Thursday, January 10, 2008

Craig Chandler Bids For Ed's Domain

In the comments section over at daveberta's blog discussing the threatened law suit over his ownership of edstelmach.ca, bad boy of the right Craig Chandler left this comment;

Craig B. Chandler said...

Again sell me the website.

I will pay your legal fees and I will simply post a message on the website that says:

Premier Stelmach I will gladly sell you this domain for $127,000.

Sincerely,
Craig B. Chandler
Democratically Elected Alberta Progressive Conservative in Calgary Egmont

Wednesday, January 09, 2008 11:47:00 PM

Wow now that would put Ed and his lawyer Tyler Shandro out of the proverbial frying pan and into the fire. Delicious. I am tempted to say go for it. But of course Dave won't he is a principled guy.

But as this shows Ed and Tylers threats against Dave have resulted in a fire storm of criticism, and laughter across the blogs and the net. Dumb and Dumber would be appropriate nick names for these two.

Expert expects preem to lose domain lawsuit

He's one of Canada's foremost experts and he says Premier Ed Stelmach is probably going to lose, big time, partly because he's not well known.

No, he's not talking about Stelmach's prospects in an election; but Michael Geist does think Steady Eddie would be barking up the wrong blog if he takes on local writer David Cournoyer over the use of www.edstelmach.ca.

Stelmach's lawyers recently sent a letter to Cournoyer, who blogs under the title Daveberta, threatening legal action if he doesn't give up the domain name, which Cournoyer purchased last year for $14.

But according to Geist, a prominent writer and Carleton University's Canada Research Chair on Internet and E-Commerce Law, Canada clearly defends critics who use the domain names of people they're criticizing - and Daveberta is definitely a critic of Stelmach's government.



I find it interesting that Shandro as the domain administrator for Ed's current web sites, works for a legal firm that specializes in slap suits, the same company making legal threats against Dave.

Can you say conflict of interest.

The real reason for the PC concern about Dave's web site was revealed in the media this morning.



SEE:

Hey Ed Your Domain Is Available

My Name Is Ed


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Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Hey Ed Your Domain Is Available

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Who's the Loser?

The LA Times doesn't like Ron Paul. In this blog post they claim he 'lost again' last night in New Hampshire. Fact is he virtually tied with Giuliani.

How come they didn't post Giuliani loses again? His is after all the campaign that claimed to be inevitable, he claimed to be a contender. Ron Paul never did. And last night that one percent difference between his fifth place and Giuliani's fourth was a mere 2223 votes.Giuliani spent millions on ads in New Hampshire compared to Paul.

Rudolph’s camp knew he couldn’t win,
so they used the effective strategy of downplaying his loss by claiming that the candidate didn’t make any real effort in New Hampshire. The media, however, today exposed some interesting facts about Guiliani’s efforts in New Hampshire. Guiliani not only made more campaign appearances in New Hampshire than any other candidate but he spent more money in the state than all over candidates except for Mitt Romney. That Ron Paul virtually tied Guiliani is an incredible political feat and the Paulites of New Hampshire should be wildly applauded. Had it not been for Paul activists, the candidate would have finished around Hunter’s 1%.


And Paul beat Giuliani in Iowa. And Paul has delegates while Giuliani has none.

Mr. McCain received 37% of the vote, in comparison to 32% for Mr. Romney. Mr. Huckabee garnered 11%, and Mr. Giuliani beat Ron Paul by one percentage point, 9% to 8%. Senator Thompson captured just 1% of the vote.




Huckabee
26,035
11%
1

Giuliani
20,054
9%
0

Paul
17,831
8%
0

Thompson
2,808
1%
0

Hunter
1,195
0%
0

Jan 8 Del
Del*
24
4
18
1
10
7
2
0
1
0
*Pledged delegates to date. Republican Scorecard lists all Republican delegates, including unpledged RNC members.
And Paul beat the last best conservative hope the media has been pushing; Fred Thompson. Whom he also beat in Iowa. And he is tied with Thompson in SC where Fred promises to make his final stand; ala the Alamo.

This is probably the real reason the liberal LA Times is pissed off about 'loser' Ron Paul, he is still in the race and they will have to continue writing about him.

Ron Paul: N.H. no reason to let up

January 8, 2008

CONCORD, N.H.—His didn't upstage the Republican frontrunners in New Hampshire, but Ron Paul said Tuesday he will continue on, raising issues that have riled many other Republicans and raising record amounts of cash on the Internet.

