to be obnoxious and disturb everyone around them and not be held to account.

That offends me. 

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

It's the little things that matter most

For those folks who have wondered where I have been in the past couple of weeks, I took a break and went down to the desert in Arizona to do a little golfing. Well, more accurately, a lot of golfing.

And one of the things that really struck me in the Phoenix area this trip was the cleanliness and the efficiency of their road system and their traffic enforcement.

The first day I arrived, I was driving from the airport on one of the freeways when I noticed a flash of light in the opposite direction. At the merge point of an entrance to the freeway was a bank of cameras looking at oncoming traffic with strategically placed strobes and cameras to capture the rear license plate of vehicles caught doing something outside the parameters of what is allowable.

Interesting, I thought. In various jurisdictions in Canada we have tried photo radar and it always required a manned vehicle to set up, program, monitor and take down the system. Yet, here was a completely unmanned system, permanently installed causing people to follow the rule of law. In Canada, it wouldn’t last a week before someone would shoot it up or otherwise render it inoperable.

A couple of days later, while walking to a restaurant in Scottsdale, I noticed a red light camera set up at the intersection of Shea Blvd and Scottsdale Road, both major arterials. But unlike the red light cameras we use in British Columbia this one was not high up, but at arm’s length.

In the Greater Vancouver area, at best, about 30% of the red light cameras are fully functional at any given time. Yet in Arizona, with its liberal gun laws and Wild West image, the devices were not only wholly undamaged, but installed at a height that almost anyone could literally reach up and touch them.

The streets were clean and devoid of litter, overgrowth and dust. In Vancouver, which is getting ready to host the 2010 Olympics, I noticed this morning while on my way to the airport, heading to the Centre of the Universe, that freeway ramps were overgrown, concrete medians had weeds growing through and everywhere on my drive from North Vancouver to Richmond was visible litter and a general unkempt appearance.

Vancouver, which clamors for the tag “World Class,” is fast becoming class-less. Abandoned vehicles abound. On most streets one can see the residue of broken car windows done to sustain the habits of junkies and meth-heads that we simply will not say belong in jail.

In Phoenix, they have Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arapoia, who treats criminals like criminals and tells them if they don’t like it in his jails, then they should behave so they won’t come back.

In Canada, where it is particularly difficult to do something egregious enough to actually get sent to jail, we do everything we can help the poor unfortunate thieves, dope dealers, murderers and rapists see the error of their ways in the vain hope they might return to society a valued and contributing member. And while that may be a worthwhile endeavor the first time or two through the system, we do it time after time after time after time after time.

Breach your bail conditions? No problem, here’s a couple more conditions. Breach Probation? That’s alright, have some more probation. Breach parole? That’s okay, we’ll work harder with you to help you become a nice contributing taxpayer.

In the 70’s and 80’s New York City was a frightening place, with upwards of three homicides a day, a cynical police force rife with corruption and organized crime acting as though they ran things and were untouchable.

Rudy Giuliani got elected Mayor in the early 90’s and espousing the “Broken Windows” concept of crime reduction, he literally cleaned up the city and made it one of the safest large cities, not only in the USA, but in the world.

Broken Windows was all about going after the bad guys for everything – jaywalk, here’s a ticket. Break into a car, you are under arrest. Breach bail conditions, go to Rikers. It was all about tough enforcement of the law and consequences for actions regardless of the seriousness of the offence.

But it was also about fixing things up so there was a standard of order, no broken windows (hence the name), no graffiti, no burned out or abandoned vehicles. Clean and safe streets was not only the goal of Giuliani, but the demand.

I saw the same results that New York achieved in Phoenix. Unfortunately, I see nothing of the kind in Canada.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

Cardboard cut-ups

The new Vancouver Police initiative to use cardboard life-size cut outs (Police unveil cardboard cops) of a traffic officer in full regalia replete with a handheld radar gun along the Knight St. corridor is creative, I will say that.

One wonders how long it will be before the first ones go missing, the target of a college prank or to decorate a dope dealer's smoking room?  Or indeed, how long until the gang bangers start tossing rounds from a nine as they scoot by in their high-powered cars?

Knowing how well these tattooed half-wits shoot, I wouldn't want to live in a home behind one of the cardboard cops.

