Our Lady of Flores Redux

A new update on the hobbit controversy Homo Floresiensis: Two Years Out

I dislike the hobbit dwarf label so,as I have said before since predominately female remains have been identified perhaps the species should have been called Our Lady of Flores.(La nostra signora dei fiori).

"We explore the affinities of LB1 using cranial and postcranial metric and non-metric analyses. LB1 is compared to early Homo, two microcephalic humans, a pygmoid excavated from another cave on Flores, H. sapiens (including African pygmies and Andaman Islanders), Australopithecus, and Paranthropus. Based on these comparisons, we conclude that it is unlikely that LB1 is a microcephalic human, and it cannot be attributed to any known species. Its attribution to a new species, Homo floresiensis, is supported."

One subject that is new is the matter of the tools. Martin et al argue that the tools from 18,000 years ago are not like any simple tool linked to Homo erectus. They are more sophisticated, and have only been associated before with Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. The preservation of the tools in the Liang Bua cave, where the fossils were found, suggests to the scientists modern humans coming back again and again to the cave after they arrived on Flores.

But wait for it.....as usual there is contention....Compelling evidence demonstrates that 'Hobbit' fossil does not represent a new species of hominid



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Prison Zoo Complex

Zoos are prisons, captivity of wild animals is torture and a death sentence. And its justification is usually as lame as this .....

Monterey Aquarium's Great White Shark Stirs Controversy, Attracts Crowds; 'Certain Species Don't Do Well in Captivity' Aquarium spokesman, Ken Peterson. He maintains that having a Great White in captivity is ultimately beneficial to the species. "Tens to hundreds of millions of sharks being killed in the wild is a serious conservation problem for the oceans that needs to be addressed. One of the effective vehicles we as a public aquarium have for reaching people, getting them to care about these issues and take action, is to introduce them to live animals."

Capitivity is sure to kill this shark. And the hysterically inaccurate statement that; "hundreds of MILLIONS" are killed in the wild is used to justify the killing of this one shark.

The reality is yes tens of millions are sharks are killed annually and the way to stop that is to stop the Chinese Soup industry.

Imprisoning rare Great White's and assuring them a speeding death has nothing to do with shark slaughter in the wild.

Triple Threat: World Fin Trade May Harvest September 2006
The first real-data study of sharks harvested for their valuable fins estimates as few as 26 million and as many as 73 million sharks are killed each year worldwide—three times higher than was reported originally by the United Nations, according to a paper published as the cover story in the October 2006 edition of Ecology Letters.

“The shark fin trade is notoriously secretive. But we were able tap into fin auction records and convert from fin sizes and weights to whole shark equivalents to get a good handle on the actual numbers,” says lead author Shelley Clarke, Ph.D, an American fisheries scientist based in Hong Kong and Japan.

A team of researchers calculated the number of sharks represented in the fin trade using a unique statistical model and data from Hong Kong traders. When the figures were converted to shark weight, the total is three to four times higher than shark catch figures reported to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

Concern about the shark finning trade has grown over the past few years as demand has surged beyond sustainable levels for slow-to-produce shark populations and without regulation in most countries. Three shark species are listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), and 20 percent are threatened with extinction according to the 2006 Red List of Threatened Species.

Used in shark fin soup, a delicacy served at Chinese weddings and other celebrations for centuries and more recently at business dinners in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim, fins are the most valuable part of the shark, which typically are sliced off as the shark, sometimes still alive, is thrown back into the ocean. The shark fin trade appears to be keeping pace with the growing demand for seafood—up five percent per year in mainland China.

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Back in the USSR

Slain Russian journalist was writing on torture

Isn't Russian Democracy wonderful.

The difference between Putin and Stalin is the moustache.

Putin's harshest media critics shot dead

Wouldn't George Bush love to be able to that.

But he can't he can only torture.


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Fearmongering

Well our MIA Environment Minister has appeared but not in her shy retiring Dr. Jekyll disguise but as Mrs. Hyde;

- Canadians would see their hydro and natural-gas bills spike dramatically should the three opposition parties succeed in forcing the government to comply with Kyoto, Environment Minister Rona Ambrose warned yesterday.

Fearmongering at the Environment committee meeting, another reason to call for her resignation.

Another reason; she still has no answers.

Ms. Ambrose told the committee she had asked her department to produce the cost estimates to consumers of meeting Canada's Kyoto targets solely through regulation within the country and not including buying of greenhouse-gas credits as outlined in the Kyoto Protocol.

The minister did not explain, however, how her department arrived at its details.

And another reason; she deliberately misreads studies to prove her point when pressed.....

Environment minister angers Washington think tank

An academic from a progressive think tank based in Washington is furious that Environment Minister Rona Ambrose used recent remarks by her to attack the Kyoto protocol on climate change.

