Working Life

Back in September, I wrote about Two-Faced Towns: Rep. Ed Towns of New York (Brooklyn) who became one of the 15 so-called Democrats who voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement. We honored him by inducting him into the CAFTA 15 project. And now Towns has one declared primary opponent: City Councilman Charles Barron. […]

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Everyone’s seen the pictures but why should I be different–let me tell you, the snow was a lot less dangerous than standing twenty feet from Dick Cheney.

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I heard a rumor on Friday that the Laborers International will pull out of the AFL-CIO on Monday (tomorrow). For those of you with long memories–say, going back to August–you may remember that the Laborers had decided to keep a foot in both federations: joining up with Change To Win but remaining in the AFL-CIO. […]

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Strap yourself in because we may be in for a new wave of rhetoric that tries to tar some of us as…egads…”isolationists.” That’s a term that is used by people who favor so-called “free trade” as a way of discrediting the opposition. The February 11th issue of The Economist has a piece entitled “The isolationist […]

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That some hard-line conservatives have no shame or sense of decency was underscored yesterday via words from the mouth of Senator Tom Coburn, who hails from the great state of Oklahoma. Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Coburn said, referring to the president, “I believe he should have a request for the American people […]

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Here’s an item that might escape peoples’ notice because it was buried deep inside The New York Times and probably will not get covered by the rest of the MSM: French Activist Denied Entry to United States, Cornell Says By JENNIFER 8. LEE A leading French antiglobalism activist, scheduled to speak at a conference co-sponsored […]

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I’ve been pointing out here for the past few weeks–and this has been a topic discussed on other blogs that deal regularly with politics–how truly weak the Democratic party is. You could not have a more ripe environment to take back the government from the Republicans: Iraq, massive deficits, corruption, Katrina and, of course, stagnant […]

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The title “Bully of Bentonville” is not my creation (I prefer Beast, as readers know) but the title of a new book by Business Week writer Anthony Bianco (who I knew back in the day when I toiled at the magazine in the 1980s). The magazine carries an excerpt in its current issue (subscripton required) […]

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A few days ago, I spotlighted Ira Rennert’s shenanigans: playing around in his $185 million estate while his bankrupt company leaves 2,000 steelworkers without a pension. Over the weekend, there was more to report (from The New York Times): U.S. Moves to Seize Bankrupt Steel Maker’s Pension Plan By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH The federal government […]

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To be honest, I have no rooting interest in this game and I only watch because of the party that happens each year with a pile of folks. From my point of view, the whole football season is just filler time until pitchers and catchers report and a real sport gets back in motion.

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