­por David Bacon

UE organizer Maria Pantoja talks with Versatronex strikers at a meeting in the street on the first day of the strike, to elect the strike committee. ­ (PHOTO BY DAVID BACON)

On January 29, 1993 workers at the Versatronex plant in Sunnyvale, California, filed out of its doors for the last time.

Seventeen years have passed since, but there are still electronics workers in Silicon Valley who remember the company’s name. It was the first valley plant struck by production employees, and the first where a strike won recognition of their union.

The struggle of these workers, almost all immigrants from Mexico, Central America and the Philippines, demolished some of the most cherished myths about the Silicon Valley workforce. It showed workers there are like workers everywhere. Under the right circumstances, even in the citadel of high tech’s open shop, people are willing to organize for a better life.

“We said at the beginning that if the company was going to close, let them close,” said Sandra Gomez, a leader of the Versatronex strike.

“But as long as the plant was open, we were going to fight for our rights.”

For a history of organizing in Silicon Valley, including the Versatronex strike, see the article, Up Against the Open Shop — The Hidden History of Silicon Valley’s High TechWorkers, By David Bacon.

­http://www.truth-out.org/up-against-opensh o p – h i d d e n – s t o r y -silicon-valleys-highte c h – w o r k e r s 6 8 1 6 7

by Jonathan Benson

Natural News

Do you use your computer, watch television, or mess around on your cell phone within the hour before you go to bed at night?

If so, you might be altering your sleep cycle and preventing quality rest, according to a new study conducted as part of a National Sleep Foundation poll. Researchers say that staring at light-emitting screens during the hour before going to sleep inhibits the proper release of melatonin, a hormone that regulates the body’s natural sleep cycles.

Roughly 95 percent of poll respondents indicated that they typically play video games, watch television, use the computer, or access their smart phones within the hour before they go to sleep. And 43 percent of ­respondents between the ages of 13 and 64 said they rarely ever get a good night’s sleep during an average work week.

“This study reveals that light-emitting screens are in heavy use within the pivotal hour before sleep,” said Charles Czeisler from Harvard Medical School, in a Breitbart piece. “Invasion of such alerting technologies into the bedroom may contribute to the high proportion of respondents who report that they routinely get less sleep than they need.”

While respondents in older generations tended more towards passively watching television before bed, younger respondents indicated participation in more active and brain-engaging activities like playing video games and using smart phones, which experts say may be even worse for sleep and overall health.

“Over the last 50 years, we’ve seen how television viewing has grown to be a near constant before bed, and now we are seeing new information technologies such as laptops, cell phones, video games and music devices rapidly gaining the same status,” said Lauren Hale of Stony Brook University Medical Center. “The higher use of these potentially more sleep-disruptive technologies among younger generations may have serious consequences for physical health, cognitive development, and other measures of well-being.”

Keeping mobile phones and other radiation-emitting devices away from your bed at night will also help improve sleep quality by limiting exposure to the “electro-smog” they emit that can disrupt restful sleep.

Long-term exposure to even low levels of electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) may cause serious health problems, so it is always a smart idea to limit their use and keep them away from your body whenever possible (http://www.naturalnews.com/022926_E…). Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031652_electronic_devices_sleep.html#ixzz1GYyjZszw

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Eric Holder

The Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) concluded on March 10 that the Mexican government did not know about the US arms-smuggling operation ‘Fast & Furious’.

The PGR’s finding was contradicted by the US embassy in Mexico City which released a statement in which the US Justice Secretary, Eric Holder, is quoted as telling the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice and science subcommittee that the Mexican government did know about ‘Operation Fast & Furious’.

This was an operation under which the US Bureau of Alcohol Firearms, Tobacco & Explosives (ATF) allowed assault rifles and other weapons to be smuggled to gangsters in Mexico. The idea was to track the weapons and so roll-up complete smuggling networks. According to at least one ATF official, however, the ATF lost track of most of the weapons.

Ecuador moves onto electoral footing as court approves referendum

Ecuadoreans will go to the polls on May 7 to vote on a popular referendum tabled by President Rafael Correa. The referendum, which contains 10 questions, was adjudged to be acceptable by the constitutional court.

Correa can now partake in a surrogate electoral campaign for the next two months, at a cost of US$22m. The stakes are high. If he wins, he will be empowered, among other things, to undertake a sweeping judicial reform.

The traditional opposition, which he pejoratively describes as the partidocracy, will try and thwart him, but the main challenge will be provided by founding members of his Alianza País (AP), who have grown disillusioned with what they consider to be the increasingly authoritarian turn of his citizens’ revolution.

Piñera shows soft side to boost flagging popularity

What has gone wrong? One year after taking offi ce on March 11, Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera is struggling to arrest a declining approval rating. Contending with the fallout from a huge earthquake was a tough start for any head of state but since then he has enjoyed a boost from the “miner miracle” and benefi ted from the long mourning period of the leftwing Concertación which, after 20 years in power, is yet to provide coherent opposition.

