Monday, December 12, 2005

Sudan: Darfur: Intrntnl military intervention needed to stop Sudan ongoing genocide, feed poor black Muslims of Darfur

The story below is republished from a recent release from Church-backed digital resource, AfricaFiles email newsletter. It's also on an affiliated website; just click the blue hot-linked title above. While the African Union has a small contingent of troops present in Sudan's western region of Darfur, along the border with Chad, funds have not allowed a massive intevention by black nations south of the Sahara, backed by sufficient black troops. Arab troops are out of the question in this situation of Muslim Arabs oppressing Muslim Blacks. Sudan does not want the number of black African troops increased significantly in number, as these additional forces could tip the power balance in western Sudan against the allies of the Federal Government. The situation is complex because recently Blacks from the south of Sudan, mostly Christians and animists, have been brawt into the Federal government. Another complex recent history, in itself. But the Darfur region and its suffering people need our attention, as the immiseration increases in duration and intensity. The Janjawid terrorists in the service of the Feds must be totally ineffectuated; the internicene conflict between the two Darfurian black rebel groups and their loyalists, must be ended. - Politicarp

----------------------------

"There has been a huge increase in the number of attacks and robberies [on humanitarian workers]," said Mike McDonagh, senior humanitarian affairs officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Khartoum, on Thursday. "Harassment is too weak a term," he added. "The physical danger aid workers have been exposed to over the last four months is a huge concern. We are very lucky that none of our staff has been killed so far."

On Saturday, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and militia reportedly jointly attacked the villages of Hemmeda, Um Boru and Koka in the Um Nkunya area, approximately 40 km northeast of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported. The fighting resulted in an unknown number of civilian casualties and displaced about 7,000 people. "The United Nations is concerned that the parties continue to violate the ceasefire agreement in what seems to be a resumption of the vicious circle of attacks and retaliation that we witnessed in earlier months," Radhia Achouri, UNMIS spokeswoman, told reporters in Khartoum on Wednesday.

According to reports, the attack on Saturday had been launched against the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) in the area. In apparent retaliation the following day, the SLM/A attacked Donkey Dereisa, 60 km south of Nyala. Another attack occurred in West Darfur on Tuesday when Arab militia raided the town of Congo Harasa. They destroyed all the wells that had been constructed by the humanitarian workers to provide water to the local population. "The UN condemns these attacks that targeted the very livelihood of the people," Achouri said.

The ongoing deliberate destruction of farmland and crops was negatively affecting the optimistic agricultural output expected for this season, Achouri added. Redisplacements of large groups of civilians to settlements for internally displaced persons (IDPs) or to the outskirts of towns had also continued throughout Darfur. According to the Geneva Conventions, destroying or rendering useless items essential to the survival of civilian populations is a war crime.

Aid workers in the region had also faced increased violence, threats, beatings and harassment, both within and outside the camps, according to sources in Darfur. On 5 December, 13 international NGO* staff members in West Darfur were relocated with an African Union (AU) escort from Silea to the region’s capital, Geneina, due to insecurity in the area. Insecurity also forced the AU to airlift three international NGO staff from Kulbus to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State. Some local personnel remained behind to provide essential services.

*non-govermental organization

On 4 December, an international NGO compound was caught in the crossfire when fighting broke out between rebel groups and government forces near Masteri. A stray bullet hit a guard in the stomach. On 1 December, two unidentified gunmen shot and killed a Sudanese driver working for the Sudanese Red Crescent Society in that organisation'’s premises in Abu Shouk IDP camp on the outskirts of El Fasher. "The security situation in Abu Shouk is deteriorating each day," said a local source. "IDPs are reporting continuous military presence inside the camps during the nights with threats, detentions, harassment to the civil population and shootings."

Tension had also risen in IDP camps across Darfur due to the proliferation of people posing as community leaders and presenting inflated numbers of newly arrived IDPs to demand food and other relief items. "They are not just businessmen - they are a real mafia. They sold around 12,000 rations of food in front of our noses," one aid worker said. "This business is a time bomb for the stability of the camp," he added. "The [genuine community] leaders that try to collaborate [with us] are exhausted and very scared. All of us have been threatened many times."

The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003 when the two main rebel groups, the SLM/A and the Justice and Equality Movement, took up arms to fight what they called the discrimination and oppression of the region by the Sudanese government. The government is accused of unleashing militia - known as the Janjawid - on civilians in an attempt to quash the rebellion. According to the UN, the conflict continues to affect some 3.4 million people, of whom 1.8 million are IDPs and 200,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad

USA: Culture Wars: War on Christmas taken up by the allegedly "neutral" ConsumerAffairs.com

Arrrrrfghghghghghghghghghgh!



War on Christmas bk

I just read a secularist-humanist attack on the priority of Christmas in American public tradition, stinker of the worst order except cushioned in its acerbity by its commercialese, wherein its small postive value is overwhelmed by the hauteur of its self-narcissized enrapturement in its own little secularist mind-pattern substitute for a world where traditions are living creatures of their own sort.

I will have to unthread the above, parse and correct my meanings, which will necessitate perhaps a number of reformatulations and expansions to be made in upcpoming updates to this blog-entry.. Tune back-in to today's blog-entry on a farticle in ConsumerAffairs.com - one by James R. Hood of the secularist consumers' organization itself.

More later .... - )wlb

Previous refWrite blog-entry on The War on Christmas

Culture: Encyclopedias: Wikipedia the free digital online encyclo shaken by character assassinations

Sad to see that Wikipedia is proving so unstable, with what appears to be a rash of character assassinations insinuated into its pages. Thanks for the Hat Tip from David Koyzis for notice of the thus-far 2-page Wikipedia Watch site. David reports that he had a Wiki biographical article posted about him (I may have been the poster; I think I did mention David in an article on Dooyeweerd as a juridical scholar who's influenced a lot of people in political science, David's bailiwick professionally speaking). David now informs that the article on him was removed because he wasn't notable enuff. The word he uses is "nonnotable."

In another case, the article to which I contributed a bit regarding Dr Albert Wolters (the Copper Scroll expert) gathered an internal Wiki campaign around it to remove it, but it seems to have survived - thanks to the alertness of Steve Bishop. Strange motivations were revealed by strange argumentations on the part of Wiki's platoon of removers. I also noticed in yet another case that a cabal of apparently atheist-Jews, socioligically speaking (and a Wiki article insists we make the distinction between ethnic Jewishness and faith Judaism which is quite inimical to aggressively atheist Jews who demand in Wiki a "neutral" philosophizing from fellow Jews; but, yes, both of aforementioned sociological kinds and divides within in Jewry, I want to respect properly each in its distinctiveness): in any case the cabal insisted on re-writing the introductions to articles on Jewish philosophy and Christian philosophy and, I do believe, Islamic philosophy (if memory serves in all three cases) to define philosophy rationalistically and without regard to the unavoidable presuppositions of a religious kind that may be rationally-based (not rationalistically but) on the inner genius of the particular religion motivating the philosophizing under discussion in a given article (pretheoretical ultimate values that make theoretical thawt possible by serving as its absolute starting point, variously in each individual case of a philosophical venture).

Religious presuppositions, whether disclosed or not, whether conscious or not, go into even atheist philosophies of various sorts (rationalistic or otherwise rational) and, all too often these days, turn up being cited as merely "a scientific atittude in philosophy," one all too often that hasn't been examined by the devotee because it's declared in advance to be absolutely neutral - thus, dogmatically asserted as non-dogmatic. Wikipedia has a whole school committed to this questionable orientation, folks who try to deploy the favoured "POV" acronym as an iron mallet on any article with a Point of View. But even beyond this Wiki cult, there are further extremists who work in Wiki to vitiate articles that start from other beginsels than their own. These extremos are a nitemare even to the smuggest of Wiki bureaucrats of encyclopediated knowledge.

Of course, it should be mentioned that when you start a Wiki article, it's expected that each of the proper names in your article may require a notation that has each appear in red until it becomes a live-link which in turn can take the reader to a new additional article on the person only briefly mentioned in the earlier context. You may write that additional article with just a little knowledge of this additional person regarding whom you (or someone else before you came along) had only made a name-mention in that earlier context. Until a red incomplete linkage is activated so as to enable the clickup a new startup article, the red name-link just sits in its incomplete state for a while. A very short article will turn off the red, link the mention to a new page with the start, however brief, of a new article. It's called a stub. A stub-article may be removed by the administration if it sits undeveloped by someone, anyone, for too long a time. As I recall I tried to get further info about David from him (to me, he is notable), but that got nowhere. I took it that he was just plain Wiki-shy, but you wouldn't assume such from his photo on his blogsite, the one with his leather hat tilted with considerable panache. The semiotics of the pix don't suggest a pesonality given to shyness; nor does his blogsite - on which I congratulate him for its elegance!

My motive at the time was to extend info about the intellectual line that starts with Dooyeweerd in juridics and political science > to extend it to the next generation of legal and political science thinkers, like the venerable Dr. Jan Dengerink, who had been tawt by Dooyeweerd. In the case of David, it's valuable to note that he was tawt by Dr. Bernard Zylstra of D's second generation. Tracing the generations of this approach to poli sci, one can then extend it to younger thinkers of the third intellectual generation and writing now as they develop the trajectory of their reformational Christian-philosophical discipline within the specific field of political science, There are a number of such gents out there now - and along with Dr Paul Marshall, Dr John Hiemstra, and others, Dr David Koyzis is one of them.

