APPROACHING FIVE YEARS

It's hard to believe, but we're approaching the fifth anniversary of the Bush administration's unnecessary war in Iraq. That's longer than the US Civil War and our involvement in World War II.

For the latest reckoning of US casualties, click here. As mentioned here earlier this week, the World Health Organization estimates over 150,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion.

Financially, the war has been estimated to cost over $1 trillion in the first four years. Now it's costing around $720 million per day or $500,000 per minute.

Over the last several days this blog has been exploring how people interested in a less violent and more just world can learn from studying conflict and strategy, with a special focus on Sun Tzu, who believed the highest level of accomplishment is to accomplish one's objectives without a struggle.

It's only fitting at this time to quote his warnings on the dangers of a long war, from Chapter 2 of The Art of War:

If battle is protracted, your weapons will be blunted and your troops demoralized. If you lay siege to a walled city, you exhaust your strength. If your armies are kept in the field for a long time, your national reserves will not suffice. Where you have blunted your weapons, demoralized your troops, exhausted your strength and depleted all available resources, the neighboring rulers will take advantage of your adversity to strike. And even with the wisest counsel, you will not be able to turn the ensuing consequences to the good.

Thus in war, I have heard tell of a foolish haste, but I have yet to see a case of cleverly dragging on the hostilities. There has never been a state that has benefited from an extended war. Hence, if one is not fully cognizant of the evils of waging war, he cannot be fully cognizant either of how to turn it to best account.

BLOOM AND BUST. Yale literary professor Harold Bloom doesn't care much for the Iraq war, Harry Potter, or Stephen King. I'm with him on the first, have no opinion on the second, but must admit a certain occasional flirtation with the works of the third. Especially the older stuff.

LIKE A SPRINGSTEEN SONG. This item from yesterday's NY Times about the loss of blue collar jobs points to a sad trend.

MORTGAGE CRISIS AND THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY. According to this item from The Nation,

Black homeowners have been hit particularly hard, largely because predatory lenders have been steering them toward subprime loans for years at more than twice the rate of white homeowners, even when they could afford prime rates. According to the Urban League, home equity accounts for almost 90 percent of black homeowners' net worth. So as the housing market collapses, much of the new wealth that has accumulated in black communities in recent decades will go with it.

The Urban League and Rainbow/PUSH are planning a Jan. 22 march on the Department of Housing and Urban Development in DC to bring attention to this crisis.

FEAR AND TREMBLING. As the 2008 elections approach, some management types are scared about the prospects of a new Congress passing the Employee Free Choice Act which just might help rebuild the middle class. El Cabrero is temporarily overcome with sympathy for their plight. OK, I'm over it.

MORE ON MASSEYGATE. Here's the latest AP coverage about the ties between Massey CEO Don Blankenship and WV Supreme Court chief Justice Spike Maynard. Selection:

Since his election as justice in 1996, Maynard has helped decide at least eight cases at the Supreme Court involving Massey or one of its subsidiaries, an AP review shows. Maynard voted in Massey’s favor in all eight, dissenting from the court’s ruling in four of those cases.

PHYS ED. Here's something on a more rational approach to physical education and lifetime activity.

TWO BURNING ISSUES. This article suggest that blaming erratic behavior on a midlife crisis is a lame excuse. Damn. I was just getting ready to try that one. And, if you've ever spent sleepless nights wondering where, exactly, the fortune cookie came from, you can now rest in peace.

AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT, how 'bout a rodent big as a bull?

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

CHANCES FOR SUCCESS

Caption: See second item.

The theme this week at Goat Rope is about the future of the labor movement--and of the middle class. The two are pretty intertwined and one rises or falls with the other.

If this is your first visit, please click on earlier posts.

Yesterday's post was about the background on the Employee Free Choice Act. Today's is about its prospects.

The bill passed the House of Representatives earlier this year with bipartisan support (not counting WV 2's Shelley Moore Capito). It enjoys a bare majority of support in the Senate, although not enough to overcome a filibuster. President Bush has indicated--no shock--that he would veto the measure if it came to his desk.

