Well besides being national news the Gordon Stamp resignation made it into both the Edmonton Sun and the Edmonton Journal as major news stories. So I guess that will be more evidence to Candace at Waking Up On Planet X of the media and bloggers flogging a dead horse. Though we don't know if the horse is dead he was unavailable for comment at press time.
Tags
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Albertas Birthday Whimpers to a Close
As the year comes to a close so does the Alberta Saskatchewan Centennials. In Alberta the occasion was one of bungling, banality and basically a non celebration. Cause Colleen Klein was in charge. Communities were not funded for centennial celebrations, instead a Tory bueracracy hunkered down with money and doled it out to its friends. Gary Mah was put in charge of the celebration and he didn't know what was going on.
If you can believe it King Ralph is claiming that we spent oddles on celebrations. Celebrations we have yet to see.
The province spent $500 million on so-called legacy projects and $16 million on the festivities. A final accounting of the costs and projects will be available in the spring.
$16 million on festivities. What the hell was it spent on? Heck we could have given everyone the day off on Sept. 1 for that kind of cash.
Now in Saskatchewan they had a year of celebrations worthy of speaking of. And I did all year I blogged about the embarassment that poor old Saskatchewan was able to out do its rich neighbour in creating a spirit of the provinces Birthday. Here was the spirit of the Centennial celebrated in Saskatchewan. While in true Scrooge fashion King Ralph penny pinched on our celebration. Even the Queens visit was more spectacular in Saskatchewan, rain and all. In Edmonton her visit was rained out.
Go figure.
The best thing King Ralph could have given Albertans this year was his resignation. Sigh, didn't happen. We will have to wait till 2008, a year before the annual five year provincial election in Alberta.
tags
Alberta
Cenntenial
Ralph Klein
Saskatchewan
If you can believe it King Ralph is claiming that we spent oddles on celebrations. Celebrations we have yet to see.
The province spent $500 million on so-called legacy projects and $16 million on the festivities. A final accounting of the costs and projects will be available in the spring.
$16 million on festivities. What the hell was it spent on? Heck we could have given everyone the day off on Sept. 1 for that kind of cash.
Now in Saskatchewan they had a year of celebrations worthy of speaking of. And I did all year I blogged about the embarassment that poor old Saskatchewan was able to out do its rich neighbour in creating a spirit of the provinces Birthday. Here was the spirit of the Centennial celebrated in Saskatchewan. While in true Scrooge fashion King Ralph penny pinched on our celebration. Even the Queens visit was more spectacular in Saskatchewan, rain and all. In Edmonton her visit was rained out.
Go figure.
The best thing King Ralph could have given Albertans this year was his resignation. Sigh, didn't happen. We will have to wait till 2008, a year before the annual five year provincial election in Alberta.
tags
Alberta
Cenntenial
Ralph Klein
Saskatchewan
After Iraq is Syria next?
While some are speculating over U.S. Iran relations and the potential for conflict over Irans nuclear power options, the reality is that the U.S. is eyeing Syria for its next expansionist occupation.
The set up is clear, the U.N. has condemned Syria for involvement in Lebanon, the U.S. is talking about porous borders allowing foreign terrorists to move into Iraq from Syria, and has already had border town skirmishes in the last month. The U.S. has moved active forces out of Baghdad onto the Syrian border.
As Le Monde Diplomatique poiunts out in a feature article this is a dangerous situation being percipitated in the Middle East not only by the U.S. but by the U.N. investigation into the death of leading Lebonanese politicians and journalists and the involvement of the Syrian Secret Service and factions of the military.
Tags
Iraq
USA
Syria
War
Lebanon
The set up is clear, the U.N. has condemned Syria for involvement in Lebanon, the U.S. is talking about porous borders allowing foreign terrorists to move into Iraq from Syria, and has already had border town skirmishes in the last month. The U.S. has moved active forces out of Baghdad onto the Syrian border.
As Le Monde Diplomatique poiunts out in a feature article this is a dangerous situation being percipitated in the Middle East not only by the U.S. but by the U.N. investigation into the death of leading Lebonanese politicians and journalists and the involvement of the Syrian Secret Service and factions of the military.
