It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, October 02, 2006
Pro Life?
A simple question for these moral simpletons, since you claim to be Pro-Life I take it you are opposed to Capital Punishment and War, both the very essence of anti-life . I look forward to your vociferous pontifications on these anti-life topics. Especially from the Catholic bloggers. But I suspect that war and capital punsihment can be justified. However many moral twists and turns that takes.
Of course those who are protestant evangelical fundamentalists face no such moral predicament. They simply justify their anti-choice positon by appealing to mythical family values, the ultimate defense of patriarchy.
Instead of saying abortion is murder and the worst crime in the history of mankind (of course for womankind it is not a crime but a historic neccisity of birth control), lets get real and deal with real crimes against humanity, war and capital punishment.
Oh and while we are on the topic of abortion and birth control I hope you support a girls/womans right to know, by providing alternatives to the neccisity of abortion, or worse infanticide, by supporting access to birth control and public sex / human relationships education K-12. Why of course you do.
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Five Things Feminism Has Done For Me
I got tagged in the Five Things Feminism Has Done For Me meme by John Murney, thanks John. You can read here to find out what its about.
Also Today the Progressive bloggers will be doing a pro feminist blog burst...october is women's history month, a call to post or re-post "5 things feminism did for me" anytime on the 2nd
I won't blog about five things rather I will blog about feminists I consider historically important. Feminism has been essential in the development of my libertarian and pagan perspective.
I will blog about those who did not take State funding to fight for womens rights and against patriarchical society. In fact their autonomous activity showed that women had to organize despite the State, academia, capitalism, and Christianity. I am not here to support the Status of Women or the State. It is reformism pure and simple. That being said I donot support the attempts by the vile rightwhing to get rid of the Status of Women. This is political correctness from the right, attempting to impose their Christian fundamentalist values on secular society.
I think Status of Women is a liberal sop and it is irrelevant to historically authentic feminism and to women organizing for themselves as the proletariat.
Since it is womens history Month I thought I would post my selection of Greatest Feminists Not Supported By the State in historic waves of Feminism. And my waves fit historic periods. While mainstream Feminism says there are three waves of Feminism historically there are actually six. And those who claim we are in some sort of post-feminist period are deluded as are the post-modernists.
I look at when these women were active or published. When dealing with their ideas and influence it is interesting to note when they actually published. Margaret Mead for instance published her works on Samoa back in the late 1920's while her influence continues right through till today.
And yes I have included liberated women who embrace sexuality as a positive affirmation of themselves. "Yes, I am a revolutionist. All true artists are revolutionists." Isadora Duncan.
And in keeping with this meme I tag the following five:
Larry Gambone
CathiefromCanada
RustyIdols
Daveberta
DearKitty
Feminist Wave 1 1790-1899
1. Mary Wollstencroft
2. Sojourner Truth
3.Victoria Woodhull
4. Anne Besant
5. Lucy Parsons
6. Eleanor Marx
7. Mother Jones
8. Voltairine de Cleyre
9. Florence Farr
10. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
11. Sophia: British Feminism in the Mid Eighteenth Century
Feminist Wave 2 1900-1950
1. Jane Ellen Harrison
2. Emma Goldman
3. Margaret Sanger
4. Alexandra Kollanti
5. Dr. Margret Murray
6. Sylvia Pankhurst
6. Mary Beard
7. Helen Keller
8. Mujeres Libres
9. Simone de Beauvoir
10. Margaret Mead
11. Dion Fortune
12. Isadora Duncan
13. Gypsy Rose Lee
14. Bettie Page
15. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
Feminist Wave 3 1960-1970
1. Gloria Steinem
2. Betty Friedan
3. Evelyn Reed
4. Raya Dunesevkeya
5. Madalyn Murray O'Hair
6. Clara Fraser
7. Rachel Carson
8. Jayne Mansfield
Feminist Wave 4 1970-1980
1. Jane Godall
2. Shulamith Firestone
3. Selma James
4. Maria Della Costa
5. Kate Millet
6. Sheila Rowbotham
7. Angela Davis
8. Barbara Ehrenreich
9. Sharon Presley
10. Robin Morgan
11. Ti-Grace Atkinson
12. Betty Dodson
13. Jo Freeman
14. CWLU
15. Marge Piercy
Feminist Wave 5 1980-1999
1. Maria Gimbutas
2. Wendy McElory
3. Camilia Paglia
4. Stephanie Coontz
5. StarHawk
6. Annie Sprinkle
7. Nina Hartley
8. Dawn Passer
Feminist Wave 6- 2000-200?
1. Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards
2. Kathy Pollitt
For more lists of women see:
Women in Science.
WOMEN WRITERS
Literary Resources -- Feminism and Women's Literature (Lynch)
For my blog articles see:
Feminism
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The Solution To Columbine Syndrome
The Columbine syndrome is the psychosis of using video games as a similcarum for reality. As we saw at Dawson College.
But have no fear capitalism provides the virtual solution.Computer Games Prepare Battlefield Medics
Also See:
Gill
The Spectre of Charles Whitman
Wilhelm ReichCyborg
shootings, Montreal, DawsonCollege, CGEP, gunregistry, gun-contol, murder, crime, Canada, Quebec, Harper, Conservatives, Government, Toews, hitandrun, Toronto, cars, driverslicences, car, registry, Kimveer, Gill, Dawson, College, CGEP, Montreal, Massacre, shooting, crime, Columbine, video, videogaming, gaming, firstpersonsooters, Doom, Quake, Reich, emotionalplague, vampirefreek.com,Goth, Medicine, Hat, murders, Canada, Alberta, subculture, crime, teenagers,
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Liberal Super Weekend
Currently 335 out of 467 meetings have reported. The interesting thing is that Dion is behind Kennedy, who is neck and neck with Rae, and Ignatieff has the lead, as expected. Such a humble guy, I am not the front runner. Ha.
Anyways the losers are Findlay, Brison, Volpe and Dryden in that order. With only enough delegates each to do the right thing; lick their wounds and bow out.
However include the undeclared delegates and this group has 590 delegates. More than Kennedy or Dion. Those delgates will make a difference in the Anybody But Iggy campaign. Now who will get them? Rae? Kennedy? Dion? I suspect that Dion is out of it. The race to replace Iggy will be between Kennedy and Rae.
This could get exciting, cause its been a snore fest so far. And the position of the three prime candidates in the lead are Pro-War, Mushy Middle and Anti-War.
Afghanistan will not be an issue come the Convention, the issue will be who can win the next election. Or failing that, the one after.
It's a lame duck Liberal Party that will arise from the ashes of the Leadership race, with a lame duck leader.
Also See
Liberal Leadership Race
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Orwellian Marketing
See
CN
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Infrastructure Imbalance
Taxes taken by the province and Federal governments are not passed on to municipalities, or if they are it is crudgingly. Yet it is municpal governments that are expected to provide the infrastructure.
Instead of worrying about provincial fiscal imablances lets look at the real results of the failure of all levels of government to fund our crumbling infrastructure. All the more reason to look at a new form of confederation that includes the municipalities at the table.
And no we don't need more P3's or toll roads that benefit privateers. We have the monies it's a matter of investing them in real physical infrastructure and on going maintenance
n a 2000 study done for the Canadian Federation of Municipalities by McGill University, it was identified that almost 70% of our municipal infrastructure is in need of repair. This includes roads, bridges, sewage collection and treatment, and water distribution and treatment. The study also estimates that it will take over $20 billion to rehabilitate these facilities to year 2000 standards. Between 2001 and 2003, according to their own reports, Infrastructure Canada, a federal department that you would think would address the crumbling infrastructure in Canada, paid out over $4 billion in grants. Of that $4 billion, not a single cent was allocated to fixing existing infrastructure. Of the funds, according to the report, 43% went to new public transit, 7% went to new urban roads, 12% went to tourism, 4% to expansion of broadband Internet, 22% for new highways, 11% for new water projects and 1% to new housing.editorial - Political opinion and review - Politics Canada
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Shameless Plug
The 2006 Canadian Blog Awards are now open for nominations. Looking forward to all your votes.
