Some Tompkins County Folks Have Their Wal-Mart Message Down

The Tompkins County Living Wage Coalition has set its sights on Wal-Mart. See this ad on the front page of the local PennySaver this week:



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Andy Stern Pushes the Dems (via Huffington)

One of the celebrities posting on opening day of Arianna Huffington's mega-blog is SEIU's Andy Stern. Wherever one falls in the Big Debate About The Future Of The Labor Movement, Stern asks some hard questions about the Democratic Party:

What were the Democrats thinking when they highlighted wealth over work--choosing people making the rules over those playing by them.

When Democrats ask why workers vote against a party that represents their economic interests -- you have to ask what party is that?

Is it Bob Rubin's Wall Street party or, as Thomas Frank describes in his book, the party perceived in the heartland as Northeast intellectual, Volvo driving, Chardonnay drinking liberals, or the party of those who work for a living?

More Bush Social Security Hypocrisy

Today's Times brings the news that the Department of Labor is trying to silence labor unions that are seeking to defend their members' pensions and protest the Bush administration's radical plan to privatize Social Security and impose deep benefit cuts on middle class working families.

In a letter on Tuesday to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Department of Labor said it was
"very concerned" that pension plans might be spending workers' money to
"advocate a particular result in the current Social Security debate."

You know what? I'm very concerned that the Social Security Administration is spending my money to advocate a particular result result in the Social Security debate.

Pozen Horse

Remember the mythological story of the Trojan Horse?

The Greeks devised a new ruse - a giant hollow wooden horse. It was built by Epeius and filled with Greek warriors led by Odysseus. The rest of the Greek army appeared to leave whilst actually hiding behind Tenedos and the Trojans accepted the horse as a peace offering. A Greek spy, Sinon, convinced the Trojans the horse was a gift despite the warnings of Laocoon and Cassandra. Helen and Deiphobus even investigated the horse. The Trojans celebrated the raising of the siege hugely, and when the Greeks emerged from the horse the city was in a drunken stupor. The Greek warriors opened the city gates to allow the rest of the army access and the city was ruthlessly pillaged - all the men were killed and all the women taken into slavery.

The new packaging for Bush's Social Security proposal should set off a few alarm bells for students of Greek mythology. Progressive price indexing, the ironically named proposal designed by a Democrat named Robert Pozen, would result in deep cuts to Social Security checks received by retiring working class families.

Democrats in the House and Senate should be very wary of opening the gates to the Pozen Horse. Their recent track record is mixed.