Work, Life and Blogging

Thanks to those of you who wrote me or commented here about my absence from blogging, its nice to be loved.

I have been away from blogging for two months now due to work and life changes. During June when I last posted, I was busy with work commitments especially around training and teaching.

I was elected President of the Edmonton Branch of the Association of United Ukrainian Canadians, and thus this has taken up much of my time as we celebrate our 90th Anniversary and look forward to making ourselves a prescence in the progressive community once again. Our hall is being used again by the progressive community after several years of inactivity.

I was also elected to Chair the Gaia Gathering, the Canadian National Pagan Conference, which will be holding its fifth annual conference in 2009 in Vancouver with the theme Left Coat Paganism's.

Finally I was involved in organizing this years PanFest which took up much of my time as Programming and Events coordinator.

Because of these commitments I have not had the urge to blog as much about local, national or world events. It doesn't mean I haven't had anything to say, rather I did not feel the urge or urgency to blog.

However I will be blogging on an occasional basis and will probably return to more regular writing by the end of summer.

Oh yes and I should mention that with the nice weather we have had I have been enjoying my backyard and garden. Beer in hand, reading interesting books and listening to music.

Work and life trump blogging.

"Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They should also govern it."

- Wilhelm Reich

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1

5000 Posts

As of March I have officially passed 5000 blog posts. Whoa. 5023 blog posts since I began blogging back in November 2004. Pop the champagne and read on.

Of course that's just my blogspot count. Originally I had three blogs when I started, the other two defunct blogs, Red Between The Lines and Heresiology, can be found in the side bar. Total blog posts would then be closer to 6000.

And I of course also blog over at the Carnival of Anarchy.

So again even more Plawiuk pontifications.

Which began on the web way back in 1997.




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Boycott Canadian Blog Awards

I Am Boycotting the Canadian Blog Awards.

No problem doing that since I am not a finalist.

The "Best Damn Left Wing Blog in Canada" is not a finalist, heck it's not even a category.

Better luck next year guys maybe you will move beyond Conservative and Progressive as categories. Like best Blogging Tory, Best Liblog, Best Dipper, Best Green, Best Marxist Leninist,Best Libertarian, Best Anarchist, Best Socialist, Best Trotskyist, Best Grucho Marxist,etc. might broaden the minimalist political categories that currently exist. In fact the limitations of the CBA political categories remind me of the limitations of Facebook.

And as far as Progressive being a definition of politics, its a generalization. Why indeed if we check out Progressive Bloggers we find that it is actually a front for tabloid blogging.

Yep better luck next year CBA.


















SEE:

2007 Canadian Blog Awards

I Won I Won

Lefty Blog Awards

Vote For Me

Canadian Blog Awards 2005



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You Read It Here First

If you have been reading my posts on the edstemach.ca affair, and who hasn't, you read this here first.

Records show that Tyler Shandro, the same Calgary lawyer who penned the stern letter to Cournoyer about identity theft, registered both Internet addresses in the name of the premier and party Tuesday afternoon -- hours after the edstelmach.ca case made national headlines, and at least a month after the Tories became aware of it.

The address edstelmach.com was registered more than a year ago to an office in the Bahamas, and links to an unrelated search engine.

Would have been nice for the Edmonton Journal to credit me.


H/T to BigCityLibStrikesBack

SEE:

• The Life and Times of Tyler Shandro

• Craig Chandler Bids For Ed's Domain

• My Name Is Ed

Tags
Ed Stelmach, internet, blog, daveberta, Dave Cournoyer , edstelmach.ca, Tyler Shandro,

The Life and Times of Tyler Shandro

Here is the making of a young Tory moving up in the world. The fellow is in charge of Ed Stemach's internet personality.

