Pakistan: Farooq Tariq comments on the Awami Workers' Party.

We reprint below the comments of Farooq Tariq on the formation of the Awami Workers' Party in Pakistan.  The Awami Party came about through the unification of three left parties, The Awami Party, the Labour Party Pakistan, and Workers Party Pakistan. Reprinted from Viewpoint

AWP founded: Will it sustain itself?

Thursday, 29 November 2012 23:33by Farooq Tariq

The merger will survive because it has more positives and no negatives. The cementing phenomenon is the ideology of Socialism that all three parties have agreed upon

The merger of three left wing parties---Awami Party, Labour Party Pakistan, and Workers Party Pakistan---has generated a lot of discussion among the political intelligentsia and activists. While it has been hailed as a trend setting exercise by many in and outside Pakistan, there are quite a few asking the question: will it sustain itself? The merger undoubtedly has lifted many aspirations of those wanting a just and equitable society. It has been welcomed all over despite a few relating sarcastically and instinctively with some of the failed attempts of the Left to forge unity among organizations over the past 30 years.

Four articles within a week of merger were printed in the editorial pages of commercial media including Dawn, Pakistan Today and Daily Times, written by well respected writers like I. A. Rehman and Professor Aziz-ud-din Ahmad, welcoming the merger on the theme of the “Left reborn” . Several Urdu papers also followed the English papers to welcome the most intelligent move by the Left in decades to expand its social basis in a society dominated by political Islam.
The arguments put forward by some questioning the sustainability of this merger are based mainly on lack of information within the left of Pakistan and are short of understanding the objective and subjective realities under which this bold initiative was taken. Let us look some of the starting points for this merger.

The merger was simply a local act. It was not taken because someone from outside had done this. It was not a mechanical imitation but a dialectical response to some of the successful recent experiences on the Left internationally. Many on the Left in Pakistan were inspired by the success of SYRISA of Greece (The Coalition of the Radical Left –a United Social Front). It won nearly 27 percent popular votes in the general elections in Greece and became the second largest and main opposition party. It brought together several different socialist and political trends to form the party in 2004. Within 8 years, it became the talk of the whole world. However, the merger in Pakistan is not a carbon copy of SYRISA. It has its unique features.

The beginning of merger process was purely a product of the young revolutionaries within the three parties who finally decided to unite in one single platform. The desire of the young revolutionaries for a bold and creative action for the uplift of the Left forces had all the foundations of a success story. It was not a hasty impatience of some “young petty bourgeoisie youth” to build a party overnight as described by some sceptical analysts. It was a painstaking long overdue strategy put into reality.
The merger would sustain and help to develop a radical left party in a short space of time. The main reason is the ideological basis for this process. It is done at a time when the very existence of the Left was in question because of the continuous growth of religious fanaticisms in all spheres of life. The insecurity among the left activists has been halted by this merger process.

The ideological differences in the history of the Left were long overtaken by the extraordinary events of the past 25 years. The collapse of the Soviet Union and euphoria among the capitalist class led them to go for an all out war against the working class in the shape of the brutal implementation of the neoliberal agenda.  The result was, as expected, the growth of poverty at an unprecedented level and the gap among poor and rich widened to an historical high point. The international capitalist crisis worsened this situation even further.

However, Pakistan was a special case. Here, the growth of abhorrence against the “system” was not translated in the progress of progressive forces. On the contrary, the extreme right wing forces with their anti-imperialist demagogy were the main beneficiaries. They were better prepared with over 80,000 Madrassas and a whole range of social work they were involved in coloring with religious sentiments.

The Left was left out by political commentators as mere spectators from outside the mainstream political arena.  However, the slow and patient work of some Left groups and parties in building social and labour movements paved the way for the present merger. One of the main aims of this merger strategy was to strengthen the labour and peasant movement that they were able to build in parts of the country over the years. The movements were in some confusion about the three parties pursuing similar ideology and tactics with three different names. The merger has eased their lives.
One of the main beneficiaries of this merger will be the National Students Federation, a traditional left organization which saw splits among its ranks whenever the Left split for any reason. That was the main consideration among the leadership of the three parties who left their year’s long hard work building their parties to adopt a new name. It was the NSF leadership that initiated the merger process and it is the youth who are in the forefront of joining the new party.

The merger will survive because it has more positives and no negatives. The cementing phenomenon is the ideology of Socialism that all three parties have agreed upon. They agree that the commanding heights of economy be nationalized [under democratic workers’ control and management???]Nations [and national groups?] must have a right of self determination with a voluntary choice of succession. An end of debt with an audit of all the local and foreign loans is the high point agreed to tackle the worsening economic crisis. At least 10 percent of the national budget spent on education and five percent on health with drastic cuts in military spending will ease the life of millions once put in practice.

With a radical programme, committed and experienced self sacrificing leadership and whole hearted support of all the members of the three parties have put the merger formula on the road of guaranteed success.

Farooq Tariq is General Secretry of Awami Workers Party Pakistan. Email: farooqtariq@hotmail.com

US: it’s investment, not consumption

by Michael Roberts

Just a short one on US growth now that the Q3’12 real GDP data revision has been released.  Third quarter annualised real GDP growth was revised up from 2% to 2.7%.  That sounds good, but the devil is in the detail.  It was only revised up because of an increased estimate of inventories or stocks of goods produced.  In other words, US capitalists produced too much compared to demand and had to stock the excess.  Final demand or sales was revised down and, most significant, non-residential investment (excluding the purchase of homes) growth was taken down substantially. This is last figure is the best measure of new investment by the capitalist sector in an economy and it does not look good.  Real investment is still some 8% below the peak before the Great Recession.  Investment had fallen 24% from its peak in Q3’07 to mid-2009.  Then it recovered but is now slipping back again.

And the indicators for investment over the next few quarters are not good either.  One good indicator of where investment is going is to look at ‘core’ capital goods orders (excluding aircraft and defence).  That is moving into recession territory, although it is probably too early to judge.  The figure is from the Doug Short site.

And yet corporate profits are still rising, at least when measured by the rather artificial methods of the US Bureau of Economic Analysis of corporate profits (after inventory and capital consumption adjustment).  If we take a ‘purer’ figure of net cash flow for US businesses (before they pay tax, interest, dividends and make room for depreciation) it is not quite so rosy.

Indeed, the gap between available profits and investment by the US capitalist sector has never been greater.  US capitalists are on an investment strike, still not convinced that profitability is sufficient to launch into new investment.

And contrary to the views of the underconsumptionists, household consumption in the US as a share of GDP is only just off its all-time high, at 70.5%.  And yet investment to GDP is just 14% of GDP, no higher than it was in the mid-1990s.  The Great Recession was a product of collapse in capitalist investment and the property market, not a collapse in household spending.