See:
Blog Awards
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Catholics and Republicans
They both cover up for pedophiles.
GOP leaders knew of Foley e-mail in '05
Pope 'led cover-up of child abuse by priests'
It is the crisis of the instrumentality of governance, authoritarian state structures like the Vatican and the American Political State are prone to psychotic paranoia over maintaining power, which means they cover up rather than admit the truth.
And the media usually acts as an abetting force as it did in the case of Foley.
Efforts to reach the boy were unsuccessful, but he told the St. Petersburg Times last November, "I thought it was very inappropriate. After the one about the picture, I decided to stop e-mailing him back." The Times didn't publish the comments until Friday.
In the U.S. it is considered child abuse for old men in political office to send sexual emails to pages. In Alberta it is ok for drunken abusive old men in political office to throw books at pages
See:
Child Abuse
Catholic Abuse
Pedophiles
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TAGS
child abuse
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Priests
Literacy and Volunteerism Unproductive
Uh they are having a positive effect but won't have if you cut their core funding. The con-job is that the Harpocrites have not looked at what they are cutting, they just used a machete to get through the jungle of Liberal programs they love to hate.
See:
Tory Cuts For All
You Tell 'em Danny Boy
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Libertarian Communism Redux
So here is a more recent comment on what Libertarian Communism is and is not. It is the free association of producers and the unlimited distribution of the wealth of their labour.
But as we all do, this author too looks backwards to the origins of political economics from whence all such definitions come.
What is communism? - Anarkismo
One of the first people to critically engage with political economy and attempt to turn it around to defend the improvement of the condition of the working class and rural poor was the scion of an Anglo- Irish landowning family from West Cork by the name of William Thompson. Born in 1775 in Cork, the young Thompson had been an enthusiastic supporter of the enlightenment, republicanism and the French Revolution. He later became a leading figure in the Co-operative movement in radical opposition to Robert Owen.
Thompson moved to posit a system of "free exchange" where equal access to land and the means of production was guaranteed to all, but distribution was governed by the right to the produce of labour taking precedence over the right to subsistence. As the anarchist historian Max Nettlau noted "[Thompson's] book, however, discloses his own evolution; having started with a demand for the full product of labour as well as the regulation of distribution, he ended up with his own conversion to communism, that is to unlimited distribution".
See
Libertarian Communism
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Tortoise or Turtle
The U.S. contines to refuse to consider handing over control of the Internet to a UN style body like the International Telecommunications Union, because it might be too slow to implement rules and technology.
Well that's the excuse, the reality is of course the Americans need to maintain their monopoly over the Internet. Financial Times is reporting that the Department of Commerce is going to wait another three years before selling off the Internet (tm) (c) to ICANN the private corporate overseer of the Internet.
But irony of ironies ICANN has been accussed of being too slow to recognize new Internet domain names in languages other than English. Which is why the EU and others want the UN to run the Internet like it does the ITU.
So which is slower the Tortoise or the Turtle.
Bottom line as I have said here before, we need the Internet to be organized based on something like the ITU which had the support of anarchists like Peter Kropotkin when it was formed.
