Archive | March, 2006

  • Cars and Care: GM’s Jobs Bank

    In the eye of the Wall Street Journal, General Motors’ Jobs Bank program — a program which pays some workers their regular wages and benefits to sit on their hands and stare at the wall — is the symbol of what’s wrong with the company.  The lead story in the 1 March 2006 issue of […]

  • Savior Self

    Hello, Gloria?  Oh. Well, is Gloria there?  Me?  Oh, I’m nobody important; I just have important business with Gloria.  When will Gloria be — No, I know you’re not her secretary — ohmygod ohmygod, you’re Gloria’s girlfriend!  You are SO lucky! Hello? Gloria!  I knew you were there the whole time!  How are you, my […]

  • Canadian Election Aftermath: New Actors, Same Play?

    The more things change, the more they remain the same.  This commonplace contains more than a little truth of what liberal democracy has become in Canada today.  The daily political discourse might adopt a “compassionate conservatism,” a “social liberalism,” or even a social democratic “third way,” but all the parties agree that the benefits of […]

  • World Events (June 1953)

    Large scale military spending can have but one outcome: an increase in the size of the military forces, an extension of their influence, growing participation of the military in the direction of public business, a greater emphasis on armed might as an instrument for carrying out federal policy. The interests of those who dominate the […]

  • Right-Wing Attack Dogs Go after a Colorado High School Teacher

      A high school geography teacher here in Colorado — Jay Bennish who teaches at Overland High School in Aurora — is in trouble, attacked by the right, for things he said in an honors geography class after Bush’s State of the Union address.  A student in the class taped the teacher’s comments (about twenty […]

  • Philippines: State of Emergency for the U.S. Empire

    On the morning of February 24, 2006, President Gloria Arroyo issued Proclamation 1017 (PP 1017), which declared a State of Emergency throughout the Philippines.  Using identical words as those of Ferdinand Marcos when he declared martial law in 1972,  Arroyo ordered the armed forces to suppress “any act of insurrection or rebellion.”  Arroyo claimed there […]

  • Addressing South Africa’s Unemployment Crisis

    The latest official statistics puts the number of economically active persons in South Africa at 16.8 million, reinforcing an oft-repeated claim that the “era of jobless growth” is now over.  Between September 2004 and September 2005, more than 650,000 jobs were created, according to the official statistical agency’s Labor Force Survey (LFS).  Government and business […]

  • Witness against Torture

    Washington – Fifteen people were arrested on March 1 in front of the White House after winding their way for two hours through the streets of the nation’s capital, demanding the U.S. stop torturing detainees in military prisons. Members of Witness Against Torture began their protest at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, continuing […]

  • Spinning Out of Control: Disney’s Grand Canyon and Teddy Roosevelt

    The spin-doctors at the right-wing Cato Institute are spinning out of control.  In a syndicated editorial (Houston Chronicle, 27 February 2006), these stalwart advocates of the privatization of almost everything in heaven and earth suggest that selling (or giving — they’re not clear on this point) the Grand Canyon National Park to the Walt Disney […]

  • German Left Unity Endangered

    Hopes were high.  There was near euphoria among left-wing Germans a half year ago: two main wings of the progressive movement, one quite strong in the eastern states, the other small but growing stronger in the much larger, more populous western states, joined together for an election campaign last year, had unprecedented success (over 8 […]