Feeling the Pulse of Our Life and Times
How Do We Get to the Government We Need?
“Abundance,” a new book by journalists Ezra Klein of The New York Times and Derek Thompson of The Atlantic, offers a recipe to reorganize government operations to work better, rather than to bleed or eliminate them as Elon Musk’s DOGE “efficiency” experts have done.
Fight or Flight: Trump Poses Dilemma
Justina Lennox, a transgender woman, fled her home in Fort Worth, Texas, last week and is planning to resettle in Canada. She’s one of many Americans whose sense of foreboding over the coming of a second Trump administration has pushed them to expatriate rather than stay in their homeland.
Playing Down to Get Ahead
Vance is using his biography as a platform to connect with voters in the Midwest, and to steer them to – or keep them in – the MAGA camp. But the words ring hollow in light of Vance’s record of words and actions. Just listen to him.
Henry Kissinger, MAD
I’ve loved and hated Henry Kissinger over the years, sometimes all at once. Fortunately, I’ve gotten past the emotions. Kissinger truly was a great man of his times, despite his terrible mistakes. The outpouring of testimonials (and denunciations) in the wake of his passing on Nov. 29, at 100, speaks to the measure of respect…
War is Hell (and Worse)
Sitting in front of our televisions or other Internet windows today, we’re witnessing how war dehumanizes our race – and, yes, there is only one. The human race appears not to be evolving as a civilized species – or as survivors. Blinded by hate, people are still trying to kill each other.
Final Cut: The Music Plays On
How long can you keep a musical dream alive? In the case of David Kameras, my compatriot through many labor communication campaigns, the expiration date extends beyond life itself. Last month, through his Random Fill Records, David released the second album by Middlefish Pond, a collaboration with his longtime musical mate, Tom Winter, who was…
Justice at Smithfield
When 5,000 slaughterhouse workers in Tar Heel, North Carolina, finally won the right to bargain over their wages and working conditions with Smithfield Foods, in December 2008, it was hailed as a great victory for the labor movement, which had stumbled and withered as the 20th century faded into history. It was indeed an important…
A Time of Renewal
About this time every year, when spring sparks life all around, humankind gets busy as well. We are found celebrating, remembering, crusading – and taking it to the streets, as was the case Saturday, April 29, in Washington, DC. The People’s Climate March brought 200,000 activists to swelter in global warming-style heat in the swamp,…
Kentucky Blues
During a break in Kentucky’s dismantling of Alabama on the hardwood Saturday, announcer Kara Lawson noted that the movie “Selma” was playing in theaters around Tuscaloosa, as it was in theaters across the country. “We can’t forget the image of Governor George Wallace at the Alabama campus, standing in the school doorway, denying entrance to…
Labor Day Baby
In November, I will have worked for the labor movement for 25 years, a silver moment for me. From editing the AFL-CIO News, assistant to the legendary Director of Information Rex Hardesty, to producing campaign strategies and material for leading labor PR firms, to helping shape the message and content for all media at one…
The Koch Machine
We’re about to learn a lot more about the Koch (pronounced “Coke”) brothers, despite their best efforts to hide behind the myriad front organizations they use to funnel cash to politicians who’ll do their bidding. “Citizen Koch,” a documentary about their power play in Wisconsin to eliminate bargaining rights of public employees and undermine labor…
Labor Memorial Day
Growing up, May Day always conjured up Maypole dances and the smell of beautiful flowers at church festivals celebrating Mary, a reputed virgin mother. I learned that it was the day to celebrate St. Joseph the worker, the patron saint of workers, which I know today only partially acknowledges the importance of the holiday. May…
The Revolution Will Be Blogged
Journalists are not what they used to be. The profession and the news industry have changed dramatically over the past few decades, reshaped by information technology and new media innovation that googles the mind, literally. It remains to be seen if the public is benefiting from this evolution, even as its buying habits help to…
A Fine Madness
March is roaring in but who cares if the weather is frightful? Inside gyms and arenas across the land, college basketball players are reaching for the brass hoop, and the crowds roar. It’s a beautiful thing, this March Madness. This year, it’s anyone’s game to win. Will Cinderella crash the party? Few college basketball seasons…
The Big Fix to Income Inequality
Income inequality is the defining and dividing issue of our time, as President Obama has reminded us in a series of speeches over the past few months. The huge gap between the richest 1 percent and the rest of us has been the subject of much debate and even “occupy” demonstrations targeting Wall Street greed…
Love Story
This week the historic Des Plaines Theatre in suburban Chicago is undergoing a rebirth with the world premiere of “Etude: The Musical,” an ambitious production that tells a love story spanning centuries, connected by myth, music and the arc of history. “Etude” presents a new take on the classic battle between good and evil, challenging…
Good Vibrations in LA
