LABORING ON LABOR DAY

THE BUSH BOUNCE QUESTIONED

REMEMBER BREAD AND ROSES

I know it is Labor Day. I shouldn’t be writing or working. But the news hasn’t stopped and neither can I. In Florida it’s the storm before the lull — in the rest of the country, it’s the other way around.

With 57 (or am I off?) days to go to Election Day, with the war escalating in Iraq and kids being shot down in Russia, I find it hard to tune it all out and decompress. The Burning Man festival has drawn a monstruous crow?&.Later today,. Bill Clinton goes “under the knife,” as they used to say?. The big storm has been downgraded. So have reports of the “big get” in Baghdad.

I want to to keep it brief, but that has always been a problem for me.

LABOR DAY PRESENT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

First, as some of you may know, today is Labor Day, a holdiday in America that was created up as an alternative to May Day, the workers day celebrated in the rest of the world. The date was shifted and the holiday was renamed to push out the concept of class, and to tale the sting of radicalism off of the holiday. It’s a day meant for barbeques not barricades.

But brace yourself workers, because despite the “good economic news’ few if any new jobs are on the horizon — an issue not discussed by the Republicans in Convention. I will spare you the statistics but=, on this last day of the holiday weekend, consider that most of the workers in Europe get a month to six weeks off

LABOR DAY PRESENT: OVERTIME OVER

My mate Greg Palast reports “In celebration of the working person’s holiday, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao has announced the Bush Administration’s plan to end the 60-year-old law which requires employers to pay time-and-a-half for overtime.

“I’m sure you already knew that — if you happened to have run across page 15,576 of last year’s Federal Register.

“According to the Register, where the Bush Administration likes to place its little gifts to major campaign donors, 2.7 million workers will lose their overtime pay for a “benefit” of $1.53 billion. I put “benefit” in quotes because, in the official cost-benefit analysis issued by Bush’s Labor Department, the amount employers will now be able to slice out of workers’ pockets is tallied on the plus side of the rules change.

“President Bush announced in his convention acceptance speech in New York this week that he was changing overtime rules to give workers “comp time” off, instead of pay. He forgot to mention that a couple of days before, on August 23, his Labor Department had already put in half the plan — eliminating overtime pay for millions — while failing to put into the regs one word about comp time?..” For more, see: gregpalast.com

BOUNCE THIS

What about that big Bush bounce story which has been trumpeted on all the Sunday TV political shows? Didn’t any of the TV nets read the New York Times which said categoricvally “BEWARE POLLS TAKEN IN LABOR DAY WEEKEND WHICH CAN BE QUITE UNRELIABLE.” Quite! This comment by experienced political reporter Adam Nagourney did not seem to have any impact on the TV news “experts: who kept repeating that Bush now has a double digit lead over Kerry.. Nagourney goes on to also observe that the RNC “might not ultimately make much of a difference.” Why? Because undecided voters usually do not watch conventions and only decide at the last minute,

ANALYZING THE BUMP

Carl F. Worden in Oregon offers another factor which has NOT been taken widely into media account: “? the math indicates Kerry will still edge Bush on November 2nd, based upon my assessment of voters who have vowed never to vote for Bush again, and a very serious group that has emerged undetected by these polls: The normally apathetic 18 to 24 year old voters.

“MTV has been running ads for a group that, on the surface, appears to merely urge the young crowd to vote, but their slogan leaves little doubt as to their leanings: “Vote or Die!” In other words, vote to elect anybody but Bush, or you will be drafted and sent to war to die.

“I see these young voters as a real spoiler and wild card in the upcoming election. Their parents are mobilizing them to vote. Their schools are mobilizing them to vote. MTV is urging them to vote. But no polls that I know of are tracking them because they have heretofore been considered unlikely voters.”

BUSH MILITARY RECORDS DISAPPEAR

Mark Crispin Miller sends this item: “Interestingly, on a Sunday afternoon on a three-day weekend, the Associated Press released a news article stating that crucial and mandatory records from President George W. Bush’s Texas Air National Guard personnel file are missing. Veterans, the public, and the press have a right to know why Bush failed to perform his military duties and why his records are incomplete. This issue goes to the secrecy of the Bush administration, which held several secret meetings to discuss Iraq’s oil before 9/11. This same administration continues to needlessly classify tens of thousands of documents — documents the people have a right to see.”

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=4&u=/ap/20040905/ap_on_el_pr/bush_national_guard

CHOMSKY DISCUSSES IMPACT OF VOTER DISAFFECTION

In a new column, Noam Chomsky explores growing voter disaffection, writing:

“The US electorate feels disenchanted, according to the Vanishing Voter project at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. During the 2000 campaign, project director Thomas Patterson reported, “Americans’ feeling of powerlessness has reached an alarming high,” with 53 per cent responding “only a little” or “none” to the question: “How much influence do you think that people like you have on what the government does?” The previous peak, 30 years ago, was 41 per cent.

