I love the analogy with that scene from “Grand Canyon”!

Yeah, BUT, the analogy implies unions (per Simon’s view) are illegitimate means to achieve legitimate ends (or, to obtain reasonable power) in this political economy. I agree that the dialog (under the analogy) correctly points out that pursuit of legitimate ends often generates inconvenience to by standers or passive stakeholders. It does not, however, imply personal assault.

One point I would like to make is that establishment Dems are no saints in this issue either. My own Congressman, Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MBNA/Bank of America), voted for the heinous bankruptcy bill, for example. Democrats, in order to get votes and please the media like to be seen as pro-business.

IMO, the establishment Dems won when we selected Kerry instead of Howard Dean in ‘04. The media did a wonderful hit job on Mr. Dean during and after Iowa. I still have not forgotten those ads that the establishment Dems put out there then.

Given the Lieberman campaign, it is going to just as big a battle to reform the Democratic party to a party for the people as to actually win the House and Senate back. Don’t get me wrong, I will pull the lever for the (D) come November, but push back against corporate America is needed more than ever once we win Congress.

I’m baaaaack, just as I said I’d be.

[after good night’s sleep, whew; dear kitty who’d been scaring us with mystery-ailment yesterday slept tw’ our heads all night, “thanked us” quite openly for taking her to vet yesterday(!), & she’s bouncing around like a kitten today - you gotta have known an Aby to realize how they are - smarter & more human than most people.]
- all this aside…

LOVED reading your piece this morning. How funny we kinda locked horns yesterday. We (me, my hubby, & a bunch of our Univ. biologist buddies & new-ish Elderhostel friends)…

http://www.elderhostel.org/about/default.asp

…are doing pretty much the same as you. All of us with our heads down, refusing to give up… It’s so wonderful for the spirit, to know there’s a determined band of brothers & sisters all across this land pretty much doing the same.

Some, like our univ. friends, are self-starters – so we merely share news & material each of us finds available, etc.

Others, like some of our neighbors, just are not openly political in any way and don’t dare be, but they’re every bit as upset with the status quo as we are. So they soak up whatever we give ‘em, and work on their extended family, “redstate” inlaws & the like – armed to the teeth so they can counter the latest limbaugh-garbage-spew.

One dear, formerly shy lady has gotten to the point that she WILL. NOT. BACK. DOWN(!) if any of the inlaw dittoheads starts spouting repug talking points. She, with her highschool education, backs him right up into a corner & leaves him quivering there, fearing for whether he’s gonna be allowed to join the family picnic. Neat lady!

Agreed. It is sooo hard to remain respectful with the the politicians and wilfully blind newspaper eds. Tell me about it. I’m in OH, groan. There’s a fine line, tw’ what passes for respect, and cowtow-ing. I work hard not to cross it. But I don’t pull punches either. I just make sure to keep language cleaner than what’s rattling around in my head and slam the issues as hard as possible, with backup that doesn’t allow them to squirm off the hook.

I also send an appreciative snippet to some if & when they actually do something “good” – a rare occurrence, but it has happened. Such ‘notes’ are just sent thru legislator’s webpage with no fanfare, & certainly never made public in a letter to editor etc. I don’t want to “help” them, just keep them listening & give miniscule credit where credit’s due.

DeWine is scrabbling like a wounded puppy for anything positive these days, so such crumbs are eagerly lapped up, oogh. (example of something good: DeW’s pretending to be “green” lately, so he votes to save nice high-profile, newsworthy ANWR; so-o-o, he gets a “good boy” crumb every time he does that) But I also have him/his staff answering e-mails with subject-specific, pretty-much on-point replies these days, …as Sherrod Brown pulls farther ahead, heh heh.

Hubby and I sign most of those issue-related petitions we come across, also. We do not feel obligated to send $$ with every one, but we do feel it helps to send in the petition – can’t hurt… I was getting RNC survey forms for awhile too; again, no $$$ sent at all, but I absolutely slammed them upside the head at every opportunity throughout the survey, & sent it off to them. Funny thing. They kept sending me more surveys, of various types. So I kept getting out my heavy-duty flyswatter & swatting ‘em again & again, letting them know exactly how upset I was with specific policies, point by point, all the way through. I finally tired of the game, but often wondered what their little machine-tally did with those rants, heh. Made me feel better, whether they were read or not. *g*

Sorry to babble on ad nauseum. Nice to know we’re on the same page after all.

I, we, do indeed wish you luck. Admire your drive and success. Guest op-ed! Waa Hoo! WAY TO GO!

{{{{{peace}}}}}

I was specifically told in college that when PRODUCTIVITY GOES UP then WAGES GO UP.

And when I asked why, as in “who’s going to make that happen, who’s going to force executives & investors give additional productivity profits to workers” even my more liberal economics professors looked at me in blank confusion at my lack of sophistication.

I learned really quickly that asking questions like this made me a crazy leftist.

Gosh, I sure was crazy. And they tell me that someday if we keep helping the richest of the richest do better and better that somehow it turns around to help all of us.

