From americablog.com:

Click here to view the embedded video.

From some wonderful students at Princeton:

CAMPAIGN TO REMOVE FRESHMEN FROM SIDEWALKS IN SECOND SUCCESSFUL WEEK
11/24/08–Princeton, NJ

A group of students at Princeton University would like to eliminate the right of freshmen to walk on campus sidewalks. Stating that they would like to “preserve traditional sidewalk values” that define a sidewalk as a “pathway for sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students, faculty, staff, and other members of the university community,” the group, which is acting in support of a measure termed “Princeton Proposition 8,” is now entering its second successful week of demonstration.

The students emphasize that they are not “froshophobic” and that some of their best friends are freshmen, but they maintain that freshmen on the sidewalk degrade the sacred institution of sidewalks, and jeopardize the validity of upperclassmen’s own perambulation. It also makes some of them uncomfortable. They are very excited that California’s Proposition 8 has set a clear precedent for a majority to eliminate a minority group’s civil rights, and they see it as a perfect opportunity to utilize this development for their own gain.

The demonstration, which has featured signs, chants, and original music, has collected almost 500 signatures for a petition in support of Princeton Proposition 8, including those of many professors and even University President Shirley M. Tilghman. A video report of the protest produced by the University’s ‘Daily Princetonian’ has received 21,000 views on YouTube in just two days. It has also been featured on dozens of regional and national blogs including Campus Progress Action’s Pushback, DailyKos, and Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish. The organizers of the demonstration have also begun outreach to other universities.

The demonstration will continue at the plaza in front of Firestone Library on the Princeton campus between 9:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Monday 11/24 and Tuesday 11/25.

The Princeton Proposition 8 campaign aims to secure the definition of Princeton University sidewalks as a means of pedestrian transit for sophomores, juniors, seniors, graduate students, faculty, staff, and other members of the university community, but supports the elimination of the right of freshmen to walk on sidewalks.

Only walking on sidewalks by sophomores, juniors, and senior students is valid or recognized at Princeton.

###

Contact: Christopher Simpson
cjsimpso@princeton.edu

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On Las Canoas Road, Plumber Fills Firefighters’ Tanks Using Undocumented Hookup

Patty Look Lewis tells the story of how Peter Kornbluth, a plumber by trade, saved her home and others, having years ago tapped into a water main in preparation for the inevitable. Lewis had evacuated with her husband Walter, her daughter Estelle, and her two dogs. There are three houses on the property: That of the landlord, Kornbluth, and below it his mother-in-law Laura Bissel’s home and next to that, the Lewis’s home. Location: 1976 Las Canoas Rd., adjacent Skofield Park on the Mission Canyon side.

“In the two lower houses horses were being ridden off the property, down toward Mission Canyon to be evacuated, and we were loading up our cars. Everybody on property was ready to leave except for Peter. He had parked his truck facing downhill, but he was still on the property trying to figure out what he was going to do next when a police officer came up and told him about the mandatory evacuation. He said “OK” and drove downhill and took a sharp left through the avocado grove and turned off his headlights.

“When the police car left the driveway, he returned. He told us he’d known for 19 years living in that area that this day was coming, and he’s a plumber, so in the deck area of our house he had a huge fire hose connected to the water main for just this purpose.

“He started hosing down our house and was joined by firemen who then arrived. He ended up refilling their tanks with the water hose. Those guys and Peter stopped the fire right at our driveway. Our house was inches from being completely consumed.

“All the fire trucks in that area were coming to him to get their tanks refilled.

“He was there all night long. At 6:30 a.m., he called and said, “Your house is safe.”

“And Peter was so cute, because he said, “I have all these new friends now. They’re not from here, and they all wear yellow.”

“So we decided that yellow is the new black. “

As a new fire rages in LA and thousands are under evacuation orders in SB and LA, my heart goes out to everyone.

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Via Google Video:
Click here to view the embedded video.

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I still haven’t taken down my No on Prop 8 sign or my bumper sticker. I’ll remain in solidarity and protest with those who believe that discrimination does not belong in our Constitution.

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I’m really pleased to see the above ad by Ugly Betty stars against Prop 8. This proposition is dangerously close to passing and I’m horrified at the amount of money put into the campaign that will ban gay marriage in CA. Thousands of gay marriages already exist in CA. What harm have they done to any family or religion? Rather, the legalization of all marriages is a huge step toward combating the oppression and discrimination that queer people face every day.

As I walked through campus today, I stepped across huge signs that were chalked across the sidewalk declaring, “Yes on 8, Protect Religious Freedom.” Religious freedom? Excuse me? How does the passing of civil rights to more people restrict the ability of a group to practice their religion? It is pure hatred and mistreatment of the facts. If Prop 8 passes, I will be disgusted with the state I have loved all of my life–even after Schwarzenegger was elected.

And from the No on Prop 8 campaign, below is a video from parents demanding the Yes on 8 commercials be taken down that use their children’s images.

http://www.noonprop8.com/

Also, check out the three No on Prop 8 PSA’s on YouTube. The first one is below.

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And while I ponder what I know in my surreal post-PhD life, I hope that I can convince others of that expert knowledge in a concise job application cover letter.

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You can read more about it in the following articles:
This one from ReliefWeb focuses on Haiti.
China View speaks briefly about the countries named.
FAO’s Food Security Statistics are available on their website. Also refer to their Agricultural Outlook (2008-2017). You can read here about FAO’s study and their own suggestions for improving markets for farmers. I must say, however, that I do not agree with the article’s support for more free markets. The loss of protective organizations that once guaranteed prices for farmers are partially to blame for the insecurity of surviving on profits from farming (specifically small-scale farming).

