Comments on: As Postville implodes, hostility to Rubashkin grows

By: mindless

mindless — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:12:48 +0000

Why does this Postville situation seem to be getting twisted into a race issue when it is a simple case of right and wrong! We have laws in this Country that are to be abided by in my books unless those man made laws go against Our God's word. We citizens need to be able to count on fair competiton for jobs with a decent wage and benefits! “We the people”are getting fed-up with the illegals coming in lessening our abilities for a more gainful employment not to mention crime rates rising and our tax dollars going toward bilenqual classes for goverment and hospital workers free clinics for spanish only welfare and other continuos public assistance. If a community puts itself in a position of survival on illegal activities than they need a reality check!

By: mindless

mindless — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:12:48 +0000

By: you_call_yourself_a_reporter

you_call_yourself_a_reporter — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:12:10 +0000

You call yourself a reporter? What a shame. If the Rubashkin family did something illegal, shame on them. You say the following:

The group was founded by Rabbi Sholom DovBer Lipskar, a senior rabbi in the fundamentalist Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Judaism, which the Rubashkin family embraces. The movement spurns contacts with the non-Jewish world for the sake of establishing the purest faith.

What in the world are you taking about? Spurning contact with the non-jewish world? Maybe you should learn something about Judaism before you go ahead and put down a whole religion. That is absurd. There are THOUSANDS of Chabad temples throughout this country to reach out to people, Jewish and non-Jewish to lead a good life.

Further, what do you mean by fundamentalist? That world has major negative connotations. Maybe if you got to know what Chabad was about, you would not have such an anti-semitic slant.

Ans really, quoting Failed Messiah? That is a blog. Maybe you could quote some Al-Quada blog to get news about the US. Very irresponsible reporting.

By: JKIR

JKIR — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:00:15 +0000

Perhaps you could. We find that these crummy meat packers come in, advertise for help and even send buses to go get them. Then they lay them off but don't take them back to wherever they came from, Mexico or Chicago, and the community social services are inadequate to handle so many unemployed and needy. The community then is burdened with trying to take care of them. It's a tough situation all the way around. Sad for the workers who were manipulated and sad for the community that is overburdened. Then tensions and hard feelings erupt. Iowans are welcoming but the situations need to be set up to succeed, not fail. Out of state owners of the companies don't have to deal with the realities of the situation so they seem to be uninterested in planning for a successful operation for workers and community, just on getting their profits and the product.

By: lophat

lophat — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:19:56 +0000

No offense intended, and I certainly do not condone illegal acts, but an internet research was initiated after seeing the news on national television regarding the closure, affecting the hundreds of workers at a time when this country is in a very, very serious recession. It seemed obvious that there was, and still is a serious under-current in the community against the operators of the plant which has been brewing for some time according to the research, and comments noted. As for as illegal identities, our California ag-growers also faced the same allegations, and these are so readily available these days. But perhaps you're right. Agriprocessors should close down permanently. We probably could find use for them in our state.

By: JKIR

JKIR — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:56:23 +0000

This has nothing to do with change and multiculturism. It has to do with people breaking laws that were put in place by the State of Iowa to protect all citizens. This company has preyed on people who were so desperate for jobs that they would accept poor wages, awful working conditions and participate in illegal identity theft. There were hundreds of incidents of child labor laws being broken. This does NOTHING for the community. Better going back to an empty building until someone comes along willing to care for workers and community. Now there are many families who were lured to Postville to take jobs that were illegal. Postville is struggling to care for those families who don't have transport back to Mexico and resources to support them.

By: lophat

lophat — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:44:36 +0000

Watching the recent TV reports on the Agriprocess closure, and in reading the many posted comments leads me to believe that there was actually a strong undercurrent in Postville against the operators of the plant to begin with, even if the plant was a factor in reviving the economy of Postville that resulted in the employment of hundreds in the area, which in turn helped local businesses. It seems strange, but there seemed to be an general expression of relief that the plant has closed, dumping many on on the streets, and on public assistance. Strange, because the U.S. is in a deep recession, and I'm sure the instigators inadvertently lopped the head off the golden goose that was laying the golden eggs!

By: lophat

lophat — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:42:42 +0000

This is seemingly a sad note. The Agriprocessors seemed to have been a positive factor for Postville, after taking over a plant that was closed for over a decade, and hiring the many people that they did which naturally helped in the survival of businesses in Postville. Are the citizens really that stuck on old ways, and feel so threatened by change, including multiculturism that they would rather see everyone slide into a financial depression rather than accept change? Get real!

By: agriemployee

agriemployee — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:15:10 +0000

Not everyone that works there are illegal!!! I know the Rubashkin family and yes ive met all of them and nobody is putting blam on them . Everyone knows there hands are tied about paying everyone. Thankfully his brother Heshey has been honest with us from the start. I just wish we would of known what had happened here before we up rooted our family and moved 1800 miles from our closest relative. Its a bad situation and everyone needs to come together and help everybody not just one race or religion.

By: mercurial

mercurial — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:46:53 +0000

You people are indeed sad. A newspaper quoting a blog?! What has the world of journalism come to? The Aleph Institute is a non-profit organization helping Jewish prisoners. Every SINGLE prison has a chaplain, and in most the chaplains are of the christian faith. Understandably so, as the majority of Americans are christian, but never the less this leaves those of another faith to fend somewhat for themselves. Many of the chaplains are very generous and kind, but they still can not completely fulfill the needs of Jewish prisoners, being that they aren't qualified or knowledgeable in that area.

That is where Aleph steps in and tries to extend a helping hand to the Jewish prisoners. Heaven forbid, that's not to say that others are simply disregarded. Aleph accepts anyone on principal, but is primarily geared towards Jews in trouble with the law. How dare you denounce an organization you know so little about, and all because some blogger who has a bone to pick with Chabad?!!

I could get started on the misrepresentation of the Rubashkin case as well, but I'll leave that to others. Just as a stab at your ignorance (or indifference), Rubashkin did not place these workers in distress, it was the government. Now, obviously it may have been necessary for the government to do that, but then the workers should have known that they are illegal in this country and as such remain in constant jeopardy of losing their jobs. That's just first and foremost, stop blaming Rubashkin for things he never committed, and especially those that do not know him (and never seen him), stop making ridiculous comments about something you don't begin to comprehend.