UAE Controls the Port of Vancouver

The storm of protectionism disquised as concern over terrorism and security continues in the United States. Bush faces bipartisan backlash on Arab port administration And these guys talk about Free Trade, until they realise that it means foreign ownership.

In an opinion article in the Chattanogan Jason Kibby writes; The United Arab Emirates also controls a port at Vancouver, Canada. Should we tell the Canadians to send them packing? Guess that's why Fox TV says Canada exports terrorists to the U.S.


My Libertarian pal Brad Spangler says the solution is worker ownership of the ports, what a novel idea, but it will never happen in the dog eat dog world of monopoly state capitalism. Though we can hope one day this solution will happen;says Brad; People are furious about this. I’ll repeat again my own call for non-violent revolutionary community seizure of the ports.



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Capitalism Kills

Often overlooked by the defenders and apologists of capitalism, is that the bottom line is just that the bottom line, and how profitable a company is, is more important than worker or public safety, as todays headlines show;

Hope fading for 65 Mexican miners

55 killed, 100 injured in worst garment factory fire in Chittagong

Building collapse in Dhaka kills 16, injures 45

Moscow police arrest director of collapsed market hall
Most of the victims of the collapse, almost all guest workers from former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia, have already been identified by relatives and work colleagues.

The price of capitalist development understood as a whole, in its facets as development and underdevelopment, is unsustainable because it consists of death. As I have argued elsewhere (Dalla Costa M., 1995), a central assumption must be that, from the human viewpoint, capitalist development has always been unsustainable since it has assumed from the start, and continues to assume, extermination and hunger for an increasingly large part of humanity.
Mariarosa Dalla Costa, Development and Reproduction [.pdf]

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The Zarqawi Factor

The destruction of the Shia's holiest shrine, the Golden Mosque, in Iraq and the immediate reaction that IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE SUNNI'S, has created a condition that favours one particular group.

What seems to have been lost in all this is cool heads and reasoned thinking ,that perhaps the actual bombers were followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, after all two years ago he announced this as his strategy to divide the Sunni's and Shia's.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is Iraq's most notorious insurgent - a shadowy figure associated with spectacular bombings,

Bomb attacks on Iraq's Shia-dominated government and security forces have continued apace, however, with many of the bloodiest strikes of 2005 blamed on Zarqawi's group, now renamed al-Qaeda in Iraq. An intercepted letter released by the Americans in February 2004 seems to support their claim that targeting Shias is central to Zarqawi's strategy in Iraq. In it, Zarqawi appears to share his plans for igniting sectarian conflict in Iraq as a means of undermining the US presence there. Within days of the letter's release, bomb attacks on recruiting centres for the Iraqi security forces had killed nearly 100 people. Attacks are now a daily occurrence in Iraq. Whether or not Zarqawi is behind them all, he is seen by the US as the biggest obstacle to their hopes of progress in Iraq - their most dangerous enemy in the country.

With the current division politically in Iraq and rising internecine incidents of mutual attacks and reprisals, between these two groups, the outrageous bombing of the Shia's Golden Mosque would hasten further sectarian violence, and benefit the divide and conquer strategy of Zarqawi. At last early this morning a spokesperson for the Shia, has come out and pointed the finger at Zarqawi as the possible provocatuer.

As Shiite leader Abdul Aziz al- Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, said in a statement calling for national unity:

It is regrettable that things reached the degree that Sunni and Shiites are paying for the crimes committed by the enemy of Islam and Iraqis. This is what Zarqawi is working for -- that is, to ignite sectarian strife in the country. We call for self-restraint and not to be dragged by the plots of the enemy of Iraq.

In the Middle East it appears that forty eight hours later cooler heads are now prevailing. Despite the usual blame the US and Israel tripe, the reality is now setting in, that the fascists in Al Quiada would benefit most from this bombing.

US, Iran and al-Qaeda are each accused for the Samarra mosque bombing

Religious and political leaders are multiplying their appeals for unity against division. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Shia Islam’s highest authority in Iraq, spoke again today. According to one his aides, Mohammad Hakkani, the issue is not only rebuilding the mosque, but building Iraq with all its ethnic and religious components.