Syria: a concerted offensiveAll eyes are on Syria as it stands accused of being behind the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Even before the UN commission of inquiry was completed, the US was planning - with France - a concerted offensive against the Syrian regime. But destabilising President Bashar al-Assad could lead to regional chaos, given the fragility of Lebanon and near civil war in Iraq.
By Alain Gresh
“IN ORDER to facilitate the action of the liberation forces, to reduce the capabilities of the Syrian regime to organise and direct its military actions, to keep losses and destruction to a minimum, and to bring about the desired results in the shortest possible time, a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals. Their removal should be accomplished early in the course of the uprising and intervention.” For that, Damascus must be “made to appear as the sponsor of plots, sabotage and violence directed against neighbouring governments”.
The CIA and its British counterpart would “use their capabilities in both the psychological and the action fields to increase tension”. The overthrow of the regime would also mean the financing of a committee for a free Syria and the arming of different political factions to give them paramilitary capabilities.
All this comes from a document dating from autumn 1957 that was recently discovered by a researcher. The document was approved by the United States president, Dwight Eisenhower, and the British prime minister, Harold Macmillan.
At that time the Middle East was already regarded, simplistically, as a place for East-West confrontation. The US and British governments saw the Syrian regime - which was then genuinely liberal and democratic, if nationalist - as no more than a Soviet pawn. That meant it needed to be got rid of and its leaders killed. However, a few months later, in January 1958, the Syrians went to Gamal Abdel Nasser to ask for Syria’s unification with Egypt. From the moment the new United Arab Republic was established, its relations with Moscow grew strained, and so the West’s subversive plans were dropped.
The world has since changed. The war against terrorism has replaced the war against communism. But the US vision remains as simplistic as it was then: whoever is not with us is against us, says George Bush. At the time of a “third world war”, of US efforts to crush the Iraqi resistance and beat the Arab world into submission, the reluctance of the Syrian regime to bend to Washington’s will can no longer be tolerated.
Are we none the less heading for a racheting up of tension? A sanctions regime against Syria would penalise its population first, as it did in Iraq. Closing Syria’s borders would create problems with its neighbours, starting with Lebanon. And the fall of the Syrian regime would only extend the regional chaos created by the US military intervention in Iraq and the ensuing occupation.
The Washington Post had this to say: “The planning process, according to the internal documents, includes courses of action for cross-border operations to seal the Syria-Iraq border and destroy safe havens supporting the Iraqi insurgency, attacks on Syrian weapons of mass destruction infrastructure supporting the development of biological and chemical weapons, and attacks on the regime of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad”. The paper’s military commentator, who revealed these American plans, did not say whether, as in 1957, the assassination of Syrian leaders was part of the plans.
Tags
Iraq
USA
Syria
War
Lebanon
Real Junk Science
"Call me Ishmael."
I will continue to be critical of the Junk Science Inc.(c) (tm) cult of the Rightwhing.
They specialize in attempting to debunk critics of capitalism usually by rolling out one scientific apologist for capitalism against hundreds if not thousands of nobel prize winning scientists.
Of course this makes sense since they are ideologues of the American Individualist school of thought. The lone Rorak against the System just like Ayn Rands hero of the Fountainhead.
However here is a real case of authentic Junk Science.
The Japanese whaling industry that is hunting these sentient relatives of ours for food hiding behind the Orwellian phrase; whaling for scientific research.
Dead Whales Tell No Tales as any sailor will tell ya.
JAPANESE whalers operating in the Antarctic are fog-bound and unable to hunt whales for the fourth day running, Greenpeace activists tailing the fleet said today. The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), which carries out Japan's research whaling in the Antarctic, today sought to debunk criticism of the project by New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter.Japan's JARPA II whaling program contained numerous flaws and was based on speculative and unsound science. It found that most of the data proposed to be collected in Japan's program was not required for the conservation of whale stocks, and that many of the identified objectives could be addressed through analysis of data from Japan's previous 18-year scientific program.
Tags
endangered species
environment
Japan
Whales
Greenpeace
Junk Science
The Sanctity of Marriage
But it was a straight marriage at least. Even if the male dolphin is named Cindy.
