Millions of women battling breast cancer have counted on the pink ribbon as a symbol of hope, solidarity and strength. Now even that has been taken away, thanks to right-wing leaders who think they have more rights to control our bodies than we do. I’ve been a conflicted supporter of Susan G. Komen for years…
Guest post from John Karebian. All workers deserve a say in their wages, benefits and working conditions. Without a strong voice in the workplace, nurses and other employees can be taken advantage of by corporations that care only about increasing their profits. One way that CEOs and their political supporters are trying to silence…
There is a problem with sexism in Lansing, but it goes far beyond the fact that too many legislators make sexist comments and create a Capitol culture that’s disrespectful toward women. This is the pattern we’ve seen since Republicans took control last year. The overwhelmingly male Legislature – even more male these days – is…
Guest post by John Karebian, Executive Director of the Michigan Nurses Association. Cross-posted at Fight for Main Street. “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as ‘right to work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the…
Guest post from John Karebian, Executive Director of Michigan Nurses Association. Cross-posted from Fight for Main Street. It’s impossible to know what the supercommittee is thinking as they approach the Nov. 23 deadline to recommend cuts of $1.5 trillion or more. They generally meet behind closed doors, and Michigan’s two supercommittee members have refused to hold…
OK, supercommittee members Fred Upton and Dave Camp didn’t finally do the right thing and agree to hold a public meeting to listen to their constituents back home. That’s crazy talk. In reality, they’re finishing up this week of recess and getting ready to run back to D.C. and hide behind their Wall Street campaign donors. Nope,…
It’s sad when you have to go all the way to Washington to get (non) answers from your Congressmen. That wasn’t the sole reason that members of the Michigan Nurses Association were in D.C. last week. Their primary purpose was to take part in the Global Day of Action to Tax Wall Street. It’s…
“This is really powerful.” Michelle, a transit worker from New York City, was standing near Broadway and Liberty, taking in the hundreds of people packed into Zuccotti Park. “This” was Occupy Wall Street. She was right: It was extremely powerful. Power is a central concept – a basic human need – driving the #OWS movement…
America is hurting, and we all know how we got here: giant banks and Wall Street corporations wrecked our economy. They wiped out pensions and portfolios. Because of their greed, they threw us into a recession, cost us millions of jobs, and forced families out of their homes. And our leaders in Washington let these…
My home state of Wisconsin is in the national spotlight after the historic recalls last night, and I’m damn proud to call myself a Cheesehead. I’m rolling my eyes at all the headlines and soundbites about how the Democrats lost, fell short, etc. As a former journalist, I know that headline space is tight and…