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October 20, 2005 - 9:18am -- jim
News
Culture

Chairman Mao Hyped as a Hero for the Tourist Masses

David Eimer, UK Independent

The Chairman's image is dangling from the mirror of the taxi that takes me
to Mao's childhood home in Shaoshan in southern China. "He's my good luck
charm," grins the driver. However surprising this may seem, it certainly
appears to be working.


Since China's State Council designated this year as the year of Red Tourism,
an initiative designed to re-kindle faith in the present-day Communist Party
(CCP), a booming Shaoshan has become an unlikely must-see on the tourist
trail.

October 18, 2005 - 12:34pm -- jim
News
Work

U.S. Labor Is in Retreat as Global Forces Squeeze Pay and Benefits

David Streitfeld,
LA Times

Workers at auto parts maker Delphi Corp. will be asked this week to take a two-thirds pay cut. It's one of the most drastic wage concessions ever sought from unionized employees.


Workers at General Motors Corp., meanwhile, tentatively agreed on Monday to absorb billions of dollars in healthcare costs. Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler employees are certain to face similar demands.


The forces affecting Delphi and GM workers are extreme versions of what's occurring across the American labor market, where such economic risks as unemployment and health costs once broadly shared by business and government are being shifted directly onto the backs of American working families.

October 18, 2005 - 11:10am -- jim
News
Drug War

Marijuana Might Cause New Cell Growth in the Brain

Kurt Kleiner, New Scientist

A synthetic chemical similar to the active ingredient in marijuana makes new cells grow in rat brains. What is more, in rats this cell growth appears to be linked with reducing anxiety and depression. The results suggest that marijuana, or its derivatives, could actually be good for the brain.

October 17, 2005 - 5:33pm -- stevphen
News
Culture

Revered Chinese Author Ba Jin Dies at 100

By ELAINE KURTENBACH

Associated Press Writer

BEIJING (AP) -- Ba Jin, one of China's most revered communist-era writers who attacked the evils of the pre-revolutionary era in novels, short stories and essays, died Monday of cancer in Shanghai, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He was 100.

Best known for his 1931 novel "Family," the story of a disintegrating feudal household, Ba Jin also translated the Russian writers Ivan Turgenev and Pyotr Kropotkin.

Ba Jin worked well into his later years writing essays and compiling anthologies of his work.

He was part of the young intelligentsia in the early 20th century that looked to Western philosophies - Marxism, anarchism, and liberalism - for solutions to China's backwardness and social inequality.

October 17, 2005 - 5:32pm -- jim
News
News

Revered Chinese Author Ba Jin Dies at 100

Elaine Kurtenbach, Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Ba Jin, one of China's most revered
communist-era writers who attacked the evils of the
pre-revolutionary era in novels, short stories and essays,
died Monday of cancer in Shanghai, the official Xinhua News
Agency said. He was 100.


Best known for his 1931 novel "Family," the story of a
disintegrating feudal household, Ba Jin also translated the
Russian writers Ivan Turgenev and Pyotr Kropotkin.


Ba Jin worked well into his later years writing essays and
compiling anthologies of his work.


He was part of the young intelligentsia in the early 20th
century that looked to Western philosophies — Marxism,
anarchism, and liberalism — for solutions to China's
backwardness and social inequality.

October 13, 2005 - 10:28am -- jim
News
Prisons & Prisoners

Roosevelt Island Arrest

Yuji Agematsu

On Sunday, October 2nd, 2005 I was arrested while shooting video footage of the scenery of Midtown Manhattan from Roosevelt Island. That my camera was pointing to the UN building; that I had climbed over the handrail of sidewalk and gone down to the river bank that is the property of New York State; that I neither had a permit of shooting of video nor ID – these, the police claimed, were the grounds of my arrest.


Handcuffed I was taken to the substation of the island. Video camera, keys of my apartment, wallet, cigarette, etc. – all I had were taken away. Belt and shoelaces of sneakers were removed. I was made to sit with handcuffs, while they inspected the video footage. The scenery of the East River and the buildings — just everyday scenery — was there.

