My Way

King Ralph made his annual infommercial to the Volk of Alberta just before the opening of the annual and only required sitting of the Legislature. In the radio ads promoting the Ralph Show on CTV it was billed as Ralphs Vision for Alberta. Read or watch the Address to see how other Albertans, and I, imagine Alberta.

The Premier was to tell his volk his vision of Albertas future and we were all to ooooo and ahhhhh and then applaud. It cost us $170,000 because Ralph never uses the already paid for services of Canada's public Broadcaster CBC, and he couldn't use the Provincial TV Radio outlet ACCESS/CKUA because he privatized it.

Well his vision was certainly lacking in orginiality Klein announces $1 billion boost to Heritage Fund and then as predicted here the King embraced the other King, King Coal. But here again his vision was blurred by the rose coloured glasses he was wearing. It wasn't imaginative but it certainly was a fantasy.

Klein also spoke enthusiastically about so-called "clean coal" technology and the need to expand research "to unlock coal's massive potential."

"We already use clean coal to meet more than half of our electricity needs," the premier said.

"The coal beneath our feet contains twice the energy of Alberta's conventional crude, natural gas and bitumen combined."

But Klein's statement about how much power is being generated from "clean coal'' was immediately challenged.

Mary Griffiths, with the Alberta-based Pembina Institute, said the province's coal plants have significant emissions, so there is no clean coal generation.

"They have emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and other heavy metals, and very large emissions of carbon dioxide which causes global warming," she said.

"I don't understand where the premier got his information from."

David Lewin, chairman of the Canadian Clean Power Coalition, also confirmed that Alberta has no coal-fired plants that meet the latest definition of "clean coal."

"We're a fair ways away from having zero emission coal-fired plants. That technology doesn't exist," said Lewin, who also gave a testimonial in the broadcast.

Alberta's newest coal-fired plant uses emissions technology from 2000, while most of the province's coal generators use 20-year-old technology, he said.

Not to be detered King Ralph also Announced that he would find a cure for
Cancer.The man is an absolute wizard.

Curing Cancer, creating clean coal technology out of thin air. He even compared Alberta to a little slice of Heaven.

"In the future I see for Alberta, no one will need to worry about where they’ll live, or who will look after them as they enter their golden years." Yeah unlike today.

Ralph is not only our King he is an absolute Wizard. Wizard of Oz that is.

What is more important is WHAT HE DIDN'T SAY. Not a word about his much vaunted Third Way for Health Care Reform, the real source of his My Way or the Highway. But of course this is classic Klein. He has been announcing Health Care reform for a Decade...and all we get is studies, reccomendations, more studies, focus groups, more reccomendations, Bill 11, more studies, focus groups, International Conference, and finally a private untendered contract to a health care priavteer to see if we can reintroduce the old Alberta MSI scheme.

Nil to say on 'Third Way'

The most interesting aspect of Premier Ralph Klein's annual televised address last night was not what he said - among other things a vow to put some big money in the bank - but what he did not say.

Klein missed a perfect opportunity to explain his Third Way for health care directly to Albertans, says a University of Calgary political scientist.

"If you were going to move very dramatically on health care, boy, this is your opportunity to speak to Albertans. Lay a little ground work, make headlines," David Taras said following Klein's annual televised address.

And he had nothing to say about changing Alberta's draconian pro employer labour laws that became a public outrage this summer during the violent Tysons Strike, which his labour Minister promised would be changed by the legislature. Not done in the the fall session nor apparently on the agenda for this spring session. Another hollow promise to the workers and immigrants in this province.

Yep the outgoing, soon to retire, wait another year, I promise I will go, King Ralph's vision was myopic despite the rose coloured glasses. He is in serious need of corrective lenses.

Mr. Mensah said the popular Premier, who has said this will be his fourth and final term, could regain much-needed credibility with the public if he can quickly outline a clear vision for Alberta's bulging coffers.

"What we've gotten so far hasn't really addressed that question of long-term planning," he said.

Mr. Gibbins agreed, saying that Mr. Klein hasn't communicated where he wants to take Canada's wealthiest province in the coming years.

"He's thinking bigger, but it's hard for Albertans to connect the dots in his thinking," Mr. Gibbins said, mentioning recent spending announcements, including $1-billion for cancer research and treatment.

He is all about doing it My Way, Perhaps he should be singing If I Only Had A Brain or a Heart.

And now, the end is near,
And so I face the final curtain.
My friends, I'll say it clear;
I'll state my case of which I'm certain.

I've lived a life that's full -
I've travelled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets? I've had a few,
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course -
Each careful step along the byway,
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew,
When I bit off more than I could chew,
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it my way.

Frank Sinatra My Way

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Yes We Have No Bananas

As students prepare to graduate from high school, those following in their footsteps will find themselves with less next year. Thanks to King Ralph and Company. Too Much Money Not Enough Education

'City students will suffer' Edmonton Sun, Canada - 10 hours ago By CARY CASTAGNA, Staff Writer. Edmonton students will suffer if the provincial government fails to come up with an immediate cash ...

Public school board awash in red ink Fort McMurray Today, Canada - 16 hours ago By PAULA OGONOSKI. Fort McMurray Today — A $1.9 million decision by the public school board could put trustees in hot water with ...

School boards deal with budget shortfalls
CBC.ca, Canada - 17 hours ago
Public school boards in Calgary and Edmonton are contemplating cuts to deal with multimillion-dollar shortfalls.

Alberta schools losers in booming province's infrastructure ...
Canada.com, Canada - 4 Jun 2006
... But the struggles also exist in Edmonton and Fort McMurray. The Calgary Board of Education has a $425-million maintenance deficit for public schools and the ...

June 5, 2006

Pamela Anderson says well maintained schools are important

EDMONTON -- In an exclusive commentary in the Sun newspapers on Saturday June 3, 2006, Canadian Superstar Actress Pamela Anderson, who is to be inducted into the Canadian Walk of Fame this week, says; “We have great education. My schools were beautiful and well-maintained.” More...

And typical of King Ralph he blows his cool when he's found out. Just like he did over health care. And remember when he threw the book at.....the page.....yep when Ralph is found wanting he lashes back. Yep bring back the lash for dem' overpaid public school workers says high school drop out Ralph.

Klein lashes back at educators

Klein furiously fired back, saying teachers, unions and school boards may claim they are being forced to work with less, but the truth is they are only being asked to do with less than they would like, not less than they had before, said Klein.

"If you get a raise of three percent and you were expecting a raise of five percent, you are receiving less of more.

"It's less of what they would like ... because they want more of more, of more, of more.

"Whether it's education, health care, infrastructure, whether it's protection of the environment, everyone wants more, of more, of more.

"It's one of the problems of having too much money."