“Disaffection is understandable, the research shows, given most voters’ view that politicians will say anything to get elected, and that rich contributors exert too much influence.

“In 2004, more seems to be at stake and interest is greater, according to the project, but there is a continuation of the disengagement mainly on the part of the poor and working-class Americans, who simply do not feel they are represented. “The turnout gap between the top and bottom fourth by income is by far the largest among western democracies and has been widening,” Patterson writes.”

PRESS

Why doesn’t the press challenge Presidential deception. The Nation’s Eric Alterman quotes former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee: “Even the very best newspapers have never learned how to handle public figures who lie with a straight face. No editor would dare print this version of Nixon’s first comments on Watergate for instance. ‘The Watergate break-in involved matters of national security, President Nixon told a national TV audience last night, and for that reason he would be unable to comment on the bizarre burglary. That is a lie.’”

“Part of the reason is deference to the office and the belief that the American public will not accept a mere reporter calling the President a liar. Part of the reason is the culture of Washington–where it is somehow worse to call a person a liar in public than to be one. A final reason is political. Some reporters are just political activists with columns who prefer useful lies to the truth. For instance, Robert Novak once told me that he “admired” Elliott Abrams for lying to him in a television interview about illegal US acts of war against Nicaragua because he agreed with the cause. ..” See TheNation.com

IRAQ: CASUALTIES UP

VIA ICH: ” About 1100 US soldiers were wounded in Iraq in August, by far the highest combat injury toll for any month since the war began and an indication of the intensity of battles flaring in urban areas.”

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/05/1094322642138.html

BIG “GET” DOWN”

CNN is now reporting after a day of upbeat reports about the seizure of Saddam’s #2 that maybe he wasn’t sized after all. “The Iraqi government seemed in some confusion Sunday about whether one of Saddam Hussein’s former top lieutenants was in custody?”

RUSSIA: CANDLES OF CONCERN

All over Europe, people are putting candles in their windows to protest the atrocity in Russia and honor the murdered children. Media Channel advisor Anna Kaca reports from Finland:

“Tonight candles will be lit in the windows all over the world to remember and mourn the children killed in the school in Osezia, Beslan.The message came to me - and apparently to my neighbors too to as an sms approach via the mobile phone. This new fast and low cost communications vehicle have for some years now has shown its power as a most effective tool for information in times of crisis and in mobilization of quick manifestations of opinion and emotion..

“Candles in the window is an old symbol which in Europe became widespread and popular during the 19th century fights for national idependence . In Finland it was used first time as a popular sign of resistance against Russian Czarist legislation which 1899 in the so called February Manifesto reduced the Finnish autonomy. Since then candles are lit in every window on the Finnish Day of Independence.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP

There is a Russian fund (sponsored by the Russian Embassy in the US) for the victims of the Beslan School tragedy. The fund benefits the child victims and their families.

http://www.moscowhelp.org/

WHO IS TO BLAME?

I was impressed today when Pat Buchanan explained a little about Chechnya on Meet Press. Here’s yet another story, with all of its horror, that is so often stripped of backgrond and context of the conlict. The Seattle Post Intelligencer carried this AP report:

“MOSCOW — Russian newspapers carried harrowing photos Saturday of the bloody climax of the school hostage-taking by militants demanding independence for Chechnya, but carefully avoided assigning blame.

“Russian television, heavily controlled by Putin’s Kremlin, shied away from in-depth coverage, prompting a newspaper commentator to chide the electronic media for seemingly trying to avoid broadcasting the horrendous scenes being playing out in North Ossetia?

“Many of the casualties came as Russian forces stormed the school after, according to most accounts, rebels inside set off massive explosions and opened fire. Russian and North Ossetian authorities said there were 10 Arabs among the rebel force that numbered about 30?.

“The absence of television coverage of the hostage tragedy prompted Izvestia newspaper commentator Irina Petrovskaya to slam state-controlled Channel One and Rossiya television for continuing to broadcast as normal for the first hour during the storming of the school with more than 1,000 frantic hostages inside - children and adults. Channel One finally broke the silence by reporting on the situation for just 10 minutes.”

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Russia%20Chechnya%20Course

RED WAX SEALS AL JAZEERA OFFICE IN BAGHDAD

Even though Al Jazeera had a booth at the Republican convention its ban in Iraq is being extended. The news channel reports:

“The interim Iraqi government’s decision to extend a month-long ban on Aljazeera’s reporting in the war-torn country has been criticized by the network and media rights groups. The secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, Robert Menard, on Saturday condemned the decision to indefinitely extend the closure of Aljazeera’s Baghdad office.

