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Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Caledonia and Mr Law and Order
When Stephen Harper first presented himself as a national figure, he consciously projected the image of a conservative reformer, someone who would fight to overturn Canada's growing position as a "northern European welfare state."
After four years in government, and two years of record budget deficits, Stephen Harper has forfeited the name of fiscal and economic conservative. His focusing of law enforcement energies on Canada's own version of the Drug Wars, rather than on genuine criminals, has tarnished his law and order credentials.
With Prime Minister Harper's support, former OPP commissioner Julian Fantino has been nominated as the Conservative candidate in Vaughn. The riding has been held by long-time Liberal back bencher Maurizio Bevilacqua since 1988. Bevilacqua resigned his seat in September to run for mayor of Vaughn. This has given the Conservatives their first opportunity in decades to recapture the riding, while at the same time expanding their bridgehead in the Liberal dominated GTA. To this end Julian Fantino seems an ideal candidate.
As former head of Canada's second and third largest police forces, Fantino carries an enormous prestige and is seen by the party as a star candidate. For the Tories, Julian Fantino is Mr Law and Order, exactly the sort of figure who can appeal to crime worried suburban voters. In his four years as Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), a term which ended this summer, Fantino has been front and center in the ongoing Caledonia land dispute.
To evaluate Fantino's fitness for political office and, if rumours are correct the cabinet table, it is important to look into his conduct during the Caledonia crisis. Assuming command of the OPP in October of 2006, seven months after the initial occupation of the Douglas Creek Estate, the majority of the nearly five year long saga has taken place during Fantino's watch.
The Caledonia crisis represents the longest single breach of the peace in modern Ontario's history. Millions of dollars in vandalism have taken place, ordinary residents and journalists have been threatened and physically assaulted. A large swath of Canadian soil has been effectively annexed by a gang of thugs who regard themselves as a sovereign power. During this long running and dramatic series of illegal and violent acts, what has been the response of Julian Fantino, Ontario's top police officer?
While some individual criminals have been charged, and some of those brought to justice, very little has been done to stop the general lawlessness of Caledonia. Very little has been done to stop the organized conspiracy which clearly exists to subvert the Queen's peace in this part of rural Ontario. The same force which occupied the Douglas Creek Estates in 2006 remains in place, periodically blockading public roads and menacing local residents.
When local residents organized to protest these illegal acts and to demand protection from the police, as is their legal right as Canadians, the OPP responded by charging and arresting organizers of these protests. When the local Mayor was seen as giving support to the protestors, Commissioner Fantino placed pressure on the mayor to desist.
To properly understand the Caledonia Crisis, and the role of Julian Fantino, some historical context is needed. In the aftermath of the American War of Independence, some of Britain's aboriginal allies, former members of the Iroquois Confederacy, had their land in what is now upper New York state ceded to the new American Republic. In compensation the military governor of Quebec (which included most of modern Southern Ontario), Frederick Haldimand, purchased a track of land along the Grand River from the Mississauga. Shortly thereafter he granted it to tribes who had allied themselves with the Crown.
While the colonial government initially prevented the aboriginals from selling or leasing land to Europeans, at the insistence of the tribal authorities - especially Joseph Brant - this was eventually allowed. Over the next half century the vast Haldimand track was whittled down through land sales to European settlers. In 1840 the then Province of Canada created a reserve of some 8000 hectares, later increased to 19,000 hectares, a tiny fraction of the original grant. Through out the 1840s the remainder of the Haldimand track was surrendered by the various tribal governments. In 2005 Henco Industries announced its development of what was to be called the Douglas Creek Estates, a property adjacent to the Six Nations Reserve.
Elements within the Six Nations dispute the legitimacy of the 1840s surrender, saying that the aboriginal signatories were not authorized, or their acts were later repudiated by the tribal governments. Therefore Henco's land title from the Ontario government was invalid, the land being legally that of the Six Nations. In October of 2005, Six Nations Chief David General issued a written warning to Henco about developing the Douglas Creek Estates area.
In late February of 2006, elements from the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve, near Brantford, Ontario, occupied the Douglas Creek Estate. Justice Marshall issued a series of injunctions, and two contempt orders against the occupiers, in March. The OPP arrested 21 of the occupiers on April 20th. Later that same day hundreds of aboriginals, likely from the nearby Six Nations Reserve, reoccupied the site, drove away the OPP officers assigned to the Douglas Creek Estate, established a road block and burned down a bridge. Local firefighters refused to respond for fear of being attacked.
