‘Right to work’ for less.

The HuffPo author states that this is unlikely to happen in other states, attributing this setback to political factors unique to Indiana; but I’m not nearly so optimistic.

Oklahoma was the most recent ‘right-to-work’ state, in 2001. More on that, from the Indianapolis Star.

While Morgan said Indiana should follow his state’s lead and adopt the law, saying it has spurred job creation, the union members told a different story.

“There is no doubt that the law has resulted in job loss and lower wages,” said Jesse Isbell, who worked for 36 years at the Bridgestone-Firestone tire plant in Oklahoma City.

That plant closed in 2006, and he and 1,400 others lost their jobs, he said, even though proponents had said the legislation was what was needed to keep jobs from leaving the state.

Time for a ‘GayWalk’, perhaps?

From the London Evening Standard; emphases mine.:

Schoolchildren bullied over their sexuality are being advised by teachers to act “less gay,” it emerged today.

The shocking claim has been made by pupils in a report on bullying in schools in Essex.

Teenagers who are picked on for their appearance told how they were advised to wear their hair differently if they wanted to avoid being teased.

The document also reveals teachers are insensitive to the needs of bullied youngsters and claims some educators had received “very little” training in dealing with the challenges they face.

The “Anti-Bullying Work” report, based on evidence gathered from more than 250 teachers and pupils, has been compiled by Essex County Council.

The author of the report, Julie Keating, stated there was “anecdotal evidence of students being told to act less gay or to wear their hair differently as teachers felt they were making themselves a target for bullies“.

Red Triangle Technology Collective

“What is the Red Triangle Technology Collective? More than anything else, it’s a means by which we can become independent from corporate and state-controlled communications mediums. From Facebook to Google, Verisign to Yahoo, relying on entities which are sympathetic to the ruling class for our entire network is a strategy for fail.

We need our own solutions – by us, for us, with our needs and principles in heart and mind. That’s what RTTC is.”

– Matt D. Harris, founder

In a nutshell, the purpose of the Red Triangle Technology Collective is to provide a no-cost hosting solution for radical projects and websites. This way, people who can’t afford (or would like to avoid) a commercial provider can still start developing their ideas on the web! 

Our team is worker-managed – we democratically (via consensus when possible; via voting when not) make the majority of non-technical decisions regarding the management of the co-op. This includes things like projects to provide services for, criteria for services, memberships in the co-op, and potential future expansions into new areas. Technical decisions are made by the engineering team on a consensus basis.

Red Triangle Technology Collective

Via GonzoTimes; emphases mine:

The Red Triangle Technology Collective has officially begun operating today, moving towards implementing phase 1 of the plan!  We’re currently focusing on getting our websites designed and implemented, getting a logo, and fundraising to be able to implement phase 1. We announced several weeks ago our intent to launch right here at Gonzo Times, and outlined some core principles and goals.  With the formal plan, released yesterday, we’ve refined these ideas and made public our tentative budget for phases 1, 2, and 3.

..

All we ‘have to do is fuck’?

Gee, someone should’ve told me this back when I was jobless & hungry. According to this, if I’d only had a baby, it would’ve yielded benefits such as fast food meals, liquor binges, & manicures!

Nope, I wouldn’t have simply had the baby taken from me by CPS (which is what usually happens to homeless moms) at all.

Poverty’s always the most amusing to people who don’t have to experience it.

You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.

Remember when 'flash mobs' were primarily known for doing things like pillowfights that left enormous messes for janitors to clean up, except no one much cared because the pillow-fighters were mostly white kids & poor people cleaning shit up is the natural order of things? Boy, I sure do.

And Then There Was One

From the NY Times:

Ending speculation that new regulations could make it the only state without an abortion provider, Kansas announced Thursday that it had issued a license that would allow one of three abortion clinics to continue operating.

The license was awarded to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, for a Kansas City-area clinic, the largest in the state. The other two providers, which previously said they were unable to meet the requirements, will be in federal court on Friday to seek an injunction to keep the law from taking effect.

What Happens on Friday

Starting Friday, it’s possible that women in Kansas with unwanted pregnancies will have to drive several hours over state lines to obtain an abortion – saddled with piles of tedious regulations and unrealistic deadlines, clinics may be forced to close.:

Kansas has only three abortion clinics, all in the Kansas City area. One, in Wyandotte County, has already been told it would not be licensed. The local president of Planned Parenthood said Tuesday that his Overland Park clinic still hadn’t been approved for a license.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…

…the most pointless superhero ever?

To be clear, it’s the delivery I’m objecting to here, not the message – circumcision is a medically unjustifiable procedure most often performed solely to satisfy the parents’ aesthetic or religious preferences. It’s not something to which I’d ever subject my sweet little (hypothetical) baby, and I wish more parents would follow suit.

That aside, the comic is just fucking weird – using artistic media to protest circumcision is great; it’s the idea of a superhero whose existence revolves around babies’ crotches that I find lol-worthy.

I initially kept my mind open upon hearing about it, thinking that the comic was more tongue-in-cheek than cheesy, overwrought melodrama. I thought wrong.:

(Don’t) Fuck the Police.

According to the Guardian: "Mark Kennedy had sexual relationships with several women while serving as an undercover policeman and infiltrating a ring of environmental activists"

From the Guardian; emphases mine:

Undercover police officers routinely adopted a tactic of “promiscuity” with the blessing of senior commanders, according to a former agent who worked in a secretive unit of the Metropolitan police for four years.

The former undercover policeman claims that sexual relationships with activists were sanctioned for both men and women officers infiltrating anarchist, leftwing and environmental groups.

Sex was a tool to help officers blend in, the officer claimed, and was widely used as a technique to glean intelligence. His comments contradict claims last week from the Association of Chief Police Officers that operatives were absolutely forbidden to sleep with activists.