Last Friday, our fearless leader, Em Dash, announced the Unbossed Miscreant of the Week program, complete with cool graphics and a poll. All of which seems to be beyond my technical capabilities. Em Dash is away, so I will try to fill her sassy boots in my wobbly fashion - or Wobbly fashion.

Colorado Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon recently announced his candidacy for Secretary of State with a fresh, innovative approach—an online video. Check it out and give us your thumbs up/thumbs down.

Much of what’s taught in economics classes is ivory-tower theories that are contradicted by evidence in the real world (it's not called the "dismal science" for nothing!)

One of the few “laws" of economics that’s almost always true is the law of supply and demand. Among other things, the law of supply and demand predicts that if the supply of labor increases, then wages for similar work can be expected to fall.

A report from the Center for Immigration Studies shows that massive immigration into the U.S. over the last 20 years has depressed wages by increasing the supply of labor, especially unskilled labor. This is exactly what the law of supply and demand predicts.

A tip from a fellow Drinking Liberally comrade:

From The Army Man Project:

We’re spreading plastic Army Men around the country and around the globe as small, everyday reminders of the ongoing horrors of the war in Iraq and to serve as tools to foster dialogue, action and resistance to the war. Here in the United States we’re encouraged to forget about the war, to go on with our lives, to “go shopping.” But what if everywhere people went there were little plastic Army Men nudging them to remember that we’re waging war? At Home Depot, on the gas pump, in the 7-11, at the post office, on the hood of the car, in the public restroom, at the movie theatre, in the produce section of the grocery store … in your neighborhood …?

It was just one year ago, that Unbossed laid out the facts behind a campaign to contract out IRS debt collection and tax return processing. Past experience with these private contractors has been dismal at best. Dismal means compromised security, destroyed tax returns, violations of privacy, and other actions so bad that the perps were convicted. link to more links.

Guys! That was nothing. Read on.

Or my day as an unwitting concubine to a Congressional Health Care Reform Committee.

Recently, I attended a forum organized by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group which was formed by Congress last year to "provide for a nationwide public debate about improving the health care system to provide every American with the ability to obtain quality, affordable health care coverage." Recommendations will be submitted to the President and Congress on September 30, 2006.

Our charge was to answer four questions:

• What health care benefits and services should be provided?
• How does the American public want health care delivered?
• How should health care coverage be financed?
• What trade-offs are the American public willng to make in either benefits or financing to ensure access to affordable, high quality health care coverage and services?

Sounds reasonable enough. However, at the end of the session, I felt like I needed a shower and a confessional.

Last September, Unbossed had a series of posts related to Katrina starting with Homeless? Try Kansas - Part I - Race . . . and Some Sex. It's been 6 months, high time to check in again with the aftermath of Katrina and her sister Rita, and fortunately some folks have. Here's what they've found.

Those Europeans! Apparently the newest thing is on-line reverse auctions. Think jobs not trinkets and e-bay in reverse. The lowest bidder - the person willing to do the job for the lowest wage - wins.

I could not make this up. Too bad, too, because the folks who create these auctions are making real money.

Joe Wilson SLAMS Scooter/Neocons: "Drive a Stake Through Their Hearts!"

Original content by tlh lib from Daily Kos and crossposted with permission. --Avila

The gloves are off!

It still amazes me when  I still see that drunk Bill Kristol on tv every week still spewing the same nonsense he was spewing 3 years ago

Drive a stake through the heart of every single neoconservative, if that's what it takes

Zalmay Khalilzad?  I'd like to punch him right in the face

Scooter Libby is a despicable coward of a human being

Continued in extended.

Some interesting developments in recent weeks on the world of work that need to get onto our radar screens. Topics include temps, union drives in unexpected places, and the land of France - or is that the land of Freedom. I get confused.

Today's topic is temps.

Ever visited one of those Cracker Barrel Old Country Store places. So old timey in an erstatz, faux-old-timey way. It's like a Civil War reenactment except with food and rockers. Rockers on the porch (for sale - you can take one home). All the food, including the vegetables, has meat in it in some form.

Now the truth comes out. Remember, our past isn't just hand hewn log cabins. We have a long history of racism and sexism. And apparently, CBOCS has been reliving that part of our history as well. Yes, who did put the cracker in Cracker Barrel?

Can't keep up with the White House scandal de jour without a scorecard? Want a definitive list of elected crooks on Capitol Hill?

Every Friday, you can post your suggestions for Unbossed's Miscreant of the Week™. Conveniently timed to coincide with the end-of-week bad news dump from the White House Press Office!

So who deserves a thrashing this week and why?

A few days ago, I set off a kerfuffle over universities morphing into businesses or institutions of higher education when it suited them. Most of the discussion focused on the business aspect, but I want to get back to the issue of contingent teachers. The business of education now means that 60% of students are being taught by contingent academics . . . freeway flyers . . . roads scholars . . . graduate students.

This low-cost workforce is not without its own costs, costs that we will be paying for years.

Just when you thought online dating couldn't get any worse...

From The Health Care Advisory Board (subscription required):

Personal ads that once featured lists of personality requirements and leisure activities are now highlighting information on health insurance coverage, which is “emerging as a hot selling point” in the online dating community, the Wall Street Journal reports.

At a time when health insurance is “expensive, complex, and bureaucratic,” online daters who have coverage often advertise their insurance status, sending a signal to dating prospects that they are “serious, professional, and grounded.”

[ Read More... ]

Posted by: em dash at 10:35 AM. Filed under: healthcare/wellness

• Go ahead: say your piece

6 comments

If you still think of universities as institutions of higher education, you are so old school. Wake up and smell the profits - and the hypocrisy.

^{Source: CBS News}

Contrast the President's press conference yesterday (transcript here) and this stunning piece by the AP—The President and The Straw Man.

A specialist in presidential rhetoric, Wayne Fields of Washington University in St. Louis, views it as "a bizarre kind of double talk" that abuses the rules of legitimate discussion.

"It's such a phenomenal hole in the national debate that you can have arguments with nonexistent people," Fields said. "All politicians try to get away with this to a certain extent. What's striking here is how much this administration rests on a foundation of this kind of stuff."

How many examples of "straw man double talk" can you find?

Watch President Bush's speech and Q&A in Cleveland yesterday.

I was a member of the City Club for ten years when I lived in Cleveland. It's an incredible nonpartisan organization that provides citizens with the opportunity to hear and interact with world leaders and influential people throughout academia, business, and the charitable sector.

I've heard luminaries like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Al Gore, and Diane Rehm speak at the Club. As a board committee member, I opposed the nomination of Justice Antonin Scalia for the Citadel of Free Speech Award in which he demanded no audio recordings, video or photographs at the ceremony. Lovin' that First Amendment, eh?

Thoughts on Bush's speech?

*with apologies to Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders.

UPDATE: Molasses Onassis' comment has been confirmed that audience questions were vetted by the White House. WKSU-FM has the story. This completely violates the spirit and charter of the City Club, as the Citadel of Free Speech:

All speakers must answer unfiltered, unrehearsed questions directly from the audience.

I'm very disappointed in the Board and staff for playing a part in this charade.

What is it with these private contractors who handle airport security? At least two are in the news these days - Huntleigh USA Corp. and Pearson.

I'm tinkering under the hood today to make some code upgrades to Unbossed. If the site goes down momentarily, that's why.

So while I'm playing blog greasemonkey:

• what kind of features would you like to see here?
• any topics you'd like to see covered?
• helpful links on the sidebar to replace the now retired "website of the week"?

"I got nothing."

I'm too outraged to type. Lots of posts cooking in my head. My fingers, on the otherhand, are not feeling quite so inspired.

What's on your mind?

Can't keep up with the White House scandal de jour without a scorecard? Want a definitive list of elected crooks on Capitol Hill?

Every Friday, you can post your suggestions for Unbossed's Miscreant of the Week™. Conveniently timed to coincide with the end-of-week bad news dump from the White House Press Office!

