INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER OF THE FRENCH CNT:

The French CNT (the CNT-Vignoles, the breakaway from the AIT) has initiated a project in the wake of their very successful i07 conference in Paris of publishing an international newsletter about their activities. The first issue of this can be seen in English at http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos04351.html . The newsletter discusses French affairs that might be of interest to foreign anarchists. Readers of the newsletter will very obviously see that comrades who have left the purism of the AIT have not abandoned the struggle for self management and liberty. They have merely chosen different and more realistic methods. Molly can't find mention of this newsletter in the CNT's website, but I'm sure it will show up there eventually. In the meantime you can sign up for the CNT's information bulletin- en francais.

NEW AT THE HARPER INDEX:

-BRINGING CANADA'S ENERGY UNDER US CONTROL

-TORY LAND CLAIMS TRIBUNAL A DUD

-20 YEARS OF TARGETING THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD:

The 'Harper Index', the website devoted to keeping its steely gaze on the history, antics and plots of the federal Conservatives, keeps on examining little Stevie and his friends. One recent article is about "deep integration", the business plan to "harmonize" regulations across the Canada, the US and Mexico. As if they weren't "harmonized" enough the Conservatives are promoting two new trade deals that would reduce the ability of the public to control the actions of the corporations. One is the 'Interprovincial Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement' (TILMA) . This has already been signed by the usual suspects, the governments of BC and Alberta. If agreed to this would allow out of province businesses to sue provincial and municipal governments that they feel "restrict or impair their investments" ie health, safety and environmental regulations are in the gunsights. The other agreement being constructed is the 'Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America' (SPP) which is basically an "energy grab" that would commit Canada to securing the energy supply of the USA even though it has no plans to secure its own energy supplies. Read much more in the article at http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=0056 .

Being as yesterday was National Aboriginal Day it might also be a good time to look into the details of Harper's much ballyhooed new aboriginal land claims tribunal. The Harper Index has an article citing law professor Bradford Morse of Ottawa University and a native affairs analyst who requested anonymity because of the well known vindictiveness of the Harper government. The article goes into the real limitations of the proposal that don't get much media play Well worth a look. Also the dirt of Tom Flanagan, Harper's long term mentor on land claims matters. See http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=0054

Finally, there's an article on the twenty year long history of Conservative attacks on the Canadian Wheat Board. The recent attempts to abolish the CWB hardly came out of nowhere. See http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=0053

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE (AND MIDSUMMER YET TO COME):

Today was the day of the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere (winter solstice south of the equator). The term "solstice" may refer to either the exact time of the sun's furthest point away from the equator or it may refer to the day on which this occurs. In the first sense the solstice is already well past. It occurred at 18:06 UTC (Greenwich Mean Time). Here in Winnipeg this would have been at about 13:06 (ie 6 minutes after 1pm). If you are interested about when the event occurred in your locality look it up on the Time And Date.Com site. This site also provides information on such things as sunrise, sunset, phases of the moon and even weather.

In the second sense there are still a couple of hours left to go in the solstice "day" (night now). This day is 16 hours and 21 minutes long here, actually about two seconds shorter than yesterday. NO...the solstice day was NOT the longest day of the year this year. This occurs because the exact time of the solstice doesn't always correspond with the exact point of midday in a given location. Sometimes the exact time of the solstice can even fall in the middle of the night. The solstice is not even always on June 21st. in 2008 and 2012 it will fall on June 20th (though very close to midnight-only one minute off in 2008).

The cause of the seasons, of which the solstices and equinoxes are the arbitrary dividing points, is the fact that the angle of rotation of the Earth is about 23.44 degrees from the perpendicular to its orbital path. It keeps this orientation throughout its orbit with the result that at any given time (except the equinoxes) one or the other hemisphere will be tilted towards the sun and hence be warmer than the other.

At the time of the northern solstice the sun appears to be directly overhead for all places 23.44 degrees north of the equator, known as the Tropic of Cancer, while during the southern solstice the same is true for any point 23.44 degrees south of the equator, known as the Tropic of Capricorn. The points in between this latitudes are known as the "tropics". The names for the tropics are actually misnomers as they stand for the constellations from ancient times when astrology was formulated. Due to precession the Sun is now in Taurus during the northern solstice and in Sagittarius during the southern one. The change of constellations makes the names more one of convenience than anything bearing any relation to reality.

The severity of seasonal change fluctuates over long time periods (thousands of years) because the axial tilt of the earth varies from 22.1 degrees to 24.5 degrees. The greater the tilt the more dramatic the seasonal changes.

In East Asia most calenders divide the year into 24 "solar terms". "Xiazhi" (Ha chi) is the 10th solar term. It begins when the sun reaches the celestial longitude(the highest point the sun reaches in the sky) of 90 degrees and ends when it reaches 105 degrees. Xiazhi literally translated is "summer solstice". In our calender this corresponds roughly to the period from June 21st to July 7th.

The time of the "northern sun" during the summer solstice can only be seen from places north of 66.56 degrees north, the Arctic Circle. At exactly this latitude the Sun touches the horizon at midnight but never truly sets. At the north pole the Sun would appear to rise and set in exactly the same place at the time of the solstice- in the south. But don't forget that all directions are south at the pole. The Sun would indeed appear to reverse course across the sky, but it wouldn't appear the same as if it did so at lower latitudes.

There are two interesting terms related to the twilight as one approaches the poles during midsummer. When one reaches latitude 50 degrees north the Sun never gets further than 16.56 degrees below the horizon. this is known as "astronomical twilight" when it is impossible for astronomers to do any work with any great precision. It is also called the "grey nights". Above 60 degrees latitude the Sun never gets more than 6.56 degrees away from the horizon at the summer solstice. This is known as "civil twilight" or "the white nights".