There's no question that the Knight Street corridor is the most dangerous in Vancouver for the number of motor vehicle accidents that occur along it.  And, there's also no question that more traffic enforcement initiatives need to be deployed to combat the carnage.  But cardboard cops?  This is a joke, right?

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

The hypocrisy of the higher moral ground

Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier’s public humiliation became complete with his resignation this week for being careless with cabinet level briefing papers that he evidently left at his former girlfriend’s home. Was that stupid? Oh, absolutely and undeniably. And he has paid forfeit with his job. And that is as it should be.

But the sanctimonious bleating by the Liberal Opposition is really wearing a little thin. No, more than a little thin.

The femme fatale in this sordid and tawdry movie, Julie Couillard, is basking in her 15 minutes of fame. It seems rather career, if not life-threatening to engage in any meaningful intimate association with this Black Dahlia. But all of that notwithstanding, the spectre of any Liberal MP barking about the risk to National Security considering the ties to the Libs of all manner of dodgy people they were happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with is not only absurd but insulting.

Where does one start?

Consider the demands that Mme. Coulliard should have been vetted by the Mounties before Bernier’s ill-advised dalliance. Uh, excuse me, but didn’t the RCMP try and stop the appointment of since-disgraced Minister of Public Works and ultimately Ambassador, Alfonso Gagliano to Executive Council because of his direct ties to members of Italian organized crime? And didn’t the powers that be in then Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s office ignore those warnings, much to their ultimate chagrin?

Gagliano always tried to dispute his connections to organized crime figures as co-incidental and the Liberal Party of Canada struck out against those who tried to tell the truth as anti-Italian and whatever racist allegation of the day that might stick.

Well whatever. Gagliano and Augustino Cuntrera (and indeed, all of the Caruana / Cuntrera familigia are from the same village in Sicily and they were successive leaders of the Siculiana – Cattolica Eraclea Society in Montreal. Any pretense of coincidence is insulting.

But the salient point is that despite the warnings from the RCMP and the initial refusal to grant him clearance for appointment to Executive Council, the RCMP acquiesced. Was the Force strong-armed by someone in the PMO? I don’t know, but I will leave you to formulate your own opinion.

Then there’s the holier-than-thou Bob Rae who may well go down in history as the worst premier in Ontario history, screaming and burbling about interference from the PMO.

Hmmmm, one of the worst scandals in this country’s history is the handling of Project Sidewinder and the political interference – dare I say cover up – by officials in senior levels of the government of Canada. And Rae, who undoubtedly needed a job to suckle from the public tit after being summarily tossed from office in a sudden and decidedly rare moment of clarity by the voting public in Ontario, was a member of SIRC, the handsomely paid civilian oversight committee of CSIS that reviewed the file and in the face of an incredible amount of circumstantial and direct evidence decided that nothing bad had occurred.

Project Sidewinder was a case of actual government corruption and influence peddling as opposed to the possible accidental leak of confidential information.

So, how does that work? How does Rae demonize the one, minimal event and exonerate the other, systemically corrupt problem? I guess one would have to climb into the confusing and convoluted mind of former NDP Premier, now Liberal MP, Bob Rae. Enlightening? Probably not. Hypocritical? Absolutely.

L’Affaire Bernier is sad and tawdry. The fact that this narcissistic MP from Quebec has embarrassed the government of Stephen Harper is sad enough. And there is no doubt that none of this would have happened had Harper been able to actually utilize the talent within his caucus. But unfortunately, this is Canada, and the Prime Minister had to find places for lesser lights in Cabinet simply because they come from certain politically necessary parts of the country.

And, at the end of the day, Bernier, no matter how he plays out in Quebec, simply isn’t that bright as evidenced by this whole affair. What is really sad is that the Prime Minister had to reach into the shallow end of the gene pool because of the tiresome politics of Quebec.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

Supreme injustice

In 2003 the governing Liberal Party of Canada foisted a supreme injustice upon this country with the Youth Criminal Justice Act or YCJA.  Many police officers in Canada think YCJA stands for You Can't Jail Adolescents, so weak was the legislation.  

But count on the Supreme Court of Canada to take an already weak piece of legislation and make it weaker still.  And in the case of Regina vs D.B. 2008 25  they did not disappoint.