Domain name: EDSTELMACH.NET

Administrative Contact:
Stelmach, Ed
tshandro@wwclawyers.com
c/o 340, 999 - 8th St. SW
Calgary, AB T2R 1J5
CA
+1.4032445828

Domain name: EDSTELMACH.ORG

Registrant Contact Information:
Name: Ed Stelmach
Organization: PCAA
Address 1: c/o 340, 999 - 8th St. SW
City: Calgary
State: AB
Zip: T2R1J5
Country: CA
Phone: +1.4032445828
Email: tshandro@wwclawyers.com

And he is suing daveberta for using edstelmach.ca

Tyler practices primarily in the area of Family Law and assists clients in both the Calgary and Okotoks offices. In addition to his experience in Family Law, Tyler has been appointed by the Solicitor General to sit on the Criminal Injuries Review Board. Tyler grew up in Calgary and is very active in the community. He is a member of the Canadian Ski Patrol System, a ski instructor, scuba diver and Divemaster. He is also a member of the Flames Ambassadors and a volunteer for the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede as a member of the Promotion Committee. Tyler graduated from the University of Calgary and has been admitted to both the Alberta and BC bars.

Hey wait a minute he is practicing Family Law not Litigation law.

He is using his position with his firm to do private practice on behalf of the PC Association of which he is an Executive member as Regional Director Calgary West/Centre.

As I said before this is a conflict of interest.

He is also on the Board of Directors of the Federal Conservative, Calgary Centre Association.

Last fall he was campaign manager for Calgary Ward 8 alderman John Mar a former cop and Tory.

And like many Tories he shares in the largese of the one party state.

ALBERTA CRIMINAL INJURIES REVIEW BOARD

BOARD MEMBER PROFILES

Tyler Shandro holds a B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Calgary and articled with McLeod &Co. LLP of Calgary. He was called to the Alberta Bar on June 30, 2005. Mr. Shandro has volunteered with several community organizations including the Canadian Ski Patrol and the Calgary Flames Ambassadors Group. His post-secondary involvement was extensive and included holding the chair of the articling committee, chair of the career day committee, and editor of the Alberta Law Review, Petroleum Edition.

The Mental Health Act of Alberta
A Guide for Consumers and Caregivers

The Canadian Mental Health Association wishes to acknowledgement and thanks all those who have worked on the development of this edition of the brochure.
Special thanks to: Tyler Shandro of the Pro Bono Students’ Association at the Calgary Faculty of Law

In 2004 he was the production manager for the independent film My Most Difficult Case. Which is rather prophetic.

And if I were him I would be as worried about this page www.tylershandro.com
as I would be edstemach.ca

Getting into political hot water over blogs may come from his appreciation for diving.

U/AB: Bill, please tell our Alberta Divers a bit
about yourself & why you decided to publish a
new dive guide: “Diving in Southern Alberta “
Bill Hall : Its something I always wanted to do
but didn't find the time until my sons were old
enough & expressed an interest as well. The
three of us learned to dive together. I have
been diving for about 15 years. I am now a
certified and active PADI Master Instructor &
have been teaching for about seven years. I
also hold a number of technical certifications
with IANTD. The idea to write this book
was suggested to me by
one of my Divemaster students,
Tyler Shandro,
who was writing a
guide book about hiking in the Rockies &
thought somebody should do something similar
for dive sites. The idea appealed to me
because I saw the potential to promote local
diving, to be a useful teaching aid & mostly
because I knew that it would be fun to do. I had
written a number of technical journals in the
past so I was comfortable with the work involved.
And of course photographing the dive
sites wasn't work at all.

Gee I wonder if Tyler abandoned that book on the Rockies in favour of political opportunism and carreerism. After all hiking up the party hierarchy is not much different than hiking the Rockies.


Skeletons In the Closet

While at the U of C Tyler was the President of the U of C Atheist Club and a 'left wing' columnist for the Gauntlet as well as one of their photographers. His column denouncing Christmas raised quite a few hackles.

The University of Calgary is holding "The Truth is out there," a spiritual perspectives week, from Jan. 24-29, 2000.

Not every student on campus is interested in spirituality.

"Why a whole week?" said Atheist Students' Club President Tyler Shandro. "At the end of the week, does everyone just go dead inside?"

Oh dear might not want to let your social conservative pals in the PC's know about this little youthful peccadillo.

SEE:

Craig Chandler Bids For Ed's Domain

Hey Ed Your Domain Is Available

My Name Is Ed


ags
Ed Stelmach, internet, blog, daveberta, Dave Cournoyer , edstelmach.ca, Tyler Shandro,

Craig Chandler Bids For Ed's Domain

In the comments section over at daveberta's blog discussing the threatened law suit over his ownership of edstelmach.ca, bad boy of the right Craig Chandler left this comment;

Craig B. Chandler said...

Again sell me the website.

I will pay your legal fees and I will simply post a message on the website that says:

Premier Stelmach I will gladly sell you this domain for $127,000.

Sincerely,
Craig B. Chandler
Democratically Elected Alberta Progressive Conservative in Calgary Egmont

Wednesday, January 09, 2008 11:47:00 PM

Wow now that would put Ed and his lawyer Tyler Shandro out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire. Delicious. I am tempted to say go for it. But of course Dave won't he is a principled guy.

But as this shows Ed and Tylers threats against Dave have resulted in a fire storm of criticism, and laughter across the blogs and the net. Dumb and Dumber would be appropriate nick names for these two.

Expert expects preem to lose domain lawsuit

He's one of Canada's foremost experts and he says Premier Ed Stelmach is probably going to lose, big time, partly because he's not well known.

No, he's not talking about Stelmach's prospects in an election; but Michael Geist does think Steady Eddie would be barking up the wrong blog if he takes on local writer David Cournoyer over the use of www.edstelmach.ca.

Stelmach's lawyers recently sent a letter to Cournoyer, who blogs under the title Daveberta, threatening legal action if he doesn't give up the domain name, which Cournoyer purchased last year for $14.

But according to Geist, a prominent writer and Carleton University's Canada Research Chair on Internet and E-Commerce Law, Canada clearly defends critics who use the domain names of people they're criticizing - and Daveberta is definitely a critic of Stelmach's government.

I find it interesting that Shandro as the domain administrator for Ed's current web sites, works for a legal firm that specializes in slap suits, the same company making legal threats against Dave.

Can you say conflict of interest.

The real reason for the PC concern about Dave's web site was revealed in the media this morning.

Conservative insiders say Premier Ed Stelmach will seek a new mandate after the Feb. 4 throne speech.

SEE:

Hey Ed Your Domain Is Available

My Name Is Ed


ags
Ed Stelmach, internet, blog, daveberta, edstelmach.ca, web sites,

Hey Ed Your Domain Is Available

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

My Name Is Ed

It appears fellow blogger Daveberta is being threatened with legal action because he owns the internet domain edstelmach.ca. I got an email from him about his plight.


The Premiers lawyers want him to give up this publicly licensed name which he bought. I mean they could have bought it had they been more internet savvy. You would think they would have at least searched Eddies name on the net to make sure he had all those possible sites with his name in it. Like edstelmach.com, or edstelmach.net, or edstelmach.org or edtelmach.xxx or....well you get my meaning. I mean its not like the Premier doesn't have his own Ed Stelmach page, he does.

But this headline is funny; Law firm says blogger stole Stelmach's personality Really he has a personality? Could have fooled me.

Alberta premier threatens to sue over domain name

How come Ed's lawyers they didn't sue San Fransisco stores when they used the Premiers Face on a French Maid body poster for their Halloween Store Ads?

Ed better hire better lawyers, someone familiar with internet law, or the lawless internet. There are all sorts of political sites that have names of politicians that are not those politicians home pages but sites that attack them. Remember the successful PaulMartin.ca site; Paul Martin Time. Yep nothing the PM could do about that attack site at the time and there is nothing Ed can do about Dave's site.

H/T to Saskboy

tags
Ed Stelmach, internet, blog, daveberta, edstelmach.ca, web sites,

Gone But Not Forgotten

Server not found

Firefox can't find the server at http://canconv.boundbygravity.com/index.php

Gone is Andrew Anderson's THE CANADIAN BLOG EXCHANGE one of the best aggregators of political blogs left and right in Canada. For about a month it was being petulant about uploading stories, now it is gone off line for good. Andrew was looking for someone to take over the page for months now. Though it was announced a new site had been found the CBE is gone. Too bad. It was a good way to see political bloggers of all stripes, including the independents who belong to groups.

Here is what is left of links to CBE

The Canadian Blog Exchange on Technorati

Tailrank - Posts for 'The Canadian Blog Exchange'

And here is the Google Cache for Andrew's Bound By Gravity.

For those interested in a non partisan replacement aggregator check out;

Opinions Canada


SEE:

Canadian Blog Exchange Kaput?

