Anarchist Mayor of Milan

This is interesting Dario Fo: anarchist, playwright … and Milan’s next mayor?

Fo is famous for two plays one Accidental Death of an Anarchist about the Italian Police killing an Anarchist in the late sixties and another play "We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay" about the Hot Summer of 68 in Italy that saw autonomous activity of workers, women and the unemployed refuse to pay rent, seize goods from stores on peoples credit and create an alternative economy that we have seen recently in the rise of autonomous community activities in Argentina after their economic collapse.

Deliberate birth of an activist: Fo runs for mayor in Milan

Well he lost......

Dario Fo loses contest to run for Milan mayoralty

Barbara McMahon in Rome
Tuesday January 31, 2006
The Guardian

The Nobel prize-winning playwright Dario Fo has lost an election to determine the centre-left opposition's candidate for mayor of Milan.

The city's former police chief Bruno Ferrante won 67.5 % of the vote held on Sunday, followed by Mr Fo with 23.4%.

The 79-year-old author of plays such as Accidental Death of an Anarchist, who has never held public office but was backed by the Communist and Green parties, paid a grudging tribute to his rival, saying: "He's someone who says the same things as I do, only the day after." The mayoral election will be held in May.

However his plays are getting more popular presentations.

Satirical comedy premieres tonight

Friday, February 03, 2006

By SANDRA E. CONSTANTINE

sconstantine@repub.com

SOUTH HADLEY - A comedy about bureaucracy?

Such a play might sound far fetched. But that's exactly the theme of "Archangels Don't Play Pinball," a satiric play that will be performed beginning tonight by the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School's Repertory Theatre Company.

The play by Italian Nobel laureate Dario Fo is in the style of commedia dell'arte, following the protagonist Lanky through a farcical adventure as he travels to Washington, D.C., to get his pension for being a disabled veteran. Commedia dell'arte is Italian comedy of the 16th through 18th centuries improvised from standard situations with stock characters like the buffoon or the corrupt official.

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How did they know

Who leaked the news to the Anti-Abortion Anti-Gay Lifesite News
that

Kenney has been appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister. Another pro-life MP of prominence within the Conservative Party who was passed over for a cabinet post, Diane Ablonczy, will be the parliamentary secretary to the Finance Minister.

And why did this right wing lobby group know what the MSM didn't ? The politcal influence of the right wing anti-choice anti-gay MP's cannot and should not be underestimated in the Harper government.


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Ping

Another blogger time saver available is Ping-O-Matic it allows you to ping multiple sites at once. For instance Blogspot/Blogger that I use is linked to Technocrati, Weblog and Feedster but for your own pages its best to ping directly to these. So Ping-O-Matic does it for you and allows you to access lots of other services that your blog host may not ping. And it free to register and easy to use.

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Blogging No Big Deal, au contraire

Gallup: blogs no big deal

The Gallup Poll organization released a survey of Internet users showing "reading blogs" at the bottom of a list of 13 options. However, Gallup reported at least 10% of U.S. Web users "frequently" or "occasionally" read Web logs, according to a report of the poll by Editor and Publisher. But nearly 60% "never" look at blogs.

Riiiiiight. So says a report done by Gallup.

Mail and News Are Main Internet Attractions Gallup Poll News

Really no biggee. And lets not forget that Gallup only speaks about the American public. Their 'internet users" should be qualified as "American internet users".

The lack of interest is not slowing blogs' growth. Dave Sifry, founder of Technorati.com, reported his Web log service is seeing 75,000 new blogs a day. "Technorati currently tracks 27.2 million Web logs, and the blogosphere we track continues to double about every 5.5 months." He reported as many as 9% of new blogs are spam or in some way bogus rather than useful content.

The blogosphere is over 60 times bigger than it was only 3 years ago.

Blogosphere still expanding

The blogging phenomenon continues to be one of the Net's brightest stars Around half of bloggers continue to post three months after creating their blog. 10 per cent keep their blogs updated weekly or more often.

So according to Gallup 10% of their American users view blogs, and 10% of us update our blogs, and it is a growing phenomena around the world. So that seems to contradict the nay sayers at Gallup. Of course Gallup being a commercial corporate shill is more interested in the WWW as a source of buy and sell.

Gallup: Blogs Catching On With Web Users

By E&P Staff

Published: February 06, 2006 2:20 PM ET
NEW YORK In the Web universe, how popular are blogs? A report today by The Gallup Poll organization on its latest surveys could be interpreted two ways.

On the one hand, asked to rank their most frequent online activity, Americans who use the Web (now 73% of the population) placed "reading blogs" at the bottom of its list of 13 choices.

But on the other hand: blogs barely existed until recently and now fully one in five Americans say they consult blogs "frequently" or at least "occasionally." That 20% figure trails instant messaging (28%), auctions (23%), videocasts and downloading music (22%).