Back when I was a young police officer we had the Juvenile Delinquents Act as our governing authority when dealing with the teenaged scumbags - oh sorry, poor little devils who weren't breast fed and or their mommies drank and their daddies deserted them and boo hoo hoo - who seem to think that the rule of law doesn't apply to them unless and until they get caught. Then they were happy to piss and moan about how hard done by they are and how it isn't their fault.

Back then, we would complain about how the JDA was so lenient on juvies and how they couldn't give a fig because nothing would happen to them.  I remember a cop who used to mail a birthday card to 'frequent flyers' wishing them a Happy Birthday when they turned eighteen. Inside was a photo of a pair of handcuffs and a bullet.  The implication was obvious; now that you are an adult, I'm coming to get you.

 

The JDA was replaced with another weak-kneed statute called the Young Offenders Act (YOA) which was later replaced with the YCJA.  All of this nonsense is created by the hand-wringers who simply cannot or will not understand that some of these criminal thugs are incorigible and irreparable as human beings.

The Supremes said that we can't impose statutory reverse onus positions on the little darlings. It's unfair to treat these charming young folks as adults unless Crown can absolutely prove that the crimes committed, be it murder most horrible as occurred in case of Rena Virk or the teens involved in the senseless and most brutal killing of 13 year old Nina Courtepatte.  

Much has been written about the killing of Nina Courtepatte.  But what has not been said is that for several hours she was raped and tortured and for a long period of time she was badly injured and knew she was going to die. And she pleaded for her killers to finish her off. And they wouldn't. They did it slow and very painfully.  

You simply cannot view the circumstances of a file like that and not come to the conclusion that those involved are evil. And evil should never see the light of day ever again. 

But that will not be the case for the killers of Nina Courtepatte.  The adults, such as they were, will some day be eligible for parole.  The juveniles will be free in far too short a period of time. And Nina, unfortunately, will be forgotten.

And the Supreme Court of Canada  decided that the legislation that protected the people instrumental in the murder of little Nina Courtepatte are being unfairly done by politicians who haven't a clue about the real problems in this country.

If the Supreme Court of Canada had any conscience or morals, they would be ashamed of themselves for not doing the right thing.   

And if my Aunt had balls she would be my Uncle.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

Failed again . . .

A week ago, a story appeared in The Province about a rather innocuous sign of the times - thefts of bags from unsuspecting visitors at Vancouver International Airport.

But, what was glossed over was the identification of an arrested suspect in the spate of thefts. Ramon Rafael Montesinos Chavoro, 36, was arrested, charged with Theft over $5000 - an indictable offence in Canada - and released on $5,000 bail. And that’s not posted bail as in real dollars. No, indeed, that means “promised” dollars. Or, in more simple terms, nothing.

But, hang on a second, Chavoro is a Mexican national. Is he in Canada legally? And even if he is, why would we allow a foreign national to come here, allegedly commit a series of crimes and allow him to be freed on minor bail conditions?

Does he have a previous criminal history in Canada? What about in his home country?

This is ridiculous at any level. Made especially moreso since we learned this week, courtesy of the federal Auditor General Shelia Fraser, that the Canadian Border Services Agency had lost track of 41,000 illegal immigrants, most of whom are failed refugee claimants. 

It seems that in this country it matters not whether you are a failed refugee claimant or a serial criminal, what passes for a justice system in Canada will let you go with little or no restrictions on your freedoms. 

I must confess I am at a loss here to try and understand whatever logic exists to pretend that such a system is somehow tolerable or that this system “works” by any definition.

Who are these 41,000 failed refugee claimants? I don’t know and the government won’t tell us. We don’t know if they are gypsy thieves, Russian strippers or al Qaeda terrorist. And the sad part is that the government hasn’t a clue either to go along with where they might be. 

But they do know who Chavoro is and what he’s all about. And yet the system still let him go instead of holding him in custody pending trial. And if, as is most likely, he is found guilty he should be deported after serving whatever sentence the court might impose. Which, of course would be nothing more than time served. But, at least the government could have packed him aboard a plane and sent him back to his homeland and in doing so, lived up to their responsibility to protect the public.

But sadly, that is not what happened in this case. Or in the thousands and thousands of others like this.

