Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant Hapus!

Dydd Gwŷl Dewi Sant Hapus! (Happy St David's Day) make sure you're wearing your daffs and leeks!

Picture hat - tip to Mrs B

Bill Wakefield

I've just heard the news that Bill Wakefield, a former Tower Hamlets NUPE branch secretary and  Councillor passed away last night after a long illness.

Bill (seen in picture standing with white shirt addressing a housing strike committee meeting in 1999) was  employed originally as a Gardener by the Council.  He was also a fiery resident rep, staunch Royalist and upon his retirement, a vocal pensioner activist.

His passion and commitment to the interests of ordinary working people in East London will be missed.
(double click picture to bring up detail) 

Excuse Me Dr. Barro, Your Ideology Is Showing

Economist Robert Barro has published this anti-union Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal today. Pretty predictably, he wants to blame the fiscal crisis in the states on unions. Is there actual empirical evidence that, as Barro puts it, " the structure of strong public-employee unions . . . helped to create the unsustainable fiscal situation."* It would be nice to see it. The reason why Barro presents none is that, as far as I know, there is none to present. Even an economist should be able to do better than that.

Barro does present some evidence that right-to-work laws promote economic development. There is no real surprise that right to work states attract more robust corporate activity than more union friendly states. Of course they do. Corporate investment go where they don't face any countervailing power. And what about relative wages and benefits in those states? I don't know the empirics in any detail, but I am wagering that there are pretty impressive distributive consequences of disallowing unions. (Have a look at this report from CNN for some initial warrant on that score.) Surely Dr. Barro wouldn't want to discount the massive inequalities that untrammeled corporate power (and markets are meant to be power free zones, no?) generate!

As a theoretical matter Barro presses the claim that "collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty." Of course that requires that we ignore the power asymmetries that exist in virtually any labor negotiation between an employer and individual employees. The historical corollary of this theoretical complaint is that Barro seems to want us to head directly back to the late 19th Century, to a time when the state imposed atomization on the labor market and thereby enhanced the power of employers. In other words, Barro doesn't like the way democratic politics has reshaped labor markets by sanctioning collective bargaining. After all, the Wagner Act (1935) cleared Congress and was signed by Roosevelt.

In this essay Barro displays a problem to which economists are quite susceptible: they too readily allow their ideology - usually some facile version of libertarianism - to impede their analysis. We know in general terms what markets (there is no such thing as "the market" except in the world of right leaning ideology) require to work effectively. We know too that allowing collective action can offset biases that prevent effective functioning of markets in atomized settings. There are lots and lots of efficient market outcomes. There is no reason why we ought to opt for the most asymmetrical and unequal of those on offer. At least nothing Barro says here suggests that we should.
__________
* Since he is preoccupied with Wisconsin, is there any evidence that the public employee pension system is in trouble there? Barro implies that it is, but offers not a shred of evidence.

Our pensions under attack: organise now!

The latest leaflets from UNISON on pensions.  Double click to bring up details.

Scoot Walker On Meet The Press

Gov. Scott Walker was on Meet The Press this morning for a really good discussion about his position in Wisconsin and it is well worth watching.:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

West Ham MP Lyn Brown (with badly broken elbow)

Picture is of Lyn Brown our West Ham Labour MP  who suffered a very bad fall on the steps of the House of Commons early this month.  She has broken her elbow in several places and has been warned that she may never recover the full use of her left arm.

Check out Lyn's column in the Newham Recorder here.

As Lyn herself admits it could have been a lot worse.  I am sure that she enjoyed the supportive text I sent her as West Ham CLP agent saying she should take more care of herself in the future and not rush about.  As Agent I am far too busy at the moment for a by-election!

 :)

It was a shame that some local Newham Tories posted a typically sneering, misogynist and unpleasant post on their blog.  But there you go - same old Tories, same old Nasty Party.

(Hat tip Picture - Newham Recorder)

Pictures of Picture Takers

During the summer of 2010 I had three sets of summer visitors back to back. Unfortunately the weather was far from ideal during much of that time. Below are pictures of some of the things we did.

My friend Jeff came up first and was here in Alaska for Summer Solstice, the best day of the year. The weather was pretty bad most of the time Jeff was here (I think it was the first time ever that it rained here on the solstice), but that was ok, because he used to live here, so he wasn't seeing things for the first time, and we were inebriated most of the time anyway.

 I took Jeff up to Black Lake. A pretty nice hike for a 12 minute drive from home.

