Iran bans trade with Israel

Press TV - Iran sets ban, fine on trade with Israel

Iran has moved to issue an executive order to clamp sweeping sanctions on all investment activities and trade with Israeli entities.

Following the heavy death toll from the 23-day Israeli assault on Gaza and with international pressure mounting on Tel Aviv, Iran made a decision on Saturday to introduce a bill banning business transactions with Israeli companies -- entities and persons.

The meaning of life - starts with a "b"

cg0505bacon.gif (GIF Image, 780x566 pixels)

9-month old at play

Time-lapse of a 9-month-old at play - Boing Boing <watch me!

York U. admin plays the system against the students and teachers

The ONDP step up when no one else will | rabble.ca <read full story

But a back-to-work legislation is just not the solution to a 12-week long labour dispute that has gone nowhere after much bargaining on CUPE 3903’s part and no budge on York’s part. The university has foully engineered the entire collective bargaining process by riding it out until Premier Dalton McGuinty force the workers back to work.

What does the Federa Budget 2009 mean? Initial Report Card and analysis

Budget | CUPE

Federal Budget 2009: Initial Report Card

January 29, 2009 02:49 PM
How well did the budget deliver on these three key areas of concern?

1. stimulating the economy,
2. protecting the vulnerable, and
3. saving and creating jobs by rebuilding the economy

more »

• Federal Budget 2009 and Water 01/29/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and Early Learning and Child Care 01/29/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and Municipal Infrastructure 01/29/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and Privatization 01/29/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and Health Care 01/29/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and Employment Insurance (EI) 01/29/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and Post-secondary Education 01/28/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and Pensions 01/28/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and the Environment 01/28/09
• Federal Budget 2009 and Aboriginal Issues 01/28/09

» view all items on: Budget

Movies this year, 2009

2009 Movie Preview: 30 Fantastic Movies To Watch (Or Avoid) This Year

Metal trilobite sculpture!

Concept Art: A Trilobite Made of Welded Steel and Time <view me!

Why should I respect these oppressive religions? - Johann Hari, The Independent

Johann Hari: Why should I respect these oppressive religions? - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent

Excerpt:

When you demand "respect", you are demanding we lie to you. I have
too much real respect for you as a human being to engage in that charade.

But why are religious sensitivities so much more likely to provoke demands for
censorship than, say, political sensitivities? The answer lies in the nature
of faith. If my views are challenged I can, in the end, check them against
reality. If you deregulate markets, will they collapse? If you increase
carbon dioxide emissions, does the climate become destabilised? If my views
are wrong, I can correct them; if they are right, I am soothed.

But when the religious are challenged, there is no evidence for them to
consult. By definition, if you have faith, you are choosing to believe in
the absence of evidence. Nobody has "faith" that fire hurts, or
Australia exists; they know it, based on proof. But it is psychologically
painful to be confronted with the fact that your core beliefs are based on
thin air, or on the empty shells of revelation or contorted parodies of
reason. It's easier to demand the source of the pesky doubt be silenced.

Liberal caucus gagged by Iggy

Firebrand: Iggy gags caucus III

Well, today comes confirmation that Ignatieff is muzzling his caucus
and is attempting to control the access his MPs have to the media. The Globe and Mail reports that

At his first caucus meeting as leader in December, [Ignatieff] made it clear the caucus speaks with one voice and it is his.

“He
laid down the law at the beginning. You could hear a pin drop,” a
Liberal insider said about the way Mr. Ignatieff outlined the new
one-voice strategy. He said Mr. Ignatieff possesses discipline and
firmness. “You know when you leave the room who the leader is.”

In addition, Ignatieff is banning "Liberal strategists" from appearing on TV panels without approval.

Budget stimulus too timid, tax cuts ineffective

Another Point of View: Harper/Flaherty Budget: Stimulus Too Timid, Tax Cuts Ineffective

Little for jobless, families, elder care or students

Instead, the new budget confirms that equalization improvements already announced will be limited to the growth rate of the economy, meaning that struggling provinces will receive $7 billion less from the federal government than they had been counting on over the next two years. The budget also contained next to nothing to help the unemployed, families struggling with the rising costs of child care and elder care, students with rising debt loads, and seniors struggling with reduced retirement savings.

“Extending Employment Insurance (EI) benefits by five weeks is not nearly enough to help unemployed Canadians,” Clancy says.

“Improving access to EI and increasing benefits would have been far more helpful when it comes to putting money in the hands of those who need it most. But the budget does nothing to address our flawed system, where only 40% of workers qualify for what are now poverty-level benefits."

“Most Canadians were expecting new investments in our social infrastructure but this budget invests nothing in child care, elder care, mental health, post-secondary education or community-based social services,” he adds.

"Furthermore, the budget does nothing to improve public pensions for seniors and nothing to shore up workplace pension plans.”

Canadians deserve better

James Laxer: The Liberals and the Road Not Taken

The Harper-Flaherty budget doesn’t do the job. New spending of about $6
billion this year and again next year, will create about 60,000 jobs.
It won’t make a dent in the rising tide of new joblessness that is
forecast to engulf Canadian communities from coast to coast. The layoff
notices are going out every day. The descent of our economy into
deflation is proceeding. Within a few months, the utter inadequacy of
the government’s policy will be evident to millions of Canadians.

Monument to the shoe thrower

Let Freedom Rain: New statue in Iraq honouring shoe thrower

Globe's "expose" questionable.

RedBedHead: Beyond Craven: The Globe's Gaza "Expose" <read me!

Every article about the school bombing that I could find, names the school al Fakhura - somehow the Globe came up with the name "Ibn Rushd Preparatory School for Boys". One wonders if the reporter was in the wrong place entirely.

More about the budget removal of funding for medical research in Canada

Hell, Upside Down: So Liberals Don't Support Stem Cell Research Eh?

While the Toronto Star regurgitates Liberal marketing saying "Liberals Put Tories on Probation" the headline in the Globe and Mail
today would indicate that the Liberals are either not watching Harper
closely enough or they agree with his anti-science idealogy. If not why
didn't they include funding stem cell research in their amendments:
...
The news spread like a virus through the research community yesterday
as the country's top scientists wondered whether the oversight was a
mistake. Genome Canada supports 33 major research projects in areas
such as genomics, agriculture and cancer stem cells with operating
grants of $10-million a year. The projects employ more than 2,000
people. By comparison, medical research grants from the federally
funded Canadian Institutes of Health Research run in the
$100,000-a-year range.

It also remains unclear how the budget
will affect the funding abilities of Ottawa's three government
research-granting agencies, including the CIHR.

Harper's budget removes medical research funding, thousands of jobs at risk

Peace, order and good government, eh?: Watching them "like hawks"

For the first time in nine years, Genome Canada, a
non-profit non-governmental funding organization, was not mentioned in
the federal budget and saw its annual cash injection from Ottawa -
$140-million last year - disappear.

Putting thousands of jobs at risk doesn't sound like good stimulus. And
pulling the rug out from under "some of the most promising medical
research" doesn't sound like policy calculated to make Canada stronger
coming out of the recession than it was going in.

Google to help fight against bittorrent throttling ISPs

Google Joins Fight Against BitTorrent Throttling ISPs | TorrentFreak

Hundreds of ISPs all over the world limit and restrict BitTorrent traffic on their networks. Unfortunately, most companies are not very open about their network management solutions. With a newly launched website, Google is now helping out by supporting applications that distinguish the good ISPs from the bad.

