Tom Sawyer is a mere amateur when compared to the whitewashing abilities of the political elites in British Columbia. At every level in the hierarchical chain, the refrain is the same: “Couldn’t have been stopped. We did nothing wrong.”
There’s a strong sense out here on the Kumbaya Left Coast that few are buying into this nonsense. The Vancouver Sun’s Jeff Lee certainly isn’t. Neither is Alex Tsakumis. Daniel Fontaine, of City Caucus, isn’t buying any of the spin either.
What’s even more appalling is that it looks to many that few to no one will be prosecuted for what happened on June 15th. Roy Green was all over this during his show on Saturday. You can listen to it here. First you’ll hear him interview BC’s Solicitor General and Interim Attorney General Shirley Bond. She used the phrase “we need to go through the process” so many times that I now anoint her BC’s 2011 Queen of Obfuscation.
Later you’ll hear yours truly and two other Metro Vancouver citizens explain how angry and ashamed we are about what has [not] happened. Finally, you’ll hear some callers phone in, two of which insist that we must have patience.
There are two important dates to look out for later this year:
Nov 19 – If the dreadful Gregor Robertson gets reelected mayor, likely with at least 65% of eligible voters not even bothering to show up at the polls, then we will officially know that Vancouverites just don’t care about their city.
Dec 15 – This will be 6 months since the day of the riots. Things get a whole lot more complicated to prosecute anyone after this date.
Yeah……nothing they could have done, given their man-power resources and ROEs.
With different, non-kid-glove, ROE a coupla cops coulda interdicted the entire riot in moments.
“This is an illegal assembly…you are to disburse!”
They don’t call ’em “riot guns” for naught….
It would be the last riot in Vancouver’s/Canadian history. The Black Bloc would be history
The authority’s broke up the Winnipeg riot in the ’30’s….
Montreal cops failed with their famous riot.
Here we all are.
Who funds Gregor Robertson’s election campaigns? The Tides Foundation is funded by whom?
If the police and courts are incapable and/or unwilling to do what taxpayers pay them for then give the citizen free reign to police himself.
The moral relativist in me is thinking about taking a trip to Vancouver to smash and grab.
I mean…if nobody minds is it really wrong?
Rock salt, shot guns.
Does something change after 6 months, as hinted in the post?
Social justice, they got it.
The VPD completely dropped the ball on this. Knowing that what happened in 1994 would most likely be repeated, they should have been in place and ready to take action. Next time, get the water cannons out…the troublemakers won’t have much fun running around when they’re cold and wet.
Stephen, at the end of the hour, Adam Goodman, a lawyer in Toronto (and an acquaintance of mine) called in to Roy and they discussed that after 6 months those charged are entitled to a trial by jury. That makes things much more expensive to hold a trial. If hundreds were charged then, it would completely overload the courts.
I’m not a legal expert so I didn’t want to state all that too absolutely but, in a nutshell, that’s my understanding of why Dec 15th is so critical.
Out here on the left coast we see demonic mob violence as just a bunch of kids having fun. That’s the socialist way … until they have achieved totalitarian status …. then they will shoot people in the streets if they do not obey. … That’s the socialist way.
We need a concealed carry law and a right to help maintain the peace when our donut eaters either, cannot, will not, or are not allowed to do the job.
I wonder if shopkeepers can expect similar indolence when they shoot a few looters the next time a riot happens.
Water, heat and sound cannons would have dispersed the crowd fast, and with out any real chance of serious injury. Although I would be in favor of more extreme measures too since there is a crime taking place.
Doing nothing does nothing, it is quite simple really.
Iberia said: “Next time, get the water cannons out…the troublemakers won’t have much fun running around when they’re cold and wet.”
Wow. A broken watch is still right twice a day.
Yeah, I’m for water cannon. Dogs work too, as do cops who don’t have orders to RUN AWAY when confronted.
Or better yet, just put the f-ing JumboTron someplace where they can’t hurt anything and let the b@st@rds go nuts. A nice ten acre field at the edge of town, big parking lot, free beer, then they can burn their -own- cars. Duh.
If Vancouver re-elects these city hall morons then Vancouver deserves every damn thing that happens next. Oh. Yeah.
Well, at least the VPD can do something about this:
Position 6 motorcycle cops at the exit ramp from the Second Narrows bridge onto McGill at the spot where the speed limit drops from 80 to 60 (50?). But generally, only on really nice days when the boys in blue wanna a little group ride.
The Vancouver riots were really just “boys being boys” – a little youthful exuberance that became a tad excessive.
My wife volunteers at the Vancouver Symphony and takes the bus to and fro. For months before the riots she ranted about the boozie bum & slut party atmosphere on Granville.
My wife, who is new to matters political, has turned out to be an even more fervent libertarian than myself. She opined that you should never trust a party with the word vision in its name, or any politican who has a vision. Generally, these people should be hospitalized until the visions pass.
After the traffic and commerce-slowing monstrosity of the downtown bike lanes were intalled, the Georgia Straight’s front page triumpantly shouted, “What’s next Mr. Mayor?”. And now we know!