From there we headed down to Williwaw Lakes, and took the looonnggg way around the front of O'Malley back to Glen Alps. That trail, by the way, is a stunning example of poor trail design.

 After a lucky break of fantastic weather in Seward, i took Jeff to Exit Glacier, on the edge of Kenai Fjords National Park. In this picture all the forest in the foreground is brand new, advancing towards us as the glacier retreats behind us.

The short excursion to Exit Glacier offered me a very fun new thing to try out. I've been to Exit several times, it's one of the only things most people get to see in the park, and it's a very easy, paved walk up to the glacier. Along the way is a spur trail, that takes you along a very strenuous hike up to the ice fields. You can read my post on the Harding Ice Fields for more information.

At Exit glacier are a million signs warning you not to go any farther. These signs are around for good reason. On the other hand, it always irritates me because Exit Glacier has divided, at the bottom, into two toes. Each toe currently occupies a rough rocky ravine. This has only developed in the last 10 years, as far as i know, you  used to be able to walk up to the toe at ground level, on the gravel benches by the river.

I noticed that at this time most of the river is coming from the far toe, invisible from the official trail. So i decided we should go and see what was over there. I wondered if there would be an ice cave. Through a bit of work we found a way to clamber over the bottom of the glacier and it's cliffs, and do a bit of tricky hopping around to avoid stepping in any water. What we found was worth the effort.

Here you can see the deep narrow gorge and the glacier high above in the distance. This gorge was present even when it and everything else in the picture was under ice, as recently as a decade ago.

The river we walked along emerged violently and suddenly from a roaring gorge. There was no way to enter the gorge, so we had to backtrack and climb up the backside of the cliffs. That in itself was a little sketchy, and as Jeff pointed out quite accurately, it was similar to caving, but without a roof over our heads.  From our perch on the cliff we could see up the gorge to the glacier, still a ways off. We tried to push on but the terrain was too dangerous and seemed to get worse as we went on. I was satisfied.

Lying on my belly, i was able to edge over the side of the sloping cliff for this wide angle straight down view of a violent waterfall in the gorge. It was very loud here.

Jimmy at Portage Glacier.

The day after Jeff left Jimmy arrived. Jimmy was only here for 4 days, so we were pretty busy trying to make the best of it. Except for the first day, Jimmy ended up being pretty lucky with the weather. I was able to get us out away from the clouds into nice areas.

 I have a book showing everthing from here to those cliffs on the right, all under about 200 feet of ice in the 1980's.

 A beautiful day above Whittier. One of those times when it was cloudy in Anchorage all day.
 

 Jimmy at the Matanuska Glacier. His first time on a glacier, first time in crampons, first time with an ice axe.

Some really cool seracs. At least this post has pictures with people for scale.

Every time i go toe the Matanuska Glacier it looks totally different. The last time i visited i was sure the lake at the glacier was almost gone. This time it was bigger than i've ever seen it.

 

 This was as far as we got before we had to turn around due to time limits. Jimmy did not want to turn back.

After Jimmy left my sister, who has never visited me, and her boyfriend Danielle (whom i had never met) came up at the beginning of August. Danielle is an Italian working and going to school in the United States. Neither of them had been anywhere close to Alaska. I can't even remember how long they were here, and i think they got the worst of the weather. Still, we were able to do things and had some good sun now and then.

Mary Beth and Danielle at Gold Cord Lake.

 Fisher came along, got wet, and started shedding in the heat, the room temperature heat.

Fisher got so hot he had to seek solace in the inadequate shade of fireweed.

 Fisher on the way back to the mine. Looks like Fisher is hijacking this blog, so i'm calling it quits for now.

Greater London Labour Link Elections 2011

AGM's may be largely over for the year but Labour Movement Elections continue.  The evil one(s) didn't  put forward a slate for this year's London Labour Link elections which is quite interesting and I think another sign of their increasing marginalisation.  But there is some opposition so it is still important for the forces of light and reason to support this slate. 

BODMER Joel, DAVY Mike, GRAY John

Standing for: National Labour Link Forum (Male seats) - Blue Ballot paper

BENTLY Lynn, COULING Louise, HANSON Gloria, SILVER Kim, VOLLER Rae

Standing for: National Labour Link Forum (Female seats) - Purple Ballot paper

We are all seeking election to represent the views of APF payers in the London Region at the National Labour Link Forum.

