Heard about a woman living in the USA …

… she traded in her baby for a Chevrolet.

People to watch out for

These dangerous characters are not limited to the faculty lounge, but can be found in any social group.

E-mails I didn’t finish reading

“If you’re interested in poetry about place (the South), marriage and divorce, sexuality and inheritance …”

I prefer poems about Nantucket.

Scary monsters, super creeps, keep me running, running scared

Once again, the feckless and faithful Democratic Party border collie patrol seeks to rein in stray sheep with dark warnings about something wicked this way to come should the scary monster GOP gain numerical (as opposed to merely practical) control of Congress. Once again, IOZ provides the appropriate rejoinder:

Republicans drive the empire; Democrats consolidate and rationalize what their partners have wrought. George Bush expands the global gulag; Barack Obama writes the employee handbook. The Republicans promise billions to the banks; the Democrats do the accounting. It’s not a competition; it’s a partnership.

American Exceptionalism

In more than 160 countries worldwide, workers enjoy a legal entitlement to paid sick leave. The US is not among them. Instead, like such bastions of individual liberty and economic efficiency as Mongolia, Angola, and Mozambique, we leave our workers free to choose between their health and their job.

The Union Makes Us Strong, and Fox’s Corporate Backers Can’t Stand That

My friend and mentor Big Stu provides a succinct answer to the question, “Are unions still relevant?“

The story itself is classic Fox: feigned objectivity while implicitly slanting the story in favor of the corporate narrative. Yes, “the numbers don’t lie”. But the numbers have a history, one that Fox and other corporate outlets persistently distort or ignore altogether.

Union membership didn’t magically shrink. The decline was the intended result of a sustained ideological, political, and economic campaign aimed at redistributing wealth and power away from workers to further enrich and empower the already wealthy and powerful, and at delegitimizing every social movement and institution–including but not limited to labor unions–that dares stand up for social justice and economic democracy.

Are you aware of the penal codes in this state?

Most of the entries from this year’s Times Higher Education survey of British “exam howlers” are only mildly funny. This one stands out from the pack:

Throughout one essay, a student from the University of Portsmouth wrote about “anus” crimes. The academic marking the paper eventually realized that he meant “heinous” crimes.