Yep thats a problem alright. Just like not having enough money apparently. So how come school boards are being funded like its 1993-1995 when we are rolling in money?

Cause we have a Repulican like education system in Alberta. Voucher funding which pays schools per student, private school funding, charter schools, schools competing for students, and no money for infrastructure repairs, though it has been promised since 2000.

As I have said here before planning is anathema to King Ralph and the Party of Calgary. They are stuck in the past, hold the line funding for the public sector while the coffers are open for their business pals.

Or maybe its just good old fashioned lame duck politics, we have to wait for the passing of Ralph and the annointment of this guy:

Jim Dinning announces his candidacy for leader of Alberta's Progressive Conservative party. (CP PHOTO/Jason Scott)

In a speech punctuated by shouts of "Hear, hear!" and "Right on!" the 53-year-old chairman of Western Financial Group said his campaign will focus on investing in education, making Alberta a leader in innovation and high-tech, preserving the environment and socking away money during the current oil-driven economic boom. He said he plans to make Alberta's workforce the most highly skilled on the continent.

"Yes, we have no bananas
We have-a no bananas today.
Just try those coconuts
Those wall-nuts and doughnuts
There ain't many nuts like they.
We'll sell you two kinds of red herring,
Dark brown, and ball-bearing.
But yes, we have no bananas
We have no bananas today."

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The King is Dead Long Live the King

King Ralph has announced, finally, that he is retiring October 2007, as he said he would during the last election.

This allows him to stop being made a fool of on April 1 when the Party of Calgary (PC's) gathers for its annual meeting and leadership review.

The knives are out and ever the populist Klein thwarted the embarassment of not having the parties support, which he demanded earlier this year when he challenged them to support him or else.

Alberta is now being governed by the Retirement Party, after Premier Ralph Klein confirmed he plans to step down as head of the Conservative dynasty -- but not for 19 long and aimless months.

And while his announcement not means that the leadership race which has been occuring in the back rooms will not become official till November of 2007, the infighting and backstabbing will make the Chretien and Martin struggles in the Liberals look like a fight in a sandbox.

Jim Dinning, who some consider the front-runner among six leadership hopefuls, said "there's still some confusion" about when the official leadership race will begin."If the date is October 2007, does the race start now or does the race start then?" Dinning said in an interview.

As I have noted before this is a struggle between the Calgary Capitalist Class which are classic liberals and the right wing social conservative rump in the party.

Ah there is no joy in mudville with this announcement, it merely delays the inevitable. The King is in his counting house, mad as a hatter. He is following his own agenda despite his party, his caucus or his MLA's. He is saving his own ass at the expense of his party.

More articles on King Ralph.

Tories risk taking same trip over a cliff as Socreds

That means the Conservatives won't have a new leader in place until February 2008 -- which gives the party little time to rebuild before the next provincial election is held, likely the same year.

Disaffected Tories are afraid Klein is giving himself too much time to say goodbye and the new leader too little time to say hello.

For them, 19 months is more than enough time for Klein's distracted, at times grumpy, leadership style to drive more supporters away from the party, and to drive the party over the same cliff that claimed the Alberta Social Credit Party and the federal Progressive Conservative Party under Brian Mulroney.

The grumblers are a paranoid lot and they're overstating their worst-case scenario. But they'll be voting at the party's convention and the only way they'd give Klein a ringing endorsement to stay is if he announces he's leaving -- soon.

Klein might still win the leadership vote by a comfortable margin, but then what?

How can he govern for the next 19 months?

He is such a lame duck he'll need crutches to get around for the next year.

Klein to step down next year
Globe and Mail - 4 hours ago
EDMONTON -- Ralph Klein, the country's most colourful and longest-serving Premier, ended years of speculation yesterday by finally announcing his official retirement date: October of 2007.
Klein says he'll quit in October 2007 Toronto Star
Klein locks in retirement date CBC.ca
Canada.com - CTV.ca - Calgary Sun - Edmonton Journal (subscription) - all 47 related »

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Return of the Socreds

Presto Manning is contemplating a run for the leadership of the Party of Calgary. Somethings never change. Preston Manning Expresses Interest In Replacing Klein

That would mean 35 years of Socred power that ended with his father, Ernest, being replaced with a lame duck Premier, then 33 years of PC power starting with Peter Lougheed and ending with a lame duck Premier, and then the possibility of that strange beast the Reformed PC Socreds under Presto.....noooooooo.

Preston Manning, who was once the second-most-powerful leader in Canada as leader of the opposition, is apparently now considering his chances of becoming the second-most-powerful leader in Canada as premier of Alberta.

King Ralph is dead
The Alberta Tories' regicide of Ralph Klein was big news for 12 hours. Then Preston Manning trumped it, telling reporters he was considering running for Klein's job.

Daddy Ernest Manning gave up party power to Peter Lougheed, thus assuring a Liberal Conservative Socred Alliance that was Seventies PC's. That alliance was shattered as neo-cons took over under Klein, the fiscal right was far less powerful than the social conservatives. The social conservatives align behind Oberg, the Reform types around Morton, and the liberal wing under Dinning. Alberta Tories in disarray

Dining did the dirty deed of balancing the budget on the backs of the working class, with wage and benefit cuts to the public sector. Then with victory in his back pocket he left the government.

The neo-cons in the party then went on to shape the Ralph Revolution, using the the debt and deficit hysteria of the ninties to impose their Republican Lite vision on Alberta, while promoting it for the rest of Canada with Prestos Reform Party.

Government that governs least is best — or not

When Mr. Klein became premier, the province had a $3.4-billion deficit and a $23-billion debt. He argued these burdens arose, in part, from governments having involved themselves too much in the economy. There were bad investments. The government taxed too much. Government regulations were too onerous. The free market, he asserted, would be encouraged if the government got out of the way.

This contrasted with the approach of Peter Lougheed, who led the Conservatives to power in 1971. Mr. Lougheed was no socialist, but he did believe the government should try to direct, cajole and even force the market in directions he believed Alberta needed. Only that way, he reasoned, could Alberta's economy be diversified and energy revenues used not just for today's needs, but for the future.

Mr. Lougheed's dirigiste preferences evaporated under Mr. Klein, but now some Albertans want that kind of guiding hand back, at least in a modified form. In a free-enterprise province, the critics are now demanding a “plan” for using the revenues that would be more than driving up spending on ongoing programs.

Presto would be an interesting add to the mix but his chances of winning are less than none. Unless he has something up his sleeve, oh like say Medicare Reform. If anyone could enunciate and promote the Third Way in Medicare it would be Presto.

“Where I think we're headed is a system of universal care, where everybody is covered ... with two tracks for delivery, and two tracks for payment. It's not a question of private versus public, but what mix of the two is appropriate.”

