LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: 02/10/06

Friday, February 10, 2006

The World According to Adam

The new generation Tory Turk Adam Daifallah has weighed in on the Conservatives scandal and crisis with this. Emerson / Fortier, the Energizer bunny story

Where he says this about his elders; I fail to see how anyone can make excuses for what happened. I was particularly surprised to see two rock-ribbed conservatives whom I respect greatly, Ted Morton and Ezra Levant, engaging in excuse-making for these incidents on TV yesterday and today. They appear to have bought into the "it's for the greater long-term good" argument, the line the Harper people are trying to sell.

But Adam is from Ottawa and these guys are from Calgary....as I said before with the Calgary Gang in power at last it's the politics of Alberta that are being played in Ottawa.

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Emerson, Fortier, Levant, Morton, Conservatives, Government, Harper, blogs, Cabinet, Daillah, Tories

Five days and Counting

Here are my Blog articles on topics around this first week of our new Conservative government which is doing politics differently (sic). The last few articles were written during the week after the election. But the majority have been written since Monday. Has it only been five days. My gawd.

And it's still fifty days till Parliment recovenes, will the Conservativeslast that long? Or will their heads explode?!

And then watch the fireworks in Question Period. Ah this is delicious. It's the country bumpkins go to Ottawa.

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Canada, Harper, Emerson, Pallister, Toews, Burney, Fortier, Mulroney, Government, Cabinet, MP's, Solberg, Anders

Kettle Calling the Pot Black

Oh this is rich. Now the unelected Senator Fortier, I won't run in a byelection, I didn't want to run in the election, I'll wait to run in the general election, is saying that Emerson should run in a byelection. Just to keep on with the cliches; this is a case of there being no honour amongst thieves.

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Naughty Naughty

A new private health care clinic has opened in Alberta in violation of both the Canada Health Act and provincial regulations. Being Alberta home of deregulation where NO enforcement rules, well all the Minister of Health had to say was; Naughty, naughty musn't do that.

Health officials keep close eye on private clinic's access fees
Alberta Health Minister Iris Evans said that provincial officials are currently investigating whether the Calgary clinic is violating any laws. In Alberta, there is a law that prohibits doctors from billing patients as a condition of providing insured health service.Ms. Evans said that if the private clinic is violating the law, she is hopeful there could be an "amicable conclusion to it."We will have to tell them that that isn't permitted. . . . To my way of thinking, we can't tolerate that," she said.

Which of course is such an effective deterent that a competing private healthcare hotel is planning to also open up in Alberta and they could care less about violating the Canadian Healthcare Act or Alberta's Bill 11. Cause it ain't about healthcare its about business and the bottom line. So far the Conservative government has been deafeningly silent over all this, while Minister Evans dithers.

Calgary doctors make waves with $3,600 annual 'access' fee
The program also follows news that Vancouver-based Copeman Healthcare plans to open private clinics with 24-hour access to physicians and specialists around the country. Don Copeman, company founder, said Ultimate Health Care's opening in Calgary won't deter his company from coming here. "We could care less," said Copeman. "Our phones are ringing off the hook."

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Alberta, Canada, Healthcare, medicare, privatization
government, Harper, Klein, Evans, CHA,

Emerson another Grewal

Oh dear here comes the ghost of Grewal to haunt the Tories even after he is gone. In this case he and Emerson share so many commonalities, both from Vancouver, both offered cabinet positions, both lacking in ethics. Do I smell a byelection?

Emerson accused of violating Parliament's conflict code

Ian Waddell, the New Democratic Party candidate who came a close second to Emerson in the Jan. 23 election, accused Harper, Emerson and John Reynolds, the just-retired Conservative MP who allegedly helped recruit Emerson to the Tories, of breaking the parliamentary conflict-of-interest code.

He said the ethics commissioner has ruled that had former Liberal cabinet minister Ujjal Dosanjh offered former Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal a government appointment to induce him to cross the floor, then Dosanjh would have broken the guidelines.

