[PEN-L:10590] more musings...
yesterday I wrote: As Bob Pollin points out in his article in the REVIEW OF RADICAL POLITICAL ECONOMICS (Summer 1998), the US labor market is becoming more and more like that of Bolivia: in the latter, overt (officially-measured) unemployment is nil, but the high degree of insecurity of workers within this context is enough to discipline labor. (Of course, when the miners get uppity, the military steps in.) The increased insecurity of workers is intimately linked to the relative shrinkage of the primary sector mentioned above. Thinking about this a little more, it should first be stressed that the Bolivianization of US labor-power markets is gradual and is hardly complete. We should also look at the bright side of the Bolivianization process. The decrease in worker insecurity -- corresponding to the shrinkage of the importance of the "good jobs" in the primary sector -- also means that employees are less loyal their employers and thus perhaps more willing to rebel against the latter. The shrinkage of the primary sector (the relative growth of secondary-sector-type jobs) also means the slow disappearance of divisions among workers on the societal level. (This can be seen in the convergence of on-the-paid-job experiences of men and women of similar ages and ethnicity. Of course, women still seem saddled with the lioness's share of the housework.) We seem to be in an era of increasing homogeneity of the labor force, which might be the basis for political unity in the future. But horizontal divisions (McDonald's vs. Burger King workers, etc. etc.) persist, while those secondary jobs are hard to organize. (see the article on McDonald's in the current LEFT BUSINESS OBSERVER.) There are also the very important international divisions in the world working class. I can't think of any group of workers in the US who fit the traditional role of the Bolivian miners, i.e., highly concentrated in a very strategic sector, well organized and politically conscious. Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/jdevine.html
[PEN-L:10592] Re: Re:
On Thursday, September 2, 1999 at 13:32:02 (-0400) Ricardo Duchesne writes: Isn't there a way to get rid of this irritating re re re? If not, could people here do it manually as I think it devalues the whole list. thanks, ricardo If you have the ability to filter your mail through an external program, I can send along a C++ program I wrote to do this (easily convertible to Perl). I wrote this because I too was annoyed and found that neither the list software could do this, nor was it reasonable to think that people would do this with any consistency. Bill
[PEN-L:10582] Re: Re: Re: Re: e: normal profits, etc.
Michael Perelman wrote: Ajit Sinha wrote: Michael, your firm must have a market value today. How do you arrive at the market value of your firm? Why? Is it reflected in the stock market value? The value of a firm cannot be known. The market is too thin to know the price in advance of its sale on the market, unless enough similar firms have been sold recently. _ Let us suppose you want to borrow money against your firm as collateral. Wouldn't the bank make some estimation of the value of your firm? How would the bank do that? If your firm has no price, i.e., it's worthless in the market, then in economic sense you are producing something out of nothing. But in anycase, our basic difference was about the role of inflation or deflation in calculating the generalized rate of profit. I still don't understand how inflation or deflation affects something that seem to have no price? Cheers, ajit sinha -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:10597] Re: more musings...
At 09:39 AM 9/2/99 -0700, Jim Devine wrote: We should also look at the bright side of the Bolivianization process. The decrease in worker insecurity -- corresponding to the shrinkage of the importance of the "good jobs" in the primary sector -- also means that employees are less loyal their employers and thus perhaps more willing to rebel against the latter. The shrinkage of the primary sector (the relative That means, above all, industrial sabotage which can kick the employers in their financial balls. Can you imagine the extent of damage one disgruntled employee can create in high-tech industry? An this form of class truggle is virtually immune from military attacks. For example, when the 'worker's' government in Poland sent the army against striking shipyard workers in 1971, the army easily pushed the workers off the streets, but when some of the workers retereated to the shipyard and threatened sabotage, the army did not pursue. Are there any stats on the incidence of industrial sabotage? How feasible is to organize 'strategic sabotage' as the means of class struggle? wojtek
[PEN-L:10599] RE: Countering bigoted rightwing attack on Free Speech
James Craven Clark College, 1800 E. McLoughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA. 98663 (360) 992-2283; Fax: (360) 992-2863 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.home.earthlink.net/~blkfoot5 *My Employer Has No Association With My Private/Protected Opinion* -Original Message- From: Nathan Newman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, September 02, 1999 11:59 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:10598] Countering bigoted rightwing attack on Free Speech PLEASE FORWARD Folks, People may of caught the nasty David Horowitz column in Salon attacking the NAACP's lawsuits against the gun lobby where he argued that black leaders should "[abandon] the ludicrous claim that white America and firearms manufacturers are the cause of the problems afflicting African-Americans. It would mean taking responsibility for their own communities instead." See http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/1999/08/16/naacp/index.html Jack White, a black TIME magazine columnist, wrote a rather restrained response where he dared to describe Horowitz's screed as being that of a "bigot." See http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,29787,00.html Well, Horowitz - the architect of "free speech" campaigns against campus speech codes against racism - has now decided that words hurt as much as sticks and stones. He is now rallying the rightwing to pressure TIME to end any flirtations with actually allowing anti-racist voices in their magazine. Read the following whining letter from Horowitz, contact the people he mentions, and tell them you support the free speech rights of Jack White to label bigotry when he sees it. And tell David Talbot of Salon that he may enjoy providing a provocative range of voices in his online magazine, but he should rethink employing people like Horowitz who seek to silence the voices at other magazines. Let Horowitz ( a public personality for purposes of legal tests of libel and slander) just try to prove spreading verbally (slander) or in writing (libel) 1) intentional untruths known to be untruths and/or 2) untruths with careless disregard for facts (easily obtainable facts that clearly reveal untruths as untruths); 3) concrete damages; 4) malice 5) opinion not clearly labelled as opinion. What do you call someone who writes: "Guns don't kill Blacks, Blacks do"? What do you call someone who writes that racism doesn't exist in America on any institutionalized level? What do you call someone who writes/says as "dysfunction" in African-American communities is due solely to a dysfunctional culture with dysfunctional values about which non-Blacks have little if anything to do? (the old racist tautology: "backward because they are backward") What do you call someone who says nothing about the plethora of anti-Black, Anti-Jewish, Anti-Indian, Anti-Hispanic hate groups armed and openly calling for a "HoRaWa" (Holy Race War)? What do you call someone who ignores the most notable examples of gun violence--white kids and racists killing other whites and targeted