That should keep Conservatives and Conservative Jews happy.
Now had it been a gay dolphin marriage well that would have violated the sanctity of this fine institution.
Unusual wedding: British woman marries her beloved dolphin in Eilat ceremony
Joe Kot
RCMchumPs
Racist Canadian Mounted Police could be the other term for these guys. Gone are the days of the NWMP and honouring their word with Sitting Bull. Today these white wacist cops are like cops everywhere. They ignored this womans pleas for help because she was a First Nations person. Now they are going to correct their behaviour. Right. Like its only taken them 135 years to recognize they have a problem?
| No response to 911 call 'an error': RCMP |
| Dec 30 2005 CBC News |
| The RCMP are admitting they made a mistake when they failed to respond to a 911 call from a woman who was later found dead in her home. |
And this is not the only case of them being chumps or racist.
What about the former RCMP Officer, Western Seperatist,and Reform Party MP Jack Ramsay who was charged with raping native girls while an RCMP officer. And while the rapes occured in the sixties the case finally reached court six years ago. Justice is not only blind she can be as slow as mollasses in January.
Then there was the systematic massacre by the RCMP of hunting dogs used by the Inuit in the NWT during the fifites and sixties. It was an attempt to force them to move by destroying their source of livelihood, hunting. Its also called genocide.
There is still the outstanding case of the Air India disaster and accusations that the investigation was tainted by racism.
This summer the RCMP decided that they would engage in a campaign of terror against street people in Kelowna, home of rightwhingnutbar politicians, by taking their 'illegal' shopping carts from them.
The death of the four Mounties in Mayerthorpe Alberta could have been avoided, had they been informed the guy they were going to visit was known to hate cops. Nope their dispatching officer didn't warn them just sent them out to impound a car. As I blogged here before the impounding of the car was basically contracting out the RCMP to do a private policing activity.
The history of the RCMP is the history of a paramilitary colonial army, whose motto sums up their poltics; Maintain the Right!
Local police departments are supervised by community police commissions. It is time for Canada to have an Citizen Community Commission to oversee the RCMP. The current Civilian committee is simply a Complaints Commission: a small agency, has had to operate within the constraints of its existing staff and budget until such time as further funds were approved and made available.
Tags
police
RCMP
Canada
natives
Liberals Alberta Agenda
So I was checking out a local Liberal Candidates website and low and behold I found a link to the Liberals Alberta Agenda. Ok call me naive, but I actually thought they had something to say to Albertans. Nah the link just leads to the Liberal.ca home page. And that's bound to turn off most Albertans even Liberal ones. Why? Cause here was their opportunity to clear up where they stand on Kyoto, Day Care, Oil Company Tax breaks, BSE, Elected Senate, Gun Registry,Privatized Health Care,etc.etc. blah blah. And nope nada, nothing, zip, just smiling Paul Martin, or is that a grimace hard to say, like I said that's enough to turn off most Albertans.
Tags Canada Federal Election Liberals politics Blogs Paul Martin
Another Libertarian Blog & Politblogo
A tip o the blog to the Politblogo collective who turned me on to this site of Arthur Sibler who is now a defunct blogger. Since he appears to be a Left Libertarian, I would link to what I thought was one of his excellent essays. Like me he tends to use extended quotes and write longer feature articles.This one is well worth the trouble of spending some time reading and digesting: Patriarchy, Sexism, Homophobia, and the Warrior Culture
Now I like Politblogo, these guys appear to be from Montreal, and I stand to be corrected on this. I like 'em for a couple of reasons they are a collective of bloggers, they read Steamshovel Sci Fi.
And they do analysis of the Quebec views of Election 2006. Which is rare to find in English Canada.
Check out these articles:
Québec federalists prefer an non-Quebec anglophone
libertarian
Now I like Politblogo, these guys appear to be from Montreal, and I stand to be corrected on this. I like 'em for a couple of reasons they are a collective of bloggers, they read Steamshovel Sci Fi.
And they do analysis of the Quebec views of Election 2006. Which is rare to find in English Canada.