So who deserves the inaugural title and why? You've got lots of fodder so have at it. And don't be kind. These lyin', thievin' reprobates have got it coming.

Try the new television program, American Inventor.

What a load of unadulterated made-for-TV manipulative tripe. Gah!

This is a gem:

Yet the Republicans in Congress continue to oppose this commonsense initiative. Why? Because the Washington gun lobby told them to. One Republican congressman had another reason, an unbelievable one. He actually told his own committee chairman, "I trust Hamas more than my own Government." Well, I don't. And I don't think most Americans or most Members of Congress in either party do.

What do you expect a Republican to say about our country’s oil dependence? Since learning of the Set America Free Coalition, I’ve been less surprised to hear Republicans criticize our country’s oil habits. Still, it was refreshing to spend an hour this past Monday listening to a Republican Senator enumerate the flaws in our nation’s current energy policy.

The Brookings Institution invited Indiana Senator Richard Lugar to give the kickoff address for its Leadership Forum series (held in celebration of the institution’s 90th anniversary), and he gave a talk entitled “Energy Security: Cause for Cooperation or Competition?” to a packed auditorium. He made a good case for why we need to rethink our national energy policy; I found the solutions he specified less compelling, although one was an interesting point I’d never considered before.

http://vallevidalfund.org

The battle for the Valle Vidal is a monumentous David and Goliath fight and we need all the help we can get.

This is a bookend to yesterday's national security rant.

Last week, President Bush signed an executive order to establish a Center for Faith-based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Homeland Security—the 11th such religion-influenced agency in the federal government.

Later, the president chastized corporate foundations for not doing enough and to consider re-writing their by-laws which prevent many of them from giving to religious organizations:

"I am confident that the faith community is achieving unbelievable successes throughout our country," Mr. Bush said at the Washington Hilton. "And therefore I would urge our corporate foundations to reach beyond the norm, to look for those social entrepreneurs who haven't been recognized heretofore, to continue to find people who are running programs that are making a significant difference in people's lives."

Notice, the phrase "I am confident". No objective measure. No statistical reference. No proof. Just faith that religious charities are effective.

Follow along, I'm just getting up a head of steam.

This is a fun little work-time time-waster online toy.

What would be really interesting to see if there is any correlation between number of states travelled and their geography and one's political affiliations?

While President Bush expresses shock and sadness over the felony theft arrest of Claude Allen, the former top White House domestic policy advisor and Bush's one-time nominee for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a much bigger story of URGENT national security is being completely ignored by the media.

The so-called War on Terror continues its fiery Dante-esque descent as the largest geo-political boondoogle in human history. Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden remains at large and US Special Forces have been unable to "smoke him out of his cave" since being deployed to the rugged Tora Bora region four and a half years ago.

It's time to call in the professionals.

The ReadtheBill.org family of organizations promotes transparency in government to revitalize American democracy. ReadtheBill.org seeks only transparent process and does not support or oppose policy on substance. ReadtheBill.org is non-partisan and philosophically independent from the two major parties.

At this time, there is only one entity: ReadtheBill.org Civic Action is organized under section 501(c)(4) and conducts education and advocacy on transparency in government.

The flagship reform campaign and laser focus of ReadtheBill.org is an issue campaign to persuade the U.S. Congress to establish the "72 Online" rule to post legislation and conference reports online for 72 hours before floor consideration in Congress.

Sounds like an initiative worth watching.

Hat tip: Stygius.

This is really for the birds. Where I sit it is late winter. Birds are starting to return. A pair of doves is even building a nest near my window. But with the windows shut to keep out the cold and the sparse number of birds, I can't hear them. If you also are missing hearing birds, you can use this site to listen to calls, the dawn chorus, and talking birds, and so much more.

Competitors from the Stiletto Run race for over 150 metres in PC Hooftstraat in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, March 9, 2006. The winner receives a monetary reward from the organizers, a glossy magazine. 09 Mar 2006 REUTERS/Babette Stapel

I loves me my stilettos but even I wouldn't attempt this.

What's on your mind?

