Protest

Three people were injured Monday when Greek riot police officers clashed with hundreds of farmers from the southern island of Crete who sailed to the Greek mainland and tried to drive tractors and other farm vehicles to the capital to push demands for financial aid. [Orestis Panagiotou/European Pressphoto Agency]

this from an emailer (full text)... a quick snapshot of global protest… a couple I had not heard of, Guadeloupe for one… Madagascar I had not gotten around to reading about, but had followed (in a sense) thru photos in the media.

In terms of the UK protests, Lenin has had some troubling posts.  It seems that right wing, nationalist issues are making use of the times.   My stars!  What a shock!

FACTBOX-Global financial crisis sparks unrest

02 Feb 2009 12:17:59 GMT

FACTBOX-Global financial crisis sparks unrest

(Reuters) – Here are some details of protests and developments as a result of the global financial crisis:

* FRANCE — Hundreds of thousands of strikers marched in French cities on Thursday to demand pay rises and job protection. Some protesters clashed with police, but no major violence was reported. — The one-day strike failed to paralyse the country and support from private sector workers appeared limited. Labour leaders hailed the action, which marked the first time France’s eight union federations had joined forces against the government since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office in 2007.

* RUSSIA — Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Moscow and the far east port of Vladivostok on Saturday in a national day of protests over hardships caused by the financial crisis. On Sunday hundreds of demonstrators in Moscow called for Russia’s leaders to resign. — Street rallies were held in almost every major city over the weekend. The pro-Kremlin United Russia party also drew thousands to rallies in support of government anti-crisis measures. — About 100 protesters were arrested in Vladivostok last month during protests against hikes in second hand car import duties aimed at protecting jobs in the domestic car industry.

* MADAGASCAR — More than 100 people were killed in civil unrest in Madagascar last week, according to the U.S. ambassador. Police previously confirmed 44 deaths, with most of those in a store burned during looting when an anti-government protest degenerated into violence. — The mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, galvanised popular frustrations to spearhead demonstrations and strikes against President Marc Ravalomanana’s government. The violence came amid an oil and minerals exploration boom in Madagascar.

* ICELAND — Parties forming a new coalition for the crisis-hit island decided on Sunday its new prime minister will be former Social Affairs Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir. — Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned last week after a series of protests, some of which had turned violent. He was the first leader to fall as a direct result of the credit crunch. — The collapse of the country’s fast-expanding banks under a weight of debt forced the country to take a $10 billion IMF-led rescue package and sparked widespread anger.

* DAVOS — Hundreds of people rallied in Geneva and Davos on Saturday to protest against the World Economic Forum, saying the elite gathered for its annual meeting are not qualified to fix the world’s problems. — In Geneva, where the WEF has its headquarters, police in riot gear fired teargas and water canon to disperse a crowd.

* BRITAIN — Up to 900 contractors at the Sellafield nuclear plant walked off the job on Monday, joining hundreds of other contract workers who have gone on strike in recent days over the use of foreign labourers as recession bites. — Thousands of energy workers staged walkouts on Friday, two days after contractors at a refinery owned by France’s Total began protests at the award of a construction contract to Italian firm IREM. Unions say it has brought in workers from Italy and Portugal and deprived Britons of work.

* GREECE — Greek farmers removed roadblocks last week which caused 11 days of travel chaos across the country as they protested against low prices. They kept their blockade on Bulgaria’s border and central Greece. — High youth unemployment was a main driver for rioting in Greece in December, initially sparked by the police shooting of a youth in an Athens neighbourhood. The protests forced a government reshuffle.

* GUADELOUPE — France sent a minister to the Caribbean island on Sunday for talks aimed at ending a 13-day general strike over pay and prices that has paralysed the French territory. — An alliance of 47 unions and local bodies launched their protest on Jan. 20 over the cost of living. They have drawn up a list of 146 demands including a 200 euro ($257) increase in the minimum salary, a freeze on rents and a cut in taxes and food prices. Island authorities have rejected the demands.

* BULGARIA — Hundreds of Bulgarians demanded economic and social reforms in the face of a global slowdown in anti-government rallies last month, calling on the Socialist-led government to act or step down. — Earlier in January, hundreds of protesters clashed with police, smashed windows and damaged cars in Sofia when a rally against corruption and slow reforms in the face of the economic crisis turned into a riot.

* LATVIA — A 10,000-strong protest in Latvia on Jan. 16 descended into a riot, with protesters trying to storm parliament before going on the rampage. Government steps to cut wages, as part of an austerity plan to win international aid, have angered people.

* LITHUANIA — Also on Jan. 16, police fired teargas to disperse demonstrators who pelted parliament with stones in protest at government cuts in social spending to offset an economic slowdown. Police said 80 people were detained and 20 injured. — Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said the violence would not stop an austerity plan launched after a slide in output and revenues.

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And… this was so drearily predictable:

[E]very four or eight years a new president arrives in town, declares his determination to cleanse a dirty process and invariably winds up trying to reconcile the clear ideals of electioneering with the muddy business of governing. Mr. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules of any president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case.

The language, however, was always more sweeping than the specifics. He spoke of refusing campaign money from lobbyists but took it from the people who hired them. The ethics plan he outlined, and eventually imposed on his administration, did not ban all lobbyists outright but set conditions for their employment and did not cover many who were lobbyists in everything but name.

