February 2012
113 posts
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Drug Testing Welfare Recipients, My Simple...
One of my friends on Facebook posted a demotivational style poster that advocated urinalysis (urine testing for various drugs) for people on welfare. She works at an OBGYN office and apparently meets some interesting people. I’ve heard some ridiculous stories about it. Here’s my quick and simple response. Quotes are from articles and in italics.
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January 2012
163 posts
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“More Unionists Were Killed”: Alliance of... →
Washington, DC — On the second day of the 2011 Annual Review of Country Practices conducted by the US Trade Representative for the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the Secretary-General of the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), refuted claims of the Philippine government representatives that it has done a lot to resolve the trade union killings.
Josua Mata, testifying...
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U.S. Tops Developed World in Income Inequality →
@IPS_DC @SenatorSanders @CatholicDems It looks like the last 30 years Neoliberal economics has done little to raise the economic conditions of working people. All it seems to have done is create a bigger gap between us and the rich. Even “socialist” social-democratic European countries have seen a bit of income inequality growth. Unfettered global capitalism: chippin’ away at...
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United Academics faculty union looks to establish... →
@AFTunion @AFTHigherEd @AAUP
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By Sam Stites
Published January 30, 2012
University faculty, including tenure and non-tenure-track employees, are close to realizing their goal of creating a faculty union after almost two years of planning and deliberation.
The union is in the middle of public employee card-check voting, a procedure that began on Jan. 9 and offers faculty the opportunity...
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House GOP looks to bust unions →
@AFLCIO @UAW - The anti-worker Republicans are at it again. Slandering unions, the NLRB, and my profession (union organizing) in attempt to push another anti-union bill. This time on the Federal level. They want to force unions to have a vote every 3 years to exist, force unions to stay out of politics, and increase penalties against unions that break labor law, citing intimidation by union...
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Brooklyn Cablevision technicians vote union →
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http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20120126/LABOR_UNIONS/120129898#ixzz1kwtsAWsf
Overwhelming vote in favor of joining the Communications Workers of America is seen as major defeat for the company. Margin of victory seen as indication it could spread.
Updated: January 26, 2012 8:48 p.m.
Cablevision technicians in Brooklyn voted overwhelmingly Thursday to join Communications...
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Mother Jones: Inside Apple's Hidden Factories.... →
Almost everyone I know owns something made by Apple, and while most of us spend a fair bit of time obsessing about our gadgets—which apps are worth paying for? Is Siri useful or annoying?—rarely do we talk about where they came from. In part, that’s because Apple wants it that way: The company is famously tight-lipped about its manufacturing process, and few outsiders have ever...
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Gloria Steinem backs fired housekeepers and... →
@GloriaSteinem (DSA Honorary Chair) stands up for fired Hyatt housekeepers!
Got this via Hotel Workers Rising/UNITE HERE!
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On January 27, former Hyatt housekeepers Martha and Lorena Reyes shared their story with feminist luminary Gloria Steinem at an event organized by Stanford University on the future of feminism. The Reyes sisters explained how Hyatt had fired them after...
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Cracked: 5 Seemingly Innocent Ways You've Screwed... →
Another great read from Cracked.com
Yes, hippies, we know that we can “save the world” by merely giving up all of the things that make modern life worth living. Thanks for reminding us that we can save lots of greenhouse gases by simply walking the 13 miles to work in the middle of the damned summer. We’ll get right on that.
Though to be fair, a huge chunk of the damage...
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WatchNo, the Fed Does NOT ‘Print Money’
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State of the Apple (Rotten) | Labor Notes →
socialismartnature:
President Barack Obama blew a kiss to Apple in last night’s State of the Union speech, praising the entrepreneurial spirit of its founder, the late Steve Jobs, as the cameras panned to his widow in the audience.
Obama’s timing couldn’t be weirder. In the last month, Apple has released a damning audit that found almost 100 of its supplier factories force more than half...
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“Solidarity is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the...”
– Pope John Paul II
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Arkansas Democrat's cat killed, painted with... →
LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) - A cat belonging to an Arkansas Democratic campaign manager was found dead on Sunday night with the word “Liberal” spray-painted across its side, the campaign manager said.
The cat was a pet of Jake Burris, who manages Democrat Ken Aden’s bid for Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District. Aden is running against incumbent Republican Representative...
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Jobs, Jobs and Cars →
Paul Krugman on Mitch Daniels, Obama, and the State of The Union.
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Mitch Daniels, the former Bush budget director who is now Indiana’s governor, made the Republicans’ reply to President Obama’s State of the Union address. His performance was, well, boring. But he did say something thought-provoking — and I mean that in the worst way.
Fred R. Conrad/The New York...
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Obama Administration Announces New Decision On... →
Nice! Obama holding his ground!
via Huff Po: In a long-anticipated decision that will affect millions of women’s ability to pay for contraception, the Obama administration announced on Friday that it would not allow religiously affiliated employers such as universities and hospitals to deny full birth control coverage to the women they employ.
Under the new rule, set forth by the...