Last night at Drinking Liberally, the conversation turned to effective political persuasion techniques with disenfranchised Bush voters.

I've been doing a fair amount of grassroots organizing on the Eastern Plains of Colorado—hardly friendly territory to progressive Democrats. The tide is turning however and folks are becoming more vocal about their concerns about the Bush Administration and the GOP agenda, in general. I hear the same sentiments being expressed across the country by other netroots/grassroots groups.

The question today is two fold:

• How can we take advantage of those "teachable moments" when they present themselves?
• What long-term communication strategies should be implemented to sustain the dialogue with persuadable voters?

The top-secret, sassy-booted Unbossed junta has spoken. Please welcome Avila—Unbossed's essay contest winner and our newest contributing writer. Her award-winning piece follows. Congratulations, Avila!

In the November 2004 edition of Truthout, Saul Landau asks:

Where is the new Picasso who will offer a dramatic painting to help the 21st Century public understand that what the U.S. Air Force just did to the people of Fallujah resembles what the Nazis did to Guernica?

Why? Because they want you to be. Who? The oil and gas dictators and their suckboys in Congress. Why? Because its easier for them to screw you if you’re confused.

Just 94 miles from Dover, Pennsylvania - Creationism Central - lies Red Hill - Evolution Central. Red Hill is one of the most important sites in the world for artifacts from the Devonian Age, the era of fishes.

One thumb drumming on a drum.....

Lets see if we can find some things in common between yesterday's story and today's :

The prospect of northwestern Colorado's rampant oil and gas drilling moving into the territory of North America's most endangered mammal has rattled wildlife biologists who have worked for five years to reintroduce black-footed ferrets to the state.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, despite a recommendation from its field office to defer a decision, has nominated for oil and gas leasing a large portion of a 20,000-acre area east of Rangely where 189 black- footed ferrets have been released since 2001.

Today, the Gallup folks released a new poll that shows that over 50% of Americans "reject evolution. 50%.

Oh....my, my, my.....

Gallup wraps it up: "Several characteristics correlate with belief in the biblical explanation for the origin of humans. Those with lower levels of education, those who attend church regularly, those who are 65 and older, and those who identify with the Republican Party are more likely to believe that God created humans 'as is,' than are those who do not share these characteristics."

Sigh.

I am a proud progressive and I love lobbyists.

There, I said it.

Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking. Em, did you hit your head? Has the crisp mountain air wreaked havoc on your blood oxygen levels? Do you need a lay down with a cold compress?

Well that's debatable but hear me out before you lock me in an adjoining cell to Jack Abramoff's future home.

Does this sound familiar?

" (Candidate) used and even invented new ways of
campaigning that worked in concert with the changes
within society, whereas (the opponents) relied upon
traditional campaign tactics. (Candidate's) campaign
focused on communication, volunteers, and information
technologies...It represented the nation's first
large, voluntary support organization for an
individual politician. The association, 70,000-
members strong, became actively involved in party
primaries, electoral campaigning, and fundraising. It
organized rallies during the primaries and campaign,
led online debates, and initiated the movement for
small donations to be made to their candidate. Thanks
to the association's efforts, hundreds of thousands of
Internet users visited (candidate's) official campaign
site every day, exchanging and sharing views on
election issues during the campaign. They also helped
(candidate) accumulate...approximately U.S. $6 million
from 200,000 small-amount contributors."

The Rocky Mountain News is reporting that coalbed methane drilling is killing Coloradoans. The Denver Post is reporting that the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission doesnt really give a damn.

Elizabeth Mobaldi was born and raised in the United States, but she sounds like a recent immigrant from Russia as she struggles with the English language.
The Grand Junction woman blames a gas well for poisoning her, causing pain, bleeding, brain tumors and spasms. "It felt like small wheels made of needles turning on my entire body. When I would shower the pain became worse and my skin would turn bright red," she said.

Not funny.

I've never had the compunction to smoke though there are many smokers in my family. Several relatives have died (quite horribly, mind you) from smoking-related illnesses.

