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Ian Angus | 1 Jun 03:41
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Climate & Capitalism #99

Re Climate & Capitalism
http://climateandcapitalism.blogspot.com

Climate and Capitalism is four months old today, and this is post number
99. We're doing well, but you can help us do better.

Climate and Capitalism started as an experiment. The object was to see
if there is enough interest, and enough material, to sustain an online
journal focusing on capitalism, climate change, and the ecosocialist
alternative.

Answer: yes there is, on every count. While its readership doesn't
remotely compete with the big-name-blogs, C&C has a streadily growing
base of readers. I've received and published articles by Marxists from
all over the world. Feedback (apart from the usual nonsense from
right-wing trolls) has been positive and encouraging.

But I'd like to feature content from a broader range of sources and to
reach a much bigger audience. That's where you can help.

** If you see an article that fits our mission of publishing Marxist
perspectives on climate change, please email me, including a link to the
source.
	
** If you have written such an article, and would like to see it on C&C,
email it to me.

**If you see something on C&C that others should know about, send them a
link. Or mention it in your blog. Or raise it on any e-lists you
participate in.
(Continue reading)

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Dbachmozart | 1 Jun 03:48
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Israel's House of Horrors


ISRAEL'S HOUSE OF HORRORS 
By Ali Abunimah, Live from Palestine, 30 May  2007

Reading an account of an Israeli cabinet meeting in
Ha'aretz is  like a trip through a House of Horrors. Here
is a choice excerpt: "Ministers  Meir Sheetrit and Rafi
Eitan proposed Wednesday that Israel produce its  own
version of the Qassam rocket to be fired at targets inside
the Gaza  Strip in response to Palestinian rocket fire on
its southern communities."  EI's Ali Abunimah asks: Which
other government could openly hold such  discussions to
such overwhelming silence from the so-called
"international  community"?

_http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6975.shtml_ 
(http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6975.shtml)   

---------------------------------------------------------

Palestine:  Opinion/Editorial: 

'ROCKETS OF FUTILITY'? 
By Hasan Abu Nimah, The  Electronic Intifada, 30 May 2007 

The Palestinian rockets may indeed be  futile when compared
to the superior Israeli military capabilities, but  they
still cause harm and panic, as stones did before. They are
also  likely to become more advanced and lethal, otherwise
why should the Israeli  retaliation be that intense and
(Continue reading)

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Greg McDonald | 1 Jun 04:00
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Another Berkshire Spa hit with lawsuit

Ex-employees suing Cranwell
By Nicole Sequino, Berkshire Eagle Staff

Thursday, May 31

PITTSFIELD — A food service employee is suing Cranwell Resort, Spa  
and Golf Club in Lenox for "wrongly depriving" her of tips and wages,  
following in the footsteps of Canyon Ranch employees who recently  
filed a similar class-action suit against that resort.

Boston attorneys Paul Holtzman and Hugh Dun Rappaport filed the suit  
in Berkshire Superior Court on Tuesday on behalf of Stacie Wechter,  
of Great Barrington, who worked at the resort as a banquet server,  
waitress and service bartender from 1999 to this past April.

The suit was also filed on behalf of "current and former food and  
beverage employees" at the resort. It alleges that Cranwell has only  
distributed portions of cash tips, a 20 percent tax for group  
functions, and a "dining gratuity" to its food service workers.

'Outrageous or evil motive'

It also alleges that the resort's management did so with "the  
outrageous or evil motive of maximizing their own profits and  
compensation by misappropriating tips and service charges owed to  
(food service employees)."

The suit names as defendants Cranwell Management Corp.; Berkshire- 
Cranwell Limited Partnership, which owns the resort; C-B Management
Corp.; Daniel A. Burack, president of Cranwell Management and C-B
(Continue reading)

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Pance Stojkovski | 1 Jun 04:53
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Crisis in Manufacturing Jobs

Over 250,000 good paying jobs in the manufacturing sector have disappeared
in the last 5 years in Canada. In the past couple of months, unions and
central labour bodies have started to take action. For example my union, the
Steelworkers occupied a plant that was about to close shop and move south. 
YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdEw4qZAve8

The Labour Committee of the Socialist Project has been grappling with this
crisis and has published an analysis with modest proposals.

