Re: [LAAMN] Fw: A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs Concerning Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-20 Thread Tamadhur Al-Aqeel 
This looks like a hoax to me. Please don't circulate unvetted articles. For 
instance, Goldman Sachs would never say: "...  we recognize that the capitalist 
system as we know it is circling the drain - but there's plenty of money to be 
made on the way down."
 
They believe nothing of the sort. This is irony, a la "The Yes Men."
 
 
 

--- On Thu, 10/20/11, jdema...@sbcglobal.net  wrote:


From: jdema...@sbcglobal.net 
Subject: [LAAMN] Fw: A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs Concerning Occupy 
Wall Street
To: "Pacifica National Board" , "sheila hamanaka" 
, freek...@yahoogroups.com, 
newpacif...@yahoogroups.com, friends_of_k...@yahoogroups.com, 
ourw...@yahoogroups.com, rocklandfriendsofw...@yahoogroups.com, "LAAMN" 
, "change" 
Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011, 9:22 AM



  



I certainly have to agree with the post below. 
I do think that there should be one change though: 
Instead of the slogan 'Support the 99%' , Pacifica will, of course, have to put 
forth a slogan that shows support of those Pacifica truly supports with the 
Pacifica slogan of:
'Support the 1% (and Sh*t on the 99%)'. 

Jim 'Pacifica is waaay worse in its lack of support of (and OPPOSITION TO) 
Democracy than even the Republican Party.' D.
P.S. Probably only an 'Occupy Pacifica Movement' will begin to address the 
problems at Pacifica.
P.P.S. YEA for the 'Professionals' (the 1%ers) at Pacifica
- Original Message - 
From: sheila hamanaka 
To: Pacifica National Board 
Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 5:51 AM
Subject: Fwd: [freekpfk] Fw: A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs Concerning 
Occupy Wall Street

Dear Pacifica National Board,

This is wonderful news (see email below.) I think full credit should be given 
to the Chair of the WBAI Local Station Board, Mitchell Cohen*, and LSB member 
Steve Brown, for encouraging Pacifica's relationship with Goldman Sachs. If we 
follow Brown's suggestion, and support Ron Paul, Pacifica may in future be on 
the receiving end of libertarian investment, if we have the zeitgeist, that is.

*Mr. Cohen btw also deserves our kudos for - at every possible opportunity at 
Occupy Wall Street - fearlessly throwing himself between demonstrators and 
videocamera-wielding reporters.

Sincerely
Anon E Mouse

-- Forwarded message --
From: 
Date: Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 7:13 PM
Subject: [freekpfk] Fw: A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs Concerning 
Occupy Wall Street
To: friends_of_k...@yahoogroups.com, freek...@yahoogroups.com, 
newpacif...@yahoogroups.com, rocklandfriendsofw...@yahoogroups.com, 
ourw...@yahoogroups.com

October 18, 2011

A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs

Concerning Occupy Wall Street

NEW YORK

The following is a letter released today by Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of 
banking giant Goldman Sachs:

Dear Donor Receiver:

Up until now, Goldman Sachs has been silent on the subject of the protest 
movement known as Occupy Wall Street. That does not mean, however, that it has 
not been very much on our minds. As thousands have gathered in Lower Manhattan, 
passionately expressing their deep discontent with the status quo, we have 
taken note of these protests. And we have asked ourselves this question:

How can we make money off them?

The answer is the newly launched Goldman Sachs Global Rage Fund, whose 
investment objective is to monetize the Occupy Wall Street protests as they 
spread around the world. At Goldman, we recognize that the capitalist system as 
we know it is circling the drain - but there's plenty of money to be made on 
the way down.

The Rage Fund will seek out opportunities to invest in products that are
poised to benefit from the spreading protests, from police batons and
barricades to stun guns and forehead bandages. Furthermore, as clashes between 
police and protesters turn ever more violent, we are making significant bets on 
companies that manufacture replacements for broken windows and overturned cars, 
as well as the raw materials necessary for the construction and incineration of 
effigies.

It would be tempting, at a time like this, to say "Let them eat cake." But
at Goldman, we are actively seeking to corner the market in cake futures. We 
project that through our aggressive market manipulation, the price of a piece 
of cake will quadruple by the end of 2011.

Please contact your Goldman representative for a full prospectus. As the world 
descends into a Darwinian free-for-all, the Goldman Sachs Rage Fund is a great 
way to tell the protesters, "Occupy this." We haven't felt so good about 
something we've sold since our souls.

Sincerely,

Lloyd Blankfein

Chairman, Goldman Sachs

http://borowitzreport.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=49de3335c30245ecd0fa
291aa&id=2524d6fd6c&e=ca12406810

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---
LAAMN

[LAAMN] Bridges not Barriers: Access & Quality in the Calif State Universtiy - 10/26

2011-10-20 Thread Karin Pally 
Are state budget cuts and the policy decisions of the Chancellor’s Office
affecting educational access and quality in the California State
University?

Next Wednesday, 10/26, scholars Patricia Gàndara and Gary Orfield of the *UCLA
Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles* will host a research
symposium at Cal State University, Los Angeles, about recent changes in
educational access and quality in the CSU. The symposium is inspired by the
series of reports,  *The CSU Crisis and California’s Future* (
 
http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/college-access/diversity/the-csu-crisis-and-californias-future-authors-and-abstracts
 ).

CSULA faculty, staff and students will present research and perspectives on
educational access and quality in the California State University.  Topics
include recruitment and outreach, developmental/remedial education, and the
history of access to the CSU. There will be plenty of time for discussion.
The community is invited!

*When*: Wed, 10/26, 4-6 PM

*Where*: Salazar Hall E184, Cal State LA (permitted and visitor parking
underneath and adjacent

*Sponsored by*: California Faculty Association (CFA), Academic Professionals
of California (APC), and Students for Quality Education (SQE)

*Light refreshments will be served.

Please RSVP to 323-343-5310 or
c...@cslanet.calstatela.edu
.
*


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[LAAMN] NYC Labor Against the War: 10.20 OWS Report: Global Spring

2011-10-20 Thread MichaelL 
NYC Labor Against the War
10.20 Occupy Wall Street Report:
Global Spring

  [720]  
Greece on Strike, Day 2

—–
'The  ever-expanding war that terrorizes Afghans, Iraqis, Pakistanis,
Somalis,  Yemenis in their homelands also has a domestic face inside the
US. You  can see it in the prison-industrial complex which is eating up
the lives  of brown and black Americans. You can see it in the detention
and  deportation regime which constantly surveils Muslim communities, 
undocumented immigrants, suspect Others -- whose only crime is not being
white.