In May a nearby Hydro substation was destroyed by vandals, likely connected to the occupiers, causing over a million dollars in damages. Repeated calls by local residents for the OPP, provincial and federal governments to act were ignored. In June two local journalists were attacked and video footage stolen from them by members of the occupying force.
Through out this period scores of minor assaults, thefts and acts of vandalism are committed, with a limited response from the OPP. On June 16th the provincial government announced the purchase of the Douglas Creek Estate from its developer, Henco Industries. When further efforts were made to enforce the March injunctions, the Ontario Government obtained a stay of the original order by Justice Marshall. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in late August 2006 that:
The province owns Douglas Creek Estates. It does not claim that the protesters are on its property unlawfully. It does not seek a court order removing them. It is content to let them remain. We see no reason why it should not be permitted to do so.
In order words, with the purchase of the Estates, the province had converted trespassers into guests of Her Majesty's Government in Right of Ontario. From that time forward there has been little change in the status of the Douglas Creek land claim. There is still an aboriginal occupying force on what is now Ontario government land. This was the status which Julian Fantino inherited in October of 2006, when he assumed command of the OPP.
Had only the land claim been at stake, it's unlikely the residents would have been much disturbed. Instead a wave of terror was initiated in Caledonia against its non-aboriginal citizens. During this wave of terror Julian Fantino, likely bowing to political pressure from Queen's Park, failed in his duty as an officer of the law.
His failure became the failure of the OPP forces station in Caledonia, leaving Canadian citizens at the mercy of a lawless mob obviously contemptuous of our laws and government. These were not protestors seeking to defy an unjust law, but violent criminals seeking to impose their will on private persons and property. A Six Nations "development institute" went so far as to demand "a development tax," an arrogant presumption of sovereignty.
Among the crimes committed, but largely unpunished, at Caledonia during the Fantino era:
In September 2007 Sam Gualtieri, a construction worker, was beaten unconscious at a home he was building for his daughter. Earlier in the day he had taken down an aboriginal flag from the building.
David Brown and Dana Chatwell lived within the occupied zone. Frantic calls to 911 were ignored. Gangs of thugs regularly threatened the family and Brown slept with a shotgun. He was arrested by the OPP one evening while returning home. His crime? Having violated a curfew imposed by the aboriginal occupiers. The OPP was, in effect, enforcing the edicts of an illegal power, while refusing to uphold the laws of Canada. The occupiers issued "passports" to the local residents. The family moved out of Caledonia only when a settlement was reached with the province.
Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer supported local residents who rallied for police protection, and demanded the equal enforcement of Canadian laws. In September 2007 Mayor Trainer received what she regarded as a threatening e-mail from Commissioner Fantino. The OPP head suggested that he might not renew the county's policing contract the following year. Fantino complained that Trainer's support for activist Gary McHale might escalate the situation with the aboriginal occupiers.
Gary McHale pursued a private charge against Fantino for influencing municipal officials, an extremely rare and difficult legal maneuver, over the e-mail. The Crown withdrew the charge in February 2010. McHale has vowed to take the matter to the Superior Court.
In December 2006 McHale was arrested for breach of the peace, during an attempted raising of Canadian flags, across the road from where aboriginal flags had been placed. McHale, and associate Mark Vandermaas, had made the attempt to highlight the two-tier enforcement approach by the OPP. Vandermaas, a former Canadian soldier, had the Maple Leaf ripped from his hands by police while being arrested.
For his efforts McHale became a target of the OPP and in particular of Julian Fantino. During a December 2007 protest:
OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino encouraged his officers to lay charges against a protester — before there was any evidence the man had committed a crime — during a clash between natives and residents of Caledonia, Ont., in late 2007, according to emails made public this week in a court case.
"At some point McHale has to go," Fantino wrote Deputy Commissioner Chris Lewis, a half hour after a protest began on Dec. 1, 2007, referring to Gary McHale of Richmond Hill, Ont., who was leading a campaign to hold the OPP accountable for its policing decisions.
[...]
Goodall told Fantino police could get McHale with an obscure charge for counselling mischief, not committed. Police also wanted charges against Clyde Powless for assaulting a police officer and assaulting McHale.
Powless [an aboriginal protestor] was never charged with assaulting a police officer.