Hope was a byword of the AFL-CIO Convention this year, and the positive vibe was contagious even long distance. As the federation wrapped up its business in Los Angeles this week, the positive signs were all around, even with the challenges that lie ahead. Labor seems fit for the organizing, bargaining and legislative campaigns coming…
Reinventing Labor
The pressure that labor faces this week at the AFL-CIO Convention in Los Angeles is palpable even here on the East Coast, and across the nation. The labor movement is at a crossroads, and major changes are on the horizon. We will soon see if the federation can implement a radical plan to revive a…
Whither Labor
Four years ago, in Pittsburgh, the American labor movement was retooling for the challenge of an economy gone terribly wrong. Rich Trumka, the fiery former coal miner and inveterate boat rocker, was assuming the helm of the AFL-CIO with a warning shot across the bow of Wall Street and K Street. And he elevated two…
Miss Saigon Revisited
As Cameron Mackintosh prepared to bring “Miss Saigon” to Broadway in 1990, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Would the burden of those years be reduced to a song and dance routine? As a Vietnam veteran stationed briefly in Saigon and Bangkok, the settings for Acts 1 and 2, I didn’t see how…
Prying Eyes
I haven’t joined the Pardon Bradley (now Chelsea) Manning movement, although I credit her for trying to do something about government overreach, even if it was poorly conceived. It’s fine that she will be spending a few more years in prison, as a soldier. She is genuinely contrite and apologetic. Given her special struggle with…
Getting It Together
What does it take to get Democrats and Republicans to work together? Apparently all that’s needed is a recognition that they must act – because people are hurting and they’re yelling and screaming about it. Better to work out a deal than be tossed out on your ear on Election Day. That’s a cynical view,…
Still Keeping Time
Since my last post, I’ve been packing up and preparing to move during another ferocious heat wave scorching the nation. That is the big story from Arizona to Massachusetts. Mother Nature’s frenzy. And that’s another story. We’re not moving far, but the process of parting with a home and memories accumulated over 22-plus years can…
Lessons in Social Justice
The Fairness at Patriot rally in Henderson, Ky., on Tuesday sent me tripping back through time. Here we were at the County Courthouse at the edge of Henderson’s idyllic Central Park, where I worked and played for years, demanding justice for those who mine coal while celebrating the continued importance of that resource to the…
In the Court of Public Opinion
I am going home to cover a big story, just like old times. When 4,000 United Mine Workers and community supporters rally Tuesday, June 4, at the Henderson County (Ky.) Courthouse, I’ll be there to write about it, to blog live in my hometown, where I began my career as a newspaper reporter. This is…
Faith and Justice
As Mine Workers and their supporters prepare to descend on St. Louis Tuesday to again raise their voices outside the federal courthouse, they are bolstered by a new report by religious leaders that finds the miners’ battle against Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and the bastard child Patriot Coal to be right and just. And they…
Will There Be Justice?
Bankruptcy Court hearings begin Monday on Patriot Coal’s plan to effectively eliminate health care for retirees and impose severe cutbacks on pay, working conditions and benefits for active miners. Outside the courthouse in St. Louis, thousands of Mine Workers (UMWA) and their labor and community allies will call for justice. They will bear witness to…
We Need Robin Hood
A new report underlines the basic problem with the post-Great Recession American economy: the rich are getting richer while everyone else is falling further behind. The study by the Pew Research Center finds that the average net worth of the top 7 percent of the U.S. population increased 28 percent in the first two years…
Keep Weapons Off Planes
Slipping under the radar Monday, the same day the FAA laid off 1,500 air traffic controllers causing flight delays nationwide, the TSA announced it is delaying a decision to allow small pocketknives back on planes. A federal game of chicken is responsible for the layoffs, with the Republican-controlled Congress forcing deep across-the-board government cutbacks through…
Getting to the Point
In St. Louis on Tuesday, Mine Workers and their supporters will plant 1,000 white crosses to commemorate miners who have died in Peabody, Arch and Patriot mines, or who stand to lose their lives if Patriot is successful in using bankruptcy court to dump its retiree health care obligations. The event, across from Peabody’s headquarters,…
Last Line of Defense
Denny Pickens saw a good job at the Shoemaker mine outside Wheeling, W.Va., nearly slip through his fingers before he was able to reel it back with the help of his union, the United Mine Workers of America, which convinced Consol Energy that it should invest in revitalizing the mine. Pickens, the president of the…
Roll Away the Stone
Over the past several months, Mine Workers have marched in the streets of St. Louis to protest Peabody Energy abandoning its former employees. On three occasions, miners have locked hands in the streets in a boisterous nonviolent protest, singing “Amazing Grace” as they waited to be arrested. Invoking the words of Jesus and passages of…
The Alligator Shoe Drops
As bankruptcy court hearings begin today in St. Louis on Patriot Coal’s petition to eliminate retiree health care and to make steep cuts in compensation for active miners, the United Mine Workers released documents showing that Patriot has paid more than $14 million in legal fees and expenses to the well-heeled New York law firm,…
