The ask: the CIW, the Student Farmworkers Alliance, and others are calling on Burger King to subsidize a “one-penny per pound” raise for tomato pickers – who make, on average, just below $10,000 per year. This subsidy would give tomato pickers an extra penny per pound of tomatoes that they pick. Additionally, the CIW and others are calling on Burger King to work with independent human rights groups to implement an enforceable code of conduct to ensure fair and safe working conditions for farmworkers in Burger King’s tomato supply chain.

In other words, the CIW is asking Burger King to follow the example of McDonald’s and Taco Bell.

Burger King’s response: refusal to subsidize the raise for farmworkers, saying that they get their produce from a third party supplier, and as such, aren’t responsible for the wages or the human rights conditions faced by tomato pickers.

But what’s unbelievably frightening and Orwellian in this debate are revelations, made last week in an op-ed by Eric Schlosser in the NY Times, that Burger King employed a private security company to infiltrate human rights groups working to improve the wages of migrant farmworkers. Per Schlosser:

In March, a woman named Cara Schaffer contacted the Student/Farmworker Alliance, saying she was a student at Broward Community College. Her eagerness aroused suspicions, but she was allowed to join two of the group’s planning sessions. Internet searches by the alliance revealed that she was not a college student.

Ms. Schaffer is the 25-year-old owner of a private security firm. Her company, Diplomatic Tactical Services, seems like the kind of security firm you’d find in one of Carl Hiaasen’s crime thrillers. Last year Ms. Schaffer was denied a private investigator’s license; she had failed to supply the Florida licensing division with proof of “lawfully gained, verifiable experience or training.” Even more unsettling, one of her former subcontractors, Guillermo Zarabozo, is now facing murder charges in United States District Court in Miami for his role in allegedly executing four crew members of a charter fishing boat, then dumping their bodies at sea.

In an interview, a Burger King executive told me that the company had worked with Diplomatic Tactical Services for years on “security-related matters” and had used it to obtain information about the Student/Farmworker Alliance’s plans — in order to prevent acts of violence. “It is both the corporation’s right and duty,” a company spokesman later wrote in an e-mail message to me, “to protect its employees and assets from potential harm.”

So the King hired a security company owned by a 25-year-old woman, who has a business that isn’t accredited, and whose hands are tied to the execution of four crew members of a fishing boat? If you don’t mind the pun, that’s a whopper of a revelation.

*rimshot*

Check out Schlosser’s NY Times piece. Check out the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. On their site, here, you can download a sample letter to send (or drop off) to your local Burger King. If you take a picture while dropping the letter off, the CIW might even post it to their site!

And if at all possible, boycott Burger King until they agree to help raise the wages of farmworkers living way below the poverty line, and stop resorting to corporate espionage tactics as a means of supporting slavery.

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Tens of thousands of farmers in India have committed suicide during the past few years. A large part of the problem is Monsanto’s increasing stranglehold on the world’s seed supply. Their patented seeds cost three times as much as most other seeds.

But the neatest thing about these seeds (if you’re a Monsanto executive) is that they’re designed to self-destruct at the end of the growing season. Farmers are no longer able to save their own seeds for the next planting. Now they have to buy new seeds every year — a huge expense if you’re already teetering on the edge.

Predatory bankers are the other half of the equation. Their loans and interest rates are practically guaranteed to be impossible for the farmers to repay. And then the banks get to seize their land.

One local moneylender agreed to be interviewed anonymously. He was pretty blunt: “It’s not a nice business. But you earn a lot of money. When we loan them money, we are quite sure whether or not they can pay. We know it’s going to be our land eventually.”

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Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Hat tip to Desertpeace

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The gall of the religious right never ceases to amaze. Time and again, they demonstrate that hypocrisy is an essential element of their ideology. While many of these zealots frequently demonstrate their willingness to preach one thing and do another, their latest endeavor seems determined to take it to a whole new level.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal advocate for the right wing, is calling on churches to voice their positions on political candidates en masse on September 28th in order to create the grounds to challenge the constitutionality of the current tax code. As it now stands, the IRS guidelines prohibit churches from directly endorsing or rejecting political candidates in order to maintain their tax exempt status. The ADF wants to overturn the provision on the grounds that it circumvents their First Amendment rights and is therefore unconstitutional.

From The Washington Post:

The Alliance Defense Fund, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., will ask the clergy to deliver a sermon about specific candidates Sept. 28. If the action triggers an IRS investigation, the legal group will sue to overturn the federal rules, which were enacted in 1954.

Under the IRS code, churches can distribute voter guides, run voter registration drives, hold forums on public policy and invite politicians to speak at their congregations.

However, they cannot endorse a candidate, and their political activity cannot be biased for or against a candidate, directly or indirectly.

The Alliance Defense Fund said Friday that the regulations amount to an unconstitutional limit on free speech and government intrusion into religion.

From WorldNetDaily:

“Churches have for too long feared the loss of tax exempt status arising from speech in the pulpit addressing candidates for office,” the ADF’s white paper on the campaign confirmed. “Rather than risk confrontation, pastors have self-censored their speech, ignoring blatant immorality in government and foregoing the opportunities to praise moral government leaders.