The charge of "counselling mischief not committed" was laid, with absurd bail conditions, but eventually stayed after further legal efforts by McHale. The main purpose of the charge seem to have been to find a legal pretext for keeping McHale away from the area. All while Julian Fantino exercised ultimate authority over the Caledonia situation. This is the man Stephen Harper wants to represent the people of Vaughn in Parliament? A likely minister of the Crown? This is Mr Law and Order?
In his four years in power the Prime Minister has sold Canadian conservatives a false bill of goods. He has promised us greater freedom from the state, a fight against crime and a strong defence of Canadian sovereignty. In supporting Julian Fantino for Parliament he has again failed to live up to his promises.
Despite the disgraceful neglect of the Caledonia Crisis by the mainstream media, there is a wealth of resources available online:
Gary McHale has an exhaustive website on the crisis: CaledoniaWakeUpCall
Mark Vandermaas' own website (which also covers Middle East issues) is here.
The Caledonia Victims Project (also run by Mark) resource page is here.
The formidable Christie Blatchford will soon be out with a book on Caledonia: Helpless
Blatchford traces McHale's legal maneuvering here.
Gary McHale and Mark Vandermaas have put together a ConservativesAgainstFantino site, in which they exhaustively explore the former commissioner's conduct in Caledonia.
This CBC story from early in 2010 documents McHale and Vandermaas' remarkable fight.
The CBC's timeline of the Caledonia land claim. A timeline of the occupation until Fantino's assumption as OPP Commissioner. The Wikipedia entry.
Related at the Shotgun: A Government of Men and Not Laws
Peter Worthington: Helpless in Caledonia
Posted by Richard Anderson on October 27, 2010 | Permalink
Comments
McHale ran in the recent local elections in Haldimand County ward three, where Caledonia proper is.
Gary McHale lost the election to incumbant Craig Grice by a wide margin of votes.
Local Gad-flys Doug Fleming and Merlyn Kinrade also ran in Haldimand County wards to make up a three member "Law and Order" slate with McHale.
They also went down in flames, as did Marie Trainor, the incumbant Mayor. Ken Hewitt, a local resident and hockey coach won the Mayorship.
Hopefully the peace and friendship that has happened over the last few years, respecting Six Nations Aboriginals, will continue, as Mayor-elect Hewitt is already extending an Olive branch.
Posted by: Mark-Alan Whittle | 2010-10-27 6:43:05 AM
I notice you avoid discussing the criminal acts and general lawlessness, Mark. Instead, like a shyster, you try to discredit those who have been most active in calling attention to it, without making any mention of what they have actually said or done. Insinuation and innuendo are the tools of the liar.
The criminals in Caledonia should be treated as an invading army. Send in the troops, the CF-18s, and if the Americans will rent us a couple of B-52s, so much the better. Use napalm; use rockets; use bombs. Then send in the infantry to shoot anyone who will not surrender. That's the way to win a war. A war that has been declared in everything but name. They want a fight; we mustn't disappoint them.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-27 7:44:35 AM
Drug criminals are genuine criminals..
Some of them even proudly admit to it on vain glory websites and boast how they plan to use the drug profits to fight the straight world. Some of them get extradited and jailed and then they cry
One man's freedom fighter
is another bunch of men's drug criminal
Posted by: 419 | 2010-10-27 8:35:27 AM
It sounds like PC Ontario has fostered its own little Palestine. Good luck with that.
I'm not sure the Shane Matthews / Janet Reno approach is warranted or realistic but if so, a single CF three man sniper team would be all the firepower required.
Posted by: John Chittick | 2010-10-27 10:35:09 AM
Not to excuse Fantino's role in this outrage but didn't the buck stop with McGuinty & the provincial Liberal Government?
Posted by: Ron | 2010-10-27 11:08:51 AM
I am all for the rule of law, or law and order as it is called here, but as long as we continue to tolerate and treat differently situations like Caledonia, talking of law and order is meaningless. Caledonia is only one example of the deterioration of the rule of law in Canada. Until and unless everyone breaking the law is treated fairly and equal under the law, the "war on crime" is an empty slogan. One cannot blame any particular political party for this state of affairs, for they are all equally responsible.
Posted by: Alain | 2010-10-27 11:29:27 AM
Send in B-52's and F-18's, use napalm. Bloody hell.
There's a simple solution. Surround the place. Nothing including people go in or out. Shut off the electricity. In three weeks it will all be over.
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-10-27 11:54:12 AM
Awesome post by Mark Whittle.