Check out these articles:
Québec federalists prefer an non-Quebec anglophone
Duceppe and the EU example
Realizing the dichotomy in Quebec
Why intermediate Quebec/ROC solutions won't workTags
blogslibertarian
Friday, December 30, 2005
Alberta Seperatism Not Quite Stamped Out
Well that didn't take long. Starting with Bouquets of Grey documenting Edmonton East Conservative Campaign Manager Gordon Stamp, a perennial right wing figure here in Redmonton, being an Alberta Seperatiste and saying stupid things in online forums and now he is gone.
And Bouquets got some help from the rest of us in the blogosphere passing on our two bits worth, including yours truly, it got picked up by Paul Wells at Macleans and he forwarded it to Conservative Candidate Peter Goldring and voila Resignation tendered and accepted. Wow faster than you can say Liberal Blog, gotta hand it to Goldring he didn't give Gord his stamp of approval for his off the wall comments. Not like the Liberal spokesman did for Klander.
But true to form some folks think this is censorship and unfair to the Alberta Seperatiste faction of the Blogging Tory's. Such as Candace another Redmontonian whose blog WakingUpOnPlanetX supports Alberta Seperatism is very very upset about this. She equates Alberta Sepratism with the PQ and BQ in Quebec.
So here is a history lesson for Candace, of course its a left wing history lesson, so no apologies for that.
Alberta Seperatism is at its core an anti-semitic, racist, white power movement.
It is not the equivalent of the PQ or Quebec. It is not founded in the radical tradition of prairie populism of the Reil Rebellion contrary to the disingenous statements of Link Byfield. It is based in the right wing of the old Social Credit party and its links to the fascist movement in Canada.
It originates in Alberta not in the dirty thirties but the early 1980's in the last days of the Lougheed government, with the Western Canada Concept (WCC) of rightwhingnut lawyer and defender of fascists Doug Christie. The WCC won a seat in a red neck rural riding, and had an MLA in the Alberta Legislature giving them some political credibility, some, enough for Lougheed to use them as a whipping boy against Ottawa. Which Ralph Klein continues to do today. Any time things got a little outta hand between the Liberals in Ottawa and the Alberta Government the bugaboo of Alberta Seperatism would be raised. Clever ploy that.
The reality is that during the 1980's two major right wing populist parties began in Alberta, both anti-semitic, white power, anti-biligualism, pro religious fundamentalist, pro Celtic Saxon peoples (code for White Power) anti immigrant anti multiculturalism, today add anti-gay. These were the WCC and Elmer Knutsens Confederation of Regions Party. The CRP did not win seats in Alberta but in New Brunswick, as a right wing backlash to that provinces French majority.
Ironic eh.
Members, followers and fellow travelers of these parties, also belonged to farther right groups as well as the Reform Party of Canada when it was formed. By then their rump right wing parties disappeared. Some went on in Alberta to form splinter right wing parties like the revived Social Credit, the Alberta Alliance, the Alberta Seperatist party. But most saw Preston Mannings Reform Party as a big tent right wing party, and joined or promoted it.
The infamous voice of the right in Alberta, and Canada, the Alberta Report promoted Alberta Seperatism and the Reform party in its pages. It also supported right wing religious fundamentalism (either protestant or Catholic or Orthordox), anti abortion, anti-gay rights, anti-feminism, anti-daycare. The Byfield clan who ran the magazine as their personal empire, were also directly politically involved in these campaigns.
Today Alberta Report is no more, run into the ground by the Byfields, not once, not twice but thrice. The final death agony of the magazine is a story to behold, but suffice it to say the monies squirreled away that survived the bankruptcy went to creating a new Alberta Seperatist Foundation, run by Link Byfield and with Stalinist aplomb is called;Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy.
It is of course nothing of the sort. It is a front group for right wing lobbying and Alberta Seperatism. Lets us hoist Link by his own petard, by letting him speak for himself as the CCFD. Oh by the way when someone says that they are neither left wing nor right wing, or somehow they want to be politically neutral, they ain't. They are right wing. Thats another clever ruse they use to appear non partisan.
And what is the main political issue that they believe will enhance democracy in Canada? Proportional Representation? Electoral Reform? Parlimentary Reform? Nah......They want Refederation!