"This is precisely what the prime minister has done. I'm accusing him of breaking the members' code. The evidence is overwhelming. They offered him a cabinet post and he took it. When such things have happened in the past it's been hidden, but this is so blatant," said Waddell.

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Blasphemous Cartoon

Here is my contribution to Blasphemous cartoons:

Hi I Am God/Allah/YHVH

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God, Allah, YHVH, Jew, Christian, Muslim, Islam, Israel, Islamism, Christianity, Judaism, Hebrew Blasphemy, Blasphemous, cartoon,

Why Rob Anders Supports TheFalun Gong

The cult group the Falun Gong in China which has gotten a lot of support in Canada, including from members of our new Conservative Government like rightwhingnut MP Rob Anders ,has a less than savory background.

MP Rob Anders' Speech at "A Closer Look into China" Forum Special to The Epoch Times

And while the repression they face in China is not acceptable, neither is their ideology except to people like Rob Anders. They are anti-gay and anti-Semitic!

The cult is politically active in Canada distributing their propaganda paper Epoch Times in Canada's cities.

In San Francisco the cult has caused controversy with Republican members of the Board of Supervisors calling for support for them which has alienated both the gay and Chinese American community.

Supes support 'homophobic cult'
SF.Indymedia.org, CA - 6 Feb 2006

Amid accusations it is giving a San Francisco seal of approval to what some contend is a "homophobic cult," the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution this week in support of ending persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned since 1999 in China, where members of the group are routinely imprisoned.

Both the city's gay supervisors, Bevan Dufty and Tom Ammiano, joined in the 9-2 vote to pass the resolution, despite calls for them not to give any support to Falun Gong, whose founder has called gays "demonic" and has said that "the priority of the gods will be to eliminate homosexual people."

"People need to be aware of what their leader or founder has written. It is not just the homosexual community, but all the other things he said in the book about who gets to go to what level. It is very anti-Semitic also," said Hu. "I am hoping for support from the entire city, whether the gay community or the entire city."

Falun Gong, Barred From San Francisco Parade, to Show Up Anyway

Falun Gong's practices and meditation were introduced in China in 1992. It has 10,000 followers in the U.S. and tens of millions in more than 60 countries, the group says on its Web site. Sherry Zhang, a spokeswoman for the group, said the parade's decision extends oppression of the group from Asia to the U.S.

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US and Iran Allies

Despite the current furor over Irans nuclear energy plans the U.S. and Iran found common cause at the UN. The US delegation supported Irans motion not to recognize gay organizations as official consultants to the UN. Religious fndamentalist Iran has a friend in Religious fundamentalist Amerika.

The vote occurred in the U.N. Economic and Social Council‘s Committee on Nongovernmental Organizations.

Washington then voted in favor of Iran‘s proposal to deny their applications, which carried 10-5 with three abstentions.
Following the vote, German envoy Martin Thuemmel said the committee decision "will haunt us for a long time" because it sent a message that it was acceptable to discriminate on the basis of an individual‘s sexual orientation.

The January 23 vote denying "consultative status" at the world body to the Belgium-based International Gay and Lesbian Association and the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians was a "drastic reversal" of Washington‘s previous stand on the issue, the U.S. House of Representatives members wrote.

Nearly 3,000 nongovernmental organizations have such status, which enables them to distribute documents and speak at meetings of some U.N. bodies and conferences.

In voting for Iran‘s proposal, "the United States joined some of the world‘s most oppressive regimes, among them China, Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe" and demonstrated "a reprehensible inconsistency" in the protection of rights based on sexual orientation, the lawmakers said.

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Yes Virgina There Are Gay Men In China

So how long will it take China to discover Lesbians, Bi-Sexual and Transgendererd minorities exist as well?

China's first report on gays published

BEIJING: China has teamed up with Ford Foundation to publish its first-ever comprehensive report on the sexual behaviours of the nation's gay population.

The report, 'MSM (men having sex with men) in China: Surveying Sex and Self-identity', probes into the sexual behaviours of the country's male homosexuals with 400 detailed interviews and case studies.

