THE ROLE OF AN ANARCHIST ORGANIZATION:
BY JOHN FLOOD
The following is reproduced from the Anarkismo site (see the Links section of this blog) It originates as an article in the latest Workers' Solidarity journal. As previously mentioned on this blog this issue, #94, is available in a downloadable pdf format at http://struggle.ws/pdfs/ws/ws94.pdf . The author of this piece argues for the type of organization favoured by the groups adhering to the Platformist tradition in modern anarchism. The article follows:


Looking around the world today it can be difficult to imagine how the society we want to see can be created. But rather than sitting back and waiting for Capitalism to collapse, or for the Revolution to come, we believe in organizing in the here and now.
Throughout history anarchist-communists have embraced different forms of organization, from the affinity group, to revolutionary cells to anarchist syndicalism. We in the WSM consider ourselves to fall within the 'platformist' tradition. Among other things that means that we think that a group can achieve far more when it works in unison, rather than constantly having the same fundamental and theoretical disagreements.
The role of a group like ours is to popularize the aims and methods of anarchism amongst working class people, mainly because we believe that these alone will result in the free society we want to create. Our ideas link an understanding of the present with a viable vision of the future.
This link involves a practical understanding of the means necessary and acceptable to achieve results but also to help build the confidence of the class in its own abilities and decision-making power. This can be doing simple things like producing our newsletter, pamphlets and leaflets. It also means arguing for anarchist methods as much as possible in campaigns that we are involved in.
This can take the form of fighting for democratic structures in the Ant-Bin Tax campaign, helping to organize the huge Mayday 2004 events, arguing for democracy in our unions or advocating direct action in the anti-war movement but in all cases we try and promote actions that actively transform those that take part in them. Actions that help people gain a sense of their own power and abilities and prepare them for the revolution and libertarian communist society we want to create.
We analyse the society we live in, its history, and try to learn from the mistakes of the past. We also try to elaborate a common strategy that attempts to link the various expressions of the class struggle.
In a sense we attempt to provide leadership of ideas but this does not mean that we come down from the mountaintop like Moses, carrying the blueprint for a new society under our arms. rather we learn from the struggle and the people we interact with.
Anarchists not only want to abolish capitalism, but we also want to abolish all relationships that involve subordination and domination. Our aim is a truly classless society that isn't divided into bosses and workers, or order givers and order takers. So while we see ourselves as offering leadership we reject the idea that we should become some sort of institutional leaders or managers of the movement.
We refuse to take positions of power that would lift us above the broad movement and give us control over it. Instead we rely on the strength of our ideas, and the example we set, to convince people, rather than hoping that our position on some hierarchical ladder will allow us to control the people below us.
In this spirit we look forward to the time when an organization such as ours becomes unnecessary. Following a successful revolution we would gradually lose our reason for existing and disband.
So to summarize, we don't make the revolution for the working class, we don't direct it in their interests and we don't govern them for their own good. We simply exist as an organization within the class that attempts to encourage its development in a libertarian fashion and speed up its emancipation.
Workers' Solidarity 94, Nov/Dec 2006


Molly Notes:
The essay above is a clear sighted and well written exposition of the platformist position, and there is little for any sensible anarchist to disagree with in what Flood has written. The simple and clear belief of most platformists that their organizations DO NOT "make the revolution" but rather try and hasten the self organization of the people who will do such a thing is expressed in the above. This is merely one more clear example that the platformists are not the "closet Leninists" that their opponents on the "anarcho-crank" fringes try to make them out to be.
Personally I am not a platformist. I do not believe in the need for or the desirability of a "revolution". My ideal society would be a mixed economy with various strands of management and remuneration blended together depending on local and temporal circumstances. I am not a convinced anarcho-communist in other words, but I do believe that any society worth living in has to contain sections of the economy that are "communist" in nature ie depending on voluntary labour and whose product was offered free to all comers. There is a large segment of most societies that operates under such terms today or is at least halfway there. I anticipate that an anarchist society would see this economic section expand. I am also not in agreement with the "orthodox anarcho-communist position" most forcefully argued by the late Murray Bookchin that the direction of the economy should be the exclusive right of the local "commune". I see a much greater role for the producers' coops that would result from syndicalist action, and I see a wide variety of "blended" forms of management where community and workplaces would have a rainbow of different ways of influencing each other. I furthermore believe that at least some elements of a "market" would have to be preserved in such a society and not just for small scale production. The alternative is a naive belief in the power of technology to provide "post-scarcity" which it never actually has, whatever the illusions of some, and to provide this abundance without overwhelming waste. Or perhaps the "alternative" is that the "planning boards" of any libertarian society, syndicalist, communitarian or "parecon" would gradually take up the role of a ruling class. Or perhaps "participatory planning" or the "meetings of the commune" will find some way to extend the day to 89,000 hours so that we can all sit and mull over the economic needs of the world in meetings while leaving 8 hours for sleep, 2 for eating, 4 for recreation and another 4 to actually get something done rather than planning it.
All that being said even a convinced gradualist and a believer in a mixed economy such as myself can find little to disagree with in platformism as expressed by people such as Flood. The platformist trend is characterized by realism and patient organization wherever it may appear in the world. As such it should be applauded as a sterling example of "making anarchism real" unlike numerous, often grotesque, fantasies held by other anarchist currents such as "insurrectionism" or primitivism.
I am all in favour of the establishment of specifically anarchist propaganda groups who will attempt to influence other, more broadly based, organizations. In turn the anarchist groups should try and convert such "interest groups" into actual "popular organizations" such as neighbourhood and workplace councils and functioning democratic unions for industrial sections. Where I part company with the platformists is "when" it is time to dissolve the specific organization. I say not when the mythical "revolution" has succeeded but long before that...when there are functioning mass organizations that operate in a libertarian milieu. The present day unions are not such mass based organizations with the sort of everyday participation(and the democratic control that follows from such) and neither are any of the community based organizations that exist today- with a few rare exceptions.
So, what I say is that the specific anarchist organization has a dual role. It has to generally conduct "propaganda" to influence people in a libertarian direction without reference to any specific group that they belong to. It also has to help to establish interest groups and push such groups towards an anarchist sensibility with all that it may imply. Finally it must push for the democratization of the present unions(or their supercession by other syndicalist unions) and for the establishment of genuine community forums.councils. This means going beyond the "interest groups" that most present day politics revolves around. Such a long term realistic project is something that those who believe in "revolution" but are wise enough to realize that such a thing is not childish street fighting and others such as myself who are sceptical of the whole concept could easily unite around. The two different views would end up doing the same thing on the everyday plane of reality.