Comrades we stand with you against corporate greed and  police
repression. We Pakistanis, we Muslims, suffer from the same  system. We
ask you, in turn, to stand with us.'

Pakistani Statement in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street,
http://bit.ly/oYyHkc 
—–


  OWS-NYC: FRIDAY CALENDAR

3:30 p.m.: March Against Verizon Corporate Greed
Early last  Friday morning, members of the CWA joined thousands of
others to help  defend our park. If you want to march in solidarity with
their struggle  against Verizon, meet at 3:30 at Liberty Plaza to march
to Verizon's  headquarters at 140 West St.
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=190019924408944


1 p.m.: Friday Prayer at Occupy Wall Street
We, the Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York and Muslim 
New Yorkers stand in solidarity with the protesters of Occupy Wall 
Street on grounds of free speech, right to assemble and justice for all.
Indeed, we are part of the 99%.
https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=228065433913260


1 p.m.: Stop "Stop and Frisk"
Harlem State Office Building
Everyone  knows it is wrong. It is illegal, racist, unconstitutional and
intolerable! But THIS FRIDAY people are putting themselves on the line 
to STOP IT. This is the beginning; this is serious; we won't stop
until  Stop & Frisk is ended.
http://stopmassincarceration.tumblr.com/


6:30 p.m.: Labor Outreach Committee Meeting
DC 37, 125 Barclay Street,  in rooms 3 & 4.


  OWS-NYC: UPDATE

NY protesters set sights on Sotheby's
The auction  house Sotheby's has become the latest target of New York's
'Occupy Wall  Street' protesters. The demonstrators are showing support
for 43  striking art handlers, who say the auction house wants to cut
their pay,  despite reportedly selling $3billion worth of art in the
first half of  this year alone.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/10/20111019204224607164.\
html


Workers Made Bloomberg Blink
The pivotal force that made the mayor blink was the unprecedented (at 
least in the last three decades) show of confrontational unity by unions
-- from the Communications Workers of America and 1199SEIU health care 
workers' union to the behemoth of them all, the AFL-CIO, that is, the 
national federation of millions of union workers. IN THE 12 hours prior 
to the anticipated showdown, unions felt pressure from their members to 
call out their troops. Only unlike most labor events of recent years, 
this was not some pro forma, well-choreographed affair.
http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/20/making-a-billionaire-blink


Latinos Provide Key Support To Occupy Wall Street
"Whether white, black, Latino, documented or undocumented, the common 
denominator here is that the dominant upper class is exploiting us. That
is why we have to change these conditions."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/latinos-occupy-wall-street_n_10\
11283.html


Save the Date: Fri., 10.28: Occupy Harlem Mobilization
We stand in solidarity with Occupiers of Wall Street.
No more bank bailouts! No more wars! We want money for jobs, housing,
education and medical care.
http://theblacklistpub.ning.com/forum/topics/occupy-harlem-friday-octobe\
r-28



  NYPD RACISM, BRUTALITY, REPRESSION

Michael Daragjati, cop accused of racism-fueled false arrest, case
prompts probe of NYPD policy
‎"We  are criminalizing thousands of young people in New York
City," Adams  said. "What is it going to take before we realize this is
a citywide  problem?"
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2011/10/20/2011-10-20_michael_d\
argjati_cop_accused_of_racismfueled_false_arrests_case_prompts_probe_of.\
html#ixzz1bLvNCKW5


Former federal lawyer calls for investigation of NYPD Muslim spy
programs
The  Obama administration has repeatedly

[LAAMN] Uncle Ruthie, and other Great Women

2011-10-20 Thread Ed Pearl 
 
Hi.  I have to make do with Ruthie's event flyer as an attachment and our
radio promo, below.  I've just opened pieces in a row by or about three
extrordinary women, which moved me to join them with Ruthi's.  Most of you
know who Marcy Winograd is and what she does, so will be delighted, but not
surprised by her piece on Tuesdays action on the education front.  You may
not know Grace Aaron, or if you know her will be surprised by the account of
her and Ken's trip to New York.  For those who don't, Grace is the
brilliant, forceful activist in Pacifica who, as Executive Director,
literally saved the network, a couple of years ago, when it was on the edge
of bankrupcy.  Here, she offers us a trip of beauty and fullfillment, and a
wonderful poem. 
Ed

 

Revised KPFK promo cart for October 22nd's Children of All Ages Show

[Uncle Ruthie music in]

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, The Ash Grove present's KPFK's own Uncle Ruthie, with
Polly Hall and Andrew Barkan,  a show for Children of All Ages,  Saturday,
October 22nd, 3 to 5 PM,  Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont, right next to the
Los Feliz Theater.  

Uncle Ruthie is the winner of the 2010 Children's Music Network's Magic
Penny Award, while Polly & Andrew are brilliant new arrivals on the L.A.

children's music scent

That's Saturday afternoon, October 22nd, 3-5 pm, at Skylight Books, 1818 N.
Vermont.  No charge, but donations for the KPFK fund drive,

will be appreciated.

[Uncle Ruthie music out]

 

Information available on   www.kpfk.org or
www.ashgrovemusic.com  .  Or call
310-391-5794.  

 

KPFK is our proud, media sponsor.

* * *

From: pdla-boun...@svpal.org [mailto:pdla-boun...@svpal.org] On Behalf Of
Marcy Winograd
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 2:12 PM
To: p...@svpal.org
Subject: [PDLA] Hundreds March & A Dozen Camp Out in Front of LAUSD - A
Middle of the Night Confrontation with Police



Jose Lara at OccupyLAUSD protest.jpg
(photo by Myla Reson)

Thank you to all who came out to march with public school teachers and
OccupyLA yesterday, when we demanded LAUSD use its 55-million dollar
surplus to rehire 1200 laid-off teachers and hundreds of counselors,
librarians,
library aides, nurses, and clerical staff. 

About a dozen set up tents and camped outside of LAUSD's offices on
Beaudry in downtown LA.  Around 11 pm, when police were about to remove the
tents,
#OccupyLAUSD called protestors at #OccupyLos Angeles.  About 100
#OccupyLA activists marched a mile up to Beaudry, in the darkness of
night, to stand in solidarity with the campers.  The tents stayed!

 We are witnessing the underfunding of our schools and overcrowding of
classrooms,
(English and history have up to 43 students in a class), alongside the
seizure of our public schools
by developer-funded corporate charters with unelected boards, cheating
scandals, and union-busting.  



