If I ever hear that wretched paean to juvenile emotionalism and shallow, heart-tugging vacuity, "I Believe," again, it will be about 50 billion years too soon.Now shut up and put on some "Talking Heads."P.S. Please, for the love of Mutt, stop telling me about how we won a "record" number of medals. Of course we did, given the recent introduction of such faux competitions as the mixed, giant, halfpipe, aerial, slalom sno-ski-cross team relay and ridiculous rubbish like that.It's not a real sport unless the winners get to kill and eat the losers. Which explains why I'm so intrigued by the …
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The American Dream has great power. Merriam-Webster defines it as “an American social ideal that stresses egalitarianism and especially material prosperity”; but this is incomplete. The American Dream is also bound up in those four words, “the pursuit of happiness,” an “unalienable right” guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson and Franklin elided our right to “the means of acquiring and possessing property,” a phrase appended by the shorter-sighted or more egalitarian George Mason. For those guys, egalitarianism was only …
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INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-TURKEY:FREE SEHER TUMER:The following appeal for solidarity comes from the international labour solidarity site Labour Start.TLTLTLTLTLTLTLTLAct NOW!Turkey: Free Seher TümerUnion activist Seher Tümer, Branch Secretary of PSI affiliate SES (the trade union of public employees in health and social services), will spend International Women’s Day 2010 in prison.But international solidarity action could open the door to freedom for her.Ms Tümer has now been detained in an F-type prison for almost a year, with no clear charges being brought against her. PSI is convinced …
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MOLLY'S LINKS:OUR LINKS: Molly continues to 'chug down' her links ala the Spanish CNT. I'm presently at the CNT in Catalonia, and there is a lot more that I have to list before I get out of the anarchosyndicalist ballpark. What can I say for now. Despite being restricted (more or less) to links that are in English, French or Spanish Molly's Blog is now far and away the most comprehensive list of links for anarchists contacts anywhere. We intend to complete expanding this section of the blog, and we hope you will help us. If any of our links are "dead" please inform us here or via Molly's …
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What a buffoon! According to a Sydney-based researcher, the Australian Prime Minister, at an event in January, told her that her PhD was an excuse commonly used by young women “to avoid starting a family”. Deputy PM Julia Gillard better get on the clean up trail after that one. Apparently Mr. Rudd doesn’t recall making such a comment. I’m sure he did – he’s such a useless goon. I’m also sure he’s not a total misogynist like his rival, Tony Abbott. He’s just an indoctrinated, socialized, mostly-misogynist like most other men. He may not …
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INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PHILIPPINES:SOLIDARITY WITH PHILIPPINE WORKERS:The following appeal for solidarity in two different labour disputes in the Philippines comes from the Maquila Solidarity Network.PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPTake action on Philippines labour rights abuses‏ Last fall, a high-level International Labour Organization (ILO) mission went to the Philippines to investigate “serious allegations of the murder of trade unionists, death threats, arrests of trade union leaders in connection with their trade union activities, widespread impunity relating to violence against trade unionists and …
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Canada 3 USA 2 ...after 67 minutes and 40 seconds of brilliant, clean, rapid-fire, edge-of-your-seat hockey. And they saved the best for last! What a show! Kudos to both teams! …
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MOLLY'S POLLS:WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE WINTER OLYMPICS ?: As I type this there are only a few more hours left to go in the 2010 Winter Olympics...and also only a few more hours to vote in the poll over at Molly's Polls about 'What Do You Think Of The 2010 Winter Olympics ?'. Drop over to the link and express your opinion before it is too late. So far the "pro-Olympic" vote outnumbers the antis. Quite frankly I find this comforting and not because I am in favour of the Olympics. I am not. What it says to me is that my goal of having this anarchist blog speaking to not just …
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CANADIAN LABOUR SUDBURY:VALE INCO LAUNCHES LAWSUIT AGAINST STEELWORKERS:The latest news on the strike against Vale Inco in Sudbury is that the company has launched a lawsuit against the union (Local 6500 of the United Steel Workers) over various incidents during the course of the seven months of the strike against the company. Legally speaking I doubt that the company has a leg to stand upon as it would be difficult to impossible to prove that the union even encouraged, let alone planned any of the incidents mentioned. Still, I guess that it is good harassment tactics for the company to set …
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Conservative Justice Minister Rob "Taserman" Nicholson today introduced four-term Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer as Canada's special advisor on drugs. The announcement was made only days before Prime Minister Cowboy Steve's Conservative government pursues their "tough on crime" agenda during the next session of Parliament. Taserman said "nobody is more aware of drugs, and he'll be looking for them in small-town Canada, Downtown Eastside Vancouver, in correctional institutions, even under buses". The appointment is consistent with the Conservatives' resolute stand on law and order. Jaffer stated …
