WEIRD STUFF:

ONE TENTH OF A MIND:

Molly has had her hands slapped before and done her proper mea culpas about her opinions about the state of the American mind. Now it is no doubt true that the majority of the American population is indeed part of the modern world with all that that implies. Still, I have yet to see anybody present any proof that the USA does not contain the majority of religious sects (yes I include every stump worshipping local cult in the far reaches of the Amazon in this estimate) existent in the world today.

In a field that I am much more familiar with I doubt that anyone could present proof that the USA doesn't contain the majority of the weird political sects that infest the modern world. In term of leftist bullshit it would be hard to find another country which could produce the Weathermen, one of whose "political" tenets was that one should sleep on the floor because "mattresses were white skin privilege". Similarly, and speaking of stump worshippers, it should be noted that the USA is the necrotic centre of the religious revival masquerading as politics known as "primitivism". For those unfamiliar with this cuteness it is a current of thought claiming the "anarchist" label (or claiming to be far superior to it) that says that "civilization" should be abolished and that this is actually some sort of realistic 'program". I'll leave the naive reader to their own devises in imagining what this means because it essentially means nothing except intestinal gas disguised as speech.

But then there is the other side which far outweighs leftist bullshit by several orders of magnitude. Outside of the Middle East and parts of Central Asia the USA is probably the only area of the world where obviously insane nonsense can easily become part of everyday "accepted" politics. Most of this nonsense could be styled "right wing bullshit" rather than the left wing variety of bovine feces. The examples are endless, but I've chosen to present one below. This is the political movement known as the "Tenthers".

Out here in the civilized world this probably has about as much resonance as a dispute about how many Imams there there have been in the Muslim world. Yet, it seems to mean a lot in the country where "Birthers" has a meaning. Believers in this way of politics think that the last 70 years of US politics are illegitimate because the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution says that "any powers not expressly designated to the federal government are the province of the states or the people". Sounds pretty "libertarian" ? Wrong ! The targets of those who believe in this legal fiction are pretty well exclusively those "powers" whereby a less prosperous segment of the population guards against the exploitation of the more prosperous people. NOTHING is said about the rights of communities (as opposed to states), and NOTHING is said about the legal protection (and how it shouldn't exist) for those who are higher in the class system as opposed to the efforts of those below them. Some "individuals" are more equal than others I guess, and States are more equal than communities.

Here is an item from the AFL-CIO Blog about the 'Tenthers'.

WSWSWSWSWS
‘Tenthers’ Would Abolish Wage and Child Labor Laws, Social Security, Medicare and More
by Mike Hall, Oct 21, 2010

Most cults are based in some sort of skewed spiritual vision or the worship of a charismatic leader, but there is a re-emerging cult that bows down at the feet of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Many of them want to bring their cultish beliefs to the halls of Congress and are running for election this fall.

They’re called the “tenthers” and they say federal laws and rules like the minimum wage, Medicare, Social Security, unemployment insurance, the Department of Education, even child labor laws and a laundry list of other federal laws and programs are unconstitutional.

Their rationale—irrationale would be a better word—is that if a federal power is not specifically spelled out in the Constitution, well the government doesn’t have it, according to their view of the 10th amendment.

It’s a view that has long been discredited, but reappears from time to time, such as during FDR’s New Deal era and after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled school segregation unconstitutional in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education.

Here’s Think Progress in today’s Progress Report:


…because the Constitution doesn’t actually use the word education—it instead gives Congress broad authority to spend money to advance the “common defense” and “general welfare”—Senate candidates like Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Sharron Angle (R-Nev.) claim that the federal Department of Education is unconstitutional. That means no federal student loan assistance or Pell Grants for middle class students struggling to pay for college, and no education funds providing opportunities to students desperately trying to break into the middle class.

And that’s hardly the worst news tenthers have in store for young Americans. Alaska GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller wants to declare child labor laws unconstitutional—returning America to the day when ten-year-olds labored in coal mines.

Miller told Dermot Cole of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that he didn’t believe the federal government had any right to establish child labor laws.

I asked him about whether he also believed that federal child labor laws should be done away with.

He said he is not against Social Security, unemployment benefits, the minimum wage or child labor laws.

But he doesn’t want the federal government mandating any of them.

Tenthers believe the states alone should–or more likely, should not–address these issues. Because states are in such financial straights these days, they can’t even pay for the programs, laws and policies already on their books. Hmmm? You don’t think tenthers are counting on that do you?

Click here to read The Progress Report’s in-depth look at the “tenthers” movement and here for more from Ian Millhiser at The American Prospect.

WEIRD STUFF:

INSTANT SONS- JUST ADD MILK:

The following from the Care2 site is way off the beaten path. I mean it, way off the beaten path. I present it here as a cautionary example of why clerics of all persuasions should never be allowed even the slightest tiny morsel of political power. There are those amongst the religious right in North America who harbour schemes that are just as strange when viewed from the outside. Anyways, for all you connoisseurs of human irrationality here's the article.

