"I know being the opposition is a hard and dirty job but you were up for it" Stephen Harper speaking tonight to his MP's in response to the defeat of the government.
Opps the Harper is implying that they got down and dirty to defeat the government like playing tricks with tapes like Gerwal did, or calling the Liberals 'mafia' err 'organized crime'. I think he meant to say its a hard and thankless job. Ah well the truth is out, the mudslinging and playing dirty was their strategy all along. Ooo like we didn't know that.
He frowned and looked waaaay to serious as he approached the podium, and when he wasn't forcing his cold fish smile he was looking away distracted. Never have I seen a politician frown while he smiles. How does he do that?
The Conservative messaging Vote Us to Build a Better Future and a Better Canada.
Martin on the other hand was bouyant and ready for the pugilistic battle coming on. The Liberals message is Keep the Good Times Rolling.
Both spoke from their caucus rooms. The difference was the Conservatives showed the diversity of their party with younger members, ethnic diversity and women. The old white guys that dominate the party were in the back of the room.
And as I said here before Laytons message was Canada can do better with more New Democrats.
Ok folks we are off and racing, place your wagers now.
Monday, November 28, 2005
And They Are Off And Racing
The Globe and Mail online reports:
Countdown to confidence vote The no-confidence motion that will likely topple Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberal is only minutes away. The early evening no-confidence vote, set for 6:45 p.m. EST, is likely to trigger the fall of the government after only 17 months in power.
CBC and CTV are covering it live quick go to the TV.
While watching the Party Communications directors on the extended broadcast Don Newmans Politics show we were given the messaging for this election. The Liberals will say; "We kept our promises", The Conservatives will say "Its about ethics" and the NDP will say "More NDPers make a difference."
Ready Set Go.
Now if the NDP want to really stick it to the Liberals they would steal their message The Liberals Made Promises, the NDP kept them.
Countdown to confidence vote The no-confidence motion that will likely topple Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberal is only minutes away. The early evening no-confidence vote, set for 6:45 p.m. EST, is likely to trigger the fall of the government after only 17 months in power.
CBC and CTV are covering it live quick go to the TV.
While watching the Party Communications directors on the extended broadcast Don Newmans Politics show we were given the messaging for this election. The Liberals will say; "We kept our promises", The Conservatives will say "Its about ethics" and the NDP will say "More NDPers make a difference."
Ready Set Go.
Now if the NDP want to really stick it to the Liberals they would steal their message The Liberals Made Promises, the NDP kept them.
Ignatieff Imperialist Apologist
A Tip o' the Blog to Simon Pole for bringing this to my attention.Ignatieff Angers Ukrainian Canadians
Where Liberal Candidate and apologist for Empire Ignatieff says; "My difficulty in taking Ukraine seriously goes deeper than just my cosmopolitan suspicion of nationalists everywhere. Somewhere inside I'm also what Ukrainians would call a great Russian and there is just a trace of old Russian disdain for these little Russians."
As someone of Ukrainian Canadian origin I, like the Ukrainian Canadians in his riding (one he has been parachuted into) consider such a comment a form of bigoted racism thinly disguised as national differences.
And as I come from the anarchist tradition of Makhno, Kroptokin and Bakunin, the former Ukrainian the later Russians, I have no cant with nationalism. But I do recognize the Ukraine as a country, and more importantly a peasant culture seperate from the old world Great Powers of Poland and Russia.
Ignatieff has made his role as a public intellectual to be a defender of liberal capitalist democracy ala Fukuyama, which in reality is the defence of American Imperialism and the hegemony of Empire.
The comparison of Ignatieff with PET is apt, for Trudeau had the same self hate and disdain for his country; Quebec, while wanting to be seen as the Great Canadian.