"It offers a look into the feelings, identity and expression of the gay group amid different social and cultural backgrounds," director of Sexual Sociology Institute in People's University of China, Pan Shiming said in the report's preface.

The 650,000-word report, written by scholar and writer Tong Ge, is comprised of 15 chapters, including a comparison of attitudes towards MSM between Chinese and Western societies, aesthetics in MSM, and MSM group & marriage between opposite sex, the 'Beijing News' reported.

China has 5-10 million gay men: MoH

BEIJING, Feb. 8 -- According to the survey by the Ministry of Health, sexually active gay men in China account for approximately 2% to 4% of the total number of sexually active men.

Based on these percentages, China has a total of about 5 million to 10 million gay men. It is the first time China released the number of gay men and people infected with AIDS.

In recent years, China has quietly attended to the health issue of gays. In 2003, the government conducted an AIDS survey on six population groups in 138 regions in its 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

The six groups included drug users, prostitutes, gays, venereal disease patients, paid blood donors and anonymous people under examination in hospitals.

Through the survey, the country obtained information on infection rate and the behavior patterns of different groups in different regions. Data obtained through this survey supplemented the AIDS surveillance system. So far, China has set up 42 behavior surveillance agencies in 19 provinces.

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com/Chinanews.cn)

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Telecos want to Monopolize the Net

As reported here the big telco oligopolies in the U.S. want to change the rules of the game to charge other oligopolies that own search enignes, Yahoo, Google, more and allow them free access to our accounts for bulk mass spamming. In the end we get screwed.

The tech reporter for the Washington Post has an interesting column on all this in todays paper. He says:

Charge E-Mailers, but Keep Pipeline Open
The second notion -- in which Internet service providers would charge Web sites for better delivery of their data -- may not be ridiculous per se, but it is a serious departure from the Internet's traditional openness. And it would be open to abuse without clear ground rules. But companies like Verizon and BellSouth won't answer some basic questions: Would they disclose which sites are paying these business-class fares? Would they let any site pay for better access, or only those they like?
They will gladly talk about how they want the flexibility to dream up new business models (as BellSouth and Verizon executives did during a panel discussion at a Capitol Hill conference on Wednesday). Fine. But as long as AT&T, Verizon and their ilk seem to be having so much trouble getting customers connected and keeping then contented, let's broaden this discussion of new economic models.
Here's one question to ponder: When an Internet service provider makes you wait weeks to get your DSL turned on, allows service to drop out for no apparent reason, then puts you on hold until an overworked tech-support rep dishes out incorrect advice, doesn't the customer deserve some compensation, as well?

And another article makes this point, which I made in my orginal article damn nice to have confirmation that I am not the only one concerned about this, AOL anti-spam scheme takes aim at wrong target TMCnet

That's the other dangerous incentive in the Goodmail system. AOL, Yahoo and Goodmail all make more money, the more their spam filters target "other" legitimate mailers who aren't yet signed up on Goodmail. There's a dangerous cash incentive here for them to cut out non-paying mass mailers. By instigating a private e-mail tax, AOL and Yahoo! have to punish not spammers, but those who seem to be evading their tax. Spammers aren't tax evaders, because they'll never pay anyway. Ordinary netizens who send out "mass" mails and could be "encouraged" to pay are, in other words, non-profits, individuals and communities who run mailing lists.

Commoditisation and the erosion of value-added ISPs like AOL into simple data conduits looms over all these companies. Spam they can live with. Lower prices and fewer people to charge they cannot.

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Google Warning

Don’t use Google toolbar

EFF warning

By Nick Farrell: Friday 10 February 2006, 13:58

THE Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has warned that people should not download Google Desktop because it "greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy".
A spokesEFF said that if the toolbar chooses to use it, the new "Search Across Computers" feature stores copies of the user's Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google's own servers.
The EFF is concerned that it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government, which has already shown an interest in what Google keeps on his server.
On the EFF’s site here, a spokesperson said that it was shocking that Google expects its users to now trust it with the contents of their personal computers. µ

Especially since they are now censoring their users for the Chinese and other authoritarian governments.