In fact, the court appointed Office of the Independent Monitor for the
Modified Consent
Decree for LAUSD stated that children with disabilities are "significantly
underrepresented" 
at corporate charter schools.  Additionally, a comprehensive (2009) Center
for Research 
on Education Outcomes study at Stanford University revealed that 37% of
charter schools 
posted math gains significantly below students enrolled in public schools.

Enough!  Now LAUSD leadership wants to give corporate charters another 37
schools in the
next round of the Public Schools Choice initiative. Let successful teachers
with proven
track records lead the reform efforts to create exciting project-based
classrooms. Let our
schools serve the 99% of students, parents, and teachers, not the 1% of
billionaires. Protect
and empower public education.  


In solidarity,

Marcy Winograd

(P.S. For more on the march, visit my facebook page or follow me on twitter:
MarcyWinograd)


OccupyLAUSD Crowd & Mike.jpg


* * *

Hi!!
 
Well, we're back in L.A. and it's good to be home!  How different it is
here!  Today it's cool and the sky is completely overcast.  But you can't
see any sky.  It's all a bright grey.  So different from NY!  Here you don't
see clouds as much and today the air is almost completely still .  L.A. is a
city, but you see more cars than people.  In Manhattan -- WOW!!  PEOPLE!
All kinds.  People watching was so great!  Different types of bodies,
different types of clothing.  Different ethnic mixes.  So many kind people
who let us stay with them, helped us with our luggage up and down subway
stairs, gave us directions patiently.  But that's true here, too.
 
NY was great!!  Lots of STYLE.  It seems like a lot more creativity in the
shops, cute restaurants, architecture, etc.  Stainless steel very long
tables, moss encrusted boulders in odd shapes creating a type of giant
Japanese rock garden near the river, and an old, ugly building where they
painted some of the windows a medium blue in a pleasing pattern that for
about $200 reformulated ugly into great!  Apartments and lofts with lovely
coved

[LAAMN] FCNL: Killing People Is Not Good Policy

2011-10-20 Thread Romi Elnagar 
Killing People Is Not Good Policy
By Bridget Moix on 10/20/2011 @ 01:30 PM
Tags: Peaceful Prevention, Libya, , Foreign Policy, War Is Not the Answer 
Many in Libya - and here in Washington - are celebrating today's news that 
Qaddafi was fatally wounded in battle. The demise of the dictator is 
being hailed as a "success" for the NATO military intervention and a 
demonstration of how the "responsibility to protect" doctrine should 
work. We at FCNL disagree.
Any time a human conflict spirals into violence and war, with 
state-sanctioned extra-judicial killing as its policy end, it should be 
considered a human tragedy and a policy failure, not a success. Libya 
may be free of a brutal dictator today, but the civil war and 
international military intervention that killed him also took many other lives 
- civilians as well as those who took up arms on one side or the 
other. As Quakers, we believe each of these lives - no matter how 
ill-used - is still sacred in some way. Non-military methods for protecting 
civilians are available but are too rarely tried.
Moreover, as despicable as the actions of Qaddafi or others of these 
individuals were, killing them off does little to ensure peace and 
stability for Libya going forward. The long hard road to peace, justice, and 
development for the people of Libya will be much more difficult 
work and will not gain the headlines - or the billions of dollars in 
international support - that the war has.
Yesterday, before the news of Qaddafi's death broke, I participated in a 
roundtable discussion on the "responsibility to protect" with Madeleine 
Albright, Wes Clark, Sen. John McCain, and other leading 
foreign policy thinkers who all hailed the Libya intervention as a 
success as well. When I cautioned against using the word "success" when 
thousands of people have perished and the future remains still very 
unclear, I didn't win over many around the table. But if we don't say 
it, who will?
The Libya intervention has in fact set progress on implementing the 
responsibility to protect effectively backward. Many countries already 
suspicious of the intentions of 
powerful countries like the US believe the intervention went beyond its 
mandate to protect civilians. They are now opposed more than ever to 
supporting international action to prevent or respond to mass 
atrocities, as evidenced by China and Russia's vetos on a UN resolution 
simply condemning the Syrian government for its abuse of civilians. 
Ultimately, R2P can only gain global support and be effectively 
implemented if it focuses on preventing abuses and finding less 
intrusive and harmful ways of intervening to protect civilians when they are in 
danger.
These days, I'm downright appalled at how often US policy has deteriorated to 
assassination. In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Central Africa, Somalia, Yemen, 
and who knows where else, our policymakers have failed 
so woefully to come up with more effective - and legal - alternatives, 
that they can do nothing but send in the drones or the special forces or arm 
other assassins to kill off the bad guys. And this is celebrated as success?
Earlier this week, Secretary of State Clinton stated forthrightly that the US 
wanted to see Qaddafi dead. Apparently the US got its wish. But we should be 
ashamed of our 
government, not proud. And we should be insisting our policymakers find better 
solutions than war and invest in more tools than just military hammers to 
address global problems.

http://fcnl.org/blog/2c/killing_people_not_good_policy/


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[LAAMN] Sacred Sites Peacewalk for a Nuclear-Free World

2011-10-20 Thread C 
Sacred Sites Peacewalk for a Nuclear-Free World
October 22 - November 6, 2011
Diablo Canyon to Sogorea Te/Glen Cove, Vallejo, California

Join a two-week interfaith peace walk from the Diablo Canyon nuclear power 
plant near San Luis Obispo to the Bay Area. With the tragedy of Fukushima in 
our hearts, we will walk 15-18 miles a day looking into the safety of land and 
people along our route, the still-present danger of nuclear weapons, the 
poisonous nuclear fuel cycle and how to end the nuclear nightmare in California 
and worldwide. 

The Diablo Canyon plant defiled a site sacred to the Chumash people, and native 
lands still bear the brunt of toxic mining and waste disposal that mark the 
nuclear industry. Accordingly, the walk ends at an indigenous sacred site of 
true power, consecrated by years of struggle to protect it from development.

We expect participation of Native elders and activists, Buddhist monks, 
Japanese people affected by Fukushima, and citizens who have worked for decades 
to expose nuclear danger and find alternatives to nuclear power. We will learn 
from each other and from communities along the way.  Everyone is welcome to 
join for an hour, a day or a week. No alcohol, drugs, or weapons. 

We need help with lodging, food, organizing local community events, modest 
expenses, media/communications, and shuttle-transport.

