White Poppy Debate

The debate over wearing white poppies for Rememberance Day was not just a story in Edmonton or in Canada. It was a world wide debate this weekend.

Lest We Forget

White Poppies

Afghanistan






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Words of Wisdom

From veterans on Rememberance Day. Something that armchair warmongers like Harper will never understand because they never have been in combat.

Afghanistan puts new slant on day

Military mourners called it a different Remembrance Day than most - 34 soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year, and while troop support remains high, criticism of the mission is mounting.

"I have the utmost respect for our soldiers, but honestly, we need to get the hell out of (Afghanistan)," said Leduc native Wave Reynar, a man most military types would listen to.

The 62-year-old is a recently retired U.S. Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, who's fought in Vietnam, Granada, Iraq, and saw legions of casualties while serving in Beirut.

War has brought him silver and bronze stars, lunches with U.S. presidents, and even a purple heart.

But it's also brought grief - Reynar's son was killed in Iraq.

"That miserable war isn't worth one more life," Reynar said before bursting into tears at the Leduc Legion, where he was celebrating Remembrance Day with friends, among them several members of the RCMP.

Aart Van Sloten - would-be father-in-law of slain soldier Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, killed in the 2002 friendly fire incident in Afghanistan - agreed dialogue over pulling out is reasonable.

He spoke after attending a Remembrance Day ceremony at Rundle park yesterday at a bridge named in Dyer's honour.

"We send troops to the armpit of the world and they go through hard times there. No one likes war and every time we hear of another soldier's death it gets harder.

See:

Lest We Forget

White Poppies

Afghanistan






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Eating Raoul

Recent findings about early hominds shows that they were not vegan as earlier thought. Which was the reason scientists thought they became extinct.

Hominid extinction theory long in the tooth

The findings came as a surprise, since Paranthropus had previously been thought to have a fairly unvaried diet, especially when compared with the emerging hominids from the genus Homo - the line we are descended from. Their finicky eating had been cited as one of the reasons Paranthropus eventually went extinct in the face of a drying African continent. Meanwhile, the varied tastes of Homo meant it was better equipped to handle changing environmental conditions."Since we have now shown Paranthropus was flexible in its eating habits over both short and long intervals, we probably need to look to other biological, cultural or social differences to explain its ultimate fate," said lead author Matt Sponheimer.

So why did they become extinct?

Well perhaps it was because our ancestors ate them.

After all some folks still eat our primate cousins. Something the scientists have overlooked.

the food supply of the Huaroni tribe, who has lived in the rainforest for thousands of years and is one of the last tribes in the Amazon to voluntarily live in seclusion in the rainforest, Hartley says.They’re not farmers, she says, but hunter-gatherers, so they rely on eating monkeys, snakes and birds, among other things.

Of course eating our relatives is a bad idea. For several reasons. Not the least is it leads to their extinction. And it could lead to ours.

Team finds HIV-related virus in gorillas
In May, the same research team published results tracing the seeds of the AIDS pandemic to chimpanzees living in Cameroon. At the time, scientists reported evidence - gathered through genetic analysis of fecal samples - that chimps were infected with HIV-1 by eating infected prey monkeys and, in turn, humans became infected by butchering infected chimps for food.

And it is of course a moral issue as well. Which maybe why scientists have not looked at this possibility as the reason for the extinction of prehistoric non-homo hominds.

Drive to give 'human' rights to apes leaves Spanish divided
Spain could soon become the first country in the world to give chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and other great apes some of the fundamental rights granted to human beings under a law being proposed by members of the ruling Socialist coalition.

Moral 'bastards' have brain hormone problems
Research by primatologists Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal at Emory University has shown that monkeys also have what look like moral values. When two monkeys work for food, a fair split is expected. If a fair division is not received, it elicits cries of outrage and hurled food by the wronged partner. Moral values have powerful physiological representations in humans, too, and we feel them strongly when they are violated.

