Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crime. Show all posts

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Rental Scams in Vancouver

My eyes are being opened up to an apparent epidemic of crime in & around renting a place to live in Vancouver. To read some horrendous stories click here.

If you have your own story to add, please do share it with me.

Friday, April 10, 2009

A Sad Contrast

California: A drunk driver kills 3 people (including Angels pitcher, Nick Adenhart), and is facing up to 55 years in prison.

British Columbia: A gangster, Dennis Karbovanec, was convicted of murdering 3 people and is eligible for parole in 15 years.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A Little Insight About Criminals

Dennis Prager said something today that I thought was rather profound:

"The commonalities I've seen amongst people involved in evil is that they always possess a combination of self-pity and arrogance."

If you know anyone who is involved in crime then I believe you'll find this to be very true.

Incidentally, he was discussing this this recent tragedy.

Friday, February 20, 2009

BC's Judicial System: Insanity or Corruption?

Today, I heard some interesting facts about crime in B.C. Between 2001 - 2006, 379 career drug addicts who had turned to robbery to support their addictions had an average of 39 convictions. In terms of punishment, startling figures were revealed:

  • 101 = Average number of days incarceration for their 1st conviction

  • 25 = Average number of days incarceration on their 30th or greater conviction
Think about that for a second. Does it make even the slightest bit of sense to you that incarceration time dropped?

Now consider this: Each of these criminals has stolen an average of $1 Million per year. That's $379 Million worth of theft per year.



Question: What is another definition for a liberal judge?

Answer: A criminal's best friend. :-(

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Ujjal Dosanjh: Dope of the Day

Today, near 54th & Fraser an attempted execution went awry and then one of the two assailants was shot dead. This all occurred in the middle of the federal Vancouver South riding.

Its MP, Liberal Ujjal Dosanjh, who just squeaked by in the recent election, was on CBC Radio 1 demonstrating for all the citizens what a complete & utter fool he is. During his Kumbaya refrain, Dosanjh admitted that "some dangerous people do need to go to jail" but that this recent streak of terror throughout Metro Vancouver "is a complicated issue". When pressed by the interviewer for what he would do to resolve things, Dosanjh cited "better daycare" and "English lessons for New Immigrants".

What an ultra left-wing, head in the clouds, out of touch M-O-R-O-N! What else can be said about someone like this?!? I only hope that the citizens of Vancouver South pay attention to his words when they go vote in the next election.

Is it too much to ask to NOT have our society turn into that of Mexico or Colombia anytime soon. I lived in Mexico City for a year and very much know what it's like to live in a place where everyone is on edge because violent crime frequently occurs in any neighbourhood, anytime.

With "eminent" crime fighters like Dosanjh vs. the gangsters, we are certainly heading in the same direction. :-(

Monday, February 16, 2009

Mother Killed by Gangsters

Earlier today a mother was caught in gunfire and murdered, while her son was in the same vehicle.

In October 1970, Prime Minister Pierre Eliott Trudeau utilized the War Measures Act to bring in the military, so that the police could focus their attention on tracking down a group of terrorists known as the FLQ.

The streets of Metro Vancouver are clearly under attack by a group of terrorists that some call gang members. Are we coming close to Prime Minister Stephen Harper following a similar action as his predecessor?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Friend's Family Member Killed

This recent hit & run incident has really hit home because one of the two innocent victims is the cousin of a close friend of mine. Dr. Aneez Mohamed and his fiancée Chanelle Morgan were struck down by a moronic 18 year-old drunk driver. And this punk had the audacity to flee the scene but was hunted down by a police dog. Sadly, just watch in the months & years ahead as his lawyer tries to make him out to be the victim.

