BLOGGING:

MATTERS BLOGISH:

A couple of announcements in this category tonight. First of all, Larry Gambone of the Porkupine Blog continues his 'Self Management in Cuba' with part 3. Here he contrasts the vision of self-management now being debated in Cuba with his own ideas and the history and theory of mutualism as it has developed outside of the Communist dictatorships. Very worthwhile, and not just for the subject of Cuba. A rejoinder to those who might claim that mutualism is "self-managed capitalism". Also a couple of handy references. Pay the Porkupine a visit and see for yourself.

Also....just when the ruling class thought it was safe to go back on the internet. Heeee's back ! The ever irrepressible Eugene Plawiuk seems to be back in good form, after a brief hiatus, at his mega-blog La Revue Gauche. With swipes at 'Obama Embraces Neo-Con Agenda', 'Harper Does Right Wing Talk Shows' and a deja-vu look at this years Oscars, '1930s Oscars' and more Plawiuk proves himself once more a master of the blogging boxing ring. Have a look over there as well.

BLOGGING:

MOLLY MAKES IT TO ROUND TWO:

I followed a link today to somebody who visited this blog and found out something astounding. Molly's Blog has made it to round two in the voting for the Canadian Blog Awards "best political blog". To be honest I never thought I would get there, but I guess that some people like what I do. The other contestants in round 2 include the Calgary Grit (affiliation obvious), the Small Dead Animals (conservative), and two others that I cannot determine any affiliation for: Nunc Scio and Bond Papers. The latter is from a public relations and public policy guy in Newfoundland and Nunc Scio is quite non-partisan. If I wasn't in the running I'd vote for Nunc Scio. As to those who weren't nominated but should have been my vote would have been for Eugene Plawiuk's La Revue Gauche blog, an effort that I actually consider better than my own. Oh horrors- voting against myself !

In any case round two is nhow on, and you can vote once a week. Help a poor little meowing pussycat out and vote for me at the Canadian Blog Awards.

CANADIAN POLITICS:

THRONE SPEECH INSPIRES LITTLE CONFIDENCE:

Yesterday's Speech From the Throne, outlining the soc-called plan of the Harper government to deal with the present economic crisis inspired little confidence amongst anyone. The market today did a large nose dive, dropping over 700 points at last look in Toronto. Others outside of the business community are even less inspired. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), have a very disparaging view of what was proposed. See below for their article. Over at Eugene Plawiuk's La Revue Gauche blog there are two new excellent articles on the Conservatives new plans 'Con Game' and 'The Blue Throne Speech'. Check it out for some very interesting comment about how the Harperites are trying a version of homeopathic medicine ie like cures and like and more of the policies that produced the present mess may "cure" it.

Molly has to say that every time she hears about a "speech from the throne" she is amazed at how the Queen's rep can get through such a thing with a straight face. It's some bizarre trick, to read a lengthy document while pretending all the while that it is one's own thoughts. Knowing full well that you had no hand in preparing it at all, let alone agreeing or disagreeing with its contents. I find the body language in the above photo revealing. Is the GG really leaning as far as possible away from Sneaky Stevie to express her unconscious distance from his ideas that she has to parrot ? Or does Sneaky Stevie have to change his brand of deodorant ?

...................................

Throne speech fails to impress:
A time of economic crisis calls for clear government leadership and a concrete statement on the economy. What Canadians got today is a federal government that appears disinterested in governing at all.

The throne speech shows that the current government has learned almost nothing about what caused the economic crisis we are in, nor have they offered credible solutions to get out of it.

Instead, the speech trotted out the same failed policies that got us into this economic mess: more privatization, deregulation, cuts to public programs, free trade agreements, wage constraints, and neutering of the role of the government through a “Charter of Open Federalism”. And in these turbulent economic times, the government advocates greater investment of public funds in risky public-private partnerships.

There is nothing in this throne speech to protect workers. The economic crisis will produce higher unemployment, yet the EI system has been neglected to the point that only one in four workers qualify for what are now poverty-level benefits. Nor does the speech do anything to protect workers’ pensions that have been decimated by the financial crisis.

The throne speech actually takes more away from workers than it gives. Most egregious is the government’s intention to overturn free collective bargaining by legislating wages of federal public servants. This attack on wages could filter down through the economy and mean cuts and freezes on wages for many other workers.