WWWWWWWWWW

Saudi Clerics Advocate Breastfeeding Adult Men
posted by: Robin Marty 1 day ago


I haven't pulled any punches in the past discussing how bothered I am by the laws against women in Saudi Arabia. From ridiculous "guardianship" laws to burdensome rules on being in public with men, to arresting women who even have too much of a tan, it's no wonder the public is beginning to physically fight against the authority in the land.

Obviously, the religious authority knows it has a problem that must be dealt with. But is this really the answer?


Women in Saudi Arabia should give their breast milk to male colleagues and acquaintances in order to avoid breaking strict Islamic law forbidding mixing between the sexes, two powerful Saudi clerics have said. They are at odds, however, over precisely how the milk should be conveyed.

A fatwa issued recently about adult breast-feeding to establish "maternal relations" and preclude the possibility of sexual contact has resulted in a week's worth of newspaper headlines in Saudi Arabia. Some have found the debate so bizarre that they're calling for stricter regulations about how and when fatwas should be issued.

Sheikh Al Obeikan, an adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, set off a firestorm of controversy recently when he said on TV that women who come into regular contact with men who aren't related to them ought to give them their breast milk so they will be considered relatives.



One cleric claims simply pumping and having the men drink the milk is enough to create this familial bond. Another, however, does say that "men should suckle the breast milk directly from a woman's breast."

The logic behind the edict is an apparently common practice known as "breast milk siblings" where according to the article, if you provide 5 "fulfilling" breastmilk meals to a male child before the age of two, you and your female family members will not have to cover your faces in front of him later in life, something that is apparently common among nieces and nephews.

But, when translated into somehow trying to provide this connection to an adult, and use it as a loophole in order to allow women to be in the presence of men who are not blood relations, a lot of obvious problems jump to mind. The first, of course, is the assumption that every woman is lactating, when in fact the only candidates for this process would be married mothers with children under the age of two, the traditional cutoff point for breastfeeding in that country. Women aren't just wandering around with milk in their breasts all of the time, married or not, mothers or not. This would provide no outlet for any unmarried woman, who tend to suffer the most under these strict guardianship laws, nor for widows or the elderly.

The second problem is what is meant by "fulfilling" meals. A grown adult obviously would take much more to be "fulfilled" than an infant, or even a toddler, whose stomachs are smaller than an apple.

Third, even with this loophole available, clerics have decreed that it cannot be used with a driver. As women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to have driver's licenses, no woman would be able to go anywhere outside walking distance without having a man drive her. If this breastfeeding loophole can't be used with someone who can drive them from place to place, they are still essentially trapped without a family member to accompany them, regardless.

Breastfeeding adult males in order to be allowed to be with someone of the opposite sex who is not a family member is no real solution to the issues of Sharia law. In fact, it actually exacerbates them, as it simply reinforces the idea that a woman sole purpose in existence is to extend and tend to the family unit. Women in the country deserve real freedom, not that which is only granted to them if they act as the "sustenance" of the family.

WEIRD STUFF:

ANARCHIST AMBER ALE:

The other week, while cruising the local liquor store in search of anaesthetic, Molly's beady little eyes set fast on the product pictured to the left. Yup, that's right, 'Anarchist Amber Ale', complete with the circle A and a black can. Gotta get me some. Well, I ended up buying an 8 pack and taking them down to the 'Christmas mixer' where the local IWW and the Trots got together. Molly, being more civilized than she has been in months, only drank one can and donated the rest. It was actually quite a hit according to an email I got back from the organizers of the event.

The stuff is actually not bad at all. It's brewed by a microbrewery out BC way called Cannery Brewing Company. Just exactly the right amount of hops for my taste. Apparently it has been brewed since 2000, but its distribution here to Manitoba is so recent that it isn't even mentioned on their website that. It was mentioned by (who else) 'Mr BeerN'Hockey' on his blog last spring, but I thought he was spinning a yarn. The company site states that the beer is only available in BC and Alberta. Not anymore.

So, here's my little plug for the guys who make beer in an old cannery in Penticton BC. Wanna spice up that next incredibly dull political meeting where the speaker in front drones on and on about dialectics, intersectionality, praxisology and many other words that they barely know the meaning of-including many that have no meaning ? Well...it's obviously "cash bar time", and you can put a little fizz in the dry, dull, dreary business of leftism by flogging 'Anarchist Amber Ale'. Just get on the tails of your local liquor store to start ordering it in. Believe it or not those guys do listen to customer requests. I don't know how well it might go trying to import it to the USA however. I have a vision of a whole truckload being intercepted and "rendered" by a midnight flight to some prison in Bulgaria as a threat to the "natjunal sekurty" of the USA. Ah well, at least it will keep the jailers too drunk to get around to torturing anyone. Be the first on your block to drink the "beer with meaning" on your front stoop and fling the empties at passing police cars. Where else are you going to get a "statement in a can". Fun for the whole family I'm sure.

HUMOUR/INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-NEW ZEALAND:

RONNIE COLLECTS CORPORATE WELFARE:

There's one thing about getting older that seems strange to me, and that is the bizarre assumption of many people that each year of sucking oxygen leads one to the conclusion that "there is nothing new under the sun". Personally I think this is due to a gradual sclerosis of the mind that goes along with increasingly poor eyesight and hearing, but is nowhere near as inevitable. For myself, as I approach the Geritol Generation, I continue to be amazed on an almost daily basis by the weirdness of the world. I don't know who said it, but the quote runs something like this, "the world is not only stranger than we imagine; it is actually stranger than we can possibly imagine".

