Once again it’s time to celebrate cause it’s the 1st of May.  This year we are are gonna do it in ASL. …
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[via Desert Peace] …
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Only fitting I would cover Led Zeppelin after last week-end’s spotlight on Jimmy Page’s early years. Following the departure of Keith Relf and Jim Carty from The Yardbirds in 1968, Page wanted to continue with them, ostensibly to continue unfulfilled touring dates. He had recruited (you guessed it!) Robert Plant on vocals and the late John Bonham on drums.  John Paul Jones, with whom Page had worked with in the past asked to join and Page agreed.  With that, this group became known as The New Yardbirds. That is, until The Who drummer, Keith Moon made a comment about this new line …
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LOCAL EVENTS- WINNIPEG:THE A-ZONE TELETHON: As has been previously mentioned on this blog the 'A-Zone Telethon' is now up and running with live video from the fundraiser. You can access the streaming video from the website above or you can donate by credit card by phone at 1-204-942-6994. You can also send a cheque to Winnipeg Parecon Worker Council, Old Market Autonomous Zone Co-op, 2D-91 Albert St., Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 1G5.The fundraiser is to raise the down payment for purchase of the premises at 91 Albert St. to be owned and operated as a co-op by the tenants---over a dozen …
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INTERNATIONAL LABOUR- SOUTH AFRICA:VICTORY FOR SOUTH AFRICAN MUNICIPAL WORKERS: After a week long general strike municipal workers in South Africa gained a victory as the association of municipalities has agreed to a standard job evaluation across the country. The victory was won because instead of trying to bargain individually the workers launched the general strike across the country, preventing the local authorities from picking them off one a group at a time. A lesson to be learned here ? Here's a report of what happened from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). …
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This is part 3 and the final journal entries of my daugther’s trip to Cambodia.  It is here in Siem Reap-Day 3 where she describes her accident that ultimately led to her subsequent minor surgeries.   Unfortunately I have no pictures of this time because her camera was not working. Siem Reap day 1- The next day we left phnom phen for Siem Reap with Ni- my god it was so nice to be driven in a lexus with ac by a good driver, what a difference from the bus drivers that can’t stop honking their horns ( like the one that is driving us now to Vietnam- so stoked).  The driver wasn’t …
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...if you will:Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protesters — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as …
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The ‘Left’ doesn’t like it at all. Noam Sheizaf writes: To the credit of the Israeli Right one should say that it is much more consistent and well argued. From the Right’s perspective, these conflicts with the world are the price for our clinging to parts of our historical homeland and our survival in a hostile region. The Right doesn’t try to evade taking responsibility for sitting on top of Palestinians, and if someone, whether Obama or Scott Heron, doesn’t like it, there is no choice but to bite the bullet. In contrast, “the enlightened camp” is busy with the …
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In yesterday's pre-trial hearings at Omar Khadr's kangaroo-court trial military commission, we heard from Agent 99 11. Today the Cone of Silence descended. Can the shoe phone be far behind? Just before I get to Barbie Agent 99 11, I have a legal question about U.S. pre-trial hearings. Paul Koring at the Globe and Mail reports today that the Cone of Silence descended (the commission went into secret session) while at least one of the videotapes showing Omar's conversations with CSIS agents at GTMO in 2003 was played for the court. Does the use of that videotape or any other evidence derived …
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Yes, we’ve read the stories about Steve loosing his convenient support the troops excuse and how General Walter Natynzyk seems to have no problem releasing the unredacted documents.   I’m waiting for Brother Steve to come out with this, ‘oh what does he (Natynczyk) know?’  How long will it take for Steve and his ‘friends’ to not only discredit Natynczyk but to throw him under the bus? General Natynczyk, meet Linda Keen…I’m sure she would love to share with you her experiences of what happens when you dare disagree with the puppetmaster. In …
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Those excitable scamps over at "The Torch" just received this year's Christie Blatchford swimsuit pin-up poster, and can't wait to gush:The invaluable and brave Christie Blatchford of the Globe and Mail takes on her own industry...And then there are the grownups. I'm sure you can appreciate the difference. …
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I am taking this opportunity to update my daugther’s Young Woman from Mile 0 travel journal.  I am a bit behind her now as I have been a pretty slack blogger as of late.  I have one more post from her on Cambodia visit and then it’s on to Vietnam and Thailand and pictures of the full moon party.   She has had a few minor surgeries for a staph infection acquired from washing a leg wound in dirty water and and I have been quite worried about her.  All appears to be healing now and it sounds like she is on the road to recovery.  Sending my hopes out for her safety.  Here are …
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Given that the CDS has, with a keen lancet, indicated that the Harper Regime is no longer permitted to use the Canadian Forces as a political shield, it's going to be interesting to observe how the Conservafans rationalise their fallacious ideological union of the CPC and the armed forces...Popcorn anyone? …
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Teabaggers, take note: This is what’s always intrigued me about the tea party movement — the unlikely  fusion of such diametrically opposed ideologies as libertarianism and social conservatism.  The Paulites and the Palinites, together at last… But maybe not for long.  Now that the movement is a year old pollsters have started gathering data on it, and it reveals a decided ideological divide: The results, however, suggest a distinct fault line that runs through the tea party activist base, characterized by two wings led by the politicians who ranked highest when …