See:

Monopoly Capitalism in Cyberspace

Google Censorship China

Google Stock Crash

Google Redux

Blogging No Big Deal, au contraire

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Told Ya So

Ok Climate Change naysayers at Junk Science Inc.and Faux News this is for you and President Bush. nyah nyah told ya so.

It's not normal, a new study says of the current global warming period.

World at its warmest of past 1,200 years, researchers showTree rings and seashells help reveal unusual climate of last half century

In November, Science published a paper showing atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane are higher now than at any time in the past 650,000 years

Our results show that, during the late 20th century, warming affected the entire northern hemisphere and that at no point in the past 1,000 years has the northern hemisphere experienced the same widespread warming," Dr Osborn said.

The study showed that the medieval warm period ran from about 890 to 1170 and that this was later followed by a significant period of cooling between 1580 and 1850, which included the period known as the "little ice age" when frost fairs were held on the River Thames.

"The key conclusion was that the 20th century stands out as having unusually widespread warmth, compared to all of the natural warming and cooling episodes during the past 1,200 years," Dr Osborn said.

Also See:

Krakatoa

Science Fact or Fallacy

2005 Record Heat Wave

Climate Change

Arctic
Melt Down

Weather
Report

Arctic
on the Rocks

Global
Warming :

Tags
environment
Junk Science
Global Warming
science
climate change

Salt Spring News

Salt Spring News for those folks living on Salt Spring Island on the Left Coast, which makes them the far left of the left coast has linked to my article on Unite the Left, as well as having other interesting items on the Emerson defection. An interesting alternative paper that really does reflect the adage Think Globally Act Locally. It makes the free daily papers put out by Canada.com and Canoe.ca as well as the local urban alternative news and culture weeklies look positively mainstream. But then they are in the Gulf Stream.

Civil Society
Rebranding of David Emerson highlights parliamentry system's mortal corruption: Whither civil society in Canada?

Don't P.O. Garth

Harper did not fill his cabinet this week with all the ex-cabinet ministers he could have.

Several pundits who revel in this sort of thing, speculated he would pick for his first cabinet those with prior experience in cabinet, Federal or provincial. Harper was buidling a war cabinet one that would shore up the party in order to win a majority next election. This would be his one and only cabinet. So the optics were have experienced folks in the cabinet.

So how come Garth Turner got overlooked? He had been a cabinet minister in Kim Campbells short lived government. Was it because unlike the Calgary Gang he was a Red Tory? A Whig by any other name . Whigs and Tory's

So this week when he didn't get appointed to cabinet but a liberal and an unelected party hack did, well he spoke up.

Tories singing new tune on political floor-crossers after Emerson ...
Many Tories are grumbling privately about David Emerson's decision to become a Conservative and join cabinet just two weeks after he won election as a Liberal. Ontario MP Garth Turner said his constituents are concerned because he said during the campaign that MPs who switch parties should be forced to face byelections. Ontario MP Garth Turner was one of the few who spoke publicly about his unease with Emerson's move. On his web site, he posted a letter from a furious constituent.

"I am feeling incredibly betrayed by Stephen Harper," said the letter."This is more of the same crap that the Liberals have been serving out for 12 years and which made my blood boil."The lies, the deceit, the arrogance. I couldn't wait to vote those bastards out and vote in some integrity and honesty. But this! This is a betrayal of my confidence in Harper and the Conservative party."

Turner said he campaigned on the idea that MPs who switch parties should be forced to face byelections. And he still supports the idea.

''I think anyone who crosses the floor, ultimately, should go back to the people for ratification,'' Turner said.

There is an irony here in that Garth had been held the position of Minister of National Revenue, a position given to newcomer Carol Skelton. She too had been upset with floor crossing MP's in this case Belinda Stronach, and like the NDP she co-sponosored a bill to force a byelection on those MP's who crossed the floor. Today she is silent on David Emerson's doing the same, but joining her in cabinet.

