You can see the tumbleweeds rolling through the Raptor Space these days as the doldrums of summer saturate our lives with a heavy blanket of last-chance summer trips or regret for not eating that extra slice of pie at the state fair. But not here on the WCR, comrades. I've been doing my part for capitalism by cold calling, or what I refer euphemistically to as "business development." My consumption of meat is sky rocketing along with my hyperactive exercise regimen of swimming and biking.

There are big events on tap for the next couple of weeks: three nights of Phish at Red Rocks; Ding's wedding in Estes Park; surgical excisement of a mole; one to two weeks in a walking boot; and a trip to Chicago. As you can guess, my fellow birds of prey, I will blog it out on all of those topics and might throw a picture or two up here for your claws. I'm sure you can't wait to see how cranky I am with a plastic boot affixed to my leg! Who knows, maybe I won't be cranky? Possibly I can apologize to Stevie for failing to call her the last time when I was in Chicago? Maybe my boss will meet me for dinner and give me a raise! I don't want to jinx myself, so I'll adopt a position of pessimism for all future endeavors.

My goal is to review a couple of books on here for the next few weeks. As usual, though, I won't rip them apart like a good raptor should and spend time with self-aggrandizing book reviews. Blogging is pretentious enough, so I won't waste too much time on indulgent reviews in a vain attempt at self-reference to works that, in no way, relate to me or my immediate life. In the meantime, you can enjoy these videos of Beck, MGMT, and a few other talented folks covering tracks off of the VU's album The Velvet Underground and Nico.

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "All Tomorrow's Parties" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: Velvet Underground & Nico "Run Run Run" from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Lewis Black on the GOP and the Spoooooooky Socialized Medicine

Kilcullen and Bacevich on Af-Pak Policy

Card Check is Gone. So What's Next?

Card Check is gone. Of course, EFCA never removed the uber American and democratic secret ballot. Now the question centers on what will replace card check and voting for unions. I think there's a place for the secret ballot. However, through a skillful propaganda and scare campaign, conservatives and business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, and a bevy of other anti-union organizations turned the secret ballot into something inviolable and under attack by insidious, freedom-stealing unions and their Democratic allies.

The truth is that companies routinely call on un-democratic methods to crush unions and organizing drives. Pro-union employees are fired, wages or hours are restructured, employees are forced to attend anti-union seminars at work, and a host of implicit and explicit threats are levied in the workplace. What did unions get? Organizers could not enter the work place, unions waited for two months (sometimes longer) until an election, and they were lucky if their representatives in a work place didn't face harassment or firing. Card check was created to remedy the harsh disparity in favor of management.

As Nathan Newman of TPM and others argue, Democrats should refashion the bill into one based on speedy elections and "cracking down on illegal corporate behavior during union elections." SEIU, AFL-CIO, and Democrats could launch a fusillade on how companies devise and initiate a host of unfair tactics and strip employees of their rights. If "democracy" doomed card check, it should be flipped on its head to reverse the attack as a cudgel against NAM, Chamber of Commerce, Wal Mart, Starbucks, etc. What solutions exist in the wake of card check? Strict standards for elections that occur within a few days, protections for pro-union workers from firing or disciplining, presence in the work place in the midst of an organizing drive, and the ability to share its message with workers in an equal footing with company seminars that attack unions.

It's not uncommon for people to contend that unions were useful when the US industrialized, but they have no place with our modern economy. The fact remains that unions are crushed or impeded by employers' tactics that ramped up in the 80s, and were met by an antagonistic or indifferent Department of Labor that had little interest in disputing the status quo after unions faced government and business assaults from the 1970s until today. Further, that line of argument hinders any discussion of what comprises today's working-class and opens the door for the continued blurring of the poor and working-class into an amorphous body that doesn't warrant representation in government, the work place, and domestic and foreign policy decisions.

Those Arabs and Their Shoes

Yesterday's NYT featured an article on pilgrimages in Iraq and the death of five Iraqis, which is considered a relative success. Juan Cole dubbed it a big win for Obama and his attempt to withdraw the bulk of American forces from Iraq in a peaceful fashion. The annoying part is the accompanying photo: a pile of shoes - the continuing obsession we have with Arab shoes. One could say that it represents a mass of people. On the other hand, one could easily comment that it reveals the dearth of understanding of the Arab world (or Muslims, for that matter), ritual purity, as well as a realiance on facile assumptions that sell well.


If American churches were depicted solely by the parking lots (be they filled or empty), people would howl about the misrepresentation. What's wrong with examining the abundance of cars and naked consumerism devoid of any context or links to the issues at hand?




In other news, the NYT also ran a brief story on Shabab's troubled finances and their turn to kidnapping in attempt to finance their resistance operations. The US dropped forty tons of weapons and ammunition into the Islamic Courts Union government's hands in June.

In Defense of Root Beer Floats and Simple, Unsophisticated Pleasures

I'm fond of sophisticated cooking, even though it's not something that I'm talented at executing close to professional or, frankly, novice levels. You can spare me a description of the proper employment of six types of sea salts, which has happened in the past. I don't know anyone who has the palette to distinguish between Hawaiian Black or India Tree Coarse sea salts, and I'd doubt the veracity of claims to the otherwise. Simple cooking without a front loaded list of spices and convoluted preparation techniques suits me, and can illustrate someone's technique without relying on frivolity to dazzle diners. That's not to say that I don't feel like Thai basil and plain, sweet basil offer the same flavors and don't have specific utilities, nor that pairing ingredients and a cheese can't change a dish. I simply find pretentious cooking to be a waste of time unless the cook can nail it without producing a good, yet not superior meal. To be honest, I think I have fallen victim to this silly pursuit a time or six, so I shouldn't be too preachy.

Nevertheless, I enjoy summer and the opportunity to savor a refreshing root beer float for dessert. Root beer floats are often a product that is relegated to people's childhoods, or the idea of a treat that is tailored for children. On the contrary, I find them playful and a touch light hearted and ideal for a hot summer's evening after grilling. We aren't swilling floats all summer long, don't get me wrong. I admit that a root beer float, unfortunately, isn't the healthiest option. However, they break up the monotony of ice cream and other standard summer desserts. If the idea of a root beer float invokes a feeling of comfortable nostalgia, why not give an oldy a second go around with all of your adult eating?

In the above photoed floats, you'll notice the absence of ice cream. Katers and I had a heavy meal and decided to go easy on the ice cream. I touched up the photo's contrast and hue to bring out the best in the floats' swirling browns and frothy head. (Notice the clever product placement. Who needs google generated ads?)

The CIA and the Super Spook Fantasy

Films condition how we interpret culture and society. Movies can open new doors to how we visualize foreign cultures, even though they have a tendency to portray them falsely as oriental or exotic. In American film and popular conception, the CIA and similar intelligence services often are depicted as omnipotent agencies staffed with brilliant and deadly spies who traverse cultures, languages, and geographies with little hesitation as they flip through their multiple passports, currencies, and dialects. The recent flap over secret CIA assassination teams points to another reality: the CIA couldn't manage the logistics and implementation. The CIA is powerful and can wield a tremendous influence abroad. Nevertheless, analysts and agents are people with normal limitations.