Prop 8 ruling

Image by John Lemieux via Flickr

TAPPED, American Prospect's blog has an interesting reaction to the California Supreme Court decision. Kansas is one of those states where domestic partnerships are not only illegal, but unconstitutional. Kansas is one of the states where is it legal to fire someone because of their sexual orientation.

"At The Nation, Richard Kim urges activists to think twice before rushing toward an expensive battle to overturn Prop 8 at the ballot box in 2010. Why? Because California's domestic partnerships -- unlike DPs in other states -- already include all the rights and responsibilities of marriage." Kim writes:

I know people's emotions are very raw now; there are dozens of rallies planned around the country tonight. That's all fine and good. But the decision on whether or not to sink massive dollars and resources into an initiative to reverse Prop 8 in 2010 (remember, Prop 8 was the second most expensive election in the country in 2008; only the presidency cost more), should take this relative equality into account. There are dozens of states where same-sex couples have no partnership rights whatsoever; states where it is still legal to fire someone because they are gay; a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act is still stalled in Congress. Aren't those better and more inclusive movement goals than an uphill initiative that would give same-sex couples the M-word in one state only? (emphasis added)

Memorial Day 2009

The Case for Single Payer

Here's an instructive video slide show from Steve Max of Democratic Socialists of America about single payer health care.

United Way of Plains Opens Laid Off Worker Center

Good news in response to bad news in Wichita.



For more about this story, see the press release on Kansas Workbeat.

Link round-up

Mick Hartley on Pete Seeger

Terry Glavin on May Day

Kansas Jackass on Kansas GOP votes against Matthew Shepard Act

Americans United commends Obama for ditching right-wing day of prayer

Venezuelan police break up May Day march

10 worst countries to be a blogger

Good video on employee free choice act

ITUC May Day Message

I found the May Day proclamation of the ITUC today:

Brussels, 30 April 2008 (ITUC OnLine): The world is facing its gravest economic crisis in over 60 years. Tens of millions of jobs are being lost due to the greed, plunder and incompetence which have, through decades of free market deregulation, led the world into deep recession. Global poverty and inequality are increasing fast, and working women and men everywhere face levels of insecurity unprecedented in recent times.

You should read the whole article.

Oklahoma GOP platform requires teaching creationism

Even if Sam Brownback is elected Governor in 2010, Kansas won't be the clear cut favorite to be the most backward state. Look what the Oklahoma GOP platform calls for"

7. We believe that the scientific evidence supporting Biblical creation should be included in Oklahoma public schools curricula, and if any evolution theory is taught, that both should receive equal funding, class time, and material. Teachers should have the freedom to cover creation science without fear of intimidation, reprimand, or lack of professional respect.

[...]

Curriculum
1. Curricula should include [...] the option of using the Bible as HISTORY [emphasis added] or literature text.

Class Realities

From Ryan Avent

Two thirds of the kids with average math scores and low-income parents wind up not going to college, while almost two-thirds of high-income kids with average math scores do go.

One of the most remarkable findings from the Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project is that a child from a family in the top income quintile who does not get a college degree is more likely to wind up in the top income quintile himself than a child from a family in the bottom income quintile who does get a college degree

Left should push for democratization of Cuba

Wise words from Marc Cooper

Obama's move Monday, his clean break with the last half-century of American policy, in itself begins to rob the Cuban government of its convenient bogeyman. Who in Cuba is going to believe that an Obama-led America poses a threat of invasion? (Answer: only a few dozen "revolutionary" Americans who at any given moment can be found in a Havana hotel bar telling themselves they are vacationing in Paradise).

I never bought the argument that the reality of a belligerant Bush admin in Washington somehow justified censorship, repression and oppression in Havana. It's a non-sequitor. We don't believe the threat of Al Qaeda justifies suspension of the U.S. constitution, do we? Are Cubans somehow entitled to a lower grade of civil liberties than we are?

So those of us who wish to lift the embargo now have the obligation to demand that the Cuban government start to make some tangible concessions toward democratization.

Raul Castro putting a few cell phones up for sale and his family members suddenly embracing the same gays and lesbians that were once relegated to UMAP labor camps ain't gonna cut it.

If Obama can enact a policy -- no matter how modest-- of creating an opening toward a "hostile" nation, then the Cuban government ought to be able to do the same in regard to its own population.

AFL-CIO and Change to Win Issue Immigration Statement

Image via Wikipedia

America's two union federations( the AFL-CIO and Change to Win) have released a common policy statement on comprehensive immigration reform.

Immigration reform is a component of a shared prosperity agenda that focuses on improving productivity and quality; limiting wage competition; strengthening labor standards, especially the freedom of workers to form unions and bargain collectively; and providing social safety nets and high-quality lifelong education and training for workers and their families. To achieve this goal, immigration reform must fully protect U.S. workers, reduce the exploitation of immigrant workers and reduce employers’ incentive to hire undocumented workers rather than U.S. workers. The most effective way to do that is for all workers— immigrant and native-born—to have full and complete access to the protection of labor, health and safety and other laws. Comprehensive immigration reform must complement a strong, well-resourced and effective labor standards enforcement initiative that prioritizes workers’ rights and workplace protections. This approach will ensure that immigration does not depress wages and working conditions or encourage marginal low-wage industries that depend heavily on substandard wages, benefits and working conditions.

This approach to immigration reform has five major interconnected pieces:

1. An independent commission to assess and manage future flows, based on labor market shortages that are determined on the basis of actual need; 2. A secure and effective worker authorization mechanism;
3. Rational operational control of the border;
4. Adjustment of status for the current undocumented population; and
5. Improvement, not expansion, of temporary worker programs, limited to temporary or seasonal, not permanent, jobs.

April 21 Call in for Higher Education and a Progressive Budget

For more information, see this great briefing from Campus Progress.

Don't Follow Tea baggers, Read the Traffic Signs

I shot this picture from the window of my car while driving by the Tea-baggers (here and here) protest in Wichita.

I didn't notice the traffic sign, until I got home.

"RIGHT LANE ENDS"

Appropriate.

Reading, Writing, and Union-buidling

Talking Union has an important post by Steve Early on books about labor, the obstacles to getting them bought and read, and steps that might be taken to create a synergy between university presses (and other publishers) and unions. It is a very important article. I encourage you to read it.

And buy and read some of the books.

Here's a couple of paragraphs from near the end.

