Friday Reads
Posted: October 29, 2010 Filed under: morning reads 61 Comments
Good morning !!!
I’ve gotten in the habit of posting and sharing links in the morning so, here’s some to get your day started.
It’s the 75th anniversary of the National Labor Relations Act. Richard B Freeman, a labor economist from Harvard, has a paper out that argues our labor laws are sorely out of date. Here’s an overview from ECONOMIX
… the percentage of private-sector workers in unions has fallen to 7 percent, down from nearly 40 percent in the 1950s.
He [Freeman] argued that the penalties in the National Labor Relations Act were weak and “have failed to deter firms from illegal actions to prevent unionization.” He wrote that in the early 1950s firms fired about 0.5 workers for every 100 workers who voted in N.L.R.B. elections, but in the 1980s and early 1990s, firms “fired 4.5 workers for every 100 union voters,” with that percentage dropping slightly in recent years.
“Far from a laboratory conditions experiment in democracy,” he wrote, “the N.L.R.B. process turned into the same costly fight between unions and firms that union organizing was before the act, albeit in a different venue with different weapons.” He wrote that the N.L.R.B. process has “failed to make it easy or natural for workers who want union representation to achieve this goal.”
He noted that there was a 20 to 30 percent gap between the percentage of workers who said they wanted union representation and those who had unions – the largest gap among advanced English-speaking countries.
Well, this is no surprise. Here’s the latest Rasmussen. Most every one wants to throw the bums out!
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 65% of Likely U.S. Voters say if they had the option next week, they would vote to get rid of the entire Congress and start all over again. Only 20% would opt to keep the entire Congress instead. Fifteen percent (15%) aren’t sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Of course, the Political Class strongly disagrees. While 84% of Mainstream voters would opt to get rid of the entire Congress, 64% of the Political Class would vote instead to keep them all.
Not surprisingly, 82% of Republicans and 78% of unaffiliateds say dump them all. Despite their party’s control of both the House and Senate, Democratic voters are fairly evenly divided: 44% say it’s better to keep the entire Congress, but 38% would prefer to give all the national legislators the heave-ho.
Thirty-eight percent (38%) of all voters have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party after its two years of controlling both the White House and Congress. But 53% view the Democrats unfavorably.
As for the party out of power but knocking on the door, just 29% view Republicans favorably, while 54% hold an unfavorable opinion of them.
Ouch!!!
Okay, this is one of the weirdest headlines I’ve ever read and it’s from AlterNet. Seems like Squeaky Thomas is more off the deep end then we originally presumed.
“Ginni Thomas’ Think Tank Allied With Group That Celebrates Spanish Inquisition”
The Tea Party think tank run by Justice Thomas’ wife counts among its friends the far-right Catholic group Tradition, Family and Property.
FP is an all-male organization that finds its recruits among adolescent boys, whom it trains in the use of the combat regalia of the Middle Ages — maces, crossbows, and the like — according to the late Penny Lernoux’s 1989 book, People of God: The Struggle for World Catholicism. The medieval games in which the boys partake are so brutal, Lernoux reported, that one recruit told her his arm had been broken three times in the exercises.
…
At the time Lernoux was reporting, recruits were taught to worship not only the Blessed Virgin Mary, the holiest woman in Catholicism, but also the flesh-and-blood mother of TFP founder Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, whom he referred to as Santa Monica. Oliveira, who died in 1995, loved the Spanish Inquisition, he wrote, “because, while it went on, the Catholic Church managed to cleanse itself of heretics.” (Never mind that many of those so-called heretics were Jews who wanted nothing more than to practice their own faith, or people whose politics were inconvenient to the Spanish throne.)
Okay. Tea party on dudes! Still stalking Anita Squeaky?
Well, Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism leaves no prisoners on this thread on Obama on the banking and financial crisis. The backyard bank is looking better all the time. It links to the infamous Obama Daily Show appearance.
I’m so offended by the latest Obama canard, that the financial crisis of 2007-2008 cost less than 1% of GDP, that I barely know where to begin. Not only does this Administration lie on a routine basis, it doesn’t even bother to tell credible lies. .And this one came directly from the top, not via minions. It’s not that this misrepresentation is earth-shaking, but that it epitomizes why the Obama Administration is well on its way to being an abject failure.
Okay, well that was full of truthiness.
The depth of hate expressed to the GLBT community just never ceases to amaze. AC 360 covered this jerk of an Arkansas school 
official last night, here’s a written version from Politics Daily concerning Clint McCance’s hate speech on Facebook and his apologies on CNN.