MIDSUMMER CELEBRATIONS:

Many traditional holidays clustered around the times of both the summer and winter solstices. The time of most of the summer festivals in western cultures, however, is no longer June 21st but rather June 24th. The difference is due to the calendar reform of Pope Gregory XIII. The old Julian calendar moved the date of the solstice forward about 3 days every four centuries. The Gregorian calendar, on the other hand, moves a little bit from year to year but only advances on the average a day for every 3,000 years. The old pagan solstice festivals had been christianized as the Feast of St John the Baptist, and this day kept its separation from the actual solstice at the time of the Gregorian reform.

The Feast of St. John is unique is that it is celebrated on the presumed date of the Saint's birthday. All other saints' days are celebrated on the day of their presumed death. The Roman Catholic Church has declared St. John's day as "Solemnity", the highest designation of a feast day. For more on St. John the Baptist and his celebration see the article in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Many of the European customs that surround MidSummer Day derive from older pagan customs, but far less is known about these than many modern "mythologizers" imagine. The actual reconstruction of verifiable rather than fanciful knowledge about pagan European religions is rather austere and sparse compared to the free flights of fantasy engaged in by many people who imagine they are recreating said religions. It's doubtless true that there were midsummer bonfires and, in some countries, midsummer trees (like the Yule trees, the spring trees or the maypole at different times of the year). The Romans had the feast of the Vestalia when married women were allowed to enter the shrine of Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth, where only the vestal virgins were allowed to enter at other times. Yet, even for the names of ancient deities, let alone detailed accounts of the religious practices of preChristian Europeans there are few reliable sources, and these are vastly outnumbered by the endless tomes of pop-religion in the New Age sections of bookstores today. As a matter of fact you'll rarely find them on the shelves of any bookstore. Tacitus, Bede and Caesar simply don't have the "pizzazz" that modern carbonated pop-religion delivers.

The religious practices of Native Americans are known a little better, and some of their midsummer festivals have been described in much greater and more accurate detail than those of ancient Europe. Native Americans have also left perhaps even more stone structures (some are known as "medicine wheels") that are just as accurate astronomical calculators as the better known megalithic structures of Europe such as Stonehenge. As an interesting sidelight June 21st has been officially known as 'National Aboriginal Day' in Canada since 1996.

In France La Fete de Saint-Jean is a Catholic festival held in June 24th (midsummer) and features large bonfires. The first Canadian celebration took place in New France in 1638, according to the Jesuit Relations. Ludger Duvernay, the Quebecois editor of La Minerve began the campaign to have this day declared the official holiday of French Canada in 1834. Pope Pius X declared St. John the Baptist to be the official patron of French Canadians in 1908. June 24th became an official holiday in Quebec in 1925, and in 1977 it was renamed the National Holiday of Quebec, though it is still usually referred to as St Jean-Baptiste Day.

Midsummer festivals in Portugal are actually held at various times depending upon the area. Lisbon, for instance, celebrates it on St. Anthony's Day (June 13th), but other places hold to June 24th. In Brazil, however, June 24th is the universally celebrated day, and it has become much more popular there than back in Portugal. The "Festa Juanina" is particularily popular in northeastern Brazil, actually rivalling Carnival in popularity.Two cities in the northeast of the country, Caruara and Camina Grande, are in competition with each other for the title of "Biggest St. John's Festival in the World". Caruara presently holds the Guinness title.

In Ireland many towns hold midsummer festivals on the weekend nearest to the 24th. In Italy the day is particularly popular in Florence (lasting from June 21st to June 24th) as he is the patron saint of Florence. In Poland, especially in the north, midsummer is celebrated on June 23rd. It begins at 8:00pm and lasts all night. Traditionally wreaths were thrown into the Baltic or into rivers and lakes.

The name for St. John in Russia is Ivan Kupala. It is celebrated on June 23rd (Gregorian calendar) and July 6th (Julian calendar) in both Russia and Ukraine. As in Poland wreaths are thrown into bodies of water and bonfires were/are lit as well. Mussorgsky's 'Night on Bald Mountain' was actually inspired by Ivan Kupala day festivals rather than Halloween. Bonfires were also traditional in the Baltic countries of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, despite Soviet disapproval in the case of the latter country. Wreaths in Latvia were worn rather than tossed into water. In Latvia this is known as the Feast of Jani. In Estonia bonfires are once more featured and the festival is very similar to that of Finland to the north (Estonian and Finnish are related languages). Finland also features the ever present bonfires and also a summer pole tradition borrowed from Sweden. Before the conversion to Christianity the day was known as Ukon juhla, after the Finnish god Ukko. The day is known as Juhannus in Finnish and "midsommer" for the Swedish minority in Finland.

In Sweden Midsommarafton (Midsummer Eve) and Midsommardagan (Midsummer Day) are celebrated beginning on the Saturday that falls between June 20th and June 26th. It may rival Christmas in importance in this country. A "maypole" is raised on the Friday following the beginning of the festival , decorated with flowers and greenery, and dances are held around this pole. The years first potatoes,pickled herring sour cream and (hopefully) strawberries would be on the traditional menu. Old traditions about decorating houses and barns with greenery persist even though the old superstitions about this bringing luck are mostly forgotten. Midsummer in Sweden is considered the start of the summer holidays, something like the May long weekend in Canada and is a great time to party. In Norway the day called "Jonsok" or "Sankthansaften" is celebrated on June 23rd. Once more there is the midsummer bonfires.

The Danish name for St. John's Eve is "Sankt Hans aften", and it takes place on the evening of June 23rd. Once more it is time of bonfires and parties even though it is no longer an official holiday. Midsummer festivals in Great Britain gradually petered out during the Reformation and in subsequent centuries. Midsummer bonfires are still being lit in some places in Cornwall, however, and neo-pagans have their annual get together at Stonehenge, though, as previously mentioned, this has little connection with traditional midsummer festivals.