Thus comes the following item from New Zealand via the Anarkismo website. The author is a "Barrie" who is a member of the New Zealand platformist group the Aotearoa Workers' solidarity Movement. The subject, you guessed it, McDonald's has managed to cash in on the present economic crisis by leeching "stimulus funding" from the New Zealand government in terms of subsidizing its hiring of workers at minimum wage. The whole idea is breathtaking in its stupidity from the point of view of everyone but McDonalds. One would be really hard put to try and imagine a greater waste of government money in terms of "value added". It actually goes beyond the image of digging holes and filling them in again because the expenditure is not "new money" but rather shifting disbursements from individual welfare or EI to the McDonald's corporation. It makes no sense from a Keynesian perspective, and it makes no sense from the perspective promotion of industry that has any multiplier effect or potential for innovation. Quite frankly the only thing I could compare it to in terms of sheer silliness would be the ranting that we anarchists all too often hear out of the USA by some down there who think that "civilization should be abolished". No doubt there is a certain amount of financial profit to be made out of that as well, but it pales beside the spectacle of Ronnie collecting welfare.

Here's the item from Anarkismo which approaches the matter in the only way that it could possibly be approached- by humour.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Burgers & Circuses:
The New Zealand Government has announced that it will subsidise the Mc Donalds fast food chain for taking on young unemployed workers. In effect therefore the company is receiving corporate welfare, with the government acting as its Human Resources Dept. Below is a satirical response.

BURGERS & CIRCUSES

(Note: This is the script of a movie due to be played in your town in the near future.)

Scene: Clown in a loud suit stands outside a windswept and much repaired tent. The tent has a broken sign on it labeled ‘Job Circus’.

Promoter: “Roll up folks, roll up! Are you young and unemployed?”

Unemployed Youth: “Um yeah, I guess that would be me”

Promoter: “Looking for an exciting career with a stable and dynamic employer? Need some help getting started?”

Unemployed Youth:” Stable and dynamic eh? That sounds good. The help thing would be great too.”

Promoter: “Step this way. Enter the tent and wonders await you”

Scene: The unemployed youth enters the tent. The promoter smiles as a government car pulls up.

Promoter: [laughing]: “Pulled in another sucker”

Government Minister: “Great! Here’s your $16,000. You’re doing a great job there Ronald…keep it up mate”

Scene: Inside the tent. The youth is given a uniform, name badge and mop.

Promoter: “Ok kid, get pushing on the mop, it’s your new friend so use it well. Anybody out front sees you, don’t forget to smile, this is show business remember! If you do well, we’ll have you out on the counter selling cheap nutritious circus food in colourful packages in no time.”

Scene: Next day at a Parliamentary media conference.

Government Minister: “In these difficult times the government appreciates the need to maintain productivity and has a commitment to investing in the future. We want a well trained and highly skilled workforce that can compete with the rest of the world. We have therefore entered into a partnership with a great circus promoter. We will give them money, they will employ new staff and the economy will get a boost. Everybody wins!”

Skeptical Voice: “But do we really need more circuses? Wouldn’t we be better off with new schools, hospitals, roads and stuff? Why does the circus need our money to do it anyway? They aren’t exactly poor!”

Minister: “We’re all in this together and you can’t get circus monkeys without paying for peanuts you know! Anyway, moving on…”

Scene: 89 days later inside the tent.

Promoter: “What do you mean you want a living wage, the work is repetitive and unrewarding, you are rostered to work at odd times and the food is crap anyway? You’re not a team player are you? How can we keep this place stable and dynamic with your negative attitude?!”

Youth: “Well, um, this circus stuff isn’t exactly what you made out it would be”

Promoter: “Yeah, unhappy eh? Hit the road. You’re outta here! And don’t steal the mop or touch the cycling monkeys on the way out!”

Scene: Outside the tent it’s cold and windy. A governmental car speeds by with its occupants in good spirits.

Government Minister: ”Nice one Ronald. Would you like to upsize your champagne? Need more money? Need more suckers?”

Promoter: “Don’t mind if I do. Anything to help the economy you know!”

Window winds down as the car speeds past newly unemployed youth. Minister pulls out megaphone.

Minister: “Hi! Don’t forget, we’re working for you, so remember to vote next election!”

Mud splashes upwards into youths face.

Screen fades to black.

END

CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-HAMILTON:

POLICE KEEPING A BEADY EYE ON THE HAMILTON ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR:

This one probably falls under the "unintentional comedy" heading. Here, from the website of the Ontario platformist organization Linchpin is their response to a recently released Hamilton police report. There is much more on this subject over at the Ontario section of the Anarchist Black Cat discussion board(see our Links section).