So we remain in what I call a Long Depression.  This is best shown in my last graph.  The gap between trend average real GDP growth per head of population prior to the slump and actual growth opened up during the Great Recession.  But unlike previous recessions, that gap has not been bridged in the recovery.  Indeed, the gap is still widening on a per capita basis.  We are in unprecedented times at least since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Roughriders put yule log on stadium video - 4 people call fire dept

For weeks, the cheery image of the burning log was displayed on the video scoreboard at the Saskatchewan Roughriders home venue west of the downtown.  The flaming log was also shown on banner screens across the stands.

The problem was, from a distance some people thought the stadium was on fire — there have been four frantic calls to 911 in the past few weeks.

Deputy fire chief Gerard Kay said the callers were very descriptive, reporting "a very bright flame. In some cases the smell of smoke."

Trying to snuff out the false alarms, Kay said he called around to get the log video replaced.  The Roughriders organization, which is in charge of what appears on the TVs, got the message.

Yule-ive and Yule-earn.

source

Video of the week

Breakdancing German mascot is this week's winner.

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If you're not disappointed after 4 years of Brian Burke then you are delusional

With most Leaf fans, the glass is always at least half full. So when it comes to discussing Brian Burke's tenure with the Leafs not surprisingly many fans are satisfied.  I heard couple fans on the radio today declare that 9 out of 10 trades made by Burke were good.  I have to admit he has made some astute deals considering he had little to trade away.  But a 90% success rate is quite a stretch.

The expectation based on Burke's own words was that by now the Leafs should have at least made the playoffs once.  But if you buy into Burke's many pronouncements then perhaps you've tempered those expectations.

Here are some of the things that Burke promised 4 years ago at his first press conference as the Leafs' GM.

1. The Leafs would be bigger and more truculent.
2. The team was going to be built from the net out.
3. The Leafs would rebuild quicker by not tanking and relying on the draft.
4. The culture on the team would change for the better.

So are the Leafs bigger and more truculent?  Absolutely not. There are only few players that fit that description.  Mike Brown and Dion Phaneuf come to mind.  Luke Schenn was traded away. Colton Orr was waived and sent to the minors.  Mike Komisarek and Jay Rosehill rarely play. David Steckel is a big body but not very physical.  Key players like Phil Kessel and Mikhail Grabovski are pushed around by opponents.

Have the Leafs rebuilt from the net out.  Again no.  Goaltending is currently their biggest weakness and likely holding the team back from advancing in the standings.  Granted not from lack of trying.  Burke has signed 4 free agent goalies from Europe or U.S.  college but none so far has made an impact.  Their current #1 goalie, James Reimer is in fact a 2006 draft pick (4th round) selected by the previous regime.   He is still a big question mark.

Burke trashed the Edmonton Oilers approach to rebuilding by bottoming out and collecting high draft picks.  He insisted he could more quickly through a combination of trades, draft picks and free agent signings.  So are the Leafs ahead of the Oilers rebuild? Not really.  The Leafs are no closer to making the playoffs than the Oilers.  The Leafs are as young as the Oilers but have plenty of blue chip prospects while the Leafs have almost none.  The Leafs do not have young players on their roster with the talent of Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Magnus Paajarvi. 

Burke labelled the Leafs four years ago as having blue and white disease.  My impression is that he was referring to a soft team that accepted losing.  He was going to change that.  Did he?  Marginally at best.  The tailspin at the end of last season was the hallmark of a team that quit early.  Something that Leaf fans have seen many times over the year.  Burke referred to it as a bus going over a cliff.  We don't really know what goes on in the dressing room but if these players gave up on the season then there hasn't been much of a culture change.

In addition Brian Burke has picked public fights with just about everyone and anyone including the CBC, Don Cherry and Francois Allaire. Those disractions have been annoying.  I loved his trades to land Phaneuf, Gardner and Lupul.  But free agent signings like Komisarek, Connolly, Gustavsson, Armstrong have eaten up cap space and provided the team with little.  All those college free agent signings have produced just one NHLer, Tyler Bozak.

Yes from all appearances you can say that the Leafs are on the right track but you can't tell me that Brian Burke has met those lofty expectations he set.

Trace Adkins and the Confederate flag

Trace Adkins

Now this insulting and apart from that, it reflects the biased US mass media. Trace Adkins who I assume is related to Chet Adkins, a country singer, wore an earring decorated with the confederate flag when he performed for the Christmas tree lighting in the Rockefeller Center on Wednesday night.

"Some regard the flag as a racist symbol" the Associated Press says as it reported the incident. Oh, and "who might that be?" "He meant no offense by it", the AP reports Adkins as saying. To prove how un-racist he is, Adkins says that he is a "Proud American who objects to any oppression" and that the flag represents his "Southern heritage."

Well what aspect of "Southern Heritage" does Adkins represent? The slaveowners? If not, he'd better separate himself from them then.  He claims he is a descendant of "Confederate soldiers" and didn't intend "offense" by wearing it. But I can't accept this. If his relatives were poor white sharecroppers or something I would have more sympathy as the ruling classes, industrialist or slaveocracy, always divides us, always tries to set one group of against the other.  But if he is the descendants of landowners and slaveowners then he should publicly admit that they were on the wrong side.

The reality is that this flag is a racist symbol.  The black folks know that.  Doesn't Trace ever talk to them? Has he never read history or is Trace an idiot?  I don't know him so I wouldn't know.  But he is either an idiot or a racist, what other conclusions can a person draw? .  The Southern Slaveocracy was a racist state in the extreme. Capitalism, the system of production favored by the Northern industrialists is also a racist system but for workers, black or white, a step forward historically.  White workers would not have had the right to vote, the right to organize either under this regime and the fight for such things would have been much harder with racism much stronger had the Southern slaveowners won the civil war. The white workers of the south were barely a step or two above the ladder from the black folks.

So if you can forward this to Trace I would like to hear what he has to say about it. If his descendants were poor white workers then why would he support the southern slaveowners?  And why does he not accept that the symbol of a racist state that considered persons of a different color less than human something to be proud of?  If Germans said they were proud of the Nazi state would he think that was OK?

It is easy for me as a white person to be measured about this. If I were black I'd want to kick his ass.

Burmese workers protest copper mine

I was talking with a friend today about the very important developments in the fast food industry.  We both agreed that the leaders of the US trade Union movement who are involved in this have their own agenda when it comes to organizing workers.  On the one hand they are supporting the decimation of the living standards of the higher paid along with the weakening of Union rights on the job while supporting the Unionization of the low waged which would bring increased income in to what they see as the trade Union business.

Below we see the protests that have been taking place against a copper mine in Burma the last few days, protests that would have meant certain death a few months ago.  It is a similar situation in the sense that once they lift the boot off the neck of the working  class, once they make some minor reforms, which some condemn as not enough, it can be quite difficult to put that genie back in the bottle.  Every gain the working class makes should be supported.

