forgive for me for i have sinned.

in our utmost efforts to support the most local as what’s offered in our community, we failed.  we failed due to our town’s oldest hardware store having the most outrageous prices on metal brackets.  the price was so outrageous, we were condemned to the large box store which lights up the south end of main street like a friday night football game.  we bow our heads in shame.

confession: the brackets at the small hardware store which is also a chain but a smaller version that has been in this town for many years and we use regularly had metal “L” shaped brackets, $2.95 ea.  we needed 52 brackets to complete the raised boxes for our garden project which would have set us back $153.40 before nevada taxes.  the guilt of even leaving the store to pursue an attempt to purchase at another home improvement store set in like quick dry cement.  checking the aisles for shoppers who may recognize us soliciting this store, we move fast.  we know exactly where to find brackets because sadly we shopped at this store often as it’s about 10 urban blocks from our home.  the brackets which we needed to complete the garden beds came 4 to a pack at $1.97 a pack.

rectification: a. contact store manager to voice our concerns; b. continue to shop around; c. ask local construction companies for donations

George Kenney interviews retired military bureaucrat Thomas P. Christie about runaway military budgets. Christie held senior positions at the Pentagon on and off from 1973 and worked as director of Operational Test and Evaluation from 2001-2005, the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester, the highest ranking civil service appointment in the Pentagon

Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you wanted to talk about?

It’s very disturbing. I’ve seen good people in the Pentagon, good people in the military, all the way to the top, just throw their hands up in frustration: “No way we can turn this ship around and get it in the right direction.” And that’s unfortunate. You just gotta come in and scrap the whole process.

In a bureaucracy, you have to often make decisions about whether you’re going to make incremental changes or radical changes. But most important changes can’t be made on an incremental basis. It would take a strong president to do that.

And a strong Secretary of Defense. And leadership on the Hill that will support it. As well as so-called “industry titans.” And getting all of that to come together at one time — that’s the problem.

What needs to be done can’t be done bit by bit. It’s got to be revolutionary.

from the Wall Street Journal

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they’ll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies — including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.

According to about a dozen Wal-Mart employees who attended such meetings in seven states, Wal-Mart executives claim that employees at unionized stores would have to pay hefty union dues while getting nothing in return, and may have to go on strike without compensation. Also, unionization could mean fewer jobs as labor costs rise.

more

Conservative Jewish leaders are seeking to protect workers and the environment at kosher food plants like the one raided the spring in Iowa where Immigration officials arrested 400 undocumented and mostly Guatemalan workers at the Postville meat packing plant, the workers have been charged with “aggravated identity theft” for using fake social security numbers even though most of them have no idea what a social security number is. As many as 300 of them are serving 5 month sentences after which they will be deported.

The new designation would ensure fair wages, ensure workplace safety, follow government environmental regulations and treat animals humanely and goes by the name heksher tzedek-or certificate of righteousness. Sounds good.

The Postville raid, and others like it, are absolutely shameful. There are unprecedented food riots taking place all over the world. The pantries of soup kitchens are bare and come harvest next month there will be fruit rotting on trees and crops collapsing under their own weight as the migrant work force disappears into hiding and for profit prison systems.

But even if that weren’t that case, even if there were no fruit to pick and no chickens to pluck and no kitchens to swamp, no trucks to drive, no children to teach, no gardens to nourish, no buildings to erect, no food to cook, no flags to sew, no buildings to paint, no music to make, even if the logic of the economy did not support a more open immigration policy that kind of harassment should be reviled, undermined and obstructed by those of us who through accident of birth can call ourselves legal.

What would you do to help an undocumented worker?

A big story today all over the press is the violent assault of a cyclist by an NYPD officer during Critical Mass last Friday. The cyclist pushed was Christopher Long, avid member of the congregation of the Church of Stop Shopping and a veteran of the Army.

A video, captured by a tourist, clearly shows Officer Patrick Pogan walk toward Christopher and body-slam him off his bike and onto the sidewalk. See video here: Critical Mass Bicyclist Assaulted by NYPD

Christopher was held it jail for 26 hours and charged with attempted assault, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Officer Pogan lied in court saying Christopher “wove his bicycle in and out of the center lane on Seventh Avenue, forcing multiple vehicles to stop abruptly or change their direction in order to avoid hitting the defendant. Upon instructing the defendant to cease the above-described conduct the defendant steered the defendant’s bicycle in the direction of the officer and drove directly into the officer’s body, causing the officer to fall to the ground and causing him to suffer lacerations on his forearms.” The 22 year old officer has been stripped of his badge and gun and the NYPD has “placed the officer on desk duty pending the outcome of a department investigation.”

