Politics & Society

National Mobilization to Combat Wage Theft

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A press release from Danny Postel at Interfaith Worker Justice. This is a really important issue and these people have been doing great work on it, including Kim Bobo’s substantial book on the criminality of stealing people’s wages (see below). National Legislation and New Initiatives to be Unveiled Thursday on Capitol Hill
On Thursday, November 19, people in more than 40 cities around the country will take action to stop wage theft, a national crime wave that every year robs millions of workers out of billions of dollars they’ve worked for but never seen. The national network Interfaith Worker Justice declared November 19 a National Day of Action to Stop Wage Theft to call attention to this “crime wave no one talks about” and to mobilize support for the network’s campaign to end this pernicious practice. “Thou shalt not steal — it’s a pretty straightforward message,” says Interfaith Worker Justice Executive Director Kim Bobo, whose 2008 book Wage Theft in America: Why Millions of Working Americans Are Not Getting Paid—And What We Can Do About It exposed the national crisis and has become a rallying cry for the campaign to end it.

Politics & Society

Cornel West on Obama

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I missed this short piece two weeks ago in the New Yorker but if you did too it’s worth reading. When Cornel West came on board to support Obama in the campaign he said, “Brother, I will be a critical supporter. I’ll be a Socratic supporter.”
So far, West finds himself infinitely more impressed by Obama’s mastery of “spectacle” than by his attention to the poor. “In terms of the impact on young people, I think it’s a beautiful thing,” he said of Obama’s election. “But, in the end, even spectacle has to deal with the darkness.

Gender and Sexuality

Suds and Sex

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How did I miss this? The Wall Street Journal is advising men that they can get more sex if they do more housework. One husband, Mr. Chethik says in an interview, reported that his wife enjoyed flowers or a candlelit dinner out; but “if he wants to be sure of a romantic evening, he goes for the vacuum cleaner.” Another husband, a St. Paul, Minn., accountant who describes himself as happily married for 20 years, says housework reflects a deeper bond.

Politics & Society

How do we understand Major Hasan?

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Debra Saunders in her nationally syndicated column this morning:
His own words as he opened fire – “Allahu Akbar” – and perhaps his online screeds show who he was. He acted not as a stressed-out shrink, but a violent and twisted extremist. David Brooks in the New York Times this morning:
… evidence is now mounting to suggest he chose the extremist War on Islam narrative that so often leads to murderous results. Both conservative columnists write against what they see as a failure of media nerve and even of national courage to call this man a terrorist.

Politics & Society

Some Good News: African Wild Fruit and a World of Good

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As the famous poem, “Sometimes” (which the author famously doesn’t want her name to be associated with) goes,
Sometimes things don’t go, after all,
from bad to worse. Some years, muscadel
faces down frost; green thrives; the crops don’t fail. Sometimes — or at least now — tens of thousands of African farmers can eat better, send their kids to school, mend the roof, and have some hope: in this case thanks to a sweet collaboration with some visionary people from our side of the North-South divide. I was just about to celebrate it on this blog when my eye caught another project by American graduates that is really helping. IF YOU had come here 10 years ago, says Thaddeus Salah as he shows us round his tree nursery in north-west Cameroon, you would have seen real hunger and poverty.

Politics & Society

Tea Party Takeover of the GOP: Good or Bad for the Dems?

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In the New York Times yesterday Frank Rich argued that it would be very bad news for the Democrats if the Republicans recover from their takeover by tea party extremists and this morning Paul Krugman argued the opposite. Krugman warned that an unelectable Republican Party can still be strong enough to stymie good government. In that case the whole country will end up like California: paralyzed. Living in California, I tended to favor Krugman’s take. And, surely, principled conservatism needs to prevail over the fear and hate taking over the Republican Party right now.

Health

Reactions to the House Victory

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I am finding I go first these days to Open Left. In a post by Adam Green:
Tonight was the opposite of a “bold progressive” night. With a huge majority in the House, a vote with only 219 Dems should have been because progressives pushed this bill to the limit. Instead, it was watered-down, watered-down, watered-down. And still, only 219 Dems. This is why we fight.

Culture

How Do We Become The Leaders We Need?

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This is a long post, occasioned by looking at the lack of progressive influence nationally, and by talks with social change leaders locally. Can we agree we need more social change leaders today? We may be the leaders we have been waiting for — it’s a good democratic idea and a challenge to each of us. But if I had no other evidence, just the number of times I have heard that phrase in the last few years tells me that we are all feeling the lack of leaders. Note: although we progressives may be somewhat OK with the word ‘leaders’ we may not feel so comfortable with the word ‘followers.’

Culture

Leaves … and Nourishment: for you, and for us

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I’m not sure how many people realize that we have a weekly art exhibit on Tikkun Daily. Our goal is to find and display art that in some way can lift our lives as we struggle to heal and repair ourselves and our world. That opens a huge field of possible artists and types of art. And naturally one person’s tonic is another’s “huh?” But the search itself is fun and energizing for us here, and we welcome your ideas and comments, which you can put on the exhibit pages on our art gallery (easily found on the navigation bar at the top of this page), or on the posts by Phil Barcio that accompany each exhibit.