For his part, Mgr Shleiman Warduni, auxiliary Chaldean bishop of Baghdad, said that the purpose of the attack was clear: “It was meant to spread division and hatred and stop the country’s progress. We are not yet in civil war, but when such bloodbaths occur we should not take that risk too lightly”.

Extremist Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr from Qom (Iran) told al-Jazeera that Sunnis should join Shiites in pledging not to kill fellow Muslims and should distance themselves from “takfiris”, Sunni extremists who target Shiites.

According to the Khaleej Times, during protests in Bahrain against the mosque bombing people shouted slogans against Al-Qaeda and its supporters, accusing them of trying to fuel sectarian hatred. Many marched holding pictures showing the damaged dome and placards equating the attacks with the controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.

Asia Times also pinned the blame on al-Qaeda-linked groups calling them the “prime suspects” but also saying that they might “be the biggest losers in the fallout” because once the wave of outrage subsides the “Iraqi resistance will be viewed in a new light. And plans for a region-wide anti-US resistance movement centred on Iran will have to be rethought.”

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Blogging Capitalism

For those who thought Blogging was an alternative to commercial capitalist media here is an interesting article, a rude awakening if you will.

Blogs to Riches

The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom.

To analyze the disparities in the blogosphere, Shirky took a sample of 433 blogs. Then he counted an interesting metric: the number of links that pointed toward each site (“inbound” links, as they’re called). Why links? Because they are the most important and visible measure of a site’s popularity. Links are the chief way that visitors find new blogs in the first place. Bloggers almost never advertise their sites; they don’t post billboards or run blinking trailers on top of cabs. No, they rely purely on word of mouth. Readers find a link to Gawker or Andrew Sullivan on a friend’s site, and they follow it. A link is, in essence, a vote of confidence that a fan leaves inscribed in cyberspace: Check this site out! It’s cool! What’s more, Internet studies have found that inbound links are an 80 percent–accurate predictor of traffic. The more links point to you, the more readers you have. (Well, almost. But the exceptions tend to prove the rule: Fleshbot, for example. The sex blog has 300,000 page views per day but relatively few inbound links. Not many readers are willing to proclaim their porn habits with links, understandably.)

When Shirky compiled his analysis of links, he saw that the smaller bloggers’ fears were perfectly correct: There is enormous inequity in the system. A very small number of blogs enjoy hundreds and hundreds of inbound links—the A-list, as it were. But almost all others have very few sites pointing to them. When Shirky sorted the 433 blogs from most linked to least linked and lined them up on a chart, the curve began up high, with the lucky few. But then it quickly fell into a steep dive, flattening off into the distance, where the vast majority of ignored blogs reside. The A-list is teensy, the B-list is bigger, and the C-list is simply massive. In the blogosphere, the biggest audiences—and the advertising revenue they bring—go to a small, elite few. Most bloggers toil in total obscurity.

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Mysterious Explosion

Scientists have reported a mysterious explosion in Space. Al Queda has been ruled out as being responsible, though scientists are speculating that it might be a Sunni going supernova. While the explosion occured in the constellation Aries, the Roman God of War, intergalactic terrorism has been ruled out.

Gordon O'Connor Canada's Minister of Defense did not say whether or not this space explosion, which occured relatively close to Earth, was the reason Canada was reconsidering America's offer to share in Missile Defense shield. BMD Focus: Canada takes first step on BMD

The shield was one of the emblems of Aires.

Scientists Detect New Kind of Cosmic Explosion

02.23.06

Scientists using NASA's Swift satellite have detected a new kind of cosmic explosion. The event appears to be a precursor to a supernova, which is expected to reach peak brightness in one week. Image above: Scientists are studying a strange explosion that appeared on February 18, 2006, about 440 million light years away in the constellation Aries. The "before" image on the left is from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The "after" image on the right is from NASA Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope. The pinpoint of light from this star explosion outshines the entire host galaxy. Most other sources are foreground stars. Each image is 5 arcminutes by 5 arcminutes. Coordinates for this burst are as follows: RA: 03:21:39.71 Dec: +16:52:02.6 + Click for high res (8.7 Mb) image. Credit: SDSS (left), NASA/Swift/UVOT (right) Scores of satellites and ground-based telescopes are now trained on the sight, watching and waiting. Amateur astronomers in the northern hemisphere with a good telescope in dark skies can also view it.

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Prehistoric Frank and Gordon

Frank and Gordon the Bell Canada beavers, who have been making a nuisance of themselves during the Olympics as TV Ads, have a prehistoric relative.

The Jurassic Beaver.

Now wait a minute mammals weren't supposed to be co-existing with Dinosaurs. Well there goes another hypothesis.

Jurassic "Beaver" Found; Rewrites History of Mammals

See science, unlike religion which is faith based, can admit its mistakes. Science is not infallible, unlike the Vatican. Or the Bush Administration.

"The Bush administration rejects the scientific method," said Lewis Lapham, the editor of Harper's Magazine and author of the recent book "Gag Rule", which looks at how the U.S. government suppresses dissent and stifles democracy. The United States is entering into an era where faith is more important than fact and dissent is considered betrayal, he said. When it comes to research, the current administration has gone well beyond the traditional practice of politicians fudging the numbers to get the results they want, Lapham noted. "If science doesn't prove what it's been told to prove, then they (the Bush administration) believe it has been tampered with by Satan or the Democratic Party," he said.

In fact science is based on the idea of hypothesis, a thesis. Which is not a fact but a theory that arises from the existing facts and observations. Such theories change when facts change.

And while Frank and Gordon claim that the Beaver is Canada's national animal, giving us our distinct national character well that is about to be revised too.

Cause the Jurassic Beaver was found in China.

I particularly like this quote about how mammals evolved during the Jurassic, it has a certain ironic meaning in this age of theology over fact, morality versus reality. The whole family values issue can be seen in light of evolution, which is probably why the fundamentalist Christians go cuckoo over it.

The discovery shows that early mammals and their relatives were experimenting with different lifestyles from the start, rather than waiting for the decline of the dinosaurs before diversifying.

Yep we mammals are all about experimenting with Lifestyle choices. Unlike the Dinosaurs, or patriarchal religions. And we know what happened to the Dinosaurs. And Frank and Gordon, 'two male mammals in an ambigous relationship', are still around.

Original Press Release


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Time to Nationalize CN

CN has reported a record number of accidents, Duh Oh, this past year.

Number of CN derailments jumped in 2005: report CN derailments rise 35 per cent

As I have reported here, it's because CN our once national railway was privatised.
It is fast becoming a North American monopoly and it sacrificing public and worker safety for the bottom line. Under the direction of its American CEO. Earlier this week, CN reported a record profit of $1.56-billion for 2005.

According to a Globe and Mail report Monday, railway mega-merger speculation may be back on the agenda. Regulatory concerns prevented a merger between Canadian National Railway Co. and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. in 2000. But CPR President Robert Ritchie told reporters that after a six-year hiatus, the CN-BN pairing could re-emerge, or another combination involving CN, reports the Globe. Ritchie added that CPR's philosophy is to work as a network industry and not isolate itself into two systems, which would probably be the end result of further consolidation. That would produce too much angst on the part of customers, which would lead to negative regulation, he told reporters.
Numerous co-operative agreements between railways have been signed in recent months on shared trackage, with aim to ease congestion. The big question is whether regulators could in future scenarios be persuaded that mergers would clear the way for railways to reduce freight rates and improve service.One theory holds that freight rates would fall in a more efficient freight network with fewer territorial players.

CN is still looking at swallowing up more of it's competitors south of the border. Which will not reduce freight rates, contrary to popular opinion, and given its past practice will only mean further speed ups, reduced staffing and more accidents as CN pushes just in time delivery for the bottom line.

Julian calls for public inquiry into Canada's rail safety

Burnaby - Peter Julian, MP (Burnaby-New Westminster) and NDP Transportation Critic, called on Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon to exercise his power under the Railway Safety Act

and conduct an inquiry into the safety of Canada’s railways.

“The former Liberal government’s last attempt to deal with this matter was to ask CN to develop its own proposals,” Mr. Julian said. “With a significant increase in accidents and fatalities, the Conservative government should take meaningful action now.”

Railway safety track records have been steadily declining in recent years. Between 2000-2004 there were 11.67 accidents per million train-miles, by 2005 the number of accidents increased to 13.04. Fatalities have also increased significantly.

“We know that many derailments in BC and Alberta have been linked to the length of trains,” Mr. Julian said. ”We also know that there have been a number of violations of the Railway Safety Act, some of which railway operators have readily admitted to. The Conservative government must urgently and immediately take up the responsibility for the public’s safety from their Liberal predecessors.”

Privatization, deregulation, self regulation, all the neo-conservative solutions that the Liberals introduced in the ninties as they Reinvented Government have failed. The privatization of CN has put public safety at risk, lead to massive layoffs, and put public money into private pockets. Its time to put CN back under workers and community control to renationalize it. After all its making money now, rather than losing it as it did relying on taxpayer subsidization.




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Canada Out of Afghanistan

A new poll shows that Canadians who have not been consulted on our troops going to Afghanistan are opposed to further excursions by our military to do America's dirty work.

I like this headline from Reuters Poll shows Canadians oppose Afghanistan mission which is far stronger than this whimpy one from CTV
Most Cdns. uneasy about Afghan mission: poll

America's invasion of Afghanistan was a detour on the way to Iraq. It was an after thought, as quick as they got in they got out. Rolling on to Bhagdad their real objective, cause Georgie Porgie was gonna kick some Saddam ass for threatening his daddy.

But in spite of Canadian opposition to our continued involvement in Afghanistan, the Harpocrite government in Ottawa is going to continue to put our troops in harms way. Without any democratic debate in the Parliment. Just doing what the Liberals did. Feds pledge Afghan commitment, NORAD expansion

And why are we doing this, Gordon O'Connor Defense Industry Lobbyist and Minister of Defense tells his Defense Industry pals yesterday;

Where Are We Now? Staying the Course in Afghanistan

Two weeks ago, I attended my first NATO Ministerial Meeting. I told my Alliance counterparts that Canada remains committed to NATO and that we'll be a strong and engaged partner, particularly in Afghanistan.

We've never been a nation that shies away from its responsibilities. We will shoulder the burden. We will stay the course in Afghanistan.

Together with troops from other countries, the Canadian Forces are making a real impact in Afghanistan. All over the country, buildings are being rebuilt. Refugees are returning home. Marketplaces are bustling. And little girls once again attend schools.

Yep little girls get to go to school in newly liberated Afghanistan still dressed like this.






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Disisng Canada's CEO's

I like it. I like it a lot. Todays column in the Ottawa Sun. The Sun of all places. Dissing Thomas Acquino and his private club of Canada's wealthiest and self indulgent elite. The Canadian Council of CEO's. Michael Harris spares no punches. How to run Canada into the ground




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What Debate?

So is there going to be a debate on the Third Way which is still a mote in Ralphs eye?

Medicare advocates stage protest at legislature
Opponents of Alberta's proposed 'third way' health care system protested on the steps of the legislature Thursday on the first working day of the spring session. Even before the protest got underway, health minister Iris Evans was confronted by demonstrators who grilled her about the 'third way.' Klein has declined to release any details of his proposed health reforms, though he has indicated it will involve a role for private and public medicine. Evans ensured the protestors that the government isn't planning to do away with public medicine. "I want you to just hear that at the start but then come and we will talk."

Talk about what? There is no bill there is no legislation. And Evans maternal patting of protestors on the head is disingenuous.

Evans sees private health services within a year

Pay for faster health access, Evans says

Yeah let's talk about that Iris. As I said here the Third Way will not be debated in public, in the legislature. It will be snuck in the back way through orders in Cabinet.

EDITORIAL: Lots of questions
Edmonton Sun, Canada - 9 Feb 2006
Near the end of her editorial board meeting with the Sun yesterday, Health Minister Iris Evans was asked about the timeline for implementing the government's so-called Third Way health-care reforms. Evans said she hoped the changes would be in place within a year.

I have to agree with this guy about the whole Third Way legislation discussion which isn't happening.

We need more medical doctors and fewer spin doctors when it comes to health reform.
– Paul Hinman is Alberta Alliance leader and MLA for Cardston-Taber-Warner

I know, I know frightening when even the right wing rump party challenges the PC's, Party of Calgary, about its intentions.



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