Author: Allegra

enough sleep
2005-04-21— Posted by: allegra

Mariah Carey debuts at No. 1? Drop the hammer NOW, God. I don’t know how many more apocalyptic signs we can get before the earth splits like a dropped tomato.

I dreamed last night, and I’m not making this up, that I went to heaven and saw John Paul II sitting in a big red and gold throne, and he was holding hands and cuddling (not necking, I hasten to add) with Mother Theresa. The throne was actually big enough for three, and there was a guy I didn’t recognize, all done up in church vestments, also sitting on the throne and cuddling. Everybody looked very happy, and there was a tremendous radiant light.

Liz M, if you’re reading this, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

>>>> this seminar also talked about racism and issues in international business communication. <<<<< 2019 addendum

Any Questions?
2005-04-13— Posted by: allegra

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

by Lawrence Britt

Spring 2003

Free Inquiry magazine

Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism (“Fascism Anyone?,” Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The excerpt is in accordance with the magazine’s policy.

The 14 characteristics are:

Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

Supremacy of the Military

Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

Rampant Sexism

The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

Controlled Mass Media

Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

Obsession with National Security

Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

Religion and Government are Intertwined

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

Corporate Power is Protected

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Labour Power is Suppressed

Because the organizing power of labour is the only real threat to a fascist government, labour unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .

Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

Obsession with Crime and Punishment

Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

Fraudulent Elections

Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Copyright 2003 Free Inquiry magazine Reprinted for Fair Use Only.

Off to work now and the cardiologist this afternoon. As John’s boss John remarked, “Ah, so they are going to find out you have one?”

In revenge, I will tell a small story. Our John bought Boss John a little brass sign that had his name and title (President) on it. He then ceremoniously affixed it to the bathroom door at work. His boss one-upped him by leaving it there.

Have a nice day, yall.

Oooh. Forgot to mention that Monny brought two ‘friends’ over last night. I don’t know which one is weirder, Fanny, who looks like lightning in a bottle, or Chachka, who pooped Mcdonald’s (trademark) toys all over my house, and I mean ALL over. If the little bugger had found a way to glue them to the ceiling he would have (he, she?). When I have a minute I’ll describe their visit in more detail.

Rabbits say, A single cloud feels lonely (full marks if you get the reference) and I say, “You didn’t think there’d be just ONE monster, did you? Remember, if there’s a monster under every bed in the world…. that’s a hell of a lot of monsters.” And yes, the little toys were gone by morning, like fairy gold, but it was still disconcerting to turn the bathroom light on and have Elastigirl (trademark) glaring at me while I tried to take a leak.

I’m just praying that a monster who followed me around for months when I was living in Toronto doesn’t show up here. You think Monny was ugly!? This guy is *so* scary and repellent. Brr.

John, did you know that Fungus the Bogeyman is a kiddie show in Britland? I was very amused to hear that. Monsters mean money.

Katie’s finished math. Yay.

RRRR! Can you believe it???? Somebody is reading this blog, deciding I’m being disrespectful to Paul, and emailing him for his comments. Paul, being very used to my ‘whims and humours’, reviewed the offending paragraph, and went hunh?

Well, buddy, you go back and read this blog, and you will see that when I am not whining about Paul, I am praising him to the skies. And it isn’t just the fact that he turns to mush when he sees baby animals, or how well he looked after Keith in the hospital, or how he prevented me from throttling Kate, or cuddled me after a nightmare, or sang “The Street Where You Live” in the car while I practically cried with happiness, or made me laugh a thousand thousand times, or loves to be read to, or he’s one of the most competent and well rounded people on the planet, or that he shares much of my spiritual outlook, or because he’s grown immensely as a person in the last 20-odd years, it’s because of this: Of all the people in the world who have reason to hate me, he’s definitely the one with the grievances. But he loves me, and he proves it every bloody day. Everything I know about forgiveness, which is the kernel and essence of love that lasts, I learned from him. So there. I suppose I could fold my hands together and never say anything bad about Paul again, but he’d just poke me in the ribs once in a while and say, “You KNOW you want to say it!” and bloooooosh, Vesuvius. He knows me, and I know him. I wouldn’t live with anybody else for all the oil between China and Taiwan! And I love him more than I could possibly say, although I have tried to put it in poetry, which you obviously haven’t read! And I’m not going to pretend I’m never annoyed with him, because that would really misrepresent what is essentially a growing concern. RRRR!

2019 SEZ Janice Murray, who was very cheerful about ensuring that Paul got out of his relationship with me a few years later, is the person I’m whinging about here. She can go fuck herse’f. I could say any manner of rude an’ actionable things, but…. nah. She’s got the life and the face she deserves, and I need no part of either.

Pictured are a Badger, A Traffic Cone Fan, a Dr Filk and a Furry Socks, singing on the steps of the Musée.

