THE SILLY SEASON COMES EARLY:

WINNIPEG'S NEW DIRECTIONAL SIGNS:

Government is, of course, a never ending source of silliness, just as it is a never ending source of wonder at its ability to spend money uselessly. The City of Winnipeg, however, seems to have set some sort of benchmark for others to strive towards. Way back in 2003 the city council under then mayor Glen Murray approved $250,000 for a series of "directional signs" ie the usual "tourist helpers". Such things in Winnipeg's case would be like signs with arrows pointing to 'The Forks', 'The MTS Centre', or perhaps 'The Car Theft Capital Museum'. Well first of all the City couldn't seem to find anybody from Winnipeg with the artistic ability to design a sign with words and arrows so they hired Pittsburgh designer Bob Firth. Whoo, there goes some of the money. Then, of course, the City had to consult the hell out of the project. Whooo, there goes more money. Finally, maybe, possibly, God willing some signs are to be erected. The final cost- $943,000 for 101 signs. This comes out to a cost of $9,336.63 per aluminum sign, perhaps some sort of world's record. The story was carried in the local Winnipeg Free Press earlier this week.

Last April Molly featured an article on a performance artist in Toronto who designed several official looking aluminum signs to highlight the plight of the homeless in that City. The story's source is at http://spacing.ca/wire/?p=1723 . Molly bets that he didn't spend $9,336.63 for each of his signs. She bets he didn't spend $1,000 each or even $100 each. Ten bucks per pop may be an overestimate. Too bad the City of Winnipeg didn't hire this guy. It would have saved a lot of money. Almost $10,000 for each aluminum sign. Come on now !

This little item wins the 500 gallon toilet flush award for sheer waste.

APPEAL FROM COSTA RICA:

Chiquita, the international fruit company, likes to brag about its high social and environmental standards, yet in Costa Rica the banana workers union coordinating body, COSIBA-CR, has repeatedly complained of violations of workers' rights. The latest is the case of two workers, Alexander Reyes and Marcos Borge, who were fired for reporting that spaying with a toxic nematodicide (for killing worms in the bananas) was going on in the same area and at the same time as they were harvesting bananas. Both workers became ill because of the spray. Instead of expressing concern for this safety violation the Chiquita company accused them of entering the spray area against orders and fired them without the statutory three warnings. Their union is protesting this action and has called for an international campaign of protest. To learn more and to join go to http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=251

POISONED PET FOODS:

YET MORE NEW RECALLS:

PLUS...CHINA TAKES NOTICE:

Yet more pet foods have been recalled lately. In a press release dated May 22nd Menu Foods says that they have added two more foods, the Chicken Cuts in Gravy for dogs and the Chunks of Chicken in Gravy for cats. Both of these canned products are only withdrawn in Canada. Menu says that these items were "accidentally" omitted from their recent May 2nd recall. Oooops !! Seems like they not only need to clean their vats but also hire a proofreader as well.

Also Nutra Nuggets is recalling their Lamb Meal and Rice Formula dry formula for dogs, manufactured by Diamond Foods. The distributor is Costco. Molly notices a general trend here. She can find no mention of this recall on any of the three web sites given above. Could this be a "sneak it out the back door" type of recall? Costco, however, does advertise a selection of cremation urns for your dead pet on their site. The Itchmo Blog, by the way, has a recall alert service which you can sign up for for free. It will give you email notice as soon as any recall is announced.

Meanwhile over in China the International Herald Tribune reports that the official newspaper China Daily has now reported on the pet food scandal calling the way it was handled by government authorities "shameful". The English language China Daily goes on to say that the "bigger problem" is the poor safety of China's domestic food supply. To read the article go to http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/23/asia/AS-GEN-China-Pet-Food-Recall.php . This is admirable condor on the part of the Chinese media, and the reported article lays plain the systemic problems rather than blaming individuals.