So I left this comment on Simons blog;
Leaving aside the fact the Kiev the capital of the Ukraine is older than Moscow or St. Petersburg and as a city the original city state was known as the RUS from which the so called Russians took their. The very acceptance proudly, not sheepishly, not apologetically (though with the tone of apology), by Ignatieff shows his Imperial attitude, an acceptance of the world as it is, one dominated by Empires. In his case like many anti-Bolshevik opportunists who ran to New York to declare themselves Dukes, Dutchesses and Counts to impress the New Empire with their titles from the Old, so goes Ignatieff. In his case it is to defend and take advantage of his new master. Interestingly Prince Kropotkin, a real prince and a classic Anarchist never glorified his Russian origins when defending Ukrianians or the Dukhbours. The existance of the Ukraine, known as the Borderland, was historically disputed between Moscow and Poland, as these two clashed over the region as part of their Imperial domains. The term little Russians is as much a class and racist remark as it is one of Imperial disdain. For the Ukriane was the sole area peasant serfs from both Empires could escape to and be free. Ignatieff regrets this freedom, while defending the freedom of Empire.
Where Liberal Candidate and apologist for Empire Ignatieff says; "My difficulty in taking Ukraine seriously goes deeper than just my cosmopolitan suspicion of nationalists everywhere. Somewhere inside I'm also what Ukrainians would call a great Russian and there is just a trace of old Russian disdain for these little Russians."
As someone of Ukrainian Canadian origin I, like the Ukrainian Canadians in his riding (one he has been parachuted into) consider such a comment a form of bigoted racism thinly disguised as national differences.
And as I come from the anarchist tradition of Makhno, Kroptokin and Bakunin, the former Ukrainian the later Russians, I have no cant with nationalism. But I do recognize the Ukraine as a country, and more importantly a peasant culture seperate from the old world Great Powers of Poland and Russia.
Ignatieff has made his role as a public intellectual to be a defender of liberal capitalist democracy ala Fukuyama, which in reality is the defence of American Imperialism and the hegemony of Empire.
The comparison of Ignatieff with PET is apt, for Trudeau had the same self hate and disdain for his country; Quebec, while wanting to be seen as the Great Canadian.
So I left this comment on Simons blog;
Leaving aside the fact the Kiev the capital of the Ukraine is older than Moscow or St. Petersburg and as a city the original city state was known as the RUS from which the so called Russians took their. The very acceptance proudly, not sheepishly, not apologetically (though with the tone of apology), by Ignatieff shows his Imperial attitude, an acceptance of the world as it is, one dominated by Empires. In his case like many anti-Bolshevik opportunists who ran to New York to declare themselves Dukes, Dutchesses and Counts to impress the New Empire with their titles from the Old, so goes Ignatieff. In his case it is to defend and take advantage of his new master. Interestingly Prince Kropotkin, a real prince and a classic Anarchist never glorified his Russian origins when defending Ukrianians or the Dukhbours. The existance of the Ukraine, known as the Borderland, was historically disputed between Moscow and Poland, as these two clashed over the region as part of their Imperial domains. The term little Russians is as much a class and racist remark as it is one of Imperial disdain. For the Ukriane was the sole area peasant serfs from both Empires could escape to and be free. Ignatieff regrets this freedom, while defending the freedom of Empire.
Link Byfield Goes AA
No not Alcoholics Anonymous, the fledgling right wing rump of the PC's the Alberta Alliance. In his column in the Calgary Sun he whines;
"Not much attention was paid on Saturday to the election of Cardston MLA Paul Hinman to lead the Alberta Alliance Party."
And why should we? This is another sorry reincarnation of the Old Socred Party, no not the original party the recent revisionist party under the leadership of Randy Thorsteinson which failed to mobilize any wins in several recent elections.
Thorsteinson was deposed as Leader of the Socreds for his Mormon ties, and went on the create the AA.
The AA got its first seat when the PC MLA for Norwood declared himself an independent after his party eliminated his riding before the last election He joined the AA and became their first member. Paul Hinman won a seat in the last election in Mormon dominated Cardston home of the old Western Canada Concept and the Western Seperatist notion. This southern bible belt community identifies its politics as Republican, not Canadian so Hinmans win is a no brainer. It was a rural right wing reation to the the big city politics of the Party of Calgary and their culture of urban entitlement under King Ralph.
Will they be a threat, will they go anywhere, will they become as whiny Byfield hopes the new party on the right. Well history says no, they are a flash in the pan. Just like the WCC was.
Hinman though could use Byfield to help with his sound bites. He got quoted the other day about Klein's prediction that the Liberals would win a minority government by saying Klein should shut up come home and take a vacation.
