DdC

Former Labor Secretary with a Labor Day Message by Pete Guither

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich was in a discussion at Reddit. Jonathan Moormann reports:

As happens whenever a political debate is exposed to the internet for too long, the discussion eventually turned to pot. Reich commented that, if he could repeal one U.S. regulation, it would be to legalize marijuana. He also mentions that, while at Oxford with fellow grad student Bill Clinton, they “didn’t inhale together.” This isn’t that surprising, considering Reich has supported legalization before, but it’s pretty funny to imagine him and Slick Willy lighting up together.

This labor day, Americans all over will celebrate by drinking alcohol, but those who celebrate with cannabis may face punitive drug tests at their job.

Legalizing marijuana should be on the list of Labor Day accomplishments, along with the 40-hour work week, weekends, safe working conditions, and health insurance.



Thank You, Peoria Journal Star by Pete Guither

Just down the road from me, there’s been a contentious situation as teachers have been on strike. One of the strike issues has been over mandatory random suspicionless drug-testing for teachers.

The main newspaper in the area has come forward with a powerful editorial: At Illini Bluffs, A Principle Worthy Of The Picket Line

The teachers strike at Illini Bluffs is into its second week and eyeballing a third, and it has been fascinating, if also a bit depressing, to read the back-and-forth in the on-line comments to Journal Star stories.

Once upon a time this nation stood for something, affording its citizens an unprecedented set of civil liberties. Americans got used to those, so much so that they wouldn’t give them up without a fight. Apparently that spirit has vanished from certain segments of the population, if not from the ranks of these teachers. [...]

Ultimately, it’s about the kind of country you want to live in. The nation’s Founding Fathers got it. ( Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ) The teachers get it. The Illini Bluffs School Board doesn’t. ( No wonder its members have remained so silent. )

And unfortunately a fair number of citizens don’t get it either. They subscribe to the misperception that such random drug testing policies are common. ( If there is another Illinois public school district that does what Illini Bluffs is proposing, no one seems to be aware of it. ) Routine are the all-too-porous arguments that these teachers “are lucky to have a job” or “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.” ( Imagine the constitutional abuses that could be excused by those attitudes. ) One appreciates that this economy has cowed a lot of people, but this level of passive and compliant seems downright un-American. Who’d have thought sticking up for the Constitution would prove in the least bit unpopular?

Freedom. What a concept



Illini Bluffs Teachers Approve Contract
The district issued multiple press releases claiming the teachers' stance against random drug testing had a weak base, and the teachers pointed out no other teachers' contract in Illinois allowed random drug testing. The teachers called the demand from the district a power play intended to weaken or break the union and held a well-attended community rally as well, at which State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, spoke in support of the teachers.



Teacher Layoffs and War
Our government’s perverse definition of “national security” was on display again this summer. By large majorities, the U.S. Congress approved a so-called emergency appropriation of $33.5 billion to escalate the war in Afghanistan—adding to the more than $1 trillion that the United States has already spent waging wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Meanwhile, as schools faced the potential layoff of an estimated 300,000 teachers across the country, Congress dawdled until the second week in August, finally approving $10 billion to save the jobs of about half that number. The catch was that Congress “found” the money by cutting $12 billion in spending on food stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)—a measure that the Food Research and Action Center says will hurt 40 million people, almost half of them children, when the cuts take effect in 2014.



US Squandered £21 Billion on Private Contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq
Around 209,000 contractors were on the US payroll at one time - 60,000 more than the combined number of US troops now in the two countries. The coalition allies rely on hired staff for everything from feeding troops and cleaning latrines to guarding convoys, manning surveillance equipment and building schools and wells.



Drug testing of welfare applicants a GOP fishing expedition

Drug Testing Invades My Privacy
Yet Another Study Shows Student Drug Testing Doesn't Work
Teen drug use rates unaffected by testing, says Journal of Youth and Adolescence study.



Private Sector Job Growth Offset by Slashed Public Sector Jobs
Imagine for a moment if Boston, Denver, or Seattle — cities of roughly 600,000 residents — simply disappeared. Well, since the recession officially ended, about 600,000 public sector jobs previously held by 600,000 real people have disappeared from the economy — consistently offsetting some of the gains made in the private sector. Indeed, today’s stunner headline that ZERO jobs were created in August was the result of 17,000 new private sector jobs being offset by 17,000 more government jobs being axed.


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