THE HISTORY OF VICTORIA DAY:

Victoria Day is a Canadian(though it is also celebrated in parts of Scotland as well) statutory holiday celebrated on the last Monday before or on May 24th. It was originally a celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday, as the birthday of the British monarch has traditionally been a holiday. It was declared a holiday in 1845 by the legislature of the Province of Canada. After Confederation in 1867 the Queen's birthday was celebrated every May 24th unless it was a Sunday, in which case it was celebrated on the 25th. When Victoria died in 1901 the celebration of her birthday became Empire Day in the British Empire. It was instituted in England by Lord Meath in 1904. In 1958 Empire Day was renamed as Commonwealth Day. In 1973 the Royal Commonwealth Society of Canada sent a letter to then Prime Minister Trudeau expressing the wish that Commonwealth Day should be observed on the same day throughout the Commonwealth. In a 1976 meeting of the Commonwealth in Canberra, Australia the Canadian proposal of the second Monday in March was adopted as the official Commonwealth Day. This day is little known in either Canada or the other Commonwealth nations. Its only official recognition in Canada is that the Royal Union Flag(the Union Jack) be flown along with the Canadian flag "where physical arrangements allow" ie where there are two flagpoles at federal institutions. Only in Belize is it a public holiday. Other countries such as Australia or New Zealand celebrate a 'Queen's Birthday' Day. Queen Elizabeth's birthday is April 21st. In Canada the Queen's Birthday has been conflated with the official holiday of Victoria Day.

In Canada the day went its own way. In 1901 the Parliament of Canada established May 24th (or the 25th if the 24th was a Sunday) as the official holiday. The present timing of Victoria Day was established by an act of Parliament in 1952. The Queen's birthday was celebrated on Victoria Day from 1953 to 1956 by proclamation of the Governor General. In 1957 Victoria Day was permanently set as the Queen's birthday. In the United Kingdom the birthday is celebrated in June (from the June 9th birthday of her father). Once more the Union Jack is to be flown at federal buildings on this day "where physical arrangements permit". The Union Jack is never to take precedence over the Canadian flag.

The whole idea of Victoria Day never sat well in Quebec. In 1918 an alternative holiday, on the same day, the Fete de Dollard, was set up by Lionel Groulx in honour of a 17th century French settler, Dollard des Ormeaux, who died in the defense of a settlement under attack by the Iroquois. Time overtook this symbol of Quebec nationalism, and in 2002 the name was changed to Journee Nationale des Patriotes in honour of the rebels of 1838.

Nowadays few young Canadians feel a tremendous attachment to the British Crown, and even fewer have anything but the vaguest idea of who Queen Victoria was, besides the idea that she was anti-sex. In honour of this fact the May long weekend is known by many other names throughout the country. The most charming is 'May Two Four', in celebration of that which replaced the beaver as Canada's national symbol- the 24 pack of beer. Victoria may not have been as "Victorian" as is presumed. In 1997 a movie called 'Mrs Brown' was made concerning her possible affair with her Scottish servant John Brown. This was a matter of much speculation while she was alive and remains controversial to this day. When Victoria was buried two momentos were buried with her; one of Prince Albert's dressing gowns and a lock of John Brown's hair.

Many other things happened on this day. May 21st was the first day of the institution of daylight savings time in the UK, as a wartime power saving measure. The UK was proceeded in this by Germany, and the US came around when it entered the war, and passed daylight savings time legislation in 1918. This is also the feast day of Constantine the Great (also known as Constantine the Sleezy to those who know his history) in the Eastern Orthodox church. This is also the day in 1639 when Tommaso Campanella, author of the utopian novel 'The City of the Sun' died.His novel describes a theocratic utopia where goods are held in common. In 1871 the French government invaded the Paris Commune on this day and began the 'Bloody Week' of mass executions of Communards, leaving up to 30,000 dead. American anarchist Hutchins Hapgood was born on this day in Chicago in 1869. The French anarchist Emile Henri was executed on this day in 1894. The American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton on may 21st in 1881. On May 21st, 1916 the Magon brothers, heroes of the Mexican Revolution, went on trial in the USA on various trumped up charges. In 1927 on this day Charles Lingberg touched down in France, becoming the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic. The feat is repeated on this day in 1932 when Amelia Earhart lands in Derry, Northern Ireland, to become the first woman to do likewise. On this day in 1945 Humphrey Bogart married actress Lauren Bacall. In 1956 at Bikini Atoll on this day the first air detonation of an hydrogen bomb is carried out. Raymond Burr of Perry Mason fame was born on this day in 1917 as was Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and dissident in 1921.

