From the Editors

Our Blog Roll’s Blog Stroll

Roseanne Barr, famous for many reasons including rocking situational comedy through a working class lens and spouting a sort of practical feminism in gems like "I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on," is weighing in on the fight to raise the minimum wage. Piggybacking on the fact that "650 economists, including "several Nobel Laureates, [have recently] laid to rest the myth that raising the minimum wage would hurt the economy," the AFL-CIO and ACORN are hosting a conference titled 7 Days at Minimum Wage, featuring the stories of seven individuals trying to make it on minimum wages and hosted by the "Domestic Goddess," Ms. Roseanne.

New Blog Alert: Roseanne's got a two-month-old...

* * * * * *

You may have missed this story about Bush supporting a 1.5 billion dollar bailout of New York's healthcare system. At first glance this may sound like a good thing-- or inspire narcolepsy-- but when I learned that my neighborhood health center could get shutdown in the process as part of a "rightsizing" effort (that's Orwellian for down-sizing) suddenly my blood pressure went through the roof.

The Opportunity Agenda's blog explains:

What the [NY] Times fails to report is that those funds are likely to be used for "acute care rightsizing," a euphemistic term for restructuring health services that will result in the loss of primary care services in medically underserved areas of NYC - particularly low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.

It is a great blog post that also explains why it will be cheaper in the long run to keep medical facilities open in the communities that need them the most.

* * * * * *

DMI is always interested in new techonological innovations in communication. Here's an interesting tool that Eyebeam Collective developed. It's a Congressman Mark Foley Instant Messenger conversation generator. Disclaimer: not for the 18 and under set.

* * * * * *

Progressive States writes about completely unacceptable new rules at Wal-Mart that prompted nearly 200 employees in Florida (including at least 15 managers) to up and walk off the job, spontaneously. Under the new rules, many full time employees are being switched to part-time, and stores are going so far as to remove stools for elderly and disabled workers, ostensibly in a dirty ploy to push those workers off the payroll who could cost the company the most in health care expenses.

Progressive States quotes Guillermo Vasquez, one of the managers who organized the walk-out, explaining one of the major problems with the new rules:

"In addition, the shifts would be decided not by managers, but by a computer at company headquarters. Employees could find themselves working 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. one week and noon to 9 p.m. the next. So workers cannot pick up their children after school everyday, and part-timers cannot keep another job because they can be called to work anytime," says Vasquez."

* * * * * *

DownWithTyranny! has transcribed Lou Dobbs' appearance on the Daily Show, promoting his new book "The War on the Middle Class." Jon Stewart opens with one of the better one-liners I've heard in a while, and one that especially hits home given that I spend 40-plus hours a week at a think tank working to frame and analyze the middle class squeeze:

Jon: "I say this to you, Lou, isn't this good that war has been declared on the middle class? When America declares war on things--drugs, terror--usually the subject of that war ends up doing quite well."

While Dobbs may get it right when he points to soaring corporate profits and stagnant wages, our Executive Director Andrea Batista Schlesinger has called Dobbs out on his immigration stance, both on his show and in her Open Letter to Lou Dobbs, claiming that his policy suggestions will only hurt the already struggling middle class and aspiring middle class.

From the Editors: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 6:45 AM, Oct 21, 2006 in Blog Stroll
Permalink | Email to Friend