In agreement on U.S. beef, S. Korea forfeited right to ban imports

Gov¡¯t rejects civic groups¡¯ request to make text of agreement public

» Citizens and students protest the agreement on U.S. beef imports on the plaza near the Cheonggye Stream in central Seoul on May 2.   Criticism of the government¡¯s decision to open local markets to imports of U.S. beef has grown due to new information that the government gave up an important set of preconditions in order to push the deal through before the South Korea-U.S. summit last month. Experts are now pointing out that concessions made by the government in the course of its negotiations with Washington have caused South Korea to forfeit rights granted under international law, namely, that a government can impose a ban on imports if it finds that there is a significant risk to the public health, such as that posed by mad cow disease.

 

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Benefits of factory farms just illusions

 

from AZCentral.com
May. 4, 2008 12:00 AM

If they updated the movie, Dorothy wouldn’t live on Uncle Henry and Auntie Em’s farm. The tornado would blow her away from a corporately owned concentrated animal-feeding operation.

I’m guessing she’d settle down in Oz instead of going back.

Unlike the old American family farm, there is nothing particularly cozy about the way most meat, dairy products and eggs are produced these days. advertisement

Farmers used to be decentralized and independent. There were lots of them and they all produced a variety of agricultural products. Now, a few big players use concentrated, factory-inspired techniques to produce a single product measured in animal units.

Calling them animal units instead of animals sounds efficient and modern.

Treating them like units instead of sentient creatures raises moral questions.

 

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Anti-U.S. Beef Vigils Feared to Escalate

From donga.com:

MAY 05, 2008 08:15

The resumption of U.S. beef imports has reignited activism among Korean liberal groups, which had laid low since last year’s presidential election.

Liberal civic groups are leading candlelight vigils against U.S. beef imports across the country, including at Seoul Cheonggye Plaza Friday and Saturday, urging national opposition to the resumption both on and offline.
Pro-North Korea and leftist groups are also showing signs of escalating the protests into demonstrations against the United States and the Lee administration of Korea.
Progressive group organizes candlelight vigils
The Korea Alliance for Progressive Movement posted a guideline for the “fight against mad cow disease” on its homepage Sunday. The guideline said, “Let us roll up our sleeves to help more people express their anger. Let us plan candlelight vigils in all regions of the nation.”

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Korea: fears of mad cow disease take the streets

More than 10,000 protesters took to the streets of Seoul demonstrating against the import of US-produced meat. Fears of mad cow disease are cited while President Lee is asked to reverse his “mad decision” to admit the meat.

Sunday, May 04, 2008
by Asia News

More than 10,000 people took to the streets overnight in the South Korean capital to protest against the decision to open the domestic market to beef imports from the United States. During a candlelight vigil, the protesters asked new president Lee Myung-bak to reverse the “mad decision”, a reference to the mad cow disease believed to be present in the imported meat.

At the same time, a petition launched on the internet has gathered more than 500,000 signatures: the text rejects the “humiliating and miserable diplomacy” of Seoul, considered “too close to Washington and its goods”. Now, the government is afraid of a new outbreak of anti-American sentiment, similar to the explosion in 2002, when two South Korean girls were killed near the capital by an armoured U.S. army vehicle.

 

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Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration – much of it already eaten away by official corruption

Corruption Eats Into Food Rations

By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail for Inter Press Service

FALLUJAH, May 2 (IPS) - Amidst unemployment and impoverishment, Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration – much of it already eaten away by official corruption.

Iraqis survived the sanctions after the first Gulf War (1990) with the support of rations through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The aid was set up in 1995 as part of the UN’s Oil-for-Food programme.

The sanctions were devastating nevertheless. Former UN programme head Hans von Sponeck said in 2001 that the sanctions amounted to “a tightening of the rope around the neck of the average Iraqi citizen.” Von Sponeck said the sanctions were causing the death of 150 Iraqi children a day.

Denis Halliday, former UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq who quit his post in protest against the sanctions, told IPS they had proved “genocidal” for Iraqis.

During more than five years of U.S.-occupation, the situation has become even worse. The rationing system has been crumbling under poor management and corruption.

From the beginning of this year, the rations delivered were reduced from 10 items to five.

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Purple Heart urged for veterans with PTSD

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, May 4, 2008

A military psychologist suggests making troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder eligible for the Purple Heart to help remove the stigma of a disorder affecting about 20 percent of combat veterans.

Such a move would be a major change in the Purple Heart awards policy, which does not classify PTSD as a combat wound.

John E. Fortunato is chief of the Recovery and Resilience Center at Fort Bliss, Texas, where he treats soldiers suffering from PTSD.

During a visit to Fort Bliss on Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised the center, which uses intensive individual therapy and nontraditional ways such as acupuncture, meditation and yoga to treat PTSD.

At Red River Army Depot on Friday, Gates said it was an “interesting idea” to award the Purple Heart to troops suffering from PTSD, adding the issue is “clearly something that needs to be looked into.”

On Thursday, Fortunato said PTSD is a “physical disorder, at least in part,” because it damages the brain, making it no different from shrapnel wounds.

However, an Army regulation precludes troops suffering from PTSD from being awarded the Purple Heart, he said.

“I would love to see that change, because these guys have paid at least a high — as high a price, some of them — as anybody with a traumatic brain injury, as anybody with shrapnel wound, and what it does is it says this is the wound that isn’t worthy, and I say it is,” Fortunato said.

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Low paid work still widespread in Canada

 

Edited by Traci Lawson

Despite strong economic growth, historically low unemployment rates and much discussion about labour shortages, about one in six of all employed workers in Canada - almost 2.2 million — was still low paid and earning poverty wages in 2006.

According to the Labour Force Survey, in 2006:

More than 2 million workers, or 15.7% of the employed workforce, were paid less than $10 an hour.
Over 60% of the low-paid workforce was women, representing one in five employed women.
More than 1.1 million full-time workers, or 10% of the full-time workforce, was paid less than $10 an hour; for women this ratio is 13.2%.

Over 1 million adults were paid less than $10 an hour in 2006, including 721,000 adults who worked full-time - representing 7% of all adults who worked full-time.

One in five working seniors was paid less than $10 an hour, and one in six seniors who worked full-time.

A high proportion of workers in the following occupations and industries were paid less than $10 an hour:

Retail sales (55.5%) and food service (42.6%)
Child care and home support (23.7%) and other services (45.2%)
Occupations unique to primary industry (22.4%)
Labourers in processing, manufacturing and utilities (22.2%)

….{snip}….

The average minimum wage in 1976 would be equivalent to $9.13 in today’s dollars after adjusting for inflation.
….{snip}….

Canada’s average minimum wage will be far below minimum wage levels in the U.K., Ireland, France and most other Western European countries that have national minimum wages .

….{snip}….

Higher minimum wages in U.S. border states haven’t resulted in higher unemployment rates or economic damage.

 

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You Need a Raise!

We are starting to circulate the petitions to give our lower income Eureka workers a $10.00 an hour minimum wage.

We need VOLUNTEERS to gather signatures. To VOLUNTEER you need to be a registered voter within the city limits of Eureka.

We need VOLUNTEERS to commit to several hours per week (hours and places are flexible) to gather signatures in several places throughout the city.

We need a total of about 1600 signatures to be successful. If you can commit to gathering 10, 20, 50 or 100 signatures that would be wonderful.

Hard times are here for the working poor. This is our chance to restore some hope and dignity for our working poor.

Please contact us at fairchance@fairchance.us or bill@eurekaworkers.org if  you are able to VOLUNTEER.

Thank you,
Bill