See:

Evolution

Primates

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Psychedelic Saskatchewan

There are series of new academic papers and a documentary film published by U of A researcher Erika Dyck on the Weyburn Saskatchewan LSD experiments done in the fifties and sixties.

LSD finds new respectability

Old research on LSD treatment for alcoholism gets new look ...

LSD & Alcoholism Treatment: Saskatchewan Alcoholism Treatment with LSD

'Hitting Highs at Rock Bottom': LSD Treatment for Alcoholism

Long-forgotten LSD treatment might aid alcoholics start a trip to recovery


The Weyburn experiments along with later research by Leary, Albert, etc. proved LSD was a useful and safe drug.

It had to be safe or of course the CIA would never have used it. However the CIA planted stories in the press about LSD suicides, LSD users going blind staring at the sun, all of which were fictions like WMD in Iraq.

In Canada and the US counter studies were used to 'prove' LSD was harmful. Of course as most LSD users and researchers know it is all about the 'setting'. If you are in a secure comfortable setting you have a good trip. Being strapped down and tortured of course would create a bad trip.

The Saskatchewan results were soon attacked by institutions including the Toronto-based Addiction Research Foundation. It argued Osmond's research, in which subjects were given LSD in comfy surroundings and stimulated with art or music, was poorly designed and proved nothing. In contrast, the foundation sometimes blindfolded or restrained its LSD test subjects to isolate the effect of the drug. It failed to reproduce the Saskatchewan results, a finding that, combined with growing social concern about LSD, eventually led to the end of research into such therapy.

Well of course they failed, they deliberately did not use empirical research to 'duplicate' the experiment. They used a different technique, one closely resembling torture, to disprove the Weyburn experiments. They of course had an agenda, one that was anti-LSD and thus anti-scientific.



See:

LSD




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Republican Runs In London Byelection

Dianne Haskett claimed she moved to Washington for her daughters sake. In reality she went to hone her skills as a neo-con Republican.

Of course Washington has more private schools than London Ontario does, so she was able to kill two birds with one stone. In this case she not only sent her daughter to a Christian private school but got on the board as a Trustee.

Haskett's role as a trustee of Trinity Christian School in Fairfax, Va. -- in subuurban Washington, where the former London mayor has been living -- and her past assertion she can't separate her religious beliefs from her politics. Children at Trinity, the alert from the Walker camp, noted, are taught creationism, while Darwin's theory of evolution is debunked.

She was also a trustee at the Trinity Christian School in Fairfax, Virginia, where the upper-level reading list prescribes that students read Charles Darwin's The Origin of the Species -- the blueprint for the theory of evolution. The book is "essential reading in order to better understand the mindset of those who profess no faith in Christ and creation."

Now she is running for MP in the London By-election. She has two American elections under her belt as a rightwing republican policy wonk. Of course being well versed in Republican talking points may be why the Conservatives have shut her up during this election.

Her communications director is currently employed by the Federal Government which begs the question what the hell is he doing working at taxpayers expense in a partisan election campaign?

Ryan Sparrow, who has worked in media relations for Stephen Harper and federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose;Sparrow has been limiting media access to Haskett, suggesting media requests don't match her availability.

Of course this not the first time this bigoted right winger has used the Silence Is Golden tactic.

Byelection candidate has sport with Tory rival

The Liberal candidate in a federal byelection has launched a backhanded appeal on behalf of his Conservative counterpart, who he says is being "unfairly muzzled."

Dianne Haskett, 51, is an accomplished politician who served London as mayor for six years before moving to Washington in 2000, where she did volunteer work for Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole. She is also an evangelical Christian who attracted a human rights complaint in the mid-1990s when, as mayor, she refused to sanction a gay pride parade in London.

