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14371 Read the whole Bible before you criticize Genesis! (was Re: [lbo-talk] Solidarity for Sale: UNITE'S Garment Gulag) -- rank: 1000

Jim Devine wrote: >Doug: > That's some odd reasoning. If you're criticizing B O'R's >behavior on TV, presumably you've been watching his TV show. If >you're criticizing Fitch's book, you should actually have read it. >That's not an unreasonable standard.< > >also, if you've read a Fitch article, it's fine to criticize that >article (but not the book, unless you've read it). Yeah, that too. Thanks for clarifying my severe lack of clarity. It's been a rough week. Doug

Document Size:	5767
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 15:46:23 PST 2006

14372 Read the whole Bible before you criticize Genesis! (was Re: [lbo-talk] Solidarity for Sale: UNITE'S Garment Gulag) -- rank: 1000

John Lacny wrote: >Michael Hirsch: > >> Can we have a moratorium on Fitch baiting until everyone >> has actually read the book? > >So we can't say anything about the specious arguments and inaccuracies in >his published articles without reading his entire book first? Do I have to >read all of "The O'Reilly Factor for Kids" before I criticize Bill >O'Reilly's behavior on television? That's some odd reasoning. If you're criticizing B O'R's behavior on T ...

Document Size:	6040
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 14:59:47 PST 2006

14373 [lbo-talk] Solidarity for Sale: UNITE'S Garment Gulag -- rank: 1000

Michael Hirsch wrote: >Whatever the weaknesses of Bob's book, they are not the one's you >describe. Have you actually read it? Has anybody beside Yoshi (and >me) read it? He claims to be writing an institutional history, one >that does what neither lefties such as Boyer and Morais and Art >Preis nor the cultural historians including David Montgomery do. He >argues that the structure of clientalism (or fiefdoms) dooms our >unions. Argue with that, but at least get his argumen ...

Document Size:	5599
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 14:14:03 PST 2006

14374 [lbo-talk] we sooo won the culture wars -- rank: 1000

Carrol Cox wrote: >A footnote that may be trivial but may be important. The point of >departure for treating the "culture wars" as s distraction is calling >them "culture wars" -- i.e., in effect identifying "culture" as a >distinct realm of human activity. This is related to my parenthetical >objection to your declaring your desire that this list bridge the / in >"culture/econ," my point being that as soon as you recognize them as two &g ...

Document Size:	6003
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 13:46:19 PST 2006

14375 [lbo-talk] Solidarity for Sale: UNITE'S Garment Gulag -- rank: 1000

Nathan Newman wrote: >What's shocking is that Fitch >is writing a story that plays into every mainstream stereotype of unions and >he actually wants to pose as some brave iconoclast in the labor writing >field. Hell, he's not even an iconoclast in the Spring 2006 labor writing >field, since Linda Chavez has a new book out: Elementary point, Nathan: Fitch is a socialist and a friend of the working class; Chavez is a right-wing publicist for capital. And so fucking what if he writ ...

Document Size:	5299
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 11:53:29 PST 2006

14376 [lbo-talk] Solidarity for Sale: Two Tiers, Slipping into One -- rank: 1000

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote: >Robert Fitch's book doesn't say much about America's industrial >unions. Many of his criticisms probably do not apply to them. Bob said on my radio show that the old CIO unions are relatively corruption-free. The UAW and USWA have plenty of their own problems, though. Doug

Document Size:	5018
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 11:51:26 PST 2006

14377 [lbo-talk] we sooo won the culture wars -- rank: 1000

info at pulpculture.org wrote: >Have you answered my point, which was that the argument that "we've >won culture wars" is silly on its face since you don't fucking "win" >anything, ever, in politics. Uh, no, gee, sorry, I forgot. Press of business and all. No, you never win anything permanently. And these fuckers will never give up. But I've never bought the argument that the "culture wars" were a distraction or of secondary importance. Doug

Document Size:	5128
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 11:48:46 PST 2006

14378 [lbo-talk] did Dubai Ports save the GOP? -- rank: 1000

Nathan Newman wrote: >Basically, the GOP had national security as the main issue that allowed them >to trump public support for the Dems on most domestic issues. Subtract that >and the GOP is in free fall. The national Dem leadership is admittedly a >bit pathetic in capitalizing on this, but grassroots progressives in the >states are going to be the ones mounting many of the challenges to >incumbents and open seats that will decide the elections. But the polling data, which c ...

