Wars, Genders and the Academy AwardsZillah EisensteinMarch 9, 2010submitted by the author to portsideI started writing this the week running up to the AcademyAward Ceremonies for best picture, best director, beststory, best of whatever. It would be dishonest of me to actas though I am not interested and engaged in all the hypeand beauty of it all. And even though most of the panoramais about fantasy and chimera and glitz, movies matter andspeak and reveal the cultural stories that they tell. So it
Tidbits - March 11, 2010* Frank Lumpkin, 1916 - 2010 (Chicago Tribune obituary andlink to television tribute on WTTW)* Re: Can Democrats get immigration reform right?(David Wilson)* Lift Your Voices Against the Wars on Iraq and Afghanistan!Teaneck, New Jersey - March 19* Re: North Korea In Transition (David Ecklein)* Re: How Sports Attacks Public Education (Chris Lowe)* Re: A Gene for Alzheimer's Makes You Smarter (John) [...]
Obama administration plans to close International LaborComparisons officeBy Alec MacGillisWashington Post - March 3, 2010http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/02/AR2010030201568.htmlLike a scorekeeper for the world, a tiny unit within theBureau of Labor Statistics tracks globalization's winnersand losers, and the results are not always pretty for theUnited States. Manufacturing jobs here, for example, havefallen faster since 1979 than in Canada, Germany or Japan.
Finally, a bold legislative response to the jobs crisis1. Finally, a bold legislative response to the jobs crisisEPI News - March 11, 20102. Job market stuck on "pause" by Heidi Shierholz==========EPI News - March 11, 2010Economic Policy Institutehttp://www.epi-data.org/epinews/epinews20100311.htmlEPI applauds the new Local Jobs for America Act by U.S.Representative George Miller (D., Calif.), a bold jobcreation policy that incorporates some of therecommendations of EPI's economists and policy analysts. [...]
Congress Votes for Afghan War with 65 AgainstCongress Votes for Afghan Warby Tom HaydenThe Nation.com - March 11, 2010http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100322/hayden2A plain reading of yesterday's vote on the Kucinich warpowers resolution is that an overwhelming majority of theHouse has authorized the Afghanistan war, including amajority of Democrats. The war now has greater legitimacy.The vote was 356-65-9. [...]
The Front Line of Climate Justice
by Robby Rodriguez
High Country News
Mar 11, 2010
http://www.hcn.org/hcn/greenjustice/blog/the-front-line-of-climate-justice
Actual Washington Post headline today (3/11/10):
Rise in Washington Area Unemployment Seen as Good Sign for Economy's Recovery
Reporter V. Dion Hayes tries to explain:
Yesterday (3/10/10) there was a House floor debate on Rep. Dennis Kucinich's push to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
FAIR has a new Action Alert out pointing out that the New York Times has repeatedly published accounts of the right-wing anti-ACORN videos that credulously accepted assertions that have turned out to be false--for example, that one of the video-makers, James O'Keefe, went into ACORN offices dressed as a cartoon pimp.
Victor Davis Hanson notes that one reason for American exceptionalism may be that we did not inherit from England "a large underclass of only quasi-free people attached to barons as serfs." Sadly, a worse institution took root here, but never became part of the national psyche.
Labor Campaign for Single-Payer HealthcareHealthcare Is A Right -- Not A PrivilegeOn eve of national health care vote...Labor for Single Payerwww.laborforsinglepayer.orgMarch 10, 2010Grassroots labor leaders vow stronger, long-termcampaign to support "Medicare for All" approach tohealth care reformOver 125 activists from across U.S. plot strategy forcoordinated grassroots campaign to win single payerhealthcare [...]
Re-educationConservative Education Scholar Diane Ravitch Returns ToHer Liberal Roots.By Richard D. KahlenbergWashington Monthlyhttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1003.kahlenberg.htmlThe Death and Life of the Great American School System:How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education byDiane Ravitch Basic Books, 288 pp.For many years, education historian Diane Ravitchtraversed a familiar path among a certain kind of NewYork intellectual-beginning on the left in the 1960s
Greek Protests Mount as Parliament Passes Budget CutsBy Maria Petrakis and David TweedBusinessweekMarch 5,2010http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-05/greek-protests-mount-as-parliament-passes-budget-cuts-correct-.htmlMarch 5 (Bloomberg) -- Striking Greek workers shut downtransport and tried to storm parliament as lawmakerspassed 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in budget cuts,including wage reductions, needed to trim the region'sbiggest budget deficit.Police with riot shields fired tear gas as
Writing A New Script: Labor Renewal in MinnesotaSubmitted to PortsidePeter RachleffProfessor of History, Macalester CollegeMarch 8, 2010rachleff@macalester.eduThe most severe economic crisis since the GreatDepression of the 1930s, the "Great Recession" hasrevealed the insecurity faced by working people. Afterforty years of neoliberal economic policies andpractices, including free trade and the export ofcapital and jobs, contracting-out and contracting-in,deregulation, privatization, and reductions in the
Failing Schools Will Drag the Economy Down With ThemOur schools create a kind of capital moreimportant than anything Goldman Sachs produces,and they need our helpBy Robert ReichSalonMarch 8, 2010http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/03/08/school_bailout_open2010Any day now, the Obama administration will announce$4.35 billion in extra federal funds for under-performing public schools. That's fine, but relative tothe financial squeeze all the nation's public schoolsnow face it's a cruel joke. [...]
By David Swanson
Sixty-five congress members, including 60 Democrats and 5 Republicans, voted to end the occupation of Afghanistan on Wednesday. But 356 congress members, including 189 Democrats and 167 Republicans voted to keep the war going. The vote followed three hours of debate created by Congressman Dennis Kucinich's introduction of a privileged resolution.
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I don't know why it should surprise me that Glenn Beck doesn't know what he's talking about, but you'd think that if you had a furious grudge against someone who died 40 years before you were born, you would spend at least a little time finding out what exactly was wrong with that historical figure.
FAIR has a new Action Alert reacting to reports that PBS's replacement for the retiring Bill Moyers and the canceled Now series will be headed by Newsweek editor Jon "Center-Right Nation" Meacham.
In these short videos, May First/People Link Co-Director Alfredo Lopez discusses some of the issues our organization has been grappling with and talking about: issues that we believe are of critical importance to both the Internet and the Progressive movement. Each of Alfredo's presentations is about 15 minutes long, using Flash format. Feel free to comment.
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