If more unions took similar initiatives, there could be far greater book-selling synergy with university presses (or any cooperating labor book publisher) whenever union members are being trained at university facilities like Cornell’s or union-operated education centers, like the George Meany Center or the Maritime Institute, both located in Maryland. In an earlier era, some unions like the Auto Workers even operated book clubs for their members. Les Leopold’s The Man Who Hated Work recalls how OCAW leader Tony Mazzocchi, a ninth grade drop-out, launched a book discussion group among local union activists on Long Island, in the mid-1950s.

“Tony’s group saw itself as part of a working-class culture that encouraged self-education. Soon there were more than twenty people enrolled in the University of Mazzocchi. The introductory curriculum packed a political wallop. It started with Howard Fast….books such as Freedom Road, Spartacus and Citizen Tom Paine. Then, the group turned to the history of American class struggle through such works as Labor’s Untold Story and The History of the Fur and Leather Workers. For some, the reading group opened the door to more traditional literature as well. [One member] recalled how they passed around the Iliad and the Odyssey.”

Mrcyn Dylla--classical guitar concert

Saturday after a noon political meeting and a quick stop by State Representative Delia Garcia's Health and Job Fair, I went to a classical guitar concert at the Wichita Art Musuem.

I've been doing lots of politics and lots of meetings and lots of web stuff, so I was in the mood for music. It was an excellent concert.

The artist is Marcin Dylla.
Check out his website. There are even some mp3s.

Mark Brenner on the Economic Crisis

Mark Brenner, director of Labor Notes, gave a presentation on the economic crises at a conference last week end in Kansas City. It's about thirty minutes and packed with information.

[I'm still figuring out how to make good title frames. What looks great in my video editing software does not look so good once it goes through compression for streaming and Google's processes]

Lessons in Movement Building from Oklahoma Socialists

"American Marxism: Lessons in Movement Building from Oklahoma Socialists"

An evening with Jim Bissett, Chair and Professor Department of History and Geography, Elon University, North Carolina

Introductory Comments by Scott Carter, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, The University of Tulsa

WHEN AND WHERE:

April 20, 2009
7 PM
Lecture Hall Helmerich #219
Collins Business Building, The University of Tulsa
800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104

In his provocative book "Agrarian Socialism in America: Marx, Jefferson, and Jesus in the Oklahoma Countryside, 1904-1920", Professor Bissett chronicles the rise and fall of the Socialist Party of Oklahoma during the first two decades of the twentieth century, when socialism in the United States enjoyed its golden age. To explain socialism's popularity in Oklahoma, Bissett looks back to the state's strong tradition of agrarian reform.

Drawing most of its support from working farmers, the Socialist Party of Oklahoma was rooted in such well-established organizations as the Farmers Alliance and the Indiahoma Farmers Union. And to broaden its appeal, the Party borrowed from the ideologies of both the American Revolution and Christianity. By making Marxism speak in American terms, the author argues, Party activists counteracted the prevailing notion that socialism was un-American.

Come hear Professor Bissett speak about this fascinating history and the lessons that can be drawn from it for 21st Century movement building.
Sponsored by the Social Science Interest Group of The University of Tulsa

Spell check turns Mormon leaders into apostates

It seems that spell-check programs ought to come with a consumer warning.

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Thousands of issues of Brigham Young University’s student newspaper were pulled from newsstands because a front-page photo caption misidentified leaders of the Mormon church as apostates instead of apostles.[...]-

An apostate is someone who abandons a previous loyalty (to a faith, movement, politcal party, cause, etcetera).

The newspaper staff retrieved as many of the 18,500 copies of the paper as possible and reprinted them with the correction. And it issued an apology to the apostles. The staff also explained how it happened: an error in spell-checking.

It started when a student misspelled the word “apostle” when writing the photo caption. When the caption was put through the editing software’s spell checker, it was flagged, and the editor accidentally clicked the first word that came up on the correct list: “apostate.” The mistake made it past two proofreaders before being sent off to the printing press.

Source: Associated Press, April 7, 2009 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

A few years, the Newton Kansas newspaper had a front page headline about an addition to the Pubic library.

A study with college students found that those using spell-check and grammar-check programs made more errors than those doing the job manually.

I've made my share of errors both ways. Proof-reading is one of the hardest tasks to do well.

Why is this President different?

A Sever at Tapped

the first African-American president of the United States, who will be hosting the first
ever Seder at the White House.

Read the whole thing.

Google to restirct Google Video

Google has this announcement on its Google Video website

In a few months, we will be discontinuing uploads on Google Video. Since this is a big change for our site, we wanted to make sure we answered your questions about it.

MORE

I had just begun to use Google video for longer videos that wouldn't fit in YouTube's 10 minute limit. Now I guess I will have to look into the other alternatives.

Flutter: the New Twitter

Triangle Fire and Rose Schneiderman's Speech

One of the greatest industrial tragedies in U.S. history occurred on March 25, 1911, when 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, died in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist company in New York City. The victims had been trapped by blocked exit doors and faulty fire escapes. The aftermath of the catastrophe brought grief and recriminations. Protest rallies and memorial meetings were held throughout the city. During one meeting at the Metropolitan Opera House, tension broke out between the working-class Lower East Siders who filled the galleries (and saw class solidarity as the ultimate solution to the problems of industrial safety) and the middle- and upper-class women in the boxes who sought reforms like creation of a bureau of fire prevention. The meeting would have broken up in disorder if not for a stirring speech by Rose Schneiderman, a Polish-born former hat worker who had once led a strike at the Triangle factory. Although she barely spoke above a whisper, Schneiderman held the audience spellbound.

---

I would be a traitor to those poor burned bodies, if I were to come here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public—and we have found you wanting.

The old Inquisition had its rack and its thumbscrews and its instruments of torture with iron teeth. We know what these things are today: the iron teeth are our necessities, the thumbscrews are the high-powered and swift machinery close to which we must work, and the rack is here in the firetrap structures that will destroy us the minute they catch fire.

This is not the first time girls have been burned alive in this city. Every week I must learn of the untimely death of one of my sister workers. Every year thousands of us are maimed. The life of men and women is so cheap and property is so sacred! There are so many of us for one job, it matters little if 140-odd are burned to death.

We have tried you, citizens! We are trying you now and you have a couple of dollars for the sorrowing mothers and brothers and sisters by way of a charity gift. But every time the workers come out in the only way they know to protest against conditions which are unbearable, the strong hand of the law is allowed to press down heavily upon us.

Public officials have only words of warning for us—warning that we must be intensely orderly and must be intensely peaceable, and they have the workhouse just back of all their warnings. The strong hand of the law beats us back when we rise—back into the conditions that make life unbearable.