Fast-Food Workers Walk Off the Job

McDonald's protest, Auckland NZ

We are sharing this piece from the NYT with our readers given the importance of this walk off of fast food workers.  This is occurring as Walmart workers also take steps toward confronting their bosses which in this industry can have unpleasant consequences.  it shows how in the light of the recent crisis, workers are being forced in to action. The economic crisis is savaging the poor and low waged. (this image did not come with the original article)


NYT
November 28, 2012
In Drive to Unionize, Fast-Food Workers Walk Off the Job

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Fast-food workers at several restaurants in New York walked off the job on Thursday, firing the first salvo in what workplace experts say is the biggest effort to unionize fast-food workers ever undertaken in the United States. The effort — backed by community and civil rights groups, religious leaders and a labor union — has engaged 40 full-time organizers in recent months to enlist workers at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Domino’s, Taco Bell and other fast-food restaurants across the city.

Leaders of the effort said that workers were walking off the job to protest what they said were low wages and retaliation against several workers who have backed the unionization campaign. They said it would be the first multi-restaurant strike by fast-food workers in American history, although it was unclear how many workers would walk off the job.

 The first walkout took place at 6:30 a.m. at a McDonald’s at Madison Avenue and 40th Street, where several dozen striking workers and supporters chanted: “Hey, hey, what do you say? We demand fair pay.” An organizer of the unionizing campaign said that 14 of the 17 employees scheduled to work the morning shift had gone on strike.

Raymond Lopez, 21, an aspiring actor who has worked at the McDonald’s for more than two years, showed up on his day off to protest. “In this job having a union would really be a dream come true,” said Mr. Lopez, who added that he makes $8.75 an hour. He said that he, and fellow fast-food workers, were under-compensated. “We don’t get paid for what we do,” he said. “It really is living in poverty.”

Over the decades there have been occasional efforts to unionize a fast-food restaurant here or there, but labor experts say there has never before been an effort to unionize dozens of such restaurants. The new campaign aims in part to raise low-end wages and reduce income inequality, and is also an uphill battle to win union recognition.

Ruth Milkman, a sociology professor at the City University of New York, said there had been so few efforts to unionize fast-food workers because it was such a daunting challenge.

“These jobs have extremely high turnover, so by the time you get around to organizing folks, they’re not on the job anymore,” she said. Nonetheless, she said the new effort might gain traction because it is taking place in New York, a city with deep union roots where many workers are sympathetic to unions.

Christine C. Quinn, the speaker of the New York City Council who has struggled with various measures intended to improve wages and working conditions in the city, expressed support for fast-food workers.

"I support fast food restaurant workers’ rights to organize and fight for decent wages,’' Ms. Quinn wrote in a Twitter message on Thursday morning.

Jonathan Westin, organizing director at New York Communities for Change, a community group that is playing a central role in the effort, said hundreds of workers had already voiced support for the campaign, called Fast Food Forward.

“The fast-food industry employs tens of thousands of workers in New York and pays them poverty wages,” Mr. Westin said. “A lot of them can’t afford to get by. A lot have to rely on public assistance, and taxpayers are often footing the bill because these companies are not paying a living wage.”

Mr. Westin said the campaign was using techniques that differed from those in most unionization drives, and was still developing overall strategy. He declined to say whether it would pursue unionization through elections or by getting workers to sign a majority of cards backing a union.

McDonald’s issued a statement about the incipient unionization push. “McDonald’s values our employees and has consistently remained committed to them, so in turn they can provide quality service to our customers,” the company said.

It added that the company had an “an open dialogue with our employees” and always encouraged them to express any concerns “so we can continue to be an even better employer.” McDonald’s noted that most of its restaurants were owned and operated by franchisees “who offer pay and benefits competitive within the” industry.

But workers demonstrating outside the McDonald’s on Madison Avenue said their employer paid them wages that made it difficult to pay for basics.

“We can’t pay rent, pay bills,’' said Hector Henningham, 40, a manager, who said he had worked for McDonald’s for eight years and made $8 an hour. “We need change.’'

One customer drinking coffee inside the McDonald’s said she supported the organizing effort. “If anybody deserves to unionize, it’s fast food workers,” said the customer, Jocelyn Horner, 35, a graduate student.

Even with a union, it might be hard to obtain wages of $15 an hour, and many employers say they would most likely employ fewer workers if they had to pay that much.

Mr. Westin’s group, New York Communities for Change, has played a major role in the recent uptick in unionizing low-wage workers in New York, many of whom are immigrants. In the past year, his group, working closely with the retail, wholesale and department store union and other organizations, has helped win unionization votes at four carwashes and six supermarkets in New York.

The sponsors of the fast-food campaign also include UnitedNY.org, the Black Institute and the Service Employees International Union, a powerful union that is playing a quiet but important role behind the scenes.

Several religious leaders are backing the effort. “I’ve become involved because it is primarily a matter of justice,” said the Rev. Michael Walrond of the First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. “We seek to protect those who are the most vulnerable in our culture, and some of the most vulnerable people in the city are fast-food workers who work for poverty wages.”

According to the State Labor Department, median pay for fast-food workers in the city is around $9 an hour — or about $18,500 a year for a full-time worker.

After three years of working at a McDonald’s restaurant on 51st Street and Broadway, Alterique Hall earns $8 an hour — and is yearning for something better.

So when he heard about the unionization campaign, Mr. Hall, 23, was quick to sign on.

“It’s time for a change,” he said, “It’s time to put on the gloves.”

Linda Archer, a cashier at the McDonald’s on 42nd Street just west of Times Square, said she wished she earned that much. She earns $8 an hour after three years there and averages 24 hours a week, she said, meaning her pay totals about $10,000 a year.

“I feel I deserve $15 an hour,” said Ms. Archer, 59. “I work very hard.” She said she hoped a union would deliver affordable health insurance and paid sick days.

“My hope is we can all come together in a union without being intimidated,” she said.

TCB Management, the franchisee that operates Mr. Hall’s McDonald’s, and Lewis Foods, which runs Ms. Archer’s, did not respond to inquiries.

Tim McIntyre, a Domino’s Pizza spokesman, said the few efforts to unionize its stores and drivers had fallen flat.

“It’s a fairly high-turnover position, so there’s never been a successful union effort,” he said. “People who are doing this part time, seasonally or as they work their way through college don’t find much interest in membership.”

Richard W. Hurd, a labor relations professor at Cornell, said the organizations backing the fast-food campaign seemed intent on finding pressure points to push the restaurants to improve wages and benefits.

“But it’s going to be a lot harder for them to win union recognition,” he said. “It will be harder to unionize them than carwash workers because the parent companies will fight hard against it, because they worry if you unionize fast-food outlets in New York, that’s going to have a lot of ramifications elsewhere.”

Nate Schweber contributed reporting.

The election's over, Obama's ready to make nice with the Republicans now.