Leo Knight

Prime Time Crime.com

Immigration decision a mystery

It's difficult to try and be respectful of the Canadian justice system when you get decisions such as the one rendered by Immigration adjudicator Daphne Shaw Dyck in the case of Jose Franciso Cardoza Quinteros, an admitted killer and member of the notoriously violent Latino gang Mara Salvatrucha or more commonly known as MS 13.

But then, I have come to expect so very little of a system designed to be overseen by people with little or no training for the role they are performing. For most, it seems the only qualification is to have connections to whatever political party is in power and makes the appointments.

Now, I don't know the adjudicator with the double-barrelled family name. And, it may well be that from time to time she gets it right. But then, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

What I can and will say is that she is so wrong in this case that one has to question her competence to sit in judgement of immigration claims. When a waste of oxygen like this has already admitted to being a member of MS 13 and a participant in gangland murders, I sincerely question her ability to process information presented.

How she came to the conclusion that this lothesome individial was likely not a gang banger because, well, I have no idea. She had no evidence before her that said this goof was anything but what he said he was.

The real problem here is not that this adjudicator went off the reservation in this case, but rather that there are so many of these 'appointees' in similar positions of power to put at risk the rest of society in Canada. And there is precious little we can do about it.

It seems that Pierre Trudeau's so called "Just Society" is really anything but.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

And justice for all . . . to not see

No one will ever accuse me of being a defender of the Hells Angels. In point of fact, I am on record on many occasions saying that police must be given more tools and more resources to fight not only the bikers, but all aspects of organized crime. Which, I might add, notwithstanding the abdication of responsibility by Madame Justice Anne MacKenzie in the trial of full-patch member David Francis Giles, the Hells Angels are clearly a criminal organization as has been stated by courts in BC and Ontario in previous decisions.

Having said all that, there is something decidedly wrong with what has occurred in the sentencing of three unnamed members of the biker gang for contempt of court.

I don't know what has gone on in camera in this case in which Madame Justice MacKenzie agreed to a ban on publication of the names. And that is essentially the problem. The old adage is that Justice must not only be done, but it must be seen to be done.

How can we determine if justice was in fact done in this case if we cannot know the names and the details of the offense? Justice carried out behind a curtain is not justice in a democracy. It may pass for justice in a tin-pot dictatorship like Cuba, but it is not justice in my eyes.

Madame Justice MacKenzie demonstrated a profound lack of understanding of the Hells Angels and how their business operates in her judgement in Giles case. That lack of understanding is, in my view, a disservice to the public. The contempt citations against unnamed individuals who were allegedly a part of the criminal enterprise is nothing more than a furtherance of the disservice.

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

China Syndrome

On March 14th, 2008, the Government of the People's Republic of China began a crackdown on Tibetan citizens protesting against occupying power that began with the invasion of their country by the People's Liberation Army in 1950 and continues to this day.

The West, for the most part, immediately condemned the latest blatant human rights abuses by a government that seeks to dominate, if not the world, then all of Asia at the least. And, under the jackbooted heel of Communist tyranny. Well, the two front-runners for the Democratic Presidential nomination in the US, B. Hussein Obama and the former First Lady and current junior Senator from New York, who, amazingly enough, single-handedly ended 35 years of the troubles in Northern Ireland - well, that's what she said - were about 12 days late before recoiling in abject horror and metaphorically crying crocodile tears.

So, after sending in the troops to crush the demonstrations and forcing the oppressed people of Tibet into hiding, they actually announced that hundreds of the protestors had "surrendered." (See China says hundreds have surrendered)

Imagine that, surrendering to a regime that kills those people at will who don't or won't grasp the teachings of the Red Book. Yeah, I'll bet they were surendering in droves.

The Government of the PRC is a disgusting regime that engages in systemic human rights violations on a daily basis, never mind the brutal abuses such as have occured in Tibet in the past fortnight or Tianammen Square in the late 80's. Crushing a student protest in the Forbidden City or deluding a complicit Western media on Tibet, it's all the same: oppressive Communist regime takes advantage of the useful idiots in the Western media. Since the days of Lenin, nothing changes.

What puzzles, is why we continue to placate, ignore and turn a blind eye? Or, how exactly were the PRC actually awarded the Summer Olympics? Who did they buy?