Mr. Manning left what he likes to call "active partisan politics" in 2002 to become more involved in the public-policy debate. He quickly got on board with the Fraser Institute and the Canada West Foundation, and he set up the Manning Centre for Building Democracy.

He and Mike Harris authored the Fraser Institute Report on exactly the musings that King Ralph has been tossing about for the past decade. And perhaps that would be the reason for him to run, otherwise Third Way Medicare Reform is dead in the water.

Third Way predicted to meet Klein's fate

Dead-end way Tories mull future of health-care reform if Ralph exits scene



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Social Credit

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Union Busting Alberta Style

Class War in Alberta

Alberta is awash in class war, not unlike our neighbour B.C where the teachers union is in an 'illegal' walkout forced on them by the Klein-Lite B.C. Liberal Government.

B.C. teachers strike at a stalemate: mediator

Unfortunately the labour movement here has not linked the struggles at Lakeside, Telus, ABS Casino in Calgary and now Finning, together and created a call for a General Strike. Or even a Day of Protest as the BC Fed of Labour would call it. Instead they ask folks to lobby Ralph to settle the dispute.

What do these stories all have in common? Two things. Contracting Out of work and the complicity of the Alberta Government or its political hacks in the companies involved.

Casino Calgary strike day 29

The Alberta government licenses Casino's and gambling in Alberta, and the taxes it makes off gambling are more than they make from oil and gas royalties and taxes combined. The government is addicted to gambling profits, and again this strike is over a first contract, in the home town of the Party of Calgary and its ruler, King Ralph.


Workers walk off job at heavy equipment dealer
Finning Canada, a Caterpillar dealership, is a major service and parts supplier About 900 heavy duty mechanics, technicians and parts people set up picket lines around the company's head office, located in the city's west end, at noon.

In the case of the Finning Strike, Finning has set up secondary plants contracting the work out to them, and their workforce is organized by the fake union CLAC. And my my who sits on the board of Finning if not Jim Dinning the man who would be Premier. Former cabinet minister who brought in the brutal budget cuts in the ninties, Jim retired from cabinet, but is now running an all out for leadership of the PC's when Ralph finally, maybe, real soon, not till 2007, retires. Dinning's handler is none other than Ralph's old pal, Rod Love. Finning supplies all the heavy equipment in Alberta in particular the Tar Sands which is seeing a construction boom. So in order to make even more profits, it is outsourcing its work not unlike those companies it supplies equipment to Flour, Bechtel and Halliburton.

Scuffles, harsh words as voting starts on Telus contract
Faisal Panju says that the main issue of job security doesn't seem to be more entrenched in the tentative agreement than in the working conditions Telus posted in July, which precipitated the labour disruption. The TWU said it was fighting to keep Telus from contracting out jobs to other countries, such as the Philippines.

Telus was once Alberta Government Telephones, until it was privatized in the Ralph Putsch. As Telus it cobbled up Edmonton Telephones, something that AGT had wanted to do for years, thanks to a sell out Mayor and City Council. They promised to keep Telus headquarters in Edmonton, and like the asying about the cheque in the mail, well that lasted about two years until they cobbled up B.C. Tel and moved HQ to Vancouver. Now all the well placed poltical mandarins in both Telus and Ed Tel got cushy jobs while they are screwing their workers. And again it is Alberta and Edmonton in partiuclar that they are looking to....wait for it....outsource/contract out jobs to call centres in the Phillipines. And while we are speaking of the Phillipines it's where NAIT a provincially funded Tech School has contracts to outsource tech education and links to Universities in the Phillipines, so the contracting out goes both ways.

Man arrested after RCMP officer assaulted on picket line
Claude Dupuis, a labour relations professor with Athabasca University in Calgary, says because the plant can't operate at full capacity, the strike is costing Lakeside's parent company, Tyson Foods, a lot of money. But he points out that the Arkansas-based multi-national has deep pockets.In July, labour relations experts had predicted that a strike at the Tyson Foods-owned plant would be lengthy, similar to the last job action at the facility in the 1980s, which killed the union.

In Alberta the government admits that there are no labour laws to protect workers, only a lap dog labour relations board that works for the bosses. Considering that this is the case, the labour movement who has reps on this anti-worker board have yet to take action and remove their reps proving once and for all proving that the LRB is NOT a neutral agency. It appears according to King Ralph that in Alberta if you are not deemed an essential service, without the right to strike and forced binding arbitration, there is nothing the government can do to for you.

If you work in Alberta pay taxes, raise your family, well your shit out of luck if you go on strike for a first contract. Cause Ralph and his pals are more interested in your bosses good fortune and sharing the Alberta Advantage with them than with you.

After giving Tysons millions in funding for its plant operations during the BSE crisis, after supporting the union busting strike in the 1980's, after supporting and funding land grants for the expansion of town development in Brooks, due to the increased number of immigrant workers brought in by Lakeside to operate the plant, there is nothing this government can do. Tysons is counting on the racist redneck culture of Brooks to divide the workers between White Albertans and the immigrants who are people of colour. That's why they brought in immigrant workers, to create a fiscal divide in the plant between the well paid locals versus the underpaid immigrant workers. And they get away with it with the complicity of both the provincial and Federal governments.

Well thats cause our labour laws are all geared for the good of the company not the workers. There is no first contract legislation in Alberta, one of only two provinces in Canada not to have such legislation. And of course their is no legislation against scabs, oh excuse me replacement workers. And no legislation against whipsawing, as Finning has done. In the case of Finning again their outsourcing of work to secondary plants was approved by the LBR.

Yep in Alberta its class war like in B.C. Now if only the labour movement would recognize it, these are not just single isolated battles, these are the battle field writ large across the province....its time for mass action against the bosses and their government.

Two dead, four hurt in collision near strikebound Lakeside Packers in Alberta

Earlier Thursday, two senior Lakeside Packers managers were cited for misconduct by the Alberta Labour Relations Board in the O'Halloran incident.

The board ruled there is direct evidence that Andrew Crocker and Carey Kopp deliberately pursued Mr. O'Halloran near the plant last week.

“Portions of the pursuit were reckless, putting the lives of O'Halloran and other drivers on the road in danger,” said the board ruling.

“The board declares that the employer, Kopp and Crocker engaged in dispute-related misconduct . . . as a result of the careless and dangerous pursuit of O'Halloran.”

Mr. Crocker, the head of security at the plant, and Mr. Kopp, the manager of human resources, must desist from any further conduct related to the strike, said Nancy Schlesinger, vice-chairwoman of the labour board.

She banned the two managers from having any further contact with pickets or union officials. They also must stay at least 200 metres away from the picket line.

Hundreds of Lakeside workers walked off the job to back demands for a first contract.

Hundreds more have shown up every day in school buses and cars willing to go into work.