INTRODUCING THE "HARPER INDEX":

Sort of like a 'Harper Watch' the new site Harper Index (http://www.HarperIndex.ca ) will help you keep track of the history, connections and daily shenanigans of our Beloved Comrade Leader Stevie. The index aims to provide daily and background information on Harper and his conservative colleagues, to provide a place for analysis and discussion of the means of persuasion used by same and to analyse the way that the federal Conservatives use to "frame the debate" and figure out ways to get around their advertising techniques. Go on over to the index to have a look. See the strings leading back to the US conservative organizations. Compare what Harper says now with what he said in the past. Lots of enlightening stuff.

POISONED PET FOOD:

IMPLICATIONS FOR CHINA AND THE CONSUMER:

The Washington Post has a recent (May 19th) article on how the pet food scandal has raised awareness about China's lack of controls over its exports. As the article points out the issue of contaminated pet food is hardly the only problem that poor quality Chinese exports have caused. Problems with the food supply include carcinogenic substances, banned antibiotics, pesticide residues and decaying materials. Other than foodstuffs tainted dietary supplements, toxic cosmetics and counterfeit medicines have also been turned back. In the last month more than 1,000 shipments have been refused entry to the USA, but, according to the article, these rejected items are often reshipped for further tries at entry.

The article goes on to discuss some of the difficulties in the way of resolution of this problem. For one American business has become excessively reliant on cheap Chinese imports. For another, though usually nobody admits it, the $5 billion in US exports of food products to China is tied up with pressure to not tighten the controls on imports.

The article goes on to describe how meat imports from China routinely enter the US even though they are theoretically banned because Chinese slaughterhouses don't meet USDA standards. They often enter under false labels such as "dried lily flower", "prune slices" or "vegetables". Meanwhile the Chinese government is pressing the US one to allow shipments of chickens raised in China into the USA, despite obvious concerns about not just the usual bacterial contaminants but also about avian flu. This will be a quid pro quo for China dropping its four year ban on US beef. The USDA's most recent audits of Chinese plants seem to give the go-ahead on this even though outside critics such as Tony Corbo of the Food and Water Watch say that the USDA audits sweep many problems under the rug.

For an increasing number of products China has now become close to the sole source. It now controls 80% of the world's ascorbic acid (vitamin C) production for instance. The article goes on to describe how the present US administration has blocked previous attempts to shore up the leaky US food protection regime.

Another article in the International Herald Tribune discusses how China is grappling (or not) with the implications of widespread fraud and counterfeiting in its export section. China presently exports more than $30 billion worth of food and drugs to Asia, Europe and North America. This has been put at risk by a continued pattern of shoddy goods. This article goes on to describe how Wal-Mart had to recall baby bibs made in China because of excessive lead levels. South Korean CJ Foods has recently recalled 42 tons of Chinese wheat gluten (maybe wheat gluten) that it imported from China. European authorities are testing all Chinese protein exports for melamine. The culture of secrecy that remains from the days of Stalinism means that people in China rarely have access to news about individual scandals, let alone the scale of the problem. When the government does take action it focuses on individuals rather than trying to correct the source of the problem. The two companies identified as exporting melamine laced products to the USA have been found guilty, and the previous head of the Chinese food and drug agency is now on trial in Beijing for taking bribes in connection with previous adulterated drug exports.

Another item from Reuters tells how Japan reacted over a year ago-certainly faster than the USA has done- to the poor quality of Chinese farm products by requiring tests for nearly 300 pesticide and other chemical residues. According to the article Japan may even beef up its regime, to the distress of Chinese trade officials.

