Black Hole

Ah the trials and tribulations of the rich and those who would be our new aristocracy. Like little Lord Black

In a court filing that drips with sarcasm, U.S. prosecutors accused media mogul Conrad Black of failing to disclose millions of dollars in assets -- including nearly $6 million prosecutors said they learned about in the past few days. "Black's assets mysteriously increase in value without his knowledge, his debts diminish overnight, his business partners want to give him millions of dollars he never even realized he was owed, and he is able to take all the accolades for charitable distributions from a $3.1 million foundation, despite claiming no direct or indirect control over the foundation's assets," prosecutors wrote. US: Black failed to reveal assets

Of course our poor Lord Black pleads innocent. Poor being a relative term.

A "problem with the government's motion is that it assumes Mr. Black's guilt," said a document filed on behalf of the former media mogul. "Mr. Black, however, is presumed innocent."

Well if they presumed he was innocent they wouldn't be prosecuting him of course. But Lord High Mucky Muck of course presumes that they are not prosecuting him for crimes but persecuting him for his fame and fortune.

Ironically Blacks partner who pled guilty is still his partner. Black, Radler remain partners

After all this is a guy who has Al Capone as his hero. Who also tried to use Canada as a place to hide out from the IRS.

Also See:

Conrad Black

Criminal Capitalism: Black Lord Dodges Tax Man

Criminal Capitalism: Black & Radler,Thick as Thieves

Criminal Capitalism: Lord Black Fugitive

Criminal Capitalism: Black gets his comeuppance

Criminal Capitalism: Hollinger's Black Eye

Criminal Capitalism: Black Out






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Hiding In Quebec

The Harpocrites would rather hide in Quebec during the nationalist festival of St. Jean Baptiste, hidden in the old Quebec Fortress than appear anywhere near Toronto this weekend.

Conservatives, anti-gay sentiment colour this year's pride parade ...

They would rather trust their fete to hoards of Quebec Nationalists than appear anywhere near Queer Street in Toronto.

The homophobia of the Conservatives is not limited to their attempt to over turn Same Sex Marriage but in the Harpocrites refusal to attend the International Aids Conference in Toronto next month.

Bloc Québécois MP Christiane Gagnon argued that Mr. Harper is willing to move mountains to attend events when aimed at gaining electoral ground, but his absence as leader of the conference's host country shows he does not act like a statesman.She said AIDS cannot be linked solely with the gay community, but the fact Mr. Harper is also skipping this summer's Outgames, a gay and lesbian athletic event in Montreal, leads her to ask about the message he is sending. Harper's plan to skip AIDS forum ‘baffling'

Once again the dim witted conservatives, whose collective brain would leave a dinosaur ashamed, fail to realize that AID's is NOT a gay disease but a sexually transmitted disease that affects more heterosexuals world wide. And in particualr women. But then again the conservatives figure women wouldn't get AIDS if they maintained monogamous marriages, stayed home and took care of the kids. Except that is exactly how they get it in Africa.

Of course if the Harpocrite dressed like this he would be sure to be hit on if he did show up at the Gay Pride parade in Toronto.

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Define Nation

Huh? Does this make any sense....

Mr. Harper said that he respects the National Assembly's declaration that Quebec is a nation, but that Ottawa has no need to enter the debate."I recognize that the Quebec National Assembly has adopted that position. I don't know quite frankly what its legal significance is," he said, adding later that "it just seems to me to be a semantic debate that doesn't serve any purpose."

Nope but then again Mr. Haprocrite can claim not to be a lawyer which is good because even as an economist he is a failure. And he says Ottawa doesn't have to enter the nation state debate with Quebec. Gee I thought that was the debate. And considering repatriation of the Constitution, Meech Lake, the Charlottetown accord, it is far from semantic.

Nation hmm lets look that up shall we;

Nationalists define individual nations on the basis of certain criteria, which distinguish one nation from another; and determine "who is a member of each nation". These criteria might include a shared language, culture, and/or shared values which are predominantly represented within a specific ethnic group. National identity refers both to these defining criteria, and to the shared heritage of each group. Membership in a nation is usually involuntary and determined by birth. Nationalism sees most human activity as national in character. Nations have national symbols, a national culture, a national music and national literature; national folklore, a national mythology and - in some cases - even a national religion. Individuals share national values and a national identity, admire the national hero, eat the national dish and play the national sport.

and it should not be confused with the Nation as State;

Historians Benedict Anderson or the Communist author Eric Hobsbawm have pointed out that in fact, the nation-state precedes nationalism. According to their conception, nationalism is a creation of the nation-state, and not the reverse. For example, French nationalism emerged in the 19th century, once the French nation-state already constituted through the unification of various dialects and languages into the French language, and also by the means of conscription and the Third Republic's 1880s laws on public instruction. However, in countries divided into multiple states such as Germany or Italy, the sense of a common membership to the same cultural movement, as in the Volkisch movement, can be said to be nationalism, and in this case precedes the unification of the various states into the German or the Italian state.

