Short Takes: Your TNH Open Thread

Let's see . . . what's fun today?

Well, Grover Norquist calling John McCain "the nutjob from Arizona" -- and then apologizing, saying "I meant to say gun-grabbing, tax-increasing Bolshevik" -- is pretty funny.  Say what you will about Norquist (I'd say that he's in the running for the title of "single most reprehensible person in American public life"), but he's always good for a quote.  But he's not really a comic figure -- he's massively influential.  And statements like this illustrate why McCain has a steep hill to climb if he wants the poisoned chalice of a GOP nomination in '08.

The Carpenters Union has joined the "Change to Win" faction of labor unions displeased with the current AFL-CIO leadership.  Like its companions in the dissident group, the Carpenters claim that they're somehow more committed to organizing than other unions, calling the Change to Win group "the most dynamic unions in the country."  But as an astute commenter on the Tasini post linked above notes, most of CTW unions -- including the Carpenters -- have lost members over the past 4 years.  "The [UFCW] lost 42,000, the hotel workers 7,402, UNITE 23,400, and the Teamsters 74,000. These aren’t disastrous losses, but neither do they recommend any of the unions involved as organizing geniuses. Even the Carpenters union, which condemned the AFL-CIO for lack of organizing before abandoning the federation four years ago, lost 10,752 members."    The Laborers, another CTW union, are down roughly 125,000 members since 2000, according to LM-2 forms on record with the DoL.  By contrast -- of the Carpenters' and Laborers' siblings in the "basic trades" who are not part of the CTW: the Ironworkers have lost 3,000 members in the past 4 years and the Roofers have lost 500, while the OPCMIA and the Bricklayers have grown by small numbers, and the Painters have gained 26,000 members.

TNH needs a better name for this feature than "Short Takes."  "Short Takes" is as generic an open thread title as "Open Thread."  Your suggestions, and your other thoughts, below.

Comments

[DemFromCT]

I coined the name Short Takes because I was the first to put one up... and couldn't think of what to call it. Please, please think of something else.

[DemFromCT]

Oh, and I couldn't spell potpourri or jambalaya.

[Meteor Blades]

Given recent commentary, maybe the open threads should be called Short Takedowns.

[DHinMI]

Trapper, don't you understand? The "dissident" unions are better organizers than the rest of the labor movement because...um...well, you know...uh...wait, it'll come to me...

[DHinMI]

I thought this was a good point in Slate's Today's Papers, which I think often makes good points, especially about reporting polls and about comparisons that should have been made in a story but weren't. In this case, it's about both:

The Post fronts a poll showing Americans feeling a bit conflicted, or perhaps just realistic, about Iraq: 62 percent think the U.S. is "bogged down," but 58 percent think the U.S. should stick around. What the Post doesn't do is put the numbers is historical context. For instance, that "stick around" percentage has held steady for the last year. It might be helpful to give readers a sense of such older numbers—unless, of course, in an attempt to create a stir with your in-house poll, you'd prefer to give the impression of big new trends.

Now, if we could only get everyone to link to their polls instead of just reporting what they think they said--because, like most diagnostic tools, the meaning of the results have to be interpreted, and the journos who write about the polls often aren't good diagnosticians--and to provide cross-tabs for how each demographic answered each question. I don't necessarily think much of their polls, but I give big credit to Survey USA for linking to their crosstabs, and they're the only pollster or media outlet that regularly does.

[DHinMI]

Oh, on Norquist: nice to see Rove's best buddy trying to keep alive the "McCain went crazy in the Hanoi Hilton and is the Manchurian Candidate" story.

[Trapper John]

Grover is really putting all his chips on McCain losing -- he's pretty fucked if McCain becomes President. How does it feel when you're a Republican lobbyist/power broker and the White House hates your guts?

[emptywheel]

I like the food theme (even though it has NOTHING to do with our blog). How about "Today's Pot Roast"? "Tossed Greens"? "Seven Layer Dip"?

[DemFromCT]

The waPO usually does link to crosstabs... historical, region, age... but it often takes them several days to put it up.

[DemFromCT]

trapper, you're right but Grover wins that bet.

[RonK, Seattle]

emptywheel -- Maybe something about Pie?

On labor organizing versus politicking, it stands to reason that units with the strongest gut sense of slippage would be strongly motivated to direct resources to organizing. That doesn't mean it's the right answer.