MANITOBA'S PROVINCIAL ELECTION: JUDGING THE LEADERS BY HOW THEY PICKLE:

Come next Tuesday at least some of Manitoba, Molly excepted, goes to the polls. The general opinion is that Gary Doer's NDP will cruise into a third term if for no other reason than the fact that their opponents are so obviously bad. Now, Molly doesn't vote even for such an obviously good guy as our local MLA Jim Maloway who has always worked harder and been more honest than the average. Unfortunately no fringe candidate is running in this neighbourhood of a forest of NDP signs. But Molly suggests that a good way to judge the party leaders at least is by what sort of drunk they would be. Molly has personally had her own experience of Gary Doer when she followed him around the Irish Club on St. Patrick's Day trying to buttonhole him into declaring St. Pat's day as an official provincial holiday. A conversation with other club members reinforced her opinion. Mr. Doer is a happy, joyful, sociable drunk without a mean bone in his body.

This is more than can be said for the Conservative leader, Hugh McFadyan. Now Molly can hardly afford the price of high end liquor that Mr. McFadyan probably drinks so she has no direct experience of his alcoholic attitude. The NDP, however, managed to snag a photo of him being an aggressive idiot out of the door of a car that they use in their propaganda, and it really says it all. Neat photo. This character is angry when he is "presumably" sober. God only knows what he is like when he is drunk. The guy practically oozes anger whenever he isn't oozing "sneaky"- some photos of him bear more than a slight resemblance to a weasel. No chubby and cute there. All hard, nasty and vicious. Molly feels sorry for his rich friends who have to deal with him when they hit the Chivas Royale and the $70 bottles of wine. Mcfadyan looks like the sort of person that bars put up the sign "No Knives or Gang Colours" to try and prevent from entering. Without money he'd show up in the 'Most Wanted' list. No wonder he's so prolific at promising to spend other people's money.

Then there's the Liberal leader, John Gerard. He comes across as not capable of being a drunk at all, probably due to a lifetime of weekly sessions of concrete enemas. No fun from him. When the party would be in full swing and polite people go outside to catch a smoke Gerrard would follow them, glass of ginger ale in hand, to give them an extended lecture on the evils of smoking. Nobody could ever get him to shut up short of physical assault. It's the "socially responsible" thing after all. Put this guy in a skirt and he'd be the "Nanny State" personified. Ichhhh !

Looks like Doer gets the "good times vote".

NEW FROM THE ZABALAZA FEDERATION:

Michael Schmidt of the South African Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Federation has produced an interesting commentary on the conflict in Darfur. The article is entitled 'Blood, water &oil:fallacies of the Darfur War'. He first of all says that the portrayal of the conflict as an "ethnic one" is incorrect as the language, religion and physical appearance of the combatants are basically the same. The conflict is tribal rather than ethnic. He also states that the Sudanese government is not an Islamic fundamentalist state, and he also goes into the ecological causes of the war ie the progressive desertification of western Sudan. He also asserts that UN peacekeepers will not help the people of Darfur. Schmidt's report is the result of a visit that he recently made to Darfur. Schmidt goes on to give a brief history of the Sudanese left and the possibility of anarchist communist initiative in that country.

Michael Schmidt is also the coauthor, along with Lucien van der Walt, of a new book that is due to be published this August by AK Press in the USA. It will be 'Counter-Power: Volume 1' subtitled 'Black Flame:The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and Syndicalism'. Volume 2 titled 'Global Fire:150 Fighting Years of Anarchism and Syndicalism' will follow six months later. To get an overview of volumes 1 and 2 go to an article on the anarkismo site at http://www.anarckismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=5603 . The preface to both editions will be written by Stuart Christie. The book appears to be a greatly !! expanded version of Schmidt's previous pamphlet 'Five Waves' available from the Zabalaza Federation as a downloadable pdf (see their site).

