Did you know there was an African-American hockey league in Canada? They played from 1895 until 1925, and were innovators of the game. The original players were mostly the descendants of runaway slaves.

A former co-worker of mine from New York found me online and, knowing that I now lived in Canada, sent me these fascinating video clips. One of her cousins, a man named Herbert Carnegie, played in this league. When I looked up his name, I learned that Carnegie was the first African-Canadian hockey player to be offered an NHL contract.

As part of this year's Black History Month, ESPN aired "Black Ice," a film based on a book of the same name by George and Darril Fosty.



My friend's own family history is fascinating, as her family goes back many generations in Harlem. Her grandfather was part of this very famous photo of a gathering of jazz musicians taken on a Harlem sidewalk.

She sent me these clips months ago, and they've been sitting in my inbox ever since. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Finger pointing is not always instructive. In this case, it may be. The US and various European countries are moving food crops into the bio-fuel business, itself an environmentally unsound business. This, in addition to encouraging developing countries to not merely ?liberalize? their agricultural sectors, but specialize in exporting specific cash crops (cotton, cocoa), has done wonders to precipitate the shortages. Consumption in developing economies, added to the vicissitudes of climate change, water availability, and rising fertilizer costs, are others.

Political stability is being undermined. Food shortages are proving endemic. Food riots are becoming common. Riots have been sparked in Cameroon, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Uzbekistan and Yemen. There have been riots over spiraling grain prices in Mauritania and Senegal. In Mexico City, mass protests were sparked by a price hike in tortillas. In Haiti, biscuits are being made from a mud compound. The Somali capital Mogadishu bore witness to the deaths of five people.

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punditman says...As the article points out, US Secretary of State Condi Rice, being a free-market fundamentalist fool, blames export caps from India and China. You see, in a radical move beyond her blinkered neo-con comprehension, these countries know that it may actually be important to feed their own populations first in times of crisis. This makes sense for any self-preserving government; a hungry population can become a very angry population, very quickly. She'd be wise to abide by this maxim (although I'm all but convinced that the Bush administration has sent the United States on several simultaneous suicide missions--wrecking the economy being just one of many).

The controversial pronouncements of Reverend Jeremiah Wright are nothing compared to those of the right wing evangelicals McCain has actively courted. McCain pastoral supporters have:
Said that 9/11 was caused by liberals;
Said that Hurricane Katrina was caused by gays and that the Catholic church is a ?great whore?;
Said that the US was founded to destroy Islam;

And one of his top advisers was part of a bizarre ceremony in a federal government building surrounded by high ranking Republican legislators where Korean cult leader and far right sugar daddy Reverend Sun Moon declared Jesus a failure and had himself crowned the Emperor of America.

So what is clear from this email is that top Mccain advisor Charlie Black is admitting that he helped plan, and would have attended, an event where a convicted tax fraud would have been crowned King Of America and declared himself the Messiah--all on U.S. Government federal property (on March 23, 2004).

According to The New York Times:

"Mr. Moon, an eccentric billionaire, convicted tax cheat, conservative publisher and power broker, grandly donned scarlet robes and a golden crown at the Dirksen Office Building. ''I am God's ambassador, sent to earth with his full authority..."

Leila Fadel, the bureau chief, and Shashank Bengali report: ?The Iraqi Government seemed to distance itself from U.S. accusations towards Iran Sunday saying it would not be forced into conflict with its Shiite neighbor. And Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki ordered the formation of a committee to look into foreign intervention in Iraq.

?As the government appeared to back down from its hardening stance against Iran, four marines were killed in Anbar in the deadliest attack in the Sunni province in months.

"The government spokesman, Ali al Dabbagh, told reporters Sunday that a committee was formed to find ?tangible information? about foreign intervention, specifically Iran's role in Iraq rather than ?information based on speculation.?

"?We don't want to be pushed into any conflict with any neighboring countries, especially Iran. What happened before is enough. We paid a lot,? Dabbagh said, referring to the eight years war between the two nations in which an estimated 1 million people died.?