"There's really no reason for us to be letting up. It's really only the beginning," the Texas congressman told a raucous crowd of campaign workers and supports in Concord.

Paul, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war, was on track for fifth place with about 8 percent of the vote. He had hoped to better his 10 percent showing in the Iowa caucuses last week.

The libertarian-leaning doctor who says the Republican Party has lost its way said his campaign will gain strength as more voters hear his message of individual liberty and a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

"There is no doubt in my mind that we're on the right track. We're moving," Paul said.


He credited much of his support to young people, and an intense Internet campaign that saw him raise record amounts on the Web in the last three months.



Just like the right wing bloggers are gleefully cheering his loss in New Hampshire. They too suffer from Paulitis. But he just isn't going away or giving up, and good for him because unlike Kucinich this gadfly is getting press and will get more. He is far from irrelevant. Ron Paul is good for shaking up the conservative and Republican establishment in America and pissing off liberals who can't figure out his popularity.

These same folks also don't get Huckabee and his success either. They dismiss the populist as simply a born again phenomena, missing his appeal to the blue collar Republican base.

Working class America with all its peccadillo's and quirks is voting for change, both in the Republican and Democratic party's. And not just a change of leaders but a sea change in the politics of the two ruling party's of the ruling classes.


SEE

New Hampshire Polling Puts Paul Fourth

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My Name Is Ed

It appears fellow blogger Daveberta is being threatened with legal action because he owns the internet domain edstelmach.ca. I got an email from him about his plight.


The Premiers lawyers want him to give up this publicly licensed name which he bought. I mean they could have bought it had they been more internet savvy. You would think they would have at least searched Eddies name on the net to make sure he had all those possible sites with his name in it. Like edstelmach.com, or edstelmach.net, or edstelmach.org or edtelmach.xxx or....well you get my meaning. I mean its not like the Premier doesn't have his own Ed Stelmach page, he does.

But this headline is funny;
Law firm says blogger stole Stelmach's personality Really he has a personality? Could have fooled me.

Alberta premier threatens to sue over domain name


How come Ed's lawyers they didn't sue San Fransisco stores when they used the Premiers Face on a French Maid body poster for their Halloween Store Ads?

Ed better hire better lawyers, someone familiar with internet law, or the lawless internet. There are all sorts of political sites that have names of politicians that are not those politicians home pages but sites that attack them. Remember the successful PaulMartin.ca site; Paul Martin Time. Yep nothing the PM could do about that attack site at the time and there is nothing Ed can do about Dave's site.

H/T to Saskboy


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Yezedi In America

I came across this interesting article on the Yezedi, ethnic Kurdish 'Satanists', in Nebraska. Yes Virginia there are ethnic Satanists in America. But not the kind you think. They don't refer to themselves as Satanists. And in fact they are an earlier tradition of the Gnostic religions of the region.

The Yezedi of Lincoln, Nebraska

Avishay Artsy

When you come up to the north side of a grey duplex, it looks like any other home in this working-class Lincoln neighborhood.

But step inside, and you find men with beards and mustaches sitting cross-legged on pillows and smoking cigarettes. Kawil Hassan offers me a steaming cup of sweet Iraqi tea. He's the unofficial leader of the Yezidi community here, and right now they're all getting ready to celebrate their big holiday.

The Yezidis call their God Ezid, and this week's holiday is also called Ezid. Yezidis say it's to remember when Ezid appeared to them as a bright light in the sky, around 6,000 years ago. That places the founding of their religion well before the Judeo-Christian tradition. This year, Ezid starts at three a.m. on Tuesday with an early meal, followed by a short nap. Kawil's daughter Layla says they won't eat or drink again until sundown.

"We get up around seven a.m., before the sun comes out, and wash our face and pray, she explains, as her father recites the prayer in Kurdish.

Kawil recites the names of the seven angels and their leader, the Peacock Angel. For three days, the Yezidis will fast and pray, asking for forgiveness and for peace. They haven't seen much of the latter. The Yezidis are a religious minority in a rough part of the world, and they keep count of all the times they've been invaded throughout history. Things didn't get any better under Saddam Hussein. Around the time Layla was born, 19 years ago, her father and several other Yezidi men were rounded up by Iraqi police. They put Kawil Hassan in prison for 45 days. There, he says he was beaten, shocked with electrified cables and immersed headfirst in ice-cold water.

