We have an African-American president, but let us also bear in mind that he is but a symbol, and our need and faith may not suffice for the symbol of change to deliver real change.

There is a tremendous schism between what Barack Obama is saying, and what he is doing. Already, he is gathering around him a group of people that are not only likely to maintain status quo, but worse, cause our current catastrophic situation to worsen.

"HE WAS BUM-RUSHED BY 200 PEOPLE", SEZ CO-WORKER

A Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island store Friday morning, police and witnesses said.

The 34-year-old employee, a temporary maintenance worker, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him…

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html

UNPAID WAGE DISPUTE AT PLANTS MANUFACTURING FOR HASBRO, MATTEL

DONGGUAN, China (AP) - It started as a pay dispute at a southern Chinese toy factory. But it quickly turned into a riot as laid-off workers tapped into a network of friends and unemployed laborers who flipped over a police car, stormed into the plant and smashed office computers.

The latest violent protest to rock China's export machine was still simmering Wednesday at the massive plant, which makes Nerf toys for the U.S. company Hasbro Inc. The volatility underscored the urgency of China's efforts to keep stoking an economy weakened by the global financial crisis.

To protect jobs and social stability, the central government recently signed off on a multibillion-dollar stimulus plan. Officials have also been urging factories to avoid large layoffs and to try retraining employees to keep them off the streets…

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94MPOJG0&show_article=1

The tool bag lost by NASA astronaut Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper during an ISS space walk has been filmed sailing over Earth by a veteran satellite observer over the weekend.

http://regmedia.co.uk/2008/11/24/nasamissingtoolbag.jpg

SpaceWeather.com has a video recording of the backpack-sized bag's extended lesson in basic Newtonian physics made by Kevin Fetter from his backyard observatory in Brockville, Ontario…

…The tool bag was accidentally sent adrift on September 18, while Stefanyshyn-Piper was distracted cleaning a leaking grease gun during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station…

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/24/nasa_lost_toolbag_filmed_on_earth/

GRANDSTANDING D.A. HOPS ABOARD JUDICIAL "SHAME TRAIN"

Staten Island shoplifters, beware: 'Tis definitely better to give than deceive this holiday season.

Shoppers caught filling their stockings (or anything else) with stolen merchandise could find their faces flashing every six minutes on electronic billboards in the Staten Island Mall. The first-of-its-kind program - initially to feature five convicted Staten Island shoplifters - will run through Christmas.

"I wanted to do something just to warn people who might have ideas about shoplifting," said Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan, whose office created the program. "With economic times hard, more people might consider doing this. We just want people to be forewarned…"

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/11/23/2008-11-23_mug_shots_roast_staten_island_shoplifter.html

The cause for the current misery is not to be sought in the huge over-valuation of financial markets; the latter was itself not a cause but an effect, a mechanism aimed at avoiding the real, underlying crisis with which capitalist society has been confronted ever since the 1970s. Capitalist crisis in its classical form gives way to an even more fundamental crisis in which the viability of labor itself comes to the fore.

OPA-LOCKA, Fla. — One South Florida city is planning to honor the president-elect with his own street.

Opa-locka plans to rename Perviz Avenue to Barack Obama Avenue on President's Day in February.

The city commission voted on the name change last week and officials say it is expected to finalize the approval next month.

Opa-locka is a predominantly heavily African-American community north of downtown Miami…

http://www.local10.com/news/18039672/detail.html

The prevailing exclusionary logic of selfishness has at times crippled the ability of the General Assembly to fulfill its mandate. This logic must be transformed. Another World is Possible.