The plant processes more than 40 per cent of Canada's beef.

When asked about two of its managers being banned from going anywhere near pickets, Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for U.S.-based Tyson Foods, which owns the packing plant, repeated that the company doesn't want anyone to get hurt in the dispute.

He also suggested there are two sides to every story -- including the incident involving Mr. O'Halloran.

“We're still trying to gain a better understanding of what happened,” Mr. Mickelson said.

Mr. Hesse said earlier in the day the ruling had bolstered morale on the picket line. “They feel vindicated,” he said.

Meanwhile, RCMP released the name of a man who allegedly assaulted a Mountie on the picket line Wednesday.

James Achuil Kuol, 35, of Brooks, has been charged with one count of assaulting a peace officer.

Details of the alleged assault, including whether the suspect was a union member or not, were not released.

RCMP have already charged six people, including senior Tyson executives with Lakeside, with dangerous driving and other charges after last Friday's incident.

Mr. O'Halloran also faces charges of mischief and possession of a weapon related to a scuffle on the first day of the strike.

Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, was to join union members on the line Friday.

That's great but Ken by himself or even with this executive in tow is NOT the whole membership of the CLC or even its affiliates. Mass mobilization of all unionized workers in this province is needed not tokenism by labour bueraucrats. Yep Tyson's is shaking in its boots with Brother Georgetti on the line. And the AFL still calls on the government to act not on mobilizing its affiliates to take action.

LRB Decision Banning 2 Lakeside Managers from Picket Line, Negotiations Unprecedented

Highlights Tyson's Contempt for Fair Bargaining, Government Needs to Step In, Says AFL

"How can we expect the union to sit down at a table with people who, directly or indirectly, just tried to injure the union president?" asks McGowan. "There is no hope of good faith bargaining from Tyson given this incident."

McGowan renewed the AFL's call for the government to step in to resolve the strike. "How much more evidence do they need that Tyson is not interested in negotiating a resolution? This company has no intention of signing a collective agreement. The government needs to intervene to protect the democratic rights of these workers."

"What does it take for workers to be protected in this province? Do we need to see more illegal acts?" wonders McGowan.

Yes we do brother McGowan, we need mass pickets, and a Day of Action! With the press supporting the Lakeside workers, including the right wing Sun, this strike is a challenge to the Klein government, a challenge we have not seen in the last decade.

It has clear popular support and the labour movement needs to mobilize a mass demonstration against the government and its collusion with union busting businesses, that get taxpayer money, in a province that is booming. Boom or Bust this government beats up on workers while wining and dining the bosses with our tax money.

Thunk Tank

King Ralph gets a nice perk from the retirement home for neo-cons the Fraser Institute. Not unexpected since the Fraser Institute spent the last thirteen years gushing over Ralph, giving him an annual award for putting into practice what they preach. Retiring Klein will join the Fraser Institute

King Ralph will continue to suck at the public teat as the right wing think tank is a charitable institution. King Ralph will be in good company with other political porkchoppers Preston Manning and Mike Harris. Love these neo-cons who complain about the Nanny State but suckle off the public teat with their 'charitable' foundations, and political consulting firms.


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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

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Cenntenial
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Klein Kills Homeless

Relentless sub-zero temperatures are now being blamed for contributing to the deaths of four people in Alberta who were either living on the street or didn't have appropriate permanent shelter.

Man dies trying to keep warm in camper trailer

The grandstand building on Calgary's Stampede grounds has been open since Friday night to provide a temporary emergency warming shelter for up to 300 homeless people because all of the regular shelters were full.

Not satisfied with a drunken brawl in a homeless shelter in Edmonton several years ago now King Ralph can take responsibility for further deaths of the homeless in Oil Rich Alberta.

Well where else do you lay the blame. Remember this is the guy that admited he 'had no plan' to deal with the boomtimes. He was only good at cutting funding to things like homeless shelter programs.

And when the Mayor of Calgary recently complained about not enough municipal funding from the province for progams like homeless shelters, Klein told him to stuff it.

When you are King you are responsible for your people. The bucks stop with Ralph.

Baby It's Cold Outside

See:

Drunk Holds Court

Klein Steals From The Poor And Disabled

Klein Outta Control

Killer Klein

Severely Normal Albertans Go Bye Bye

Ralph Klein

King Ralph


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Ralph Says Ompph

This is a tragic comic classic for April Fools day. But this is no joke. So befiting the man who would be King forever. Now humbled on this famous day that makes fun of all rulers and their pomposity. Poetic justice indeed.

It's all over but the whailing. King Ralph's tragic tumble in slow motion from his throne began with his ill called 2004 election, is peek aboo healthcare reform, his threatening and challenging over how long he can retain power.

Klein takes devastating blow to leadership

And now his own party shows a massive 45% vote opposed to his continuing to linger in office. Ouch.



His big mouth has gotten him into trouble again. He announced he would be quiting if he wasn't supported at this convention. Well it has instantly come back to haunt him.

Klein dealt a crushing blow in leadership review

The press will badger him mercilessly about it, like a murder of crows after the battle.

So I ask is he more Hamlet or is he more Richard the III?

We shall see this afternoon when and if he meets the crows, err, press.

Will he retreat and hasten his retirement? When a leader gets only 55% support, he has lost the confidence of his party and his Volk. Ironic. Like his 'defeat' in the 2004 provinical election. His loss of seats, but left with an overwhelming majority the envy of every dictator in the world, left him rudderless, and the party adrift.

The PC's want, and need, a leader who swill steer their good ship of State somewhere, anywhere. The last thing they need is a lame duck leader who gooses the party while leading from the stern.

CALGARY (CP) - Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has received support from just 55 per cent of his fellow Conservatives at the party's annual convention in Calgary. It was not immediately clear what action Klein would take, though the numbers could only be seen as a crushing blow. Many observers had suggested Klein needed at least 75 per cent to avoid a serious challenge to his departure plans. Klein has traditionally enjoyed an approval rating of more than 90 per cent.

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Klein Steals From The Poor And Disabled

Ebenezer Klein, King of Alberta likes to kick the poor, the disabled and the homeless around.

Last election he made an issue of the disabled and those on AISH as being less than deserving then Martha and Henry, his severely normal Albertans.

During a protest about Alberta AISH payments being below the poverty line King Ralph with royal disdain claimed that most folks on AISH were probably faking it cause they smoke and drink just like him.

Well today the poor, the disabled and the widowed who have had the Alberta Government stealing their federal funds from them have had their day in court. The Alberta government spent years clawing back federal payments and failed for over a decade to increase AISH until this year. While pocketing the difference.

Now who looks stupid. Alberta settles $100M case over financial assistance payments

In Alberta when you first don't succeed in stealing folks money that is sent to them from the Federal government try, try again is the Klein Reich motto.

