Common Myths

  • Republicans are against unions
    Republicans are not always anti-union, but generally side with big business over the interests of labor. But lost in much of the discussions, is the awareness that big business usually consists of unions of owners. These owners collectively bargain with their employees, either with the employees singly or in groups. Quite often those groups of employees are not based on unions, but instead on bureaucratic determinations made by the corporation. Republicans, and often Democrats, will side with the more powerful union of owners against the employees. Why is there a false understanding of corporations? Because clearly the market supports unions of owners over individual large owners and because of decades of misconceptions often fostered by corporations. Somehow many believe unions of owners are efficient and unions of employees or consumers are inefficient. Of course, democracy, a system based on the equality of humans, can be portrayed as inefficient in the short terms and tyranny of the powerful much more efficient. And that gets to the main distinction in the form of unions of owners versus employees, generally corporations are anti-democratic (power decided by wealth) versus unions of labor or consumers (power decided by people).
  • Republican leaders are against regulations
    Look it up, regulations are essentially laws. What Republicans tend to be against are both laws and regulations that force corporations to favor protecting life over profits. Republicans tend to be strongly for regulations and laws that protect corporation profits and protect corportations being held accountable by a democratic society.
  • Social Security is running out of money
    Repeating a lie doesn't make it so. Williams repeats the myth that Social Security is running out of money despite evidence and protestations to the contrary by Krugman. Unfortunately this myth is designed to allow a wealthy minority to steal the savings of generations of Americans.

Cures for the common myth

  • HeadlineUpdate
    William Klein tears apart the headlines to get to the real story.
  • On the Media
    Show that savages co-opted and self-censored media coverage.
  • RIP - Wall Street Journal
    Until recently, perhaps, the best newspaper in the United States. Murdoch decided to squeeze the life out of this golden goose. Previously had fantastic muckracking pieces. The ruling class preferred WSJ to the whitewashed and watered down mass media.
  • Technorati

    Hidden among the millions of blogs and RSS feeds is the vox populi.

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Chocolate and the Passover Seder

We make the Hillel sandwich of charoset and bitter herbs on matzah every Passover. To remind of us of the bitterness of slavery and the sweetness of redemption, we taste both in the sandwich. The seder teaches through taste, the saltiness of twice dips herbs, the texture of matzah, the richness of the food, and drinking of wine. And often we taste the bitterness and sweetness of chocolate in macaroons and covering matzah.

We celebrate the liberation from slavery under the Pharaohs in Egypt. But today other parts of Africa, slavery still exists in the form of stolen children who are forced to work in the cacao plantations. The chocolate produced is bitter not just in taste, but in injustice and suffering. Not unlike the slaves who built great buildings in ancient Egypt, the cacao is harvested, made into candy and cakes and cookies, by slaves who also hope for freedom and redemption.

Across the world, people are underpaid and mistreated to grow and gather the food we eat everyday. And it is difficult to know what to do. I have one suggestion, put a piece of chocolate on your Seder plate. And try to find one that is made without slave labour. It may be hard to find one that is kosher le pesach, but surely chocolate that is made with slave labor should never be considered kosher for the holiday that commemorates freedom from slavery.

This year I have picked out some chocolate that was grown and made into a chocolate bar in Madagascar. I will put it on our seder plate. And I will avoid using cocoa and chocolate that might be made with slave labor. There is no sweetness in chocolate made by child slaves.

More:

Blessing for chocolate

http://halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Shehakol

Ideas for Chocolate on the Seder Plate

http://fairtradejudaica.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/HaggadahSupplement2012.pdf

Background on slavery free chocolate

http://www.tcho.com/no-slavery/

http://www.madecasse.com/explore-madecasse-impact.php

March 25, 2013 |

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