Dr. Mohamed was a member of the Ismaili faith, who have suffered more than their share of driving fatalities in recent years. You might recall a few years ago that logs fell off of a truck on the Upper Levels Highway in West Vancouver, killing a mother and her daughter. They were also Ismailis. My heart goes out to this close knit group in Metro Vancouver.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

3 Police Officers Arrested for Assault & Robbery

I wonder what on earth this trio was drinking? Yikes!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

S.E.C. Incompetence

I just heard a detailed accounting of how Bernie Madoff has been able to pull off his $50 Billion scam over several decades. You can listen to it here (tune to 36:00). Here's the article of the interview subject, Binyamin Appelbaum.

One critical part of the story that is not yet mentioned on Wikipedia is how a competitor of Madoff's named Harry Markopolos took a careful look at what Madoff was doing. He concluded it was a scam way back in 1999. So he informed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.), not just once, but multiple times. They ignored him repeatedly. Finally, in 2005 they did investigate Madoff and ... wait for it ... concluded that he was legit!

How on earth could the S.E.C. have failed to detect this massive crime? Was it just pure incompetence or was someone paid off?

This clearly had to be the rotten cherry on top of a year where the very roots of our entire financial system has been badly shaken.


Update: Sadly, one of the investors of Madoff, has allegedly committed suicide:

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Has an Obamanation Race War Begun?

I'm going to wait for awhile to see how this story unfolds but it is very disturbing to say the least. More here and here.

Incidentally, should this story prove to be precisely as the victim described it, the Obama press corps should be called off of Joe the Plumber and descend upon Sandra Bernhard, asking her if she now better understands the consequences of advocating violence against women.


Update: It appears that the story is false. You can read more about it here. Michelle Malkin's suspicions were right all along.

I'm glad that I took the cautious approach I did. My question for Sarah Bernhard still stands though.

Update: It appears that Ashley Todd will be charged for making a false crime report, though her past history of mental illness may prompt authorities to submit her to a psychiatric evaluation. If she is able to stand trial then she should be charged.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

ACORN's Fraudulent Campaign to Elect Barack Obama

This is absolutely disgusting. Of course, our friends on the left will find some convoluted way to justify ACORN's actions but let's face facts, this is part of a concerted effort to get him elected, no matter how many laws stand in their way.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

How the Radical Left Views Crime

We already know that Obama's strongest supporters, the Radical Left-Wing of the Democrat Party feel that:

  • Extreme media bias is perfectly fine.
  • Singers replacing the American National Anthem with the "black national anthem", without any approval is perfectly fine.
  • Photographers betraying the trust of their clients and distorting the faces of Republicans is perfectly fine.
Today we learn that they also applaud the actions* of computer hackers committing federal crimes. As of the time of this posting, the Obama campaign has not yet uttered one word about these horrific actions, even though the group claiming responsibility fully admitted that they did it for Obama. All such actions are further defended here. And through it all so-called "moderate progressives" either say nothing or find convoluted ways to defend these actions as well.

When right & wrong is determined simply by one's political objectives then we have truly have reached a society resembling Lord of the Flies. Now that's Change You Can Count On!

* - I have stored a copy of this DailyKos web page in case it is taken down, like similar pages on the site have already today. Please let me know and I'll link to the snapshot I have safely stored.


Update #1:

Here's a detailed account from one of Michelle Malkin's readers of what may have happened.

And here is a DISGUSTING story from two Washington Post writers. Even when a crime occurs against this woman, they still turn the story into a hit piece! These are the same sort of repugnant knuckle draggers who ask how a woman was dressed after she is raped. Different levels of crime but EXACTLY the same disease of moral relativism.


Update #2:
Some in the tech community are already trying to help the Secret Service track down the hacker. These trying to help may indeed be Obama supporters but unlike those members of the Radical Left they are professionals and don't have a moral equivalency when it comes to crime. Kudos to them!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

America's Youth

Such atrocious behaviour isn't limited to the U.S. though. I see similar things all the time here in Canada. It always centers around two things:

  1. I'm entitled.
  2. If you question me, I'm a victim.

Absolutely pathetic!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Portland's Underground Tour

I'd been on Seattle excellent underground tour twice but didn't even know Portland had something similar. Host Michael Jones and his wife take you on an interesting and much more spooky tour in the Rose City.