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2007 Canadian Blog Awards

It's that time again. Time for the annual Canadian Blog Awards. Nominations are now open.Voting will be taking place later on.

And this blog has been nominated in two categories; best political blog and best progressive blog.

The awards this year are being organized by a collective editorial group.

Rules

Eligibility

All blogs written by persons living in Canada or by Canadian citizens living abroad are eligible for nomination. In the case of group blogs, the aforementioned persons must be significant contributors to the blog.

Organizers of the awards must abstain from making any judgment as to eligibility of other participants in only the categories they have also been nominated for.

Voting

(2006 & 2007 Awards) Two rounds of voting will take place with each round lasting 7 days. The first round of voting will include all nominees. The second round of voting will narrow the list of nominees in each category down to the top 5 from the first round of voting.

SEE:

I Won I Won

Lefty Blog Awards

Vote For Me

Canadian Blog Awards 2005

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Halloween Blog Apples

My own personal carnival of blog posts inspired by Halloween. Here are my selections of Tricks and Treats.

It is clear that Progressive Bloggers have more fun posting on Halloween then their Blogging Tory counterparts.


Progressive Bloggers

Happy Hallowe'en!

This is the gay Christmas boys & girls.Rocky Horror Picture Show: Sweet Transvestite

From Dusk To Dawn: Stageleft?s Halloween Horrorama

We're kind of antisocial socialists at the Bunker, and none of us particularly enjoy handing out carbos to kids. So we tend to turn off the lights on Hallowe'e'n, settle down with the mead and popcorn, and enjoy a dusk to dawn session of our favourite scary movies. Here they are.

Halloween Fun and Music Too

Like many people the Shag gets tired of hearing about the general state of the world or at least the unpleasant parts that usually arise from some combination of ordinary stupidity and the pathologies of politicians. Since its almost the end of the month let's take a look at a few tidbits related to the celebration of Halloween.Pumpkin carving is a popular part of of the season. Come October, pumpkins can be found everywhere in the country from doorsteps to dinner tables. One of the market gardens located near Lumsden, Saskatchewan always has several hundred on hand at the end of the selling season which I've been told carries on right to the end of this month. The carving of "jack o'lanterns" is supposed to have originated with an Irishman by the name of Stingy Jack.

Tricks and Treats....

I have collected some spooky links to post today, to get in the mood for the Holiday. One of my favorites: and one of the most amazing sites i have ever been, is to be found at Devil's Tramping Ground. This flash animation is so beautiful and haunting. The Banshee will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, while you marvel at this work. Want to see some ghost videos? heh. Ever heard the term, Pepper's ghost? read more...

List of Good Halloween Sites
It seems that Sean over at Mashable has gotten disapointed about how halloween has been celebrated recently and wants to revive the fun in the day. In order to reinvigorate Halloween he’s collected list of more than 20 Halloween websites.

Vampires!
Muhahahahahhaha! Garlic won't work on these.......Stake through the heart would be kind of....Sparky? Not to mention expensive... No the only way to slay these Vampires, is to unplug them. All those conveniences in your house suck the life out of your bank account, and contribute to…

A Very Nunc Scio Halloween

Halloween. The day where we, the living, dress in strange outfits to confuse the spirits who roam among us. Or, conversely, the day where North America’s sugar intake trebles and the good people at Nestle and Hershey do little jigs around their respective offices, commemorating one of…

Happy Halloween on the Line

Happy Halloween everyone. Yesterday I was at the CUPE rally on the UofR campus. There were a lot of reporters there, and I met Patrick Book of CJME.com I’m going to be wearing my chicken costume to the party in the Archer Library, and hoping I won’t have to use it to stay warm outside later in the week. Murray Wood shakes a finger at Hallow’een Grinches. Kids only get to be kids once, and they need supportive adults to hand out sugary snacks.

Fun killers?

Remember the fun of Halloween when you were a kid? Dressing up, decorating the house, carving the pumpkin, sorting through the treats after you?ve gone out?only fractions of the easy days of our childhoods?Calgary?s recreation department wants to put the break on Halloween?.They?re encouraging people to give out swim passes instead of the regular chips and/or chocolate combo?swim passes?for Halloween?how anal?Their justification for it is that ?the tradition of dropping candy into kids' bags doesn't make sense anymore amid so much concern over childhood obesity?(CBC News)WTF!?!Personally, I?ve always believed that reason kids are getting heavier is that they?ve become enslaved to the television set; the computers.