Sorta a great loss to Molly's point of view even if she has little sympathy with the necromancy of trying to revive that which is dead and dolling it up in the illusion that it is a recreation of the past. Better to create entirely new traditions without pretense.

Anyways, merry solstice and a happy midsummer.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

There's an article in today's Globe and Mail on how the pet food recall has affected various animal shelters across Canada. 'Animal Shelters Left with Hunger pangs after Tainted-Food Scare Depletes Stock' tells the story of various animal shelters across the country who have had to throw out recalled food and are having a tough time making ends meet at a time when donations are usually low. Many people may not realize that their previous donations have been discarded and that these charities are in need of new foods.

ALSO COUNTERFEIT TOOTHPASTE FOUND IN CANADIAN STORES:

Another article in the Globe and Mail reports on how counterfeit Colgate toothpaste, similar to that found in four states in the USA, has been found in a dollar store in Guelph, Ontario. Wahid Choksi, owner of the 'Everything for a Dollar' chain of discount stores said that he has ordered the removal of the inventory from the shelves of his stores in various cities across Canada. He alerted his supplier, Toronto-based FHT Enterprises Inc., . This company said that it had imported 1,440 tubes from a supplier in New York and that Mr. Choksi's store was the only one that they had sold to. FHT refused to name their US supplier. The fake Colgate toothpaste is said to contain diethylene glycol, just like previous brands of Chinese toothpaste recalled in several other countries.

Finally, there's an interesting article from ABC News titled 'Toothpaste Not the Only Counterfeit Product on U.S. Shelves'. The article gives examples of many faked products including medicines. It also gives a few tips on how to avoid being taken in.

THE VALCARTIER LETTER:

Last June 11th some 3,000 letters were mailed to soldiers at the Valcartier military base near Quebec City. More than 2,000 soldiers are due to deploy to Afghanistan from this base later this summer. The Anti-Capitalist Coalition of Montreal along with the antiwar groups Coalition Quebec pour la Paix, Block the Empire (Montreal) , Rassemblement Outaouais contre la guerre and Guerre a la Guerre have called for demonstrations in Quebec City on June 22nd when the Royal 22nd Regiment, the "Van-Doos", will hold a military parade in Quebec City prior to their departure for the war in Afghanistan. You can learn more at http://reseau-anticapitaliste.blogspot.com/2007/06/protest-canadas-deployment-of-troops-to.html .

The letter has created quite a bit of controversy. Here is the text of the letter in English. The French version can be found at http://valcartier2007.ca/lettre.htm :

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE SOLDIERS OF VALCARTIER

For several months you've been preparing for your mission to Afghanistan, and you will be leaving shortly for Kandahar. During your training, you've been told again and again that your mission is to stabilize Afghanistan, to win the hearts and minds of Afghans, to liberate women, to establish democracy. We are writing you this letter to offer you a dissenting point of view about your deployment that we hope will prompt you to reconsider your participation.

The Afghan people have never attacked Canada or Quebec, and had nothing to do with the attacks of September 11, 2001. Stil, Defence Minister Gordon O'Conner- who used to work as a lobbyists for corporations and public relations firms who profit from war- recently stated that your presence in Afghanistan is "retribution" for 9-11. (Edmonton Journal, January 21,2007)

The Canadian government defends its involvement in Afghanistan in the name of women's liberation. However, the Afghani government that you are defending is composed of warlords who are just as brutal in their treatment of women as the former Taliban regime. In the worrds of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA):

"The corrupt and mafia government of Mr. Karzai and its international guardians, are playing shamelessly with the intolerable suffering of Afghan women and misuse it as their propaganda tool for deceiving the people of the world. They have placed some women into official posts in the government who are favoured by the warlords and then proclaim it as a symbol of "women's liberation" in the country. (RAWA Statement on International Women's Day, march 8,2007, http://www.rawa.org/ )

Your deployment in Afghanistan means complicity with the civilian deaths and other activities- like the transfer of prisoners to potential torture and death- that are tantamount to war crimes; here are some examples:

-this past April, US air strikes killed at least 57 civilians in Herat Province, more than half of who were women and children (International Herald Tribune, May 12,2007);

-earlier, in Mangarhar Province, another 19 civilians, including an infant, were killed indiscriminately by US troops, who forced journalists to erase their videotapes of the incident (CBC News, March 4, 2007).

Canadian troops too have been involved in civilian deaths:

-in March 2006, soldiers shot dead a taxi driver riding near a patrol (CBC News, March 15,2007);

-in August 2006, a 10 year old boy was shot and killed (National Post, August 23,2006);

-in December 2006, an elderly Afghan man was shot and killed (CTV News,December 13, 2006);

-in February 2007, there were two separate incidents involving the killing of Afghan civilians by Canadian troops, including a homeless beggar (Canadian Press, February 17,2007, CBC News February 17, 2007 and CTV News, February 19, 2007).

The Afghan mission is based on lies. Canada's military role in Afghanistan- which began in 2002- is directly linked to George Bush's "War on Terror". 2500 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan means 2500 more US soldiers in Iraq, despite widespread opposition to that war. The "War on Terror" has been a failure, and has meant less safety and security in the world, particularly for the civilian populations of the Middle East. According to your commander in Afghanistan, Major-General Andrew Leslie; "Every time you kill an angry young man overseas, you're creating 15 more who will come after you." (CBC News, August 8, 2005)

The "Taliban" was declared defeated back in 2002 by George Bush and Donald Rumsfield, but more than five years later, they're inexplicably back and stronger than ever. It's clear that as long as there are foreign forces in Afghanistan, there will be thousands of average Afghans motivated to actively resist those forces. In North America, the mass media brands all opposition to foreign occupation as "Taliban", that dangerously serves to marginalize all Afghani resistance.

Canada's role in Afghanistan is a trap. It means on-the-ground Canadian soldiers become "cannon-fodder" for the illogical and unjust policies of generals and politicians.