Disabled hail AISH settlement

The class-action lawsuit was brought forward by two men representing those who were either underpaid by government support programs or who were subjected to what they claim were illegal and abusive debt collection processes initiated by the province.

AISH recipient Donald Fifield of Tees, in the County of Lacombe, was underpaid more than $10,000 in the 1980s. At the time, government policy limited restitution to six months' worth of losses, regardless of how long the underpayments went on. Under the terms of the settlement, Fifield will be eligible for as much as $30,000, which includes compound interest and the effect of a multiplier formula.

The policy was changed in 2005 and now the government will pay the full amount owed, if it is found to have underpaid pension and social assistance recipients.

The lawsuit said the government erred when collecting debts it claimed were owed by program recipients.

Due to a bureaucratic error, Curtis Roth of Tofield received an overpayment from the province to top up his monthly $980 Canada Pension Plan payment for several years when he was unable to work due to illness. When the $16,000 error was discovered, the government began to deduct the amount owing from Roth's monthly AISH payment, reducing his cheques to $40.

The class-action suit, filed by Edmonton lawyer Philip Tinkler, contended the government went against its own policy on debt repayment, which required the government to seek permission from the Court of Queen's Bench to reduce the pension payments, or reach an agreement with the recipient.

Uditsky said it's important government follows its own procedures.

"I think it's incumbent for the government to be an exemplary model for following procedure because they expect individuals with disabilities to do that all the time."

The government has changed its debt collection rules so that payments can be recovered without going through a court process or securing an agreement with the client. People who receive government payments can turn to the Citizen's Appeal Commission for redress if they have a problem with government decisions.

And here is the $100 million dollar question.

Bev Matthiessen, executive director of the Alberta Committee of Citizens with Disabilities, wonders why the government didn't deal with this issue on its own years ago. "Why is it that we have to wait and wait until it goes to a lawsuit before we can do the right thing and be fair?"

It wasn't in King Ralph's Interest. Get it Interest. Interest on $100 million. Interest and money made off the backs of the poor, widowed and the disabled. Equal to the taxes and royalties paid by Ralphs pals in the oil industry. Interest made off by the real Martha and Henry, Albertans who are not 'severely normal'. So it's ok.



Now perhaps some single mothers on welfare will sue the government for clawing back the federal child tax credit. Another clever money making ploy of the Alberta Government.

Guess the rest of us will have to wait for our prosperity bribe, err bonus cheques a little longer while Ralph digs around in his treasury to make things right.
$400 rebate cheques will arrive in the new year

More Ralph Stories

Also See Alberta Surplus and Alberta Uber Alles

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Democracy Is Messy

Sources tell CTV the regulatory changes to the registry will be fast-tracked through cabinet to avoid a messy parliamentary debate. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office reportedly want quick action on the file because it's a key campaign promise. Federal gov't planning a gun amnesty:

Ah yes that business of democracy is so messy.

Harper is once again showing his mastery of Alberta politics where King Ralph despite his overwhelming majority, and one party state, uses the same tactics to push through spending and policies to avoid facing question period in the legislature. As I have said Welcome to Ottawa, Alberta.

Harper's comments came during a rare press conference where reporters were allowed to pose questions to the prime minister. He touched on a number of topics including the recent murder of a Canadian couple in Mexico, Alberta's move towards a two-tier health system, and his plans to legislate the election of senators.

Press conferences are rare in Alberta and tightly scripted. Don Martin should feel right at home. Martin has just published a book called King Ralph, an unofficial biography on the life and times of Ralph Klein, the premier of Alberta.


Oh yes and remember how consultative Harper promised to be. Well forget that when it comes to Senate Reform. Harper is the ultimate autarch, he is acting positively Presidential. To bad this is Canada where we don't elect a President seperate from his party no matter Harpers illusions that this is so. Since we are a parlimentary system the PMO is an autarch now under Harper the PM is King. In Ottawa, Alberta we now have King Stephen I.

Harper said nothing stopped him from unilaterally creating an electoral process to have simultaneous elections for the Commons and Senate."While I obviously would like to see the co-operation of the provinces, it's a commitment our government has made to pursue Senate elections and that's something we believe we can do from Ottawa.'' Harper plans quick action on elected Senate

Yep he will impose his version of Senate reform on parliment in the grand tradition of that other English parlimentarian King Henry VIII. The fact is that the Senate itself is an elitist institution that denies youg or poor Canadians and renters the right to representation in the Red House. It is the very essence of the British Aristocracy the propertied rentier class.

Senators must be at least 30 years old, hold $4,000 in mortgage-free property. They earn more than $100,000 a year, plus pensions and benefits.

Real electoral reform would be to Abolish the Senate and expand the House of Commons through proportional representation.

Former NDP leader Ed Broadbent, who champions abolishing the Senate as fundamentally undemocratic, had a cautious reaction to the prime minister's announcement.

"Every Canadian knows that reform or abolition is needed and if Mr. Harper can come up with a scheme that addresses both the election of senators and the powers of the Senate, that would be a great contribution.''

"If he aims at just dealing with the elections, I'm not optimistic of the outcome.''

Harper said he did not need the provinces' OK to reform the upper house, but urged them to support his initiative.

The King is dead! Long Live the King!

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Trump Sparks Outrage by Quoting Emerson to Refer to Himself as 'the King'

Daniel Politi

President Donald Trump gleefully quoted a New York Times article that had a headline calling the president “stained in history.” But the important part for the president was not the headline, but the lead of the article that cited a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote about going after the “king.” Even though the piece by Peter Baker was published two weeks ago, Trump quoted it on Twitter Saturday, with some eyebrow-raising changes. 

© SAUL LOEB/Getty Images President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump board Air Force One prior to departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on February 14, 2020. SAUL LOEB/Getty Images

“Ralph Waldo Emerson seemed to foresee the lesson of the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump. ‘When you strike at a king,’ Emerson famously said, ‘you must kill him,’” read the lead from Baker’s Feb. 1 piece. “Mr. Trump’s foes struck at him but did not take him down.” Writing before senators voted to acquit Trump, Baker wrote that “a triumphant Mr. Trump emerges from the biggest test of his presidency emboldened, ready to claim exoneration and take his case of grievance, persecution and resentment to the campaign trail.”© Provided by Slate

Trump quoted those opening lines but capitalized “king” and changed it from “a king” to “the King.”


Trump also capitalized the word “King” which was capitalized in the NYT story nor in the original Emerson quote.

He also changed it to “the King” from “a king.”— Michelangelo Signorile (@MSignorile) February 15, 2020

The president likening himself to a king quickly drew outrage and the phrase “you are not a king” started trending on Twitter. Many also expressed concern that Trump seemed to confirm his campaign for re-election will be pushed by “grievance, persecution and resentment.”


