Democracy Tory Style

Or Alberta style. It comes with the territory, the Federal Conservatives are true to their Alberta Conservative roots. Comes from living in a one party state and aspiring to do the same on a national basis.

Tory party fights to preserve MP's nomination

An unprecedented move by the party's national council to deny voting rights to new members in Calgary West is curtailing any potential challenges to Anders in a court-ordered second nomination battle.

"The secret, as everyone knows, to winning a nomination is to be able to sell your supporters memberships and get them out to vote," said John Knox, one of 11 disgruntled Tories who have fought the party's unwavering loyalty to Anders from courtroom to courtroom since last August.

The rule - which gives ballots only to those who were party members in the middle of August last year - contrasts with every other Tory riding in Canada, where anyone who has held a membership for more than three weeks can vote at a party nomination.

SEE:

Conservative Corruption

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Gone to Croatan

I will not be blogging for the next few days as I am off to present a paper on; The Book of Vles and Ukrainian Neo-Paganism at the Gaia Gathering; The Canadian National Pagan Conference in Winnipeg over the long weekend. This is the third year this conference has happened.

Abstract

Discovered in a Ukrainian bombed out home at the end of WWI a set of wooden boards inscribed in runes was translated in the 1950’s and transcribed into English in the 1970’s. Known as the Book of Vles (or Veles[1]) the translator purports it to be the oldest known written account of pagan pre-Christian beliefs in the Ukraine.

The pagan traditions of the Ukraine being largely undocumented meant The Book of Vles was mired in controversy. Its discovery by a White Russian officer associated with the counter-revolutionary forces of Denikens[2] White army has led critics to devalue its authenticity. More modern writers use this dubious origin in an effort to associate it with modern racialist nationalists and Anti-Semites.

With modern research being conducted in the fields of ethnography, anthropology, archaeology, religious studies, and the opening up of the Ukraine to Europe as a democratic regime, the pagan lore in the Book of Vles is being validated by new discoveries.

This paper looks at the Book of Vles in light of the information we have on pagan traditions in the Ukraine, and in light of the work of Maria Gimbutas who herself was no stranger to controversy.

---

[1] Vles or Veles refers to a particular Ukrainian pagan diety.

[2] Deniken led the White Army a counter revolutionary force against the Ukrainian Anarchist Army of Nestor Makhno and the Bolsheviks Red Army under Trotsky, another Ukrainian, in the Russian Civil War 1918-1921.

See ya next week.


Oh yeah about Croatan;

TAZ: "Gone to Croatan"

The Search For Croatan

Gone to Croatan: Origins of North American Dropout Culture

Preface to Gone to Croatan

Gone to Croatan: Origins of American Dropout Culture. - book reviews

COMIN' HOME
Defining Anarcho-Primitivism with John Moore

Interview--John Zerzan

THE TEMPORARY AUTONOMOUS ZONE

Gone to Croatan


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Wolfowitz Timetable

After a month long pout of misplaced indignation, Paul Wolfowitz has declared a time table for his voluntary withdrawal from the World Bank. Now how about a time table for withdrawal from Iraq.

Staff group says Wolfowitz should leave before planned date of June 30

After all no one is claiming the World Bank would be thrown into chaos after he withdraws. Unlike the excuses for staying in Iraq; we made a bad situation worse but it might get even worse if we leave.

"This is a prescription for chaos and confusion and we must not impose it on our troops," Bush said in a nationally broadcast statement from the White House.

And then there is the irony of this.....

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has offered the US Tehran’s cooperation in developing an exit strategy from Iraq.

It quoted Araghchi as saying the US and Iran had the same interests in a stable Iraq and that direct talks leading to a “face-saving withdrawal” were possible. “(The US-led) invasion was a disaster — let there not be a disastrous withdrawal,” he told the newspaper in an interview.

“Yes, immediate withdrawal could lead to chaos, civil war. No one is asking for immediate withdrawal of foreign forces. But there should be a plan,” he said.

Take it, take it just like Wolfowitz had to because it could have been much worse, sort of like the current American surge in Iraq.

Wolfowitz's negotiated departure averted what threatened to become a bitter rupture between the United States and its economic partners at an institution established after World War II. The World Bank channels $22 billion in loans and grants a year to poor countries.

By all accounts, the terms of Wolfowitz's exoneration left a bitter taste with most of the 24 board members, who represent major donor countries, as well as clusters of smaller donor and recipient countries. Most had wanted to adopt the findings of the special board committee that determined he had acted unethically on the matter of Riza.

Also angered was the bank's staff association, which had called for Wolfowitz's resignation in early April. The bank's internal blogs were filled with denunciations of the action on Thursday evening.

Late in the evening, the association issued a statement saying, "Welcome though it is, the president's resignation is not acceptable under the present arrangement," and that it "completely undermines the principles of good governance and the principles that the staff fight to uphold."

