Allies discuss end of bombing operation amid concerns over cost and vagueness of aims after ousting of Muammar Gaddafi Nato defence ministers are to debate on Thursday when to declare an end to the air war in Libya amid concerns over the mounting cost of the campaign and the vagueness of the alliance’s war aims. The Nato secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said on Wednesday that the end of the war would not be determined by the fate of the fugitive former dictator Muammar Gaddafi. “The key will be the protection of the civilian population, so when no threat exists against the civilian population then the time will have come to terminate our operation,” Rasmussen said at the start of the two-day meeting in Brussels, which will include Arab states involved in the campaign. He said the decision would be based in part on an assessment of the ability of the new government in Tripoli to protect civilians, and would be taken in consultation with the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) and the UN. Pro-Gaddafi forces still hold parts of the towns of Sirte and Bani Walid, but as the territory they control has shrunk, military targets for Nato warplanes have also dwindled. Nato aircraft have not carried out any strikes since the weekend. However, sorties by RAF Tornado and Typhoon jets, even without any bombs dropped or missiles fired, still cost £35,000 and £45,000 respectively. By some estimates the war could soon cost Britain more than £1bn, with France and the US facing similar bills, and there is anxiety in all three countries that the campaign should drag on indefinitely. Meanwhile, Nato members who originally opposed the intervention, including Germany and some eastern European states, argue that its mission is no longer clear. Nato officials admit it will be hard to make a judgment on when the civilian population is no longer under threat. “An operation is like a marriage. The only thing you know for sure is the day it starts,” one senior official said. “The big risk is that one day we stop and the next day there is a massacre, in which case we would have failed.” Alliance policy planners are discussing a scenario in which Gaddafi loyalists cease to hold any territory, but continue to inflict casualties, as Saddam Hussein’s followers did in Iraq. In such a situation, the population would be under constant threat, but Nato aircraft would be almost powerless to intervene without the risk of causing yet more civilian deaths and injuries. Nato officials are also concerned that fighting could break out among the factions that brought down Gaddafi’s regime. They believe the alliance would be under an obligation to intervene under the terms of its UN mandate to protect the Libyan population. “If it degenerates into a big fight between factions, we will have to take action,” a senior official said. “If the scale and scope is of an order that justifies Nato intervention, we will intervene.” Even if the bloodshed came to an end, disengagement would not be entirely straightforward, Nato planners warn. The alliance is currently responsible for air traffic control over Libya, for example, and it could take some time for the new authorities to take over. Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Nato Muammar Gaddafi United Nations Africa Julian Borger guardian.co.uk
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Bodies of five bound and executed men found wrapped in military blankets and buried in shallow sandy scrapes Whoever buried the five men, discovered in graves a little way outside the Libyan coastal city of Misrata, had a sense of order. The bodies were buried neatly in a row of shallow sandy scrapes, each wrapped in a green military blanket, the last one of them interred on the stretcher on which he was, in all likelihood, killed. Someone – no one knows who — had marked the place, leaving a sign next to the grave site saying: “Five dead.” All of them were men, wearing civilian clothes. Dr Faros Ahmed Dibrik gently uncovered one of the faces. From the state of decomposition, the man, like the others, had been dead for several months, probably killed during the bitter siege of Misrata by pro-Gaddafi forces. A blindfold had been tied around the man’s eyes. Dibrik carefully pushed it back and brushed away the sandy earth. The man’s forehead bore a bullet hole, just above his nose, penetrating the rag tied round his eyes. The damage at the back of the skull suggested he had been shot at close range. His hands and feet had been tied with thick green twine. Dibrik and a colleague measured the body. They examined the teeth and talked into a microphone, recording the injuries. Dibrik then moved to another body. Its hands too had been tied. The man on the stretcher, identifiable only by a serial number scrawled on a piece of paper and placed on his body, had also had his eyes covered before being shot. He had been a small man. When Dibrik rolled over the body his hands had also been tied behind his back. Forty or so onlookers, some in the uniform of Libya’s revolutionary forces, stood watching by the graves in silence. Dibrik searched in the pocket of the tracksuit bottoms worn by one of the men, looking for ID. There was none. “Nike,” he said. “Civilian clothes.” A man standing nearby explained that many of the fighters from Misrata’s siege wore combat trousers, as many fighters do today, mixed with T-shirts or other civilian clothing. Another made a calculation. “If these men were killed in April then this area of the front was under the control of Gaddafi forces. The only people who came here were shepherds.” It is impossible to tell. What is clear is that they were executed and their bodies dumped. Whatever the circumstances of their death, these graves are evidence of a war crime, committed, it seems likely from the military stretcher and from the army blankets, by soldiers. It seems likely too that these men’s names would appear on the list of the 1,000 or so still recorded by the town’s revolutionary forces as missing from the time of siege. Where the bodies of those still missing have been hidden is only now slowly being revealed, in sandy remote plots like this, far from any houses. It is evidence of what happened in Libya, beyond the eyes of reporters and human rights investigators, during the long months of war when atrocities were committed on both sides, and often with impunity. It is not the first grave and nor will it be the last to be found near this city. Even as the five bodies were exhumed, officials from the new government were searching for another grave which they had been told by a captured pro-Gaddafi fighter contained the bodies of 25 civilians captured during the town’s siege. For those still looking for their family members, the battle for Misrata will only be over when the last grave is found. Libya Middle East Africa Arab and Middle East unrest Peter Beaumont guardian.co.uk
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Twenty medical personnel were given sentences ranging from five to 15 years for treating injured protesters Bahrain’s attorney general has ordered a civilian court retrial for 20 medical personnel sentenced to prison as alleged backers of anti-government protests. A statement on Wednesday by Bahrain’s government apparently nullifies the verdicts earlier this week from a special security court against the doctors and nurses, who received sentences ranging from five to 15 years for treating injured protesters. The case brought an outcry from rights groups and raised questions from the UN secretary general. Bahrain has been gripped by nearly eight months of unrest by Shia-led protests seeking greater rights from the ruling Sunni monarchy. Bahrain Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Rep. Steve King at times is the king of wingnutopia. They’d like to erase the last 250 years. Aren’t tea party politicians supposed to be constitutionalists? Political Correction: In a Judiciary Committee hearing on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) used his allotted time to daydream out loud about an era of American history when only male property owners were allowed to vote. King pondered whether we should go back to a similar system of allowing only people with “skin in the game” (i.e. people with jobs) to have that right. Halfway through his remarks, King made the disclaimer that he was only making “a historical observation” about the era of property-owner-only voting, but the rest of his dialogue made it seem as though he thought the Founding Fathers might have been on to something. KING: As I roll this thing back and I think of American history, there was a time in American history when you had to be a male property owner in order to vote. The reason for that was, because they wanted the people who voted — that set the public policy, that decided on the taxes and the spending — to have some skin in the game. Now we have data out there that shows that 47 percent of American households don’t pay taxes, 51 percent of American wage-earners don’t have an income tax liability. And it’s pretty clear that there are a lot of people who are not in the workforce at all. In fact, of our unemployment numbers — that run in the 13 or 14 million category — when you go to the Department of Labor Statistics and you look at that data, you can add up those that are simply not in the workforce of different age groups, but of working age, add that number to the number of those who are on unemployment and you come up with a number that was just a few months ago 80 million Americans. Just over a month ago that number went over 100 million Americans that aren’t working. Now I don’t think they’re paying taxes. But many of them are voting. And when they vote, they vote for more government benefits. Back at home he probably takes out his snuff box and dreams about the time when plantations littered the south and women were chained to the kitchen. Um, Steve, the House of Representatives is supposed to represent the “people.” It was called The People’s House. Not the “Landowners House.” That’s one of the reasons we have the Senate.
