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New York City – Recent comments posted by anonymous individuals on a website that follows the Rubashkin troubles were apparently traced back to prominent New York public relations firm 5WPR, recently hired by Agriprocessors to confront negative attention that the company was receiving on the Internet. The firm may now be facing fraud charges.
Why? Because the comments were posted with names of people—but those people had never actually posted those comments. All the comments traced back to one single IP address—indicating that they all came from one individual or small group of individuals.
The postings in question were made in the name of Rabbi Morris Allen, a prominent critic of Agriprocessors and the founder of the Conservative movement’s Hekhsher Tzedek initiative, which is attempting to create ethical standards for the production of kosher food.
The 5WPR firm has privately acknowledged making those fraudulent postings to the Forward newspaper. Some of these malicious comments were made on VIN News itself in the name of Morris Allen.
According to the Forward a spokesman for Hekhsher Tzedek said that the group is consulting an intellectual property lawyer and planning to take legal action against whoever made the fraudulent comments.
Paul Levy, an attorney at the Public Citizen Litigation Group, said that the success of any legal action would depend largely on state law and on whether the comments were defamatory.
Besides this case, VIN has first-hand knowledge of reputable individuals derided in the streets for inappropriate web comments that they never made in the first place.
What you may think is a harmless comment—especially if you’re making it in someone else’s name without his knowledge—can come back to haunt you, including legally.
“Morris Allen” has also been spoofed in comments on JPost and YNet, and probably other forums as well. If these same comments were posted by “Anonymous” (like most VIN comments) would Mr. Allen have agreed with them?
uh oh.
Will the real Charlie Brown sue me?
🙂
is there a single dat that goes by that RUBASHKIN is NOT in the news??
Ahd Mahsei? How much longer will those defending Rubashkin keep on believing????
It seems like Rubashkin hired people who faked an attack on Rubashkin by people whom we who eat kosher would consider lacking in credibility.
Then they attacked the Rubashkin bashers, making it seem that only those who lack credibility bash them, so if YOU bash Rubashkin, that means you also lack credibility.
This is very ingenious. I give them much credit for this brilliant attempt to take our minds off the issues here, and simply bash the bashers instead of facing the Rubashkin Reality.
Too bad they didn’t spend this money of fixing what is wrong with their company. Too bad.
“and simply bash the bashers instead of facing the Rubashkin Reality.”
Uh,…. which reality are you referring to? The fact that there were no weapons, there was no drug lab, there was no problem even alleged about the kashrus, that two months after the arrest there are no charges pending against Rubashkin, there is not one documented incident of employee abuse, which part of that are you referring to?
“Too bad they didn’t spend this money of fixing what is wrong with their company. Too bad.”
Exactly what pray tell is wrong with the company?
The Kashrus? Aside from evil people like you spread anonymous unsubstantiated vile, we haven’t heard anything. The fact they hired illegal aliens just like the 1300 that were arrested at Swift beef and poultry by the same Iowa ICE agents on Dec 12, 2006? The fact that there were allegations about employee abuse by two people, yet the news refused to interview people that worked there haooily for 12 years? The fact there’s no union? Which article or amendment to the constitution insures my constitutional right to union employment and collective bargaining? When it comes to reality check your comes back stamped insufficient funds. Your hatred for a fellow Jew is detestable and your insistance on smearing Rubashkin without any proof of wrongdoing whatsoever is worse than the guys that signed their names “Morris Allen,” while saying things Morris Allen would say.
12:27 … it appears that YOUR post shows anger and hatred, and yet you accuse 9:44 of hatred when he/she did not show any. Maybe YOU work for the PR firm?
1:52…now who’s being hateful?? Can’t you all stop these childish “my daddy can beat up your daddy” arguments? Let’s stick to discussing the real issues.
What I don’t understand is how the Rubashkins keep getting themselves into trouble when they try to do the right thing. They hired a “reputable” PR firm and it was the PR FIRM, NOT AGRI, who fraudulently posted these inflammatory comments. Very stupid, but hardly Agri’s fault…they paid them to protect their interests & guess what? More damage was done, probably by some low level “genius”.
If I were Agri I’d sue them for every penny they’ve got. I’d also check every Mezuzah & Tefillin in the place.
Something’s really wrong here…internal sabotage, perhaps? Or maybe business rivals? I don’t know, but I don’t believe in coincidences & there are too many bad things going on here for it to be just poor management by unsophisticated Yidden.
