Government

The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act does more than effectively eliminate workers' rights to a secret ballot vote on joining a union. It gives government officials the power to impose contracts on workers and firms. EFCA replaces good-faith bargaining with government-imposed contracts. This government-imposed arbitration radically departs from the foundation of the collective bargaining process: the principle of mutual consent. In place of the agreement of both parties, government arbitrators would simply impose working conditions on employers and employees, whether such conditions are workable or not. Under current law, workers can vote down a contract they do not support.

General Motors made my first car. It was a 1955 two-tone Chevrolet with stick shift and black tires. It had an AM radio and air conditioning, if I hand-cranked the window down in summer. It came with bench seats, the better to have your date close to you. I bought it used (this was before cars were "pre-owned") in 1961. My dad co-signed the $750 note, which I paid. Those were the days when you could fill up for pocket change. Somewhere I have old Esso receipts that show a full tank of regular gas cost me $3. Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac and Cadillac were the mainstays of GM, as Fairlane, Crestline Skyliner, Falcon and later Galaxie were for Ford, some of which I would own as an adult.

Longtime Democratic strategist Elaine Kamarck started her government career as a Woodlawn middle-schooler, listening to her father read his Medicare training manuals to her. "If I could figure them out, he knew he was writing clearly enough," she said of her father, a career civil servant at the Social Security Administration. Almost 30 years later, Kamarck arrived at the White House to help Vice President Al Gore "reinvent government," injecting corporate management practices to the tune of 350,000 fewer federal jobs.

The nation's work force is aging, and for several years now the federal government has recognized that its workers are aging more than most. The good news released in a survey this week is that many experienced federal workers aren't going anywhere, at least not anytime soon. The third in a series of surveys of government employees' attitudes toward their jobs, benefits and bosses found that only 4 percent of respondents plan to retire by this summer and 12 percent during the one to three years after that.

ROME -- Stung by a bruising foreign policy defeat, embattled Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigned yesterday, his center-left government collapsing after just nine months in power. Prodi failed to win parliamentary endorsement of his decision to maintain Italian troops in Afghanistan, a loss attributed in part to desertions by members of his coalition who oppose continued cooperation with the U.S. military in Italy and abroad. Chants of "quit, quit!" filled the Italian Senate as opposition politicians in business suits jumped up and down and pumped their fists upon realizing Prodi had lost the vote.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Zimbabwe's president, Robert G. Mugabe, has moved to require that virtually all public companies cede controlling interests to "indigenous citizens," a plan the government calls black empowerment and Mugabe's critics label a bid to shore up his crumbling political support. The proposal, issued in draft legislation published Monday, would transfer a 51 percent stake in the companies to Zimbabweans who were "disadvantaged by unfair discrimination on the grounds of his or her race" before April 1980, when the nation won independence from white rule.

Those who want to restrict political freedom are at it again. The current campaign financing system has nothing to do with the charges brought against former state Sen. Thomas L. Bromwell ("Fall of a man of `immense talents,'" July 24). But so-called reformers are using Mr. Bromwell's corrupt behavior to trick citizens into accepting government-financed elections. The truth is that government-subsidized campaigns have been shown to decrease confidence in state government. Political scientists Jeffrey Milyo and David Primo found that taxpayer financing has "a statistically negative effect on public views about whether `people have a say' in their government or whether `officials care.

BAGHDAD -- The leader of Iraq's largest Shiite political party said yesterday that the neighborhood patrols credited with calming many Sunni areas must submit to government authority and include a broader sectarian mix. The comments by the political leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, reflected growing resistance among many Shiites to the neighborhood groups, also known as Awakening Councils, which are almost exclusively...

WASHINGTON -- Congress is considering a change to the laws governing domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency that would close a new intelligence gap recently revealed by U.S. officials. Top intelligence agency officials went to Capitol Hill in mid-July and informed lawmakers that a new data collection problem had been discovered, congressional aides said. That gap, according to the officials, is preventing U.S. intelligence agencies from legally collecting "a significant portion of what we should be getting," said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, a Texas Democrat.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Hezbollah and its allies paralyzed Lebanon yesterday, sending thousands of demonstrators to seize control of major roads, brawl with government supporters and choke the seaside capital in the acrid smoke of burning tires. The swift seizure of the country's roads took many here by surprise and marked a major escalation in Hezbollah's campaign to overthrow Lebanon's U.S.-backed government. At least three people died and more than 100 were wounded as clashes flared around the country.

