Who Is He Signalling

The death of sex workers in Edmonton has given rise to theories of a serial killer, or killers.

I think it may be the case of the latter.

Since this creep has been busted for two of the deaths of young inner city women, you have to ask who is he signalling to keep silent, or assuring he will be silent.

He made a pointed effort to make sure the media filmed him doing this.



See

Crime

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
prostitutes, sexworkers, ProjectKare, Edmonton, Alberta, serial killer, Svekla, crime, murder,

Variable Labour=Variable Captial

Just when you thought that the American worker could not get squeezed for any more juice, major retailers have come up with a new cost-savings innovation to apply more pressure on their workforce. Indeed, staffing is the latest area where big retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, and Payless hope to wring out a few pennies with new operational efficiencies.

Major features in the Wall Street Journal and the San Francisco Chronicle this week reveal that new computerized scheduling systems will move many American workers from a predictable work shift to staffing based on the number of customers in a store at any given time. The system will allow managers to start the business day with a few employees on hand, then bring in "on call" workers when business picks up during the course of the day. Once commerce lags, the manager can send workers home until further notice. In short, it matches staffing to more closely match customer demand.

"The whole point is workers were a fixed cost, now they're a variable cost," Kenneth Dalto, a management consultant told the Wall Street Journal. "Is it good for workers?" he added. "Probably not."

Labour under capitalism has always been a variable cost, which Marx called variable capital, it is the source of profit. This is an example of the speed up of production and the use of flexible labour time as is done in factories now applied to the social factory of the service/retail industry.

Variable capital means that proportion of capital which is invested in wages, in the purchase of labour-power. Marx called this capital “variable” because it is this proportion of capital which, if it is used wisely may produce a new, surplus value in the course of the labour process, over and above the “necessary labour time” which the worker needs to live and is paid in the form of wages. This investment is the only one which creates new value, because the worker is able to produce more than he needs in order to live.

So for example, let us suppose a worker earns $100 and consumes $1000 worth of materials and components to produce a product which is sold for $1300. This value could be represented as constant capital ($1000) + variable capital ($100) + surplus value ($200). That $200 of surplus value was added to the product solely by the activity of the worker. That is, of the capitalist’s investment of $1100, only the variable capital, $100, expanded.

Marx represented this relation symbolically:

c + v -› c + v + s

The ratio of constant to variable capital, (c/v), he called the “organic composition of capital”; the ratio of surplus value to wages, (s/v), he called the rate of surplus value, or the rate of exploitation of labour, and s/(c + v) the rate of profit.

The contradiction brought out by this analysis is this. Every capitalist works might and main to reduce the wages bill, and turn over as much material as he can, investing in expensive machinery and increasing c to cut labour costs, v; this produces a general increase in the “organic composition of capital”, c/v. However, since it is only the variable capital that produces profit, the result is a falling rate of profit.

Economic Manuscripts: Capital Vol. I - Chapter Eight

Thus all workers produce capital and thus capitalism. This is what made Marx revolutionary, in identifying the proletariat not the capitalist as the source of capitalism. Even if work is not productive in the traditional meaning of producing goods, in the expansion of capitalism into all social relationships, the commodification of all our being, every worker who is also a consumer is the producer and product of capitalism.

It is this social relationship that means all workers, whether in a factory or in retail store, are the greatest threat to the functioning of capitalism. Which is why revolutionaries call for the General (ized ) Strike by all members of society against the system which exploits us as cogs in the machine.

A tip o' the blog to my co-conspirators at News Trolls for this.

See:

Suplus Value

Labour Produces All Wealth

Libertarian Labour

Peter Drucker RIP

It's the Labour Theory of Value, stupid

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Wal-Mart, Target, retail, workers, variable costs, labour, labor, Marx, variable capital, labour theory of value, social-factory, proletariat, capital, capitalism, profit, working conditions, service workers

Un-Strike

Suppose they called a strike and no one showed up.......

ACTRA on strike, but most actors still working Film, television and radio performers were in a position to strike in three provinces early Monday, but there was not a picket line to be found across the country.

This is the ideal strike for those who oppose unions, because strikes inconvenience the public.

See

Unions

Labour

Strike


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
film, television, radio, media, labour, labor, unions, ACTRA, strike, Canada, actors

Temporary Workers Exploitation

Here is why the Governments temporary foreign worker program is legalized exploitation.

