YVR MURDER - and the consequences?

"He had the stapler open ... he was in a combative stance'

Mountie who wielded taser tells inquiry he felt threatened when victim grabbed stapler

The courtroom audience snorted, giggled and shrieked.

As they should.

The RCMP officer who made this comment was not only ridiculous, he was lying.

As Gary Mason reports in a separate column today, the video shows clearly and repeatedly that Mr. Dziekanski did not raise the stapler above his head or anywhere near it and he did not move towards the officers.

And even if he had?

We all know how dangerous and scary a good Bostich stapler can be in the wrong hands!

So the officer zapped Dziekanski once and then, while Dziekanski was writhing in pain (clearly and repeatedly seen on the video), the officer zapped him again 3 times in a matter of seconds.

By the way, the officer had never before in his life used the taser.

Now, what will happen after this inquiry?

These policemen killed an innocent man.

Will they be charged? Will they lose their jobs? Will they suffer anything besides a momentary public embarrassment?

CASH - Commentary from a Friend

Insight on Investing
by Adrian Mastracci,
Fee-Only Portfolio Manager

“A trillion here, another trillion there"

For Immediate Release

Vancouver, BC (March 03, 2009):

The headlines suggest that trillion dollar deficits could be part of the US landscape for years.
The US is developing an insatiable addiction to debt.

Investors and taxpayers are swamped with mind numbing numbers.
A trillion here, another trillion there.

That is a lot of precious cash they don't have to just toss it around very casually.
Investors and taxpayers are not ready for the toxic taste of how to to pay for this.

Imagine someone fessing up to a consultant that his situation is in the deep glue because he borrowed far too much.
Now imagine that consultant telling him that the way out of the sticky glue is to borrow a bunch more he can't afford.

Say that someone is the US Government, now heavily preoccupied with ballooning bailouts and stimulus spending.
Maxing out the government credit cards has many repercussions and consequences down the road.

I thought that one smart way out was to tighten the belt and reduce needless spending.
However, simple logic gets murky awfully fast in the spin of government economics.

And they also hope that cash strapped consumers continue spending even more money they too don't have.
That is a lot of harsh medicine to swallow all at once.

So, let's call the spade what it really is.
The US is mortgaging its precious future, yet again.

I think the US would be better off to stop bailing out everyone.
Let the weak fade away and the strong survive.

The convoluted mess would right itself sooner.
I favour investing in winners, not mediocre picks.

Digging the bigger hole can't continue unchecked.
Unfortunately, government economics follows different scripts.

Adrian Mastracci, Portfolio Manager
KCM Wealth Management Inc.
"Fee-Only" Portfolio Managers & Financial Advisors
Suite 1500, Box 1078, 885 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 3E8
Tel: (604) 739-4500 Fax: (604) 739-0234
Website: www.kcmwealth.com

---

Our speciality is designing and managing long-term investment portfolios. Our advice is objective, unbiased and without conflicts of interest.

Say, Buddy...Can you spare a dime?

You know Money Mart, and similar places?

They are called "the pay-loan industry." They even have associations and no doubt have national conferences.

They are what we used to call loan sharks.

BC's Solicitor-General has capped their loan rates to only 600% per annum.

This is Van Donkey's idea of being a Good Cop.

This is what we used to call USURY.

Here is an industry that takes miserable advantage of the poor (and sometimes ignorant) and it is given license by the government to keep up the good work.

Fixing Whom?

Yesterday, the Globe & Mail continued their series on the DTES called "The Fix."

In what we must suppose is part of their "expert" revelations, the focus was on Jim Green.

The article by Robert Matas gives us a fine mini-biography at the top.

And what do we learn about the Man Who Would Be Mayor - but Wasn't?

We learn that since coming here from New York City, Green has been taking government funds, handouts and employment cheques. As a friend of mine in the development business says, "He's never had a real job." And the fact that Green now lists himself as land development consultant is uproariously funny to my development friend.

What is most amazing about Green's pronouncements about the DTES is that he says that much of the government money spent "has done a fabulous job." "Look at Insite...it is so absolutely successful." Green began Insite.

Later in the piece, Green says that people in the DTES have to get out of chemical dependency.

How, may I ask, will they do that when they are given free needles to shoot up with and a clean well-lit place to shoot up in? How about having a registered nurse doing the injection?

By the time you finish reading this piece, what you are left to understand is that amidst poverty and misery, Mr. Green stands alone in his ability to wear a stylish coat and an adorable fedora.

The poverty and the misery have done Green well.

FOLLOW-UP: Today, the Mayor, talking about his work on homelessness, says, "We're getting a lot of people with addictions and its demonstrating real progress in supporting addicts."

Huh?

Giving people a room is admirable. But giving addicts a room and thinking you are "making real progress" speaks to living in a delusion. What, if anything, does Robertson know about addictions?

STATEMENT?

Yes, that's Barack in Ottawa. And that's Old Whatshisface.