The Bacon Explosion

Bacon Explosion: The BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes

... containing at least 5,000 calories and 500 grams of fat

Nom nom nom.

No We Can't

Montreal Simon: Ignatieff and the Coalition that Won't Die

Michael Ignatieff had a chance to do the right thing, and stand up for the rights of poor Canadians, women, and children.

But instead he sold us all out. He'll blow Stephen Harper and "swallow hard" for the price of a meaningless amendment
...

He didn't even have the
guts or the decency to ask for changes to Employment Insurance, so many
more Canadians could be eligible for benefits, instead of being driven
into poverty and misery. Now there are two Conservative Parties in Canada: Harper's LibCons, and Ignatieff's ConLibs.

Where Plates Collide

Mega Geophysics: Where Tectonic Plates Meet in a Volcanic Pool

Jack Layton is now the real leader of the Opposition

James Laxer: Jack Layton Is Now The Real Leader of the Opposition: Ignatieff Plays Hamlet

Meanwhile, Jack Layton has become the real leader of the opposition. He showed courage when he reached out to the Liberals to form a progressive coalition that could provide Canadians with the leadership they need to cope with the economic crisis. He tried the option of working with the Liberals. Michael Ignatieff has walked away from that option. Layton has retained his integrity and his clear understanding of what the country needs. Progressives now have one party and one party only available to them: the NDP.

A Designer's Portfolio, 16th Century Style

CR Blog » Blog Archive » A Designer’s Portfolio, 16th Century-Style

Slums of the world

Riveting narrated slideshow of the world's slums: The Places We Live - Boing Boing <view

Zombie Hello Kitty cake

Zombie Hello Kitty cake - Boing Boing <more pics...

Fueling the cycle of hate

Yigal Bronner and Neve Gordon: Fueling the Cycle of Hate < read me

Israeli soccer matches were suspended during the assault on Gaza. When the games resumed last week, the fans had come up with a new chant: "Why have the schools in Gaza been shut down?" sang the crowd. "Because all the children were gunned down!" came the answer.

Feb Budget 2009: Billoins in new housing spending, but not for those who need it most.

Wellesley Institute | Fed budget 2009: Billions in new housing spending, but not for those who need it the most < read the whole post!

LESS HELP FOR THOSE THAT NEED IT THE MOST: The driveways and decks tax credit is up to three times bigger than the entire investment set aside for lower-income Canadians who are suffering the most. An even bigger concern – virtually the entire $2 billion in affordable housing investments will have to be cost-shared with the provinces and territories following negotiations.

Why the Coalition should topple the Cons

Montreal Simon: Why the Coalition Should Topple the Cons < read the whole post.

It spews money in every direction to try to buy votes. It depends too much on shared funding from cash-strapped municipalities, its tax cuts are peanuts that will cost us dearly later on. It does almost nothing to encourage a greener economy. And it continues this foul Con government's war on Canadian women, with nothing for childcare spaces, and an assault on pay equity.

But its most catastrophic
omission is that it it fails to adequately reform the Employment
Insurance system and prepare it to cope with the enormous tide of human
misery that could be coming its way. Because as I pointed out yesterday
EI in Canada these days is completely inadequate.

Cuts
in the early 1990s mean barely half of the country's unemployed today –
and fewer than a quarter in Toronto – are eligible for benefits. Those
lucky enough to qualify often get far less than poverty-level incomes.
And for almost everyone scrambling to find work as the economy
crumbles, benefits run out too soon.

And
if more people don't become eligible, and benefits are increased,
millions of Canadians could be forced into lives of grinding poverty,
welfare rolls could swell, and our whole safety net could collapse.
















But its most catastrophic omission is that it it fails to adequately reform the Employment Insurance system and prepare it to cope with the enormous tide of human misery that could be coming its way. Because as I pointed out yesterday EI in Canada these days is completely inadequate.

Cuts in the early 1990s mean barely half of the country's unemployed today – and fewer than a quarter in Toronto – are eligible for benefits. Those lucky enough to qualify often get far less than poverty-level incomes. And for almost everyone scrambling to find work as the economy crumbles, benefits run out too soon.

And if more people don't become eligible, and benefits are increased, millions of Canadians could be forced into lives of grinding poverty, welfare rolls could swell, and our whole safety net could collapse.

Silent as the Tomb: Another American-Backed Slaughter Ignored

Silent as the Tomb: Another American-Backed Slaughter Ignored | Chris Floyd Online - Empire Burlesque - High Crimes and Low Comedy in the American Imperium < Read the full post.

Before taking office, Barack Obama was chided -- in certain quarters, at least -- for his long silence on the slaughter in Gaza. Of course, as we noted here the other day, the main reason he stayed mum on the subject before his inauguration was that he was in complete accord with George W. Bush's stance on the American-backed massacre of civilians.

However, there is another horrific, American-backed slaughter that Obama has been silent about for even longer -- throughout his entire presidential campaign, in fact, and continuing into his presidency. We speak, of course, of the ghastly Terror War "regime change" operation in Somalia, where American bombs, American weapons, American training, American money -- and American death squads -- aided the military forces of the Ethiopian dictatorship in its brutal invasion and murderous occupation of the long-shattered land. [For more background, see this, especially the links at the bottom.]

Genocide, from the World's Biggest Victim Industry

Smoking Mirrors: Genocide, from the World's Biggest Victim Industry. <read the full post

In present time they are engaged in exterminating a population before the eyes of the world. They forced 700,000 of these people off of their land via the cachet that they garnered according to this highly questionable event. Since then, for sixty years they have been diligently exterminating these people and stealing more and more of their land. This is a fact.



Recently they launched a military strike against these people for political gain. The party in power was losing the support of their own people so they needed to do something that would regain them political support for the upcoming election. They succeeded in this event. They also succeeded in destroying what little was left of the other countries manufacturing capacity. They also destroyed their livestock and food supplies. When concerned people around the world wanted to donate to these people, who are homeless and without food, the BBC decided not to run a public service video because the appeal might be considered as anti-Israel. Yes… the BBC refused to run the appeal for this reason. This is because pro-Zionist Mark Thompson is a director at the BBC. Marcus Agius, a senior independent director at the BBC is married to a Rothschild.



Things are very, very bad in Gaza. Here is a listing of some of the Israeli war criminals with their pictures.



During this vicious act of genocide the Israelis used DIME… depleted uranium …and white phosphorus on women and children and anyone else who happened to be nearby. Now they are blocking an appeal for the survivors of the devastation that they caused.



The argument has been given that the attack was to stop rockets being launched into GAZA. Few, if any rockets were launched into GAZA during the ceasefire which was broken by Israel. Its right there on CNN, go watch it. Israel committed these atrocities to influence an election and because they are psychopaths who enjoy causing human suffering. This is how they entertain themselves.

This budget won't lead Canada out of a recession...

James Laxer: This Budget Won’t Lead Canada Out of Recession: Ignatieff Should Defeat It

Depending on how you interpret the budget, the government is committing itself to direct new spending of about $10 billion to $12 billion, on infrastructure and housing, over the next two years. Some of this depends on matching provincial and municipal funds, which may never materialize. Much of it depends on how much the government actually spends, a crucial matter since the Harper government has left most of the previous infrastructure money it promised in earlier budgets unspent. At most, the new direct spending by the government amounts to about $6 billion a year.