Excuse me???!! The Legislature is currently sitting so King Ralphs place is in the house. However considering the last sitting thats exactly what Klein did in the final days.
A Tip o the Blog to AlbertaAvenue for this story. He rightly points out the Liberals and NDP gained seats in the last election and gained in popular support farmore than the AA despite Byfields statements to the contrary in his column.
Byfield's wishful thinking may be some sort of hallucininatory revelation from hanging out with his right wing friends for too long, listening to his father (no not Jehovah but Ted) or perhaps something he smoked. In any case his prognosis is of a ground swell of political popularity for the AA is a shining example of the thinking of the lunatic right.
"Not much attention was paid on Saturday to the election of Cardston MLA Paul Hinman to lead the Alberta Alliance Party."
And why should we? This is another sorry reincarnation of the Old Socred Party, no not the original party the recent revisionist party under the leadership of Randy Thorsteinson which failed to mobilize any wins in several recent elections.
Thorsteinson was deposed as Leader of the Socreds for his Mormon ties, and went on the create the AA.
The AA got its first seat when the PC MLA for Norwood declared himself an independent after his party eliminated his riding before the last election He joined the AA and became their first member. Paul Hinman won a seat in the last election in Mormon dominated Cardston home of the old Western Canada Concept and the Western Seperatist notion. This southern bible belt community identifies its politics as Republican, not Canadian so Hinmans win is a no brainer. It was a rural right wing reation to the the big city politics of the Party of Calgary and their culture of urban entitlement under King Ralph.
Will they be a threat, will they go anywhere, will they become as whiny Byfield hopes the new party on the right. Well history says no, they are a flash in the pan. Just like the WCC was.
Hinman though could use Byfield to help with his sound bites. He got quoted the other day about Klein's prediction that the Liberals would win a minority government by saying Klein should shut up come home and take a vacation.
Excuse me???!! The Legislature is currently sitting so King Ralphs place is in the house. However considering the last sitting thats exactly what Klein did in the final days.
A Tip o the Blog to AlbertaAvenue for this story. He rightly points out the Liberals and NDP gained seats in the last election and gained in popular support farmore than the AA despite Byfields statements to the contrary in his column.
Byfield's wishful thinking may be some sort of hallucininatory revelation from hanging out with his right wing friends for too long, listening to his father (no not Jehovah but Ted) or perhaps something he smoked. In any case his prognosis is of a ground swell of political popularity for the AA is a shining example of the thinking of the lunatic right.
WWI Xmas Mutiny
It was Christmas Eve 1914 and the soldiers in the trenches, Brits, Canadians, Germans and French, muddy, covered in blood and guts, coughing up bloodied mucus of poison gas, called a truce in the War. A truce that remains a mutiny on the books of the ruling clases and their military to this day.
A new film has been made of this famous mutiny for and it will be shown to British Troops in Iraq.
Now if they sneak in the Americans to watch this that just might be the inspiration for the American all volunteer working class army to down arms and end this war.
So subersive is the legend of the Christmas Truce of 1914 that the French still refuse to allow their soldiers to see this film and refused to be part of the production effort.
Brit troops to see 1914 Xmas 'anti-war' film
During the ceasefire, German, British and French troops stopped shooting, got out of their trenches and shared cocoa and cigarettes. They sang hymns together and returned to fighting a few days later.The French army refused to participate in the making of the film, saying soldiers who participated in the Christmas truce were disobeying orders. German troops have already taken in the movie, but it will not be presented to French soldiers. The ceasefire was seen as treason by superiors on both sides.
It was of course this famous truce that gave rise to the 1960's comic Christmas song Snoopy's Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen Listen to it here.
And it was the inspiration for Dalton Trumbos classic Anti-War novel, Johnny Got His Gun.
During the summer of 1914 in a crucial battle in Mons Belgium British troops claimed to have seen St. George and a group of Longbowmen in the skies, which they claimed to have turned the battle in their favour.
This is known as the Legend of Mons, and occult horror author Arthur Machen claimed at the time that it was based on his short story called the Bowman which had been published in the popular press of the day. However historian A.J.P Taylor believed the story and recorded it in his history of WWI.