Now there is a lot to be said about anarchist bookfairs, some good and some bad. At least here in Canada the descriptive adjective would mostly be good. Down USA way, which actually has a far higher population of loons than we do of our national bird up here, the worst insult that could be directed -to a minority of the events- would be weird. But a "hate crimes" connection ? You gotta be kidding. No doubt occasional nutters of the fascist persuasion to sometimes try and exploit the overgrown tolerance of anarchists, but they are pretty well always rapidly shown the door, often in a less than gentle fashion. In any case they are inevitably outnumbered by about 50 to one by other people with strange hobby horses. Be an anarchist for say 10 years, and it is doubtful that you would meet any fascist trying to fish in the anarchist pool. Be an anarchist for one months, however, and you will inevitably meet several bizarros who want to "abolish civilization", amongst other strange ideas. That God that they don't constitute the majority.

The police report actually has all the earmarks of a police "anti-hate" project that has too little to do in the city of Hamilton. Ah, the Devil and idle hands. One gets a picture of some guy behind a desk waiting for months on end for a bit of graffiti on a wall or a knocked down tombstone. Waiting and waiting and waiting. In order to avoid their activities being seen as useless (with the frightening prospect of being assigned back to patrol duty in mind) this collection of officers has tried to assume everything that used to be the province of the 'Red Squad' under their aegis. Who knows maybe Red Squads have been deemed to be a piece of bad PR, and it may become a trend to rename them as "anti-hate" divisions while forgetting about what "hate crimes" are actually supposed to be.

Yup, some of my "comrades" can be right strange, but this little "learned report" from the Hamilton police shows that such weirdness can be exceeded by others. On to Linchpin's comments.

@@@@@@@@@@

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Anarchists call Police report comparing activism to hate crime "chilling":
HAMILTON- Local members of the provincial anarchist organization Common Cause fear Hamilton police are seeking to criminalize local organizers after a Hamilton police report identified the 2nd annual Hamilton Anarchist Book Fair as a potential source of hate crime.

While presenting the Year-End Hate Crime report (available online)to the Hamilton Police Board on May 19, acting sergeant Michael Gochstated police would be “actively monitoring” the book fair scheduled to take place on June 6.

Alex Diceanu, Ontario Treasurer of Common Cause responded, "As the organizers of the annual book fair, and as local anarchists and activists, Common Cause is deeply disturbed by these statements.

"This is a manipulation of hate crime laws to criminalize activism. At this time of economic and environmental crisis, alongside increasing political disengagement, activism and educational events such as the book fair should be encouraged, not chilled with surveillance."

The report also identifies the 2010 G8 summit (Huntsville, ON), the 2010 Olympics, “local native land reclamation issues”, “the anarchist movement” and “anti-government and anti-establishment reaction of economic crisis and job losses” as trends and events that “may have significant impacts and repercussions on the Hamilton community in terms of hate/bias related incidents.”

For the first time the report also includes incidents of graffiti aimed at police even though this contradicts the report's own definition of a hate crime.

Diceanu commented, "We are concerned that public resources meant to investigate hate crimes are being focused upon people trying to improve this community."

The Hamilton Anarchist Book Fair is not a threat to the community.

It is open to the public and family-friendly, featuring free child care and a kid's workshop.
Over 300 people attended last year's book fair. Activists will gather again this year to exchange literature and other forms of information.

Workshops at the book fair attempt to address issues faced by marginalized groups named in hate crimes legislation, including indigenous peoples, racialized groups, people facing disability barriers and others. Other workshops address the economic crisis, environmental justice and workplace organizing.

"Common Cause's Basic Policy states clearly that, and I quote, 'we actively oppose all manifestations of oppression such as racism, sexism, [religious] sectarianism and homophobia and we struggle against them.'

Indeed, anarchists have always sought to understand and end all forms of oppression in our struggle to create a world marked by true equality, freedom, peace, and harmony with the natural environment" says Diceanu

The full police report is available here (look for the May 19 Hamilton Police Services Board Public Agenda package at the top of the page).
http://www.hamiltonpolice.on.ca/HPS/PoliceServicesBoard/
For more information please contact:
commoncauseontario@gmail.com

@@@@@@@@@@

But about the Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair itself, coming up soon, here, also from Linchpin, is the callout.

@@@@@@@@@@

2nd annual Hamilton Anarchist Book Fair, June 6:

For the second year in a row, Hamilton will be home to Ontario's only Anarchist Book Fair, happening June 6, from 10am to 4pm at Westdale Collegiate, 700 Main St. West . Over 300 people from all over southern Ontario took part in Hamilton's first anarchist book fair, held last June.

For those not familiar with anarchist book fairs you can expect a couple dozen or so publishers and book stores to be on hand offering literature in various forms (as well as the occasional t-shirt) at affordable prices. You can expect to find just about every social justice issue covered from the environment, to women's struggles to radical history and theory. Many local activist groups will also be on hand to share information about important struggles happening in our community and beyond.

You will also be able to attend a series of talks and workshops as you take a break from browsing books. Workshop topics include environmental justice, workplace organizing, Palestinian and First Nations struggles against colonialism, disability politics and more. A kids' workshop, organized by and for children, will also be held so parents are encouraged to bring along their little ones. Wayne Price, author of “The Abolition of the State: Anarchist and Marxist Perspectives” will feature as the key note speaker. He will be speaking on the current global economic crisis. For full details including a list of vendors and workshop descriptions please see the book fair's website at http://hamiltonanarchistbookfair.wordpress.com/vendors/

Admission is free. Lunch and child care will also be provided free of cost. The building is wheelchair accessible from the back parking lot.