"They thought that we were too religious, too connected to our religion, and they would find any excuse to take us, Layla says.

When the first Gulf War broke out two years later, Saddam Hussein began forcing Yezidi men to join his army. Kawil decided to make a run for it. He and his family hid in caves until they could make it across the border into Syria. They lived there for seven years, in a United Nations refugee camp. Layla remembers it well.

"They brought us blankets and they would help us, but still, we didn't have a future… The bread that they brought us was full of bugs and stuff, she says.

They didn't forget their religion and traditions. They still fasted for three days on Ezid.
On the fourth day, Layla and the other children would sing, and dance, and collect candy from the other Yezidis.

"I would get up early in the morning, take one of the bags that we'd get from the store, and visit every camp that was in the village, and I would visit it and ask for candy, she recalls.

Layla's family made it to the U.S. in 1998. But their problems didn't go away. It's hard for them to explain their religious restrictions to people in Lincoln. They don't wear the color blue, because they believe it offends God. They don't eat lettuce. And on the rare occasion their religion makes the news, it's because of something horrible. On one day last August, suicide bombers killed about 300 Yezidis in northwest Iraq. Kawil Hassan watched the coverage on TV and says it was like reliving a nightmare.


Then I came across this comment in another post on the Yezedi. Which helps explain the popular misconception that they are 'Satanists'.
Mr. Beamish the Instablepundit said...

I was at my father's house surfing through his dead tree collection (his library) and I came across a book called Jadoo (1957) an autobiographical work by paranormal researcher John Keel (of Mothman Prophecies fame) and one chapter in that book is entitled "An invitation from the Devil" and is about time he spent among the Yezedi in Iraq.

According to Keel, the Yezedi are highly secretive and will not openly talk about their religion - devil worship - but from glimpses he gathered of it, it is primarily motivated by fear. The Yezedi do believe in God, but do not worship him, having the belief that God is supremely benevolent so no harm can come from not worshipping him. The Devil, on the other hand, being evil, must be kept sated or bad things will happen. They even forbid spitting on the ground to keep from offending Satan, who to them lives underground.

Strangely enough, Keel reported that the Yezedi he encountered all wanted him to stress to others that they were a peaceful people that just wanted to be left alone, that "Satan would take care of them."

It's a interesting read, I hope you can find the book in a library or online somewhere.


That and references by Anton LaVey to them in his Satanic Bible which may have been influenced by John Keel's book Jadoo. Much like tales of Zombies in Haiti were influenced by journalist and occultist William Seabrook's; Magic Island.

As a distant religious belief, many non-Yazidi people have written about them, and ascribed facts to their beliefs that have dubious historical validity. For example, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft made a reference to "... the Yezidi clan of devil-worshippers" in his short story "The Horror at Red Hook". The Yezidis have also been claimed as an influence on Aleister Crowley's Thelema. More notably, Anton Lavey drew upon the Yezidis for his own philosophy, LaVeyan Satanism, (e.g. The Law of the Trapezoid) in the "Satanic Bible" and "Satanic Rituals". In addition; The Order of the Peacock Angel, an obscure secret society based in the London suburb of Putney loosely based its rites on Yezidi beliefs as well.

in The Satanic Bible, Anton LaVey refers to the Yazidi as "a sect of Devil worshippers", and interprets their beliefs as follows:

They believe that God is all-powerful, but also all-forgiving, and so accordingly feel that it is the Devil whom they must please, as he is the one who rules their lives while here on earth.




Keel was apparently followed in the footsteps of P.B. Randolph who also got a mysterious invitation from the Sheik Baba, of the Yezedi to learn of their ways. Unlike Randolph who was an accomplished magickian and occultist, Keel was an accomplished stage magician and skeptic who from his experiences became a believer in the paranormal.


The Yezedi's creation mythos sounds strikingly familiar perhaps because their deity Malek Taus has been mistaken for the Fallen Angel of Judaeo-Christian-Isalmic mythology.

No one knows exactly how many Yezedis are left in the world though it’s estimated that 100,000 live here in northwestern Iraq, along the Sinjar Mountains.

The Yezedis are an insular people who have their own customs. They never wear the color blue or eat lettuce.

They have kept their religion alive through oral history and have falsely come to be known as devil worshippers because they are followers of the fallen angel, Lucifer.