NEW ANARCHAFEMINIST SITE IN DEVELOPMENT:
Anna Aniston (see http://annaaniston.blogspot.cm under our Blogs section) is in the process of developing "an interactive website for anarchist women to share ideas, info and make links." She says that this project isn't really a new idea but she "saw the need when I found myself having to battle waves of sexism on other anarchist sites such as infoshop.org and anarchistnews.org."
Go on over to the new site at http://dev.anarchafem.org (or see our Links section) to see what it's all about. The site developer is looking for suggestions for a bibliography and also material in languages other than English.

HAPPY MIDWINTER SOLSTICE:
Midwinter Solstice ("solstice"- the sun stands still) occurred yesterday, Dec 21st at 7:22 EST (6:22 CST here in Winnipeg). The solstice is defined as the EXACT moment in the year when the Sun reaches its greatest northerly (the Summer Solstice) or southerly (the Winter Solstice) point in its annual movements. The effect is due to the annual tilt of 23.5 inclination of the Earth as it revolves around the sun. This is separate from the "wobble" of the Earth that is responsible for "precession", the reason why astrology is so at variance with astronomy in terms of the positions of the constellations. As the Earth revolves around the Sun first one and then the other hemisphere is presented towards the sun. The hemisphere tilted away from the Sun experiences winter, and the other experiences summer. The definition of "solstice" is the minimal noontime height of the Sun. This means that "somewhere" on the Earth at the times mentioned above the Sun is EXACTLY in its lowest position at noon in the sky. Counting backwards from Manitoba this would place the event somewhere over the mid to Eastern Pacific.
Throughout human history people have seen the Winter Solstice as a cause for celebration, a promise that the lean days of winter will end, even if the "hungry moons" are yet in front of them. The Chinese have traditionally celebrated the DongZhi Festival around Dec. 21st. One of the traditional activities in South China that occurs during the family get-togethers around this Festival is the making and eating of Tangyuan, balls of glutinous rice, that symbolize reunion. In North China people typically eat dumplings on DongZhi. This relates to a "Good King Wencelas"ort of story from Chinese tradition. According to this Zhang Zhongjing of the Han Dynasty saw the poor suffering from chilblains on their ears on a cold winter day. He ordered that dumplings shaped like ears should be distributed amongst the poor to keep them warm. Zhang named the concoction "qu han jiao er tang" or "dumpling soup that expels the cold".
The first monotheistic religion to institute a midwinter festival were the Zorastrians of ancient Iran/Persia. This festival, called Yalda, is still celebrated in modern Iran under an Islamic guise. It is traditionally celebrated on December 21st to hail the victory of light over darkness, of Ahura Mazda over Ahriman. Throughout the night fires would be burnt to help in the struggle of light over darkness. The next day the festival of Daygan was celebrated to mark the victory of Ahura Mazda. There would be acts of charity (Christmas gifts ?) and payers to Mithra (the equivalent of the Son in the orthodox Christian trinity). During this festival there was a temporary suspension of the hierarchy of Iranian society. Masters and servants would exchange roles. A "mock king " was crowned just as in some medieval festivals.
The Persian custom merged with and influenced the Roman celebration of Saturnalia. In Rome they followed the custom of inverting the social order. Children became the heads of the families. Businesses and courts were closed. Masters served slaves. Cross dressing and masquerades were common. The Romans accepted the proto-Christ figure of Mithra under the heading of 'Sol-Invictus' (the "invincible sun"). Mithra contained a good portion of the Christian mythology, from a proto-trinitarian aspect down to the nitty gritty of a virgin birth. The popularity of Mithraism paved the way for the ability of Christianity to spread amongst the Roman population. The general outlines of the myths were well known. It should be noted that the festivals of Saturnalia and Sol Invictus were totally separate events.
In Iran today the religious significance of 'Shab e Cheleh' has been lost under the influence of Islam. It is still, however, a time when family and friends get together to feast and play.
Then we come to the traditional Yule celebrations of Northern Europe. These go under various names in various languages; Geol, Jol, Jul, Julfest, Mitwinternacht. These are the festivals of Nordic and Germanic people from which many of our Christmas traditions are derived. Yule logs were lit to honour Thor, God of Thunder. Feasting would continue until the Yule Log burned out which could take as much as twelve days. A sacrifice of a pig to the God Freyr became the origin of the Christmas ham, first a Scandinavian custom but later to spread across the world. In Norway the expression "jul" is still the most common way to express Christmas.
Linguists have debated the origin of the various terms that signify "Yule" in English. It may relate to the idea of "wheel" as in the "wheel of the year". It may be connected to the adjective "yellow" as in the colour of the Sun. In may even be a borrowing from Finnish. The actual details of northern pagan yuletide festivals are rather obscure beyond the fact that it was a time for feasting. This has led to a divergence amongst modern neo-pagans. "Germanic neo-pagans" attempt to reconstruct the actual historical festivals insofar as there is evidence. Others, best descibed as Wiccan or 'New Age', pay little or no attention to what is actually known about pagan religion, Germanic or Celtic and attempt to create new solstice festivals with more than a little "poetic licence".
The existence of neo-pagans has added a little spice to an annual Christmas ritual amongst Christian believers in North America. This ritual would, of course, appear to be utterly insane to the vast majority of Christians living outside of North America-as it is to me as an ex-Roman Catholic sharing the prejudices of the vast majority of Christians who see the American evangelicals as "primitive". It, however, plays out every year without fail, though not with the vehemence surrounding Halloween. Almost all Christian festivals are "take-offs" on previous pagan festivals. It is a matter of "1/10th education" amongst certain fundamentalist sects to know about the pagan origins of Christmas traditions, whether they be Saturnalia or Germanic/Scandinavian traditions. The nine-tenths of the matter that they DON'T know is the origin of Christian theology in Roman mystery religions, the way that the accepted Bible came to be, and the destruction of alternative forms of Christianity.
So...each Christmas they denounce the traditional forms of celebration from a position of pseudo-erudition. One can also see a great contrast between the early missionaries to Northern Europe and the pseudo-missionaries of modern evangelism. In those ancient times missionaries struggled to adapt the ideas of Christianity to the customs of the people that they preached to with a full and EDUCATED knowledge of the difference between "form" and reality. The truth of what they did, usually without the military support that modern evangelicals enjoy courtesy of their close relations to the American Empire and its neo-fascist clients (see Guatamala), is plain and evident in the present, where the symbols that they expropriated are in the minds of 98% of the population NOTHING but Christian symbols.
The Roman festival of Saturnalia is one of the "origins of Christmas" that fundamentalists denounce. One really wonders whether it is because of the pagan connection (they hardly denounce the Trinitarian concepts inherited from paganism whereby polytheism can be said to be monotheism) or because of the social "loosening" that accompanied Saturnalia. This loosening of social hierarchy later got transferred to 'Carnivale' celebrations in Christian cultures while the Christmas season retained only its festival and gift-giving aspects. Saturnalia was originally only a day long festival but it later became a week long occasion for celebration despite the efforts of more than one Emperor to restrict its duration.
There are two different explanations as to why Dec. 25th was chosen by Christians in the 4th century as the birthday of Christ. One is that it is (was) the winter solstice on the Julian calender in use at that time. The second, however, is that it was an extrapolation of a Jewish idea of the "integral age" of the prophets ie that they died on the same day as their conception or birth, combined with a miscalculation of the date of Jesus' death. All these complications,however, are alien to the tiny view of the world held by "kindergarten Christians" who attempt to denounce the season each and every year.
Meanwhile there are many other midwinter celebrations across the world. The pre-christian Slavs celebrated 'Korochun' (Karachun, Krachun) in a manner similar to Halloween in Western European tradition. The Slavs burned fires at cemetaries to keep their dead warm on this most evil night of the year, lit wooden logs at crossroads and organized feasts in honour of the dead. On Dec. 23rd the old Sun Hors was resurrected as the new Sun Koleda. There are also numerous midwinter festivals documented amongst North American natives.
In summary midwinter has always been an important event for humanity. It transcends our own time and place. So...
Happy Midwinter Solstice From Mollymew