Sponsors: San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace; Indian People Organizing for 
Change, organizers of the Shellmound Walks in the Bay Area and a successful 109 
day vigil to protect the sacred site at Sogorea Te/Glen Cove; SSP&RIT; 
Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order.
Website: www.CAnuclearwalk.com
Contacts: Louise Dunlap, lou...@undoingsilence.org,510-450-0651  Johnella 
LaRose, 510-734-7373 (cell); 

DURING THE WALK:  Linda Seeley, cell, 805-234-1769






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[LAAMN] Today's LUV News: 20 October, 2011]

2011-10-20 Thread scotpeden 


*AN ACTION FOR THE PEOPLE


*
**

*The general assembly at Freedom Plaza has called for the 99%
toexpress their outrage with Citigroup

and the banking industry that is making record profits off the backs of
working people,"**by demonstrating at Citibank locations everywhere. We
are asking people to express their outrage in a very visible and audible
way in order to shut these banks down for an hour, for a day---and to
continue to put pressure on the banking industry indefinitely."
*

*Citibank got a taxpayer bailout, awarded themselves bonuses, and
continue to deny loans to those who need them while foreclosing on the
homes of the victims of the bankster scams.
*

*The call comes with a list of talking points.
*

*Here is an opportunity to join the revolution, wherever you live, and
participate in real democracy.*


*ARE THERE MORE CHILDREN IN POVERTY THAN THE POPULATION OF YOUR STATE?


*
**
*Remapping debate 
has come up with statistics to show that in 46 of the 50 states, the
entire population is less than the number of American children in poverty.

Millions of American children go to bed hungry each night and are not
getting proper nutrition, in the wealthiest nation on earth, because our
priorities are enriching transnational investors and transnational
corporations that don't give a damn about this country or its people
(but finance our elections), through privatization schemes, "free trade"
agreements," and outright corporate welfare.
*
**

*THE LATEST OCCUPATION UPDATES


*
**
*
David Swanson sent us an email this morning to say that Lisa Simeone was
fired from her job

because /NPR/ had found out she participated in the Occupy Movement.
The low lifes of /NPR/ take money from polluters, defense cheats,
banksters and other scumbags (adjusting their programming accordingly)
and find nothing wrong with this, but they go after anybody who
represents the public interest.

We have had a standing offer to /NPR/ for over a decade at /LUV News/
that we will show how any of their "flagship" programs, /Morning
Edition, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation/, etc., go against
the public interest .  We
have invited /NPR/ executives to pick a future date and program of their
choice, and we will then show how that program clearly sells out the
public interest.  The cowards won't even respond, knowing we would lay
their sellout bare.

If you are a member of /NPR/, please consider quitting and telling them
you think Lisa Simeone has more integrity in her little finger than all
of the corporate butt-kissing executives of /NPR/ laid end to end.

**Dennis Trainor Jr. sent us an email linking to one of his videos,
which he calls the "anthem" for the occupy movement
.  It is a stirring song
whose primary lyrics are "Occupy, DC, occupy everything."  Trainor has
made, in our opinion, the best videos covering the movement, but
/YouTube/ often imbeds commercial ads on them and they may be in
conflict with the movement, so we say this as a warning, /LUV News/ does
not endorse the commercial ads.  Send the link to your friends to
motivate them!*
*
*


**It never ceases to amaze us how many in the world are being credited
in the occupy movement press coverage for starting the phenomenon.  One
can go back in history over recent centuries, and even millennia,
finding a great many protests in many ways similar, often with a similar
clash of the classes and an occupation involved.

But one in recent history stands out because of the sheer odds against
it, the Zapatista movement in Mexico, in which the most wretched of
peasants stood proudly to say no, on the day NAFTA was implemented by
Bill Clinton to crush the working classes and the poor, push Mexican
family farms under, and drive Mexican wages downward (as the Maquiladora
precursor had predicted, or global capitalists wouldn't have implemented
it).

The Zapatistas, up against the might of the Mexican Army, with
satellites of the American Empire overhead, tracking their every
movement, stood their ground on behalf of the children who would go
hungry, and the last shred of hope they were faced with losing as they
put their backs to the wall.  Although we oppose violence at /LUV News/,
we supported the Zapatista, as a rare exception.

The Zapatista had tried every nonviolent means: when they marched in a
peaceful protest, they were thrown into jails-- men, women and
children.  They were told they had no voice, that the powerful decide
for t

[LAAMN] Scheer: Let Them Eat Keller

2011-10-20 Thread Ed Pearl 
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/let_them_eat_keller_20111020/

Let Them Eat Keller


By   Robert Scheer

Funny, he doesn't look like Marie Antoinette. But when former New York Times
Executive Editor Bill Keller

asks his readers if they are "bored by the soggy sleep-ins and warmed-over
anarchism of Occupy Wall Street," it displays the arrogance of disoriented
royal privilege.  

Perhaps his contempt for anti-corporate protesters was honed by the example
of his father, once the chairman of Chevron. In any case, it is revealing,
given the cheerleading support that the Times gave to the radical
deregulation of Wall Street that occurred when Keller was the managing
editor of the newspaper.

As the Times reported on its news pages in 1998, heralding the merger that
created Citigroup as the world's largest financial conglomerate: "In a
single day, with a bold merger, pending legislation in Congress to sweep
away Depression-era restrictions on the financial services industry has been
given a sudden, and unexpected, new chance of passage." 

The report all too breathlessly continued, "Indeed, within 24 hours of the
deal's announcement, lobbyists for insurers, banks and Wall Street firms
were huddling with Congressional banking committee staff members to
fine-tune a measure that would update the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act separating
commercial banking from Wall Street and insurance. ."

The "fine-tuned" law, combined with another one similarly drafted by
congressional Republicans and also signed by Democratic President Bill
Clinton, exempted trading in collateralized debt obligations and credit
default swaps from government regulation. That was the very action that
enabled the banking crisis that has brought the nation's economy to its
knees and protesters to Wall Street. Citigroup, where Clinton's treasury
secretary and deregulation advocate Robert Rubin ended up as chairman,
specialized in what proved to be toxic mortgage-backed securities and had to
be bailed out with massive taxpayer credits.

One would think that the failure of The New York Times to cover this sorry
tale as it was unfolding would leave Keller with some humble understanding
of why protesters, undeterred by rain, should be celebrated rather than
scorned. But such accountability has hardly been a hallmark of those in the
media or in business and political circles, who with few exceptions got it
so wrong. 

