The lying Bolshevik swine of the Rainbow Grocery Co-op are now covering up their anti-Israel boycott. They changed the text of their online statement about the boycott, to pretend that there never was a boycott. An earlier version said that while there was no storewide boycott, some of the store's autonomous departments did choose to remove Israeli products from their shelves. Now they only say that
At no time did a boycott of Israeli products come up for a vote by the Membership...in no way do we tolerate any workers at Rainbow Grocery who support hatred, racism or any form of religious oppression in or outside of our workplace.Interesting that none of those things were ever alleged, and that the denial does not cover the partial anti-Israel boycott that seems to be in place. The only appropriate steps for them to take at this point are to announce that the boycott has been reversed and to issue an apology for their earlier mistake. Until they do that, I can only wish on them that their produce should rot in its bins and their nuts and grains should be devoured by rodents.
Welcome them with open arms Some Palestinians, including Diana Buttu, have recently started to question whether the Palestinians should abandon the two-state solution and instead revive the old idea that Palestinians should simply demand Israeli citizenship. I think that's a fine idea, with the one condition that they convert to Judaism first. Adding several million people to the team in one fell swoop. Sounds good to me.
I learned yesterday that the Berkeley student who was charged with stealing and breaking my camera was arraigned on November 21, at which time the matter was dropped with "no complaint". That's all I know at this point. I have some calls in to get the scoop and I'll report whatever I find out.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is giving a major policy speech about Iraq today at the Commonwealth Club (12:30pm PST). KQED-FM is carrying the speech live on both the radio and the web. (Go to the KQED daily schedule page and look for the "Listen Live" button). For a schedule of delayed broadcasts in your area go here. My bullet point transcript of Wolfowitz's speech is here
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 06, 2002 04:29 PMSounds good to me. We lost 300,000 this past year we could use a few more.
Posted by: just someguy on December 6, 2002 02:39 AM1) We don't need numbers like that. Destruction of Israel smells the same whether they call themselves Jews or not.
2) That is very strange. Usually the reasons complaints are not filed are either, not enough evidence has yet been developed to get past a preliminary hearing/grand jury (rare when there is an eyewitess victim); or when the victim expresses a desire not to proceed. The charges can be refiled and I suggest that you put pressure on the DA's office. If they do not give you a satisfactory answer then it is time to go public, which I know you are not shy about.
Posted by: J. Lichty on December 6, 2002 10:05 AMI have nothing to add to J. Lichty's comments above but, since I'm here, ditto. And ditto.
Posted by: Lynn-B on December 6, 2002 11:54 AMThe suggestion of converting millions of Palestinians to Judaism in "one fell swoop" was obviously tongue in cheek. But I think that anybody who sincerely wishes to convert to Judaism should be welcomed and of course that includes Arabs. There have been many cases of Middle Eastern Jews converting to Islam over the centuries, why shouldn't this work both ways? Jews have historically not been proactive proselytizers. But given our vulnerable demographic situation around the world, I think we should consider becoming more proactive and offering outreach to potential converts. And if, over time, significant numbers of Israeli and Palestinian Arabs chose to convert to Judaism and assimilate among Israeli Jews, why is that not a good thing?
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on December 6, 2002 12:08 PMAs to the charges being dropped: if you've got the (great) stamina required, you might want to sue the guy. Time, expense, psychic energy, etc., costs will be expended with possibly little reurn benefit. But imagine the torture you could put the bastard through. Discovery! Need I say more?
Posted by: wm. tyroler on December 6, 2002 06:30 PMConcerning the lying Bolshevik swine of the Rainbow Grocery Co-op changing the text of their anti-Israel boycott:
You link to an article on sfgate.com. Did this article appear on the Chronicle? If so, was the Chronicle journalist dreaming? Did she make up the interview with the morons from Rainbow? Here's an example:
About 100 people called the store with reactions Wednesday, mostly to disagree with Rainbow's partial boycott, said spokesman Scott Bradley, who has worked at the store for three years.
"Ninety-nine percent of it is people calling up and being very polite and saying they're not going to shop here anymore," Bradley said.
And then later:
"Things take a long time to happen here, because everything has to be voted on," he said of efforts toward a resolution. Rainbow has about 200 employees, 175 of whom have voting privileges as co-op members; about 60 work in the two departments that enacted the boycott.
Bradley said it's clear that some customers are turning away. "A lot of workers are worried about it," he said. "It hurts. We've never had a response to anything like this before."
Is this Bradley character made up?
I'm confused.
If you were counting on the justice system in Berkeley to do the right thing, well, this was probably a wake-up call. Immediately administering a knuckle sandwich to someone who doesn't think twice about accosting you may be the only justice you will ever get.
Stefan, even the Google cache has been cleaned out. Perhaps the Wayback Machine might have something, but the Rainbow nazis have covered their tracks well.
Posted by: Meryl Yourish on December 9, 2002 05:27 PM