Carol Skelton said just months ago she was sick to her stomach when Stronach defected to the Liberal.The Saskatchewan MP even introduced a parliamentary motion to restrict the practice of party-switching, but won't be bringing it back any time soon."That was last year," Skelton, now minister of national revenue, said yesterday. "We talked about it and I decided not to proceed with it. It's one of those matters that is debatable."Tory MPs change tune on party defectors

Very debatable, like the pay off made by Harper to her co-sponsor Helena Guergis, who became a parlimentary secretary and now like Carol has backed off the any idea of having a byelection for Emerson. Tories Bribe MPs for Silence

Other Tories who were howling for Stronachs resignation and demanding she run in a byelection last summer are now singing from the Harper songsheet.

Ontario MP Harold Albrecht appeared to be softening the position he advocated during the election. He campaigned on a promise to ensure floor-crossers face the electorate anew to confirm their switch in allegiances. "I expressed that, yeah. I would prefer that when someone crosses the floor they would have a byelection," he said Thursday. "But I want to talk to my colleagues about that."B.C.'s James Lunney, who supported a proposed law to force byelections after Stronach defected, now indicates he's not as supportive any more. Tories singing new tune on political floor-crossers after Emerson ...

So the party that campaigned on Free Votes less power to the Whip does what to Turner? Well they sick the Whip on him and call him to the principals office to give him a tongue lashing, Belinda remembers those well, and a dressing down by Mr. Harper. So much for Reform Party principles. Or Alliance. This is the new Conservative Party just like Daddies. They are here to win the next election, damn the torpedos full speed ahead.

So the apologists in Calgary pooh-pooh principles, not just the old tired ones from Preston Mannings day but the ones that got the party elected only a week ago. Ezra Le Rant was on Don Newmans Politics on CBC spinning the party line yesterday. Now if only Harper actually had a press spokesperson or a media plan then Ezras rant wouldn't have been neccasary.

So having been given a choice to shut up and toe the Harper line, not the party line the Great Leaders line. Garth rightly choose to uphold the party line over the Great Leader. Of course the followers of the Great Leader will denounce him as a Trotskyist roader and wrecker. To be expected from those whose are willing to sacrifice principles to gain power.

Choices
I have written here many times over the past few months about my journey to become an MP again, and why I wanted to return to Ottawa. It was not to be a minister with a limo, but, as I explained, to try and empower elected people more, to make them relevant and free, so the voters would also become more empowered. And I campaigned to advance issues my middle class voters are so concerned with – things those families need and want.

But, I arrived as the prime minister was appointing a floor-crossing Liberal and an unelected party official to his cabinet, which seemed to fly in the face of everything I had told voters about accountability and democracy. It also made me question the whole process, after eight months of knocking on doors to win my coveted seat in this magnificent stone building on the banks of the Rideau.
Sure, I thought the appointment of those two ministers was questionable. And after stating many a time that Belinda Stronach should have sought a by-election after her defection, how could I not say the same obvious thing now? It was simple for my constitutents to understand, and simple for me. I did not seek the microphones out, but when they were under my nose and a clear question was asked, I gave a clear answer.

Everybody who makes up the government should be elected. They should be elected as members of the party that forms the government. Anybody who switches parties should go back to the people. To do otherwise is to place politicians above the people when, actually, it’s the other way around.

But my comments were deemed not helpful, even though I chose them carefully and pulled some punches, suggesting Minister Emerson be given a little time before deciding on whether or not to get elected as a Tory.

Did I know the potential consequences of speaking my mind, or sticking with the principles that brought me to this cold hill? Yeah, I did. I have been an MP before, and a leadership candidate and a cabinet minister. I have the hide to prove it. I know the PMO has a song sheet it wants all caucus members to sing from, and I know what happens when an individual chooses to go his or her own way. I was just hoping this time I would not be asked to choose – between party and principle.