It's good to see that Caledonia people rejected McHale and his group of fear-mongerors who in fact want conflict to continue. They wag the dog by the tail by instigating trouble through provocation and then stand back and try to profit.
Caledonia isn't stupid and neither was Fantino all along.
Here's an October/10 dismissal where McHale wanted to make money off the courts.(Epic Fail)
http://www.canlii.org/eliisa/highlight.do?text=gary+mchale&language=en&searchTitle=Search+all+CanLII+Databases&path=/en/on/onsc/doc/2010/2010onsc5523/2010onsc5523.html
Posted by: caledonia fan | 2010-10-27 2:27:52 PM
Mark&caledonia: 'friendship' = submission. That is today's newspeak lesson.
Posted by: Cytotoxic | 2010-10-27 6:04:57 PM
Canada is degenerating into a narco-state. At some point, we will have a drug war that will rival Mexico's. Of course, Harper will continue to promote his war on drugs to the benefit of his allies in law enforcement and the judiciary. Here's hoping the shooting war will be as vicious and as costly as the one in Mexico. Harper and his ilk need to be taught a lesson about the costs of denying Liberty.
Posted by: AB Patriot | 2010-10-27 8:38:50 PM
Caledonia is all about politically correct cowardess! The Harris government got a lot of grief over the killing of Mr.George in 1995. So, the Liberal response was to give in to the criminals. These hoodlums have been emboldened by the provincial government's weakness. The Ontario government is now as big a pack of pussies as the Quebec government was in 1990. You remember a little incident where aboriginal radicals killed a cop in cold blood. Heck, we have people on this site(mark and caledonia fan) who excuse the behavior of these radicals. At least in the U.S., they wouldn't put up with this crap. Obama might excuse it but most of the governors(and a large majority of the American people wouldn't). Notice that you don't see Indian radicals trying to seize properties in the U.S. This is because the FBI crushed the far-left radicals of the American Indian Movement. Also, they know that if they try another event like the 1973 Wounded Knee incident that the National Guard. The sad truth is that many Canadians have embraced political correctness over equality. Equality is about treating everyone the same regardles of race or sex. Instead, in Canada, we have embraced a political correctness that is more willing to excuse bad behavior if the person is not white. The argument goes that whites had a privileged position in the past. So, we have to give special consideration to non-whites to even this out. Bull! Either we are all equal or not! I don't have the right to screw with your property and you haven't got the right to mess with mine! This is the fine line of libertarianism taken to its logical end. The only problem is too many Canadian so-called libertarians put political correctness ahead of all us. You whine about the Trudeau big government state. Yet, you have eaten every morsel of the politically correct stew that Trudeau and his media minions imposed on 1970's Canada. You are no better than Mulroney when he tried to pass himself off as a conservative. Men of principle my foot!
Posted by: Jacob | 2010-10-27 9:25:39 PM
Re: Mark Alan Whittle comments:
MAW neglects to mention that he and his son spent time with the occupiers when the site was controlled by the Mohawk Warriors, a group even the OPP regard as organized crime as they have testified. We have video of MAW protesting in Hamilton against the jailing of a native guy who who once pleaded guilty to beating his pregnant girlfriend.
Yes, MAW knows how to separate perps from victims all right.
Mark Vandermaas
VoiceofCanada.ca
Posted by: Mark Vandermaas | 2010-10-28 12:14:17 AM
There's a simple solution. Surround the place. Nothing including people go in or out. Shut off the electricity. In three weeks it will all be over.
Until the next time.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-28 8:28:29 PM
Fantino was co-opted by McGuinty. He could either follow orders or be fired.
He chose the former, which speaks volumes to his personal integrity. As much as I admired Fantino in the past, he is a failure as a human being for
giving up his perasonal ethics and morals for political expediency.
Posted by: ralph | 2010-10-29 5:16:47 PM
Fantino is a dangerous man. That Harper personally parachuted him in as candidate speaks volumes about how extreme the Conservatives agenda on 'law and order' is.
For a sanitized version of Fantinos' exploits try this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Fantino
In the above comments it is noted that McGuinty had to put a tight lease on Fantino - well look what happened in say York region where Fantino was going way outside the law and gave the politicians 'the bird' when they tried to control him. He had to escape the axe here. He needs to be on a lease all right, and not in public office.
If you love freedom and live in Vaughan you will vote for Paolo Fabrizio (Libertarian).
