...well, not yet, but I just ordered Stephen Breyer's "Active Liberty", has anyone here read it?  I actually heard that it--alongside Scalia's "A Matter of Interpretation"--shows the next big conflict that will be fought out on the Supreme Court.

I meant the SEIU struggle before the victory.

Interesting thoughts.  

I pick through the DK recommends with more and more disappointment now, finding less food for the mind & spirit and more frequently running into those who have fallen in love with their own voices over the original love of their subject matter (always an occupational hazard I guess for those who write, but a definite loss for those who read).

I know Kos is tired of hearing the clamor for recommends by topic, and the prime time for that idea may already have sailed.  Much of the substance offered up is either ignored or quickly spread thin by clamorous chit chat diluting the topic.  The contrast in coverage of the SEIU victory on Mydd and DK was enlightening to me--I did a search of the diaries, and found the most prominent DK one overtaken by a discussion of the treatment of horses.

Anyway, I've missed your writing so I'm hoping to see you hang out around here in up coming days.

Terrific stuff.  I know DKos has ADD, but I think you should post this there as well.

BTW, I can rate posts but not recommend diaries--anyone else having this problem?

Matt, excellent piece.  

I love the metaphor of "economic violence" and think it is something that we need to build upon and reinforce going forward.

I have a close friend in the SEIU also talked about the globalization of workers efforts for economic fairness and justice as the perfect and inevitable countermove to corporate globalization to evade it.

Thanks for your continued commitment to and insights on this topic.

email from my friend this morning:

Well, it feels like death.  I'm so sick and tired.

Anyway, we won a 3 year contract, a 135% wage increase, health insurance by year 3, 2 weeks paid vacation, 6 paid holidays, protection from being illegally fired, a grievance procedure, now we have access to the buildings...

We've been on strike for just over a month.  Its been awful. We've had 80 people arrested total.  We've had to sue the city for their parade and sound permits.  What saved us I think was the fact that the same contractors and owners of office buildings here are in other cities like Chicago, LA, NYC, Boston, DC, Miami, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, etc.... and so workers from those cities came here and fought for Houston janitors, got arrested, protested, organized the workers in those buildings.  We've been fighting for this contract for over 2 years.  Its been a really, really long struggle.

breaking news:  they just won the contract.

Take a look at these videos:

http://justiceforjanitors.blogspot.com/

to look at the credentials of those appointed to tell us the time of day.

actually, I disagree.  Morin draws the opposite of a reasonable reader of the data would conclude.

unless we are going to say it is unreasonable that an opinion editor understands what he is reading.  and I'm not willing to go that far.

I think you should crosspost on dailykos.  it is pretty busy w/attacks on the media right now, though.

did you really say "as a concerned parent without children"?

love it--did a triple take.

umm, I'm so sorry about this, but gandhi did beat his wife...

just responded to your name through your comment list--didn't realize what was going on here.  apparently not the ideal plc to jump in?

hey, I responded to your comment on the yearlykos diary from the 12th--not sure you'd pick it up so here's a heads up.

that's legit.  I would mention 2 things:

1) it's tough to crystallize what happened out there--it will process for awhile.  it's easier to say what it wasn't.  and it was not the unveiling of a "grand plan"--that does not make sense given who we are.  many attendees vet and presenters vet their thoughts on the blogs on a fairly regular basis, right?  so, it's not like they've been saving up for yearly kos.  but we met other people in the movement and it was fortifying.  we exchanged ideas and incubated projects.  there's a comfort in knowing that you really like the people out there, chatting with you on the net.

diaries on poli sites are usually analysis...of outside events.  it's not analysis of what happens to you.  so, this will be a little slower in coming.

2) really, what matt is saying is that what we are doing now is working--and now we need more of it.  we need to fill in the spaces of what is not covered and what is not said, so it can be given an audience.  then find who the right audience is by contacting "blog leaders" and the like.

the dfa did a workshop about translating the online to action (did not attend, so can't brief), and there is another project being worked on right now (started at the conference) but will not be unveiled until finished--hopefully within the next month or so.

but, in the meantime, throw yourself into it with a fervor, and with the knowledge that it is working.