Found in my electronic chapbook.

Writers get ideas the way oysters get pearls. p. 131

From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.

I’ve just finished reading Barbara Kingsolver’s latest book The Lacuna which deals, in part with citizen protests in the United States and Mexico during the ’20s and ’30s. It has been too long (has it really been nearly 30 years?) since workers in the United States stood together. We’re too enamored with Plasma TV’s from Walmart, I guess.

Dr Surin Pitsuwan,
Secretary General of ASEAN,
The Asean Secretariat,
70A Jl. Sisingamangaraja,
Jakarta 12110, Indonesia
Tel: (6221) 7262991, 7243372
Fax: (6221) 7398234, 7243504

Heads of Government of:
Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Lao PDR, Malaysia, Burma (Myanmar), Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam,
c/o Secretary General of ASEAN

Dear Sirs/Madam,

Justice for Workers in Burma
3,600 Workers Protest for Worker Rights – February 2010

On 8 February 2010, about 3,600 factory workers, mostly women, from three factories in the Hlaing Tharyar industrial zone in Rangoon, Burma, protested against low wages and the substandard working conditions they are forced to endure in the factories.

It was reported that the workers at the Taiyee shoe factory and the Opal 2 garment factory began protests on Monday calling for higher daily wages, overtime payments and several other demands. On Tuesday, workers from the Kya Lay garment factory joined the strike action.

The workers, mostly women, staged protests outside the factories and inside a factory compound, where they sat down and refused to work. The three factories employ a total of about 3,600 workers.

The monthly income of most factory workers in Burma is very low, ranging from 20,000 kyat [US$20] to 40,000 kyat [US$40], thus forcing Continue Reading »

There is no one I personally trust more to protect my franchise in Ohio than our Secretary of State and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, Jennifer Brunner. I remain unconvinced that the solution to Citizens United v. Board of Elections is legislative, but Brunner has proposed legislation that, in the interim:

is our best effort to protect Ohio voters from subterfuge and to give them tools to investigate the deluge and the authenticity of political advertising.

I particularly applaud two key points in Brunner’s plan. First, those groups covered will have five days to report expenditures that will be made public (presumably on the Secretary of State’s website, although this is not specifically stated) and second digital copies of broadcast political advertising must be made available to the Secretary of State for posting on the SOS website before it is broadcast.

Clearly, Brunner is after transparency, transparency and transparency.

Other states should take note.

That is if the educational system doesn’t panic, drop the ball and turn the poor kid into a loss.

It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.

WHAT DOES TOO PROMOTIONAL MEAN…? I”m looking over sales figures released by Walmart and the analysis of same by the BBC. Sales in the United States are down 1.6 percent, but one quote from Andy Bond, chief executive of ASDA, Walmart”s United Kingdom operations, jumped out at me. Keep reading…

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS, JOBS, JOBS, JOBS, JOBS… Last evening I invested two hours in observing Cleveland Stonewall Democrats” primary candidate endorsement process for a friend, Tim Russo, I”m supporting in his run for the Cuyahoga County Council District 7 seat in the fall. Keep reading…

CHICAGO ALDERMAN PLANS END RUN… Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale says he has the votes to open a second Walmart in Chicago. To accomplish his goal, Beale plans an end run around the much contested Chatham site and go for a Walmart Supercenter project further south. Keep reading…

ONE HEALTH INSURANCE BELLWETHER… There”s much more to the Great Recession than just Walmart, but the corporation”s vast size makes it the obvious place to look for indicators in our recoverless recovery. A drastic drop in two-income families looks to me to be the culprit here. Keep reading…

HOW TO PROMOTE FAMILY CORPORATE VALUES… Back on 12 February, I wrote about Walmarts” teaming with Soap Opera creator Proctor & Gamble to give Hallmark Hall Of Fame movies some family friendly competition on prime time television. Now the two companies have agreed to produce a second show. Keep reading…

STIMULUS DEMAND FOR 2M JOBS IN CHINA… In the Walmart Nation we have a patriotic duty to buy enough cheap plastic crap from China so that the terrorists don”t win. We took the red pill more than a year ago, but it doesn”t seem to be working. Maybe we need to stop relying on pharmaceuticals? Keep reading…

WALMART VUDU DEAL DONE… First there was John Rockefeller”s lurking Standard Oil octopus and later Sam Walton”s raging many-limbed retail monster. Reading the news this morning concerning Walmart”s expansion into online video with the purchase of Vudu (previously). Keep reading…

WHY WALMART FAILS AWAY FROM HOME… Sam Walton may have famously followed the sage advice to put all your eggs in one basket and then watched that basket. He knew he had a formula for success based on the culture in rural and small town America. Keep reading…

CAN WALMART GET ALONG WITH HOLLYWOOD…? I wrote yesterday about the Walmart VUDU deal. It took a New York minute for the skeptics to take a close look and begin to scratch their heads. I agree that Walmart has a pitiful track record with plans not involving discounts resulting from bullying its suppliers. Keep reading…

Previously…

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog video excursion I present: From My Dad.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

People give you ideas. p. 130

From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.

Each of us must find the way that we can express our outrage against injustice and demand that we all do better in ensuring that all humans are treated with the fairness and dignity they deserve. Sometimes that means picking up a gun, sometimes a pen. Neither is stronger than the other, only different.