McCance, who lives in Pleasant Plains, Ark., 70 miles north of Little Rock, said he was unaware, like many other people in rural America, about the recent rash of suicides linked to sexuality and bullying.“I brought more hurt on them . . . they didn’t deserve that and I do feel genuinely bad for them,” McCance said. He added that he had hurt people on “a broad spectrum” and called his posts “ignorant.”“I’m not a bad guy . . . not a monster,” he said.
McCance said that his core beliefs haven’t changed about what he reads in the Bible but that he will change the way he acts.
“I’m reaping what I’ve sown,” he said.
He seemed more humble on TV but I wonder how much of it has to do with wanting to stop the hate mail and threats which are also horrible and were extended to his wife and children. I have no idea all what we need to do to educate people on to becoming more tolerant but speaking out has to be one of the first things. If you want to see the CNN story and AC 360 interview you can go here.
Why do people feel that disparaging others is acceptable behavior?
peej
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bostonboomer
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mablue2
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skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Good morning, Kat! I really think that people like McCance have not yet known an out GLBT individual. I just don’t see how it can still be possible to hold such thoughts toward someone you have personally met and spoken with. Maybe this is naive of me but having that personal contact and seeing that we’re not really monsters and in fact we’re just like everyone else HAS to make all the difference.
Wow. That story about the group Ginny Thomas is affiliated with totally blows my mind. I’m stunned over this part…
How many times did Abramoff visit the White House during the Bush regime? Can you imagine the hysteria on the right if anyone on the left with associations this extreme was anywhere near the Supreme Court or the White House? But it’s all okay when it’s right-wing extremism. These people are scary.
It scares me that there are supreme court justices that probably share these views.
I found this interesting:
http://womensmediacenter.com/blog/2010/10/exclusive-why-mama-grizzlies-vote-pro-choice/
It is by Gloria Steinem…
Fantastic article. But it may be too late to make a difference.
Great article, thanks for linking to it. It inspired me to write an open letter to my congress people. I’ll probably post it here once I get it finished.
I agree with wanting to throw every single congressperson & senator out.
What do you think of BO saying FDR was “irresponsible”? *headdesk*
Well, I’d say that explains why he’s all excited about Lincoln Chaffee and Charlie Crist. This guy’s a DINO. But then, it’s not like some of us didn’t know.
I wish there was a saintly Democratic donkey angel which would come down and whisk away Obama’s apparent Democratic stamp. Heh. He’s such a poseur and what a liar!
Here is another story via twitter that caught my eye.
Clint McCance’s father said he was surprised at the his son’s posting and that he normally doesn’t behave that way. I hope the school district uses it as a teaching experience and I do hope Mr. McCance makes peace with the gay community, and I wish his wife and girls all the all the best and a safe return home.
He looked like a deer caught in the headlines last night on 360.
I thought he was heavily medicated.
I’ve been the victim of stalking and threats by the anti-choice movement and had it orchestrated out of churches. It’s a horrible situation. Especially when you have small children. I can imagine he had no idea what kind of wrath his actions were going to bring down on every one’s heads around him. Since he’s an elected official, I can only imagine the amount of mail he’s getting these days. That would knock the bejeezus out of any one. I saw that some kinder gentler activists were trying to reach out to him. I just hope he’s learned his lesson about spouting his mouth off with such bile.
WOW! I was in bed, but otherwise would have fell over…imagine the ‘Catholic Church’ and more shocking is, it was Opus Dei (always get the spelling wrong) who put it forward.
I read a book about Richard Hanssen – the FBI agent convicted of spying for Russia. link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen
He was totally crazy including the fact that he had hidden cameras in his house that allowed his neighbor to watch him having sex with his wife. The wife didn’t know about the cameras.
Anyway, he was a member of Opus Dei and belonged to the same chapter as Scalia, Thomas and Louis Freeh, his boss at the FBI. I am sure everyone remembers Freeh’s improper activities during the Clinton investigation and finding out he is OD finally brought Freeh’s activities into focus for me. I have seen it speculated that Alito and Roberts are also members of Opus Dei. So perhaps 4 of our 9 supremes (and their spouses) belong to a sinister cult.
Someone please drag all of these crazy people into the sunlight and destroy their ass.
That hate has infiltrated the LGBT community as well, dividing it. The most vitrolic attacks I get for expressing my opinions about Obama are from LGBTs.
That’s amazing considering how weak-kneed he’s been in taking any action supporting their civil rights.
