Say It Ain't So

I am stunned, shocked, why how can this be..... Provinces break health promises: report That's what you get when you give the provinces money with No Strings Attached.

OTTAWA -- Provincial and territorial governments are not keeping their promise to account for billions in health funding allocated by the former Liberal government, says the Health Council of Canada.

The federal government gave provinces $36 billion over five years in the 2003 first ministers' accord, and another $41 billion over 10 years in 2004, on condition that the money be spent on specific areas.

But it's not clear where the money is going, says the council, created to monitor implementation of the first ministers' accords.

"Information about how federal transfers are spent by provinces and territories is not easily accessible and some cases is not available at all. Most jurisdictions are not living up to their commitment to provide annual public reports."

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Make Friends and Kill Yourself

Reuters is reporting that internet suicide rates are up in Japan. That is folks meeting on the net to plan collective sappuku. It's a unique Japanese phenomena.

While in the West folks hide away in their rooms, by themselves, alienated from the world around them only to die alone leaving their notes on the internet. Now some commentators thought I was being harsh in my comments on this particular case, of the AI genius who commited suicide, because I failed to understand him or read his work.

But the point I was making is that he was his project. He had stepped into the abyss. All that we do is a process of self realization, one side is enlightenment the other is madness. The same goes for the technogeeks in society. They already are maladjusted in mass society, alienated individuals, being nerds and geeks, their best friend is their program or their computer. Thus they already have the tendency towards the dark side.

It's the darkside of the web, and the dark side of our culture which denies public access to information on the epidemic of suicide. As the pressures of capitalism deforms our culture it also deforms our psyches. The pace of society, the demands of work and consumerism, the social conformity demanded of us are greater than any other time in human culture. Capitalism dehumanizes us and in its twisted version of individualism we are reduced to being alone, alienated.

We lack authentic relationships, love and solidarity, as Eric Fromm points out in this essay from 1959. Love in America

Modern man is alienated from himself, from his fellow men, and from nature. He has been transformed into a commodity, and experiences his life forces as an investment that must bring him the maximum profit under existing market conditions.

Man bows down and submits to the demands of his own work, his machines, his organization of production and consumption, and loses the experience of himself as creator and subject of his truly human powers of love and thought. Thus human relations become more and more those of alienated automatons.

But automatons cannot love. They can exchange their „personality
packages“ and hope for a fair bargain. Love becomes the refuge for a
„team“ from an otherwise unbearable sense of aloneness. One forms an alliance
against the world as this „egoisme a deux“ is mistaken for love and intimacy.

Industrialization has provided leisure for entertainment, mass communications
media have made it continuously available, and our consumption-oriented
economy urges us to imbibe as much of it as possible. Turn where we will our
senses are assailed by hundreds of competing forms of amusement.
The tendency of mass entertainment, especially the movies, to exalt romantic
love at the expense of other kinds has already been noted. Its other effects on
love include the following:

(a) As financial considerations require that most
entertainment programs attract the largest possible numbers, they demand very little
of their audiences. This means that they contribute to human passivity; little more
is required than to sit and absorb. But if love is an activity, as we have insisted, it
is poorly served by inducements to become, as persons, more passive.

(b) The continuous entertainment which mass media offer us has turned what is inherently the most intimate of all human relationships into the most public and ubiquitous. Never before have so many people been wooed in such public fashion.
Sentiments which were formerly regarded as deep, personal exchanges between
two loving human beings are now common promises in the wind. „I love you“ is a
pledge by a disembodied voice to an anonymous mass. It is difficult to see how
this process can continue without undercutting some of the power of love’s language.

(c) When people spend their time together, not in coming to know one
another better as individuals, but in attending to something unrelated to anyone
in the group, neither friendship nor love is advanced. In this sense, it is one of the
ironies of our culture that the entertainment designed to bring people together
actually keeps them apart.

The phrase „mass culture“ has come to suggest a number of features of
modern society which work against the individual’s uniqueness,
depth of personal feeling, and self-identity.