One of the earliest, and perhaps oldest example of a nation state was the Dutch Republic (1581 and 1795).The Eighty Years' War that began in 1568, triggered a process of what we would now call "nation-building", the following circumstances/events were very helpful in this process:

And Quebec nationalism does not mean the end of Canada.It is the source of the greatest classic liberal (as in Thomas Paine the Rights of Man) political critique of the Canadian State that originated in the great Con that was the federation of 1867.

Coincidently both founding ruling classes in Pan-Canada; the English/Scottish and Irish Freemasons, and the French and Irish Catholics celebrate the summer solstice with St. Jean Baptiste/St. John the Baptist celebrations. They are the rites of Bourgeoisie nationalism.

'Fete nationale' a Canadian holiday: Harper As in Les Canadiens. Since the Canadian National anthem originated in Quebec as part of its St. Jean Baptiste celebrations.

And Quebec and Canada are federated nations, who also share a common colony; Haiti. That makes them both bourgeoise nations and Imperialist.

And behind the Harpocrites dismissal of the Quebec Nation as semantic, is his self professed status as autarch of the Canadian State.

And we know how anarchists feel about the State, and nationalism. They are last refuge of the scoundral.

The ever growing power of a soulless political bureaucracy which supervises and safeguards the life of man from the cradle to the grave is putting ever greater obstacles in the way of the solidaric co-operation of human beings and crushing out every possibility of new development. A system which in every act of its life sacrifices the welfare of large sections of the people, yes, of whole nations, to the selfish lust for power and the economic interests of small minorities must of necessity dissolve all social ties and lead to a constant war of all against all. This system has been merely the pacemaker for the great intellectual and social reaction which finds its expression today in modern Fascism, far surpassing the obsession for power of the absolute monarchy of past centuries and seeking to bring every sphere of human activity under the control of the state. Just as for the various systems of religious theology, God is everything and man nothing, so for this modern political theology, the state is everything and the man nothing. And just as behind the "will of God" there always lay hidden the will of privileged minorities, so today there hides behind the "will of the state" only the selfish interest of those who feel called to interpret this will in their own sense and to force it upon the people. Anarchosyndicalism by Rudolf Rocker - Chapter 1

But it is Rudolph Rocker (1873-1958) who, in Nationalism and Culture (1937), provides the fullest anarchist discussion of nationalism. To Rocker it is clear that 'The nation is not the cause, but the result of the state. It is the state which creates the nation and not the nation the state.' (28) This assertion becomes more plausible when he proceeds to distinguish between a 'people' - what Proudhon had called a 'folk-group' - and a 'nation'. 'A people', he explains, 'is the natural result of social union, a mutual association of men brought about by a certain similarity of external conditions of living, a common language, and special characteristics due to climate and geographic environment. In this manner arise certain common traits, alive in every member of the union, and forming a most important part of its social existence. The nation, on the other hand, is the artificial struggle for political power, just as nationalism has never been anything but the political religion of the modern state. Belonging to a nation is never determined, as is belonging to a people, by profound natural causes; it is always subject to political considerations and based on those reasons of state behind which the interests of privileged minorities always reside.' And in a passage relevant to the manifestation in recent years of both 'sub-nationalisms' and the nascent 'supra-nationalism' of some ideologists of the EEC, Rocker insists: 'A people is always a community with narrow boundaries. But a nation, as a rule, encompasses a whole array of different peoples and groups of peoples who have by more or less violent means been pressed into the frame of a common state.' 'National states' (he concludes) 'are political church organisations...All nationalism is reactionary in its nature, for it strives to enforce on the separate parts of the great human family a definite character according to a preconceived idea...Nationalism creates artificial separations and partitions within that organic unity which finds its expression in the genus Man.'Resisting the nation state

Also See: Quebec

A History of Canadian Wealth, 1914.