Many European officials previously indicated that they would go along with the United States' picking a successor if Wolfowitz would resign voluntarily, as he now has.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. said Thursday that he would "consult my colleagues around the world" before recommending a choice to Bush, in what seemed to be an effort to assure allies that the United States would not repeat what happened in 2005 when Bush surprised them by selecting Wolfowitz, then a deputy secretary of defense and an architect of the Iraq war.

SEE

Criminal Capitalism: Office Romance

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Tory Boondoggle

Shades of the Liberal Gun Registry....

Cost of new tanks $1.3 billion, double initial estimate

O'Connor Lowballed War Costs

Just one more reason for the senile Minister of Defense to resign.


Hillier

" I can get you one tank for the price of 2"

O'Connor

"Can I buy a tank a year?"

Hillier;

"Sure, we have a great twenty year payment plan with options"










Also See:

Tanks For The Memories

Kandahar

Afghanistan

O'Connor





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BQ and Team Canada

We owe a thanks to the BQ and in particular to the xenophobic nationalist MP Luc Malo who pushed the Official Language committee to look at Shane Doan's leadership of Team Canada. As Rick Nash said on OTR yesterday the team came together in solidarity with Doan when he was attacked by the BQ.

Off The Record - May 16, 2007

Michael Landsberg goes Up Front with Blue Jackets and Team Canada star Rick Nash.

That is what happens when you challenge the leader, the people unite behind him despite their personal views of him, such was the case when the Americans attacked Saddam and Iraq.

In this case of course the team already supported Doan, and this parliamentary attack solidified it. They went on to not only win Gold but to sweep the World Cup 9-0. A historic fact itself.

Thank you Luc Malo for your inspiring the team.

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Farmworkers, Nannies and Strippers

While the Conservatives new No Foreign Strippers law appeals to the parties prurient sex negative social conservative base it really could apply to other workers as well.

Immigration Minister Diane Finley introduced Bill C-57 on Wednesday, which says foreigners applying to work in Canada should be rejected if they risk being humiliated, degraded or sexually exploited.

Like temporary foreign workers who have been killed or injured on the job in Alberta working for CNRL, or the Polish tradesmen who were ripped off by the oil patch in collusion with an Alberta College, or nannies, or farm workers. All these are cases of humiliation, degradation and in some cases sexual exploitation.

Humiliation and degradation is something our Prime Minister knows about first hand; Harper's Chef, Nanny, and Car Washer Fired

Wendy blogs that of course this law does nothing to stop the trafficking and exploitation of women....

By prohibiting the lawful entry of foreign women employed as exotic dancers, the Conservative government thinks it can avoid the embarrassment of propping up the exotic dancer market and pretend they’re doing something to help these women, but in reality, all this legislation will do is consign trafficked women to the most unregulated market of all – the underground market. By shifting from regulation to restriction the Conservative government is no longer going to be viewing trafficked women as victims but rather they will be viewed as illegal immigrants and as prostitutes, meaning that the trafficked woman will be criminalized, go to jail and most likely deported. This means that if a women is a victim abuse she will be less likely to reporter her abuser due to fear of being criminalized. And although employers and agents who employ foreign strippers will also be breaking the law, it is the women who will be at a greater risk since it is easier to deport illegal migrants than to successfully prosecute club owners or agents under criminal or immigration legislation.

But it sure makes a nice bit of political theatre when you can claim the Liberals were promoting foreign strippers and you only want Canadian girls to be exploited in this unregulated non-unionized industry. The reality is this law is far broader in scope than just affecting strippers. And it is a reactionary law.

Citizenship and Immigration

Mrs. Joy Smith (Kildonan—St. Paul, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration inform the House of the government's intention to help prevent vulnerable people coming to Canada from being exploited or abused?

Hon. Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to announce that later today I will table legislation to help prevent vulnerable foreign workers such as strippers from being exploited or abused.

The amendments will authorize the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to instruct immigration officers to deny work permits to foreign strippers.

The previous Liberal government gave blanket exemptions to foreign strippers to work in Canada despite warnings that they were vulnerable to forced prostitution and other exploitation.

Thanks to today's amendments, the good old days of Liberal strippergate will be a thing of the past.

BILL C-57

An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

SUMMARY

This enactment amends the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to allow officers to refuse to authorize foreign nationals to work in Canada in cases where to give authorization would be contrary to public policy considerations that are specified in instructions given by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION ACT

1. Paragraph 3(1)(h) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is replaced by the following:


Explanatory Notes

Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
Clause 1: Relevant portion of subsection 3(1):
3. (1) The objectives of this Act with respect to immigration are
...
(h) to protect the health and safety of Canadians and to maintain the security of Canadian society;


2. Section 30 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):


Clause 2: New.

Authorization


(1.1) An officer shall, on application, authorize a foreign national to work or study in Canada if they meet the conditions set out in the regulations.


