Tula Connell

Mike Huckabee wants it both ways. He says he wants to support striking television writers—right before he crosses their picket line. Huckabee became one of the first to cross the picket line after late night talk show host Jay Leno went back on the "Tonight Show" yesterday. On his way to cross the picket line yesterday, Huckabee "professed his support for the striking television writers' union." Uh, sorry.

Members of the Writers Guild of America, East, walk the picket line in New York.

Last year, a group of television workers at WMUR in New Hampshire voted to join a union—Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1228. But management didn't want to negotiate a contract with them—and there's nothing in U.S. labor law that says employers must agree to a contract. So, until this month, the workers had no contract.

Then, one after another, the Democratic presidential candidates started writing letters to WMUR-TV General Manager Jeff Bartlett urging him to go back to the bargaining table and work out an agreement.

Guess what? He did.

After months of deadlock, the WMUR technicians and drivers now have a contract that includes wage increases ranging from 18 percent to 35 percent and improvements in the pension and vacation benefits.

Tuesday's vote by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) paving the way for more media monopoly was a slap against the public will, which overwhelmingly opposes further consolidation. The 3–2 vote took part in a Bush Republican-packed regulatory agency unaccountable to voters whose master is the party of the president.

Proving that executive signing statements aren't the only easy way for a presidential administration to bypass such trivialities as the democratic legislative process, federal regulatory agencies under the Bush administration have taken partisanship to an extreme.

So extreme, one such agency, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), is purposely pursuing an ideological agenda—one that rolls over workers, seeking to create a Dickensian world in which we all must futilely ask our employers: "Please, sir, may I have another?" NLRB chairman Robert Battista admitted as much last week in testimony before a joint House-Senate subcommittee hearing on the NLRB and its impact on workers’ rights.

It's been a busier week than usual for us in the labor movement, making it impossible to spotlight any one event. So here are highlights.

Seth Michaels, our AFL-CIO presidential website coordinator, joins me in writing this week's labor blog. Thanks, Seth! So what if the 2008 primaries are literally days away? We still have work to do in the 2007 elections. On Dec. 11, a special election in Ohio's 5th Congressional District pits a hangover from the old Ohio Republican agenda against a progressive who's willing to fight for working families.

I don\'t quite understand this wingnut trend to \"volunteer\" to be waterboarded: Ashcroft caused an uproar when he declared Guantanamo Bay was a “good place” for detainees. In addition, he defended the torture tactic of waterboarding: Ashcroft also responded to questions from the audience. The first question came from a woman who asked if Ashcroft would be willing to be subjected to waterboarding. “The things that I can survive, if it were necessary to

Do the studios have a union-busting firm advising them on how to cause as much misery and chaos as possible in the wake of the WGA strike? She made her walk of shame through the Writers Guild of America\'s picket lines for three days. An aspiring writer, she is paid $33,000 a year as an assistant on the Warner Bros.

Earlier in the week: New York: Will you and the media ever apply as much scrutiny to the Giuliani marriages as you have done to the single Clinton marriage? David S. Broder: I plan to leave both subjects alone. In today\'s WaPo: And this was simply the confusion sown by having the first lady in charge.

The Latvian band Brainstorm performs their song Tin Drums.  Somehow Tin Drum seemed oddly appropriate for today... The Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed the mark-up of the FISA bill until next Thursday.  Which gives us a week to put more pressure on them regarding telecom immunity and basket warrants, both of which fly in the face of the constitution, the bill of rights and the rule of law. As I mentioned in the

Matt Stoller of OpenLeft asks Donna about her campaign.  Huge thanks to Matt for sending this along...  Jane\'s surgery went well yesterday, so everyone can breathe a sigh of relief and know that she is doing really well and woke up as feisty as ever.  So much so that the first thing she asked about was how things were going with Donna Edwards.  If you missed our Blue America chat with Donna the first time around, do take