Tantrik Economics

on the social level, the Kartābhajās bring together members of all classes and social factions, rejecting caste distinctions and proclaiming the divinity of all human beings; and third, on the gender level, the Kartābhajās offered a new social space in which men and women could mix freely, even providing new opportunities for women in roles of spiritual authority. The result is a rather ingenious religious fusion – or “subversive bricolage,” which skilfully adapts and reconfigures elements from a wide range of sources – a kind of poaching or pilfering by poor lower-class consumers in a dominated religious market that demanded the subtle use of secrecy, both, as a tactic of appropriation, and as a key social strategy or way of life.
The Economics of Ecstasy - Tantra, Secrecy and Power in Colonial Bengal

Much like the early Agape Feasts of the Christians and their predecesors in the Mithras Cult. Religions of the Ancient Lowly are democratic in nature in their earliest forms, since they exist outside and against the dominantant Religious State. They offer a safe place for a declasse melange of participants, and women are notably amongst them.

These 'Love Feasts' offered the participants the free exchange of goods; potlach, a sharing of communal supper, and after that convivality, socializing, and all that could be found scandalous by the salacious.

In ancient Greece the Bacchanae were a rebellion against the rigid State Religion (see Themis by Jane Harrison) embracing the life affirming spontaniety of nature, in the form of a dead and ressurected god; Bacchus/Dionysous/Pan.

Once Christianity lost its spontaneous inclusiveness it became a State religion of Constantinople the Byzantine seat of power of the former Hellenic world. The State declared Jesus the one and only dead and ressurected god, no others need apply.

Thus the myth of the death of Pan was created by neccisities of the State. The peoples religion of ancient Rome was now the State religion of Rome, Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire.


Also see

Wikipedia: Tantra

Sacred Tantrik Texts



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
tantra, economics, agape, love-feasts, rome, byzantium, hellinic-world, Themis, Jane-Harrison, Bacchus, Pan, Dionysous, Ancient-lowly, Osburn-Ward, christianity, mithras, donieger,

GST blunder

Of course they can. They just don't want to.

Feds can't stop businesses not passing along GST cut: Flaherty

Even at 6% it is still the Gouge and Screw Tax.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
GST, Flaherty, 6%, July1, Canada, economics, taxes, sin-tax

Give Em A Medal

On Canada Day they drink Canadian beer, lots of ot it, and they stumble around the Nations Capital looking for somewhere to pee, and lo and behold they find the National Momunment to Canada's veterans; the War Memorial and let loose a torent of used Canadian.

And stupid drunk Canadians get caught on film by sober Canadian vet.

A man is seen relieving himself on the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Saturday July 1, 2006. (CP / Michael Pilon)

The Nation howls in torment, and predictably new tough laws are called for by the Statists. But taking direct action one man, makes a stand.

War Memorial defender stands on guard for free
Globe and Mail -
Ottawa -- A lone, unemployed man donned a Maple Leaf-red sweater yesterday and stood guard by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier near the National War Memorial. Authorities haven't decided yet how they'll improve security but Don Dawson wasn't going to wait for them to make up their minds.

He draped a vintage Canadian Legion flag - a British ensign with a green maple leaf imposed in the centre - over his shoulder and stood rigidly at attention.

"I got up this morning and asked myself what I could do about this, and I decided to come here out of respect for all the soldiers who died fighting for the freedom of Canada," said Dawson, who spent the whole day at the site.

What security they had none or this would not have happened. Pin a medal on those wiley drunk Canadians, celebrating the nations holiday, they have left a legacy not of used beer but of improved security.

Seems on Captiol Hill, in this "Post 9/11 world", someone forgot to put the guard out in the nations capital at its mouments. And they forgot to provide sufficient porto-potties.

First guy they should hire is the one who shows he knows a thing or two the guy who stood on guard today.

Mr. Dawson said he'd like to see a member of the Governor General's Foot Guards, on parade on Parliament Hill in the summer months, assigned to the site during the day and security guards posted at night.

“When they brought him — the unknown soldier — back from France in 2000, this site changed from a war memorial to a grave site, so there should always be an attendant, at least during the day,” Mr. Dawson said.

“This wouldn't be to prevent vandalism, but would be more a show of respect. Of course, it would help prevent these sorts of incidents as well.”

Unfortunately they will probably contract out the jobs to a private security company,there also private porto-pottie companies that are looking for business.


Of course no one is going to pee there ever again, or at least not until the next Capitol Hill Canada Day fete next year, with beer and drunks in public. They may have better security but will they have enough porto-potties.

Dear Reader;
Like you I am outraged, My father and relatives are all veterans. But the point is t you can blame the beer, the lack of civics classes, or the general lack of honour given to our national momunments, it all adds up to the same thing, out of sight out of mind.

Since we see all those guarded monuments in other countries, we assume the same happens here. And shock of shocks it doesn't. The urination incident drew our attention to this shameful condition. So let's not shoot the messanger. Send em to re-education camp, make em clean the monument.





Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
War, Memorial, urination, Canada-day, desecration, Ottawa, Canada, veterans, pee, beer, July1, Dawson,

World Cup This & That

Canada's Truimph Englands Shame. It was the only Canadian player in the English Team who made the only goal in Englands defeat at the hands of Portugal.

Canadian eh. Calgary's Owen Hargreaves leaves mark on World Cup

Now if we had only twelve more like him we could field a team in the next world cup.World Cup 2006: Hargreaves proved us all wrong

Even the Queen was unimpressed with the English team in the World Cup. The Queen of Rock n Roll that is. Elton John Lashes Out At England World Cup Team

It was debacle that should lead to a clean sweep.

Beckham quits as captain after England's World Cup exit

Unfortunately the wrong man quit.

Sven's Swansong: I should have bowed out a World Cup winner - so I'm sorry, and sad


Go Already.


BARS and restaurants are counting the cost of the weekend riot in Bolton town centre after England's World Cup defeat.

At least in Redmonton they only riot on Whyte Avenue after the Oilers win. Workingclass hooliganism knows no nation. Workers of the World United, Anyone But Arsenal




Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
riot, hooligans, soccer-hooliganism, Whyte, Edmonton, Oilers
soccer, world-cup, Germany2006, footbol, England, Owen, Hargreaves, England-Portugal,
Sir-Elton-John

Lord of the Dance

I have blogged on Pan and Dionysus this week. And lo and behold he has appeared before me. As a half naked homeless man, a street person, with his shopping cart and his stark asiatic features of the Innu of the North. A Shaman who is out of place and time. On Whyte Avenue. As they say when it comes to magick it takes one to know one. Or as they say in Greek παίρνει ένας για να ξέρει ενός.


Dance, dance where ever you maybe
For I am the Lord of the Dance said he


Half naked
wrapped in a cloud of extasy
He dances on the street
His shopping cart full of sacred relics
Innu from the north
stripped down in the heat of the south
stripped of all possesions
except those he can carry
stripped of all ego
he dances to the music of the street
unheard by the consumers
who flock past him
possessed
The shaman,
The guru,
The extatic,
lost in the modern world
with his eyes inward
to the the past
to the present
to the future
to the moment
in extasis
A joy
we should
share
celebrate
extol
throw flowers
give gifts
he would not accept
a shiny new car
nor has he anything to teach
he is no guru
no saint
no mystic
except he is
in urban space
the seeing man
for all who are blinded
by capitalism


july 04,06



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
shaman, guru, enlightened, homeless, Whyte, WhyteAve, Edmonton, Alberta, poetry, exctasy, extasis, Innu,

Blasphemy

I will survive (Jesus Version)
Very funny but blasphemy none the less. Ain't free speech on the internet grand?!

Do ya think this may be why the Pope banned pop music from Catholic churches?

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
jesus, disco, music, video, youtube, blasphamy, vatican, censorship, internet, humour,

Once More On the Fourth

Radgeek once again extols an anarchist version of what American Independence means,

July 4th is the anniversary of the ignominious death of a tyranny, not the birth of a new government. On July 4th, 1776, there was no such thing as the United States of America. The regime under which we live today was not proclaimed until almost a decade later, on September 17, 1787. What was proclaimed on July 4th was not the establishment of a new government, but the dissolution of all political allegiance to the old one. All for the best: a transfer of power from London to Washington is no more worthy of celebration than any other coup d’etat. What is worth celebrating is this:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it …. [W]hen a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

—Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776

That is, the revolutionary doctrine that we all, each of us, are the equal of every puffed-up prince and President, that as such you, personally, have every right to refuse the arbitrary orders of tyrants, to ignore their sanctimonious claims of sovereignty, to sever all political connections if you want, and to defend yourself from any usurper who would try to rule you without your consent.

It was an agrarian mechanics rebellion that is forgotten in the Sturm and Drang of American Nationalism.

Just as it is forgotten that the first martyr of the revolution was a free black mechanic and sailor.

It would be the mechanics revolt in Boston that touches off the revolution.

Deference or Defiance in Eighteenth-Century America? A Round Table

Gangs of America by Ted Nace - Chapter 4
Why the Colonists Feared Corporations
In which the citizens of Boston demonstrate the use of the hatchet as an anti-monopoly device (1770-1773)

Shay's Rebellion

Which is why the earliest celebrations of July 4th were not state holidays but a mechanics movement along with protests over changes in their rights as journeymen. It was the core of the Republican poitics of the early 19th Century. It would be the mechanics, including free black sailors and tradesmen, who formed the unions as well as fraternal societies that were populist organizations in America.