For those who don’t know this, Gregor owned Happy Planet juices before becoming mayor of Happy Town.
“Nov 19 – If the dreadful Gregor Robertson gets reelected mayor,”. Is George Soros already pouring money into Gregor’s re-election?
Don’t give up, remember what happened in Toronto last fall.
I don’t think they have any intention of arresting or charging the rioters, the cost would double the police and crown’s budgets much cheaper to let the scum go free.
The message is clear for potential tourists and business investors in shops and restaurants: in Vancouver, if anything happens, you’re on your own.
And the city is miffed that The Economist took them down a peg!
I like what they did in Africa, putting indelible ink in the water, then training the water cannons on the worst of the rioters. Easy to identify rioters for the next few days. I would like to see store owners being allowed guns, and allowed to shoot looters. I seem to recall seeing this in the US during the LA riots. As soon as you step inside a building you are fair game for target practise. Imagine, consequences, something lacking in our namby pampy justice system.
The Grey Cup is in Vancouver this fall . . watch for local stores etc to hire private security aka Bouncers, to do what the Mayor, Vision Vancouver and the VPD will not do . . . protect property even if it means breaking a few heads & arms in “self-defense”
If I had a store downtown, I would.
Dec 15.
Statute of Limitations exires for summary conviction offences.
Dual Procedure offences will go by indictment.
Hey. If and when Living Shangri-La or the CN Tower come crashing down, we won’t feel a thing out here.
Well, there were no dead rioters. So you know the cops weren’t doing enough.
well you can bet Gregor or the Keystone Kops won’t be put on the hot seat now. Heads should roll here. “No lynching” after a riot…indeed. If any of us severely normal peons had of screwed up our jobs so horribly we’d be job hunting, if not un-employable.
The Grey Cup shouldn’t be in Vancouver. The whole city will burn down. Sorry Robert. There is lots of room for you in Sask. And we have guns to protect you.
It’s even worse than you first imagined, Kate. Seems the husband of Premier Clark’s top aide was hired to write the report — and paid handsomely to do so.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/09/02/Clark-Aide-Wrote-Riot-Report/
We are endlessly blathered at by the left about real and imaginary rights, but the concept of responsibilities is never mentioned, especially the basic responsibility for a citizen to not be an asshole.
And while some rights seem terribly important to them the right to not have your store looted and burned down doesn’t get a whole lot of air time.
The right to not get beaten by drunken thugs who are destroying your livelihood isn’t big on their song sheet either.
As much as the cops dropped the ball if you have to have a cop standing beside you to keep you from beating a shopkeeper something is wrong.
That said, the way to stop the next riot is to quickly throw a bunch of these rioters in jail for extended stays.
Send a message to those who can’t figure out how to act like human beings.
@ ROBERT
OR should i say rob witch one were you again?
lol i herd you on the radio and i had some point’s of my own to make but after that stupid lady called in and talked about how the police were doing such a great job so on and so forth ..i threw in the towel and went on with my day not becasue she was wrong but she missed the whole point .
A) the mayor did not have ENOUGH police.
b)the ones that were making the disturbance should haveb een roughly rounded up and should be sitting in a jail cell til this day plain and simple but she went on and on about procces and policies …..and i agree but while your processing and policy-ing , let em rot in a jail cell simple even if they don’t get a charge at all i bet a few months in jail and a whole lot of explaining will make em and the others around them think long and hard about burning police cars and looting stores.
@ FRED that is truley an ingenious idea …but first take the tapes outo f the security cameras so the bouncers don’t get in trouble either.
When the concept of “sin” is rejected for the relativity of what is right and wrong, all Hell breaks loose! Thou Shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods. How many of this generation have even heard of the Decalogue?
the kumbaya thing again eh?
seems to me that riots will happen for one reason or another. in this case, seems to me the blame for the severity and do-nothing aftermath sits squarely in the lap of the utterly useless vancouver cops.
too bad the rioters werent armed, they could have shot a couple dozen and saved the taxpayers a load of cash.
after all, it is always good when a London cop is dead because a dead cop can never laugh at a victim.
Oooo, the little troll moi gets his hate on!
“after all, it is always good when a London cop is dead because a dead cop can never laugh at a victim.”
So, now mockery is a capital offense? Lefty showing his true colours. We know this about you trolly. Its why we mock you. Pointing and laughing at the little hate pustule, excellent sport.
But would you like to know what’s funniest about this? The cops are worthless because of people like -you- screaming bloody murder every time they arrest anybody for anything. Including theft.
You wonder why the cop laughed at you? You did it to yourself, moron.
Comedy gold! bwaha!
Armed citizens is the way to go…every city should have citizen colitians to mobilize when things like the Vancouver riots occur. Then we have to get rid of Liberal judges, lefty municipal and provincial govt…..if we dont change that, then nothing will change.
First thing we kill all the lawyers – Shakespeare or someone like that. Says Larry or larben or someone.
Mayor Robertson is incapable of accepting responsibility for ANYTHING. EVER. Same goes for Chief Chu. It’s an embarassment that we don’t have actual MEN running this city.