Proof That Cowboys Are Kind of Morons

Apparently riding bulls whose nuts have been twisted to drive them into a frenzy of pain and rage is a stupid, fucking thing to do. According to a recent study, rodeo contestants are 20 times more likely to suffer a "catastrophic injury" than is a football player.

I'd humbly like to suggest that there is a relationship between stupidity and politics and that we can prove it in this way.

1) The Calgary Stampede is the biggest annual event in Alberta.

2) Alberta has had a Tory provincial government for longer than Gaddafi has been in power.

3) Alberta's vote for the federal Tories was at a level approaching that of a Stalinist dictatorship.

Here's the thing. I admire the hard and dangerous work of cowboys who work in the cattle industry - or did in the 19th century - just as I do miners, construction workers and waitresses. But, let's face it, those frontier hardscrabble days are largely gone, replaced by industrialization of the food industry (which has its own dangers that are far less romantic and far more toxic). Rodeos are just affectations for stupid, stupid men to put their lives at risk and needlessly hurt innocent animals. I mean, if they want to do it - go crazy. As Darwin might have put it: nature always finds a way...

Rodeo one of the most dangerous sports in the world: study - thestar.com

Alberta Is A Cargo Cult

There's no other way to explain the political phenomenon in Alberta, the will to one-party statehood of the majority of population in this semi-developed, resource-laden hinterland. There has certainly been political heterogeneity on the edges of Alberta politics in the past - even radical leftist politics - but firmly rooted in the centre is a cultish adoration of all that is small and rural and backwards.
In the present case the "cargo" that provides Albertans with their fetish du jour is, of course, oil. And they think that their god can only be accessed through the anointed priesthood of oil executives and right wing populists. They will destroy the land, pollute their air, deplete their water, all in the service of their god, beside which Jesus (another popular fellow - or at least a cartoon of him) appears as a mere hand-servant to aid the power of the great fetish. Besides the damage cults do to one's mind it's rather embarrassing, to say the least. This is a province in need of a serious intervention.
To be fair, Albertans aren't stupid as the cows they ranch. Nor are they as slimey as the oil they dig. What they are sorely lacking is any demonstrated alternative to the great oily priesthood. This is the province with the lowest unionization rates in the country and, by my guess, the lowest levels of strikes. No, what Alberta needs is some strikes. They need some struggle. They need to discover the horrible truth that the oil barons don't give a flying f**k about whether they live, die or suffer terrible malignancies to them and their children as a result of the polluting practices involved in the oil sands. I don't know how such a watershed will happen but I feel confident that it will - not because workers are inherently geniuses but because the ups and downs of capitalism cause corporations to make choices and low on their list of priorities are workers rights, wages and living conditions. At a certain point the development of Alberta into a modern economy will undermine the consensus as it grows beyond the paternalist boomtown feel and the growing working class in the oil fields, schools, public sector and beyond struggle against the priorities of Alberta capitalism. Sure hope it's soon.

Dear Planet: Sorry That We're Climate Assholes

50,000 protest climate chaos in London, UK
I THINK MOST CANADIANS LIKE TO THINK OF THIS COUNTRY as a warm and fuzzy place to be. Sure, we've got problems - genocide of the aboriginal population, all those Chinese who died building the railroad before we deported the ones who survived, the war in Afghanistan, that sort of thing. But all that imperialism and stuff aside, we're really quite lovely. The kind of people you'd like to have over for dinner and to meet your mom.
Sorry folks. While you were napping we elected a bunch of neanderthal wingnuts who are pretty retrograde on every issue. And the ones who aren't wingnuts, like Stephen "Napoleon" Harper, are certifiable sociopaths. I won't get into how we got stuck with them - that's for another post. But do you know what they've been doing about climate change? I mean, holy shit! Our kids are going to have to start sewing American flags on their backpacks when they go on vacation so that they don't get spit on and beat up.
First off, in 2006, the Tories abrogated our commitment to the Kyoto Protocol - the agreement that Canada had signed committing us to reducing our carbon emissions. Then we've spent every opportunity since then trying to derail any climate deal anywhere that would commit us to doing anything. Internationally acclaimed author and journalist, George Monbiot put it this way:

After giving the finger to Kyoto, Canada then set out to prevent the other nations from striking a successor agreement. At the end of 2007 it single-handedly blocked a Commonwealth resolution to support binding targets for industrialised nations. After the climate talks in Poland in December 2008, it won the Fossil of the Year award, presented by environmental groups to the country which had done most to disrupt the talks. The climate change performance index, which assesses the efforts of the world’s 60 richest nations, was published in the same month. Saudi Arabia came 60th. Canada came 59th.
In June this year the media obtained Canadian briefing documents which showed that the government was scheming to divide the Europeans. During the meeting in Bangkok in October, almost the entire developing world bloc walked out when the Canadian delegate was speaking, as they were so revolted by his bullying. Last week the Commonwealth heads of government battled for hours (and eventually won) against Canada’s obstructions. A concerted campaign has now begun to expel Canada from the Commonwealth.

The simple reason is oil, in particular, the Alberta Tar Sands. There's plenty of reasons why the Tar Sands are an absolute and total disaster. For instance, it takes up to four barrels of water to clean and process one barrel of oil. The giant toxic lakes of "tailings" that the refining process generates are so poisonous that special measures have to be taken to frighten off birds and other animals that would die were they to come in contact with it. Processing tar sands oil, which produces triple the carbon emissions of crude oil, requires burning enough natural gas each day to heat three million homes. By 2020 the tar sands will release more than twice as much carbon as all the cars and trucks in North America. But with the tar sands development valued at $200 billion so far it's no wonder that the Tories are committed to allowing Canada's carbon emissions to increase by 2% over 1990 levels. It is conservatively estimated that carbon emissions must be cut globally by 20-25% by 2020.

