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Today's
Stories
September 6,
2004
Kathleen and
Bill Christison
Dual
Loyalties: the Bush Necons and Israel
September 4-5,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
Elephants
and Gramsci
Ted Honderich
The
Way Things Are
Sasan Fayazmanesh
The
Holy Empire: Who We Are and What We Do
Douglas Valentine
What the World Should Know About Guantanamo
Patrick Cockburn
New Iraqi Police State Flexes Its Muscles
Gary Leupp
Neo Cons Under Fire
Fred Gardner
Pot Shots: the Hempstead T-Shirt
William A.
Cook
The
Day of the Lemming
Dave Zirin
Kobe Bryant and the Price of Freedom
John Chuckman
The Day the World Ended
Karyn Strickler
God Save the Endangered Species Act
Vanessa Jones
Bad Day with an Ikea Cup
Mike Whitney
Kerry: the "Better" War Candidate
Mark Donham
Dear John (Kerry): Start Explaining and Fast
Mickey Z.
McBypass Nation: Feeling Clinton's Pain
Alan Farago
Can the Everglades be Fixed?
Poets' Basement
Landau and Albert
September 3,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Jesus Told Him Where to Bomb
Rahul Mahajan
Bush's RNC Speech: an Annotated Response
Carl Estabrook
The
Book of Slaughter and Forgetting
Joshua Frank
The Florida of the Northwest: Oregon Dems Sabotage Nader Again
Gary Leupp
Music to My Ears: Sunday's March
James Hollander
Deja Vu in Manhattan: Assisted Political Suicide?
Mark Engler
Republicans
Among Us: a Week at the RNC, Inside and Out
Jesse Sharkey
Making Students and Teachers Pay for the Crisis in Education
Jane Stillwater
Calling the Cops on Your Own Kid
Stephen Green
Serving
Two Flags: the Bush Neo-Cons and Israel
Sex,
Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
September 2,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part 3: More Pricks Than Kicks
Max Gimble
Et Tu, Menchu? Extrajudicial Killings and Clandestine Graves
in Guatemala
James Petras
President Chavez and the Referendum: Myths and Realities
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush and the Afghan Electoral Model: "If They Want to Vote
Twice, Let Them"
Todd Chretien & Jessie
Muldoon
Will the Democrats Expel Zell Miller?
Jack Random
Spite and Venom Day: the Turncoat and the Profiteer
Alan Maass
The Real Vietnam
Christa Allen
Contre Bush
Website of
the Day
[Redacted]
September 1,
2004
Alexander Cockburn
The
Stench of Doom
Kathleen and Bill Christison
Poor Larry Franklin
Dave Lindorff
Kerry's Litmus Test
Josh Frank
Protest in White: Not All of New York Rises Up
John L. Hess
Moles, Scoops and Flip Flops
Mike Whitney
Deconstructing Arnold
Jack Random
Kindergarten Night at the RNC
Andrew Wilson
War on the Pachyderms: Why Do Elephants Hate Us?
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: Part Two: Mark His Words
August 31,
2004
Joseph Nevins
Escapism
and Global Apartheid: The Dominican Republic & the NYTs
Matt Vidal
Beyond
Bush's Rhetoric on the Economy
Neve Gordon
Kerry and the Middle East
Dave Lindorff
Bush
the Peace Candidate?
Mike Whitney
NPR Leads the Charge for War Against Iran
Jack Random
Opening Night: Playing the War Card
Jeffrey St.
Clair
High
Plains Grifter: the Life and Crimes of George W. Bush (Part One)
CounterPunch Photo of the Day
Pete Seeger in NYC
August 30,
2004
Justin Podhur
The
Disappeared Mayor
Shaun Joseph
The
Hypocrites at TheNaderbasher.com
Mike Whitney
Israeli Moles in the Pentagon: What More Could They Possibly
Want?
Ron Jacobs
Live, From New York: the Majority of Protesters Claimed No Candidate
David Lindorff
Sunday in Manhattan: the Sound of Marchin', Chargin' Feet, Boy
Dave Zirin
USA Basketball: The Team White America Loved to Hate
Sam Husseini
Israeli Spying on the US: a Long History
August 28 /
29, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Zombies
for Kerry
Patrick Cockburn
Najaf Ceasefire Good for Iraq, But Weakens Allawi and US
Ray McGovern
Blowing Smoke on Intelligence
Dr. Juan Romagoza
From El Salvador to Abu Ghraib: Reflections of Torture Survivor
Ray Hanania
An Israeli Spy in the Pentagon? Ridiculous!
Fred Gardner
Eddie Lepp Busted by DEA: Facing Life for Growing Medical Pot
Diane Christian
Big Men: the Better Leader Lets You Live
William S. Lind
The Desert Fox
Paul D'Amato
The Left Takes a Dive for Kerry
Joshua Frank
Greens at the Crossroads
Mickey Z.
Media Declares War on Anti-War Protests
Winslow T. Wheeler
Sen. McCain's Pork Chops: an Exchange
Justin E.H.
Smith
The New Age Racket and the Left
Thomas St. John
Burning Slaves at the Stake: On "Sinners in the Hands of
an Angry God"
Ali Tonak
Help the NYPD?
Mark Engler
New York Says "No"
Justin Felux
Haiti: the Attica of the Americas
Poets' Basement
Gelman, Albert, Ford and Hamod
August 27,
2004
Gary Leupp
Neocon
Musings
Robin Cook
The
Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Diane Christian
Disarming
Michael Donnelly
Situational Democracy: the Show Me the Green Party?
Jack Random
4F and Other Heroes: an Army of War Resisters
Mike Ferner
"To the Swift Boats!"
Mazin Qumsiyeh
7000 Palestinian Political Prisoners
Veronza Bowers, Jr.
"You Won't Be Leaving Tomorrow"
August 26,
2004
M. Shahid Alam
The
Clash Thesis: a Failing Ideology?
Diane Christian
War
Rules: Bush is No Sun Tzu
Derek Seidman
"They're As Bad As Wal-Mart:" Starbucks Workers Get
Organized
David Lindorff
Court to RNC Protesters: Drop the Rally
Christopher
Brauchli
Signs of Dissent: the Bush in the Bubble
Stew Albert
Reporting Suspicious Activity
Mark Donham
Judgement in Athens: Give the Koreans Their Day in Court
Saul Landau
Pinochet:
the Al Capone of the Southern Cone
Website of
the Day
The Kerry 527 Ad You'll Never See
August 25,
2004
Amelia Peltz
Can
I Have 9.8 Seconds of Your Time?
Noah Leavitt
Defining and Redefining Torture
Ron Jacobs
Takin' It to the Streets: It's Not About the Election, It's About
Democracy
James Brooks
Coronado Crosses the Jordan
Akiva Eldar
How to Win the Jewish Vote: Turn Gaza into a "Mini-Afghanistan"
Gemma Araneta
Chavez's New Brand of Populism
Philip Cryan
Uribe's Boys: the Death Squads of Colombia
CounterPunch Wire
Cheney Opens the Closet Door
August 24,
2004
Jeremy Scahill
John
Kerry: the Warchurian Candidate
Gary Leupp
"We
Want Them to Go Away"
David Domke
God
Willing: an Echoing Press and Political Fundamentalism
William Loren Katz
The Meaning of Hugo Chávez: Black and Indian Power in
Venezuela
Jonah Gindin
With Chavez? Reading the International Private Media
Fran Schor
Denying Atrocities: From Vietnam to Fallujah
Joe Bageant
Driving
on the Bones of God
Website of the Day
The Great America Lockdown: a Primer for the RNC
August 23,
2004
Winslow Wheeler
Don't
Mind If I Do: Porkbarrel and the War on Terror
John Pilger
Bush
May Be the Lesser Evil
Stan Goff
Swift
Boat Dogfight
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
Notes
from the West Bank: Build, Demolish, Rebuild
Mike Whitney
The Unraveling of Afghanistan
William Blum
Brave
New World of Iraqi Sovereignty
Ralph Nader
A Letter to the Washington Post: a Shameful and Unsavory Editorial
August 21 /
22, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
"They
Want Blood:" The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Total War on
Drugs
Landau / Hassen
Failing
the Mission? Form a Commission
Brian Cloughley
The
Bush Team in Iraq: Moral Cowardice, as Practiced by Experts
Josh Frank
Nader as David Duke? The ADL Wants You to Think So
Mike Whitney
Reincarnating Mengele: the Torture Doctors of Abu Ghraib
Ron Jacobs
Day Labor Blues
Mickey Z.
Shooting at Whales: 40 Years After Tonkin
Fred Gardner
Dr. Wolman Comes Out: The Cannabis Consultants
Dave Zirin
Uprising in Athens: Iraqi Soccer Team Gives Bush the Boot
Josh Saxe
Witnessing Police Brutality in LA
Yanar Mohammed
Letter from Baghdad: a Democracy of Killings and Bombings
Helen Williams
Ali's Story: a Taste of Reality from Baghdad
Michael Donnelly
Elemental and NaturalForests, Fire and Recovery
Elizabeth Schulte
The Crisis in Affordable Housing
Poets' Basement
Adler, Albert, Virgil, Ford and Krieger
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
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Labor Day
September 6, 2004
An Anti-Labor
Day That Lives in Infamy
How
Many Democrats Voted for Taft-Hartley?
By
ALEXANDER COCKBURN
Fifty-seven years ago, on June 23, 1947,
over-riding President Harry Truman's veto, Congress voted for
the Taft-Hartley Act. It was a savage counter-attack on Labor's
great legislative achievement of the Roosevelt years, the Wagner
Act. As Taft-Hartley came before Congress Truman denounced it
as a "slave-labor bill".
Taft-Hartley still said strikes
were legal, up to a point. It just made it far harder to win
them. It declared the closed shop illegal and permitted the union
shop only after a vote of a majority of the employees. It forbade
jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts. Other aspects
of the legislation included the right of employers to be exempted
from bargaining with unions unless they wished to.
The act forbade unions from
contributing to political campaigns and required union leaders
to affirm they were not supporters of the Communist Party. This
section of the act was upheld by the Supreme Court on 8th May,
1950.
The Taft-Hartley Act also gave
the United States Attorney General the power to impose an 80
day injunction when a threatened or actual strike that he/she
believed "imperiled the national health or safety".
Now, Taft Hartley was passed
by the Republican Congress which took control in 1946. I'd never
looked up the numbers, or tried to find out exactly how many
Democrats were needed to get the 2/3rds necessary for the over-ride.
Then, this summer I came across The Third Party, a pamphlet
by Adam Lapin published in 1948 in support of Wallace and his
Progressive Party. Lapin ladled out fierce abuse to both Democrats
and Republicans.
"Every scheme of the lobbyists
to fleece the public became law in the 80th Congress. And every
constructive proposal to benefit the common people gathered dust
in committee pigeonholes The bi-partisan bloc, the Republocratic
cabal which ruled Congress and made a mockery of President Roosevelt's
economic bill of rights, also wrecked the Roosevelt foreign policy.
A new foreign policy was developed. This policy was still gilded
with the good words of democracy. But its Holy Grail was oil.
"The Democratic administration
carries the ball for Wall Street's foreign policy. And the Republican
party carries the ball for Wall Street's domestic policy. Of
course the roles are sometimes interchangeable. It was President
Truman who broke the 1946 railroad strike, asked for legislation
to conscript strikers and initiated the heavy fines against the
miners' union.
"On occasion President
Truman still likes to lay an occasional verbal wreath on the
grave of the New Deal. But the hard facts of roll call votes
show that Democrats are voting more and more like Republicans.
If the Republican Taft-Hartley bill became law over the President's
veto, it was because many of the Democrats allied themselves
to the Republicans. Only 71 House Democrats voted to sustain
the President's veto while 106 voted to override it. In the Senate
20 Democrats voted to override the veto and 22 voted to sustain
it."
There you have it: the law
that was to enable capital to destroy organized labor when it
became convenient was passed by a bipartisan vote (and with more
than just Southern Democrats), something you will never learn
from the AFL-CIO, or from a thousand hoarse throats at Democratic
rallies when the candidate is whoring for the labor vote. In
the Clinton years, union membership as a percentage of the work
force dropped, as well it might, because he did nothing to try
to change laws or to intervene in disputes.
Clinton presided over passage
of NAFTA, insulting labor further with the farce of side agreements
on labor rights that would never be enforced. End result: half
the companies involved in organizing drives in the US intimidate
workers by saying that a union vote will force the company to
leave town; 30 percent of them fire the union activists (about
20,000 workers a year); only one in seven organizing drives has
a chance of going to a vote, and of those that do result in a
yes vote for the union, less than one in five has any success
in getting a contract.
Polls suggest that 60 percent
of non-unionized workers say they would join a union if they
had a chance. The Democrats have produced no laws, indeed have
campaigned against laws -that would make that attainable. John
Kerry's proposal on the minimum wage in 2004 would raise it to
$7 an hour by 2007, far below where it stood in real terms nearly
40 years ago.
Here's the detailed run-down
on how the US senators voted on that June day in 1947. There
are some surprises, as for example with Alabama's two senators
voting in support of Truman's veto. The roll call is a reminder
of what a weird alliance the Democratic Party was back then.
Democrats voting to over-ride
Truman's veto of Taft-Hartley: 24
Byrd Va
John Connally Tx
Eastland, Miss
Ellender La
Fulbright Ar
George Ga
Hatch NM
Hoey NC
Holland Fl
Maybank SC
McLellan AK
McKellar TN
O'Connor MD
O'Daniel TX
Overton LA
Robertson Va
Russell GA
Stewart TN
Tydings MD
Umstead NC
Republicans voting to over-ride:
48
Aiken Vt
Baldwin CT
Ball MN
Brewster ME
Bricker OH
Bridges NH
Brooks Ill
Buck DE
Bushfield SD
Butler NE
Cain WA
Capehart IN
Capper KS
Cooper KY
Cordon OR
Donnell ME
Dworshak ID
Ecton MT
Ferguson MI
Flanders VT
Gurney SD
Hawkes NJ
Hickenlooper IA
Ives NY
Jenner IN
Kem MO
Knowland CA
Lodge MA
McCarthy WI
Martin PA
Milliken CO
Moore OK
Reed KS
Revercomb West VA
Robertson WY
Saltonstall MA
Smith NJ
Taft OH
Thye MN
Tobey NH
Vandenberg MI
Watkins UT
Wherry NE
White ME
Wiley WI
Williams DE
Wilson IA
Young ND
Not voting but announced against
overriding Truman's veto
Thomas (D) UT
Wagner (D) NY
Republicans against over-riding
Truman's veto: 3
Langer ND
Malone NV
Wayne Morse OR
Democrats against over-riding
Truman's veto: 22
Barkley KY
Chavez NM
Downey CA
Green RI
Hayden AZ
Hill AL
Johnson CO
Johnston SC
Kilgore West Va
Lucas Ill
Magnusson WA
McCarran NV
McFarlane AZ
McGrath RI
McMann CT
Murray MT
Myers PA
O'Mahoney WY
Pepper FL
Sparkman AL
Taylor ID
Thomas OK
I don't yet have the specific
votes in the House.
These reflections come from
Alexander Cockburn's opening essay "Not As Big a Deal As
They Say", in CounterPunch's must-read new book about the
Presidential elections, the Democrats and the Republicans, Dime's
Worth of Difference, Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils, edited
by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St Clair, CounterPunch/AK Press.
Weekend
Edition Features for August 7 / 8, 2004
James Petras
The
Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of
Abu Ghraib
Fred Gardner
Run
Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain
Justin Delacour
Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela
Brian Cloughley
Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd?
Joshua Frank
The
Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader
Iain A. Boal
On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection
Chris Floyd
All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome
Andrew Fenton
Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti
Aseem Shrivastava
Saga of an Anguished Afghan
Neil Corbett
See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush
Carol Miller
/ Forrest Hill
Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only
12% of the Vote
Tarek Milleron
Breaking the Principled Voter
Donald Macintyre
The
Battle of Najaf
Ron Jacobs
Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies
Mickey Z.
Kid
Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO
Poets' Basement
Adler, Ford and Albert
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