Piñera seems to have concluded that his relentless focus on long-term targets has blinded his government to the signifi cance of sudden developments, such as the recent gas protests in Magallanes, and that he

must deliver in the shortterm.

After a major foreign tour to the Middle East, the Vatican and Spain, he plans to remedy this on his return to Chile, and show in the process that the Right has a social conscience.

­Violence morphs again

The killing of Jaime Zapata, the fi rst US government offi cial to be murdered while on duty in Mexico since 1985, has overshadowed what appears to be at least a stabilisation of the gang killing rate in Mexico in the fi rst couple of months of 2011.

This stabilisation, however, does not mean that the government can claim, finally, to be winning its self-declared war against the gangs.

by Raisa Camargo

As the economy continues to struggle, obesity rates are climbing for people of color.

A study published last summer shows nationwide obesity rates escalating in most southern states, and experts cite financial hardship as a contributing factor.

The ‘F’ as in Fat Report: How Obesity Threatens America’s Future 2010, released in June by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shows national obesity rates have increased in 28 states during the past year.

In Latino communities, lacking access to nutritional foods coupled with affordability is a determining factor of an unhealthy lifestyle. This trend is correlated with poverty.

The TFAH has published the report annually for seven years, but this is the first year the report includes statistics based on ethnicity.

The rate of adult obesity for African Americans is higher than 30 percent in 43 states and above that figure for Latinos in 19 states. Ten of the 11 states with the highest rates of diabetes are in the south, as are the 10 states with the highest hypertension rates. Southern states also have the lowest rates of physical activity.

“The rates of Hispanic obesity should be a call to action,” says Jason Llorenz, senior policy advisor at the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators. “There are folks that are so morbidly obese that they will not get on a scale.”

The Washington, D.C.- based National Council of La Raza reports 41 percent of Hispanics  lack basic health literacy, while a 2008 census reported one third of Latinos have no health insurance.

The TFAH reports income inequality as a primary factor related to obesity, noting that 35.3 percent of adults who earn less than $15,000 per year are obese. Of adults who earn $50,000 or more, 24.5 percent are obese. TFAH senior research associate Serena Vinter observes that those states that have higher education levels have lower obesity rates.

Tennessee , whichranks ninth nationally among states with the lowest average income, has the highest obesity rate among Latinos – 39 percent.

A lack of resources like money, recreational facilities or grocery stores contributes to sedentary lifestyles in low-income areas, says Juan Canedo, director of Progreso Community Center, a grassroots Hispanic organization in Nashville. Not everyone can afford to buy healthier food, he says, and crime in lowincome areas impacts residents’ level of activity.

Jennifer Ng’andu, the deputy director of NCLR’s Health Policy Project, said a lack of affordable fresh fruits and vegetables in communities where major food markets are absent – usually in impoverished areas – leads to increased ­consumption of unhealthy fast foods among Latinos.

“I don’t think people are addressing the root causes of obesity in the Latino community,” Ng’andu said. Steps are being taken to combat the obesity epidemic, including a nutritional policy that targets junk food, Tennessee’s Health Commissioner Susan Cooper said.

“We acknowledge it’s a problem,” she says. “But there’s not one policy that can change this overnight.” Hispanic Link.

­by an unknown writer

An unidentified motorist fills his car up with gas.  (PHOTO BY WIRE SERVICES)

I don’t know what you guys are paying for gasoline… but here in California we are paying up to $3.75 to $4.10 per gallon. My line of work is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get more of your money’s worth for every gallon:

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose, CA, we deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline… One day is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening… your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. You should be pumping on low mode, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL. The reason for this is the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it  minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up; most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. To have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It’s really simple to do.

I’m sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)… and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) and so on, by the time the message ­reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!!! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it… T H R E E H U N D R E D MILLION PEOPLE!!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would it take?

­

published first by Soul Guidance

The foods that natural man ate contained only small amounts of sugar, and as these were absorbed from the stomach and intestines, his appetite disappeared when the sugar reached the bloodstream.

Some would be the sugars contained in the food, but most would come from the breakdown of starch. Starch is a complex chain made up of sugar units which are broken off one at a time by the digestive enzymes so that they reach the bloodstream over a period of time. As one digests the starch he also digests and absorbs the numerous other nutrients which he needs.

Later, when man discovered how to extract the sugar from plants, he could eat straight sugar. In this form sugar is immediately absorbed by the body, hunger disappears immediately and there is a quick rush of energy, but also a period of exhaustion and weakness afterwards. This weakness leads to a craving for another dose of sugar, and this is how sugar addiction starts.