These numbers may sound big. In fact, they are puny. The Canadian Gross Domestic Product totals about $1.5 trillion a year. Six billion dollars a year amounts to just over one half of one per cent of our country’s GDP. Economic announcements and forecasts tell us that Canada is on track to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next six months. The Conservative government’s planned spending would create, at most, about sixty thousand short-term jobs.

The various tax measures in the budget will be equally ineffectual in stimulating the economy.

Video - Gerard Kennedy speaks in suppor of U.S. Iraq war resisters in Canada

Hell, Upside Down: Liberal MP Gerard Kennedy speaks in support of U.S. Iraq war resisters in Canada < watch me!

I'm so hungry after reading this...

Virgin: the world's best passenger complaint letter? - Telegraph

Dear Mr Branson

REF: Mumbai to Heathrow 7th December 2008

I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite
a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest
incident takes the biscuit.

Ironically, by the end of the flight I would have gladly paid over a thousand
rupees for a single biscuit following the culinary journey of hell I was
subjected to at thehands of your corporation.

...

Is a government elected based on deception legitimate?

Danielle Takacs: Galloping Around the Golden Horseshoe: Is a Government Elected Based on Deception Legitimate? < read me for the whole post.

Excerpts:

I’ve seen a lot of talk about how a Liberal-NDP coalition would lack legitimacy in the eyes of the public, but I think an honest look of the whole picture should ask as well is what kind of legitimacy does Stephen Harper have? In the real world if you applied for a job based on a falsified resume and the people that hired you found this out, you’d be fired in an instant. And the company probably wouldn’t start a whole new job search, they’d probably go to their next choice of applicant and ask if he/she was still available to take on the job.
While politics isn’t the business world, since Stephen Harper used the
CEO metaphor in a very stretched attempt to frame the Liberal platform
as irresponsible (he said if Stéphane Dion were a CEO he would be fired
for his platform), I’d like to run with it for a minute to lay the
stage for the context we face this week in Parliament. Let’s say
Stephen Harper was made CEO of a major Canadian company in January of
2006 but at least in theory remained accountable to a board of
directors (MPs) and occasionally shareholders (the electorate). So he
starts off making some bizarre and costly decisions that sap up a good
portion of the company’s revenue arguing that “target markets” will
love it and that profits (surplus) remain high anyways so there’s no
reason for the board to worry. Besides Harper says “who needs profits,
that just means we are over-charging consumers”. And so this continues
for a couple years and while many on the board grumbled that he was
driving the company into a ditch as profits were finally starting to
steadily decline in 2008, they were comforted that he would face a
review by shareholders. When the shareholder review came Harper spends
most of his presentation railing against his main competitor to replace
him as CEO arguing that he’s proposing all sorts of crazy schemes and
that while the other guy would ruin the company, Harper would bring
large profits and continued success. So Harper wins the review and
carries on. However, his first major act following the review is to
propose to cut the salaries of all the majority of board members that
he deemed disloyal. The majority of the board finally revolts but then
Harper cancels all board meetings for 7 weeks and vows to come back
with a real plan this time to rescue the company and at that time the
board can vote on whether he gets to continue as CEO. Right after he
cancels the board meeting Harper pronounces that the profits he said
the company was going to have won’t pan out after all, instead the
company is billions in the red, but he hopes the board can forgive that
oversight because “no one could see it coming” (despite the many
warnings Harper received BEFORE his review). So in that situation what
should the board do when they have their vote of confidence?
...
But I do believe we’ve once again seen a cover-up of the deficit by
some of the same people that did it in Ontario and we can’t let that
slide easily. My honest belief is that Stephen Harper went into the
election knowing the books were a mess and hoped he would get a
majority so that the public would never find out and he could just
cover it up like the Ontario PC’s did. He had access to civil service
forecasts none of the oppositions parties did, I’m sure he knew more
than he let on. Yet he portrayed an image that the Canadian economy and
government finances were in sound shape when literally days after the
election he was singing the opposite tune. For that I feel this was a
government elected based on deception and since Harper wasn’t given the
majority he wanted, it’s the duty of the majority of the House of
Commons to hold him to account. It’s the duty of Stephen Harper to do
everything he can to ensure he enjoys the confidence of a majority of
MPs the public elected and so far he’s done the opposite of what’s
necessary to do that.

Rents drop across the USA

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/106480/Rents-Drop-Nationwide-as-Vacancies-Spike

The economic crisis has opened up opportunities for apartment
tenants. The inventory of vacant apartments is expanding, and rents are
dropping quickly in major metros across the country.

For renters
with leases about to expire, it's time to negotiate. Landlords are
working extra hard these days to keep units filled.

Of course, your ability to hold on to an apartment—especially a
luxury unit—depends on how secure you feel about your own job.
Americans lost about 2.6 million jobs in 2008 (mostly in the final
quarter of the year) and are likely to lose millions more this year.
They are losing money on stocks and other investments and are cutting
back on costs by downsizing and moving in with family members or
roommates as they hunker down for a deep recession.

Landlords, as
a result, are forced to offer discounts to fill vacancies. Apartment
vacancies spiked in September after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and
the eruption of the financial crisis.

Bombing in Darfur

U.N. confirms deaths in Darfur bombing raid - Yahoo! News

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – A bomb attack by Sudanese government planes on
a town in southern Darfur killed and wounded civilians, peacekeepers
said on Sunday in the first independent verification of civilian
fatalities.

The joint U.N./African Union UNAMID force said it did not know how many were killed when the jet fighter dropped at least two bombs on rebel-held Muhajiriya on Saturday.

Sudan's armed forces were not available for comment.

Air attacks in Darfur are forbidden under a 2006 peace deal and U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The raid followed more than a week of clashes and air attacks in and around the south Darfur town that have amounted to some of the worst violence in a year, said analysts.

The clashes have also added to tension in the build-up to an expected
ruling from the International Criminal Court on whether to issue an
arrest warrant against Sudan's president on charges of war crimes in Darfur.

Israel promises to defend its war criminals

Israel promises troops legal backing over Gaza war | Reuters

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - International calls to investigate Israel over
alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip prompted Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert on Sunday to promise military personnel state protection from
foreign prosecution.

On 60 Minutes - 13 minutes - Growing Number Of Israelis, Palestinians Say Two-State Solution Is No Longer Possible

Time Running Out For A Two-State Solution?, 60 Minutes: Growing Number Of Israelis, Palestinians Say Two-State Solution Is No Longer Possible - CBS News < watch me!

The aftermath in Gaza - photos and videos

Gaza Horror: Updated Large Photo Gallery of Gaza Massacre by Israel - read me/view me.

WARNING: graphic content, war crime victims.

Tony Benn to BBC "If you won't broadcast the Gaza appeal then I will myself"

YouTube - Tony Benn to BBC "If you wont broadcast the Gaza appeal then I will myself" < watch me!

Disaster Emergency Committee
Gaza Crisis
PO Box 999
London, England
EC3A 3AA

Highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever spewing forth in India

World's highest drug levels entering India stream - Yahoo! News

PATANCHERU, India – When researchers analyzed vials of treated wastewater taken from a plant where about 90 Indian drug factories dump their residues, they were shocked. Enough of a single, powerful antibiotic was being spewed into one stream each day to treat every person in a city of 90,000.

And it wasn't just ciprofloxacin being detected. The supposedly cleaned water was a floating medicine cabinet — a soup of 21 different active pharmaceutical ingredients, used in generics for treatment of hypertension, heart disease, chronic liver ailments, depression, gonorrhea, ulcers and other ailments. Half of the drugs measured at the highest levels of pharmaceuticals ever detected in the environment, researchers say.

75% of Canadians believe Harper is doing a poor job of dealing with the economic crisis

Harper not trusted to handle economy: poll

Few Canadians have faith in the ability of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government to address the economic crisis, suggests a poll released Wednesday.

It found just one in four Canadians believe Harper's government is doing a good or very good job of dealing with the crisis

Apple pays for shoddy workmanship on original ipods

Apple coughs up $22 million for damaged Ipods - The Inquirer

The full cost of the settlement, which of course allows Apple to get away without admitting it did anything wrong, is expected to be $22.5 million

Obama 'is no Martin Luther King'

Al Jazeera English - The Obama Presidency - Obama 'is no Martin Luther King' < read me!

During the presidential campaign, when asked if Martin Luther King were alive today, who would he support, Obama replied that King would not be supporting anyone, but would be out in the streets protesting.

Ricky - new UK horror comedy

Cult Movie Worship: Lesbian Vampires And Winged Babies Take Flight

This week, get a glimpse at the turmoil between lesbian vampires and their hunters in a new UK horror comedy, and Ricky (the flying baby) finally gets to take off.

Lesbian Vampire Killers
Hunting down lesbian vampires isn't all pillow fights and soft fanged kisses. Sometimes you gotta get your hands dirty. Dread Central has a few stills from this British comedy horror including stills of The Descent's adorable MyAnna Buring on the job. Lesbian Vampire Killers will be released on March 20, 2009 in the UK, and hopefully we'll get more news about possible US dates.

Corportate Tax Cuts in Canada Make No Sense

Why Corporate Tax Cuts (in Canada) Make No Sense | Excited Delirium <read me!

And that gets me to my point: with so much foreign ownership of the Canadian economy, what’s the point in cutting corporate taxes? When we cut corporate taxes, all we do is enrich the treasuries of other countries. We need to find creative ways to fund our own economy and future, thank you very much.

Israel admits using white phosphorous

stageleft:. life on the left side : Israel Admits Using White Phosphorous In Attacks On Gaza < read me!

Virtual Gaza

Challenging the Commonplace: New Site: Virtual Gaza

Virtual Gaza is an independent, civic media initiative established by a collective of scholars, media activists and Palestinian residents of Gaza in response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip in December 2008-January 2009.

Gaza in Ruins

Gaza in Ruins « Red Tory v.3.0 < watch me, read me.

Clearly, this wasn’t a “defensive war” but rather, a savage and
vindictive retribution — in other words, collective punishment against
the people of Gaza.

Israelis ram aid ship, Dec. 29, 2008

stageleft:. life on the left side : The New Terrorist Activity: Delivering Aid <watch me!

More Starcraft II news/discussion

The 3 biggest criticisms about StarCraft II and why not to worry | STARFEEDER | Starfeeder | Starcraft, Starcraft 2, SC2

30 more men who look like old lesbians

30 More Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians | Cracked.com



WARNING: this article may be scary and/or offencive to some.

FREE THE SHMINISTIM – ISRAEL'S YOUNG CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

Tell Israel: Free the Shministim! < read me, watch me!
(thanks Kreepy!)

The Shministim are Israeli high school students who have been
imprisoned for refusing to serve in an army that occupies the
Palestinian Territories. December 18 marks the launch date of a global
campaign to release them from jail.

Harper and the Canadian Economy

Far and Wide: Harper's Truth Deficit <read me!

Okay, I "looked at the private forecasts", as Harper suggested. I've concluded, you're FULL OF SHIT Prime Minister.

Beautiful illustrations from old children's books available on-line

Grandma's Graphics: Unique Images from the Past

From Harry Clarke to 1890's storybooks, if you're looking for unique images or clipart for use on your web pages or in other design or craft projects you've come to the right place. There's a treasury here at Grandma's Graphics that you probably won't find anywhere else online. Some of these graphics are quite large and take time to load, but be patient, they're worth the wait.

Free distribution boosts sales - 23,000 % for Monty Python!

Monty Python's free web video increased DVD sales by 23,000 percent - Boing Boing

And you know what? Despite the entertainment industry’s constant cries about how bad they’re doing, it works. As we wrote yesterday, Monty Python’s DVDs climbed to No. 2 on Amazon’s Movies & TV bestsellers list, with increased sales of 23,000 percent.

New wind farm in Mexico

Mexico fires up $550 million wind farm - USATODAY.com

The new, $550 million project is in a region so breezy that the main town is named La Ventosa, or "Windy." It's on the narrow isthmus between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, where winds blow at 15 mph to 22 mph, a near-ideal rate for turbines. Gusts have been known to topple tractor trailers.
...

It will produce enough energy to power a city of
500,000 people, while reducing carbon monoxide emissions by 600,000
metric tons each year, according to the company.

Esteban Morras, Acciona board member, said the project could be just the start for Mexico.

Veronica Mars to return in a movie

Veronica Mars Movie Finally in the Works - E! Online

Good news for you Heroes fans missing the now-deceased Elle, Kristen Bell. It looks like Kristen's heading for the big screen as that other alter ego who's even more kickass: Miss Veronica Mars.

Windows Vista SP2 available by May or June

Rumor: Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Delayed Until May or June | Epicenter from Wired.com

Vista SP2 is expected to come with a number of key enhancements, including the ability to burn Blu-Ray discs natively and improved playback of streaming high definition video. The service pack will also likely contain improvements to wi-fi performance, DirectX graphics performance and a better desktop search tool.

Israel lifts ban on Arab parties in Knesset

Israeli Supreme Court lifts ban on Arab participation in National Elections - International Middle East Media Center

On Wednesday, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a ruling that voids a ban preventing Arab parties in Israel from participating in the parliamentary elections, which will be held in Israeli next month.

Israeli Supreme Court
Israeli Supreme Court

The ruling was made after several Arab-Israeli political leaders filed an appeal against the ban.

Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset, Ahmad Tibi, said that this decision is “a defeat to fascism”, and added that discrimination is deeply rooted in Israel, therefore the “battle is not quite finished”, according to Israeli daily Haaretz.

Israel breaks ceasefire, again.

Press TV - Israeli gunboat targets Gaza civilians

A
Palestinian medical official says an Israeli gunboat off the shores of
Gaza City has opened fire on Gaza, wounding at least five people.



Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said Thursday that a shell fired by the
gunboat hit a house in a beachside refugee camp. He said the wounded
were passersby in the street, AP reported.

Gadgest that make you look like a jerk

Gadgets that make you look like a jerk - Tech and gadgets- msnbc.com

Bacon and booze madness!

Facebook | Bacon Booze: Bacontini & Other Delicious Baconized Beverages | Sloshspot Blog < read me!
(Thanks Tamara!)

Wording of the poll

JanfromtheBruce: Tyee - Better a dead coalition than a live Harper government

Reading over the actual wording of the question, it appears that one is being asked if one prefers an Liberal led government over a Harper led government, as it does not mention the word "coalition".

Opposition support of war resisters

we move to canada: liberals and ndp m.p.s pledge their support to war resisters (updated story)<read me.

"Canada should be a refuge from militarism."

Ban appalled by Gaza's damage

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Ban 'appalled' by Gaza's damage

Watch the videos at the link, and read the news story.

Unfortunately, the UN can not do much about Israel's war crimes against Palestine. It is pretty much up to the USA to reign in Israel.
But the Israeli lobby in the USA is very very strong, so the genocide will continue.

All Major Canadian ISPs Slow Down P2P Traffic

All Major Canadian ISPs Slow Down P2P Traffic | TorrentFreak

... Bell was more open about its practices, and admits using deep packet inspection (DPI) to throttle its individual customers and wholesalers. On Bell Wireline, P2P traffic is slowed down between 4.30 PM and 2 AM. To cope with the increasing bandwidth demands of its customers, they further plan to disconnect heavy users and introduce metered plans where customers pay for the bandwidth they use.
... Rogers claims it has to throttle P2P users to prevent their network
from becoming “the world’s buffet,” as they like to call it. Not only
does this affect their network, their bandwidth bills also increased
due to the growing popularity of BitTorrent and other filesharing
networks. Similar to Bell and Cogeco, Rogers is also known to use DPI.
Upstream P2P traffic is slowed down across their entire network,
regardless of congestion.

In summary, we can conclude that there is no such thing as net
neutrality in Canada. All of the larger ISPs slow down their customers,
with most of them specifically targeting P2P traffic through deep
packet inspection. Because of this, P2P users can’t enjoy the speeds
they were promised, and several legitimate businesses whose income
depends on delivering content through BitTorrent or other filesharing
networks are unable to compete with those who don’t. It’s now up to the
CRTC to draw the right conclusions.

Palestinian villages wiped off the map

YayaCanada - Blog2: WIPED OFF THE MAP

War on Gaza unites Palestinian factions

Al Jazeera English - War on Gaza - Palestinian factions united by war

UN chief visits Gaza, urges probe

Al Jazeera English - Middle East - UN chief visits Gaza, urges probe

An in depth look at Gaza by Noam Chomsky

Canadian Dimension Blog / “Exterminate all the Brutes”: Noam Chomsky on Gaza

Outlander movie - coming soon?

Exclusive: The Saga Behind Viking-Alien War Movie Outlander

This looks amazing. I really hope it comes to theatres in Canada sometime soon.

Coalition steadily gaining in the polls

Far and Wide: Coalition Supporters, Here's Your Poll

Polls conducted late last year showed a high level of opposition, especially outside Quebec, to a proposed Liberal-NDP coalition in the event the minority Harper government is defeated in the House. The new poll suggests Canadians' feelings have evolved, with 50 per cent of respondents favouring a coalition government, while 43 per cent are happier with the current Conservative government.

“This is a huge change from the period right after the coalition agreement was struck in Stéphane Dion's last days as Liberal leader, when the Tories took an apparently unassailable 20-point lead,” Mr. Graves said. “Clearly much of the recoil against the idea of a coalition really had to do with alarm at the idea of Stéphane Dion becoming prime minister so quickly after having been rejected so decisively at the polls.”

Israel Threatens to Shoot Unarmed Civilians aboard Mercy Ship

Freegaza - Israel Threatens to Shoot Unarmed Civilians aboard Mercy Ship

 At roughly 3am UST (1am GMT), in international waters 100 miles off
the coast of Gaza, at least five Israeli gunboats surrounded the SPIRIT
OF HUMANITY and began recklessly cutting in front of the slow-moving
civilian craft. The Israeli warships radioed the SPIRIT, demanding that
the ship turn around or they would open fire and "shoot." When asked if
the Israeli navy was acknowledging that they intended to commit a war
crime by deliberately firing on unarmed civilians, the warships replied
that they were prepared to use "any means" to stop the ship.

Ancient chemical warfare

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Ancient Persians 'gassed Romans' <read me

A UK researcher said he found evidence that the Persian Empire used
poisonous gases on the Roman city of Dura, Eastern Syria, in the 3rd
Century AD.

The theory is based on the discovery of remains of about 20 Roman soldiers found at the base of the city wall.

Dollhouse - 3 minute teaser/interviews

YouTube - 'Dollhouse' explained in under three minutes Eliza Dushku

Bionic Woman to be the new Doctor Who's assistant?

Doctor Who: The Doctor's New Assistant May Be Bionic

New Harry Potter Trailer

Harry Potter: New Potter Trailer Proves Kids With Wands Still Cooler Than Twilight

And don't watch the 2nd video farther down the page unless you have read the book already (there is a MAJOR spoiler in it)! It's funny though.

James Marster - new tv series

James Marsters: First Look At James Marsters As Outlaw Alien Fighter

Everyone's favorite vampire has saddled up for the role of outlaw in the new Sci Fi Channel original movie Alien Western. Lucky us — we've stumbled upon some set photos of Marsters all dirty-cowboyed up.

Cute-as-a-button co-star Sanny van Heteren posted a few pics from the set showing a dirty Marsters ready to kill some alien-bug scum. The plot of Alien Western is centered around a little town that gets attacked by giant alien bugs. Marsters plays Sam Danville, an outlaw who's supposed to be executed when the aliens land.

If Movie Posters Were Honest

Facebook | If Movie Posters Were Honest < check it out for the whole bunch.

Brilliant!
(thanks Eyesore, & Adam !)

Ehud Olmert: Torturing the Whole World

LeDaro: Ehud Olmert: Torturing the Whole World < read me

Can you imagine a guy caught on the street after killing few dozen people, the police come to arrest him he says, "I have ceased to shoot unilaterally." Olmert is doing exactly that. Now he wants the world to know that he has ceased fire unilaterally. IDF is occupying most of the Northern Gaza, shooting at will and bombing. That is ceasefire? Olmert then blames Hamas that they are still firing rockets.

Leave their homes and their land Olmert you idiot and accept the punishment for your crimes, as a person would do in a civilized society. Oh yes, your buddies in that crime must be included too.

Bacon Cupcakes!

ABC News

"Israel was born out of Jewish Terrorism"

Stop Canadian Complicity in Torture: Jewish MP denounces ISRAEL as War Criminals , "ISRAEL WAS BORN OUT OF JEWISH TERRORISM" < watch the video.

He also talks about who is Tzipi Livni- Israel's FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER:

SHE IS THE DAUGHTER OF Eitan Livni - CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER OF THE TERRORIST ORGANIZATION IRGUN, that bombed the King David Hotel, which housed the Mandate Secretariat and the British military headquarters.

THE TERRORIST BOMBING COORDENATED BY ISRAEL'S CURRENT FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER TZIPI LIVNI' FATHER , killed 91 people including 17 Jews.Most of the people killed were staff of the hotel or Secretariat: 21 were first-rank government officials; 49 were second-rank clerks, typists and messengers, junior members of the Secretariat, employees of the hotel and canteen workers; 13 were soldiers; 3 policemen; and 5 were members of the public.

Diverse voices oppose apartheid policies, zionism

An Open Letter From Jewish Youth in Canada: Diverse voices oppose apartheid policies, zionism | The Dominion

Even though there have been approximately 100 Palestinian deaths for every Israeli killed by rocket fire, we recognize that Israeli Apartheid also leads to Israeli casualties. The blame for these deaths lies with Israel – if there were no occupation and no apartheid policies, there would be no rocket fire. If Israel, the world's fourth largest military power, is concerned about its citizens, it would abandon its apartheid policies and seek out justice for the Palestinian people.

It seems that many Jews outside of Israel don't support the Israeli policies and actions against the Palestinian people. It's too bad that most Jews inside Israel feel differently.

Independent Groups Debunk Israeli War Propaganda

Independent Groups Debunk Israeli War Propaganda | ForeignPolicy | AlterNet < read me for the full story!

The situation in Gaza is so abominable that both the U.N. and international human rights organizations have refused to remain silent. Israel has been accused of violating both humanitarian law and the Geneva conventions on military operations.

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council Friday, the London-based Amnesty International (AI) called for firm action "to ensure full accountability for war crimes and other serious abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law".

AI also urged the Council to dispatch international human rights monitors to Gaza and southern Israel to investigate and report on the continuing abuses by both warring parties.

Even the Vatican seemed outraged by the unmitigated violence by the Israelis.

Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, compared Gaza to a "concentration camp", reminiscent of the horrors of a Nazi era -- provoking anger from the Israelis.

"Look at the conditions in Gaza," the Cardinal was quoted as saying, "more and more, it resembles a big concentration camp."

Death of Free Internet in Canada?

Another Point of View: Reloaded: Death Of Free Internet In Canada? < read me!

The great value of the open Internet is that it allows us to envision and, in fact, produce a more democratic media system.

But the open Internet is under threat by the very companies that bring it into our homes and workplaces, Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These big telecommunication companies want to become the gatekeepers of the Internet, charging hefty fees to reach large audiences, as they do with other mediums.

Big telecom companies are trying to do away with the governing guidelines of the Internet called "net neutrality" (or "common carriage"). Net neutrality requires that Internet service providers not discriminate - including speeding up or slowing down web content - based on its source, ownership or destination. Net neutrality protects our ability to direct our own online activities, and also maintains a level playing field for online innovation and social change.

The activity of limiting or slowing access to specific content and services is referred to as "traffic shaping" or "throttling," and it fundamentally changes how the Internet works. According to Michael Geist, the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, ISPs already have a "history of blocking access to contentious content (Telus), limiting bandwidth for alternative content delivery channels (Rogers), and raising the prospect of levying fees for priority content delivery (Bell)."

If we let big ISPs have their way, media producers, online entrepreneurs and social change makers will need to ask Bell, Rogers and other big ISPs for permission and pay large sums of cash to effectively distribute content or innovate.

Israel's shiny new weapons

Montreal Simon: Gaza and Israel's Shiny New Weapons

Nothing better than testing shiny new weapons on a helpless population trapped in a cage like laboratory animals. I bet the Pentagon can't wait to see the results.

And can you imagine what life will be like in one of the poorest little places on earth, with not enough shelter, not enough food or water, not enough medical equipment, and so many traumatized people with no arms or legs .....dragging themselves over the ruins.

Believe me, I have no axe to grind in this conflict. I love the Israeli and Palestinian people like I love all the other people of the world.

But what the Israeli hawks have done in Gaza is a war crime pure and simple.

First must come the ceasefire.

Then must come the RECKONING...

Journalists call Livni "terrorist"

Challenging the Commonplace: Journalists call Livni "terrorist"

One of the more tense moments came when one journalist began to quote at length a Human Rights report on the situation in Gaza, before asking Livni to comment on "the murder of innocent civilians in the Strip."

When the man was asked to finish his question, he yelled "you are letting her speak for an hour, and you aren't allowing us to ask questions. Since when have you hosted terrorists here?"

Atheism is...

DTK: What Atheists Believe In <read me, watch me.

Freedom.
Watch the video at the link.

Israel to be prosecuted for war crimes

90 organizations, mainly French, to prosecute Israel for War Crimes - International Middle East Media Center

Ninety organizations, mainly French, decided to prosecute Israel in the International Court of Justice, in the Hague, for committing War Crimes against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli offensive has thus far left more than 1,033 Palestinians dead, and over 4,580 wounded after 20 days of.

Israelis jailed for protesting the war

Middle East Online

PACIFICA – About 700 Israelis have been arrested for protesting against the war on Gaza since the beginning of the deadly offensive, said Neve Gordon, chair of the Department of Politics and Government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel on Monday.

"700 Israelis have been arrested since this war began, because they protested this war. This has not made it to an international media, and it’s an act of intimidation by the state against those who protest the war," Gordon told Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!.

On the number of Israeli deaths, Gordon said: "between ten and twenty people, Israelis, have died from rockets in the eight years that rockets have been launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel. During the same amount of time, 4,000 Israelis have died from car accidents."

But Israel still used that as an excuse to bomb Gaza.

Nebula Within a Cluster

HubbleSite - NewsCenter - Hubble Snaps Images of a Nebula Within a Cluster (01/15/2009) - Release Images

"Israel's killings of Palestinians in Gaza amounted to "genocide"."

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Israel 'breaking law' with Gaza war

D'Escoto noted that the Security Council last week had called for a Gaza ceasefire leading to the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

"Prime Minister Olmert's recent statement disavowing the authority of Resolution 1860 [the Security Council resolution] clearly places Israel as a state in contempt of international law and the United Nations," d'Escoto added.

He urged the assembly to agree its own non-binding assembly resolution reflecting "the urgency of our commitment to end this slaughter" in Gaza.

Israel has continued its offensive regardless of the resolution which was also rejected by Hamas.

D'Escoto, a former Nicaraguan foreign minister, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Israel's killings of Palestinians in Gaza amounted to "genocide".

Israel - a nation of terrorists

Overwhelming Israeli support of Gaza op | Confronting Hamas | Jerusalem Post

A whopping 94% of the public support or strongly support the operation while 92% think it benefits Israel's security, according to the Tel Aviv University survey.

The poll found that 92% of Israeli Jews justify the air force's attacks in Gaza despite the suffering of the civilian population in the Strip and the damage they cause to infrastructure.

Other kids are the biggest threat to kids online

Report: biggest online threat to kids is other kids

Overall, the report generally concludes that the general public may have an impression that the Internet is awash in predatory pedophiles, but that picture is simply unsupported by the research that's available. Those risks that do exist don't appear to be specific to the online world, as the report suggests, "the risks minors face online are complex and multifaceted and are in most cases not significantly different than those they face offline." As one of the participants stated, "the truth is that there is no 'Internet safety,' there is simply 'safety.'"

So, for example, when it comes to pornography and nudity, the majority of the exposure occurs offline, through traditional media such as TV and movies. A number of younger individuals do get exposed to images they find disturbing online, but the majority of those who view porn online are older adolescent boys who have actively sought it out. In a significant number of these cases, the images that disturb adolescents the most are the ones produced by their fellow adolescents; as the report notes, "there are also concerns about other content, including child pornography and the violent, pornographic, and other problematic content that youth themselves generate."

The task force also examined bullying and harassment online, but came to the same conclusion as other recent studies: it happens, but it's generally happening as an extension of the child's offline social world, rather than as a distinct Internet phenomenon.

Linda Hamilton may do voice-overs in the upcoming Terminator movie

Terminator Salvation: Sarah Connor Will Haunt Terminator Salvation

"We're in the business of doing that right now," McG said. "So we'll
see what happens. She seems to be very supportive of the film. I look
forward to showing it to her in about a week or so." He added: "The
tapes that she left for her son to be aware of what it was going to
take to win the war, those are the tapes that are going to bring us in
and out of the picture."

