Sholom Rubashkin has been found guilty of 86 out of 91 counts of felony fraud related to his management of the Agriprocessors packing plant in Postville, Iowa.

He was separately found guilty of 15 out of 20 charges of ignoring a court order that he pay livestock providers on the barrelhead as required by law.

Five other Agriprocessors managers were charged, but they all rolled over on Rubashkin who has now been taken into custody to await sentencing.

When the day comes that a white Protestant is convicted of similar crimes, I will again believe that the U.S. has effective labor laws.

Until then, this is just the suits sticking it to the guy with the funny sideburns. If they thought for one moment this case would result in other meat packers being more closely scrutinized, charges would have never have been brought.

We need laws that spell out the culpability of corporate officers for corporate crimes.

Agriprocessors broke every law they could, but they weren’t one bit worse than Imperial Sugar, Cargill, Philip Morris, or any of the other worst corporations.

I won’t forget Imperial Sugar anytime soon as they murdered six employees and injured 42 more on my 55th birthday in an entirely preventable industrial accident.

This shit will never stop so long as we refuse to imprison bad corporate leaders. The lawbreaking at Agriprocessors went all the way to the top, and there are several unindicted felons in New York who need to be brought to trial for Agriprocessors’ crimes.

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Roxanne Conlin is definitely running against Chuck Grassley, and this time around the Strib managed to discuss her qualifications without referencing their shameful role in destroying her 1982 gubernatorial candidacy. But they also signaled their willingness to parrot almost any anti-trial lawyer pap fed to them by tort-hating Republicans.

Conlin’s actual record is one of winning equal pay for equal work, and standing up for the downtrodden. We need more women like her in public office. We have more Chuck Grassleys clogging up the Senate than we know what to do with.

I look forward to following this race. I also hope Conlin updates her Wikipedia page.

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Equal pay doesn’t usually win in this country, for all the obvious reasons, as well as because we have a judiciary with both feet planted in the 19th Century.

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And did you know that right up until Politico pointed it out, the RNC’s healthcare insurer covered abortions for RNC employees?

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Isaac Eiland-Hall is getting some shout outs regarding his having beaten Glenn Beck in court over the legality of his GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com website.

Isaac left a comment here the other day.

And yes, I’m basking in his reflected glory right now. Anyone who makes a fool of Glenn Beck is a media hero in my book.

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Jon Stewart v Hannity, cont.

Steward lays it on a little thick but yeah, he sums up my feelings toward Fox News quite succinctly.

More on Fox News’ accuracy from Brendan Nyhan.

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♀

Cool. My thanks to Bluegal for alerting me to the fact that there’s an html symbol for that.

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A new poll says Minnesotans won’t vote for Gov. BridgeFail for President:

The numbers: Yes 42%, No 46%, with a ±3% margin of error. The poll also has Pawlenty’s approval rating as governor at 52%, with 47% disapproval.

America, he’s not the guy you want.

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Fed reins in overdraft fees.

A little late for me. A series of banks successfully bled cured me of my bad habit of not checking my balance before writing checks.

Now I just don’t write any checks.

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I wish John Aravosis would spend more time going after people like Maggie Gallagher instead of finding reasons why liberals and gays should boycott the Democratic party.

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Pro-coathanger or pro-coerced birth?

And is “first they came for the boners” really a fair and balanced response?

Or does Digby lose the moral high ground when she goes Netroots on Blanche Lincoln despite there being no progressive alternatives to Lincoln’s reelection?

The left is great on issues, but tactically speaking it’s no wonder our Congressional delegation is one big walking clusterfuck. The right is all tactics and no soul, the left is all soul and no clue.

Minnesota has its own Blanche Lincoln. Her name is Amy Klobuchar. She’s not as bad on the issues as Blanche Lincoln, but in her own inimitable way she is just as big an impediment to progress. Just because the Netroots guessed right on Al Franken (yes, I’m liking his votes and speeches), doesn’t mean they should be the deciderers.

If Blanche Lincoln bothers Arkansans, they’ll come up with a candidate to run against her. And no amount of Netroots money can impact that other than to entice some loser to run a losing primary campaign. What the Netroots are doing in Arkansas is the moral equivalent of driving through a trailer park with a hundred dollar bill on a string.

I don’t think the Netroots will like the candidates they attract when their only hook is money.

And again, whatever happened to campaign finance reform?

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Peter Beinart has been writing some very stupid stuff lately. So stupid I haven’t link to him so as not to spread the stupid.

Katha Pollit is not likewise inclined.

See also McJoan.

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I may have to shave.

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Huh. It’s Friday the 13th. I hadn’t noticed until just now.

My apartment number is 13. When I stepped on my bathroom scales this morning, my weight was perfectly divisible by 13 (23.692307692307692 times, to be exact).

My street address equals 13 if divided 83.076923076923077 times, and my height in inches is divisible by 15 exactly 5.5 times.

Multiply 13 by 290.671015384615385 and you have the exact weight of my car.

Add all these numbers up and you have a great example of the logic that drives the Republican party.

That plus hating on women.