Instructions


(1.2) Despite subsection (1.1), the officer shall refuse to authorize the foreign national to work in Canada if, in the officer’s opinion, public policy considerations that are specified in the instructions given by the Minister justify such a refusal.


Instructions


Concurrence of second officer


(1.3) In applying subsection (1.2), any refusal to give authorization to work in Canada requires the concurrence of a second officer.


Confirmation


Purpose


(1.4) The instructions shall prescribe public policy considerations that aim to protect foreign nationals who are at risk of being subjected to humiliating or degrading treatment, including sexual exploitation.




SEE:

Conservative Strip O Gram

Libertarian Challenge of Canada's Prostitution laws

Padrone Me Is This Alberta

Comatose Citizenship and Immigration Canada

Return Of the Work Camps

New Meaning for Nanny State

Migration

Alberta's Free Market In Labour

The Labour Shortage Myth

AFL Agrees With Me

The Real Crime In Canada

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So Long Ed Been Good To Know Ya

Nice to see other folks have noticed the similarity between Ed Stelmach and Harry Strom.

The next Harry Strom?

I have been saying the same thing for six months;

Rural Roots

Strom's Curse

Ed Stelmach=Harry Strom

And you know its bad when the guy running for ya in the Calgary Elbow by-election claims not to know ya....

Brian Heninger, that's right, of Heninger Toyota, pins his hopes on being seen as the best for the job. He knows the premier has no coattails to ride. Brian says he doesn't know the premier, hasn't been alone in a room with him and doesn't know many of the Tory MLAs

After five months in power, promising to change his stale dated government from the callous clueless regime of King Ralph, to a more open, friendlier one, all we get from Ed is more of the same callousness; full steam ahead, we have no plan, except to sell off the province to the cheapest bidder....

Alberta, BC to meet over public-private partnerships

“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.” Karl Marx

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Tax Subsidies vs Rent Control

Ok explain this one to me. The Stelmach government refuses to adopt Rent Controls since that would of course be socialism and interference in the 'free market'.

On the other hand giving developers cash bribes aka tax breaks, socialism for the rich, is of course not interfering in the free market.

Premier Ed Stelmach is refusing to put rental caps to a free vote in the legislature.

He said his government is studying incentives for developers, including tax breaks

Developers like Boardwalk REIT which raked in massive profits last year and in the first quarter this year because of Alberta's overheated housing market.

And who are rubbing their hands with glee at the profits they will continue making without having to build a single apartment building.


See:

Just Say No

No New Apartments in Alberta

Inflation In Alberta

Housing


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May Carnival of Anarchy

The Spirit of Anarchy

Our next carnival will be held the weekend of May 25-27 the theme with be Anarchy and Spirit, that includes religion, spirituality, (such as liberation theology, anti-religion, paganism, gnosticism etc.) as well as art and music.

For example I would refer you to Scriabin as an example of the breadth of this topic...

Scriabin, previously interested in Friedrich Nietzsche's übermensch theory, also became interested in theosophy, and both would influence his music and musical thought. In 1909-10 he lived in Brussels, becoming interested in Delville's Theosophist movement and continuing his reading of Hélène Blavatsky (Samson 1977). Theosophist and composer Dane Rudhyar wrote that Scriabin was "the one great pioneer of the new music of a reborn Western civilization, the father of the future musician," (Rudhyar 1926b, 899) and an antidote to "the Latin reactionaries and their apostle, Stravinsky" and the "rule-ordained" music of "Schoenberg's group." (Ibid., 900-901).

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Conservative Strip O Gram

The Conservatives have announced a bill to protect women from enslavement and trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation. The bill will not allow foreign strippers, particularly from Russia, into Canada.

Whew, the women folk feel safer already.

Wait a minute.....

Canadian prostitutes bought, sold and forcibly moved, study shows.
She stands on a street corner in skimpy clothing, shaking from a chill, or more likely from her drug addiction. She was brought here from another part of the province, or possibly from another province.

Her situation, and that of others like her, has drawn no attention. Despite growing awareness of international trafficking of women and children, the trafficking of Canadian-born prostitutes remains invisible.

However, a new study released yesterday says Canadians should not be so smug. Canada is not exempt from the buying and selling of people, the investigators found.

Sex workers say they are moved quietly, put in cars and taken on "road trips." Pimps and traffickers buy bus and plane tickets for them and escort them to their new locations. At times, they are drugged, bound and abducted by rival pimp families or crime organizations, and wake up in new locations across the country.

Canada needs to provide better protection and support for sex workers and deal with "the root causes of trafficking," the investigators say.

See:

The Traffic In Women

Libertarian Challenge of Canada's Prostitution laws

Sex Workers

Legalize & Unionize the Sex Trade

Feminizing the Proletariat

Sex Workers Want A Union

Marx on Bigamy

Whose Family Values?

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