postgraduationhaze

The" Labour " Entry
Date: 3.5.04
Climate: At one time, early this morning, I took a run in 60 degree weather. Then I took a shower and it had rained and turned to 40 and cold and wind advisory. It was indeed the epitome of a blustery day...
Eating: cheese and water crackers, mmm.
Drinking: water
Feeling: expectant (not in the pregnant sense)
Listening to: tom petty in the background
Watching: nothing
Reading: Trib...outraged by Oberweis once more.

I am going to write a piece for the Trib in the Voice of the people. Jim Oberweis enrages me to a dangerous degree....no one ever realizes that the jobs available to the "70,000 illegal immigrants, weekly --enough to fill up soldier field" are taking the jobs that "typical" American's won't due to the fact that they are well below living wage standards (I know, odd to see the words living-wage together)--and that the only jobs taht do pay a living wage or higher are being outsourced to like India...(i.e. my boyfriend's dad's corp....he just got back from a trip to India...where HOusehold will expand to take over the world even moreso...).
I just also want tonote that that "costs driven up for healthcare by these illegal immigrants" is a dychotomy in and of itself. Who the fuck can afford health care with a below living wage job? Shit, even I can't afford it and I have two full time jobs.

It could be that I am working so much with the labor movement that propoganda (I don't care what University he got this from, regardless of whether it was commissioned by the INS) like this really angers me, but the lack of critical thinking that the vast majority of voters do not deploy on election day is what could give this guy a vote...I am not saying enough to win, since my man is ahead in the polls--and MJ just cut him a 10,000 check---even though the limit is 12000--why not just give the limit?--but even one vote means the infection that is Oberweis has spread much too far.

Posted by * at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

The" Weary " Entry
Date: 3.3.4
Climate: feels like...fall. again.
Eating: tofu and cous cous
Drinking: water
Feeling: infected
Listening to: NPR
Watching: the OC--Anna left. I actually cried.
Reading: Sellevision (trying to is more like it).
Yeah, I think its fairly pathetic that I cried watching the OC tonight. Anna left. I can't believe it! The only character I identified with (and as its so tragic that a character on a teen drama is no longer someone I can look to for guidance or something).

Thats all for now. Still feeling bladder infected. Oh, and met a guy today that told me that he "done been in jail...shit, I ain't working with day care anymore"
I can't really describe what I felt at that moment. It was odd...

Posted by * at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments

my boyfriend's latest boredom --

http://pulse.halted.net

i love seeing what individuals do with their spare time.

Posted by * at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

Looks like no one can win.

Unwilling Advocates


Bruce F. Freed writes a column on business and politics and does commentary for Public Radio International’s Marketplace.

"Are some of America's biggest investors being burned in the political arena by the very companies they're investing in? The answer appears to be yes, if they're the public employees, teachers and union members who own a hefty chunk of Corporate America through their pension funds.

America's investor class is 100 million strong. This is 70 percent of the electorate. Yet one-third of the investor class—34 million union members, teachers and public employees who invest through pension funds—often own shares in companies that back political groups and candidates that work against their interests.

Indeed, public employee and teacher pension plans own from 3 percent to 4.5 percent of the stock of Fortune 500 companies. That's a sizeable holding in companies with several hundred million to a billion plus shares outstanding. These firms include Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company; natural gas provider El Paso Corp.; SBC Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom firm; transportation giant Union Pacific; retailer Sears Roebuck; and BellSouth, a former Baby Bell.

In 2001-2002, these companies collectively gave more than $7 million in soft money to party and political committees. Because companies aren't required to report donations, many shareholders are in the dark about how their money is being used politically. This creates the real potential for shareholder combustion as they learn about the ultimate destination of corporate political gifts.

A review of these companies' contributions in 2001-02 shows why. The six companies listed above gave to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's (R-Texas) Americans for a Republican Majority, Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles' (R-Okla.) Republican Majority Fund, and Sen. Sam Brownback's (R-Kan.) Restore America PAC. The combined amounts were $270,000 from SBC; $111,000 from El Paso; $80,000 from Union Pacific; $75,000 from Sears; $65,000 from BellSouth and $50,000 from Eli Lilly, according to disclosure statements filed by recipient groups with the Internal Revenue Service.