I can’t talk fellowship to you who are gathered here. Too much blood has been spilled. I know from experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. And the only way is through a strong working-class movement.

March Madness and My Brackets

Some people fill out massive numbers of brackets and then, I guess, toot the horn of their best guess.

I did two, the most I've ever done.

First round at KAKE-TV 22/32 (68%) high nationally had 30 of 32, high in the KAKE was 28/32. The KAKE brackets are done round by round. For the second round, you get to pick from all the first round wiiners. You're not shut out by first round losers.

Local 349 out of 641 44%
National 42,194 out of 80,042 44%

ESPN

23-9 1884738 our of 5+ million 59.30%

I picked Oklahoma to win everything, which wasn't a good pick according to Sports Daily and the other national broadcasters I've heard. I'm not an OU fan, unlike some friends. My thinking was this: Blake Griffin is the best player in the country. Sometimes that is enough. There was a little bit of Big-12 homer in that pick as well.

I have KU getting to the Sweet Sixteen, but then losing to Michigan State. That's a head not a heart pick.

By the way, I fall at about the 50% percentile between bracketologist and "I like their uniforms/mascots/nickname."

New Poll from Iraq

The BBC has released a new poll of Iraqis. This is an interesting, and encouraging, result showing a dramatic l increase in support for democracy and a decline in support for an Islamic state or a strong man.

Read the story here or download a PDF of the poll here.

The poll, it should be added, doesn't provide support for supporters of the war.

But war opponents should move beyond anti-war slogans and reflexes and really support the democratic trends and developments in Iraq.

State Treasure Dennis McKinney on the February Cash Flow Crisis

I should have put this up yesterday evening. The Eagle's WeBlog posted about McKinney's views on this today.

Extreme Todd: Obama, Sebelius, SCHIP are all socialists

Interviewed this week on KCFN 91.1 FM, Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt seems to say that Obamma has appointed Gov. Sebelius to be HHS Secretary because Obama has put the country on a "path to socialism." Tiahrt's Exhibit No.1? Sebelius supported S-CHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program.




Tiahrt's opponent for the 2010 GOP nomination, Jerry Moran, also voted for SCHIP.

Will Extreme Todd denounce Moran as a "closet socialist"?

Will Extreme Todd denounce those other notorious Kansas socialists like the AARP, PTA, Kansas Hosital Association, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger?

Rep. Paul Davis: Update of Working Kansans' Agenda

Kansas House Democratic Leader Paul Davis updated the Labor Caucus on the Working Kansans Agenda during the 2009 Washington Days gathering in Topeka.

For more on the agenda, see here and here.

Secretary of Labor Jim Garner on Getting Benefit of Stimulus Program

Kansas Secretary of Labor Jim Garner addresses the Labor Caucus on the state Democratic Party during Washington Days on February 28, 2009. He addressed the need to take full advantage of the potential benefits of the Obama stimulus program.

Garner strongly advocated that the state can gain $68 million for the state's unemployment fund by modernizing the state's system for determining eligibility for unemployment. Kansas does not currenlty count the most recent quarter of earnings to decide if a unemployed worker can get unemployment.

Garner also said is it long overdue to increase the pitiful $250,000 limit for worker's compensation and the disgraceful $2.65 an hour Kansas minimum wage.

I'm extremely progressive

The Center for American Progress has an interesting interactive quiz. Answer 40 questions and it tells you how progressive (or reactionary, I guess) you are. You can compare yourself to various categories.

I'm more "progressive" than "liberal Democrats" (247.1) who are more progressive than "progressives."

How progressive are you?

Ann Coulter Defends White Supremacist Group

SPLC on Coulter

In her latest foaming-mouth tome — Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America, released on Jan. 6 — Coulter spends the better part of three pages defending a group called the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), which The New York Times had described as a “thinly veiled white supremacist organization.” Coulter begs to differ. The CCC, Coulter opines, is “a conservative group” that has unfairly been branded as racist “because some of the directors of the CCC had, decades earlier, been leaders of a segregationist group.” “There is no evidence on its Web page that the modern incarnation of the CCC supports segregation,” she says. “Apart from some aggressive reporting on black-on-white crimes — the very crimes that are aggressively hidden by the establishment media — there is little on the CCC website suggesting” that the group is racist. Indeed, its main failing is “containing members who had belonged to a segregationist group thirty years earlier.”

Coulter could hardly be more wrong. And even if she can’t find time to read beyond a page of the CCC’s website, she really ought to know — after all, the organization where she frequently speaks, the Conservative Political Action Committee, has publicly banned the CCC from its annual gathering because it is racist. Also in the late 1990s, Jim Nicholson, then-chairman of the Republican National Committee, asked GOP members to stay away from the CCC because of its “racist and nationalist views.”

How could conservative Republicans be inspired to say such ugly things? Let us count the ways.

The CCC’s columnists have written that black people are “a retrograde species of humanity,” and that non-white immigration is turning the U.S. population into a “slimy brown mass of glop.” Its website has run photographic comparisons of pop singer Michael Jackson and a chimpanzee. It opposes “forced integration” and decries racial intermarriage. It has lambasted black people as “genetically inferior,” complained about “Jewish power brokers,” called gay people “perverted sodomites,” and even named the late Lester Maddox, the baseball bat-wielding, arch-segregationist former governor of Georgia, “Patriot of the Century.”

One day, the CCC ran photos on its home page of accused Beltway snipers John Muhammad and John Malvo, 9/11 conspirator Zacharias Moussaoui and accused shoe-bomber Richard Reed. “Notice a Pattern Here?” asked a caption underneath the four photos. “Is the face of death black after all?” On another occasion, its website featured a photo of Daniel Pearl, the “Jewish Wall Street Journal reporter” who had just been decapitated by Islamic terrorists. In the photo, Pearl was shown with his “mixed-race wife, Marianne.” The headline above the couple’s picture was stunning even for the CCC: “Death by Multiculturalism?” The CCC Arkansas chapter ran an essay waxing nostalgic for the days “when racial separation was the norm.”

But to Ann Coulter, there is “no evidence” on its website that the CCC “supports segregation.” Mostly, she says, the group — which was formed from the debris of the White Citizens Councils that Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once called “the uptown Klan” — is about “a strong national defense, the right to keep and bear arms, the traditional family, and an ‘America First’ trade policy.” Indeed, she says, The New York Times and other critics of the CCC are simply liberals “who have no principles.”