The fact that the tale and trench rumours of Angels of Mons appeared the summer before may have had a subconcious effect on the soldiers in the trenches facing the first industrialized war of mass murder.
Such was the horror of WWI and the introduction of mechanized death, mass slaughter by machine gun, huge mortars and giant Big Bertha guns that deafened you, poison gas, tanks, trench warfare, etc. the veritable impass of the No Mans Land lead to the need for a moment of humanity, human contact that became the Christmas Truce.
Shell shocked, cold, wet, facing certain death, suffering what was called Battle Fatigue, the first time it was ever recorded in war and we know now as Post Traumatic Syndrome, soldiers fled the field not in cowardice but in terror. And the officers on both sides of the trenches shot them mercilessly.The Officer Corps of all the Armies of WWI were the last vestiges of the Aristocracy while the soldiers in the trenches were the original grunts, and like modern industrial capitalism which the war so effectively modeled itself after, they were expendable cogs in the machine.
Canadians know this well for even our officers like their men were expendable, as colonial troops, in both WWI and WWII. In the case of the later the battle of Dieppe saw the ruthless sacrifice of Canadians on the whim of Lord Mountbatten for his personal ego trip in securing a position of command.
23 Canadians were executed for desertion or cowardice in WWI. 2 were executed for murder (murder in war you ask well...) one after he suffered a head injury went nuts, the other was a case of shooting a superior officer, a Sgt. Major, the guys who were particularly brutal to their men. We would call it fragging today.Thousands more died in the trenches, including almost all the 1st Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
All those boys from the prairies, the cities, from the farms and the factories, from Saskatchewan, Iowa, Sheffield, Paris and Berlin died for the glory of Imperialism and Capitalism. When they came home there were no jobs, a depression, and no Veterans benefits. It was not such a Great War.
Happy Christmas (The War is Over)
There's nothing noble about dying. Not even if you die for honor. Not even if you die the greatest hero the world ever saw. Not even if you're so great your name will never be forgotten and who's that great? The most important thing is your life little guys. You're worth nothing dead except for speeches. Don't let them kid you any more. Pay no attention when they tap you on the shoulder and say come along we've got to fight for liberty or whatever their word is there's always a word.
Just say mister I'm sorry I got no time to die I'm too busy and then turn and run like hell. If they say coward why don't pay any attention because it's your job to live not to die. If they talk about dying for principles that are bigger than life you say mister you're a liar Nothing is bigger than life There's nothing noble in death. What s noble about lying in the ground and rotting. What's noble about never seeing the sunshine again? What's noble about having your legs and arms blown off? What's noble about being an idiot? What's noble about being blind and deaf and dumb? What's noble about being dead. Because when you're dead mister it's all over. It's the end. You're less than a dog less than a rat less than a bee or an ant less than a white maggot crawling around on a dungheap. You're dead mister and you died for nothing.
Imagine
I Smell Another Tax Cut Coming
Trusts still have tax advantage over corporations: TD
Wait for it folks here it comes.......Monte Solberg and the Conservatives will demand.....yep another Tax Cut for the Corporations to keep up with the tax dodging Income Trusts. Forget the tiff over the organized crime comments here is a far more serious crime, insider information released by Goodale prior to his announcement, which allowed the banks and others to profit. NDP finance critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis issued a statement demanding that the RCMP look into the affair.And not to be outdone on the eve of the election the Tories have chimed in with a 'Me Too' response.
Wait for it folks here it comes.......Monte Solberg and the Conservatives will demand.....yep another Tax Cut for the Corporations to keep up with the tax dodging Income Trusts. Forget the tiff over the organized crime comments here is a far more serious crime, insider information released by Goodale prior to his announcement, which allowed the banks and others to profit. NDP finance critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis issued a statement demanding that the RCMP look into the affair.And not to be outdone on the eve of the election the Tories have chimed in with a 'Me Too' response.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Creationist Cretins
Ok now this is what happens when right wing lunacy and religious dogma once again dominate the public discourse in civil society. Couple sues operators of UC Berkeley Web site that teaches evolution
In that clever Orwellian speak that the right wing uses, they claim that evolution is a 'religious' theory and should not get government funding. Thats because they claim secular science, pluralist society, and humanism itself is a 'religion'.