Cities are crowded, work is specialized, and people are mobile, all of which
means that we encounter more persons but know and are known less
thoroughly by each. We are part of the busman’s „load,“ a proprietor’s
„customers,“ a manager’s „personnel.“ Vast, centralized enterprises with
radical divisions of labor inhibit workers’ individuality and reduce them
to the status ofr eplaceable cogs.

Government, business, and labor unions are all so big as to
make us feel impotent. Alienated from ourselves, from our fellow-men and from
nature, we try to escape from our loneliness, insignificance and insecurity by
identifying ourselves with others through conformity. We dress like them, behave
like them, and hold the same opinions, only to discover that
uniformity is noguarantor of true unity.

Huddled in togetherness we remain alone. Significant human relationships are a function of lives that are confidently rooted in the individuality that mass culture renders difficult.

Mind & Body, Alfred Adler, 1931

Character and the Social Process, Eric Fromm, 1942

One Dimensional Man, Herbert Marcuse, 1964

The Politics of Experience, R. D. Laing, 1967

Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord, 1967


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Stats

Of the several stat counters I use on this blog this is best one I have found to date for tracking data. And it's free. If you are concerned about others seeing your stats,some bloggers are now promoting the idea of privacy that is your visit to their site is not publicly available, then you can make it private. This is one damn fine piece of tracking software.

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Da Death of De Hip Hoppy

Found these two interesting articles deconstructing Hip Hop music culture. Once again those who beleive that culture or the counter culture is revolutionary miss the point. Culture is political, and it is the dialectical creator of capitalism and its creature, it always reflects the values of capitalism. P. Diddy is a good example of this. Even the counter culture can only exist within the confines of commodity production. Its the war of the brands; Che versus Coca Cola.

David Drake's The Death of Hip-Hop

Krisna Best - A Reply to David Drake's Opinion on the Topic of the Death of Hip-Hop

Drake attempts to show from the outset that capitalism and hip-hop are and have always been joined at the hip. Hip-hop is a cultural superstructure that exists in motion with the ideas and institutions of capital. A case could be made for each, and often individuals fall on one side of the spectrum that either hip-hop is "capitalist" (which is not even grammatically correct, let alone theoretically) or it exists in opposition to capitalism. Any responsible and dialectical approach would show that hip-hop is indeed an offspring of people of color and poor folks living under capitalism, but that within hip-hop a mass of contradictory ideas exist which are pushing it forward.

See:

Hip Hop Gun Culture

Gangsta Hip Hop

Blame 50 Cents


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Free Labour

One of the criticism's of globalization has been that it restricts economic liberty of workers, their ability to move freely across borders for work, while allowing capital free access to all markets.

The EU has finally recognized this problem.

"A free movement of workers is economically rational. It is one of the values that is defined by the European treaties," Spidla said.

However their solution will only apply to legal migration while the multitude is sans papier, those who are illegal. The core of capitalisms underground economy in Europe and North America for that matter. The source of racism in Europe and the rebirth of fascism, as religious fundamentalism and as white power. Dual aspects of the problem of undocumented workers migrating into the capitals of capitalism.

Black market risk
On the other hand, labour restrictions in some countries may have encouraged an "exceptionally high influx of posted workers or workers claiming to be self-employed" from the east, the document indicates.

It also stressed "restrictions on labour market access may exacerbate resort to undeclared work," which could be undesirable for both undeclared and regulated workers.

Migrants from central and eastern Europe did not "crowd out national workers," according to the report, and filled up vacancies in hotels, restarurants, transport and mainly in the construction sector where their number is double that of EU15 employees.

Also, the commission points out that fears expressed in the UK about possible expoitation of social benefits by Poles or Lithuanians have also not materialised, as there have been only about 45 cases of benefit claims in Britain, out of 200,000 registered workers.

East Europeans are traditionally less mobile and generally unwilling to travel too far in search of a job, a legacy of 40 years of state planning that discouraged free movement of labor in the former Soviet satellite countries. The exception is Poland, where private entrepreneurship, although often illegal, existed even under communism and where workers are used to resettling to find a job.

This is the real fear in the EU of not only now being swamped with migrant workers from the South but cheap labour from Poland. Currently underwaged non union construction workers are being imported to work in France, Germany etc. competing with unionized construction workers. This is one of the reasons that there was both right and left unity last year in opposing the EU constitution which saw a liberalization of the economy to allow for greater privatization and contracting out pitting worker against worker.

It is not the Eastern European workers that is the real concern in Europe. It is the African and Turkish guest workers, and migrant labour that Europe has relied upon for years that has created the conditions for racist exploitation that goes unheeded until it erupts into riots as we saw last year in France.

Germany, Austria and France, where fears of migrant workers taking over jobs run high, are likely to use the entire transitional period until 2011, despite objections by the commission.

And yet these are the very countries that relied on Turkish, Albanian and Yugoslavian Guestwokers in the seventies to grow their economies. In the latter case the Yugoslavian economy relied on exporting workers rather than commodities for its economic stability.

After thirty years it ended with the crisis of unification of Germany and the influx into the German economy of unemployed, underemployed East Germans. In effect creating an economic crisis in the Yugoslavian republics, that eventually led to the devastating internecine warfare. The political recognition of Slovenia and Croatia by the powerful German state, flexing its geopolitical muscles also contributed to the Balkan crisis of the ninties.

In the case of Turkish guest workers, they were never integrated into the German economy as citizens. As with France and its large mass of unemployed Muslims from Africa, Turkey and other Islamic countries that came to work in the underground economy and the legitimate low paid economy of hotel and service work.

And as with Mexican workers in the United States, those 'illegal aliens' which Lou Dobbs rants about, the economy of Empire cannot exist without them. Global capitalism requires low waged work and masses of unemployed to offset the wage demands of better paid workers, to challenge workers rights to their profit in order to maintain their profits. This then leads to the jingoistic nationalism and racism in the working class, pitting worker against worker.

The new EU regulations will not change this dynamic but exasperate it, creating the conditions for more outbursts like the riots in France.

Europe-wide day of action for freedom of movement and universal rights

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Da' Bears Have It

Bear with me here as I pun around some great news for Ursus Major. A sancturary for bears and the ancient forest has been declared in B.C.; Great Bear Rainforest.

Years of tension end with 'unique' BC rain forest deal
Globe and Mail - 20 hours ago
VANCOUVER -- After 10 years of logging-road blockades, marketplace boycotts and meetings that were so fractious people couldn't even agree on lunch breaks, the antagonists in British Columbia's great land-use debate finally made peace. ...
Canada creates massive `working` park Monsters and Critics.com
Canada signs deal with loggers to save ancient rainforest Independent
CTV.ca - The Moscow Times - Vancouver Sun (subscription) - Environment News Service - all 178 related »

And the US is looking at the crisis of the Polar Bear in the Arctic due to Climate Change. Someone hasn't told Bush about this cause you know what he thinks of Global Warming.

White House to Study Protecting Polar Bears
Washington Post, United States - 4 hours ago
The Bush administration has agreed to study whether polar bears should be added to the nation's endangered species list because global warming is shrinking ...
US considers endangered status for polar bears CBC News
US mulls protecting polar bears as Arctic melts Reuters Canada
Polar Bears May Join Endangered Species ListiThe NewStandard


This must mean the Right To Arm Bears campaign has been making headway.

See A Hunting We Will Go

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The Curse of Bruce McNall

It must be the curse of LA Kings owner Bruce McNall who bought Gretzky from the Oilers with his coin collection and then got busted for fraud.

Cause now the Gretzky's wife and other NHL players are rumoured to be involved in a gambling ring. Gretzky's Wife, Tocchet, NHL Players Cited in Gambling Ring
And it's really bad timing as Gretzky prepares to go to Turin with Team Canada for the Winter Olympics. Gretzky remains top pitchman He hasn't played for seven years, but the Great One still king of marketing

No shock here, it's business as usual in professional sports which has a historical link to gambling and the underworld of crime in England and North America.

Sports and gambling -- the American way?
Office pools, point spreads, off-track/off-shore betting, illegal bookies
you name it, we bet on it.

The Economics of Gaming: Risk and Reward in American History

BETTING ON THE FUTURE OF SPORTS: WHY GAMBLING SHOULD BE LEFT OFF THE FIELD OF PLAY

PlanetPapers - Gambling

I found this interesting blog while researching this
<>The Sports Economist Economic Commentary on Sports & Society

Also See: Pro Sports and Criminal Capitalism




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Dino Time

Andrew at Bound for Gravity has posted the latest dino news Guanlong wucaii: Early Tyrannosaur Interesting is that this smallest of T Rex had feathers, and a hollow crest not unlike the Duckbill Dinosaur family. No indication of Intelligent Design though, just further proof of change and adaptability, that thing called evolution.

Enlarge Image

An artist's rendition of the Guanlong wucaii, or crowned dragon of the five-coloured rocks. Its most spectacular feature was its nasal crest, a delicate bony structure that juts out of its nose and rises towards its eyes. (Zhongda Zhang/IVPP)

Once again scientists, or reporters, are showing gender bias.....Father of Tyrannosaurus is unearthed in China So how did they determine the sex of the bones?


See:

(r)Evolutionary Theory

Intelligent Design is just another word...

Design Yes But Not ID

Chimps and Man Closer Relatives In Time

Dialectical Science-JBS Haldane

Morality not from animals

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Vic Toews Lied

The new Conservative Justice Minister Vic Toews said on Mike Duffy Live on CTV yesterday that he didn't know why the Firearms Registry cost $2 billion dollars.

He didn't know! Let me repeat that. He said He Didn't Know Why The Firearms Registry had cost overruns. And that he was going to have the Auditor General look into it.

But she already has. And as I wrote in 2004 during the last election, it's because they contracted out the computer hardware, software and programing and the call centre.

Canada’s Billion Dollar P3 Boondoggle

What the Liberals and Conservatives Don’t Want You To Know

The real story behind the cost overruns at the Canadian Firearms Centre

"Just read your piece on the firearms P3 – quite a revelation. I am amazed we have never heard this before – congratulations for bringing it to light." Murray Dobbin, author of Paul Martin Canada's CEO

And the costs increased because the provinces like Alberta copped out of paying their share. It's already documented not only by the Auditor General of Canada but by a third party audit of the Justice Department.

And as the opposition Justice critic Toews knows this. So taking a cue from his leader, Toews lied on national TV. And like his leader he is thinking of using American style politics to eliminate the gun registry through the back door of cabinet.




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Lost and Found

The discovery of the Lost World in Indonesia this week may have been its death sentence. What had been a remote inaccessbile area is now going to be under threat from poachers and the wealthy collectors of the world who can access it.Papua's 'Lost World' target for poachers With unintentional irony one Australian paper ran this headline 'Lost world' may be Earth's last

Ars Technica science blog Noble Intent noted the similarity of this Lost World with the popular novel, movie and TV adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyles Lost World of Prehistoric dinosaurs. Since several species found in this isolated forest were thought extinct as well species never documented. For instance species that had coexisted in the region with the Dodo bird.

Several newly discovered species of animals have appeared in the Indonesian islands this past year as more humans expand into the old growth forest, which is being destroyed by Archer Daniel Midlands (ADM) and Cargill for the creation of Palm plantations for palm oil.

The slash and burn economy of these International Agribusiness giants has created conditions where humans are going further into ancient forests than have been explored even by the native peoples who have lived there for thousands of years. It is currently threatening the very existenence of our closest primate relative the Orangutan.Genetic study shows direct human link to orangutan decline

The discovery of this Lost World shows that we still have remote areas in the world that can bring forth discoveries of new species, unknown life forms or those thought extinct giving greater credence to Cryptozoology.

See my articles on:

	Cryptozology Part 1
	Cryptozoology Part 2

The fact that the skeletal remains of a recently deceased race of pigmy human was also found in Indonesia, Our Lady of Flores, gives greater credence to the idea that their may be aYeti or Sasquatch in remote areas of Nepal and China or North America.

NEW SPECIES: Mammal expert Kris Helgen holds a newly found golden-mantled tree kangaroo. - Conservation International / Associated Press

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