“ADF believes that IRS restrictions on religious expression from the pulpit, whenever the IRS characterizes it as ‘political,’ is unconstitutional. After 50 years of threats and intimidation, churches should confront the IRS directly and reclaim the expressive rights guaranteed to them in the United States Constitution,” the group said.

“The intimidation of churches by leftist groups using the IRS has grown to a point that ADF has no choice but to respond,” said Erik Stanley, senior counsel for the ADF. “The number of threats being reported to ADF is growing because of the aggressive campaign to unlawfully silence the church.

Where to begin. First, I doubt the courts would rule in favor of the ADF since churches have always had the option to forego their tax exempt status. The bottom line - they elect their tax status knowing the conditions. I personally believe they shouldn’t be tax exempt and it wouldn’t surprise me if this misguided effort opens the door to discussing that possibility.

Beyond that, the dividing line between church and state is a complex matter that has been addressed numerous times by the courts. I suspect that the ADF believes that the shift to the right in the Supreme Court under the Bush administration may be to their benefit. Regardless, there is ample precedent that would need to be ignored in order for ADF to prevail.

Setting aside the legal argument, I want to focus on some of the inconsistent positions that emanate from the religious right…positions that lead me and many others to decry their penchant for hypocrisy. Two issues jump off the page.

The first is federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. President Bush and his supporters have argued that the government shouldn’t provide funding for such research. The rationale for their objections is predicated upon ethical concerns that have their origin in religious doctrine. At the same time, he and those who support the ban on federal funding loudly note that they aren’t preventing state and private funding for this research.

Hence the inconsistency is revealed. On the one hand, the religious right believes that it is appropriate for the president to deny funding for research that could assist numerous Americans that have no religious objections to the use of embryonic stem cells. They argue that those in favor of doing so can still conduct the research…just without the endorsement (funding) of the federal government. In other words, no one’s rights are being denied so long as the research is allowed to proceed. If you favor it, fund it privately…but your federal government isn’t going to use your money to do so.

On the other hand, those who endorse the logic in the above argument believe the federal government shouldn’t be allowed to prohibit churches from engaging in partisan politicking in exchange for granting them an exemption from taxation. Where does that leave us? Well, it says that these individuals want the government to forego funding research that conflicts with their religious beliefs while also allowing them to use the pulpits of the churches they support to influence the outcome of elections…without those churches ever being required to pay taxation. If that isn’t wanting to have it both ways, what is?

Contrast that with the secular citizen who pays taxes and wants the government to fund research that might save lives and one begins to see the absurdity of the system these religious demagogues favor. Truth be told, many of these religious organizations have already established “arms length” political entities that circumvent the IRS codes. Anyone who doubts their aspirations for the establishment of a theocracy ought to think again. The ADF directive is simply the next step in a well-crafted agenda.

The second item that illuminates the inconsistency in the rationale of the religious right is gay marriage. Proponents of measures to ban same-sex marriages contend that same-sex couples can achieve many of the same benefits that are afforded to married couples by utilizing the appropriate legal documentation. Of course they fail to mention that the lion’s share of benefits cannot be achieved through any means…especially those that relate to taxation.

At the same time, they argue that the preservation of the institution of marriage and it’s religious connotations is reasonable so long as the government isn’t preventing gays from forming the relationships they choose. In other words, it’s reasonable to restrict marriage to one man and one woman so long as the government allows gays to form the relationships they choose. The bottom line message to gays - you elect your tax status knowing the conditions.

When gays assert that this is an unfair system, the religious right is the first to cite those objections as evidence of the militant homosexual agenda and the desire of gays to force society to accept and embrace their alternative lifestyle.

Again, we begin to see the inconsistency. On the one hand, the religious right argues that the government has no obligation to recognize same-sex unions…and those who enter into them do so knowing the precedent conditions. You want a gay spouse, you don’t benefit from the advantageous tax status afforded to recognized marriages. On the other hand, they want the government to recognize religious doctrine when determining whose marriages will receive beneficial treatment while also wanting their churches to receive preferential tax status absent conditions…conditions that are simply intended to uphold the separation of church and state.

Similar arguments can be made with regards to the religious right’s positions on a number of issues. This includes a woman’s right to have an abortion and the rights of an individual or their family members to make end of life decisions. Time and again, the religious right seeks to insert and impose their beliefs on those who do not share them while simultaneously asking the government to adopt a laissez-faire mentality with regards to monitoring the separation of church and state.

I find it amusing that those who routinely point out that the spiritual realm supersedes all else spend so much of their time in the pursuit of all things political and material. Then again, the newly emerging prosperity theology suggests that the attainment of success (wealth and worldly measures) is undoubtedly evidence that one is appropriately aligned with the Lord.

Silly me…why on earth would I conclude that any of the above positions are hypocritical. I just pray that God will help me abandon rational and reasoned thought in favor of the fabrications that come with faith. I need to accept that the teachings of Jesus Christ have nothing to do with today’s Christianity. Come to think of it, maybe that’s the reason the religious right insists that everyone has to be born again.