Thank god a person with a video camera captured this, other wise the charges of attempted assault and resisting arrest might have stood ground.

One thing you can do is write to the mayor telling him you want the NYPD to stop harassing Critical Mass at:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

Check out this review of a compilation of a new book by Rob Walker who writes the Consumed column in the NY Times magazine, I always found the column weirdly free of opinion, I guess he leaves that for us but this review of his book is as close as you will get to a condemnation of consumerism by the Grey Lady, or at least a few reasons why a person might condemn it. Here the review is talking about Pabst Blue Ribbon’s Murketing campaign

Neal Stewart, Pabst’s marketing whiz, had studied “No Logo,” Naomi Klein’s anti-corporate manifesto, and he understood that overt commercial messages would turn off an audience suspicious of capitalism. Thus the company shunned celebrity endorsements — Kid Rock had been interested — and devoted its budget instead to murketing, sponsoring a series of unlikely gatherings across the country. Like “some kind of small-scale National Endowment for the Arts for young American outsider culture,” Pabst paid the bills at bike messenger contests, skateboarder movie screenings, and art and indie publishing get-togethers. At each of these events, it kept its logo obscure, its corporate goal to “always look and act the underdog,” to be seen as a beer of “social protest,” a “fellow dissenter” against mainstream mores.

Many of us have noticed this of course, but what we forget is that knowing it is happening does not necessarily protect us. The rest of the review is after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

Eileen Clancy, a saint in the church, sent this post regarding Clayton’s arrest for taking a photograph on the Lower East Side. Much helpful information to be found at iwitness video.

This is the same dreary battle that we have been fighting with the NYPD for years. They really need to be sent to re-education camp to learn about the rights of photographers. I have written about the rights of photographers here and about the NYPD and photographers here. I explain the rights of people to take pictures of NYPD officers here. Another resource is Picture New York on the rights of photographers here. Also the NYCLU has filed a suit to “force the Department to adopt policies and training so that officers will understand and respect the First Amendment rights of photographers and filmmakers.” see that here. I suggest contacting the NYCLU to make them aware of Clayton’s arrest.

The idea that increased global commerce under rules designed by the rich countries would benefit everyone has turned out to be false. In fact, the vast majority of low- and middle-income countries have experienced a historic and unprecedented economic growth failure over the last 28 years. more

It will take a while for these giants to shift course, for now they are just prescribing more medicine.

Doha is dead.

I’m in the woods in Virginia writing about Berlin, and was looking at pictures of The Wall when someone sent me this picture of Clayton Patterson being arrested on Lower East Side for taking photographs of what might have been a fire. Just five minutes ago I read this account of a discussion between a photographer and an East German soldier in 1981– the soldier told me not to take pictures of the wall, and I (stupidly) asked if he would shoot me I if did, he said no, but that he would arrest me, for what I said, and he said for whatever I want. Familiar?

from Clayton: On Ludlow- between Stanton and Rivington was arrested for taking photographs . The problem has more to do with police procedure on the street. On this day the street was not a frozen zone. People were allowed to walk through. Kids were hanging out. There was nota police-line. There was not even a fire, just a little smoke. It has to do with authority and taking photos on the street. Would like to address this issue somehow- the cops have this serious need to stop anyone from taking photos. It is totally bizarre- and imagine the anniversary of the Police Riot is coming up- Would be a little ridiculous and funny if it was not so sinister.

Late Stage Capital at work in New York City. We might not have The Wall but there is definitely something between us and The Freedom. call 311 and Rosie. Let them know you notice.

Our friends Saving Iceland begin their month long action camp today. We wish them all the best in their effort to stop heavy industry in the wilds of Iceland. Down with heavy industry! Last year we were lucky to be there for about ten days fighting a master plan that could bring as many as thirty large dams and toxic aluminum smelters to Iceland over the next 15 years. I love these people. They have alot of local and international support but do experience a fair amount of resistance from some of their country people, which makes for hard going in a nation of just 300,000. Iceland is one of the most magical places I have ever been but even if it weren’t this struggle would be worthwhile. Not only is the aluminum industry destroying habitat all over the world they are wasting precious resources on aluminum production which is used primarily for weapons and military aircraft.