What do u mean there is no legal issues? A few of the big shots were arested and pending trial, they were hit with violating hazardous waste laws which puts the employees at serious health risk, and they hired illigals and there are many shochtim who admit that they too were in it for the money and that everything flies. So don’t shove it under the rug cuz it aint gonna help even if they spent a billion dollars on PR. Let them spend the money on cleaning house
Matzahlocal101 Says:
“and simply bash the bashers instead of facing the Rubashkin Reality.”
Uh,…. which reality are you referring to? The fact that there were no weapons, there was no drug lab, there was no problem even alleged about the kashrus
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Too bad you never actually read the indictment. It clearly states that the drub lab was destroyed BEFORE the raid. Don’t you know what an indictment is anyway? They always throw a lot of charges up in the air and see what sticks. That is the system, whether you like it or not. The old joke that they taught us in law school is thata good DA can indict a ham sandwich.
No one talks about the 13 year old kids that were working in the plant. How would you explain that??
As for Kashrus – THere was no control of the labels. Products were mislabeled all of the time because a goy was in charge of the labels. Even Rabbi Weismandl admits that he was only in charge of the Kosher parts, not the cutting and packaging operations.
A mashgiach upstate NY told me that the biggest part of the job was to open the Rubashkin boxes and check that there was glatt meat inside, not non-glatt or tarfus.
Getting back to non-glatt – Did Rubashkin Kasher the equpiment ayno ben yomo between the glatt and non-glatt batches?? Oh – you did not know that he made non glatt? Nathans Franks, among others
About the PR firm. Read the original reason why they hired that firm – to combat internet blogs. What did you think that they would do? Better yet, how would they do it?????
So I guess Attorney 6:14 doesn’t eat Rubashkin’s? Who cares, more for me.
You know, I’m really sick of reading this stuff. I wonder why VIN keeps posting everything about Rubashkins. Let it go already, the people who want to eat Rubashkins will continue & the people who don’t, won’t. As for their business practices…is EVERYONE in business so squeaky clean all the time?? And this time it’s not their fault. Being naive in business isn’t a crime.
The only thing that should matter is the Kashrus of the fleish, & I’m sure that isn’t compromised. You have to trust the Shochtim & Mashgichim. If not, go vegetarian.
To 7:25 –
The reason why Rubashkin is in the news is because they refuse to acknowledge that here is a problem AND FIX IT. Every step tha was taken was a half job to make the problem go away. It has cost them more time and money AND a ttremendous Chillul Hashem that they refuse to acknowledge.
Everyone keeps harping on the fact that no business is squeeky clean. So – as Bubby used to say, if everyone jumps off the Empire State Building – you will also??? Look at Sodom – everyone was doing it. And you call it an excuse???
Being naive in business is no crime? The Rubashkin family was in business for close to 50 years. When do you think that naive ends and experience starts. And what are they naive in? Kashrus? Employee safety in the plant? Food safety in the plant? Governmnt laws designed to protect you and me.
You have to trust the Mashgichim? Have you learned nothing from Monsey, Shelat, Lundy, the list goes back thousands of years. To trust the Baal Habos is just as important, if not more. If the Baal Habos wants to cheat – he will, no matter how many mashgichim there are.
This is not “a hatred of the Rubashkin” rant, as 5wPR wants us to believe. If we don’t watch our own and demand higher standards, then who will? The press? The government? And you already know of that results.
The Rubashkins think that if they can make people believe that a dead Rebbe is actually alive and well under 3 tons of cement and besides he’ll get up any day now, then they can make people believe anything. Rubashkins, wake up. There are rulesa nd regulations out there that make some actions illegal. Some of these rules happen to be written in Shulchan Orach.
If Rubashkin followed the law, there would have been no reason to hire the law-breaking 5W. Crime begets crime.
