Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Goldman Sachs has $428 million loss
“Our results were significantly impacted by the environment, and we were disappointed to record a loss in the quarter,” Lloyd C. Blankfein, Goldman’s chief executive, said in a statement. “However, we believe the strength of both our client franchise and our balance sheet positions us well for when economies and markets improve.”
I support the Suzuki workers
Managing Director and CEO
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) Dear Mr. Nakanishi, I am shocked to learn about the disgraceful conduct of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) and your company’s blatant disrespect of basic worker rights. I am astonished that after a difficult and intense month-long negotiation, Maruti Suzuki would violate the September 30th agreement by not reinstating contract workers, and instead call on police and the Indian government to support your anti-union, anti-worker behavior. Suzuki is a well respected global company and as such has a responsibility to uphold fundamental principles of mutual respect and dignity for its workforce. Additionally, as a member of the OECD, Japan has an obligation to ensure that companies like Suzuki, respect fundamental labour rights as contained in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises. I urge you to immediately end the intimidation and attacks on Suzuki workers, honor the September 30th agreement and reinstate all workers without delay. Jason Gooljar USA
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Please make sure that friends, family, fellow union members, colleagues and other co-workers participate in this effort. If you use Facebook, please make sure to check out our page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/LabourStartorg/114200568660597
Jon Stewart sums up the problem with the GOP. It is their base.
Now some are calling for Governor Chris Christie R-NJ to join the race for the GOP nomination, but Stewart argues that he is unlikely to satisfy the Republican base as well. In the end, Stewart claims the GOP base wants the impossible. They want a candidate who will cut taxes while simultaneously balancing the budget. They want a candidate who will get government out of people’s lives while outlawing gay marriage, abortion, and stem cell research. Stewart ends with a clip in which Christie calls the people worried about Sharia law “crazy.” Stewart then leans over the counter and tells the Republican base “He’s talking about you.”
I think this is probably the best description of what ails the Republican Party right now.
Getting in shape for the class war – Intro Post
Xsport Fitness - Arlington, VA
As a political activist and someone who works in the progressive movement I could honestly say for the longest time I could care less about my looks. My time was absorbed with work and various other causes. I didn’t care for working out and how my body looked. I always felt that getting into shape and being healthy would be an all-consuming affair. I actually still think that but I’ve made the decision that if you want to be healthy then there’s no other way.
While I still don’t care much about looks (I have personal issues with that anyway) this nagging concern for my health has not been too far from my mind. After all, if you want to continue fighting for social change for decades to come your health has to be a major concern. You want to be healthy enough to not suffer as you get older.
Diabetes and heart disease are very prevalent in my family. My father died of a massive heart attack when he was 47. I have two uncles and one older cousin who also died of heart attacks. My cholesterol has been high and I take Simvastain to keep it down. I’ve also been told my blood sugar is high though I’m not at the pre-diabetic level yet. I also suffer from asthma. Recently, I’ve been told that I have knock-knees adding to the list of ailments.
Through the peer pressure of my mother and co-workers I finally started to work out three weeks ago. In the office building I work in they have a small fitness center that is open to tenants. So I bought some shorts and sneakers and started working out. Through some guidance from a co-worker I’ve done the exercise bike for 3o minutes a day along with a treadmill for 10 minutes a day. I do this five days a week. The exercise machines in this small gym are by Matrix Fitness and I run the built-in fat burn program.
Since I’ve been doing this workout routine for the past three weeks I’ve noticed some improvement. I believe I’ve lost two pounds. I also notice my endurance is a little better. This led me to think about joining a gym closer to my home so I could have easier access. So when I walked into the new Xsport Fitness in Arlington, VA my assumption is that I’d just continue doing what I’ve been doing and not deal with a personal trainer.
After going through the member sign-up process a few of my assumptions about fitness have changed and hopefully for the better. I learned that one must eat four to five times a day to have a good metabolism. They ran a computer program showing my current height and weight–I’m 6’3″ and 256 lbs. Seeing that on the screen really hit home for me. But then they showed me where I could be in six months and that was even more amazing. The other striking tidbit of information this program gave me was that while I am 32 years old I have the body age of a 47-year-old.
I knew coming in that I had to loose somewhere around fifty pounds thanks to what I found on the Internet and the computer model was not far off. My current body fat range is around 32 points which is considered very poor. I need to be at 17.5-19.7. This information is apparently sourced from the American College of Sports Medicine.