Posted by: Mr. Smith | 2010-10-30 10:45:47 AM
Is there such a thing as a law and order extremist in Canada? Please, you guys cottle your criminals up there! Is Karla Homolka out of prison? Are you paying bed and board for Paul Bernardo, the pig farmer of B.C.,and the crazy Chinese guy that killed the guy on the greyhound bus? Yes, you are! Please, you guys wouldn't have the nerve to hang Freddy Kruger! There is a case in Connecticut that speaks volumes about the difference in American and Canadian justice.
Two thugs broke into a home. They badly beat up the father with a baseball bat. He suffered serious head wounds but managed to escape and get help when he regained consciousness. The two thugs promied the mother that her two daughters would be okay if the mother went to the bank and withdrew $10,000. The mother went with one of the thugs and did. When they came back, she was raped and strangled to death by one of the thugs. Then, the two daugthers(17 and 11 years old) were raped. Next, the two thugs tied the girls to their beds. At that point, the thugs saw that the police had arrived. So, the two scumbags set the beds and house on fire. The two girls died in the blaze. One of the girls' bodies was found in the hallway. We now know that the fire had burned through the rope on her bed and that she had run into the hallway with her body on fire! The two suspects have been charged with murder. The first one was found guilty and looks like he will receive a death sentence. The second one will be tried soon and is also expected to receive a death sentence. Additional information has come to light that one of the killers mocked the father in his personal diary. He called the father a coward for crawling away from his house and getting help. They said that a real man would never have abandoned his family. The poor father is a battered man but is pushing to have these two executed. The differences between our countries are stark. In America, these two scumbags will get the needle(personally, I'd like to set them on fire and watch them burn to death!). In Canada, these two would live on the taxpayer dole for the rest of their lives(and come up for parole after 25 years I believe). Which is the system that offers real justice?
Yet, we will get some libertarian on this site that will give some line of crap like they feel the victims pain(boy, you are such a sensitive guy!) but you don't want to give the state such power. Don't you see? You already have executions in Canada! The only difference is that the killers are murdering your fellow citizens and you are doing nothing! For god sakes, stand up and make the criminals pay. In the 1950's, you were executing murderers in Canada. Can you say that Canadian streets are really any safer?
Posted by: Quincy | 2010-10-30 2:05:10 PM
Nobody says those who are gross violators should not be held accountable, what is thinly disguised behind the mask of law and order that only talks about the extreme cases is their habit of harassing a lot of innocent people, and using blunt instruments to get someone, anyone.
In Fantio's case it seems being gay or walking down the street are enough to provoke a response, and that libertarians hate. They hate it when he shields bad cops from justice. Many Conservatives mileage seems to vary on that.
BTW Canadian streets are much much safer than in the U.S.. so the death penalty seems a non-starter if it is supposed to reduce violence. The U.S.'s obsessiveness with law and order lead to the war on drugs and is credited with creating that very high level of violence by most every impartial observer, and jails full of far more people than almost any other nation on earth.
Currently thanks to that law and order agenda of the conservatives they are releasing those violent people as there is no room, and keeping in people who were only selling a couple of joints.
Posted by: Mr. Smith | 2010-10-31 9:26:42 AM
Nice review of leftist Canadiana's favourite talking points, Smith. You managed to include the gay agenda, the drug agenda, the capital punishment agenda, the street-protest agenda, and the incarceration agenda, not forgetting the obligatory potshot at the Americans, all served up with a healthy amount of deception and disinformation, while skillfully managing to avoid the actual topic altogether. And you want us to let you run the country? You can't even run a party capable of capturing a seat.
Why is it so many libertarians are either potheads or write and act like potheads? Libertarianism and marijuana consumption are both strongly correlated with emotional immaturity; I wonder if there's a connection there?