A request by The Canadian Press for an interview with Haskett, as part of a riding profile, was rebuffed earlier this week after her campaign sought the request in writing. Haskett, a former two-term London mayor, has not granted an interview to national media since entering the race late last month

And the Tories are hoping for a win so they can have another vote against Same Sex Marriage. And she of course will support the current attack by the Harpocrites on the Judiciary in Canada.

And what about the Tories concern about Canadians with Dual Citizenship? I guess that only applies to Lebanese Canadians not American/Canadians like Haskett. Mind you they did pay to airlift her out of Washington to parachute her into the London By-election.

Contradictions abound within the Haskett mindset, she is a Monarchist who supports Republicans. Mind you that is no less a contradiction than this description of her politics; Ms. Haskett is a right-leaning liberal and religious evangelical -- a member of the largest United Church in Canada, Metropolitan of London. She considered running federally for the Liberals and, at one point, cautiously investigated becoming a part of whatever was to come out of the United Alternative. The UA of course was the move to merge the Reform Party with the Conservatives. Liberal, Reformer, Republican, Tory, opportunist.

Dianne Haskett - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After Haskett's second, three-year term as mayor expired in December of 2000, she, her husband and daughter moved to Fairfax, Virginia, working with two D.C. area law firms in planning and implementing strategic business development and providing assistance in their immigration and estate planning work. Haskett completed her second Master's Law Degree in the Spring of 2005 from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.. She also passed the Washington D.C. Bar exam and was sworn in as an attorney and member of the DC Bar in December, 2005.

Haskett has also been involved in a number of other projects in the Washington, D.C. area, including speechwriting, research and marketing and acting in an advisory capacity in Senate and Congressional campaigns. She worked as a communications adviser and researcher for Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole.^[3] She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy in Washington, D.C. and of Trinity Christian School of Fairfax, Virginia.

Tory byelection candidate tied to U.S. faith-based diplomacy group

The Conservative candidate running in next month's Ontario byelection spent part of the last six years on the board of a group that promotes the "reconciliation principles of Jesus" as a means of resolving international political crises and advocates the U.S. government create the post of "religion attache" to help defuse sectarian conflict around the world.

Dianne Haskett, the former mayor of London, Ont., was a board member of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, a Washington-based, inter-faith organization that seeks to "live (Jesus') example by linking religious reconciliation with official and unofficial diplomacy in addressing ethnic conflict, tribal warfare," according to a website describing the group.

It has urged the U.S. State Department to "elevate the consideration of religious factors in foreign policy" by attaching American religious leaders to embassies in the Arab world, Asia, Africa and Latin America. The group believes conflicts are increasingly rooted in religious differences, and need a religious approach.

"Religion's importance will only continue to increase in response to the growing threat to traditional values posed by economic globalization and ... the revolutionary pace of technology change," wrote Douglas Johnston, the group's founder. "To underestimate these realities in the formulation of U.S. foreign policy is to tempt the gods, so to speak."

Richard Hudler v. City of London & Mayor Dianne Haskett

Board Decision - October 7, 1997

Key Words: Services; Sexual Orientation; Direct & Indirect Discrimination; Discretion

The complainant brought a complaint, on behalf of himself and the Homophile Association of London Ontario (HALO), against the Mayor of London, after she refused to grant a municipal proclamation of . Pride Weekend. in July, 1995. The complaint alleged discrimination with respect to services because of sexual orientation. The complaint also alleged discrimination by the City of London when City Council failed to grant the proclamation in the face of the Mayor's refusal.

The Board of Inquiry found that the Mayor and City Council discriminated against the complainant and HALO. The Board concluded that the Mayor did not issue the proclamation because the request came from a group whose membership identified themselves as gay and lesbian. The Board also found that the Mayor's policy, which refused to grant proclamation based on . sexuality. , had a differential impact on the gay and lesbian community. The Board refused to employ s. 2(b) freedom of expression Charter principles to insulate the Mayor's actions from scrutiny, and dilute the purposes of the Code. The Board awarded the complainant $10,000 in damages, holding the Mayor and the City jointly and severally liable. In addition, the Board ordered that the City proclaim any future requests for Pride Day/Weekend, and make a commitment to investigate ways of fostering improved relations with the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual communities of London.

