Introductory Note: People who have read my blog before may notice that this post is not in my usual style. It is a statement written by a friend, who asked me to post it here on his behalf, because he neither has, nor wants to have, a blog of his own.… Read full post »

Today's news brought a very interesting AP story, as reported on the San Francisco Chronicle's webpage, here.

The workers are only demanding the vacation and severance pay they are owed, rather than demanding that the plant be turned over to them for operation under their control. Still - it's a… Read full post »

In their comments on my post about how I define socialism, Wayne Gallant and Flammable opined, or at least implied, that what I described is an unattainable utopia because it does not take into account the greed inherent in human nature. I wanted to write more about "human nature" and socialism… Read full post »

There is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about what “socialism” means, particularly among Americans, who generally have no direct experience even with the faint echo of it that can be discerned in European-style social democracy. (See Charles Rachlis’s post “Why do Ame… Read full post »

[Updated to change title from "Human Nature" to "Human Behavior"] 

Ok. I said I wasn’t going to post until after the election was over. And although I have written some posts since I said that, they haven’t squarely related to the reasons I originally started this bl… Read full post »

A question about the New Deal came up during a discussion at dinner the other night that no one there could answer. I called my mom, who has a doctorate in American history and lived through the New Deal as a teen, and she couldn’t answer it either. So I’m throwing… Read full post »

As it does like clockwork every four years, organized labor supported the Democrats in this presidential election, and if anything, their support for Obama was even more enthusiastic than usual.  According to a post-election article in Bloomberg News, for example, organized labor spent more than… Read full post »

Re No on 8, I don't have time to add much to what Mick said, here, except to say that the No on 8 folks are being wildly outspent, and really need your donations NOW.

But I did just want to add a plea to folks who are going to vote No… Read full post »

I really want to write more about the topics that originally brought me to OpenSalon, but I've decided to wait at least until November 5. That's partly because really I need to get some work done on my day job, before my boss gets unhappy with me.

But it's also because… Read full post »

On Thursday October 23, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan told a Congressional hearing that he was “shocked” (or more specifically, “in a state of shocked disbelief”) by the recent collapse of the financial markets. I can’t help hearing echoes of the scene f… Read full post »

My first reaction when I heard that McCain and his supporters are calling Obama a socialist was to laugh, and say, "I wish!"

 A friend sent me a post by labor journalist Dick Meister from portside.org, which describes how Obama's program is better for workers than McCain's, and urges a… Read full post »

Charles's comment on my first post suggested that I try to summarize the group discussion that I referred to when I described the impulse that led me to start this blog. So I'll try to do that.

The initial formal presentation that started the discussion was an extensive analysis o… Read full post »

In case anyone is not familiar with this reference: Organia is the name of the planet to which the starship Enterprise travels in the original Star Trek series episode entitled "Errand of Mercy." It is a planet that appears to be inhabited by peaceful, simple people who are at a roughly Bronze… Read full post »

Mostly, I stand somewhere in the middle of the muddle, looking as confused as I feel. But seriously, folks ....

 I have been thinking about starting a blog for a long time, but have not done so in part because I didn't think I had anything to say that would be… Read full post »