As armed forces soldiers, you know better than anyone the potential consequences of resisting orders to participate in this mission. But you can refuse to participate in this war. Already, one Canadian reservist has refused to serve in Afghanistan. Daily, US soldiers resist orders to serve in the Middle East, and many have come to Canada to seek refuge.

We write this letter in the spirit of dialogue and debate. we write also to offer our concrete support, in confidence, if you decide to consider resisting deployment to Afghanistan. Our contact information is below; don't hesitate to get in touch.

-Coalition Guerre a la Guerre (Quebec City)

-Coalition Quebec pour la paix (Quebec City)

-Block the Empire (Montreal)

Rassemblement Outaouais contre la guerre

VALCARTIER 2007

C.P. 55051, 138 Saint-Vallier Ouest, Quebec, Quebec G1K 1J0

418-208-7059 , info@valcartier2007.ca . http://www.valcartier2007.ca/

INTERESTING NEW SHORT VIDEO FROM CHRISTIE BOOKS:

Christie Books has just uploaded another new short video on their Brightcove site. It's 'Mr Blair Goes to War', a documentary on the soon to be late Prime Minister of Britain. You can access it at http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title1037207819 .

You might also want to see the full list of films and short video that Christie Books now has for free download at their TV Hastings site. Go to http://www.tvhastingschristiebooks.com/ to view it all. Some new items recently added include:

*Five Steps to Tyranny http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=958764725

*The Trap 1/3 (Adam Curtis 2007) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=958762310

*The Trap 2/3 (Adam Curtis 2007) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=958480258

*The First Post Francoist CNT Meeting 1977 (Montjuich) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=958584447

*La Metralleta 'Stein' (1974-Jose Anronio de la Loma) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=933081014

*Incident at Ogala (1992-Michael Apted) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=933187246

*A Tiro Limpio (1963 Francisco Perez-Dolz) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=958636060

*Los Lunes al Sol (Fernando Leon de Aranoa) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=987353337

*The Butterfly's Tongue (2000- Jose Luis Cuerda) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=979307898

*Monos Como Becky (1999- Joaquin Jorda and Nuria Villazon) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=979466524

*Los Ultimos Guerrilleros Historia de la A.G.I. (2003) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=958622120

*Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee (1994-Frank Peirson) http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=959014328

HUNDREDS PROTEST AGAINST ALTANTICA:

According to the organizers of the recent protest in Halifax up to 400 people took part in protests against the institution of the Atlantica free trade zone. This differs from the mass medias estimate of a tiny 200 people. Molly is agnostic about the numbers. Being as this is Halifax any numbers are important. As usual the mass media concentrated upon so-called riots initiated by the travelling "anarchist circus". As usual this followed the theatric play acting of anarchists with black masks throwing innocuous things at the police followed by massive retaliation on the part of the police, from tear gas to tasers. Estimates of those who were willing to engage in this play act converge at about 50 people. The demonstrations in Halifax included far more people who didn't want to be part of this theatre. One report from the Maritimes Indy media puts the number of marchers on June 15th as between 300 and 500. The little fracas with the cops resulted in 21 people being arrested and more than 70 charges being laid including such oldies and goodies as "unlawful assembly" (was the riot act read or not?), assaulting police, mischief and various "weapon-related offenses" (watch out for those deadly paintballs. According to protester Pierre Blais, part of the larger non-violent component of the march, much of the violence was provoked by police using stun guns on certain members of the breakaway march early in the game.

Nineteen of those arrested were released yesterday. Two others had been released earlier. The court process was delayed after some of the accused refused to identify themselves. Many of those arrested were from outside Nova Scotia and two were from the USA. The accused were remanded to court dates in early September, ordered to not associate with each other or to take part in further protests.

There's an interesting report on the protests from a participant over at the Autonomy and Solidarity site with a bit more of a report on the demo that the usual cops versus the BB comedy. There are numerous other reports on the Maritimes Indymedia site about such matters as the critical mass bike ride that was part of the actions against Atlantica and the Halifax Coalition Against Poverty demonstration. There's another interesting article over at the Maritimes Indymedia site titled 'Concept to Fall Under Its Own Weight' about why Atlantica may not be successful because, all protests aside, it is flawed in other ways.

For those interested in photos of the events like those Molly has reproduced above go to one of the following:

1) http://www.hfxnews.com/index.cfm?main=gallery&cid=574

2) http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianlarter/tags/atlantica

3) http://flickr.com/photos/admacisaac/tags/atlantica

Then there is the looming question. Are protests such as those held around the meeting of Altanitica of any great value ? The whole Black Bloc versus the police comedy has become nothing more than an endless series of sitcom reruns over the years. The whole concept of "direct action" has been lost in the shuffle, and now it means nothing more than militant posturing. There have been other casualties as well. These little set piece battles long since ditched any creativity or sense of humour and with it the ability to expand beyond a tiny set of those willing to lose street fights for no good reason. The rest of the protest indeed had both creativity and humour, but it was-and other examples will continue to be- overshadowed by the great "sensation of the day" of "anarchists losing game number 257 once more to the police team". About time to reevaluate. Actually long past time.

HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL:

Once more down memory lane. When she was 13 Molly's father retired and we moved in from the country to "beautiful" Regina, Saskatchewan. Culture shock big time. It didn't take two weeks for poor little Molly to witness (but not participate in) her first gang fight in the parking lot of a nearby Safeway. Rather impressive to a country kid. Molly adjusted well enough to her new surroundings. As a country kid she was rather shocked by what she saw, but she had the advantage of good ol' country livin' that made her at least twice as strong as her size allowed. It took a long time for dissipated living to reduce the original genetic and early environmental advantage with which I was gifted. One of my first actions was to deliberately pick a fight with the scariest bully in the neighbourhood. He got in more punches; so he won on points, but if the fight had continued more than the hour it did I would have won because of endurance. From there on in I could cruise on rep. It helped to carry a knife.