So they want a national referendum on Marriage. And they want to privatize medicare, EI, pension plans, etc. They want a seperate pension fund for Alberta, and its own police. They are following through on Harpers original Firewall Alberta idea. Which once again in their Orwellian speak Link declares is NOT a Firewall nor are they promoting Alberta Seperatism. Talk about convoluted logic.
And the reason? Cause Canada is too liberal for them . No not Liberal, small 'l' liberal, as in libertarian, freedom of choice, freedom of the individual , freedom for gays, immigrants etc.
Now they will talk freedom and freedom of choice but in their Orwellian logic it is exactly the opposite. They want the freedom to be the Christian majority, with their country (seperate Alberta) being a fundamentalist Christian Theocracy at worst, or scratch the surface of Alberta Seperatism, and you find something worse, White Power bigots.
Yep so Candace there you have it. Why Alberta Seperatism is nothing like the Quebec Nationalist movement. It is a modern fascist movement. And if you want to participate in it fine, but lets call a spade a shovel, and you are shoveling B.S. when you promote Alberta Seperatism.
And Bouquets got some help from the rest of us in the blogosphere passing on our two bits worth, including yours truly, it got picked up by Paul Wells at Macleans and he forwarded it to Conservative Candidate Peter Goldring and voila Resignation tendered and accepted. Wow faster than you can say Liberal Blog, gotta hand it to Goldring he didn't give Gord his stamp of approval for his off the wall comments. Not like the Liberal spokesman did for Klander.
But true to form some folks think this is censorship and unfair to the Alberta Seperatiste faction of the Blogging Tory's. Such as Candace another Redmontonian whose blog WakingUpOnPlanetX supports Alberta Seperatism is very very upset about this. She equates Alberta Sepratism with the PQ and BQ in Quebec.
So here is a history lesson for Candace, of course its a left wing history lesson, so no apologies for that.
Alberta Seperatism is at its core an anti-semitic, racist, white power movement.
It is not the equivalent of the PQ or Quebec. It is not founded in the radical tradition of prairie populism of the Reil Rebellion contrary to the disingenous statements of Link Byfield. It is based in the right wing of the old Social Credit party and its links to the fascist movement in Canada.
It originates in Alberta not in the dirty thirties but the early 1980's in the last days of the Lougheed government, with the Western Canada Concept (WCC) of rightwhingnut lawyer and defender of fascists Doug Christie. The WCC won a seat in a red neck rural riding, and had an MLA in the Alberta Legislature giving them some political credibility, some, enough for Lougheed to use them as a whipping boy against Ottawa. Which Ralph Klein continues to do today. Any time things got a little outta hand between the Liberals in Ottawa and the Alberta Government the bugaboo of Alberta Seperatism would be raised. Clever ploy that.
The reality is that during the 1980's two major right wing populist parties began in Alberta, both anti-semitic, white power, anti-biligualism, pro religious fundamentalist, pro Celtic Saxon peoples (code for White Power) anti immigrant anti multiculturalism, today add anti-gay. These were the WCC and Elmer Knutsens Confederation of Regions Party. The CRP did not win seats in Alberta but in New Brunswick, as a right wing backlash to that provinces French majority.
Ironic eh.
Members, followers and fellow travelers of these parties, also belonged to farther right groups as well as the Reform Party of Canada when it was formed. By then their rump right wing parties disappeared. Some went on in Alberta to form splinter right wing parties like the revived Social Credit, the Alberta Alliance, the Alberta Seperatist party. But most saw Preston Mannings Reform Party as a big tent right wing party, and joined or promoted it.
The infamous voice of the right in Alberta, and Canada, the Alberta Report promoted Alberta Seperatism and the Reform party in its pages. It also supported right wing religious fundamentalism (either protestant or Catholic or Orthordox), anti abortion, anti-gay rights, anti-feminism, anti-daycare. The Byfield clan who ran the magazine as their personal empire, were also directly politically involved in these campaigns.
Today Alberta Report is no more, run into the ground by the Byfields, not once, not twice but thrice. The final death agony of the magazine is a story to behold, but suffice it to say the monies squirreled away that survived the bankruptcy went to creating a new Alberta Seperatist Foundation, run by Link Byfield and with Stalinist aplomb is called;Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy.