Maple Leaf ends Chinese worker program over job fees
Maple Leaf Foods has shut down a program to import workers from China after discovering that 61 employees at its Brandon, Man., pork processing plant each had to pay a $10,000 fee to get the jobs. "Are you going to wait the four to six years to emigrate? Or are you going to choose the quicker and the faster [option] and pay the premium?"

While the Harper government has deported undocumented foreign workers it is encouraging foreign temporary workers to come to Canada, who are exploited by those 'importing', them. In the same fashion that undoucmented Chinese workers coming to Canada are exploited by Snakeheads in their own country.

See:

Alberta's Free Market In Labour

The Labour Shortage Myth

AFL Agrees With Me

Monte Solberg




Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
temp-workers, foreign-workers, labour, labor, labour-shortage, Federal Government, Manitoba, Canada, Trade Union, meat cutters, immigration, Maple Leaf Foods, UFCW, Conservatives, Monte Solberg, Stephen Harper, HRSDC, Cabinet Minister

Real Costs of Bio-Fuels

The Green Party strongly supports the development of biofuels

But at what cost? The death of the Wheat Board so that the big agribusiness corporations that are producing bio-fuels, like Archer Daniels Midlands, can gain more state subsidies

And increase the profits they make as the market price for grain increases in response to market speculation on state funding of bio-fuels.

Not for farmers of course, but for the big agribusiness buyers and sellers, who also dominate the bio-fuels market.

"The Wheat board's marketing efforts are worth $500 million a year to farmers,"
said Green Party leader Elizabeth May. "The question is why is Stephen Harper so intent on selling out Canadian farmers to agricultural conglomerate like Cargill and ADM?"

The answer is Bio Fuels, which the Green Party supports. The problem is that they are not economical, without massive state subsidies. And the Green Party knows that.

Major food processors like Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland Company are investing heavily in biofuels. On the energy front, Chevron and BP are pouring millions into biofuels production or processing.

Ethanol is the best reference biofuel when discussing options for biodiesel support. In the last 3 years, Canadian ethanol capacity has grown from 175 million litres to 1.2 billion litres. To initiate the rapid growth of a Canadian ethanol industry, the government of Canada provided $123.9 million in capital subsidies to corporations during the first two rounds of the Ethanol Expansion Program ethanol production has increased as a direct result of the capitalization assistance

"Ethanol Production Update"

Currently, 110 grain ethanol biorefineries have the capacity to produce more than 5.3 billion gallons of ethanol ethanol. An additional 79 (81 according to their latest update of their list) construction projects are underway that will add nearly 6 billion gallons of new ethanol production capacity.

Archer Daniels Midland remains the largest producer with 1,070 mgy of capacity at six sites and 275 mgy under construction or planned. VeraSun comes in second and US Bioenergy third, each with less than half of ADM's capacity.

And the biggest critcs of the biofuel hoax are environmentalists, not political opportunists like May and her Party.

Biomass for biofuel isn't worth it

Although Pimentel advocates the use of burning biomass to produce thermal energy (to heat homes, for example), he deplores the use of biomass for liquid fuel. "The government spends more than $3 billion a year to subsidize ethanol production when it does not provide a net energy balance or gain, is not a renewable energy source or an economical fuel. Further, its production and use contribute to air, water and soil pollution and global warming," Pimentel says. He points out that the vast majority of the subsidies do not go to farmers but to large ethanol-producing corporations.

See

ADM

Wheat Board

Farmers

ind blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Canada, agriculture, wheat, WheatBoard, farmers, Western-Canada, barley, wheat, Strahl, Government, Conservatives, Harper, Elizabeth May, NDP, Green Party, ADM, ethanol, biofuels,

Editorial Comment

I see my editorial comment on Peter MacKay's secret surprise unannounced propaganda visit to Afghanistan has upset some partisan Blogging Tories, in particular BBS and Steve Janke. Hello its called editorial comment.

And Mr. Janke is concerned I am implying Peter MacKay is a pedophile. But child brides are ok in Afghanistan. That is the real crime. Which was my point, stated in a pointed way.

