Join Occupy Wall Street for The Farmers’ March
A gathering of farmers, community gardeners, food activists, and occupiers for dialogue. Solidarity for small farmers and solutions to corporate control of the food system.
Sunday, December 4th at 2pm
2 pm: Gathering at La Plaza Cultural, 9th Street and Avenue C
4pm: March Towards Zucotti Park
6 pm: Circle of solidarity and seed swap at Zucotti Park
Make sure that rural voices are heard in the Occupy dialogue. Bring your stories and seeds to swap. Invite others who might be interested.
FOR SUBSCRIBING AND UNSUBSCRIBING TO COMFOOD, AND FOR ALL POSTING GUIDELINES,
PLEASE CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK: http://foodsecurity.org/Comfood_Posting_Guidelines.pdf
The Strange Argument That Dominique Strauss-Kahn Was Set Up
By Irin Carmon, Salon
Posted on November 29, 2011, Printed on November 30, 2011
It is, apparently, far easier to believe many things — or at least to suggest them — than it is to believe that Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexually assaulted a maid at the Sofitel in New York on May 14.
That includes believing, for example, that there is a conspiracy afoot that all of Strauss-Kahn’s resources and lawyers and investigators have been unable to definitively unearth, but that Edward Jay Epstein, writing in the New York Review of Books and the Financial Times, can help us glimpse, even if he won’t spell it out entirely. (The criminal case against DSK collapsed because of the prosecutor’s doubts about the accuser’s credibility; her civil case is pending.)
The problems begin with the passive headline, “What happened to Dominique Strauss-Kahn?” and the declaration that “May 14, 2011, was a horrendous day” for DSK. It cannot be denied that it’s very unpleasant to be arrested for sexual assault and attempted rape, even for a man less famous than DSK. But you could also argue that it’s even more unpleasant to be allegedly sexually assaulted by a wealthy and powerful man, which is Nafissatou Diallo’s side of the story.
Why small cities, rural areas back the recall of Scott Walker
Cap Times editorial | Posted: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 4:45 am
The petition drive to recall and remove Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has surpassed all expectations, collecting more than 300,000 signatures in less than two weeks.
The truly remarkably thing about the total is not, however, that it is so large.
What’s truly remarkable is where the signatures are coming from: Rural and small-town Wisconsin communities are contributing disproportionately high numbers of signatures.
No one expected the recall drive would move so quickly.
Driver threatens recallers with car. Rumors connect Racine County GOP Treasurer, Tom Bode
November 30, 2011
By bluecheddar
We’ve all experienced a bit of road rage in our lives. But these anti-recall drivers sound like hell on wheels. Shocking but seems true: the second one could be a Racine County GOP official.
This is from the Racine Journal Times:
“Kelly Gallaher, the organizer for the local progressive group Community for Change,
said when she was with a group of people on Friday near a laundromat by River Run Family Restaurant, 3616 Northwestern Ave., someone sped directly at a group of organizers. People ran out of the way, she said. “It was that close,” Gallaher said.
Dear Mark, By the end of this week, the Senate may vote on a bill that would end the Internet as we know it. If it passes, the “Protect IP Act” would give corporate copyright holders the authority to demand that the government shut down any website without a court order. All they would need is to allege that the website contains copyrighted material. This bill has been rushed through Congress because big corporate interests like Comcast, Pfizer, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have spent millions of dollars lobbying for this censoring legislation.1 This bill is an outright attack on our free Internet. If it passes, the government could shut down a website like YouTube if a member does something like post a video of themselves singing a copyrighted song. This gives corporations and the government the ability to determine what information you can consume on the Internet — a dangerous practice which, when committed by the Chinese and Iranian governments, is denounced by the American people and almost all of our elected representatives. Internet companies including Google, Mozilla, Facebook, and Twitter, say that “the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of web sites.”2 Right now, only a small number of Democratic senators are standing up to corporate interests and voicing opposition to the bill. And the only way we can stop this outright attack on the free Internet is to have more senators commit to vote against the legislation. No matter whether your senators are Republicans or Democrats, it is important that you urge them to take a stand for Internet freedom. We need Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to come out in opposition to this bill and vote against Internet censorship. Thank you for speaking out to protect our free and open internet. Ali Rozell, Campaign Manager 1.”Five things to know about SOPA,” The Washington Post, 11-16-2011. |
Wednesday, Nov 30, 2011 8:00 AM 08:37:52 EST
Who’s making a killing off student loans?
By Sarah Jaffe, Alternet
Underneath the now-iconic red sculpture at Liberty Plaza, now cleared of tents and ringed by barricades plastic-cuffed together, several “students” stood draped in fake chains over their caps and gowns, brandishing debt bills instead of diplomas.
They might have been performing, as part of a press conference unveiling a national student debt refusal pledge, but the dramatization of what happens upon graduation to many of America’s students was spot-on. Despite a few moves by the Obama administration in past years and even recent months to lessen the burden of student loans, many graduates are still saddled with more debt than they can conceivably pay back and have little hope of finding a good job in the current economy.
Monday saw protests against tuition hikes on either end of the country; at New York’s Baruch College of the City University of New York, the Board of Trustees voted for another tuition hike and according to reports, a student kicked off the day’s actions by burning his Sallie Mae student loan bill. University of Californis, Davis, responding to the brutal pepper-spraying of students last week, also kept its focus on economic issues, chanting, “No cuts, no fees, education must be free,” and reportedly shutting down the financial aid building.
Student Protests Spread Throughout Region
By Pamela Sepúlveda*
SANTIAGO, Nov 25, 2011 (IPS) – In support of Chile’s ongoing student protests, and voicing their own demands, thousands of people took to the streets in more than a dozen cities in Latin America Thursday demanding quality public education.
The Latin American March forEducation was called by the Chilean students’ confederation, and demonstrations were held in Argentina, Brazil, Chile,Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Some 10,000 protesters – according to the organisers – marched through the streets of Santiago once again demanding reforms of the educational system. And again, there was a crackdown by the anti-riot police, who arrested some 60 people.
The demonstrations in other cities in the region were peaceful, with the exception of an incident in Bogotá, Colombia where the police fired tear gas.
:: click to enlarge ::
Freed UAE Activists Vow to Press Reform Campaign
By BARBARA SURK Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates November 29, 2011 (AP)
Seven months in prison for signing an internet petition is not stopping five United Arab Emirates activists from pressing for reforms. Just after they were convicted, pardoned and released, they vowed to campaign for more freedom in the tightly ruled Gulf union.
That the five were arrested at all for taking part in an internet campaign, as opposed to marching, protesting, sitting in at government buildings or more militant activities seen elsewhere in the Mideast, shows how rigid the system of controls is in the UAE, and how determined the country’s rulers are to keep the Arab Spring uprisings out of the oil-rich federation.
The UAE5, as they’re known, want reform, and that could be a recipe for future confrontations.
Feds Withholding Evidence Favorable to Bradley Manning, Lawyer Charges
By Kim Zetter Email Author
November 28, 2011 | 4:36 pm | Categories: Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks
The civilian lawyer for Bradley Manning, the Army private who allegedly leaked tens of thousands of classified U.S. government documents to WikiLeaks, is seeking to question the severity of the leak by requesting the government’s own internal damage assessments that reportedly contradict statements that Manning irreparably damaged national security.
Manning’s defense attorney, David E. Coombs, is attempting to get evidence from the government to defend Manning in his upcoming pre-trial hearing on Dec. 16, but says the government is stonewalling him.
“The defense has repeatedly requested the below discovery in this case, but the government has consistently responded with a blanket denial of the defense request,” Coombs wrote in the partially redacted filing.
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