Mores of my blog articles on the Conservatives

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Monte Gone

Well our favorite insider blogger, Conservative MP Monte Solberg has left the blogosphere to take up residence in Ottawa as the new minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

A fitting position considering that Tysons has its plant in his riding and they rely heavily on immigrant labour. Though during the whole Tyson strike he never spoke out about their exploitation of immigrant labour nor did he blog on it.

So really I think he could have kept on blogging since all he ever did was promote Tim Hortons and a bad attitude towards Canada's First Nations.

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CATHOLIC HIJAB

Laura Bush and that Pope guy
All patriarchical religions denigrate women by demanding they cover their heads to the eyes of their G*D.

The first lady wore a black suit and black lace mantilla, or head covering. Barbara, 24, wore a black skirt and black top and high-heeled black boots. (Related: Why the first lady wore black)

babushka - a woman's headscarf folded into a triangle and tied under the chine; worn by Russian peasant women

hijab - a headscarf worn by Muslim women; conceals the hair and neck and usually has a face veil that covers the face

kerchief - a square scarf that is folded into a triangle and worn over the head or about the neck

Lizany: What If We Had To Wear Hajib?

If Al Qaeda had its way, every woman would have to wear head scarves or hajib. The Islamic reasoning behind the scarves is that women should cover their hair as to not inflame the passions of any man except their husbands.

It wasn’t until the 1950s Vatican II that Catholic women were no longer required to cover their heads in church as a show of respect, and some Catholics continue the practice. I even saw that it has carried over to Protestants in Haiti, so much so that missionaries on my trip covered their heads as a sign of respect to the culture.

Religious Topic Women Covering Heads in Church - The Veil

One venerable tradition with much metaphysical significance that has faded in the horizons of the post-Vatican II era is the practice of women covering their heads in Church.

The veil is a beautiful symbol of the natural order affirmed by Scripture: “Man was not created for woman, but the woman for the man” (1 Cor. 11:9). The man was not to cover his head “because he is the image and glory of God.” But “the woman is the glory of the man because she came from the man… Thus, the woman is under the power of her husband.” That women should remain veiled in church while men do not is one symbol of this harmonious natural order establishing the husband’s authority over the wife.

The veil represents the natural hierarchy established by God in which the woman is subject to the male: “Let wives be subject to their husbands as to the Lord; because a husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is head of the Church (Eph. 5:22:23).


The veil: the sign of purity of the bride.

This sublime comparison of husband and wife to the union between Christ and His Church suggests a benevolence in command unimagined before the rise of Christianity. It establishes the loving respect along with protection that a man should provide for his wife. The woman is not only the companion of a man’s life, but also of his spirit – destined to be the other half of his existence.

Religion in America -- Artifact Analysis

"She Maketh Herself Coverings is a home based ministry-business. It is run by the four daughters of our family (ages ranging from 19 to 30) as a cottage industry. Our purpose is to make Jesus Christ known and to provide a support and inspiration to Christian women and their daughters. We pray that you will be blessed and encouraged as well.

"In 1983, the Lord directed the ladies in our family (all five of us!) to wear the head veiling in obedience to an ordinance in I Corinthians 11. We spent many years searching for an appropriate style veiling. We have worn bandannas and scarves in the past but found them uncomfortable for consistent, daily wear. We wanted a headveiling style that was attractive as well as comfortable and brought glory to the Lord rather than queries about denominations.

Monday, September 26, 2005
When Religious Belief Becomes 'Child Abuse'

It seems we are quite happy to force kids to ‘cover up’ for their own good but reluctant to force them to ‘uncover’ for their own good. And there are reasons why headscarves and ‘cover-up’ clothing are not necessarily good for young girls. Studies show higher rates of Vitamin D deficiency in women and girls who are kept covered and that’s before we get into the area of emotional and psychological health.

The fact that it is only girls who are treated this way makes it quite clear that it has more to do with misogyny than any real spirituality. Muslim boys can have bare heads and bare arms and bare legs; boys can feel the sun on their skin; boys can run free with uncovered legs …. But not girls. This is hardly fair in the land of the ‘fair go.’ I can accept an adult woman may choose to dress in this way but I believe that society has an obligation to protect young children from being forced into anything that may be detrimental to their physical, emotional or psychological health.

Little girls are being forced to dress in a way that can only serve to prevent them from feeling free and a part of the society around them. How much fun do you think it is to be covered up like this in the middle of a hot Australian summer? Not much I suspect, and yet we are prepared to go along with it completely ignoring the fact that schools have rules about uniforms that we demand everyone else follows.

The tradition of women covering their heads can be found in all patriarchal religions. In Corinthians I 11:3-10,16, St. Paul's views on the veil come across strongly: “Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonours his head, but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonours her head - it is the same as if her head were shaven. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her wear a veil... That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels... If anyone is disposed to be contentious, we recognize no other practice, nor do the churches of God.”

So, women have been wearing the veil to show submission to authority, to God and men! The veil was supposed to be a sign of modesty and chastity. Even in the Old Testament, removing the veil was seen as a way to humiliate a woman, punish adulteresses etc. (Numbers 5:12-18, Isaiah 3:16-17, Song of Solomon 5:7). Some Christian sects such as the Amish and Mennonites insist on females being veiled to this day, as a way of being modest and chaste and as a symbol of the woman's subjection to man and to God.

In times past, times that we would consider less enlightened, a woman could not enter a Christian church without covering her head; she would have to be ‘purified’ after giving birth, that miraculous and precious state considered to be unclean by a patriarchal society that feared, if not hated the feminine; she would not be allowed to enter a church while menstruating and would have to undergo a ‘cleansing’ ritual before she could return.

A woman’s hair was thought to represent passion, abandonment, sexuality …. all of the things that patriarchy and its religions sought to control if not punish and we can only be grateful that the modern, developed world, has moved on and left, in the main, such unpleasant beliefs and habits behind. Although, in many Catholic countries, women will still cover their heads before entering a church.

Still today, in some Jewish sects, women are forced to shave their heads and wear wigs. In ancient times, Jewish women would go out in public in a full veil as well, as a bare head was considered “nudity” and the woman could be fined a serious amount (Numbers 5:18, Isaiah 3:17, II Maccabees 4:6, Sus. 32). A man could even divorce his wife if she was found bareheaded in public.

In India the veil still holds sway, but then Hinduism teaches that women are inferior to men. Sanskrit literature is replete with instances where women have to wear veils. It is not surprising, as the laws of Manu clearly state that the status of women is completely dependent on the man. Hindu women are still prevented from entering a temple while menstruating and in orthodox Hindu and Buddhist religion, the presence of a woman is still seen as ‘polluting’ to a priest.

It’s all very unpleasant really and smells of patriarchal prejudice however it manifests; even in something so seemingly simple as girls wearing headscarves. Put on a headscarf for a week and make sure you buy synthetic, because that’s what most of them are made of, and make sure you wear it in the middle of summer, oh, and make sure you have your arms and legs covered and then go out and play sport and then make up your mind as to whether or not this amounts to a form of abuse.

Because the fact is, it is not just about little girls wearing a headscarf, it is about discrimination and prejudice inflicted on children who have no way of defending themselves. We discriminate when it suits us as to what ‘religious’ beliefs we will allow in our society so there are precedents well and truly set upon which we can make a decision to ban headscarves in the best interests of the children involved.

And that’s because it is not just about a simple headscarf; it is about an attitude, a belief in the inferiority of women; a belief in the evil of the feminine; a belief that women (and girls) must be controlled. In places like Pakistan and Bangladesh unveiled women are likely to have acid thrown into their faces. What does that say about the beliefs behind the habit of veiling?

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Wheat Board Scandal

No not the Canadian Wheat Board, which despite the Tories promise to dismantle or neuter it remains a producer run supplier monopoly which is not a bad thing compared to private monopolies. .The Attitude of Anarchism Toward Industrial Combinations

This is a case of a private monopoly, which of course is worse, in that it is not responbilbe to anyone. In Australia. Dealing with Saddam Hussien.