The book fair is organized by the Hamilton branch of Ontario anarchist group, Common Cause. They can be contacted for more info at hamiltonanarchistbookfair@gmail.com.

WEIRD STUFF:

JULIE COUILLARD-THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING:

I always know when Julie Couillard has launched another effort in her continued campaign to make money by imitating Paris Hilton ie "being famous for being famous". Molly had more than a little bit of fun at the expense of the voyeuristic section of the population at the beginning of the "great tit scandal" and the latter revelations about Couillard's past. Who knows how many hundreds of people have dropped by this site in their search for "Julie Couillard tits" and "Julie Couillard pics". Every time Couillard scores a point in her financial campaign back here they come . Do a search on this blog to find the essense of the joke. It's connected to the photo above, a picture of the "blue tit", something that Julie would have had if she had worn her famous dress during our six months of Canadian winter.

The problem is that, despite how much I may try to construct weird humour, I can never equal the weirdness and humour of the reality in situations such as these. It's beyond me. This thing is its own parody. I do, however, take a sick pleasure in giving the voyeurs a little bit of annoyance. Tracing back the hits connected to this image I find that the vast majority come from various government offices during so-called "work hours". Not that I have any great objections to this. Personally I think it's great. I'd much rather have the average civil serpent searching the internet for a cheap thrill than actually working and doing harm. this, I guess, may be Molly's most significant contribution to "harm reduction" in our society.

Another thing that I notice is that Couillard is definitely playing this for all it is worth, and making at least a moderate success out of it. She'll keep pumping the pump until it is utterly dry, and so far she's made a good effort out of it. Take, for instance, "name recognition". I suspect that the majority of Canadians are just like me. The name Couillard evokes immediate recognition. I had to look up the name of her disgraced ex-boyfriend, the late cabinet minister Maxime Bernier. It drew a blank. I'm sure that Bernier, like all conservative guardians of "morality", has a fine future ahead of him in sleazy real estate deals and shady government contracts, but he just doesn't have the pizzazz of Couillard. I'm also sure that everything that each one of this pair says is bad about the other is absolutely true- and deserves elaboration for that matter.

Another thing that I've noticed is that two of the images that I have used in previous Couillard articles get excessive hits from google image searches whenever Julie is in the news. I really don't know how images labelled "biker chick" and "domiatrix" automatically bring people to articles about Couillard, but it's a fact that they do. Weird. As to Julie's "disreputable past", my own take on it, should I ever meet her, would be something like, "what's a nice biker chick like you doing getting involved with those criminal conservatives". What is the difference between "Steven's Angels" and the "Hell's Angels" ? Answer-success ! It is a never ending source of wonder to me how much so-called 'conservatives" in our society concentrate on "sins of the crotch" while ignoring and even praising "sins of the wallet". I am no fan of "the left", and the first word that comes to my mind when that term is used is "liar". But the right evokes a different conditioned reflex. For them the word "crook" comes as a first response.

But anyways, I just had to go and see what Julie's latest effort at publicity gathering was, and the result was bizarre beyond my expectations. Here's the story from the Globe and Mail.

>>>>>>>>>>>>
Julie Couillard dress fetches $1,000:
SIDHARTHA BANERJEE
Canadian Press
April 29, 2009 at 1:03 PM EDT
MONTREAL — The now infamous low-cut dress worn by Julie Couillard when she appeared at a Rideau Hall swearing-in ceremony in 2007 with her ex-boyfriend Maxime Bernier almost didn't garner any serious bids at a Montreal charity auction for epilepsy research on Tuesday night.
Ms. Couillard, a photogenic brunette, was prominently displayed on the front pages of numerous newspapers wearing the revealing frock, which ended up fetching $1,000. The paisley, flouncy dress with a plunging neckline was bought by a Montreal gynecologist whose husband is heavily involved in epilepsy research.

But the amount fell far below the $5,000 Ms. Couillard had hoped the dress would get — if for no other reason than the controversy her wearing it had created, particularly after her relationship with ex-cabinet minister Mr. Bernier ended. “I would have hoped to at least collect $5,000, but hey, at the end of the day it's a thousand and I'm so happy that it was a woman that bought it,” said Ms. Couillard, who was in charge of the charity event that raised more than $31,000.

“What happened with this dress is just the living proof that sexism is still out there and very healthy and it's only politically correct to just say that we have equality among the sexes — but we don't.”

Couillard was wearing the dress when first photographed with former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier who later resigned when it was revealed he had left sensitive documents at her house. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

“It's still a man's world,” she added.

Mr. Bernier resigned his cabinet post as foreign affairs minister after it was revealed that he had left sensitive government documents at Ms. Couillard's Montreal-area home. The war-of-words between the two led to a public airing of Ms. Couillard's biker-filled past.

Ms. Couillard herself was plagued by epilepsy through out her childhood but hasn't had seizures since she was 18 thanks to medication, but she said that research funding was lacking in the field.

The much-ballyhooed dress was purchased Tuesday night by Dr. Lucie Morin, a Montreal doctor whose husband, Dr. Lionel Carmant, is a neurologist involved in epilepsy research and head of the foundation the auction was for.

