“Now is a superb time to get that abortion you’ve been putting off. ”
-Ted Rall, commenting on the nomination of Roberts to the Supreme Court

Virtually every conservative who knows him trusts him and thinks he’s a competent guy.” — Newt Gingrich

This guy is a complete S.O.B. of a conservative and you can’t prove it.” — P.J. O’Rourke

“(He) seems to be a judicial conservative, what we call a constitutional constructionist. … That’s satisfactory with us, if that’s true.” — National Right to Life’s John Willke

Much has been said and written about the AFL-CIO Convention, but I’m sorry to say the press missed a historical moment. For the first time in its history, the AFL-CIO voted to to withdraw the troops during a war.

Below is a partial transcript from the historic debate at the AFL-CIO Convention with an quote from our very own Executive Director of the SF Labor Council, Tim Paulson.

The successful passage of the resolution calling for rapid return of all U.S. troops from Iraq was the result of organizing on the part of antiwar labor activists from across the country who are part of a group called U.S. Labor Against the War.

I ran into a local political consultant last night, and we had an amusing–if not particularly on-topic–conversation. A couple items of idle speculation came up that I think were interesting. (Disclaimer: all the following is speculation and should be treated for what it was: late-night bar chit-chat. As they say in the movies, several margaritas gave their life for the creation of these rumors).

It looks like labor is fighting back against what Robert calls the “Paycheck Deception Act”, Prop 75.

With a November ballot measure threatening to diminish labor’s political clout in California, unions are striking back with a proposed initiative to bar corporations from spending on election campaigns without shareholder approval.

…

The unions’ countermeasure, which they call the “corporate political accountability act,” covers ballot measure advocacy and donations to parties and candidates for public office. It would apply to any publicly traded or privately held corporation that seeks to donate or spend money on campaign activity in California.

Someone just sent this to me. Please forward to any and all interested:

Social Change Organizers of Color Invited to Apply for Alston/Bannerman Fellowship
Deadline: December 1, 2005

The Alston/Bannerman Fellowship Program is committed to advancing progressive social change by helping to sustain long-time activists of color. The program is designed to give these activists the financial support and freedom to “take a break and recharge.”

State Attorney General Bill Lockyer on Probation

One Strike down, Two to go…

At the last Democratic Convention, I argued that State Attorney Bill Lockyer had gone too far over the line and had a three strikes problem. Or at least that was the buzz at the Convention…

Lockyer
1) was suing SF to stop gay marriage
2) was leading the charge for the Death Penalty against District Attorney Kamala Harris
3) had no remorse for voting for Arnold.

This is terrible news.

After an all-day, full-court press by the White House, the House early Thursday narrowly approved the controversial Central America Free Trade Agreement, avoiding a potentially embarrassing political defeat for President Bush on an issue he championed for months.

The final vote to approve the pact was 217 to 215. House leaders held the vote open for an hour — well past the normal 15-minute voting time — as they rounded up enough votes to win.

In the end, 25 Republicans defied their leadership, and their president, to oppose CAFTA, while two others didn’t vote. Only 15 of the House’s 202 Democrats broke ranks to support it.

NY Times Editorial
________________________________________
July 27, 2005
Solidarity in Pieces
It’s disturbing to hear the fracture of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. billed as the death of organized labor, particularly by those whose cheerful tone suggests that the sooner unions fade away, the better. Since we live in an era when the chasm between the lower and upper classes is growing, and the chances of moving out of poverty are getting slimmer, it’s hard to imagine that working people have lost their need for a powerful advocate.
Still, something had to change, as shown by the much-quoted statistic about the number of union workers in the private sector: fewer than 8 percent. The labor federation has been on the ropes for years, losing battles at workplaces and in politics, and against technology and global economic change. This week, two of the largest members of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. - the 1.8-million-member Service Employees International Union and the 1.4-million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters - withdrew as its convention in Chicago began. Others may follow. The leader of the service employees’ union, Andrew Stern, a protégé of the federation’s president, John Sweeney, has now turned against his old mentor and wants Mr. Sweeney to step down.
The dissidents have every right to be dismayed. The unions that once organized the great blue-collar industries now mainly concentrate on managing the pain as their members watch their jobs give way to automation or globalization. If the labor movement is to survive, it must be able to move into the low-paying service sector and organize workers who are desperately in need of a champion, whose employers currently take advantage of them because there is no one to speak and act on their behalf.
And although few dissidents would agree, organized labor needs to acknowledge that the global economy is not going to be repealed. Pouring money into political campaigns that focus on the fact that jobs are moving to countries where wages are only a fraction of what they are in America is not a strategy. It’s more like trying to bail out the tide.
America needs a union movement that is both feisty and sophisticated, ready to think creatively about new ways to lift up the diverse, struggling, yearning men and women who make up the working class. The chances of accomplishing that are greater if organized labor is united.
We hope that the factions can negotiate a peace that is not a papering over of the deep and pressing problems that bedevil the A.F.L.-C.I.O., which include an expensive and sometimes ineffective bureaucracy and a knee-jerk political strategy. Solving the problems is far more important than saving the federation.

For the last month or so, School Board advocates have been talking about how on August 8th, Arlene Ackerman, School Board Superintendent, vests for Health Care benefits with the City and County of SF. If you work for the city for 5 years, you can have full health care benefits when you retire. So I say she announces in early August.

They have also been talking about the fact that Arlene is never in town and some are suggesting that she is looking for another job.

Well, with their employees anyway…

The Harvey Milk Club passed the following resolution last night:
Out of solidarity with the workers at the San Francisco Chronicle, The Harvey Milk Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Democratic Club resolves to urge our members and the public to pledge to cancel their subscriptions to the Chronicle if the Chronicle locks any of its employees out of work, imposes conditions upon any of them or forces any union to strike.

The Chronicle will surely feel the pinch when every member of the club cancels their subscription. The paper is likely to lose 50 cents per day.