The Yezedis, however, believe Lucifer was forgiven by God and returned to heaven. They call him Malek Taus (the peacock king) and pray to him. They do not ever use the word “Satan.”



Yezidi Creation Legend

The Yezidi (Yazidi) cosmology and religion is non-dual. They thus acknowledge an inactive, static and transcendental God who created, or "became", Seven Great Angels, the leader of which was Tawsi Melek, the Peacock "King" or Peacock "Angel".

Leading up to the creation of the cosmos, many Yezidis believe that the Supreme God was originally "over the seas", a notion reminiscent of the Biblical passage: "And the Spirit of God (as seven Elohim) moved upon the face of the waters." While playing with a white pearl, state the Yezidis, their Supreme God cast it into this cosmic sea. The pearl was broken and served as the substance from which the Earth and other planets and stars came into being.

The Supreme God then created or manifested a vehicle for completing the creation of the universe. This was the first and greatest angel, Tawsi Melek, the Peacock Angel. Since Tawsi Melek embodied the power and wisdom of the Supreme God he was easily able to know and carry out His bidding. Six more Great Angels were then created to assist Tawsi Melek in his work.

Soon after the Earth was created it began to shake violently. Tawsi Melek was then dispatched to Earth to stop the planet's quaking, as well as to endow it with beauty and abundance. When Tawsi Melek descended to Earth, he assumed the form of a glorious peacock - a bird full of the seven primary and secondary colors. Landing in a place now known as Lalish, Tawsi Melek transferred his peacock colors to the Earth and endowed it with a rich flora and fauna.

Tawsi Melek then traveled to the Garden of Eden to meet Adam. The first human had been created without a soul, so Tawsi Melek blew the breath of life into him. He then turned Adam towards the Sun, symbol of the Supreme Creator, while stating that there was something greater than a human being and it should be worshipped regularly. Tawsi Melek then chanted a prayer for all humanity to daily repeat to the Creator, and he did so in the 72 languages that were going to be eventually spoken by the 72 countries and races that were destined to cover the Earth.

Then Eve was created. But according to the Yezidis before copulating the primal couple enrolled in a kind of competition to see if either of either of them could bring forth progeny independent of the other. They both stored their seed in a sealed jar and then after an incubation period opened them. Eve's jar was opened and found to be full of insects and vermin, while inside Adam's jar was a beautiful boy-child. This lovely child, known as Shehid bin Jer, “Son of Jar,” grew quickly, married, and had offspring. His descendants are the Yezidis. Thus, the Yezidis regard themselves descendants of Adam but not Eve.

Shehid bin Jer inherited the divine wisdom that Tawsi Melek had taught his father Adam and then passed it down to his offspring, the earliest Yezidis. It is this wisdom that has become the foundation of the Yezidi religion.

And they are getting more recognition because of articles like this.


Armenia’s Yezidis in Geographical

yezidi 0001

Yezidis, Alagyaz, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 1998

My feature article and photographs for Geographical, the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society, were meant to be published in the January 2008 edition, but now it looks like it’s already been published in the December issue. Unfortunately, the full text of the article is not available online yet, but when it is I’ll post another link and an excerpt. Until then, this is what Geographical has for now.

A people divided

Armenia’s Yezidi people practise one of the purest versions of Kurdish culture, but, as Onnik Krikorian discovers, outside forces have riven the small community.

My last published article on Yezidis in Armenia was for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and can be read online here, and many of the transcripts of the interviews I’ve done since 1998 are here. Also, until the full Geographical article can be read online, there’s plenty of posts and links to previous articles on Yezidis in Armenia and Georgia under the relevant category.


Because of America's invasion of Iraq the world now hears more about the plight of the Kurds and the Yezedi in particular not only in Iraq but in Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Iran, etc. Unfortunately for them they are not only a persecuted ethnic minority, but a persecuted religious minority and a politically persecuted one as well as many Yezedi villages support the PKK. Which are now under attack by Turkish forces.