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In Australia last year a massive blowout caused a rig to catch on fire and spew thousands of gallons into the sea for ten weeks.At a hearing into the accident, the federal U.S. Minerals Management Service faulted the work of Halliburton's cement workers for failing to properly pump cement into the well.According to a 2007 study by the same Minerals Management Service, out of 39 rig blowouts they studied in the Gulf of Mexico between 1992 and 2006, cementing was a contributing factor in 18 of the incidents.Fastforward to today. AP : "In a statement, Halliburton said workers had finished a …
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"When I hear the Internationale, I feel the beautiful melody again and again--but I feel the tragedy, too."Happy International Workers' Day! Kuhu āpiti: mō te tangata whenua o Aotearoa:Te Hunga MahiMaranga mai te hunga mahiWetekina ngā hereKo te mana hinengaroKo te waka mō tātouKāti rā te wehi noaE te iwi, e tū, e tūKa huri rā te ao katoaKa eke rā te taumataAnei te whana kai tangataWhakapiri mai, aku hoaKo te hunga mahi,Ko te ao katoaAnei te whana kai tangataWhakapiri mai, aku hoaKo te hunga mahi,Mō te ao katoa …
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Oh, Christ:Military Police Complaints Commission chairman Glenn Stannard: "Did you say the information contained in the un-redacted [version] really isn’t critical – or did I misread that?"Justice Department lawyer Alain Préfontaine: "No, you didn’t Mr. Stannard."Stannard: "Just a real silly question then: any reason why we don’t have it? "Préfontaine: "Because disclosure would be injurious to either national defence, international relations or national security."Stannard: "Even though it’s not critical information?"Préfontaine: "Well it might be that the information has nothing …
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This writer, this past Wednesday: ... we'd better reconsider any plans to deploy [Canadian forces] anywhere in future until the people who run the show have learned how to handle some rather basic tasks. ... ... our military is completely incompetent and needs a thorough overhaul. From the top down. Today at the CBC: Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, a high-profile Canadian general suggested to lead a potential large troop deployment to Congo, has instead been ordered to plan a top-down reorganization of the entire military. Meanwhile, sources tell CBC News the Canadian military will not deploy a large …
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The Globe & Mail's tabloid journo Christie Blatchford is still trying to recover some of her cred on the Richard Colvin file, lost when her inexpert leakage on behalf of the government was exposed for all to see last December.Colvin remains in her sights, and today she bemoans the fact that the rest of the media have moved on when real live witnesses have been found who allegedly contradict Colvin's claims of having given distant early warning on the Afghan torture issue.Blatchford has seized upon this account to rescue her cause. Gavin Buchan occupied Colvin's position before and after …
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Metro Toronto contract talks face strike/lockout deadlineTORONTO, April 28 /CNW/ - More than 70 editorial, sales, production and office workers at Toronto's Metro daily newspaper are preparing for a potential strike or lockout as their union and employer enter two final days of contract talks today leading to a 12.01 a.m. deadline this Friday.The workers, whose first contract expired on March 5, are represented by Local 87-M of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, the country's biggest media union.A key issue in the negotiations is the union's demand that the new …
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Metro newspaper staff threaten strikeEric Lam, Financial Post Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010More than 70 staff at Toronto's free Metro daily newspaper are threatening to go on strike as contract negotiations approach a midnight deadline this Friday.The employees, which includes editorial, sales, production and office workers, are being represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, and are demanding a wage grid that will provide pay increases.Management has so far resisted, instead threatening implement pay freezes for most workers in 2011 and 2012 while …
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Blogging Tory humour, Hunter-wise:This was nominated for best joke of the year.A Somali arrives in Vancouver as a new immigrant to Canada. He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says ... 'Thank you Mr. Canadian for letting me in this country, giving me housing, money for food, free medical care, free education and no taxes!'The passerby says, 'You are mistaken, I am Mexican.'The man goes on and encounters another passerby. ' Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in Canada !'The person says, 'I not Canadian, I Vietnamese.'The new arrival walks further, and …
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Are these words true for you? Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. - Section 15(1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms Lack of effective public policy and political will has allowed Canadian institutions at all levels to deny Canadians with disabilities equal access to full citizenship as guaranteed in our Charter. Despite what our …
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HUMOUR:REBEL DOG: As long as we're gliding (stumbling ??) on the path that is off the beaten path here's another one I recently come across---the 'Rebel Dog' website. Over there in Greece, the land where they riot more times a day than they eat, it seems that there's a strange apparition that manages to show up at all the exciting places. The 'Rebel Dog' has been spotted at pretty well every demonstration, riot, etc., and now he has his own website devoted to photos of his exploits. Despite government efforts of mass slaughter leading up to the Olympics Greece is infested with stray …
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Yeah.That fits. …
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HUMOUR:UTOPIA AND ANTI-UTOPIA: Now for something a bit off the beaten path. The following mini science fiction story is from the British LibCom site. I admit it's something of an in joke, and non-anarchist readers of this blog (the vast majority of visitors) might not get the point. To anarchists outside of the primmie/post leftist cult, however, it will be amusing. To help the non-anarchists reading this I will say that there is a small section of the anarchist movement, mostly American, who think that a free society involves "abolishing civilization". Yeah, I know this is something …
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