Brokeback Alberta

Thousands of men are arriving every day to work in camps in Alberta's booming Tar Sands.

Men, thousands, horny, in camps.

You don't have to be a cowboy to realize why Alberta was perfect for filming Brokeback Mountain.

But had they called it Fort McMurray would it have won?

Alberta Conservative MLA praises Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain, a Academy Award-winning movie shot in Alberta about two gay cowboys, has won high praise from a Conservative member of the Alberta legislature.

In a member’s statement today, George Groeneveld, who represents the southwestern riding of Highwood where it was filmed, congratulated those who worked on the movie.

The film won three Oscars at Sunday’s Academy Awards, including best director. It had been nominated for six, losing the highly coveted best picture honour to Crash.

Groeneveld said it captures the best Alberta has to offer tourists - big skies, beautiful landscapes, horse trails and the ranch experience.

He didn’t mention the plot of the movie, which is about two cowboys who fall in love while herding sheep in the mountains and spend the rest of their lives trying to come to terms with their secret relationship.

Yep he is still in denial unlike the Calgary Stampede folks the ultimate cowboy fetishists.

Gay connection

Call it karmic justice.

The province long admired by human rights holdouts as a shining beacon of hope in denying gays their full dignity has contributed much to what may well be a watershed in their ultimate acceptance.

Cementing that irony is the vehicle employed, one normally an icon of masculine heterosexuality that's as much a symbol in Alberta of rock-ribbed adherence to tradition and convention as anything -- the cowboy.

Brokeback Mountain's a film that's done more to normalize homosexual relationships than any pop culture entry in memory and Alberta is its canvas.

A rollicking rhapsody of frothing Alberta rivers, alpine crags and raucous honky tonks set the stage for forbidden love.

If cowboys riding the rugged range can be gay, maybe they really are born that way.

It's a truth laid bare on film that's highly toxic to those who'd withhold equality from some of their neighbours.

And how will the Calgary Stampede react to the new version of the romance of the old West?

Will Stampede queen take on a whole new meaning?

Surely Brokeback stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are parade marshal material, whose presence would pay worthy homage to the heart of the new West. And better still for the purveyors of family entertainment, they're straight.

One would assume the invitations have already been sent.

A spokesman for Calgary's ultimate old boys' club sounds downright enlightened, bullish on all things Brokeback.

"It's a celebration of the cowboy lifestyle ... it's a love story and there's nothing wrong with that," says Lindsey Galloway, who sounds like he's playing with a fire hot enough in these parts to brand with.

"We're certainly leveraging the opportunities of Brokeback Mountain ... it wouldn't go against our values."

That sounds like fertile ground for a "salute to the alternative cowboy" with a once-taboo turn in the Grandstand Show.

And not to be left out of the Oscar frenzy and Alberta love in with Brokeback Mountain even the Alberta government press release quotes the union involved in making the film. The Union. In anti-union, anti-gay Alberta.

Damien Petti, president of IATSE Local 212, the union representing most of the 600 crew who worked on the film, was also among the cheering crowd watching the Academy Awards. "Credibility. Alberta crews have even more of that after tonight. Our crews have had an amazing year, and we’ve proven to the world that we can produce high-quality films right here in Alberta."

And of course we will camp it up with our cowboy culture cause thats what brings in the tourist bucks. Besides the Stampede is the ultimate in cowboy camp.

Searching for the real 'Brokeback'

FILM, BOOK DRAW VISITORS TO THE BREATHTAKING VISTAS OF WYOMING, ALBERTA

See my other Brokeback stories


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Brecht Meets Oscar

Last nights Academy Awards was the liberal revenge of Hollywood. Ang Lee denouncing Homophobia and racism.

The later was ironic in light of the controversy around the Oscar for best song;

Oscar Winner Hits Angry Chord When Christine Smith heard the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" announced as the Oscar winner for best original song on Sunday night's telecast, she almost fell off the sofa in her Arlington living room.

George Clooney predictably announced that it was the return of films with real social values not commercial value that counted.