Document Size:	5342
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 10:51:23 PST 2006

14379 [lbo-talk] on Hofstadter -- rank: 1000

I forwarded Michael's comments about Hofstadter to a historian friend, who replies: >Well it's true that some of his stuff - especially on populism - looks >pretty thinly researched today and has come in for a lot of criticism. >No one talks about "status anxiety" any longer. Hofstadter rarely did a >lot of archival work, using mostly published sources. These led him to >really overstate the role of anti-semitism in the Populist movement, in >particular. The overall a ...

Document Size:	6729
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 10:48:51 PST 2006

14380 [lbo-talk] we sooo won the culture wars -- rank: 1000

info at pulpculture.org wrote: >http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1707141&amp;CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 > >I've never understood that claim anyway. In society -- in social >life -- you don't win anything once and for all. So please don't >ever peddle that bullshit again with the intention of making fun of >those of us living in red states who've been telling you that it >ain't won here and if it was, they weren't letting up, taking their >defeat like gentlemen. There's ...

Document Size:	5896
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 10:40:29 PST 2006

14381 [lbo-talk] Solidarity for Sale: UNITE'S Garment Gulag -- rank: 1000

Wojtek Sokolowski wrote: >I used to quote the BLS data showing that union workers earn higher wages >than non0union workers (both by industry and by occupation), but these data >do not show what causes what. It might be that unions cause higher wages by >bargaining, but it may be also the case that higher wages cause >unioninzation i.e. union drives tend to concentrate in higher wages areas >(either geographically, e.g. north/south, or or that the firms that do well >and pa ...

Document Size:	5517
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 09:45:11 PST 2006

14382 [lbo-talk] did Dubai Ports save the GOP? -- rank: 1000

<http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238> John Podhoretz writes in his New York Post column, that much like when he had to withdraw Harriet Miers' nomination in the face of Republican revolt, President Bush may emerge the victor from the demise of the Dubai ports deal by taking the issue off the table long before the midterm elections. LINK The Washington Post's Peter Baker calls the port deal collapse a "singular failure" for President Bush but he's not so sure th ...

Document Size:	7388
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Fri Mar 10 09:02:07 PST 2006

14383 [lbo-talk] Older Americans leaving labor force sooner -- rank: 1000

joanna wrote: >Doug Henwood wrote: > >>>For most age groups, employment/population ratios and labor force >>>participation rates are below their boom peaks; the only exception >>>is older workers. For example, the EPR (total employed/population) >>>was 56% in 1996, 58% in 2000, and 61% now. >> >> >>Some older workers may be retiring early, but that's not the broad trend. > >Then I totally don't get it. Are 80% retired or are 61% w ...

Document Size:	5393
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 9 19:53:03 PST 2006

14384 [lbo-talk] Why didn't EPI sue the Employment Policies Institute for trademark infringement? -- rank: 1000

Nathan Newman wrote: >The reason I ask is a small non-profit in Nevada-- with the acronym PLAN -- >just send us a cease and desist order telling us to drop all use of our name >within the next week or face a lawsuit. You could rename yourself PLAN9 and attract support from B-movie & rock and roll fans. Doug

Document Size:	5238
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 9 16:34:45 PST 2006

14385 [lbo-talk] Hofstadter -- rank: 1000

Chip Berlet wrote: >Hmmph. Push my button! > > > >Richard Hofstadter, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics", in >The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays (New York: >Alfred A. Knopf, 1965); > > > >Thumbnail critique: Not a bad analysis, but over-reliance on >psychological theories and "pluralist" school theories that the >proto-neoconservatives used to bash the left and dissent in general >as "extremist." ...

Document Size:	5905
Author:	Doug Henwood
Date:	Thu Mar 9 15:54:31 PST 2006