Daphne Wysham, a fellow from the Institute for Policy Studies, said Ambrose is using her think tank's criticism of the Clean Development Mechanism to abandon Canada's responsibility to live up to its commitment under the international agreement.

Ambrose made reference to the think tank on Thursday during a parliamentary committee arguing that the mechanism, which allows countries to get credits for investments in developing nations to reduce emissions, had no accountability.

And yet another reason; since they have been in power the emissions of Green House gases have only been matched by the Tories hot air.Canada's greenhouse emissions balloon; EU reports progress

And our final reason;

The Conservative government's plan to introduce a Clean Air Act and begin consultations with the provinces and industry groups is a strategy of delaying its climate change and air quality plan until beyond the next election, environment critics say. Conservative 'strategy of delay' on climate change, critics say



Consultations with these guys, Canada's largest companies inactive on climate change...thats just more hot air....they need regulation not consultation.

Addressing a meeting in Mexico, British government scientist and former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern said it makes economic as well as environmental sense to pursue green energy sources. Britain: acting on greenhouse emissions cheaper than doing nothing


See:

Ambrose

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Nyah, Nyah

With fingers in their ears the North Koreans defied the world. North Korea says it successfully performed its first-ever nuclear test

While Iran only wishes it could.Iran: Sanctions Threat a 'Rusty' Weapon

And all this gamesmanship would be unnecessary if the Americans would only agree to face to face negotiations with both countries.Iran to negotiate deals with US companies if sanctions dropped

Wait a minute this was North Korea's first ever nuclear test...you mean they had untested nuclear weapons? We were worried about untested untried nuclear weapons.


See:

Iran

North Korea



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First Oda Then Ambrose

Sung to First We Take Manhattan Then We Take Berlin by Leonard Cohen

Round 1. Progressives unite to lobby for Bev Oda's resignation. Politics and Poetry has a backgrounder and an action link to the contact page for you to email your MP. And the Opposition of course.

Round 2. Progresives unite with environmentalists, automakers, and unions to demand Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has to go. Use the same link page and email your MP demanding the Invisible Minister resign when she fails to come up with a Green Plan.




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Faith Based Capitalism

As Harpers "New Government of Canada" begins to unveil its hidden agenda, all those issues that were not priorities but campaign messaging become priorities. For instance it's faith based politics were revealed in the Tories "universal daycare" program, which it isn't.

And in its current floating of the idea of defense of religion legislation should it lose the vote on defining marriage as a Christian heterosexual institution.

If that succeeds this would be the result.....

Favors for the faithful: Religion outweighs regulation

At any moment, state inspectors can step uninvited into one of the three child care centers that Ethel White runs in Auburn, Ala., to make sure they meet state requirements intended to ensure that the children are safe. There must be continuing training for the staff. Her nurseries must have two sinks, one exclusively for food preparation. All cabinets must have safety locks. Medications for the children must be kept under lock and key, and refrigerated.

The Rev. Ray Fuson of the Harvest Temple Church of God in Montgomery, Ala., does not have to worry about unannounced state inspections at the day care center his church runs. Alabama exempts church day care programs from state licensing requirements, which were tightened after almost a dozen children died in licensed and unlicensed day care centers in the state in two years.

The differences do not end there. As an employer, Ms. White must comply with the civil rights laws; if employees feel mistreated, they can take the center to court. Religious organizations, including Pastor Fuson’s, are protected by the courts from almost all lawsuits filed by their ministers or other religious staff members, no matter how unfairly those employees think they have been treated.

And if you are curious about how Ms. White’s nonprofit center uses its public grants and donations, read the financial statements she is required to file each year with the Internal Revenue Service. There are no I.R.S. reports from Harvest Temple. Federal law does not require churches to file them.

Of course this is just more North American christian revivalist fundamentalist protestant and Catholic influencing the neo-con right. Who in order to get elected to power lose any pretence to libertarianism.

There is an outright injustice in tax payers paying twice to the church. First because it is tax free, so we carry the church load in social payments, second in that the government then subsidizes it with taxpayer grants. That the Canadian Taxpayers Federation those fiscal conservatives don't take this on, nor does the non-moralist conservative right, shows the disproportionate influence of the Church on the anti-state right.

More stories on Harper's imitation of Bush

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Bottom Feeders

The New Government of Canada proves again it is just like the Old Government of Canada. In this case it has refused to sign the international ban on bottom trawlers, the most destructive environmental form of deep sea fishing. Just as the Liberal government before them who refused to ban Whaling, the Conservatives support this destructive form of fishing. But in this case it is not for the benefit of fishing communities in the Maritimes or indigenous peoples, it is for the benefit of a few big state capitalized monopoly corporations. Who suck off the public teat with corporate subsidies.

"The Fisheries Council of Canada, which represents fish processors and marketers, said it supports Hearn's "responsible, pragmatic and effective" approach to bottom trawling."

