rants and observations

It’s no secret that here’s no shortage of scumbags in the lower mainland but the numbers seem to be growing as our useless legal system does little or nothing to slow their reign of terror. Here’s a few of the most recent pieces of garbage to grace the pages of our local newspapers:

On July 5, 2005 16-year-old Matthew Martins made the mistake of walking by Katherine Quinn’s house. Quinn, a 23-year-old greasy-haired, bottom-feeding mother of three decided to jump Matthew and take his necklace. Matthew had other ideas and used a penknife to defend himself and stab Quinn.

Matthew was chased to the Surrey Central SkyTrain station and Quinn’s low-life boyfriend, 28-year-old Robert Forslund, beat him to death with Quinn instructing him to kill Matthew for what he had done to her. No mention there of what she had done to Matthew however and Forslund threw Matthew into a Plesiglass window, kicked him and stomped on his head, leaving him to die in the SkyTrain station.

Forslund and Quinn were charged with second-degree murder and both were convicted in April 2007. Forslund, thankfully, was sentenced to a life sentence with no parole for 17 years. Quinn, a pathetic excuse for a mother and human being, appealed her sentence and the B.C. Court of Appeal, in its infinite wisdom, overturned her conviction and let the piece of garbage back on to the streets.

Quinn was interviewed by The Province newspaper and was is typically remorseful and apologetic. “If I had one wish, Matthew would be on this earth…That’s it. I wish [his family] didn’t have to go through this.” she lamented. If I had one wish it would be that Canada still offered capital punishment and executed pieces of garbage like Quinn and Forslund.

On May 17, 2008 Carol Berner had an unspecified number of drinks before driving her car at 91 km/hr, swerving and hitting a parked car and a number of pedestrians. Berner killed 4-year-old Alexa Middelaer and seriously injured her aunt Daphne Johanson.

The RCMP initiated a sting operation to glean any evidence about Berner’s state of inebriation that fateful day, recruiting two officers to act as boyfriend/girlfriend and befriend Berner at a local pub. This evidence is now being revealed in court as Berner denies responsibility for the death of an innocent 4-year-old and major injuries to her aunt. Berner was reported as being more concerned with the location of her new, stylish eye-wear and remorse at missing her dinner date that evening than the state of the families she had impacted by her disgusting behaviour and disregard for anyone but herself.

Typically, her defence maintains Berner’s rights had been violated and police evidence should be excluded from her impared driving trial. Berner has yet to apologize to the parents of Alexa or Daphne Johanson or show any concern for anyone but herself. I suggest she suck it up and take responsibility for Alexa’s death, the pain and suffering she has caused the families caught in the midst of her stupidity and receive the punishment she so richly deserves.

According to a Surrey pre-trial centre judge, Jamie Bacon is being mistreated in jail and his rights have been violated. As taxpayers pay the tab for Bacon’s court costs, Justice Mark McEwan ruled that the Surrey Pre-Trial Centre was “in breach of Section 7 of the Charter by creating circumstances and maintaining the petitioner in circumstances that mainfestly threaten the security of his person.”

This ruling doesn’t mention that Bacon and his gang, the Red Scorpions, are responsible for significantly more misery and pain than the Surrey Pre-Trial Centre could ever exact but that doesn’t matter, right. We need to protect Mr. Bacon’s rights and ensure he gets the best care and attention befitting his lofty position within our society. Or we could just throw him in solitary confinement for the rest of his life and call it a day.

Charles Kembo personifies the word douchebag. There are just not enough words to describe the level of douchebag this idiot has attained as he languishes in prison serving his sentence for multiple murders and complaining about his conviction. I hereby offer my services to Corrections Canada as their official Executioner For A Day and promise to put Mr. Kembo high on my list of the day’s duties and ensure he will never walk the streets again. Some Canadians consider capital punishment primitive and distasteful but why should be pay for people like Kembo and doesn’t he really deserve it?

Kembo was convicted and sentenced to life in jail for the murder of:

• His wife, Margaret Kembo, 44, who disappeared sometime around October 2002
• His ‘friend’ Arden Bernard Samuel, 38, killed in October 2003
• His step-daughter Rita Yeung, 21, slain days before Kembo’s arrest in July 2005 and dumped in the Fraser River
• His mistress Siu Yin Ma, 55, found stuffed in a hockey bag in a slough near the Massey tunnel in November 2004

With his unprecendented pay raises and lies about the HST and the sale of B.C. Rail, Gordon Campbell and his Liberal party idiots are systematically destroying the province of British Columbia.