All told looks very interesting to Molly.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE PROJECT:

The Encyclopedia of Life is a collaborative project of the Field Museum, Harvard University, the Smithsonian Institution and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Holem, Mass.,the Biodiversity Heritage Library, the Natural History Museum of London, the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Talks are underway with other institutions to secure collaboration. The goal of this project is to have an online documentation of the 1.8 million species so far named, with pages for each of the species giving written information, photographs, video, sound and location maps. The site will be available in all major languages. The first pages of the encyclopedia will be uploaded in the second quarter of 2008, beginning with vertebrates. Unlike The Tree of Life previously discussed on Molly's Blog the Encyclopedia will feature species diversity rather than evolutionary relationships.

To sign up for updates and notices on the Encyclopedia as it develops go to the above bookmarked site.

EL LIBERTARIO ANSWERS ITS CRITICS:

El Libertario, a magazine produced by Venezuelan anarchists has been unremitting in its criticism of the Chavez regime. Because of this it has earned the emnity of not just the usual cast of right wingers and leftists but also that of many within the anarchist movement as well. The editors of El Libertario have produced a reply recently published on the Anarkismo platformist site. Well worth looking at as well as the regular updates on their website (which has an English section). The website also has a pdf booklet entitled 'An Anarchist Perspective About Venezuela' that is written in somewhat better English than the reply to the critics that the comrades have translated rather poorly.

THE SILLY SEASON COMES EARLY:

THEM SNEAKY CANADIAN SPY COINS:

Today's 'Silly Award' goes to the Unites States Defense Security Service, a branch of the US Defense Department. In their never ending pursuit of "intelligence" leads they put out a sensational warning that "mysterious coins with radio frequency transmitters were found planted on US contractors with classified security clearances on at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006 as the contractors travelled through Canada".

What the uber-spies of the Defense Security Service failed to note was that the contractors in question were drinking Canadian beer and thus were not in possession of their already limited faculties. The coins in question were the Canadian 2004 quarters with a poppy in the centre to commemorate Canada's war dead. The coins were actually pretty poorly produced as the red poppy began to rub off within a few weeks. The Mint applied a coating that was supposed to prevent the colour from rubbing off, and this coating was examined under high power microscopes and "appeared to be complex, consisting of several layers of clear but different material with a wire-like mesh suspended on top", according to one of the Einsteins contracting for the US government. Another contractor, probably deep into his "business lunch" cups reported that the coins had been planted in an coat pocket that he "emptied a few hours earlier". He forgot that the bar gives change.

This little example of the wisdom of the government that knows better earns the "Maxwell Smart Ultra Spy Award". One wonders, however, if the visiting contractors got behind the wheels of cars while they were hallucinating about those little ears in the quarters.

APPEAL FROM CAMBODIA:

On April 12th the Cambodian Court of Appeal upheld the convictions of Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun in the 2004 murder of Chea Vichea, the leader of the Free Trade Union of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWEC). The union itself, however, sees it otherwise and believes that the real killer or killers are still free while the two accused have been framed. The union has appealed to the International Labour Organization to establish an international committee to investigate and bring to justice the real killers as well as those who murdered Ros Sovannareth and Hy Vuthy, other FTUWEC leaders. A report from the Asian Human Rights Commission makes it plain that the appeals procedure was flawed and irregular. The UN's special representative for human rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai, expressed "deep regret" over the court's decision and reiterated earlier calls for a complete and impartial inquiry into Chea Vichea's death. This is his complete statement.

The Clean Clothes Campaign has launched an online petition to both the Cambodian government and foreign embassies in Cambodia asking for a just resolution to this case. To add your name to this campaign go to http://www.cleanclothes.org/urgent/07-02-08.htm#action

MORE ON EASTERN EUROPEAN ANARCHISM:

A SUPPLEMENTAL:

More recent information has passed before Molly's ever aware feline eyes about events amongst the anarchists in eastern Europe. One item is that an anti-g8 mobilization took place in Brno, Czech Republic, on May 13th. This led to a call for people from both the Czech Republic and Slovakia to come to the Relich camp on June 1st, to support an antifascist demonstration in Shwerin on June 2nd and to demonstrate in Prague on June 5th on the occasion of the visit of the Emperor, Bush II, to that city. More info in Czech can be seen at the website of the Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation.