Image courtesy of TBogg

Cross-posted at Thought Theater

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As for American mom’s below is a humorous video that I got this morning from a friend of mine Fran in an email.

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History sometimes cycles through repeating patterns that aren’t easily noticeable. Political history - obfuscated as it is by partisan squabbling and self-interest - is a particularly difficult place to notice them. Sure, there are plenty of polls, records galore, and election results to ponder, but ideological differences tend to make us think of politicians in opposing parties as completely different from one another.

As hard as it is to see, and as appalled as both would be to hear it, George Bush and Hillary Clinton are two of those politicians who are so alike they’re almost the same. From their membership in privileged political dynasties to their ability to effortlessly divide constituencies, they become more and more alike as time goes on. Both have squandered political capital like shore-leave sailors spending money on cheap hookers and booze. Both have an affinity for scorched earth policies and little tolerance for those mere mortals who question them. Compromise and easy forthrightness are anathema to them and the day either of them admits a mistake is the day the planet will reverse direction.

But their quixotic pursuit of unattainable goals, regardless of the cost to others, is perhaps their single most noticeable parallel.

George chases a phantom peace in Iraq, so convinced that only he can see the one true victory that he’s willing to take his party, the country, and the rest of the world down with him. He’ll brook no compromise regardless of any pesky facts that get in the way and insists that one day historians will see him as a cowboy prophet whose memory is to be revered and genuflected to. He’s a man accustomed to an easy life that’s given him a sense of entitlement that produces a hubris-filled cloud so big it covers the whole of the western hemisphere.

On many issues - except perhaps staying in Iraq - the two of them look like polar opposites. But look closer. See how Hillary chases the nomination even while the country is steadily turning against her? Doesn’t that smack of the Bushonian belief that anything is fair as long as she gets what she wants? What about her willingness to fling poop when the odds stack against her? Or what about her belief that she’s winning even as she loses? Just as George sees his prize right around the next corner, Hillary predicts that each new primary will put her over the top so she’ll be able to attend her own coronation in 2009. If the two of them live in bubbles, they are bubbles that have conjoined.

It’s time for one of them to break out of the George Bush mold. Since George is, well, George, it looks like Hillary is the one to make the move. Of course, she has the right to conduct her campaign any way she chooses, no matter how destructive the rest of us believe it is. However, it would be nice if she considered the needs of the country instead of the needs of Hillary for once. She can continue to pitch money (much of it her own) down a rat hole and continue to anger everyone in sight, but the result will be much the same as it’s been for Bush - she’ll become a pariah responsible to ruining her party and possibly creating an opening where even a doofus like McCain can win. She’ll have so thoroughly pissed on every person who might otherwise have been her friend that the terrible thunder of karma will rain down on her in apocalyptic fashion. If I was her, karma is the thing I’d fear most.

After all, look what it’s done to George.

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What a backassward place America has become. More than half the people think the world is 10,000 years old and that dinosaurs roamed the Earth with the first humans. The other half can’t find their own country on a map or their own ass with a flashlight for that matter. One of the View ladies thinks the Earth might well be flat and I’m sure a good percentage of Americans believe in unicorns, leprechauns, and hobgoblins. I mean, why not? A Florida teacher was recently accused of wizardry and fired.

The wizardry he performed wasn’t even particularly amazing. There was no flax spun into gold. He wasn’t wearing a cape and pointy hat. There were no sparkling stars coming from a magic wand. Hell, he didn’t even say abra-frickin-cadabra. His wizardry consisted of a rookie slight-of-hand trick making a toothpick disappear. Truth be told, half the kids in Rushe Middle School could probably do the trick better that he, but that doesn’t matter when your mind is firmly stuck in the Middle Ages.

Soon after doing the trick, Jim Piculas got a call from the school’s supervisor of teachers who told him, “Jim, we have a huge issue. You can’t take any more assignments. You need to come in right away.”

In what world does a simple magic trick become a “huge issue”? Half the kids in the supe’s school probably can’t read and this nimrod is busy spending her time on not leaving children behind by way of black magic. I’m surprised the supervisor only fired Piculas. Her mindset suggests a good old fashioned witch ducking or stake-burning school fund-raiser might be more her style.

Sometimes it seems mankind is on a reverse evolutionary path and we’re at the nexus of cavemen playing with Dino and electing George Bush - twice! Each successive generation becomes exponentially stupider and stupider. Today we fire people for wizardry, can it be long until we believe monsters eat the moon each night or fire is a mystical element appearing out of nowhere? Some already believe our Boob-in-Chief is doing a fine job - and since he contributes immeasurably to populating the world with people afraid that a sixth grade teacher will make them disappear faster than an inmate at Gitmo - maybe they’re right.

Piculas is apparently worried that he’ll be unable to get future teaching jobs because his “conviction” on wizardry charges seems tantamount to sexual predation in the eyes of the Supreme Court of Asshats.

Sadly, that’s probably a valid fear.

See other fine hypertext products at The Omnipotent Poobah Speaks!

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