Totally disgusting. Who do you think took a bath in a Burger King sink?

Just a 25-year-old aspiring musician who thought fans would get a kick out of watching him take a bath in the restaurant’s kitchen sink.

“This is August 7, this is my birthday and I’m taking a bath in the sink at Burger King,” the bathing employee, identified as Mr.UNST@BL3, aka Timothy Tackett, says in video footage that was posted online

Some sad news. Bernie Mac died today at the age of 50.

Read about it here.

We’re currently in the process of moving our server and changing some of our software. We expect to be finished in seven to ten days. If there is a change in plans, I’ll post a notification here.

If you were an existing member of Rabbit Stew Lounge, then you would have already seen the announcement. If not, then stay tuned for more details. When we’re online again, there will be some interesting changes.

Canadian-owned Barrick Gold, the world’s largest gold producer, is exploring, building and operating huge, open-pit gold mines on nearly every continent on the planet.

On average, gold mining today produces 70 tons of waste for every ounce of gold, while also consuming and polluting massive amounts of water. An estimated 50 percent of these mining operations occur on native lands.

For many Indigenous peoples, who often rely on their environment for food and necessities, mining threatens not only their livelihood, but also their spirituality and traditional way of life.

These new “modern mining” projects leave thousand-year legacies of acid mine drainage, destruction of ecosystems, disease, and regional climate change.
Riches in the form of gold, silver and copper are exported to first world shareholders, leaving behind poverty, dependency and pollution.

A new CorpWatch report details the operations of Barrick gold in nine different countries, focusing on the efforts on the part of the communities to seek justice from this powerful multinational.

In the report, you will discover:

 individual profiles on Barrick’s operations in Chile, Argentina, Peru, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea, the U.S., Australia, the Philippines, and Canada.
 how Barrick’s Valedero and Pascua Lama projects got placed in a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve;
 a roundup of mine security and police repression in Peru;
 how “illegal” miners have had their lives threatened and taken away in Tanzania and Papua New Guinea;
 how Barrick threatens indigenous spiritual grounds of the Wiradjuri in Australia and the Western Shoshone in the U.S.
 how Barrick threatens the water sources in water scarce areas in Chile, Argentina, Australia, and Nevada. In New South Wales, Australia, Barrick’s mine is licensed to use 17 million liters on water per day. Meanwhile, that region is experiencing their worst drought in the last hundred years.
 profiles of on-going community struggles against Barrick around the world

Also on May 2nd, as part of an “International Day of Action” against Barrick, protests will take place in six different countries as well as in Toronto, Canada, where Barrick is based. On the same day, Canada’s second largest gold mining company, GoldCorp, will be protested at their annual meeting in Vancouver. For more information about these actions, go to protestbarrick.net.

I saw an article today on Tom Brady (quarterback of the New England Patriots), who just visited Africa with DATA, an organization founded to help Africans fight AIDS and hunger started by Bono.

Here is part of the article:

“Tom is a true champion for Africa,” said Jamie Drummond, executive director of DATA. “Starting in early 2005 when he became the 1 millionth member of ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History (www.one.org) Tom has been a leader in spreading awareness about the issues of African poverty and disease. We were thrilled that he wanted to spend time on the ground in Africa and learn more about how debt relief and U.S. funding to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty is making a difference — life by life, community by community.”

…

“This was my first trip to Africa and it was an eye-opener,” said Brady. “I saw the best and brightest of the human spirit in the face of incredible poverty that most of us just can’t comprehend. I’ve learned that we as Americans, living in the greatest country in the world, can save innocent lives ravaged by AIDS with something as small as a 25 cent pill. When you see what CAN be done, it’s impossible to not be driven to do more — the needs are still overwhelming. This won’t be my last visit to Africa and I hope to pass along what I’ve learned here to others who will listen.”

www.one.org
www.data.org

FACT: One-third of Nestle’s chocolate is from West Africa, where over 286,000 children are working in slave-like conditions on cocoa (chocolate) farms.

