No Justice

No peace.

John McKay, the former U.S. attorney for Western Washington, confirmed Wednesday that he was ordered to resign last month and "given no explanation" for a move that critics immediately denounced as politically motivated.

Health Care

But only if you agree, without even knowing if you agree. What morons.

"That means that there are a lot of physicians out there who are not, in fact, doing the right thing," said David Magnus, director of Stanford University's Center for Biomedical Ethics.

Well

I'm thinking that I am Brad Pitt. In four weeks I expect to be sleeping with Angelina Jolie at our home in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Well, maybe I should just think that climbing the basement stairs a couple of times a day equals an intensive workout, yeah, that's the ticket.

Union, Yes!

This is a good post from FDL newcomer Tula Connell. It's worth the read.

Some 60 million workers say they would join a union if they could—but our labor laws, dating back to the 1930s, are skewed in favor of corporate giants who spend big bucks to harass and intimidate workers. And it works—after all, how many people want to lose their jobs? (Although, as I noted, it’s illegal to fire workers for forming unions, management does it anyway, counting on the fact that it often takes years for a worker’s appeal to wind its way through the regional and national labor boards and even the courts.)

A few years ago, we in the union movement began pushing for a bill called the Employee Free Choice Act that would level the playing field for workers and help rebuild America’s middle class and restore the freedom of workers to choose a union. (Get the details of the act here.)

Even in the unpleasant 109th Congress, we got 215 co-sponsors in the House and 44 in the Senate. But with a new, worker-friendly Congress, we now have 231 House co-sponsors—and the bill, H.R. 800, was introduced Monday night!

Then over at Digby's Place, we get some quotes from Ben Bernanke, the new Fed chair.

Finally, changes in the institutions that have shaped the labor market over the past few decades may also have been associated with some increase in wage inequality. For example, unions tend to compress the dispersion of pay for jobs in the middle of the skill distribution. Thus, the decline in private-sector union membership over the post-World War II period -- particularly the sharp drop in the 1980s -- has been associated with an increased dispersion of pay among workers with intermediate levels of skill. The sources of the decline in union membership are much debated, and certainly long-run structural changes in the economy, such as the decline in manufacturing employment, have played a role.

& then the obvious:

No mention of Ronald Reagan. No mention of PATCO. No mention of a decades-long effort to throttle unions until they constitute just 7.4 percent of employees of private companies.

Now, you should go & find out if your congressman/woman has signed on as a co-sponsor. Dave Obey, my guy, has. If they haven't, you need to contact them to urge them to do so. If it wasn't for unions, we wouldn't have much of a weekend, now would we? & then decline of the middle class in America can be directly correlated, IMO, to the forced decline in union membership/representation. Please, no "corrupt union leaders, blah, blah, blah...." That's just way too easy &, clearly, just too Jimmy Hoffa.

Ashland, Wisconsin Ought To Do Something Great

Like this. & it's a trifecta.

Too Bad

I don't live in the state of Washington, but this is an initiative I could really support.

Proponents of same-sex marriage have introduced an initiative that would put a whole new twist on traditional unions between men and women: It would require heterosexual couples to have children within three years or else have their marriages annulled.

I mean, after all, if they don't have children after three years, they are probably using some of that evil birth control. Or else they are, oh, just forget it.

The Passion of the Chuck

From Jesus' General, whom I love, in a completely, 110% heterosexual way, of course. I even stole the title to this post. So sue, me, or cover me with rose petals.

Peace 3

Hagel & Warner, you know, the grownup, sensible ReThugs, even voted against their own proposal. Brave bunch, these not-so-dirty-hippie-peaceniks.

Feingold

Via Raw Story.

In a passionate thirty minute call, Feingold stressed, "This is an important moment to see if we're gonna try and end this war. Frankly, I'm disappointed that Democrats are playing it safe on this one."

"We need to play hardball on this. We're gonna have to take the lead on this issue and we're gonna need to tie this place up as long as it takes," he said in describing what he sees as a fear and timidity in his colleagues who now hold a slight majority in the Senate...

