Sunday, February 05, 2006

Edmonton Eskimo Moon's NFL Hall of Fame

Warren Moon played for the Edmonton Eskimoes in the CFL in the eighties BEFORE he joined the NFL. He was key to the Eskimo Grey Cup dynasty.

He brought his amazing abilities as a quarter back and his experience in the CFL to the U.S. where he dominated their game in the later half of th eighties. It wasn't his fault he played for losing teams. But what he did do was build those teams up.

But of course their are lots of naysayers in the U.S. press. What a lot of sour grapes these wusses are. Whine, whine , whine. Of course Moon's role off the field has been a major influence in the NFL as well, espcially in todays Super Bowl game Steelers QB happy to have CFL legend as his mentor but you wouldn't know it from these sad sack sports writers.

There weren't any real surprises in today's Hall of Fame vote.

Troy Aikman and Warren Moon, one based more on team achievements and the other more on statistical. I'm not completely sold on Aikman as a first-ballot guy, in the same way I wasn't sold on Steve Young. Both were great in their own way, but to me, Dan Marino and Joe Montana and John Elway are first-ballot QBs. I think Aikman and Moon are a notch below.

Hall Of Shame

The politics of Pro Football Hall of Fame voting were in full bloom Saturday. Some voters carry more clout than others, and the deal-cutting -- "I'll vote for your guy; you vote for mine'' -- runs rampant each year.

Still, for all of Warren Moon's numbers over 17 seasons -- 49,325 yards, 291 touchdowns, 233 interceptions -- you will not find a conference title. Not to mention the fact he was the quarterback of record in the greatest postseason collapse in NFL history, when Buffalo came from 32 points down in the second half to beat the Houston Oilers.

Moon was voted into the Hall in his second year of eligibility, joining offensive linemen Mike Munchak as members of the underachieving Oilers of the 1980s and '90s to gain immortality.

So when he is inducted into the NFL hall of fame how come there is no comment in the American Press about his playing in Canada for years? And then they wonder why Canadians are Anti-American. Sheesh. It's the only way to get their damn attention.

And I hope Moon wins the vote. We can then take pride in the fact that a great QB that was rejected by the NFL will have made it because of the CFL. We will have Mooned the Yankee nay'sayers.

Now here is how to really write the Moon story. Just the facts ma'am.

Warren Moon among Hall of Fame finalists

WebPosted Wed, 11 Jan 2006 10:46:47 EST

CBC Sports

Former Edmonton Eskimos quarterback and CFL legend Warren Moon is among the finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2006.

Moon and several other players in their first year of eligibility, including Reggie White, Troy Aikman and Thurman Thomas, were on the list revealed Wednesday.

Former Edmonton Eskimo great Warren Moon is on the list of nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2006. (CP Photo)

The Hall of Fame's selection committee will meet on Feb. 4, 2006, the day before Super Bowl XL in Detroit, to discuss the finalists and hold a vote. Results of the vote will be announced the same day.

A candidate must receive 80 per cent of the vote to be elected to the Hall of Fame. A minimum of three and a maximum of six players will be enshrined in 2006. If fewer than three get 80 per cent, the candidate with the next highest percentage will be elected.

Two seniors candidates, former Dallas offensive tackle Rayfield Wright and former Oakland coach and current broadcaster John Madden, were chosen by a special committee last year and became automatic finalists.

The other finalists are: linebackers Derrick Thomas and Harry Carson; defensive ends L.C. Greenwood and Claude Humphrey; offensive linemen Russ Grimm, Bob Kuechenberg and Gary Zimmerman; and wide receivers Michael Irvin and Art Monk.

Moon wasn't drafted by any NFL team after his senior year at the University of Washington and he signed with Edmonton in 1978.

He became an integral part of the Eskimos dynasty that won five consecutive CFL Grey Cup titles from 1978-82. In six seasons with Edmonton, Moon threw for over 21,000 yards and 144 touchdowns.

In 1983, his last season in the CFL, he finished as the league's leading passer with 380 completions of 664 attempts for 5,648 yards and 31 touchdowns. He was also named to the Western all-star team, the CFL all-star team and won the Most Outstanding Player Award.

In 1984, he left Canada for the NFL, joining the Houston Oilers.

Moon, a nine-time Pro Bowl choice, enjoyed a stellar NFL career, throwing for 49,325 yards with 291 touchdowns for the Oilers (1984-93), Minnesota Vikings (1994-96), Seattle Seahawks (1997-98) and Kansas City Chiefs (1999-2000).

In his 17 NFL seasons, Moon threw for 49,325 yards and 291 touchdowns. He added another 1,736 yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground.

Moon was elected into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2001.

Jewish Anti-Zionism

In an excellent piece on the Jewish anti-occupation movement and Jewish Anti-Zionists Seth Farber author of Radicals, Rabbis and Peacemakers: Conversations with Jewish Critics of Israel, says the following;

The New Pro-Palestinian Jews -- Beyond Tikkun and Atzmon

by Seth Farber

(Thursday February 02 2006)

"We are neither traitors to the Jewish people nor traitors to our Palestinian comrades. We are Jewish anti-Zionists. We are genuinely Jewish–although we may disagree among us about exactly what it means to be Jewish. And we are genuinely anti-Zionists."

After writing the first part of this essay months ago I realized that my endeavor was unfinished, and that questions still remain about the collective identity of anti-Zionist Jews. Left-Zionists and a smaller group of Marxists have predominated in the anti-Occupation movement for so long that it is necessary to establish our identity both as Jews and as anti-Zionists. Although my book was composed as an affirmation of the Jewishness of anti-Zionism (although a couple of my interlocutors did not define themselves as Jewish) over and against the Jewish establishment which claims we are self-hating Jews, I had not yet contended with the critics on the left who argue that the political identification of oneself as Jewish necessarily binds one to a self-definition and praxis which is quintessentially Zionist. The most prominent spokespersons for this group of anti-Zionists are Gilad Atzmon, Paul Eisen and Israel Shamir.

Atzmon who has considerable influence in Europe, and whose adherents include a growing number of Marxists as well as the American activist and writer Jeff Blankfort, argues that persons who oppose Zionism in the name of their Jewish identity are either disingenuous or unwittingly serving the Zionist cause. Like many Jews I find his argument offensive. The anti-Zionist faction of the Jewish anti-Occupation movement is young and it has not assertively contested the challenges to its integrity and identity launched by Atzmon and others in the name of humanism, Marxism or working class internationalism. Thus it lacks a solid basis for its own praxis. My project is consonant with and complements that of the prolific Jewish theologian Marc Ellis who has not however answered those on the left who are critical of his perspective. Atzmon’s argument functions as a foil which has provided me with an opportunity to elaborate a theoretical legitimation for the Jewish anti-Zionist tendency in the anti-Occupation movement. I believe this tendency requires a theoretical foundation in order to maintain its momentum and growth. If Atzmon’s perspective was adopted and the fledgling Jewish anti-Zionists were to repudiate their Jewish identity, as he would like, the anti-Occupation movement would be disastrously weakened, and its future prospects would be eclipsed.

Many radical and anarchist Jews such as Emma Goldman,Alexander Berkman and Rudolf Rocker never denied their Jewishness they just did not fetishize it like the Zionists. In fact one cannot say that it is because they were pre-Holocaust Jews. The Pogroms against Jews have been conducted by Christian Europe since the 12th Century. And like many East European Jews Emmas family left becuase the Russians had conducted a campaigns of pogroms against Jews since after the death of Catherine the Great.

And it is important to note here that it was the New York Jewish Anarchist movement that kept Yiddish alive as the written and spoken language of non-religious Jews. With the death of the last of these went the death of secular Jewish language and literature and its recuperation into Zionism and religious Judaism. Today across North America Hebrew the language of religion, of the old Testament the Torah is taught.

Freie Arbeiter Stimme ("Free Voice of Labor"), the main Yiddish-Anarchist newspaper in the United States from 1890 until its demise in 1977. Leading anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Rudolf Rocker wrote for it. A young Noam Chomsky, later to become a leftwing intellectual cult figure, when in New York City repeatedly visited its offices at 45 West 17^th Street to marinate his mind in its rarified political atmosphere. Between 1970 and 1980 Joe Conason did filmed interviews to document stories about the newspaper and his anarchist grandfather.

This is what has led to the contradicition that Faber addresses in his well written and expository essay that while it is lengthy is well worth reading.

The Life of Rudolf Rocker

Anarchy in Interpretation: The Life of Emma Goldman
"Red Emma" Goldman's Jewish Anarchism

John Patten (ed.)
Yiddish Anarchist Bibliography
Kate Sharpley Library/ Anarchist Archives Project, 1998. 32p, 30cm. 1-873605-27-7 large pamphlet £7.50 / $12
A listing of papers, books and pamphlets from the Yiddish-language anarchist movement, with titles in Yiddish, transliterated and translated.
In addition to a long and detailed catalogue, what this bibliography has to offer is an insight into the lives of thousands of militants, sometimes famous, sometimes nameless, and into their concerted struggle for a better world. — Pinelli Archive bulletin
NYU Libraries | Guide to Yiddish Speaking Labor and Radical

The Harris Collection - Yiddish-American Literature

Radical Visions: Graphic Satire in the Yiddish Press

David Edelstadt, 1866-1892 - libcom.org | history

David Edelstadt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Homage to William Herrick

Jack (Yankel) Frager, 1903-1998 - libcom.org | history

Mollie Steimer: An Anarchist Life - By Paul Avrich

anthony rudolf on fermin rocker

SOLOMON, Sidney (Pogost, Bekarus, Dec. 8, 1911-New York, 2004)

Excerpted from Anarchist Voices ; an oral history of anarchism in America, by Paul Avrich (Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 1995) pp. 449-452.