The bright red and blue-lettered T-shirts worn by some Washington-bound protesters Saturday morning set the tone for the day of denouncing big government, high spending and President Barack Obama's agenda. "I'll keep my guns, freedom and money" was in red lettering. "You can keep the change" was in blue. Howard Del. Warren E. Miller, a Republican who later also showed up in a news photo taken at the march carrying a sign that said "Liar, Liar, pants on fire," wore one of the T-shirts. Loretta Shields, former GOP party leader in Howard, wore another that said "Proud member of the angry mob, and I vote."

So I did the cash-for-clunkers deal, and I am a happy citizen today. I have a new car that gets twice the mileage of the 10-year-old minivan that I hadn't been driving much anymore anyway - it had failed a Maryland emissions test and needed a costly repair - and I don't even feel that guilty about taking the government's money. I mean, if the guys at AIG didn't, why should I? I got $4,500 for a worthless vehicle with 212,308 miles on it, a bad cough, a rip in the tacky steering wheel pad and tires that looked like Nick Markakis' head.

Lately we've been hearing a lot of cheerful talk about "green shoots" of economic recovery, but out in the real world unemployment keeps on rising. Lack of business is forcing companies to slash their payrolls, and even before all the downsizing expected at Chrysler and General Motors, the number of active U.S. job-seekers who can't find any work has just topped 14.5 million. That's the worst labor market collapse in 26 years, and it can't be allowed to continue. It's time for the government to launch an all-out effort to bolster consumer purchasing power so private-sector employers can generate the sales revenue they need to save existing jobs and create new ones (about $50,000 per year per employee)

Taxpayers would like to believe that their money is being spent well and wisely - but for the most part, they believe it is not. That is why programs like CitiStat and StateStat that measure how efficient and effective government programs are have such appeal to elected officials and taxpayers alike. In Baltimore, Mayor Martin O'Malley created the CitiStat program that relentlessly measured, month after month, how well city services were being delivered, from collecting trash to fixing potholes to treating drug addicts.

WASHINGTON -- In the vast sea of federal spending, the U.S. Coast Survey barely rates a drop. But the office, responsible for mapping the floor of waterways from the Chesapeake to the coast of Alaska, offers a case study in the ways that politics and bureaucracy are combining to slow the flow of stimulus money from Washington. Last winter, when President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan became law, $40 million for the Coast Survey went into the federal checkbook, as Maryland Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, who was instrumental in securing the funds, likes to refer to it. The money was supposed to be used for updating the charts that help ship captains avoid underwater hazards.

Don't necessarily bet on a corporate employer if you're a new grad or other job seeker. Nearly all the Maryland sectors adding more jobs than they're shedding are financed by the taxpayer, according to new government figures. Private Maryland companies ditched 78,000 jobs during the 12 months ending in April while state, local and federal government added 7,000, says the U.S. Labor Department. That's the worst showing for both sectors in more than a decade, but at least government is hiring.

At the University of Notre Dame, President Barack Obama spoke of the intense debate in America about abortion. Indeed, many Americans feel morally conflicted about the procedure. But it is a common error to believe that the American electorate is deeply divided about how the government should deal with abortion. In fact, there is substantial consensus that the government should not criminalize abortion. A just-released CNN poll finds that 68 percent say that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned.

When my colleague Peter Hermann oversaw The Sun's Watchdog feature, he reported on the hazard created by gaps in the fence around the railroad tracks at the south end of Charles Street in South Baltimore. With most Watchdog complaints, Hermann would end up calling government bureaucrats to report some incidence of broken or malfunctioning infrastructure. In most cases, he was able to rouse them to take quick action rather than deal with unfavorable publicity. But when he took on the South Baltimore fence problem two years ago, Hermann faced a much more formidable obstacle: the giant freight railroad CSX, which owned the crumbling fence that posed no significant barrier to those who thought the rail yard was a wonderful place to drink, ingest drugs or practice the world's oldest profession.

WASHINGTON -As time for a deal wound down Wednesday, the Obama administration finalized a plan to send Chrysler into bankruptcy, replace chief executive Robert Nardelli and pump billions of dollars more into the effort, all in hopes the company can emerge from court proceedings as a re-energized competitor in the global economy. The government's attempt to save the automaker amounts to another extraordinary intervention in the U.S. economy, but what would happen by Thursday's deadline for making a deal wasn't clear.

President Barack Obama signed legislation last week to more than triple the number of Ameri-Corps members, from 75,000 to 250,000. Mr. Obama declared that the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act is about "connecting deeds to needs." Paying people on false pretenses to do unnecessary things is the soul of AmeriCorps. Since President Bill Clinton created this program in 1993, politicians have endlessly touted its recruits as volunteers toiling selflessly for the common good. But most AmeriCorps members go on to work for government agencies or nonprofit groups; their AmeriCorps gig is more of a career steppingstone than an act of financial sacrifice.