Halloween: Candy, Hand-outs and Tax Policy

Elin and Lukas are going to mock me, but I have miniature chocolate bars to give out to the neighborhood kids tonight. When they were growing up, we gave out small boxes of raisins, and the rule was that the two of them could eat as much as they wanted on Halloween night, but the rest was trashed. My idea was that an occasional splurge doesn?t hurt but that weeks of eating candy was bad for teeth and bad for concentration.But, as Emerson said, consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, and I decided to be inconsistent a couple of years ago. There will be candy for the little ones who come by, although I?ll turn off the front porch light and bring the jack o?lantern in about 7:30 p.m. when the big kids start roaming. Magic is one thing, gluttony is another.Reading that back, I see that Lukas and Ellin will laugh even harder if they read it, since in my indulgent inconsistency I still sound preachy. Fine thing to be on a pagan holiday

Happy Halloween.......Im READY!

I have my costume on.......If I look familiar...well, sorry. That means your OLD. (shhhhhhhhhh......best not to say anything) A couple more Halloween tunes, one from deep in the vault....... And another twisted tune, that cracks me up! (Politically correct critiques not necessary) read more

Wendy approved Halloween substitutions for candy!

If your cheap like me than you know that the pressure to spend a fortune on Halloween candy can be a little much. $5.99 for 50 Nestle Favorite mini chocolate bars???

If a pumpkin was US democracy...

...it would look like this:Save the pumpkin, save the world.Happy Halloween!

iflickr [Flickr]

Sean McDonald posted a photo:

HAPPY HALLOWE'ENIE!!!

Happy Hallowe'enie Beanie

Your moment of Wingnuterer. Boo!

Blogging Tories

Happy Halloween!

I present to you an assortment of macabre political images and, if that doesn't scare you enough, three two videos from the greatest movie ever (watch it today!)

Girl on the Right

Happy Halloween.

C'est l'Halloween !

Même en pause, je désirais tout de même vous souhaiter une belle journée d'Halloween.

De plus, je vous laisse la chance d'écouter et de voir une prestation de la chanson "Halloween" de King Diamond, chanteur du groupe Merceful Fate. Cette chanson ce retrouve sur l'album Fatal Portrait réalisé en son nom personnel.

Que j'aime bien en passant...

Au plaisir

Halloween horror
Daimnation! | 31 Oct 2007 | 11:35am EST
Can your heart stand the terror of...Mr. B. Natural? Part two here - if you dare. Damian P...

Happy October 31st
Christian Conservative | 31 Oct 2007 | 9:24am EST
Halloween? BAH, HUMBUG! Instead, I'd like to wish every one a Happy Reformation Day!The 95 Theses The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power of Indulgences, commonly known as The Ninety-Five Theses, was written by Martin Luther and is widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. Luther used these theses to display his displeasure with the Church's indulgences,

Scary Halloween for dion
31-10-07, 3:39 pm @ Dr Roy's Thoughts
Today is Hallowe'en, a day for ghost of the past to rise and witches to fly. HM Minister of Finance has completely overwhelmed the headlines with the mini budget. There is nary a word about the income trust matter or the 1995 referendum. HM Government is setting the agenda in the media, even with an almost universally unfriendly media. There is plenty of money left to cut the debt and announce even more personal tax cuts. Wed, October 31, 2007 Liberals spooked

Costumes too sexy for kids?

French maid costumes for adults are one thing, but for kids? ‘Prime News’ asks if Halloween is getting too racy (video).

Being a Whore for Hallowe'en or Just Dressing Like One
A Step in the Right Direction | 31 Oct 2007 | 3:10pm EST
Hmm....this article got me thinking. An excerpt:Meet the sexy-costume backlash: teen and tween girls who, bucking the marketing hype and peer pressure, are resisting the ever-growing tide of provocative wares. This year, there are more risqué costume options for girls than in previous years, retailers say. In addition to the "classic" sexy genre of French maid, nurse and cop,





See my Halloween Posts:

The Witch of Edmonton

Aliens Invade United States

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