j_b

http://www.observer.com/pages/conason.asp Bush Had Friends, But Martha Had None by Joe Conason [...]For although Ms. Stewart’s conservative defenders might quibble, the selectivity of her prosecution is perfectly illustrated by the case of George W. Bush, former director of Harken Energy Corp. Back in 1991, after press exposure of his sudden, secretive sale of Harken shares, the Securities and Exchange Commission looked into whether Mr. Bush engaged in illegal insider trading. At the time, he happened to be the President’s eldest son—and whatever else might be said about the Harken matter, it is clear that those in authority scarcely strained themselves to investigate him. The Bush and Stewart matters are entirely different, of course. Ms. Stewart was just an ImClone stockholder, with no special responsibility to the other stockholders. Mr. Bush was not only a Harken stockholder but a member of the company’s audit committee. Ms. Stewart’s awareness of impending regulatory trouble for ImClone was secondhand, including the news that company founder Sam Waksal was selling stock. Her stockbroker told her that ImClone’s price was falling. Mr. Bush was well aware of his company’s approaching financial doom. He knew that the Harken management had created a phony profit of $10 million by unloading assets, at an inflated price, to a front company owned by company insiders. That scam artificially puffed Harken’s stock by concealing huge losses. Ms. Stewart sold 3,928 ImClone shares, possibly saving herself about $45,000. Mr. Bush sold 212,140 Harken shares, which grossed $848,560, saving himself well over half of that amount. Ms. Stewart had no warning that her trade might be unlawful. Mr. Bush and the other Harken directors were warned against insider trading by the firm’s lawyers just before he dumped his holdings. Ms. Stewart partially erased a telephone message from her broker, allegedly for conspiratorial reasons, and then restored it. Mr. Bush failed to report his inside trades of Harken stock to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as required by law, for eight months, then blamed the delay on the S.E.C., and finally said it was the fault of Harken’s lawyers. He and his attorneys neglected to mention that memo warning him and the other directors about insider trading until after the S.E.C. closed its investigation of him. As a Clinton friend who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party, Ms. Stewart has few friends in power these days. As the son of the President, Mr. Bush faced regulators who were loyal not only to his father, but to him. The agency’s general counsel at the time was James Doty, a Bush friend who had handled the sale of the Texas Rangers baseball team for George W. Bush and his partners in 1989. The greatest difference between them is that Ms. Stewart, a self-made success, will spend months—if not years—in prison, losing hundreds of millions of dollars and her reputation. Mr. Bush, whose business achievements were owed largely to others, suffered not even a paltry fine. Now George W. Bush is President, promising a new era of corporate responsibility symbolized by Martha Stewart’s ruin. Such is justice in the age of irony.

link to story COAT MADE OF 100 HAMSTERS Mar 1 2004 Rodents slaughtered for high-fashion fur By Robert Stansfield A HUNDRED hamsters were gassed to death to make this sick coat. And wealthy customers are paying £1750 a time for the coats, which are lined with the animals' fur, at a posh Scots store. [...] The hamsters are crammed into chambers and gassed to death to prevent bloodstains from spoiling their thin fur. Last night, animal rights campaigners begged shoppers to boycott the cruel trade. SSPCA spokeswoman Doreen Graham said: 'Animal lovers should be appalled that hamsters are being killed to make fur coats. 'They are not bred for food so you can't argue the fur is a by-product. It is simply cruel that hamsters are being needlessly killed.' Advocates for Animals spokeswoman Yvonne Taylor added: 'These coats are completely sick. [...]

wow! real class there tbay ...

i wish, yet what do you suggest? let lies/half-truth/innuendos go unchallenged? isn't it what the libs have done the past few years? look at what it brought us.

holy mackerel: fracing the rockies

This of course explains the existence of tens of millions of non-union workers that are paid considerably more than minimum wage. today, compensations for all workers (including non-union) are conditioned by the presence of unions (non-union shops cannot offer the minimum wage while unionized shops offer say $30 an hour or .... everybody would unionize), the same way that no unions in the beginning of the industrial era conditioned compensations for all workers, or for that matter a no union future would allow employers to offer considerably less than what they offer today. nobody operates in a vaccum .... as you ought to know. which would therefore allow them to pay considerably less than what they pay today to non-union types. here you go. you see that you can show intellectual flexibility when you try. pathetic.

sure is! that is why so many municipal or pension funds have been affected by scandals. unions are no exception (why should they be?) which shows that there are at least as many corrupt money managers as there are financial scandals. i am not saying this to excuse corruption among labor union trustees but to point out that there are bad individuals occuppying all sort of functions, and in the case of pension fund kickbacks, they are all enabled by corrupt money managers (or is it that they are only "competing aggressively", jay?). so why the focus on labor?

"Selective Service 2004 “Performance Plan” summarizes how $28 million will be allocated in 2004 to reduce draft activation time from current 8 months to just 75 days. Nation-wide Readiness Exercises, testing the Draft Lottery and examination system, as well as gearing up the Medical Draft (3.4 million doctors and nurses, men and women age 20-44 are eligible). Ominously, the Alternative Service delivery system for Conscientious Objectors is readied for the first time in decades, with the SSS being funded to compile lists of available Alternative Service jobs for those who win non-military CO status. All systems will be pushed to reach 95% readiness during 2004." "The Selective Service Register magazine talks about the new Special Skill Draft, a top priority for Director Lewis Brodsky. Like the Medical Draft, the Special Skills Draft will induct men and women up to age 44 if they have needed DoD skills like computer expertise, engineering or they are a linguist. As with the health care draftees, no medical deferments are allowed except for total disability. Anyone with these skills will have to register with the SSS if Bush is re-elected and asks Congress for this. Moving quickly!" link

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17949

anyone can do a web search and find their goal is to promote an anti-union pov this is not a rebuttal. the piece does not address the main point made by mishel:"Unlike previous research by Bennett (2001), we find that, even after controlling for regional costs of living, workers in right-to-work states earn less per hour. Particularly interesting is the affect on workers living in cities that are stretch across state line, placing it in both a right-to-work state and a non-RTW state. Seventeen out of 433 metropolitan areas in our sample (nearly 4%) spill over from a right-to-work state to a non-RTW state. Our analysis indicates that, in areas where a pure RTW state effect exists (i.e., no spill-over effect), the right-to-work penalty is larger (see Table 3). In fact, we find that living near a non -RTW state helps raise workers' wages." the piece you referred to essentially rehashes the argument made by bennett based on new data. but i should add, they apparently can't compute. 3 out of 4 averages i checked are wrong and by quite a bit. i don't have to tell you which pov the 'computing' errors favor .... interestingly i could spot the errors with the naked eye since they were so gross. anyhow, cost of living is directly tied to the overall attractiveness/economic health of the places mentioned and minimally to union presence, so the entire argument seems ridiculous to me. and people usually do derive benefits from paying taxes, so i don't see why they should be deducted to compute real wage (you can live in the middle of nowhere and pay little taxes but you surely won't have the same services than if you lived in seattle for example). "In a study of Colorado’s “modified” right-to-work statute published in the University of Colorado Law Review (1999, Wol. 70, pp. 871-952), we concluded that public policy does not support enactment of such legislation. Colorado’s law produced no measurable ben-efits in terms of economic growth or income, nor was it consistent with basic principles of democratic governance. Right-to-work states are more likely to have an anti-union climate than are union-security states, and they also have lower union membership density and lower per capita income. Although there is evidence to suggest right to work laws generate some growth in manufacturing employment, that growth does not result in higher wages for a state’s workers. Moreover, other research shows that the enactment of right-to-work legislation shifts the distribution of income from wages to profits. On the whole, right-to-work legislation provides no discernible overall economic advantage to a state, but it does impose significant social costs. The role of unions in our economy is a matter of important policy debate. State right-to-work laws, however, are not an appropriate tool for regulating unions under the guise of economic development. — RAYMOND HOGLER STEVEN SHULMAN STEPHAN WEILER Ray Hogler is a professor of management at Colorado State University. Steven J. Shulman is a professor of economics and Director of the Center for the Study of Colorado Labor Market Policy at Colorado State University. Stephan Weiler is an associate professor and regional economist in the Economics Department at Colorado State University, and the co-director of the university’s Center for Research on the Colorado Economy (CRCE). "In this globalized economy, dependence on cheap labor as fuel for regional economic growth is foolish and shortsighted. Real and sustained economic growth is possible only by encouraging firms to invest more of their earnings in new capital and training. Government can help by identifying and supporting firms and industries that opt to take a high-road, long-term approach. Public policies like the right-to-work initiative have nothing to do with economic development. The right-to-work referendum is a right-to-profit referendum designed to maintain corporate profits by undermining workers and their families. The irony is that, not only will workers lose, but in the absence of groups like unions—who are able to pressure firms to invest more in their employees—profits and productivity also will eventually fall victim." — MARK CASSELL Mark Cassell teaches courses in public policy and political economy.

