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A blog discussing the current state of the world of work
Barbara's Blog
Pastors Go Postal
For heartsick former supporters of
John Edwards, this week offers an edifying tabloid alternative: the
civil trial of Victoria Osteen, wife of megachurch minister and
televangelist Joel Osteen, for assaulting a flight attendant. The
issue was what is sometimes described as a “spill” and sometimes as
a “stain” on the armrest of Mrs. Osteen’s first class seat, which
the flight attendant refused to clean up with sufficient alacrity
because she was busy assisting others board. Although there is no
evidence that the spill consisted of tuberculosis-ridden phlegm or
avian flu-rich bird poop, Osteen was mightily pissed, allegedly
pushing and punching the flight attendant and making such a ruckus
that the Osteen family had to be removed from the flight.
Read more >>
The Suicide Solution
A few days before Congress passed
its Housing Bill, Carlene Balderrama of Taunton MA found her own
solution to the housing crisis. Just a little over two hours in
advance of the time her mortgage company, PHH Mortgage Corporation –
may its name live in infamy – was to auction off her home,
Balderrama killed herself with her husband’s rifle.
Read more >>
Liposuction: The Key to Energy
Independence
Everyone talks about our terrible dependency on oil – foreign and otherwise –
but hardly anyone mentions what it is. Fossil fuel, all right, but whose
fossils? Mostly tiny plants called diatoms, but quite possibly a few Barney-like
creatures went into the mix, like Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus and other giant
reptiles that shared the Jurassic period with all those diatoms. What we are
burning in our cars and keeping our homes warm or cool with is, in other words,
a highly processed version of corpse juice.
Read more >>
Hillary’s Gift to Women
In Friday’s New York Times,
Susan Faludi rejoiced over Hillary Clinton’s destruction of the myth
of female prissiness and innate moral superiority, hailing Clinton’s
“no-holds-barred pugnacity” and her media reputation as “nasty” and
“ruthless.” Future female presidential candidates will owe a lot to
the race of 2008, Faludi wrote, “when Hillary Clinton broke through
the glass floor and got down with the boys.”
Read more >>
Barbara's Guest Blogger
Greatest Nation in the World? How the U.S.
Stacks Up for Those In Labor
By Ellen Bravo
Recently I gave a talk in Calgary, Canada for
representatives of credit unions from around the world. The woman
who introduced me, a director of marketing, was Canadian. “I just
got back from maternity leave,” she told me, raving about her first
child.
I know that Canadian law allows for nearly a year
of leave at 55 percent pay. “How long did you take?” I asked.
“Oh, the whole year,” she replied. I mentioned
that the Family and Medical Leave Act in the U.S. provides for
considerably less time, 12 weeks, and that the time is unpaid. (I
didn’t mention that it covers only half the workforce.) The vast
majority of new mothers in the U.S. are back at work before 12
weeks. More than half of them get no pay at all.
Read more >>
The Death of Democracy
by Pete Orthmann
Having had to scratch around for survival all my life, I confess
total ignorance about living life as a mega-millionaire. From this
distance, it all seems so….. phony, and actually down-right
disgusting. Phony because, they apparently judge themselves and
everyone else on the basis of stuff as opposed to personal
qualities. Disgusting because most are so totally self absorbed they
fail to even notice the people around them who are literally
clinging to the very edge of life. Disgusting also, because they are
oblivious to the devastation caused by their excesses. Sure, there
are obvious exceptions like Bono, Oprah, Paul Newman and a handful
of others. But for the most part, the super rich seem compelled to
proudly demonstrate complete self-indulgence.
Read more >>
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