Muslim Friends of Genocide

What is the connectin between Arabs and Muslims, on the one hand, and Terrrorism on the other was the ostensible subject of a meeting at Wichita Stat Monday evening? My busy schedule prevented me from attending, so only a few quick observations and a recent news story.

Stereotyping all Muslims or all Arabs as terrorists is wrong and should be resolutely opposed. Repressing people because of their religioius views is wrong--whether it is Muslims who are being repressed or Muslims who are being repressed.

The reality is that there is a powerful, transnational movement in the Arab and Islamic worlds that is profoundly anti-democratic, imperialist, and, openly genocidal in its aims.

Via Mick Hartley

A delegation of senior Middle Eastern leaders has travelled to Sudan to express international support for Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, who is accused of war crimes in Darfur.

Officials from Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah joined Syria's parliament speaker and the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group for talks with al-Bashir in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, on Friday.

The visit comes days after the International Criminal Court at The Hague issued a warrant for al-Bashir's arrest on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan's western Darfur region.

Ali Larijani, Iran's parliament speaker and a member of the international delegation in Khartoum on Friday, said the ICC arrest warrant is an "insult directed at Muslims".

Not that any of them ever expressed any concern for the Muslims killed or raped in Darfur - or those thrown off their land and forced to live in camps, maintained by humanitarian groups funded almost entirely by the West. Or their fate if the aid agencies threatened by al-Bashir are forced to leave.

Though fellow Muslims aren't Bashir's only friends:

The UN Security Council, at its first meeting since the arrest warrant was issued, failed on Saturday to agree on a statement asking Sudan to reverse the decision to expel the aid agencies.

The key powers at the UN Security Council - Russia, China, France, the US and Britain - met to discuss a statement which called on Sudan to reverse the expulsions.

But diplomats say China, which buys Sudan's oil and sells it weapons, objected.

A delegation from the African Union and the Arab League is due to ask the Security Council to suspend the war crimes case against Sudan's president.

International Women's Day

March 8 is International Women's Day. Here are four items which might be of interest.

New Report Shows Global Gender Pay Gap Bigger Than Previously Thought

A new report released by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) for March 8, International Women’s Day, has revealed that the pay gap between men and women worldwide may be much higher than official government figures. The report, “Gender (in)Equality in the Labour Market“, is based on survey results of some 300,000 women and men in 20 countries. It puts the global pay gap at up to 22%, rather than the 16.5% figure taken from official government figures and released by the ITUC on March 8 last year.

AFL-CIO Calls for Global Charter for Working Women’s Rights

The AFL-CIO Executive Council, at its recent Winter meeting, took several actions related to International Women’s Day. It called for establishment of a global charter guaranteeing the rights of working women around the globe.

Click here to read the global charter statement and here for the statement on working women’s rights in a global economy. For a new report on the inequality faced by working women around the world, click here.

The Origins of International Women's Day

International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

1908
Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women's oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.

1910
In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's Day - to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women's Day was the result.

1911
Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women's Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women's Day events. 1911 also saw women's 'Bread and Roses' campaign.

1913-1914
On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1913 following discussions, International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Wommen's Day ever since. In 1914 further women across Europe held rallies to campaign against the war and to express women's solidarity.

1917
On the last Sunday of February, Russian women began a strike for "bread and peace" in response to the death over 2 million Russian soldiers in war. Opposed by political leaders the women continued to strike until four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. The date the women's strike commenced was Sunday 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia. This day on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere was 8 March.

1918 - 1999
Since its birth in the socialist movement, International Women's Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown from strength to strength annually. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women's rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. 1975 was designated as 'International Women's Year' by the United Nations. Women's organisations and governments around the world have also observed IWD annually on 8 March by holding large-scale events that honour women's advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.

Women In Labor History Timeline

To honor International Working Women’s Day March 8, New York State United Teachers released a women in labor history timeline.

The timeline includes:

1765

The first society of working women, the Daughters of Liberty, is organized as an auxiliary of the Sons of Liberty, a workingman's association.

1824

Women workers strike for the first time, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. 102 women workers strike in support of brother weavers protesting the simultaneous reduction in wages and extension of the workday.

1825

The first union for women only formed: The United Tailoresses of New York.

1899

The National Consumers League is formed with Florence Kelley as its president. The League organizes women to use their power as consumers to push for better working conditions and protective law for women workers.

1903

Mary Harris "Mother" Jones leads a protest march of mill children, many of who were victims of industrial accidents, from Philadelphia to New York.

November 14, at the AFL convention in Boston, women unionists unite to form the National Women's Trade Union League and elect Mary Morton Kehew president and Jane Addams vice-president. The National Women's Trade Union League is established to advocate for improved wages and working conditions for women.

1909

"Uprising of the 20,000" female shirtwaist workers in New York State strike against sweatshop conditions

the real issue in international trade--it's not protectionism

Maybe it was just the sound-byte the media picked, but British PM Gordon Brown was off-target when he warned against protectionism. Europeans like to castigate Americans for (American) protectionism, but they often like to practice Eruopen protectionism.

In the present international crisis, the real issue is unequal Keynesianism. There needs to be a coordinated and vigorous expansion by every country.

Here's a good explanation from Ezra Klein

Following on the Gordon Brown post, a reader e-mails a link to the Brooking Institution's comparison of various international stimuli. They warn:

In an integrated world economy, the effectiveness of stimulus is contingent on how coordinated it is across countries. If the sizes of the stimulus packages (relative to domestic GDP) are very different across countries or if the effects of some countries’ stimulus packages are backloaded, then there could be “leakage” of stimulus from countries that act early and forcefully...large frontloaded stimulus packages that are coordinated internationally could not only be more effective directly but also boost consumer and corporate confidence.[...]

In 2010, the U.S. accounts for over 60 percent of planned stimulus. China and Germany are the next largest contributors with China contributing 15 percent of G-20 stimulus and Germany contributing 11 percent. The U.S. stimulus package amounts to 2.9 percent of 2008 GDP, China’s 2.3 percent, and Germany’s 2.0 percent....Some countries like China and the U.S. have responded forcefully, with impressive packages. But the execution, both in terms of size and speed, leaves much to be desired in some of the G-20 countries.

In other words; We're doing a lot. China is doing a lot. Everyone else isn't. In practice, that means that they will reap some of the rewards of our stimulus spending in the form of increased demand for their exports, but we won't reap many rewards from their stimulus spending. And overall, the global economy will be slower than it needs to be, which means national economies will be slower than they need to be (if Caterpillar's international sales sag, they'll cut U.S. jobs).

Also, that picture atop this post? The one that doesn't look like anything? Click on it. It's an an awesome table comparing G-20 stimulus packages.