If the fossil fuel industry is allowed to proceed with its current plans, greenhouse gas emissions in Canada will grow to 827 million tonnes in 2010, 44% beyond what Canada is permitted under the Kyoto Protocol and a far cry from the 80%-100% reduction that scientist say is essential to stabilize the climate. If the world burned all of Canada’s estimated fossil fuel deposits, global concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere would rise by about 20% beyond 1990 levels.

All of this is to say that we ought to be ashamed of what these jokers are doing in our name to protect the profits of big oil companies like Shell and BP, and the big banks that have invested in tar sands development. There hasn't been nearly enough mobilizing in this country (and I confess I'm guilty of passivity on this also). With glaciers melting and sea levels rising it really is time to get our act together. Over in Britain, for instance, 50,000 people protested on Saturday, December 5 to demand action on climate change. It's time that we stepped up to the plate - after all, we're one of the worst offenders on the planet. It's the least we can do.

Note To The Left From The Right

THE BLOSSOMING POPULARITY OF THE WILDROSE ALLIANCE PARTY IN ALBERTA proves my personal adage that you’re never so bonkers that there isn’t somebody more bonkers than you. In this case, it’s the Alberta Tories who are being out-bonkered.
On Sunday, at their convention, the WAP elected as their leader media commentator and fiscal conservative, Danielle Smith. She had been running against a former Reform Party organizer and noted social conservative, Mark Dyrholm, who dropped out when it was clear that she was going to whoop his ass.
The WAP is gaining fast on the Tories who have maintained a nearly 40-year dynasty in that province – following on from the Social Credit, which ran the province from the Depression. The reason: the Tories are too left-wing.
Sorry, let me say that again: The Alberta Tories are too left wing.

“[Smith] criticizes the royalty rate the province is charging oil companies, and finally abandoned the Tories in April after the government tabled a budget that projected a historic $4.7-billion deficit while still green-lighting double-digit spending”

The Tories, knowing that the Alberta oil boom would come to a halt sooner or later, in the way that all resource-based booms do, imposed a higher royalty rate on the oil companies during the high times, in order to save for the low times. Like now. Even with that surplus cash the Tories are still forced to run a deficit – that’s how hard things have crashed.
But the Wildrose yahoos can’t stand that the Tories didn’t just pull a Herbert Hoover, let the economy tank and then send out the police to beat the hell out of all the people starving in the streets. That makes WAP beyond-the-bonkers-pale.
One of two things is going to happen to WAP. The first and most likely one is that they will whack the Tories in the next provincial election – they’re now running second at 21 percent, behind the Tories at 38.4. They’ve only been in existence since January, 2008. Either WAP’ll win or they’ll force a Tory minority government.
If they win they’ll screw things up right quick. Remember when the Alliance was formed and Stockwell Day was the leader? Think jet ski. Enough said. WAP’ll inherit a deficit and perhaps even a stagnant economy. Their front benches will be filled with a bunch of yahoos and soon they’ll be tripping over their own feet, destroying the economy, saying dumb shit. The usual.
The other possibility is that they’ll do that before the next election.

IN ANY CASE, BY NOW YOU’RE WONDERING THE MEANING OF THE TITLE ABOVE. Well, it’s two things. The first is that the right wing consensus in Alberta has been shattered by the economic crisis. The Tory dynasty is coming apart. The WAP is not a “new” party – it is a split from the Tory party. That means that there is a space in Alberta for the left to take advantage of the growing disarray on the right.
The second note is an important point that Ms. Smith made during her campaign to become WAP leader.

“Ms. Smith herself argues that the party will remain at the province's political fringes if it focuses too much on issues such as abortion. ‘The ‘single issues' aren't top-of-mind for most Albertans,’ she says. ‘If we go into an election talking about things that are going to cause division, we aren't going to be successful in building that big tent.’”

The point here is that key arguments have been won on social questions, such that any right wing party that wants to succeed must not attack those things outright without risking fracturing and losing. And neither the abortion nor gay rights were won as a result of enlightened politicians like Smith (god help us) – they have been won in the streets, workplaces and in the homes of the country.
I’m old enough to remember the end game of the pro-choice struggle to decriminalize abortion. It involved campaigning in the union movement, protests and pickets, the courage of doctors like Henry Morgentaler to provide illegal abortions, etc. The parliamentary success was the result of the latter.
Gay rights is a similar story, starting with the explosion onto the streets that happened around the Stonewall riots 40 years ago. This led into the creation of the Gay Liberation Movement, then, with the AIDS crisis, there were big mobilizations organized by ACT UP. This was followed by the militant in-your-face actions of Queer Nation and big demonstrations and campaigns around same sex spousal benefits in Ontario (which the NDP sold out). All this pressure in and out of the public eye, led to a growing acceptance and creeping legal gains that, most recently, led to full legal equality in marriage.
The lesson from both of these is that it is through ostentatious struggle that the terrain can be shifted. That applies as much to economic questions as it does to social ones. So, to the left in Alberta – and elsewhere – have hope. Victories have already been won and more can be. Especially when the right wing has a nice big split. I look forward to watching them tear each other apart.