civil war, a military quagmire, 10,000's of death, loss of credibility on an imprecedented level throughout the world, increasing exposure to terrorism, etc ... what a joke. he had been trying to make friends with the euros for years and as inspections showed he had essentiall nothing in his arsenal blowing? what did we do again? and now he is free to go spend his ill-gotten money. but he showed entrepreneurial spirit so .... to whom, the fundamentalists? ha! the joker! is this really all you could think of? things must be going pretty badly.

context. context. context. here is some context:context "Roger Noriega has been dedicated to ousting Aristide for many, many years, and now he's in a singularly powerful position to accomplish it," Robert White, a former U.S. ambassador to El Salvador and Paraguay, said last week. White, now president of the Center for International Policy, a think tank in Washington, said Noriega's ascent largely has been attributed to his ties to North Carolina Republican Jesse Helms, an arch-conservative foe of Aristide who had behind-the-scenes influence over policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean before retiring from the Senate two years ago. "Helms didn't just dislike Aristide, Helms loathed Aristide because he saw in Aristide another Castro," said Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs, which has been strongly critical of the Bush administration's policy on Haiti. Working hand in hand with Noriega on Haiti has been National Security Council envoy Otto Reich, who, like Noriega, is ardently opposed to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, say analysts such as Birns. Washington diplomats have seen Aristide as a leftist who is often fierce in his denunciations of the business class and slow to make recommended changes such as privatizing state-run industries. "On a day-to-day basis, Roger Noriega [has been] making policy, but with a very strong role played by Otto Reich," Birns said. Reich is a controversial Cuban-American criticized by some who have lingering concerns about his contacts with opposition figures who plotted a short-lived coup against Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chávez, two years ago. Reich also is linked to the Iran-contra scandal of two decades ago that was part of President Ronald Reagan's policy of defeating Marxists in Central America. Noriega's involvement with Haiti dates back more than a decade. In the early 1990s he was an adviser at the U.S. mission to the Organization of American States. Between 1994 and 1997, he served as a senior staff member on the House of Representatives' Committee on International Relations. Then, in 1997, he went to work for the Senate's Committee on Foreign Relations as a top aide to Helms. Helms was passionate in his dislike of Aristide and tried mightily to stop President Bill Clinton from sending troops to restore Aristide to power in 1994 after his violent ouster three years previously. In an attempt to forestall that military action, Helms released a now-discredited CIA report purporting to show Aristide was "psychotic." Helms found a like-minded official in Noriega, who fed the senator's hostility toward Aristide, said Robert Maguire of Trinity College in Washington. "Roger Noriega always sought to have a long leash when it came to Haiti, and Helms was more than happy to accommodate anti-Aristide feelings," Maguire said. In 2001, with Helms' strong backing, Noriega, a Kansas native of Mexican descent, was appointed U.S. permanent representative to the Organization of American States. In their various foreign policy postings during the past several years, Noriega and Reich became behind-the-scenes leaders of "a relatively small group of people" who developed strategies toward Haiti, Maguire said."