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Mulroney's Ghost

Call this an example of Faustian politics, once again the Conservatives have made a deal with the devil to gain support in Quebec. Just like Mulroney did in order to form his coalition government.

Tory cabinet minister says Quebec is a nation

A spectre is haunting Canadian politics and that spectre is the Quebec Nation.What none of our federalist parties wish to address of course is that this is not just and issue over the Constitution of 1980 but the con job that Confederation was back in 1867.




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No Show Rona

Will she or won't she show up in Kenya?
Robert Fife the parliamentary correpsondent for CTV suggested on Mike Duffy live on Friday Nov. 10 that the Conservatives MIA Environment Minister Rona Ambrose might not show up in Kenya for the Koyto 2 round of discussions.

And this may be why he thinks that; Ambrose's opening remarks are delivered electronically in Nairobi.

From Macleans; Rona Ambrose: A Week in the Life



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Rona Ambrose

Environment


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Climate Catastrophe In Ten Years

So much for the Tories Hot Air Plan. By the time they enact their legislation the seas will probably be rising.

Coral warns of rising seas

The most alarming aspect of the research is that scientists have no way of predicting when ice sheets will collapse, causing a surge in sea levels. “The problem with melting ice sheets is that it doesn’t happen gradually or steadily. It can be catastrophic and … the concern is the rate of sea level rise,” said McCulloch. “There may not be much time. These things could happen quite rapidly, like tens of years.”

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An iceberg floats in the Southern Ocean, south of Invercargill on New Zealand's south island in this undated handout photograph made available by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) on November 9, 2006. Scores of icebergs have floated to within about 300 km (186 miles) of New Zealand, with the largest measuring about 1.8 km (1.1 miles) in length and standing some 120 metres (360 feet) above water.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

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Environment

Climate Change

Arctic

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Our Electric Universe

One of the heretical theories that Professor Velikovsky proposed was that the main force in the universe was not gravity but electromagnatism. It turns out that his prediciton was borne out by discoveries of electrical storms between plants like Jupiter and Saturn and their moons. And by the electrical discharges from the Sun which appear as plasmatic solar flares.

Strongest lightning storm on record strikes Saturn
The most powerful lightning storm ever detected on Saturn has been captured by the Cassini spacecraft – but scientists are still not sure what is causing it. "It is clear that this is the strongest lightning activity that we've seen with Cassini since it arrived at Saturn," says Donald Gurnett at the University of Iowa, US, and RPWS principal investigator. "In fact, the flash rate even exceeds the rate observed by Voyager 1 back in 1980 and the intensities are at least as large, if not larger."

• Erratic 'superbolts' of lightning seen on Saturn

I am proud to say that my Alma Mater the University of Lethbridge had the bravery to grant Doctor Velikovsky with an honorary degree.


See:

Cosmology


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Our Ancestor?

May be the sea urchin.

"Scientists have long known that humans and sea urchins are closely related. In fact, these animals are the only invertebrates on the human branch of the evolutionary tree of life. Now that the sea urchin genome is sequenced and assembled, that genetic connection is even clearer."

Spiny creature's genome insight

"Any snorkeler who has ever marvelled at the spherical, almost otherworldly, symmetry of the sea urchin will be amazed to learn that this organism, so different in habitat and body plan from ourselves, actually shares a substantial number of the same genes and pathways," said Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) which helped fund the project.

"It turns out that the sea urchin is very much like us," said George Weinstock, the co- director of the HGSC. "You wouldn't think it to look at it. But it's closer to us than a fly," he said. The group estimates the sea urchin has 23,300 genes. For comparison, the fruit fly has about 13,600 and humans 20,000 to 25,000.

See:

Evolution

Darwinism


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