Really? From what I am seeing we have had a sea change. Gay Obots, or people who claim to be gay, have greatly diminished in number. However, they do post repeatedly and take issue with everything. I have noticed that now they are usually accused of being paid to post because they can’t really mount a good defense for Obama. The DADT suspension injunction was the final straw for the community.
Religion has been slowly threading its way throughout the political spectrum, and no more so than in the last 10 years. It more or less found its way “out of the closet” after 9/11 when many people were “breathing a sigh of relief” that George W. Bush was in charge because some saw him in his newfound faith as “an instrument of God”. Even he conceded as much following that decision to invade Iraq because he had counseled with a “higher Father”.
Faith Based Initiatives and the conscience clause soon followed. Stem cell research was set aside as a result of religious beliefs based on the fact that science was tampering with “human beings”. Religious beliefs and practices were now taking hold in the political arena and the separation of church and state was beginning to erode.
Add to the fact that the candidates paid homage to Rick Warren by allowing themselves to be interviewed around their beliefs and a new trend took hold as I can see this becoming part and parcel of future elections where candidates will agree to this litmus test as another means of shilling for votes.
C Street and “The Family” has been revealed as another arm of this religious intrusion with many members of congress holding membership. The cry for a “Christian Nation” is being treated with more respect as tools like Glenn Beck make the case day after day in full view.
It is a dangerous trend and something that should be viewed as a threat to our democracy but with much of this fervor alive and well within the current Tea Party movement where this stuff is marched out and applauded, I am of the belief that this is something that we will be contending with for years to come.
Clarence Thomas and Anton Scalia are deeply entrenched in religious beliefs that have found its way into the highest court in the land which is disturbing. This nation has the potential to become a “semi theocracy” as the tentacles of these institutions have limited the barriers of the separation of church and state.
We are now in the throes of watching a current slate of candidates openly declaring their religious beliefs and taking much pride in the “discrimination” they would make into law if given the opportunity. Where once the discussion of religion was considered taboo it is now worn as a badge of honor and a fact that without holding some form of belief their chances of winning over the electorate are weak.
Give me an atheist with a barrelful of commonsense and a true desire for serving the “common good” over any bible thumping “holier than thou” with an agenda to subvert the meaning of the Constitution any day of the week. That person would have my vote hands down.
BostonBoomer wrote somethings about the Dominion that really scared me. I’m not sure if you’ve read the book on that, but that group should curl every one’s toes.
They curl my toes. I haven’t read the book, but I have read online about the group and things written by a woman who used to be part of the quiverfull movement and is now a feminist (!). They want Old Testament biblical law to be the law of the land, with mandatory submission of women to men, mandatory heterosexuality, death penalty for homosexuality/lesbianism, and , I think, stoning of adulterous women.
This may be a cliche, but it’s unbelievable that there are still people like that alive in the 21st century.
What and they left out stoning of adulterous men?
LOL
Why is it that gets bragging rights but the poor woman is treated like a worthless old shoe or some kind of horrid animal?
Reminds me of a documentary I saw once and a brother was defending the honor killing of his sister. He said: If a glass is broken, do you not throw it out? So, yes, old shoe, old glassware, mother, sister, daughter, they’re all the same.
From Yves Smith terrific piece, linked above:
The more someone gets away with lying the more they do it until telling lies comes as naturally to them as telling the truth, and, ironically, eventually their lies reveal the truth about them.
It’s fascinating watching that Daily Show interview. Some people are criticizing Jon Stewart for letting Obama frame his responses and go on as long as he wanted, but I like that he let Obama dig his own holes.
Yeah, having Obama go on as long as he wants is actually a good thing I believe. The more heat he gets on him, the less able he is to have an original thought or even a coherent thought (as if he ever had those to begin with). I thought he was absolutely horrible on Jon Stewart’s show and I am LMAO at the whole thing!
Yves Smith and David Dayen (FDL) have been doing some fantastic coverage and analysis of the mortgage/foreclosure crisis. Emptywheel, who is trying to sell her house in MI, has also been doing some fine writing on the subject, though not as extensive as the other two. For anyone thinking of selling a home right now, I particularly recommend the following diary from emptywheel: http://tinyurl.com/22uersu. Two lawyers who comment regularly over at FDL offer some excellent advice in the comments section on bases to cover if you’re thinking of selling.
Haven’t seen the whole “interview” yet – can only take so much Obama at a time – but I cringe when he says things like “when I won”, “all that stuff”, “a bunch of folks”, especially the “folks” annoyes me, and he says that a lot !