Also the Irish Workers' Solidarity Movement attended the recent anarchist bookfair in Poznan, Poland. A report on their visit can be viewed at http://www.anarchkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=5634 . Lots of interesting stuff there, but what stands out to Molly is the report of a new anarcho-syndicalist group set up in Poland in opposition to the Workers' Initiative grouping. This seems to be an IWA creation in response to the presumed "reformism" of Workers' Initiative. Seems to Molly like a fundamentally bad idea.

POISONED PET FOOD:

THE LIST OF NEW RECALLS:

As Molly promised earlier here is a list of the new items on the pet food recall list, items that were announced yesterday on an FDA press release. These foods were made by Chenango Valley Foods around the same time as they made foods with "rice protein concentrate" supplied by Wilbur-Ellis. Once more the excuse is "cross-contamination" which, in Molly's opinion, means that, like Menu Foods, they simply don't clean their machinery well (or at all ???) between batches. This brings up the question of what is the "industry standard" for how long crud will be allowed to cling to the sides of machinery before it "has to be cleaned" ? Is it maybe when everybody in the plant can smell it ? Anyways, here's the list:

Doctors Foster and Smith Lamb and Brown Rice Formula Adult Dog Food (dry food)

Shop Rite Redi-Mixt Dog Food for Dogs (only in America- Molly) (dry food)

Lick Your Chops Kitten & Cat Food (dry food)

Shep Chunk Style Dog Food (dry food)

8 in 1 Ferret Ultra-Blend Advanced Nutrition Diet (dy food)

Bulk Lamb and Brown Rice Formula Dog Food (sold only to 'Smart-Pak')

Health Diet Cat Food Chicken and Rice Dinner (dry food)

Evolve Kitten Formula (dry food)

Chenango foods can be contacted at 1-610-821-0608.

ONLY IN AMERICA DEPT:

Only in America would something be labelled as "Dog Food for Dogs". Something like "caution-hot" on a cup of hot coffee. So strange.

ANARCHISM GROWS IN EASTERN EUROPE:

A SMORGASBORD OF EVENTS:

Since the demise of Marxist tyranny in what used to be the "eastern bloc" the anarchist movement has continued to grow as the only real alternative to kleptocratic capitalism in that part of the world. Here are a few upcoming events that have come to Molly's attention in the past couple of weeks:

A: Romanian anarchists around the Love Kills zine plan to hold an anarcha-feminist festival this July & 6th in Timisoara in western Romania. There will be workshops, concerts, exhibitions and video productions at this festival which aims to address the double oppression that women suffer in present society. Read more at http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos03731.html . Contact these people at 3lovekills3@gmail.com

B: Over in Ukraine anarchists are planning a No-Borders camp from August 11th to 20th in the Transcarpathia region of Ukraine. This area is the intersection of 5 different countries; Ukraine, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania, and it has become a major pathway for people attempting to escape from the poverty and tyranny of parts of the ex-USSR and the global south into the EU. The border controls in this area have been dramatically increased, and would be immigrants are treated with extreme harshness.

The Ukrainian anarchists are demanding the end of this Fortress Europe controls and free passage of people seeking a better life. This camp will be like previous No-Border camps held in such places as the border of Poland and Germany from 1998-2000, the eastern border of Poland from 2000-2003, Slovenia in 2001, Romania in 2003, on the Bulgarian/Greek border in 2003 and 2005, in Finland in 2004, in Sicily in 2000, in Tarifa, Spain in 2001 and at various times and places elsewhere in Europe, in Australia and on the US/Mexican border. The demands will be similar. This camp will be an "information only" camp as an attempt to reach people resident in Transcarpathia and to exchange information between people active in migration issues. Any actions will be elsewhere than in Transcarpathia as local people would be influenced in the wrong way by anything disruptive in their area. There will also be an international Food Not Bombs gathering at this camp. FnB activities have blossomed in Eastern Europe recently. There are over 50 groups active in Russia alone.