E-mailing still heads the list at 87%, followed by checking news and weather (72%) and shopping and travel planning (both at 52%).

In terms of blog activity, there is a slight gender gap (24% of men and 17% of women read them), and of course a generation gap, with 28% of those 18 to 29 using them and only 17% of those over 50.

Nearly 60% still say they "never" look at blogs.

Gallup reported big jumps in those paying bills online and making travel plans.

A total of 1,013 adults were surveyed nationally for the poll

Blogs are part of the growing access to the internet, and one form of information sharing. Technocrati reports that blogging is expotentially one of the greatest growing way's that ordinary non techie types gain access to speaking on the WWW.

Blogosphere balloons

Blogging is rapidly becoming one of the favourite online activities. The Technorati website says it is currently tracking just under 19 million blogs.

Furthermore, the practice shows no sign of diminishing. According to Technorati, the number of blogs is doubling every five months and has been doing so for the past three years. This makes the blogosphere thirty times the size it was in 2002.

Although blogging, like many Internet trends, started as an English language activity, it is increasingly spread around the world. The Technorati survey says that there are around 70,000 new blogs started every day - or one a second. In particular, the Chinese have taken to blogging in a big way with some of the biggest growth seen in the Chinese version of MSN Spaces and the native blogcn.com.

Given the well-publicised dangers of stepping out of line in the People's Republic, it is amazing that so many Chinese citizens are willing to put their thoughts online where they can be tracked.

The level of activity of these online scribblers is extraordinary. Somewhere between 700,000 and 1.3 million posts are made each day. That is about 33,000 posts per hour or about 9.2 posts per second.

Blogging is seen as allowing the ordinary citizen to make their voice heard alongside the big companies that control the world's media. Some 50 per cent of bloggers talk about companies at least once a week with 63 per cent of readers believing them to be a trustworthy source or product information. Although many companies provide corporate blogs, 80 per cent of people prefer not to get the executive view. They would rather read a blog from an employee.

For instance since 1997 I have been online posting articles, email discussions, creating and using email listserves for discussions, creating speciality web pages, helping develop sites, etc. etc. and for over a year I too have been blogging since it fits in well with the WYSIWYG that the web has been all about. WYSIWYG systems have allowed those with little or no coding, HTML, experience to now access the web with their thoughts.

The WWW has always been about interactivity, and communications about convergence and cross platform use. There geeky enough for ya. What that means to BCE the corporate owner of Bell Canada, Globe and Mail, CTV, etc. is different than what it means to you or me. Which is why Gallup voice of corporations like BCE, says its not important that the web is now accessed interactively, not passively, Welcome To The Blogosphere: Population 27.2 Million And Growing

For us ,the users , the cyber citizens of the internet convergance and cross platform use is having a web page, email, and blogging, having a pay pal account and doing business on e-bay or buying from Amazon .com, reaing our news online rather than subscribing to a paper, researching using a search engine, downloading information, music, files, uploading information and playing games.

Whew no wonder we never get out much.

Disrupto-Memes: First fired for blogging, now quit to blog

Will Richardson, author of Weblog-ed: The Read/Write Web in the Classroom has announced that he's quitting his job as a school teacher to focus on his popular edu-blog and blog evangelism. For what it's worth, a Jux2 search finds the following numbers: "fired for blogging" Google (69,000) Yahoo! (90,300) MSN (18,658) vs. "quit to blog" Google (34) Yahoo! (3)

David Wiley of OpenContent.org put it nicely in a recent speech to the US Department of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education: as global culture shifts towards information and learning being available on demand, mobile, personalized, remixable and sharable - traditional institutions are threatened by declining relevance. Wiley notes the growing importance of private certification as part of this. I would contend that this may even be the case only for people like Will Richardson (above) - perhaps some of the most high-energy, innovative and engaged people in traditional institutions like education.

My favorite headline for this story though is this one:

Blogs Replicating Like Tribbles On Heat

The Trouble With Tribbles

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Tag You're It

A great article here on a quickie tagging solution with video instruction on easing the use of tags. Watch Beths video on this page and you can add a tagging bookmarklet to your tool bar to create your tags. No more cut and paste into the HTML coding on your web page or blog. Wow saves you all that time you waste trying to tag. And eating your fingers down to the nub as Marshall Kirkpatrick says

I think that it makes a big difference whether people are employing tags themselves or just using blog software that supports categories. That's part of why I encourage people to use a bookmarklet to make such tagging easier. Why doesn't Technorati offer a bookmarklet like that? The blogosphere is full of people who would rather eat their own fingers than add the HTML for each tag link with a rel=tag at the end of each post. Requiring them to do so is a real limit to the specificity of tags being applied by non technical bloggers. That's part of why people like WYSIWYG blog editors.