His insistence on implementing the hated tax grab they call the HST is beyond belief and the various stories and lies he cooks up to defend his party’s decision has ensured this lifetime Liberal supporter will never vote for his party again.

Some may question the inclusion of Mr. Campbell amongst Charles Kimbo, Katherine Quinn, Carol Berner and Jamie Bacon but the pain and suffering inflicted on the residents of this province by the HST and his other poor decisions are comparable to the suffering inflicted by this group of micreants. The sooner other LIberal MLA’s grow some balls (as did Blair Lekstrom) and abandon caucus the sooner we can rid ourselves of this idiot and his cronies. His hubris, blatant disregard for the wishes of B.C. voters and his lies and self-serving decisions are proof of his inability to lead the Liberal party and British Columbia.

Which leads us to think that, in comparison, perhaps Bill Vander Zalm’s Socred idiots or Glen Clark’s NDP morons weren’t such crooks after all.

Today is the birthday of Lilian (Anne) Louise Barker. My lovely mum passed away at the young age of 46 in early 1975 and today, June 11, 2010 would have been her 81st birthday. I was just a kid when she left us after a long battle with cancer but I remember her laugh, her grace and unending patience with her four children.

In amongst my treasured childhood possessions I have a few slips of paper that mum occasionally slipped under my pillow while I slept. One note, left the night before my brother and I headed to the local aquatic centre for swimming lessons, requested that I “have a nice swim ~ and one for me”. The same message stated “You’re snoring!!” in large letters at the bottom of the paper which was obviously her observation while planting the message under my pillow. Mum knew I loved to find her various scribblings tucked under my pillow in the morning and, even as a child, appreciated the love contained within each. I read a few of her notes today and they never fail to bring a tear to my eye and make me appreciate how special she was.

Lilian Louise was a great mum, good friend to those that knew her and a wonderful woman. I’ve missed her since she left us all in 1975 and think about her every day of my life. Happy 81st birthday Mum. I only wish you were around to celebrate it with us.

I’m not big into recommending stuff to people I don’t know but I thought some of you may enjoy these two completely unrelated visual and gastronomical items:

RECOMMENDATION #1: If you enjoy quirky and inventive movies I sugest you see Kick-Ass. Yes, I know…it sounds like another dopey teen superhero flick and you’re partially right. It starts out with the typical socially inept, Peter Parker-type main character that morphes into the film’s superhero but it becomes uncharacteristically dark about 30 minutes in. Once you’ve heard an 11-year old girl use the ‘C’ word, all bets are off. Obviously, this isn’t family or first date fare but it’s a refreshing take on the typical Spider Man, Superman and other processed superhero pablum we’ve all become familiar with. And McLovin is in it so what’s there to lose?

RECOMMENDATION #2: Japanese Ramen chefs are born not created. But just to be sure, top purveyors of this relatively cheap but delicious soup undergo years of training to perfect the perfect bowl of broth, meat and vegetables. In fact the late Brittany Murphy starred in The Ramen Girl which told the story of a young girl who undergoes the training to become a top Ramen chef. If Hollywood makes a movie about it then it’s gotta be something worth trying, right?

Forget those nasty little packages of dried noodles and powdered flavouring available at the local supermarket and visit Peter Shin of Takano Japanese Noodle Cafe, one of those accomplished and highly trained Ramen chefs. And believe me, his soups are to die for. His soups are full of fresh ingredients, contain no MSG and very little salt and are an overall healthy choice for meat and non-meat eaters alike. The nondescript little restaurant at 103-3242 Westwood Street in Port Coquitlam produces the best Ramen noodles and broth you will find and most are relatively cheap. The restaurant is relatively modest and the decor has much to be desired but the hospitality and graciousness of Peter and his wife, not to mention his amazing soups, more than make up for it. Do yourself a favour and drop by for lunch or dinner. It brings a whole new meaning to the word tasty.