The plaintiffs are not proponents of "intelligent design" - a theory that living organisms are so complex they must have been created by a higher intelligence - but they object to the teaching of evolution as scientific fact, Jeanne Caldwell said.
Yep evolution is just another 'belief' option. Seems they have believe scientists have 'faith' in evolution like they have 'faith' in the existance of God.
Actually these folks are dyed in the wool creationists, believers that God created the world 4,400 years ago, in a blink of a cosmic eye. The reason we have fossils according to creationists is that every animal and plant, bacteria, amobia, etc. were all created at once and some just happened to get caught in the magma of creation as it cooled between Monday and Friday. Saturday and Sunday remain in dispute due to being the Sabbath.
So if creation began instantly in a blink of the big fellows eye 4,400 years ago explain this;Scientists think they have deduced the moon's birthday from rock and soil samples -- and it's older than they thought. The researchers examined tungsten isotopes in the rocks and concluded that the collision occurred about 30 million to 50 million years after the formation of the solar system. That's just a blip compared with the 4.5 billion years that the Earth and solar system have existed.
Creationism originated with the belief that the world was flat. However contrary to popular belief this minority view was not held by everyone living in the Rennisance world or prior to Columbus's voyage to North and Central America. Only a small sect of christians believed this nonsense. Colombus himself availed himself of ancient Phonecian and Peloponnesian maps for his voyage as did other of his sailing contemporaries. And these maps did not show the world was flat, well ok the maps were, they showed the world as known at that time and what wasn't was called the unknown.
the claims of creation science do not refer to natural causes and cannot be subject to meaningful tests, so they do not qualify as scientific hypotheses.
So there, science is NOT a religion. It is as Bakunin attests, the study of natures laws. And that contradicts faith for nature according to creationists is the mere beast of God.
Science maybe called an outgrowth of philosophy, and that is where the Orwellian Right sneakily equates philosophy with religion. They have an agenda to evangelize the world, to counter what they see as the humanist attempt to free humanity from God and faith by immanitizing the eschaton, a term right wing philospher Eric Voegelin coined in his book The New Science of Politics.
If science is the child of reason, the Rennisance and the revolutionary ideals of the Enlightenment as Voegelin and his pals like Von Mises and William Buckley claim then it is too modern for them. And for creationists and the neo-con religious right.They want to force us backwards into their glorious age of medivalist theocracy and that theocracy was Catholic, while the modern evangelicals are protestants. But I will leave that contradiction for another day.
In that clever Orwellian speak that the right wing uses, they claim that evolution is a 'religious' theory and should not get government funding. Thats because they claim secular science, pluralist society, and humanism itself is a 'religion'.
The plaintiffs are not proponents of "intelligent design" - a theory that living organisms are so complex they must have been created by a higher intelligence - but they object to the teaching of evolution as scientific fact, Jeanne Caldwell said.
Yep evolution is just another 'belief' option. Seems they have believe scientists have 'faith' in evolution like they have 'faith' in the existance of God.
Actually these folks are dyed in the wool creationists, believers that God created the world 4,400 years ago, in a blink of a cosmic eye. The reason we have fossils according to creationists is that every animal and plant, bacteria, amobia, etc. were all created at once and some just happened to get caught in the magma of creation as it cooled between Monday and Friday. Saturday and Sunday remain in dispute due to being the Sabbath.
So if creation began instantly in a blink of the big fellows eye 4,400 years ago explain this;Scientists think they have deduced the moon's birthday from rock and soil samples -- and it's older than they thought. The researchers examined tungsten isotopes in the rocks and concluded that the collision occurred about 30 million to 50 million years after the formation of the solar system. That's just a blip compared with the 4.5 billion years that the Earth and solar system have existed.
Creationism originated with the belief that the world was flat. However contrary to popular belief this minority view was not held by everyone living in the Rennisance world or prior to Columbus's voyage to North and Central America. Only a small sect of christians believed this nonsense. Colombus himself availed himself of ancient Phonecian and Peloponnesian maps for his voyage as did other of his sailing contemporaries. And these maps did not show the world was flat, well ok the maps were, they showed the world as known at that time and what wasn't was called the unknown.
the claims of creation science do not refer to natural causes and cannot be subject to meaningful tests, so they do not qualify as scientific hypotheses.