Sirota: Too Big To Fail

If It's "Too Big to Fail," Then It's Too Big to Be Private

By David Sirota
Campaign for America's Future, 3/3/09

I appeared yesterday at the top of Neil Cavuto's Fox News show to discuss the potential for financial industry nationalization. You can watch the clip here:



I tried to use the opportunity to float a fairly simple - and old-fashioned - concept that has been almost entirely missing from the media/political debate: If something is "too big to fail," then it's too big to be in private hands.

The term "too big to fail" is a euphemism for any institution that is so important to the entire nation's most basic well being, that society cannot let that institution fail. This is why one of the foundational principles of civilized society has always been nationalization - ie. government control - of the institutions that are "too big to fail": institutions like the military, whose failure would mean a basic loss of national security; law enforcement, whose failure would mean a basic loss of civil order; and infrastructure construction, whose failure would mean the crumbling of commerce. The government, as the most powerful representative of society as a whole, runs these institutions/services because they are too important to be allowed to fail.

Unfortunately, as of hard-right and center-right ideologues have ran our government for three decades, they gutted the basic laws and enforcement mechanisms (financial regulations, anti-trust prosecutions, etc.) that prevented a myriad of financial institutions from becoming "too big to fail."

The American Insurance Group is the best example of this - a company that, as the New York Times notes, essentially based its business on a risky scheme to sell insurance to other corporations against colossal housing market failure.

To read the full article, go to:

Washington Days Photos

It was one ofthe better Washington Days, I've been to. Very good Labor Caucus meeting, thanks to the leaderhip of Pat Lehman.

Why Castro Sucks, Reason #1,169

This happened in August but I only learned about a couple of days ago. When the mis-named Pastors for Peace come through your town on their propaganda tour for a dictator, represser of labor rights, presecutor of gays, enemy of democracy, I suggest you organize a punk rock concert for Gorki Aguila.

From The Daily Telegraph

Cuban rocker Gorki Aguila on trial for 'social dangerousness'

A Cuban punk rocker is being charged with "social dangerousness" because his songs denounce the communist government.

Gorki Aguila, lead singer of Porno para Ricardo, has been in police custody since Monday.

He is due to appear at the Playa municipal court in western Havana charged with subverting "communist morality."

Should he be convicted, he faces up to four years in prison for openly defying the revolution and poking fun at Fidel Castro and his brother Raul, who became Cuba's president in February.

Police arrested 39-year-old Aguila at his home where he was putting the finishing touches to a new album which was provisionally called Geriatric Central Committee, a reference to the ageing Castro regime.

His arrest has sparked protests from artists and human rights groups with supporters due to assemble at Havana's Malecon promenade to protest.

The government often applies the "social dangerousness" charge in cases of public drunkenness or as a way to keep large groups of unemployed Cubans - or those simply skipping work - from congregating on city streets during business hours.

Porna para Ricardo, formed 10 years ago, are banned from official airwaves, and make up part of an underground music movement.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, an illegal but tolerated group, said in a statement: "Gorki Aguila has not committed any specific crime as defined by the current criminal code."

The rock star has asked for "diplomatic observers" to attend the trial but refused legal help from US-based Cuban American National Foundation.

Ciro Diaz, the band's guitarist, said: "These kind of trials are very biased. It's difficult for someone to be absolved.

"A lawyer can do very little because there's no evidence of criminal activity presented, only what the police say."

Fortunately, Gorki was found innocent of the most serious charges.

SPEEA Engineers Rally for a Fair Contract

This photo was taken Monday during a rally by Boeing engineers. members of SPEEA. Their contract expired in November. Usually, after engineers in Seattle reach a deal, a contract in Wichita is easy to finalize in a few day. Not this time. A few weeks back, the Wichita engineers rejected the company's offer by a 88%-12% margin. On Monday, the talks resumed, with the aid of a federal mediator. But on Tuesday, they broke down. SPEEA say it will take another vote on the contract and will add a strike authorization vote.

I'm not an engineer, not a member of SPEEA, and this is just my opinion, it looks like the company is toying with provoking a strike. Making a substandard offer, that they know the workers can't accept.

Some people seem to think the engineers make too much money and should  be happy just to have a job in such trying times. This is envy combined with subservience. For if the corporations can get away with stomping highly educated and skilled workers, what chance to the rest of us have.

New Kansas Blogger Gets A Scoop

Ks-1 is a new blogger to me and he has got a scoop. KS-1 has poured over the campaign finance records of hard right Tim Huwlskamp, a leadering contender to take the seat of Congressman Jerry Moran who is running for the Senate.

Here's what he found

Records now in Kansas01's possession, some of which are pictured above behind Dr. Timothy Huelskamp's photo and some of which are available for download, confirm that Huelskamp's immediate family has pocketed over $18,000 of his contributors' dollars over the past several years. At least $15,000 of this was spent on reimbursements for mileage (which would be a lot of driving, even in Kansas); for "Republican retreats;" for hotels and other miscellaneous items.

(BTW, I'm using the old style "he" instead of "he or she" or "he/she." I don't know KS-1's idenity.)

US Peace Activists Defend Shirin Ebadi

I've added my name to this letter from the Committee for Peace and Democracy.

We are writing to invite you to sign the open letter below from American peace activists in defense of Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate and defender of women's rights and human rights for all. Your support can make a difference.

We believe that peace and democratic rights are deeply intertwined, and we defend freedom of expression whether or not we agree with the views being expressed. As peace activists, however, we are particularly concerned about the persecution of Shirin Ebadi, who has on many occasions repeated her opposition to the use of or threat to use U.S. military force against Iran. For example, on February 4, 2009 Ebadi was interviewed by Amy Goodman on her Democracy Now! television program. Goodman asked, "If the United States were to attack Iran, and when you look at the repression that you and others have suffered, would that help the democratic movement in Iran?" Ebadi replied firmly, [translated] "A military attack on Iran or even a threat of a military attack on Iran will deteriorate the situation of human rights and women's rights, because it gives an excuse to the government to repress them more and more often."


If Shirin Ebadi has no security inside Iran, then all peaceful civil society activists are at great risk. Indeed, the recent attacks on Ebadi take place against a background of stepped-up government repression. Trade union leaders, including Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Maddadi, are currently in prison; two women labor activists, Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi, were flogged on February 18, 2009 because of their participation in a May Day celebration. Women's rights defenders, including those involved in the "One Million Signatures Campaign" have been unfairly prosecuted and sentenced. Privacy and personal dignity are under siege. People who defy patriarchal codes prescribing how men and women should behave, and people who are suspected of homosexual conduct, have been routinely victimized, often violently. Students, including most recently students from Amir Kabir University in Tehran, have been persecuted and brutally attacked. Mothers for Peace protesting the war in Gaza were attacked by plain clothes security agents on January 11 of this year.