"The problem is a whole lot of middle-of-the-road Democrats who refuse to pull the trigger, who refuse to do what needs to be done," Feingold stressed. "Even people who voted against the war" seem afraid, he explained. "It requires courage. It requires brinksmanship."

As we previously reported last Spring, after a bloggers' lunch with Feingold in Los Angeles, the progressive third-term Senator continues to place a great deal of blame for the failure to act among his colleagues on the "Washington insiders, particularly from the previous administration...who say if you're going to take a tough stand, they're going to tear you apart."

He said the advice of the "media consultants" and "power structure in Washington" has led fellow Democrats to believe they'll be criticized if they withhold funding for a war they previously supported. Those same insiders, he explained, previously supported the war and are now scared to death about what would happen if their clients --- many of whom who have now admitted their initial support for the war was a mistake --- now took a tough stand to undue that mistake.

"They want their cake and to eat it too since they voted for the war. They're trying to have it both ways. That has to end because Americans are dying unnecessarily. Too many of my colleagues are trying to massage this and have it both ways. That has to end."

Feingold was also critical of John Edwards who, he says, has been "masquerading" as a critic of the war, but whose proposal so far only calls for refusing to fund the proposed Bush troop escalation in Iraq. Even he, Feingold said, fails in his rhetoric to call for withdraw and a full defunding of the current debacle.

My emphasis.

Peace 2

Newsweek has this sad story. Via Crooks & Liars.

Cpl. Victor Langarica did not share (his fellow troops') optimism about the mission in Iraq. From the moment he received his deployment orders last April, he seemed convinced that he would not leave the war zone alive. Worse, he believed that he was going to die for no good reason. A twice-divorced single father of a young son and daughter, he had joined the Army hoping to gain the skills that would lead to higher pay than he made at Home Depot. His mother and ex-wives looked after the kids while he was overseas. He was proud of the nine months he served in combat in Afghanistan after 9/11, but the experience left the lighthearted 29-year-old sullen and fearful. Once he was surprised by an Afghan soldier who put a gun to his head. Just as the soldier was about to fire, a fellow American shot the Afghan dead. He never found out who had saved his life, but thought of him as an angel.

Unlike most of the others who died in the crash, Langarica was regular Army. But when he got his deployment papers to Iraq, he didn't want to go. The invasion made no sense to him. " 'I don't understand why Bush is doing this to us'," his mother, Pearl Lucas, recalled his saying. " 'If I die, I won't know why I died, if it was for oil or for revenge'."

My emphasis.

Peace

Via Altercation, we get this from Ann Jones at TomDispatch.com

I blame George W. Bush, the 'liberator' who looked the other way. In 2001, the United States military claimed responsibility for these provinces, the heart of Taliban country; but diverted to adventures in the oilfields of Iraq, it failed for five years to provide the security international humanitarians needed to do the promised work of reconstruction... It's winter in Afghanistan now. No time to make war. But come spring, the Taliban promise a new offensive to throw out Karzai and foreign invaders. The British commander of NATO forces has already warned: 'We could actually fail here.' He also advised a British reporter that Westerners shouldn't even mention women's rights when more important things are at stake. As if security is not a woman's right. And peace.

My emphasis.

Eric von Schmidt, R.I.P.

The Dead.

Super Sunday

I'm sitting here on a below zero cold Super Sunday. I don't want the Bears to win, I'm a Packer fan after all & we are genetically predisposed to hate the Bears, & of course, the Vikings. But after reading about Tony Dungy's unfortunate support for a truly bigoted anti-gay organization, puts a damper on my support of the Colts. This report is via commplacebook.com. I mean, Johnny Unitas & Earl Morrell for Christ's sake. & the Colts are already down 7-0.

Big Cat

This is what a liger looks like. Lion father, tiger mother. Jeez Louise.

Apparently, this cat is still growing.

My Friend Al

Says he's running for Senate in MN. This is a great development. We really need to defeat the dumpster diving asshat Coleman. Send money.