Zionist Fascism

This appeal to authoritarianism and censorship smacks of fascism;

Frank Dimant, the Vice President of B’nai Brith Canada has called on the police and the federal government to ban, or crack down on pro-Hezbollah demonstrations. “The streets of Canada will not be taken over by radical Islamic forces supporting terrorist activities,” he said Wednesday. “B’nai Brith Canada will do its utmost to ensure that Canadians will not be intimidated by these terrorist sympathizers.”

Yep criticism of Israel will NOT be tolerated in tolerant Canada.

Label your political opponents as terrorists and demand the State lock them away.

Zionism once again shows its rotten roots in right wing nationalism.

Jewish libertarians, anarchists, and socialists need to denounce B'nai Brith for the fascists they are.

Thanks to Joseph Lavoie for this.



Also See:

Israel

Lebanon

Zionism

Anarchism


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Kinsella Is Demented

Blogs are a vanity press for the demented, some say.
Warren Kinsella blogs. Therefore he is demented. Hey he said it. Since he did not attribute the source of this made up quote, it must be from his-self, since his favorite comment is to call bloggers he disagrees with 'morons' and 'demented'. Vanity thy name is Kinsella.



Thanks to the three headed dog for this.

Also See:

Kinsella



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Van Allen Belt

RIP Rocketman. Before there were rocket jockeys, astronauts, there were the rocketeers, who were space scientists. Van Allen was one of them. And like Goddard and Parsons was central in the development of space rocketry. He was an inspiration when I was young and reading about space exploration.

James A. Van Allen, the physicist who made the first major scientific discovery of the early space age, the Earth-circling radiation belts that bear his name, and sent spacecraft instruments to observe the outer reaches of the solar system, died Wednesday in Iowa City. He was 91.

James A. Van Allen; Discovered Earth's Radiation Belts

Remembering James Van Allen
With Van Allen as scientist, Werner Von Braun as rocket builder, and William Pickering as spacecraft builder, Explorer 1 became the U.S. first successful space mission, and that simple spacecraft’s detection of the Van Allen Belts is remembered as the first major scientific discovery in space. At that dawn of the Space Age, the nature of space exploration was already apparent: It always leads to unexpected discoveries about our universe and the processes that shape our environment.

Nurture Iowa's future Van Allens
He was part of a remarkable generation of American scientists and engineers who are passing from the scene, amid evidence too-few replacements are in the pipeline.Van Allen was admired not only as a pioneer of space exploration but also as a dedicated professor who maintained contact with undergraduates long after his prestige would have allowed him to concentrate solely on research. And he chose to do his life's work at a university in his home state, just 50 miles from his hometown.

Click to enlarge >

Celebrating Success
From left, William H. Pickering, James Van Allen, and Wernher von Braun -- the three men responsible for the success of Explorer 1, America's first satellite, launched January 31, 1958. Credit: NASA

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Republican Mullahs

Following in the footsteps of its pals in Afghanistan and Iraq the Republican dominated Senate passed a fundamentalist fatwa forbidding interstate transportation of young women to get an abortion.

Next will be a ban on contraception. Forward to the past. This stupid law condemns young women to the backstreet clinics of yesteryear.

If there are any libertarians left supporting the Republican party they should be forced to wear burkas.

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Where Are The Women?

All this talk about how our troops are fighting in Afghanistan for 'women and girls' rights is laudable however there doesn't appear to be any women or girls in Afhganistan when you look at news photos of the 'public'. The public is 'men only'.






Yep really liberated country.

It is common and mostly heard and seen through the media such as a school set on fire, teachers killed or guards of schools beaten to death. Such activities that mostly are carry out at midnights are a day to day business in Afghanistan. But the latest deadly attack of 3rd of July, 2006 on Hirat University, has crossed all the limits killing a girl and wounding 9 others seriously in the bright day. Explosion of bomb by placing the bomb in water jug in a class room is an inimitable example of brutality.

