OB Rag

There I am as happy as I can be, at 58, posing in front of a camera at the 40th reunion of Tucson High’s Class of ’56.

It’s a cliche but time does fly, like a peregrine falcon diving steeply for its prey against the background of the sky, as in a few weeks I will be basking in the midst of an increasingly dwindling number of classmates for our 55th. Boy, they’re getting old – and vice-versa.

We greet this Labor Day with anxiety about the possibility of a double-dip recession, persistently high unemployment that never significantly ebbed after the depths of the 2008 downturn, and austerity budgets at the local, state, and federal levels. While many observers have drawn parallels to the Great Depression, one key difference stands out for American workers: Labor is not on the march.

In a perverse irony, the current economic crisis has been cruel to Labor. Rather than rallying workers to the union cause even though Labor did much to elect him, the Obama Administration has shown tepid support for unions after talking big about the value of Labor in his campaign. Hence the Obama era has been a kind of anti-New Deal period with the administration spending more time attacking teachers’ unions than helping American workers of any stripe in any significant way.

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing / September 4, 2011

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (R–Minn.) might not be able to sustain her Tea Party-fueled lead among the perfidy of presidential wannabes, but while she remains in the race, admit it: She makes for good entertainment — in a morbidly fascinating sort of way.

Newsweek magazine’s blatantly sexist cover image of Bachmann, declaring her the “Queen of Rage,” actually elicited a complaint from National Organization for Women (NOW). Yowza, what a coupling! If Bachmann’s campaign lasts, NOW will surely do all it can to otherwise denounce her for her homophobia, anti-women’s and civil rights positions, and bent toward theocracy. But in the meantime, fun, fun, fun!

by Jeanne Mirer and Marjorie Cohn / CommonDreams.org

The debate about the debt ceiling should have been a conversation about how to create jobs. It is time for progressives to remind the government that it has a legal duty to create jobs, and must act immediately – if not through Congress, then through the Federal Reserve.

With official unemployment reaching over 9%, the unofficial rate in double digits, and the unemployment rate for people of color more than double that of whites, it is nerve wracking to hear right wing political pundits say the government cannot create jobs.

By Bill McKibben / 350.org / September 3, 2011

Dear Friends—

I’m writing this from the lawn in front of the White House.

In front of me there’s a sprawling rally underway, with speakers ranging from indigenous elders to the great Canadian writer Naomi Klein. In back of me, another 243 courageous people are being hauled away to jail — it’s the last day of Phase 1 of the tar sands campaign, and 1,252 North Americans have been arrested, the biggest civil disobedience action this century on this continent.

Join hundreds of your fellow San Diegans – many of them unemployed – for a Rally for the Jobless.

The rally is being held on Labor Day – of all days, Monday, September 5th. It will be at noon at Horton Plaza Park between 3rd and 4th Avenues in downtown San Diego.

This event is being hosted by MoveOn San Diego and the Rebuild the American Dream movement.

Confirmed speakers include Congressman Bob Filner – who of course is running for San Diego’s mayor, Labor Council head Lorena Gonzalez, Lori Saldana who is running against Brian Bilbray for Congress, and Floyd Morrow – a long-time local activist and former city councilman.

Jobs – or the lack of them – are the single most important issue in America today. As many Americans know, we have a jobs crisis – not a deficit crisis, and as Congressional members filter back to Washington, DC after the Labor Day weekend, they need to immediately take up this critical issue.

Our fellow citizens are suffering more than they ever have in their collective lifetimes. Our best workers sit idle, while the work of rebuilding the country goes undone. People with degrees, with multiple degrees – cannot find work. The thousands of young college graduates who just accepted their degrees – there’s no jobs for them. There are no jobs for the returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan. Millions of our jobless fellow citizens would love to become working, tax-paying members of our communities again.

By Mike Copass

September 1, San Diego – Joining similar actions across 21 states, San Diego nurses stood with community residents in urban San Diego to bring their message of jobs, living wages, health care, education and housing, in what the California Nurses Association calls a “Main Street Contract,” an economic recovery program for America with a new funding mechanism: a simple financial transactions tax on Wall Street.

Last weekend, we noticed that the San Diego U-T had a new poll up – as they do every Saturday in their print edition. This one asked readers whether they would cross a striking grocery workers’ picket line.

The U-T poll asked:

“With a grocers strike stirring at Albertsons, Ralphs, and Vons, we wondered whether you’d choose to cross the picket lines.”

The choices offered were “Yes, I’m a loyal customer.” or “No, I’ll shop elsewhere.”

An Ocean Beach woman has survived a shark attack … while she was vacationing in Puerto Rico. Lydia Strunk, an OBcian, was visiting the island when a shark attacked her, giving her a 10-inch wound on her right leg between her ankle and knee, severing 4 tendons and a nerve.

By Robert Reich / Robert Reich’s Blog / Sept 3, 2011

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports today no jobs were created in August. Zero. Nada.

Well, not quite. The strike at Verizon reduced the labor force by 45,000. Minnesota government employees returned to work, adding 22,000. So in reality, America added 23,000 jobs. Almost zero.

Too much yelling, not enough listening.

Facing organized, often raucous confrontations at political events, some members of Congress this summer abandoned the long-time tradition of open meetings with the folks back home.

It was goodbye to one of the few remaining opportunities for voters and lawmakers to talk face to face.

Some cited security in the aftermath of the shooting that severely wounded Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a meet-and-greet event in January. Others blamed grass-roots groups for commandeering the town halls. Still others opted for smaller, sometimes private or paid events.