Rebel Yell

Origins of the Captialist State In Canada

Voting for Capitalism On January 23

The Neo Liberal Canadian State

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The Headline Says It All

Public Service Alliance of Canada reaches tentative agreement for striking Ekati diamond mine workers with Ekati owner BHP Billiton; union recommending yes vote to end strike that began April 7 to win first-ever contract at a Canadian diamond mine

Yep thats the headline from the press release. Talk about a run on sentence. PSAC has a lot to celebrate so in all the excitment I guess they just couldn't say enough about their victory at Ekati.

And they should be they faced scabs and union busting AFI private security.
Proving that we need Federal Anti-Scab legislation. Without scabs this would have been a far shorter strike than eleven weeks.



Also See:

Diamonds and Rust

Union Busters Update

The War For Chocolate

DeBeers versus the Bushmen

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The Great Escape

Theme song from the Great Escape, prisoners whistling. Recaptured Steve McQueen enters Stalag Luft 3 and the commandant simply orders; "Kooler".

It was a commendable escape by any measure: Patiently wait until the staff calls it a day; dig a tunnel under a fence; then, make a dash for love.

But after 19 days on the lam, Boo, a four-and-a-half-year-old grizzly bear that made a bid for freedom after catching the whiff of a sow, is back behind his electric fence at a refuge in British Columbia.It's just the simple bear necessities of Boo's love life

Or perhaps like the journalist who wrote this I am simply anthropomorphizing the bear story. Nah, bears are people too.

THE GREAT BEAR MOTHER

A major cult of the Bear Mother has been traced from the earliest times throughout the colder northern hemisphere, from Finland to Siberia to North America. Ritually arranged skulls of herbivorous cave bears have been discovered in caves in France and in the German Alps, which date from the time of Neanderthal humans, at least 75,000 years ago. The Great She Bear, whose animal fur, skins and body gave warmth and food to the northern peoples was revered as an awesome Ancestor Mother of human beings. The Ainu of Japan, who are descendants of early Siberian migrations, still retain their veneration of the Bear in both legend and ritual. For Native Americans the Bear is one of the guardians of the Four Directions. (Primitive Mythology by Joseph Campbell, Penguin)

The Great She Bear also reigned in the heavens. She was named in the constellation of Ursa Major which cycled then as now, around the night-time skies of the northern hemisphere each year. In Altaic, Siberian and Tibetan mythology there was said to be a direct connection between Ursa Major and the Earth via a Universal Tree, which was rooted in the earth at Shambhala. Shambhala itself is a mythical realm which lies somewhere to the north of Tibet. It is believed to be a source of the 'Ancient Wisdom'. (See 'Dawn Behind the Dawn' by Geoffrey Ashe, Henry Holt, 1992).

Also See:

Bears

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He's An Alberta Boy

Harper rules out federal carbon tax as a climate-change strategy




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Made In The USA: Reporters Sans Frontiers

Sometimes a liberal front group is well a liberal front group. And you know how much liberals want to please everyone and be loved.

This reminds me of the liberals in the sixties who spied for the CIA, like Gloria Stienhem.

Or the fact that during the house investigation into the CIA after Watergate they found that Time Magazine had the most reporters on the CIA payroll.

Although Reporters without Borders' attacks on Castro, Chavez and Aristide are perfectly alligned with the State Department's policies, and though she admitted RSF was receiving money from Reich, Morillon denied that the governmant funding the group receives in any way affects its activities. She pointed out that RSF's $50,000 payments from the CFC and a January grant of $40,000 from the National Endowment for Democracy only constitute a fraction of the organization's budget. This is true, but Menard has other rich rightist friends in Europe and the U.S., including CFC director Manuel Cutillas, head of Bacardi. CFC's executive director is Frank Calzon, another former director of CANF. Reporters Without Borders: Its Secret Deal with Otto Reich to to Wreck Cuba's Economy

Love Me, Love Me, Love Me, I'm A Liberal ....Phil Ochs

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal

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The Real Headline

Should read: Seven of Flordia's Poorest Afro-Americans Busted in McCarthyite Terrorist Raid

Florida isn't that Bush country? Why of course they rigged the election for Georgie Bush II and his brother is govenor. The state is know to harbour international terrorists. No not Afro-Americans and Haitians, the Cuban Exile Community
who do blow up planes and things.