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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:SOLAR POWER AND COMMUNITY: The older I get the more cynical I become about a vast variety of "do good" projects, whether right wing, left wing or no wing whatsoever. rather than being a total curmudgeon, however, I do always search for things that I find encouraging rather than discouraging. What follows is one such thing. The SELF (Solar Electric Light Fund) seems to me to be the sort of thing that actually benefits the recipients of what is called "aid" rather than benefiting the giver by subterfuge. Hopefully my first impression is true. I certainly approve …
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A new Parliament opens with a Throne Speech on March 3. I can't wait.But National Post commentator John Ivison can:Two months after MPs last met on Parliament Hill, the House of Commons will once again echo to the characteristic sounds of Question Period....the opposition asking fatuous questions and the government not answering them. [emphasis added]And:[T]he engine of government, which has been roaring away like a Rolls Royce during the absence of all honourable members from Ottawa, will return to levels more normally associated with the parliamentary session - that of the average garden …
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Disasters like these seem to bring out all the haters and bigots. I got these choice comments (and this is only a small sample) from the CBC comments section, which supposedly has a more liberal audience. One can only wonder what is being emailed in the right wing media. What is a 'Chilean-Canadian' and how do I sign up to receive benefits from two countries, but only pay taxes to one? I'm being ripped off. Classic right winger, full of envy. God help anyone who gets a little more than they do, but billionaires, no problem! I wonder if Hugo Chavez will help out his South American …
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Groupe Lacasse Workers Ratify Work AgreementFeb 26, 2010-By Stacy Straczynski Canadian furniture manufacturer Groupe Lacasse and the Communications and Energy & Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) officially resolved conflicts on Wednesday (Feb. 4) with 250 plant workers. A majority (89.7 percent) of the disgruntled employees voted in support of a three-year work agreement. The vote ends an eight week lock-out at Lacasse’s main laminate manufacturing plant in St. Pie, which the company instituted when workers initiated slowdown tactics at the end of last year due to failed negotiations.As …
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Well folks, the Owelympics, Perilympics, no matter what you call them are almost over. What a  curse these games were! Let’s recap: the horrific death of the young unknown Georgian Luger, the unseasonably warm weather causing events to be postponed and reduced ticket sales and/or reimbursements, the  protests that went awry, the deaths of Joanie Rochette’s mother, a shuttle bus driver and Andrew Koenig and of course that debt that will be sacked on the B.C. taxpayers. I bring up the chain of events because it all seems to be lost on that whole own the podium thingey and our …
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The layers of surveillance and counter-surveillance in this one photograph are both amusing and unsettling. Here a legal observer at a protest in Vancouver is filming a cop who is filming her. Note that the picture, taken by another legal observer, is further surveillance, as is your viewing of it on my blog.[H/t Mike Soron] …
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Via "Dammit, Janet!", we learn that some Catholics are just as retarded as you suspected:The flow of medical supplies waiting to be distributed to tens of thousands of earthquake victims in Haiti was delayed for weeks by a massive supply of condoms dominating the space of the main storage facility there, an eyewitness with insider information has told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN)...The source reported that shipping containers of medical supplies were unable to be unloaded, sorted and distributed since an enormous supply of condoms clogged the facility till early February, when the condoms could be …
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THE LONDON REVIEW BLOG has an article by Ross McKibbin, "Coercive Solutions", that discusses a White Paper created by the OZ government: The Counter-Terrorism White Paper, Securing Australia – Protecting our Community.The Australian (Labor) government has just published a white paper (‘Securing Australia – Protecting Our Community’) which assures its readers that the terrorist threat to Australia is stronger than ever. External threats remain, of course, but are now made much worse by the dangers of homegrown terrorism, a result of the spread of jihadist propaganda among Australia’s …
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Shorter "Hunter": "I'm going to defend Helena Guergis since we deranged, shrieking, psychologically-unbalanced Conservative women have to stick together."Shorter Fred "Gay and Right" Litwin: "Speaking on behalf of my Blogging Tory colleagues, none of whom are capable of intellectual multitasking, I think it's a terrific idea that Harper prorogued Parliament during the Olympics. I mean, that whole walking and chewing gum at the same time? Lot tougher than it looks."Shorter Jabba the Roy: "Don't you just hate un-democratic, dictatorial, fascist governments? I do."Shorter "BC Blue": "Fuck …