First we must eat! The $13 tour could be supplemented by a $6 lunch. It was just a small sandwich, a bag of chips and a soda. I'd recommend skipping it and eating elsewhere.

Danny & I had a game of pool while waiting for the tour to start.


Our group was quite large. Michael is the fellow on the far right.

We walked out front and started walking down through a hole in the sidewalk.



The "underground" is really just a series of interconnected basements. What makes the tour so interesting are the stories that Michael tells - about men being "shanghaied"; drugged, held prisoner, and put onto waiting ships in need of a full crew.

This is apparently the "prison" cell for young women who were captured and then sent away to be prostitutes in far flung American cities.

Keep in mind that most photos taken here were with the camera's flash. In fact, it's dark all of the time, which greatly adds to the spookiness of the tour.

This was a demonstration of how drunken men at the bar were sent through trap doors and onto the floor below, albeit padded with mattresses.

These are the bars of one of the holding cells.

This was a poor man's warning system: metal cans on a string.

And finally we're back into the daylight. For more information and to book a tour, click here.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Vancouver's Sins of the City Tour

If you're looking for something different to do in Vancouver then go on the Sins of the City tour. I didn't know what to expect but found it extremely interesting and enjoyable!



Japantown in Vancouver is probably the most under-appreciated neighbourhoods in the entire city. On the tour we learned that that many of the original fronts of the buildings had the tiled names of the families who owned them.
Look carefully and you'll see a Japanese name engraved in an Art Deco font.

Just one of 4 identical heads on the top of a building. Don't you decorate your home the same way?!
This woman came rushing out of the Japanese School we stopped at, most concerned about what on earth we were doing. Patrick, our tour guide, calmed her down though and she became very intrigued with the concept of the tour.
Lots and lots of lost souls all around, though I never felt unsafe.
Chinatown is endlessly fascinating.
Spot one of these buses when it's raining and you can easily get a seat!


Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Ever wondered about the crime in B.C.?

This is just downright frightening.
Clearly our politicians have been sleeping (or worse) for the past few decades.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Texas vs. B.C.

I just read this story about the police in El Dorado, Texas rescuing 137 children, most of them girls, from a polygamist colony.

I couldn't resist submitting the following letter to the Vancouver Sun:

News Item: "137 children removed from polygamist ranch in Texas"

Think we'll ever see something similar in Bountiful, B.C.? Perhaps when pigs learn to fly.

After all, we can't let ourselves become like those "terrible" Americans, can we? Just imagine the audacity of the law enforcement officials down there freeing children from the clutches of warped men. Best we leave such children in our own province alone. Doing otherwise would be very un-Canadian, wouldn't it?!

Robert Werner
Vancouver, BC

Monday, March 31, 2008

Just Another Typical Day in London

Politically correct Deputy Minister of the British Labour Party, Harriet Harman, went for a stroll in the London neighbourhood of Peckham. Not only was she surrounded by a phalanx of policemen but she also wore a stab-proof kevlar vest. There's a growing controversy over why Ms. Harman felt it necessary to have so much protection. Perhaps this is a sign that she's going to be issuing free kevlar vests to all the citizens of Peckham? Or maybe it's just further evidence that she's a complete political twit?!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Fascinating Comment re A Tale of Two Cities

I don't know if all bloggers are the same but whenever an Anonymous comment comes in I feel a certain sense of apprehension. Why? Because they're often left by creeps crawling out from underneath their rocks, simply to spit out some [often] nonsensical poison. How pleasantly surprised was I to receive the following eloquent comment. It's so good that I'm reposting it here:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A Tale of Two Cities":

Similarly, New York City, once famous for the mayhem on its streets, is now a far more civil and pleasant city than Vancouver (in terms of harassment by street people). On a four-day trip there last fall, I saw three homeless people and was bothered by panhandlers once. In Vancouver, I beat that rate after within a block of my apartment.