So there, science is NOT a religion. It is as Bakunin attests, the study of natures laws. And that contradicts faith for nature according to creationists is the mere beast of God.
Science maybe called an outgrowth of philosophy, and that is where the Orwellian Right sneakily equates philosophy with religion. They have an agenda to evangelize the world, to counter what they see as the humanist attempt to free humanity from God and faith by immanitizing the eschaton, a term right wing philospher Eric Voegelin coined in his book The New Science of Politics.
If science is the child of reason, the Rennisance and the revolutionary ideals of the Enlightenment as Voegelin and his pals like Von Mises and William Buckley claim then it is too modern for them. And for creationists and the neo-con religious right.They want to force us backwards into their glorious age of medivalist theocracy and that theocracy was Catholic, while the modern evangelicals are protestants. But I will leave that contradiction for another day.
Link Wray RIP
Link Wray the Father of Rockabilly with his 'power chord' guitar has passed on. Perhaps in passing he will be remembered as the legend he really was. His music never changed, despite the visimitudes of the the rock world. You can hear an interview with Link here. And check out his classic album Rumble
Links style would influence the Ventures and later 60's guitar instrumental bands. By the end of the Punk era former Clash members formed the Stray Cats and preformed a faster heavier Rockabilly but it was still all Link Wray.
In the world of popular culture his lasting contribution will be the Batman Theme, the one that would be used in the Sixties TV series. And for a great Punk music blog with a tribute to Link go here.
And if you like this style of rock then I highly reccomend CJSR's Flying Saucer Rock and Roll on Monday nights between 10-11 pm Mountain Time. And you can listen to it online.
China's Toxic Capitalism
While apologizing to Russia is nice, the Chinese state capitalists should kowtow to their own citizens with abject sorrow for the disaster their rush to embrace capitalism has once again caused.
Like the numerous mining accidents that have occured over the past two years, these are all a result of the toxic capitalism that China is now embracing in its rush to create a Fordist industrial state.
Chinese decry toxic coverup
Chinese media are leveling rare criticism of the slow, secretive response to a toxic river spill.Like the numerous mining accidents that have occured over the past two years, these are all a result of the toxic capitalism that China is now embracing in its rush to create a Fordist industrial state.
Chinese decry toxic coverup
As of Sunday the benzene, released into the Songhua Nov. 13 by an explosion at a chemical factory owned by a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, had largely floated past Harbin on its way toward the Russian border. Five days after shutting down the Harbin water system, local authorities declared the "water had reached a standard level" and turned taps back on late Sunday. But in Russia, authorities are busy helping towns downstream of the spill prepare for when it reaches the country in the coming days. The incident forced Beijing to issue its "profound apologies" to Russia for the expected environmental damage.
And ya gotta love this headline........run boss run....but you can't hide....
China bosses flee as flood traps miners
China, struggling to clean up the world's most dangerous mining industries, has conducted a series of safety crackdowns and has shut nearly 2,000 mines since August.
The government has demanded that local officials sever any financial links to mines and has even called for managers to head down the shaft with each shift of workers.
But booming demand and high coal prices mean some owners ignore regulations, push production beyond safe limits or even illegally continue mining pits that have been formally closed.
Since under state capitalism the local officials are the bosses or in the bosses pocket this is another reason the workers need autonomous unions. A good news feeder on Mining and its impact on communities and workers around the world is;
Mines and Communities: Empowering mining-affected peoples
Web Design 101
It's been a weekend of web design changes on MSM and Blog sites.
Canada.Com which has completely revamped its clumsy ugly pages to look and work better.
But the real change for the better is at Progressive Bloggers A very nice look, very usable, includes polls, slick and cost a lot less than whatever Canada Com. paid. Nice go guys. Now if I use your diary tool what happens, does it appear on in your blogs or what?
Canada.Com which has completely revamped its clumsy ugly pages to look and work better.
But the real change for the better is at Progressive Bloggers A very nice look, very usable, includes polls, slick and cost a lot less than whatever Canada Com. paid. Nice go guys. Now if I use your diary tool what happens, does it appear on in your blogs or what?
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