Pance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 50... June 1, 2007
__________________________________________________________

The Crisis in Manufacturing Jobs: Struggling for Answers 

Labour Committee, Socialist Project

The last weeks of May have seen major demonstrations of workers' discontent
with the crisis that has been unfolding in Canada's manufacturing sector.
Some 52,000 jobs have been lost in the manufacturing sector since January
alone. The demonstrations were kicked off on May 23 by protests by the USW
at nine plants, as part of its 'Jobs Worth Fighting For' campaign linked to
the Ontario Federation of Labour. The USW actions included plant
occupations, notably at doormaker Masonite, which is shutting down its
Mississauga plant to move its production to U.S. facilities with the loss of
300 jobs. 

In Windsor nearly 40,000 turned out on May 27 from unions and the wider
(Continue reading)

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Joaquin Bustelo | 1 Jun 05:42

Einstein bio [was: M-theory]

Isaac -or is it perhaps the reviewer he quotes- asks: "Why does Isaacson
feel he has to assure us that we don't need to take his subject's political
views too seriously?"

I think I know the answer to that question: because he felt that in a full,
book length biography, he could not leave them out.

Isaacson was managing editor of TIME when the magazine picked Einstein as
the man of the century. Now, on a normal story, the idea that a managing
editor influenced it directly could be mistaken. But on this kind of story
--and especially knowing that Isaacson imagines himself some kind of
historian-- you can be sure his fingerprints were all over the copy.

It just so happens that at the time I wrote a commentary on that curious
TIME choice. Certainly, in terms of how the world political and economic
systems changed, you'd have to say the XXth Century was the century of
decolonization. But that's like talking about the rope in the hanged man's
home, so even a figure like Mahatma Ghandi was out of the question for TIME.

From the imperialist point of view, the XXth Century produced one great
strategist and statesman, who was head and shoulders above the rest of his
ilk, Winston Churchill. He sounded the alarm on resurgent German
imperialism, was the master grand strategist of the victorious imperialist
side in the Second World War, and architect-in-chief of the Cold War and the
London-Washington axis, I mean special relationship.  He was also a
notorious scab-herder, strike-breaker and an inveterate racist --qualities
which not would publicly be praised by TIME, but counted in his favor. But
although he was white, he wasn't an American -- a fatal flaw for Time
magazine.
(Continue reading)

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Walter Lippmann | 1 Jun 06:11
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The cellphone police had arrived...

(Teaching the young about what freedom really, really means.)
=====================================================================

THE NEW YORK TIMES
June 1, 2007
Sweep at School Turns Up a Trove of Electronic Contraband
By JULIE BOSMAN

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/nyregion/01school.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

When Olivia Lara-Gresty saw the metal detectors at the entrance of
Middle School 54 on the Upper West Side, she turned around and ran
home to ditch her contraband before joining her sixth-grade class.

The cellphone police had arrived.

Not everyone was so savvy. The Police Department was there to carry
out a random sweep for prohibited items, requiring all 900-plus
students at the school to walk through metal detectors before
entering.

Their total haul included 404 cellphones, 69 iPods, 23 other
electronic devices, two knives and one imitation gun.

"People were crying," said Samantha Haber, 14, an eighth grader.

Officially, the X-ray scans are meant to catch dangerous items. But
since the unannounced sweeps began in April 2006, they have mostly
detected cellphones, infuriating parents who see them as lifelines
and have loudly opposed the checks, which are authorized by the
(Continue reading)

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Walter Lippmann | 1 Jun 04:30
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South Africa's largest trade union seeks to boycott Israel (Haaretz)

Last update - 10:06 31/05/2007 	
 	 	 
South Africa's largest trade union seeks to boycott Israel

By Cnaan Liphshiz, 
Haaretz Correspondent

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/865408.html

South Africa's largest trade union federation will launch a campaign
against "the Israeli occupation of Arab lands" this week, demanding
that Pretoria impose a boycott on all Israeli goods and break
diplomatic relations. South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie
Kasrils, who is Jewish, told Haaretz that he actively supported the
initiative - which contradicts the policy of his own cabinet.

The president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu),
Willy Madisha, announced the launching of the campaign last week in
Johannesburg, calling on the government to cease all diplomatic
relations with Israel after its attacks on Palestinian leaders.