A few problems with your analogy:

1. YOU ARE NOT A KING

2. Murder is illegal

3. You were still IMPEACHED. That s*** lasts forever.

4. It's not "triumphant" when you hid the witnesses, threatened jurors, and half of them admitted that they knew you were guilty.— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) February 15, 2020


YOU ARE NOT A KING!

Me seeing that Trump referred to himself as king: pic.twitter.com/u6y4FCRAdr— Mychal (@mychal3ts) February 15, 2020

Legal experts were also quick to raise concerns about the president’s tweets. “This may be the most sinister tweet Trump has ever posted,” University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade wrote. “He is comparing himself with a king and threatening to use his powers for revenge on those who questioned his abuse of power.” The president’s quote came at the end of a week in which he said he had the “legal right” to interfere in criminal cases.

AMERIKA HAS ONLY EVER HAD ONE KING

AND HE HAS LEFT THE BUILDING

Ralph Solecki, Who Found Humanity in Neanderthals, Dies at 101

Ralph Solecki in 1961, when he was an associate professor of anthropology at Columbia University. His research pointed to the possibility that Neanderthals had humanity — as he put it, that they “had a ‘soul.’”Credit...Columbia University

By Sam Roberts
April 11, 2019

Ralph Solecki, an archaeologist whose research helped debunk the view of Neanderthals as heartless and brutish half-wits and inspired a popular series of novels about prehistoric life, died on March 20 in Livingston, N.J. He was 101.

The cause was pneumonia, his son William said.

Starting in the mid-1950s, leading teams from Columbia University, Dr. Solecki discovered the fossilized skeletons of eight adult and two infant Neanderthals who had lived tens of thousands of years ago in what is now northern Iraq.

Dr. Solecki, who was also a Smithsonian Institution anthropologist at the time, said physical evidence at Shanidar Cave, where the skeletons were found, suggested that Neanderthals had tended to the weak and the wounded, and that they had also buried their dead with flowers, which were placed ornamentally and possibly selected for their therapeutic benefits.

The exhumed bones of a man, named Shanidar 3, who had been blind in one eye and missing his right arm but who had survived for years after he was hurt, indicated that fellow Neanderthals had helped provide him with sustenance and other support.

“Although the body was archaic, the spirit was modern,” Dr. Solecki wrote in the magazine Science in 1975.


Dr. Solecki in 1956 at Shanidar Cave in Iraq. His excavations there uncovered the skeletal remains of Neanderthals.Credit...Ralph S. and Rose L. Solecki papers at the National Anthropological Archives

Large amounts of pollen found in the soil at a grave site suggested that bodies might have been ceremonially entombed with bluebonnet, hollyhock, grape hyacinth and other flowers — a theory that is still being explored and amplified. (Some researchers hypothesized that the pollen might have been carried by rodents or bees, but Dr. Solecki’s theory has become widely accepted.)

“The association of flowers with Neanderthals adds a whole new dimension to our knowledge of his humanness, indicating he had a ‘soul,’” Dr. Solecki wrote.

Moreover, if the flowers were confirmed to have been selected for their medicinal value, he told the New York Academy of Sciences in 1976, the discovery would indicate that “the Neanderthals possessed a mutually comprehensive communication system — in short, a spoken language.”

The very title of Dr. Solecki’s first book, published in 1971, made his rehabilitative effort clear. It was called “Shanidar: The First Flower People.”

His other books include “Shanidar: The Humanity of Neanderthal Man” (1972) and “The Proto-Neolithic Cemetery in Shanidar Cave” (2004), the latter book written with his wife and fellow archaeologist, Rose L. Solecki, and Anagnostis P. Agelarakis.

Scientists remain awed by what Dr. Solecki discovered and, armed with the latest technology, are still interpreting what the physical evidence of the skeletons and the multiple burials implies.

Dr. Solecki measuring a flint scraper, an artifact uncovered in ancient caves in Lebanon, in 1970.Credit...Columbia University

“What is clear is that the cluster of bodies at the ‘flower burial’ came to rest in a very restricted area, but not quite at the same geologic level, and therefore likely not quite at the same time,” the archaeologist Christopher Hunt was quoted as saying in Science this year. “So that might point to some form of intentionality and group memory as Neanderthals returned to the same spot over generations.”

The novelist Jean M. Auel was inspired by Dr. Solecki’s research to write “The Clan of the Cave Bear” (1980), the first in her “Earth’s Children” series of narratives on the evolution of humankind. Ms. Auel said Shanidar 3 was the inspiration for the character Creb.

In the early 1950s, Dr. Solecki was a Columbia graduate student on another excavation in the mountainous Kurdish region of Iraq. Seeking a potentially fruitful dig site, he was directed by locals to the rugged Great Zab River valley and Shanidar Cave, in the Zagros Mountains.

The cave’s portal, 2,500 feet above sea level, opened onto a cavernous 3,000-square-foot interior with 20-foot-high ceilings. His discovery of remains and artifacts there would make it a singular Neanderthal site in Western Asia.

In 1955, Dr. Solecki married Rose M. Lilien and returned with her to Iraq, where the couple lived in a stone police barracks without running water or toilets.

Their quarters were barely better than the natural cave that Dr. Solecki estimated had been home to some 3,000 generations. It provided researchers with what he described as “a consecutive, slow-motion picture” of humanity’s evolution.

Dr. Solecki in 2005 with a trade pipe from the 17th century that was found at Fort Massapeag in Massapequa, N.Y., on Long Island. Dr. Solecki’s master’s thesis was on another nearby fort. Credit...Marko Georgiev for The New York Times

“Rarely do archaeologists have a chance to see so clear a succession of man’s development over so long a period,” he told Scientific American in 1957.

He unearthed the bones in a stratum beginning 16 feet beneath the surface of the cave and reaching to 45 feet below it, where the bedrock begins.

The first skeleton Dr. Solecki found was of a man who had probably been asleep in the cave when he was struck and killed by limestone rocks loosened by an earthquake.

Another man appeared to have been buried by fellow Neanderthals. A third, excavated in 1957, lived between 35,000 and 45,000 years ago. He was almost 50 years old and, with signs of a deep cut in his left rib from a pointed stone or blade, might be the oldest known murder victim. (His remains are now at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History.)

When Dr. Solecki and his wife returned to the site again in 1960, they found a fourth skeleton, with evidence of funerary flowers or pollen from herbs possibly used as medicine.

“Someone in the last ice age must have ranged the mountainside in the mournful task of collecting flowers for the dead,” Dr. Solecki wrote. “It seems logical to us today that pretty things like flowers should be placed with the cherished dead, but to find flowers in a Neanderthal burial that took place about 60,000 years ago is another matter.”
The Neanderthals survived until roughly 28,000 years ago, when the more adaptable Cro-Magnon population of Homo sapiens began to predominate.