minorities? What do you call someone who deiliberately ignores the numerous examples of African-Americans being racially profiled and killed by police and by racist thugs? What do you call someone who deliberately ignores the long-lasting and thoroughly documentable deleterious effects of institutionalized slavery and racism on individuals and families and whole groups? A bigot. A racist. A racist apologist. A whore and toady of the racist privileged. A punk. An opportunist. Add here: ... Anyone remember "Marx and Modern Economics", "Shakespeare: An Existential View", "The Free World Colossus", "The Corporations and the Cold War" and "Ramparts"? He was obviously playing a "market niche" then and is playing another one now. This is an example of what happens when "Radical" is but a market niche rather than a deeply-felt/held ongoing commitment; so easy to go from "ultra-left" to "ultra-right" because the focus was on the "ultra", the self, the narcissism, the know-it-all hubris and the market niche all along. This is my protected OPINION. Horowitz is free to express his, and I and others are free to express our own considered opinions about the essence of the message and the messenger. The fact that he whines so much, shows what a thoroughly disgusting opportunist and weak toady/sycophant he truly is. Jim Craven
[PEN-L:10593] Mike Moore, champion of the poor?
Would our New Zealand comrades like to comment on this? I was under the impression that during Moore's tenure as Prime Minister he was less than the "committed left-winger" referred to in the article. Not that it would make much difference -- he won't be calling the shots -- but it's an opportune time for new rhetoric at the WTO. It might be useful to have the skinny on Mr. Moore as we proceed to Seattle. --- Copyright 1999 Agence France Presse Agence France Presse September 01, 1999 11:22 GMT HEADLINE: Mike Moore takes up WTO post with pledge to help poorest states BYLINE: Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere DATELINE: GENEVA, Sept 1 BODY: Former New Zealand Prime Minister Mike Moore took up his post Wednesday at the head of the World Trade Organization, with a pledge to defend the interests of developing states. Moore, 50, a former trade unionist and committed left-winger, said solutions were needed "now -- not in seven or eight years" to the problems of the world's poorest countries. Three billion people live on less than two dollars a day each, and this was unacceptable, Moore said in a statement marking his arrival at WTO headquarters. "We must, all of us, redouble our efforts at eradicating poverty," he said, adding that assisting the least-developed countries would be "a top priority" of his tenure. The WTO had a vital role to play in "a system where the little guy has a say based on the rule of law, not force," he held. Moore's chief task would be to steer the WTO into the Millennium Round of world trade liberalization negotiations, starting with a key ministerial conference in the US city of Seattle in November that will kick off the talks. In Seattle, he said, "it is vital that WTO member governments dedicate themselves to finding solutions to problems of the poorest countries." He underscored the importance of incorporating the least-developed countries more into the trading system "so that they can share in the benefits which have raised living standards so markedly in the advanced countries and in the emerging economies." Moore is scheduled to remain at the WTO helm for three years and then hand over to Thai Deputy Premier Supachai Panitchpaki, 52, under an unprecedented accord forged to peserve the WTO's vaunted process of consensus. Each had lobbied hard for the job -- at times acrimoniously -- with support split mainly along geographic lines, and in the end the WTO had to acknowledge the stalemate and split the tenure between them. The urbane Supachai's credentials as a free trade advocate equal those of Moore. While Moore would open the six-year Millennium Round, Supachai would have to close it. A man whose job history included stints as a construction worker, a printer, and a social worker, Moore left school at age 15 and entered politics early, becoming New Zealand's youngest-ever MP in 1972. But for a politician, he has in the past had an unfortunate way with words, speaking from the heart, often emotionally and at times illogically. Moore says he is motivated by a desire to fight injustice. "I get incoherent with anger sometimes and it shows, unfortunately...," he has said. Representatives of 134 nations were returning to WTO headquarters Wednesday after a summer break to tackle some tough questions and pave the way for the Seattle meeting. Serious trade disputes and divergences over topics ranging from agriculture, textiles and biotechnology to intellectual property awaited the Geneva staff. The European Union was expected to seek to put environment and health on the agenda as well as biotechnology controls, while developing nations expressed concern this might lead to obstacles to their textile exports. Moore meanwhile also faced the task of naming deputy directors-general to assist him, a task made more delicate by the need for geographical balance. Although the watchword in the developed world has become globalisation, many developing states, anxious to protect their markets, questioned the advantages of rapid market opening. Agriculture was likely to be the toughest subject, with enormous stakes. Subsidies by developed countries to their farming sector reached some 362 billion dollars (344 billion euros) in 1998, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said. One of the big unknowns was the question of China's WTO membership. Some analysts believed Washington and Beijing were seeking a membership accord in time for the Seattle session. --- Robert Naiman [EMAIL PROTECTED] Preamble Center 1737 21st NW Washington, DC 20009 phone: 202-265-3263 x277 fax: 202-265-3647 http://www.preamble.org/ ---
[PEN-L:10606] What is a bigot
Horowitz is agrieved at being called bigot. I supect that he would feel very comfortable lunching with Alan Keyes. ergo, he is not biggoted. Most of us would use different standard, but since we rely on such shorthand expressions, especially in an age of dissembling, shouldn't we expect such differences. Eugene Coyle wrote: David, a voice from the past -- Berkeley in the 1970s. I was (and am) doing energy economics when we knew each other then. Recently David Horowitz' appeal letter was forwarded to me. I'm surprised that he wraps himself in the assertion that his editors have known him since the Sixties. I would have thought that anyone who knew him then and knows him now would not support him in this attack on the Time essayist. Whether or not Horowitz is a bigot I don't know. I have read some of his stuff and find him a repulsive human. I'm surprised he can exploit his venom as a way of making a living. I'm surprised you use his stuff -- it isn't worth serious debate. He is riding the right-wing wave, with a very nasty tone. Time for you to end your relationship with him, lest he drag Salon down when the wave crashes, as it will. Gene Coyle -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:10591] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ricardo Duchesne wrote: Isn't there a way to get rid of this irritating re re re? If not, could people here do it manually as I think it devalues the whole list. thanks, ricardo Sort of shows how meaning is produced through repetition and displacement, though, don't you think? On a totally different topic, anyone know anything about Mike Moore, the NZer who's now heading up the WTO? Doug
[PEN-L:10589] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Isn't there a way to get rid of this irritating re re re? If not, could people here do it manually as I think it devalues the whole list. thanks, ricardo
[PEN-L:10610] Re: What is a bigot?
