This morning, I got some great fliers about impeaching the presidentin my email. I'm sure they'll put them up on their website imminently. That website, by the way, is excellent, don't you think?
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School is finally over at the City University, and big news now is that the PSC first re-elected the "New Caucus" by a hair, and then voted "yes" on the new contract by 85%. It would have taken unwarranted optimism to vote "no" given the climate in New York City and the US in general right now
Here's how I see it:
The Good: The City and State are going to put more money into our benefit fund, which will restore the dental coverage we lost five years ago. Since I have false teeth (go here to get an idea of how this happened) and a long history of complicated orthodontia, I think this is great. The other great aspect of the contract is the 100 conversion lines for adjuncts, which is something quite unusual.
The Bad: the University got the union to agree to add two more years to the "time to tenure" clock. The administrations at other universities have spun this as an attempt to be "family friendly," because it gives people with families more time to finish books and articles before they're tenured. And,according to the CUNY's admin, this makes us more like Columbia and Harvard. However, they're not trying to emulate those institutions in other ways, which is too bad. For example, because they're hired with the expectation that they'll produce significant scholarship, the average teaching load at Columbia and Harvard for assistant professors is two or three courses per year, in comparison with the seven to nine courses taught by CUNY faculty per year. At CUNY, we have time to write blogs, not books.
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Speaking of labor unions, Chris Kutalik at Labor Notes wrote an article last month about what he sees as a little strike wave, partly born of desperation. It's a fairly accurate assessment of conditions in the labor movement at large.
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and with that. It's time to work.
5 comments:
ChuyHChrist at Dkos (6/1/06)
New Mexico State University - 1300 non-exempt workers became part of AFSCME through a union vote
Nathan Newman at DKos - "No Love For Labor?" [from YearlyKos and the Progressive Blogosphere in general]
"...it's a bit symbolic of why progressives are still in the political minority that, with four sessions available, the overwhelming number of folks didn't think it was worth spending even one session hearing about these labor concerns or talking with the attending labor leaders, a key progressive ally for social change."
Thanks, Reb, for promoting www.nlgchicago.org and our Grass Roots Impeachment Campaign. Here's "Articles of Impeachment" in plain text, for readers to cut-&-paste:
Articles of IMPEACHMENT
In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, & in his role as Commander-in-Chief, George W. Bush, contrary to his oath faithfully to execute the office of the President of the United States, and to the best of his ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in violation of his Constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed —
I. Iraq
A. Ordered the U.S. military invasion of Iraq without specific Congressional authorization, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, Article II, & of the War Powers Act.
B. Made false & misleading statements to Congress and the people of the United States.
II. 9/11
A. Ignored specific, substantive, & credible warnings of imminent attack on the U.S.
B. Conspired to obstruct investigations by Congress.
C. Conspired to obstruct an investigation of an independent commission.
III. Detention & Spying
Repeatedly violated the rights of citizens & residents of the U.S. by —
A. Detaining them without charge;
B. Depriving them of the right to a fair, speedy, & public trial;
C. Denying them the fundamental right of habeas corpus;
D. Misusing the NSA to spy on citizens, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, 4th Amendment, and of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
IV. Valerie Plame, &ct.
A. Allowed disclosure of the name of an undercover CIA agent, in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, the Espionage Act of 1917, & other laws.
B. Lied to the people of the U.S. about his role in the illegal disclosure.
C. Obstructed justice.
V. Torture & Rendition
Repeatedly violated International Laws to which the U.S. is a signatory state, and which thus Constitutionally carry the force of U.S. law, by:
A. Sanctioning torture;
B. Sanctioning “Extraordinary Rendition,” the secret transfer of prisoners to states that carry out torture.
VI. Abuse of Power, Katrina, &ct.
Abused presidential power, acted with criminal negligence, & ignored or violated environmental & other laws, by —
A. Violating Constitutional Separation of Powers;
B. Failing to act timely to protect lives and property during a national emergency;
C. Refusing to act in the face of the clear & present danger of Global Warming.
NLG Chicago - www.nlgchicago.org - 312-913-0039 - contact@nlgchicago.org
...And, here's the "informal" flyer we've been using as the "B side" of the Articles of Impeachment flyer:
IMPEACHMENT.
Go ahead.
Say the “I” word.
Don’t let the Know-It-Alls tell you, “It’ll never happen.”
Dare to talk about “Impeachment.” Here’s why: As soon as you talk about it, you make it possible.
We’re not telling you, “Write your Representative!” We’re not asking you for money. We just want you to talk about “Impeachment” at home, to your friends, to everybody at work. Even to that self-described Lifelong Staunch Republican uncle.
Don’t worry about the “political process.” Just speak from your heart: Only you know how pissed off you are. You have to tell people!
What have you had enough of?
All the lies and crimes? Gas prices? No-bid contracts to Cheney’s cronies? Twenty-five hundred dead U.S. service-members? Forty-thousand dead Iraqi civilians? All the lies that got us into the war?
Or: Soldiers who have to buy their own body armor, because of Rumsfeld’s “War-on-the-Cheap”?
What outrages you the most?
Is it the eavesdropping? The assertion of unchecked Executive power? Guantanamo? The torture?
What about this: If you can be impeached for lying about sex, can you be impeached for doing nothing while two-thousand Black and working class people drown, then pretending it was their fault?
Is the thing you’re most upset about missing here? The complete list is pretty long.
When you talk about “Impeachment” with people, remember that this administration’s lies and crimes really are Impeachable Offenses. It’s not just that you disagree with this or that policy. It’s that they broke the law, violated the Constitution, put people in harm’s way, and lied about it.
SAY THE “I” WORD!
Links to more info:
www.ccr-ny.org — Articles of Impeachment, by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
http://impeachbushcoalition.blogspot.com/ — One of the many Impeachment websites.
The Case for Impeachment, by Barbara Olshansky & Dave Lindorff, St. Martin’s Press, 2006 (250 pp.).
Turn Over for Articles of Impeachment
NLG Chicago
www.nlgchicago.org
312-913-0039
contact@nlgchicago.org
yay, impeachment fliers! Copy and paste at will!
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