Leo Knight

primetimecrime@gmail.com

The truth shall set you free . . .unless you are a federal civil servant

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. – George Orwell

The story of former Foreign Services employee Joanna Gualtieri’s battle with the bureaucrats in the federal government should make every Canadian angry. Not just pissed about a waste of taxpayer’s money, but “I want a Revolution” angry.

Gaultieri bore witness and tried to report to corruption and waste and tried to do her job. Apparently, telling the truth is a big mistake in the civil service. Now the mandarins who earn their living by sucking on the public teat are trying to crush Gualteri under a ton of legal bullshit.

So Gualtieri is saying that some foreign consulates are wasting money. Hmmm . . .I’d be surprised if ALL foreign consulates aren’t wasting money. She is saying that corruption is present at some foreign missions. Again, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t an element of corruption at all foreign missions.

I’ve seen this movie time and again. This is all about covering bureaucratic ass and nothing to do with what is right. The Tories need to step in and put a stop to this poste haste. They didn’t create this mess or condone the cause of it. But by allowing it to proceed, they appear to be in agreement with the process. And that is very, very wrong.

Leo Knight
primetimecrime@gmail.com

Justice failed

I'm stunned. I have seen all manner of stupidity and hand-wringing social engineering nonsense coming from our courts in Canada, but nothing I had previously seen prepared me for the blatent nonsense which emanated from the BC Court of Appeal in the case of American accused murderer Vernon Maurice Walker.

Walker is accused of shooting a man in a Seattle alley in June , 2005. A witness picked him from a photo array of six individuals. But this identification wasn't good enough for Mr. Justice Ian Donald. Unbelieveably, he actually believes it was his duty to pontificate on the legitimacy of the photo identification and decided to release this 'alleged' murderer.

Walker came to Canada betting on the lenient criminal justice system in the hope that he would be able to hide from American justice after 'allegedly' committing a murder. And, just to prove his intentions were well-placed, Mr. Justice Donald gave credence to him with his flagrantly stupid judgement.

Yes, stupid. For I cannot fathom what great leap of mental gymnastics could possibly lead the supposedly learned judge to reach the conclusion that an eyewitness is not good enough to meet the test of whether there is a case to be met in the jurisdiction the murder was committed.

And that is the point. It is not within the purview of Mr. Justice Donald to determine guilt or innocence. But rather, it was his duty to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to have the individual placed before a court in the jurisdiction preferring the prosecution. In this case Seattle, not Moscow or Beijing. Seattle, in the state of Washington, in the United States of America. You know, in the cradle of democracy where individual rights trump everything. The place that sets the standard for the rest of the Western world.

And it was in that duty that Mr. Justice Donald failed and failed miserably.

And it is in that failure that he has put to risk another life because as sure as God made little green apples, Walker will not change his past behaviour, alleged though it may be, and become a God fearing, contributing member of our society. No, I'm willing to participate in any betting pool on when Walker will be arrested again.

One can only hope that the next person who falls victim to Walker won't be someone near and dear to me or thee.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

A systemic murder

Another senseless murder of an innocent person committed by someone who should not have been on the streets but for a weak, broken justice system.

Yesterday, police in Calgary charged Christopher James Watcheston, 21, with the murder of Arcelie Laoagan, a 41 year old mother of five whose battered body was found a week ago near a public transit station. He was on bail at the time of the murder.

Lawyer and justice commentator Scott Newark had this to say in an email about this case. It's worth sharing:

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So let's see.....guy gets charged with three assaults and doesn't make bail for a couple of weeks. That suggests maybe a history not revealed in story. Shortly after release he commits more crimes...while on bail which is literally a promise he wouldn't commit more crimes if court released him from charges of first set of crimes...but again he is released on bail and now charged in this murder.

A) We should be keeping track of this "profile" because quite literally the state had the capacity to have prevented this crime by taking notice of his continuing criminality but chose....consciously...to let him go...again....and take a chance...again....

B) There is a need for a review of the circumstances of the release of this person independent of the criminal trial. Did the Crown seek revocation of the original bail and oppose his release. If not, why not? Did the JP or provincial court judge reject such requests and order the release? Did someone say they would serve as a surety to enforce the deceptively described "house arrest".