Michael Perelman wrote: Horowitz is agrieved at being called bigot. I supect that he would feel very comfortable lunching with Alan Keyes. ergo, he is not biggoted. Most of us would use different standard, but since we rely on such shorthand expressions, especially in an age of dissembling, shouldn't we expect such differences. "..while it is a long-standing principle of British law that the fomentation of hatred (and hence of racial hatred) is a serious criminal offence, it is not clear that illiberal semtiments have to be forms of hatred, nor that they should be treated in the high-handed way that is calculated to make them become so. On the contrary, they are sentiments which seem to arise inevitably from social consciouness: they involve natural prejudice, and a desire for the company of one's own kind. That is hardly sufficient ground to condemn them as 'racist', or to invoke against them those frivolous fulminations which have been aptly described as 'death camp chic'." Thus Roger Scruton. *The Meaning of Conservatism* p68 "Are we to take our example from the cruel and emphatic law of Islam, and institute flogging and maiming as the expression of civil virtue?...the answer cannot be abstractly determined." ibid p111 "Even democracy--which corresponds neither to the natural nor to the supernatural yearnings of the normal citizen--can be discarded without detriment to the civil well-being as the conservative conceives it." Thus Roger Scruton. "The state's relation to the citizen is not, and cannot be, contractual...The state has the authority, the responsibilty, and the despotism of parenthood" Thus Roger Scruton.
[PEN-L:10601] current Yugoslav economy
Have just returned from the Twelfth World Congress of the International Economic Association in Buenos Aires. Among other things, had fairly extended conversations with some economists from Yugoslavia, in particular from the Economics Institute in Belgrade. A few observations based on those conversations: 1) The Yugoslav economy "has been completely destroyed." Current Yugoslav GDP is about 30% of what it was in 1989. 2) The economic system is broadly in three different forms. There is a completely private sector that is mostly small businesses (and also agriculture, dating from before 1989). There is an intermediate sector of mostly intermediate sized firms, the "social enterprise sector." These firms are officially owned by the state but are effectively under the control of their managements who are hoping to "nomenklatura" privatize them in the way that was done in Croatia, a highly corrupt economy. These firms are being stripped of assets. Then there is a command socialist sector of the economy involving most of the largest firms. However, there is no central planning. These "commands" take the form of orders from state ministries. This command form appeared in the 1990s since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. 3) Workers' management is dead. The "social enterprise" sector is where it would be most likely to exist, a sector that could be formally described as "market socialist," however the managers have full control. 4) There is profound alienation for most people. They hate Milosevic but they also hate the West that bombed them. 5) Recently the European Union organized a meeting of representatives from Balkan nations in the hopes of organizing them into their own economic union. Those represented included Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Croatia. Of the former Yugoslav republics, Slovenia did not attend as it on a fast track to join the Eu itself, unlike these others. Barkley Rosser James Madison University
[PEN-L:10603] Re: A voice from the past
Strangely enough, I attended Horowitz's wedding in 1982 or so. He was a friend of an ex-girlfriend of mine, one who continually argued with him to stop shifting so far to the right. Of course, arguing was in vain. I met him at a picnic in Berkeley. I asked him he knew that "George Killian's Red Ale" was a version of Coors. He launched into a diatribe about how Coors was better than the Teamsters' Union. Later, he told me that in order to be a good person like himself, I'd have to undergo a significant personality change. I hear he was also an asshole in the 1960s, among other things plagiarizing from the staff of RAMPARTS. At 05:13 PM 9/2/99 -0700, you wrote: David, a voice from the past -- Berkeley in the 1970s. I was (and am) doing energy economics when we knew each other then. Recently David Horowitz' appeal letter was forwarded to me. I'm surprised that he wraps himself in the assertion that his editors have known him since the Sixties. I would have thought that anyone who knew him then and knows him now would not support him in this attack on the Time essayist. Whether or not Horowitz is a bigot I don't know. I have read some of his stuff and find him a repulsive human. I'm surprised he can exploit his venom as a way of making a living. I'm surprised you use his stuff -- it isn't worth serious debate. He is riding the right-wing wave, with a very nasty tone. Time for you to end your relationship with him, lest he drag Salon down when the wave crashes, as it will. Gene Coyle Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clawww.lmu.edu/Faculty/JDevine/JDevine.html
[PEN-L:10608] Re: Re: City on Fire