I neglected to mention that I have a Unitarian Jihad name now. I am Sister Birch Rod of Sweet Reason. Tam Tam, bless her, is Sister Molotov Cocktail of Compassionate Togetherness. Please email me with your Unitarian Jihad name; I need cheering up. If you need help, think of a weapon or torture implement, and then think of a Unitarian virtue. Use either Sibling, Sister or Brother at the front and you’re done. There IS a name generator floating around the inertnet but it sucks, so I’m not posting it. You can borrow these if you like:

Sister Branks of Strawberry Socials; Brother Sai of Potluck Dinners; Brother Bunker Buster of Streamkeeping; Sister Iron Maiden of Consensus; and then of course if you bust open a Munchkin game, you’re ALL OVER weapons, like the Chainsaw of Bloody Dismemberment, Boots of Buttkicking, etc.

However, you could try Brother Nerve Disruptor of Silent Prayer; Sister Katana of Sister Phaser of Mediation; Sister Humvee of Playfulness; Brother FighterBomber of Earthwisdom; Sister Epee of Innate Worth; Brother ME109 of Balance; and I’m still trying to figure out how to work in some Ian M Banks names for space ships. Everytime I read the name “Frank Exchange of Views” or “Clear Air Turbulence” I crack up.

Check out www.freecycle.org …. Brother James passed this along. I think I will be joining this.

In the time it took me to get the camera, the dawn changed colour. Very annoying.

Tomorrow I go see the cardiologist. Today, I try to wring meaning from life because you already KNOW what the cardiologist is going to tell me. He’s either going to tell me to stop eating anything that makes life fun or he’s going to tell me I’m imagining things, possibly both.

Neglected to mention that I had a nice long chat with Liz the other day. Liz is my oldest friend from my long stint in London ON, and she and all of her clan are fine, except for the ones who need a slap upside the head to realign their neurons. We commiserated for a very long time over the death of the Pope (and anybody overhearing our conversation would have been calling 911 on the dangerous loonies) and then commiserated even longer on the joys of raising teenagers.

Liz, I will share with you what Jim A shared with me after I made a particularly ripe denunciation of Katie, about three years ago, at the lunch table at work. He said, All kids give an equal amount of trouble and heartache. Some do it all at once and get it over with… others spread it out over time. But in the end it’s all the same. I pass that along in case it helps at all. Time to stuff and shower.

I can’t find anything interesting on the internet. Who turned it off? I demand a recount. Okay, the stuff about nanotechnology on eurekalert.org. Specially the stuff about nanotech and the third world.

And this morning I head back in to work.

The spit yesterday at Giraffe in White Rock was delightful, as always, and food exquisite.

Spent the rest of the day reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell; was very happy when Stephen killed the fairy king. Man, I don’t think I’ve wanted to see an author kill a character more since Dunnett invented Gabriel. Absolutely LOVE the characters of Childermass and Vinculus. It will be Childermass that the actors fight over… of COURSE they are going to film it; the guy who wrote Dangerous Liaisons has been hired to write the script, which is a relief; at least the script will be literate.

Previews of Hitchhikers Guide say that it makes the Phantom Menace look like a film. Sigh.

I am trying to get in to work a bit early to clear email, so I’m outta here for now, more later….. oh, and to the DD fans, Brooke is already on book III of LC, having started (yup) BUYING them. I innocently asked her if she likes Vikings. This is a joke that only DD’ers will get.

Paul has started reading a Manual for Living, which is a re-vision of the philosphy of Epictetus (as written down by his students). He is very much enjoying it but says most of the advice is a lot easier to give than take. Seeing as how it is sometimes referred to as “the Mother of all Self-Help Books” I can see his point. It’s a tiny little book, too. Quite the inverse of what I will refer to later…

Paul’s off to Delta Air Park for the fly in breakfast… and yes, he’s driving there. I am off to a Spit at Giraffe in White Rock. I am very much looking forward to it – Spits are always grand fun. A Spit, as I explain again, is a gathering of Dorothy Dunnett fans.

I’m back in Doorstop country as of last night – I am reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and the damned thing COULD be used as a doorstop, it’s over a kilo, and I’ve got big divots outta my thumbs from holding it. I’m at page 316 and there are ONLY 782 pages. I’ve been told by all the reviewers that I’ll be sad when it ends.

Got the front flower bed adjoining the house straightened out last night, with most help from Paul. We mucked out the bottom of the compost bin; at one point the smell was so bad I almost pulled a Victoria Lady and tried to run away.

Spent a good chunk of yesterday drooling on the Lee Valley 2005 gardening catalogue. Why, o why, am I so sorcerously drawn to useful pots? Review of the spit later. Also, someone has sent me a cryptic email telling me to join the Unitarian Jihad. Can such things be?