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I was orignally trying to find a confirmation of the latest the wankiest thing Orly Taitz has come up  with to day. that is all over Twitter about everyone’s favourite Bither queen,  the Gabor missing link. Unfortunately, couldn’t find anything confirming it, but I found something else a propos for tonight given Helean Guergis’s temper tantrum at the Charlottetown airport. I caught this over at Huffington Post Comedy. Yes, ways to entertain one’s self while stranded at an airport, enduring a flight delay. Ok, maybe we don’t want her highness driving, even if it …
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I've blogged about the IRQR before. This morning I attended a brunch meeting at Ottawa City Hall in support of this relatively new NGO (it started up in 2008 and was incorporated in 2009). I am pleased to report that it had to be moved to a larger room because attendance exceeded expectations.The mission of the Toronto-based organization is to assist gay and lesbian refugees from Iran who have ended up in Europe with no money and no resources, to help them obtain Convention refugee status, and to get them to places where they can live their lives without fear. They have helped, or are helping, …
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CANADIAN POLITICS-VANCOUVER:DEMONSTRATIONS TO RING OUT THE OLYMPICS:The great Olympics party will soon be drawing to a close, and it's sure that the hangover will follow close behind as the taxpayers find out how much they will have to cough up. Public funding for the athletes will shrink until the nest needed boost for political optics. The opposition to the Games, however, plans to have some closing ceremonies of their own on the final day. Here, from the Olympic Resistance Network, is the line-up for tomorrow. You pick where these will sit on the podium. VOVOVOVOVOVOVOVOFeb 28: Three …
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Why Canonize People We Never Noticed? Thoughts on the Harriett Nahanee Cult by Kevin Annett, www.hiddenfromhistory.org Harriett Nahanee of the Pacheedaht Nation died three years ago this week. You can't listen to a youthful "activist" in Canadian radical - indigenous circles these days without hearing at some point an obligatory reference made to "warrior and elder" Harriett Nahanee, who, although largely ignored by the same activists while she was alive, has suddenly gained a quasi-mystical status in their minds. Idolizing a stranger is usually the most handy way to dismiss who they …
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I have come late to the saga of Peter Fonteece and his remorseless pounding by the Crown, but this Globe & Mail editorial says it all. I'd be hard-put to cite a riper example of judicial abuse than this.No doubt we'll be hearing from the likes of that insufferable busybody Margo Somerville shortly. Oh, wait--we have (scroll down). Her perhaps predictable claim--that suicide is wrong and that we obviously have a duty to prevent people from ending their lives because hospitals treat unsuccessful suicide patients--is suitably dissected by an ethicist and a lawyer in the Globe's letters …
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We owe a Thank You to Helena Guergis: with one hissy fit extraordinaire she showed ALL Canadians how hypocritical her boss Stephen Harper has become in power. The Minister of State for the Status of Women went into a tantrum after security officials at Charlottetown airport asked her to do what ordinary mortals must do as they go through airport security: [...] …
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 " Published evaluations of children in Sweden, Denmark and Canada have also shown that autism diagnoses continued to increase after the discontinuation of vaccinations with thimerosal. U.S. cases keep rising as well." - National Post, February 17, 2010: Michael Fumento: The damage done on vaccinations The above comment by Michael Fumento,  a featured commentator on the National Post,  is part of an opinion piece condemning critics of vaccine safety and particularly those who assert a connection between some vaccines and autism disorders.   Fumento and the National …
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UPS has a fleet of aircraft, and they require maintenance. Here's an oldie but goodie:UPS Air Cargo TROUBLE SHEETUPS requires a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one. After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form called a 'gripe sheet', which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS' pilots …
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John Lennon had this saying that Life is what happens to us while we’re busy making other plans. When I read stuff like this, I think of that saying. …
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Well, colour me surprised. Who could have guessed that security arrangements for the 2010 Olympics would spawn a further militarization of North America and U.S.-Canada security integration?G&M : Canada and U.S. authorities are talking about extending cross-border security measures that were implemented for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and were to end with the closing of the Winter Games.The joint patrols [RCMP and the U.S. Coast Guard] will end with the Paralympics but spokesmen from the two agencies said yesterday legislation that would allow joint maritime policing on a permanent …
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