I showed up at negotiations at 8:30am for a team session, and the negotiations themselves started at 10. We've been at it ten hours now - all in a basement with a small window and a 15 minute walk to enjoy a beautiful day. (Yes. lunch and dinner were carry out, as too many meals have been). For all the time, there's been much sound and fury signifying nothing. As I write this, the contract expires in a little over fours hours and we need to decide whether to strike or extend the contract for 24 hours or a few... continue reading »
In an earlier posting, I mentioned being on the negotiating team that is working on a new contract for the 667 faculty members here. With a little more than 30 hours before the contract expires, the sides are miles worlds apart. So it's likely there will be a strike that will continue through the Labor Day weekend. Being on strike and picketing is somewhat unusual, both because of declining participation in labor unions and for folks in white collar jobs. So, I'll be using this blog to discuss the experience as it unfolds over the next few days.. or as... continue reading »
A helpful bit of advice for understanding many situations is to follow the money. Seeing who is profiting and paying often makes sense of what's happening and why. I've used this idea to llok and criminal justice and private prisons - the crime pays part of PaulsJusticePage. But I was still suprised to read "Oil price rise fuels leap in US arms sales."Yes, it's obvious that Exxon and other oil companies are making a killing from high oil prices. But Saudi Arabia is also sitting on piles of cash and is buying U.S. arms, with the Pentagon taking a cut.... continue reading »
In an earlier posting about the arrests in Britain for the plot to use explosives in liquid bottles, I mentioned an item from Juan Cole's excellent blog: It turns out that the more Arab students listen to Radio Sawa and watch al-Hurra Television, the US government's main media effort at winning hearts and minds, the more they disliked US policies. Turns out it isn't how the policies are packaged on the airwaves that matters. It is the policies. The students mostly think they stink. I was going to make a snarky comment about the need for Western-style democracy there -... continue reading »
By now, everyone has heard about the arrests in England related to a seemingly well-developed plot to blow up airplanes using explosives they were going to pass off as soda. Many details are still emerging, and I've seen a number of conflicting accounts. So let's step back and look at a few of the bigger picture issues: security measures, al Qaeda, and some suggested links and reading. Security Measures & the FutureThe first move was to ban all liquids and gels from planes. OK, but this method was successful 12 years ago, so why are we reacting now rather than... continue reading »
I'll confess to being a little frusted that after finishing page proofs on Class, Race, Gender and Crime, important events happen. But a function of this blog is to fill in the gaps between books and editions, as well as to have a conversation about the excellent questions raised by the White Collar Crime Prof Blog as well as the Second Circuit Sentencing Blog. Much of the attention around corporate fraud has been centered on Enron, which declared the largest corporate bankruptcy in history because of an orgy of multifaceted fraud. When "Worldcon" declared bankruptcy a month or so later,... continue reading »