Terrorist Up For US Citizenship: The Strange Case of Luis Posada




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Harper Defends NDP

The final days of Parliament can be summed up thus;

The Liberals; It's all the NDP's fault

The Conservatives; 13 years of Liberals doing nothing

The BQ; Fiscal Imbalance, Fiscal Imbalance, Fiscal Imbalance, Fiscal Imbalance, Fiscal Imbalance, Fiscal...

The NDP; Smog Made in Canada

Best line to close this session of parliament summing up the whole silly season, goes to the Harper who said this on Tuesday, June 2o.

Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but notice a pattern today. The Liberals seem to think that the NDP is the government. I do not know if we can allow the member for Toronto--Danforth to answer any of these questions, but what I can say is this. The Liberals seem worried that Canadians who want a left-wing party with principles are obviously not opting for the Liberal Party.

Well said sir, well said.



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Chicken Little Cries Labour Shortage

There is no labour shortage in Canada. There is however a push by the bosses to reduce workers wages so as to cut costs for expanding tar sands operations. So says the Conference Board of Canda.

The results will be a rapid increase in wages, and some projects may be cancelled or delayed, the report warned. "It may be time to consider expanding Canada's foreign workers program, which allows foreign labourers to work in Canada on a temporary basis."Alberta's labour shortfall could increase massively

The cost over-runs are a historical phenomena of poor management.Bechtel, Flour and other international engineering companies contracted to build these huge strip mines have done so with an open cheque book. Thus cost over-runs. A problem when you contract out your plant construction.

The labour shortages are ten years out, ample time to produce an effective apprenticeship program. Begining in high school for the majority of students who only graduate with a General Diploma.

But the real reason that the bosses are saying the sky is falling is that the building trades have only four years left on their unprecidented ten year collective agreements.

The Conference Board predicts that the Alberta labour crisis will occur that same year, 2010. Hmmm are they telegraphing the attitude at the bargaining table this far in advance. You bet. Anyone who would suggest a ten year contract for labour peace in order to contain costs will stoop to anything to reduce labour costs, but not wastage, because that's where the profit is.


Also See:

Alberta's Free Market In Labour

Neil Waugh Moves Left

The Labour Shortage Myth

AFL Agrees With Me

Lack of Planning Created Skills Shortage in Alberta

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The Road Out of Mandalay

Canada welcomes 810 Burmese refugees

Accepting Myanmar refugees signals immigration shift

This still does not absolve the Government from turning a blind eye to business as usual with Burma/Myanmar by Canadian corporations.

Economic collapse imminent?

Friday, 14 August, 1998

The US government argues that Burma is close to economic collapse partly because of sanctions. It points to falling foreign exchange reserves, a declining exchange rate (350 kyats to the dollar on the informal market, as opposed to the official rate of six), and strict limits on the export of capital abroad.

Still waiting for the imminent demise of the Burmese economy. Yep just sitting here tappin my toe, waiting. Its only been eight years.

Ivanhoe Mines
Ivanhoe Mines is a Canadian mining company with very close links to the regime in Burma. As the largest foreign mining investor in Burma it operates the Monywa Copper mine in a joint venture with the regime. Rail and power infrastructure in the area of the mine was built using forced labour. The mine could be earning the regime over $40 million a year.

BURMA: As a part of their systematic campaign to pressure companies operating in Burma, the Canadian Labor Council (CLC) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) called for Canadian-based mining company Ivanhoe to withdraw from Burma. In a letter written to CEO of Ivanhoe, Fred Higgs, ICEM General Secretary said that Ivanhoe's relationship with the Burmese government in the Monywa copper mine helps supply, "funds for the coffers of a regime that has been irrefutably linked to forced labour and narcotics trafficking." ICEM is a trade union of twenty million people who work in mining all over the world. Ivanhoe said it would proceed with a US$280 million expansion of the Monywa mine. Also, the ICEM along with the US-based AFL-CIO spoke at a Shareholder's meeting of US-based Halliburton in June, to convince the company to pull out of Burma. Halliburton helped to construct the Yadana oil pipeline, which used forced labor and will provide the military dictatorship government of Burma with US$150 - US$400 million dollars for decades. Halliburton, who's former CEO is US Vice President Dick Cheney, has worked to oppose economic sanctions against Burma for its human rights violations. (Asiaweek, June 17, 2001, Press Release of CLC and ICEM, June 14 2001; Press Release, AFL-CIO and ICEM, May 15, 2001)

Two statements prior to the 2002 Ivanhoe Annual General Meeting on its position in Burma

Canadian Investment in Burma

Canadian Business and Burma

Stop Canadian Corporate Complicity with Burma's Military Regime




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House of Saud, House Of Cards

Guess who says this.....