Those political committees served as conduits for contributions to seven groups. The organizations were Texans for a Republican Majority, which helped bankroll the ultra-conservative takeover of the Texas House of Representatives; the Traditional Values Coalition, one of the major church lobbies and a key backer of conservative judicial nominations; Coalition for America's Families, a prominent pro-education voucher group; and Americans for Tax Reform, conservative Grover Norquist's anti-tax and anti-government platform. Others recipients were Club for Growth, which contributes to anti-tax and anti-government candidates; the Christian Coalition's Kansas affiliate, the pro-family, conservative Christian organization; and a group leading the push for a right-to-work statute in Oklahoma. In most cases, the positions espoused by these groups and the candidates they backed were hostile to the interests of some of the companies' major shareholders.

The Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act aggravates the problem. By prohibiting soft money contributions to political parties, the law makes more corporate money available for political committees. Historically, business gives to the center and the right. As recent history shows, some of the committees on the right are strongly ideological and fund extremist groups and candidates.

University of Delaware corporate governance expert Charles Elson said corporate political donations for ill-defined purposes raise troubling questions.

"Can [companies] use shareholder funds to promote particular causes," he asked. "If the cause is in the company's best interest, and the ultimate objective of the shareholder is to make money from their investment, then it can be justified." However, Elson added, "The further away you get from direct corporate benefits, when is the corporation supporting causes that not all the shareholders may agree with?"

This was also an issue with corporate charitable contributions, he said. "That's why the further away you get from the corporate purpose, the more problematic from a governance standpoint these things become."

At many companies, there is a notable absence of transparency and accountability in their political giving. It is clear these companies have done little to publicly state the business rationale for their political contributions. Their behavior suggests that they feel there's little risk they will be publicly associated with the Christian Right, or anti-public education or anti-union groups and candidates.

Investor-owners need to know how companies are using their money. Companies, for their part, can avoid taking heat from angry investors by practicing transparency and accountability in their political giving. That's the only way shareholders can be assured that company political contribution decisions are in the firm's and the shareholders' best interest. It's good corporate governance. It's also good fireproofing. "




From Tompaine.com

Posted by * at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments

The" brisk " Entry
Date: 3.1.04--My parents have been married for 29 years
Climate: wonderful
Eating: soup
Drinking: water
Feeling: ...like I have to go to the bathroom. Again.
Listening to: Prefuse 73
Watching: nothing
Reading: emails...

I signed up for six shifts of volunteering at WBEZ. I figure I may as well use my early morning rise habits for good use when I am not scheduled to work at the taj mahal of health clubs. In case it isn't clear, I loathe that job, and I loathe the hours even more so. I especially loathe the fact that one of my managers is--get this--fucking Kill Hannah's lawyers wife. Who I have seen before. Who married that fucking tool that shut my UR story down for no good fucking reason. Oooh, I just steam when he calls "Hey, Cherie, Its KEVIN, is Raquel there?"
Yeah, I know its you. And you know i know. you fucking bastard.
The entertainment industry can kiss my ass.
Meanwhile, I have developed this burnt out feeling from organizing just two months into it--not even. And to think that after next weekend, i'll know where I will be living...until NOVEMBER...I pray not Ohio but I have heard that the Illinois contingent is pushing for St. Louis. That would be nice. Especially since the only "friend" I had with this bloody job was just moved down there. Now, I have no one to talk to.
And so now I will stop bitching over my ceaselessly mundane lifestyle and discuss how fantastic my weekend was.

I know i've said it before but I am really head over heels in love. On saturday we walked the length and breadth of downtown--and we stood on sunlit street corners with traffic roaring by, kissing, just like in the movies. Sighs all around.
This move in April is really going to kill me.

Tomorrow is four am wakeup. I'm going to turn in.

Posted by * at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments