- The Champions of “Democracy” (2/25/2007) - The changed political landscape affords the labor movement opportunities to change laws that make us weaker. These opportunities afford right-wing politicians and management consultants new opportunities to couch their attacks on workers' collective rights to organize in terms of "democracy." We have to counter this rhetoric before it becomes standard Newspeak. First up, Maryland's House Republican leader Anthony O'Donnell attacking a bill for agency fee for state employee unions: "Forcing people to fund a service… …
- Is Fair Housing Flying the Co-op? (2/24/2007) - The curiosity of a socialist owning real estate inspires much teasing from my friends. But why shouldn't I own my own home? As our comrade, Barbara Garson has proven in her book, "Money Makes the World Go Around", unless you stuff your cash in the mattress, you are inevitably invested in evil deeds. So why not invest in an evil that you control, your home? Taking a step further, I've been serving on my apartment… …
- Goodbye, Socialist Party (2/14/2007) - Today I resigned from the Socialist Party after eleven years of membership. This decision has been a long time coming. Indeed, it was made some months ago but I had been waiting to sever my remaining fiduciary responsibilities to the party to announce it. I have given the party tremendous amounts of time and energy as an officer, an editor, a speaker, a fundraiser and a campaign manager and it was a formative learning experience… …
- Year Three (2/2/2007) - It is with no small amount of pride that I note today's second anniversary of this Blarg. When I started writing, I kept it a secret because I was unsure how long I would keep at it, for there are few things sadder than a failed blogger. To a certain extent, I still keep this blarg a secret. I don't publicize it much. I've even stopped pressuring my friends to read it. Perhaps my only… …
- The Two Barbaras (2/2/2007) - What kind of readers find Barbara Ehrenreich's recent books remotely edifying? How far up their own asses are these people? I have to admit that I've yet to read the book in which she passes for working poor, although I did read her earlier piece in Harper's magazine that served as a teaser. The fact that some of the lowest-paid service workers have to live in motels because they can't afford a full month's rent… …
- More On Inequality Sickness (1/28/2007) - Following up on my previous post, in case I wasn't clear ("Are you following me?"), here is a simple graph that argues much more clearly that inequality is making us sicker: This chart represents diabetes rates by income group (divided simply into thirds; the richest third of the population, the middle third and the poorest third) in the UK and the US. First, note that the poorer you are, the likelier you are to have… …
- Cinema Fascists and Other Ghouls (1/28/2007) - "Pan's Labyrinth" is a sort of gothic fairy-tale for adults and weird little kids. Like Jim Henson's "Labyrinth" and "Dark Crystal," this beautifully shot Spanish language film from Guillermo del Toro guides a ten year old girl through a dark fantasy world full of monsters and ghouls with questionable motivations. The world of the labyrinth exists largely in the imagination of the girl, Ofelia (Ivama Baquero), who is interpreting the far more horrific real world… …
- Dr. Robin Hood (1/13/2007) - Dean Robinson's "Health Politics and Inequality" class has taken some surprising turns. Jill Quadagno's book, "One Nation, Uninsured" served as an efficient history of how we got the lousy system of health care that we have, so the questions of how and what kinds of alternatives we ca have were neatly dispensed with. Basically, the "simplest" and fairest universal system would be to simply expand our already existing Medicare system to cover everyone. That would… …
- Another Terrifying Labor Statistic (1/4/2007) - The Center for Economic and Policy Research has released a report that finds that one in five union activists can expect to be fired during an organizing campaign under George Bush's watch. Overall, a pro-union worker had a 1.4 percent chance of being illegally fired for his sympathies in 2005. An organizer's gut reaction to authors John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer's paper might well be, "Oh, great, just what my organizing committee needs to hear!"… …
- A Press More Bumbling Than the Dead Prez (12/28/2006) - If Gerald Ford was trying to live down his image as a bumbler, he made a curious choice of dying right after Christmas when most of the half-way decent reporters must be on vacation. On a good day, the New York Times annoys the crap out of me, but a couple of doozies slipped in that have really driven me nuts. In a television column that itself comments on how substitutes are reporting the news… …