When I first moved to the city I was exposed to the tender mercies of a 'catholic school' whose methods of discipline included manners of torture that are part of military interrogation across the world. Lean against a wall on one finger of each hand. Not too difficult for the first few seconds. If you slack,however, you get whacked across the back. As the minutes drag on circulation in the two index fingers becomes compromised. Lawsuits about lost fingers were rare as the kids usually accepted the beatings across the back rather than the pain from the fingers. Trust me; try it and you won't like it. The stretch to a point above your ability was a similar torture with the same incentive of flagellation if you failed. To this day this is why Molly believes every story about abuse in residential schools when the story is told by an ordinary Indian. She saw it and felt it in her own body. She has her doubts when the stories are conveyed through the dishonest chiefs, but the experience of the ordinary person in a residential school was even more horrendous than anything that Molly saw- which was bad enough.

In high school Molly had the misfortune (or fortune if you will) of being a "red diaper baby" and reading the Communist Manifesto at the age of 13. This meant that she was a Marxist for a few years until she grew up. Marxism is a religious response for many Catholics who see the evil inherent in the institutional Church but are unprepared to abandon religious ways of thinking totally. One religion substitutes for another. Needless to say I was not popular amongst the Jesuit teachers at the high school that I attended. My "rep" prevented them from manipulating the rich kids to attack me so they had to do the dirty work themselves. They did it very well.

One instance involved,unfortunately, the first honest priest I had ever met in my life, Father Brady. Brady was actually a decent man. He had a thing going with one of the nuns teaching across the field at the catholic girls' school. They used to meet in the dead of night to hump in the field. Later both him and her left holy orders and got married. Anyways, I was being my usual assholeish self in his Latin class, and he decided to try and make it somebody else's problem by sending me to the principal, a priest named Boyle. Now Boyle was not perverse. He was merely an ordinary nasty clerical fascist. He knew where he was. His type would sanction mass killings in places like Franco's Spain but would refuse to countenance torture. The ideal Jesuit, logical and clean. Brady expected a mere interrogation and intimidation session with two punches at worst. What he didn't know was that Boyle was not there. The vice principal McCardle was. This was one sick puppy, and the likes of him was one of the reasons why Brady eventually left the priesthood (sex aside). McCardle was a sexual sadist who loved inflicting physical pain. His desires couldn't even be confined to the ever present opportunities for "discipline" afforded by a Catholic school. He used to prowl the halls to grab students by the nerves in their shoulders and bring them down to their knees by his version of the Vulcan nerve pinch. Try it and see how painful it is. Ha,ha,ha.

So Molly waltzes in to the principal's office and, "oh shit" it's this demon. Here we go. Hold em out. This bugger had a really enthusiastic way of applying "the strap" to your hands. He'd actually jump up in the air to get the maximum swing to the leather. Now Molly has to more or less apologize to her genteel "politically correct" audience here as the words that follow are those that went through her mind at the time. They also go through the mind of everyone subjected to such treatment anywhere who has the determination to withstand it. Only the language varies. The meaning is the same.

The strap came down again and again. Molly didn't move one inch. The flesh parted. The blood spurted. The wounds got bigger and bigger. In Molly's mind the following words came over and over,

"Do your worst you dirty cocksucker. I won't flinch no matter what you do. You are a dirty bastard. I hate your guts. I'll get my revenge some day, but I won't give you any satisfaction now you filthy cock sucking bastard. "

Well Molly withstood it, and eventually the demon grew tired of tearing her hands apart. Back to Brady's class. Walk in dripping blood like Jesus come down from the cross from her hands. Brady is beside himself to apologize, explaining that he thought that Boyle was in his office. Molly grunts in too much pain to appreciate the apology or to think period. One more step.Just one more step.I've seen other situations like this in my life in much more serious circumstances. The class is dismissed. Brady has one more thing to think about as he plans to exit the Jesuits.

Then there was the story of Father John Toth- hopefully presently frying in the circle of Dante's Infierno reserved for the wrathful. This was an interesting animal as he was the "original" for every leftist's dream of those who oppose their sexual ideal. Very few people who disagree with leftism's ideology of "homophobia" actually conform to the cartoon version but Toth did. To say the least he was an annoyance as at least 1/2 of every class that he taught was devoted to two subjects. One was "the commies are out to get your mind"- interesting as I was a commie at that time (the foolishness of youth). The other was "be a man".

This was particularly bizarre as Toth was a great closet queen in the tradition of Elizabeth I . One of his favourite occupations was to cruise the hallways and fondle the bums of students with a great grin on his face. Even his clerical robe couldn't always hide the hard-on. Let us say that Molly never gave him a hard-on. He hated my guts with a deep passion. One day I was doing my usual radical student stuff,passing around a petition for students' rights in the hallways (FAR LESS RADICAL THAN MY BROTHER_NOW DECEASED_WHO BROKE THE COLLARBONE OF THE FOOTBALL HERO WHO WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE THAT THE PRIESTS ENLISTED TO INTIMIDATE ORDINARY STUDENTS-MOLLY HAS ALWAYS BEEN RATHER NON-VIOLENT UNLESS IT WAS NECESSARY-more on this story if you want). Father Toth came up in full fury. Ranting and raving about the communist conspiracy. Being as I was a communist at the time and several evolutionary steps above him in the great chain of being I KNEW that what I was passing around was pure liberalism. He was so silly that I started to laugh at him. Bad plan but unavoidable. I meet the same sort of nonsense even today, but it disguises itself as leftism. The common factor is a total lack of a sense of humour- indicating much more serious intellectual defects.

