Unions and survival

“We’re willing to take an extra step here.  ‘Concesssions,’ I used to cringe at that word.  But now, why hide from it? That’s what we did.” 
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger
That’s momentous, and to me ultimately a good thing.  Understand, I’m generally pro-union, almost reflexively.  The idea that a mass of workers should be able to [...]

The latest on the auto bailout talks

This is a fascinating take by Steven Pearlstein on the proposals put forth by the Big Three this week.
The way Pearlstein frames it you can almost envision three men hoping to woo a woman on an old-style, behind-the-curtain television dating game.
GM is saying, “I’d do anything for you.  I’ve already bought your wedding ring and told my family [...]

“Mad Men”

Good show.  I’m almost through with the first episode.

OK. I’m convinced. (Larry Summers edition)

Brad DeLong on why Summers is right for “high federal office,” perhaps even the Treasury Department, which he previously helmed at the tail end of the Clinton Administration.
Summers and other intellectually robust people like him filling the ranks of government?  And then given rein to do their jobs?  That would be “change.” Barack Obama knows better than to [...]

Brandon McClelland and hate crime

 

Takes five weeks or so for the national news media to pick up the story of a man whose body was discovered torn apart by the side of a road.   The man was Brandon McClelland, 24, of Paris, Texas. 
That’s the same Paris where Shaquanda Cotton received a seven-year sentence for pushing a hall monitor in high [...]

Old man tempest

The more I see of John McCain’s campaign the more I think of an impetuous teenager, not quite fully formed in his thinking.  He’s learned enough to know when he’s doing wrong, but he’s so headstrong in pursuing his goals that he doesn’t care until his rep is damaged.  Then he’s repentant and sulky in the [...]

The liberal elite vote for President

The New Yorker makes the case for Barack Obama, pointing out the partisan economic difference this way:  “For the top one per cent of us, the Bush tax cuts are worth, on average, about a thousand dollars a week; for the bottom fifth, about a dollar and a half.” 
This endorsement chronicles John McCain’s “remorseless rightward” turn [...]

“Cited her childhood love of cows”

Sorry.  Couldn’t resist.  That’s just one of many astounding excerpts from the best piece I’ve read so far on Sarah Palin’s governing style. 
And from St. Pete:  “McCain’s straight talk has become a toxic mix of lies and double-speak.”
Found both of these after visits to the Daily Dish, which really doesn’t need another link from me.  [...]

High-minded man turns down the low road

Can this be the candidate for change?
“(His) ambition is outlandish: not to win a debate or to cut a deal, but to create a climate of political opinion — a national mood — that will overwhelm the immediate interests of some of the shrewdest characters on the planet. The goal is… to change the nature of public [...]

Cool parallels

Was 61 years ago that Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color line, in 1947.  Barack Obama was born in 1961 and is 47 years old.  They both had unreasonably high standards to meet, standards that wouldn’t be put on white men. 

“Jack, I’ve been looking for a great colored ballplayer, but I need a [...]