“Passing over, for the present, all the evils and mischiefs which monarchy has occasioned in the world, nothing can more effectually prove its usefulness in a state of civil government than making it hereditary. Would we make any office hereditary that required wisdom and abilities to fill it? And where wisdom and abilities are not necessary, such an office, whatever it may be, is superfluous or insignificant.

Hereditary succession is a burlesque upon monarchy. It puts it in the most ridiculous light, by presenting it as an office which any child or idiot may fill. It requires some talent to be a common mechanic; but, to be a king, requires only the animal figure of man – a sort of breathing automaton”.

These are the words of Thomas Paine written in 1791. His logic and reasoning is as sound and pertinent now as it was then. But if Thomas Paine was alive and expressed similar sentiments in Saudi Arabia today, he would face imprisonment and torture. The very idea of republicanism which the founding fathers of United States so cherished is seen as subversive in Saudi Arabia, and is actively discouraged by the government.

When will the House of Saud feel safe?



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Tories Rally For Winnie

Not our Tories but British Tories, with a kick in the pants from Labour back benchers. Sorta like the current situation in the house over here, Tories do the right thing when kicked in the pants by the NDP.

British guards' bearskin hats may face ban
Conservative lawmaker Ann Widdecombe has now urged her party to support the motion aimed at replacing the bearskins with artificial substitutes. "Black bears, who are intelligent and curious animals, are slaughtered in Canada so that their skins may be used for ceremonial hats," Widdecombe wrote in a letter to her party colleagues on Thursday.

Now if only the Eeyores in the Harper government would remember that Winnie was short for Winnipeg the Bear. Perhaps we could save out endangered black bear population.

After all Winnie is as old as Queen Elizabeth. Winnie the Pooh turns 80

Christopher Robin and his "Winnie"	One of the original drawings by E.H. Shepard	Christopher and the real Winnie Ther Pooh
The bear was Christopher Robin's inspiration for calling his own teddy bear Winnie. Winnie is typically a female name, but Christopher Robin insisted his bear was a boy. In the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, Milne writes the following: When I first heard his name, I said, just as you are going to say, "But I thought he was a boy?" "So did I," said Christopher Robin. "Then you can't call him Winnie?" "I don't." "But you said---" "He's Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don't you know what 'ther' means?" "Ah, yes, now I do," I said quickly; and I hope you do too, because it is all the explanation you are going to get.

Also See: Bears



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Unlucky 13

Three Gaza children killed by Israeli air strike
AN Israeli air strike aimed at assassinating militants in the Gaza Strip has killed three children standing nearby, bringing to 13 the number of Palestinian civilians killed in attacks by Israeli helicopter gunships this month

No Comment. Just like the rest of the MSM.





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Hillary In Ottawa?

Did Hillary Clinton Attend Bilderberg Conference?

Did New York Senator and possible 2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton attend this past weekend's Bilderberg meeting in Ottawa Canada? Our inside sources coupled with what witnesses saw at the Brookestreet Hotel strongly suggest this to be the case.

Nothing sinister in this she was probably just up in Ottawa to keep an eye on hubby and that blond Liberal hussy; Belinda Stronach.

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Libertarian Youth For Labour

Yes you read that right. Pardon the pun. No its not a shadowy Trotskyist fifth column infiltrating the Libertarian movement, that was Murray Bookchin. Nope this is the blog of two libertarian youth from the US of A. And they have an interesting post today.

Five Reasons Government is Bad for Labor

1. Historical precedent. Most of the time governments have intervened in labor disputes, it's been to the detriment of the workers. Governments have forced workers back to their jobs, condoned violent strikebreaking efforts and rescinding support when labor needs it most..

And it just gets better with the other four. Especially the attack on taxes, which I agree with, they correctly point out that taxes reduces the effectiveness of pay and benefit increases.

There you go Libertarian Youth defending da woiking class and its organizations. Now if only the Blogging Tories were as broad minded. Especially those claiming to be libertarians.

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Here Comes The Sun

Let the Sunshine In.

Hail Apollo!
Hail Our Sun,
Whom I am
the Son of.