Stefan Rafael Solecki was born on Oct. 15, 1917, in Brooklyn to Polish immigrants. His father, Casimir, sold insurance. His mother, Mary (Tarnowska) Solecki, was a homemaker.

When he was about 10, his interest in archaeology was piqued by newspaper reports of treasures being unearthed from King Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt. He began his own excavations after his father bought a house in Cutchogue, N.Y., on Long Island’s North Fork. After spring plowing, he and his friends would search for Native American arrowheads and other artifacts.

After graduating from Newtown High School in Elmhurst, Queens, he received a bachelor of science degree in geology from City College of New York in 1942.

During World War II he served in the Army in Europe, where he was wounded. He received a master’s degree from Columbia University; his thesis was on the 17th-century Fort Corchaug, near the family’s Long Island home, which was later designated a National Historic Landmark.

Dr. Solecki began surveying historic sites in Iraq in 1951, as an associate curator at the Smithsonian Institution. (His archaeologist’s trowel is now part of its collection.) He returned on three expeditions, one on a Fulbright fellowship. He received a doctorate in anthropology from Columbia in 1958.

Dr. Solecki, who was also renowned for his excavations in Sudan and Alaska and led Columbia expeditions in the Middle East and Africa, was the Smithsonian’s curator of archaeology from 1958 to 1959. He taught at Columbia from 1959 to 1988. In 1990, he and his wife, who also has a doctorate in archaeology, joined the faculty of Texas A&M University.They moved to New Jersey in 2000 to be closer to their sons.

In addition to his wife and his son William, a geographer, professor at Hunter College and founder and director emeritus of the City University of New York Institute for Sustainable Cities, Dr. Solecki is survived by another son, John, a United Nations refugee official who was kidnapped and held for two months in Pakistan in 2009; and two grandchildren.

A version of this article appears in print on April 17, 2019, Section B, Page 14 of the New York edition with the headline: Ralph Solecki, 101, Archaeologist Who Uncovered the Inner Life of Neanderthals.

Remembering Ralph S. Solecki, Who Discovered the Shanidar Neanderthals, the Hessian Hat Plate, and Ancient Maspeth
Ralph Solecki Passed Away on March 20, 2019. He was 101 Years Old. 

April 14, 2019

Edward V. Curtin Archaeology, Archaic

https://www.curtinarch.com/blog/2019/4/14/solecki

Ralph Solecki at the Maspeth Site, Newtown Creek, 1937

The riders found their seats as they piled into the subway car on a pleasant afternoon in 1985. Getting comfortable (no one had to stand), we were soon off on our return trip from Red Hook, Brooklyn to the EPA Region II offices in Manhattan. At first, I barely noticed one of my fellow passengers sitting a little away from me, but eventually I took in his distinctive way of dressing: khaki pants, khaki shirt, and red beret. I was thinking he was a Guardian Angel. Then I noticed the writing on the shirt. It said, “Angel Guardians.” Not Guardian Angels, but Angel Guardians. I was confused. Could he be a competing vigilante, or was he an imposter taking advantage of the Guardian Angels? Or maybe he was an actor in costume. My companion on this trip, Professor Ralph Solecki of Columbia University seemed to read my confused mind, observing obliquely that “Brooklyn is a remarkably vibrant and always interesting community.” I thought oh good. Whatever this means, it’s ok.

Ralph Solecki and I had been to the waterfront in Red Hook to visit a site where a sewer line was going to be installed. In a complicated arrangement, although I worked for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in Albany, it was my job to evaluate and manage potential archaeological resource impacts for the EPA’s Section 106 compliance reviews in New York City. In doing so, I found that I had to make the case to my agency and the City’s Department of Environmental Protection that the approach to this should be appropriately contemporary and defensible. The EPA and various officials in other agencies were on-board with this, but not everyone else was, including some DEC and DEP engineers who were skeptical of the need to dig through the built-land along the waterfront. I don’t mean to speak in shorthand here. What I’m talking about is being on the inside convincing the agencies that were in consultation with the EPA (i.e., the outside) of the cases when digging (Phase 1B archaeological surveys) would be needed in addition to the previously stand-alone, (Phase 1A) research reports that commented on historic maps and documents. Ralph was the consultant hired to do the Phase 1A archaeological surveys for various sewer projects, and also had been allowed to walk open trenches during construction in case anything especially important was exposed. At Red Hook the Phase 1A research hinted that there could be Dutch tidal mill sites or other important archaeological data below the fill.

On a previous project, at Fulton Street in Brooklyn, Ralph was walking the open-cut sewer trench with a construction management supervisor he knew when they made a remarkable discovery. The way I heard the story, Solecki’s friend picked up a flattened, dirty piece of metal and handed it to him saying “What’s this Doc, is it worth anything?” Ralph looked at what he held in his hand, holding in a considerable surge of excitement and replied “No. It’s priceless.” They had found an extremely rare artifact of the Revolutionary War, a Hessian hat plate. This was an insignia from the hat of a Hessian mercenary fighting for the British and lost during or about the time of the Battle of Brooklyn. It was one of only three surviving Hessian hat plates from the American War for Independence (Solecki and Demeritt 1980). This discovery, of course, provides a cogent example of a reason to perform the field archaeology before digging the sewer trench.

Ralph was an effective ally in moving the EPA’s compliance program into a better position. He and I were in touch over the next year or so while I continued my work at the DEC, perhaps even a little longer, after I left for a position at the State Museum. When I met Ralph, he was a famous archaeologist primarily because of his discovery (with his wife Rose Solecki) of a group of Neanderthal skeletons at Shanidar Cave, Iraq. His interpretation of this to archaeology’s public audience (Solecki 1971) was informative, touching, even thrilling. At Shanidar, flower pollen recovered from what appeared to be grave sites, as well as the care that must have been afforded to a disabled individual interred in one of the graves, provided palpable senses of aesthetics, love, and ritual to Ralph’s story of these hominids so closely related to our own species (indeed, DNA research reveals that present-day people carry Neanderthal DNA unless their ancestry is only sub-Saharan African. So in a way Neanderthals are more than closely related to our species. Many of us are, in part, them). Ralph’s interpretation of Neanderthals was of a kinder, gentler sort than was current before his discovery. This soft view of Neanderthals has been challenged more recently, and excavations at Shanidar Cave have been renewed, despite the war with ISIS. Meanwhile, other research seems to broaden the perspective of Neanderthal humanity and underscore Ralph’s position. I tend to support the view of an essential Neanderthal humanity that Ralph’s interpretation required anthropologists to consider.

While Ralph was the archaeologist on the Brooklyn sewer projects his main research was on the cave site in Yabroud, Syria, which had produced evidence of an important Upper Paleolithic culture for a remarkable German archaeologist named Alfred Rust during the early 20th century (Rust was an amateur archaeologist who would ride his bicycle from Germany to Syria to excavate after he found this site; Bibby 1956). Ralph had connections he generously offered that were helpful to some young American archaeologists looking for fieldwork opportunities in Germany (not me, but people I knew). Despite his international projects, he had a long love for local archaeology because (as he explained to me) “I’m an old Brooklyn boy”.

Simply by coincidence, because I was visiting Gene Sterud on Staten Island, and before I actually met Ralph, I happened to be present when Ralph and others founded Professional Archaeologists of New York City (known by the acronym PANYC). PANYC advocates for wise cultural resource management policies and practices. The Hessian hat plate discovery was a recent experience at that point, but I have no doubt that Ralph had earlier experiences working to save the archaeological record from construction projects. One that easily comes to mind, and that is well documented, is the destruction of an Adena culture burial mound in Natrium, West Virginia in 1948 (Solecki 1953; Silverberg 1967 gives a short popular account of this excavation with emphasis on the cold, nasty weather). After a period in which the Natrium mound had been threatened intermittently with destruction by the expansion of a Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company chemical plant, which the company at least once had backed off from due to objections, Pittsburgh Plate Glass invited the Bureau of American Ethnology (BAE) at the Smithsonian Institution to salvage information from the mound because it was definitely going to be leveled. At the time Ralph worked for the BAE, and was the archaeologist sent to do this work with help from volunteers, company personnel, and a bulldozer. The excavation was conducted over a period of 20 days in December (including Christmas). The winter timing was provided by the company, accommodating their schedule. Ralph’s excavation recovered a great deal of valuable information about the Ohio drainage Adena culture, it’s mound construction and mortuary practices, and relations to other contemporary societies; but this success shouldn’t obscure the more general situation in which there are needs to avoid destroying such important sites as well as optimize the conditions and funding of archaeological investigations when destruction is inevitable. There were many experiences carried by various people into the room the day that PANYC formed; this was one of Ralph’s.

Later in his career, long after I visited Red Hook with him, Ralph made sustained efforts to publish the New York research conducted during his youth. One of these efforts is his article on a Late Woodland period pit containing 2 human burials with accompanying ceramics at College Point, Queens, excavated with his friend Stanley Wisniewski (Solecki 2006). Carlyle Smith included this discovery in The Archaeology of Coastal New York (Smith 1950). Ralph’s 2006 publication provided the critical contextual information regarding the excavation. Another example is the report on excavations at Fort Corchaug in the Town of Southold, Suffolk County which he co-authored with Lorraine Williams (Solecki and Williams 1998). Fort Corchaug was a Corchaug Indian stockade and wampum manufacturing site in the 1630s-1660s. Ralph used his 1936-1948 excavations as a basis for the thesis he wrote for his 1948 Columbia University Master’s degree. Lorraine Williams returned for further investigation in 1968. Their joint publication is a synopsis of the documentation they helped prepare to nominate the Fort Corchaug site as a National Historic Landmark: i.e., a site that has yielded “information of major scientific importance.”

I want to close this appreciation of Ralph Solecki by referring to a certain labor of love he completed in 2010 at the age of 93. This is the report titled The Archaeology of Maspeth, Long Island, New York and Vicinity which he co-authored with Stanley H. Wisniewski. When I say labor of love, I mean that Ralph continued his commitment to publishing his early archaeological work from the 1930s, and that after Stanley’s passing in 2008 Ralph saw the project through to the end for both of them. This 104-page book reports the investigations they made, not as professional archaeologists, but as children and teenagers in the 1930s. In general this is something children should not do. These two were mostly self-taught and aided by brilliance. Remarkably, they recorded what they were doing sufficient that their records proved useful when they wrote the book some 75 years later.

There was a remnant of the past yet to be discovered in this shore-fronted, industrial corner of Queens County at Furman’s Island along Newtown Creek, near a liquid carbonic acid factory. Ralph and Stanley lived about a half hour’s walk away. Here these two young men interested in archaeology made a considerable collection of prehistoric Indian artifacts, while also recording a 17th century fireplace site and the historic (mid-19th-early 20th century) Garvis pipe factory site. They mostly surface collected but did some digging at the fireplace site (which may have been part of a Dutch trading post), an oyster shell-filled pit, and an argillite concentration. Over the years while they were there, they witnessed the archaeological site disappear under a growing garbage dump.

The book contains maps that record where various features and artifact finds were made, including the pipe factory, the fireplace, the argillite concentration, the location where a Palmer (Early Archaic) point was found, and the oyster shell-filled pit. The authors’ mature hindsight brings a coherent perspective of the environmental setting and the nature of the excavations and collecting, while providing interpretation of the recovered data in a contemporary framework that clarifies coastal New York data, and especially with importance to the Early and Middle Archaic periods. This publication has been of great value to my research, and my work has enjoyed the expertise and accuracy with which Wisniewski and Solecki identified the projectile point types. In doing this they have reduced the confusion and found some of the expected evidence of early occupation that seems to be missing from certain reports others wrote in times when archaeological knowledge was more limited.

The last time I saw Ralph Solecki was at an archaeology conference in 2012, when I made a clumsy effort (in my opinion) to answer a question he had. These are the kinds of things we think of sometimes. Thank you, Ralph, and rest in peace.

References Cited

Bibby, Geoffrey
1956 The Testimony of the Spade. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Silverberg, Robert
1967 Men Against Time: Salvage Archaeology in the United States. The MacMillan Company, New York.

Smith, Carlyle S.
1950 The Archaeology of Coastal New York. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Volume 43, Number 2, New York.

Solecki, Ralph S.
1953 Exploration of an Adena Mound in Natrium, West Virginia. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 151, Smithsonian Institution, Washington.

1971 Shanidar, The First Flower People. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

2006 A Late Woodland Double Indian Burial at College Point, New York. The Bulletin, Journal of the New York State Archaeological Association 122:70-79.

Solecki, Ralph S. and Dwight B. Demeritt
1980 An American Revolutionary War Relic from Brooklyn, New York. Journal of Field Archaeology 7(3):269-278.

Solecki, Ralph S. and Lorraine Williams
1998 Fort Corchaug Archaeological Site National Historic Landmark. The Bulletin, Journal of the New York State Archaeological Association 114:2-11.

Wisniewski, Stanley H. and Ralph S. Solecki
2010 The Archaeology of Maspeth, Long Island, New York and Vicinity. Researches and Transactions of the New York State Archaeological Association, Volume XVIII, Number 1, Rochester.