NEWS FROM SCARY SQUIRREL WORLD:
The ever expanding critique of the dialectical, post modernist praxis that aims to supersede all previous critique of the WCI- the Workers Comedic International brings you this latest bulletin from the masterful theoreticians at Scary Squirrel World( http://www.scarysquirrel.org ). As good post leftists the comrades at Scary Squirrel deny all connections with any previous material in other communiques and indeed deny that they mean anything they say. If anyone tries to pin them it must have been the other guy who said it. But anyways, here is something from SSW, people who know they're being funny:
WHERE DO SKWERLS COME FROM ?????
Patriots, do you ever wonder where skwerls come from ? Hard to believe, many people do not. Some compare their disinterest to wondering where super-conqueror-President Bush gets his swell ideas; it's enough that he has ideas.
But every Patriot understands the need to know the enemy, and chitterbox origins is an important part of that knowledge.
WHAT THE "EXPERTS" SAY...
Science tells us that the bushytail horde evolved out of the primeval ooze beginning with Paramys in the late Paleocene (about 55 million years ago). Paramys sported a mostly squirrel-like skeleton but without the arboreal adaptions. It also had a primitive jaw musculature which modern squirrels still retain.
The first critter we would recognize as a skwerl was Protosciurus . It had the unique ear structure of modern squirrels and looked little different than today's slavering, over-agitated, arboreal nutzys. The first fossilized Protosciurus bones were found in North America and date to the early Oligocene (23-37 million years ago). Thus, experts theorize that skwerls originated in North America, possibly in the Pacific Northwest. From there, they spread around the world culminating in a frenzied gambol into South America about 3-4 million years ago.
Sciurus, the modern squirrel genus, arose in the Miocene and has not changed since then. Among the rodents squirrels are considered living fossils.
THE PROBLEM...
Scientific theory on the drooling nutcrunchers origins is all well and good. It paints a historical picture of the spread of skwerlian debauchery around the globe. However, it fails to identify who or what is responsible for the bushytail horde. Consider this: the so-called experts are mute on what proceeded pre-protoskwerlian Paramys . They'de have us believe that it simply "evolved" from some other pre-protoskwerlian skwerlian.
More significantly, Paramys happened upon the scene in the Paleocene and Protosciurus during the Oligocene...but there appears to be no evidence of any skwerlian anywhere during the intervening time period, the Eocene. This strongly suggests that someone or something pulled Paramys from the market, came up with a better model, and released it back into the environment an epoch later. Thus, the evidence indicates that skwerls are the result of an Intelligent Designer with an intelligent design.
THE WHO AND THE WHAT...
Of course the design, or plan if you will, is no mystery. Every patriot knows it as the bushytail horde's plan for squirrel world domination. This nefarious plan was set in motion eons ago. It's historically seen in the sudden appearance of modern skwerls and their systematic rampage around the world using global shifts in land masses as platforms for conquest. Squirrel world domination is evidenced today by the maniacal skwerlballs' continuous attacks on the people, places and things important to human civilization. Unfortunately, defining who or what is responsible for unleashing the skwerlian menace in the first place remains a matter of conjecture. Currently, there are three competing theories. They are:
The Natural Theory: using "why ask why" reasoning, some simply believe that skwerls evolved as the evolutionary theorists suggest. In other words, they crawled out of the ooze with the rest of us and who cares where the ooze came from. A variation of this theory suggests that skwerls grow on trees and/or metamorph from some innocuous life form.
The Preternatural Theory: supporters of this theory think that skwerls are alien life forms from outer space. The theory solves the problem of how nutsys got to Earth, but not necessarily where they came from in the first place. Preternatural theory is very popular with the unfortunate victims of skwerlian abductions. Some claim that their chitterbox abductors imprisoned them in a giant tree on the far side of the Sun. NASA has been unable to confirm this.
The Supernatural Theory: a belief favoured by pathetic skwerlhuggers and espoused by the heresy of Orthodox Skwerlhugery. It claims that there is a mystical, immortal Nice Squirrel: The Nice Squirrel Planted the Tree of Delicious Nuts; and skwerls sprang forth from the Tree. The Tree supposedly grows in the Pacific Northwest where it is guarded by the immense Skwerlfoot. It should also be noted that common citizens often say that a benevolent non-skwerl deity is responsible, and Patriots frequently blame it all on a non-skwerl Devil.
Go to Scary Squirrel World for much more on this ultimate conspiracy theory. Read it in the light of so many other American toxic cultural exports, from fundamentalism to academic gobbledegoop, to primitivism, to post-leftism, to new age religion to neo-conservativism. All of these post- industrial wastes share one thing. They don't realize they're being funny. Scary Squirrel World knows it.
Much Fun,
Molly

MORE FOUND TREASURES IN OUR LINKS SECTION:
(OR AS CARL SAGAN WOULD SAY, "A SELECTION FROM BILLIONS AND BILLIONS)
Molly has just added yet more links to her blog. Under the general Links section there is the Institute for Anarchist Studies (http://www.anarchist-studies.org ), and under the Scientific Links section there is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (http://www.ipcc.ch ), an UN site with a wealth of information on climate change and New Scientist magazine (http://www.newscientist.com ). Also under Scientific Links is a text called 'Evolution's Arrow' (http://users.tpg.com.au/users/jes999/index.htm ). A little "truth in advertising" in terms of the last. The author may see, "the direction(of evolution) is towards unification and cooperation over greater and greater scales" . Yet he is still very much a governmentalist who sees government as a progressive institution that has no chance of being superseded.
Then there are 3 Australian blogs that I have added to the Blogs section, Aketus Blog (http://aketus.anarchobase.com ), Anarcho-Din (http://anarcho-din.anarchobase.com ) and Slackbastard Anarchist Blog (http://slackbastard.anarchobase.com ). There are also two items under the 'Other Interesting Links' section. One is the (take a deep breath) 'International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers Associations', listed as the IUF (http://www.iuf.org ). They are a source of international labour solidarity campaigns. In this case one word serves for 13 in the title.
Finally there is 'Scary Squirrel World' (http://scarysquirrel.org) , a great source for humour. Look for more items from this source.
Molly