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Indentured Servitude

I have written here before on the plight of modern slavery in Canada, the so called indentured servitude program of the Federal Government, that allows nannies and other guest workers into the country to work with no labour protection, and they face deporation if they do not remain with the family that sponsors them. Now it appears there is another form of slavery and exploitation of women occuring in Canada; mail order brides.

Mail order brides face exploitation in Canada, BC researcher says

A new study by Simon Fraser University's Jen Marchbank says the scenario is not unique. Mail-order brides coming to Canada have little knowledge of their rights and face exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous husbands.

And the business in Canada is thriving, thanks in part to the Internet.

She details the situation Mail Order Brides: Causes, Experiences, and Policy Responses in North America

Many of the problems such women face in Canada come as a result of changes to this country's marriage laws as they relate to immigrants.

"Unlike many U.S. states, the industry is unregulated in Canada," says Marchbank. "In this country, there are no specific rules to control agencies, which work transnationally, and no specific provisions to ensure that brides know their rights."

Recent changes in Canadian marriage law regarding common-law spouses could also have implications.

"This might aid unscrupulous men in deceiving women into entry to Canada with a promise of marriage - then not being able to leave the man without threat of deportation."

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act changed the definition of a spouse in 2001 so that certain common-law marriages are recognized under the family section of immigration rules.

Under those rules, a woman can come to Canada as a common-law spouse without being married elsewhere. That, however, puts a women at the mercy of her husband.

Should the relationship fail, she could be deported.

Congrats to the Green Party for speaking out on this issue. To bad it has not gotten more coverage.

Party Leader Elizabeth May says the situation is akin to "human trafficking."

May said women coming from countries outside of western cultures suffer due to their lack of language skills and support systems.

"All the more so in this particular group where women come in, potentially as mail-order brides without any support and are subject to abuse," May said. "We've heard about situations where it's really not a marriage; it's actually sexual exploitation."

While the Minister of the Status of Women, Bev Oda stood in the house this week justifying her funding cuts to that program, she stated one of reasons was that now the Conservative government was focusing on the international campaign against the trafficking in women.

"In a few short months the new Conservative government has provided safety in communities by putting more law enforcement officers on the street. We have provided $1.4 billion in affordable housing. We introduced legislation and movement on human trafficking.''

Thats ironic since it is clear that the Canadian government endorses and abets both indentured servitude and the trafficking in women.

So are they going to end indentured servitude in Canada and regulate the mail order bride progam? Guess she better talk to Monte Soldberg about it since it is his department that is in charge mail brides and the Minister of Labour who is charge of rules around indentured servitude. Because so far it is all talk that has come out of the Tories.

Bill C-49 the act to criminalize trafficking in human beings was passed by the Liberal Government in 2005.

And all the Tories want to do is address it in it's international context, as if it is just a case of what used to be called the white slave trade, the exploitation of women coming to Canada from Eastern Europe to work in the sex industry. They don't want to look at the real root causes of both indentured servitude of women workers, like nannies, and mail order brides from the third world; womens poverty. Of course not that would be advocacy as defined by Oda and the Conservatives.

Conservative Government Refuses to Address Women’s Economic Security

The Conservative government refuses to address women’s economic security, which is the root cause of human trafficking and many other social problems, Liberal Status of Women and Multiculturalism Critic Maria Minna said today. At a meeting of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women held Thursday to determine the work plan for the fall session of Parliament, Conservative and Bloc Quebecois members voted to study human trafficking, while Liberal and NDP members pushed for the study of economic security for women, identified as one of the chief causes of human trafficking.

“Human trafficking is a serious issue affecting women around the world, and one of its primary causes is a lack of economic security for women. The Conservative government’s failure to address this issue comes as a severe disappointment,” said Ms. Minna.

“Significant progress has already been made through anti-human trafficking legislation passed under the previous Liberal government, but in order to further our fight we must address the causes behind this and other social problems facing women – namely, that women are economically disadvantaged,” said Ms. Minna.

“Women are economically disadvantaged and it is time for action,” Ms. Minna said. “I am extremely disappointed the Conservative and Bloc Quebecois members have chosen to revisit this law and order path instead of addressing the root causes of poverty and inequality among women.”

See:

Resign



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Afghanistan-Five Years After

As I have said before the Canadian mission in Afghanistan changed in May 2006 from Peace Keeping to taking over for the Americans in their search and destroy mission in the South. And contrary to the war apologists on the right the previous mission was about Peace Keeping.

This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan what the U.S. did in those five years was that it refused to allow the expansion of peacekeeping troops from Kabul to the rest of the country, saying that it would interfere with the so-called hunt for Taliban and al-Qaeda, and it re-empowered these misogynist and fundamentalist warlords in the northern part of the country and allowed them to take part in government. Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the Propaganda of Silence.


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Afghanistan






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