What's needed is literally an examination of how the means of death came to be in a position to inflict death. These used to be done in Ontario by Coroner's Inquest and we recommended an amendment to the Coroner's Act (akin to when an inmate dies in custody) requiring an inquest when the person that unlawfully kills was released from lawful custody by the state and the amendment also stipulated that the releasing authority...including a judge or JP...is a compellable witness. There may be nothing "systemic" about this case but we'll never know if no one asks.

The justice system is about to go into 'we can't talk about it' mode supposedly to protect the accused's right to a fair trial. Co-incidentally it also helps cover the system's ass which is at least partially why these kinds of obviously preventable crimes keep occurring.

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Scott's last point is critical. The blatent nonsense so often used by elements in the justice system about why they cannot talk about their incompetence and ineffectiveness protects the system much more than the rights of an accused. That, perhaps, needs to get addressed before much can be done about a fundamentally broken justice system.

Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com

Media manipulation

Seemingly, it doesn't matter where you look in the mainstream media these days, but in most stories there's a twist, a lean to the liberal left. It's especially apparent in the Globe & Mail or the official organ of the Liberal Party of Canada, The Toronto Star.  But it is even showing up now in the most innocuous of straight news stories.

I have spent much of the first month of this year flying hither and yon, spending interminable hours waiting at airports, reading a variety of local papers.  And I started seeing this trend where it never used to be and in stories you never used to see it.

In today's National Post, there was a news brief about a police raid on a home in Etobicoke, in east Toronto.  Police seized a sawed-off Ruger Mini 14, a clip which holds 19 rounds and 132 rounds of ammunition. The gun had been previously stolen.  A father and son, both justice system frequent flyers, were arrested.  All good.

But, to end the brief, some hand-wringing social engineer who toils away in some CanWest news room added this: The arrests came as Toronto Mayor David Miller called for a total ban on handgun ownership in the city.

What in the world does that have to do with the salient story? Absolutely nothing.  And why any self-respecting professional news editor would let that run probably speaks volumes.

In the first place the Mini 14 is a long-barelled weapon. Or at least it was in this case before it got sawed-off. And in the second place it was stolen.

This is simply the writer of the brief taking the opportunity to put Miller's idiocy out there one more time to give it credibility.

Miller is a fool in this with his knee-jerk pronouncement, but I object to the media treating it as though it makes sense and then espousing it again and again in the vain hope that readers will suddenly become as foolish as the Mayor of Toronto.

Fortunately, readers are smarter than that. Well, except for the voters in Toronto who elected David Miller.

Leo Knight
leo@primetimecrime.com

- Leo Knight on Blackberry

Double standard apparent

Well, the holidays are over and I managed to contain my vitriol whenever I came across yet another story about political correctness run amok. The controversy generated by the Elmdale Public School in the Ottawa area was perhaps the best example of political correctness in the lunatic fringe, in this case best espoused by teachers and their inevitably wrong union.

But the story over the holidays that really got me was the one about the suspension of Burnaby Mountie Richard Jacques for 10 days.

Constable Jacques was found guilty of abusing his position to help his girlfriend leave the scene of an accident. He was also found guilty on separate occasions, by either not following orders or failing to properly investigate crimes ranging from a break-and-enter to an attempted abduction. Pretty serious stuff one would think. But not serious enough to make the officer pay forfeit with his job.

So, if I understand this correctly, this member demonstrated he is not prepared to follow policy and, perhaps more to the point, lacked the integrity to follow the law and his duty and deliberately engaged in activity that should be more properly described as obstruction, a criminal code offence.

And for all of that, the RCMP gave Cst. Jacques a 10 day suspension. Ten days for turning his back on the oath he took and permanently destroying any credibility he would need to be involved in any prosecution he may be involved with in the future.

I’m appalled frankly. How is it that Cpl. Robert Read and Staff Sergeant Bob Stenhouse, were fired for doing nothing more than telling the truth and this guy gets a ten day rip?

There’s no question that both Read and Stenhouse coloured outside the lines as laid out within the RCMP when they spoke to folks outside the Force because the bureaucracy within was failing miserably. That was wrong. But if it was wrong enough to get fired, how in the world can the Force justify the continued employment of someone like Cst. Jacques?

Read and Stenhouse were trying to do the right thing and got fired by the pointy-headed bureaucrats that run the RCMP. Jacques was trying to circumvent the law and abused his position as a police officer. He will never again have the credibility necessary to mount a successful prosecution, something which is central to his job. Why isn’t the Force holding him up to the same standard as two members who were actually trying to do the right thing?