Then there was this, after having rattled off the blessings of HCR:
“This is what – I think most people would say – is as significant a piece of legislation as we’ve seen in this country’s history.” Wow … historically historic once again. And the audience of course loved it.
And when he mentioned the “heck of a job” he winked! He actually winked! My guess is that this wink will be stored by the republicans for future usage!
hurricane katrina was historic, the bp oil spill was historic. I’m tired of historic. I want liberal and effective.
Morning dak!
I’m lucky to be in the household of a 7%er. My husband is running for his local again this year.
On the Tea Party thing, I noticed yesterday that one of it’s founders thought being a Muslim should be a disqualification from serving in government quite nastily(as in since 9/11 anyone Muslim should be accountable for the acts of those individuals.) Is it any wonder some people consider the tea party element extreme.
I understand why people are angry, however, the type of thinking shown above should NEVER be considered acceptable in our society. When your founders and main spokespeople say crazy stuff then you should believe they mean them and look for other avenues to change the political dynamic.
There are so many demagogues that are ready to surf that anger into power and money that it’s truly dangerous in a democracy.
Jane Hamshire on FDL corrected Obama on his health care comments. My son in law who has 90 employee’s just got his health insurance quotes for next year. 28% increase from 6 separate company quotes. In his state (SC) he is one of the few private businesses covering the whole family, but if this keeps up he will not be able to. He has been hit with low orders and had to lay off people the last 3 years (that is not fun). Things have stabilized and he was hoping to give his employee’s a raise after a 3 year flat line, including himself. The health care increases will wipe out the raises. He keeps his employee’s informed and they understand where things are. They do not like it but they understans
Our politicians and business people have evolved to programs that are not sustainable in the long run.
The worst abuses are with products that are necessary and tend to have high price inelasticities. That means people are forced to push more and more of their budget into these few things and it pulls away from other parts of the productive sector. I mean, really, what adds more value to the economy? An insurance company’s paper work or a manufactured automobile?
Even worse is what was passed actually encourages a higher deductible plan since it starts penalizing people with plans like our own in 2018(we have a co pay plan that charges 20, 25, and 35 respectively). So not only will people be stuck with paying more in terms of increased insurance surcharges but they’ll have to come up with a larger out of pocket. So they’ll get hit from both ends. Parents will likely have to decide between rent and health care when someone in the household is sick in middle class america where $120 is the equivalent of a days labor.
and then there’s the friggin’ cost of any drugs! Some of them are priced like house payments too.
Amen to that. I’ve always believed that the Republican plan to add Rx drug coverage to Medicare and include a provision which forbids negotiating a reduction in the price of drugs, was a deliberate move to destroy Medicare. If there is one thing health insurers will avoid like the plague, it’s prescription drug coverage for the elderly. They just can’t charge high enough rates to cover the costs, and health insurers actually do negotiate the costs.
Just saw the latest, IED found in toner cartridge, flights from UPS grounded. With all that is going on, now we have to worry about office supplies blowing up, as if we didn’t have enough problems in business.
fiscalliberal,
We are in the same position, the hit we took was an 80% + increase this July and a 23% increase last year. It is really getting to where we are wondering what next July will bring.
I really wanted a Public Option…, let me know if you hear of anyone proposing anything to correct this robbery via the health care insurance premium high Sky racking. I am at the point of throwing my hands up at this point.
I did not follow the development of the Health Bill much as soon as I figured out that we did not change the fundamentoal structure of health payment. Einstein said – expect a different result while we continue to do the same is insanity, Kucinich had this figured out in the beginning saying this was nothing but a subsidy for the insurance companies. The tragedy is that we need health savings to cut the federal deficit and it will not happen despite the claims of the president.
They released the GDP numbers and the NYT has some analysis. If demand’s the problem, then it’s something the government can correct. I’m not getting why there’s no momentum to take care of this in policy circles.
This is just going to create more problems balancing state budgets which will lead to cuts and continue to dampen growth.
not good news at all
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/can-sarah-palin-please-read-past-first-line
arghhhhhh!!!! I wish I could say that was unbelievable, but unfortunately it isn’t.
Pretty funny, and embarassing for her. I wonder how or if she will explain that one.
People in the spotlight should just stay the heck away from Twitter. It’s too immediate, and they can very often look foolish. Reminds me of Gwen Ifill and Markos making fun of Palin on Twitter for saying something to the Tea Partiers about partying like it’s 1773, and then having to backtrack. Stay away from Twitter, all of you!! It’s too easy to look like an idiot to thousands of people.
speaking of which, I ironically just got this tweet:
LOL.