More news about Push, which comes out Feb. 6th

Exclusive: Paul McGuigan Talks Push — And Deathlok

Free film about the mainstream media in North America and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

PEACE, PROPAGANDA & THE PROMISED LAND | U.S. Media & The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites -- oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others -- work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported.

Read the synopsis, watch or download the video.

Israel becoming its own worst enemy

TheStar.com | Opinion | Israel becoming its own worst enemy < read me

Israelis 'shot at fleeing Gazans'

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israelis 'shot at fleeing Gazans' <read me!

War of Choice: How Israel Manufactured the Gaza Escalation

Foreign Policy In Focus | War of Choice: How Israel Manufactured the Gaza Escalation < read me!

The Palestinians: Everybodies Favourite Human Shield

stageleft:. life on the left side : The Palestinians: Everybodies Favorite Human Shield < read me.

Canada needs to look at the big picture

Canada has role to play in Mideast | rabble.ca <read me.

But restricting our focus like this obscures the central fact of this decades-old conflict - millions of Palestinians, in Gaza and the West Bank, have lived under Israeli military occupation for more than 40 years. (The removal of a few Israeli settlements from Gaza in 2005 resulted in tighter, not looser, Israeli military control over the territory.)
...

However, the evidence suggests another factor may be the real obstacle:
Israel doesn't want to give up the land it's been occupying. Certainly,
Israel has moved in the opposite direction, allowing Jewish settlers to
take over large swaths of Palestinian land.

There are now more than 250,000 heavily-armed Jewish settlers living
in the West Bank where a future Palestinian state is slated to be. They
have made it clear they intend to stay.

Indeed, for the past 40 years, there have been two sets of
developments going on simultaneously in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict - one under the glare of public attention and one largely off
camera.

In the spotlight, there have been peace negotiations, interrupted by
bouts of violence. Meanwhile, well out of sight, is the inexorable
takeover of Palestinian land by Israeli settlements, effectively
removing the possibility of a peace deal.

Continuing War Crimes in Gaza

http://drivingtheporcelainbus.blogspot.com/2009/01/white-phosphorus-and-its-use-in-gaza.html

http://drivingtheporcelainbus.blogspot.com/2009/01/death-toll-continues-as-israel.html

10 Israeli soldiers choose jail over Gaza

Maan News Agency < read me

"If violence must be used, it should be used minimally, and that isn't what’s happening," he added. "Killing innocent civilians cannot be justified. Nothing justifies this kind of killing. It’s devilish."

Israel - Undemocratic. Bans Arab parties.

RedBedHead: Israel Bans Arab Parties, Supports Ethnic Cleansing

Perhaps it shouldn’t be any surprise given the present wholesale slaughter but then Israel likes to tell the world, particularly Europe and North America that they’re the only democratic country in a region ruled by despots and hereditary monarchs.
It makes it all the more interesting then that Israel’s Central Electoral Committee has just banned Arab parties. Mixed parties, like the Communist Party, are OK. Jewish parties are OK. But those Arabs – well, they’re traitors, aren’t they?

“Parliament spokesman Giora Pordes said the election committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of the motion, accusing the country's Arab parties of incitement, supporting terrorist groups and refusing to recognize Israel's right to exist.”

The motion was put forward by a far-right party. That it won support amongst Israel’s mainstream parties shows just how far Israel’s colonialism has caused the nation’s political consciousness to degenerate towards ethnic authoritarianism.
But then, the plan from the beginning has always been to “spirit the penniless Arab population” across the border and out of Israel, as Zionism’s founder Theodor Herzl put it. And that’s still the attitude today.
...
... the number of people living under Israeli rule at the present is only
slightly more than 50% Jewish. Fortunately for the “democratic, Jewish”
state the majority of Palestinians under their rule have no vote, no
civil rights and don’t even have independent control of their tax
collection.
Not very democratic.
However, in Gaza there is a
thriving democracy. In 2006, under the watch of international monitors
and the basis of one-person, one-vote, the population of the Gaza Strip
elected Hamas as the majority party in their Legislative Assembly.
Perhaps that example of democracy at work is part of what Israel wants to eliminate.

Shame on Canada. Let us bow our heads in shame.

Canada Reaching Up to Touch Botton: Vote Against Human Rights | Excited Delirium

In a new shameless low amongst what I was hoping would be the last of shameless lows with the Harpercrite regime, Canada has voted against a resolution to condemn the massive violations of human rights by Israel in Gaza.

Gaza, Israel, and the Verdict of History

Montreal Simon: Gaza, Israel, and the Verdict of History

Even as it continues to pound Gaza with shells and bombs, and more than 900 are now dead, including 400 women and children. And it prepares to launch an allout assault on Gaza's crowded cities.

More people would rather see the Coalition run things than the Conservatives

Accidental Deliberations: On legitimacy

Now, it's undoubtedly fair to say that the latest polls should be taken as reflecting only a portion of public opinion - as the previous ones should have been as well.

But when more people want to see the coalition in power than the Cons, it would defy belief to try to make the argument that the Cons could have any more democratic legitimacy than the coalition would based on current levels of popular support. And to the extent anybody wants to play the national unity card, it can't escape mention that the greatest regional legitimacy issue would involve the Cons' lack of support in the one region which has actually seriously threatened to separate in the past.

All of which is to say that the number of serious arguments against the coalition is rapidly dwindling. And with any luck, public opinion will keep turning in the coalition's favour just in time for it to come into being.

Coalition support overall: 42%
Conservative support overall: 33%

"This time they mean to kill us. There is no escape."

World Report: "Blogging from Gaza," Just World News, compiled by Don Bacon, January 11, 2009.

The Gaza Blog:
'This is not like the previous invasions - this time they mean to kill us. There is no escape.'

NDP - Winning Friends and influencing people on the financial front

Accidental Deliberations: Winning friends and influencing people

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

We write with grief and rage as we watch the horrifying Israeli air and ground attacks on Gaza. As Jews committed to ending Zionism, the founding ideology of Israel, and all forms of colonialism, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who continue to struggle in the face of these attacks, much as they have against more than 60 years of ethnic cleansing and racism. As Joseph Massad recently wrote, Gaza is in uprising against genocide, and is receiving today the same indifference from the capitals of the West that the rebels in the Warsaw Ghetto received in 1943.

Bush - Signature authorized torture

The Bush Administration's Most Despicable Act - TIME <read me

"This is not the America I know," President George W. Bush said after the first, horrifying pictures of U.S. troops torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq surfaced in April 2004. The President was not telling the truth. "This" was the America he had authorized on Feb. 7, 2002, when he signed a memorandum stating that the Third Geneva Convention — the one regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners taken in wartime — did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. That signature led directly to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. It was his single most callous and despicable act. It stands at the heart of the national embarrassment that was his presidency.
...
Incredibly, the Bush Administration decided to have SERE trainers instruct its interrogation teams on how to torture prisoners.
(Read "Shell-Shocked at Abu Ghraib?")

Remember that school Israel targeted a few days ago?

UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled - Haaretz - Israel News

"In briefings senior [Israel Defense Forces] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school," Gunness said. "The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional."

He noted that all the footage released by the IDF of militants firing from inside the school was from 2007 and not from the incident itself.

Smarter Men Have More Sperm

Smarter Men Have More Sperm | LiveScience

The smarter the men were, the more sperm they produced and the better their wee ones swam — and it didn't matter how old the men were or whether they smoked, drank or were obese.