THE PUZZLE OF HUMAN SOCIALITY:
The December 8th edition of Science Magazine (Vol. 314, Issue 5805), the journal of the AAAS, has three very interesting articles on the evolution of cooperation. Two are specifically related to human sociability and one is a general theoretical piece on the evolution of cooperation. This blog explores the first article of the eponymous title in the 'Perspectives' section of the magazine (pp1555-1556). Further entries will explore the other articles.
Robert Boyd has written an overview of an article by S. Bowles in this issue of Science. The subject is the "evolutionary puzzle" of the wide range of human cooperation as compared to other animal species. As the author says,
"Division of labour, trade and large-scale conflict are common. The sick, hungry and disabled are cared for, and social life is regulated by commonly held moral systems that are enforced, albeit imperfectly, by third party sanctions. In contrast, in other primate species, cooperation is limited to relatives and small groups of reciprocaters. There is little division of labour or trade, and no large scale conflict. No one cares for the sick or feeds the hungry or disabled. The strong take from the weak without fear of sanctions by third parties".
(Molly note: This introduction overstates the case greatly !!!. Of all the presumably human-only attributes cited above only "trade" is absent in other social species. This is not just confined to the primates. Other social species exhibit ALL the behaviors cited, though with specific items in each species. Third party sanctions, as the author calls them, are actually a fertile field of research in primatology and other fields. There they are called "altruistic punishment" , and anyone familiar with the behavior of domestic animals sees these agonistic actions on a routine basis. Ah, well it's a review, and the author is allowed to overstate his case.)
The author goes on to explain the disproportionate levels of cooperation between humans and other primates by proposing that the small size of primate societies means that kin selection provides a reasonable explanation of the behavior. The reviewer then goes on to point out that Bowles proposes that competition between genetically differentiated groups of proto-humans led to evolutionary selective pressure that favoured prosociality genes. He says,
"Limited migration between groups can lead to the buildup of genetic relatedness...among group members. This means that group membership can also be a clue that allows assortative interaction-genes that cause you to help members of your group can be favoured because other group members are disproportionately likely to carry the same genes, even though you do not share a recent common ancestor."
The author does point out that this idea, originally found in Darwin's 'The Descent of Man' has never been very popular. It's called "group selection". It was a theory held by Kropotkin amongst others (and Kropotkin took it to the extreme of species level selection). The reviewer points out that Bowles meets the standard objections to group selection with both data and theoretical considerations. First of all, data are presented about the level of genetic differentiation between hunter gatherer groups that present a different picture from the standard view. Hunter gatherer groups are much more different genetically than has usually been assumed and, therefore, intragroup cooperation has a basis of genetic similarity greater than what is usually assumed.
(Molly Note: watch out, there's a "weasel word" contained in Boyd's summary. He states that the level of differentiation between groups is the same as "the level of relatedness within such groups". That is not necessarily true. The two are NOT synonyms. It is easily conceivable that another human group can be widely different in a genetic sense while a competitive group can have all sorts of different levels of similarity)
The level of costs and benefits according to these articles is that cooperation will be favoured if the benefits are about 10 times the cost. The ability of cooperative groups to colonize the territories of competitors means that competition amongst relatives does not attenuate the benefit of cooperation. It is finally pointed out that intergroup competition is common in hunter gatherer societies (Molly Note: unlike the fantasies entertained by primitivists) so that benefits from cooperation are substantial.
Finally and perhaps most importantly, according to Boyd, Bowles notes that foraging groups have culturally transmitted norms such as food sharing and imposed monogamy that "reduce fitness differences within groups. he makes the original and interesting argument that such 'levelling mechanisms' act like redistributive taxes to reduce the disadvantage of engaging in costly prosocial behavior".
(Molly Note: These behaviors are themselves genetically influenced in humans and are not pure examples of cultural transmission. They also vary between groups, but, in general, they hover about a norm that is a clue to our evolutionary sociobiology)
The reviewer goes on to argue that the article by Bowles is not a group selection hypothesis because it merely presents an alternative mathematical framework that works out to the same sums as viewing the matter within kin selection lenses. This may or may not be true. Boyd then poses the questions of whether the levels of genetic variability observed in today's foragers are the same as those in Pleistocene hominids, whether the benefits were the same then as now (Molly Note: a questionable assumption given a much ! lower population density) and whether the "leveling mechanisms" were the same in ancestral populations.
The reviewer opines that "there is little dominance among human foragers" in contrast to other social species, an opinion that is not a settled matter. He goes on to suggest that, "It is certainly fair to invoke reproductive levelling to explain the stability of extended altruism among humans, but whether it is sufficient to explain its origin is not yet clear."(Molly Note: I am of the opinion that they are NOT for many reasons, not the least because research on altruistic punishment suggests that this mechanism which appears in other social species has a broader effect than 'reproductive levelling'. This is the old "proximate cause" and "ultimate cause" argument. Altruistic punishment can evolve via mechanisms in a social species that are very much removed from "reproductive levelling" and still be perpetuated in the species because they happen to serve the "ultimate cause" of reproductive levelling. Concentrating on one cause may lead to an ignoring of more fruitful areas of research.)
The author concludes with speculations on what he sees as the "competing explanations" for human sociality ie "the theory of mind, spoken language and other cognitive mechanisms" As he notes all these explanations are not mutually exclusive. Molly feels that the explanation of human cooperation will be a multi-faceted "complex" one rather than a "chaotic" one of one evolutionary pressure reaching some sort of "tipping point". Genes will interact with each other in a full "genetic environment" that is, in turn, influenced by the "memetic environment"-itself complex- of a learning animal. At its best this is what anarchism posits as an explanation for social evolution in contrast to the unidimensional theories of traditional Marxism and present day primitivism.
The other two articles in this issue of Science will be reviewed later.
Til then,
Molly