Just how wrong was laid out in the Tuesday night Republican debate by Ron
Paul, whose consistent libertarian critique has been refreshing throughout
the banking meltdown. Other presidential candidates stumbled over their
earlier support of the TARP banking bailout, and one of them, Herman Cain,
responding to a question about Occupy Wall Street, stuck by his statement
"don't blame Wall Street, don't blame the big banks, if you don't have a
job, you're not rich, blame yourself."

Paul took him on with a clarity that plainly endorsed the main point of the
Wall Street demonstrators: "Well, I think that Mr. Cain has blamed the
victims." Paul pointed to the true culprits, those on Wall Street and their
partners in crime in the government and the Federal Reserve, who bailed out
the banks but not the people they victimized. 

"The bailouts came from both parties," Paul observed, adding, "Guess who
they bailed out? The big corporations, the people who were ripping off the
people in the derivatives market. . But who got stuck? The middle class got
stuck . they lost their jobs, and they lost their houses.  If you had to
give money out, you should have given it to the people who were losing it in
their mortgages, not to the banks."

It was heartening that many in the Republican crowd cheered Paul's
statement, as it was earlier this week when the respected Quinnipiac poll
found that "By a 67-23 percent margin, New York City voters agree with the
views of the Wall Street protesters." Despite the inconvenience of the
protests to New Yorkers, the poll showed that by a 72-24 percent margin
voters of that city say the protesters should be allowed to stay at their
Wall Street location "as long as they wish."  

That's an admirable sentiment on the part of New Yorkers, which was echoed
by Times readers who directed a torrent of criticism at Keller. He pointed
out on his blog that they took issue with what he referred to as "my
slightly snarky reference to Occupy Wall Street. Okay, maybe not 'slightly.'
" He now claims he didn't intend to show contempt for the protesters, but
that is exactly what he did. 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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[LAAMN] Uri Avnery: The Coming Shock: Thoughts on Yom Kippur

2011-10-20 Thread Romi Elnagar 
Thoughts on Yom Kippur

The Coming Shock
by URI AVNERY

 
ON YOM KIPPUR eve last week, when real Jews were praying for their lives, I sat 
on the seashore of Tel Aviv, thinking.
It was my first Yom Kippur without Rachel, and the dark water reflected my mood.
I was thinking about our state, the State of Israel, in which I have, so to 
speak, a founder’s share.
Will it endure? Will it be here in another 100 years? Or is it a passing 
episode, a historic fluke?
When asked for his assessment of the French Revolution, Zhou Enlai famously 
replied: “It’s too early to tell.”
The Zionist Revolution – and that’s what it was – 
started more than a hundred years after the French one. It is certainly 
much too early to tell.
* * *
ONCE, IN a more cheerful mood, I told my friends: 
“Perhaps we are all wrong. Perhaps Israel is not really the final shape 
of the Zionist enterprise. Like the planners of every great project, the 
Zionists decided first to build a ‘pilot’, a prototype, in order to 
test their scheme. Actually, we Israelis are only guinea pigs. Sooner or later 
another Theodor Herzl will come by and, after analyzing the 
faults and mistakes of this experiment, will draw up the blueprint of 
the real state, which will be far superior.”
Herzl 2 will start by asking: where did Herzl 1 go wrong?
Herzl 1 visited Palestine only once, and that only 
for the express purpose of meeting the German emperor, whom he wanted to enlist 
for his enterprise. The Kaiser insisted on seeing him at the 
gate of Jerusalem, listened patiently to what he had to say and then 
purportedly commented to his aides: “It’s a grand idea, but you can’t do it 
with Jews!”
He meant the Jews he knew – the members of a 
world-wide religious-ethnic community. Herzl intended to turn these into a 
modern-style nation, like the other modern nations of Europe.
Herzl was not a profound thinker, he was a journalist and dramatist. He – and 
his successors – saw the necessary 
transformation as basically a question of logistics. Get the Jews to 
Palestine, and everything will fall into place automatically. The Jews 
will become a normal people, a people (“Volk”) like other peoples. A 
nation among nations.
* * *
BUT THE Jews of his day were neither a people nor a nation. They were something 
rather different.
Whilst anomalous in 19th century Europe, 
the Jewish Diaspora was quite normal 2000 years earlier. The large-scale social 
structure of that time was a network of Diasporas – autonomous 
religious-ethnic entities dispersed throughout the “civilized” 
(Mediterranean) world. The ruling empires – Persian, Alexandrine, Roman, 
Byzantine, Ottoman – recognized them as the natural fabric of society.
Nations in the modern territorial sense were then 
inconceivable. A Jew in Jerusalem did not belong to the same society as a 
Hellenist in Caesarea, only a hundred miles away. A Christian man in 
Alexandria could not marry the Jewish girl next door, but she could 
marry a Jewish man in far-away Antiochia.
Since then, Europe has changed many times, until the 
emergence of the modern nations. The Jews did not change. When Herzl 
looked for a solution to the “Jewish problem”, they were still the same 
ethnic-religious Diaspora.
No problem, he thought, once I get them to Palestine, they will change.
BUT AN ethnic-religious community, living for 
millennia as a persecuted minority in a hostile environment, acquires a 
mentality of its own. It fears the “Goyish” government, the source of 
unending evil edicts. It sees everyone outside the community as a 
potential enemy, unless proven otherwise (and even then). It develops an 
intense sense of solidarity with members of its own community, even a 
thousand miles away, supporting them through thick and thin, whatever 
they do. In their helpless situation, the persecuted dream of a day of 
revenge, when they can do unto others as others have done unto them.
All this pervades their world-view, their religion 
and their traditions, transmitted from generation to generation.  Jews 
have prayed to God for centuries, year after year, on Pesach eve: “Pour 
your wrath upon the Goyim…”
When the Zionists started to arrive and founded the 
new community, called the “Yishuv” (settlement), it seemed that Herzl 
had been right. They started to behave like the embryo of a real nation. They 
discarded religion and despised the Diaspora. To be called “exile 
Jew” was the worst possible insult. They saw themselves as “Hebrew”, 
rather then Jewish. They started to build a new society and a new 
culture.
And then the awful thing happened: the Holocaust.
It brought all the old Jewish convictions back with a vengeance. Not only the 
Germans were the guilty, but all the nations 
who looked on and did not lift a finger to save the victims. So all the 
old beliefs were true after all: the whole world is against the Jews, we must 
defend ourselves whatever it takes, we can only rely on ourselves. The attitude 
of the Yishuv towards Jewishness

[LAAMN] Greece October 19-20: After earth-shattering general strike –what next?