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Daniel Shechtman, who has won the chemistry Nobel for discovering quasicrystals, was initially lambasted for ‘bringing disgrace’ on his research group A scientist whose work was so controversial he was ridiculed and asked to leave his research group has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry . Daniel Shechtman , 70, a researcher at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, received the award for discovering seemingly impossible crystal structures in frozen gobbets of metal that resembled the beautiful patterns seen in Islamic mosaics. Images of the metals showed their atoms were arranged in a way that broke well-establised rules of how crystals formed, a finding that fundamentally altered how chemists view solid matter. In addition to the kudos of the award, Shechtman receives 10 million Swedish kronor (£934,000). Crystallised materials are normally made up of “unit cells” of atoms that repeat over and over to make a single, uniform structure. This kind of crystal structure makes graphite a good lubricant, for example, because it can cleave easily across certain planes of weakness. On the morning of 8 April 1982, Shechtman saw something quite different while gazing at electron microscope images of a rapidly cooled metal alloy. The atoms were packed in a pattern that could not be repeated. Shechtman said to himself in Hebrew, “Eyn chaya kazo,” which means “There can be no such creature.” The bizarre structures are now known as “quasicrystals” and have been seen in a wide variety of materials. Their uneven structure means they do not have obvious cleavage planes, making them particularly hard. “His discovery was extremely controversial. In the course of defending his findings, he was asked to leave his research group,” the Nobel committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement. “However, his battle eventually forced scientists to reconsider their conception of the very nature of matter … Scientists are currently experimenting with using quasicrystals in different products such as frying pans and diesel engines.” In an interview this year with the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, Shechtman said: “People just laughed at me.” He recalled how Linus Pauling, a colossus of science and a double Nobel laureate, mounted a frightening “crusade” against him. After telling Shechtman to go back and read a crystallography textbook, the head of his research group asked him to leave for “bringing disgrace” on the team. “I felt rejected,” Shachtman said. The existence of quasicrystals, though controversial, was anticipated much earlier, but Shechtman was the first to see them in nature. The 16th century astronomer Johannes Kepler drew quasicrystal-like patterns in his book Mysterium Cosmographicum. In the 1970s, Sir Roger Penrose, the Oxford University mathematical physicist, created “aperiodic” tiling patterns that never repeated themselves, work that he suspects was inspired by Kepler’s drawings. “I once asked Shechtman if he knew about my tilings when he saw the things he saw. He said he did, but that he didn’t have them in mind when he was looking at them,” Penrose told the Guardian. “I think it was rather similar to my experience with Kepler’s patterns. Probably he was influenced unconsciously.” Penrose’s own contribution to the field led some scientists to suggest he might himself be a contender for the Nobel prize. “Some people have said that, but I was a bit doubtful that would happen. Shechtman was the first person to see these things and it took a while to come around to the view that the things that were seen were the same kind of patterns I’d produced about 10 years earlier,” he said. While the patterns were beautiful and fundamentally interesting, Penrose said he was not aware of any very successful commercial applications. Though quasicrystal frying pan coatings exist, he said: “I am not sure they are terribly effective. I believe they interact with egg.” Astrid Graslund , professor of biophysics at Stockholm University and secretary for the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, conceded: “The practical applications are, as of now, not so many. But the material has unexpected properties. It is very strong, it has hardly any friction on the surface, it doesn’t want to react with anything, [it] cannot oxidize and become rusty.” David Phillips, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry , said: “Quasicrystals are a fascinating aspect of chemical and material science – crystals that break all the rules of being a crystal at all. You can normally explain in simple terms where in a crystal each atom sits – they are very symmetrical. With quasicrystals, that symmetry is broken: there are regular patterns in the structure, but never repeating.” He added: “They’re quite beautiful, and have potential applications in protective alloys and coatings. The award of the Nobel Prize to Danny Shechtman is a celebration of fundamental research.” Nobel prizes Science prizes People in science Chemistry Israel United States Ian Sample guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Syria sanctions: ‘outraged’ US seeks fresh resolution after double veto blow
October 5, 2011 No Comment