These developments strengthen warmongering voices on both sides and thus threaten to set back the peace movement opposing military action against Iran.

Initial signers include Ervand Abrahamian, Janet Afary, Medea Benjamin, Noam Chomsky, Ariel Dorfman, Martin Duberman, Carolyn Eisenberg, Daniel Ellsberg, John Feffer, Arun Gupta, Adam Hochschild, Doug Ireland, Kathy Kelly, Assaf Kfoury, Naomi Klein, Jesse Lemisch, Kevin Martin, Scott McLemee, David McReynolds, Charlotte Phillips MD, Katha Pollitt, Danny Postel, Matthew Rothschild, Stephen Shalom, Alice Slater, David Swanson, and Chris Toensing.

If you would like to add your name or make a tax-deductible donation to publicize the following statement, please go to our website www.cpdweb.org -- if for any reason you have difficulty at the website, just send us an email at cpd@igc.org. And please circulate the statement to your colleagues and friends.

Sincerely,

Joanne Landy Tom Harrison
Co-Directors, Campaign for Peace and Democracy

HERE IS THE LETTER:

IRANIAN HUMAN RIGHTS LEADER SHIRIN EBADI IN DANGER

Peace Activists Call on Teheran to Ensure Her Safety

To:

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Ayatollah Shahrudi, Head of the Judiciary
Mohammad Khazaee, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations

Islamic Republic of Iran

We are writing to protest in the strongest terms the threats that have been mounted against Shirin Ebadi, co-founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Center and the Organization for the Defense of Mine Victims. Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Laureate, has spoken out vigorously and repeatedly for women's rights and human rights for all in her own country. She has also been a vocal and effective advocate for peace and against military attacks on Iran in international forums.

Ebadi today is in considerable danger. On December 21, 2008, officials prevented a planned celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and forced the closure of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), which Ebadi helped found. The Center provides legal defense for victims of human rights abuses in Iran. The group had invited nearly 300 human rights defenders and supporters to the private celebration. A few hours before the start of the program, members of state security forces, and plainclothes agents entered the DHRC building. They filmed the premises, made an inventory, and forced the center's members to leave before putting locks on all entrances.

On December 29 officials identifying themselves as tax inspectors arrived at Ebadi's private law office in Tehran and removed documents and computers, despite her protests that the materials contained protected lawyer-client information.

Ebadi's former secretary has been arrested, and on January 1, 2009 a mob of 150 people gathered outside her home, chanting slogans against her. They tore down the sign to her law office, which is in the same building, and marked the building with graffiti. The police, who have been quick to close down unauthorized peaceful demonstrations, did nothing to stop the vandalism.

In similar cases, Iranian authorities frequently have followed office raids and other harassment with arbitrary arrests and detention, often leading to prosecutions on dubious charges

As peace activists, we have a special concern for Shirin Ebadi. Ebadi has spoken out, as we have, against any U.S. military attack on Iran. In 2005, Ebadi wrote, "American policy toward the Middle East, and Iran in particular, is often couched in the language of promoting human rights. No one would deny the importance of that goal. But for human rights defenders in Iran, the possibility of a foreign military attack on their country represents an utter disaster for their cause." ("The Human Rights Case Against Attacking Iran" by Shirin Ebadi and Hadi Ghaemi, The New York Times, Feb 8, 2005).

We oppose any military attack on Iran by the United States or any other nation. We reject too the hypocrisy of the U.S. government when it protests repression in Iran while turning a blind eye to or actively abetting comparable or worse repression in countries with which it is allied like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Israel in the Occupied Territories. And we condemn as well Washington's double standard in criticizing Iranian repression while itself engaging in torture and undermining civil liberties at home. But that in no way deters us from protesting in the strongest terms the denial of basic democratic rights to the people of Iran. We protest because we believe in these rights, and also because we see social justice activists in Iran and all countries as our natural allies in building a peaceful, democratic world.

We call on you to cease and desist from the threats to Shirin Ebadi, to move immediately to prevent any further harassment, and to ensure Shirin Ebadi's safety and security.

You can sign on here.

EPI at the Entitlements Conference

The following is a statement outlining recommendations of the Economic Policy Institute’s president, Lawrence Mishel, before participating in today’s White House meeting on the economy:

“Over the last 30 years, the United States has seen an unprecedented transfer of income and wealth. Trillions of dollars of income that formerly were shared with all income classes have been captured by the top 1% of Americans, leaving the middle class squeezed and lower income Americans suffering real hardships.

“In fact, since 1979, the share of national income going to the top 1% has more than doubled, thereby allowing them to enjoy more than $1 trillion a year in extra income. It is clear that when the government looks for revenue to redress our fiscal imbalance that it should look first to those who have profited so disproportionately from the nation’s past economic growth. An estate tax (affecting only the wealthiest 5% of Americans),top marginal tax rates, and the taxation of capital gains and dividends can be the primary source of additional revenue needed both for continued public investment and to attain a reasonable deficit level of about 3% of GDP.

“With this historic rise in inequality in mind, it is also clear that Social Security, America’s most important and successful social insurance program, is the wrong place to look for savings. Like Medicare and Medicaid, which have done so much to end poverty among the elderly and ensure basic medical care for the most vulnerable among us, Social Security should be strengthened, not cut. The most serious long-term threat to fiscal balance comes from the rising costs of health care, but that problem is economy-wide and in no way caused by the so-called entitlement programs. Medicare does a better job of controlling costs than private insurance, and the best hope for the future depends on creating the option of a large Medicare-like plan that employers and individuals can choose as an alternative to costly private medical insurance. EPI and the Lewin Group have shown that such a plan could lower the cost of health care by a trillion dollars over 10 years while guaranteeing coverage to every American.”

See also a very good statement from the Democratic Socialists of America.

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band headlined the closing concert of Friends University's Jazz Festival and did a great job.

Opening acts "Soulstice" and the Friends Jazz Band I also did a very good job.

Here's video of the Phat Band, I found on You Tube.

Be patient through the introductions, you'll be rewarded.