Bracketology
If you’ve watched the NCAA basketball tournament matchups over the past several decades, you will have noticed that the committee has a good sense of geography and history as it makes selections that end up serving as our March bracketological puzzle. And maybe the committee has a good sense of humor, too. Consider Louisville, the…
Patriot Drops the Bomb
Patriot Coal has asked bankruptcy court to terminate all retiree health care obligations and radically restructure its collective bargaining agreement with the United Mine Workers of America, essentially a nuclear option that promises to intensify the heat in the streets of St. Louis, where coal miners have come to demonstrate and go to jail if…
The Catholic 7, More Hoopla
Here’s a postscript to the previous blog, since the Catholic schools continue to make news on the basketball court. Amazingly, the No. 1 team in America now is the Gonzaga Bulldogs, a little Jesuit school from Spokane, Wash. Of course, the Zags play in the anemic West Coast Conference, so don’t expect them to drive…
Confessions of a Basketball Junkie
As I watched Notre Dame survive through five overtimes to beat Louisville last Saturday, I had this overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Here I was pulling for Louisville, knowing full well that the Irish were going to win the game. It was destiny. I’ve seen it before. It’s a well-ordained script. Not just the luck…
Echoes of History
“Workers have kept faith in American institutions. Most of the conflicts that have occurred have been when labor’s right to live has been challenged and denied.” — John L. Lewis Today is the birthday of John L. Lewis, who presided over the United Mine Workers of America for 40 years and set in motion organizing…
Fairness at Patriot
Peabody Energy today got a first taste of what promises to be an intense in-your-face confrontation with the United Mine Workers, the first day of hearings in the bankruptcy of Patriot Coal, a company Peabody spun off to offload its union operations – and pension and health care obligations for thousands of retirees and their…
Getting Back to the Dream
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot while on a mission to Memphis, where he’d gone to rally sanitation workers trying to organize with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. This was an ongoing mission for Dr. King, elevating work and the value of labor through unions. He helped move organized labor…
Here’s a Christmas Card
My friend Kieran recently sent me a single from his acapella band, Cartoon Johnny, offered free for the holidays, “What Christmas Means to Me.” It’s an old Motown song, sung years ago by Stevie Wonder, and Kieran has the Stevie voice, a soaring tenor with soul, of the blue-eyed variety. He’s got the lead here.…
A Time to Grieve. A Time to Act.
We must act. We must change. We must try to prevent more tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. That was the gist of President Obama’s powerful sermon before the grieving community of Newtown Sunday night. It was the fourth deadly rampage during his four years as president, horrifying experiences for towns across the…
Is Change Gonna Come?
As discussed in this blog a few weeks ago, Gerald Marks was a musical genius who applied his art to the service of a cause – his love Edna Berger, first of all, but also to Edna’s mission to give creative people in the news business a seat at the table to negotiate with the…
Playing the ‘Freedom’ Card
The effort by the lame-duck Republican legislature in Michigan to ram through a so-called “right-to-work’ law is a subversion of democracy, pure and simple. What they could not accomplish through the electoral process, these Republicans intend to do with a blatant power play. It should not stand. We should cheer the arrival Tuesday morning of…
Scene of the Crime
Traveling south from Charleston, W.Va., through Boone County is a visual treat, a land weathered by time and fortune. You can see it on the truck-cracked roads that roll past narrow streambeds, on the little coal towns sunk into the hollers or nestled up against the mountains, abandoned coal tipple conveyers rising along the mountain…
Voices from the Coalfields
In issuing her order to move Patriot Coal’s bankruptcy case from New York to St. Louis, Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman pointed to the “hundreds of hand-written letters … received by the Court from the people whose hands mine the Debtors’ coal and their widows and children.” These very personal and emotional statements clearly influenced her…
King Coal and Paradise
And daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where Paradise lay Well, I’m sorry my son, but you’re too late in asking Mister Peabody’s coal train has hauled it away — John Prine, “Paradise” Coal was King when I was growing up in western Kentucky. Grandpapa Van was…
Lincoln: Making History
Abraham Lincoln is a son of Kentucky, a point he makes during the legislative wrangling over the 13th Amendment, as Steven Spielberg tells it in “Lincoln,” a great new movie that is much different from most cinematic fare today. He was born in Kentucky and raised in southern Indiana, before he became famous in Illinois,…
Thanks for the Brutal Honesty … and Kindness
“I never wanted to be a good swimmer, but I always was,” began Ari Benjamin Bank in a soft voice to a hushed overflow crowd of 100 people in a room at Philadelphia’s Free Library. He was a good swimmer already at 6 years old, when his parents sent him away to day camp for…