"The best way to have Israel comply with United Nations resolutions
is to pressure it by a diplomatic boycott such as the one imposed on
apartheid South Africa," Madisha said. Cosatu belongs to a
recently-formed coalition of organizations operating under the banner
"End The Occupation."

Kasrils' anti-Israeli organization Not In My Name belongs to the
coalition working toward an embargo on Israel. This runs contrary to
South Africa's official stance, and to President Thabo Mbeki's
(Continue reading)

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Walter Lippmann | 1 Jun 04:30
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Indonesia Faults Bird-Flu Illness For Man's Death

("Iran, Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, Bolivia and Myanmar were among 
the 23 countries supporting Indonesia's argument that the existing 
system of unconditional sample-sharing was unfair to poorer nations, 
because they couldn't afford commercial vaccines.")
=======================================================================

June 1, 2007	
AVIAN FLU: PREVENTING A PANDEMIC

Indonesia Faults Bird-Flu Illness For Man's Death
Associated Press
June 1, 2007

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- An Indonesian man died of bird flu, bringing
the death toll in the country hardest hit by the virus to 78, a
health ministry official said.

The country's latest victim of the H5N1 virus came from a village in
central Java province, said Muhammad Nadirin, an official at the
Health Ministry. The 45-year-old died Monday after being hospitalized
for two days, he said.

The man had slaughtered, cooked and then eaten an infected chicken
one week before he developed bird-flu symptoms on May 17, he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said
Thursday that anti-U.S. sentiment contributed to Indonesia's success
in leading developing countries to push the World Health Organization
into agreeing to change a 50-year-old influenza virus-sharing system.
(Continue reading)

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Fred Feldman | 1 Jun 12:01

Developments in Iraq; US conflict and offer of dialogue with Sadrists

Informed Comment 
Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion

Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute

Friday, June 01, 2007
70 Dead in Attacks; 
Bombing in Fallujah; 
Sadrists Warn US Military on Diwaniya; 
US Seeks Dialogue with Sadrists 

122 US troops died in Iraq in May, the worst total since late 2004.

A radical Salafi group in Baghdad claimed to have killed two US embassy
employees, a husband and a wife, after robbing them of large sums. The US
embassy will only say that the two are missing. An AP cameraman was shot and
killed on Thursday.

A massive suicide bombing of police recruits in the largely Sunni city of
Fallujah west of Baghdad killed 30 and wounded 20 on Thursday, a day when
Iraqi authorities announced that almost 100 persons were killed, found dead,
or injured [Ar.] in political violence. (Western wire services appear to
have put their stories to bed before the full scope of the carnage was
apparent.] Five bodies turned up in Mosul; there was a bombing in Baghdad
that killed 1 and wounded 3; at least 2 were killed by rocket fire in Tal
Afar. 
29 bodies showed up in Baghdad streets. A lecturer in Fine Arts was shot
down in Basra.. Now there is a parable for contemporary Iraq. I count over
70 dead in these various reports.
(Continue reading)

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glparramatta | 1 Jun 12:30
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Communal power versus capitalism in Venezuela - Green Left Weekly #711, May 30, 2007

Green Left Weekly #711, May 30, 2007
http://www.greenleft.org.au/
RSS feed http://www.greenleft.org.au/rss.php

Communal power versus capitalism in Venezuela
<http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/711/36910>
VENEZUELA: Led by the country’s socialist president, Hugo Chavez, the
Venezuelan revolution is sending shockwaves through the corporate elite
both within Venezuela and internationally. The Venezuelan people are
waging a struggle to gain sovereignty over the country’s natural
resources in order to rebuild the nation along pro-people lines.

******************************************************************************
John Pilger: 'Support GLW!'
<http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/636/636p3b.htm>

Green Left Weekly $250,000 Fighting Fund 2007: Salt of the Earth
<http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/711/36918>

Enjoy reading Green Left Weekly? Want to help support our work? Why not
make an online donation http://www.greenleft.org.au/donate.php.

****************************************************************************

Corporate greed drives water crisis
<http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/711/36915>

The deepening of Australia’s drought- and global-warming-driven water
crisis has thrown into sharp relief the historical and current
inadequacy of the Liberal-Labor political establishment to put the needs
(Continue reading)

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Gmane