SIDNEY SOLOMON

Forest Hills, New York, June 2, 1973

A book designer by profession and a talented painter, Sidney Solomon was a member of the Vanguard Group in the 1930s, the New Trends Group in the 1940s, and the Libertarian Book Club from the 1940s through the 1980s.
Fire in Their Hears: Yiddish Socialists in New York (hardcover)
Arguing the World -- The New York Intellectuals | Nathan Glazer

November 27, 1988

America vs. a Slip of a Girl

By JAMES JOLL; JAMES JOLL IS THE AUTHOR OF ''THE ANARCHISTS'' AND ''THE ORIGINS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR.''

LEAD: ANARCHIST PORTRAITS By Paul Avrich. Illustrated. 316 pp. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. $27.50.
ANARCHIST PORTRAITS By Paul Avrich. Illustrated. 316 pp. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. $27.50.

See:

The Need for Arab Anarchism

Anti-Zionism is NOT Anti-Semitism

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Anarchism
Zionism
Anti-Zionism
America
individualism
libertarian communism
socialism
libertarian socialism
Israel
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Yiddish Anarchism
Yiddish
libertarian

Nazi Gay Killer Wanted to be a Cop

Yep the kid that killed several gay men shooting up a gay bar in New Bedford Mass. was a Nazi who had gone through a Young Police training program.

Robida's neighbors have described him as a racist, who decorated his room with swastikas. (Watch one of Robida's alleged victims recount the attack at a gay bar -- 2:03) Robida is a graduate of New Bedford's junior police academy, a program intended to build social skills, self-esteem and self-confidence in children 12 to 14, police said. CNN

As I wrote here about violence against women this also applies to violence against gay men by those who suffer from lack of self esteem and need Big Daddy authority figures, whcih make them admire Nazi's and cops. Armed authority figures who have power that they don't. It was the same appeal that the Hitler Youth had.

And along with this goes the hatred of homosexuality by those who are insecure in their maleness and masculine identity. Being a man means not being a woman or queer.

Let us review what Wilhelm Reich said about this from his studies of the Mass Psychology of Fascism and in his book Listen Little Man!.

For Reich, a key question was: Why did people support the Nazis? Reich stated that he found that several things went together in Nazi Germany:

Strong paternal authority
Sexual repressiveness
authoritarian personalities
reactional political ideologies

Economically the Nazi program was not in the interest of lower middle class people of Germany, but they gave their support to it. Reich asked, What psychological reason could be found that would make the fascist ideology compelling to this group of people?
His answer was: The combination of authority and rebellion. Reich said the sons would especially admire an authoritarian person above them who was also rebellious. (Like Hitler and Stalin) That way they could fulfill the desire to rebel but with subs.

It is the reason that the Hitler Youth Corp was so successful and why youth are approached by both Skinhead Nazi's and by their elders to become the new shock troops of this underground movement for Aryan Power in North America. But it is not just limited to North America. It occurs where ever those who see society falling apart call for greater authoriy, law and order and repression as the solution.

The Faith of the Youth

Is the Foundation of Victory

The "Pimpfs" were members of the Nazi organization for young boys, part of the Hitler Youth. This article, from the last issue of the Nazi magazine for boys, urges them to look to the SS for their models. The SS Division "Hitler Jugend" mentioned toward the end of the article saw combat after D-Day, and acquitted itself well.

The source: "Glaube der Jugend: Unterpfand des Sieges," Der Pimpf, July-August 1944, pp. 8-9, 16.

Ukiah High officer says neo-Nazis are around'By SETH FREEDLAND/The Daily Journal

The anti-Semitic hate mail allegedly delivered by two Ukiah High School freshmen to a Jewish classmate on Wednesday is only the latest -- and now most public -- example of an "underground" neo-Nazi movement at the school, its resource officer said.

Students involved do not display swastikas or other emblems of Aryan pride, said Chris Gordon, of the Ukiah Police Department, but "they're around." Gordon said he could name a handful of the neo-Nazi teenagers.