Anyways, I laughed. The sucker turned red. He turned white. He turned red again. The details of his silly face are firm in my memory even after all these these years because they were so amazing. He said, "I'll see you in my room after school Murtagh". Here we go folks. I spend the afternoon with the 'Campion Smart Club', the honour students who could double as the 'Campion Atheists' except they didn't draw as much "heat" as I do. Good people everyone, but without "the devil in their soul".

OK. Let's go rock and roll. I go into Toth's private little torture chamber. He rants. He raves. He threatens. He puffs out his fat chest. Now... Tothy Poo used to be a professional boxer in his days of proving how much he wasn't queer and he had an impressive chest before it fell down to the level of his gut. Finally Molly can take no more of his bullshit. She takes off her glasses (yes Molly has always been nearsighted),

"OK Buddy, take your swing"

Now, Toth was a professional boxer. But Molly was trained by the best. This bastard could win on the prairies, But Molly's father was boxing champion of Quebec in his weight class, and the evil bugger insisted that Molly learn the techniques. He only stopped my training when I hurt him by a judo throw.Ironically enough my judo career ended when I disabled the "champion" who was supposed to go on to win an upcoming competition with a nasty street trick that I learned from the old man (all that I can say here is DON'T LEAVE DISCIPLINE TO YOUR BEST OR YOU MAY FUCK UP-Pick Man # 2 to be your thug).

Anyways Toth landed a goodly number of punches on me. Enough to turn my face to a nasty bloody pulp- until I got my guard up. Toth may have been a professional boxer in southern Saskatchewan, but my father fought the best in eastern Canada. My guard was unbreakable once I got it up after he had the advantage of surprise. To this day I wonder why I didn't fight back. I had the advantage even though he was 100m pounds heavier than me. But I merely blocked until he got scared by the skill.

I went home. My parents saw my face. The old lady was beside herself about lawsuits. The old man-who I may remind you was a boxing champion wanted to go and beat the shit out of this sleazy priest. Let us say that this wasn't the first time that the Irish community has confronted the corruption of their priests. My father was convinced to not finish my fight by a phone call where Boyle forced Toth to apologise. One can imagine the ear twisting. We accepted this grovelling and neither launched a law suit over assault nor turned up with 200 people at the Jesuit centre with a bad temper.

That is my "high school confidential". It reads more like a report from eastern Europe under Communist rule. It may be more brutal than what actually happens today, particularly if your school is not Catholic-though Molly has little doubt that there are other "techniques of persuasion" in public schools that are more modern and presumably more effective.

By the way most of the people mentioned in this blog are long dead.

Keep smiling,

Molly

WHEN TELLING THE TRUTH IS AN OFFENSE:

Molly has recently come upon an interesting item on the Saskatchewan blog Shagya's Blog about a high school student in Wayota, Saskatchewan, who was suspended from school for the simple fact of countering the propaganda doled out by the teachers in the school about marijuana. Molly has heard reports about this on the radio and being as she was unlucky enough to grow up in Saskatchewan eventually intended to blog about this herself. But Shagya has said it all. The student involved is an honours student who has now gone to China to study there (no..he's not Chinese; he's just smart). The social control as opposed to education function of the school system could not be more plainly expressed than it is here. No place for intelligence in school. Go to Shagya's blog for the full story. Brings back bad memories of Molly's own ancient high school experiences with the Jesuits. Some of those black coated bastards could punch real good.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

ETHYLENE GLYCOL VERSUS PROPYLENE GLYCOL:

There is a product on the market that advertises itself as "safe" for animals, being as antifreeze toxicity is a major cause of death amongst domestic pets in North America. Because of its sweet taste it is also an occasional cause of poisoning and even death amongst children. The basic difference is that "animal friendly" antifreeze uses propylene glycol rather than ethylene glycol as the major component. Propylene glycol has a slightly higher freezing point and a slightly lower boiling point than ethylene glycol, and thus it is not as ideal as a motor vehicle additive. Yet, the safety factor of the different compounds is such that many European countries such as Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Denmark either restrict or ban the use of ethylene glycol in antifreeze. In the USA various jurisdictions demand the addition of a "bittering agent" to ethylene glycol based antifreeze, and many producers have instituted the use of warning labels, child proof containers (useless as far as Molly can see) and consumer propaganda campaigns.

Molly has recently come upon an interesting online paper from the University of Michigan written from a chemistry economic point of view. The title is 'Case Study: Comparison of Ethylene Glycol Versus Propylene Glycol-Based Antifreeze Solutions'. What the paper demonstrates is the 'complexity" of different chemical processes and their associated economic and environmental "cost". The paper takes a "life cycle" approach to the chemical engineering problems looking at not just the cost (economic/environmental) of production but also that of use, byproducts and disposal. The whole point of the paper is to argue against the idea propagated by the likes of Union Carbide who say that the use of chemicals such as propylene glycol as totally more inefficient both economically and environmentally. If you go through the paper carefully you will see that the actual pluses and minuses can fall on different sides depending upon what parameter you are looking at.

Molly is all in favour of replacing ethylene glycol, the compound that has been added to the tainted toothpaste from China, with the less toxic propylene glycol for antifreeze and windshield washer fluid. If the economic and environmental cost is higher- so be it. Factor the environmental cost into the final product cost as a "charged externality" rather than an "uncharged externality".

What Molly would like to point out here is that this tiny little matter of the position of one carbon side chain on a molecule ends up with an extremely complex situation, as can be seen from reading the paper. Molly can only wish that "social reformers" of either the left or right could see that the "solutions" they propose for "social problems" have complexities that are 5 or six orders of magnitude greater than what is discussed in the paper cited. Neither good true believer social workers from the left or moral crusaders from the right can ever admit that their proposals can have (always do have) unforeseen undesirable consequences. Both sides are under the magical thinking delusion that the illusionary purity of their motives guarantees the purity of the results. The way that political discourse is conducted is to the complexities discussed in this paper about two compounds as the grunting of neanderthals is to discussions of quantum mechanics. No recourse to private languages of post modernism or dialectics can hide this crudity. They merely bring the word "liar" upper in the mind of an independent observer.

