Does Anyone Trust The Cops?

I don't even know where to start on this story. Saint John's finest targeted a man (LeBlanc) who was taking pictures of a protest and three officers pinned him to the ground. He was arrested, charged with obstruction of justice, and police later testified that he was resisting arrest (a favorite catch-all accusation preferred by law enforcement personnel). The good news, for the victim, is that there is video evidence showing that he was peacefully snapping photos before being tackled out of the blue by police for no apparent reason.

"The video speaks for itself. It's very strong evidence, that video," [Judge] McCarroll said. "He's taking pictures. The next thing is, you know, he's down on the ground with three officers on him."

Police had testified earlier in the week that LeBlanc resisted during his arrest, but McCarroll held up a picture of the police walking LeBlanc peacefully across the lobby of the conference centre. "This doesn't look to me like someone who is resisting arrest."

The versions of the story told by the police are contradictory and inconsistent, and I didn't even get into how they set him up via his blog and then tried to deny any knowledge of knowing who he was before seeing him at the protest.

The judge so thoroughly blasted the police that the defence attorney is confident the case will be won and has decided there is no need to call any of his witnesses.

I'm very glad the judge spoke up about all of this, but I'm more concerned about the actions of the police in the first place. Sure, this guy will probably be found not guilty, but how will that address the fact that cops are engaging in shady business to frame innocent people? And since when is it illegal to take pictures of a public place and event unless you are a journalist? Did I miss something in the Anti-terrorism Act? I didn't realize the full extent of the Act's infringement on civil liberties if that's true - and it was scary enough with what I did know.

Guess He Found The Killer

So get this; O.J. Simpson has a two-part television special airing during the November sweeps where he "is to speak in "hypothetical terms" about how he would have committed the 1994 killing of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman "if he were the one responsible."" It's titled If I Did It, Here's How It Happened. The special coincides with the release of O.J's new book, If I Did It. I wonder if it will be categorized under Fiction or Non-Fiction?

For awhile after the trial, it seemed like the dude couldn't believe he'd gotten away with it all. Now he appears to be so damn smug about it, that he's going to go on National television to tell everyone how he did it - 'hypothetically' of course. If the guy is innocent, why would he do this? And even if he actually is innocent, what kind of reaction did he think this would bring? Maybe he's just one of those killers that need to brag about their crime, or to be recognized for their work. Whatever his reasons are, I think the dude is fucked up.

By the way, thank you for this Fox Network.

Update (14:19 PST) - And just like that, the whole thing is cancelled. The owner of Fox television decided to pull the plug on both O.J.'s t.v. special and book.

"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman.

I Love A Rainy Night

We had a wicked storm come through the South Coast yesterday that kicked up 100 km/h winds, knocked out power, and contaminated our three water reservoirs with dirt and mud (article). 125,000 people are still without power (down from the 200,000 from last night) and the whole Greater Vancouver Area was just placed under a boil water advisory. We're talking, all residents, businesses, the works, have to boil water before using it in any way - except for showers...just don't gulp down any water while you're in there.

The storm also allegedly knocked down a four story building that was under construction. Four floors of steel girders came crashing down crushing several cars - remarkably, not a single person was hurt. The construction crew happened to be on a break at the time of the accident, and nobody was in any of the squashed cars. The Sea to Sky highway had to be closed for several hours because too many trees had fallen across the road, and there is flooding everywhere.

And it isn't over yet; a new front is moving in and we already have a heavy rainfall warning for this weekend!



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Building Of Interest

In July of this year, local filmmaker Yun Lam Li embarked on a three-year documentary project entitled "The Reincarnation of W", to examine how changes to Woodward's affect people living in the area. Li says he wants to record people's predictions of Woodward's future now and compare them to the actual outcomes in 2009 when construction of the building is finished. The first chapter of his documentary is available on his website.

The point is; two minutes into the clip you get to watch a building implode. Always a good time.



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Rumsfeldless

Democrats have control of the House of Representatives and Congress in the States. Rumsfeld resigned. Bush is sad. I'm totally on board with all this change. Now if we can just stop Harper from taking a majority in this country next year... well, that would be the fucking cat's meow.


CBC article



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Definitely a Vancouverite

It was only 5:30 p.m. but it was dark. I was driving home from the office in the pouring rain, my windshield wipers on full speed to keep the shiny road surface visible. At a red light, looking at the wet scene around me, I got that warm nostalgic feeling as I suddenly thought, "It feels like Christmas."


In other news, we have a local flood warning in effect due to the rain!



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How Many Gifts?

Everyone in my office is invited to a surprise bridal shower for one of our co-workers, Joyce. The invitation also says that "Joyce and Jenn are registered at Pottery Barn & Restoration Hardware". If you are going to a lesbian bridal shower, are both engaged people going to be there?

Random Quote #5

At a bar in Waterloo, Ontario.

Johnny Good Times: "That was my ex-girlfriend."

Louis: "Did you fuck her in the nose?"

Good Times: "No man, I fucked her in the normal."



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Official Photographer

I've become one of those people who take pictures of everything. I don't reserve my camera just for special events, I also constantly snap shots of the every day. When a gathering does occur I relentlessly take photos of the festivities and as a result end up with lots of great moments caught for posterity - which means that I have been named the Official Photographer of the DMB tours I attend. Not by the band of course, but by my friends who also travel to lots of shows.

It's an honour to be responsible for capturing these memories, not to mention a whole lot of fun. And now someone who I think is amazing, has also taken note of my pictures. Recently I got some exciting information from a friend in Nevada; Mike Doughty posted some of my pictures on his blog!

Check out the three posts on September 20th, those are all my pictures from the show in San Francisco and Mike generously credits me for each of them. How cool is that?



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