FROM: THE GOLEM
I WAS ALWAYS THINKING THAT THE END TO RUBASHKINS PROBLEMS WOULD BE A GOOD PR FIRM (I EVEN WROTE IT HERE BEFORE IT WAS KNOWN THAT THEY DO HAVE ONE). BUT NOT ONLY DIDN’T IT HELP THEM BUT DRRAGED THEM MORE IN THE MUD. SO I AM BEGGINING TO BELEIVE THE THIS IS “YAD HASHEM BAMZE”. LOOK, A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE KASRUS WORLD BELIEVE FOR A FACT THAT RUBASHKIN WHERE AND IS STILL FEEDING US “NVEILES UN TREIFAS” FOR MANY YEAR, SO LETS ASSUME THIS IS TRUE AND THE COVER UP IS NICELY GOING ON FOR YEARS WITH ALL KINDS OF “HETEIRIM” R”L DONT YOU THINK THAT HASHEM WILL DEFEND HIS FELLOW FRUM YIDDELECH WHO WOULD RATHER FAST ALL THEIR LIVES THAN TO EAT A PEICE OF NVEILAH? SO MAYBE WE ARE ATTENDING THEIR FUNERAL AND MAYBE ITS A GOOD THING, BECAUSE ONE THING WHAT THEY DONT HAVE IS “SEIATE DISHMYIA” I HOPE I AM WRONG.
YOURS: THE GOLEM
I for one am glad VIN covers this issue. It is an issue that impacts our daily lives and how we live. If anything, I’d like to see more coverage not less. A great chillul Hashem has taken place in Postville, IA and I for one feel quite guilty that food made for consumption by my family was done so by workers who were so terribly mistreated, that animals were mistreated, and that trief meat may have been sold as glatt. Where was the OU and where was Rabbi Wiesmandl when all this was happening? Why have they continued giving this company the protection of their hechsher? Have they no shame?
TO GOLEM!!
AH NAAR, ZUGT OICH AH MOOL, AH GIT VORT !!
first of all make it clear. ALL meat company’s hire illegals the problem is that nobody admites it.With the kashrus labels every company has meat thats not soooo kosher,the one you have to trust is the mashgichim on the sight,I ask my brother who happens to be a mashgiach there he claims that there are 40 mashgichim on sight so that cant be a problem, there is no point of googling the name Rubashkin and see whats coming up every day. I realy beleive that if they have what to fix, they SHOULD but not only Rubashkin, fix the problems from all company’s
Rubashkin’s are not meshiachist’s they do not believe that he will return, they invested million’s of dollers to fight the moshiach group.
They should have stuck with Lubicom to do all their PR work rather than hiring 5WPR also.
Now we have a new angle: Instead of labeling all the Motzi ShemRanikers for what they are the bad guys and the ones that are melamedei zechus and the ones not trumpeting to lynch Rubashkin’s co. because of a few minor business issues as the good guys. We have to call all the mashchisim tzadikim for being mefarseim all this and the others are all from a Rubashkin’s PR firm and of course lying. This is Sedom logic or at least Chelm logic. I just can’t fathom the amount of pure sinah/kinah against these Rubashkin’s – no wonder Moshiach is not coming.
When will the people, wake up and realize that these Rubasdhkin’s are simply thugs, with enough money to BUY ANYONE they want to. They all lbelong in JAIL, for there is no low that they will stoop to in their quefst for more money. They try OY, anti-semetism, Oy, L’oshan Hara, Oy, I’m shuchling more than you, and a bigger Siddur, so I must me more PIOUS. Oy, I’m in prison, bring me some Kosher food, not Aaron Bros, I asked for KOSHER!
GOLEM – you are a golem
Chaim S. Says:
The Rubashkins think that if they can make people believe that a dead Rebbe is actually alive and well under 3 tons of cement and besides he’ll get up any day now, then they can make people believe anything. Rubashkins, wake up. There are rulesa nd regulations out there that make some actions illegal. Some of these rules happen to be written in Shulchan Orach.
07-11-2008 – 9:32 AM
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Never has such a small mind said so little to so many!
maybe some of the bloggers should take a little trip to the plant themselves before commenting. i can guarantee you that you will change your mind when you see first hand. when you see the number of mashgichim, and the ehrliche shochtim, just go to the shul in postville, it is not often to find such achdus, and ahavas hatorah in a community.
so don’t just write because of word of mouth, go see for yourself.
gevald Says:
maybe some of the bloggers should take a little trip to the plant themselves before commenting. i can guarantee you that you will change your mind when you see first hand. when you see the number of mashgichim, and the ehrliche shochtim, just go to the shul in postville, it is not often to find such achdus, and ahavas hatorah in a community.
so don’t just write because of word of mouth, go see for yourself.
07-11-2008 – 5:44 PM
Weismandl doubled the amount of mashgichim when he took over. Why? What were they doing that they suddenly needed twice the mashgichim?
Are you willing to pay for our trip? What about Rabbi Yudel Shain’s trip?
What does this have to do with the problem at hand? When will Sholom Rubashkin step down and a real experienced person take over?