Obama and Boehner: "We'll work it out"

The Democrats have their man in the White House for the next four years so the "class war" rhetoric can fade in to the background as the millionaires of the two Wall Street parties continue their assault on workers and the middle class----the actual class war continues.

Obama is "showing new flexibility" in the discussions over what the mass media terms, the "Fiscal Cliff.", automatic cuts in spending and tax increases that will kick in at the end of this year if the  politicians can't cut a deal.  The failure to act so far has investors in a frenzy as the coupon clippers hate uncertainty and are refusing to invest threatening economic growth.  The two sides have no disagreements over the fundamentals, that workers and the middle class will pay for the crisis of capitalism.  The differences are over the details with Republicans generally opposing taxes on higher earners and corporations and the Democrats claiming the mantle of party of the people by publicly calling for the defense of cuts in entitlements like Medicare and Social Security for example.

The Great Recession has cut in to revenue as the US taxpayer apart from bailing out the system, is paying for predatory wars and the hundreds of global military installations that accompany them. Presently,  the US national debt stands at about $16.28 trillion or about 100% GDP. 

"I am ready and able and willing and excited to go ahead and get this issue resolved in a bi-partisan fashion....." says President Obama.  "Ready, able, willing and excited" all at once is quite a condition to be in I must say.  If the Democrats were actually a party that had the material interests of workers and the middle class at heart, it would not be likely they would be able to get any issue resolved with voluntary cooperation from their Republican counterparts. When two forces with equal rights meet in the world's marketplace, force decides.

The Republicans favor cuts as opposed to tax increases.  If they are forced to accept some form of tax policy they would rather it be curbs on deductions and will swap that for a deal on cuts in spending.  The reason for this of course is that the rich can always find a way out of that, a way to hide income from the taxman. (see Not another Tax Reform Act, on this blog)  or find deductions that work.

The Obama Administration wants to raise taxes on household income above $250,000 and leave other rates as they are. The tax rate on earned income between $250,000 and $388,000 is presently 33%.  Above this amount the rate rises to 35%.  The Clinton Administration rates were 36% and 39.6% respectively.  Obama's "flexibility" amounts to increasing the tax rates above current levels but below Clinton's.  That's above 33% but below 36% for households earning above $250,000 and above 35% but below 39.6% for levels above that.  No class warfare there I would say; and it's no wonder the Republicans have shown a willingness to make a deal as long as they get their curbs on deductions which are not curbs at all. 

One Republican says that they'll accept a deal that raised rates on those earning $500,000 to $1 million as long as their Democratic friends "back substantial entitlement cuts.".  So the options for us are really cuts as the rich will make it work.   The reality is that the US working class has no political party and therefore no representation at all in these discussions.  Two groups of millionaires/billionaires are determining the fate of 300 million people, mostly workers.

The liberals never give up hoping

CEO's were meeting with their representative in the White House this week no doubt pushing for lower corporate taxes and other measures that will make them more competitive in the global marketplace which if it happens, "..could help unleash even more growth and job creation than perhaps anyone has previously expected." says Brian Roberts, the head of Comcast, one of the monopolies that controls what we watch on television.  The 35% corporate income tax rate in the US is one of the highest compared to other countries.  But its interesting to note that despite this, U.S. corporate income tax collections of 1.2% GDP in 2011 were lower than nearly all OECD countries (which average 2.5% GDP).  For the corporations it's very handy to have two political parties while workers have none.  And what does it mean to be competitive? It means we have to compete with Indian and Chinese workers.  Instead, we must join with Indian and Chinese workers in order to raise "all boats" to use a favorite expression of the bourgeois. Our boats of course, don't have any bourgeois in them.

The CEO's, as they always do, floated the threat of shifting production overseas if the business environment in the US isn't made more favorable, more competitive and profit friendly. They'll move fewer jobs offshore with a "more competitive corporate tax structure.", they told President Obama.
Lower taxes, no Unions,  removal of all obstacles to profit taking---this is what they want, a sort of "Full Spectrum Dominance" for the USA. (The bosses are so aggressive and overconfident, even passive Unions and cooperative officials are not enough),

The capitalist offensive has not abated with the election of Obama.  Obama has been able to appease the coupon clippers with somewhat less aggravation than  George W Bush would face.  It is also not so easy to accuse him of supporting or introducing policies that are racist which are inevitable in a system that has inequality, racism and sexism built in to it.

This responsibility for this dismal state of affairs in electoral politics in the US, where workers have no choice but one of two political parties that represent hostile class interests, falls squarely on the shoulders of the leaders of the workers' organizations.  They have tremendous resources at their command, financial, structural and in terms of human resources.  Yet they offer these resources to the Democratic Party in the hopes that they will receive some crumbs from the bosses' table.  As we have explained many times this has led to the incorrect view among millions of workers that all politics is bad as are all politicians.  Politicians are all corrupt workers say as opposed to recognizing that political parties represent forces in society, have a social base. They do what they do as a consequence of the class whose interests they represent.

Consequently, some 90 million Americans refuse to participate in what they see as a fruitless effort at the polls.  The Union hierarchy hopes and would be content with gaining millions of the lowest paid workers in order to maintain revenue and keep what they see as a business afloat. Meanwhile they cooperate with the same bosses in driving down wages at the higher end as well as willingly eliminating safety protections and union rights on the job that are impediments to competitiveness and profit making. Overall, they accept that what took us a couple of centuries to win through heroic sacrifice and struggle can be no more.

The left too must reflect on our failures. In some urban areas like the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, LA, New York City etc., there must be thousands upon thousands of individuals, socialists and other activists who have an anti-capitalist bent or simply want to confront this offensive of capital.  The left, with its tradition of sectarianism, its common failure to tap in to the mood that exists in society which tends to isolate it from the mass of workers in one way or another raising demands that do not connect, or making concessions that are seen as opportunist, has failed to offer a alternative to workers in the electoral arena.  A united front campaign------- running candidates on a platform that genuinely confronts the capitalist offensive, make the rich pay, against austerity, cuts in public services, education, and for jobs, a $15 per hour minimum wage, mass transit, an end to all wars (that are extremely unpopular and are only tolerated as a small percentage of US families bear the brunt of the physical and psychological sacrifice this entails)------this would have a tremendous effect and would bring far more results than the "lesser of two evils" philosophy as the strategists of capital would throw reforms at such a movement to head it off, derail it.  It always pays to fight.

Such a campaign, linked to direct action tactics on the ground, would transform the balance of forces and inspire millions of workers.  It would influence the struggle inside of organized Labor and give the left a credibility it has failed to achieve so far while at the same time laying the basis for the formation of a genuine independent mass working people's political party.  Threats to shut production destroying communities while they move to exploit workers in countries like Bangladesh where more than 100 of our brothers and sisters recently died in a factory fire, can be met with occupations and through an independent political alternative, the taking in to public ownership of the firms concerned, with compensation based on proven need.