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"..." QUOTATIONS FROM THE ANARCHISTS:
PART 1
"The political arena leaves one no alternative; one must be either a dunce or a rogue:"
Emma Goldman
"The Anarchists are simply unterrified Jeffersonian Democrats. They believe that 'the best government is that which governs least' and that which governs least is no government at all."
Benjamin Tucker
"Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us."
Leo Tolstoy
"I build no system. I ask an end to privilege, the abolition of slavery, equality of rights and the reign of law. Justice, nothing else. That is the alpha and omega of my argument."
Pierre Joseph Proudhon
"From my point of view the killing of another,except in defense of human life, is archistic, authoritarian, and, therefore, no Anarchist can commit such deeds. It is the very opposite of what Anarchism stands for."
Joseph Labadie
"In existing states a fresh law is looked upon as a remedy for evil. Instead of themselves altering what is bad, people begin by demanding a law to alter it."
Peter Kropotkin
"Law never made man a whit more just; and by means of their respect for it, even the well disposed are daily made agents of injustice."
Henry David Thoreau
"The main question is not what motive inspired the law, but what it will be possible for men of bad motive to do with the law."
Benjamin Tucker
"Governments and the military purport to protect the public from enemies, and if there were no enemies they would have to invent some, for the simple purpose of rationalizing their existence."
Lawrence Labadie(son of Joseph L.)
"Every vote for a governing office is an instrument for enslaving me."
Dr. M.E. Lazarus
"Voting is merely a labour saving device for ascertaining on which side force lies and bowing to the inevitable. It is neither more no less than a paper representative of the bayonet, the bully and the bullet."
Benjamin Tucker

More later,
Molly

SOLIDARITY NEWS : IRAN AND THE PHILIPPINES:
Mansour Osanloo, the detained leader of the Tehran bus workers (see previous blogs on this site) was released from detention on December 19th. after a worldwide campaign of labour solidarity on his behalf. While labour organizations are pleased with his release they point out that he had to post even more bail, was beaten during the arrest and that many bus drivers in Tehran are still without jobs due to their union activities.
Meanwhile there is a new campaign in support of the Philippine workers at the Chong Won Fashion factory in Cavite Province. The Philippine Workers' Assistance Center has listed a number of ongoing violations of labour rights at this factory. Wal-Mart is a major buyer from this supplier, and the company has contracted with a U.S. monitoring agency, Verite, to do yet another third party investigation of Chong Won's actions. This would, very conveniently, not be completed until the end of the Holiday shopping season. The Labour Start online solidarity outfit is asking for emails to Wal-Mart demanding they cease stalling and "bring appropriate pressure on its supplier to reinstate the illegally fired workers, enter into good faith negotiations with the union for a first collective agreement, and cease all anti-union harassment and discrimination".
To join this campaign go to the Labour Start board at http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=174 .
Molly

NEW ISSUES:
WORKERS' SOLIDARITY
ABOLISHING THE BORDERS FROM BELOW

Workers' Solidarity, the journal of the Irish Workers' Solidarity Movement (http://www.wsm.ie ) now has issue number 94 online. This issue has articles on the Rossport community struggle in Ireland, the activities of the WSM, and other union and community struggles in Eire. There is also an interesting piece on 'The Role of an Anarchist Organization' explaining the platformist policies of the WSM. Much more besides. To download the pdf format of this mag go to http://struggle.ws/pdfs/ws/ws94.pdf .

Abolishing the Borders From Below is an anarchist journal from Eastern Europe. They have recently published issue # 27 (December, 2006) with a theme of "education and upbringing". It includes reports from Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. There are also reports on other social struggles and anarchist organizing from around the region, including the above and also Russia, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia.
Abolishing... doesn't have a pdf version. They depend on a print circulation and are looking for distributors. To contact the editorial collective write to wielkowitsch@hotmail.com . To contact the magazine on other matters write abolishingbb@riseup.net . The website of the mag is at http://www.abb.hardcore.lt .
Molly

PLUGGING IN TO STILL MORE LINKS:
Yet more from the Links front. I've added a few more items to the links on this blog. Under the general Links section are two items from anarchists in Israel ie 'Anarchists Against the Wall' (http://awalls.org ) and Ilan Shalif's home page (http://ilan.shalif.com/anarchy ). I've also added the home page of the Bratislava Infoshop featured in the last blog, and I'm pleased to say that it appears to be working: http://www.infoapolice.sk .
I've added two more items to the Blogs section, the Vancouver No One Is Illegal Blog (http://noiivan.blogspot.com ) and Shagya's Blog (http://shagya-blog.blogspot.com ). Finally, under the 'Other Interesting Links' section I've added the Buy Nothing Christmas site featured in a previous item on this blog: http://www.butnothingchristmas.org .
Molly keeps on linking

NEW INFOSHOP IN BRATISLAVA, SLOVAK REPUBLIC:
A new Infoshop has been opened in Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic. The library titled Info-A-Police is the first ever to open in said country. (Molly note: in case you are wondering about the name, "police", pronounced "pol-its-eh" is Slovak-and Czech as well- for "shelf". The name means "info on the shelves".)
The shop is a reading room and library and has opened in cooperation with the local Red and Black Distribution and Priama akcia (Direct Action), the Slovak section of the IWA. As with other infoshops the comrades plan to turn the location into a venue for meetings and other events.
Very little anarchist material has been translated into Slovak to date, and the infoshop is offering literature in a number of languages such as Czech, English, German, Spanish, Russian and others. Like most infoshops this new venture is strapped for cash, and they would appreciate any donations of literature that you can make to them in English or other languages. So, if you have any spare propaganda hanging around gathering dust send it on down their way.
There original press release failed to give the full mailing address, but that busy little typist Molly wrote them and found out. It is:
Infoshop
13 kubikov
Transit steliery
Studena 12
Bratislava
821 04
Slovak Republic

The comrades can be contacted via email at info@infoapolice.sk . I've tried to add their website to the links section of this blog, but it doesn't seem to want to "take". It is http://www.infoapolice.sk . Hopefully it will "take" in this post.