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-10-31 11:29:10 AM
You want pot legal in Canada fine! I could care less! In turn, I want a Canadian justice system that has some teeth in it to deal with violent criminals. I want a justice system that hangs murderers, rapists, and child molesters. I'm sick of libertarians showing the same lack of will to get tough on violent criminals as the Liberals, NDP, and Red Tory types. I don't care if Homulka or the B.C. pig farmer can be rehabilitated. I want them punished. I want them removed from this mortal world. I think you have some nerve thinking that I or the victim's families should have to pay for the food and board of these people. Many libertarians give these fancy little lines about the death penalty gives too much power to the state. The state sticks its nose in too many things. However, defense and justice would seem to be necessary areas to involve the government. What are you going to let the victim's family personally execute the killer? I would approve of that but I don't think a liberatarian p.m. would have the balls to sign off on that. Libertarians are right on guns and the economy. As for your drug and pro-gay policies, I don't care one way or another. My answer is simple keep away from me with both. However, your policies on the death penalty and abortion tick me off no end. You have no problem allowing an innocent unborn child to be killed for the simple crime of showing up at an inappropriate time but many of your crew have an issue with knocking off a killer. Innocent child who is an inconvenience - most libertarians say kill. Serial killer - many Canadian libertarians say don't kill. In America, even libertarians like Ron and Rand Paul(who you guys claim to have a lovefest for) support the death penalty and understand the mistake that is abortion. Yet, in Canada, you libertarians fail to understand this. This is why many people who might be sympathetic to your values won't vote for you. What is it? Do you think that opposition to abortion makes you part of the religious right? Guess what? There actually are pro-life atheist groups! What is it that you can't support the death penalty because that would make you like the Americans? How does that make you any better than the anti-american zealots on the left? The last executions in Canada were in 1962. What was the murder rate in Canada in 1962 or the years before it(you can't compare american numbers because their culture has always had a higher crime rate. There are cultural and historic reasons for this.)? Are Canadian streets safer in 2010 then they were in say 1960? I think not. Also, I would like to point out that when examining the death penalty in the U.S. the best method is simply to compare the years when the death penalty was not used(1968-1977) or were rarely used(1964-1967, 1977-1991 under 20 executions) versus the years when the death sentences took off(1993- 2010 when death sentences jumped from over 30 up to 98 and now hover around 50 executions a year). The sad truth is that the Reform Party was the only real Canadian party that has ever been willing to get tough with the criminal element in our society. It would be nice if the libertarians got a little more Reform Party in their genetic makeup. Who knows? Maybe the answer is not the libertarians, the conservatives or the wildrose alliance but a new Reform Party!
Posted by: Jacob | 2010-10-31 8:19:29 PM
Jacob the Reform Party is in power now, under differing name. Their 10 year plan is a 50% increase in spending. Many forecasters say they will do even worse on spending and deficit. This is not an improvement in my mind.
I notice you don't even try to address the gapping hole in your argument I pointed out, that the death penalty (which is revenge more than anything) has been shown empirically to increase the violence rate almost everywhere it is used. The moral argument is also very convincing, but far too subtle for this forum.
Anyone who calls Rand Paul a libertarian has not been reading the NEWS for a long long time.... he has come out of the conservative closet long ago on almost every issue of substance.
Posted by: Mr. Smith | 2010-11-01 10:02:02 AM
As usual, Smith, you lie. America uses the death penalty and its violence rate is now the lowest in 30 years and lower than the average for the entire 20th century. (Interestingly, the subgroup with the largest drop is black-on-black murder, so we can remove another argument--that the death penalty is racist--from the equation). And the moral arguments for the death penalty are far more convincing than those against, most of which seem to revolve around neurotic urbanites feeling comfortable with their own reflections.
How liberals ever managed to convince themselves of the unbelievably idiotic horseshit that forms their core belief system is totally beyond me. There's denial of reality, and then there's liberalism. Of course, another more sinister explanation is that they already know that what they preach is a pile of shit, and don't care, and are simply indoctrinating useful idiots to provide a loyal voting base for the acquisition of power out of all proportion to their numbers. That's actually easier to believe.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-11-01 12:28:12 PM
Mr Smith to get into a debate with Shane Matthews you have to get into the mind of a madman.
Posted by: don b | 2010-11-01 5:32:25 PM
Good Luck to the people of California USA voting on Proposition 19 tomorrow.
Legalization of Cannabis for Adults in California.
Yes We Cannabis!
Mr. Toews.
Bring Marc Emery Home.
Drug Peace NOT Drug War.