The stage is already being set for the next election.  They start campaigning two years before. The Democratic Party candidate will be Hilary Clinton who is leaving her position as secretary of state to prepare.   Are we going to have no real choice yet again?

They know their audience

Some pretty bad plastic surgery

It appears the woman received buttocks implants that went terribly wrong.  It looks like she was injected with silly putty.  If that surgeon offers her a free facelift as part of the compensation for the botched job I would pass.

Worst police sketch artist ever?

When police in New York arrested Salvatore Perrone earlier this month on charges of shooting three Brooklyn shopkeepers to death, the focus was on the grisly murders of the merchants as they worked in their clothing stores.

But now attention has turned to the police and, in particular, its initial sketch of the likely suspect. The image shows the suspect as a young African American man wearing sunglasses.

Perrone, a white, 64-year-old garment salesman with thinning hair, could not look more different. Authorities previously offered rewards of more than $20,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

All three victims were of Middle Eastern descent with stores within a 5-mile radius of each other. Two were killed in the summer, while the last incident occurred this month when 78-year-old Rahmatollah Vahidipour was killed in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighbourhood.

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Maple Leafs earn almost as much as the combined income of 28 teams

Forbes has come out with the valuation of the 30 NHL teams and of course the Toronto Maple Leafs are on top.  There valued as almost doubled to $1 billion.

But here is the real shocker.  Toronto has an operating income (profit) of $82 million.  Take away the Rangers and the combined income for the remaining 28 teams only adds up to $98 million. That's because 13 team lose money.  This suggests that either the economic model is broken and the league is in markets where making a profit will be at best difficult.

Though for the Maple Leafs probably any economic model would work.  In fact, without a salary cap the Maple Leafs would be able to scoop up just about any free agent they wanted.  Now that doesn't guarantee a championship, it doesn't always work for the New York Yankees.  But if the Leafs could spend their way out of the basement we know they could at least make the playoffs.

Not surprising the Leafs haven't made the playoffs since the salary cap was introduced.

This video h as something to do with the KHL All Star Game

Things are done a lot differently in the KHL.   Here's Ilya Kovalchuk and some of his SKA teammates in a weird video promoting them for the All Star Game featuring the SKA "sisters".

What the vacuum cleaner man saw

August Nimtz and Lars Lih: Socialists, Elections and "Soviet Power

Readers might find these two presentations interesting, especially those interested in history and particularly the history of the socialist/communist movements. August Nimtz and Lars Lih from the Historical Materialism Conference in London last month. I have only watched the first one (Nimtz) and enjoyed it.

The vultures gather round to scoop up a non-union Hostess Corp.

Last week, one of the 1%'s bankruptcy Judges  gave the Hostess bosses permission to liquidate the company and sell off its parts.  Along with ridding themselves of fixed stock, the coupon clippers that own it are also ridding themselves of any obligation to that other side of the capital expenditure in the labor process, some 18,000 workers.

The bosses have many ways of violating contractual agreements with workers, violence, starvation, the military (always a dodgy option), the police, and their courts which is more favorable.  Being in bankruptcy is another way the coupon clippers can relieve themselves of these obligations. They do this even when the company is not broke like Delphi, the auto parts manufacturer that was once part of GM.

Not a week ago, the general line was that the Hostess simply wasn't a viable business, "Nobody wants to have anything to do with these old plants or these union or these contracts", said Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn.  They blamed the Union for running the business down of course which is only true in the sense that US workers are too expensive on the global market with rights in the workplace the bosses can do without.  Bangladesh offers a more lucrative environment for profit taking. The real issue though is the contracts, that the workers are Unionized.  Despite years of defeats, and elimination of Union power on the job thanks to a cooperative, employer friendly leadership, the bosses would much rather have no Union at all; and why not go for it, they feel very confident after years of concessionary contracts.

Rayburn also commented last week that the only hope for a buyer would be if a, "..liquidated Hostess would be free of its collective bargaining agreements.".  The judge has opened that door for them and suddenly, "Hostess is an attractive target, with its nationwide distribution of Twinkies, Ho Ho's and Ding Dongs."  (Who on earth dreams up these names?).  We should make no bones about it; the name of the game here is close down the show and open up non Union. It is part of the ongoing war to drive US workers wages and conditions closer to those in Vietnam and India.

The front runner for scooping up the remnants of Hostess Corp is Flowers' Foods a company with a healthy 90% of its employees non-Union.  "Flowers is unlikely to rehire Hostess employees as union workers.......and isn't interested in assuming labor contracts" the Wall Street Journal reports. Despite the Union officialdom claiming there are "good" unionized employers and "bad" non Union ones, the only reason we have Unions at all is because workers fought heroic battles for the right to organize against the most violent opposition from the bosses. We have Unions because we fought and died for them.

Is this the end of the Hostess struggle? It would seem so. Back in the eighties during the Eastern Airlines strike, the boss shut the company down and the Labor officials called it a victory.  For the boss, a man named Lorenzo, it's simply shifting capital around, for workers it's a greater loss.  The thought of taking over the company doesn't enter the heads of the strategists atop organized Labor.

The attacks we have been facing for decades have definitely heated up since the bailout.  On the other hand there have been some powerful  responses to the assault of capital; the student movement of a couple of years ago, some big strikes like Verizon and the Southern California grocery strike that was lost entirely due to the UFCW leadership's capitulation to the employers. We also saw 100,000 on the streets of Madison Wisconsin that was successfully channeled in to an electoral campaign for the Democratic Party.  With the Team Concept as their primary policy and no alternative to the market, mobilizing the potential power of organized Labor and the millions of non-Union workers and our communities in to an offensive of our own can only lead to chaos as far as the Union officialdom is concerned.  The capitalists must be the job creators, profit is sacrosanct and workers' can't control our workplaces or society.

There's no escaping the fact that the bosses are becoming more aggressive and emboldened.  But we will see further challenges to this offensive as the class struggle heats up.  Too much confidence is a dangerous thing and there's no doubt the US bourgeois will make some serious blunders up ahead. 

It would also be a mistake for us to forget our history and the explosive nature of the US working class.  After the onset of the Great Depression in 1929 and by 1931 the United Mine Workers, one of the few industrial unions shrunk from 400,000 to 60,000 members and the AFL membership was declining by 7000 members a week until by 1933 it was down to a little over 2 million.  We all know what happened then.  Three general strikes followed in 1934 and then the great factory occupations and growth of industrial unionism culminating in the 44-day Flint sit down and the rise of the CIO.
I am not saying that the situation is exactly the same as at that time there were numerous left and radical forces withing the working class.  Socialists led the general strike in Minneapolis, the Communists in San Francisco and the followers of AJ Muste and the unemployed organizations the Toledo general strike, all in 1934. But it would be a mistake, one that liberals make to readily, to write off the US working class.  Even without the huge workforce in the service industries, the docks, the airlines, communication and heavy industry are still Unionized and the organized sector will be convulsed and radicalised by a generalized movement against the bosses offensive.

