strike on!

Day two of the NYC transit workers strike has Bloomberg in a tizzy. I just watched a news conference with him where he described the strike as: "illegal" and "selfish." Since the strike has begun, the union has been slapped with a million dollar fine, and a 2 day wage loss for each day an individual striker remains on the picket line. Apparently, jail time is the latest threat looming over this situation. During his news conference, Bloomberg did what most politicians and anti-labor folks do: they complain about the inconvenience of striking, without ever once thinking about the structural reasons that propel people to risk wage cuts, loss of jobs, etc to strike for what they believe they deserve as workers. Some of the examples he used included people not being able to get to their chemo/radiation treatments, hospitals in short supply of necessary blood supplies for surgery, etc. No doubt the health care and maintenance of all people is important to consider, and the strike certainly is trickling down and impacting folks in a number of diffcult ways. However, much of this nightmare and "inconvenience" could have been avoided if negotiaters could come to a decent agreement. And, pensions, wage increases, AND health benefits are some of the issues the strikers want resolved. If anything, what this strike illustrates is how the low-wage laborer, literally keep global cities like NYC running. We hear how the strike is costing the city 400 million a day, without ever once hearing what low wages, lack of pensions for newly hired workers, and the absence of decent and affordable health care cost workers every single day. And, as a multi, multi millionaire (or billionaire), I seriously doubt Bloomberg is in touch with these realities. So, it's easy to distort and manipulate people's emotions during a strike by lambasting the worker as "selfish" and the strike as "illegal" in the all too pro-business, servile press.

Speaking of manipulation, it would appear that our famous war-puppet's latest speech to the nation has netted him some points in the popularity polls. Wire taps be damned. Fuck civil liberties. Instead of screeching about people on the picket line, we need to take to the streets and push for an impeachment of this ILLEGAL and SELFISH presidential adminstration. J and I saw Syriana the other day (the same day we received a $500 gas bill (what timing)) and it made my already bad day get even worse. The movie was good, but it pissed me off because it only reiterated what many of us knew: wars are all about oil and energy.

That's all from the Sunshine State.

. . . a break in the blog

it was two days after i last posted that my grandmother passed away, and until this evening i haven't really had the urge to get back to blogging. the past couple of weeks have gone by in a bit of a blur for me. grief sucks. i've been thinking about reading didion's *the year of magical thinking*, but someone told me that while it is an excellent read, it migh make me feel worse. while at home helping my mom deal with the endless business of death--and i cannot believe how much buiness is involved, i kept thinking about *six feet under*. during our many funeral home visits (a family run outfit), the funeral director(s) were complaining about this corporate-run funeral home in the area that runs death notices in the local papers for a week--simply as a way to advertise their services. here's my crash course in the death industry: caskets. pick a color. pick a gauge. pick ornamentation. really. military caskets. wood is for men. women like rose and pink. in death, you can't escape gender. or the military. obits: one day is free, after that it's $160 with picture, a little less without. pick a good picture. most important. pick a good picture. flowers. casket sprays. whole casket or half? don't forget the flowers. roses are a good choice. take an ativan. always take an ativan. or two. grief. i miss calling to find out how she is doing. i miss our broken conversations because she didn't have her hearing aid in, or she had the tv on too loud. i miss everything about her, every single day. 1918-2005. nana.