A PALESTINIAN SPEAKS ON IRANIAN HOLOCAUST DENIAL:
I was recently graced by contact by an old friend who had noticed this blog. This guy once had what I considered the best comment I have ever heard on my own bastard ethnicity. He opined that the Russian half of me made me capable of walking 30 miles in bare feet through a blizzard to acquire a frozen potato, but the Irish half of me guaranteed that I would cry, whine and complain every inch of the way. Truer words were never spoken.
My friend is Jewish, and he wrote me about something that is bothering him about what he sees in the anti-war movement today, its often ill-disguised anti-semitism. I'm still in the process of composing a personal letter to him, but like so many other things in Molly's life this has taken on the character of a project that goes on to say, "and besides that, and besides that and besides that". This may come from the Irish side or it may come from the fact that the other side of the family's original point of wander to the Crimea was from Alsace-Lorraine. The French have as bad a habit of the Irish of never saying anything in one word when 50 will do.
In the interests of brevity I can answer my friend's question with the observation, "no fucking shit", and this attitude amongst leftists is one amongst dozens of the offputting ways of leftism. But a recent article in the Toronto based libertarian socialist site Autonomy and Solidarity (http://auto_sol.tao.ca or see the Links section in this blog) has a reply from a Palestinian militant that criticizes the Iranian government's sponsorship of anti-semitic "scumminess" in far better terms than I ever could.
Mahmoud Al-Safadi is a Palestinian who served 16 years in Israeli jails. To his surprise he found that the freedom to read and educate himself in detention was greater than when the "ideology and social norms" of Palestinian society prevented him from self-education outside of prison. He read the works of Palestinian intellectuals such as Edward Said and Azmi Bishara, and he learned that the simple black and white version of the "Zionist conspiracy" was a fabrication. In other words he grew up.
He also learned that the Holocaust did indeed happen, whatever the lies of Islamic ideology. As such he recently wrote to the Iranian president saying that, "I am furious about your insistence on claiming that the Holocaust never took place and about your doubts about the number of Jews who were murdered in the extermination and concentration camps,organized massacres, and gas chambers,consequently denying the universal historical significance of the Nazi period."
He goes on to say that, "The more I learned the more that I realized that the Holocaust was indeed an historical fact and the more I became aware of the monumental dimension of the crime committed by Nazi Germany against the Jews, other social and national groups, and humanity in general."
The author goes on to question the so-called evidence that the Iranian regime uses to justify its anti-semitism and to call into question the views of the Iranian regime on the resistance to Nazism. He points out that the Iranian regime has fallen to a "two worlds" fallacy where they are under the mistaken impression that any weapon at hand against "Zionism" is useful even if it is a total fabrication. He says that such propaganda, "does a great disservice to popular struggles the world over" and that, "at best you cover your people and yourself with ridicule in the eyes of political forces who reject imperialism but cannot take your ideas and arguments seriously"
To read this essay in its entirety visit the Autonomy and Solidarity site given above. It should be pointed out that Mr. Al-Safadi has paid dues that the bloated rulers of Iran never have and never will. His decision to come to an accommodation with truth is admirable and gives hope that there are many more like him amongst the Palestinian People who are capable of working out ways of living together with their Jewish neighbours in the Middle East. Sorta restores your faith in humanity. On the other side there are also many Israelis who reject the imperial designs of their government.
Mr Al-Safadi concludes by asserting that the Iranian regime does the Palestinians no favours with its attitude. It actually works against their struggle. If only "the left" could learn from this example of one brave man who can see history in its truthful complexity rather than demonizing opponents.
Molly

MORE ON THE BALLAD OF THE GREYHOUND:
HELP KEEP THE BUS DEPOT WHERE IT IS:
Since Molly previously reported on Greyhound Canada's plans to relocate the Bud Depot from downtown Winnipeg to the Airport (which now has a name as long and intimidating as a full Lithuanian name) more criticism of the move has surfaced. The Dec 14th edition of the Winnipeg Free Press quotes Charles Cochrane, executive director of Urban Eagle Transition Centre (a group that helps rural native people in their transition to urban life). He says,
"It would be quite a negative effect, because for people coming from out of town it's such a far distance. A lot of people coming in have minimal money so adding an additional $15 or $20 for cab fare. I think it's a huge negative effect."
Cochrane's centre worked with about 350 native clients last year, and his estimate is that 50% used buses to travel to Winnipeg. Sydney Garrioch, Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewtinook Ininew Okimowin which represents about 30 northern communities concurs, and he notes that the present bus depot, with its central location is, "...closer to the hotels,closer to the hospitals and closer to the educational facilities, and its closer to whatever apartments they have surrounding."
Garrioch goes on to note that even with "free shuttles" people with physical disabilities would have to make special arrangements for transportation and that stopovers at the airport would be a great inconvenience for seniors and children commuting to Winnipeg.
A spokesman for the Institute of Urban Studies noted that American (!!!!!!!!-Molly) studies suggested that "...relatively few people walk or use public transit to get to the bus depot", and that taxis and vehicle drop-offs are the preferred way for many. The spokesman was quick to note that this would not be "easier to access for everyone, however".
Here the good cat who has been holding her tongue for so much has to interject. From where I live a taxi to the bus depot is about 7 or 8 dollars. For people living downtown it may be as little as 5 dollars. To the airport from my neighbourhood is 20 to 25 dollars. This is no big deal to our good feline, but it is a flaming,huge, gigantic "big deal" to a great number of people to whom 15 to 20 dollars is a large amount.
There is also the matter of "settling yourself" on arrival in a strange place. I've had plenty of experience in this matter, and I must say that I feel less unease than the average person whether I have been in a bus depot, train station or an airport, even when I am in a foreign country. But the whole experience of arriving in an urban setting is MUCH more upsetting to those who travel in from rural areas. The chaos at ANY airport is immense. To escape it one takes the "free shuttle" provided by 'The Dog' to a spot in "beautiful" (cough,cough) downtown Winnipeg that is far less safe and secure than the present bus depot. Doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Maybe the "shuttle service" will simply dump people on downtown corners- those with the most panhandlers of course- at thirty below. It would, after all, be cheaper that way, and profit is a holy goal. Never mind the feelings- sometimes approaching well deserved terror- of anyone from Puckatiwagan.
Ah well, one less "eyesore" in downtown Winnipeg if the U. of W. takes over the building. One eyesore down and 8,000 to go in this city, some of them created by ill thought out gentrification and "development". If the U. doesn't take over the building, probably knocking the whole thing down and rebuilding, then the "eyesore" of less affluent people entering and leaving a safe building becomes the eyesore of one of the hundreds of abandoned structures in Winnipeg's central core. I guess in that case that the "eyesore" at least doesn't have legs.
Molly in one of her frequent bad moods:
PMS - Post Mouse Syndrome
P.S.
There are indeed a few good reasons to visit Winnipeg, but "sightseeing" the architectural wonders of its downtown outside of the Exchange District is hardly one of them. Turning another building into a blank face if the U. can't bulldoze it would hardly make less of an eyesore.