The problem here with Wiki is that it thinks far too individualistically (that is, it structures its way of thinking about article-contents far too individualistically with low regard for how thawt functions in sociologically and historically connected ways). When all is said and done, Wiki (tho perhaps itself a kind of hive mind, as some have suggested, but that's just good old Weberian 'bureaucratism') has little consciousness about the growth and development of schools of thawt, and the profound role of the connectivity of lines of thawt across generations from one historical setting to another, and internationally.

Thus, I do believe political science arising from the antecedants cited has an important future in North America and elsewhere (the current Dutch Prime Minister shares some affinity with this school), and I do think that scholars like Dr. David Koyzis of Redeemer University College's political science department (Ancaster, Ontario) are worth monitoring by Wiki as the harvest of contributions from this school of thawt proceeds over the years. I'm already scanning for sight of the rise of students of Koyzis, Hiemstra, Chaplin (ICS, Toronto), Skillen (CPJ USA), Kits (CPJ Canada), Woldring (Free U, Netherlands) to see what continuities, developments, new insights, new problems come to address by this multi-generational community of scholars in poli sci.

It's Wiki's poverty to miss out on these opportunities toward inclusion, and instead to have recourse to its fallback position of smug self-satisified bigotry based on the same old, plus being haunted by internal cults out to vapourize other points of view, especially those Wiki cults which do their mischief in the name of No POV! or the so-called religious neutrality of philosophy, etc. Of course, character assassination which spreads false statements about matters other than interpretation, invents "facts" to demean another person is beyond the pale, and Wiki is trying to do something about that increasing phenom on its webpages. - Owlb

Scholarship: Christian slant: Great sources in 'An Accidental Blog'; latest post features economics philosphr Bob Goudzward

If you're a Christian with an active intellect, you may want to meet Dr Bob Goudzwaard, economist; and you may want to listen over his shoulder as he's interviewed by sociologist Bruce Wearne. All this on Steve Bishop's lively An accidental blog.

There's another I wouldn't want you to miss ... especially if you're science-minded or a science teacher who wants to keep up with this thematic ... that's blogger macht's prosthesis. A samplar: On Lakatos; and On Feyerabend; also On Questions - that's if you're after heavy-duty history of science or philosophy of science which impinge on questions of, gasp!, Intelligent Design ≠ Creationism (but, he notices nuancedly, there is a version of Creationism that accomodates to Intelligent Design). because ID is a long philosophical tradition beginning in William Paley's Natural Theology (Thomas Jefferson) and reformingly reformulated in James McCosh's The Method of Divine Government (1850). Along this line, note the following blog-entries that the Prosthesis search facility pulled up (in answer to my inquiry) from earlier blogs by macht.

IntelligentDesign Creationism 11 Nov 2005 by Macht - References
IntelligentDesign Creationism isn't that bad of a phrase, if understood... This is why I say that "IntelligentDesign Creationism" is a legitimate phrase ... If a group of creationists acceptintelligentdesign and are promoting it,...
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

The Discovery Institute and ID 5 May 2005 by Macht - References
Their Center for Science and Culture is one of the main forces behind Intelligent Design. What little knowledge I had of them was based on... From here, Meyer doesn't try to find some method of detecting design. If this were his goal,...
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

ID and reductionism 20 Nov 2005 by Macht
As Zylstra points out, "Intelligent design is posited as a causitive agent apart from or in addition to... All references to Uko Zylstra are from his paper "Intelligent-Design Theory: An Argument for Biotic Laws" in Zygon, vol. 39, no....
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

Gonzalez, ID, and the village atheist 30 Aug 2005 by Macht
He told The Des Moines Register that knows Intelligent Design is religion and not science because, "I'm a biblical scholar." So Iowa State has one thing in common with unaccredited Bible colleges and medieval heresy tribunals - our Bible...
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

ID and experiments 5 Nov 2005 by Macht
Some ID arguments attempt to do the same thing, by establishing the methodological equivalency between intelligent design and common descent and making arguments for whydesign better explains the already existing evidence than descent....
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

The Philosophical Naivity of Richard Dawkins 29 Oct 2005 by Macht
William Dembski says many times in his book "TheDesign Inference" that even if we identify something as designed (ie,... Our inability to see if someintelligent agent "kick started" life or intervened along the way or something...
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

Another Ratzsch article 20 Jun 2005 by Macht
In this one, Del Ratzsch reviews Niall Shanks' "God, the Devil, and Darwin: A Critique ofIntelligentDesign Theory." Unfortunately, it seems like the book's tone is what you might expect to find in the blogosphere and not in a...
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

ID as Metascience 11 Aug 2005 by Macht - References
Perhaps all Tierney is suggesting is thatintelligentdesign has not made an impact on the scientific community. This, I think, is pretty much true despite a few peer-reviewed papers and books. It should be remembered, however,...
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

Another ID blog entry 11 May 2005 by Macht - References
After considering possible instrumental and heuristic use ofdesign in science, he goes further and asks if... In this context, "remainder" refers to things that could "be explained only by the workings of anintelligent designer....
Prosthesis - http://prosthesis.blogspot.com

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Burma: Buddhist state-terrorism: Buddhist state run by generals actively restricting Christian practice and spread

An email newsletter, Insider (published by the missionary and relief organization Christian Aid) reports offline that the repressive régime governing Myanmar (Burma, a dictatorship since 1962), having kept the country's democratically-elected Buddhist laywoman president, Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest for several years, is now titening the noose around the Christians in the countryside, who may have thawt they were out of harm's way. - Politicarp

"I would like [the west] to see us
not as a country rather far away
whose sufferings do not matter,
but as fellow human beings in need of human rights
and who could do so much for the world,
if we were allowed."
- Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

In recent weeks, government restrictions placed on Burmese believers—especially those in rural areas— have been increasing.

“More and more hard restrictions are imposed upon Christians throughout the country,” writes one ministry leader, “and even in big cities, house churches are closed down by the authorities.

“Sooner than we can expect,” he continues, “Bible seminaries and colleges may be closed down and we may be forbidden to preach.”

Another gospel worker writes from a remote region, “The government will not allow the building of a Bible school for the Lahu tribe. Also, a number of unregistered small churches and Bible schools have been ordered to close down recently.”

Such restrictions come amid an apparent country- wide tightening of control by Burma’s military government. Christian Aid’s sources report that much trade with foreign countries has been stopped, and consequently inflation is skyrocketing in this already poverty-stricken country.

In addition, reports are emerging of drought and famine, though the Burmese government has striven to stifle such news. One missionary writes, “The rainfall is very irregular this year. Farmers cannot plant their rice fields. Within this year, we believe, many people will die of hunger. Diseases are plentiful in rural areas because of drought and intense heat. Prices of medicines rose fourfold within months.

“The Lord knows all this,” he continues, “and we are hopeful deliverance will come. Please pray that we may have medical supplies so we can help people and at the same time preach the gospel.”

For more information, write: insider "at" christianaid "dot" org, and put MI-629 715-WMN on the subject line.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Semiotics: Political Medicine: Hot political newsflash on medical transforkmation of world leader

You simply can't afford to miss out on this major development that stretches the bounds of credibility beyond the Blair-Bush claims of WMDs. - Owlb

Nuclear Politics: Iran: Nobel Prize recipient in Oslo says world 'losing patience with Iran'

Rookmaker Club geostrategic analysis

In Oslo, Norway, in conjunction with his award of the Nobel Prize for Peace, Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), according to a recent BBC report, states the obvious: "The world is losing patience with Iran" - losing patience with Iran's nuclear ambitions and warlike rhetoric, to be precise. The present President of Iran, Mohammed Ahmadinejad, has had the gall and hubris to combine his country's sought-for development of weapons-cabable nuclear facilities with a machine-gun rapid-fire public delivery of extremist Iranian fantasies of military conquest and the establishing of the new World Caliphate, when the "Hidden Imam" discloses himself and appears in Tehran to take control of the destinities of humankind.


Iran Nuke

As for the EU3 - France (Chirac's De Villepin government shaken by the month of riots by lower-class Muslim youth), Germany (involved in a complex governmental change headed by Christian Democrat Angela Merkel), and Britain (under the redoubtable leadership of Tony Blair) - their EU3 negotiators, short of all-out UN Security Council backup, have been talked into a stalemate. The key to the stalemate is not the reality directly of Iran's nuclear war preparations, but the latter's constant talk of becoming a world power thru military means,that has gotten "the world"'s proverbial goat. Iran's stance undermines the first protocol of "the world"'s elite diplomatic and military corps. Even more important than Don't rock the boat, is the rule Don't mock the EU-IAEA-UN officianandos. Such verbal insult is insult where it hurts, as was demonstrated when US Secretary of Defense chided the French and Germans in an earlier day as being "the Old Europe."

Another BBC report, by Paul Reynolds, scoops the poop:

Iran is still managing to avoid being reported to the Security Council over its nuclear activity and the diplomatic entanglement is likely to continue for some time to come. ¶Behind the scenes there is an intense struggle going on between an Iran determined to preserve its right to develop a nuclear fuel cycle and a West trying to stop it. The outcome is in doubt. ¶Iran is nervous about going too far, too fast, in case it is referred to the Security Council and told to stop. [Failure to stop would ostensibly bring trade sanctions. - P] ¶The West, however, lacks the diplomatic muscle to bring the weight of the [UN Security] Council to bear. ¶Now a new major player has come onto the stage - Russia [in competition to the negotiators of the EU3]. And this entry will prolong the whole drama.
The key gambit of the Russkies turns on their proposal of a compromise, the conditions of which are ruffly these:
The compromise would let Iran do more or less what it can at present - convert uranium ore first into refined "yellowcake" and then into a gas ready for the enrichment process [necessary to making airborne nuclear bombs]. The actual enrichment, however, would be carried out in Russia at a plant to be constructed for the purpose. ¶So now Russia and Iran will deal face to face on this issue.
Russia and Iran will wrestle thru to a "compromise," while neither the EU3 (France, Germany, Britain) nor the EU more largely, nor the IAEA, nor the Security Council of the UN can do anyting but standby and dither - along with Israel, the US, and every other nation threatended by Iraq's future possession of nuclear bombs.

In the meantime, Russia has confirmed a side arrangement with Iran to sell it 29 TOR M1 missiles, which Russian defence Minister Sergei Ivanov claimed were for defensive purposes only (but can he guarantee it?).


In Moscow BBC's Steven Rosenberg

says the sale is not banned under any treaty, but it has already been criticised by the United States and Israel. ¶Earlier, Iran announced that it was planning to build a second nuclear power plant in the south of the country, despite coming under pressure from the international community over its nuclear ambitions. ¶Iran has previously said it wants to build 20 nuclear power stations in as many years. ¶Earlier this year the Russian government faced criticism from the West when Moscow agreed to sell missile systems to Syria.
From the standpoint of the half-Christian American Empire and its centuries' long friendship with its Jewish population, now entailing a further friendship with the Jewish State of Israel, Russia must be seen geostrategically to be aiding and abetting two enemies of peace in the Middle East - Iran and its client state, Syria, along with their Hizbullah terorrist surrogates in Lebanon. - Politicarp



The foregoing follows the Ledeen analysis. If you are of Christian-democratic convictions, and neo-Constantian on the issue of war, you may want to join in the Rookmaker Club's private discussions on the dotMac groupsite for developing Christian reflection on geostrategic analysis, focused for the next few months on the MidEast analysis by Michael Ledeen. Write Politicarp's email "at" the usual "mac dot com." We're looking for 3 or 4 more members.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Politics: Benevolence: Good cause swindles support to Make Poverty History

The yungest member of our refWrite team, also perhaps the jungest, Owlie Scowlie, has signed-on to a timely political peition. He tells me that when he did his sleuthing, Owlie Scowlie tried to get a gander at the wording of the petition before he signed it, to get to the next step in the digitally-complex, he ended up clicking and being told he is now counted as a supporter. That overstep on the part of the organization was typical. In the past, for signing one of their peitions around the time of the Live8s Concerts, I was placed on the socialist New Democratic Party email mailing list. I could work that one around to a hi dunder for your amusement / annoyance. But, nay, I simply agree with Owlie Scowli that the contents of this particular trickery are well worth your while. It's helpful to set goals, even tho they be somewhat idealist (even anti-relaistic). Still, it's best to set goals which are measurable and to which individuals and whole countries and points in between can point their own efforts and resources, however modest, and so I join Owlie Scowli in signing this petition. At the same time, I do not endorse the socialism of the NDP, nor the utopianism that besots the Maykka da Poberdee 'Istory mafia. - Politicarp


FROM: Owlie Scowlie
TO: The Honourable Jim Peterson, The Honourable Andy Mitchell

SUBJECT: Make Poverty History

IMPORTANCE: Highest


Dear Ministers Peterson and Mitchell:

International trade must contribute to the fight against hunger and poverty.

In less than a week you will be leaving for Hong Kong to advance agreement on the WTO's Doha Development Agenda.

I plan to vote in this election and I will be watching what your government does in Hong Kong.

I urge you to support trade rules that:

a) grant developing countries the power to choose their trade policies,
b) end dumping, and
c) ensure access to public services.

Trade negotiations must also be made transparent and accountable to the public.

I am counting on you to help deliver trade justice at the WTO. Nothing less will do.

Sincerely,


Owlie Scowlie
M4M1W6

Maykka da Pobberdee 'Istoree

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Semiotics: Islam Saudi religious police, and Canadian Muslim satire


MuslimStudents satireFaruqSiddiqi

I just found a webblog owned by a Muslim of Saudi origin and expertise, currently living in Britain. I found the blog just at the moment the gentleman was setting out on (an apparently long) vacation. His hiatus in posting new blog entries starts December 4, so the posts he has up now are still quite fresh. Click up his blog here. The blog's name is The Religious Policeman. And the thinker-owner signs his posts "Alhamedi Alanezi."

You'll find a pix on the blogpage, but not of Alhamedi. Rather, it's a photo of "Sheikh Ibrahim Bin Abdullah Al-Ghaith, General President for the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice [of Saudi Arabia]. The Head Religious Policeman, or Muttawa. Callsign 'Mutt One'," Alhamedi laffs.


Saudi Relgs Police head

Muttawa, Saudia Arabia

Oh yeah, did I mention, "...if I suspect that a net is closing [tite on me], then I will cease blogging." - says Alhamedi.

Two days ago, the snippets above were posted in an important blog entry "The Religious Policeman FAQ." Really eye-opening about the systematic relgious repression in Saudi Arabia and the danger in even discussing it! - let alone blogging on the Net about it! But this Muslim thinker makes his own confesson of faith, definitely not anti-Judaic, nor anti-Christian, a very positive statement from his own perspective.

As a Muslim, I certainly feel more comfortable in countries such as the UK, where they generally have a more relaxed, but no less holy, approach to their religious life. Although it is not for me to judge, I am possibly a better Muslim in terms of the fundamentals of the religion, rather than in terms of the ritualistic rules-based "praying-by-numbers" approach. I also believe that whatever we call Him, we all worship the same God, and he requires us to love one another. I am not going to kill you because you read from a different book.
Thinker Alhamedi also links us to a humour site, Maniac Muslim: Making Muslims look cool since 1984 (ah, recall that "1984" is a book by Aldous Huxley critiquing socialist utopia).

So, a Hat Tip in the Muslim thinker's direction, and a bow for such a serious writer's flash that he also has a deep sense of humour - about which I've much to learn for a fuller appreciation of those in a cross-cultural situation between Araby and North America. Following a link from Alhamedi, I click to Maniac Muslim. Which further directs readers, as does Alhamedi, to yet another link that brings the reader/clicker to a brilliant piece by one of MM's own writers, Hamza Moin, entitled "Hogwart's Muslim Students Assocation" (in passing I note that there are some Muslim Students Associations at the universities in my city, Toronto - P).

Now, this work at sustained humour by Hamza Moin I found very very funny AND, at times, confusing - due to my monoculturalism, to be sure. But the semiotics of the visual come-on that's connected to this piece is absolutely priceless. - Politicarp

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Semiotics: Commerce: Brilliant satirical mockery of mega-meat biz ("agri-corporations")


Semiotics > Meatrix

This entry is presented mainly because of its savagely brilliant portrayal of how cows, pigs, chickens, and many other species of domesticated animals are raised in our postmodern world by our advanced capitalist mega-corps. You have to have Flash to view the live animation. As a long time supporter of an association of family-farm owners in Ontario, one of the two unions legally representataive of family farmers in Ontario, the one which is of Christian confession and practice to the best of its ability; I don't mind that the producers of this animated semiotic work of artful propaganda have gone after the Big Boys in the meat industry, but if you have a stock portfolio stuffed with shares from the big meat-corporations (agri-corps), you'll probably have a very difficult time at viewing this work.

Congrats to FreeRangeGraphics. There's no sign I could see of any direct connection with PETA, an organization I abominate and to which any affiliation with the aforementioned on the part of FreeRange would probably (dis)colour my perception of the work I am praising in the absence of any contra-info. Ah, the fraility of human perception and the function of prejudice however honestly come by!

Another page of the site summarizes: "the rapid disappearance of small family farms has not occurred because large industrial operations are more efficient; it is the result of the domination of the agri-food market by a small number of huge corporations able to manipulate market prices paid to farmers, and of government policies that favor the interests of corporate agribusiness over those of farmers and consumers." A technical note for agricultural-economics theory: the writer of the preceding note distinguishes three sizes of business in the agri-field - 1.) small family farms; mid-size farms (either family-owned-and-operated, or otherwise), a category which is assumed but not stated explicitly; and 3.) huge corporate agribusinesses.

The question of the mid-size farms/businesses is the important zone where arise the empirical crux-questions of greater efficiency and roles of scales of magnitude in the creation of more food commodities by fewer human workers per unit produced. I'm proud to say that the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO) researches all these parameters carefully with a research staff put in place by the 4,000 family farms (usually married couples - so that's approaching 8,000 souls), but this my favourite org in field is not listed in the Canadian resources or the Ontario resources section of the FreeRangeGraphics website. It's uncertain whether FRG actually meets its own criteria, because its list of orgs conform to an additional ideological framework than the one acknowledged, and my favourite CFFO is on that prejudiced basis silently erased from the list . Another case of neutralist Humanist bigotry, is my reading. Oops! deep into a site listed on the Meatrix-FreeRangeGraphics site, I did find at last a mention of CFFO on a list of friendlies of good report. Okay, I'm not so p-ss-d off now. Quote unquote "Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario > Including policy statements on Intensive Livestock Operations and on the Nutrient Management Act (2002)." A really great organization; click it up!

Thanks to Citizens for the Environment and Future in Eastern Ontario for listing CFFO, and a Hat Tip to Andrea of Porcelain Philes for carrying the Meatrix visual and FreeRangeGraphics portal that Meatrix matrix provides. - Owlb

USA: Culture Wars: Orthodox Rabbi defends public celebration of Christmas, me too!

An Orthodox Jewish Rabbi recently made a statement for dissemination in the media, then emailed his remarks in a digital newsletter that I receive free from Toward Tradition. I've regarded the statement as a great gift in this season when Christians celebrate the Birth of Jesus, marked on the Winter liturgical calendar as the Feast of the Nativity. We celebrate the Nativity (birth) of the Jew we believe is the Incarnate (enfleshed) God the Son (according to the Trinitarian Creed and the Biblical verses it draws upon). Here, I wanted to give some token of thanks back to the Rabbi and the organization he heads for taking up the timely fite to continue the practice of the four-centuries-long public celebration of this Christian event in America, when other folks - mostly some secularistic Humanists, but also some people of my religion and his - are trying to erase precisely this day of joy from civic, and even all public, observance. Thank you, Rabbi!

I have incorporated two visuals into the flow of the text, one a portrait of Rabbi Lapin, the other a pix of the cover of a new book by Neil Cavuto of Fox News Channel, where he says, he documents the spate of attacks launched against the holiday all across America. I haven't read the book yet, and given my budget, probably never will. But I do give notice so that those who are interested know the title and author to chase it down at a bookstore or online, in the midst of the season. - Owlb


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UPDATE: Another learned Rabbi joins in, preferring "a Christmas tree" to the allegedly generic "Holiday Tree." Rabbi Gil Student gives us his Hirhurim Musing on the matter, a musing which in turn is picked up by the blog Evangelical Outpost where I encountered the thawt in the bit "Outtakes [11.30.05]" under the stub-title "A (Christian) Holiday Tree." - to which / whom a hearty Hat Tip! - Owlb, Dec5,2k5
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Remarks by Rabbi Daniel Lapin on December 1, 2005
at The National Press Club, Washington DC


Jews Fighting for Christmas

by Rabbi Daniel Lapin



Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen. I appreciate you being here today to hear what I, an Orthodox rabbi, have to say about Christmas. For my great grandfather who lived in a another place and in another epoch, Christmas was a time of terror; a time to hide and a time of suffering and loss. That was at another time in another place but still, Great-grandfather-Lapin is astounded today, to see his great-grandson defending Christmas. For this reason I hope you will forgive me if I address my remarks now to him rather than to you.


You must be puzzled, Great-grandfather, so I will give you three reasons why I believe Christians should celebrate Christmas publicly. You never expected a descendent of yours to stand before newspaper journalists, radio reporters, and television cameras (some other time, I’ll tell you what they are) encouraging Christians to celebrate Christmas. Once you’ve heard my reasons I think you’ll agree with me.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin

My first reason is going to be tough for you to accept. While you were on this earth, our people were usually threatened by malevolent theocratic regimes where ecclesiastical and political power were the same. The choice you faced back then was between those sinister theocracies and what many of your friends saw as the utopian vision of secular socialism. Naturally you chose secularism and socialism in preference to the theocracies.

However, today in this blessed land, the choice is quite different. My choice is between living among people practicing aggressive secularism or living among benign and Bible-believing Christians. I am not only your descendant, I am also descended from our ancestors who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai just over three thousand years and promised God that they, and their descendents would guard the Ten Commandments. How could I possibly ally myself with those who would make God’s commandments irrelevant to society? Worse, how could I stand by and say nothing, while those Americans who venerate the Ten Commandments are under attack?

What is more, we have now had enough time to evaluate secular socialism. We now realized that contrary to its promises in your day, it has become a sordid stain on society. It has acquired the characteristics of a religion but it is an aggressive religion of intolerant fundamentalists. In the choice between a society of secular Americans or one of Christians, it is not hard to see where Jewish values must guide.

My second reason is that anti-Semitism has been a scourge on the face of the earth for millennia. It is discriminatory and bigoted. Well, so is anti-Christianism. If anti-Semitism is evil and must be resisted, the same applies to anti-Christianism. Rabbi Weinberg, one of the greatest rabbinic scholars of the twentieth century wrote in 1965 that we are entering a period in which there is far more anti-Christianism than anti-Semitism. In order to retain both intellectual and moral integrity, Jewish values require Jews to protest anti-Christianism just as we have so often entreated American Christians to protest anti-Semitism.

My third reason is gratitude. Judaism teaches that ingratitude is the natural human condition. Sadly, most people develop deep seated antipathy toward those who do most for them. That is why the fifth Commandment explicitly counters this human tendency with the instruction, “honor your father and mother.” And we have all noticed how much easier it is to honor someone else’s father and mother. We Jews owe gratitude to America, and particularly to those Americans who venerate Christian values.

War on Christmas bk

We Jews have long enjoyed tranquility and prosperity in America of a kind that we have never been offered by any other society in the past two thousand years. Anyone with an ear for history knows that America has welcomed Jews not in spite of its Bible-based Christian values but precisely because of them. It was those Biblical values that ended slavery in America and it was those values that offered freedom to all immigrants. Judaism would expect all its devotees to express gratitude by standing alongside those Americans who take seriously the words, “And I will bless those that bless you."


I think that if you could still be with us, Great-grandfather-Lapin, you would be right here alongside me today, cheering me on and doing all you could to help defend the public celebration of Christmas in America.



Rabbi Daniel Lapin, an Orthodox Rabbi in Seattle,
Washington, is President of Toward Tradition
and hosts his own television and radio shows.

Click to donate to Toward Tradition
Toward Tradition is, according to the news release, America's leading bridge-builder between Jewish and Christian communities; spanning the divide between Christians and Jews by sculpting ancient solutions to modern problems in areas of family, faith, and fortune.

To schedule an interview with Rabbi Daniel Lapin, contact Rachael Whaley at (800) 591-7579

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Terrorism: Religion: Pressing the question, Is Islam a religion of peace?

refWrite's Politicarp has been invited to contribute to the provocatively-titled blog Religion of Peace?. Besides the frontpage link above, his first three RoP? contributions (December 1) are one discussing the oligopoly being established in the United Arab Emirates on the coast of the Arabian penninsula; another one relays the hot news about the tea-vendor terrorist who is part of a growing pattern at the bottom of the cup in Bangladesh; and the third one is on the Fatah Follies in Palestine. Read me and my colleagues contributing to this important blog launched by Disco Shaman to survey the news in a timely way, news collected and analyzed on the theme of active Islamofascism - not to be confused with peaceful Islam, nor the inert Islam of many inactive sympathizers and non-objectors to the terrorists' use of the religion, based on certain of its texts and traditions. Neo-Constantinian Christian-Democrats, like myself, do well to contemplate and compare the war-willingness among some Muslims, Christians, and Jews. There must be a normative way thru this thicket without collapsing into a default stance of pacifism which allows the terrorists to run amok. - Politicarp

Politics: Canada: Multi-poll results for Canadian elections


Poll Results


compiled by Bourque
*comments by refWrite indicated by asterisk


==================================

November 29

Ipsos:
Liberals........................ 31%
Conservatives.............. 31%
New Democratic Party...... 18%

*Ipsos distorts the poll standings by not including either the Blog quebecois or the Green Party in its percentages [comment by refWrite]

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Pollara/Reuters:

Liberals.......................... 36%
Conservatives................ 31%
New Democrat Party...... 16%
Bloc québcois................. 14%

*Pollara/Reuters distorts the poll standings by not including the Green Party in its percentages [comment by refWrite]

===================================

November 28

Environics:
Liberals.......................... 35%
Conservatives................ 30%
New Democratic Party... 20%
Bloc quebecois............... 14%

*Environics distorts the poll standings by not including the Green Party in its percentages [comment by refWrite]

--------------------------

Gregg:
Liberals............................. 35%
Conservatives................... 29%
New Democratic Party...... 17%
Bloc quebecois.................. 14%
Green Party ........................ 5%

* Excellent! Good on Gregg for including all the parties with sufficient percentages to become significant for gaining at least one seat in the House of Commons were there a system of Proportional Representation in effect, and true pluralism in the Canadian Federal electoral system. Other kinds of poll reporting numb the electoral by screening out in advance what the true interest in political parties actually is, as expressed in national percentages [comment by refWrite].

======================================

November 26

Ipsos:
Liberals............................. 34%
Conservatives................... 30%
New Democratic Party...... 16%
Bloc quebecois.................. 15%
Green Party ........................ 5%

* Excellent! Again, this particular Ipsos poll does include the BQ and the Greens. But Ipsos is inconsistent, as other polls it has taken erase the last two parties from the record of poll results. Again, this numbs the electoral and prejudices them against comparing the gerrymandered system we now have, with the actually existent results which would be significant for the assignment of seats in the lower chamber of Parliament, under PropRep [comment by refWrite] .

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Robbins:
Liberals............................. 32%
Conservatives.................... 32%
New Democratic Party....... 22%

*Robbins reports only 86% of the voters choices. This is a falsification. [comment by refWrite]

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Ekos:
Liberals............................. 38.7%
Conservatives................... 29.4%
New Democratic Party...... 16.9%
Bloc quebecois.................. 10.6%
Green Party........................ 3.9%

* Again, excellent for including all significant parties - all of which should receive seat/s in the Commons! [comment by refWrite]

========================================

November 18

Bourque barometer: Should Tories chop GST by 80% ?
Yes 68%
No 28%
Dunno 4%

* I seem to have seen a report somewhere today that Stephen Harper's Tories will reduce the GST by 5% - an incremental approach superiour to the approach presupposed in Bourque's question [comment by refWrite].

=======================================

November 15-16

SES:
Liberals............................ 34%
Conservatives................... 28%
New Democratic Pary....... 20%

* Same refWrite objection to the distortion and falsification in narrowing reporting to three parties only [comment by refWrite] .

----------------------------

Pollara:
Liberals........................... 36%
Conservatives................. 28%
New Democratic Party.... 20%
Bloc quebecois................ 11%

* Not good enuff, tho the BQ is included, the Green Party is not. Same refWrite objection to the distortion and falsification in narrowing reporting to the four parties already represented in the House of Commons only - excluding the new Party that would receive at least one seat were PropRep instituted [comment by refWrite].

--------------------------

Decima:
Liberals........................... 33%
Conservatives................. 26%
New Democratic Party.... 22%
Bloc quebecois................ 13%

* Again, not good enuff because it distorts the PropRep significance of the poll results, by leaving out the Green Party results [comment by refWrite].

================================

Confirmation of judges, especially to the Supreme Court; Proportional Representation in all elections to civic office in Canada; election of Senators by provinical electorates - these issues pertaining to the political order should all be active elements of the Winter 2005 election campaign for Members of the House of Commons of the Canadian Parliament. - Politicarp

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Politic, Sex & Whatnot: Canada: A squall of Homo-newsbits to go with the Novembroid weather & the Fall of LibGovt Canada

I found a site, referred by an Evangelical site, with this salient but, for me, ambiguous post, I am not heterosexual, says Berek.net. What Berek doesn't contain within his Net is the direct affirmation, "I am a homosexual." So, while I can say what Berek says, in the interest also a full disclosure, I am not a homosexual: I find it less satisfactory than what I do say from time to time: I am homosexual. (Notice the absense of an indefinite article "a." I am a Christian, and to me that is the most important thing, at the same time a responsilibity I wish I had fulfilled much better all thru my longish life (65 years now). I'm taking it for now, that Berek is telling us his sexual orientation is heterosexual, but he is not "a heterosexual." He is a much more fully-aspected, splendidly-rainbowed diversity of dimensions as one of God's human kind of creatures.

Now we make a turn to politics. The political scene in Canada is portentous: just yesterday the minority Liberal government has fallen, with all three opposition parties in the Federal House of Commons lining up to fell a government for sheer Non-Confidence for the first time in Canadian history (as against the rejection of a hi-order piece of govt-proposed legislation.
Paul Martin is out of office, or rather reduced to some caretaker functions, like decidingt the actual date of the election within constitutional parameters. But essentially out. And that's for the good, I say, on the basis of a litany of reasons I won't recite here.

But, in any case, we are bracing ourselves for a bitter election campaign in the bitter cold of a global warming of Season's Greetings, over the Christmas Holidays, past New Year's Day, and into the new year as far as said Martin determines. In that time, we expect a program of demonization on the part of candidate Martin to get himself re-elected with sufficient Commons to return at least to largest minority status in that Chamber of Parliament, and hence acquiring the privilege of forming the govt once again. All thru the campaign, out or covert, sex and marriage and religion will be political themes. Here's some specifics to indicate why.

Let's start with the once-Tory turncoat who turns up as Liberal tyro. Scott Brison, Member of Parliament, could be said to be homo but adheres to a particular ideology of his sexuality, and that ideology's political agenda, and thus prefers to be designated as "Gay" (an terminological important point, to me). True to that ideology, in his parachuted capacity as Minister of Public Works (a post he received in exchange for crossing the floor from the Tory seats to the Liberal government's side), announced that his Ministry would no longer hire white men, as he'sa devota ta quota. Of course, the hue and cry arising from the public, not least of all Canadian white males without jobs and seeking employment, perhaps in Public Works, forced Brison to bison. He rescindeth! And goes to dinna.

Well, one day or evening at dinna, presumably properly inscribed on his Ministerial expense account, a longtime Liberal loyalist spotted him in the restaurant and gave him in dulcet but in no-uncertain terms a piece of her mind. Being full already, Scott let loose on her in a most Gaughty manner ( = a manner most Gay, naughty, and haughty). Again, the lady's fury led to another hue and cry, and again the Minister Most Gay rescindeth! Longtime Liberal loyalist demands Brison apologize after restaurant spat.

But, as trouble is folklorickly said to come in threes, Scot the Bison of Gay Bull run amok in the Cabinet, tried to surmount the leader of the Official Opposition (who moved The Fall Motion), B outdid himself: Brison attacks Harper as anti-Charter, anti-Gay. The Charter here is the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (not "and Responsiblities," note) which is appended to the repatriated former British North-America Act of the British Crown. This appendage nowhere says that there is a rite to demote the traditional definitoin of marriage, to make it just another indistinct something-or-other alongside all sorts of other kinds of intimate unions (and we don't know yet how many kinds the courts will ultimately find there; but it must be said that Stephen Harper acceded to claim for some recognition of "same-sex unions" in the alternative legislation he proposed, while trying to maintain the traditional defintion, the distinctness of 1woman1man unions, and the priority standing of the latter from the stanpoint of the interests of the Canadian state. Harper is obviously neither anti-Charter, nor legal recognition of 2women or 2men intimate unions for purposes of property transmission, insurance and pension benefits, etc., but separately from the distinctiveness of traditional marriage. I can't recall for sure as I write whether the the braying Brison triplicated - did he again rescindeth? Oh yes, Owlie Scowlie has brawt me the URL in our research collection, Brison apologizes to Harper. So, for the third time, he rescindeth!

On another related note, Owlie Scowlie (full discolusure: a relative, to be exact - a nephew and a very helpful researcher hatched from the egg of nepotistic fictojournalism), That the social conservatives on the issue Traditional Marriage vs Generic "Marriage" (gmarriage) do not seem to be able simply to drop what Scott and Paul hath wrought (spelling should be "wrawt," if we're serious about the inner reformation of English orthography). Paul is said to have asked Scottie, now that the law is in place, when is the Public Works Minister going to get married? Think of the photo ops offered where Paul Martin in his campaign could wrap himself not only in the flag and the Charter, but also in gmarriage wedding cake. Well, as a matter of principle and perhaps also as a matter of extreme distaste, two former Members of the Commons, one a Liberal and one a Conservative, have announced their formation of a Marriage Defence Committee to campaign against the parties of destruction of the uniqueness and priority before the law of traditional 1woman1man marriage. Politicians to fight same-sex marriage (but oh how I dislike the faux terminology of "same-sex marriage" for its abstractness to the point of fictionalization of what actually are two distinct phenomena, either a 2woman intimate union, or a 2male intimate. "Same-sex" linked to "marriage" is logical basket-case, an avoidance of facing two distinct kinds of societal realities, and an info-deprived cover-up (but, be that as it may). I notice how the Defence Committee's campaign is styled after that of the Boat Vets campaign against Sen John Kerry in the last American Presidential election, altho on a much smaller scale.

I hope the Opposition candidates and particular that of the Official Opposition, as well as the Marriage Defense Committee, are all thick-skinned and steady on course and sufficiently financed, because we've already gotten word of the Martin Libs' strategy and tactics thru the Winter of our discontent: PM plans super-negative election campaign.

This will have special meaning in Quebec where the populace is appalled at how the Libs tried to buy public opinion, while systematically misappropriating funds, slushing some out outright and receiving some government-originated money in kickbacks to the federal Liberal Party in Quebec (what's this called in the entertainment industry? - payola?).

Well, now the payolateers will be aiming their dollars, from whatever misbegotten sources, at a Quebec provincial party in order to smear the federal sister party that is close to the former in ideology. Le Parti Quebecois has just elected a homo (doesn't seem much straitjacketed by the Gay ideologies) who has also acknowledged that earlier in his career he had snorted cocaine sometimes. Now, this is exploitable, right? Yes, if Martin can transfer over from an independent separatist party on the provincial level there the inevitable moral concerns of some (mostly outside Quebec, where mores are different from those prevailing in English-speaking Canada) to the federal Quebec-separatist party Le Bloc Quebecois and its leader Gilles Duceppe, who joined the other two opposition parties in axing the government. Take a gander at this: Demonizing new PQ leader is a doomed strategy, New Brunswick premier warms.

If you read French, also gander these two entries in blog Polyscopique which are most informative evaluations of the Quebec situation: Andre Boisclair et la cocaine and Boisclair, le PQ et les gais, plus a set of three froncophone blog entries, this time in Le sphere des idees de J. H. [Jacques Hamel] which together are quite a must-read. Hamel's three I list in chronological order - Boisclair, l'elu! [Boislcair, he's elected!, Nov15,2k5]; [Boisclair, a dynamic speaker, Nov19,2k5]; and the third in the set, one that raises questions of the more mainstream kind, Boisclair dit: "Le PQ doint etre a la gauche" [Boisclair declares: "The Parti Quebecois must be on the Left!," Nov19.2k5]. What's involved here is the fact that the provincial Liberal Party of Quebec under former Fed Tory leader Jean Charest has moved to the Right somewhat, so in appeasing PQ members of the Left and scrambling to position the PQ coalition in provincial politics on all matters other than separatism, Boisclair is doing the typical pragmatic thing in his call for a move to the Left somewhat. It's all a matter of how much, how far.

Now, again, if you read French and you do get to Hamel's blog, look up a fourth blog-entry of his [A Republic deprived of moral values?, Nov20,2l5] in which he interestingly raises the question of what a separatist government of Quebec would do (should it be able to transform the society's state from a province of Canada to that of an independent Republic) in regard to its own moral tone, and the impact of such a state's moral tone on the wide ranges of the society and its various societal spheres of life. This question does carry some weight perhaps, in the light of recent events, in directing at least a few votes away from the provincial Bloc Quebecois to the Conservatives in the upcoming Federal election (for some the motivation to change voting pattern would be guilt by association, no doubt). Byt a more thawtful approach to vote change is also possible. At least, so I would think and hope. Yet:

Yet #1 - Gay ideology seriously mispresents Boisclair when an American Gay ideologue to whom Hamel informatively links in his November 20 blog-entry, where the Gay imperialist fantasist says the following:

My normally hyperactive imagination has gone into overdrive. Surely the election of an openly gay man to head Quebec's Separatist Party must be sending shock waves through the White House and other parts of this increasingly intolerant and backward country.

Andre Boisclair's triumph puts him on a fast track to be Quebec's next Premier, and if, against the odds, Quebec voters ultimately decide to separate from English-speaking Canada, we would actually have the first openly gay head of state! Yikes. Unlikely, but well within the realm of possibilities.

Imagine a gay country on our northern border. A sort of North American Gay version of Israel.

Regardless of how it turns out, Boisclar has just shattered yet another barrier in the history of gay liberation.


Yet #2 - I do take seriously the New Brunswick premier's warning not to demonize the Bloc in the vote for the Commons in reaction to the PQ's new leader Boisclair (in Quebec, the cocaine use is more disturbing to more people than is his nonideological homo status). Nevertheless, the stained fed Libs' leader is out there now trying to demonize the Bloc which seems not to have any scandal of its own to shame it. So, how will Martin make this stick, except by taking a Holier Than Thou attitude, when he's in no position to do so? You see, dear fellow anglophone readers, the charge of separtism itself just doesn't have the force it used possess, as we all learn in Canada that separatism in Quebec and Western Canada, too, is part of the heritage of the country. Separatism is as Canadian as maple syrup, and right now it has two French-speaking political parties, one on the provincial level, one on the Federal level. Demonization on this matter is just not an honest strategy; and plays into the hands of separatist vote-collecting, to which they are entitled under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of the repatriated Constitution of the Queen's Dominion of Canada. So, a sleaze slide to demonization on the basis either of use of cocaine by the leader of a provincial party (albeit separatist, and albeit with Hamel's quesiton about what moral tone would a free and independent Quebec Republic aspire to), or on the basis of said leader's being a not-so-Gay homo, neither should function much at all in a campaign of Federal parties.

As for me, I urge Boisclair to give up cocaine and booze, while amelioratively trying the pill form of maryjane :-); and ready himself for a vow of celibacy, accompanied by many buckets of cold water and a supply of ice cubes to fill his bathtub ;-|; In my old age, I'm able to maintain my celibacy comfortably without any cold showers at all. And for that, dear Lord, I'm most thankful, but as You and I know that isn't the path You have in store for every homo across the continent, as we do have different levels of libido. And the level varies with health and age, for most. J'ai fini. - Owlb

Monday, November 28, 2005

commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Labour: ILO & China Girls for Sale: Preventing trafficking in China

An estimated 94 million Chinese farmers migrated for work in 2002. The influx of such huge numbers of rural surplus labourers has created opportunities for those seeking to exploit the most vulnerable - specifically, children and young women. In April 2004, the Chinese authorities and the UN agency, International Labour Organization's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) started a new project to prevent trafficking in children and youth for labour exploitation. Hans van de Glind, Chief technical advisor of the project, sent ILO online the following report, which refWrite is digitally republishing:

GUIZHOU, China (ILO online) – Far away from the towering skyscrapers of downtown Guangzhou, the province of Guizhou offers what may seem a rural idyll. But the boom economy isn’t improving life for everyone in China’s remote countryside. It may be idyllic, but it’s dirt poor.

Last year, poverty and lack of local job opportunities and the belief of chances in the cities drove an estimated 120 million people to migrate within China, most of them to the country’s booming east coast. Though men constitute the majority of the migrant labour force, the percentage of women is quickly rising, especially in the younger age group.

“Many girls leave their rural villages at a rather low age. They drop out of school prematurely, do household chores and get bored with village life. Many try their luck and leave their villages, unprepared, and ill-informed of dangers or possible protection … thus putting themselves at risk of labour and sexual exploitation”, explains Hans van de Glind, Chief technical advisor of the ILO Project to Prevent Trafficking in Girls and Young Women for Labour Exploitation within China (CP-TING).

Xiaoqiu, a 17-year-old girl from Guizhou, is one of them. She came to Guangzhou with the wish to make more money. When she had nearly spent all her money but still could not find a job, she reluctantly bought the train ticket to return home.

As she had no money to pay for a hotel, she decided to spent the night on the square at the train station. But a young man who called himself Ouyang Jian persuaded her to come to a hotel telling her that the square was not safe for a young girl at night.

He brought her to the hotel, and after a glass or two, he first robbed Xiaoqiu, and then raped her. The next day her sold her to another man called Luo Tao for RMB 2500 (about US$ 300).

Luo Tao and two other men raped Xiaoqiu, and then forced her to become a prostitute by threatening her with a poisonous injection. A week later, Xiaoqiu found an opportunity to escape. She immediately reported to the police at Guangzhou Railway Station. The police arrested the suspects, and rescued more than ten other girls – the youngest of them was under 15.

Making migration safe

The CP-TING project aims to make migration channels safe for girls that want to leave their rural villages. It focuses on adolescent girls and young women and puts them in contact with decent employers that offer decent jobs. The preventive approach revolves around empowerment and education in sending areas, and job placement services and improved migration frameworks in sending and receiving provinces.

The project operates in three ‘sending’ provinces in central China (Anhui, Henan and Hunan) which have a combined population of 223 million inhabitants, and two major ‘receiving’ provinces, Guangdong province (in the Pearl River delta) – which currently hosts 31 million registered migrant workers – and Jiangsu Province (in the Yangtze River delta).

Initial activities revolved around clarifying the understanding of trafficking; that it is not just the kidnapping and selling of babies for adoption and women for marriage purposes, but also involves voluntary but unprepared and ill-informed migration that may turn into trafficking into exploitative work.

Advocacy work to date resulted in integrating ‘trafficking’ in a manual on safety issues for all children in primary and lower secondary schools of Anhui province, and in a Pan-Pearl River Delta agreement on labour issues among 9 provinces. More than 2,500 cadres of the women’s federation in Henan province were trained in ‘safe migration management’ as alternative to trafficking

A series of massive awareness raising events were organized at the time of International Migrant’s Day (18 December), Women’s Day (8 March), Children’s Day (1st June) and World Day Against Child Labour (12 June) in various provinces. These included speech writing, drawing and calligraphy contests involving thousands of children, events involving government officials that expressed their opinions on effective responses to trafficking, and massive local media attention.

Through a partnership with the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF) the CP-TING project has mobilized a range of relevant ministries, at both national level and in five selected provinces, to develop a comprehensive set of interventions to prevent trafficking in girls and young women, monitor progress and document lessons learned.

Employers’ and workers’ organizations also show commitment to address the issue. The Zhenjiang Women’s Federation (in Jiangsu Province) mobilized enterprises to provide funds to support migrant girls below 16, who are at risk of dropping out of school, to complete compulsory education. A company donated RMB 120,000 which was used to sponsor 50 poor girls to continue their education.

So far over 160 pieces of media coverage related to project interventions appeared on TV, radio and in newspapers in China – including government officials that speak out on trafficking, reaching out to millions of readers, viewers and listeners including female migrants workers and government officials.

While progress is being made enormous challenges remain. Within the sending provinces project partners are now preparing for large scale interventions in nine target counties with a population from 300,000 to 1 million. Efforts include putting in place village trafficking ‘alarm’ networks, reducing premature school drop-out of girls, increasing school enrolment levels for those under 16, and providing training opportunities and/or safe migration possibilities for those aged 16 and above. In receiving cities job placement services and improved access to basic services are under preparation.

The project and its partners will increasingly work on offering policy advice, contributing to the development of agreements on safe migration between sending and receiving provinces, procedures to license and monitor recruitment agencies, and a national policy plan to prevent trafficking.

“Concerted efforts among communities, government agencies, international organizations and a range of ILO departments and programs are necessary if we are to make a difference in the lives of girls at risk of trafficking”, concludes Hans van de Glind.


Good on ILO! Good on Communist China! Something in the way of a positive action, on the part of that government, to report for a change. - Politicarp

More from ILO on child labour, from World Day Against Child Labour, June 12, 2005:
This year World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) called our attention to a form of work that is dangerous to children in every way. It is physically dangerous because of the heavy and awkward loads, the strenuousness of the work, the unstable underground structures, the tools, the toxic chemicals, and the exposure to sun and water. It can also be morally and psychologically risky given that mining often takes place in remote areas where law, schools, and social services are unknown, where family and community support may not exist, where "boom or bust" conditions foster alcohol abuse, drugs, and prostitution.

Quarrying occurs in most countries; child labour is found in quarrying in much of the developing world. Although children can be seen breaking stones alongside roads and cutting and hauling rock from pits that produce construction materials, no one knows just how many adults and children struggle to make a living this way.

Artisanal, small-scale mining employs approximately 13 million people worldwide - one million of these are children. The numbers are rising as economies falter; more people now work in small-scale mines than in the formal mining sector.


I'm not sure how Communist China fits into this particular picture of the mining and quarrying industries, but it should be noted that China permits no free trade-union organizations or movements. The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is a totalitarian organization that does the bidding of the Communist Party of China and often serves the interests of the Communist elites which now own much of China's system of business enterprises in the strange party-centered capitalism at the heart of the country's rapid economic growth these deays. But no one us likely to fault China's effort to alleviate the plight of girls sold for sexual and other forms of exploitive labour. - Politicarp

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Canada: government: Ministerial responsiblity compared to the responsibility of 1-man Commission of Inquiry conducted by Judge

About three weeks ago, Russ Kuykendall wrote in his blog Burkean Canuck an entry on the difference between the responsiblities of Ministers of the Liberal Government's Cabinet, in the wake of the Adscam [Le scandal des commandites], and that of the head of the investigating commission, Judge Gomery. Some commentators have gotten the mattern confused. So, with Kuykendall's permission, his remarks are digitally republished here, as the political landscape in Canada shifts toward a campaign and Federal election. Somewhere along the course of events, perhaps in February 2006, Gomery will deliver his final report. In the meantime, what is the responsiblity of the Cabinet Ministers of the Federal goverment who had previously served during the Adscam years, along with then-Minister of Finance, Paul Martin - Liberals all? - Owlb.


Ministerial responsibility

v. responsibility à la Judge Gomery

Guest article by Russ Kuykendall, Burkean Conservative

With respect to Mr. Martin and the current government who includes former members of the Chretien cabinet, Mr. Justice Gomery found:

The Responsibility of Other Ministers

On the evidence there is no basis for attributing blame or responsibility to any other Minister of the Chrétien Cabinet, since they, like all members of Parliament, were not informed of the initiatives being authorized by Mr. Pelletier and their funding from the Unity Reserve. Mr. Martin, whose role as Finance Minister did not involve him in the supervision of spending by the PMO or PWGSC, is entitled, like other Ministers in the Quebec caucus, to be exonerated from any blame for carelessness or misconduct (Mr. Justice Gomery, Who is Responsible? Phase I Report. Ottawa: Gomery Commission of Inquiry, 2005, p. 77).

But before he gets into assigning blame, the judge gives this qualifier:
The Fact Finding Report is not a judgment, and the conclusions do not establish the legal responsibility, either civil or criminal, of the persons and organizations singled out for critical comment or a finding of misconduct (Ibid., p. 73).
Okay -- so even before he gets around to exonerating Mr. Martin and his current cabinet colleagues from the Chretien cabinet, Justice Gomery pointedly eliminates "legal responsibility, either civil or criminal" from the sort of responsibility he does assign.


Justice Gomery was essentially exonerating Mr. Martin and his cabinet colleagues who were members of the Chretien cabinet from . . . what, exactly? Not "legal responsibility, either civil or criminal."

But what about the responsibility that Canadians and Parliament should be concerned about? What about the responsibility that doesn't fall within Mr. Justice Gomery's brief?

What about "ministerial responsibility?"

Yup, the judge has no jurisdiction over ministerial responsibility, even with his terms of reference. Ministerial responsibility is the brief of the House of Commons, and it takes two forms. Yes, yes -- in the words of Preston Manning, "Let's not get mired in minutiae." But this minutiae matters! Now, where was I? Oh, yes . . . as in Responsibility in the Constitution, ministerial responsibility takes two forms: "individual" and "collective." I summarize these two broad aspects of ministerial responsibility as follows:

Individual responsibility which is directed to the Crown and represented in the oath ministers take as they're sworn in to the Privy Council and into responsibility for their ministry;

Collective responsibility which is both directed to the Crown -- ministers are sworn into the Privy Council which is collectively responsible to the Crown -- and to the House of Commons. Under long-standing tradition and under the Standing Orders of the House of Commons, the cabinet is collectively responsible to the House of Commons. This is most explicit in question period ("oral questions") in which ministers answer questions from the opposition and the government backbenches on behalf of the government. The opposition may direct their questions to specific ministers, but the government is only expected to stand someone to speak on behalf of the cabinet (government) collectively.

Let me be Rocky-Mountain-spring-fed-lake-crystal-clear:

For every day that Paul Martin and members of the present cabinet sat on the government front bench -- the cabinet bench, they bear collective responsibility for every decision, policy, statute, regulation, and for all administration of federal government programs under the Chretien Government.

Justice Gomery not only wasn't in a position to assign "legal responsibility, either civil or criminal." Even if Justice Gomery understood ministerial responsibility, he would be in no position to rule on it. That's the House of Commons's job -- specifically, the Opposition's raison d'etre, er, reason for being.

The first time someone tries to tell you that the Opposition shouldn't assign responsibility where Justice Gomery refused, do Canada a public service, and offer an education in the rudiments of ministerial responsibility.

Don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise . . . Prime Minister Martin and every member of his cabinet who were members of the Chretien cabinet from the time the sponsorship program began are responsible.

Semiotics: antiSemitism: Massive antiSemitic, anti-American poster backgrounds Iran Prez speech in Tehran

Iran anti-Semitic poster [semiotics]

The Iranian government sponsored a conference in which its new President made his now-famous antiSemitic, antiIsrael speech, "A world without Zionism." The graphic design of the massive poster (in front of which the new Iranian President gave his Death-to-Israel speech) is especially semiotically-loaded, with an hour-glass depicted - thru the sands of which a ball (grain of sand) falls marked Israel by the sign it bears, the Star of David - while on the bottom of the lower chamber of the hour-glass, a ball signifying the USA, inert and broken into pieces, the two balls fallen and falling give us a message: once the USA is broken, then Israel will fall. Since the graphic elements (meaning here the non-textual elements of letters of the alphabet either in English, Arabic, or Persian), the non-alphabetic graphic elements of this system of signs in the poster lack the time-markers of verb-tenses occuring in lingual units (sentences, paragraphs), the semotics of the poster could be read in another tense as well, or both: The US is already broken, and Israel is falling now. This is a semotic praxis that brings to mind the massiveness of artist and film-maker Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda for Hitler's regime. - Anaximaximum

BACKGROUND; Politics: Iran: Amir Taheri provides profound religio-philosophical analysis of Iran's new President

Catholicism: Homo priests: Brian St-Paul, Crisis, says Benedict XVI's ruling on homo seminarians more liberal than pred


Yes, the editor of Catholic tradition-affirming Crisis magazine, Brian Saint-Paul, says in his latest email newsletter that, technically, Pope Benedict XVI's ruling on admission of homo candidates for the priesthood, to Catholic seminaries is more liberal than were the standards set by German Benedict's predecessor Polish Pope John Paul II. The difference? JP II was widely ignored by many seminaries, particularly in the United States, Canada, and certain countries in Europe.

...[I]t looks like the Vatican's statement on homosexuals and seminary admission will be released on November 29. According to those who have seen it -- including Italian newspaper, Il Giornale -- the document will prohibit those who are actively homosexual, participate in the homosexual culture, or demonstrate strong homosexual tendencies from admission. It will, it is reported, leave open the possibility of ordination for those who have same-sex tendencies, but have overcome them for three years.

Predictably, dissenting Catholics and gay rights advocates have gone nuts over this. And some in the media have jumped on board. Take Rachel Zoll of Associated Press, for example. In her story, "On eve of new Vatican rules, gay priests struggle with serving a church that considers them 'disordered,'" she manages to get through an entire article without ever quoting an orthodox Catholic. Indeed, it doesn't look like she even spoke with anyone who supports the Church's position.

But she does take the opportunity to get in a few editorial shots of her own:

"Researchers have estimated that thousands of homosexual clergy across the United States have dedicated their lives to a church that considers them 'intrinsically disordered' and prone to 'evil tendencies.'"

I'm sorry, but is that reporting?

Happily, other journalists have taken the time to get both sides of the story, and I've seen some balanced coverage of the issue in other outlets. A faithful Catholic, after all, doesn't demand media favoritism... just media fairness.