From Unfree Media Asia:

About fifty of us, British and Burmese, poets and politicos, went to the Burmese Embassy in London for a poetry protest called ‘Love and Hate in Burma’. It was organised with English PEN and the protest was held to mark the second anniversary of Burmese poet Saw Wei’s arrest and imprisonment.

Saw Wei is currently serving a two year prison sentence in Myanmar in violation of his right to free expression. He was arrested on 22 January 2008 for publishing a love poem which cryptically criticised General Than Shwe, the head of Burma’s ruling military junta.

Saw Wei was charged under section 505 (b) of the Criminal Code, which refers to ‘intent to cause harm to any section of the public to commit an offence against the State…” He appeared in court three times, without legal representation.

On 10 November, almost 10 months after his arrest, Saw Wei was sentenced to two years in prison for “inducing crime against public tranquility.” He was due for release in January 2010 but hasn’t been released yet. I told the protest the following about my friendship and collaboration with Saw Wei.

I do wish the group had posted some of the poems written and read for the protest.

I get comments from readers about the Hebrew and Yiddish words that show up in my Captcha anti-spam program. I picked the words so I deserve all the feedback I get. I have to wonder, however, if Lt. Governor Lee Fisher’s web person knows that you don’t have to accept the defaults. I’d hate to think that this was on purpose.

The spread the word kicker was just too precious.

In the Walmart Nation we have a patriotic duty to buy enough cheap plastic crap from China so that the terrorists don’t win. We took the red pill more than a year ago, but it doesn’t seem to be working.

From the BBC:

China is facing a shortage of workers in the Pearl River Delta manufacturing hub in southern China.

Some estimates suggest factories need two million more migrant workers from other parts of China.

The shortages have been highlighted in Chinese media as the country gets back to work after the week-long Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year holiday.

Expectations of higher wages and better working conditions from new workers are being blamed for the labour shortage.

Factories in southern China started reporting that it was hard to find enough workers last August, as orders picked up after the financial crisis.

Have you helped to support a Chinese corporation today?

Last November Ohioans got fooled again by large corporate interests with more money than social conscience. This time the scam was Issue 2, which created the Orwellian Livestock Care Standards Board with the sole task of ensuring that Ohioans don’t get in the way of corporate farm profits.

Even before the last election was over, those who value food safety over private jets and Camen Island bank accounts knew they would have to keep fighting and the fat-cat corporate interests are already throwing their hired lackies into the fray.

From Laurel Hopwood:

Stop agribusiness control over our food supply!

Please help Ohioans for Humane Farms get 600,000 signatures to get a measure on the Ohio November ballot.

NOTE: This goes beyond an animal rights issue. It effects the health of our families and ecosystem and targets big agribusiness power over small family farmers.

This initiative will, for instance, end extreme confinement in tiny cages. Many veal calves, breeding pigs and hens are confined in cages and crates so restrictive that the animals can barely move an inch.

Caging animals in high densities leads to animal waste and runoff into sources of drinking water. Crowding also leads to a greater risk of disease which requires antibiotic treatment. We are becoming more aware that antibiotic resistant bacteria are spreading throughout our communities. That’s not all! It”s an injustice for families living near animal factories to suffer from stench, air pollution and fly infestation.

Opponents claim that food prices will skyrocket if this initiative passes. Wrong! An recent study indicates the added cost of production is less than a penny per egg. Opponents claim that farms will be lost if this measure passes. Wrong! More and more businesses are responding to consumer demand. It’s a win-win for farmers to produce what consumers demand.

Please do what you can to help stop corporate greed from destroying our small farms, our food supply, our communities and our future.

One immediate step you can take is to never buy your meat at Walmart.

Roldo Bartimole writes:

Okay, the nonsense begins. County reform just took a bad turn with the report in Crain”s Cleveland Business that candidate for County chief executive Matt Dolan wants to cut the County sales tax after backing the quarter percent increase for the Medical Mart deal.

The report in Crain”s comes from a speech Dolan gave at the City Club. Apparently, Dolan didn”t say what he would cut if he reduced the tax by a quarter percent.

How convenient. Cut taxes but don”t say what you”ll cut to do it. That”s really reformist.

And he starts talking about cutting taxes before he even has an opportunity to know what he”s talking about. He just moved into the County. Already he knows best what we need.
Dolan, a newcomer to the County, apparently shoots before he thinks.

It doesn”t take much thinking to be a demagogue.

Dolan, a member of the wealthy family (billionaires) that owns the Cleveland Indians, Cablevision and much more in New York City, just moved over the border in into Cuyahoga County this year. Otherwise, of course, he couldn”t run for the job.

To make up revenue, I”d suggest that the County add a County admission tax on sporting events. Surely, a Dolan couldn”t oppose that.

Dolan moved from Russell Township in Geauga County over the border to Chagrin Falls, just an ordinary Cuyahoga County community where he could learn how the other half lives.

Dolan was once a Democrat now is a Republican, but likely won”t point that out very often. And the Plain Dealer isn”t likely to remind us of his shifty nature or his recent immigration to our home.

Talk about carpetbaggers.

County reform is going to be so much fun. But don”t count on any reform. Not any helpful reform, that is.

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog video excursion I present: From My Dad.

Found in my electronic chapbook.

Bits of facts can fit together. p. 129

From Telling Lies for Fun and Profit: A Manual for Fiction Writers by Lawrence Block.