I realize that most health clubs need to sell their personal trainer services and many people try their best to avoid it. Yet, after seeing what I needed to do and realizing that one could be exercising the wrong way. For example if you don’t eat before working out you could end up burning muscle instead of fat which is very unhealthy. I decided it was best to at least start out with a personal trainer for three sessions. That way I can get a workout plan and food plan in place. Then hopefully I’d be able to go off on my own for a month or so and come back and buy more time with a personal trainer later down the road.
So today I went through my first session with a trainer and got a lot of education. Besides cardio I have to do some strength training basically light weight resistance. I have weak joints and need to work on my back and shoulders. I also have to keep a food log and an exercise log.
So here goes nothing. I’m going to blog the whole thing too!
FYI – Xsport Fitness uses Precor USA equipment (I also saw some Life Fitness and Cybex stuff too) which having helped a professional trainer/equipment seller set up a website once—I know is most likely the best manufacturer of fitness equipment.
Wal-Mart uses its capacity to do good. Say what?
This has got to be the first time I have ever in all the years of blogging written something good about Wal-Mart. They are using their massive power of scale to essentially regulate like a government agency would.
Wal-Mart is banning a controversial flame retardant found in hundreds of consumer goods, from couches to cameras to child car seats, telling its suppliers to come up with safer alternatives.
In perhaps the boldest example yet of "retail regulation," Wal-Mart is stepping ahead of federal regulators and using its muscle as the world’s largest retailer to move away from a class of chemicals researchers say endanger human health and the environment.
I am truly shocked that they would actually do this. Is it because they fear future litigation and sense that to stop using this chemical now would be less costly?
We are all from Wisconsin!
We Are Wisconsin from Finn Ryan on Vimeo.
Why is the media ignoring Brisenia Flores’ murder by right-wingers?
Nine-year-old Brisenia Flores was murdered in her home in Arivaca, Arizona in May 2009. She pleaded, “Please don’t shoot me,” right before she was shot — point blank, in the face — by a member of the Minutemen American Defense Corps (MAD).
Brisenia’s story has been largely ignored in the mainstream media, but her life has galvanized people around the country to speak out against hate violence towards Latinos. We at Presente designed a poster to honor Brisenia’s memory, and to send a statement that we want justice.
via Presente | Justice for Brisenia.
The Minutemen oh I remember them alright. Patrolling the border “helping” out the border guard I guess. I thought they claimed that they weren’t violent? Just another right winger that goes of killing people I guess. Who would have thought this whole right wing militia movement would do anything violent eh? Second Amendment remedies anyone?
Because DC Douglas is entertaining when he makes fun of regressive tea baggers
So I got this email from the Spiegel Group about DC Douglas’ latest video making fun of Freedom Works and I thought why not spread the word!
Of course the first video he did was even funnier.
Plus he’s also a DCite and I got to support us DC metro area people 
Why I read the business press so much
… Sam Bowles and Herb Gintis, two economists, in their work on the American educational system some years back… pointed out that the educational system is divided into fragments. The part that's directed toward working people and the general population is indeed designed to impose obedience. But the education for elites can't quite do that. It has to allow creativity and independence. Otherwise they won't be able to do their job of making money. You find the same thing in the press. That's why I read the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times and Business Week. They just have to tell the truth. That's a contradiction in the mainstream press, too. Take, say, the New York Times or the Washington Post. They have dual functions and they're contradictory. One function is to subdue the great beast. But another function is to let their audience, which is an elite audience, gain a tolerably realistic picture of what's going on in the world. Otherwise, they won't be able to satisfy their own needs. That's a contradiction that runs right through the educational system as well. It's totally independent of another factor, namely just professional integrity, which a lot of people have: honesty, no matter what the external constraints are. That leads to various complexities. If you really look at the details of how the newspapers work, you find these contradictions and problems playing themselves out in complicated ways….
American Rights at Work doesn’t heart “Undercover Boss”
On news that the CBS Television show 'Undercover Boss' was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Reality Program this morning, Kimberly Freeman Brown, Executive Director of American Rights at Work, released the following statement:
"In today's economy, where America's workers are facing wage cuts, dangerous workplaces and loss of their retirement savings, working families deserve much better than the saccharine sweetness of 'Undercover Boss.'
While some may find it entertaining television, few observers can honestly mistake 'Undercover Boss' for a ‘real’ look into the problems workers confront in the workplace. Likewise, no one should confuse this show for evidence of a new era of respect, empowerment, and fair treatment of employees by corporate America.
We should see 'Undercover Boss' for what it really is: undercover advertising for corporations under the guise of reality TV, burnishing the images of CEO's who need all the good PR they can get."