As for the policy itself, it would actually represent a liberalization of the official stance. In 1961, John XXIII clearly barred men with same-sex tendencies from the seminary. This new policy, on the other hand, would open the door for those who support the Church's teachings and have succeeded in living chastely. The key difference, of course, is that Benedict XVI will expect his guidelines to be followed.
Tuff luck!, Catholic would-be seminarians, you must practice celibacy sucessfully for a long period before you can apply for admission to a Catholic seminary to train for the priesthood. That's the canon law of the Latin-based worldwide mega-dnomination. That's that. Sorry! but the Roman Catholic Church and the alternate-rite Churches affiliated to the Pope's monarchical church-law rule has settled the rules. Find another job, or another avenue of Christian non-Church service. - Owlb

Subscribe: Crisis, traditional Catholicism

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Pollitics: France & North America: France's Autumn Riots - reverberations for USA, Canada, and Quebec

France's refusal to support the US/British strategy to overthrow Saddam Hussein, its games at the UN, its involvement in the UN Oil-for-Food scam, the hauteur of Jacques Chirac, President of the Republic and of his current dandy Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, his imposition of the secularist headscarf rule on young female Muslims in French schools, and the present riots thru-out France - with Chirac/de Villepin at loggerheads with Nicolas Sarkozy: American foreign relations with France have taken a beating, but not so in Canada. Apparently, the Autumn Riots 2005 caused the postponement of a state visit of de Villepin to Ottawa (and incidentlaly, the Gomery revelations and election scare caused a cancellation of the visit to Ottawa of the Heir Apparent to the Dominion's Throne, but the Royal Couple went right ahead with their tour de farce thru the former Colonies across from Canada's southern border).
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BACKGROUNDER: refWrite, France: Riots: Villepin pirouettes while Paris burns, Sarkozy deploys forces of law and order, Saturday, Nov5,2k5.
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Autumn Riots 2005: This protracted event of three weeks of car-burnings (not escalated to car-bombings or suicide-attacks, but certainly carrying the threat) was France's 9/11 (however nearly deathless it was, still it packed an analogous psychologie politique, the Riots were at one and the same time France's Sit-In Movement (but with no Rosa Parks and no Martin Luther King), and its Twin Towers / WTO (wrought, not with explosives and airplanes, but with cell phones and other hand-helds, including cigarette lighters, and gas cans) - the Riots were all these things condensed into one. And then some. Something unique, something way beyond France's student riots of May 1968 - which inevitably got a lot of citation in the media and blogosphere (including here at refWrite, as the Rejectionist Movement progressed, never clarifying its aim either as a Muslim Islamofascist movement (which some of the press tried to construct it as being), but neither as a poor peoples' incipiently neo-Marxist rebellion with clear class strategy and intent. No manifesto of socio-economic demands was produced; nothing was demanded around which the government could negotiate, as far as I am aware.

The Autumn 2005 Riots in France have shaken the French state, indeed the order of the entirety of the Fifth Republic and the man who heads the neo-Gaullist "conservative" party l'Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Populaire Movement - take a look at France's political spectrum), Jacques Chirac the head of state who went silent and couldn't be found for days on end.

Meanwhile his minions, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, stuttered and ahem-ed. The clearest voice was that of the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who had been the leading contender along with de Villepin to replace Chirac in the new election cycle next year. Sarkozy has made himself well-known for his break with the abject secularism which unites the French conservatives (neo-Gaullists) and the French Left (a fractious assortment of Socialists, Communists, and Left-tongued special interest groups). Sarkozy had positioned himself as himself secular-minded but not anti-religion in regard to state policy. This meant he had dropped the rabid anti-clericalism that took offense at anything Catholic (but the literate Catholics in France are often socialist, divided on abortion, and deeply anti-American as in the case of the main Catholic newspaper LaCroix). Sarkozy seemed to want to avoid the demonization and restriction of non-traditional Protestants in France, a demonization which sees little difference between a Pentecostal and a Scientologist, or a Raellian - they're all just brainwashing cultists. Sarkozy, without taking a fully libertarian position, wanted to make careful, case by case, analyses to determine which practices of which groups precisely crossed over the line to violate the mental decision-making capacities of that group's adherents.

But the implications of Sarkozy's position, the wideness of his desire to accomaodate an orderly Muslim presence in French society and its public institutions, had yet to be worked out - the upcoming campaign was to have been the occasion to do so. Obviously part of his agenda was to build alliances with pro-France Muslim leaders, intellectuals, and opinion-makers - to win them and those whose votes they could carry with them into the neo-Gaullist force against both the fractious Left and the ultra-nationalist anti-immigrant (and, therefore, anti-Muslim) Right led by Jean-Marie Le Pen.

So, when in the early days of the Autumn Riots, Sarkozy made his widely-quoted characterization of the car-burners as "scum," "rabble," and whatnot, the automatic reflex of the Left calling for his resignation fell mostly on deaf ears within the mainstream public. And among the neo-Gaullists, whether they sided more with Chirac/deVillipin or with the Interior Minister who employed the epithets on the rebels, they were secretly happy that Sarkozy (alone) had held the line against mass desertions from the neo-Gaullists to Le Pen's Nationalists with their obdurate racism.

And at the same time, I think currently that the Left just lost the upcoming 2006 elections in France. Sarkozy is the leading candidate for the leadership of the neo-Gaullists, the Chirac phase in party and nation is over, and Sarkozy has the best chance of becoming the next Monsieur le Président de la République de France

Sarkozy, if he comes to power, will speed-up the rappochement with the USA, and that will reflect the attitudes of a great current in post-Riots France, where the link between the car-burners and the worlwide Terrorist movement will relentlessly assert itself in the collective political unconscious. And, at the same time, pave the way for considerable reforms of ghettoized Muslim-descended youths in the country. The Bush administration, and its successor (whether Republican or Democrat, as now seems likely) will thereby have found a new opening in France to American foreign policy in general.

The one zone of North American orientation toward the coming changes in France that will be the most fascinating, will of course be the French-speaking zone of Québec. I think the separatist parties - the Parti Québecois on the provincial level, and the Bloc Québecois in the Federal House of Commons - will in part try to isolate their constitutencies from the developments in France. This stands to reason, because the overlayering of an already-complex independentist political milieu, where many indigenous policies must be decided simultaneously, becomes exceedingly unoptimal when criss-crossed by the causes of France's fractious Left, its shocked and divided neo-Gaullists in the course of their greatest transition since the end of the Algerian Colonialist War - all the while confronting a Rejectionist Movememnt of great strength within the Muslim and African immigrant population - how can the Quebec sovereigntists take all that on when they have sofficient quarrels among themselves already?

Yet, they must take it on because, the dream of a French-speaking separate, independent, sovereign state between Canada's Atlanatic provinces and the provinces from Ontario westward, cannot take on foreign policy quarrels of its own in relation to post-Riots France. Again, yet, such a French-speaking North American state would have to have a definite foreign policy of its own, ready at hand, on the first day of independence, a foreign policy toward France.

I think the developments in riotous France have been a setback to francophone separatism in Canada. I'd think Québec's best chance internationally at this point would be to work within the continental Canadian framework of an emergent new foreign policy toward France. Unless I am just too over-impressed with the importance of participation in an effective policy in that regard, influencing the Federal Canadian policy, one at once beneficial toward Quebec and the French cultural homeland, as well as in Canada's larger national interest, Quebec needs to draw closer to Canada, in the best interests of a strong and supportive policy to help France stabilize itself over the next decades. This stance does not preclude continuous separatist agitation and manoeuvering. Despite any contradctory elements, the two approaches could be maintained by separatists at one and the same time.

As to the separatists in Québec, I strongly object to Liberal leader Paul Martin's attempts to demonize them, especially now at election time. These independentist parties and groups and language-protection movements are themselves as Canadian as maple syrup. I've lived in this country too long and had too many friends among Québecois of all persuasions vis à vis their most divisive and passionate political issues, to join in marching out counter-eptithets like "Canada wreckers" and "traitors" either in regard to separtist thawt in Québec - or, for that matter Western Canada. It's how to live with them and all the Canadian people, in the everlasting interim that's important. Politically, we must learn to be be good neighbours, come what may in regard to how boundaries and status are determined, set, and reset. Nothing is absolute in this sphere except God's call to us to be good neighbours and practice justice for all.

This is also France's dilemma at the present moment, after all the decades of denial and hauteur from the Left and neo-Gaullists alike. - Politicarp

Background URLs [in ruffly reverse chronological order]:



1.) • Anti-riots emergency rules extended by 3 months
2.) • Riots drive recruits into arms of LePen
3.) • Next French revolution: a less colorblind society
4.) • French leaders tilt right
5.) • France on riot alert for holiday
6.) • French Police step up secuirity after tip
7.) • What makes someone French?
8.) • Riots ebb as citizens take stand
9.) • France to impose curfews, rioting spreads
10.) • Shots fired at police in France, says AlJazeeera (Eng ed)
11.) • France: Riots reach new peak, spread to other cities [Radio Free Europe / RadioLiberty]
12.) • Crisis talks over French riots [Nov5,2k5]
13.) • Vehicles torched in spreading French riots
14.) • Fiery riots spread beyond Paris [Nov4,2k5]
15.) • France's riots ... more
16.) • Paris in flames: the limits of repression
17.) • More unrest hits Paris streets [Nov3,2k5]
18.) • Shots fired as French riots esacalate
19) • Deep roots of Paris riots
20.) • Chirac appeals for calm
21.) • France struggles as unrest spreads
21.) • Chirac and Socialists reel after debate on Europe