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It’s the Stupid Republicans, Stupid →
From: In These Times
Progressives shouldn’t be shy about mobilizing voters around singe-issue passions.
BY Susan J. Douglas
Take any single issue you care about the most. Things will get worse under a Republican president and Congress.
I have a love/hate relationship with Rolling Stone, which isn’t surprising given that I never was, and certainly am not now, part of the magazine’s desired...
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IKEA Workers In Maryland Vote To Unionize →
From the Huffington Post:
WASHINGTON — Officials with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union announced Thursday that more than 350 workers at an IKEA distribution center in Maryland have voted to join the union.
If the vote is certified by the federal labor board, the workers in Perryville, Md., will become the second American IKEA workforce to...
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ESPN: Success hasn't changed Tom Izzo →
Tom Izzo Collects 400th Career Win
Scandals don’t discriminate. They can catch anybody in the sport, regardless of age, ethnicity or level of play.
No one is immune.
But for the sake of the coaching profession, and maybe for faith that there are real and genuine coaches in the sport, Tom Izzo needs to stay scandal-free.
I’ve covered the sport since I was in college in the late...
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Cooper Tire employees left out in the cold →
by American Rights at Work on January 19, 2012
On November 28 last year, just days after Thanksgiving, 1,050 Cooper Tire & Rubber Company employees were left out in the cold. After refusing to negotiate in good faith, Cooper Tire locked out workers at its Findlay, Ohio plant.
In 2008, when Cooper Tire was losing money, employees at its Findlay plant gave up $31 million in pay and...
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More Lockouts as Companies Battle Unions →
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Daily Kos: F**k Joe Paterno →
Whoa. Ignore the title if you want, but a must-read. Heartbreaking, also trigger warning: graphic.
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Yes, you read that right- Fuck Joe Paterno. And you can HR me, unfollow me, curse me out or do whatever you want for saying that. Have at it. I don’t care.
I don’t care that Joe Paterno is dead. I don’t care what he did for Penn State. I don’t care...
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WWP and North Korea →
click the link to read some bullshit from the Workers World Party and their ass kissing of the DPRK. Apparently if you don’t support the DPRK, you may as well be Ron Paul? If I had more time, I’d rant about this bullshit.
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LIUNA Leaves BlueGreen Alliance →
From Talking Union:
(Jan 20) The Laborers’ International Union of North America – said today it has left the BlueGreen Alliance in response to job-killing attacks on the Keystone XL pipeline by some of the alliance’s labor and environmentalist members.
“AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently said there was a divide in the labor movement over this project,” LIUNA General President Terry...
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Today In Labor History →
Today in Labor History: January 24 Federal minimum wage increases to 75¢ an hour - 1952 Also on this date: Krueger Cream Ale, the first canned beer, goes on sale in Richmond, VA…click here for complete postings and graphics. UCS News Service: Workers Resist Electronic Expansion of Jobs In an ever more connected world, workers are increasingly resisting the electronic encroachment of their...
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Is the union movement making a comeback? →
By Nelson N. Lichtenstein, Special to CNN
updated 12:59 PM EST, Sun January 22, 2012
Spectators cheer recall volunteers on their way to deliver one of the boxes containing signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Over a million signatures have been submitted to recall Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin
Nelson Lichtenstein: It’s clear that the American...
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Dissent in the Jobs Council →
Got this story off of the Steve Greenhouse twitter (great pro labor author)
“NYT Editorial: Dissent in the #Jobs Council: “Labor reps rightly push back against GOP-oriented agenda” http://nyti.ms/wxhgut #labor #economy’
At Disney World last week, President Obama announced new executive orders to speed up visas for foreign tourists to the United States. The measure, a...
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David Duke and Ron Paul →
If you are supporting Ron Paul, please ask yourself why racists, white supremacists, nazis and neo-confederates are supporting him too.
Add David Duke to the list of Ron Paul fan boys:
http://www.davidduke.com/general/ron-paul-is-electable-and-doesnt-have-the-baggage-of-gingrich-or-romney_25411.html
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Will North Korea Attempt a China-Style Opening? →
I’ve been wondering about this being a possibility. The DPRK is so ridiculously poor, and so very strange. I recently watched the Nat Geo documentary on North Korea, it was amazing. The thing is, even if there was a Deng reformer around, it would only mean an improved economy, they would still have a complete totalitarian state.
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Probably not under Kim Jong Un, but a Deng...
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Chicago Poised to Become First City to Condemn... →
Another reason I want to move to Chicago in the near future.
From: In These Times.
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By Daniel Hertz
As protests around the country yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the arrival of detainees in Guantanamo prison, the city of Chicago—where torture also hits closer to home—is considering a new anti-torture resolution.
Just a year ago, former Chicago police...
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Marx, Marxism and the cooperative movement →
Co-ops and Marx.
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By Bruno Jossa Cambridge Journal of Economics Vol. 29,No. 1, 2005 2012 has been declared the International Year of Cooperatives by the United Nations. NYC will be posting articles relating to cooperatives and the socialist movement throughout the year. The paper below kicks off this series. Introduction
On several occasions Marx declared himself...