The idea of a "scientific socialism" is a far away dream despite the pretensions of a dieing modern religion to same. The best that can be said is today that a "humble socialism" is the best alternative, one that recognizes its limitations. Many pronouncements of the left- let alone the even more mendacious right- should be seen in this light. 100% confidence in things that are 1/100th of a percent certain !!!! The more dramatic the pronouncement the less likely it is to be true.

INDONESIA: FREE JAILED TRADE UNIONIST BIN SARIM:

Over in Indonesia Sarta bin Sarim, chairman of the local union at the P.T. Tambun Kusuma furniture plant, was part of a May Day march in Tangerang, an industrial city near Jakarta. He joined the march, organized by a coalition of local unions, as it passed his workplace and later returned to work. The demonstration was entirely peaceful. later that night police came to arrest him at his house. When he refused to sign a confession that he had "organized the demonstration" police incited other inmates to beat him until he finally signed a statement admitting his role in the demonstration. Sarim is presently housed in the Pemuda Prison in Tangerang charged under an old Dutch colonial law with committing "unpleasant acts" and "inciting disruption". He has repeatedly been beaten by other inmates demanding money with at least the connivance if not the incitement of the prison authorities. Police have refused union appeals for Sarta's release and have also refused to provid ethe inion's lawyer the police investigation report, a requirement under Indonesian law. The Indonesian Federation of Construction,Informal and General Workers Unions (FKUI) has asked for solidarity letters from across the world demanding his release. To learn more and to participate in this campaign go to the Labour Start solidarity site at http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=259 .

THE SPECIFIC ORGANIZATION:

Over at the Anarkismo site there is an interesting new article titled 'The Specific Organization'. For those naive to the matter "Especivismo" is a South American variant of "Platformism" that has evolved often without reference to the document known as the 'Platform'. It perhaps owes more to the FAI than the General Union. The two traditions are actually quite similar in that they both posit the need for a "specifically anarchist" organization outside of the general mass organizations such as unions, community groups and others so as to maximize the effect of the libertarians on said organizations. Molly definitely believes that this is a necessity. Organizations in South America that posit the especivismo ideas generally place less emphasis on "theoretical unity" than traditional platformists do, a plus in Molly's view.

The article, written by a Brazilian author, Jaime Cubero of Sao Paulo, contains an extended discussion of the nature of freedom. This concept is often used in a crude and rhetorical way amongst the more juvenile "anarchists" influenced by American pseudo-individualism. People familiar with the real tradition of individualism, both American and otherwise, recognize many of the points that Cubero makes. Freedom also involves the ability to think things through, to compromise and to have the freedom to not be a slave of transitory whims, whatever post-leftist ideologues may say.

The article is an English translation of the Portuguese original. It discusses how freedom and liberation are not contradictory but rather incorporated together in the concept of federalism. It goes on to speak of "responsibility" which is where Molly parts company with the more extreme proponents of "platformism" and not just on their insistence on "ideological unity". Molly occupies something of a "middle position" between the platformist program and the ideology of those who believe that an anarchist organization should be nothing more than a name encompassing widely different groups and individuals who have nothing in common. The idea of "responsibility" to the organization, to participate at least minimally in its activities and definitely not to continually contradict them is a necessity for any organization that goes beyond a name and a newsletter controlled by an informal elite- as the late and unlamented SRAF was. This sort of "tyranny of structurelessness" is the so-called "alternative" proposed by the post-left crew who see the need for coordination but are threatened by the idea that their "desires armed" would be hamstrung by democratic control. Tsk,tsk,tsk. You poor little oppressed people, that you can't manipulate others. How opppppresive !

On the other hand Molly is of the opinion that any anarchist organization, to be maximally effective, must be pluralistic. This means the free right to disagree with the decisions of the organization whether they are arrived at democratically or are unfortunately arrived at through the low cunning of those who know how to use the heritage of political and personal manipulation inherited from the sadder parts of the left to maximal effect. It means the right to publicly disagree with same and to disassociate oneself from them or to simply ignore them. this means that an anarchist organization would more resemble a normal political party than a Leninist sect. Grounds for expulsion would still be present, but they would be restricted to the most egregious examples of groups and individuals who were persistently in conflict with the goals of the organization.

It is all a matter of balance. An anarchist organization should not demand adherence to the finer points of some "theory" given that theory should be provisional at its best. Neither should it demand that each and every member should give support to everything that the organization decides to do. The right of the individual conscience should be respected. On the other hand the organization should reserve the right to expel those whose purposes in the organization are obviously in direct contradiction to the general principles of the organization. Balance and once more balance. In any case go to the article above to see one take on this matter.

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

An article in the International Herald Times titled 'China's Communist Party calls for tests to ensure toothpaste safety' reports that yesterday the official organ of the CCP, the People's Daily, called for safety tests to be carried out in a timely manner "as to some harmful ingredients" without specifying diethylene glycol. The comments appeared at the bottom of an article reporting on Hong Kong's ban of three toothpaste brands containing said chemical. On Friday Japan also joined the list of countries that have banned certain Chinese toothpastes by recalling three brands sold to hotels across the country. The article goes on to report on corruption within China's 'National Committee for Oral Health' which had taken the equivalent of US$260,000 from manufacturers in exchange for product endorsements as well as other bribes paid directly to individual committee heads. The Chinese Ministry of Health said that the illegal income will be confiscated and responsible people will be punished.

Meanwhile there's another report from the Independent Online titled 'Tainted Foods a Daily Problem in Asia' showing that the problem of tainted foodstuffs is hardly restricted to China. This South African news agency reports on the problems with food quality in not just China but also Vietnam,Indonesia and India. The problems range from the addition of formaldehyde as a preservative, borax for the same purpose,pesticide contamination and industrial dyes. Rather interesting as an overview, especially for someone like Molly who really likes her noodles.