Contacts for this camp are at noborder@riseup.net . You can read more about it at http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos03485.html .

C: Meanwhile out in Siberia the Russian government is planning to build a new uranium enrichment plant in the city of Angarsk, 60 kms from Irkutsk and 120 kms from Lake Baikal. Activists from the Russian anarchist federation Autonomous Action and the Lake Baikal Movement plan to hold an ecological protest camp beginning July 15th. You can keep up to date on the plans via the English language section of the Autonomous Action website. further information from ogopogos@gmail.com .

D: Finally, the Praxis Research and Education Centre of the Victor Serge Library in Moscow plans to hold two educational events in Russia this summer. The first will be in Moscow on July 9th and 10th at the Memorial Society on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The general topic will be "1917-2007:Idea of the Revolution and Experience of History". The conference languages will be English, french and Russian. The conference will be followed by a meeting at the Victor Serge Library on July 11th, celebrating its 11th anniversary.

The second meeting will be held on July 16th in celebration of the new branch of the Victor Serge Library in Sebastopol in Crimea. this will be followed by an ecological camp on July 17th to 18th in Peschanoe on the Black Sea coast about 40 kms from Sebastopol. The theme will be 'Global socio-Ecological Crisis and Ways for its Overcoming'.

You can get more information by visiting the Praxis website above (it has English and French sections) or by writing in either Russian, English or French to praxis2001@mail.ru .

For those interested in seeing more of what is happening with anarchism in the ex-Soviet empire here's a grab bag of links from Molly's Links section. All have either English and/or French content:

Abolishing the Borders From Below - Lithuania

Alternative Network for Eastern Europe - Poland

A Contra - Czech Republic

Armenian Libertarian Socialist Movement - Armenia

Avtonom:Autonomous Action - Russia

Centrum Informacji Anarchistcznej - Poland

Czechoslovak Anarchist Federation - Czech Republic

Infoshop Bratislava - Slovakia

Praska Anarchist Group - Poland

Praxis Research and Education Center - Russia

Revolutionary Manual - Belarus

Underground Lithuania - Lithuania

Workers' Initiative - Poland

Molly would, of course, be very happy if any of her readers could suggest other eastern European links that have material in either English or French.

CONJUNCTION TONIGHT:

VENUS AND THE MOON:

The night sky will hold a particularly spectacular sight tonight as a close conjunction between the waxing crescent Moon and the planet Venus will occur in the sky across most of North America. The two bodies will be at about a degree of separation, and the Moon will appear to the right of Venus. The "dark" of the Moon will also be visible due to the phenomenon known as "Earthshine", and the entire lunar globe will be visible as a blueish grey globe. Events such as these often bring a flurry of UFO reports to local authorities and astronomers. The point of closest approach will occur at 9:55 pm here in Winnipeg (sunset is at 9:12 pm) with bodies well up in the sky at 26 degrees. The event will occur later in the East, but the Moon and Venus will be much closer to the horizon there. As you move further to the West the Moon and Venus will be higher in the sky, but the point of closest approach will occur before sunset. In Edmonton, for instance the Sun will set at 9:33 pm while the closest approach will be at 8:41 pm. The conjunction, however, will still be visible and well worth viewing. Where the event occurs at the proper time one can see the two bodies approach each other and then draw apart.

The conjunction of the Moon and Venus occurs on the flags of many Islamic nations such as Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia, Algeria, Mauritania and Tunisia. The poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge used it as an "ominous portent" in 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.

At the present time Venus, when viewed through binoculars appears as a gibbous disc. At the beginning of June it will have evolved into a "half-moon" phase, and in July it will present as a crescent.

POISONED PET FOOD:

IS THERE A HONEYBEE CONNECTION ?