Also today from Agence France-Press: ?Iraq said on Sunday it has no evidence that Iran was supplying militias engaged in fierce street fighting with security forces in Baghdad.

?Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said there was no 'hard evidence' of involvement by the neighbouring Shiite government of Iran in backing Shiite militiamen in the embattled country. Asked about reports that weapons captured from Shiite fighters bore 2008 markings suggesting Iranian involvement, Dabbagh said: ?We don't have that kind of evidence... If there is hard evidence we will defend the country.?"

Here is a list of Gordon?s sources in his Times article:

-- ?An American official?

-- ?But the Americans say?

-- ?American officials?

-- ?American officials?

-- ?The Americans ?

--?American officials?

--?An American official?

-- ditto, and so on

• In this time of Obamarama, Bill Cosby deals some tough love to the black situation in the States
• “Radical feminist” bloggers on Pandagon reviews summer blockbusters from the Hollywood patriarchy in lieu of saying anything meaningful now that Hillary’s both finished and racism
• In other asinine American news, the Ivy admissions game grows ever worse
• Do you want to be able to survive a nuclear blast?
• Or would you rather be flushed down the drain afterwards via a method used by serial killers and the US Government?
• If SETI doesn’t find greys, it might find God instead.

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It's not enough that Rep. Fosella drove drunk. It's not enough that he's a classic do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do, socially conservative GOP congresscritter who cheated on his wife and sired a kid out of wedlock. Seems he isn't even supporting his second family. His dad and uncle are.

The guy opposes abortion but doesn't really care once a kid is actually born. Why is this not surprising?

Count on the Fosella, Vitter, and Spitzer kids to form a support group at some point.

Via the Artful Dodger is yet another hilarious scolding from the land of the not as free to speak as we think we are.

Canada, which has made “hate speech” against the law, now struggles to balance political correctness with freedom.

We do not envy the Canadians. They have entrusted to their government a power Americans never would, and they follow it into foolishness.

Would those be the same Americans who have entrusted their government with the power to fine radio and television broadcasters up to $325,000 for using words that are deemed indecent? Why yes, I believe it is.

The writing of the obituary of the Hillary Clinton campaign for the Democratic nomination for president began in earnest on Wednesday morning. Her narrow win in Indiana coupled with the loss in North Carolina has all of the pundits weighing in. I don’t think anyone can deny that the path to the nomination hasn’t narrowed. The [...]

He's not making a very good job of it though, it would seem.

Blair was both extremely popular and highly social-democratic in his final years. I'm glad that Gordon is following in his footsteps.

If you're going to harp on making English the official language, shouldn't you, like, LEARN THE LANGUAGE FIRST?!?!?

Writing at Land and People, Lebanese blogger Rami Zurayk chronicles events in Beirut as they unfold. His accounts are fascinating in their clarity.

Friday, May 8th, 8:26AM:

I live in Ras Beirut, between Hamra and Manara. We woke up this morning to the sound of machine gun shooting. I looked from the window and there was a few young armed civilians running in all directions. The kids were startled and we did what everybody does at times like these: seek the news. I sat at my computer and logged into the usual websites, then left the laptop to go to the tv, in the same room. The kids came in the room. Suddenly there was a small explosion, like a firecracker, with a cloud of dust and smoke. My 10 years old was the nearest to the source and we all looked towards him. There was a little hole in the glass door of the balcony, and another one in the wall a meter or so away from him. A bullet had come through the balcony, passed between the children and removed a small chunk of the wall, a meter or so away from my kid. We are now all huddled in a small room with no windows, waiting for the storm to pass. As I write, the fighting and shooting is still going on.

Friday, Ma7 8th, 7:29PM:

I just came back from the funeral wake of my neighbor's son. He was 16 and he and his friend were shot this morning in my street. His family owns a bakery and a cafe in my neighborhood. They are also very involved in the local mosque. He and a bunch of other kids always hang out between the bakery and the cafe. They are Hariri supporters by default, like many other Beirut Sunnis. At around 10:30, when the fighting intensity was beginning to decrease, they went out to have a look. The sniper caught them both.

