Why Do Bosses Want Their Employees’ Salaries to Be Secret?

Michelle Chen The Nation
In a narrow vote this week, the Senate politely smothered the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would have protected workers’ rights to compare and discuss their wages at work. Aimed at dismantling workplace “pay secrecy” policies, the legislation built on the 2009 Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which strengthens safeguards for women and other protected groups against wage discrimination.

Why the Palestinian-Israeli Talks Bubble Burst

Uri Avnery Redress Information
POOR John Kerry. This week he emitted a sound that was more expressive than pages of diplomatic babble. In his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations committee he explained how the actions of the Israeli government had torpedoed the "peace process". They broke their obligation to release Palestinian prisoners, and at the same time announced the enlargement of more settlements in East Jerusalem. The peace efforts went "poof".

Big Brown Waves White Flag

Jane Slaughter Labor Notes
Last month, UPS in New York City fired 250 drivers who had rallied in support of a fired union member. Teamsters Local 804 gained massive public support in favor of the fired workers, and this week UPS agreed to rehire all 250 workers.

If Walmart Paid a Living Wage ...

In the series "The Secret Life of a Food Stamp," Marketplace reporter Krissy Clark traces how big-box stores make billions from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka food stamps. What's more, the wages of many workers at these stores are so low that the workers themselves qualify for food stamps—which the employees then often spend at those big-box stores.

How Heartbleed Broke the Internet — And Why It Can Happen Again

Robert McMillan Wired
The sad truth is that open source software — which underpins vast swathes of the net — has a serious sustainability problem. Money doesn’t necessarily buy good code, but it pays for software audits and face-to-face meetings, and it can free up open-source coders from their day jobs.

White Rabbit, Live from Woodstock (1969)

Grace Slick's lyrics for White Rabbit employ imagery from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with a hookah smoking caterpiller and lots of other otherworldly effects.