US envoy says America will not rest until UN security council meets its responsibilities after Russia and China veto draft The UN security council is expected to seek a fresh resolution on Syria after Russia and China on Tuesday night vetoed a draft that threatened sanctions, a security council source said. The veto by Russia, which was supported by China, provoked the biggest verbal explosion from the US at the UN for years, with its ambassador Susan Rice expressing “outrage” over the move by Moscow and Beijing. Rice also walked out of the security council, the first such demonstration in recent years. While walkouts are common at the UN general assembly, they are rare in the security council. The US, France and Britain are planning to bring a new resolution at the first opportunity. The security council source said that similar vetoes in the past had killed off attempts to intervene in crises ranging from Zimbabwe to Georgia, but this time it was different. “It will not go away,” the source said. “It will not be next week. We don’t have a date. But there are a number of ways the security council can get back to this.” Further civil unrest in Syria would offer an opportunity, as would a request by the Arab League for intervention. Diplomats at the UN cannot recall an episode during the Obama administration in which the US has been so markedly critical of Russia. The vote was 9-2 in favour, with four abstentions: South Africa, India, Brazil and the Lebanon. The resolution reflects the shift in US policy, which began with hopes that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, might be open to negotiation. But those hopes have gradually been abandoned by all senior figures in the US foreign policy establishment. Rice, who before joining the Obama administration established a reputation as an outspoken critic of the failure of the west to intervene in humanitarian crises round the world, said after the vote: “The United States is outraged that this council has utterly failed to address an urgent moral challenge and a growing threat to regional peace and security.” Without naming Russia and China – but making it clear they were the target of her words – she said: “Let there be no doubt: this is not about military intervention. This is not about Libya. That is a cheap ruse by those who would rather sell arms to the Syrian regime than stand with the Syrian people.” She added: “This is about whether this council, during a time of sweeping change in the Middle East, will stand with peaceful protesters crying out for freedom, or with a regime of thugs with guns that tramples human dignity and human rights. As matters now stand, this council will not even mandate the dispatch of human rights monitors to Syria – a grave failure that may doom the prospects for peaceful protest in the face of a regime that knows no limits.” Rice accused Russia and China of looking the other way as attempts at a peaceful settlement have been spurned by Assad. The international community now had to bring “real consequences” to bear, she said. “In failing to adopt the draft resolution before us, this council has squandered an opportunity to shoulder its responsibilities to the Syrian people. We deeply regret that some members of the council have prevented us from taking a principled stand against the Syrian regime’s brutal oppression of its people.” She said the US will not rest until the council meets its responsibilities. The resolution had been weakened considerably since the original text was circulated to the 15 security council members in early August seeking to impose sanctions. The draft resolution on Tuesday only said the security council would “consider its options” in 30 days’ time if Assad failed to stop the violence, and would seek a peaceful settlement of the crisis. It said the options would include sanctions. To further water down the resolution in an attempt to make it more acceptable to Russia and China, there was no hint of military intervention. As well as expressing outrage over the veto, Rice walked out of the security council when Syria, exercising its right to speak, accused the US of backing genocide against the Palestinians. The Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, insisted Moscow did not support Assad, and opposed the resolution because it was confrontational, amounting to an ultimatum on sanctions. Russia is still smarting from the way the US, Britain and France used a UN resolution on Libya as cover for intervention on scale that Moscow insists the resolution never envisaged. The British ambassador to the UN, Mark Lyall Grant, said the draft resolution contained nothing any member of the council should have felt a need to oppose. “Yet two members chose to veto. It will be a deep disappointment to the people of Syria and to the wider region,” he said. United Nations Syria United States Russia China US foreign policy Middle East Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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• Payments go to 1,230 victims of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi fraud • Initial distribution delayed by legal ruling on New York Mets Victims of Bernard Madoff’s fraud scheme are set to receive $312m (£202) this week as the trustee charged with recovering their cash sends out their first set of compensation cheques. The money will be split between the holders of 1,230 Madoff accounts and represents a recovery of roughly 4.6 cents for every dollar they invested. Irving Picard, court-appointed trustee for the Madoff victims, said he had recovered, or entered into agreements to recover, approximately $8.7bn, about half the $17.3bn he estimates was lost in Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. “This initial distribution is the first return of stolen funds to Madoff’s defrauded customers,” said Picard. “Significant, additional funds – currently unavailable for distribution due primarily to appeals – will ultimately be returned to their rightful owners, as well as future monies yet to be recovered. The need among many Madoff customers is urgent, and we are working to expedite these distributions.” Picard said distribution of the rest of the money he has recovered was being held up by appeals or the timing of payments. Picard’s $5bn settlement with the estate of late investor Jeffry Picower – his largest settlement to date – is currently being appealed. The payments were to go out last week but were delayed as Picard considered the effects of a court ruling over Madoff profits given to the owners of the New York Mets baseball team. On 27 September Judge Jed Rakoff of the US district court in Manhattan ruled that the trustee was allowed to seek only the return of fictional profits the Mets owners withdrew in the last two years of the fraud, which lasted more than a decade. The judge also rejected Picard’s bid to