“I bought it for the cause,” said Ms. Morin, who added she was disappointed that the dress wasn't living up to the hype and the bids at the end of the night were uninspired. “(Epileptic research) is a very important cause because it doesn't get a lot of attention.”

Ms. Morin said she had no real interest in the dress and had no plans to do anything special with it.

“It's not the kind of dress I'd wear myself, but I'll see if my daughter likes it,” Ms. Morin said.

Ms. Couillard said the auctioning of the dress closes a chapter in her life, but she never imagined the dress, plucked quickly from a rack at a BCBG store in downtown Montreal, would create the stir that it did. “It makes me laugh,” she said.

“I find it funny that in the end something they tried to destroy me with, I was capable of turning it around and use it for something as positive as helping sick children.”

Ms. Couillard said her future will include working the conference circuit, with the theme of her talks being perception. “I can talk quite a bit about that with the year I've just had,” a confident Ms. Couillard said with a broad smile. “Basically to tell people never let the perception people have of you define who you are and understand very clearly how you perceive yourself limits you in life.”

Ms. Couillard has written a book about her life and describes Mr. Bernier as an inveterate skirt-chaser who was more interested in his clothes than his ministerial dossiers.

Mr. Bernier, elected in 2006, had been considered a star in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government and a star among the Tories' Quebec base until the so-called Bernier-Couillard affair.

He was easily re-elected in 2008

>>>>>>>>>>>>

There it is in all its living glory. I wish Julie well in her campaign to avoid ever getting a real job. She would, however, have been better advised to take up politics to begin with. I thought such incredible bad taste was the domain of the USA and Japan, but I guess it's as Canadian as frostbite as well. I hope that Julie's little foray into pop-feminism above isn't what the article makes it appear to be ie that "sexism is alive" because the dress fetched only a miserly $1,000, but who knows when you are dealing to people like this. Probably not; probably just a complaint about the media attention paid to her appearance. I hope !! Speaking of "perception" Molly is going to hazard a bet here. Should Julie actually go on the lecture circuit I will bet that only 1% of the people who come out will be there because they are breathlessly awaiting her incredibly profound, philosophical and deep thoughts on the matter.

Too weird.

Too Weird.

TOO WEIRD.

AMERICAN POLITICS:

STORY OF BIN LADEN'S DRIVER TO BECOME A MOVIE:
Only in America ! The picture to the left is that of Salim Hamdan in happier times. Hamdan is one of those captured by the Americans when they invaded Afghanistan without a declaration of war and accused of "war crimes". Seems like the Nazis invading Poland and then declaring any Poles who fought back as "war criminals". Even Hitler's minions had no such gall. But Mr. Hamdan didn't even fight back. His crime ? He was Osama Bin Laden's chauffeur. You heard me right. By the same American logic anyone who ever cooked Hitler one of his vegetarian meals, any barber who ever cut Stalin's hair, any tailor who ever sewed Mao's shirts and any janitor who ever cleaned Pol Pot's toilets is "guilty of genocide".


All that is well and good, even if the absurdity of such sort of prosecutions is obvious to anyone but neo-conservative ideologues. The United States holds about 5% of the world's population, but I swear that they have 60% of the world's nuts, coming in all different political and religious flavours. Now, in true American form, the story is to be made into a movie. No doubt it will play well in Peshawar. Here's the story from the pages of the British newspaper 'The Guardian'.
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George Clooney, already one of Hollywood's leading liberal voices, has embarked on what may be one of his most controversial projects: the story of Osama bin Laden's driver.



Clooney's production company, Smokehouse, has bought the rights to a book about Salim Hamdan, an inmate at Guantánamo Bay who last week was sentenced to jail for his role in helping the al-Qaeda leader. The book, The Challenge, is by journalist Jonathan Mahler and tells the story of Hamdan's capture and trial, defended by a US navy lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift. It has had a big critical success.



Last week Yemen-born Hamdan, who has already spent seven years in US custody, received a surprisingly light sentence of just five and a half years for being bin Laden's driver in Afghanistan. Prosecutors had billed the case as a key plank in the 'War on Terror', designed to show that terrorists could be dealt with by Guantánamo. They had described Hamdan as a member of bin Laden's inner circle who had knowledge of his terrorist plans.



Defence lawyers, however, portrayed him as a simple man who had taken a high-paying job in order to feed his family. A military jury seemed to agree with that assessment, clearing him of terrorist conspiracy charges, but finding him guilty of providing support to a terrorist.



The case became a cause célèbre on both sides of America's political divide. Supporters saw it as a chance to show Guantánamo was effectively and fairly dealing with terrorists. Critics, meanwhile, saw it as an abusive system that was using low-level prisoners as scapegoats.



Clooney is believed to be interested in playing the role of lawyer Swift and the case certainly has all the drama and tension of any fictional legal thriller. Aside from the terrorism and exotic locations, The Challenge describes Swift's battle as a classic case of a crusading 'little guy' winning against the odds. When he was first assigned Hamdan's case Swift was a relatively inexperienced, young military lawyer. Few expected him to mount much of a defence. But he led a team that took Hamdan's case to the Supreme Court and won. However, his work was not without cost, as he pushed the case so hard it cost him his marriage and saw him passed over for promotion.