The realities of life in Gaza

Sudbury Against War and Occupation: What You Don’t Know About Gaza < read me!

NEARLY everything you’ve been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below
are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the
conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about
Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

Naomi Klein - Israel: Boycott, divest, sanction

Israel: Boycott, divest, sanction | rabble.ca < read me

It's time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa.

Canadian Media fails (on purpose) to properly report what is happening in the Middle East.

Sudbury Against War and Occupation: Turn off the Canadian Media, Please <READ ME!

If national media help make a nation, then we all need to stop reading and listening to conventional Canadian media if we want to make a decent Canada. Benedict Anderson, perhaps the leading scholar of nationalism, wrote that the daily newspaper (along with other innovations like novels, maps, censuses, museums) played a key role in creating national consciousness. People in a country like Canada use their own media - public (CBC) and private (CanWest, TorStar, CTVglobemedia) - to know what is happening in their own country. Media are also an important part of forging a national identity. They are supposed to represent the broad spectrum of Canadian opinion. When they present information on the rest of the world, they do so from a Canadian perspective and have the Canadian audience in mind.

And today, if you want to have the first idea what is happening in Israel/Palestine (or most of the rest of the world), the best thing to do would be to turn them off completely.

In the face of a major ongoing crime like that of Israel's siege and assault on Gaza, Canadians turn to the Canadian media in good faith to try to learn and understand what is happening, who is to blame, and what they might be able to do to help the victims. On each of these counts, the Canadian media fails. But the days when Canadians would be stuck listening to local radio, picking up the local print newspaper, or watching local television packaged by Canadian media corporations for their consumption are over. There is, for the time being, media choice. And given the choice, on Israel/Palestine, it would be foolish to turn to the Canadian media.

Israel corrals up 110 civilians and then bombs them

Israel shelled Gaza Palestinians after evacuating them, UN says | World news | guardian.co.uk

Israeli soldiers evacuated about 110 Palestinians to a single-storey house in Zeitoun, south-east Gaza. The evacuees were instructed to stay indoors for their safety but 24 hours later the Israeli army shelled the house. About half the Palestinians sheltering in the house were children, OCHA said. The report also complains that the Israeli Defence Force prevented medical teams from entering the area to evacuate the wounded.

Paranormal Penises

Alpha Heroes: The Curious Case of the Paranormal Penises

Upcoming Dragon Hunter movie

Dragon Hunter: It's Time for Some Serious Dragon Slayage

Watch the trailer.

This looks VERY cheesy, but could be fun.

New Judge Dredd movie

He Is The Law: Your First Look At Judge Dredd Movie!

Coming Sci Fi flicks

2009 Movie Preview: 30 Fantastic Movies To Watch (Or Avoid) This Year

Flexible computer screens almost here

Inhabitat » HP Announces Flexible Computer Screens On the Horizon

"Look up, and see the wonders I've seen" - John Chrichton

APOD: 2009 January 7 - The Galactic Core in Infrared <see me!

Earth life headed for Mars

Earth life headed for Mars moon - Mars- msnbc.com

My Atheism is not a rejection of your god

Uniform Velocity: My Atheism Is Not A Rejection Of Your God

it is impossible to hate what one views as non-existent, but I do take issue with the actions carried out in the name of religion and the anthropomorphic attributes placed upon a supposed 'higher being".

Robert Fisk - the whole article. "But let us not say we do not know the answer"

Robert Fisk: Why do they hate the West so much, we will ask - Robert Fisk, Commentators - The Independent <READ ME!

Canada condones war crimes

Bill Longstaff: Canada condones war crimes

The Isreali assault on Gaza is unequivocally a criminal act. To cite only one item of international law Israel has violated, I offer Article 33 of Convention IV of the Geneva Conventions relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War:

No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

Israel's massive collective punishment of the Gazan people clearly violates this article. Staunchly defending Israel's behaviour, as our government is doing, just as clearly puts this country in the position of condoning, indeed supporting, war crimes.

I am usually proud of my country and very happy to be living here, but sometimes I am ashamed of it.

Robert Fisk: Counting the lies and the dead

Rusty Idols: Robert Fisk: Counting the lies and the dead. <READ ME!

And our leaders will huff and puff and remind the world that Hamas originally broke the ceasefire. It didn't. Israel broke it, first on 4 November when its bombardment killed six Palestinians in Gaza and again on 17 November when another bombardment killed four more Palestinians

Sign Amnesty's open letter to the government of Canada to take action

Amnesty.ca | Speak out for peace in Gaza

Go here, read, and sign the petition.

Red Cross Reports Grisly Find In Gaza

stageleft:. life on the left side : Red Cross Reports Grisly Find in Gaza < read me.

Israel Accused of Blocking Aid to Wounded

The
International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday that it had
found at least 15 bodies and several children — emaciated but alive —
in a row of shattered houses in the Gaza Strip and accused the Israeli
military of preventing ambulances from reaching the site for four days.

Red
Cross officials said rescue crews had received specific reports of
casualties in the houses and had been trying since Saturday to send
ambulances to the area, located in Zaytoun, a neighborhood south of
Gaza City. They said the Israeli military did not grant permission
until Wednesday afternoon.

In an unusual public statement
issued by its Geneva headquarters, the Red Cross called the episode
“unacceptable” and said the Israeli military had “failed to meet its
obligation under international humanitarian law to care for and
evacuate the wounded.”

(more)

The Right-Wing running scared of the rise of Jack Layton and the NDP

blogging a dead horse: The Layton factor (or why Robert Silver can't take success for an answer) < read me.

The party has increased its seats in every election since Layton became
leader and in the Commons has rewritten the 2005 budget to make key
investments that are building affordable housing and putting buses on
the roads right now.

And as the willingness of Liberals to agree
to the coalition policy agreement shows, Layton's NDP understands the
modern economy better than any “tax cuts will save us all” Liberal or
Tory government ever has.

Layton's (latest) accomplishment has
been the unprecedented coalition agreement reached with Mr Dion with
the tacit support of Bloc MPs – a feat considered impossible by Ottawa
insiders. No New Democrat leader has come this close to producing a
stronger economy or fundamentally changing the culture of Ottawa
before. As a result, Layton is in the strongest position among his
party and Canadians who want change.

More Toronto sewer news.

TheStar.com | GTA | Sewer fix will take 18 months

It will take 18 months and up to $30 million to build 600 metres of sewer to bypass the cracked part.

The good news is that there's no sign yet that the big sewer is leaking
sewage outward, or collapsing inward. Its flow – three times the volume
of the Don River in dry weather – is unimpeded, carrying the waste from
one-third of the city to the Ashbridge's Bay sewage treatment plant.

Israel intetionally targeting civilians

The Raw Story | Norwegian doctor: Israel intentionally targeting civilians

"We have been doing surgery around the clock," Gilbert replied. "I just talked to to one of my colleagues in the ICU who has not been sleeping for three days and they hospital is completely overcrowded and we are running six, seven OR's and there are injuries that you just don't want to see in this world. Children coming in with open abdomens and legs cut off.

"We just had a child who left. We had to amputate both legs and the arms and the only crime they have done is been civilians -- Palestinians living in Gaza. The relief now is not more doctors and more drugs the relief now is to stop the bombing immediately. This can not go on. It is a disaster."