“The decision “contradicts Iraqi officials’ statements on democracy”, Menard said, adding that it went against the notions of law and freedom. ”

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/28D17F9C-5204-4514-8D92-C5F192492445.htm

TERRORISTS ON THE LOOSE #1

Panama has pardoned and released Cuban exile terrorists convicted of planning to assassinate Fidel Casto and other crimes. The Cuban Press Agency Prensa Latina reports:

“Cuban Parliament chairman RicardoAlarcon warned that any country where terrorist Luis Posada Carrilesis detected has the obligation to put him behind bars, in accordancewith international regulations.

“Alarcon stated in an interview with Prensa Latina that both internationallaw and resolutions from the UN Security Council approved unanimouslyUS proposals that force those states to move in on any individual orgroup linked to terrorism.

“He even called pathetic the statements by some Central Americanpoliticians saying “If we find him here, we will evict him,” as if thiswere the case of a simple tourist entering the country without apassport.

Posada Carriles — whom Panamanian ex president Mireya Moscoso pardonedlast month — is a confessed and convicted terrorist who still hasmatters to settle with the law because of the mid-air bombing of aCubana airliner in 1976 killing 73 people.

“”If anyone comes across Posada or any of these terrorists, the firstthing he/she must do is arrest him and jail him, then start to thinkabout the venue of the trial,” said Alarcon.”

AL Jazeera reports, “Israeli media have exposed a para-military Jewish group that has been terrorising Palestinian civilians in the West Bank with full knowledge and tacit approval of the Israeli army.

“State-run Israeli radio, Reshet Bet, announced on Sunday that members of the group, known as the “Hebrew Brigade,” are armed with automatic rifles and equipped with jeeps and vicious attack dogs.

“Quoting unidentified security sources, the radio said the group is made up of dozens of erstwhile cadres of the Kach movement, the “terrorist group” founded by Rabbi Meir Kahana and dedicated to the destruction of the Palestinian community in Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem?.”

BREAD AND ROSES; HONORING THE LOWELL WORKERS

Hartley Pleshaw writes from the North Shore (MA):

“It was great to see and meet you in person in Cambridge last month. You probably get tired of old ‘BCNers like me waxing nostalgic about The Good Old Days, but those days were so important to me in my life, and you were such a big part of it, that I just couldn’t help myself.

“Congratulations on WMD. It was investigative journalism (about journalism itself) at its best. Believe me, I’ll talk it up every chance I get.

” There’s a project I’m involved in that you and your blog readers might be interested in. I’m on the board of directors of the Bread and Roses Labor Day Heritage Festival in Lawrence, MA. It’s a music and art festival that commemorates and celebrates the Great Lawrence, MA Textile Workers’ Strike of 1912–the famous “Bread and Roses” strike.

” This event is, I believe, the only folk festival in the country that openly celebrates, as the basis of it’s very existence, a labor struggle. (Many other festivals have performers who are sympathetic to such struggles, but in terms of the event itself being a labor celebration, I think we’ve got the only one.) We are also one of the very few institutions of any sort that celebrates Labor Day in the actual spirit of the holiday

” It will take place on Monday, September 6th, from 12 noon to 6 pm, in Campagnone Common in, of course, Lawrence. (Full disclosure: Lawrence is my hometown.) For more information, call (978) 794-1655, or check out the website: www.breadandroses.net .

“I also write a column for a community newspaper in Lawrence. (A very, very right-wing friend of mine publishes it, but let’s me impart my lefty logic in each issue.) It can be found at www.tommyduggan.com . I mention it here because the current issue features my column about the Lawrence Strike.

I hope this information about the Bread and Roses Festival constitutes a refreshing change from what you’ve had to endure out of New York this week. As always, I’ll keep reading and enjoying your blog. As long as you’re on the case, the spirit of the old WBCN still lives.”

Charles Carr writes from New Hampshire:

” Now that the Democratic and Republican Party infomercials have faded from our telescreens, let’s turn our attention toward the most important event in modern world history, the vote for U.S. president this fall. Even without considering the potential for abuse and havoc that may result from the use of computerised voting machines with no verifiable paper documentation by over 35 million voters on that day, the real problems are much more challenging.

The United States is rapidly changing from a multi party democracy into a one party state system, much like the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the People’s Republic of China. The key word in all three cases is republic, or republican. As you go to cast your ballot on November 2nd, keep in mind that the American Republican Party, run primarily by oil industry alumni, now dominates all three branches of the U.S. government; the executive, legislative and judicial. This is not a healthy state of affairs for a representational form of government and invites corruption if there is no real opposition. The Patriot Act has already eroded our civil liberties and dissent is being stifled and demonised under this extreme right-wing administration.

“Don’t wait until it is too late to restore the traditional checks and balances that prevent the powerful from regulating excessive control over the citizenry. Vote, by absentee ballot if necessary, but vote with the future of our democratic way of life and the survival of the next seven generations in mind. You can vote for a future of endless oil wars and repression or for something different. Think about it carefully. “

egin anew, refreshed on Tuesday. Your letters are welcome as is your financial help to Mediachannel.org (575 8th Ave, NYC 10018) That’s more than welcome. Write dissector@mediachannel.org