As the corporate tax cuts continue, workers across Canada will pay the price for the Harper government’s misguided economic policies and fiscal mismanagement. Deep cuts to spending and public sector wages will only worsen and prolong the downturn.

What Canadians needed from this throne speech was strong economic leadership in a bold three part economic plan: Relief (expansion of EI, protection of pensions); Re-investment (economic recovery plan with an ambitious infrastructure program); Re-regulation of the financial industry. The throne speech strikes out on all three.

BLOGGING:

WELCOME BACK EUGENE !:

The bloggers' blogger, Eugene Plawiuk of La Revue Gauche, is back on line after a month of vacation from blogging. For over four years Plawiuk has amused, educated and inspired the blogosphere with his prodigious output. La Revue Gauche is one of the most popular blogging sites around, and Eugene is back at it now. So look out ruling class and state La Revue Gauche rides again. be sure to check it out. His latest includes items of Mayday, Walpurgis Night and the death of Abraham Hoffer. Much more to follow for sure.

THE BEST OF THE BLOGS:

MOLLY'S WEEKLY FEATURE:

Every week Molly tries to sweep through recent posts on the blogs that are listed in her Links list to find those that have interested her the most. So here is this week's listing in no particular order:

The Molly prize once more goes to Uber-Blogger Eugene Plawiuk for his recent efforts on Le Revue Gauche concerning both the recent inquiry into the Air India Disaster and his demand that the whole actions of the RCMP and CSIS be subject to a public inquiry. The stench around what happened in the Air India bombing grows by the day, and there is a huge elephant sitting in the middle of the room on this matter. Were the warnings deliberately ignored? It wouldn't be the first time that a terrorist action has been allowed to proceed "for reasons of state". At times such actions have actually been organized by the secret police of various states for political purposes. Comrade Plawiuk says no such thing, but others in the Indo-Canadian community have raised this possibility, and Molly will here. Maybe the Canadian secret police are indeed woefully stupid, or maybe there are other things that will come out in 100 years about their machinations. Plawiuk also has several posts on the plan to use nuclear power in the Alberta Tar Sands project, an ill-advised plan.

Amor y Resistencia has an article on the anarchist Mayday actions across the world as does Bombs and Shields. The Anarchist Philosophy site has an article titled 'Should Anarchists Use Violence to Fight Oppression'. The answer is 'no'. Auckland's Burning has an attempt to placate the prrimitivists entitled 'The Fallacy of Wilderness', arguing for permaculture rather than the ideological construct of "wilderness". An Australian Anarchist Weblog has a collection of quotes on patriotism entitled 'The last Refuge of a Scoundrel'. The Freedom of Speech blog from Canada has an interesting essay on proper internet etiquette. Kevin Carson's Mutualist Blog features a draft of a new work of his entitled 'Decentralized Production', an exploration of the economics of local production. Finally, Janet Biehl's blog continues her project of a comic strip presentation of the work and life of Murray Bookchin. Really great in Molly's opinion.

MAHYE BE HAVIN' A WEE HAPPY ROBBIE BURNS DAY:
Today, January 25th, is the celebration of the radical democratic poet Robbie Burns. However much "yon birkie, ca's a lord, wha struts, an states, an' a' that" may try to disguise the democratic and socialist sentiments at the heart of Burns' poetry the flame is very much findable for anyone who cares to look.
Molly can suggest no better place to begin than Eugene Plawiuk's blog. Two years ago Plawiuk did a masterful piece on Robbie Burns. You can have a look at http://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/radical-robbie-burns-peoples-poet.html .
Ga on ovr an' ha' a peek. Now Molly's off to chase the haggis for tonight. More later. Til then we wait the day, as the poet says,
"Then let us pray that come it may,
(as come it will for a' that)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that."
Molly