Two Anti-Fred Phelps Protests in Wichita on Tuesday

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Karl Marx's Letter to Abraham Lincoln

In observance of Abraham Lincoln's birthday, NAR thought it might be timely to recall the letter that Karl Marx as a leader of the International Working Men's Association sent to Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America

It was presented to U.S. Ambassador Charles Francis Adams on January 28, 1865


Sir
We congratulate the American people upon your re-election by a large majority. If resistance to the Slave Power was the reserved watchword of your first election, the triumphant war cry of your re-election is Death to Slavery.

From the commencement of the titanic American strife the workingmen of Europe felt instinctively that the star-spangled banner carried the destiny of their class. The contest for the territories which opened the dire epopee, was it not to decide whether the virgin soil of immense tracts should be wedded to the labor of the emigrant or prostituted by the tramp of the slave driver?
When an oligarchy of 300,000 slaveholders dared to inscribe, for the first time in the annals of the world, "slavery" on the banner of Armed Revolt, when on the very spots where hardly a century ago the idea of one great Democratic Republic had first sprung up, whence the first Declaration of the Rights of Man was issued, and the first impulse given to the European revolution of the eighteenth century; when on those very spots counterrevolution, with systematic thoroughness, gloried in rescinding "the ideas entertained at the time of the formation of the old constitution", and maintained slavery to be "a beneficent institution", indeed, the old solution of the great problem of "the relation of capital to labor", and cynically proclaimed property in man "the cornerstone of the new edifice" — then the working classes of Europe understood at once, even before the fanatic partisanship of the upper classes for the Confederate gentry had given its dismal warning, that the slaveholders' rebellion was to sound the tocsin for a general holy crusade of property against labor, and that for the men of labor, with their hopes for the future, even their past conquests were at stake in that tremendous conflict on the other side of the Atlantic. Everywhere they bore therefore patiently the hardships imposed upon them by the cotton crisis, opposed enthusiastically the proslavery intervention of their betters — and, from most parts of Europe, contributed their quota of blood to the good cause.
While the workingmen, the true political powers of the North, allowed slavery to defile their own republic, while before the Negro, mastered and sold without his concurrence, they boasted it the highest prerogative of the white-skinned laborer to sell himself and choose his own master, they were unable to attain the true freedom of labor, or to support their European brethren in their struggle for emancipation; but this barrier to progress has been swept off by the red sea of civil war.

The workingmen of Europe feel sure that, as the American War of Independence initiated a new era of ascendancy for the middle class, so the American Antislavery War will do for the working classes. They consider it an earnest of the epoch to come that it fell to the lot of Abraham Lincoln, the single-minded son of the working class, to lead his country through the matchless struggle for the rescue of an enchained race and the reconstruction of a social world. ^[B]
 

Signed on behalf of the International Workingmen's Association, the Central Council:

Longmaid, Worley, Whitlock, Fox, Blackmore, Hartwell, Pidgeon, Lucraft, Weston, Dell, Nieass, Shaw, Lake, Buckley, Osbourne, Howell, Carter, Wheeler, Stainsby, Morgan, Grossmith, Dick, Denoual, Jourdain, Morrissot, Leroux, Bordage, Bocquet, Talandier, Dupont, L.Wolff, Aldovrandi, Lama, Solustri, Nusperli, Eccarius, Wolff, Lessner, Pfander, Lochner, Kaub, Bolleter, Rybczinski, Hansen, Schantzenbach, Smales, Cornelius, Petersen, Otto, Bagnagatti, Setacci;

George Odger, President of the Council; P.V. Lubez, Corresponding Secretary for France; Karl Marx, Corresponding Secretary for Germany; G.P. Fontana, Corresponding Secretary for Italy; J.E. Holtorp, Corresponding Secretary for Poland; H.F. Jung, Corresponding Secretary for Switzerland; William R. Cremer, Honorary General Secretary.

_____________

Here's a recent article on Marx and the American civil war.

Leonard Zeskind on the Society of St. Pius and St. Mary's Kansas

Maybe I've missed it, but I haven't seen the local media note the Kansas connection to the controversy over the Pope's recent move to bring Catholic traditionalists back into the fold.

Leonard Zeskind discusses the connection in his latest blog post.

I am looking at a copy of the title page from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the notorious Czarist forgery that has been part of the anti-Semitic stock in trade for more than a century. This particular edition was translated into English by “Victor E. Marsden,” and was published in 1934. And it was “Item: 6012,” its price was listed as $5.00, and it was sold by the “Immaculata Bookstore” in St. Mary’s, Kansas in 1993. The Immaculata Bookstore being part of St. Mary’s Academy & College, which described itself as one of the “Traditional Catholic Schools of the Society of St. Pius X.

Zeskind concludes

In an interview with Salomon Korn, the vice-president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Korn concludes that, “As long as Pope Benedict XVI doesn’t send a clear signal that all Catholics must support the Second Vatican Council, things simply cannot return to normal.”

And it is on that small patch of ink that the truth of the matter resides.

"Generational Theft" Nonsense from the GOP

The GOP's latest talking point against President Obama's recovery program is that it is "generational theft."


Building schools that will educate not only today's children, but another generation or two. Generational theft--Not

Providing health insurance of laid-off workers and their families. Generational theft--Not

Building and repairing roads and bridges. Generational theft--Not

Promoting green energy and jobs. Generational theft--Not

Providing aid to states so that school budgets aren't cut and teachers fired. Generational theft--Not

Sebelius Leads Moran and Tiahrt

Daily Kos and Research 2000 have just released a startlingly good poll for a potential Kathleen Sebelius race against either of the Republican Congressmen who have announced for the GOP Senate nomination. (Hat tip to Moti)

Both Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt trail Sebelius by significant margins.

Sebelius (D) 47
Tiahrt (R) 37

Sebelius (D) 48
Moran (R) 36

Here's what Kos says

Kansas is an exceedingly difficult state for Democrats to compete in. Note that despite Obama's huge popularity around the country, he clocks in only at 48-41 in Kansas. Sure, it's a net positive, and it's numbers that George W. Bush would kill for, but they lag far behind Obama's national numbers. This isn't a hospitable place for Democrats.

Yet here we have Gov. Kathleen Sebelius coming in with a solid 56-37 approval rating, including a surprisingly good 42-54 among Republicans, which is important given that Republicans make up half the state's voters. In the head-to-head matchups, Sebelius, gets about a third of those voters. Independents, another quarter of the voter pool, like her at a 63-27 clip. If those numbers held up, she'd make history by having a Democrat represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1939.

And, here some surprising news. Neither of the right-wing Congressmen does that well in his home district against Sebelius.