Not surprisingly, this consensus proved untenable. As mechanics demanded protection for
their skilled trades, wealthier merchant- manufacturers celebrated the large scale, technologically
advanced operations that threatened to put artisans out of business. In the most insightful chapter
of the book, Peskin examines how mechanic, manufacturer, and manufacturing changed in meaning
between the 1790s and 1820. Terms that had been broadly inclusive of productive labor taking place
in rural households and urban craft workshops became narrow: manufacturing was what took place
in factories, a manufacturer was someone owning a factory, and mechanic lost its association with
craft skill to become a synonym for a factory machinist. Perversely, the Mechanics’ banks that
appeared in the 1800s had little to do with artisan labor, but rather marked the attempt of urban
businessmen to dress a suspicious financial institution in republican garb. By the late 1820s, at “the
high tide of antebellum protectionism” (207), politicians had become the leading advocates of
manufacturing and craft artisans were virtually excluded from the conversation. At precisely the
moment when “the factory system and industrial capitalism were becoming significant in reality as
well as in rhetoric” (218), it became far more difficult to assert that all would share equally in
manufacturing’s bounty. The labor radicalism of the Workingmen’s parties offered one model of
competing class interests, whereas the sectional defiance of Southern nullifiers would offer another.
Peskin observes the continuities between colonial promanufacturing rhetoric of the 1760s and the
Whig party’s American System in the 1830s. But by this later date, mercantilist faith in government’s
ability to create an economy greater than the sum of its parts had “become a bittersweet fantasy, an
attempt to hold on to an increasingly distant past, when harmony and national self-sufficiency
seemed attainable goals” (221). Manufacturing Revolution: The Intellectual Origins of Early American Industry.

One should not forget the importance of the internationalism of the American revolt which inspired both the French and the Haitian revolution. Word of which had spread from Africans in the French colony of New Orleans via free black sailors
who were inculcated with Freemasonry and the enlightenment values of liberty, equality and fraternity, as was the Haitian revolt.

This portrait (left) of an unidentified Revolutionary War sailor was painted in oil by an unknown artist, circa 1780. Prior to the war, many blacks were already experienced seamen, having served in the British navy and in the colonies' state navies, as well as on merchant vessels in the North and the South. This sailor's dress uniform suggests that he served in the navy, rather than with a privateer.








Jim Thomson | The Haitian Revolution and the Forging of America

Many Fraternal Groups Grew From Masonic Seed (Part 1 -- 1730-1860 )

Prince Hall, Freemasonry, and Genealogy

Joe William Trotter - African American Fraternal Organizations

African-Americans in Antebellum Boston

African American Odyssey: Free Blacks in the Antebellum Period ...

Weevils in the Wheat: Free Blacks and the Constitution, 1787-1860

The Revolution's Black Soldiers

Adeleke, Tunde "Violence as an Option for Free Blacks in Nineteenth-Century America"

The Racist Roots of Gun Control

Women in Antebellum America | Pre-Civil War Women | Women in ...



Also See: Happy 4th of July

Plutocrats Rule

American Fairy Tale

Secular Democracy

Slavery in Canada

A NEW AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Prince-hall, freemasons, fourth0fjuly, july4, independence, african-americans, mechanics, artisans, farmers, revolution, Haiti, America, USA,
CLRJames, Tousaint, libertarian, anarchist, anarchism, liberation, left-libertarian, individualist, collectivist,

Red Moon Rising

On July 2nd the evening moon turned blood red. Yesterday the sunset too was blood red, and the moon returned glowing scarlet. It's July in Edmonton, forest fire season.

Fires to the west of us fires to the east of us, and fires to the north. And it's bloody hot. 33 c yesterday. Record highs, record heat, forest fire season.

It's the season of the blood moon.

Which has more than one meaning.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
red-moon, fores, fire, forest-fire, smoke, eclipse, mensturation, Alberta, B.C., Sask

Happy 4th of July

It is still legal to burn the flag in the good ol US of A.

See My Tribute From Last Year.


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
flag, desecration, 4thofJuly, flagburning, US, USA, America, FirstAmendment,
Rothbard, libertarian, left-libertarian, flag-burning, freedom, freedom-of-speech, protest,

Max Stirner Wears Prada

Movie Review from Marginal Revolution on The Devil Wears Prada.

The irony in the title made it worth the read. Then I came across the name of Max Stirner. A young Hegelian along with Marx. The father of individualist anarchism.

Of course Meryl Streep is playing the ultimate egoist.

Yet the reviewer associates Anna Hathaway the assistant as the source of individualist rebellion and real egoism. The lowely, the worker, the slave by any other name, she who must ob ey, as did Stirner. Bravo.

The Devil Wears Prada -- a Straussian interpretation

Make no mistake about it, this is a movie about sheer power lust. It is a movie of how that lust can be cloaked or shifted to another sphere but never denied. Never bottled up. Never stopped. It is a delicious tale of social intrigue, ambition, class, and how much clothes really do matter. And to take sweet Anne Hathaway -- remember the wonderful but underrated Ella Enchanted?-- and have her play Max Stirner -- that is a mark of genius.

And then there is this wonderfully bitchy review which ends with

God. People who think fashion industry girls' lives are just like the movies are so wrong. Those who really live this way are actually thinner, meaner, and don't need labels to feel important. Hello, their daddies can totally buy and sell most people's entire family.


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
anarchism, individualism, ego, egoism, Stirner, philosophy, Prada, Streep, Devil