THE BEST OF THE BLOGS:
EUGENE PLAWIUK ON MICHAEL BAKUNIN:
Yesterday, Dec. 30th, was the 130th anniversary of the death of Michael Bakunin(1814-1876), one of the contributing thinkers in the origin of anarchism as a distinct political philosophy. Eugene Plawiuk has written a piece on his blog entitled 'Revolution is Progress: Micheal Bakunin' that goes into the intellectual influences on Bakunin's thought, some publications on Mikey and Bakunin's rivalry with Marx. It also contains numerous links to matters Bakunin, biographic and bibliographic. Plawiuk concludes his blog by republishing chapter 2 of Bakunin's 'God and the State'.
Plawiuk's Blog is a goldmine of opinion and fact on matters anarchist, labour and Marxist. Have a look at his other writings. Links to Michael Bakunin's other writings can also be found at the Anarchist Archives and the Bakunin Archive. Both these references are listed in our 'Online Anarchist Libraries' section. Both the complete text of 'God and the State' and 'The Immorality of the State' are available on our 'Texts' section.

THE CARNIVAL OF ANARCY !!!!!!!
Eugene Plawiuk has just launched a new blog site entitled 'The Carnival of Anarchy'. This will be a "blog aggregator" site with contributions from many different people. It will come out as an on-line magazine, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or who knows. The first edition will be on Dec. 29th, but already the site has posts. Bugs Bunny, one of my favourites !!! (Molly aside: In my younger days as an outside cat I found rabbit to be an excellent aperitif). The old Warner Brothers cartoons were entertaining in a multi-level fashion that modern cartoons often fail to achieve. Anyways, the first post goes through a number of references and asides that make it plain why good ol' Bugs is interesting to anarchists in many different ways.
The first edition will focus on "Anarchist Blogs and anarchist blogging"
Step right up ! See it all ! Just this way folks ! All for free ! The wonders of the world, and not even a quarter !
Molly

The Best of the Blogs:
Eugene Plawiuk (see the 'Blogs' section of the links on the bottom of this page, especially 'Le Revue Gauche' at http://plawiuk.blogspot.com ) has reposted a couple of his recent essays to the 'Anarkismo' list (see the 'Links' section and http://www.anarkismo.net ) under the heading of 'Other Libertarian Press'.
One of the essays, 'Libertarian Justice' is a defense of the jury system insofar as it actually allows the people to determine legal matters instead of the legal apparatus of the state. Plawiuk notes the following advantages of the jury systems over other methods of trial-
*a jury's power is limited as a jury does not establish precedent because each case is different
*the requirement that all verdicts be unanimous protects minorities from the abuse of majorities
*a jury does not need to be subservient to the legal community or to other minions of the state
*a jury has no vested interests to protect
*a jury views justice from a layman's perspective.

The other essay 'The Era of the Common Man' is an historical tract on the Jacksonian democrats who formed the 'Working Men's Parties' in the USA during the 1830s. Plawiuk shows how these people were the forerunners of American individualist anarchism as well as many other aspects of 19th century American radicalism.

Check out Le Revue Gauche for these and many other (a huge number actually) essays on all topics radical.

Iggy Loses:
My fellow blogonauts Larry Gambone and Eugene Plawiuk(see the 'Blogs' section on the links at the bottom of this page) have had quite a tilt at Michael Ignatieff in the past few weeks. Neither one liked 'The Ig' very much at all, though I think they may have overstated his commitment to the neo-con position. It's hard to say if somebody like Ignatieff has any firm position at all on anything, right down to which shoe to put on which foot in the morning. As such he would have made a great Liberal leader as the pure distilled essence of said Party is to be all things to all people in Canadian politics. Anyways, Stephan Dion is now leader, and I'm afraid that few of us outside of Quebec know much about him. In Quebec he is regularly caricatured as a "rat" in editorial cartoons.
Speaking of which...the Sun Media has recently released an entertaining cartoon in the papers that they control. The panel features the standard political convention with placards waving sheep and balloons. The announcement from off-panel says, "...and the new leader of Alberta's Conservative Party is...Michael Ignatieff". The word balloon from two party members says, "...I knew it was a mistake to hold both conventions on the same weekend."
The new leader of the Alberta Conservatives is Ed Stelmach, who snuck through the party establishment candidate, Jim Dinning, and the hard right ideologue Ted Morton, to win the leadership.
Well, maybe Gambone and Plawiuk are right after all. Ignatieff would have made a good Alberta Conservative leader, perhaps a better one than the man they elected this weekend. At this time Michael is praying for a Pinochet style heart attack on the part of Eddy. A "draft Mike" movement is afoot.