FACT: Dole is the largest distributor of cut-flowers in the world, the majority of which are imported from Columbia and Ecuador, where farmers and flower workers (often adolescent girls) are exposed to 127 different chemicals, including neurotoxins and carcinogens.

FACT: The three private owners of M&M/Mars Inc. are each “worth” $10.4 billion, while the West African farmers growing the cocoa for M&Ms chocolate are paid an average of $108 annually.

FACT: Despite record profits in 2006, Hershey’s has been accused of buying from contractors who utilize child labor and child slavery on cocoa farms on the Ivory Coast.

TAKE ACTION: Send a message to the chocolate and flower giants to stop child labor, illegal toxic chemical use, union busting, and to pay their farmers a living wage.

Despite a September survey found that 64% of Americans are repulsed by the idea of eating food from cloned animals, the FDA announced this week that milk, eggs and meat from cloned animals will soon be allowed on the market.

Ignoring a number of disturbing studies suggesting potential human health hazards, Stephen F. Sundlof, director of the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine said “that meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones is as safe to eat as the food we eat every day.” Consumer, food safety, and animal welfare groups have condemned the announcement, pointing out that animal cloning is inherently unpredictable and hazardous, and that the practice of cloning has led to a high number of cruel and painful deformities in the experimental animals’ offspring.

Recognizing that requiring labels on cloned food would lead to a massive boycott by consumers, FDA bowed to industry lobbyists by stating that there likely will be no required labeling of food products containing ingredients from cloned animals. The FDA’s controversial proposed regulations in the Federal Register will now be followed by a three month public comment period.

The OCA is calling on health and humane-minded consumers across the nation to stop this outrageous and hazardous regulation from coming into force as federal law. The FDA will be accepting comments until April 2007. Please consider making the message an/or subject line below unique before submitting to the FDA. Thanks!

I just posted on the page a new push for a Constitutional Amendment that will guarantee the right to privacy. Any thoughts?

congress.org: As part of our focus on activists and their ideas, we present this proposed idea for legislation from Bonita Springs, Fl.

A “Privacy Amendment” to state and the U.S. Constitutions that guarantees a right to privacy in all areas of our lives. This would impact things such as telemarketeing calls, medical records access, gun registration, abortion, gay rights and many other areas of personal behavior and activity. Most of these issues were impacted by courts’ interpretations of a right to privacy and the debate as to whether the U.S. Constitution has an implied right to privacy as was decided for example in Roe v. Wade. By passing an amendment, this issue and others would be decided once and for all.

Should your elected officials support or introduce a constitutional amendment that guarantees a right to privacy? Write to President Bush, Congress and your governor and state legislature to let them know your views on this idea. Start by selecting your view:

Dear Brothers, Sisters and Friends,

Assalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah, peace and blessings be upon you.

The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon continues to grow as nearly one million people have become refugees in their own country. The United Nations representative Roberto Laurenti has stated that this extreme situation is a matter of great concern “…especially because of electricity cuts, lack of water, lack of food and medical supplies and sanitary conditions which could lead to illness.”

The continued violence has created this dire situation as people have lost their homes and businesses and have fled north to flee the destruction. These floods of people have taken refuge in Masjids, schools, churches and some have even been forced to sleep in the streets.

The Zakat Foundation of America has an office which was established in the Mount Lebanon region last year. This office has been working nonstop to provide needed aid for thousands upon thousands of displaced people in the region.

As of this writing, The Zakat Foundation has distributed tens of thousands of Mattresses, blankets and food kits (each good for three days worth of food). Additionally, we have a clinic that is operating full time with three doctors and nurses; this clinic is seeing at least 100 people each day. View these images to see evidence of your donations in action.

We cannot do this alone, we urge you to stand with us in aiding our brothers and sisters in Lebanon. To provide a mattress, blanket, medical kit, water and single food kit for a refugee is only $50 as we are still able to purchase supplies in the region. Our efforts are strengthened by your donation and our hands are filled with supplies for those in need.
Please donate now.

Share… Show you Care

Wassalamu Alaykum, peace and blessings.