But Swift did not stop. Last week, during Hamdan's sentencing, he appealed to the court to let him go back to his family in Yemen: something now seen as a possibility given the length of time he has served. 'The best chance for him to rehabilitate is to reunite with that family. He won't put them at risk again,' Swift said. In an ending that seems written for a movie, the military judge in the trial, Captain Keith Allred, even said in court that he hoped Hamdan would see his family soon.

WEIRD STUFF:

BAKUNIN GOES TO SALT LAKE CITY ?

While stalking along the internet looking for little mousies to add to her Links sections Molly came upon a pair of truly strange mice, the likes of which she has never seen before. Kerplunk ! Down the rabbit hole she fell into what may be the strangest of all strange lands. Now, after doing this schtick for about 35 years, Molly has come across all sorts of strange hybrids that have attached the name of "anarchism" to their beliefs. A few decades from now it is pretty well certain that other generations will look on our present primitivists with the same quizical sense of amusement that we can look back at the "anarcho-futurists" of early 20th century Russia who determined to "build an anarchist utopia in interplanetary space". Or with less amusement the way we now look at the "Soviet anarchists" who covered their betrayals to Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin with a coat of fluffy theory. Anarchism, after all, is a pretty plastic term, and it can mean many different things, some of them quite contradictory to each other.

But then we find...."Mormon anarchism" ! No, that's not a misnomer nor an insult. Molly found one site, LDS Anarchy, which stands for, you guessed it, Latter Day Saints Anarchy. Yup, brought to you by the same sort of clean cut youngersters who show up at your door at 9:00 am on a Sunday morning, just when you are out of bullets and too hungover to aim anyways. Exploring the site I found that there was a lot on Mormon doctrine and precious little on anarchism, and that the brand of "anarchism" that the author(s) seemed to favour was more anarcho-capitalism than the sort of socialist anarchism that the word has stood for through much of its history. Maybe the author still has intent to present more anarchy in future posts, but what was there seems to be very much of a light snack as opposed to the 12 course meal of Mormonism so far on the table.

A fish of a different colour can be seen at The Mormon Worker, obviously named in imitation of the Christian anarchist 'The Catholic Worker'. The anarchism there is quite obviuos and in the tradition of Christian anarcho-pacifism. Now I know that there are those who deny the Mormons the label of "Christian", especially because of their rather unique position of the Trinity, but the orthodox trinitarian position that most of us learned at an early age is hardly the only one that Christians have adopted in the past or even adopt today. The orthodox are merely the most numerous. The Mormon position of "extended monothelism" in which there are three distinct gods with one will might have been the orthodox one today if then accidents of history had been different. The position of the Mormon Worker is clearly on the socialist side of the anarchist spectrum, just as that of the Catholic Worker and the Jesus Radicals is. What Molly found to be one of the site's most interesting aspects is the name of the author, a professor at Brigham Young University. He is...wait for it... "Warner Woodworth". This may be rather an incomprehensible in-joke to many younger anarchists, but for those of us who have been around for awhile the name Woodworth, as in Fred Woodworth, the publisher of The Match ! and long time hater of all things religious, especially the Mormons, strike us as more than slightly out of place in such company. Would Fred go ballistic or what if he found this coincidence out.

What does Molly think about all this ? Well, I am somewhat taken aback by the strangeness of it, but I guess that it is a tribute to the gradual percolation of anarchist ideas through society that some would try and synthesize these two seemingly incompatible ways of thought. No doubt that there are many similar hybrid memes working their way through other, more orthodox, Christian communities today, and Molly wishes all the best to them. It was only a few decades ago, before Marxism began its process of decomposition, that religious radicals looked more to patch together totalitiarian Marxism and their religion. This new trend is certainly a healthier one.

But I must end on a religious note. Molly falls into one of her ecstatic trances and begins to prophesy. "Lo, and the clouds were opened, and it was Christmas Eve. I did see then, as in a cloud of glory, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and they did open their mouths to sing. And the song that they did sing was 'A Las Barricadas'. Back to Earth with the next post I promise.

THE WILD WORLD OF POLITICS:

"LINGERIE MAYOR" REFUSES TO STEP DOWN:

Arlington, Oregon , with all of its 524 inhabitants, is hardly the throbbing centre of the universe. The town is small enough that it has a list of upcoming birthdays on its official website. Yet the mayor of this town, one Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, has brought this little burg into international prominence. Some years before she was elected she posed for a few photographs on the town's fire engine, clad in black underwear. Kontur-Gronquist is also the executive secretary of the local fire department as well as working in a local health clinic. She then posted them on a My Space site that a relative of hers had set up in hopes that it might help her to have a larger social life. Ah well. I don't know if this move worked very well. One can imagine the pictures and contacts she received in reply. Molly's first suggestion would have been a name change. "Carmen" is OK, but "Kontur-Gronquist" just doesn't fly. Sounds like something out of Conan the Barbarian. Carmen is a single mother, and her hyphenated name suggests that she has little discretion in mate choice beyond choosing the ape with the loudest grunt. Carmen has suggested that she intended to use the photos in "a contest about fitness in women". As you can see from the photos she is indeed "fit" in a physical sense. Carmen wears her 42 years very well.

All that is neither here nor there. In typical hothouse "politics" fashion Carmen replaced a clique that had apparently been more than a little loose with the public purse, according to commentators from the area where she lives. It is suspected that the photos were brought to light as an act of retaliation on the part of those who were cut out of this little (tiny,itsy,bitsy) honey-pot. Other commentators on the blogosphere have noted that the photos reveal little more than any bathing suit picture- somewhat less actually. In any case the town of Arlington(which actually!!!!! is incorporated as a "city" with all of its 524 inhabitants-I shit you not) has received such publicity from this little kerfuffle that a cynical observer would suspect that BOTH the Mayor and her supposed "opponents" who think she has disgraced the "city" were in on some sort of con-game to increase tourist dollars for the "western experience" of riding horses, or at least one horse in this one-horse town. It may or may not be true that her local opponents have mounted a campaign to demand that she step down as Mayor before her term expires in 2009. Perhaps they indeed do want to get their hands back into the kitty, no pun intended.

OK, here's the denouement. The town's website has yet to mention this "event" that brought them international fame. To this time their only claim to fame was that they were named after the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. Whoop-de-do-da. The town website is actually the website of their high school baseball team. It is...hold on to your shorts...'Home of the Honkers'. Oh my God ! Only in America ! I wish the town well, all 524 of them in that thriving "city", and if this is a fake then they deserve all the tourist dollars they can get.

Keep smiling. Humour is yet alive in the USA. In any case Molly wants to award Carmen one of her Molly no-prizes. Why ? For being one of the few examples in human history of a politician actually doing a real public service. I wish her well in finding the next source of genetic material for her reproductive purposes. Just avoid anyone with the first name of "Ooog". That Molly, she is so free with her wise advise. Maybe I should get my own TV or radio show. Move over Dr. Phil; there's a new cat on the tube. Gotta make some money off all this wisdom.

WEIRD STUFF...

COMING SOON TO A COMPUTER NEAR YOU...

THE WORLD'S FIRST VIRTUAL STRIKE:

Second Life, the bizarre online world where you can live again in whatever form you may choose, has expanded by leaps and bounds in the past few years. According to the website it now has 9,143,091 "residents", more than many countries. (Molly found only 1,598,598 logged in in the last 60 days when she visited her ghostly presence on the site, and only 40,755 on line at the time of the visit. Perhaps the company is playing with totals that obviously include many who have visited and found the vicarious experience wanting- never to return) Second Life supports an actual economy which is convertible into US dollars in the real world. The company claims that millions of US dollars (expressed as 'Linden Dollars' in the simulation) pass through its marketplace every month. There are several online exchanges in the world where US money and Linden money can be converted each to each.

Whatever this may seem like to the taxman many companies have seen Second Life as a wonderful marketing opportunity and have established online presences there. One of these is IBM, and sometime this September the Italian employees of IBM , represented by the Rappresentanza Sindicale Unitaria IBM Vimercate (RSU) are planning a "virtual strike" at the IBM presence on Second Life. The union representing about 9,000 IBM employees in Italy is keeping the exact details of the strike under wraps for now, except for the fact that they have extended an invitation for Second Life avatars from around the world to join them on the "virtual picket line". The mind boggles at what sort of representations will show up.

While the profits of IBM have soared the company has been most reluctant to share any of its windfall with its employees. When its Italian workers asked for a small salary increase in the latest round of negotiations IBM responded with an "offer" that would have meant a drop of about 1,000 euros per year per worker. The Italian workers are hoping that their actions will gain publicity for a world wide effort to build a multi-union coalition of IBM employees from over 16 countries.

To read more about this strike see the article in 'The Register' at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/ibm_italy_strike/print.html

The matter has also been discussed over at the LibCom site under their news section.

Molly is more than slightly leery (more,more,more,more) of the whole idea behind the ersatz life being sold by Second Life. Still, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

STRANGE HITS:
Molly was totally amazed by the number of hits that this blog gathered over the matter of the recent lunar eclipse, and she is only sorry that she was so surprised that she didn't give the further information provided the day before the eclipse earlier. But she never expected such a response- 387 hits in one day March 3rd for instance. I cannot understand why this blog should have become so popular over this one matter, though, in hindsight, I guess that I should have anticipated it. Full details will be posted long before the event for the next lunar eclipse coming up in August.
It was hard to keep up with the hits recorded, but some references stand out as exceptional. One was "lunar eclipse effect on squirrels". Well.... I can see why Molly's Blog should come to the top on such a search. Another was a little more strange. It read, "if the earth was tilted 45 degrees would the sun rise on Christmas day in Winnipeg Manitoba". I'm sure I could give an answer to such a question, but my curiosity is so engaged by the other question of "why" anybody should ask this question" that it's hard to get into it. Anyways, there were many other strange questions, mercifully very few of them revolving around astrology, but that was my little brush with fame, and I can't say that I am unhappy that it is gone. It was a lesson about what interests people and a reminder to give full details earlier. May I learn from this.
Molly