What is commonly known as white sugar is also called sucrose, a highly refined product, and a pure chemical product. Brown sugar is sucrose with the addition of a small amount of molasses. Sucrose is present (that is, added to) a lot of foods. I knew that there is a lot of sugar in soft drinks and jam for example, but to my surprise I learned that sugar is also added to bread, meat products, processed vegetables and even some tooth paste!

It is widely known that white sugar is bad for teeth, but the consumption of white sugar has more, far reaching consequences. The metabolism of sugar requires accessory nutrients which are involved in its combustion, including vitamins, minerals and even some protein and fat molecules.

­These elements are depleted by the consumption of refined sugar. When eating sugar becomes a habit, the supply of vitamins and minerals is used up, and eventually such nutrients must be pulled from tissues in the body in order to continue support of the metabolic activities fueled by sugar.

Even though most people are aware only of the weight gained consumption of quantities of refined sugar, it can result in the body becoming increasingly deficient in important nutrients. In some cases only a limited amount of the sugar is burned since one feels too tired to be very active. Without the desire for exercise, much of the sugar is stored away as fat.

The result is an unnatural obesity that has come to characterize those who regularly consume soft drinks, candy and so on, incurring a nutrient debt which they never pay off. Hunger and craving for more food goes along with it as the body searches for what it really needs. With modern refined foods (which by themselves have a shortage of vitamins and minerals), especially those containing a large amount of sugar, obesity and malnutrition may occur together. Eating more this way will not improve one’s health, on the contrary.

I have also found that studies have shown that eating white sugar and other sweets can in effect “paralyze” the white blood cells for half an hour or more. Any interference with the white blood cells’ work can result in an infection or overgrowth of normal micro-organisms. The toxins produces by the infecting organism can further strain an already overloaded lymph system and make the immune system even weaker. I grew up with white sugar, present in all the foods and candy I was eating. That is why all my molars have dental fillings. I slowly changed over to a more healthy diet, and at present I rarely eat something that has white sugar in it. My tooth decay has drastically dropped. Last time I needed dental work was to replace an old filling. When you buy your food read the labels to see how much white sugar it contains. Try to limit it as much as possible!

A natural sweetener you could use is Stevia, a sweet product with a taste close to sugar, made from the Stevia plant. It also comes in liquid form and can be found in health food stores. Info about Stevia: http://www.stevia.net/

The material in this site is provided for educational and informational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for consultation by a healthcare provider. Please consult your own physician or appropriate healthcare provider about the applicability of any opinions or recommendations with respect to your own symptoms or medical conditions.

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Daniel Ortega

The ruling Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) on Feb. 26 declared President Daniel Ortega its presidential candidate ahead of the 6 November 2011 elections. Ortega’s bid for the presidency is unconstitutional and the most glaring example to date of the lack of constitutional checks and balances in Nicaragua. The domestic and international response to his efforts to perpetuate himself in power could prove critical for democracy in the region.

Arab revolutions raise questions about democracy and autocracy

Seismic historical shifts in North Africa and the Middle East are being felt in Latin America.

The differing reactions to uprisings in Egypt and Libya, depending upon whether the despot in question has ‘imperialist’ links to the US, Hosni Mubarak, or dim and distant ‘revolutionary’ credentials, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, have exposed some rank hypocrisy in Cuba and Nicaragua. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, who has made a habit of courting unsavoury dictators, including Gaddafi, has astutely decided to keep his own  counsel on Libya. It is probably not coincidental, however, that hunger striking students should have chosen this moment to pressure the Venezuelan government to release ‘political prisoners’, or that both the US and the Organization of American  States (OAS) are now raising concerns about the shortcomings of Venezuelan democracy.

What the Arab revolutions mean for Latin America

Latin America, which has longstanding links to the Arab world, is likely to ­play a major political role in the international community’s reaction to the revolutions in the Arab world. Latin America is also likely to benefit, economically, from the unrest in the Arab world, as international oil companies, especially, switch from looking for oil in places like Libya, Algeria and Egypt which now seem deeply unstable. Politically the unrest in the Arab world gives Latin America a platform to demonstrate its democratic, environmental and human rights credentials.

Traditionally countries in Latin America have been reluctant to take principled positions on unrest in other countries, largely because they did not welcome other countries commenting on, or worse investigating, what was happening inside their own countries.

Military given indefinite role in combating organised crime

There is no end in sight to the use of the armed forces in combating organised crime in El Salvador. That uncompromising message might have been expected from the lips of any previous president in El Salvador’s history but instead it came from the mouth of President Mauricio Funes, the country’s first left-wing head of state. Speaking in late January during a military promotion ceremony, Funes said he would use the armed forces “indefinitely” with the Policía Nacional Civil (PNC). He said the battle against organised crime did not have “deadlines” but rather “objectives”.

His state security strategy is very similar to that being carried out by the centre-left President of Guatemala, Alvaro Colom, where the military had also retreated from public life after a long civil war but is now playing an increasingly active role.

­