We support the link we have with the Labour Party, Labour in Government has delivered real improvements for our members, but, now we are in opposition we need to make sure that we influence the internal review and national rethink of policies that the Party is carrying out over the next 2 years.

To defeat this ConDem Tory Government in 2015 (or preferably long beforehand) we need to appeal to our core Labour vote.  We therefore need to champion trade union issues and move our members concerns up the Party political agenda, using our influence to promote a manifesto that includes;

• Reinvestment in public services
• Defending pay and public sector pensions
• Access to housing for public sector employees
• A fairer taxation system
• Government policies that promote growth and jobs.

You want delegates who will be listened to and not be afraid to argue for change within the Labour Party but who also realise that the only alternative to making the Party electable is another dose of Clegg and Cameron.

It is vital that we ensure that Labour Link becomes more visible within the union.  We need to encourage APF members to join local Labour Constituency Parties and be elected to positions of responsibility in order to further the progressive agenda.

Next year in London the Labour Party candidate Ken Livingstone will be standing to be London Mayor.  We must unite around Ken and work to bring down this ConDem Tory Mayor.

ps Support Gloria Hanson as Delegate to 2011 Labour Party Conference as well!

Follow-Up on "Today, we are all Joan Miró" - On Art & Politics

Joan Miró. Plate 4 from the Black and Red Series, 1938.
Image © 1998 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.

A couple of days ago I posted some thoughts on this column at The Guardian by Jonathan Jones. In the piece Jones castigates "us" as being like Joan Miró who responded to the Spanish Civil War from afar rather than like George Orwell who went off to fight with the Republicans. Here are some more questions. Does art have to be activist to be political? The two are not the same, after all. Is "activist" even the best strategy? What would Jones make of the long series of paintings Robert Motherwell made over the course of decades, all entitled "Elegies for the Spanish Republic"?

Robert Motherwell. Elegy for the Spanish Republic, #126 (1965-75).

Or what about another visual cut at fascism - Leon Golub's series of canvases on torture and interrogation? Are we even in a position to know - even post- Abu Ghraib - about, let alone intervene in, such practices? At least one can ask if we know enough detail to intervene in practices like those Golub depicts that we generally suspect are occurring.

Leon Golub. Interrogation II, (1980-81).

More to the point, should we be criticizing artists like Golub, Motherwell, and Miró - holding them up for thinly disguised scorn - because they are not Orwell? After all, they "just" or "only" used their art to depict horrors and consequences. They didn't take up arms. And so ...?

And, of course, in an era where one's adversaries are likely enough to be mercenaries (ex-military paid, say, by Blackwater or its corporate offspring) or child soldiers (who are basically trained sociopaths) would taking up arms be anything other than more or less certain and largely pointless suicide? Jones would surely flinch at shooting down a twelve year old, even if the child were armed. And in that instant the boy would have shot Jones - to say nothing of you or I - for his trouble. The mercenary would've killed Jones before he had time to flinch. Nothing personal in this. But what is it that Jones expects of art?

Politics does not generally involve violence. And it cannot require intervention or action across time or space or absent some coordinated movement. Nor can it demand that essentially individual level activity like painting generate immediate, unambiguous action. That is the remit of the propagandist. The works I have lifted for this post are attempts to raise questions, provoke reflection, give voice to emotions and to do those things in response to violence and terror. It seems to me that we are in Miró's debt - and in Golub's and Motherwell's too. And it seems to me that Jones misses the point.

Ana Rujas

Es actriz española conocida por su papel de Vicky en HKM o de Africa en 90-60-90, diario secreto de una adolescente.

Aquí en unas fotos super sensuales para FHM.

Casey Maintains A Commanding Lead In Pennsylvania

According to a new poll (.PDF) Democratic Senator Bob Casey holds a commanding lead against all would be 2012 challengers:

Bob Casey Jr. (D-inc): 50
Rick Santorum (R): 38
Undecided: 12

Bob Casey Jr. (D-inc): 51
Charlie Dent (R): 32
Undecided: 17

Bob Casey Jr. (D-inc): 48
Jim Gerlach (R): 34
Undecided: 17
(MoE: ±3.8%)

H/T - SwingStateProject

Levellers Day: Saturday 14 May 20111

"La révolution dévore ses enfants".  History? Look today at Libya.  This whole subject is as topical now as 350 years ago.

"On 17 May 1649, three soldiers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire. They belonged to a movement popularly known as the Levellers, with beliefs in civil rights and religious tolerance.

During the Civil War, they fought on Parliament’s side, had at first seen Cromwell as a liberator, but now saw him as a dictator. They were prepared to fight against him for their ideals and he was determined to crush them.

Over 300 of them were captured by Cromwell’s troops and locked up in Burford church. Three were led out into the churchyard to be shot as ringleaders, these three soldiers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire.

In 1975, members of the WEA Oxford Industrial Branch went to Burford to reclaim a piece of history that seemed to be missing from the school books. They held a meeting in remembrance of the Leveller soldiers. The following year, Tony Benn came and read in the church and in each succeeding year, people have come to Burford on the Saturday nearest to 17 May, debated, held a procession, listened to music and remembered the Levellers and the importance of holding on to ideals of justice and democracy

Levellers Day is one of a family of events that celebrate and commemorate important dates in the history of the development of democracy in the United Kingdom. Together they create a focus for working people, socialists and the trade union and labour movement to come together and gain inspiration to carry forward their struggles into the future.

Durham Miners’ Gala 9 July, 20119 July, 2011

The Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival 15-17 July, 201115-17 July, 2011

Burston Strike School Rally 4 September, 20114 September, 2011

Women Chainmakers’ Festival –Black Country Living Museum 14-16 September, 201114-16 September, 2011"

Obama's Chickens

Cartoon of the Week: An Apology Too Far

Statistics

Statistics are unrelenting. Today the probabilities, small as they are, caught up with Susan and I and our hopes for the future. . . .

Asa Anthony Orr Johnson (13 November 2010 - 25 February 2011).

Update/clarification (27 February): In my sadness I fear I have mis-communicated. Asa was conceived last November (via IVF) and miscarried last week. Neither Susan nor I put much stock in the notion of an "unborn baby"; at just 17 weeks Asa was a promise as much as anything. But we had given Asa his name and our plans for the future had begun to orbit around the possibilities he held out. I am sorry to have mislead if I did; it was not my intent.

40 HDR Photos Of Airports In Asia

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HDR, also known as High Dynamic Range, is a set of techniques that when applied carefully, magically transforms your photographs into really stunning ones. It has been widely used by photographers to record a greater range of tonal detail than a single aperture and shutter speed. HDR photographs are generally achieved by capturing multiple photographs (taking one photograph for the sky and one for the ground), merging them together in Photoshop, and then modifying it with an image processing software such as Photomatix.

Though it is frequently use to create dramatic images of landscapes and scenery, photographers have also creatively applied HDR onto photographs taken in the interior of buildings to capture the magnificent architecture. This post is a quintessential example. Below are 40 Exceptionally Beautiful HDR Photos Of Airports In Asia. Yes, the following photos may look like artist illustrations, but in fact all of them are developed out of usual photos. Enjoy!

Changi International Airport – Singapore

(Source: Lipjin)

(Source: Studioku)

(Source: Life in AsiaNZ)

(Source: GeeBee)

(Source: GeeBee)

Kuala Lumpur International Airport – Malaysia

(Source: Trey Ratcliff)

(Source: Trey Ratcliff)

(Source: Grant Cameron)

(Source: Christopher Chan)

Suvarnabhumi Airport – Thailand

(Source: Surrealize)

(Source: Trey Ratcliff)

(Source: DanielKHC)

(Source: Grant Cameron)

Dubai International Airport – U.A.E

(Source: Shenghung Lin)

(Source: azrEYEn)

(Source: Shoeven)

(Source: Neimon)

Incheon International Airport – South Korea

(Source: Bongo Mike)

(Source: R.K. M)

(Source: Selwyn Yeo)

(Source: R.K. M)

Taoyuan International Airport – Taiwan

(Source: Kent)

(Source: Gilles Marcil)

(Source: Joseph Brent Lardizabal)

(Source: Thomas)

Beijing Capital International Airport – China

(Source: Christopher Chan)

(Source: Alebi)

(Source: Christopher Chan)

(Source: Jerome Yau)

Shanghai Pudong International Airport – China

(Source: Sandra)

(Source: Sirintira)

(Source: Rex M Photography)

(Source: Ben Lee)

Hong Kong International Airport – Hong Kong

(Source: Anne Roberts)

(Source: Kah Wai Lin)

(Source: Christopher Chan)

Tokyo Haneda Airport – Japan

(Source: Takau99)

(Source: Altus)

(Source: Cafecico)

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