Posted by: jeff franklin | 2010-11-01 7:23:57 PM
The latest polling in Connecticut's governors race shows that the Republican candidate now leads. One month ago, the Democrat candidate had a 7-9 point lead. What has changed? The answer is that the death penalty has emerged as a campaign issue. The public's attention has been riveted by the murder trial in Connecticut. In the gubernatorial debates this month, the candidates were asked their positions on the death penalty. The Republican supports it. The Democrat opposes it and said that he would sign legislation to do away with it in the state. Also, polls show that over 75% of people want the two killers executed. Before this month, the two gubernatorial candidates had previously debated. However, they had largely discussed economics. The result of these debates had been that the Democrat had a lead and that the Republican was failing to close it. Now, the issue of the death penalty has entered the campaign and the Republican has gained about 11 points in a month. It's to be expected! Connecticut is a liberal leaning state but the public supports the death penalty by a 65%-23% margin according to a recent poll. Republicans and independents overwhelmingly support the death penalty. So do most Democrat voters. Which might explain why the national Democrat Party has support for capital punishment in its platform. After all, since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976 the Democrats have only won the White House when they selected a pro-death penalty president(Clinton, Obama).
Posted by: Quincy | 2010-11-01 8:11:32 PM
Mr Smith to get into a debate with Shane Matthews you have to get into the mind of a madman.
Or an honest man. Either is equally foreign to his nature and yours.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-11-01 10:12:43 PM
This Federal government has been absent on the land claims file, allowing the provinces to take the blame for the lack of progress and leadership.
Posted by: Chris | 2010-11-02 8:15:46 AM
One new article in five days. Looks like the WS is kaput.
Posted by: The Stig | 2010-11-02 9:46:30 AM
This Federal government has been absent on the land claims file, allowing the provinces to take the blame for the lack of progress and leadership.
Apparently, so have all previous ones, which is why there are still claims to be settled. Why is the current administration responsible for both its failings and those all previous ones? They tried to pin the same crap on George Bush over Katrina. Granted, the government didn't fix the levees during his term, but it also failed to do so during several previous terms.
In any case, the Mohawk Nation has become a virtual cartel of criminal activity operating through a gaping loophole in the law, and the only way to deal with this kind of lawlessness is to crush it. Order first, reform later. And let's face it, at this point we urgently need both.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-11-02 10:11:30 AM
WS provides a great service
for some of us
to be outted as assholes.,
now just who that list is is questionable
but you must admit'
since wipehead posterboy Marc Emery
surrendered to his enemies in tears
just in time for " back to school"
the tone around here has become
somewhat pedestrian...
the Left struggle has collapsed
and they can't even argue real good no more
so I guess, like passenger pigeons,
they are extinct or close to goners status
not from being crushed by NeoCon jackboots
but from the fact they are flakes
flaking away
into even smaller flakes
scattered by the winds of change
2010- year of the Flake
Posted by: 419 | 2010-11-02 7:54:43 PM
One new article in five days. Looks like the WS is kaput.
That doesn't surprise me. Over the last few years, their veterans have walked away one by one (sometimes in shackles). Mike Brock was the latest to go, and since then this place has been on life support.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-11-02 9:56:26 PM
.. now Shane, the WS editors may have been deeply involved with Halloween and will return to supplying the frontlines of contention immediately after they eat their candy
I hear Ayn Rand was handing out cloves of garlic
Posted by: 419 | 2010-11-02 11:23:26 PM
Yes we Cannabis!
Apparently, no you can't. For the record, "No, you can't have this" rhymes better than "Yes, we can." You guys deserved to lose on the strength of your crappy rhyme alone.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-11-03 5:43:53 AM
All Praise 2010 -- Year of the Flake
we saw some dazzling no shows, failures and just plain mess ups in the Cannabis Community:
1) Marc whatshisface The Prince of Pot, surrendering and jailed in tears, then disciplined in pre trial lock up for a variety of petty offenses..His jail blogs reveal his deeply troubled relationships with every other life form on earth
( score 0 )
2) the passing away of US grassivist Jack Herer, who's fictional book " The Emperor Wears No Clothes " explores why the marijuana laws are a conspiracy against the second coming of hemp, proof that uh...uh...uh
( score 0 )
3) Ramp up legislation proposed by the Conservatives to punish drug crime more severely. So much for the normalization of the psychedelic impulse and integration of same into mainstream life
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4) Crash & Burn just yesterday Prop 19- the bill in California that would legalize recreational cannabis use by adults.Problem there was people had adult bodies but juvenile minds. The majority of voters were not fooled by the Marijuana Revival of the 60's Pagent, It failed even after Billionare George Soros pumped a million $ into the iniative, because self absorbed pot smoker are notorious for not helping their own cause
" it's just a plant " we agree. it's just not important enough to bother with." Keep off the Grass" signs will be appearing all over the world starting this afternoon
( score 0 )
5) the trial and jailing of umteen marijuana activists, big time pot growers, and medical pot frauds-- there were many and there will be many more yet to fry under rule of law, So many asshole end up behinds bars because they can't keep away from " it's just a $15 per gram plant "
( score 0 )
6) Mexico- hometurf of the highest Drug War body count in the history of the world. Horrible murder, decapitations, pits of rancid skeletons bound at the wrists Not relics of the bad olden times, but victims from _this _year.