AWB head quits over Iraq kickback probe

AWB's share price has fallen about 30 per cent since the inquiry into its conduct under the UN oil-for-food programme began three weeks ago.

The publicly listed monopoly could face a legal challenge from its shareholders, according to a Melbourne-based law firm.

Maurice Blackburn Cashman said it was preparing a shareholder class action that would claim AWB breached its requirement of continuous disclosure.

In 2003 the firm obtained A$97m for the shareholders of reinsurer GIO, now a subsidiary of AMP, in Australia's largest class action.

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Forward Into The Past could be the motto of modern capitalist China. China could eradicate poverty by 2050: think tank Or perhaps its backwards into the future. China frets over widening income disparity

As Comrade Lenin once said One Step Forward Two Steps Back applies to China.
‘Democracy-less China laid waste' Pollution has become one of the biggest tests for the Chinese Communist Party but a lack of democracy stands in the way of an easy remedy, a newspaper on Thursday quoted a top environment official as saying. China's Toxic Capitalism
China Reports Rise in Coal Mine Deaths

He also said that 'socialism was state capitalism with electricity' which also applies. China unveils blueprint to become world power in Science & Technology

Ironically the only people who still believe that China is Red are those retro politicos like unrepentant Stalinsts/Maoists, ultra-Trotskyist sects and the vast majority of the American Right Wing.

China is no longer Red nor is it in the Red.
China planning to set up gold fund
China becomes a net vehicle exporter in 05-official
China 2005 non-financial overseas investment up 25.8 pct at 6.92 bln (US))
China leads developing countries in trademark applications

While China transforms from a sole monopoly state capitalist economy into a growing Monopoly corporate capitalist economy before their unbelieving eyes.China established nine FTAs in past five years

Sure the CPC is still in control politically but the party in power does not alter the nature of the political economy of a country, ideology does not trump economic fact. And the fact is that China is opening up its state capitalist economy to a market model, with state funded monopolies not unlike other countries. For instance China and Saudi Arabia are a natural fit. China Challenges US over Saudi Oil

India booms but -- unlike China -- democracy dulls the tiger's claws
There is a lingering doubt that the Indian tiger will be roused from its 50-year sleep. India is not China; even as the Sensex soars, the government reached a deal with airport workers, promising them job security after a five-day strike created stinking rubbish heaps. Where China's despotic gerontocrats can bulldoze teeming slums for new highways, India's leaders must negotiate. The government sees a need for an extra 100 gigawatts of power by 2012, but the dams and power stations will be fought every inch of the way by petty officials, hysterical NGOs and any babu after a buck.

It's the price India pays for democracy. The country's rapidly expanding middle class is the growth engine but it is the 200 million locked in poverty that could push the engine off the rails. Half a century after independence, literacy is 63 per cent, a reproach to the buyers of a million cars that emerge every year from India's shiny new factories.

And it has opened itself up to the world market and the market has responded with the first WTO meeting ever held in China. Ok it was Hong Kong but that is still China. By playing by the WTO rules Chinese corporations and investors even offshored their textile plants to Africa in order to bypass textile regulations that restricted its marketing cheap textiles into the G8. And as soon as that regulation was dropped this year they shut those plants down. Just like any other capitalist company would do.

And freedom loving democratic capitalist corporation like Google and Yahoo have responded to Chinas growing technologically accessible consumers by doing business with and in China, with little concern of the government in power.. Yahoo accused in jailing of 2nd China Internet user

And the US is mightly afraid of it, as the only global super-power that can challenge it.

Pentagon plays up "China threat" to secure more military funds

US senate legislation seeks to repeal China normal trade relations ...

Today’s cost-benefit equation decisively favors the U.S., but that balance is shifting. The U.S. is losing manufacturing capacity, and becoming more dependent on Chinese imports. 2005 data will show that the U.S. trade deficit with China grew 25 percent. Meanwhile, China’s manufacturing capacity and sophistication are increasing. Time is therefore on China’s side.Who's Afraid of China?

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LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment