Esperanto

Esperanto an artifical language is 120 years old. Felichan Naskightagon!

Esperanto proves resilient as the movement celebrates 120 years

With the prospect of international peace looking more distant than ever, it's worth sparing a thought for the work of Doctor Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof.

A Polish Jew from the West of the Russian Empire, Zamenhof developed the Esperanto language in the late nineteenth century.

Dreaming of peace and international understanding, he constructed a composite of Romance and Germanic languages, which he hoped would be used as a universal second tongue.

Though his vision was never truly realised, small bands of Esperantists around the world are keeping the movement alive and hoping that the new global age may give the Esperanto a second chance.

It was a cause celebre for many anarchists at the begining of the 20th Century.

Esperanto in China and among the Chinese diaspora was for long periods closely linked with anarchism.

It also appeals to those of a scientific or technocratic bent.....

Mac OS X supports a language invented in the 19th century by a Polish ophthalmologist, a language invented in the 20th century for a sci-fi movie, and a language that formed in the 10th century on a Pacific island chain.

After U.S. English, make these your second, third, and fourth preferences respectively for your Mac’s application menus, dialogs, and sorting.

Answer: The three languages are Esperanto, Klingon, and Hawaiian and can be located by opening the International system preference, selecting the Language tab, and then clicking the Edit List button. Esperanto is easy enough to find but Klingon and Hawaiian aren’t as Klingon is spelled in the Klingon language (it’s the tlhlngan Hol entry) and Hawaiian is likewise presented in its native spelling. (You’ll find it just below Hrvatski.)

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Conservatives Glow Green

The announcement by the Conservative Government of extra funding for science and technology was aimed at benefiting the utilities, King Coal and Nukies.

There was representation from public utilities, private utilities, and the Ontario Power Workers Union their co-partners in nuclear power in Ontario. One of the few union backed P3's in Canada.

The room glowed as Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn proclaimed the era of nuclear steam injection for the Tar Sands.

Well that is a better idea than the original plan which was to detonate and atomic bomb, a teeny tiny one, in the tar sands creating a sea of molten bitumen.

But nuclear powered steam injection remains problematic since it will produce toxic waste, and still wastes water, which is already scarce thanks to expanded Tar Sands operations. It looks like everyone. including Liberal leader Stephane Dion, is pro nuke when it comes to the Tar Sands.

Taking another page from Ralph Klein, Lunn declared that the government would invest in clean coal technology, someone woke up the Tories and they have discovered that you could sell this technology to India and China. At least Lunn recognized that clean coal technology doesn't exist yet, Ralph claimed it did.

Nukes for Ontario and Nukes for Alberta, and a uranium boom for Saskatchewan. And Saskatchewan gets to be the dumping ground, literally, for nuclear waste and CO2 sequestration.

Now about those unsightly toxic radioactive wastes.....well.....we can solve that too......sometime...in the future.....there is technology being developed.

Isn't that how we got in this mess in the first place?!

See:

nuclear power

Environment

Hydro

Energy Probe

CANDU

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Canada, Greenplan, Alberta, Saskatchewan, GaryLunn, JohnBaird, CleanCoal, hydro, nuclear, nuclear power, Ontario Power Workers Union, EPCOR, Utilities, Greenhouse gases, CO2, Conservatives, Government,

Cuba and Canada

Harper can help US take fresh look at Cuba says Jim Travers in today's Toronto Star.

Sorry Jim but he won't.

He had an opportunity but he blew it. And the right wing lobby aligned with the Conservative Party opposes any rapproachment with Cuba.

See:

Cuba

Castro


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Slavery Returns To Britain

But this is already happening in Canada.

Nannies and farmworkers are considered indentured servants under provincial employment laws, and by the Federal Governments migrant/temporary worker program. At least in Britain they have called a spade a spade, this is just modern slavery.

Britain's shame: Modern-day slaves

This is the story of Somalatha, who is from Sri Lanka. That's not her real name -- and you're about to find out why.

It's a story most people won't believe could occur in modern-day Britain. Sadly, it is true. It happened very recently.

Somalatha arrived in Britain when she was 29 with a family for whom she had been working in Jordan. Her job was to be a maid. She had to work 16 to 18 hours a day, for which she was paid about $450 Cdn a month. In the first two years, she was not given one day off.

She was not allowed to eat with the family and had to wait for leftovers. If there were none, she was advised to eat onions and potatoes.

If any food was missing, she was automatically blamed for it, or even punished.

Somalatha had to sleep on a sofa-bed in the sitting room, where she was disturbed by anyone who came in late.

Friday nights were especially difficult since the teenage children would come home late at night and bring their friends, which would prevent her from sleeping.

Her employer deliberately let Somalatha's visa expire. Since she was without a visa, she could not run away. She kept asking for a letter from her employer so she could apply to renew her visa but this was refused.

Under current British law, women like Somalatha have a way out. But the government is about to close her escape route. Earlier this year, it proposed changes to the law that divides migrants into five tiers according to their perceived skills and the economic benefit they will bring to Britain.

This system makes no mention of women like Somalatha. But immigration officials have told Anti-Slavery International that domestic workers like Somalatha will henceforth be tied to the employers with whom they entered the United Kingdom, with no right to change employers -- no matter how abusive their treatment.

See:

Slavery in Canada

Monte Solberg

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Psycho Bosses Depressed Workers

Being a wage slave under capitalism doesn't just kill it is also depressing......

About half a million Canadian workers experience depression, and most say it interferes with their ability to manage their jobs, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

Data from 2002 showed almost four per cent of workers between the ages of 25 and 64 reported being depressed in the previous 12 months before the survey

Job-related factors associated with depression included:

• Night shifts.
• Non-regular hours.
• Work stress.
• Occupation.

The prevalence of depression was relatively high among workers who spent fewer than 30 hours on the job. It was lower among those who worked more than 40 hours.

Of course workers are depressedwhen they are forced into working two jobs just to make ends meet. And of course they can't manage their jobs because the bosses are all psychos.

Millions of harassed workers could have their worst fears confirmed about their bosses thanks to a new test to weed out the 'corporate psycho'.

You may already suspect that your boss's smooth, charming exterior masks a sadistic control freak with a penchant for violence.

Professor Hare estimates that 1% of the general population in North America are psychopaths.

The professor believes that psychopath's cold-blooded ability to manipulate others without remorse, coupled with a veneer of charm and high energy can make them extremely successful in many walks of life.

They could be perfectly qualified for top posts in the military, politics or in huge multi-national companies as history has already shown in one notorious case.

Former Daily Mirror tycoon Robert Maxwell, who made off with the newspaper's pension fund, was named as a classic example of a man in a powerful position who might very well have displayed psychopathic traits.

Which may explain why so many bosses are criminal capitalists.

See:

Work Kills

Work Sucks

Which Is True

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Canada, Britain, US, workers, depression, psychology, social psychology, work sucks, work kills,wage slave, psycho boss, psychopath, psychopathic managers, boss is a psychopath,

The Wicker Man Review

The Wicker Man Review

Why the remake of the Wickerman is as bad as I said it would be.

See:

Wicca

Pagan


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christopher lee, horror movies, , movies, , paganism, , wicca, , wickerman, Nicholas Cage, movie remakes, hollywood, Edward Woodward,

Christy Moore - Viva La Quince Brigada

Christy Moore - Viva La Quince Brigada

Christy Moore wrote the song about the Irish who went to Spain with the International Brigades to fight against Franco and the fascists during the Spanish Civil War.It has been sung by many singers and groups since.The tune dates back to the Napoleonic Wars.

It contains a denuciation of the Irish Reactionaries and the Catholic Church who blessed them for fighting with the fascists.

Includes some vintage footage from the Spanish Civil War.

No Pasaran!


See:

Rememberance or Revisionism

Kenney is A Funny Guy

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Revloutionary Music Flashback

Tom Robinson Band - power in the darkness


Wow I was thinking whatever happened to the Tom Robinson Band. The first 'out' gay left band that was active in the Anti-Fscist movement in Britain. And lo and behold I came across this video.

So I thought I would share it with ya' all. It's a great revolutionary song.

Just like 'Rise Up' by Canada's own 'out band' the Partachute Club, though it was recuperated by McCains for their Pizza ads on TV. Which never happened to TRB.


More YouTube videos on Le Revue Gauche;

What CNN Won't Show You

Communist Manisfesto Toon

Marxism in action

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Martin Luther King Voice of the Working Class

What is often forgotten about Martin Luther King was that he was the voice the working class in America, black and white. Which is what the conservatives in the United States will never fogive him for.

"In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.' Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining... We demand this fraud be stopped." Martin Luther King

Negroes are almost entirely a working people. There are pitifully few Negro millionaires, and few Negro employers. Our needs are identical with labor's needs — decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can grow, have education for their children and respect in the community. That is why Negroes support labor's demands and fight laws which curb labor. That is why the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth. Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis, Tennessee, the day he died to support a strike by the city’s sanitation workers. The garbage men there–almost all of them black–had recently formed a chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to demand better wages and working conditions. But the city refused to recognize their union, and when the 1,300 employees walked off their jobs, marching under picket signs reading "I Am a Man", the police broke up the rally with mace and billy clubs. After the mayor threatened to fire every one of the striking workers and a local court issued an injunction against any further demonstrations, the union’s leaders called on Dr. King to visit Memphis.

King’s famous "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The soaring oratory was heard by millions. But if King’s voice carried that day, it was no thanks to his corporate sponsors, for he had none. Rather, the thanks went largely to the United Auto Workers, the union that supplied the microphones and paid for the electricity, funding most of the logistics of the march. Walter Reuther, the head of the auto workers’ union, was on the platform along with King and the real instigators of the march. For although King was the final speaker on the rostrum, he was not the chief organizer of that massing of humanity. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, as it was officially called, was largely the brainchild of the labor leader A. Philip Randolph.

In their effort to lay claim to King, much as generations of politicians strove to “get right with Lincoln,” conservatives have presented an ahistorical portrait of him as an absolutist on the question of race and public policy. By their estimation, King’s “I have a dream” speech should be taken literally: He espoused a civic order where governments made no distinctions between citizens based on race. Hence he would have opposed compensatory set-asides, quotas, or timelines and targets aimed at redistributing jobs and economic resources.

The problem with this version of history is that it ignores much of what King said. In his book Why We Can’t Wait, he wrote that “no amount of gold could provide an adequate compensation for the exploitation and humiliation of the Negro in America down through the centuries. Not all the wealth of this affluent society could meet the bill. Yet a price can be placed on unpaid wages. The ancient common law has always provided a remedy for the appropriation of the labor of one human being by another. . . . The payment should be in the form of a massive program by the government of special, compensatory measures which could be regarded as a settlement in accordance with the accepted practice of common law. . . . I am proposing, therefore, that, just as we granted a GI Bill of Rights to war veterans, America launch a broad-based and gigantic Bill of Rights for the Disadvantaged, our veterans of the long siege of denial.”

Critically, he envisioned these broad-based, public-sector compensatory programs as targeting both African-Americans and poor whites, whom he labeled the “derivative victims” of slavery and Jim Crow. In this regard he leaned on the writings of W. E. B. Du Bois, who famously observed that poor and working-class whites gained nothing from Jim Crow but the psychological “wages of whiteness.” In return for the psychological boost that “whiteness” gave them, poor whites—millions of them, from slavery times through the modern age—surrendered political and economic power to their elite counterparts. King might well have been thinking of the radical white writer Lillian Smith’s 1943 parable, “Two Men and a Bargain,” in which “Once a time, down South, Mr. Rich White made a bargain with Mr. Poor White. . . . You boss the nigger, and I’ll boss the money.” According to Smith, they “segregated southern money from Mr. Poor White and they . . . segregated the Negro from everything.”

Smith’s reasoning—and King’s—was well-founded. Jim Crow divided white and black labor against each other, stunting the growth of unions, labor parties, and liberal political coalitions. Jim Crow thus drove down wages across the board and secured a political system (chiefly in the American South) where taxes were regressive, public services were minimal, and political participation was sharply limited. Remember that on the eve of World War II, poll taxes in eight Southern states disenfranchised as many as 64 percent of white citizens and virtually all eligible black voters. It’s hard to say what most working-class whites got from Jim Crow other than the satisfaction that they weren’t black.

See:

Working Class

Afro-Americans

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labour, labor, black, white, workers, unions, working class, America, Martin Luther King, MLK, Martin Luther King Day, AFL/CIO, A. Phillip Randolph, W E B Dubois, Afro-Americans

Blogger Beta

So I tried to set up my blog under the New Blogger Beta and everytime I do I can't get in. So WTF is the problem. Well communications of course because nowhere does Blogger tell me this little vital piece of information.....

However, the new features will only be available to users who log in using a Google account, not their Blogger account, and only a small percentage of users will be invited to switch their accounts over initially, Google said: "If you're one of them, you'll see a blue box in the sidebar of your dashboard highlighting the new version of Blogger."

Well duh. Nice of you tell PC World but not your users.

See:

Blogspot




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