2011-10-20 Thread Cort Greene 
*The Relevance of Marxism Today *
*Written by Alan Woods and Ted Grant in 1994 Thursday, 20 October 2011 *
*[image: 
Print]*

* *

*As the crisis of world capitalism becomes ever more severe we would suggest
reading** this article written in
1994*
*. It explains all the factors that have led to the present crisis, and
although the temporary and unprecedented credit bubble allowed the system to
avoid a serious recession for an extended period of time, eventually all the
factors explained in this article have come to the surface.*

**

http://www.marxist.com/relevance-of-marxism-today.htm

-



http://www.marxist.com/greece-after-earth-shattering-general-strike-what-next.htm
 Greece October 19-20: After earth-shattering general strike –what
next?
Written by Marxistiki Foni Thursday, 20 October 2011
[image: 
Print]

*Today (October 19), the first day of the 48-hour general strike in Greece
was sensational. Apart from the government and public utilities workers that
participated in the strike massively, hundreds of thousands of workers from
the private sector came out on strike for the first time, and also joining
the millions of striking workers were tens of thousands of small
businesspeople and shopkeepers who closed the shutters to their shops in
solidarity.*


[image: Syntagma square]
About half a million protesters flooded the streets of Athens in one of the
biggest strike movements in modern Greek history. Tens of thousands also
participated in demonstrations in an unprecedented wave of protests and
strike action in the provinces, with 50,000 in Thessaloniki, over 20,000 in
Patras and Heraklion in Crete and several other cities that had never seen
such huge numbers on the streets.

[image: 2011-10-19 Athens general strike
3]This
magnificent general strike marks an acceleration of the movement of Greek
society towards a revolutionary situation. The working class, having
paralysed the state and the economy, have become conscious of the immense
power they have and seem determined to make any sacrifice necessary and
fight to the end. Of extreme significance is also the fact that the working
class is now openly backed by the middle classes, who have come to realise
that only the workers can provide the necessary power and leadership in this
key battle.

[image: Photo: 
odysseasgr]On
the other hand, we see the ruling class in a state of political deadlock and
confusion, regardless of the outcome of the vote in parliament on the new
austerity measures. This situation has become abundantly clear after the
failure of the recent talks between Papandreou, leader of PASOK, and
Samaras, leader of the conservative New Democracy. What is visible is the
stress and panic that the stormy mass movement of the workers has provoked
among these political leaders. Instead of presenting an image of
“cooperation” in the face of the crisis, what seemed to dominate the meeting
of these leaders was a state of embarrassment and the desire to blame each
other for the mess.

[image: 2011-10-19 general
strike]The
one thing that is missing to transform this massive wave of protest into a
victorious revolutionary movement is a decisive revolutionary leadership.
Unfortunately, the leaders of the trade unions and the parties of the Left
are lagging behind the movement, confused and well below the needs of the
moment. They refuse to support and organise an escalation of the struggle
with a general all-out, long lasting, political strike, even now after this
earth-shattering general strike which has radically changed the situation
and which has brought to the surface a mass mood of determination to
struggle, and while workers in one sector after another have already
organised political strikes.

[image: 2011-10-19 Athens general strike
5]We,
the comrades in Synaspismos and the Synaspismos Youth gathered around the
journals “Marxistiki Foni” and “Revolution”, believe that the natural and
necessary next step after this powerful 48-hour general strike is to move on
to an all-out general political strike, organised by the trade unions,
together with the election of strike committees in every workplace and the
setting up of picket, defence squads, strike funds, soup kitchens and also
the el

[LAAMN] Portugal: right wing government’s austerity cuts prepare social explosion

2011-10-20 Thread Cort Greene 
http://www.marxist.com/portugal-right-wing-governments-austerity-cuts.htm
 Portugal: right wing government’s austerity cuts prepare social
explosion
Written by Jorge Martín Wednesday, 19 October 2011
[image: 
Print]

*As Portugal’s right-wing government announced the harshest austerity cuts
in the country’s history, economic forecasts were revised down and the main
trade union confederations CGTP and UGT announced the calling of a general
strike.*

[image: October 15. Photo: Bloco]
Among
the measures proposed in the 2012 budget which was presented to Parliament
on Monday, October 17, is the cutting of Summer and Christmas bonuses worth
a month’s wages each for civil servants earning over 650 euro a month (which
will mean a 20% cut in income), increases in VAT for certain goods (in some
cases from 6% to 23%), an extension of the 5% salary cut for civil servants
into 2012, cuts in pensions, a 50% cut in pay for overtime and a proposal to
allow businesses to lengthen the working day by 30 minutes without any
additional pay.

The government expects to achieve spending cuts to the tune of 4.4% of GDP
and revenue increases equal to 1.7% of GDP. The budget also includes a
massive privatisation plan for 2012 to raise 4 billion euros. This includes
the sale of the national airline TAP, airport managing company ANA, the
freight transport branch of the railways CP, and the postal service CTT,
next year, as well as selling off stakes in the power and electricity
companies EDP and REN, this year.

Even if all these measures are passed and implemented, Portugal’s debt will
still reach 100.8% of GDP this year (up from 93.3% in 2010) and increase to
106.8% in 2013, before it starts to be reduced. The government intends to
cut the budget deficit from 9.8% of GDP in 2010, to 5.9% in 2011 and 4.5% in
2012, before reaching the EU limit of 3% in 2013.

However, as the first news of these massive austerity cuts were being
announced, the economic forecasts were already revised down, both for 2011
and for 2012. Portugal’s GDP is now expected to contract by 1.9% in 2011 and
a by 2.8% in 2012 (up from an earlier estimate of 2% in May at the time when
Portugal agreed a bailout plan with the European Union). This would be
Portugal’s worst recession since 1975. These measures come on top of already
savage austerity cuts implemented in the 2011 budget by the former
Social-democratic government and which were agreed as part of the 78 billion
euro EU bailout plan.

Even as the government presented its budget proposals, EU Economic and
Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn warned that these cuts might not be
enough, pointing out how Portugal was on course to a 2011 budget deficit
equal to 8.3% of GDP, instead of the 5.9% which had been agreed as part of
the bailout. This means a further 3.4 billion euros’ worth of cuts or
additional revenue were needed.

The government is heavily relying on increasing the country’s exports in
order to meet its targets, forecasting a 4.8% increase in exports for 2012.
However, the bleaker economic prospects for the rest of Europe and the world
economy as a whole make this a very optimistic target. Unemployment, which
was 8.3% in 2006, is expected to reach 13.4% next year.