Then he launched into an impassioned and supportive speech about the liberal mindset of Hollywood. This despite accusations, and Oscar host Jon Stewart’s jokes, that it means Hollywood is out of touch with George W. Bush’s mainstream America. “I’m proud to be part of this Academy,” Clooney said, “proud to be part of this community and proud to be out of touch.”

The morning after this proved all too true. South Dakota gov. signs abortion ban into law

Best of all award for speeches goes to Canadian Writer/Director of Best Picture Crash, Paul Haggis quoting Berthold Brecht; Art is not a mirror to hold up to society but a hammer with which to shape it.

Berthold Brecht the Marxist, well it took a Canadian. Guess despite the election of the Harper that proves we are a nation of Cultural Marxists up here much to the chagrin of the looney right.

And hey those wacky wonderful socialist Penguins won an Oscar too!


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No Taliban Here

A number of self proclaimed 'progressive' 'left-wing' Pro War bloggers like Terry Glavin , The Amazing Wonderdog and Jim Monk have asserted that the Taliban Did It, in knee jerk response to the attack in Kandahar on journalist, social activist and Canadian Army Captain Trevor Greene.

Of course as a journalist Glavin should know better than make an unfounded assertion without the facts to back it up. Especially when he is repeating spurious accusations released by the Military.

Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, head of the Canadian contingent of 2,200 troops in Afghanistan, said in no uncertain terms Sunday that the attacker was an operative of the Taliban.

But being pro-war the facts don't matter its good sensationalist reporting to prove a badly made point that’s important.

And no the Taliban did not do it. A simple reading of even the article I posted here the other day proves that;


Afghan villagers won't say who axe-wielding attacker of Canadian was

The villager, in his 20s, held the axe high over Greene's head and yelled "Allah Akbar" - God is Great - the signature call of an Islamist suicide attacker.

A villager, not a Taliban fighter. Oh yes dead give away that Allah Akbar. Sheesh this is Afghanistan everyone says that. Didn't anyone ever see Gunga Din?

Even a right wing Pro War blogger like Candace doesn’t stoop to making false claims that the Taliban did it. She quotes the CTV report which was based on an eyewitness account by a Canadian soldier;

"He was surrounded by many local tribesmen as well as Canadian soldiers," Chao told CTV Newsnet. "However as the meeting began, we understand, a man with an axe came out and attacked him. Immediately following there was chaos, Canadian soldiers opened fire, we understand, after some grenades were lobbed by some other attackers.

Ok a man with an axe now but still no Taliban identified in this story either. Nor any screaming of Allah Ahkbar.

The truth on the other hand is muddier and grey. And reinforces what I have said, our troops are replacing retreating US forces and being attacked for it.

Villager: Axe attacker was not Taliban

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - An Afghan elder is disputing the Canadian military's claim that a man with an axe who seriously wounded a Canadian soldier was a Taliban operative, but Haji Mohammed Eisah's assertion only underlines the murky world of political affiliations in southern Afghanistan. Eisah says the axe-wielding attacker was Abdul Karim, a 16-year-old boy who was upset by the U.S.-led coalition's heavy-handed tactics and insensitivity to tribal traditions. Eisah said the boy had no Taliban connections. Eisah said Karim was the son of a poor shoe repairman in Kondalan Schinkai. Senior military sources confirmed the identity of the attacker on Monday, but said Karim's exact age is impossible to establish. Eisah says the boy was one of many local people who are angry at coalition and Afghan army tactics, such as operations where they search and occupy the homes of villagers. "They come to our village and search our homes and our women," Eisah in an interview by satellite telephone. "This guy was very angry about these kinds of operations." Eisah was part of a delegation of conservative rural tribal elders from the heart of Taliban country who travelled to Kandahar city a couple weeks ago to complain about house-to-house searches. The elders said coalition troops break down doors and search randomly after attacks, sending women out of the house and outraging community members. Afghan troops often follow up by occupying houses and stealing their meat, the elders complained. "Coalition forces come and search the homes, Afghan forces stay the night and we have to take our women to another home," Eisah said.

