In Class Warfare, David Bacon writes that conservatives are trying to do away with public university labor studies programs, claiming that public money is being spent on private interests; he quotes conservative writer Steven Malanga: "The fat public funding for projects of questionable academic value is unlikely to survive in the new Schwarzenegger era--along with the fat public funding for unneeded layers of unionized government employees." Hey, man, what's he got against fat people? That kind of thing may go over in skinny, blonde California, but not in fat Michigan.

I also found these quotes to be interesting:

"The controversy raises a fundamental question about labor rights--should joining a union be protected and encouraged by law and public policy, or are unions just a narrow private interest?"

"There's another, unspoken assumption as well. Every economic policy adopted by Congress, and by every state, assumes that the proper purpose of economic activity is the creation of private profit. In the current political climate, profit-making is even equated with democracy. Business schools treat increasing productivity--that is, the rapid and efficient accumulation of profit--not only as economically necessary but as a patriotic duty. . . . But when a labor program assumes that workers should strive to raise wages and improve conditions, it's considered selfish--against the public interest"

It is times like these that I wish I were capable of believing in God. I know, I'll use their religion to show them the error of their ways. Those who oppress the needy insult their maker (this link is a transcript of Bill Moyers interviewing Joseph C. Hough, President of Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Social Ethics). "The meek shall inherit the earth," man. "God has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, deliverance to the captives, freedom to the oppressed, and the year of Jubilee." "It's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven." Do you hear the Franciscans, Dominicans and Benedictines putting their boxing gloves back on (a fistfight in the name of Jesus about whether true Christians should live humble lives with minimal possessions or be rich, fat bastards--yes! This is the kind of laughable hypocrisy that makes the bitter irony of life bearable)? Speaking of which, I should probably point out the possibility that the Christian notion of heaven may well have started out as a way for rich people to get poor people to feel okay about being poor (see the Monty Python's Holy Grail scene where Arthur debates political science with a peasant)--there is always heaven where all are equal and rewarded, so don't worry about us rich people and our money. It may well continue in that vein today. Forget what I said about wishing to be capable of believing in God--shenanigans. Now I understand all of that Bush born-again crap: "The spirit of God is upon me because God has anointed me to preach good news to the poor." Thanks a lot, Bush/Jesus, but how about a minimum wage increase? Too often politicians invoke the name of Jesus merely to use it as a holy glittering generality, instead of discussing the positive human characteristics that Jesus represents--for example that he wasn't greedy and rich, and he helped the poor.