Saturday, May 9th, 12:56PM:

I walked up towards Zarif from the intersection near the old Al-Nahar building. I passed Zarif, and then got to Aisha Bakkar. This is an old, middle class, traditionally Sunni neighborhood, one of the oldest in the city. Most shops were open and trading. There were some signs of fighting, mostly bullet riddled cars. Further down, in Zaydaniyyed is where I started to see more damage: a couple of burnt cars, and a lot of bullet holes in walls and shop windows. At the intersection with Mar Elias street, a couple of unarmed men clad in Amal flags superman-style were closing the road with the (multi-purpose) rubbish disposal containers. I asked one of them why he was closing the road and he said, slightly startled, that there were skirmishes in Zarif...

This is awesome.

1h

H/t Ze

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Barack Obama and the Democratic party represent the views of millions of mainstream Americans, including plenty of independents and--gasp!--Republicans. The fact that GOP scions including Susan Eisenhower, Lincoln Chafee, and Julie Nixon Eisenhower are on Team Obama is proof of this. Barack and the Democrats are centrists. Not radical leftists.

Parenthetical Remarks has learned some new things since becoming a dad. His baby goes gaga for certain professional bloviators, and he thinks there is a reason for this.

Supposedly, Obama is now doing what he's supposed to be doing: focusing on John McCain and not La Hill. Alas, McCain is taking all this personally, saying that Obama's making fun of his age. Lieberman, meanwhile, follows McCain like the neocon puppy dog he is. I'm sure he's jockeying for a VP slot. I also suspect that he won't get it. Just an instinctive thing. Both seem to be in serious denial--and I'm not talking about a goodwill trip to Egypt, either.

Anyhow, Obama's pointed out McCain's disconnect from The World as It Truly Is:

Speaking to a few dozen employees of a software company, Obama said McCain was "dead wrong when he said recently that he thinks our economy has made 'great progress' under George Bush. Is there anyone outside of Washington D.C., who could truly believe that?"

Meanwhile, McCain keeps insisting he did in fact vote for Bush in 2000. Next up: the wingnuts will be asking why they should vote for a guy who hobnobs with evil Hollywood liberals.

While the campaign gets really interesting, I'm sure Mitt Romney is somewhere envisioning how his 2012 presidential run will play out.

In other news, last night's Battlestar Galactica was great. Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) had a guest spot and it reminded me how much I miss seeing her on the air.

Great news for humanity from AlterNet yesterday!

More sex for everyone!

Great way to get in shape and lose weight!

The Sexy Path to Good Health
By Sue Katz, Consenting Adult - Posted on May 9, 2008


There's been wide coverage of a study showing that man-masturbation prevents prostate cancer. But before you take your hotdog in hand (if you happen to be of the schlong persuasion), let's expand the conversation and declare: hot sex is good for humans.

Heart

There, I've said it. But looking around, I'm certainly not the only one saying it. In fact, the bigwigs at Forbes Magazine -- premiere reading for the wealthy and their admirers -- devoted pages and pages to the benefits of sex. Among other treats, they relate that in a 2001 study at Queen's University (Belfast), higher rates of bonking produced half the risk of heart attack and stroke.

________________


Pain

Lots of studies indicate that the various hormones connected with arousal and excitement -- so intoxicating that people are now said to become "addicted" to sex -- are fabulous pain relievers. Migraines? Arthritis? Why, just get laid. Dr. Beverly Whipple from Rutgers University says that even whiplash can be relieved by the oxytocin surge -- leading to the release of morphine-like endorphins -- that people often experience during serious groping.

_______________


Sniffles

A study from Pennsylvania's Wilkes University, "claims that individuals who have sex once or twice a week show 30% higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A, which is known to boost the immune system." In short, no more sniffles and sneezes for those who are busy wearing out the sheets. Or the kitchen tabletop. Or the back seat of a Studebaker.

What are you still doing here??

Get that workout goin' . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moving to Vancouver)

It's been difficult enough for opposition MPs to try to wring any meaningful information out of a government which has made a habit of responding to questions with lawsuits rather than bona fide answers. But a decision by Parliament's Ethics Commissioner raises serious questions about the ability of opposition members to do their job:

A Liberal MP has been barred from asking questions on the Mulroney-Schreiber affair in Parliament, raising fears that a libel chill is set to extend into the House and committee rooms on the Hill.

Up until this week, Liberal MP Robert Thibault had been one of the opposition party's main questioners on the cash dealings between former prime minister Brian Mulroney and businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.

However, Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson has barred Mr. Thibault from raising the issue further in Parliament because Mr. Mulroney has launched a $2-million lawsuit against Mr. Thibault for allegedly libellous statements on CTV Newsnet on the matter.

Ms. Dawson ruled that according to the conflict-of-interest code, Mr. Thibault now has a "private interest" in the controversy and he cannot debate or vote on issues related to it.

In the absence of the lawsuit, Mr. Thibault could have continued to say anything on the matter in Parliament, given that parliamentary privilege protects MPs from being sued for what they say in the House or at committee.

However, the Ethics Commissioner said the conflict-of-interest code, as it stands, clearly affects Mr. Thibault's rights as an MP.

She found that Mr. Thibault was wrong to participate in the ethics committee's probe of the Mulroney-Schreiber dealings, including asking questions directly to Mr. Mulroney last December. Mr. Mulroney announced his intention to sue last November and filed the suit in January.

"I am of the view that lawsuits claiming damages that have been instituted against an individual constitute a liability," Ms. Dawson's ruling said.

"His participation in the work of the Committee could reasonably be seen to be potentially influenced by his private interest, thus interfering with his public duties and functions and clearly creating a situation of real or apparent conflict of interest," she said.

What's worse is that the Cons have already been less than shy about using SLAPPs to distract or shut down opposition - even when there was no direct consequence to continuing a line of questioning after such a claim had been filed. Now, Dawson's decision raises the prospect that any future lawsuit can force opposition MPs to keep quiet under penalty of punishment by the Ethics Commissioner even if the claim itself is frivolous.

It remains to be seen whether the opposition responds by looking to amend the ethics code to avoid the problem. But that itself would seem problematic in giving the Cons an opening both to slam the opposition for limiting the definition of a conflict of interest, and to justify far more serious conflicts of their own. Which means that opposition MPs will face a tough choice whether to take a needed public stand to preserve their ability to properly hold the government accountable - or accept the risk that the Cons will render that even more difficult in the future.

Burma is a country that has suffered under the brutal military dictatorship of Saw Maung, and subsequently Than Shwe for decades, with the junta waging war on various ethnicities in the outer areas of the country, and the lives of the urbanites and countrymen tightly controlled and heavily impoverished. Recent attempts at protest, in pure angst over economic conditions, was brutally put down. Democratic beacon Aung Sun Suu Kyi has been imprisoned for over a decade, the movement she leads harshly repressed. And then cyclone Nargis happened.

What tragedy can befall a nation worse? Honestly, for the people of Burma to live in such horrible circumstances for so long, and to be hit so hard by this cyclone was absolutely brutal. Nearly 30 000 dead, millions displaced and in peril. But what is so heartbreaking is that Than Shwe and his friends won't allow foreign aid workers in and have only just started to allow supplies to reach the needy. There's nothing more to say really. The death toll rises each day that food and medicine and transport are delayed.

The Burmese government is absolutely right to fear the aftermath of such a catastrophe. For a brief moment last Sunday one had the flicker of hope that such a natural disaster of this scale could perhaps leave society so shaken that a popular uprising takes place among all the chaos and destruction and mismanagement. Unfortunately this is not what has happened. The military regime has apparently too tight a grip on the Burmese people to allow anything of that nature, and is too selfish to allow aid in from the outside world, fearing the consequences. They, such an impotent, and yet so powerful, an administration would prefer to handle it on their own, completely incapable to carrying out the task at hand. So more will die. More will mourn. And so it seems, nothing will change...