It is of course nothing of the sort. It is a front group for right wing lobbying and Alberta Seperatism. Lets us hoist Link by his own petard, by letting him speak for himself as the CCFD. Oh by the way when someone says that they are neither left wing nor right wing, or somehow they want to be politically neutral, they ain't. They are right wing. Thats another clever ruse they use to appear non partisan.
The CITIZENS CENTRE IS NEITHER "RIGHT-WING" NOR "LEFT-WING"
Our mission is to promote responsible government in Canada by advocating honest government, a clear division of power between the federal and provincial governments, and a democratic counterbalance to the increasing power of the courts.
GOALS of the Citizens Centre
To persuade provincial governments to exert their full constitutional leverage in such areas as the Canada Pension Plan, medicare, provincial police, tax collection, gun registration, carbon emissions, urban affairs, environment and grain marketing.
To create demand in Canada for privately-paid medical treatments and regulated private alternatives to the national pension plan, as is found increasingly in all developed countries.
To create pressure for a meaningful reduction in federal fiscal transfers (both direct and indirect), and a permanent reduction in government share of GDP.
* *Ottawa forced its way into the provincial sphere of social and economic development, mainly by abusing its unlimited power to tax and spend, even in areas that are beyond its jurisdiction. Some provinces, notably Alberta and Quebec, resisted. However, Quebec was bought off and Alberta was looted. Alberta's net contribution to federal programs since 1961 is now over $200 billion.
The consequences of allowing Ottawa to negate the original scheme of Confederation have been bad for the whole country, not just Alberta.
It has created costly jurisdictional overlap, political confusion, high taxes, needless eastern dependency and western alienation, and a political culture that no longer understands the principle, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
Instead we are constantly told that social entitlements like "free" medicare and unemployment insurance represent the core values of Canadians.
And what is the main political issue that they believe will enhance democracy in Canada? Proportional Representation? Electoral Reform? Parlimentary Reform? Nah......They want Refederation!
To understand what refederation entails, one has to appreciate the fact that Canada is now not only badly governed but also over-governed. Governments at all levels are too big, and they get in each other's way.
For more than a century now, various reform movements have arisen in Canada, particularly in the West, aimed at fixing the problem. They called for more accountability, less interference by Ottawa in local affairs and more equitable economic policies. In short, better government.
But from the time of Louis Riel, through the great Prairie farmers' movements, and up to the Reform and Canadian Alliance parties, the demand for fundamental change has gone largely unanswered. Canada is still dominated by institutions that are out of date, out of step and out of touch.
Marriage Referendum
A fundamental change to the legal meaning of marriage amounts to a constitutional change of great magnitude and importance. Nobody can honestly deny this.
As the Supreme Court acknowledged in December 2003, it affects both levels of government, private and public organizations across Canada, and individual Canadians.
So who should decide the answer?
There are three possible authorities: the courts, Parliament, or the people.
The Citizens Centre believes that the constitution belongs to the people and therefore the people should have the ultimate authority on this issue.
So they want a national referendum on Marriage. And they want to privatize medicare, EI, pension plans, etc. They want a seperate pension fund for Alberta, and its own police. They are following through on Harpers original Firewall Alberta idea. Which once again in their Orwellian speak Link declares is NOT a Firewall nor are they promoting Alberta Seperatism. Talk about convoluted logic.
And the reason? Cause Canada is too liberal for them . No not Liberal, small 'l' liberal, as in libertarian, freedom of choice, freedom of the individual , freedom for gays, immigrants etc.
Now they will talk freedom and freedom of choice but in their Orwellian logic it is exactly the opposite. They want the freedom to be the Christian majority, with their country (seperate Alberta) being a fundamentalist Christian Theocracy at worst, or scratch the surface of Alberta Seperatism, and you find something worse, White Power bigots.
Yep so Candace there you have it. Why Alberta Seperatism is nothing like the Quebec Nationalist movement. It is a modern fascist movement. And if you want to participate in it fine, but lets call a spade a shovel, and you are shoveling B.S. when you promote Alberta Seperatism.
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