Facebook sucks at the best of times. It reaches a new level of suck when a few teenage horn-dogs flagrantly advertise their intention on a Facebook page to bed Grade 8 school girls. Such was the case with students at Lord Tweedsmuir High School in Cloverdale.

This industrious group of mouth-breathing chronic masturbators posted their intentions on Facebook for all to see which, not surprisingly, came to the attention of school administrators. And you can imagine how they reacted. No, they didn’t take the offenders aside, lecture them about bad behaviour, order them to remove the page and call it a day. Contrary to what would have happened in my day, all hell broke loose. In these days of touchy-feely political correctness, Surrey school officials contacted the RCMP and alerted the parents of hundreds of children at Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School. All that because a few horny goofballs posted their impossible dream on a social networking site. And don’t you think that the RCMP have better things to do than lecture horny teenagers about controlling their feral libido?

The horn-dogs in questions encouraged grade 11 and 12 boys to seduce Grade 8 girls and become part of their LGS Club (which laughingly stands for ‘Little Girl Slayers‘). Yeah, right guys. I can only imagine the participants likelihood of actually doing the nasty with anyone or anything other than an artfully carved cantaloupe.

Someone blew the whistle and reported the boys cheesy web page which inspired knee-jerk officials to call in Anita Roberts, founder of SafeTeen to counsel 150 Grade 8 girls. Counsel them about what? That young guys will try to get into their pants? I defy you to show me any Grade 8 girl that isn’t acutely aware of that fact and if you manage to find one, I will personally submit her name to the Vatican for sainthood. Or at least suggest she get some face time on the next Girls Gone Wild video.

Ms. Roberts, whom I’m guessing is a barrel of laughs at a stag party, said “To have something like ‘Little Girl Slayers’ is such a virulent title, and it represents the macho competition of notches on the belt. It’s young men who buy into those stereotypes, and their own self-esteem is broken enough that they feel the need to exert this kind of power and control over more vulnerable people.” What a pile of horse shit.

My message to Anita Roberts and those like her is this: Young guys are mostly immature and horny. They like to appear to their peers as being much, much more sexually active than they really are or ever hope to be. Young guys are full of bravado and think the sun rises and sets directly from their butt-holes. Young guys are, for the most part, goofballs. So when a group of said goofballs decide to post a ridiculous Facebook page proposing sexual domination over all Grade 8 girls at a high school, I don’t think the RCMP are required. I think a lecture about maturity and social graces is in order and the loss of prophylactic vending machine privileges.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that teen violence against women (and men) isn’t a real concern and we need systems and laws in place to deal with the issue. But teenage boys posting messages on the 21st century’s equivalent of the bathroom wall doesn’t require police, school officials and politically correct social and behavioral counselors to wade in and make it all better. Ms. Roberts group presented the Grade 8 girls with a program on sexual boundaries entitled “My Body is not Your Playground“. No, I’m not making this up. She also stated that not all Grade 11 and 12 boys should be branded as predators. Thanks Anita…you’re the best.

The Surrey School District sent out letters to the families of Grade 8 girls on May 6 and to Grade 11 and 12 boys on May 10. School principal Allan Buggie said “Through Facebook and in discussions with a few students, as well as police, it was learned that a small group of senior boys were making a ‘game’ of sorts to try to seduce Grade 8 girls. I need to emphasize that nothing untoward has been happening at the school in this regard and it’s not known how many of our senior boys or Grade 8 girls may have actually been involved in any way with this activity.” I’m guessing that, like the RCMP, Mr. Buggie is probably far too busy running his school to comment about this silly situation but hey, that’s why he’s paid the big bucks, right?

It was also reported that Grade 11 girls at Lord Tweedsmuir High School said it is commonplace for older students to make passes at younger girls (which I’m guessing are wholly rejected by the vast majority of intelligent and socially aware students). Is it just me or is all of this beyond bizarre? What the hell is happening out there? And what the hell has happened to childhood? Why is there always a group of adult P.C. wankers ready to turn an insignificant and laughable situation into a full blown media event?

And to the horn-dog students who posted the Facebook page that caused all the hub-bub I can only say that being a teenager wasn’t always so difficult. I certainly don’t condone your behaviour but once upon a time school teachers and administrators actually remembered what it was like to be a teenager themselves.