Furthermore, families are being asked to pay the bulk of this savage
adjustment plan (6.2 billion euro or a 5% across the board cut in living
standards), followed by the state (3.2 billion euro worth of cuts) and with
the capitalists only contributing 650 million euros in increased taxes and
cuts in subsidies. Overall, state expenditure in social subsidies will be
cut by 4.3% and the state wage bill will be reduced by nearly 15% through
wage reductions, redundancies and cuts in bonuses. Most of the increased
revenue from taxation will also come from increases in VAT which hit working
people hardest.

The problem is that, like in Greece, these massive cuts will have the effect
of contracting internal demand and therefore further aggravating the
recession. The Finance Ministry itself foresees a steep contraction of
private consumption of 3.5% this year and 4.8% next year.

Rui Barbara, an economist at Banco Carregosa was quoted by Reuters warning
that these measures can have the effect of making the recession worse: “On
the one hand one can understand the government's plan to try to highlight
that we are different to Greece but on the other hand there is the risk of a
snowball effect with more recession, lower revenues and a tougher downturn.”
The “markets” share this pessimistic view and already in July Moody’s
downgraded the rating of the Portuguese debt to the level of junk bonds.

[image: Pedro Passos Coelho. Photo: PDS/ Luis Saraiva]

[LAAMN] NPR gets Radio Host Fired for Occupying

2011-10-20 Thread bigraccoon 
NPR gets Radio Host Fired for Occupying

by David Swanson
WarIsACrime.org
20 October 2011
 
National Public Radio on Wednesday discovered that a woman named Lisa Simeone 
who produced hosted a show about opera called "World of Opera" had been 
participating in a nonviolent occupation of Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., 
organized by October2011.org [1].  That same day, NPR persuaded a company for 
which Simeone worked to fire her, cutting her income in half and purging from 
the so-called public airwaves a voice that had never mentioned politics on NPR.
 
This frantic email was sent to all NPR staff:
From:NPR Communications
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 6:12 PM
Subject: From Dana Rehm: Communications Alert
To:   All Staff
Fr:Dana Davis Rehm
Re:  Communications Alert
We recently learned of World of Opera host Lisa Simeone’s participation in an 
Occupy DC group. World of Opera is produced by WDAV, a music and arts station 
based in Davidson, North Carolina. The program is distributed by NPR. Lisa is 
not an employee of WDAV or NPR; she is a freelancer with the station.
We're in conversations with WDAV about how they intend to handle this. We of 
course take this issue very seriously.
As a reminder, all public comment (including social media) on this matter is 
being managed by NPR Communications.
All media requests should be routed through NPR Communications at 202.513.2300 
or mediarelati...@npr.org [2]. We will keep you updated as needed. Thanks.
##
Also see NPR's blog post about this here [3].
 
About three and a half hours after the above email was sent, Simeone had been 
fired by a show called Soundprint as punishment for having been "unethical."  
Here is her bio on that show's website [4].  And here she is on NPR [5]'s.
 
Soundprint is a show that does touch on politics and includes political 
viewpoint in Simeone's ledes, but it is not an NPR program and not distributed 
by NPR.  It is, however, heard on public radio stations.  Despite the title 
"NPR World of Opera," that show is produced by a small station called WDAV for 
which Simeone contracts.  Simeone was not an NPR employee.  WDAV has not 
expressed any concern over Simeone's "ethics."
 
Simeone told me: "I find it puzzling that NPR objects to my exercising my 
rights as an American citizen -- the right to free speech, the right to 
peaceable assembly -- on my own time in my own life.  I'm not an NPR employee.  
I'm a freelancer.  NPR doesn't pay me.  I'm also not a news reporter.  I don't 
cover politics.  I've never brought a whiff of my political activities into the 
work I've done for NPR World of Opera.  What is NPR afraid I'll do -- insert a 
seditious comment into a synopsis of Madame Butterfly?
 
"This sudden concern with my political activities is also surprising in light 
of the fact that Mara Liaason reports on politics for NPR yet appears as a 
commentator on FoxTV, Scott Simon hosts an NPR news show yet writes political 
op-eds for national newspapers, Cokie Roberts reports on politics for NPR yet 
accepts large speaking fees from businesses.  Does NPR also send out 
'Communications Alerts' about their activities?"
 
Let's be clear about Simeone's political activities.  We have three quarters of 
the country wanting billionaires taxed, two-thirds wanting wars ended, large 
majorities wanting funding moved from the military to green energy and 
education and jobs.  Simeone has been taking part in a nonviolent encampment 
designed to facilitate the petitioning of our government for a redress of 
grievances, a right guaranteed by the First Amendment.  That's all.  She has 
been participating.  Nothing more. There is nothing more specific to the 
allegation, nothing in particular that she has allegedly done other than 
participate in a nonviolent mass mobilization on behalf of majority opinion.
 
It may be difficult for NPR bigwigs to understand why we don't all just rent 
$400 per night hotel rooms instead of littering a public square with tents.  
But NPR's highly paid political agitators on behalf of the 1% are part of the 
problem.  They are what we are protesting.  And that is presumably what makes 
our speech and assembly "unethical."
 
Or perhaps the breech of ethics is to be found in behaving as a decent citizen 
while simultaneously possessing some connection to the most insidious corporate 
loudspeaker in the country, one labeled "public" but belonging to the 1%.
 
The most important point to stress here, I think, is that all requests should 
be routed through NPR Communications at 202-513-2300 or mediarelati...@npr.org 
[2]
 
Links:
[1] http://October2011.org
[2] mailto:mediarelati...@npr.org
[3] 
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thisisnpr/2011/10/19/141527202/clarification-regarding-lisa-simeone
[4] http://soundprint.org/radio/hostInfo/ID/1
[5] http://www.npr.org/people/2101205/lisa-simeone
[6] http://warisacrime.org/taxonomy/term/2




http://warisacrime.org/content/npr-gets-producer-fired-occupying

[LAAMN] MUST SEE: Palestinian Hunger Strike Continues Despite Israeli Prisoner Swap

2011-10-20 Thread Romi Elnagar 
October 14, 2011
Palestinian Hunger Strike Continues Despite Israeli Prisoner Swap
Thousands are demanding better treatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli 
jails and the release of prominent activists 

Video report from Bethlehem at 

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7450

Note the definition of political prisoners by the Israeli army includes 
nonviolent activists (3:49).