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Chavez Denounces Anti-Semitism

Earlier this year the Zionist press and their right wing synchophants in North America released a scurrilous accusation that President Chavez of Venezuela made Anti-Semitic remarks in his Christmas speech. To which I replied here.

Now here is the latest news about Chavez and the Jewish community in Venezuala.

Of course don't expect the likes of Colby Cosh to admit they were wrong, or that they failed in their journalistic duty to actually follow up the original accusations rather than just link and comment on them.

Chavez asks Jewish community in Venezuela to join social interest projects

VHeadline.com News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue writes: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias has met with members of the Jewish Community in Venezuela, clarifying alleged anti-Semitic remarks made by the former last Christmas.

Confederation of Israeli Associations president, Fred Pressner says President Chavez Frias has been asked to extend his rejection of anti-Jewish remarks to other instances of government.

Pressner says the community is deeply concerned about racial remarks made in Venezuelan media.

The President is said to have been "receptive" to a petition to penalize discrimination in any of its forms, among which is anti-Semitism

According to Jewish community representatives, there have no differences with the Venezuelan government.

"President Chavez Frias was clear in attacking anti-Semitism during his national rendering of accounts at the National Assembly but we want this to filter down into all government instances."

The President has gone a step further requesting the Jewish community to collaborate or develop projects of social interest.

Speaking on Sunday, Chavez Frias criticized the opposition press for blowing the incident out of all proportions and insisting on supporting a policy of promoting co-existence between Israel and Palestine.

The Jewish community has condemned the originator of the scandal, the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Also see:

A Libertarian Defense of the Left Wing in Latin America

Chavez

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The Prophet of Death

For all those liberals who have blogged that we should understand Islam as a religion of peace and understanding, one that is tolerant and blah, blah, blah I submit for your consideration these two items.

Do Dogs Have More Love For The Messenger Of Allah Than Do Muslims?
Feb 07, 2006

By Abu Haitham Al-Hijazee

As the Muslim world erupts over the blatant act of ridicule and blasphemy by European newspapers against the Prophet (pbuh), Islamic history scholar Abu Haitham Al-Hijazee turns to the times past for answers and weighs in on this latest attack on Islam.

Reviling and insulting Allah or His messenger is very serious offense that carries the death penalty. If such offense is committed by a Muslim, he becomes an apostate because of it and his blood becomes lawful immediately and no apology or repentance is accepted from him. The verdict of Allah is very clear.

Two killed as Afghans stage new protests over cartoons

State Religions, organized religion that carries with it the power of the State and is the State is the very enemy of freedom. All monothiestic religons are by their nature state religions, they have come into existance by the suppresion of peoples spiritual beliefs, rites and customs. They justify intolerance, torture and death of those who opposed them. They have grown by the forced conversion of peoples. All will be assimilated. Those who oppose religious tyranny cannot defend Islam in the name of freedom of religion.

Anarchists demand freedom from religion. No God! No Master! is our watchword. "Ni dieu ni maître!"--Neither God nor master!--is a phrase coined by the socialist Auguste Blanqui in 1880, when he published a journal by that name. It became an anarchist slogan.

Religion is Tyranny.

Nature created neither servants nor masters. I want neither to rule nor to be ruled.
La Nature n‘a fait ni serviteurs ni maîtres, je ne veux donner ni recevoir d‘ordres.

In this I find myself once again agreeing with Christopher Hitchens. Who has mocked religion on more than one occasion himself. Truth is blasphemous. Blasphemy is truth.

Also see:

Looney Toons

Blasphemy is in the Eye of the Beholder

Ibn Khaldun 14th Century Arab Libertarian

Jewish Anti-Zionism

The Need for Arab Anarchism

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Edmonton Left Out In The Cold, Again

Redmonton did not get any representation in Cabinet. None. Zip. Nada. Sorry but Rona Ambrose does not count as being from Edmonton. As I wrote in my comment to Daveberta;

She is not from Edmonton, she is from Spruce Grove. Damn hyphenated ridings. Well ok she lives in Edmonton Strathcona but she represents Spruce Grove that's like saying the MP from Airdrie represents Calgary or the guy from Oshawa represents Toronto. Hmm yeah the Harper did do that to.

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A One Day Wonder

Well was the optics and bad press that Harper got over Emerson, Fortier, and the Liberals are trying to pin him with O'Conner, worth it. Of course this is parlimentary politics folks. The elections are over. The rules of the game change. Now you are a minority in the house you play by the house rules. Which is maintian power, build a government and governing party and perpare for the next election.Maintain droits as the RCMP say.