Many thanks to the Pet Connection site for raising this matter:

The phenomenon of 'Colony Collapse Disorder' (see also http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/ColonyCollapseDisorder.html and http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070223-bees.html ) is a phenomenon initially involving North American honey bees but now also reported in Europe and South America. The original name was 'Vanishing Bee Syndrome', and a steady decline through the last few decades accelerated late last year. The cause has been disputed, and anything from pathogens, environmental stress(weather), GM crops (containing BTH genes), pesticides and even cell phone emissions(cough,cough) have been proposed. The interesting thing is that only some commercial beekeepers have been affected. Feral bees and organic bee keepers are unaffected. To say the least the cause is controversial. Some of the toxic chemicals that have been implicated include some fertilizers.

In today's edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review author Karen Roebuck reports that the Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory and the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine are engaged in investigating the possibility that some commercial bee-feeds made from such things as brewers yeast and soy flour might be contaminated by melamine. Various commercial diets are being fed to groups of bees to access the results and commercial bee feeds are being assayed for melamine. About 1/3rd of US agricultural production is dependent on bees for pollination.

In Molly's opinion this is a "long shot", but its definitely worth looking into. Studies of the effect of melamine on honey bee reproduction should also be done as simple toxicity studies may not give the whole picture.

THREE STUDENT APPEALS FROM CALIFORNIA:

Students at three different educational institutions in the state of California have initiated actions that they wish online support for:

A:Senior high school students in Petaluma, CA are waging a campaign to make the Petaluma School District sweat shop free. This means that the Board should adopt a Code of Conduct that states that all school clothing purchased should only from factories that respect workers' rights. To see more about this campaign or to join go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/petaluma_sweatfree/gi566w44btxktt?

B: Other students at the University of California in both the Berkley and the Santa Cruz campuses staged a sit-in in support of the right of campus custodians to a living wage. The University of California administration has long resisted calls for the release of monies that were actually allocated to resolve this problem. To support these students and the U. of C. janitors go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/uc_sitin/gi566w2pbt8b77?

C: In relation to the above campaign the University administration of the Berkley campus sent the campus police to arrest the students who were sitting in at the UC Berkley Poverty Center. 25 students were arrested and charged because of their peaceful protest. To show solidarity with those arrested and to protest the administration's actions go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/ucsitin_followup/gi566w4fbbitw3?

POISONED PET FOOD:

STILL ANOTHER ROUND OF RECALLS:

It's Friday, and of course a new round of pet food recalls is streaming into consumerland. The latest items involve products from the Evolve label, the Lick Your Chops label and other items from the Chenango Valley label. Molly has to hit the road so she can't list them all here, but she will do so later today. Also the New York Times hints that still more products are likely to be recalled today. So the full details tonight. In the interim look to the Itchmo Blog and the Pet Connection people for further details.

FOURTH COUNTRY WITHDRAWS FROM THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS:

The School of the Americas Watch, an organization devoted to shutting down the "torture academy" at the US Army Fort Benning Georgia facility where the US trains army and police officers from South and Central America, has announced that a fourth country, Costa Rica, has withdrawn from participation in this notorious institution. This follows the withdrawal of Venezuela in 2004 and of Argentina and Uruguay in 2006. The School of the Americas was recently(2001) renamed as the 'Western hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation'.

Being as Costa Rica has no army its participation has always been restricted to sending police officers for training at Fort Benning. Over the years Costa Rica has sent about 2,600 trainees. The most notorious Costarican graduate was Minor Masis who attended in 1991. In 1992 he participated in a drug raid, and his actions his being sentenced to 42 years for rape and murder during the raid. Obviously they pay little attention to teaching their graduates how not to get caught. Presently Costa Rica has only three police officers enrolled at the academy and Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias has announced that these will be the last.

Past graduates of this academy include dictators Manuel Noriega of Panama and Leopoldo Galtieri of Argentina as well as San Salvadorean death squad organizer Roberto D'Aubuisson. To learn more about the campaign against this torture academy go to the School of the Americas Watch site.