big news! industrialists are moving to places where labor regulations are lacking. is this supposed to convince anyone that unions are bad? funny logic if you ask me. what would you expect from an anti-union think tank? here is what others have to say: "We find that previous research reporting real wage gains associated with right-to-work states is almost purely the result of border cities that benefit from their proximity to a non-RTW state." "An analysis along gender lines reveals similar trends. On average, men in RTW states earn 7.8% less than their counterparts in non-RTW states; women in RTW states earn 6.8% less" "Unlike previous research by Bennett (2001), we find that, even after controlling for regional costs of living, workers in right-to-work states earn less per hour. Particularly interesting is the affect on workers living in cities that are stretch across state line, placing it in both a right-to-work state and a non-RTW state. Seventeen out of 433 metropolitan areas in our sample (nearly 4%) spill over from a right-to-work state to a non-RTW state. Our analysis indicates that, in areas where a pure RTW state effect exists (i.e., no spill-over effect), the right-to-work penalty is larger (see Table 3). In fact, we find that living near a non -RTW state helps raise workers' wages." http://www.lights.com/epi/virlib/Miscellaneous/wagep.PDF and as jim pointed out, there is the issue of the real standard of living in rtw states as shown by poverty levels. why would the cost of living be lower in rtw states? wouldn't it be because people are poorer ...

there is a chasm between what you believe and the real world. could a walmart worker buy a car? will any retail sector workers be able to buy a car in 10 years from now if the current trend continues? is owning a car a right? are they entitled to own a car? the retail sector may be the only one not shipping jobs over seas 10yrs from now. you never know...that might be the sector that is able to demand higher wages. a car was just an example, replace it by health insurance if you prefer. as for the retail sector, this is the trend: "Health insurance and Wal-Mart are major themes in a strike by grocery workers in Southern California. The grocers want to reduce employee health benefits so the companies can compete with a coming wave of 40 Wal-Mart Supercenter stores in the state." what is there to stop them from becoming more 'competitive' by reducing worker compensations? what's next, the 60hour week?

there is a chasm between what you believe and the real world. could a walmart worker buy a car? will any retail sector workers be able to buy a car in 10 years from now if the current trend continues?

without unions all workers would make the minimum wage without benefits and noone could afford a car.

consider the following. note that it does not account for working conditions.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A $10,000 reward offered by the "Doonesbury" comic strip for proof that U.S. President George W. Bush served in the Alabama National Guard during the Vietnam War has elicited over 1,300 responses but turned up no credible evidence yet, the cartoonist said on Friday. With so much controversy surrounding Bush's National Guard service, a credible witness would have turned up by now if there was one, said Garry Trudeau. "You can be sure some very motivated people have tried to find a witness who can establish Bush's presence at Dannelly Base beyond a reasonable doubt," said the creator of the politically irreverent and satirical daily cartoon. "Anyone who could do so would almost certainly have surfaced by now." "Doonesbury" first posted the award on Monday. The White House has released documents from Bush's Vietnam War-era service record in the Texas Air National Guard they say show the president fulfilled his duties at the Dannelly Base. But Democrats accuse him of skipping duty. The documents offered no new evidence to show that Bush actually turned up for duty in Alabama during the latter part of 1972 -- a period when Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe says he was absent without leave. Earlier this week, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee denounced the contest as a "silly stunt." Trudeau agreed. "She's right," he said. "But as a simple investigative cartoonist, I don't have a very big tool kit." Trudeau also said he doubted proof of Bush's service -- or lack thereof -- would affect his support in the November presidential election. "For me, stunt cartooning is mostly about keeping busy. If it tips a national election, well, that's just gravy," he said. He said he planned to pay the $10,000 from his own money. "What else am I going to do with a huge tax cut I didn't need? One of the unintended consequences of Mr. Bush's generosity toward the Great Un-needy is that I'm now a fat cat," he joked. He also said he realized it was "counterintuitive" for him to support Democrats because he considered Bush to be "God's gift to cartoonists." A doonesbury.com Web site features a Witness Registration Form for submitting online testimony. The prize money will be paid by Trudeau in the form of a donation to the United Service Organization, or USO, which entertains U.S. troops. A cutoff date is still in the works, he said. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/27/elec04.bush.doonesbury.reut/