You can't be a pedophile if its ok in the country you are in to marry a child bride can you? And if it is pedophilia then I would expect Janke to be outraged, as I was, over the conditions of exploitation girls and women still suffer under the Karzai regime. But of course Janke wasn't nor was MacKay.

Janke would rather attack me personally and then attack the NDP as if I was a partisan blog for the NDP, which I am not. Missed my post on partisan blogging did we Steve. Missed Libertarian Communist Blog in my header did we.

The Harper government continues to prop up a misogynist anti-women regime that allows child brides. But the silence of the Harper government over the lack of womens rights in Afghanistan is deafening. But then they don't believe women's equality is important in Canada so why should it be important in Afghanistan.

Peter MacKay zooms over for a Harper propaganda photo op handing out some token funds to women, while avoiding the issue of the current famine and drought and families selling off child brides to survive.

Of course child brides are an offense to all right thinking folks, which was my point. But clearly my supposedly besmirching Mr. MacKays reputation is more important to a partisan hack like Janke than the condition of girls and women in Afghanistan.

Nothing new there, both BBS and Janke are Blogging Tories.


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
PeterMackay, childbrides, women, girls, Afghanistan, exploitation, famine, drought, Canada, BloggingTories, SteveJanke,

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright

This is from my fellow News Now contributor Phil Davis.

There are only 4000-5000 Tigers in the wild,they are being poached at the rate of one per day.They are being killed for their skins,which people wear to show their wealth,also for their body parts being used in traditional chinese medicine.There is no proof to show that consuming Tiger parts cure anything,as there are alternative medicines.also we should not be killing TIGERS period.WE NEED WORLD HELP,PLEASE HELP THE TIGER,WE NEED TO ACT BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.You can find out more about our projects at www.tigerawareness.co.uk.

There are half a million seals in Canadian waters that the Green NGO's will once again mobilize to protect from nasty brutish seal hunters.

But there are far less Tigers. Real endagered spiecies like Tigers, Wolves, Bears, and Primates that need protection and the worlds attention.

More than the cute cuddly poster seals who are commercially exploited by the Green NGO's to line their pocketbooks.

The Tiger

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake. 1757–1827

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Tigers, endangered spiecies, Tiger refuge, William Blake, The Tiger

Kananaskis Protest Redux

Kananaskis likely meeting place for leaders of Canada, U.S. and Mexico

The G8 meeting in 2002 was held in Kananaskis and was met with mass protests, time to recycle those old protest signs and make this another memorable meeting.

The protests did, however, manage to direct the media's attention to the issues of human rights, social justice and environmentalism that motivated the protesters; the small activist community in Calgary was also bolstered by the demonstrations, leading to the largest protests in the city's history the following year.


Given the current illegal government of Mexican President Calderon is continuing the oppression of the people of Mexico this will be an excellent opportunity to show our opposition to all Three Amigos of the Neo Con Agenda of Deep Integration and a North American Union.

See:

G8

Harper Supports Calderon

What About Mexican Human Rights Mr. Harper

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, Three Amigos, Bush, Calderon, Harper, US, Mexico, Canada, protest,

Peter MacKays Child Bride

So Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay has made another of the governments surprise visits to Afghanistan.

Being a single guy I wonder if he was looking for a child bride.




See:

Our Allies In Afghanistan Oppress Women

Womens Oppression Continues In Afghanistan

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Afghanistan, War, Harper, Conservatives, Liberals, Canada, politics, military, NATO, peacekeeping, Karzai, Afghanistan, Men, misogyny, women, feminism, RAWA, Northern Alliance, Taliban, Kabul, Karzai, Islam, girls, Peter MacKay, child brides, school

CN Song

A day can't go by without another story about CN.

No injuries, no environmental damage in Quebec derailment, says CN


High Hopes

With no apologies to Frank Sinatra.

Next time your found, with your train on the ground
There a lot to be learned, so look around

Just what makes E. Hunter Harrison,
Think he'll move
that that train down the track
Anyone knows CN, cant
Move that train down the track

But E. Hunter Harrison,
got high hopes,
hes got high hopes
Hes got high apple pie,
in the sky hopes


So any time your gettin low
stead of lettin go
Just remember that CN
Oops there goes another train off the track


Perhaps they should change their name to Canada's National Disaster.



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
railroad, CN, disaster, accident,
derailment, Montreal, Quebec, train,