At one low point in my career, I worked as a litigation assistant for a law firm hired by cigarette manufacturer, RJ Reynolds Company. Our casework: product liability defense. Our strategy: bury the plaintiffs in unnecessary motions and mountains of discovery requests and hope that they died before we went to trial. The Bush I recession and a hungry toddler will force the hand of even the most militant liberal to take a job. Any job.

Needless to say, I'm not a fan of the tobacco industry. I know things about genetic modification of tobacco plants, subliminal advertising strategies, and hideous additives to make cigarettes even more addictive.

However, I'm not sure how I feel about this new development in the War Against Smoking.

From our friends at Emergency Campaign for America's Priorities, a web film on Bush's plan to make his tax cuts permanent.

Anymore, it's tough to distinguish between reality and satire when it comes to Bush Administration proposals.

But are initiatives, like this, truly helpful in persuading voters to act or have we simply created a cottage industry for web developers and Flash masters?

Today's war on abortion rights and homosexuals is nothing new. It happened before, but then it was Nazi medicine:

In 1936 the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion was established to step up efforts to prevent acts that obstructed reproduction. In a 1937 speech linking homosexuality to a falling birthrate, German police chief Heinrich Himmler stated: “A people of good race which has too few children has a one-way ticket to the grave.”

And what about people who are disabled, the underclass, dark people, different people? Read on.

I admit it. I have this thing for volcanoes. One of my biggest disappoints was being in New Zealand when Mt. Ruapehu was spewing and not being able to get to the area. When I flew from Hamilton to Wellington, I had mixed feelings when the plane gave the central volcanic plateau a wide berth. On the one hand, I was glad not to die when the plane crashed after its engines were clogged with volcanic ash. On the other hand, wow, what a view that would have given us.

For those who want to have a safer up close look at spectacular photos of all things volcano, the USGS has just the site for you.

Cross-posted with permission from Democracy in Progress.

The White House Homeland Security Staff this week released its post-mortem on Hurricane Katrina, with a review of lessons learned and a list of 125 recommendations. Predictably, the report contains the usual fawning references to His Majesty the President, and 28 occurrences of the term "faith-based". The first words of Chapter 1 of this report about a hurricane are "Terrorists still plot their evil deeds." (I'm not kidding.)

Unbossed is recruiting new contributing writers to join our fabulous staff!

This is an open call for any Unbossed reader to post a maximum 500-word treatise on the public policy issue of his/her choice.

What are you passionate about? Are there particular concerns that you want to promote? Do you have a new perspective on an issue that has been little explored in
the mainstream press or blogosphere?

Judging criteria include:

• Only original work by the author will be considered, though it may have
  been previously posted/published elsewhere
• Thorough fact checking
• Broadly sourced and linked citations (Check out the Webmonkey Cheat
  Sheet if you need HTML code help)
• Free of grammatical errors
• Quality of analysis
• Quality of content and style
• Political ideology is at the discretion of the writer

The winners will have their essays promoted to the Unbossed front page during the week of March 6. Outstanding essayists will be extended an invitation to become an Unbossed contributing writer (front page poster for you Daily Kos fancypants).

Send your essay in an unmarked brown wrapper contained in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS!) to em dash by Sunday, March 5.

Good luck, comrades!

em dash, Izzy, shirah, DCvote, Bob in Loveland, Nathan, morpheme, FarmerLaborParty, and environmentalist

The latest issue of The Economist includes a survey on “the business of giving” -– philanthropy by some of the new rich, who made millions in business and want to apply their corporate savvy to their giving. The article I found most interesting was entitled “The Birth of Philanthrocapitalism,” (subscription only) because it suggests that more philanthropists may be adopting a model that emphasizes organization building rather than short-term, one-off projects. I have some personal interest in this topic, because I work for a nonprofit that could use some additional investment.

Unbossed is not the only group interested in unlocking secrets . . . fortunately for us all. Investigative blogging and tracking down sources for information and other resources, such as inspector general reports is all well and good, but there are paid professionals who really do know a lot about these issues.

You can rub shoulders with them at the 2006 Freedom of Information Summit - cool intro.