I have a major problem with this double standard.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

Jailhouse violence no factor in justice

The lawyer for Michael "Pyro" Williams had the audacity to suggest to a court that his client, convicted in the brutal sex torture of 13 year old Nina Louise Courtepatte, would be at risk in the federal corrections system and the court should send him to a medium security facility.

Fortunately, the court would have none of it and Williams will go to the maximum security Edmonton Institution. Which, I might add, is a place society rightly reserves for its worst.

Courtepatte's murder has been well documented and the details still horrify. But to argue that because the act was so horrible that society should be less harsh lest something bad befall the individual responsible for the horror is nuts. From a personal perspective, whatever may be the fate for Williams and the others involved in the senseless slaying, I couldn't care less as long as they are never in the position to hurt someone again.

Nina Courtepatte was tortured in a manner that was inhuman. She was raped, beaten, stabbed and worse, she knew she was dying and the killers knew it too. She likely pleaded with them to get it over with and kill her. And even then, the torturous, slow killing continued.

I cannot even begin to describe the revulsion I feel for the animals who could participate in anything so horrible. I cannot even begin to understand why anyone in a just society should give a damn about anything that might happen to them in prison.

Sentencing these animals to life in prison doesn't even begin to provide justice for Nina Courtepatte. Perhaps when they are in prison, something might befall them that would induce in them the fear, pain and terror that they inflicted upon an innocent 13 year old girl. And perhaps not. But, it should not matter a whit to neither the system, nor society, when it comes to sentencing.

Jailhouse "justice" should not be condoned, but neither should the potential for it be reflected in any sentence.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com

'Crats craziness risks public safety

While I would never accuse the bureaucrats in Corrections Services Canada of being in touch with reality, I think some recent policy decisions are suggesting they no longer reside on this planet.

Last week the Surete de Quebec were trying to button-hole an escaped piece of excrement known as Kevin Smith who had escaped from Montée St-François Institution in the Montreal area on Oct. 9th, 2007. They had a photo of the fleeing fugitive, but it was so old they believed it no longer looked like him. CSC did not issue an updated photo of Smith ostensibly because it would have violated his privacy rights.

The reason the police photo was outdated was because the last time they dealt with him was in 1991 when he was arrested, charged and convicted of murder. Last week, the SQ thought they had Smith corralled in the Estrie area of the Eastern Townships. But alas, he slipped through their fingers. They didn't specifically say it was because they didn't have a recent photo of Smith, but reading between the lines in the news story from the Sherbrooke Record pretty much tells the tale.

Now I don't know about you, but when a guy is convicted of murder and gets shuffled off to prison for a couple of decades, I think if he leaves before he is entitled to, he ought not to have any right to privacy. I may be old fashioned, but if he hasn't got the right to freedom and liberty, then that pretty much says the rest of it is all forfeit as well. And, for the record, this includes all those darlings of the Liberal Party of Canada who have the right to vote while they are guests of Her Majesty in one of the Club Feds that masquerade as our prison system.

And lest you think that this may be a one-off in the Smith case, it isn't. It is the policy of the dull-witted bureaucrats who run CSC.

Gary Gormley, another convicted murderer, escaped from a New Brunswick prison in September and CSC deliberately refused a request for a photo of that particular waste of oxygen. According to a story in the Montreal Gazette, "Under privacy rules, a photo of a convict can't be released unless he gives permission and signs a release form, said Corrections Canada, even if he breaks out of jail."

What utter horse hockey!

The RCMP, also a federal agency who toil under the same legislation as CSC, had no problem issuing a photo of Gormley when the media asked. So, what gives with CSC?

We already know that the backbone-challenged posers who run CSC don't think that criminals should be in prison. Now they seem to believe they have rights that effectively hamper the police efforts to return the rare murderers who actually do go to jail when they escape from the tender mercies of CSC.

It is nothing less than outrageous. The Prime Minister should immediately fire the Director General of the CSC and instruct the minister responsible to give those bureaucrats marching orders that more clearly reflect reality and I might add, the view of a majority of the Canadian public.

Leo Knight

leo@primetimecrime.com