In Moran's first distirct
Sebelius 40
Moran 46

In Tiahrt's fourth district
Sebelius 38
Tiahrt 47

Kansas political junkies have been speculating the either Moran or Tiahrt will get cold feet and give up the Senate race for the comfort of safe House seat. Looking at this poll, maybe they'll both decide they don't want to go down as the first Republican since 1932 to lose a Senate seat.

KC Rally "Save Our Jobs" Sunday February 8

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and other elected officials will join the United Auto Workers and the Automobile Dealers Association at a “Save Our Jobs” rally at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, in the gymnasium of Penn Valley Community College. 3200 Southwest Tfwy, In Kansas City.
Thousands of residents from both sides of the state line will convene in the 3,000-seat gym to stress the impact auto manufacturing has on the region.

“The global financial crisis is crippling the availability of credit for the automakers, their suppliers, their dealers and consumers,” said Cleaver. “As our local auto plants extend their work stoppages, it is quite possible one or more of the domestic automakers could collapse.

“No one can afford American automakers going bankrupt, least of all the 7,200 men and women who work at the Fairfax and Claycomo plants, the thousands who work for the auto dealers in the area or the tens of thousands of retirees,” Cleaver continued. “Those are our neighbors, friends and family and they are in trouble.”

Other elected officials expected to attend the rally—which is scheduled to last one hour—include Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, U.S. Sens. Claire McCaskill and Kit Bond, and U.S. Rep Dennis Moore of Kansas. Kansas City, Kansas Mayor/CEO Joe Reardon also will attend.

SPEEA engineers reject Boeing Offer

Engineers delivered a resounding “NO” to a contract offer from The Boeing Company in voting today, a move that sends both sides back to the bargaining table.

Following the recommendation of union negotiators, members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001, voted down the Boeing offer at a special meeting held at Curtis Middle School. The tally showed 88 percent of the voting members rejected the offer, with 209 voting “No” and 28 voting “Yes” to accept Boeing’s offer for a new contract covering engineers at Boeing’s Wichita Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). Union tellers counted the votes at SPEEA’s Midwest office following the meeting. The ballot did not include a strike authorization vote. “This is a very clear message to Boeing corporate that engineers in Wichita will not tolerate being treated as second-class,” said Joe Newberry, chair of the SPEEA Wichita Engineering Unit negotiating team and a 35-year employee at the plant. “We’re anxious to get back to the table.”

MORE

Warren's 3-D Rip-off

3-D movies are all the rage and going to be more so. But there's been a debate about who is going to pay for the expensive equipment required--the movie houses or the Hollywood studios.

Dumby, it's going to be you the consumer. At least, if Bill Warren has way.

There's a notice on the Warren Theater website

Because these shows are special engagement shows and the equipment to display the 3-D film is very expensive, tickets for 3-D shows cost an additional $3.00 per ticket. In addition, no passes/vips/discounts will be accepted for these shows.

So, if you just have to go see Coraline, FIGHT BACK. Don't buy popcorn and a soda.

KPTS documentary on Dockum Sit-in

The Dockum Sit-in: A Legacy of Courage - Thursday, Feb. 5 at 7:00 p.m.

In the summer of 1958, two dozen young people from the Wichita Branch of NAACP Youth Council staged what would become the first successful student-led sit-in of the Civil Rights movement.

This documentary will air on KPTS, Channel 8, on Thursday, February 5 at 7:00 p.m.

Tiahrt Flunks Macroeconomics

Wichita Congressman and Senate candidate had an op-ed in the Eagle this week rationalizing his opposition to President Obama's economic recovery program.

Tiahrt wrote

Studies have shown and history has proved that when consumers get extra money in their pockets, they do one of three things: They save it, spend it or invest it. All three options would help to quickly increase growth in our economy.

Sorry, Todd, but increased saving --in the midst of a depression--will not increase growth in the economy. It will do exactly the opposite.

Here's a quick explanation from Wikpedia

If a population saves more money (that is the marginal propensity to save increases across all income levels), then total revenues for companies will decline. This decrease in economic growth means fewer salary increases and perhaps downsizing. Eventually the population's total savings will have remained the same or even declined because of lower incomes and a weaker economy.

Sadly, the stimulus debeate shows that for Todd Tiahrt and the modern Republican Party, the operative program is Party First! The Rich First!

Gallup Poll: Dems nearly equal Republicans in Kansas

Gallup has just released some poll results that should be extremely encouraging to Kansas Democrats. Just two percent more of Kansas adults identify themselves as Republicans than as Democrats.

Democrats 41.4%
Republicans 43.4%

Kansas Jayhawk has a good take on what these figures mean

there are potentially huge numbers of registered Republicans in this state who aren't really Republicans at all, who, instead, think of themselves as- and vote as- Democrats. Or that two-thirds of the unaffiliated voters in Kansas are really secret Democrats. Or something.

What this number really does tell members of both political parties in Kansas is that the Democratic Party has huge potential for registration growth- remarkable, remarkable potential- because the people of this state identify with the Democrats almost exactly as often as they do the Republicans. All it takes for a Democrat to capitalize on that fact and win is a smart campaign based on good ideas...

Here's the method behind Gallup's poll.

In 2008, Gallup interviewed more than 350,000 U.S. adults as part of Gallup Poll Daily tracking. That includes interviews with 1,000 or more residents of every U.S. state except Wyoming (885) and North Dakota (953), as well as the District of Columbia (689). There were more than 15,000 interviews conducted with residents of California, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Florida.

This large data set provides the unique ability to give reliable estimates of state-level characteristics for 2008. Each sample of state residents was weighted by demographic characteristics to ensure it is representative of the state's population.

In order to rank the states on partisanship, Gallup analyzes "leaned" party identification by state. This measure adds partisan-leaning independents to the percentage who identify with either of the parties. Thus, the Republican total includes Republican identifiers and independents who lean Republican, and the Democratic total likewise includes Democratic identifiers and independents who lean Democratic.

What I'll Do on Final Friday

Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray

5 to 8 pm Final Friday Take one last look at Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nicholas Muray and Realistic Pluralism: The Art of Nicholas Trabue as WAM participates in Final Friday festivities. Also take time to view the colorful hand-made clothing in Central American Textiles from the collection of Jerry Martin. Enjoy live music with a Latino flair, light hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. Free and open to the public.

December 7, 2008 – February 1, 2009

This intimate exhibition features photographs of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, taken by Nickolas Muray during their close relationship. His photos pose Frida in native costumes and with the artists Diego Rivera and Miguel Covarrubias. Many of the photos are in the lush color process favored by Muray.