Every gang has a uniform, Gordon said, and any student wearing a flight jacket, blue jeans rolled to slightly under the knee, Doc Martens shoes and with a shaved head will raise a red flag. The trouble caused by these teens is infrequent, he said, mostly limited to vandalism and the rare fight.

Oil Can Bush

An interesting piece in the Times on Line from the UK, very funny and insightful by Andrew Sullivan. He says this about George Walkers State of the Union where he admits Americans are addicted to Oil. As the president knows from personal experience the first thing an addict must do is recognise he has a problem. The second thing he has to do is change his own behaviour. This president took five years to get to step one. Somehow I think it will be past 2025 before Americans get any further. The rest of the article which is full of dry droll English humour is damned good analysis of the political machinations around why America can't get over its addiction to oil.

Also See: George Walker Liar

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Bush
SOTU
America
Politics
President Bush
USA
oil
Middle East
State of the Union

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Super Bowl Flu

On Monday morning a half million Canadians will join 1.4 million Americans with Super Bowl Flu. Mass abscenteeism occurs when folks get Super Bowl Fever which they attempt reduce through the consumption of liquids. However there are cures. Super cures for the post-game 'flu' Unfortunately they don't appear to reduce the amount of folks missing work. Even Pittsburg area students are being exempted from having to go to school early on Monday. Apparently the fever reaches its highest peak during the Super Bowl game and then the flu lasts 24 hours.

Bowl fever strikes

Getting the ball rolling Monday morning might be an XL headache for over half a million Canadians after tomorrow's Super Bowl, a Decima poll says.

About 580,000 fans -- or 5% of the full and part-time Canadian workforce over 18 -- will probably be on the injury list come Monday, according to the poll commissioned by Kronos Inc., a management company.

'BIGGEST IMPACT'

"We found that more people call in sick after a major sporting event than any other event," Kronos GM Pierre Belanger said yesterday.

"The biggest impact is on other employees who have to cover off for those missing," said Belanger, adding service and quality can go down and employers are stuck with extra costs for overtime for fill-in workers.

Other numbers from the poll:

- 7% of men call in sick while only 2% of women book off.

- 12% of those who earn $80,000 to 100,000 take the day off.

- But only 4% of those who take home $40,000 or less don't show up for work

- Albertans are most likely to call in sick with Ontarians coming in second.

'NEVER TAME'

Super Bowls "are never tame," said Mike Jeffery, owner of Bob Cajun in the Beaches and a long-suffering fan of the Seattle Seahawks who will square off against the Pittsburgh Steelers tomorrow.

"People you'd never see at a sports event show up more for the party," he said. "It ranks right up there in the top three with New Year's Eve or a gold medal hockey tilt - with our boys winning."

Tags
sports
Super Bowl
Steelers
Sea Hawks

Bell Slash and Burn

10,000 jobs lost at Bell Canada. Ten Thousand. Say that slowly.

Can we say that again. 10,000 jobs lost at Bell Canada.

I know the headlines say half that but you have to include the job cuts last year as well.

BCE plans spinoffs, job cuts

Between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs will be cut this year, half through attrition. The reduction amounts to about 9 per cent of Bell’s workforce, which stood at 46,200 at the end of 2005. The cuts are on top of the 5,000 positions that have been eliminated so far as part of the company’s “Galileo” cost-cutting program. BCE said the latest reduction, which the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union condemned, yesterday, will help lead to additional savings of $700 million to $900 million annually.

Remember that when the neo-cons tell you how only the private sector creates jobs not government. And they destroy jobs and peoples lives too in this era of creative destructive capitalism.

Good old slash and burn capitalism, and of course on Monday their shareprices will rise on this good news. And the reason to cut jobs is to get cash in hand to reinvest. And its not like they suffered this year.

Solid gains were also seen at from Bell Globemedia, which owns The Globe and Mail and CTV, where revenues jumped 10 per cent to $1.6 billion in 2005.

So I guess Mike Duffy and Jane Taber will keep their jobs.

Overall, fourth-quarter revenues jumped 4.6 per cent to $5 billion, and BCE ended the year with $19.1 billion, a 4 per cent increase over 2004. Taking into account a $16 million restructuring charge, profit in the quarter was $413 million, or 44 cents a share, down slightly from $417 million, or 45 cents a share, a year earlier. The results were largely in line with analysts’ expectations.

For the year, profit was $1.89 billion, or $2.04 a share, up 24 per cent over the previous year.

Looking ahead to 2006, the company forecast a profit of $1.80 to $1.90 a share, reflecting a 14-cent cut in earnings resulting from a decrease in discount rates used to calculate long-term pension obligations.