In one early Woo film, the primitive accumulation of multiple gunshot wounds was magnificent with the destruction of a hospital concealing an arsenal rivaling ( as fiction ) the recent NATO activity in Serbia, saving babies while concentrating weapons fire. Ann - Original Message - From: Michael Hoover [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, September 02, 1999 9:24 PM Subject: [PEN-L:10605] Re: City on Fire For a fascinating exegesis of the allegories of primitive accumulation, cutthroat gangsterism, etc. in the Hong Kong cinema, read _City on Fire_ (NY: Verso, 1999) by Lisa Odham Stokes and (our very own) Michael Hoover! Yoshie A big shoutout to Yoshie for the plug! Book is now available via both actual and virtual bookstores although official release date isn't until Sept. 16. Folks can check out description and read comments at Verso website - www.versobooks.com - or at several on-line sellers (I posted a couple of announcements a few months ago so they're probably in the pen-l archive as well). For NYC area listers, Verso is having a book release party at Anthology Film Archives on Saturday afternoon Sept. 18. AFA will screen Woo's *Bullet in the Head* and Donnie Yen's *Ballistic Kiss*. A chance to meet in person, Michael Hoover Current issue of *Library Journal* recommends _City on Fire_ for libraries and here's what *Publisher's Weekly* said in its 8/9/99 issue (I've editorialized a little): The Hong Kong film industry of the '80s and early '90s produced a treasure trove of films. It made matinee idols of (among others) Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan, and Maggie Cheung, reinventing genres style and generally beat the Hollywood dream factory at its own game with an 'anything goes' attitude - despite tiny budgets and brief production schedules. Hoover and Stokes rightly consider the anxiety produced by the ticking clock to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China as the key to this period of frenetic creativity. In the most serious study to date of Hong Kong cinema, the authors dutifully ground their account with social, political, economic, and historical analysis. Sometimes they get a bit carried away [[oh really]], however: comparing a Harold Lloyd stunt to a Jackie Chan variant, the Lloyd version becomes emblematic of the ideal of upward mobility in the American 1920s, and Chan's tumble reflects how 'Hong Kong's dollar fell during a run on the colony's currency in 1983.' The abundance of quotes from Marx and Engels [[for what's it worth, there aren't that many, but then, this *is* *Publisher's Weekly*]] at times makes a cinema noted for its pure entertainment value sound dull and allegorical [[re. allegories, see Yoshie's more astute comments!]]. Still the book's extensive interviews with major HK players - and detailed coverage of the comedies and romances that have enjoyed less international exposure than the now famous action films of Chan and John Woo - are of outstanding interest. So tantalizing is the treatment of many of these obscure films that readers will scurry to the neighborhood video store in search of such charmingly translated titles as *Tom, Dick, and Hairy* and *Shogun and Little Kitchen*.
[PEN-L:10584] Fw: Emergency Protest Actions to Stop the War Against Iraq!
-- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Yugoslavia list [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Emergency Protest Actions to Stop the War Against Iraq! Date: Thursday, September 02, 1999 1:55 AM Emergency Protest Actions to Stop the War Against Iraq! Internationally Coordinated Week of Emergency Protest Actions Monday, September 27 - Saturday, October 2, 1999 to demand: Stop the War Against Iraq! Stop the Bombings-Lift Sanctions Now! Stand Up Against Genocide! The International Action Center is calling on all its affiliate chapters and member organizations and all other anti-war and anti-sanctions organizations to initiate demonstrations, rallies, vigils and teach-ins during the week of September 27-October 2, 1999, to protest the apparently imminent escalation of the bombing war against Iraq and to demand the immediate lifting of economic sanctions that have killed more than 1.5 million Iraqis since their imposition in August 1990. The French Press Agency (AFP) and other media sources have issued reports that the recent heavy US/British bombing of Iraq is a prelude to a vast escalation of a new bombing campaign. These media sources report that the US and British governments will attempt to issue new ultimatums to Iraq regarding the acceptance of a new weapons inspection regime to take the place of the thoroughly discredited UNSCOM. These media sources indicate that this campaign will be launched after the mid-September meeting of the UN Security Council. The United States government has carried out more than 10,000 combat or combat support sorties since the conclusion of the so-called Operation Desert Fox Operation between December 16-19, 1998. The U.S. is also stepping up its CIA-run destabilization campaign coupled, of course, with the ongoing genocidal sanctions against the Iraqi people. The U.S. goal is to overthrow the Iraqi government (the new official lingo is `regime change') and replace it with a U.S. puppet regime in this oil-rich region. Let us never forget that this was precisely what the U.S./CIA operations accomplished in the overthrow of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953; against the Arbenz government in Guatemala in 1954; and against the Allende government in Chile in 1973. No one should be under any illusion. All historical evidence indicates that when U.S. imperialism targets governments for overthrow it is not to replace them with more humanistic, more democratic regimes. The Shah in Iran, the military dictatorship in Guatemala, and Pinochet in Chile--they all slaughtered hundreds of thousands. But they also returned nationalized oil fields, fruit plantations and copper mines to their former Wall Street overlords. This is what made them invaluable "allies" for successive administrations in the White House. We demand that the multi-faceted war against the people of Iraq be ended. No bombing! Lift the sanctions! Self-determination for the Iraqi people! Please join in the international effort to organize emergency actions between Monday, September 27 and Saturday, October 2, 1999. Brian Becker Sara Flounders Co-Directors of the International Action Center International Action Center 39 West 14th Street, Room 296 New York, NY 10011 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.iacenter.org phone: 212 633-6646 fax: 212 633-2889
[PEN-L:10586] The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 31 Aug 1999 -- 3:70 (#323)
__ The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 31 August 1999 Vol. 3, Numbers 70 (#323) __ INVITATION TO JOIN MAILING LIST ON POLICE ABUSE Michael Novick (People Against Racist Terror) 27 Aug 99 On behalf of People Against Racist terror, I maintain an e-list regarding police abuse, racism, and criminality. The list is now on "e- groups" at http://www.egroups.com as "stop-polabuse". The list provides a daily update of police killings, shootings and beatings, lawsuits and complaints of police racism and sexism, cases of corruption, custody deaths and other similar crimes by law enforcement, as well as announcements of efforts to fight back and resist. There has been some tactical and strategic discussion regarding building a movement against police abuse and racism, and for community control. Activists against police brutality are urged to subscribe. The advantage of running as an e-group is that the set-up provides many subscription options, including full e-mail receipt of all posts, summary or digest versions, or just access to a web-site that archives all the posts, without having to receive the e-mail messages. The archive gives the header and date, allowing you to scan and download only the items that interest you. If you are subscribed to any version of the list, email, digest, summary or web-site, you can post to the list and share information and perspectives about exposing and stopping police abuse and racism. You can subscribe -- just go directly to the egroups website, http://www.egroups.com and sign up for the "stop-polabuse" list yourself. The list and its membership is moderated and private (addresses of those who post are slightly disguised so they cannot be culled off the web-site). When you subscribe, I will contact you to ask a question or two about how you learned of the list, and the nature of your involvement with the issue, and then authorize your membership. -- WEB SITES: NEW AND UPDATED, ANTI-FASCIST AND FASCIST "The Militia Watchdog Links Page has been updated. This is the first major update since January 1999. About 85 new links were added, for a grand total of 439 links (outdated links were removed, etc.). http://www.militia-watchdog.org/m1.htm." -- Mark Pitcavage, Ph.D. The Militia Watchdog, Http://www.militia-watchdog.org - - - - - "A tribute to my personal hero and role model, our Fuehrer" http://www.yoderanium.com/webhome/Mercman88/ This site is useful to anti-fascists because of its new large number of links to the far right around the world. - - - - - "National Socialist German Workers' Party propaganda -- full of common- sense" http://www.ns.aus.tm/propaganda/ -- Jeff Hill Thule Australis The Australian National Socialist Party You might wish to turn off graphics in your ewb browser when first logging onto this site in order to get a faster download. - - - - - RACIST WEBSITE POSING AS NON-RACIST Lisa C. -- Artists Against Racism 28 Aug 99 You may have recently been spammed with an email to visit World Against Racism's new website, and to link to it. On the surface, it's a beautiful website. But read the text, and you'll see it's a front for a highly disturbed individual who is not anti-racist at all, and has a hidden agenda. Jesus Christ, Abe Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and many other "good guys" are on the RACISTS page, Stalin is one of the guys on the HEROES page! Their definition of racism includes a series of ludicrous terms that could only have come from an unstable mind. The moral of the story is, don't just blindly link to a site with a nice name. Check it out first--neither the site nor the people behind it may be legitimate. http://www.ArtistsAgainstRacism.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- IN CROSS-BURNING CASES LENEXA MAN PLEADS GUILTY, KANSAS CITY, KANSAS MAN SENTENCED John T. Dauner (Kansas City Star) 23 Aug 99 Fistfights and revenge were at the root of two cross-burning cases in which federal judges took action Monday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. In one case, Brian J. Hoffman, 20, of Lenexa, pleaded guilty to making a criminal threat by burning a cross May 26 on the lawn of a black Overland Park family. U.S. District Judge John W. Lungstrum accepted Hoffman's plea, and set sentencing for Nov. 8. In the other case, James Whitney, 25, of Kansas City, Kan., was sentenced to a year and nine months in
[PEN-L:10602] A voice from the past
David, a voice from the past -- Berkeley in the 1970s. I was (and am) doing energy economics when we knew each other then. Recently David Horowitz' appeal letter was forwarded to me. I'm surprised that he wraps himself in the assertion that his editors have known him since the Sixties. I would have thought that anyone who knew him then and knows him now would not support him in this attack on the Time essayist. Whether or not Horowitz is a bigot I don't know. I have read some of his stuff and find him a repulsive human. I'm surprised he can exploit his venom as a way of making a living. I'm surprised you use his stuff -- it isn't worth serious debate. He is riding the right-wing wave, with a very nasty tone. Time for you to end your relationship with him, lest he drag Salon down when the wave crashes, as it will. Gene Coyle
[PEN-L:10583] Re: Re: Bonelessness...
Brad De Long wrote: I have heard Phil Harvey of Rutgers Law School use this story on more than one occasion in public presentations. No matter how much dogs are trained to be good bone gatherers, as long as the number of bones remain fixed, there will still be dogs left without bones. Even if all dogs had excellent training, this still holds. So training may be good, but by itself it does not address chronic bonelessness. If affirmative action programs are instituted, some dogs may be assisted in getting bones, but others will be displaced, leading to continued bonelessness as well as resentment... ... Do y'all allow your students to learn that employment in the United States has risen from 66 million in 1960 to 133 million today? The U.S. economy has lots of problems, but a fixed and ungrowing supply of jobs is not one of them. And to suggest that education-and-training programs are a scam because there is a fixed supply of jobs seems to me to be very, very, very wrong... Brad DeLong My sense is that if we take a very long term view, say the whole of 20th century, then the labor market in the developed world probably faced a supply constraint rather than a demand constraint. Otherwise how do we explain such large scale immigration from other parts of the world during this century? My sense is that the supply constraint faced by the growing capital in the developed capitalist countries have been critically responsible for the rise in the real wages of the workers in this part of the world. Cheers, ajit sinha
[PEN-L:10598] Countering bigoted rightwing attack on Free Speech
PLEASE FORWARD Folks, People may of caught the nasty David Horowitz column in Salon attacking the NAACP's lawsuits against the gun lobby where he argued that black leaders should "[abandon] the ludicrous claim that white America and firearms manufacturers are the cause of the problems afflicting African-Americans. It would mean taking responsibility for their own communities instead." See http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/1999/08/16/naacp/index.html Jack White, a black TIME magazine columnist, wrote a rather restrained response where he dared to describe Horowitz's screed as being that of a "bigot." See http://www.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/articles/0,3266,29787,00.html Well, Horowitz - the architect of "free speech" campaigns against campus speech codes against racism - has now decided that words hurt as much as sticks and stones. He is now rallying the rightwing to pressure TIME to end any flirtations with actually allowing anti-racist voices in their magazine. Read the following whining letter from Horowitz, contact the people he mentions, and tell them you support the free speech rights of Jack White to label bigotry when he sees it. And tell David Talbot of Salon that he may enjoy providing a provocative range of voices in his online magazine, but he should rethink employing people like Horowitz who seek to silence the voices at other magazines. --Nathan Newman == Source: Front Page Magazine Published: September 2 1999 Author: David Horowitz Posted on 09/02/1999 11:33:51 PDT by BRAllen IN AN ACT of premeditated character assassination (all too common in our present political climate), African American columnist Jack E. White has profiled me as A Real, Live Bigot in Time magazines August 30th issue (p. 47). The Time hit piece is a response to my Salon column of August 16th, which Salons editors titled "Guns Dont Kill Black People, Other Blacks Do." The article was a critique of an NAACP lawsuit against gun manufacturers designed to hold them responsible for the high rates of homicide in the African-American community. Obviously, to be labeled a "bigot," particularly in the wake of Buford Furrows rampage at a California Jewish Center, is a verbal sentence of death. Jack Whites column is a calculated attempt to prevent anyone from ever again listening to what I have to say, particularly on matters of race. It is also an effort to intimidate anyone in the future from engaging in a frank dialogue on race. The fact that Whites editors at Time would go along with a distortion of my record and life, as reckless as this, is an ominous sign not only for American journalism but for Americas ethnic mosaic as well. In this situation, I need your help. My effectiveness as a spokesman on this, as on every other political issue, is at risk. This is a battle for my political reputation and thus my ability to function in the political arena. I need the most powerful support I can get and that can only come from you. You are probably wondering about libel. This article is clearly libelous. Several attorneys have already confirmed this to me. But libel suits are very expensive and also perilous. A bad judge can ruin more than your whole day. Therefore, before seriously considering such a recourse, I would prefer to bring enough pressure to bear on Times editors in order that their journalistic consciences might kick in and produce an apology and retraction. Perhaps an appeal to common human decency would help. I have therefore written a letter to the editors of Time, setting out the facts of my political values and commitments, and appealing to them to rectify what they have done. My appeal will have more chance to get a hearing with them if it is accompanied by supporting letters from people like you, who have followed my work and career. My liberal editors at Salon, who have known me since the 1960s, are writing letters in my behalf to the editors of Time. Please take time out today to write your own letter or e-mail expressing your outrage over this unconscionable attack. Send it to Time managing editor Walter Isaacson with copies to Time editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine and Time editorial director Henry Muller. Ask them to print an apology and to correct the record. E-mail your friends and lists, acquainting them with the facts and asking them to do the same. Walter Isaacson Time Magazine Time Life Building Rockefeller Center New York, NY 10020-1393 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] I also would urge you to send an email to David Talbot, the editor of Salon, thanking him and his managing editor, David Weir, for their support. You can reach them at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] I am grateful for all the support you have given me in my past effortsfor your letters, your encouragement, and your contributions to our campaigns. I hope you will respond again for me in this critical matter. David Horowitz
[PEN-L:10600] student evaluation
Fucking victory! by Ann Mullen, Curt Guyette Jennifer Bagwell 9/1/99 Detroit Metrotimes www.metrotimes.com Fucking victory! Macomb Community College professor John Bonnell, suspended for the past seven months, returned to the classroom Monday after a U.S. District Court judge ordered his reinstatement last week. Bonnell, who initially drew fire from the college for using profanity in his lectures, showed no sign of reversing course during an English composition class on his first day back at work. Bonnell says he used the words "phallus and penis and cocks and dicks" while explaining to students the language theyd be dealing with; the course includes discussions of sexual subtexts in literature. "I wanted them to know that this is adult material and adult language were dealing with here," he says. "So fasten your seat belts, here we go." Although initially suspended for three days last February for using words such as "fuck" in class, Bonnells suspension became open-ended after he was accused of, among other things, insubordination and retaliating against a student who complained about his language. Bonnell is suing the college, saying the disciplinary actions violate his civil rights. U.S. District Judge Paul Borman ordered Friday that MCC return Bonnell to work with pay immediately, foiling administrators plans to suspend the professor for four more months, without pay, beginning this month. The controversy began last November when a female student submitted a written complaint alleging that Bonnells "lewd and obscene comments" in class were sexual harassment. Bonnell was suspended for three days with pay. He reacted by releasing a copy of the complaint (with the students name blacked out) and a satirical essay he wrote about the issue. The college claims that Bonnells distribution of the complaint and his essay were a form of retaliation against the student and a violation of her privacy. Before classes started last week, the suspension was extended through December. Bonnells lawyer, James Howarth, argued in court that the colleges allegations of insubordination, retaliation, and privacy violation were attempts to sidestep the issues of free speech and academic freedom. The schools lawyer, Hunter Wendt, argued that the constitutional issues were red herrings. Judge Borman sided with Bonnell, ruling that his release of the students complaint and the essay were protected by the First Amendment The judges also dismissed the colleges insubordination claim, saying the professor had a right to talk to the media and others about his suspension. Wendt did not return phone calls Monday from the Metro Times, and a college spokesperson declined to comment. Bonnell and his wife, Nancy, learned of the ruling shortly after 4 p.m. Friday. Says Nancy Bonnell: "We were overwhelmed to the point of speechlessness, actually, which in Johns case is very rare." Although Bormans opinion indicated that the ruling was not on the First Amendment issue relating to the "specific profane speech" Bonnell used in the classroom, he stated: "The teaching of college English requires the communication of thoughts and ideas by reading and writing, and the use of the entire English language. When a college gags a professor or censors the students, the free expression of ideas and thoughts as supported by the First Amendment is impinged upon." On Monday, Bonnell says he was greeted at the college with hugs and thumbs up from some students and faculty members. He says, "A lot of people ask me, Are you going to be careful about what you say?... I will not willingly give aid and comfort to those who favor censorship and oppression. ... I will do everything I can to resist that." To see the student complaint, Bonnells essay and other material, go to this linked Web site. *Jennifer Bagwell (((
[PEN-L:10596] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Date: Thu, 02 Sep 1999 10:14:54 -0700 From: Michael Perelman [EMAIL PROTECTED] To:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [PEN-L:10594] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I do always erase my res, I just hope others will do the same. I would take Bill's offer except that I have zero patience when it comes to computer programming, even to the point of letting a deadline for Canada's SSRCH scholarship passed by just because it is web-based. Ricardo, it is easy. Just manually cut out a few of the re's. I know it is annoying, but we don't have any other way. Ricardo Duchesne wrote: Isn't there a way to get rid of this irritating re re re? If not, could people here do it manually as I think it devalues the whole list. thanks, ricardo -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
[PEN-L:10605] Re: City on Fire
For a fascinating exegesis of the allegories of primitive accumulation, cutthroat gangsterism, etc. in the Hong Kong cinema, read _City on Fire_ (NY: Verso, 1999) by Lisa Odham Stokes and (our very own) Michael Hoover! Yoshie A big shoutout to Yoshie for the plug! Book is now available via both actual and virtual bookstores although official release date isn't until Sept. 16. Folks can check out description and read comments at Verso website - www.versobooks.com - or at several on-line sellers (I posted a couple of announcements a few months ago so they're probably in the pen-l archive as well). For NYC area listers, Verso is having a book release party at Anthology Film Archives on Saturday afternoon Sept. 18. AFA will screen Woo's *Bullet in the Head* and Donnie Yen's *Ballistic Kiss*. A chance to meet in person, Michael Hoover Current issue of *Library Journal* recommends _City on Fire_ for libraries and here's what *Publisher's Weekly* said in its 8/9/99 issue (I've editorialized a little): The Hong Kong film industry of the '80s and early '90s produced a treasure trove of films. It made matinee idols of (among others) Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan, and Maggie Cheung, reinventing genres style and generally beat the Hollywood dream factory at its own game with an 'anything goes' attitude - despite tiny budgets and brief production schedules. Hoover and Stokes rightly consider the anxiety produced by the ticking clock to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China as the key to this period of frenetic creativity. In the most serious study to date of Hong Kong cinema, the authors dutifully ground their account with social, political, economic, and historical analysis. Sometimes they get a bit carried away [[oh really]], however: comparing a Harold Lloyd stunt to a Jackie Chan variant, the Lloyd version becomes emblematic of the ideal of upward mobility in the American 1920s, and Chan's tumble reflects how 'Hong Kong's dollar fell during a run on the colony's currency in 1983.' The abundance of quotes from Marx and Engels [[for what's it worth, there aren't that many, but then, this *is* *Publisher's Weekly*]] at times makes a cinema noted for its pure entertainment value sound dull and allegorical [[re. allegories, see Yoshie's more astute comments!]]. Still the book's extensive interviews with major HK players - and detailed coverage of the comedies and romances that have enjoyed less international exposure than the now famous action films of Chan and John Woo - are of outstanding interest. So tantalizing is the treatment of many of these obscure films that readers will scurry to the neighborhood video store in search of such charmingly translated titles as *Tom, Dick, and Hairy* and *Shogun and Little Kitchen*.
[PEN-L:10585] BLS Daily Report
BLS DAILY REPORT, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1999 TODAY'S NEWS RELEASE: In July, 215 metropolitan areas recorded unemployment rates below the U.S. average (4.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted), while 110 areas had higher rates. Among the 16 metropolitan areas with jobless rates below 2.0 percent, 11 were in the Midwest. Of the eight areas with rates above 10.0 percent, six were in California, and the other two were along the Mexican border in other states. ... U.S. employers laid off 131,062 workers in 1,141 mass layoffs in June, BLS reports. Both the number of mass layoffs and the number of workers affected were lower than in June 1998, when U.S. firms laid off 183,590 employees in 1,208 mass layoff actions. However, June 1998 figures were inflated by strike-related plant shutdowns. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-3). Despite a tepid 1.8 percent growth rate in the April-June quarter, the U.S. economy has retained momentum that should carry it to solid gains during the last half of the year and give a long-expected, but slight, lift to consumer prices, economists say. This does not mean inflation necessarily will get out of hand, economists contacted by the Bureau of National Affairs said, as they reviewed government and private-sector data released over the past month. Although a number of commodity prices have turned up, and recent surveys conducted by the National Association of Purchasing Management and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank suggest an improved pricing environment for U.S. manufacturers, many analysts predict that inflation will not become a problem for the economy. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-1). __Young workers share the previous generation's values and are deeply committed to the work ethic, but they face a world far different from their parents, AFL-CIO President Sweeney says, in releasing a new study. Young workers have a low level of trust in their employers because they see a new economy with sharp disparities and inequities where "employers refuse to share the wealth". Many of them lack health insurance, and many would like to see policy changes made to protect and preserve jobs with good benefits, he says. The AFL-CIO study is based largely on a nationwide survey of 752 workers between the ages of 18 and 34 conducted in June by Peter D. Hart Research Associates. Respondents indicate areas that need particular attention are family friendly workplace policies, health care, retirement security, and opportunities for advancement. ... (Daily Labor Report, page D-5). __Unlike their parents in the baby boom generation, young workers entering the job market today are much more willing to trade job security for advancement opportunities, according to a new survey commissioned by the AFL-CIO to help understand the work force of the new economy. The willingness of younger workers to trade job security for advancement opportunity is anathema to most of the labor movement, and it represents a policy challenge for a movement seeking to regain its role as a power in the American economic system. ... (Washington Post, page A9). In the workplace, surreptitious observation is an increasingly common phenomenon, particularly as tiny, concealed video cameras and inexpensive computer monitoring software make it easier to observe workers without their knowledge. The American Management Association, whose members employ about one-quarter of the U.S. workforce, found in 1997 that about 35 percent of all firms reported they monitored employees in some way, including recording their telephone calls and e-mail or videotaping then as they work. ... In some cases, remote observation works in employees' favor. BLS recently reported a big decline in the number of slayings of convenience store workers. Experts say video cameras are playing a role in saving workers' lives because criminals don't want their deeds replayed in front of a jury. (Washington Post, page E1). The Consumer Confidence index in August dipped less than a half percentage point to 135.8, but is well above the index's 12-month average of 131.4, the Conference Board reports. "Hikes in interest rates, severe drought conditions in the Northeast, and rising gasoline prices have helped dampen overall consumer optimism," said the associate director of the board's Consumer Research Center. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-3). __Manufacturing accelerated in August, as new orders and export demand increased, a National Association of Purchasing Management survey showed. And an index of prices paid by factories rose to its highest level in 4 years. The NAPM's factory index rose to 54.2 for the month, from 53.4 during July. An index reading above 50 means that most manufacturers surveyed reported improved business. ... (Washington Post, page E1). __A survey of the nation's purchasing managers found that the manufacturing sector continued to grow in August. The survey, which was inadvertently made public
[PEN-L:10587] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: e: normal profits, etc.
Ajit, I am very busy and do not want to keep repeating. Here it is simply: 1. Many parts of the economy have a value without a price. 2. When the need arises, some agent, a bank lending officer can put a price on them. 3. Such prices are not objective measures, but the subjective measure by someone. 4. I do not think that a collection of such subjective measures and potential subjective measures constitute a realistic basis for calculating profit rates. I am dropping this matter now. Ajit Sinha wrote: Let us suppose you want to borrow money against your firm as collateral. Wouldn't the bank make some estimation of the value of your firm? How would the bank do that? If your firm has no price, i.e., it's worthless in the market, then in economic sense you are producing something out of nothing. But in anycase, our basic difference was about the role of inflation or deflation in calculating the generalized rate of profit. I still don't understand how inflation or deflation affects something that seem to have no price? Cheers, ajit sinha -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[PEN-L:10607] Re: more musings...
Jim, We should also look at the bright side of the Bolivianization process. The decrease in worker insecurity -- corresponding to the shrinkage of the importance of the "good jobs" in the primary sector -- also means that employees are less loyal their employers and thus perhaps more willing to rebel against the latter. The shrinkage of the primary sector (the relative growth of secondary-sector-type jobs) also means the slow disappearance of divisions among workers on the societal level. (This can be seen in the convergence of on-the-paid-job experiences of men and women of similar ages and ethnicity. Of course, women still seem saddled with the lioness's share of the housework.) Can You give me one example where the degredation of workers has led to any sort of workers' revolt. Hasn't all the labour movement (at least in a positive and permanent form) emerged out of expansion of the economy and the leadership of a labour elite. Paul Phillips, Economics, University of Manitoba
[PEN-L:10588] Re: teaching evals/merit pay.
Forward on merit pay, a potential use of evaluations. Charles Brown There are some CAL State "Memoranda of Understanding" with merit increase provisions at http://www.calstate.edu/tier3/EmpRel/Contracts_HTML/contracts.html A teachers' contract with a merit increase provision is at http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/contracts/guss.htm#ARTICLE XI At 11:12 AM 9/1/99 -0400, you wrote: The Detroit teachers are on strike and I have been asked for an example of a situation in which a union agreed to "merit pay." I explained to the reporter that merit pay was a euphemism for employer discretion, and that unions don't normally go along with that willingly, but the question is whether it exists somewhere in a unionized environment and if anyone knows such a case. I gave him lots of examples of profit sharing, gain sharing, and incentive pay, but apparently the school board's demand is for discretionary pay on an individual basis. (I am not sure this is what they mean, by the way, because I haven't read the Detroit papers, but that is a good start.) Anybody have any ideas? Dr. Michael H. Belzer University of Michigan Assistant Research Scientist* Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations Adjunct Assistant Professor * Business School E. Catherine Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2054 voice: (734) 647-9474 fax: (734) 763-0913 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Susan LaCette Catherwood Library New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations Ithaca, NY 14853-3901 (607)255-9178