Your Brother in Islam,
Khalil Demir
President

The Zakat Foundation of America
P.O. Box 639. Worth, IL, 60482
You can also donate by calling toll-free at 866-499-6151, or phone 708-4996151

Dozens of innocent people killed in ‘disproportionate’ attacks

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 7/13/06) - CAIR today called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to contact their elected representatives and urge that they condemn Israeli attacks on civilians in Gaza and Lebanon that have left dozens of innocent civilians dead, and many more wounded.

Following incidents in which several Israeli soldiers were taken captive by militants, Israel has launched attacks that the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU), France, Greece, and other nations have termed “disproportionate,” “excessive” and “pointless.” Dozens of Lebanese civilians, sometimes whole families, have been killed in the most recent Israeli attacks.

A statement issued by Finland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said: “The European Union is greatly concerned about the disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon in response to attacks by Hezbollah on Israel. The presidency deplores the loss of civilian lives and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The imposition of an air and sea blockade on Lebanon cannot be justified.” France’s foreign minister condemned Israel’s attacks as “a disproportionate act of war.” Greece called on Israel “to avoid the use of excessive and pointless force which cannot provide a solution to the problem.”

Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure in Gaza have produced a humanitarian crisis of massive proportions. Electricity is out 12-18 hours a day in Gaza following an Israeli attack on the area’s only power plant two weeks ago. Gaza hospitals are only taking emergency cases. Many people are selling everything they own just to buy scarce food supplies. A spokeswoman for the UN’s World Food Program said some 85 percent of Gazans are dependent on food handouts and many families are eating only one meal a day.

SEE: Crisis in Gaza? (NBC)

“Israel is killing civilians and inflicting massive humanitarian suffering on both the Palestinian and Lebanese populations in order to achieve a political goal, which clearly fits the definition of state terrorism,” said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. Awad said that more Americans are realizing that Israel is a strategic liability, not an asset to the United States, as outlined in a recent Harvard University report.

SEE: The Israel Lobby (London Review of Books)

IMMEDIATE ACTIONS REQUESTED:

1) CONTACT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES (including President Bush) and ask them to publicly condemn Israel’s “disproportionate and excessive” attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructures in Gaza and Lebanon.

Point out that such attacks only serve to strengthen extremism in the region and that the United States must adopt a Middle East policy that is in our nation’s, not Israel’s interest.

TO CONTACT YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS, GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/dbq/officials/

2) PUT YOUR CELL PHONE TO GOOD USE. Call all of your friends and family members and ensure that they contact their elected officials. Act as a facilitator. You can enter their zip code into our website at http://capwiz.com/cair/dbq/officials/ and get the names and contact information of their Senators.

3) CONTACT THE MEDIA. Call in to radio talk shows and write letters to the editor to express your views. To find local media contact information, go to: http://capwiz.com/cair/dbq/media/

House Republicans just voted to slash funding for NPR and PBS this year. We stopped them last year. We can stop them again.

Everyone expected House Republicans to give up efforts to kill NPR and PBS after a massive public outcry stopped them last year. But they’ve just voted to eliminate funding for NPR and PBS—unbelievably, starting with programs like “Sesame Street.”1

Last year, over 1 million of us signed the petition, and Congress listened.

Oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment!
Within the next several weeks, both the United States Senate and House of Representatives will vote on passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment (also known as the so-called “Marriage Protection Amendment”). Americans United has taken a leading role in opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment, particularly on religious liberty grounds. It is imperative you take action as soon as possible to urge your Senators and Members of Congress to oppose this misguided proposed constitutional amendment.

If this is important to you, please !

“As you may know East Africa, often called The Horn of Africa, is facing a severe food shortage. This area comprises of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. According to UN reports, eleven million people will face death from starvation if food aid does not come soon.”
Khalil Demir
President, The Zakat Foundation

Take action now and visit the . A small donation will go a long way. As with all Islamic charities, you can be sure your donation goes directly to the children and families who need it. You do not need to be a Muslim to donate to these or any charities organized by Muslims.