Malalai Joys Concludes Successful US Tour

Afghan parliamentarian, Malalai Joya toured the United States in March 2006, addressing thousands of Americans in community forums, panels, college campuses, and local churches. Malalai Joya first gained media attention when she spoke out against warlords in the 2003 Constitutional Loya Jirga. Since then she ran for election and won a seat with the second highest number of votes in her native Farah Province

Some of the slogans on the banners carried by the participants were: "Parliament full of drug kingpins, criminals and traitors can’t represent our people!", "Collaboration with any of the fundamentalists is equivalent to treachery", "The Northern Alliance should be brought to justice", "April 28 odious than April 27", "New cabinet: the same donkey with a new saddle!" Through the installation of Mr. Karzai government, our people had hoped to see the slightest positive changes in their life, but today the anti-nation policies of authorities and their foreign masters exhibit the real and anti-nation face of the government that converted this hope into disappointment and abhorrence. Mr. Karzai and his Afghan and foreign advisers have shown conspicuously that they are ready to shake hands in friendship with the filthiest individuals and parties, who now wear the bogus mask of democracy on their nasty faces. They have gone even further by giving a share of the authority to the Taliban and the terrorist and misogynist party of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Thus, for all practical purposes, they have not left any cruel and traitorous person or group out of the government mechanism. Mr. Karzai calls this kind of traitor-fondling “National Unity” but for our people it doesn’t have any other meaning other than dirtying the “Unity”.

Also See:

Afghanistan

Feminism

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Friendly Fire

Lets see the Americans kill us in Aghanistan, the Israelis kill us in Lebanon, not to be left out our own troops are now killing each other.

War is hell.

Accidents happen.

Wonder what other excuses the brass will come up with?

It wouldn't have happened if we weren't involved in Harpers Big Adventure. Another corpse for Harpers misplaced priorities.

And as usual we get the pro-military propaganda from the parents.
Walsh's parents, Ben and Margie Walsh, released a statement saying they were proud of their son."Jeff believed in his job and felt he could make a change in Afghanistan," the statement said. "We, his parents, support Jeff and all the Forces members in Afghanistan and all our peacekeepers."

Uh, huh well what did you expect them to say. Perhaps that this war is wrong. But that wouldn't get past the military censors or the PMO.

Unfortunately Jeff wasn't expecting to get killed by his comardes.

After all our troops are helping all those nice Afghani's to stop growing opium.

And they aren't peacekeepers they are war makers; Harpers toy soldiers.

Time to bring the troops home.



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Criminalization of Canadian Workers

So much for the Harpocrites claims for sovereignty regarding the longest undefended border in the world. While US Canada security passports come into effect in 2008, for Canadians working in the U.S. we are being treated to being just like any other suspected terrorist.

Last time I checked being fingerprinted was done when you commited a crime.

US proposes fingerprinting Canadian workers

Under new rules proposed by the Bush administration, Canadians who work in the United States are set to be fingerprinted and photographed every time they enter the country by air or sea.

The rule, proposed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, expands on the so-called US-VISIT program, which has been in effect since 2004.

It will affect any Canadian working in the U.S., including nurses, agricultural workers, those travelling through the States, as well as students and their dependents.

Of course this is also part and parcel of the expansion of NAFTA into the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community" with a common "outer security perimeter."


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Take Time From the Boss

The revolutionary struggle of workers has always been a struggle to take back our time, as Marx noted in the Grundrisse and Lafargue wrote in his famous pamphlet The Right To Be Lazy, updated by Bob Black as The Abolition of Work

With the end of the craft/trade/artisan culture and the advent of industrial capitalism, we wage slaves have struggled to gain more time for ourselves, since it is only our time we have to sell. Our skills are easily replaceable. This is what is key to a Marxist understanding of the conditions of workers under capitalism.

The struggle to abolish capitalism is the struggle to abolish work/wage-slavery as we know it.

So take your damn vacation time and quit working for the boss.

Banish vacation deprivation

Canadian employees put having more vacation days on the top of their most-wanted list, but according to a recent survey, fewer individuals are actually taking their days off. And that may be putting Canadian workers on the road to burnout.

In a recent Ipsos Reid and Expedia.ca survey, one in five Canadians said they would take a lower salary for more vacation time. Yet, despite the desire for more days off, the survey reveals that Canadians are falling behind on the number of vacation days they are actually taking. Some 24% of employed Canadians don't use all of their vacation days, and one in ten say they don't usually take any days.