What Glavin wants to assert is that there is popular support for foreign forces in Afghanistan because some polls say so. But the people, the masses, the folks in Kandahar failed to read those polls I guess.

Our troops are not being attacked for being friendly Canadian Peace Keepers building schools, and hospitals, and sweeping for land mines, but for being mistaken for American troops who with their Afghan army cohorts raided villages in the war zone.

And while Glavin and Monk and others promote the Taliban Did It thesis, to prove their point that this is a remake of the Spanish Civil War and our Troops are akin to the International Brigades the truth is this is NOT the same.

Glavin wants there to be one fascist enemy the Taliban. But in reality there are no clear cut lines like in the Spanish Civil War. Instead even the current regime being defended is full of fascists and misogynist Warlords as bad as the Taliban.

This is a plague on both your houses situation. The Warlords are gathered in the North and rule with an iron fist. In the south autonomous tribal areas are being raided by NATO troops and the Pakistani army. Its a no win situation.Pakistani troops, pro-Taliban forces clash

The fact is that the only time Afghanistan was stable, women were free, hospitals and schools were built and modicum of civilization was in place was under Soviet rule. Something none of the Pro War types wishes to admit. Cause that of course would force them to remove their anti-Soviet blinders and admit that from the very beginning this Mujahedin war supported by the CIA was a social failure.

The Wall Street Journal and The Workers Vanguard Agree: Both Capitalists and Communists Conclude Afghanistan Better Off Under Soviets Than Northern Alliance

That being said our volunteer working class army needs your support and Candace has provided a link to send email and aid packages to our injured soldiers in Germany. Maybe Terry, Skippy and Jim can send an email of support, rather than just blogging about it.

More on Afghanistan

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MacKay Lies

Overheard on CPAC Politics Live coverage of today's press conference with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Mackay and the Foreign Affairs Minister of Russia.

Peter MacKay told reporters that our Troops were in Afghanistan "because parliament voted on them going".

Oh really when was that?

Chretien agreed to send troops as PM without a debate or vote in the house. The Conservatives called for a non-binding debate, but Chretien dismissed it with the same "support our troops don't be divisive" rhetoric now being used by the Harpocrites.Commons vote could undermine Afghan mission, says MacKay

Or perhaps Peter was referring to the Russian parliament, the Duma, maybe they voted to send troops to Afghanistan but the Canadian Duma, er parliament didn't.

But it looks like it may turn into another Russian style debacle too, cause now when asked by a reporter if we could be there for ten, yes ten years, Mackay couldn't answer!Troops could stay longer in Afghanistan

So who will decide if we are at War since we are no longer peacekeeping?

The democratically elected representatives of the people of Canada? Heck no. Generals will determine Afghan stay: MacKay


Also see my other posts on Afghanistan

And for a Left View from the Middle East see:Islam And Class War

Also see: Support Our PeaceMakers
While folks are all verklempt about our Troops, pacifist activists with the Christian PeaceMakers Team remain hostages in Iraq and our government has done nothing about it.

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The Iraq War & Archaeology

I found this interesting site which is tracking the looting of ancient treasures in Iraq. As Iraq was once ancient Babylon and later Mesopotamia with its Euprates and Tigras rivers was the literal crossroads of all ancient civilizations and cultures. It is the source of all peoples of the historical bible. Its historical and archeaological importance is lost in the tragedy which has been the legacy of twenty years of war.

The Iraq War & Archaeology An Archaeos, Inc., Documentation and Information Project Dr. Francis Deblauwe, Director & Editor Dr. David Nelson Gimbel, Co-Director Prof. Dr. Gebhard Selz, Co-Director IW&A is a joint project of Archaeos, Inc., and the Institut für Orientalistik of the Universität Wien (Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Vienna, Austria) *

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Terry Glavin Loses It

Poor Terry Glavin has been bitten with the war mongering bug that historically plagues social democrats. He is defending the Canadian Military police operation in Afghanistan.