the statement above and yours are not equivalent. saying that the commission's position was racist, that 95% of haitians are of african descent (descendants of slaves) and no african-americans were on the commissions is not the same as thinking that "only people whose skin color is black could fully appreciate the situation in Haiti". her statement only means that this commission is racist and it needs african-americans on board to rectify the problem. do i need to pick it apart further? it does not mean they personally don't behave as white men would w.r.t haitians. funny guy.

anecdotes won't help you choose. here's what the non-union environment looks like: "A snapshot of Georgia's program for uninsured children shows that it's packed with kids of Wal-Mart employees. [...] Wal-Mart, with 1.4 million U.S. workers, is the biggest private employer in America; it now employs more than 46,000 workers in Georgia. The company is not unionized. [...] Last year a federal raid rounded up 250 illegal workers doing janitorial work for Wal-Mart contractors. And the company also confronts a large gender discrimination lawsuit charging that it pays and promotes women less than men. Wal-Mart said it disputes the allegations. Health insurance and Wal-Mart are major themes in a strike by grocery workers in Southern California. The grocers want to reduce employee health benefits so the companies can compete with a coming wave of 40 Wal-Mart Supercenter stores in the state. The outcome of the conflict, unions say, could set the tone for medical benefits in industries nationwide." http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/0204/27walmart.html

real unemployment has hovered around 10% in most industrial nations for the past 25years (except maybe for the technology bubble period of the mid-late 90's, which was just that, a short-lived bubble). i think it's great as well to see other nations catching up with the '1st world'. but i don't believe that perpetual economic growth is sustainable. the earth is essentially a closed system and the days of cheap energy which has fueled dramatic growth for at least 50 years should soon belong to the past. if, as it appears very likely, energy becomes a lot pricier, an economy driven by the consumption of 'frivolous' services seems quite improbable. and we can't keep mortgaging the house.

i don't know but hopefully the jobs will come from the 'natural' economy of those regions, which would require them to consider rational economic development (sustainable), and not because corporations can benefit from lower environmental and labor protection standards, etc ... i don't have a ready solution but i don't believe that any banning is necessary. for the big picture, if trade is global let's make sure that social justice, environmental protection, etc ... are also global concerns. let's also make sure that severance packages are appropriate, especially when communities/nations have invested heavily for decades in industries that are now interested in more 'favorable' labor conditions abroad. let's not forget that much of the infrastructure/research that permitted these corporations to grow was funded in large part by the taxpayer.

i don't think the road is opened beyond early winters which would not leave much readily accessible in this drainage (goat peak, sandy butte).

funny. a poorly constrained problem to say the least, but nothing that can't be handled with the help of judiciously unsupported assumptions (what's the mass of a soul?).

odd, i could swear you understand me perfectly well. dang! i did not think of that. shop owners have changed in the past century to the point where regulations are no longer necessary. they are now so good they will give you your due spontaneously .... as can be readily seen in the benefit packages graciously handed out to workers in the developing world. now, now. this sounds a little aggressive coming from a 'mellow' guy.