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY:

Fathers' Day, "traditionally" held on the third Sunday in June may seem like a rather artificial holiday. In fact it is, but its history says that it is more than a simple commercial reaction to the popularity of Mothers' Day. The first Fathers' Day in the USA was held on July 5th in Fairmont, West Virginia, at a church service of the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South (now Central United Methodist Church). The service was suggested to the minister by Grace Golden Clayton who was inspired by the deaths of miners in the town of Monongah the previous December due to a mine explosion. Many of the miners were immigrants from Italy. The first Mothers' Day had recently been celebrated at Grafton, West Virginia, 15 miles away.

The more official Fathers' Day celebrations in June originate from the efforts of Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington State. Through her efforts the first fathers' Day in the USA was held on July 19th in Spokane, Washington. This was in honour of her father, a civil war veteran, who raised six children on his own after the death of his wife. Mrs. Dodd originally suggested June 5th, her father's birthday, as the official day, but the city was unable to organize matters in time and the event was transferred to the third Sunday in June. This later became the official date.

The idea of a father's day gained great popular support from such figures as the populist William Jennings Bryan and President Woodrow Wilson. In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday, but it was not recognized as such until President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed it in 1966 for the third Sunday of June of that year. This was, however, only for that year, and it was only made an official yearly holiday in 1972 under president Richard Nixon.

Many countries of the world took up the idea, but the holiday is hardly celebrated on the same day in every country. For a list of the times of Fathers' Day in various countries go to the Wikipedia article on this matter. In some cases such as Taiwan the holiday has been assimilated to older traditions(though mainland China celebrates the Americanized Father's Day on the third Sunday in June). In Taiwan Fathers' Day is on August 8th, the eighth day of the eighth month. In Mandarin the pronunciation of eight is "ba", and "ba ba" (8/8) is very similar to that of the word for "father".

Catholics have traditionally celebrated fathers on St. Joseph's Day, March 19th, but this never became a major public festival. In Germany and to a lesser extent Austria, however, there has been a long standing tradition of 'Vatertag'/'Mannertag'/'Herrentag' on the feast of the Ascension, on the Thursday 40 days after Easter when Christ was supposed to have ascended to God the Father. In Germany this was much of a "day out with the boys" fueled by goodly amounts of beer or wine (depending on the district), but it has lately fallen into disuse. A terrible loss Molly is sure.

One tradition of Fathers' Day is to wear a rose to honour one's father. The rose is to be red if your father is alive and white if he is dead.

OAXACA JOURNALIST SHOT AND WOUNDED:

The Committee to protect Journalists has issued a press release condemning the recent attack on Miseal Sanchez Sarmiento, a reporter working for the Oaxaca dail Tiempo. Sarmiento had covered political news for the paper and had reported in Nov. 2006 on the killing of US Indymedia journalist Bradley Will. despite the fact that Tiempo is a pro-government paper Sarmiento's reporting earned him the animosity of many political figures in the Oaxaca government. Since 2000 six journalists in Mexico have been killed in direct reprisal for their political reporting, and there are 12 other killings that the CPJ is investigating. There are also 5 cases of "disappearance" of journalists in which the fate of the person is unknown. To read more about this case go to http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/americas/mexico13jun07na.html

POISONED PET FOOD AND TAINTED TOOTHPASTE TOO:

More news from the toothpaste front. The Baltimore Sun reports today that the Dollar Power store in Silver Springs Maryland was one of the stores found to have been selling counterfeit Colgate toothpaste. Twenty two out of 144 tubes present in the store had already been sold. The distributor of the counterfeit was MS USA of North Bergen NJ. Meanwhile the Houston Chronicle reports that health officials in New Zealand has advised consumers yesterday to avoid toothpastes imported from China. One brand, Excel, was found to contain diethylene glycol, but there is concern that other brands may be affected as well. Excel was being sold in the South Island Just $2 chain of discount stores. Health officials are contacting nineteen other companies importing toothpaste from China to help determine th extent of the problem.

Meanwhile a report from the Reuters' News Agency says that Shanghai White Cat Shareholding Co. Ltd, the makers of Maxam toothpaste, claim that they stopped using diethylene glycol in their product as of May 21st. Maybe yes. Maybe no. Also, according to a report from the British newspaper, The Guardian, Chinese authorities are urging that Hong Kong lift its ban on three mainland brands of toothpaste- Maxam, Sanqi and Tianqi. Though it is now part of China Hong Kong retains many of its legal rights and can thus ban products not yet banned on the mainland. This article also gives some more details about previous Chinese "research" on the addition of anti-freeze to toothpaste. According to the article a 2000 study by "Chinese experts" (whoever they are-Molly) "proved" that toothpaste containing less than 15.6% diethylene glycol was "harmless" for humans, according to a post on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision in China. The experimental cohort(if it existed-Molly) was apparently 1,695 people. One wonders how they got the number to the first decimal place. Who were the "volunteers" ? How long were they instructed to brush their teeth with antifreeze ? Could they spit or should they swallow ? Were they provided with water to rinse ? Etc.,etc.,etc..

This article concludes with a report of an investigation by the above named governmental organization into rice dumplings being made in China for the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival. Ten percent of 133 producers inspected nationally failed because "they contained excessive amounts of food additives". The dumplings contained huge amounts of copper sulfate or copper chloride to make the bamboo leaves in which the dumplings are wrapped bright green.

Finally, if you are interested, the Chinese Xinhau news agency has an article on food inspection problems in China. The article admits the difficulties involved even while trumpeting their "triumphs", and the article is best read with an eye as to how it contradicts itself.

Coming soon: poisoned pet food, tainted toothpaste and toxic toys and additional adventures in alliteration...Molly