That's what this was all about. However it's not a one day wonder or a one day issue.A Tory Radio Talk Show host from Ottawa on Duffy's show on CTV said its going to last four days and that's it. Smug bastard. One day headline or four day headline, it will be a matter that will get raised again in Question Period.

And then Harper ran away from reporters today, avoiding the traditional entering the house photo op. I guess this is the change he brings to the house. Secrecy and paranoia. Tommorow cabinet hides at Meech Lake and plots its strategy.

My what arrogance, truly a sign of being the ruling party, the government. Even after twelve years out of power, the arrogance comes back so quickly. And those who thought the politics of arrogance and entitlement were limited to the Liberals, failed to appreciate they are the trappings of power of any party that makes government under our British Parlimentary System. They may run on being from the outside Ottawa, but once in power the game is to stay in power.

And as much as I would like to agree with Blogging Tory Greg Staples, call me cyncial but all the disappointed BT's and Conservatives will swollow their dissapointment, idealism, and vote Conservative again, cause well the ends justify the means.

Political Capital

Conservative strategists have called this controversy a "one-day wonder". It better be. This better have been the one-day the Conservatives play games like this because a large chunk of us voted for politics as unusual and if we don't get it now don't think we won't look elsewhere.

This Ottawa Citizen has the funniest headline which gives new meaning to ironic. Followed by the carefully neutral headline of the Star Phoenix. Followed by the understaement of the year, on the front page of the Montreal Gazette.


And then there is the Ottawa Sun which sums it up nicely, they don't care whose in power as long as Canada's capital doesn't move to Calgary, like all the headoffices have.




Here's Todays other papers and their Headlines.

It will be more than a one day blow over.


Toronto Star

Shock and awe, Tory style

Feb. 7, 2006. 01:00 AM

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government has landed in Canada with a series of defiant bangs. SusanDelacourt and Sean Gordon report.












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Icky Icke

David Icke is a new age anti-semitic conspiracy nut. He is clever in that in his new age, feel good, self help books he hid his message in the final chapters. A sort of final chapter on the final solution.

His conspiracy theory is that the world is controled by the Illuminati, nothing new there. And the Illuminati is of course the ruling class and the bankers. ditto again. And of course many of them are Jewish. ditto, ditto, ditto.

And then taking off from science fiction writer and cult pop psychologist extrodinaire L. Ron Hubbard, whose Illuminati theory was that they were Thetans from space, Ickes says that his Illuminati are actually 4000 year old lizards from space! Yoiks shades ofthe sci-fi TV show V!

But while he believes in 4000 year old 12ft. Lizards he also promotes Anti-Semitism.

Beset by lizards

David Icke, one-time goalkeeper, TV presenter and self-proclaimed Son of God, has re-invented himself as a travelling guru. Would Canada take seriously his warnings of power-hungry extraterrestrial reptiles or would he be dismissed as an anti-Semitic bigot?

Jon Ronson
Saturday March 17, 2001
The Guardian

Then when I googling news the other day I found this, which just goes to show you how off the wall this Icke is. WAS HITLER A ROTHSCHILD?

And of all places it was on French Indymedia. See what we have to put up with in the name of free speech. (actually we don't its just lazy moderation)

Of course he is in good company with folks like this

Of course the real Illuminati,the secret chiefs, the hidden masters, have been around a lot longer than 4000 years. And they aren't 12 ft. Lizards. Nor Thetans.

They have been controling humans to their own ends since the begining of recorded time. It is well known that we are their servants and always have been.

Apparently they decided to show themselves the other day in Brussels head of the EU and next site of the WTO Meetings. Not far from Davos.

Reuters - Sun Feb 5, 10:38 AM ET

People display their cats during an international feline beauty contest in Brussels February 5, 2006. The contest took place with an exhibition of the cutest cats from all over Europe. REUTERS/Yves Herman

But again, after a long time of this, the cats sat down and said, "Oh Great Bast, we love this world but we are children of a god and that makes us godlings. Make us someone to serve us!" Bast laughed at their presumptuousness, but their request amused her so She made the cats a people to serve them. The servants of cats walked on two legs, all the better to have their arms free to carry a cat so that it did not dirty its paws upon the ground. At rest, the creatures folded neatly at the hips and knees to make a platform on which a cat could sit. The creatures had fingers which would tickle and stroke a cat and a voice with which to worship the cat and tell it how beautiful it is. And for a long time all was well. HOW BAST CREATED CAT-KIND

Chinese legends say that cats were put in charge of the world and had the power of speech. The cats soon delegated this job to humans so that felines could laze about. That is why cats can no longer speak and why they wear supercilious expressions when they see us scurrying about!

FELINE FOLKTAILS - CATS IN FOLKLORE AND SUPERSTITION
Copyright 1994, 1995, Sarah Hartwell

Oh yes and Cats just hate Lizards.

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