That means the next serious chance to pass it will be after the 2008 elections, assuming a change in the composition of the Senate. In the meantime, supporters need to keep on making noise in favor of this measure and build a stronger base in public opinion in favor of its passage.

This could be the most significant social legislation in decades. If the right to organize was truly restored, a lot of other problems would take care of themselves.

At the state (WV) level, HB 2346, popularly known as the Worker Freedom Bill, was introduced but not passed last time around. This bill would prohibit employers (with appropriate exemptions) from requiring workers to attend meetings in which their views on politics, religion, and labor organizing are discussed. Here's the text. Efforts in support of that measure will continue.

MORAY EEL UPDATE. Please allow El Cabrero to apologize for neglecting this vital subject. By way of amends, it pleases me to share the following information:

Moray eels, those snake-like predators that lurk in coral reefs, use a second set of jaws to pull prey back into their throats with deadly efficiency, researchers said on Wednesday.

From what I can surmise (from a distance), these buggers have an extra jaw that is usually behind the skull when not in use. When needed, the extra jaws shoot up into the mouth and pull the prey back down the throat. Scientists were reportedly amazed to discover how it worked. It sounds to me like the monster in the Alien movies...

IT'S ABOUT TIME. According to this item from The Nation, some folks are getting serious about doing something about poverty.

MORE ON MINE SAFETY. Here's the latest about mine safety hearings in Congress (fireworks included).

MORE ON COAL. This op-ed by Jeff Goodell, author of Big Coal, came out in late August, but I just found it.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

FREE TO CHOOSE?

Caption: As this gray tree frog will tell you, it's hard to hang on these days.

The theme of this week's Goat Rope is the future of the labor movement. To be exact, Monday's was about the benefits of union membership, Tuesday's was about the reasons for it's decline, and yesterday's was about the dirty and illegal tricks employers often play to prevent workers from organizing.

The best solution to this problem is the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). I've written about it many times in this blog and elsewhere.

(For more background, search this blog for Employee Free Choice Act--not abbreviated--in the top left corner of the screen.)

Here's the short version. This bill would essentially restore the right of workers to organize and form unions by doing several things.

*It would allow people to bypass NLRB elections by a card check system. Under this, if the majority of workers signed a card in favor of union membership, the union would be recognized as the bargaining agent.

*It would increase penalties for companies that illegally fire and/or intimidate workers trying to organize; and

*It would provide mediation and arbitration for first contracts.

Opponents of this measure pretend that the measure is an attack on secret ballots. This is bogus for more more than one reason. First, secret ballots remain an option. Second, it's not a fair and free election if you can be intimidated, demoted and fired for voting for a union (see yesterday's post). For a good look at the differences between a federal election and a union election under the current system, click here.

Next time: prospects for passage and a state initiative.


ALONG THE THEME of rebuilding the middle class in a postindustrial age, here's an item from the Washington Post.

SICKNESS UNTO DEATH. I'm talking health care, not Kierkegaard (although he could well show up here at some point). Here is a good interview about US health care woes with Jonathan Cohn, author of SICK and a writer for the New Republic.

WHAT'S (NOT) UP. This is from the latest snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute:

American families today are increasingly feeling the pinch of higher energy prices, housing market uncertainty, and growing health care costs. Historically, typical families could expect to see annual increases in their earnings to help cope with financial challenges, improve their standard of living, or just save for a rainy day. These expectations of economic progress are no longer being met.

Last week the Census Bureau released new estimates of inflation-adjusted household incomes and individual earnings. Median real household income in 2006 was $48,201, an increase of $356, or about 0.7%, from 2005. At this point in the economic recovery, we should expect to see an increase. But it is important to put this increase in historical context, as well as closely examine the causes.

In an alarming reversal of past progress, real household income for the typical family has declined over the last seven years. Despite increases over the prior two years, median household income for 2006 (the last year for which data are available) is still $1,043 below its peak in 1999...

VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN. WV Governor Joe Manchin is pretty popular here, but one of his decisions isn't. I am of course referring the to the "Open for Business" signs at the state borders, which replaced the "Welcome to Wild Wonderful West Virginia," which most people seemed to like. State residents now have a chance to vote online at the following sites: www.wvgov.org, www.wv.gov or www.wvtourism.com. El Cabrero is in the restorationist camp.


GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

THE REST OF THE STORY, EFCA AND BUDGET UPDATES, AND GOOD FRIDAY REFLECTIONS

Caption: This man is pretty happy. Now. (Photo credit: La Cabra)

Goat Rope is all over the place this week, but the guiding thread is a story from the Histories of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus about the nature of happiness. If this is your first visit, please scroll down to the earlier entries.

The story has to do with a conversation and its aftermath between the wealthy and arrogant Lydian king Croesus and the Athenian sage Solon. Croesus asked the latter who the happiest mortal was, expecting to be told that he was.

As the last few posts have shown, he didn't get the answer he wanted and thought Solon was a fool.

But as Herodotus puts it,

After Solon's departure nemesis fell upon Croesus, presumably because God was angry with him for supposing himself the happiest of men.

After a number of misfortunes, he loses his throne to Cyrus, ruler of Persia. The story goes that as he was placed on a pyre to be burned alive, he

remembered with what divine truth Solon had declared that no man could be called happy until he was dead. Till then Croesus had not uttered a sound; but when he remembered, he sighed bitterly and three times, in anguish of spirit, pronounced Solon's name.

Cyrus asked through an interpreter who Solon was.

'He was a man,' he said, 'who ought to have talked with every king in the world. I would give a fortune to have had it so.'... He then related how Solon the Athenian once came to Sardis, and made light of the splendor which he saw there, and how everything he said proved true, and not only for him but for all men and especially for those who imagined themselves fortunate--had in his own case proved all too true.

Herodotus states that Cyrus was moved by this:

He himself was a mortal man, and was burning alive another who had once been as prosperous as he. The thought of that, and the fear of retribution, and the realization of the instability of human things, made him change his mind...

After a close shave, Croesus was saved and became a companion and advisor to Cyrus.

I guess you could say he learned his lesson the hard way. Looking at our world today, it looks like he's not the only one that should have listened to Solon's advice the first time.

EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT UPDATE. Now that EFCA, a bill which would restore the right of U.S. workers to organize, has passed the House, the struggle has moved to the Senate. Here's an item from the AFLCIO blog on the latest phase of the campaign.

FEDERAL BUDGET. The outlook for a rational federal budget has improved drastically over previous years. This week the House passed its version of the budget, which was even better than the Senate version which itself was WAY better than the proposed Bush budget. Alas, one member of WV's delegation apparently longs for the bad old days. Here's Antipode's rant on that subject.

GOOD FRIDAY. This item appeared in Goat Rope last year on Good Friday...

El Cabrero is not sure at what point in church history the observation of the crucifixion of Jesus acquired the name "Good Friday." It pretty terrible to the people involved. It's hard in our day and age to understand how terrible or commonplace crucifixion was to people in the ancient world. The early church would have been horrified at the use of crosses as ornaments; they did not become standard features of Christian art until around the 4th century, after the practice was largely abandoned.

According to Martin Hengel, author of Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross, "among the Romans it was inflicted above all on the lower classes, i.e., slaves, violent criminals, and the unruly elements in rebellious provinces, not least in Judea. The chief reason for its use was its allegedly supreme efficacy as a deterrent; it was, of course, carried out publicly..."

The practice was in part a spectacle of power and degradation. Hengel continues, "By the public display of a naked victim at a prominent place--at a crossroads, in the theatre, on high ground, at the place of his crime--crucifixion also represented his uttermost humiliation, which had a numinous dimension to it. " Often the crucified were denied burial and simply left on the cross, which for many in the ancient world was worse than the death itself.

Historians and believers agree that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem during Passover week shortly after he caused a disturbance at the Temple. Passover was more than a religious holiday to the Jews in Roman controlled Judea: it was a subversive celebration of freedom. The Roman occupiers would have been on high alert for the slightest disturbance at such politically charged times.

The Romans were right about one thing: the reign of God that Jesus proclaimed and enacted was and is a threat to all systems of violence, hierarchy, exploitation, oppression and degradation. To that extent--and to his honor--Jesus was guilty. In the best sense of the word.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

WV NEWS FLASH AND UPDATES

We interrupt Goat Rope's ongoing series on conservatism for this news flash.

(You guys must be living right--two Goat Rope posts today!)

((You'll have to wait for the next post for the gratuitous animal picture.))

PRIEST PLEADS GUILTY TO TRESPASSING ON CAPITO'S OFFICE OVER IRAQ SURGE.

I guess you could call him The Capito One. The Rev. Jim Lewis, a retired Episcopal priest, pleaded guilty yesterday of trespassing in Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito's Charleston office.

Rev. Lewis visited the office on Feb. 16 with a delegation from WV Patriots for Peace to express concern for Capito's vote against a House resolution opposing President Bush's escalation of the war in Iraq. While other members left the office, Lewis remained, noting that U.S. troops in Iraq had to stay so he would too. He was ordered to pay a fine of $50 or do a day of community service.

Here's the Gazette story.

Here is an excerpt from the statement Rev. Lewis gave in municipal court:

Your honor, I find it ludicrous that I have been charged with a citation for trespassing.

Mr. Bush has received no citation for trespassing in Iraq.

Ms. Capito has received no citation for having been an accessory to our trespassing in Iraq.

No one in the CIA, or the Bush Administration, has received a citation for trespassing on international law, and the human rights of prisoners, for having shipped over a thousand prisoners to other countries where they are being tortured.

No one in the Justice Department has received a citation for having trespassed on the Constitution by using illegal wiretaps and surveillance techniques to spy on U.S citizens.

No one in Congress has received a citation for having trespassed on U.S. taxpayers by allocating billions upon billions of dollars, many of them squandered illegally, for a war that threatens the very soul of our nation...

I want to apologize for any trouble, inconvenience or anxiety I may have caused the staff at Representative Capito’s office.


My fervent hope is that everyone involved in this situation will come to understand that my actions were motivated by conscience, a sense of duty to my God and to my country, and, last but not least, my concern for all peace-loving people who work and pray for an end to this war.

BISHOP'S STATEMENT OF SUPPORT: In addition, WV Episcopal bishop the Rt. Rev. W. Michie Klusmeyer issued the following statement of support:

This communication comes to attest that the Rev. Jim Lewis is an Episcopal priest in good standing, resident in the Diocese of West Virginia. As such, he agreed at his ordination to “ proclaim by word and deed the Gospel of Jesus Christ”. It is our understanding in the Episcopal Church that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Gospel of peace.

In his action of “sitting in” at Shelley Moore Capito’s office on February 16, he was following the tenants of the Church that call for promoting peace and non-support of war. Father Lewis was speaking out specifically against the war in Iraq, consistent with the voice of the Episcopal Church against unjust war. The war in Iraq does not meet the “just War” criteria. Beginning with St. Augustine in the early 7th century, the church has supported the Just War criteria in evaluating acts of defense and aggression. Three basic conditions for a just war were established at that time, and elaborated upon over the centuries. The three basic conditions for a just war include: authorized authority, just cause, and rightful intention. Although President Bush is clearly our authorized authority in the US according to just war conditions, “just cause” and “rightful intentions” have not been adhered to in this war.

In his endeavor to serve as a prophetic voice, father Lewis has repeatedly attempted to speak with our elected leadership to vote the “will of the people” rather than the will of the Party. When that failed, due to an unwillingness to listen to the electorate, Father Lewis proceeded to remain in Congresswoman Moore Capito’s office until such time as he spoke with her, or was removed.

As Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia, I strongly support Father Lewis in his message, and in his actions.

Rock on, Episcopalians! Did El Cabrero mention he was one too?

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL...The U.S. House of Representatives is likely to vote on the Employee Free Choice Act today. This bill would restore the right of workers to form unions. Specifically, it would allow workers to organize when a majority sign a card authorizing union representation, increase penalties for companies that illegally fire or harass workers for trying to organize and would provide mediation and arbitration for first contracts. It would be an important step towards restoring the middle class and putting the country on the road to shared prosperity.

If you haven't contacted your congressperson yet, now would be the time. Here's some information.

Coincidentally or maybe not, Congresswoman Capito is the only member of WV's delegation who has not come out in support of EFCA.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: INSURMOUNTABLE