You know, like how in the 1980s the richest yuppies started spending a fortune on good gourmet coffee, and now you can go into any truck stop and get a Guatemalan blend coffee or cappucino?

See, a RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATS. Well, except for the boats on the perpendicular side of the planet. And for boats that are in freshwater, or in drydock.

I asked similar questions about NAFTA, but since it was a bipartisan Republican / Wall Street bill to protect investors and undercut worker rights led by Clinton, everyone just told me I was one of those Ross Perot crazies, even though I was talking to US and Mexican workers unions and organizations.

Gosh, it’s bad to be a crazy leftist — because everyone always thinks you’re crazy, and then you turn out to be right, and no one cares that you were right in the first place.

http://phoenixwoman.blogspot.c…..ryone.html

youkillednoodle at 75

1. letters to editor

2. respectful but tough, honest dialog with legislators, without backing down. rinse. repeat.

3. carrot sometimes more than stick, but always mindful of #2.

4. sometimes, just finding effective ways to get out to the public with, “Look what’s happening, and how it affects your life, your kids, their future.”
(that’s a big reason I’m here. I may not be a ‘pro’, but I can translate the wisdom I glean here & spread to others in our community and way way beyond – e.g., oh how those active elders love to find someone else who shares their concerns . . .)

(((peace)))

Adie

This is what I do, exactly. I do have difficulty with the “respectful” part sometimes, as some people are so incredibly dense. The local editors are “Libertarians”, which to me seems like a cope-out. So, they print an article on trans fat, saying everyone one knows the danger and can make their own choice, I take them to task. They print an article about “oil shortage” and I tell them “rubbish, there is NO evidence of a shortage, just talking points printed by the likes of them, and the answer is conserve, not drilling wildlife refuges”.

Same with Alito, or my favorite, “the dems have no room for a moderate like Joe, where’s their big tent, etc.” to which I say WTF? Why should the Dems embrace a Repug in their ranks? Do the Repug “big tent” progressives?

As I wrote to the local paper six months ago, “The most disturbing aspect of your editorials is that some folks will actually believe this garbage, please do some research on your subject before you write again”. I was pleasantly surprised that their response was to be invited as a guest columnist and a face-to-face meeting.

But this is a local paper, without national conflicts of interest. Even David Corn quickly sold out when the subject was his good friend Ms. Novak, as Jane once pointed out.

So, depressed? Hell ya. But energized. Practical. Always keeping in mind that doing the right thing will often cost you a paycheck at the end of the day. This I do know.

Today’s project: Try to get the local council to stop draining our little lake for the golf course sprinklers. Wish me luck.

To learn more about the nonimmigrant visa programs and how they destroy jobs and suppress wage begin with this great short article found here in California Labor and Employment Law Review. The author is H1-B expert and UC Davis Computer Science Professor Norman Matloff.
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/CLER.pdf
Also visit http://modernpatriot.blogspot.com/

The progressive blogsphere does a great job sounding out against brain dead trade policies like NAFTA that have only served to enrich the corporate elite while wiping out vast numbers of manufacturing jobs. However not enough has been said by folks like Byron Dorgan and Dave Sirota about the “nonimmigrant visa” INSOURCING scandal. Progressive have a great opportunity to attract hundreds of thousands of new middle class formerly independent voters this election by coming out strongly against the so called “Securing Knowledge, Innovation, and Leadership Act” otherwise known the “SKIL BILL” Face it any bill sponsored by the likes of John Shadegg(R-AZ) , John Cornyn(R-AZ and Mike Pence(R-IN) has got to be just plain evil for American workers.

See
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b…..-08-28.txt
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b…..-08-08.txt

The SKILL which would essentially triple the annual nonimmigrant visa quotas for decade years. This insanely pro-corporate bill was largely written by Microsoft and the ITAA. It was personally lobbied for before an unprecidented special committee hearing by Bill Gates himself.

Be forwarned the SKIL bill would open up vast portions of America’s middle class labor force beyond the currently decimated ranks of Information Technology worker, Software developers and Engineers to “INSOURCED” global labor arbitrage. Currently unionized school teachers , nurses and medical technicians need to be very much aware that this bill will allow corporations and school districts to eliminate their jobs by importing foreign worker who will be paid often half their salary. Of course the effect for those able to keep their jobs is that that their incomes will be under increasing wage pressure.

For an example of how the H1-B visa programs could be used against the nursing and teaching professions read:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b…..-07-11.txt
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/…..achers.txt

Progrssives should unite to wrap the SKIL bill around the Republicans necks and sink them with it. Labor unions already opposed to the SKIL bill have helped put the previous untouchable house seat of Republican Mike Pence(IN-06) in play. This is a potentially huge winning issue for progressive and pro-labor Democrats.

PS: Currently is looks like the Republican Leadership is deathly afraid of passing the SKIL bill before the election. THEY DAMM WELL SHOULD BE!!!! However, even if the Republicans along with defacto Republicans like Joe Lieberman go down in defeat, there will be a major push to pass the SKIL in the lameduck session.