What is the price of greed. The price is increased profits, job loses and increased gouging of consumers.

Oh and by the way for those of you living in Eastern Canada don't expect any cost savings, as consumer your prices are going up too. So much for the B.S. that competition lowers costs. Maybe for business but not for you or I.

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Canada
economy
jobs
Bell
BCE
CEP

Dingwall Wins Entitlement

Well I wonder if like the Liberals Day Care program Stephen Harper will overturn this decision too? Doubtful if he knows anything about employment law. But then again he's the boss so he can do what he likes.

During the election Mr. Dingwall was a subject raised by the Conservatives in their TV Ads.Conservative TV ad: "Entitlements"

MESSAGE: Prime Minister Paul Martin's comment that "the Liberal party is not corrupt" is played over and over again on a tape loop, as supposedly ordinary Canadians stare at their television screens with varying forms of disgust as they're reminded of the Gomery inquiry and David Dingwall's statement that he was entitled to his entitlements.

Dingwall paid $417K in compensation
Arbitrator found in former mint chief's favour in dispute over resignation

OTTAWA (CP) — In one of its last actions before transferring power, the Liberal government has agreed to pay David Dingwall $417,780 in compensation for his dismissal as head of the Royal Canadian Mint.

Privy Council Office announced the payment Saturday following the decision of an independent arbitrator, George Adams, who concluded that Dingwall had not resigned, as the government suggested at the time, but had been fired.

Dingwall left the $277,000-a-year-job in September after a prolonged controversy about his six-figure office expense account.

A subsequent review by PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm concluded Dingwall’s spending was within the rules with minor discrepancies.
William Stairs, Harper’s director of communications, said he did not think the new government would contest the arbitrator’s decision.

“I don’t think we can. It was a legal arbitration between two parties.”

Nope there is nothing you can do Mr. Dingwall is entitled to his entitlements.

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Canada
Politics
Liberals
Dingwall
Harper
Conservatives

Did Mittal Know This

Shocker of shockers Dofasco has announced that it has lost money. Let me repeat that Dofasco has lost money. And not just a little. Instead of posting a profit it has posted a 71% loss!

Dofasco's results dubbed `horrible'

Quarterly net profit plummets surprise 71%
Steel maker declines to give further comment

Steel maker Dofasco Inc. has reported dismal financial results 10 days after its board of directors signed a deal locking in a $5.6 billion takeover bid from Arcelor SA of Luxembourg. The Hamilton-based company earned $28.4 million, or 37 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, down 71 per cent from $96.8 million, or $1.26, a year earlier. "It's horrible," one analyst said. A consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial suggested earnings of 93 cents a share, before one-time items. Dofasco's results were propped up by its iron-ore business, while steel-making operations eked out gross profits of just $9.9 million, down from $173.1 million a year earlier.

The Steelmaker which was being romanced by French and German steel interests has pulled and Enron. Arcelor the French steel company whcih bid on Dofasco sealed the deal and now Dofasco announces its lost money. Meanwhile Mittal offered to buy Arcelor, and sell off Dofasco to ThyssenKrupp for less money than Arcelor paid for it. But Mittal was going to keep the Iron Ore portion of the company which made money, and sell off the now money losing Steel factories. Interesting what did Mittal know that neither Arcelor of ThyssenKrupp knew, or for that matter Bay Street or the Dofasco investors.

And don't you just love it when Bay Street analysts underplay the shock they are experiencing with terms like 'troubling'.
Paul D'Amico, an analyst with TD Securities, said the revelation of fourth-quarter production problems was a "negative surprise." In addition, "non-operating items" reduced earnings by 11 cents per share, but no details were given on what those were or whether they have been resolved, D'Amico said, calling that "troubling."
I would say it looks like big trouble for Dofasco and again I have to ask What Did Mittal Know? It appeared last week that they had made a deal with ThyssenKrupp which is why they dropped their bid. But no-one in the market was willing to say so. But appearance is everything. And Mittal has been involved in shady deals before. See: Mittal Plays Monopoly

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Canada
Steel
Dofasco
Mittal
ThyssenKrupp
Arcelor

Google Censoring Blogspot

Google the owner of Blogger also known as Blogspot.Com has had problems all day long and I am not the only one to suffer as the progressive porcine from Calgary made note of. Now if I was of conspiratorial mind I would say it may have had something to do with their recent deal with China and accepting online censorship. Do ya think? Maybe? Or maybe as Mr. Porcine points out its just they have gotten to big for their servers.

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Google
blogs
China
censorship

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment