Three Greenpeace activists were taken into custody after deploying a floating banner in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building in plain view of a favorite destination for polluter lobbyists — Senator Lisa Murkowskis Washington DC office. The banner exposed Murkowskis close relationship with dirty energy interests and promoted PolluterHarmony, a spoof online dating site launched just before Valentines Day to help connect polluters, industry lobbyists, and politicians.

via Lisa Murkowskis Big Oil Love – Greenpeace USA Blog.

We’re getting to the point where radical direct action appears to be the only option left. Ninety-nine percent of the country simply does not have a seat at the table when going up against the likes of major corporate polluters like Exxon and Chevron. This managed democracy we’re in must be turned on its head.

“These are items that have nothing to do with survival — they reflect the moral damage of the people, some of whom came just to find things they could make money from,” she said, adding that the government also will prosecute anyone responsible for price speculation in the disaster area.

via Chileans Reject Post-Quake Looters, Speculators : NPR.

At least the judgment cuts both ways.

When I opened up a package for a computer part from Dell Computers (a ssci controller card) I found a warning on a piece of paper. I did not see it right away mind you, which puts in question the utility of warnings written on small pieces of  paper put inside of product packaging. The notice referenced California’s Proposition 65.

California Proposition 65 Notice

Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.

MAN-00232-01-A rev A

I had to ask myself, what purpose does this notice serve exactly? If it was meant to deter someone from handling the package shouldn’t it be placed on the box itself? Secondly, why is Dell or it’s supplier using such carcinogenic material in the first place? It seems to me that they are just complying with a state law, so that they can continue business as usual. It’s possible that the EPA hasn’t taken this matter up yet so it is not a federal law. So to them it’s like they’re being forced to put this notice into their packaging and they probably just view it as the cost of doing business. Yet is it morally the right thing to do?

The question is whether your decision to see this film is affected by Polanski’s personal life: the sex-related charges, his fleeing from this country before sentencing. It’s not a new question — maybe you asked yourself the same thing before seeing The Pianist, Frantic or any of the filmmaker’s movies from the 1980s onward. However, the extradition issues from late last year have brought Polanski’s past back into the spotlight, in a way they were not when The Pianist was released, for example.

via Discuss: Will You See Polanski’s New Film? – Cinematical.

As good and interesting as it looks I will not be going to see the Ghost Writer. Yes, it is all about the man Mr. Polanski who fled prosecution for what he has done so many years ago. While it is hard to be a socially responsible consumer I must try. I have given up Starbucks and have started patronizing local businesses, local chains and other socially responsible companies. I’m getting better and I must.

Therefore, I cannot knowingly go and see this movie after all the pain Roman Polanski has caused. It is sad that all these companies Summit Entertainment LLC., R.P. Films, Elfte Babelsburg Film, France 2 Cinema,  and Runteam III would work to put out his film. It is also sad that good actors would act in Polanski’s film. For the movie corporations it is about making money which is corporatism. For the actors I don’t have an answer.

In the end there is a time when you have to draw the line. Of course you can’t be the best at judging and will sometimes choose to consume or support something that you should not unknowingly or even knowingly. But that does not mean that you must continue to keep on doing it. If the director had accepted his responsibility it would have been a different story, but he did not.

As for how far you take a boycott of a film I’ll end it with the director, but I question the actors and the film companies who worked with him. If they were to continue to make bad judgments then I assume I’d have to reconsider them as well. If anything I’ll be more quick to stay away from Summit Entertainment LLC.

“I feel Perry is strong enough to butt heads with Washington, and I’m not sure Kay Bailey is strong enough,” said Susie Bradley, 67, a housewife from Fulshear. “I wanted to send a big message to Washington with all the trillions of dollars they are spending that we don’t have and ruining the future of our children and grandchildren.”

via ‘Yes’ for Texas Governor Perry Over Senator Hutchison Is ‘No’ to Washington – NYTimes.com.

Yes, I will pick fights with “regular people” who were quoted in the NY Times. Ms. Bradley like the tea baggers are hypocrites whom I give no credit to. Ms. Bradley, if you cared so much for your children and grandchildren, where were you for eight years? Who ran up the deficit and took us into Iraq? Who waged class warfare against you by providing tax cuts to a percent of the population who make tons of more money than yourself? After all the article says you are a housewife not a billionaire-housewife.

Just like in the MA election of Scott Brown you and the people who voted like you are guilty of misdirected anger. You didn’t care enough when it was important. Now when the administration is trying to do something about healthcare and other social programs you cry about debt. You vote against your own interests. You would have the government now balance the budget on the backs of people? You are just as bad as Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky, but I heard the tea baggers support him for his stunt!

Over the last 14 months, Robert Watson, a top ingredient buyer for Kraft Foods, and three other purchasing managers, at Frito-Lay, Safeway and B&G Foods, have pleaded guilty to taking bribes that have allowed millions of pounds of tomato products with high levels of mold or other defects to be used in their companies’ products. Five people connected to one of the nation’s largest tomato processors, SK Foods, have also admitted to taking part in the scheme, the NY Times reports.

via Bulldog Reporter – Daily Dog | | Dirty Business: Kraft Foods Ingredient Buyer and Three Others Plead Guilty to Taking Bribes that Allow Tomato Processor SK Foods to Sell Tainted Food.

The sad part is that the corporatist lobby would have you believe that regulation is a bad thing. They rail against a consumer protection agency when the truth is that these people are the enemy of America.

After announcing the end of his campaign, Mr. Paterson said he would devote himself to the state’s continuing budget struggles until his term runs out on Dec. 31. “Right now, what we need is a governor who will devote his full attention to those issues and other issues that come into this jurisdiction,” he said. “I hope that history will remember that I fought the good fight, that I did what was hard and that I put the people first.”

via David A. Paterson Drops Out of New York Governor Race – NYTimes.com.

He may not have been popular as Governor of New York State. Yet, I still remember the David Patterson who was the New York Senate Minority Leader. He helped start the effort that would eventually end with Democrats controlling the State Senate. Had he stayed in the State Senate he would have went on to become majority leader, but he saw an opportunity running with Spitzer in ‘06. Of course you can’t go back in time, but I salute the career of a progressive in David Patterson.

Services such as Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz can alert criminals when users are not home, according to Confused.com, the price comparison service. Foursquare, for example, shows that people are in a specific spot and, more importantly, that the user is definitely not at home, Confused.com added.

via Using Facebook or Twitter ‘could raise your insurance premiums by 10pc’ – Telegraph.

These people will use anything in the attempt to extract more money.

Late last year, JPMorgan Chase JPM, Fortune 500, the nation’s largest credit card issuer, warned it expected its credit card business to lose as much as $750 million this year as a result of the new legislation.

Executives at rival Citigroup C, Fortune 500, which issues cards to consumers from Maine to Mexico, warned last month the revenue lost by its domestic business could tumble anywhere between $400 million and $600 million.

All told, the new law is expected to cost the industry as much as $5.5 billion in lost revenue this year and more than $50 billion through 2015, according to the credit card advisory firm R.K. Hammer.

via Banks nervously await new credit card law – Feb. 19, 2010.

Tough. The money you have made has been by entrapping and enslaving people in debt. You preyed on people and lent to people who you should not have lent to in the first place. A long time ago it took a great credit history and other determining factors to get a credit card. Now they’re given away.

Banks made the money off of the interest payments so it was more about volume than anything. Then they’d hike the interest rates to extract even more money.