LOCAL CHRISTIAN GROUP SHAKES UP MALL CULTURE:
Local Winnipeg members of the Buy Nothing Christmas Campaign hit the malls the other day, Saturday the 16th, with a message a little bit different from what you usually hear in the Temples of Consumerism. The Church-based coalition set up for about an hour each at the Polo park Shopping Centre, the Ellice Ave, WalMart and the Future Shop on St. James St. . Operating from the 'Christmas Burnout Bus' with an eponymous banner, the anti-Xmas Christians walked through the stores singing satirical songs, adapted from traditional Christmas carols, against the over-consumption of the holidays. They offered their bus as a haven for stressed out shoppers.
The Buy Nothing Christmas Campaign has been a Winnipeg feature for three years now being co-founded by Mennonite Church member Aiden Enns. Since then the campaign has mounted campaigns such as the one this year, but they have also produced their own Christmas musical on show at various local Churches that delivers their message against Christmas consumerism in a different way. They have also held workshops on craft making as an alternative to store bought gifts.
Enns once worked at Adbusters Magazine, and in the past few years has integrated his religious and social beliefs into a coherence anti-consumption message.
The group can be reached at Buy Nothing Christmas, 264 Home St., Winnipeg, MB R3G 1X3. They also maintain a website at http://www.buynothingchristmas.org . The site provides links to a youth guide, the 'Buy Nothing Catalogue' (non-consumption gifts), musical items and a cartoon about Jesus and Christmas. There is also a link to their radical Christian magazine -'Geez'.
Interesting Holiday reading !
Molly

AIN'T IT DA TROOT !!!!
COMRADE B. BUNNY

WHOOP!!!. Almost forgot the ticket:
Whoa Sonny, you can't get into the Carnival without a ticket. The ticket office is listed under the Blogs section of this site, but if you want to avoid the line for the Carnival of Anarchy go to http://carnival-of-anarchy.blogspot.com . Sorry about the omission.
Also I notice that the Links section of this blog is now back on the left of the page, through no efforts of mine. We'll see how long this pleasant state of affairs lasts this time.
Molly

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

MOLLY MAKES A BOO-BOO !
A couple of posters have pointed out a mistake I made in my last post here (More on Images and Anarchism). The problem with the first link has been corrected in both the post and the Links section. Ooops and double oops. Thank to all the editors in the ethernet. Molly will always try and hit the litter box from this point forward.
Molly

MORE ON IMAGES AND ANARCHISM:
I've just added 7 more links to the Link section of this blog entitled 'Graphics and Cartoons'. Some are explicitly anarchist and some are not. All are great for their ideas and entertainment value. Also for stealing images from. They are as follows:

1. Carol Simpson http://www.carol-simpson.com
2. James Koehnline http://www.koehnline.com
3. Not My Government http://www.notmygovernment.com
4. Flag.Blackened.Net Gallery http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/archive.html
5. Apoplectic Press http://www.apolplecticpress.org
6. Rini Templeton http://riniart.org/mainframe.php
7. Mad Butcher Records http://www.madbutcher.de

None of the above sites prohibit reproduction of their works. Some actively encourage it. Some have other services to sell. Take a look at all of them in their variety. More links will follow in the future. The graphic to the upper left is from Carol Simpson's site.

Molly

LARGEST EVER WORKPLACE RAIDS IN THE USA:
From Delete the Border (see the Links section of this blog). One more example of why an alternative press is needed.
La Migra (the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) conducted raids on Swift meatpacking plants last week that resulted in over 1,200 arrests. 1,217 employees were arrested on immigration charges and 65 were arrested on "criminal charges" such as "identity theft". Homeland (in)Security Michael Chertoff said on Wednesday that the investigation "uncovered a disturbing front in the war against illegal immigration"(Molly aside: Seems like the US government can't do anything without declaring it a "war"). The government justified the use of its resources by declaring that ordinary Americans were the victims of "identity theft" perpetrated by illegal immigrant workers.
In actual fact, as another article posted at 'Delete the Border' points out there were no victims. Workers applying for a job at Swift plants, like in other workplaces, are asked for a social security number (social insurance number in Canada). They give one. It may exist. It may not. If it does the company pays retirement benefits into the actual holder's account. The "victim" benefits.
Delete the Border also makes plain that raids like this are usually (5 out of six in this case) targeted towards plants where there is ongoing union organizing drives. They function as union busting tactics.
Those arrested were held with no consideration for their families. No accommodations were made for dependent children.
To see more on this matter go to the 'Delete the Border' site in our links section.

NEW BOOK ON THE ORIGINS OF THE CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT:
A new book on the origins of the Catholic Worker Movement (see the Links section of this blog) has recently been published by Paulist Press. its title is 'The Catholic Worker Movement: The Intellectual and Spiritual Origins' by Mark and Louise Zwick. The authors are the founders of the Houston Catholic Worker House, Casa Juan Diego whose primary goal is to serve immigrants and refugees. Over 50,000 immigrants have stayed at least one night in their houses of hospitality. They have been the recipients of both the pontifical 'Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Award and the Jefferson Award. They also publish a bimonthly 'Houston catholic Worker'.
The founders of the Christian anarchist movement known as the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin and Ammon Hennassey were influenced by a long tradition of anti-state and anti-capitalist Christian thought. The book goes through a number of these influences, from Dostoevsky, Catherine of Sienna, Teresa of Avila, Francis os Assisi, Theresa of Lisieux, Jacques and Raissa Maritain, the Personalist Movement in the Church and many others.
Hop on over to the CW site and see if you'd like a copy.

NO QUIERO E. COLI:
The Center for Disease Control (see Scientific Links below) has reported that the Taco Bell E. coli outbreak appears to be over. As of Dec. 14th 71 cases of E. coli diarrhea linked to the Taco Bell restaurant chain had been identified. Fifty three of these people had been hospitalized and 8 had developed hemolytic uremic syndrome which can lead to renal failure. The outbreak affected six states, Delaware, New jersey, New York, South Carolina, Utah and Pennsylvania. At the same time there was an unrelated outbreak in the Midwest (Iowa and Minnesota) connected to the 'Taco John's' chain. As of Dec. 13th this incident had sickened 77 people. This second outbreak results from bacteria that have a different genetic fingerprint from that involved in the Taco Bell cases.
The culprit in both cases, however, is the E. Coli strain O157:H7 also implicated in the outbreak earlier in the fall that sickened 200 people and resulted in three deaths. Earlier reports of green onions as the carrier have been discounted, and present epidemiological study is focused on iceberg lettuce.
I've recently added another link to this blog under the 'Scientific Links' section ie the University of Minnesota's 'Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (http://www.cidrap.umn.edu -see also the links section below). This site is extremely useful, as is the CDC site for following matters connected with food safety, public health, emerging infectious diseases, agricultural and food biosecurity. It has a news section that is updated on a daily basis.
What won't be discussed under the "public policy" section, however, is any fundamental challenges to the way agribiz presently operates. There is, of course, no way that future incidents of food borne illness can ever be totally eliminated. Magic bullets are an illusion. "Organic" produce is just as likely, and often much more ! likely to transmit such disease. If, however, more food was produced and consumed locally (a matter discussed previously on this blog under the Local Food Movement- see 'The Slow Food Movement' under the Other Interesting Links section for more on this) any outbreaks would be far more likely to be local in nature and therefore less serious. Not that they wouldn't occur, but they would be much less likely to be continental in scope such as the spinach outbreak in the fall was.

