Notes from the Surf
Founder of Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods transfers business to employees
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/02/bobs_red_mill_natural_foods_ro.html
his 209 employees now own the place and its 400 offerings of stone-ground flours, cereals and bread mixes... "In some ways I had a choice," Moore said of what he could have done with the company he founded with his wife, Charlee, in 1978. "But in my heart, I didn't."
Vancouver Olympics: Arrested for Torch Desecration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FsmYwcbNeM
Blasphemers should know better than to f**k with the Holiest of Holies.
New Mexico House Passes Sweeping Funds Bill
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latest-news/new-mexico-house-passes-sweeping-funds-bill
"The bill enables a possible switch of $2-5 billion of state funds into CUs and small banks... Sources said that despite the support for the bill, it still may face quiet opposition from the large bank lobby which may seek to stall or defeat the measure."
Must the Rich Rock On Forever?
http://toomuchonline.org/must-the-rich-rock-on-forever/
In a relatively equal society, with little difference in income between the rich and everyone else, monopolistic vendors have “little to gain from selling only to the rich.” But that all changes when the rich go mega. Vendors can charge more for their wares — and not worry if their less affluent customers can’t afford the freight... the same dynamics of inequality that aggravate rock fans help explain why so many people can’t afford AIDS drugs or stay in college or buy a home.
The Onion: Nation Realizes Money Just A Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/u_s_economy_grinds_to_halt_as
Sources at the White House said President Obama was "still trying to get his head around all this" and was in seclusion with his coin collection, muttering "it's just metal, it's just metal" over and over again.
Foreign demand for US debt drops by record amount
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8518438.stm
"China cut its holdings by $34.2bn - meaning it is now the second-biggest US debt holder after Japan."
Haiti’s ongoing struggle to recover
http://www.workers.org/2010/world/haiti_0218/
"the French-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) stated that a photographer from Le Nouvelliste, the oldest and largest mainstream Haitian daily, had a camera physically taken from him by six U.S. Marines. The reporter, Homère Cardichon, was taking photos of a protest by Haitians at the U.S. ambassador’s home in the capital."
History Repeats: Committee of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared of Honduras
http://www.mimundo-photoessays.org/2010/02/history-repeats-committee-of-relatives.html
"Back then... paramilitary groups and death squads would assassinate and disappear people in a clandestine manner, so that it was difficult to point them out as the criminals. Today, they do it in broad daylight... Less than 24 hours after having been sworn in, Minister Álvarez carried out one of his infamous madrugones, or pre-dawn raids."
Venezuela: "The communes aren’t something you decree"
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/venezuela-archives-35/2355-184-communes-currently-in-formation-in-venezuela
a commune, which is made up of several communal councils, is local, community self-government, “where we, the people, we are the ones who decide what our community wants and what the improvements are that we want to work on in our area... It’s not the state that comes and decides; its us”
Dunkerque: Employees Take Control of Total Refinery
http://libcom.org/news/total-refinery-dunkerque-occupied-16022010
At least 150 workers stormed the buildings this morning... "We aren't crooks, it's out of the question that we'd damage our equipment. We have been peaceful since the beginning of this action. We aren't calling for violence."