Month: October 2005

She Came From Wal-Mart

I finally got a pet. A cat. I found her lounging under a tree, at a “golden community” located behind the parking lot of the Wal-Mart at the Green Acres mall at Valley Stream. I was doing my usual union organizer thing, but stopped to pet this unusually sweet and friendly stray cat. One of the residents, Pat Day, caught me petting her, and commenced a month-long lobbying effort to get me to adopt the cat. Lots of strays gather at the retirement community, since the residents are perfectly happy to feed and care for them. I’ve been thinking about adopting a pet for some time, so I was tempted by this cute little rusty-colored calico with an awful gravelly meow. But I was worried about my long hours at work, and how little I would be home for it, not to mention cat hair everywhere and cat claws scratching […]

The Great Blog Circle Jerk, part II

Richard Winger, the stalwart defender of independent and third party ballot access rights, and the man who has kept the Coalition for Free and Open Elections going, has put the Ballot Access News online as a blog. It is a tremendous resource for news and information about legal challenges to this country’s various draconian ballot access laws, as well as occasional success stories from third parties. The Drum Major Institute, the non-partisan, non-profit progressive think tank, has launched a new blog. My friends Elana Levin and Amy Traub work for DMI and are among the contributers.

Take Ten Percent Off the Top

As token gestures go, this one is particularly insulting. Executives at Delphi, the financially troubled auto parts producer that was spun off from GM a few years ago, are voluntarily cutting their million dollar salaries by as much as 20% as the company goes through bankruptcy procedures and seeks to void its union contracts and slash the pay of its workers by as much as two-thirds. This magnanimous act was meant to make up for the previously announced (now retracted) executive bonuses meant to “entice” these brilliant captains of industry to remain with the company through the hard times that they caused. The workers at Delphi make around $26 an hour. The business community likes to toss around the figure of $70 an hour, which would include the cost of payments for medical insurance, pension funds and other benefits. Delphi says these wages make the company uncompetitive, as similar workers […]

Telegraphing the Tension Through the Title

The tension between solo work and band work is sometimes palpable, as is the resentment of the post-breakup competition. Sometimes it’s laid right out in the album title. Here are my five favorite pissed-off, post (or pre)-breakup album titles. Or at least, the first five that occurred to me while writing this. 5. Bach’s Bottom by Alex Chilton. The mercurial lead singer of Big Star has had some pretty confounding output as a solo artist. His first almost-complete record mostly consists of covers (fans would eventually get used to this). His nervy and needy cover of “Can’t Seem to Make You Mine” is the best ever, while his original “Bangkok” features a double entendre that would make AC/DC’s eyes roll. Alex was in a band called the Box Tops, y’see, before Big Star. See, bad puns abound! 4. Rigor Mortis Sets In by John Entwistle. The Who’s bassist, the writer […]

Extra! Extra! The Socialist Is Online!

After much ado, the complete September-October issue of “The Socialist” is finally available online. The United States Postal Service has apparently revamped its bulk mail rules which has resulted in an extremely disappointing delay in this issue getting our readers’ hands all ink-stained and sloppy. When this issue went to press, back in late August, articles like B. Guise’s expose of Bush’s ExxonMobil connection and Barbara Garson’s skewering of Paul Wolfowitz were poppin fresh and relevant. Now they’re merely relevant. Sadly, David McReynolds’ “troops out now” article could probably be published verbatim two years from now and still be fresh. In any event, please check out the new issue, and consider subscribing. Thank you for your support.

Sell Out!

I miss the days of “selling out” in rock and roll. It’s hard to fathom the purist fury that fans once generated over “plugging in” or signing to a major label. These days, not only does the clearest act of selling out – licensing music for teevee commercials and even performing in such commercials – not generate controversy, it is rewarded by higher sales! The once-underground techno star Moby became famous by licensing all of the songs off of his 1999 album, “Play,” for use in movies and commercials. For many, it was their first exposure to his music, and it led to more radio airplay and huge record sales. Established “catalog” artists discovered that this strategy could work for them as well. An old Who album cut, “Bargain,” has become a classic rock radio staple after being used in some car commercial. New Who “best of” collections had to […]

More Turkeys

I got a check for $400 from Mike Bloomberg yesterday. He’s so thoughtful! It came right in the nick of time, too: all those start of the month bills were piling up. What timing. What timing, indeed. The general election is one month away, and it’s not like that good-for-nothing Freedy Ferrer can afford to cut a check that fat for every voter. However, unlike last year’s property tax rebate, this check wasn’t signed by the Mayor. City ethics rules prevent a candidate’s name from appearing in a high profile city-funded mailing such as this within 90 days of the election. It’s a nice nod to ethics, but how are the last 90 days supposed to counter-balance an entire term spent plastering the incumbent’s name and face all over government funded mailings, tv ads and billboards? All politicians do this. George Pataki can be heard extolling the beauty of New […]

Happy New Year

I was standing outside a “seaside resort” in Long Beach this morning. I don’t believe that it’s actually a resort anymore; just a home for seniors. And so I stood outside in the early morning hours, doing what I do. A nice old lady came out and proceeded to the red bus stop bench in front, but stopped when she large puddles of heavy morning condensation all over the bench. “I have a rag in my car,” I offered. “I can wipe it down.” She let out this strange, excited yelp. “Ooh. You would do that for me? That’s so nice. Only in Long Beach!” I’d like to think that this sort of thing happens in Queens and Brooklyn, too. I wiped down the bench and we both took a seat. “My daughter is coming to pick me up,” she explained, excitedly. “It’s a very special Jewish holiday. Rosh Hashanah. […]

Citizen Roe

In another lifetime, Norma McCorvey was the anonymous Jane Roe who allowed herself to be used by the pro-choice movement as the plaintiff in the case that established the constitutional right to privacy and abortion, Roe vs. Wade. In the intervening years, the radical right violated her right to privacy, tracked Ms. McCorvey down and exploited her own ambivalence over her personal tragedy and its use in national policy debate. They turned Jane Roe into a pro-lifer, as if the simple change of heart of a turncoat would invalidate the legal principles of Roe vs. Wade, and convince all women not to have abortions. Since that “change of heart,” Ms. McCorvey has played a farcical role in the abortion debate, not unlike the titular (anti)hero of the movie, Citizen Ruth. The New York Times has dug her up one more time for an article published today, on a drug for […]

An Observation About Rockville Centre

Rockville Centre is, I believe, one of the “Five Towns” on Long Island. I’m not exactly sure what the other four towns are, except that one is Valley Stream, and that they all focus around shopping malls, the Long Island Rail Road and a shitty college. Actually, I’m pretty sure at this point that Rockville Centre is not a town at all, but an incorporated village. Nassau county has lots of incorporated villages. I’m not really sure what their function is, but they all seem to have police departments whose main function is to write traffic and parking tickets. The actual governmental structure of Nassau seems to consist of a county legislature and executive, who can establish prevailing wage laws like the NY City Council and…well, I’m sure they can do other things, too. Within the county, are three major townships (Hempstead, North Hempstead and Oyster Bay), which manage some […]

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