RUSSIAN ANARCHISTS VERSUS FASCISTS:
Since the demise of Communist dictatorship many new currents have emerged in the Russian Federation. Some of these are our own comrades, the anarchists, but there is also a darker side to the downward spiral of post-Communist Russia- the birth of neo-Nazi and neo-fascist groups who recruit via the paranoia of the Russian demographic crisis and the popular suspicion of ethnic groups that used to be part of the USSR. The lingering remnants of Communist sympathizers sometime oppose and sometimes make common cause with these historical "undeads". The Russian anarchists are always totally opposed to fascism and xenophobia as a matter of principle. Confrontations between fascists and anti-fascists are becoming an almost daily occurrence in Russia.
The Anti-Fascist Association of St. Petersburg released a statement on Dec 12th about a confrontation that occured on Dec. 3rd. This has been reprinted in the Russian anarchist online journal 'Avtonom' (http://www.avtonom.org -see also Molly's Links section at the bottom). This site has an English translation for most of their news. This incident involved an attack by about 30 Nazis on about 10 people returning from a weekly picket against the Russian imperial policies. On this occasion the anti-fascists beat back their attackers.
It was a different matter on Dec. 10th, when about 20 fascists attacked 7 anarchists on Furshtatskoy St. in St. Petersburg. This time the fascists were well armed with knives. Two anarchists were stabbed. One of them, a teenager, received 7 stab wounds and is in hospital with damage to his kidneys. yet another is in even more serious condition.
The Russian anarchists continue to stand up to the rising tide of fascism in the Russian Federation. To keep up to date on this check in on the site given above.
Molly

SOURCES:
In Case anyone is wondering (or cares the slightest) the source of the cartoons I have reprinted on this page today is the blog 'Leba-None' by another Lebanese cartoonist. See the links under 'Graphics and Cartoons' for the original site. Yet another addition from Mollymew. Many, many more to come.

FROM THE WAVES ONCE MORE: THE RETURN OF VENUS:
Since passing its superior conjunction (when the planet appeared to go behind the Sun) on Oct. 27th Venus has gradually begun to creep away from the Sun, and it is now once more visible as the evening star. The planet has been visible at sunset since the beginning of December, but at that time only the best observers could spot it slightly above the western horizon a mere half hour after sunset. Tomorrow the planet will set about 20 degrees (about the width of two fists) south of west 50 minutes after sunset. As December goes on Venus will rise higher in the evening sky. By Christmas Day it will set a full hour after the Sun and be visible at a magnitude of -3.8 (magnitude is measured by an inverse scale; the lower the number or the higher the negative number the brighter the object). By New Years it will set more than 70 minutes after the Sun and will be prominent on the western horizon.
By the time April, 2007 arrives Venus will linger in the evening sky a full 3 1/2 hours after sunset. By the third week of May Venus will set as late as 11:45 PM daylight time (12:45 daylight savings time). Venus will reach its greatest elongation (the furthest distance from the Sun, 45 degrees) on June 8th. By July 12th, even as it recedes in the evening sky, it will have reached its greatest magnitude- -4.3, about twice as bright as it is now(magnitude is a logarithmic scale).
If you focus on Venus from now until August you will see the planet go through its phases, similar to that of the Moon. It is presently full. By early June it will be a "half-Venus", and by July it will be a crescent. If you are observing with a telescope or good binoculars you will notice that the apparent size of the disc will grow as it approaches "inferior conjunction" on August 18th, when it sinks once more below the night horizon. It will, however, return again by month's end to become the morning star.
2007 will be a great year for observing Venus.
Molly Notes: The graphic at the top of this page is from the collection of 'Postcards From Venus', a competition where artists were asked to visualize what the surface of earth's twin looked like.

How The Allied Multinationals Supplied Nazi Germany Throughout WW II:
The Libcom site (http://libcom.org -see also the Links section at the bottom of this page) has a great new addition to their library section with the title given above. It consists of two sections, the first being excerpts from Trading With The Enemy: An Expose of the Nazi-American Money Plot 1933-1949 by Charles Higham. The second is The Coca Cola Company Under the Nazis by Eleanor Jones and Florian Ritzmann.
Both are very interesting essays in myth busting. The Kennedy-Nazi connection has been public for many years, but it has hardly entered the consciousness of the average person. Similarly the work that IBM and ITT did for the Nazis has been exposed before. It is, however, useful to see all of these things gathered into one comprehensive work. Besides Coca Cola the list of perps includes ITT, Standard Oil, General Motors, IBM,Ford, the Davis Oil Company, the Chase Manhattan Bank, DuPont and many others. Drop by the Libcom site and download this view into one of the dark sides of America's history.
Molly

Interesting New Link:
While reading a recent edition of the 'Compendium for Continuing Education for the Practicing Veterinarian' Molly came across an interesting reference on their "Web Sights" page. It was to the How Things Work (http://www.howstuffworks.com -or see 'Other Interesting Links' below) site. This is sort of an "alternative encyclopedia site that has gained some fame in the mass media such as Time Magazine. A quick perusal of the site told our dear cat that there was indeed a wealth of information waiting there, even if the introductory menu may scream "bullshit". Why do automobiles rate the same status as people as a category, especially as a search through the people category finds that such matters as government, sociology, economics,etc. are stacked under a heading that suggests it is nothing but Paris Elvis comes back in a flying saucer and marries Brad Dion and they divorce two days later, with the blessing of Rosy Gibson.
Molly Aside: Thank God for approaching senility. Through several decades I have had to make efforts to avoid knowing "pseudo-facts" about the imaginary demi-gods called "celebrities" in the popular mythology that has replaced religion in North America. My eventual goal is to know NO movie star, sports hero or popular musician who hasn't been dead at least 20 years. The goal for TV has already been achieved. I basically know none of them, not a single one. I can cram the extra mental space freed up with words in foreign languages, historical sights across the world, interesting facts in biology and astronomy and the occasional mathematical formula. I am pleased to announce that I had to strain my brain to construct the above and even had to pull out Time magazine to complete the scrabble puzzle. Forgetfulness is a wonderful thing. I have the same attitude to "celebrity facts" as I do to fleas. I love killing them, and I don't want them infesting me.
Back to regular programming now. This site is actually quite an interesting source of information. It's well worth the time wasted browsing it. Not just for the facts, but for the unintentional humour. Some of this is provided by chance juxtapositions. In their listings 'How Bigfoot Works' is followed by 'How Botox Works'. Does the Sasquatch really need a facelift that much ? As you can gather the site is rather indiscriminate. Better yet 'How the Mafia Works' is followed by 'How Lethal Injection Works'. Uhhh...about the same. The Mafia and government. Get the punch line ? All this is quite unintentional. Not even the chance conjunctions of alphabetical order.
My favourite in my brief browsings was 'How Vampires Work'. Hot ziggedly dog. The classic straight line. The graveyard shift ? Nine to Five...at night ? More in the winter and less in the summer ? Bloody hard ? With diligence but in vein ? The possibilities are endless for one liners.
Take a look and enjoy,
Molly