"The syncretic volatility of the region has only been enhanced (as
has our knowledge of these groups) by the ethnic, political and
military tensions that have waxed and waned after the "Great Game"
and most especially since the Gulf War, which brought far more
contact with the Yezidi as a result of Saddam Hussein's Kurdish
purges. Furthermore, the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) has
garnered both support and antagonism from various sectors of the
Yezidi community, and many Yezidi Kurds fled the Turkish - Iraqi
border to Germany where they have their own online and print
magazine [12] - as well as a World Conference [13] to discuss the
intricacies of their metaphysics and social structure. As more
details emerge about their religious history, we may find that
cross-pollination will occur back into the western Hermetic
tradition and its own angelick cultus."
http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id1340/pg1/

also
http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id1340/pg1/
http://www.disinfo.com/pages/dossier/id985/pg1/


SEE:

The Yezedi

Satan Made Him Do It

Bulgarian Women Abused

My Favorite Muslim

Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani

Antinominalist Anarchism

New Age Libertarian Manifesto

Heresy

Gnosis

Gnostic

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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Merry (Ukrainian) Christmas

Well it is actually Orthodox Christmas according to the old Julian calendar. But across Canada we know it as Ukrainian Christmas. And don't be confused today is Christmas. Last night was Christmas Eve, which is why we Ukrainians celebrated with a twelve course vegetarian meal. Today we celebrate with pepto bismal.


Yuriy Davydovo, a visitor from Ukraine and a guest of Portage la Prairie’s Achtemichuk family, lights a candle before a supper among family and friends that includes a 12-course meal that is a holiday tradition. The Achtemichuks hosted two families from Ukraine at their home in Portage and sang carols yesterday on the Ukrainian Christmas Eve, which falls on Jan. 6, according to the Julian calendar.




SEE

UKRAINITZKI RIZDVO

Merry Ukrainian Christmas


Yes Colby Cosh there is such a thing as Ukrainian Christmas


Christmas


Pagan

Ukraine


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Steroid Nation

The story of 2007 for the U.S. was not the sub-prime melt down, nor the U.S. presidential race, heck it wasn't even the surge in Iraq. The story of 2007 was how the United States replaced East Germany as Steroid Nation.

It's all about winning. Not competition really, but winning. Winning at all costs, even if it means cheating. We're Number 1, We're Number 1 is the mantra. And the cheating through steroids, human growth hormone, testosterone, etc. is merely a reflection of a culture of cheating that is the moral economy of American culture.

Enron, Worldcom, the economic scandals of the boom economy where tax evasion is considered a good thing, a fine thing, screw the IRS, which led to the accounting scandals that brought down some of America's corporate giants. Like the doping scandals, tax avoidance and accounting manipulation over stock prices, back dating stock, all these schemes are based on the idea that everyone is doing it.
Illegal doping recognizes no national boundaries. It is an inevitable offshoot of a system that stresses winning at all costs, invading every sport, entangling amateur and pro alike. The conviction that everyone else is using these illegal performance-enhancing substances creates a vicious cycle.


That is why Conrad Black wants to become an American, he fits into that mold quite well.And by the time he finishes his jail sentence he will have enough time in to become one.

Whereas in Canada we are embarrassed by such cheating. We denounce it, and those who do it. Look at how we sacrificed Ben Johnson on the altar of good sportsmanship. And we did it promptly. While in America they wait and wait until the inevitable leak reveals that their Olympic medals were won through cheating.

In 2000, Dr. Wade Exum unveiled one of the biggest doping cover-ups in sports history when he released a list of 19 American medalists who were allowed to compete in various Olympic Games from 1988 to 2000 despite having failed earlier drug tests. The list also helped to stir up an old controversy. Track and field star Carl Lewis, who was named on Exum’s list, won the gold medal in the 100M event at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games because his opponent Ben Johnson was disqualified from the event due to steroid use. Johnson was not too happy to see Lewis’ name on the new list, to say the least.


And by then it is too late, the damage is done. They only admit after the records are broken. Making those records is all important. Making record breaking profits, Olympic medal records, baseball home run records, the Tour de France, etc. once made they can never be expunged from the popular record. Even though they were made by cheating.

The cheater may be defrocked but his or her record stands. And that is all that counts. Winner takes all.And America is all about winning. They can say only dopes use dope, but they cheer them on all the same.

The company may have gone bankrupt but the CEO gets golden parachutes and hired again. Unless they go to jail to make an example that the 'system works'. And the defrocked corporate cheaters like Millikan or Martha Stewart get out of jail eventually and once again are embraced by their old pals.

Steroids and Corporate Greed share a common morality, a common set of values, that truly reflect the American cultural psyche far more than any claim to family values or Christian morals. And after all professional sports is a business.



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