Poor Mojo's Newswire

“I’m afraid that this year’s report will raise just about everybody’s blood pressure,” lead author Sarah Anderson said. Indeed, the report found that “CEOs of the 50 firms that have laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis took home nearly $12 million on average in 2009.” Those CEOs’ combined compensation totaled $598 million, while at the same time, their companies eliminated 531,363 jobs despite reporting a 44 percent average profit increase for 2009. More staggering is the level of executive pay, according to IPS: [A]fter adjusting for inflation, CEO pay in 2009 more than doubled the CEO pay average for the decade of the 1990s, more than quadrupled the CEO pay average for the 1980s, and ran approximately eight times the CEO average for all the decades of the mid-20th century. American workers, by contrast, are taking home less in real weekly wages than they took home in the 1970s.

As here, today, in the 415, where the San Francisco law office of Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, LLP right there at 580 California Street has just announced such a suit. What’s the beef? Well: “…the Company failed to disclose and misrepresented the following material adverse facts which were known to defendants or recklessly disregarded by them: (1) that they had made “diligent efforts” to comply with labor and employment regulations, when in fact they had not done so; (2) that they failed to disclose to investors, and made false statements regarding facts surrounding the Company’s illegal hiring practices and its effect on the Company’s operating costs and margins; (3) that they failed to disclose or indicate that the Company lacked adequate internal and financial controls; (4) that they failed to disclose that, as a result of the foregoing, the Company’s financial statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times; and (5) that they failed to disclose that, as a result of the foregoing, their statements regarding the Company’s prospects were false and misleading at all relevant times.”

STAY FREE'S ILLEGAL ART COMPILATION CD 01 Negativland - U2: Special Edit Radio Mix (5:46) 02 Biz Markie - Alone Again (2:52) * 03 People Like Us - Swinglargo (5:20) 04 Culturcide - They Aren't the World (4:30) * 05 The Evolution Control Committee - Rocked by Rape (4:28) 06 Beastie Boys - Rock Hard (4:53) * 07 Dummy Run - f.d.(1:23) 08 John Oswald - black (2:01) 09 Corporal Blossom - White Christmas (3:19) 10 Tape-beatles - Reality of Matter (2:37) 11 Public Enemy - Psycho of Greed (3:11) 12 The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony (4:35) * 13 Wobbly - Clawing Your Eyes Out Down to Your Throat (1:21) 14 De La Soul - Transmitting Live from Mars (1:07) * 15 Buchanan and Goodman - The Flying Saucer (4:18) * 16 The JAMs - The Queen and I (4:50) * 17 Elastica - Connection (2:20) * 18 Steinski and Mass Media - The Motorcade Sped On (4:26) * 19 Invisibl Skratch Piklz - white label edit (5:30) * 20 Xper.Xr - Wu-chu-tung (1:43) 21 Boone Bischoff - Happy Birthday To You (0:28) * used without permission LINER NOTES Music has always been a craft of borrowing. In traditional, or folk, music, melodies and lyrics were handed down from generation to generation. At every stage, musicians would change the tune or substitute words at will, adapting songs to their own situations. Like their predecessors, the artists featured here have drawn from the music around them--whether by borrowing a guitar riff or taking a digital sample--to create something new. But unlike their folk ancestors, they all run the risk of getting sued.... For our culture to be a space for free expression and for creativity to flourish, audio artists must be able to build on bits and pieces of preexisting music. While the "fair use" doctrine allows artists to appropriate other works, it does so only in cases of commentary or parody. Fair use doesn't apply to the majority of "second-takers," those artists who reuse sounds without directly referring to the original. Most of these tracks would never have existed if the artists had adhered to copyright law. Many other works might never be heard unless we act soon to grant artists the right to create them.