Working Life

It seems petty if it’s deliberate or just plain pathetic if it was forgotten but…the Administration seems, to date, hell bent on effectively ignoring the 70th anniversary of Social Security, which falls this Sunday; historically, Republican and Democratic administrations alike have celebrated important milestones for Social Security. Well, yes, the president and his economic team […]

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So, yes, all of you have written to ask (geez, didn’t know there was that much interest in this meeting) not much happened at the Building and Construction Trades Department meeting (as one participant said, “alot of meaningless resolutions and even more meaningless speakers”). Except that John Sweeney did talk about his concept of “solidarity […]

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I was a bit preoccupied with L’affaire McKay yesterday so I didn’t get to this. Readers here know that I’ve spent a lot of time writing about the China challenge, and pointing out that no one has a good solution about to deal with China, short of just joining a drum-beat that I fear will […]

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Or so goes the defense of Gregory Meeks in the wake of L’affaire McKay, at least according to the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill (see half way down the Hill’s Under The Dome column). “I’m shocked by it,” Meeks told The Hill. “It does not reflect me at all. I would never use that language […]

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Well, if you wondered whether the CAFTA 15 are testy about their vote and maybe a tad worried that it’s going to come back to bite them, check out this barrage which was sent by Mike McKay, senior policy advisor to Rep. Gregory Meeks (NY, District 06), one of the CAFTA 15. He sent it […]

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A slight detour from my usual ramblings…I couldn’t shake the story of Cindy Sheehan, the woman who has posted herself outside the president’s vacation home, demanding that he meet with her to explain why her 24-year-old son, Casey, had to die in Iraq. She’s not going to move from that searing heat until she tells […]

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Ah, yes, Melissa Bean, one of the CAFTA 15, has been doing her best to curry favor with the corporate world. None other than Robert Novak (he of the hypocritical rah-rah war-mongering class who likes to expose CIA agents) tips us off to where Melissa is getting her love in his August 7th column: “Melissa’s […]

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The movement to take out the CAFTA 15 picked up more momentum in New York City on a humid Sunday morning. The targets: Reps. Gregory Meeks and Edolphus Towns. At yesterday’s press conference on the steps of City Hall, Gregory Meeks and Edolphus Towns were pilloried, and it’s clear they won’t see a dime of […]

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It’s not an easy time working for the AFL-CIO. You have to feel a lot of compassion for people who want to fight for working people–yet find themselves in an extremely tough situation, not made easier by some of the ways they are being treated. In these very days, the Federation’s staff is now seeing […]

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One of my personal campaigns is to rid the world of the idiotic notion that we’re all dumb and we just have to get smarter and better trained to triumph in the economy of the future. It’s been one of those dumb theories that sound good on paper–who is against being more educated–but has very […]

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