The Union Difference

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Part-time faculty members at Montgomery College, in Maryland, have voted overwhelmingly in favor of union representation by the Service Employees International Union Local 500.

The 365-to-105 vote was a first for part-time instructors in the state, the union said in a news release. About 1,000 adjuncts teach about half of all courses offered at Montgomery College, the union said.

The Chronicle of Higher Education, News Blog, June 5, 2008

If you do a search on the web about labor unions and why people want them you find that the majority of the results, at least on the first page or two, are anti-union propaganda sites. That says a lot about the threat unions represent to the current order. We are hardly organized at all, particularly in the private sector, yet it seems too much for some.

Yet now and again you see a story like the one about the faculty at Montgomery College and you remember that the traditional logic is as powerful as ever. The AFL-CIO has the basic facts, which can be verified in any number of ways: among other things, unions raise salaries, improve health care benefits, and improve productivity.

Posted in: Online Places, Professional, Union

Endings

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We should … begin to lay the infrastructure for an energy-efficient economy. This will mean more efficient power plants and transmission lines, increased used of trains and mass transit, and, of course, promoting alternative energy sources. The transformation needed to limit the damage from global warming will take decades and certainly goes well beyond the course of a stimulus package. But a good stimulus package will not only provide a temporary boost to the economy, it can also help set us on this course toward an energy-efficient economy.

by: Dean Baker, t r u t h o u t | Tuesday 27 May 2008

I’ve been reading post-mortums on Senator Clinton’s campaign, some of the on the bitter side. Here’s on by Barbara Ehrenreich, and another by Robert Reich. I think I want to put all of that away and think about what we will propose for the next several years. This is a simple idea, but it would help.

Posted in: Economics, Miscellaneous

Wack is Back!

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Is cutting edge science too much for high school students to understand?

No! In general students need to have a good overview of the current ‘cutting edge’ issues in science. Without such an overview they will not be able to wise decisions about career choices in science. If science is presented as if all the important and exciting work has already been done few students will chose a career in science and America will continue fall behind other nations in the production of young scientists. The view of science as a static cut and dried body of knowledge is simply false and misleading. Even those who do not chose a science or technology career need to be aware of what the cutting edge issues are about because otherwise the will not be able to participate a good citizens in our nation’s development of legal, ethical, and moral choices of our modern society. When presented with a challenge students often rise to the task but without a challenge students commonly settle for mediocrity. Our students should not be undersold or repressed.

Texans for Better Science Education Foundation, FAQ

Since John McCain has been the Republican choice it”s been relatively quiet on the wacky Christian front, with the exception of Mr.“God is Punishing New Orleans.” Appearances can be deceiving. In fact, as the New York Times reports, they’ve been busily re-tooling themselves as a kind of “fair and balanced” movement.

The Texans for Better Science Education Foundation’s language is so freakishly Orwellian that you’d think they modeled themselves on 1984.They claim that “new discoveries” cast doubt on evolution. That means it’s mainstream scientists who are holding us all back because they can’t deal with change.

The ideas are absurd but the rhetoric seems to work and the TBSEF has managed to get their ideas on the agenda of the Texas Sate Education board. If the creationists get their ideas into Texas textbooks, of course, they get them spread all over the country, since publishers are not going to create special editions for each state.

Posted in: Language, Professional, Writing