Unfortunately, the scoreboard doesn't tell you the best allocation of resource, or the best evolutionary strategy in a changing climate.

[TenThousandThings]

How about "The Water Cooler: a TNH open thread" or "By the water cooler: a TNH open thread" ...

Not terribly creative, but maybe neutral enough to appear daily without it getting old?

"Cool Water: a TNH open thread" is a little more creative.

"TNH Grill: an open thread" [Maybe too close to TPM Cafe?]

"TNH Gumbo: an open thread" ...

Easy to spell!

[Trapper John]

Some time ago, I proposed "Curley Cues." You see, when DH and I were brainstorming about what this blog would look like, we kept coming back to our mutual admiration of (the better aspects of) the big city Dem machines of the early 20th Century. Sure, there are a lot of reasons to malign the machines, but the best of them succeeded at what wrre, and what ought to be, the two top goals of the Democratic Party: they won elections and they improved the lives of working people. Hence, our admiration of the machines, and hence, "The Next Hurrah" -- a forward-thinking tribute to Boston mayor James Curley, the man on whom "The Last Hurrah" was loosely based.

But "Curley Cues" was ignored by the rest of the TNH team. Alas.

[jonnybutter]

'Hurrahperitif'?

[donna]

I would assume most of that loss in all those occupations is due to hiring cheap Mexican labor, either legally or illegally....

[Mimikatz]

Especially the carpenters and laborers. Are the unions not losing, like Ironworkers, more skilled, and thus need union help to get work?

How about Quick Bites? It gets both aspects of the recent contributions.

[Gary Boatwright]

We shouldn't overlook the legal obstacles to organizing when we crticize unions. What has the Democratic party done in the last ten or twenty years to help unions? Maybe I missed something during the Clinton adminstration. Did Bill send any union legislation to the hill? How about Carter?

I'm not sure if blacks or unions have been more taken for granted by the Democratic party.

[4jkb4ia]

"Around the Horn" is a title of an ESPN show, alas. Something might be done with "Pardon the Interruption"--"Noticing the Interruption"?

[Trapper John]

Mimikatz: there may be something to the skill/membership correlation. That said, the Ironworkers -- who are generally, though not always, more skilled than today's Carpenters (rodbusters, for example, aren't more skilled than cabinetmakers) -- actually lost members during the last few years, as did some of the specialty trades.

[Gary Boatwright]

Another opportunity for Democrats to ignore unions over at MyDd, CAFTA Advances While We Weren't Looking.

Bushco kept a report on labor violations secret for a year because the facts were biased against CAFTA.

[Frankeynstain]

mature vs young hard mature women vieille salope mature amatrice mature fuck young young boy and mature mature vieille mature salope mature young first time mature and young boy < mature old fuck mature woman fucking girl hot mature men mature woman asshole mature pics free grosses.femmesmuresx.com grosse femme mature hairy bush mature mature hot movies film mature fuck dogs mature black busty photo penetration femme mature hot nasty mature galerie nylon mature brune mature nu hot wife mature blowjob woman mature mature free galerie rencontre femme mure femme mure amatrice cochon photo de femme mure hard cum her face mature photo x femme mure femme mure pour jeune homme 19ans mature mom cum photo gratuite fellation femme mure age mure nu gratuite x femme mure femme mure tres poilue photo femme mure amateur exhib rencontre coquin femme mure > femme mure et nu gratuit mure femme mure avec jeune mec recette and confiture and and mure photo x femme mure et ronde photo de femme mure xxx femme mure nu photo photo gratuite vieille mature nu mature busty babe gallery nymphomane mature amatrice lady mature mature drunk suck vieille saint girons photo vieille salope gratuit mature collant nylon galerie gratuite mature mature and granny mature lady posing femme amatrice mature vieille salope .com pipe hard concert hard rock berlin hard rock cafe black orchid rock nantes hard audrey tautou film hard archive journal hard pps hard ecoute musique hard rock couple hard roman photo hard film and x and hard photo hard de brigitte lahaie music hard core teen hard preview hard top nissan navara hard and top rencontre hard gratuite pps hard gratuit hard anal fucking photo gratuite femme hard peugeot dangel 505 hard top dvd x hard discount sodomie hard amateur pps humour hard liste hard discount essonne mature riding hard hard tv net hard xxx gratuit