Work and life out of balance

In offices, shops and factories across the country, workers are nursing a seasonal martyr complex. School is out, the legislatures are deserted, the temperatures are high and the beaches are jammed. It seems as if everybody is on vacation — except them.

If you're one of those people, you're actually less alone than you feel.One-quarter of Canadian workers don't take their allotted vacation time. Ten per cent don't take any holidays at all. Even those who do get away often feel compelled to check their email and phone messages.According to a poll conducted by Ipsos Reid this spring, Canadians take an average of 19 vacation days a year. That is down from 21 days in last year's survey. It is below the French average of 39 days, German average of 27 days and British average of 23 days (but above the American average of 14 days.)

Worker protection is in question as Canada's clothing and textile industries try to compete with cheap foreign labour.

Chances are that no one will ever know precisely what led to the death of Yvan Vachon on a spring afternoon nearly two years ago when he was found entwined in a 600-metre fabric roll in the midst of it being spun by a rolling machine. The 49-year old, a textile plant operator with some 20 years experience and the president of the local union, was replacing a co-worker on vacation when the dreadful accident took place. Vachon, who had just completed two weeks of training to grasp the inner workings of that particular machine, was walking through a narrow 35-cm wide passageway to go from one end of the machine to the
other when his hand apparently got caught in-between two rollers, according to an investigation by the Quebec Workers’ Compensation Board. He died later that day in hospital.

Vacation angst prevalent among workers
U.S. workers are taking fewer vacation days and enjoying the ones they take less amid skyrocketing anxiety over the retreats, a New York nonprofit said.The Families and Work Institute, which researches the habits of American workers, said vacation anxiety can come from a fear of unemployment, The New York Times reported Thursday.

As school starts, summer shrinks for all of us

According to information the U.S. Census Bureau released last year, 7.3 million workers in the U.S. have more than one job, and 28 percent of workers 16 or older work more than 40 hours a week. Another 8 percent work 60 or more hours.

According to a report released this year by Steelcase, an office furniture manufacturer, 43 percent of nearly 700 U.S. office workers surveyed spent at least some time working while on vacation. That number has almost doubled in the last 10 years.

Machinery and surplus labour. Recapitulation of the doctrine of surplus value generally

If we look at a single worker's day, then the decrease of necessary labour relative to surplus labour expresses itself in the appropriation of a larger part of the working day by capital. The living labour employed here remains the same. Suppose that an increase of the force of production, e.g. employment of machinery, made 3 workers superfluous out of 6, each of whom worked 6 days a week. If these 6 workers themselves possessed the machinery, then each of them would thereafter work only half a day. Now, instead, 3 continue to work a whole day every day of the week. If capital were to continue to employ the 6, then each of them would work only half a day, but perform no surplus labour. Suppose that necessary labour amounted to 10 hours previously, the surplus labour to 2 hours per day, then the total surplus labour of the 6 workers was 2 x 6 daily, equal to a whole day, and was equal to 6 days a week = 72 hours. Each one worked one day a week for nothing. Or it would be the same as if the sixth worker had worked the whole week long for nothing. The 5 workers represent necessary labour, and if they could be reduced to 4, and if the one worker worked for nothing as before—then the relative surplus value would have grown. Its relation previously was = 1:6, and would now be 1 5. The previous law, of an increase in the number of hours of surplus labour, thus now obtains the form of a reduction in the number of necessary workers. If it were possible for this same capital to employ the 6 workers at this new rate, then the surplus value would have increased not only relatively, but absolutely as well. Surplus labour time would amount to 14 2/5 hours. 2 2/5 hours [each] performed by 6 workers is of course more than 2 2/5 performed by 5.

If we look at absolute surplus value, it appears determined by the absolute lengthening of the working day above and beyond necessary labour time. Necessary labour time works for mere use value, for subsistence. Surplus labour time is work for exchange value, for wealth. It is the first moment of industrial labour. The natural limit is posited—presupposing that the conditions of labour are on hand, raw material and instrument of labour, or one of them, depending on whether the work is merely extractive or formative, whether it merely isolates the use value from nature or whether it shapes it—the natural limit is posited by the number of simultaneous work days or of living labour capacities, i.e. by the labouring population. At this stage the difference between the production of capital and earlier stages of production is still merely formal. With kidnapping, slavery, the slave trade and forced labour, the increase of these labouring machines, machines producing surplus product, is posited directly by force; with capital, it is mediated through exchange.

The tendency of capital is, of course, to link up absolute with relative surplus value; hence greatest stretching of the working day with greatest number of simultaneous working days, together with reduction of necessary labour time to the minimum, on one side, and of the number of necessary workers to the minimum, on the other. This contradictory requirement, whose development will show itself in different forms as overproduction, over-population etc., asserts itself in the form of a process in which the contradictory aspects follow closely upon each other in time. A necessary consequence of them is the greatest possible diversification of the use value of labour—or of the branches of production—so that the production of capital constantly and necessarily creates, on one side, the development of the intensity of the productive power of labour, on the other side, the unlimited diversity of the branches of labour, i.e. thus the most universal wealth, in form and content, of production, bringing all sides of nature under its domination.

Also See:

Work Sucks

IWW


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First the Cook Now The Pilot

First King Stephen fired his chef now he has fired his pilot.

How do you you spell Autark?

H A R P E R.

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Peak Oil = Alberta Water Shortage

While King Ralph bitch slaps the Pembina Institute for daring to point out that the Tar Sands may lead to a water shortage in Alberta, which is already facing drought conditions, claiming they should keep their noses out of the business of business, well a business blog says their concerns are justified.

The Oil Horror Picture Show (By Sean Brodrick)
Money and Markets, FL - 9 Aug 2006

Canada's total crude oil production has been dropping since 2004, and is down 11% since December, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

"But don't worry," says the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. That product, they claim, should get back up to the 2004 level starting in 2010, thanks to oil sands.

Trouble is, they want you to ignore the fact that every cubic meter of oil produced requires two to five times as much water. In other words, a million barrels a day of oil production translates into roughly 2 to 4.5 million barrels of water used in that same day.

Just among the oil sands projects now planned, the water use will increase to 529 million cubic meters, according to the Pembina Institute's report, "Down to the Last Drop."

Considering that the drought in North America is worsening, there may be better uses for Canadian water. Water or oil … that's a tough choice, isn't it?

In fact despite all the ramping up of oil production in Fort McMurray we still face Peak Oil conditions.

"Once peak oil occurs, then the historic patterns of world oil demand and price cycles will cease. In recent years, the realization of price stability has depended on the effectiveness of nations belonging to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to adjust for the production increases and lags of the non-OPEC nations. "We have now entered a period where production is lagging behind demand. A Thousand Barrels a Second

Nuclear powered steam injection, melted Glaciers, all the wild and crazy ideas of the seventies are being revived in Alberta in order to extract the expensive oil from the Tar Sands.

A step back in time and a blast from the past. Historian Michael Payne looks back at efforts to set off an atomic bomb at Cheechum Crossing. All in the name of getting oil out of the Athabasca Tar Sands.

Oh yes and don't forget it also takes natural gas to power the current extraction process.

Tar sands take 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas and a lot of water to produce a barrel of what equates to sour crude. Sour or heavy crude is difficult to process and can only be handled by a limited number of refiners

The Tar Sands oil production is an expensive process. In other words along with the social and infrastructure costs which are not being met, the real cost for a barrel of oil from the tar sands fails to take into account real cost inputs.

While Klein likes to say leave it up to business, the real costs are borne not by business but by all Canadians who have subsidized big oil since the begining of the Tar Sands.

Canadian tax law invented income trusts (ITs) initially to enable oil and gas companies to pay dividends from cash flow before taxes. That means they could securitize future revenue streams and offer tax advantages. Normal stocks pay dividends from after-tax earnings. These entities are much more common in Canada than in the U.S., although some others are said to be coming here. The recipient of the IT dividends is responsible for paying taxes on what he has received. That makes this vehicle similar to real-estate investment trusts in the U.S. and other countries. Looking to Canada for investment innovation


Mackenzie Gas, Athabasca Tar: Industrializing Canada’s Northwest ...



Also See:

Peak Oil

Tar Sands



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