It is the Summer Solstice the longest day of the year. And the official begining of summer.


Stonehenge revellers 'feel the solstice'
Toronto Star, Canada - 2 hours ago
STONEHENGE, England — Thousands of dancing and drumming spectators cheered the summer solstice at Stonehenge as an orange sliver of sun rose over the Heel ...
Druids and New Age revelers greet longest day
CNN International - 3 hours ago
STONEHENGE, England (AP) -- Druids, partygoers and New Age revelers flocked to this ancient monument Tuesday, preparing to greet the summer solstice amid the ...


Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

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Industrial Ecology

I have commented here before about industrial ecology .

Since the turn of last century technologists have looked at sustainable industry which often clashed with the management theories of the Fordist production model.

Recently a U of T professor spoke on this at a libertarian conference in Ontario; The Reading Room

His work was on how the market-place can be environmentally friendly through industrial ecology. It's an interesting paper well worth the read.

“Modern conditions make it almost impossible materially to cut production and
distribution of expense for the majority of commodities; hence one of the most
important opportunities for gaining competitive advantage, or even for enabling an industry or individual business to maintain its position in this new competition, is to reduce its manufacturing expense by creating new credits for products previously unmarketable...”

Can capitalism green itself. Of course. Simply look at WWII where rationing, recycling and reuse along with a command and control economic model was the method of production in North America.Which is why industrial ecology is only a solution within existing capitalism, for a real ecology of community and worker control we have to move beyond IE to Social Ecology.

But will it? Not likely. Because it takes a state capitalist political economy to enforce it. And with the current fiscal free fall in the market place, where more money being created is more important than long term production, it is not likely to happen soon enough.

A tip o' the blog to BBS for this.


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Soccer Inc.

Sometimes the right wing gets it, well right. Cheap shots about anti-globalization protestors in Nikes, aside....the world cup is highest level of capitalism as Lenin would say...it reflects the culture of imperialism. Heres John Hayden from the Washington Times take on the World Cup;

The World Cup is the perfect example of globalization.

Soccer's biggest party has all the ingredients to stir up a good, old anti-capitalist rant: Rich Western nations, stripping the best talent away from third-world countries, old, fat, white guys managing groups of African workers and Brazilians from ghettos traded across the globe to the highest bidders.
Welcome to the marketplace of modern soccer, where national barriers mean nothing in the pursuit of soccer talent and Brazilians are the biggest outsourcers on the planet.Protectionism has gone out of the window. Soccer players cross national boundaries with ease, and the big leagues in Europe are flooded with foreign talent.
Imagine the Redskins starting a game without a single American. John Riggins, wrapped in an American flag, would rip up the seats up at FedEx Field. Yet, Arsenal played for more than a month early this year without one English player in the starting lineup.

Of course not all that glitters is gold, and even soccer players are still wage slaves as the strike by the Trindad and Tobago team shows. Opps forgot about that did we John.

And he convienently left out the little fact that state capitalism and social democracy provides the most winning teams. Funny that.

HOW GOVERNMENTS NURTURE SOCCER.

Social democracy delivers more championships than the juntas--six in all. And even the worst social democratic teams--Belgium, Finland--win more consistently than their authoritarian peers. To understand this success, one must understand the essence of the social democratic economy. Social democracies take root in heavily industrialized societies, and this is a great blessing. No country has won the World Cup without having a substantial industrial base. This base supplies a vast urban proletariat, which in turn supplies players for a team. Industrial economies also produce great wealth, which funds competitive domestic leagues that improve social democratic players by subjecting them to day-to-day competition of the highest quality. And, while the junta mindset nicely transposes itself to the pitch, the social democratic ethos is a far neater match. Social democracy celebrates individualism, while relentlessly patting itself on the back for its sense of solidarity--a coherent team with room for stars.

Of course one has to be suspicious of anything Americans have to say about the beautiful game cause they well, they didn't invent it. And its about team work, collectivism, and well all those things that are well....you know....Un-American.

Hardin: Soccer a political futbol Americans won't trust
After 76 years of watching a game we did not invent, we've finally begun to figure out why soccer never has and never will be a part of our sporting calendar. It's un-American. Or not American.We've been hearing this since 1930, for so long it's no longer irritating: Soccer isn't going to make it here the way it has abroad until we have some serious changes. A military junta would be a good start, or possibly the emergence of a fascist dictatorship or maybe democratic socialism. Countries under those political conditions have won nine World Cups. Soccer is, first and foremost, political.