Martin van Creveld, The Rise and Decline of the State, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999
- The foundation of the International Telegraph Union "which took place in 1865 marked the first time when states created an organization in which they themselves were members but which at the same time had a legal person of its own as well as a permanent staff and a permanent headquarters at which it could be reached." "... in 1932 the organization was transformed into the International Telecommunication Union." (p. 382)
- "Serving as a model for others to come, the ITU was followed by the International Postal Union (1874) and the International Bureau of Weights and Standards (1875)." (pp. 382-383)
- "By 1984 the number of intergovernmental organizations, which had stood at 123 in 1951 and 280 in 1972, reached 395." (p. 383)
Also See:
Telecos want to Monopolize the Net
NARUS Is Big Brother
The End of State Monopoly Internet
Big Brother Bush
Google Censorship China
Inclusive Internet
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Interview With A Flat Earther
BBC Reporter interviews Myron Ebell from the Competitive Enterprise Institute;
"Mr Ebell, you are not a scientist. It is clear that many people on your side of the fence are misrepresenting the arguments. You yourself described the government’s chief scientific advisor in this country of “knowing nothing about climate science”. He is at least a scientist. Now, do you see the problem that respectable scientists have with the sort of points made by organizations such as yours? "
See:
Global Warming
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Besmirching Belinda
Domi's wife Leanne said in court documents that she believed her husband was having an "intimate sexual relationship" with Belinda Stronach, a cabinet minister in Canada's previous Liberal government. Hockey star confirms divorce, not affair
One has to ask this simple question; since divorce is no fault in Canada why she decided to go the public adversarial route? Why does this smell of Conservative political operatives being involved?
Leanne Domi has not made any direct statements to the media about the breakdown of her marriage, yet the allegations laid out in the divorce application are quite specific. "Tie Domi has committed adultery with Belinda Stronach,'' the first line of the court document reads.
She didn't have to go to the media once she filed pulbic divorce papers. That was red meat for the shark frenzy. What's In The Leanne Domi Divorce Document?The ensuing blame Belinda coverage in the media and blogosphere shows that this was a deliberate and calculated attempt to do political damage to a sitting MP.
Belinda Stronach was warned in no uncertain terms that her private life would be "completely exposed" if she entered federal politics
The lack of focus on the primary player in this; Tie Domi himself shows the insulation the media wraps its sports heros in, while leaving politicians open season to speculative perjorative reporting.
Leanne claims he was 'violent' with her, yet a previous joint lawsuit with hubby disputing that allegation was a success for the Domi' and a career killer for a sportscaster.
In 2004, Tie Domi and his wife Leanne filed suit against the "Team 1200" AM radio station in Ottawa after a commentator, Don "Dandyman" Romani, insinuated on the air that Domi beat his wife. The lawsuit was dropped after the station fired Romani, who apologised to the Domis, and said his remarks were an ill-advised attempt at humour.
Domi's divorce was sure to get news coverage, however to implicate Belinda Stronach in this in a public way stinks of backroom politics. This is more than just being a case of a woman scorned getting her revenge.
Leanne Domi alleges her husband asked her not to go public with details of their divorce, promising to give her $1 million in cash and their $1.5-million house if she did not hire a lawyer. If she contacted a lawyer, however, "I would get nothing," she said in the application. Domi, estranged wife make a deal
This was calaculated for its political as well as media impact. The damage done a truce was called between the warring factions. The focus on Belinda is one sided when one considers that it was Tie's actions, not her's, which historically ruined his relationship with his wife.According to a Google for Julie Hannaford, Leanne Domi's lawyer, she is no mere spring chicken, no articling lawyer. She is a player, she is a past President of the Empire Club.
She litigated the World's First Gay Divorce
She took Culutral studies at Trent.
She is a partner in Borden Elliot which was merged into the giant International Bay Street firm of Borden Ladner Gervais.
Julie Hannaford |
Julie Hannaford, M.A. (Toronto), LL.B. (Toronto) was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1985. She practices law in Toronto as a partner of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP. Her practice is concentrated in litigation. Prior to being course director in the Trial Advocacy course at U of T, she taught as a part time member of faculty at Osgoode Hall in the Trial Practice course. She has taught at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy in their advocacy training programmes at Minneapolis, Dallas, and Boulder, and in their faculty training programmes held at Notre Dame University and Harvard University. She has been invited faculty/team leader in the Trial Advocacy course at Louisiana State University Law School at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and has chaired and taught in courses on advocacy and trial practice for the Ontario Centre for Advocacy Training (OCAT), the Law Society of Upper Canada, and the Canadian Bar Association (Ontario). |
See:
He Shoots
Belinda Stronach
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All Fizzle No Sizzle
The rightwhing columnists in the media and the blogosphere like to talk about the "usual rent a crowd", when it came to mass demonstrations , and I am talking double digit thousands, against the government.