No one reported shot, stabbed or slashed in New York City on Monday

Not a single person was reported shot, stabbed or slashed in New York City on Monday, police sources said.

The shutout seemingly caught the NYPD by suprise, as officials were almost at a loss to explain it.  Neither Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne nor other officials could remember the last time a day ended with three zeros.

It likely didn't happen in 1990, when the city logged a record 2,245 murders, said Tom Reppetto, a NYPD historian and author of "American Police, 1945-2012."

The lack of gun and knife violence on Monday may be rare, but not a complete surprise, given that the city is on pace to finish the year with just over 400 murders, the fewest number of murders since about 1960.

Murders this year are down 23 percent -- 472 last year and 366 this year.  And there have also been 10 percent fewer people shot -- 1,674 last year and 1,514, about five a day, this year.  In 1994, the year the NYPD started Compstat, its computer tracking of crime, 4,967 people were shot -- almost 14 a day.

Sources said the emphasis on its stop and frisk initiative has changed the way criminals think, with more likely to carry a knife because a gun conviction carries a heavier penalty.  And slashings, sources said, are often an indicator of gang activity

To be sure, someone did pull a trigger Monday -- a 16-year-old walked into Bronx Lebanon Hospital in the early evening with a gunshot wound to his right thigh.  But police later determined the teen accidentally shot himself and was not involved in a crime.

The streak ended 11:20 a.m. Tuesday when a 27-year-old man was shot in Brooklyn.

I just want to know did they check the East River and all the garbage bins for bodies before declaring Monday murder free?

source

Signs of the day

Hump day hottie

Emma Stone

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Breakdancing German mascot makes Carlton the Bear looks so lame

Is there anything wrong with a dad taking slutty picture of his daughter to sell a car?

Meet Daddy's little girl. Lexxa Ridley, 20, is the model seen posing provocatively in a series of photos posted by her father, Kim, in an eBay for-sale listing for his 1977 Datsun 280Z. I remember the car well. It was fewer than 50,000 miles and sold for $7,500.  Not sure about how much he is asking for Lexxa.

You'll get a great view of the sunshine-yellow vehicle through Lexxa's legs—just don't let her butt cheeks distract you. In another shot, her breasts, tattoos and come-hither stare are on display.

China believes The Onion naming Kim Jong-Un the Sexiest Man Alive

 

The Onion was able to fool the Chinese Communist Party's official mouthpiece into believing they actually named North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Un 2012's "sexiest man alive."

 In honor of this completely real title, the People's Daily not only republished portions of The Onion's propagandist plaudits — "He has that rare ability to somehow be completely adorable and completely macho at the same time" — without commentary, but also included its own homebrewed slideshow of some of Dear Leader Jr.'s sexiest poses.

You would have thought they would have clued in by the "impressive" list of previous winners - Bashar al-Assad (2011), Bernie Madoff (2010), and Ted Kaczynski (2008).

source

Obese American dies in Hungary because no airline wouild fly her back to US for medical treatment

A sickly, obese Bronx woman was left stranded in Hungary then died from kidney failure after airline officials booted her from three New York-bound flights because she was too fat, her husband says.

“All we wanted was to come back home to get her treatment,” said a grieving Janos Soltesz, a Staten Island Ferry security guard whose 56-year-old wife, Vilma, died in Hungary nine days after she was kicked off the first of three jets.

Vilma, who weighed about 425 pounds, had only one leg and used a wheelchair. She traveled with her husband of 33 years to Hungary on Delta and KLM airlines on Sept. 17.

They spent several relaxing weeks at a vacation home they owned in the Hungarian countryside.

 They planned to come home Oct. 15 so Vilma could resume treatment with the doctors she had been seeing for years.   But the couple, both natives of Hungary, were told Vilma couldn’t be accommodated by KLM after they boarded the jet home, Janos said.

Then they were told to drive five hours to Prague for a Delta plane that could accommodate her as a disabled person, said attorney Holly Ostrov Ronai, who is mulling a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the airlines accusing them of violating laws protecting the disabled. In Prague, Delta staff told the couple the airline’s plastic wheelchair couldn’t hold her weight, Janos said.

 So the couple drove back to their vacation home and called their New York travel agent to make other arrangements.  Finally, the agent said they could get on an Oct. 22 Lufthansa flight to New York via Frankfurt, which would be able to accommodate her size.


On the plane, the crew, with help from the local fire department, was unable to move her from her wheelchair to the three seats assigned to her.

So they again went back to the vacation home to make other arrangements as Vilma became sicker and sicker.  Janos found Vilma dead two days later and buried her in Hungary.

Talk about not taking any individual responsibility.  The airlines are being sued for their part in the woman's death even though her death was directly related to the 425 pounds packed into her frame. You let your health deteriorate to the point the airlines can get you on their planes and that's not your fault?

source

This is the best elevator prank of all time

This video has gone viral with over 2 millions hits in two days.

Global growth and the vampire squid

by Michael Roberts

Just today, the OECD slashed its global growth forecasts.  It now reckons the world economy will grow in real terms only 2.9% this year, down from a forecast of 3.4% that it made last May.  For 2013, it now reckons global growth will be just 3.4% compared to its previous forecast of 4.2%.  The main reason for the reduction is the weakening of the Eurozone economies, which the OECD expects to grow only 0.4% this year and even less next year at 0.1%.

This dismal news encouraged me to return to my usual high-frequency measures of the health of the world capitalist economy that readers of my blog will know – namely the surveys of business activity called PMIs (purchasing managers indexes).  The PMIs provide the best immediate guide to how things are.

Well, looking at the combined PMIs (manufacturing and services) for the US – my own invention – the latest October data suggest that the US, up to now in relatively better shape than Europe or Japan, is beginning to weaken.  We are not in recession territory yet, but the direction seems down.

For the US, let me add to mine, two graphics produced by Doug Short on his excellent statistical website (http://advisorperspectives.com/dshort/) that show activity in the heartland of US industry.  The first is the Chicago Fed index.  That index is also heading downwards, although again not yet in recession territory.

It’s the same story using the less well-known Philadelphia Fed activity index, again from Doug Short.

The US economy has been better-performing relative to others up to now for reasons that I have discussed in other posts.  So what is happening in the rest of the capitalist world?  Well, I have brought together various (combined manufacturing and services) PMIs to see.  China and the US economies are still growing according to these indexes (China has picked up slightly from the last period, while the US has dropped back a little, as we have seen). The world as a whole is still expanding (just), again confirming the OECD’s more pessimistic new forecasts.  But Europe and Japan (at a faster pace) are contracting, while the UK has also slipped back into contraction.

There is an even more frequent measure of activity for the US, the ECRI’s weekly indicator and that too is now turning south – although still short of recession territory.