That should be tatttoed on every pol’s tweeting hand.
I was not shocked she tweeted that at all. She gets a pass because she goes after obama and a victim. Certain Hillary supporters gave her a pass after she called Hillary a whiner because she defended Chelsea when she got called a whore by shuster. She will always get a pass. If Hillary did something like that she would not get a pass because we expect competency from Hillary.
You’re right about that. Any misstep by either Clinton is magnified one hundred times and then repeated again and again and again by the media.
This is nice and truly deserved, for an effort to make peace by bringing people from all sides together, make them listen to each other, and thus create beauty: In Germany, conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra will receive this year’s Westphalian Peace Prize.
That is great. I remember reading about this last year and being moved.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/palestinian-children-sing-for-holocaust-survivors-1.272879
It’s nice when people are able to see past differences and try to understand where another may be coming from.
Awww. That brought tears to my eyes.
What a beautiful story! I must admit that I am a sucker for stories like that, about how people from both sides in the ME come together and share. And I believe that art – any genre of art – is a great mediator.
Paul Krugman’s piece today, Divided We Fail, might not bug me so much if he’d used his column the past two years to push ObamaCo to pass better legislation. I can’t shake the feeling that, by defending and protecting Obama, Krugman was among those complicit in what led to the impending Democratic losses.
yay!!!!!!looking good Dak.. i will be back..hugs 🙂
Spiffy digs, dakinikat!
I miss Democrats being the good guys.
We were for social justice and equal opportunity.
What have Democrats become now?
Electioneering and the 1964 voter rights act needs to be enforced every where for every one. I think election officials should make sure that groups of people aren’t blocking voting places as a general procedure. Some of the stuff that went on in Florida in the 2000 election was reminiscent of the tricks of the 1960s. I’m afraid that there will be efforts to start blocking Hispanics in places as blow back from all this anti-undocumented stuff. I think this could be a problem in places like Arizona and Nevada. Wherever there’s a group with power in a locale, there’s always a chance of that happening. The Black Panther stuff is limited in comparison to some other abuses but still, the message needs to be sent that whoever you are, you have no right to ‘police’ voting places unless you are an election official. That should be a race-blind issue. No one should be made to feel uncomfortable when exercising constitutional rights.
That’s right — it doesn’t matter how “limited” or widespread it is. And I’m just so disappointed that Democrats are behind this kind of stuff now, not just the intimidation part but the covering up for it as well. This, again, is bullying and protecting the bullies; and it’s not only in voting, it’s all over the place.
I liked that Democrats, whatever our flaws, fought for social justice in no uncertain terms. And I don’t recognize today’s Democrats.
And as I’ve said before, we shouldn’t be surprised that kids are bullying when adults are doing it and getting away with it. All of this becomes part of the collective conscious and there are consequences.
I miss them, too, Zaladonis…
Here is Lauren Valle’s letter to the stomper:
“Mr. Profitt, You have asked that I apologize to you. Perhaps this is not the apology that you are looking for, but I do have some things to say.
I have been called a progressive, a liberal, a professional agitator. You have been called a conservative, a Republican, a member of the Tea Party movement. Fundamentally and most importantly, you and I are both human beings. We are also both American citizens. These two facts, to me, are far more meaningful than the multitude of labels that we carry. And if these two facts are true then it means we are on the same team.
I have not been for one moment angry with you and your actions. Instead I feel thoroughly devastated. It is evident that your physical assault on me is symptomatic of the crisis that this country is struggling through. And it seems that I will heal from my injuries long before this country can work through our separation. Only when we decide let go of our hate, our violence and our aggression will we be able to communicate to each other about the issues that divide us. Right now, we are not communicating, we are stomping on each other. No one can ever win, no one can ever be heard, with violence.
You and I, as fellow citizens, and we, as a country, have a choice. Either we choose to continue the cycle of inflicting violence upon each other, screaming at each other, insulting each other and putting one another down or we and find a way to sit down and start listening to each other. We’ll see how far we get. We are all viciously and vociferously feeding a fire that will only burn us down together. We must reach inside ourselves and make space for each other. We must forgive each other. We must believe in our capacity for transformation. The moment we choose compassion and reconciliation is the moment that we will begin to move toward freedom. There is no other way.
I believe that you should be held accountable for your actions but I also recognize the incredibly negative impact that the consequences must be having on your life, and I wish you all the best as you yourself heal from this. Violence hurts everyone.