–Are these some good changes coming to the BC NDP? Any move to give Labour a larger voice inside the NDP in BC is a good move. The question will be how far will the current leadership go?

–Genius article written by Robert Fisk… as usual. Always worth a read.

–Lenin’s Tomb takes a look at the lead writer for the Guardian and asks: Where’s your history?

–The MR Zine takes a look at the new Change To Win Coalition and is mildly interested. It is the same old organization, it is just that now you have 2.

–Some news about the Tyson Strike from the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist). The attacks on the labour leadership from the owners and negotiators of Tyson Foods must stop.

–The meat packers up against Tyson Foods are getting a boost in Unionized Labour support. They are going to need it.

–Jim Lobe does an analysis of the loss of Libby from the White House.

–More strikes at the House of Commons in the UK. The workers are not treated well at this space that can drop 20 Billion on nuclear missles but cannot give their supports staff a pension or sick pay.

–I think the answer to that question is a resounding NO! So why is it that the government is going ahead and spending it?

–Germany is going to repair relations with the US? Does that mean that the new Chancellor is going to start engaging in US imperialist projects?

–This is not something that you hear enough about.

–There is trouble brewing in Quebec’s public labour sector. Labour seems to be flexing its muscles a little more than usual recently. It is a good thing to see.

–It looks like the mainstream media was once against too optimistic about the end being insight about the Telus strike/lockout. I will wait for some analysis before making any comments about this.

“Delphi, the world’s largest auto parts supplier, and General Motors, the world’s largest automaker, have launched an unprecedented union-busting assault against the United Auto Workers (UAW). Four years into a purported economic recovery based largely on massive layoffs and deadly speedup, U.S. workers are seeing the largest decline in real wages in decades. On October 8, GM spin-off Delphi, which supplies GM with parts, went the corporate bankruptcy route already taken by most major airlines. Delphi’s workers are threatened with destitution, as the company demands that their pay be cut from $27.00 to $10.00 per hour!“

–Any question that some of the leaders of the PQ are against the interests of the working class? Have a read. The politics in Quebec are complex but there is some indication that the left within the PQ and the left outside of the party are starting to not get along very well.

–Some changes on the right in India. The president of the BJP has resigned.

–Miers has stepped down as the Bush nominee. This is good for the left in the US but it happened because the far-right did not like her. They might end up with someone worse (though, it is hard to think of who that would be).

–Is globalization good in some cases? Have a read of this debate within the Left.

–Is there any question that the new economy of China is designed to help the rich and not the poor and the workers of China? Have a read of an analysis of the economic state of the China.

–Loan guarantee? Who asked the people of the province if the government could put out a loan guarantee? I think we should be more worried about the 400 jobs that are lost…

–If the state knew that the stuff he was spraying was going to have a negative effect on him and still made him use it then there is no defence.

–Murray Dobbin takes a look at Public Private Partnerships (P3s). The answer is that there is nothing good about them and they are taking money away from other services that people would like to have. If you want a quick primer to what P3s are then have a read.

–Doug Ireland’s blog has a rundown of the current state of Polish politics written by David Ost. An interesting read and worth knowing if you care at all about European politics.

–It is not just US soldiers that know how bad it is in Iraq. The UK military is also losing recruits.

–This article starts with a nasty “joke” but then points out the obvious: In Canada we treat the First Nation Communities as if they are second class.

–Isn’t it great that the leaders who have the power to make unilateral decisions are the ones that never get the blame?

In answer to yesterday’s question: “How are we to account for the relation between thought and being when they have been identified as opposites with no common thread; with no ‘connection’?”

Spinoza answers that the question itself has not been properly posed. Thought and extension are not seperate, but are two attributes (expressions, properties, or manifestations) of the same substance: real infinite Nature.

“That was Spinoza’s standpoint, a circumstance that seemingly gave Engels grounds for replying categorically and unambiguously to Plekhanov when he asked: ‘So in your opinion old Spinoza was right in saying that thought and extension were nothing but two attributes of one and the same substance?’ “Of course,” answered Engels, “old Spinoza was quite right”.’”

This, however, is not to say that human thought is “in the world”; rather (and here I will employ A. N. Whitehead’s terminology), the world (substance) has “sensitivity” and “materiality” — The more complex the entity (e.g. a human), the more complex the “thought”. So, for instance, an atom has both characteristics of “sensitivity” and “materiality”, or in the language of the time, it has both “thought” and “extension”.

This distinction between human thought and thought in the world is well exemplified in this passage: “Spinoza said more than once that it was impermissible to represent thought as attribute in the image and likeness of human thought; it was only the universal property of substance that was the basis of any ‘finite thought’, including human thought, but in no case was it identical with it. To represent thought in general in the image and likeness of existing human thought, of its modus, or ‘particular case, meant simply to represent it incorrectly, in ‘an incomplete way’, by a ‘model’, so to say, of its far from most perfected image (although the most perfected known to us).”

This is reminiscent of Plato, who held that the world was knowable because it was imbued with thought.

Another important point in this essay is that thinking is identified as action.

–The WSWS takes another indepth look at Friedman of the the NYTs. It is a wonder why anyone reads Friedman’s writings as he ends up being wrong on pretty much everything.

–Some news from the ground about the conditions in Kashmir after the earthquake.

–Some more WSWS analysis of the re-hashed attacks on Respect MP George Galloway. The WSWS group is not a big fan of Galloway but will support him in the face of an attack from the ridiculous right.

–Lenin’s Tomb takes a look the history of liberals in Britain and the US and how they seem to shoot themselves in the foot all the time. I would say that it is a good thing except they tend to bring bad things upon the people they are exploiting at the time.

–The public needs to stand strong with the workers if it wants to keep these public services at a level that is useful for us to use.

–The legal system looks like it might actually be catching up to the stuff that is going on in Guantanamo Bay Gulag. Too bad it will not have an effect on the lives of the people there.

–Patrick Cockburn writes about the current state of affairs in Iraq. One wonders what good a constitution is if there is no law or justice throughout the country?

–I had to post this again. Looks like Hands Off Venezuela is making waves. They have now got regular posts on ZNet which is one of the largest left-wing news portals in the US.