We know soccier represents the best that socialism has to offer. Which is why Americans get confused. Cause to them any form of collective endeavour is anathema.

Football: "war minus the shooting"

uploaded 20 Jun 2006




Joschka Fischer, former German foreign minister, recently declared that once the tournament of World Cup finals starts, "a football will become the symbol of our One World." This ideal of a world-at-peace encapsulated in a universal symbol seems at odds with the bloody reality of the world today. George Orwell described football as being "war minus the shooting". The English author and political commentator was not averse to hyperbole. However he is not alone when it comes to overstating the importance of game of football. The most dramatic dictum has to be that of Bill Shankly: ‘Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I can assure you it is much, much more important than that’. This may sound comical, on face value, but looking at the history of the game it is not clear whether or not he uttered these words in jest. Last week saw a series of distinctly Shanklyesk broadcast in the USA. Based on the morose manner of the addresses we can rest assured that it was not a joke. The American broadcaster ESPN, which shows most of the world cup games in the USA, is airing a series of adverts with members of the rock band U2. In one, Bono says that the World Cup "closes the schools, closes the shops, closes a city and stops a war." Another advert adds some more meat to the bones of Bono's thesis explaining that: "After three years of civil war, feuding factions talked for the first time in years, and the president called a truce. Because the Ivory Coast qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Because, as everyone knows, a country united makes for better cheerleaders than a country divided."

So yes Virginia soccer is where politics meets the pitch. Unlike of course unpolitical American sports like oh say NASCAR.


But all is not light and joy for the beautiful game.


There are the soccer scandals and of course the rascist nature of some Euro sports fans, err hooligans.Who’s to blame for racism in soccer?

And there are those sweatshops and child labour making FIFA balls and uniforms, opps . Nasty that. Something that Mr. Hayden forgot to mention in his Washington Times article. Though he did get it right about wondering with such high profile sweat shop companies like Nike and Adidas present at the World Cup why there were no protests.

Meanwhile not all eyes are on the world cup. Nope the ruling class in Germany is back in the counting house complaining.

German Industry Irked by Slow Pace of Reforms
While most of the country is swept up in World Cup fever, that's not the case for German business leaders. They've been eyeing up Chancellor Merkel's progress on economic reforms and wonder what she's waiting for. Angela Merkel may be enjoying the highest popularity ratings of any post-war German chancellor, but she is fast losing favor among the country's business leaders and economic experts.

Gawd what a bunch of whiners. Global competiveness this, global competiveness that, sheesh shut up already and watch the game. That's real global competitiveness in action.

And youse guys on the right say the left doesn't know how to have fun. Gimme a break. And don't just say its because they are German capitalists, capitalists just are no fun. Period. Take Steve Forbes....please. drum roll. clash of cymbols.

A socialist’s guide to the World Cup

Simon Black

As World Cup fever grips the globe, many progressives will be sighing at the prospect of another sporting spectacle distracting the “masses” from the pressing issues of the day — the classic “bread and circuses” argument.

There is a tendency on the North American left to disdain sport: its competitive nature, the corporatisation of its grand events, its inherent masculinities and cultures of exclusion. Some of this critique is grounded in good sociology; some of it bears an irrational disdain for that in which one does not participate or enjoy.

In many sports, but especially in “the beautiful game”, politics and the game have a symbiotic relationship. Politics can influence and be influenced by what happens on the field of play. The World Cup is no exception.

My parents immigrated to Canada from Liverpool in the 1960s: growing up, soccer and socialism were the main topics of discussion in the Black household. Conversations at the dinner table moved seamlessly between football and politics, England’s chances in the World Cup and the New Democratic Party’s chances in the upcoming election.

I only committed my life to socialism after being rejected as a professional soccer player (a brief stint with the English premier league’s Watford FC is my footballing claim to fame).

In many countries, soccer is a terrain of political and ideological struggle like the media or the education system. Teams in Europe often have decidedly partisan political followings. Lazio of Rome was the club of Mussolini and retains a large fascist following today. Italian club AS Livorno has long been associated with communism and banners of Che Guevara can be seen waving in the stands at the team’s home games. Clashes between Livorno’s supporters and the fans of right-wing teams can dominate match day in this picturesque Tuscany town.

World Cup quotes of the week



Also See:

Soccer

Sports



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