October 7, 2005 - 7:42am -- jim
News
News

Chavez Moves Venezuelan Money Out of U.S.
Associated Press

Venezuela has moved its central bank foreign
reserves out of U.S. banks, liquidated its investments in U.S. Treasury
securities and placed the funds in Europe, Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez said Friday.


"We've had to move the international reserves from U.S. banks because of
the threats," from the U.S., Chavez said during televised remarks from a
South American summit in Brazil.


"The reserves we had (invested) in U.S. Treasury bonds, we've sold them
and we moved them to Europe and other countries," he said.


Chavez, a sharp critic of what he calls "imperialist" U.S.-style
capitalism, has often criticized foreign banks for the power they wield in
international financial markets at the expense of poorer countries.


Chavez again proposed the creation of a South American central bank that
would hold the foreign exchange reserves of all the central banks in the
region.

October 6, 2005 - 2:55pm -- jim
News
In the Streets

In Our Hearts Infoshop Robbed!
Community Response Needed!


The In Our Hearts Infoshop and lending library which has been operating out
of 131 Grand St. (The Free Store) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, for the past 3 months was burglarized
sometime in the past 72 hours. About 200 books, a macintosh desktop
computer, a DVD player and VCR player are some of the items stolen from the
infoshop. A witness described the thief as a white male with short black
hair who allegedly buys drugs on Roebling in Williamsburg. If anyone has any
information about the theft please contact us at 917.673.2920 or
inourhearts@gmail.com
Some of the books which may turn up in bookstores or on street vendors'
tables in Williamsburg or greater NYC are marked with the following names:
Jaquces Aboaf, Lauren Spencer, or Jonathan Spies. If you find any of these
books, please contact us immediately.

The In Our Hearts Collective was already scheduling a benefit party for this
Sunday at Glass House to pay rent and to help finance a new space. With the
recent robbery, the benefit is even more critical to the survival of the
Infoshop.


BENEFIT SHOW - Please Join Us!


When: Sunday, Oct. 9th 5pm -10pm

Where: Glass House, 385 S. 1st St. WIlliamsburg (take the L train to Bedford
Ave. Walk down Bedford to S. 1st, take a right, walk 3 blocks)

What: Benefit Show

Bands: Hoover Flag, Your 33 Black Angels, Orphanage (formerly known as Oogle
Orphanage) and Glory Hole

Plus: Delicious FOOD, DJ's and a kickin Dance Party following the bands!

Cost: $7 (no one turned away - Donations of money and books encouraged!)

WHY: Because The In Our Hearts Infoshop and Lending Library is a great
community space and resource for radical literature and zines in a city that
is rapidly losing such spaces. In order to recover from the robbery we need
your support! Plus it'll be a fine time!

October 6, 2005 - 12:27pm -- jim
News
Technology

Philadelphia to Be City of Wireless Web

Arshad Mohammed, Washington Post

Philadelphia yesterday announced a plan to build the biggest municipal wireless Internet system in the nation, the latest of a growing number of cities to treat high-speed Web access as a basic municipal service like water, electricity and trash collection.


Philadelphia said Atlanta-based EarthLink Inc. will fund, build and manage the 135-square-mile network, which will offer low-income residents service for as little as about $10 a month and could threaten the profits of telephone and cable companies.

Full story: here.

October 6, 2005 - 11:22am -- jim
News
Culture

Harold Leventhal, Promoter of Folk Music, Dies at 86

Margalit Fox, New York Times

Harold Leventhal, an internationally renowned folk music promoter who in 1963 presented an unkempt 21-year-old named Bob Dylan in his first major concert-hall appearance, died on Tuesday at New York University Medical Center. He was 86 and lived in Manhattan.


The death was confirmed by Nora Guthrie, Woody Guthrie's daughter and the director of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives, of which Mr. Leventhal was a founder and trustee. Mr. Leventhal had been Woody Guthrie's business manager and later his executor.

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