However you can help, donate some money to the Disaster Emergencies Committee of the United Kingdom, which is making real progress in Burma.

This Sunday’s On the Record will feature a segment with Gordon Robertson, son of Pat, CEO of CBN and co-host of The 700 Club. In the other segment, host Joel Rubin is joined by Phil Shucet, former Commissioner of VDOT. Shucet has proposed a bridge to connect the Southside and Peninsula, rather than another tunnel. And in [...]

Adis Duderija Immigrants & Minorities, Volume 25, Issue 2 July 2007 , pages 141 - 162 A wealth of literature on Muslims residing in western liberal democracies has been written over the last two decades or so, in particular after the events of 9/11.1 This article reviews the relevant literature on the broader dynamics which shape the identities of western Muslims, and western-born generations of

Hmmm, where have I heard this before?

It is increasingly clear that the junta that rules Myanmar is not able, or willing, to save its own people. The generals first failed to alert the public after warnings from India that a cyclone was bearing down on the country. After the terrible disaster, with the death toll at 60,000 and amid fears that disease could push the number to 100,000, the generals have thrown up obstacles to relief efforts ? cherry-picking aid offers and barring the entry of disaster-relief workers.

An unelected regime allowing its own people to perish rather than accept international aid after a natural disaster. Does this sound familiar?

The Burma/Myanmar cyclone may have affected more people, but most of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina was preventable.

Update: See comments for details and copious links.

* * * *

How you can help:

Direct Relief International

World Vision Canada (a Christian organization)

Canadian Red Cross / Croix-Rouge canadienne

Doctors Without Borders

These groups and many others are trying to break the junta's blockade. They all need funds to continue their efforts.

Here's a short item from the good folks at DeSmogBlog the environmentalist website. Among other efforts postings have taken aim at the climate "denial" industry, those people who think that anthropogenic climate problems are still "in flux" within the scientific community. In particular DeSmoggers have come out against the idea that recent food increases are solely due to increased demand by India and China. It is true that demand for petroleum in those large populations combined with state subsidies has pushed up the price of a barrel to the current high levels, but that's not necessarily an explanation for the food crisis. However I am getting a little sick of hearing about that narcissistic leftover from the Clinton years, Al Gore trying to take credit for current environmental debates. I haven't seen his film but here is a review from someone who has. But I liked the cut against Rex Murphy the house "liberal" at CBC radio and television. This is also the guy who tried to say that the attacks against public transport in London, England (July 2005) had nothing to do with British policies in Afghanistan and Iraq...among other things. Even Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente, someone not usually noted for her general sympathy towards left wing causes, had a crack at that one (although I couldn 't find a copy of her OpEd piece from that time. )


Politicians (and their media stooges) are twisting the language and misrepresenting the truth in an effort to deflect responsibility for a global food crisis that is being exacerbated by biofuel farm subsidies.

The issue dusted up last week when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the European Union Commissioner for Agriculture Marian Fischer Boel blamed the global food shortage on people in India and China who are shifting their diet toward meat and away from vegetables.

But the facts get in the way: the UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported in response that grain consumption went up in the last year by just over four million tonnes in India and slightly less than seven million tonnes in China, while in the U.S. it climbed more than 33 million tonnes. And the bulk of that increase has gone into the subsidized biofuel crop - a demand that has driven corn prices in the U.S. from $2 per bushel when President George Bush began his ethanol push to $5 per bushel today.

In Canada, where production of biofuel has tripled since 2003, the federal government - which has been otherwise resistant to any policy that might address climate change - has tried to paint the new farm subsidy as an environmental gesture.

"Good for the environment and good for farmers," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said as he announced a $1.5-billion ecoENERGY plan last summer to get more ethanol and biodiesel pouring into Canadian gas tanks. "Our government's investment in biofuels is a double win."

But the spin gets worse. In the same story that included the above quote, Gordon Quaiattini, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, calls criticism of the diversion of foodcrops to biofuels, "intellectually dishonest."

Quaiattini says biofuels have nothing to with growing world hunger, that there is plenty of food to go around. The problem, he says, is the world's poorest citizens can no longer afford to buy rice, corn and wheat.

