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Dispatches from the Culture Wars - Heatstroke Edition

Portside
Bert and Ernie Outed; Commie Camp Profiled; The Blind Will Get Their Books; Chipotle Rejects GMO Ingredients; Race and Class in Evidence At the Zimmerman Trial; Kansas Takes a Sharp Turn to the Right

BART Strike Illustrates Heated Debate Over Public-Sector Work Stoppages

Josh Richman San Jose Mercury News
"Union struggles reflect on all jobs," said Jane Smith, 30, a data scientist from San Francisco. "Unions won the struggle for a 40-hour workweek, and we are all benefiting from that still. Unions also fight for higher wages, which translate to higher wages for all Americans." The BART strike is a symptom of "the income and wealth inequality that is plaguing our nation," she said. "I can't believe that people are missing the point."

Book Review: Union City Blues

Richard D. Kahlenberg Washington Monthly
How a poor New Jersey town and its teacher's unions turned around its schools.