recover preference claims, the cash paid to team owners in the last 90 days of the fraud. Picard calculated that if the ruling applied to the hundreds of other claims he is pursuing, it would reduce potential recoveries by $6.2bn. “The order had raised potential issues regarding the distribution, which have since been resolved, allowing the distribution to commence,” said Picard. The trustee has sued for nearly $100bn in damages and fictional profits that he claims banks, including HSBC and JP Morgan, hedge funds and investment managers made dealing with Madoff during his decades-long scheme. Madoff is serving a 150-year jail sentence after being found guilty of running one of the largest fraud schemes of all time. Bernard Madoff United States Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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Mark Field denies conflict of interest over his links to a country whose human rights record is criticised by the Foreign Office A Conservative MP who sits on the committee that scrutinises the security services is being paid £6,000 a year by a pro-Azerbaijan lobby group. Mark Field, MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, has joined the advisory board of the European Azerbaijan Society. Azerbaijan’s government has been criticised this year by the Foreign Office and Amnesty International for torturing protesters campaigning for political reforms. Labour MPs have questioned whether Field’s new job is appropriate given the sensitive nature of the work of the intelligence committee. Field, 46, is the youngest ever MP to serve on the committee, which reports directly to 10 Downing Street and oversees the UK’s intelligence and security services. The committee is unique because it consists of nine parliamentarians appointed by, and reporting directly to, the prime minister. It has greater powers than a select committee of parliament, being able to demand papers from former governments and official advice to ministers, both of which are not open to select committees. His new advisory role began in June. He is also the chairman of the all-party group for Azerbaijan. Field flew to Azerbaijan to meet senior Azeri politicians in May on a five-day trip that cost around £3,500 and in July 2010 he spoke in the country’s capital, Baku, at a Nato conference. In March Prince Andrew met Field at Buckingham Palace and asked for support in parliament and Whitehall for British investment in Azerbaijan. The European Azerbaijan Society was launched in November 2008 to promote Azerbaijan to international audiences, according to its website. The country is the size of the island of Ireland and sits on the edges of eastern Europe and west Asia. It is attracting increasing interest from foreign powers because of an abundance of gas and oil reserves. Tale Heydarov, a 26-year-old businessman whose father is one of Azerbaijan’s ministers, is the society’s main funder and director. A former student at the London School of Economics, he has been described as the “Abramovich of Azerbaijan” after pouring millions of pounds into his local football team – including £1m a year in wages to recruit the former England captain Tony Adams as manager. Azerbaijan is ruled by the authoritarian president Ilham Aliyev and, according to the Foreign Office, the country’s human rights record is poor. Journalists in the country have been harassed and jailed, opposition candidates disqualified and voters intimidated. In March Amnesty International called upon Azerbaijan’s authorities to end their crackdown on activists preparing for a protest inspired by recent events in the Middle East and north Africa. Detainees said they had been waterboarded and threatened with rape while in police custody. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said human rights remained a crucial issue in the country. “We and the EU have raised our concern over the slow progress in improving human rights in Azerbaijan on many occasions. These concerns still exist.” The society has increased its profile in Westminster over the past year. It provides secretarial services for the all-party parliamentary group on Azerbaijan, which has 20 members. It has organised high-profile meetings and receptions at all three of the main party conferences. The society also founded “Conservative Friends of Azerbaijan” this year, which has 25 Tory parliamentarians as members. Robert Halfon MP is vice-chair and Chris Pincher MP is treasurer. Other members include the deputy speaker Nigel Evans and the 1922 Committee chairman, Graham Brady. Approached this week, Field said it was “absurd” to claim that he should not have taken up his new position. He said he had met Tale Heydarov on a couple of occasions. “The reason that I have been out there [to Azerbaijan] on two occasions is because the country is trying to develop its financial services sector. There is no question of a conflict of interest,” he said. “I have signed the Official Secrets Act and I will not be divulging any secrets to the Azerbaijan government or anyone else connected to any of the other organisations or all-party committees I am involved with. It would be absurd and would be quite improper to think that anyone on the security and intelligence committee could not have any other outside interests,” he said. A spokesman for the society said the Heydarovs were not its only funders and it was an independent organisation, entirely separate from the Azerbaijan government. John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw, said: “This shows how wrong it can go when an MP takes a second job. It is an obvious conflict of interest.” Lisa Nandy, the Labour MP for Wigan who chairs the all-party group on corporate responsibility, said: “As one of a small number of parliamentarians who have the power to influence the British intelligence services and access to highly sensitive information, it is inappropriate that he is paid by a company promoting a government that is willing to torture those who question the status quo.” Azerbaijan Rajeev Syal guardian.co.uk
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enlarge Credit: Brian Malott Thanks so much for all your help. Please keep it coming. The retweets have helped big time too. We’re receiving more emails from those we’re helping to feed along with some cool pictures. Jackie of Blue America has taken over as our purchasing manager on this fundraiser so we can make sure the pizzas and whatever else is needed gets shipped or delivered in a timely manner since it’s become a pretty intense job right now. We’ve so far bought dinner for Seattle, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Let us know where you guys are and what you’re doing. We’ll bring the pies! If you’d like to buy the occupiers some nosh, here’s the account we’ve set up: All amounts accepted and they all help tremendously! Here’s a few emails I’ve received: Photo of people eating pizza you contributed at OccupySF at Union Square in San Francisco Oct 01, 2011. Thanks for what you’re doing. Those pizzas are very much appreciated all over the country. Steve L — Dear Crooks & Liars, I was at Occupy Boston’s initial protest on Friday night, Sept. 30. Your organization delivered a bunch of pizzas to us and I want to thank you! A very simple gesture, but with high impact that did not go unnoticed. We were all hungry, having come right from work or school and just seeing that another organization was behind us and supporting us added to our resolve and sense of purpose. I will tell you that while we were there, truck drivers and other work vehicles were beeping their horns in support as they drove by. I truly believe this is just the beginning and, hopefully, we can turn our country around. Thanks again. Christine — Just sending thanks from OccupySF. I went to the General Assembly yesterday and today and both times your pizza donations were mentioned and applauded. It’s a small but growing and committed group down there. Your support is very much so appreciated. Thanks, Ken — enlarge Hi Crooks & Liars community, I just got back to my apartment from the Occupy Boston camp and I wanted to let you know how much the pizzas were appreciated. I don’t think you guys understand how happy they made us – they were like mana from heaven. Let me explain, we had a large tray of lentils and a large tray of rice for dinner tonight, but by the time General Assembly was finishing up all of this food had been finished. Your pizzas arrived mere minutes before the conclusion of General Assembly, as if on schedule. The pizza delivery actually saved Occupy Boston from having to dip into our supply of non-perishable items, for which we are glad. While I don’t have the authority to speak for the entire community (I don’t think anyone does), I would still like to pass along how grateful we were/are for the amazing donation! Ted D. — Thank-you on behalf of those of us who weren’t even there!! Thanks for your support. Smiles, Sage Please keep the donations coming because you’ve helped to lift the spirits of those protesting around the country.
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enlarge Credit: Brian Malott Thanks so much for all your help. Please keep it coming. The retweets have helped big time too. We’re receiving more emails from those we’re helping to feed along with some cool pictures. Jackie of Blue America has taken over as our purchasing manager on this fundraiser so we can make sure the pizzas and whatever else is needed gets shipped or delivered in a timely manner since it’s become a pretty intense job right now. We’ve so far bought dinner for Seattle, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Let us know where you guys are and what you’re doing. We’ll bring the pies! If you’d like to buy the occupiers some nosh, here’s the account we’ve set up: All amounts accepted and they all help tremendously! Here’s a few emails I’ve received: Photo of people eating pizza you contributed at OccupySF at Union Square in San Francisco Oct 01, 2011. Thanks for what you’re doing. Those pizzas are very much appreciated all over the country. Steve L — Dear Crooks & Liars, I was at Occupy Boston’s initial protest on Friday night, Sept. 30. Your organization delivered a bunch of pizzas to us and I want to thank you! A very simple gesture, but with high impact that did not go unnoticed. We were all hungry, having come right from work or school and just seeing that another organization was behind us and supporting us added to our resolve and sense of purpose. I will tell you that while we were there, truck drivers and other work vehicles were beeping their horns in support as they drove by. I truly believe this is just the beginning and, hopefully, we can turn our country around. Thanks again. Christine — Just sending thanks from OccupySF. I went to the General Assembly yesterday and today and both times your pizza donations were mentioned and applauded. It’s a small but growing and committed group down there. Your support is very much so appreciated. Thanks, Ken — enlarge Hi Crooks & Liars community, I just got back to my apartment from the Occupy Boston camp and I wanted to let you know how much the pizzas were appreciated. I don’t think you guys understand how happy they made us – they were like mana from heaven. Let me explain, we had a large tray of lentils and a large tray of rice for dinner tonight, but by the time General Assembly was finishing up all of this food had been finished. Your pizzas arrived mere minutes before the conclusion of General Assembly, as if on schedule. The pizza delivery actually saved Occupy Boston from having to dip into our supply of non-perishable items, for which we are glad. While I don’t have the authority to speak for the entire community (I don’t think anyone does), I would still like to pass along how grateful we were/are for the amazing donation! Ted D. — Thank-you on behalf of those of us who weren’t even there!! Thanks for your support. Smiles, Sage Please keep the donations coming because you’ve helped to lift the spirits of those protesting around the country.
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