The term seems apt for the Conservative Party stalwarts that got the pro-war rallies going in Ottawa and now Toronto.
Too bad their Toronto rent a crowd wasn't larger, a handfull of Blogging Tories and other Conservative Party supporters essentially held a rally to support the war on the backs of our troops.
Hundreds gather in TO for 'Red Friday' rally
These rallies which the right has claimed exist to show tropps and their families we support them, have been hijacked by the Pro War Pro Harper crowd not to support our trooops, or they would demand their withdrawl, but to support the war.
Apparently the irony of holding Pro War Rallies on the same day as funerals are held for Canadian KIA, is lost on these guys.
Yesterday's rally was held on the same day as funerals for three Canadian soldiers took place in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.
And despite all their so called grassroots organizing , free media exposure generated by rightwhing talkshow hosts on Corus & Global radio networks, they could only pull a few hundred folks out in megatropolis Toronto.
Red Rally support for troops today
By: Jaime Pulfer with report by Ashleigh Patterson
Toronto - Dundas Square will be a sea of red today as people participate in the Toronto Red Rally to support for Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
A sea hardly, it was a pond.
Even less than rallied in Ottawa. But then again the New Government in Ottawa encouraged civil servants and employees to attentd the rally. In Toronto it was a public private partnership Tim Hortons relents, workers join 'Red Friday'
OCAP and the armies of homeless have held larger demos in T.O. And recent Anti-War demos have also been bigger. And that was without Timmies support.
Indeed only a week ago mass rallies were held across Canada, not in two single cities in Ontario, to call for action on Darfur. An issue Harper refuses to discuss.
There were rallies all across Canada last week to stress the importance of responding to Darfur. Helping to lead the world on this issue is important, and completely within Canada's traditions of peace keeping and protecting innocent people. But this government is unable to divide its focus and resources. Afghanistan is the Harper Governement's Sixth Priority
The lesson of this tale is that these Red Fridays have been a one day wonder. They originated in a genuine feeling of folks, especially military families, wanting to show publicly they support the troops. But supporting the troops is not tacit support of the current Afghanistan mission.
It got hijacked by the Military for its own purposes, more fighting assignments more equipment to fight with.
The New Canadian government is using these rallies to show that, despite polls saying otherwise, Canadians back Harpers War.
Forces will listen to Red Rally cheers on radio
Canadian forces are being given a chance in Afghanistan to hear red today -- a rousing wave of support that will rock the downtown in a giant flag-waving rally. The 2,500 Canadian soldiers are being urged by the military brass to tune in the Red Rally cheers and best wishes when hour-long radio broadcasts start at noon from Dundas Square on CFRB and AM-640 Radio.
Well the majority of Canadians do not support the Harper/Hillier war plan, as is shown in polls and in the streets of T.O. on Friday. And make no bones aout it this is not only a New Law & Order State it is a Militarized one as well. Hillier is Harpers kinda guy, so its hands off, and the Military runs its political masters. Does anyone else find this scary? A New Canadian Government with its own Republican Guard.
The only people not getting the message are Mssr. Harper and Hellier as well as the rent a crowd at the Blogging Tories and the right whing talk show hosts in the MSM.
Showing that the BT blosgosphere and even the conservative activists, especially those in the media, carry less poloitical weight then they credit themselves with. They couldn't even organize a 'mass' demonstration of their own core supporters.
Something RightWhingWhiner and Talk Show Host Dave Rutherford found out when he rallied his listners against young offenders only a few thousand showed up, compared to 15,000 that rallied to save the Grey Nuns hospital from Kleins Kuts.
I await their mewling mumbles about the silent majority supporting them.
Support Our Troops is one of those tropes that has two meanings. And as Alice found out from the Red Knight one of those meanings is whatever Harper wants it to be. And in this case it is Bush-like denial of reality. As he did in New York saying Canadians supported the war when the polls said otherwise.
There is no mass support for this war. Conservative calls to unquestioning patriotism fall on deaf ears in Canada. Since most of us realize that Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundral.
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