Meanwhile, the most dangerous ‘monster of the market’, Goldman Sachs, the vampire squid of finance capital, has spread its deadly tentacles further over the world.  The UK government has announced the appointment of Mark Carney as the new governor of the Bank of England to start next summer for a five-year term.  Carney is the current head of the Bank of Canada, but guess what?  He worked for Goldman Sachs in senior positions before 13 years before becoming head of the Global Financial Stability Board, the world body supposed to fix the banking system (from poacher to gamekeeper?).  Carney, of course, being a former Goldman Sachs executive, is taking a serious pay cut to do the job and so he has kindly accepted a much higher basic salary than Sir Mervyn King, the current governor.  Sir Mervyn’s pay of £305,000 a year will rise to £480,000 for Carney, plus relocation and housing expenses.

Carney joins Mario Draghi at the ECB and US Treasury Secretary Geithner as former Goldman Sachs executives controlling the world’s finances.  You would think after what has happened over the last five years, including the scandals and trickeries at Goldman Sachs, among other investment banks and monsters of the market, there would be pause for thought before appointing another vampire squid to a completely independent control of the UK’s monetary and financial stability mechanisms, without any democratic accountability.

But no, of course, it is ‘business as usual’.   Indeed, according to the Financial Times it is just that, “the City hailed the appointment as a breath of fresh air and an invigorating sign of the government’s desire to show that Britain was open for business from abroad.”   The FT goes on to say that “Carney may also be seen by City bankers as “one of them”.    The FT goes onto tell us that “Mr Carney’s speeches are notable for their open recognition of the value of market-based finance to the broader economy, even as he has promised to crack down on the risks that shadow banks pose to the financial system.”

It seems that it does not matter if you are right-wing or left, belong to the Austrian school of economics or the Keynesian, mainstream opinion is unanimous in its praise for this vampire appointment.  The right-wing City of London rag and proponent of Austrian economics and Austerian policies, City AM, reckoned that Carney would let the banks have their way: “he is a tough reformer, not a vandal. He is no soft touch – but neither does he want to turn Canary Wharf into a ghost town.  He oozes reasonableness. He doesn’t want to destroy universal banks, unlike some in Britain. His appointment shows Osborne still wants big financial firms to be based here. Carney rightly doesn’t like the Volcker rule, so beloved of banker-bashers; the Canadian, who actually knows what he is talking about, sees that one cannot distinguish between prop trading and hedging. He wants to reform behaviour, reduce leverage and improve supervision, not ditch scale and complexity for the sake of it.  Most important of all, he understands the trade-off between making banks safer and their ability to lend. He is a breath of fresh air. “

Former New Labour Chancellor, Alastair Darling, who presided over the UK’s banking collapse, was equally positive: “Throughout many G8/G20 meetings [Mr Carney] had a clear grasp of what had gone wrong and what to do. He knows the UK and brings international experience. And the bank needs a new broom.”  

And leading Keynesian commentator for the FT, Martin Wolf,  and a member of the Vickers Commission on banking reform (whose recommendations, by the way, still have not been implemented), was positively ecstatic: “the appointment of Mark Carney is a historic event. It is extraordinary – and admirable … George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, deserves credit not only for choosing an exceptional person but for persuading him to take the job.  Unquestionably, Mr Carney is a man of quality, with a broad background in economics, finance and central banking.” etc, etc.

As the world economy dips, another monster takes over the reins.

Husband discovers his wife used to be a man after 19 years of marriage

The man, only named as Jan, married Monica, his family's former au pair in a previous marriage, in 1993 despite legal difficulties raised by the Belgian immigration authorities. But it was only in recent weeks that he discovered that his wife had originally been a man and had undergone a sex change.

Jan, 64, said that he and his wife had decided not to have children because he had two by his previous marriage and she fooled him by pretending to menstruate, using sanitary towels, "to conceal the truth"

For many years the couple lived a normal family life and Monica, 48, was like a "big sister" to his children until their marriage started to come under strain when she got a new full-time job.



Finally rumours began to surface and after Jan found "amorous messages" from other men on her computer, he confronted her in a violent row that led to the police being called.  "A friend told me that he had heard that Monica was actually a sex-changed man. I could not believe it. My son heard similar rumours," he said.

"I pushed her against the wall and said: Now I know the truth. Are you a man? She then announced that she was born as a boy and that she had been operated on. She was now a woman, and so she did not need to tell me about her past as a man. My world collapsed. That evening came to blows. The police came."

Jan, who is undergoing psychiatric treatment following the discovery, has started legal proceedings to have the marriage annulled but the Belgian courts have so far refused to allow him to turn her out of the familiy home.

Yeah the dating scene can be a rough place.  You never know what you're going to get. How would you like to wake up one morning with the realization that your wife is a trannie.  You damn right I'd be undergoing pyschiatric treatment.

source

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Craigslist ad of the week

used underwear - w4m - 19 (downtown toronto)

---

Date: 2012-11-24, 12:52PM EST
ppmqf-3431277077@pers.craigslist.org

---

Hey!

I am a 19 year old exchange student from Europe selling my used underwear.

I wore all my panties for 4 days and put them in a zip bag to keep the aroma!

I can guarantee you a discreet and easy exchange trough a meet up.

If you are interested or if you have any special wishes feel free to contact me and we figure something out together :)

Please note that I only sell my underwear, nothing else ;)

Looking forward to your e-mails!

Ps: I also have socks, pantyhose and shoes.

Drug suspects confesses to police then flushes recording device down the toilet

 "Tighten up on your job, homie."

That's what 30-year-old Patrick Townsend said while saluting a Polk County sheriff's detective after he flushed a digital recorder containing his confession down a toilet in the sheriff's substation, according to an arrest affidavit.

Townsend was arrested Wednesday after a deputy found 32.4 grams of methamphetamine in his boxers during a traffic stop for not wearing a seat belt.

Before being transferred to the substation, Townsend told the deputy, "Dude, that ain't -----. I deal with keys (kilos)," and went into detail about the grade and types of methamphetamine the deputy found. A recording was taken of Townsend's confession, and the digital recorder was placed on a desk in the lobby of the substation. When no one was looking, Townsend grabbed the recorder, tucked it in his armpit and asked to go to the bathroom.

After hurriedly flushing the device down the toilet, Townsend, who was handcuffed in the front, was escorted back to the lobby, where Detective Justin Starr was searching for his recorder.  Deputies say Townsend looked into Starr's face and said, "What are you looking for, Starr, your recorder?" and winked at the detective.

When confronted about taking the recorder, Townsend admitted to what he had done.

"You know what, Starr? I learned something today," Townsend said, according to the report.
"I will never incriminate myself again."

