Poor Workers Unions

Poor Workers’ Unions: Lessons for Labor
Feb. 23, 2005
Poor Workers’ Unions, by Vanessa Tait, South End Press, paper, $20

At a time when the U.S. labor movement is engaging in an unprecedented
public debate over the course of its future, one of the luckiest breaks we
could hope for would be for an informed and talented labor communicator to
publish a book that not only advocates a focus that has been missing from
the discussion, but also lays out the evidence read more

Poor Workers Unions Read More »

Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care

Nursing Against the Odds: The Workers’ View
March 12, 2005
“Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care,” by Suzanne Gordon, Cornell University Press, 450 pages.

Nurses. Nurses. Nurses. Already I’ve guaranteed that more people will find this article on the internet who are searching for pornography than who are searching for answers to our health care crisis or insights into one of the most read more

Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care Read More »

Dancer in the Dark

“Dancer in the Dark”
24 February 2001

Tonight I saw the most painful movie I’ve ever seen, in fact the only painful movie I’ve seen in my life. I was fidgeting and squirming, covering my eyes, shaking, and moaning during this horrible thing. A half dozen people left the theater during some of the worst parts. My wife nearly vomited. I still feel ill hours later.

There was nothing gruesome or frightening in “Dancer in the Dark.” It’s not a horror flick. read more

Dancer in the Dark Read More »

Here, The People Rule: A Constitutional Populist Manifesto

We Need Majority Rule

What we need now is majority rule. If that sounds frightening or risky, probably the best thing you can do is read “Here, The People Rule: A Constitutional Populist Manifesto,” by Richard D. Parker (1994).

This brilliant little book will convince you that our culture is full of anti-populist sentiment, and that it shouldn’t be. In my own work I have run into this problem. After the organization I work for campaigned to block the privatization of five New read more

Here, The People Rule: A Constitutional Populist Manifesto Read More »

The Emperors Club

New Clothes for the Emperors Club

Nietzsche pointed out that Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” was misnamed, that it was a play about Brutus. The movie currently in theaters called “The Emperors Club” is not misnamed, but it is not about the teacher that critics claim it is about. Nor does the title refer to some sort of secret prep-school society, as “Dead Poets Society” did. The Emperors Club is the plutocracy into which George W. Bush was born, and its sins read more

The Emperors Club Read More »

Greed and Good

Why Aren’t Americans Happy
July 26, 2004

The past 30 years have seen tremendous growth in the United States in productivity and wealth, and yet we don’t all seem very appreciative. In fact, as Yale political scientist Robert Lane has documented, surveys have found Americans’ assessment of their level of happiness declining significantly. The same is not the case in other developed countries.

The United States contains less than 5 percent of the world’s population and spends read more

Greed and Good Read More »

Daniel Quinn's Books

Daniel Quinn has an idea. He sees homo sapiens as on the verge of self-destruction and traces the major behavioral patterns bringing this about back to what is commonly referred to as the agricultural revolution. According to Quinn, we long supposed our species to have originated when writing originated some five thousand years ago, and continue to suppose “humanity” to have begun when what Quinn calls “totalitarian farming” began some ten thousand years ago, and this despite read more

Daniel Quinn's Books Read More »

This Divided State

This Divided State: A Brilliant Film
March 24, 2005

At a recent screening of “This Divided State,” a brilliant documentary by Steven Greenstreet, someone in the audience asked the 25-year-old director what he thought would change the minds of conservatives in the film who expressed fear that liberals would corrupt their children, and who on that basis fought to keep all liberal opinions out of their community.

Greenstreet’s answer was not what you’d expect to hear in a gathering read more

This Divided State Read More »

Progressive Primary Challenge to Hillary Launched

By David Swanson

On Tuesday in New York, Jonathan Tasini will announce the launch of his campaign for United States Senate, challenging Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. A Democrat, at least one who convincingly opposes Bush, is very likely to win the general election in this race. This means that the primary is the real election, and the question is what kind of Democrat we want to have in the Senate.