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Once regarded as relics of the pre-industrial era, peasants are now leading the opposition to a capitalist industrial agriculture that would consign them to the dustbin of history. They have become what Karl Marx described as a politically conscious “class for itself,” contradicting his predictions about their demise. With the global food crisis, they are moving to center stage — and they have allies and supporters. For as peasants refuse to go gently into that good night and fight de-peasantization, developments in the twenty-first century are revealing the panacea of globalized capitalist industrial agriculture to be a nightmare. With environmental crises multiplying, the social dysfunctions of urban-industrial life piling up and industrialized agriculture creating greater food insecurity, the farmers’ movement increasingly has relevance not only to peasants but to everyone threatened by the catastrophic consequences of global capital’s vision for organizing production, community and life itself.

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Oaxaca in revolt again: the Zócalo reoccupied, motorway tollbooths “liberated”, roads blockaded
May 22nd, 2008 by Alan
A 21 day series of strikes and occupations by the radical Sección 22 in Oaxaca of the Mexican teachers’ union Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores en la Educación kicked off in earnest on Tuesday. As of Thursday, the strike appears to be spreading - with popular support, solidarity and an increasing volume of activity.The teachers' strike has various demands, although it's mostly calling for the freedom for all political prisoners, an end to the arrest orders and ongoing intimidation by the judicial authorities against the movement, new elections within the SNTE, and the handing over of all Oaxacan schools controlled by the pro-government Sección 59.

Sección 22 was instrumental in the 2006 revolt in Oaxaca, where they saw their strike betrayed by the SNTE national leadership in alliance with the Oaxacan state governor, one Ulises Ruíz Ortíz. Sección 59 was established by the priísta SNTE leader, Elba Ester Gordillo, as a rival local to Sección 22 in Oaxaca, and its members were promptly sent back to work as a means of breaking the strike.

However this time round, there seems to be increasing evidence of the strike's spread into a generalised movement within Oaxaca. On Tuesday, a building belonging to PEMEX (Petróleos Mexicanos - the state petrol monolopy which is on the verge of being privatised) was blockaded, while on Thursday various neighbourhood organisations within the city assisted in the occupation of a Centro de Atención Múltiple, the state institution charged with educating special needs children, which is controlled by Sección 59.

A host of other state and municipal offices have been shut down by blockades, with the aid of various other groups and a tactic of "plantones rotativos" (rotating encampments), as well as part of the Zócalo (the main city square, the centre of the 2006 movement). On Tuesday, a tollbooth on the Oaxaca-Puebla highway was "liberated", with motorists being granted free passage. The last couple of days have also seen the return of activity under the umbrella term of the APPO (Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca - the Popular Assembly of Oaxacan Peoples), although it's unclear as to which faction of the many that claim its true heritage is using the term.

Equally uncertain is the future and potential of this renaissance. Supposedly, the Sección 22 strike will end on 10 June, yet if the movement (if it can be termed thus at this early juncture) continues to expand and spread beyond the remit of their labour-based demands, surely it can't be neatly wrapped up within a predetermined timeframe. SNTE members have also struck in solidarity in Michoacán (north of Oaxaca state up the Pacific coastline) and municipal officials in Chiapas are desperately attempting to avert on the job action there by teachers.

More menacingly, with the scars and trauma of the repression of the 2006 movement still so raw, one has to wonder how much fight Oaxacans have within them. Already, the beleaguered and fantastically incompetent Ulises is attempting to bring Sección 22 to the negotiating table within the next few days. Also, traders around the Centro Histórico of the city are organising against any sort of political activity in the area, in defense of their businesses. It seems almost certain that the reactionary forces of business and government with regroup with their lackeys in Sección 59 in order to respond to the headway made here. Libcom will keep you updated.

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More Tortilla Inflation?

Posted by David Gaffen

Annelena Lobb has this report on how rising corn costs continue to affect Mexico.

As the price of food staples continues to rise around the world, some in Mexico are worrying about another flare-up of the tortilla wars.

Corn prices, which impact the price of tortillas, have been rising.

Earlier this week, a tortilla industry group warned of looming price increases for the maize tortilla. The rising price of corn worldwide has fueled inflation in Mexico, causing the central bank to maintain high interest rates in an effort to head off a wage-price spiral in other goods and services.

But the National Chamber for the Tortilla and Dough Industry told Reuters that prices may continue to rise due to the cost of both corn and fuel. Thursday, the Mexican newspaper Milenio reported that Economy Secretary Eduardo Sojo tried to assuage people, saying prices should remain steady. The government is also considering a possible subsidy for transportation costs.

A surge in the price of staple crops from corn to soybeans, as well as oil, has stoked inflation in many parts of the world. In emerging-market economies, increases in food prices can cripple the spending of large numbers of people, especially the poor, and lead to political conflicts. Last year, rising prices for tortillas led protesters in Mexico into the streets, which prompted the government to cap prices on tortillas at 8.5 pesos per kilo. (The projected increases ranged from 10 to 12 pesos.)

Friday, the Mexican central bank said it would hold its overnight rate at 7.5%, because of its inflationary concerns. The Bank of Mexico has held the rate steady since October, after raising it by half a percentage point, to prevent food prices from affecting other prices and wages.

As measured by Mexico’s consumer price index, annual inflation reached 4.55% at the end of April. The Mexican central bank has an inflation target of 3%, albeit with a range of one percentage point on either side to allow for temporary shocks from items with volatile prices. But this still comes back to tortillas — they make up the largest chunk of the food component in Mexico’s consumer inflation index. –With reporting from Ken Parks of Dow Jones Newswires

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