December 19, 2008 archive

billions in bonuses as economy bleeds out

Pay and bonus deals equivalent to 10% of US government bail-out package

The sums that continue to be spent by Wall Street firms on payroll, payoffs and, most controversially, bonuses appear to bear no relation to the losses incurred by investors in the banks. Shares in Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have declined by more than 45% since the start of the year. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley have fallen by more than 60%. JP MorganChase fell 6.4% and Lehman Brothers has collapsed.

At one point last week the Morgan Stanley $10.7bn pay pot for the year to date was greater than the entire stock market value of the business. In effect, staff, on receiving their remuneration, could club together and buy the bank.

guardian.co.uk, 17 Oct 2008

Muse in the Morning

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Muse in the Morning

Happy pre-Solstice

Art Link

World without Form

Glad Yule

It is a time of wonder

and some confusion

about why the sun

coming north again

and days getting longer

should bring on

the severest cold

but I know there is

an answer in science

I do not look

to dragons

or evil

to solve

my riddles

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–December 14, 2005

Bush slowly murdering the auto industry.

Lord_Mike posted this link in  quick hits at OpenLeft.

White House considering “orderly” bankruptcy to deal with ailing automakers Jennifer Loven, AP White House Correspondent, Thursday December 18, 2008, WASHINGTON (AP) —

The Bush administration is seriously considering “orderly” bankruptcy as a way of dealing with the desperately ailing U.S. auto industry. —  snip —  

The Velveteen Rabbit . . . a retelling

_________________________________________________________________________________

“What is a LEADER?” asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“A LEADER isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. It’s realizing that every experience develops some latent force within you.1 You begin to understand that vision is the art of seeing the invisible2 so that when you want to build a wagon, you don’t gather the other toys to collect wood or assign them tasks, but rather you teach them to long for ways to traverse the endless immensity of the backyard.3 Then you become a LEADER.”

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Late Night Karaoke

SPEAK

XTC: Making Plans for Nigel

New School Occupation by Students!!!

Via New School in Exile:

The New York Schools in Exile Occupation

The original idea of the University in Exile, and the New School in general, was to be a safe-haven for academic freedom and scholarship free of oppressive political regimes, be they in Europe or America, and to be a center for critical engagement with important issues of our times. It was known for its deep thinkers, its innovative academics, and its committment to social and political justice as a bedrock of all other scholarship. The New School, under its current administration, is no longer able to fulfill that role of critical engagement and dissent. This continued betryal of our founding principles cannot be tolerated any longer, and the time has come to revive the University in Exile. This is a call for student action!

Part of a letter

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers. If today I lived in a Communist country where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I would openly advocate disobeying that country’s antireligious laws.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

Guess Who?

Open All Night Thread

and Thursday night Cat Blogging

featuring Sofia (tortie) and Kashmir (orange tabby)

funny pictures

Brutal violence against gays, trans, etc.

Lest we forget:

The number of reported attacks against LGBT people increased 24 percent in 2007 over 2006, and they were expected to jump in 2008, said Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project.

Associated Press

Not everything in the gay, lesbian, transgender, and otherwise queer world is about marriage and inauguration prayers.  But understanding these things in the context of fear and violence can help us come to terms with the anger and frustration that a lot of queer voters are facing.  Follow me below for more stories and statistics.

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New School University students in NYC have occupied bldg, demanding resignations and policy changes

(NB: Sent out via CodePink listserv)

Action is going on NOW, if you are local PLEASE GET OUT IN THE STREETS!

They need local NYC based support, if someone wants to cut and paste this to the Orange Beelzebub or any other forum by all means do so.


From: m burgess

Date: Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 4:09 PM

Subject: activists needed: 65 fifth ave (between 13 & 14th)

Last night, the NSU students took over the cafeteria in the building at 65 5th avenue (between 13 and 14). This morning, the administration prevented anyone from entering the building. Things got ugly when the police arrived with NSU Present Kerrey. (Only one student was arrested.) The cops have come and gone and come back again. After closing off the building, the admin finally let people withh ids back in. CLearly, they’re stumped about what to do. Civil Rights people, lawyers, press are here. The international action center is here. The students need more numbers to protest in front of the building. They’re calling for anti-war groups for support. The faculty (senate, all divisions and union of part-time faculty) overwhelmingly support No Confidence in Kerrey or Vice Pres J. Murtha, and the students are speaking to this and to larger issues, namely Kerrey’s support of the war, socially irresponsible investments and requesting removal of L-3 Communications chair from the NSU executive board. Please spread the word. The students are doing a nice job. They plan to stay until conditions are met. They could reallly use some support out front this afternoon, and into the night!


New School Building Occupied

To members of Campus Antiwar Network

Ian Chinich

Today at 12:54am

I am currently sitting inside a barricaded room with a large number of students at the New School. The students have occupied the building and are refusing to leave until their demands are met. They want the resignation of the director of L-3 Communications from their board of governors in addition to stopping tuition increases, and divulging investment information.

We need support. We need food… we need media support… we need help spreading the word… we need you to occupy your schools and your work places… A number of students from other schools in the area have come to help us hold this space.



So far the police have not forced their way in….. security has padlocked the fire escape to prevent more of us from getting in…a security guard attempted to enter over our barricades in the front to listen in but he was surrounded…… we are holding our ground and we are holding out…. we shall see what happens in the morning…

Come to 14th street and 5th ave….. NOW!!!!…

NY Times coverage here.

Some videos:





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