Townsend is being held in the Polk County Jail without bail, charged with trafficking meth,
possession of cannabis and destroying evidence, among other charges.

source

Facebook eliminates photo of woman's elbow that looked like her boob (not really NSFW)

I give Facebook credit for attempting to keep the site free of adult material.  The Internet is full of porn so nothing wrong with a porn-free site.  The problem is that Facebook can be a little arbitrary in waht constitutes "indecent material"  There have been a number of controversies of the past few years. Well here is another one.

An audio-visual web magazine posted an intentionally misleading photo on its Facebook page of a bathing woman who appears to be flashing her buxom left breast, areolas and all.  Except, upon closer inspection, it becomes immediately clear that the exposed area is actually an innocent elbow. 
But to Facebook moderators it was one and the same: Within 24 hours, the photo was removed.

But to a horny teen boy what looks like a boob might as well be one.

Rob Ford is a victim of his own stubbornness and stupidity

I actually did not believe that Rob Ford would be tossed out of his job as mayor of Toronto.  At thought he would get a serious wrist slap or an order to comply with past orders within a time frame before actually getting tossed.  But I guess he ran out of warnings.  He did a credible job on the issues that mattered the most to voters - budget, taxes, privatization.

Whether you are a supporter of opponent to Toronto's former mayor, because afterall he is a polarizing figure, you need to understand that he could have easily avoided this.  It was also not a very smart issue to make a stand on.

When Rob Ford was told that lobbying for funds for his football foundation was a conflict of interest, he refused to accept it despite the fact that the rules are clear.  When told he repay the money he refused.  When it came to a vote on council he refused to declare a conflict and voted on the issue.  When he lost the vote he refused to comply with council.  When he was ordered to comply by the Integrity Commissioner he again refused.  At any time during the court proceedings that led to his ouster he could have settled the matter but refused.

So who is to blame here?  This isn't a left versus right fight but an issue regarding the integrity of the office of the mayor.  He failed the people of Toronto because he wanted to be the sole arbiter of ethics in city hall - but he's not.  I'm sure he ignored legal advice provided to him.  For a man who got to office campaigning on corruption, its pretty ironic he gets booted out over ethics. 

Well he will  have more time for his football and foundation now.

Bangladesh- 100 plus workers burnt to death. Walmart again?

Murdered in the quest for profits

Over 100 people died in a fire in a garment factory in Bangladesh over the weekend. At least 111 people died and scores of others are missing or injured. Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of clothing after China. Since 2006 more than 500 workers have died in fires in Bangladesh according to Clean Clothes Campaign an anti-sweat shop group based in Amsterdam. The industry employs more than three million workers in Bangladesh, most of them women.

Outfits like Walmart, Tommy Hilfiger and Gap get clothing produced in these sweat shop death traps. A spokesperson for the Clean Clothes Campaign says that these profit addicted companies "have known for years that many of the factories they choose to work with are death traps. "Their failure to take action amounts to criminal negligence."

This factory where all these workers died had sales of $35 million a year. Fire officials said they were killed because there were not enough fire exits. The managing director of the Tuba Group, which ran Tazreen Fashions which ran the factory, said he was too busy to comment. Then in an astounding statement he said: "Pray for me," and hung up. Not pray  for the dead workers, not for the burnt and suffering workers, but pray for him the managing director. As we say on this blog again and again capitalism and its dirty profit addicted degenerates are much worse than you could ever imagine. Yes pray for him. It is something else he needs.

But these degenerates are not only owners of Bangladeshi factories. Documents found at the site showed that the factory produced clothing for Walmarts Faded Glory line. The dirty degenerate Walton family have their fingers in this too. As the drive to organize Walmart develops in the US links must be built with workers in other countries who are working in sweat shop conditions and death traps over seas. The Walton family which has wealth equal to at least the lower income 30% of the US population are making their billions off the US low paid workers and also the even lower paid Bangladeshi workers. A united drive to bring this Walmart and its poverty wages to its knees must be launched.

The workers, mainly women, in the Bangladesh factory were getting $37 a month. They have been demanding an increase. A union organizer, Aminul Islam, who campaigned for better working conditions and higher wages, was found tortured and killed outside Dhaka last year. Sweat shop conditions, mass deaths by burning because of lack of safety conditions, the torture and murder of organizers fighting for better wages and safety. This is what lies at the heart of the US clothing industry and its cheap clothes in its garish malls.

Sean

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Toronto Argos win the 100th Grey Cup

I'm speechless.  It may be just the Grey Cup in a league with just 8 teams, but it's still a championship!

Naked sledging race cancelled over crowd safety fear (NSFW)

The naked sledging competition in the Harz mountains of Germany, which thousands of people have been waiting for since the last icy run in February, has been cancelled for 2013 over safety fears.

More spectators turned up this year than people actually live in the town of Braunlage where the event has been held since 2009, leading to concerns about crowd control. The striptease-cum-sporting event has been steadily spiralling into a logistical nightmare as it attracted ever-growing numbers of gawping naked sledging fans. The problem peaked this February when around 25,000 spectators overran the otherwise sleepy Lower Saxony town.

Organisers were overwhelmed by the hour-long traffic jams of thousands waiting to catch an eyeful of the naked participants stripping before sliding down the mountainside on sledges. "When we get visitor numbers which are five times more than the inhabitants of the location, we've simply reached our logistical limits," head of organisers, radio station 89.0 RTL, Mike Bröhl said.

"It's a real shame," Christian Klamt, head of tourism in Braunlage said, adding that the event had been a great advertisement for the Harz tourist area. But Bröhl is hoping that naked sledgers will once again grace the slopes of Braunlage. "We'll have a break in 2013 and think about how we can continue this one-of-a-kind and wonderful event," he said.

 I now understand why the Germans rule when it comes to winter sports. Seriously this beats Lingerie Football by a mile. Never heard of a Lingerie Football game cancelled because they were worried about a fan riot.

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Police 99.999% certain that man found shot in the head in tied-up sack floating in river committed suicide

Police in Hamburg, Germany investigating the death of a man who was found shot in the head in a tied-up sack floating in a river, suspect that rather than having been the victim of a Mafia hit, he killed himself. The body of 43-year-old Uwe Sattler was found in the River Elbe in July by a fisherman. He was wearing a rucksack full of rocks and had been shot in the head and put into a sack fastened with cable ties before he hit the water. Local media was rife with speculation about a Mafia murder - but after extensive investigation, the police now say they are nearly certain that the Sattler killed himself.

"We are 99.999 percent certain it was suicide," a Hamburg police spokeswoman said. "There is no other explanation; no other motive and no other evidence." Detectives have worked out that there was enough of an opening in the sack between the cable ties for Sattler to get an arm out and shoot himself so that afterwards the gun would fall to the ground. He would have had to have done this while perched on the edge of a bridge or jetty to ensure falling into the water. Why he would make such an effort to do this remains a mystery - as does the whereabouts of the gun, which was never found.



No doubt the Hamburg police have been watching way too many episodes of CSI.  Only on TV are people determined to have commited suicide after been found tied up in the river with a bullet in their head.