Unable - or unwilling - to connect the rising price driven by his own industry to affordability in the developing world, Quaiattini instead tries to blame the whole thing on rising oil prices, which are certainly a consideration, but a minor one compared to the competitive effect of tens of millions of tonnes of food being diverted to make a "green" energy source that is not even very green.

The push for biofuel is nothing short of a huge farm subsidy, a traditional corporate boondoggle that is putting unforgivable pressure on global food stocks.

More unforgivable yet, however, is the cheap political points that some people are trying to score as a result. For example, Rex Murphy, the self-styled Canadian iconoclast, cuddles up to government and corporate position makers once again, arguing (accurately) that biofuels are partly to blame for world food shortages, but then blaming, of all people, Al Gore for the whole problem.

It is widely rumoured in biker circles that the Hell's Angels are trying to cope with the embarrassment of possible connections to the the Conservative government of Stephen Harper!

The ongoing adventures of Maxime Bernier ....

You can't be sure where it will lead, but the fact the RCMP has interviewed Dona Cadman on two seperate occasions, as well as her daughter and son-in-law suggests the allegations are being taken seriously. Who are the yahoos:

RCMP officers have interviewed Chuck Cadman's widow twice in the last two months after launching an investigation into an alleged offer by Conservative Party officials to the dying MP.

The RCMP refuse to say whether they are officially probing the allegations, but Dona Cadman confirmed yesterday she has been interviewed twice by investigators.

Cadman said officers also talked to her daughter Jodi as part of their investigation. Jodi Cadman and her husband Holland Miller said in separate bedside conversations that Chuck revealed to them he had been offered incentives from representatives of the Conservatives.

Dona Cadman also said:

"I hope eventually the RCMP will find out who offered what," said Cadman in an interview yesterday. "Chuck never told me who they were. I'm in the dark as much as anyone else and it would be nice to know who these two people were. They could be just yahoos."

Yahoos? Reading between the lines here, but does that mean Baird and Poilievre could be involved?

Whether or not anything can be proven is one thing, but it would be relevant if the RCMP could confirm another meeting between Cadman and Conservative operatives, because the government have continually maintained their was only one meeting with Cadman.

One visit to Dona Cadman, the RCMP is probably just going through the motions. A second visit suggests something more...

"Oh, he's using that ultra pinko liberal erroneous Wikipedia.com again."

Yes, I am.

While researching the subject of book burnings (don't you just love 'em?) I came across a link I had never seen, nor even imagined before: Christian Terrorism.

Huh? Yes, Christian Terrorism. Not withstanding the Crusades which I thought to be THE act of Christian terrorism, or the Holocaust which I knew to be the biggest passive-aggressive act in history (by not saying anything!) I was surprised to find out how many terrorist groups consider themselves Christian. "Oh, (sigh of relief) you're writing about those people. They're not Christians."

Well, they consider themselves Christians and 5 of the 8 largest groups in the United States have "God" or "Christ" in their names:

Great satire - horrible commentary on our times. The horrible thing about satire is that it's based in reality and, let's be realistic, people, can't you see some Christian militants doing things like burning books? Or having a burning desire to become a killer for Christ?

The Case of Mark David Uhl:

Mark David Uhl, a student at Liberty University, planned to bomb and kill members of the Westboro Baptist Church at the funeral of Jerry Falwell. Max Blumenthal called Uhl a "Christian terrorist", "a devout evangelical Christian who advocated religious violence in the name of American nationalism". On Uhl's MySpace page he called on Christians to die on the battlefield for "Uncle Sam." He quoted Biblical passages to justify his call to arms, and wrote "Christians, we have been given life after death and we should help others receive it and not sit here in our big buildings and sing to ourselves so we can go home and feel good about ourselves... Christians, fear of death, fear of death. The fear of death shows you don't believe. God needs soldiers to fight so his children may live free. Are you afraid??? I'm not. SEND ME!!!"

"Oh, he was just a crazy mixed-up kid." O.K., but where