Below is a statement from the Jewish Community Relations Council on Rainbow Grocery's boycott of products made in Israel.

December 4, 2002

RAINBOW GROCERY ISRAEL BOYCOTT

The following statement was issued today by David Steirman, President of the Jewish Community Relations Council, which represents more than 80 synagogues and Jewish organizations in the Bay Area on public affairs issues of concern to the organized Jewish community.

The Jewish Community Relations Council is deeply disappointed and angered that Rainbow Grocery, which has been patronized by a significant number of our community members and has a strong reputation as a progressive institution, has chosen to boycott Israeli-made products.

The explanation on the store's website that only "two departments decided to remove the Israeli products that they carried from the shelf" and that they "allow our departments wide latitude in their purchasing decisions" is disingenuous at best. The store's leadership is permitting a boycott to take place on its premises and bears responsibility for that decision.

This boycott is not only deeply offensive; it is also misguided. Economic warfare against Israel in the form of boycotts is a failed tactic that has been employed by Israel's detractors and enemies since the establishment of the State of Israel. According to Rainbow Grocery's public relations department, the store is not boycotting products from any other country, even though there are dozens of countries whose human rights records are, by any objective standard, abysmal.

The singling out of the democratic state of Israel is nothing short of an antagonistic and discriminatory act. The damage cannot be mitigated simply by stating, as the store has, that it will continue to carry kosher and other Jewish products from other countries or that other departments within the store do not support the boycott.

We call upon Rainbow Grocery to rescind its boycott immediately. We have offered to meet with the management of the store to convey our concerns. Until such time that the store eliminates its double-standard against Israel, we urge members of the community - Jewish and non-Jewish - to contact the store by telephone, email and fax to send a strong message of protest.

Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma and Alameda Counties
121 Steuart Street, Suite 301 San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 957-1551 www.jcrc.org

Below is an email I received from Rainbow Grocery about the boycott of Israeli products. Rainbow Grocery says there is no boycott, but what they don't say is that individual departments are independently run and can choose to not sell Israeli products, which they have done by not selling gelt, the gold coins for Hannukah. Why don't they just say this? Why lie or skirt around the truth? They really need to get a better PR person.

Dear Customers and Concerned Neighbors,

We apologize for those of you who may be receiving a second mass mailing. Unfortunately, we are simply unable to respond individually to all who have emailed, called or faxed letters to us. We would like to set the record straight for those of you who have heard conflicting stories about this issue.

There is no boycott at Rainbow Grocery Cooperative against Israeli products. At no time did a boycott of Israeli products come up for a vote by the Membership. Our policy requires 51% of the membership to approve a boycott.

We want to emphasize the following point: in no way do we tolerate any workers at Rainbow Grocery who support hatred, racism or any form of religious oppression in or outside of our workplace.

We feel compassion for all parties in the Middle East, intense pain for the losses suffered and dreams unfulfilled. Our ultimate and paramount hope is and has always been peace in the Middle East.

It is dialogue that ultimately will provide the avenue for resolution of the difficult and complex issues in the Middle East. Your feedback and commentary are important to us. We hope that the outpouring of intense communication in the past week can be a step in the process of peace, not a step towards the escalation of conflict.

Sincerely,
Board of Directors
Rainbow Grocery Cooperative

Berkeley Politics at its best. The mayor of Berkeley has admitted to stealing and throwing away copies of the UC-Berkeley student newspaper that endorsed his opponent, Berkeley Mayor Admits Stealing Newspapers.

Now if the guy was republican there'd be major honking protests on Shattuck Avenue calling for the guy's resignation. But in the messed up way politics works in the SF Bay Area, the Berkeley City Council are trying to play down what the mayor did. It's so ironic to me because Berkeley is the birthplace of the free speech movement, but obviously that's not the case anymore and I don't think has been for a very long time. One Berkeley Council member said he was stressed out, and wasn't responsible for his actions. The guy destroyed property! Come on! He should resign.

Normally I wouldn't care, it's Berkeley after all and they're a political joke around the country as well as in the SF Bay Area, but I can't help but think that if the Mayor of Berkeley was a republican, the Berkeley Council member would impeach him in a serious nanosecond. Now that a republican would ever stand a chance of getting in Berkeley, but it's the hypocrisy of the Berkeley Council that really gets to me. It's really sad too because Berkeley used to be such a relevant politcal force, and now the city has become such joke and they don't even know it. They've protested themselves into irrelevancy, like the rest of the extreme radical left.

Here's the story from the Daily Cal, the Berkeley paper that broke the story, Police Say Mayor Stole Newspapers, Bates Apologizes to Daily Cal for Role in Pre-Election Day Theft.

I popped over to Sears at lunchtime, because I received a flyer in the mail from Lands End saying that they were selling their clothes at Sears. I've been wearing Lands End forever, and I love their clothes.

I tried on a size 12 pairs of pants, and they were comfortable in the waist but way too loose in the seat and thighs. Then I went over the petite section, and on a whim tried on a size 10 petite pair of pants. I have worn size 10 pants, in about 5 years. And OH MY GOD, they fit. The pants was a little snug in the waist, but fit in the seat and thighs. In fact, the seat and thighs were still a little loose. I can't believe it. I'm like WOW! I was tempted to buy the pants, but I'm afraid if I buy the pants now, in a few months they'll be too loose.

The weight loss thing is so working, even though it's going extremely slow. I'm going ot take the weight loss stats off the bloggie, because I decided after Thanksgiving that I'm going to eat 1,400 calories per day and not worry too much about trying to lose a certain amount of weight every week. At 1,400 calories my weight loss is going to be so exceedingly slow, that it's probably not worth tracking my progress on my bloggie right now.

I'm a total wussy! It's really hard for me eat less than 1,400 calories. I can do it, but then I go into major deprivation mode and I start binging. It's a huge problem, and I don't where it's coming from, and until I figure it out I'm sticking to 1,400 calories a day. I can eat 1,400 calories a day with no problem. 1,400 calories a day is probably close to the amount I'd like to eat on daily basis for the rest of my life. Binging is not good for me, because when I binge I end up binging for a few days.

I'm still floored that I fit into a size 10 petite pants. Okay, the waist was snug, but I could still button it. And the thighs. The thighs of the pants on me were so loose, and I am so not used to seeing pants fit on my like this. It's so totally wild!

I know I have to keep going with my eating plan. I'm starting to seriously think that I will fit into a size 8 pants in a couple of months. And if I keep going, maybe I'll go back to my college size which was size 4-6. That would be hot!

On another somewhat sour note for me, I tried on a petite large cardigan sweater and it fit just right. It's my rack! The sweater was loose all over, except for over my chest. I hate that! I know, I know, there are women out there paying big bucks to be the size rack I am, but to me it's kind of depressing in a way. A way too big rack totally spoils your line when it comes to clothes. Don't those women getting plastic racks know this about clothes?

A size 10 petite pants. It's my christmas present to myself.