He was understandably distraught over the attack on Trevor Greene social activist and journalist who had joined the military and was seriously injured yesterday in an axe attack.

Being a fellow journalist and Vancouverite and 'progressive' social democrat Terry is right to be outraged.

But his outrage is misdirected. Instead of opposing the war that has possibly gotten his friend killed, in classic social democratic fashion he defends imperialism and Canadian military actions in support of Imperialism in the region.

Human compassion is the key to solidarity, and I too share a solidarity with our women and men in harms way. They are after all volunteers and workers, who have to follow orders. Orders given not by the people of Canada or its parliment but by the PMO.

Which may explain why with our all volunteer armed forces the DND are advertising heavily in the Maritimes, the traditional base of our Armed forces due to high unemployment. The working classes are employed to kill for the ruling class. But we will have no debate over it!

However Terry goes on to slag me in particular and the Anti-War left in general in a language that I mistook for his being a Blogging Tory with such trite and inflammatory comments as; Canada's Anti-war left says it knows what's best for the people there,

No one I know suggests we know what's best for the Afghan people, we too support their right to self government. Exactly why we say Troops Out Now. And while Terry tries to prove the Afghan peoples support of our troops by polling the real facts say otherwise; see my State Terrorism.

Kandahar is an open zone a porous region where tribesmen, Taliban, Afghanis and Pakistanis know no borders. It is an area of Warrior Tribal chieftains, and internecine battles. It is not Paris. Heck its not even Calcutta.

It is a historic war zone going back hundreds of years. It is the source of opium production, home of the ancient smuggling routes for Lapis Lazuli and other precious stones and hashish. It is the wild west . And I doubt very much that pollsters went out there and polled anybody. Or they too would have ended up hostages or dead. As I posted yesterday;

Quetta, the capital of the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, lies about 200 kilometres southeast of Kandahar, across a porous border. Many of my fellow countrymen have made the journey here. In fact, some sections of the city seem to be populated almost entirely by Taleban who fled after the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. Over the last year, Kandahar has seen an alarming rise in suicide bombings and attacks on troops and government installations. In the past three months alone, there have been more than 20 acts of violence, leaving dozens dead, hundreds wounded, and an entire province terrorised. Quetta provides a ready supply of young men prepared to wreak havoc in Afghanistan.

This region is neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan it is the autonomous tribal provinces that even the Pakistan military fears to enter.

Afghanistan was the Hobbesian state that was kosher for interference by its neighbouring countries so that each could secure itself against the fallout of its endemic internal chaos. In Pakistan today thanks to decades of jihad that kept the borders as porous as possible — many regions resemble Afghanistan.

It will not become civilized because our volunteer working class army protects the new ruling class visiting from the safety of their greenzone in Kabul.

And even Kabul is not safe, which last weeks prison insurrection showed, as did King George II's secret very secure visit to Karzai's palace and the US Airforce base last week. He did not tour free and democratic Afghanistan because there is no such a creature.

As I have said before; Afghanistan is the model of American Nation Building, invade, put in a puppet regime, leave. Let the chips fall where they may and some one else can clean it up.

Karzai, the former Unocal Oil Director for the region, was hand picked by the U.S. and the first action of nation building was the creation of a Presidential State not a representative parliamentary democracy, not a consituent assembly, but the election of the CEO of the new Afghanistan colony of the U.S.

Two years later there are finally parlimentary elections, but like the intervening cabinet style government and now this one, it is an assembly of rogues and War Lords. In fact without the repressive Northern clans of War Lords the U.S. would not have been able to drive the Taliban, the Northern Warlords historic enemy, out of Kabul.

And here is the irony both the left and the right at the time noted this fact. It was an unholy alliance between the U.S., CIA and the Northern Warlords.

The Wall Street Journal and The Workers Vanguard Agree: Both Capitalists and Communists Conclude Afghanistan Better Off Under Soviets Than Northern Alliance

And while there was much propagandizing over how the American invasion was going to free women from oppression in Afghanistan the new State like the old State is still persecuting publications that promote even a minwomen'sf womens rights.

So Terry undaunted goes on to say;

Some civil war: On one side, an alliance of vicious brigands, gangsters, and theocratic fascists who command the dedicated support of only two per cent of the Afghan population, and on the other side, 93 per cent of the Afghan people who support the countryÂ’s newly constituted, democratically-elected government. The trouble with the pseuds is that even with those odds, they donÂ’t have the guts to back the winning side, the peopleÂ’s side, which also happens to be the side CanadaÂ’s soldiers are on.

Ah a winning side. What is that excatly? Why it is legalized brigands, gangsters, and theocratic fascists who were elected versus their opponents. The Karzai government is a sham. It has a cabinet which is brokered between warlords who retain their fuedal power in their provinces. It has no control over the opium production going on in these provinces, persecution of women, of the press, etc.

It has a constitution and democracy on paper but in reality it is still not a real peoples democracy. It is a Hobbesian State. It was just a stop on Americas way to its original goal; Iraq.

This is my position as a Libertarian Communist on the Left.

Terry is a social democrat, an ideologue like his predecesors; who were willing to support Imperialist War despite their previous opposition against it.

And like them he is the true psuedo-leftist, when it comes to opposing war it's about foreign wars but not wars our own troops are engaged in.

But who will fight for the Afghanistan State if we leave? Why thanks to globalization and capitalist privatization the Karzai government can do what the US and UK have been doing; hire mercenaries, err sorry private contractors.This is after all a war for private capitalist interests; oil, pipelines and opium.

Also see my other posts on Afghanistan

And for a Left View from the Middle East see:Islam And Class War

Also see: Support Our PeaceMakers
While folks are all verklempt about our Troops, pacifist activists with the Christian PeaceMakers Team remain hostages in Iraq and our government has done nothing about it.

See my comment on a previous blog posting by Terry; Left, Right and Liberty

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Paper Wars

An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on the success of the Globe and Mail with surging circulation, online and for its print edition. Beating even the American newspaper numbers.

Now what I found interesting is their chart of the Toronto Papers, which they include the National Pest, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and the Toronto Sun.





It appears that the every declining and money losing National Pest is finally catching up to the Sun. In which case they should not have hired the has been blogger and Liberal/Zionist apologist; Warren Kinsella as a columnist ,but put in page 3 girls to match their real competition, ideologically and circulation wise.

Nice thing about the Pest is that in terms of capitalism it is bleeding the Aspers CanWest operations dry. Every other member paper iand even it's TV stations in Canada has to pay for the joy of supporting the National Pest in its efforts to be the daily National Review for Canada.

And note that the first Editor in Chief of the Pest was Alberta Report Alumni Ken Whyte. Who is now editor for Macleans. Every publication that has Whyte as an editor has ended up on the chopping block. The Pests demise is just a matter of time once the poor corpre realizes its dead. And with Whyte's ability to turn everything he touches to shit, err to an Alberta Report Doppelganger, well Macleans demise should not be too far away.

When Mr. Black was running the Post, he viewed it as a vehicle for gaining a voice in Canadian politics and appeared willing to spend heavily to win a following. Courting the Globe's upscale readers, the Post launched such features as a book section, a society page and columns by well-known writers. As a result, even stalwart Globe advertisers flirted with the new paper.
On the first day the Post published, in October 1998, high-end menswear retailer Harry Rosen, a longtime Globe advertiser, launched a campaign in the Post featuring the paper's editor in chief, Kenneth Whyte, wearing a three-piece Harry Rosen suit. But the Post lost millions in its first three years. And after CanWest bought it, the new owners slashed staff and gutted popular sections in an effort to break even. When readers abandoned the slimmed-down paper, CanWest brought back some sections but is still working on stemming losses, a company spokesman says. Harry Rosen now places most of its ads in the Globe, says Larry Rosen, chief executive of the closely held Toronto company.

A tip o the blog to Paul Wells for this.


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