I believe that the public perceptions of city residents plays a large part in the aggressiveness of panhandlers. In Vancouver, people have been encouraged (by ineffectual governments seeking to evade their responsibilities by redefining the problem, and by highly effective addict advocacy groups such as DERA, VANDU, the Portland Hotel Society, etc) to feel sorry for the street people, to "help" (that is, enable) them. Vancouverites have bought in to the lie that addiction is a mental illness, that the poor street people are incapable of choosing any other life for themselves, that giving them money somehow helps them.

I see it all the time - beggars working the lineups at nightclubs, beggars claiming to be hungry, beggars hectoring people, following them for blocks. And people, rather than reacting with disgust and disdain, give them money - sometimes from fear (which is well-grounded, given that Vancouver beggars know they can operate with impunity), but usually out of some sense that they should help the poor people. (As if financing a drug habit helps anyone.)

Beggars will stop if people stop giving them money. Vancouver beggars get more numerous and aggressive because it works - because Vancouverites buy into the illogic. New Yorkers (and, I suspect, Hawaiians) do not.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

A Tale of Two Cities

The following was just submitted to the Vancouver Sun:

I was back home in Vancouver but one day when I was vividly (and sadly) reminded that my month long vacation in Honolulu was over. I'm not referring to the dramatic change in weather, but rather the drastic "climate" change on the streets.

First, let's look at an overview of the two cities:

Honolulu
Population: 377,000
Area: 272 sq. km

Vancouver
Population: 612,000
Area: 115 sq. km

Metro Honolulu
Population: 910,000
Area: 5,509 sq. km

Metro Vancouver
Population: 2,117,000
Area: 2,877 sq. km

One fact that's not well illustrated in these statistics is that there are over 4 Million tourists visiting Honolulu every year, most of them packed into the relatively small area of Waikiki (think English Bay to the Burrard Street Bridge, Davie to the waterfront). Such a large number of visitors can expose a community to major problems.

Both communities are plagued with homelessness and drug addiction. A friend of mine in Honolulu, a retired police captain, described just how rampant crystal meth addiction is there. So make no mistake, Honolulu has definite problems just like Vancouver does.

But there is one big difference, one critically important difference that my 76 year-old mother and I immediately noticed. There are no street people harassing tourists and locals alike! None. Zero. Nada. Returning home to Vancouver and walking along the so-called upscale South Granville area, I was brought back to the reality of having to weave my way through the gauntlet of sad looking souls asking if I could spare some change; 2 or 3 per block seems to be the norm. It did not escape my attention that most of these folks were young men in their 20's and most of their ilk has been engaged in this "profession" for several years.

Back in Hawaii, these same sort of people are there, pushing the shopping carts around, but they do not harass those around them. I suspect that if they did there would be some immediate consequences. Does that last word still exist in Canadian dictionaries?

Here in Vancouver we seem to have a constant barrage of politicians and others telling us that "this is a way of life for a growing city", that we "should feel grateful for what we have and sorry for those asking us for money", and the all purpose pass-the-buck excuse, "there's nothing we can do, you need to complain to the federal government".

The federal politicians (and that means ALL of them) must indeed accept some of the responsibility for the general lack of civility on the streets of Canadian cities. To fully realize just how lax the Canadian Justice System has become, let's look at a case recently in the news in Hawaii. A criminal named Rudy Bernardino was sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating a methamphetamine laboratory out of his apartment. Please reread the last sentence. He received TWENTY years for manufacturing crystal meth (aka poison). Does anyone think an identical crime in Vancouver would get him even 6 months?

As a mere tourist, I don't know all that the Hawaii police and the District Attorney are doing to combat crime but it clearly must be a lot more than is being done here. I would strongly recommend that the Vancouver Sun send a reporter or two over to Honolulu for a few weeks to do a series of special reports, comparing the differences between there and here. I'm sure it would be an eye-opener for all British Columbians!