“This is a big problem for Obama, especially because it was such a major, major promise,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “He harped on it, time after time, and he created a sense of expectation around the country. This is exactly why people are skeptical of politicians, because change we can believe in is not the same thing as business as usual.”

Several Democrats, including some who have advised Mr. Obama, said privately that he had only himself to blame for delivering such an uncompromising message as a candidate without recognizing how it would complicate his ability to assemble an administration.

In the campaign, Mr. Obama assailed Washington’s “entire culture” in which “our leaders have thrown open the doors of Congress and the White House to an army of Washington lobbyists who have turned our government into a game only they can afford to play.” He vowed to “close the revolving door” and “clean up both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue” with “the most sweeping ethics reform in history.”

It is so sands thru the hourglass, days of our lives utter drooly tripe…  Or as a friend of mine hilariously (and perhaps not originally) dubbed it, As the World Squirms.

Go for it Golden Man.

Marie Cocco :

[D]aschle isn’t indispensable. But he is indefensible.

Not many Americans manage to underpay their taxes by the whopping sums Daschle overlooked. The $140,000 he paid in January to satisfy the taxes and interest is nearly triple the median household income. That is, the median income of $50,233 reported by the Census Bureau before the layoffs, pay cuts, reduced hours and other hardships of the current economic crisis burdened average families. The free use of a chauffeured limousine provided by a business associate who happens to be a big Democratic donor — the source of the unreported income at the root of Daschle’s tax troubles — is a joy ride to political hell. I hope Daschle enjoyed it.

Some Democratic senators have rallied to defend their former leader. The demonstration merely reinforces the narrative that the rules can be bent by, and for, a member of their club.

This is all uncomfortably reminiscent of the Bush administration’s abhorrent interpretation of what constitutes proper ethics. Perhaps no laws have been broken — but since when is that the standard for holding high public office?

When Vice President Joe Biden said during the presidential campaign that it is a patriotic duty to pay taxes, I agreed. So did most of us who believe in the ability of government to better Americans’ lives. But we also believe this responsibility is to be born by plumbers and power brokers alike.

If Daschle and the Senate Democrats still believe this, they have their own duty: It is to end this sorry spectacle now.

I’ll be petty, at the least (because the Boys and Girls Club of the senate will still likely confirm his sorry ass) he needs to take off the effete glasses frames.  It, on top of everything else, is irritating the hell out of me.

Dick Polman:

[T]he Democratic-run Senate Finance Committee, in a report on Daschle released Friday, included this gem of a sentence: “Senator Daschle told staff that in June 2008, something made him think that the car service might be taxable, and disclosed the arrangement to his accountant.”

Something made him wake up…Well, it’s not hard to determine what that something was. On June 3, 2008, Obama clinched the Democratic nomination. That same week, Daschle told the press that he was “interested” in being “helpful” to an Obama administration on the health care issue. Translation: With his dream of an influential Obama post becoming more real by the day, with his ambitions on the line, he suddenly developed religion about the tax laws.

Reportedly, however, he didn’t share his new-found religion with the Obama transition team until mid-December, after he was tapped for the HHS job; only then did he share the news about the car-and-driver matter.

The result today, of course, is that he has badly embarrassed Obama. The new president has set a high bar on ethics and accountability, yet here’s another prominent Cabinet nominee (with baggage worse than Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner) who can’t seem to hurdle it.

On the other hand, it was Obama’s decision to nominate Daschle in the first place; presumably, he knew all along that this guy was a classic Beltway animal. Scads of lawmakers have left Capitol Hill and promptly cashed in on their connections and expertise by signing up with the deep-pocket companies that they once regulated. Daschle epitomizes that traditional Washington two-step. He has taken in roughly $5.3 million in the last two years alone – including $300,000 from health-care companies that he would have to regulate if he is confirmed as HHS secretary. And he was savvy enough to elude the strictures that are imposed by lobbyists, because, while he has been giving “policy advice” to private sector clients, he has never registered as a lobbyist.

Will Daschle be confirmed? A Senate Democratic spokesman said yes, citing Daschle’s “long and distinguished career and record in public service.” Translation: Daschle is a member in good standing of the Senate club, and it’s hard to imagine that club members will sandbag one of their own, for the behavior that they too would indulge in the private sector if given the chance.

Obama has signaled that he is sticking with Daschle. No doubt Daschle believes that the president is sincere. Last June, Daschle offered this praise for his patron: “Those who accomplish the most are those who don’t make perfect the enemy of the good. Barack is a pragmatist.”  [that was borrring drivel months ago, now it is just SUSPECT  – Mcat]

Daschle, demonstrably less than perfect, appears to be reading Obama correctly.

Let me shorten that:  hack reads hack.  IF Obama had believed any of his stump drool, he would withdraw the Daschle nom.

NOR will we be getting any sort of decent health care… nor, as Schumer let drop on Rose last night, is that upper most in the pols minds… no!…it’s all about “Health IT” which is putting medical records online to accommodate the insurance companies.  They can then DENY MORE.

***

Works for me!

+ CitizenFarmer I’m a fan of this user permalink

If he keeps him, I’m planning to cheat on my taxes a bit. As a farmer, I have some cash income from a road-side stand where my kids sell some tomatoes, sweet corn, jam, etc. I also sell one or two steer a year that the people pay cash for; then they pay the butcher for processing. The IRS does not need to know about either any more. Daschel and Geither have a lot more money than me. I think I’ll just take the savings on tax as my personal stimulus package.

Carry on!