The mountain of corpses is approaching 30,000 - the population of a small city - all due directly to insatiable demand for dope from the League of American Wipeheads ...
( score 0 )
Caledonia is not anything like the drug war,
but hey, its a start
Posted by: 419 | 2010-11-03 9:18:26 AM
419 wins again.
Posted by: Agha Ali Arkhan | 2010-11-03 12:52:39 PM
Sobriety, rationality & accountability won
and the WIPEHEADS ARE OUT OF THE GAME FOREVER
Posted by: 419 | 2010-11-03 4:54:56 PM
A Disappointing Result re. Proposition 19.
However as Shriley as Stockwell Day's ancestors walked with the dinosaurs, Canadian Cannabis imbibers can take heart from Taliban Steve's crooning message:
'I get high with a litle help from my friends.'
Can you feel the CRAPer Rapture??
Posted by: jeff franklin | 2010-11-03 6:09:52 PM
And once again, we behold the spectacle of jeff doing a ten-province tour on the bitter bus. Maybe we should call it the "Stoner Express."
No you cannabis.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2010-11-03 6:47:41 PM
Nice one Jeff..
the Mexican body count
should hit 30,000 by early 2011
thanks to viewers like you
have you written _your letter to Marc yet?
& sent _your donation to his deodorant fund ?
Posted by: 419 | 2010-11-03 10:50:05 PM
Let's cut the garbage and let the people decide on capital punishment! Let us have a binding national referendum on capital punishment. The sad truth is that neither the Liberals or NDP want to take on criminals. They point to their crimes and try to give us some line of bull about how Canadian society is responsible for these peoples' actions. As for the Conservatives, some are alright but others seem to be from the Joe Clark "kambaya" school of law enforcement. I and most Canadians want the death penalty brought back. I want a three strikes law in Canada. Il ike most Canadians, want some form of the castle doctrine law passed in Canada(in addition to the U.S. even Italy has passed a castle doctrine law). Finally, I want both the right to carry a concealed weapon and the right to use it if someone threatens me, my property, or my family. I might get the last two from a Conservative majority government. However, what chance have I got from the first two. The members of parliment are largely elitist snobs who live in a protected security bubble. Its easy for parlimentarians to be soft on crime because many of them have security guarantees that the average Canadian will never see. Its the same with the guns. Chretrien was all in favor of taking guns from people. However, I don't remember him having a problem with the large armed security detail around him. How many regular Canadians have such a detail? The death penalty was reinstated in the U.S. by the people. The people with a few officals rose up against the elites and pushed back until capital punishment became law. That is what we have to do. We have to get in their faces and fight until our voice is heard. When you have the death penalty, you have a choice! If you personally oppose the death penalty, then you can request that it not be used in the death of a friend or relative(also can make it known that in the event of your murder that you don't want it used). If you support it, then you can ask for it to be applied. However, what we have now is no choice. Criminals murder us and we have no revenge(or sense of justice). We pay for these murderers upkeep and are told by liberals that they feel "our pain". The liberals tell us how much more enlightened or civilized we are because we don't execute people who murder our family members. Screw this! I don't need you to tell me that I'm better than the scum in prison! I know it.! I don't go out and rape and murder innocent people. All I want is for these scumbags to get what they deserve. They are not innocent. They are not good but simply misunderstood people. They are trash who will kill us the first chance they get. I say drop the 1960's garbage and hang the lowlifes. Lets put the fear in these lowlifes for a change!
Posted by: Ed | 2010-11-06 2:30:47 PM
The matter shows that
Harper and McGuinty or
the Conservatives and
liberals are in many ways
sharing the same mind.
.
The matter shows that
Harper and McGuinty or
the Conservatives and
liberals are in many ways
sharing the same mind.
.
The matter shows that
Harper and McGuinty or
the Conservatives and
liberals are in many ways
sharing the same mind.
Posted by: Parker | 2010-11-15 1:40:46 AM
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