Behind curtain number one is Hillary Clinton, a pro-war, pro-CAFTA, pro-corporate health read more

Progressive Primary Challenge to Hillary Launched Read More »

Mayor of London Calls Bushies "A Gang of Thugs"

Mayor of London Calls Bushies “A Gang of Thugs”
By David Swanson

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, England, threw a bash for anti-war activists this evening and denounced the Bush Administration as “a gang of thugs.” He praised the work of those present from the US and the UK who have worked to end the war, including offering high praise for Cindy Sheehan, who also spoke.

Photo album here:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/images/london-day1/index.htm

“You are read more

Mayor of London Calls Bushies "A Gang of Thugs" Read More »

Scotland: Stop the War!

London, Day 2: Scotland Trip
By David Swanson

Today, Cindy Sheehan and Scottish mothers who have lost their sons in Iraq held a rally outside the Scottish parliament, spoke at a cross-party meeting of Members of the Scottish Parliament, were welcomed to the City of Glasgow by the Lord Provost, and addressed an anti-war rally in Glasgow. This, plus the trips up to Scotland from London and back took Cindy and Andrew Burgin and me about 16 hours, so we’re a wee bit knackered, but we’re read more

Scotland: Stop the War! Read More »

Cindy Sheehan Goes to Downing Street

By David Swanson

Today Cindy Sheehan, Brian Haw, and a crowd of other peace activists paid a visit to #10 Downing Street, the home of British Prime Minister Tony Blair — and birthplace of the Downing Street Minutes. Sheehan is known around the world as the mother whose campaign has demanded an explanation from George Bush for her son’s death in Iraq. Haw is known to all of Britain as the man who has lived in Parliament Square read more

Cindy Sheehan Goes to Downing Street Read More »

PDA Report on International Peace Conference in London

PDA Report on International Peace Conference in London
By David Swanson

London, England, December 10, 2005–Fellow PDA National Board Member Steve Cobble and I participated in an historic international peace conference in London on December 10 and in various related events the same week. We met with several Members of Parliament and will be working to facilitate teamwork and future events with them and members of the US Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The conference, hosted by the Stop read more

PDA Report on International Peace Conference in London Read More »

An International Peace Movement Building

By David Swanson

On Saturday, December 10, in London, England, leaders of the peace movement against the Iraq war from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Iraq will meet to strategize. There is hope that the tide has already turned against the occupation, and that a coordinated international effort will be able to mobilize sufficient public pressure to bring the war to a complete end.

If you can make it to London, sign up here: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

If you can’t make it, I think read more

An International Peace Movement Building Read More »

Best Blue Town in the South

By David Swanson

That’s right, I’ve left the beautiful beltway and moved back to the coolest city in the country: Charlottesville, Va., where…

The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice promotes peace at top volume and gets even the police cars and busses to HONK as they roll by…

Main Street has been closed and trees planted in it, and an arts community built around it…

A real progressive is running for Congress next year against a Bush-devotee…

I can walk read more

Best Blue Town in the South Read More »

Bonifaz Announces Campaign

By David Swanson

Two weeks ago, I wrote about a candidate considering a run for Secretary of State of Massachusetts, an unusual candidate in that he is a national leader in the fight for voting rights and campaign reform. Today John Bonifaz officially anounced his candidacy! This is, as I argued two weeks ago, a race of NATIONAL importance.

Here is what the Boston Globe said today: “Activist read more

Bonifaz Announces Campaign Read More »

Early Photos

Photos of painting Little One’s room on October 2, 2005, before he got the name Wesley and before we knew we were moving:

September 2005 Photos, including Anna, animals for Little One’s room, and September 29, 2005, Shopping for Little One’s Room

Early Photos Read More »

Friday Night Congress: What Was That?

By David Swanson

During the middle of the day on Friday, I spent an hour or two on a conference call with activists and congressional staffers discussing next steps to end the war. We planned, among other things, to organize support for Congressman John Murtha’s bill, H.J.Res. 73, which he introduced on Friday. The bill resolves that:

“The deployment of United States forces in Iraq, by direction of Congress, is hereby terminated and the forces involved are to be redeployed at the read more

Friday Night Congress: What Was That? Read More »