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[LAAMN] Fw: A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs Concerning Occupy Wall Street

2011-10-20 Thread jdemaegt 
 I certainly have to agree with the post below. 
 I do think that there should be one change though: 
Instead of the slogan 'Support the 99%' , Pacifica will, of course, 
have to put forth a slogan that shows support of those Pacifica  truly supports 
with the Pacifica slogan of:
 'Support the 1% (and Sh*t on the 99%)'. 

Jim 'Pacifica is waaay worse in its lack of support of (and OPPOSITION 
TO) Democracy than even the Republican Party.' D.
P.S. Probably only an 'Occupy Pacifica Movement' will begin to address the 
problems at Pacifica.
P.P.S. YEA for the 'Professionals' (the 1%ers) at Pacifica
  - Original Message - 
  From: sheila hamanaka 
  To: Pacifica National Board 
  Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 5:51 AM
  Subject: Fwd: [freekpfk] Fw: A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs 
Concerning Occupy Wall Street




  Dear Pacifica National Board,

  This is wonderful news (see email below.)  I think full credit should be 
given to the Chair of the WBAI Local Station Board, Mitchell Cohen*, and LSB 
member Steve Brown, for encouraging Pacifica's relationship with Goldman Sachs. 
 If we follow Brown's suggestion, and support Ron Paul, Pacifica may in future 
be on the receiving end of libertarian investment, if we have the zeitgeist, 
that is.

  *Mr. Cohen btw also deserves our kudos for - at every possible opportunity at 
Occupy Wall Street - fearlessly throwing himself between demonstrators and 
videocamera-wielding reporters.

  Sincerely
  Anon E Mouse


  -- Forwarded message --
  From: 
  Date: Wed, Oct 19, 2011 at 7:13 PM
  Subject: [freekpfk] Fw: A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs Concerning 
Occupy Wall Street
  To: friends_of_k...@yahoogroups.com, freek...@yahoogroups.com, 
newpacif...@yahoogroups.com, rocklandfriendsofw...@yahoogroups.com, 
ourw...@yahoogroups.com





  October 18, 2011

  A Letter to Pacifica from Goldman Sachs

  Concerning Occupy Wall Street

  NEW YORK

  The following is a letter released today by Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of 
banking giant Goldman Sachs:

  Dear Donor Receiver:

  Up until now, Goldman Sachs has been silent on the subject of the protest 
movement known as Occupy Wall Street. That does not mean, however, that it has 
not been very much on our minds. As thousands have gathered in Lower Manhattan, 
passionately expressing their deep discontent with the status quo, we have 
taken note of these protests. And we have asked ourselves this question:

  How can we make money off them?

  The answer is the newly launched Goldman Sachs Global Rage Fund, whose 
investment objective is to monetize the Occupy Wall Street protests as they 
spread around the world. At Goldman, we recognize that the capitalist system as 
we know it is circling the drain - but there's plenty of money to be made on 
the way down.

  The Rage Fund will seek out opportunities to invest in products that are
  poised to benefit from the spreading protests, from police batons and
  barricades to stun guns and forehead bandages. Furthermore, as clashes 
between police and protesters turn ever more violent, we are making significant 
bets on companies that manufacture replacements for broken windows and 
overturned cars, as well as the raw materials necessary for the construction 
and incineration of effigies.

  It would be tempting, at a time like this, to say "Let them eat cake." But
  at Goldman, we are actively seeking to corner the market in cake futures. We 
project that through our aggressive market manipulation, the price of a piece 
of cake will quadruple by the end of 2011.

  Please contact your Goldman representative for a full prospectus. As the 
world descends into a Darwinian free-for-all, the Goldman Sachs Rage Fund is a 
great way to tell the protesters, "Occupy this." We haven't felt so good about 
something we've sold since our souls.

  Sincerely,

  Lloyd Blankfein

  Chairman, Goldman Sachs

  http://borowitzreport.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=49de3335c30245ecd0fa
  291aa&id=2524d6fd6c&e=ca12406810







  

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[LAAMN] Justice for Farmworkers: Demonstrate at Trader Joe's in Monrovia on Oct 21 at noon.

2011-10-20 Thread Karin Pally 
Here's the url for the point by point discussion of the CIW's response to
Trader's Joe's refusal to sign the agreement.
http://ciw-online.org/TJ_point_by_point.html

Justice for Farmworkers!
March & Rally at Trader Joe's Corporate Headquarters

Friday, October 21st ~ 12 Noon
Monrovia, CA
*Participants will gather outside of Trader Joe's at 604 W. Huntington Dr.
on Friday, October 21 at noon, then march east on Huntington Ave. to the
company offices on 800 S. Shamrock Ave. There, farmworkers will lead a
creative action calling on Trader Joe's to support human rights for the men
and women who harvest the tomatoes sold in its stores.*


*CLICK HERE  FOR THE PRESS RELEASE*

*With more than $8 billion in sales last year*, Trader Joe's is an emerging
leader in the US supermarket industry. The company’s rapid growth is largely
based on its ethical and progressive image.

But behind that veneer lies a disregard for human rights.

For decades, farmworkers who pick tomatoes for companies like Trader Joe's
have endured grinding poverty and systemic human rights abuses. *Today, hope
is on the horizon, but Trader Joe's refuses to do its part.*

The Campaign for Fair Food led by the internationally-acclaimed,
farmworker-led Coalition of Immokalee Workers has sparked an unprecedented
transformation in farm labor conditions. Corporations such as Whole Foods,
McDonald's, Taco Bell, and six other food industry giants have committed to
a strict, farmworker-designed Code of Conduct and to increasing wages by
paying a premium for their tomatoes.

But Trader Joe’s has refused to seize this opportunity to be a part of the
solution, responding instead to the just demands of farmworkers and
consumers with* slick public relations
stunts –
hardly the behavior one would expect from one of the “most ethical
companies”  in the US.*

Join the movement for Fair Food!

Join Florida tomato pickers and their student, faith and community allies in
a *mile-long march from a Monrovia Trader Joe's store to their corporate
headquarters. Participants will gather outside of Trader Joe's at 604 W.
Huntington Dr. on Friday, October 21 at noon, then march east on Hungtington
Ave. to the company offices on 800 S. Shamrock Ave. There, farmworkers will
lead a creative action calling on Trader Joe's to support human rights for
the men and women who harvest the tomatoes sold in its stores.*

For info. about the march and rally, including carpools or vans from your
area, contact i...@justharvestusa.org or 510-725-8752


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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