Working Life

Ah, I love the smell of the influence money has on elections…regardless of party. Over in Pennsylvania, the truly repugnant Rick Santorum is trailing in his race for re-election–and, while Democract Bob Casey gives new meaning to unimpressive/unimaginative, it will be a great election night to watch Santorum’s concession speech. BUT, the drug companies aren’t […]

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I’m betting that “Dollar Bill” Jefferson will lose his seat in Congress–not on November 7th but in the run-off that he is almost certain to find himself in. He’s got 12 challengers running against him for his congressional seat in Louisiana. If no one gets a majority, under state law, there is a run-off on […]

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that the Beast from Bentonville (aka Wal-Mart) is running into stiff opposition to its attempt to get into the banking business. The article (subscription required) describes a potent anti-Wal-Mart coalition that has risen up against the proposal. An excerpt: When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. applied 15 months ago to […]

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It’s ironic, to say the least, that the polls show that the majority of the people believe that the political system is broken (according to a new CNN poll) and the polls also show the Democrats on the verge of taking over the House BUT, BUT, BUT, read this from The Hotline: K Street Veering […]

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Well, as many of you know, I am a Yankees season-ticket holder. When the boys from the Bronx were dispatched from the playoffs, I rooted for the Mets to go to the Fall classic–hey, I’m a New Yorker and how can you not root for success for Willy Randolph? Now that New Yorkers get to […]

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In another context, I wrote about the crisis facing workers in Palestine. This is not a new situation–and it is at the core of the anger, I believe, of many rank-and-file Palestinians who aren’t necessarily caught up in the political debates raging between Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Israel. They can’t make a living. Here […]

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It’s not been a pretty couple of days here for New York labor. It is true that Brian McLaughlin deserves the presumption of being innocent until proven guilty of the corruption charges leveled against him yesterday. But, what really needs to be looked at is how we got here in the first place. Frankly, even […]

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Sometimes, you wonder:is there no limit to a corporation’s willingness to obfuscate? I opened up The New York Times today and on the op-ed page there is an ad from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (this is the place on the op-ed page where advocacy groups run issue ads). The ad features a bookmark […]

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Last night, I went to a discussion between Scott Ritter, the former U.N top weapons inspector in Iraq, and investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. They were discussing the unthinkable: the gathering drumbeat on the part of this Administration, and a number of Democrats, for war against Iran. There was a lot in the discussion worth reporting […]

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Here’s a small observation. One-third of the CAFTA 15 also voted for HR 6166, the “enemy combatant” bill: Melissa Bean, Henry Cuellar, Jim Matheson, Dennis Moore and John Tanner. Sad. Though I’d also add shame on Sherrod Brown for also voting for the horrific HR 6166–Brown has been a great fighter on trade issues and […]

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