Someone Called Mukasey A Tyrant Before He Almost Plotzed

Barbara Ehrenreich paints a pretty glum picture of the American workplace in her latest book, a collection of short essays called This Land Is Your Their Land. She talks a lot about the ugliness of the pecking order. She kind of reminded me of the very first Patti Smith indie release, Piss Factory. Tonight, though, I was going through the BBC News and came across a related article, Bad Bosses May Damage Your Heart (which also led me to Work Stress Changes Your Body-- "a stressful job has a direct biological impact on the body, raising the risk of heart disease"-- and Unfair Bosses Raise Blood Pressure-- bosses that people perceive to be unfair not only make your working life a misery-- they can also pose a significant threat to your health." Yesterday's story was about a Swedish study that found a strong relationship between "poor leadership" and serious heart disease among the employees of the poor leaders.

I had just finished reading some right wing kook moaning and groaning because Washington state Judge Richard Sanders had stood up at the Federalist Society dinner last week and yelled "Tyrant! You are a tyrant!" at Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Mukasey was in the middle of defending the Bush Regime's disgraceful detainment practices at Guantánamo and its disregard for its obligations under the Geneva Conventions. Mukasey may have heard Judge Sanders' opinion and that may have caused him to collapse and faint a little while later. Right after his outburst Sanders walked out in protest and Mukasey was still feeding raw meat to the happy little fascistic Federalists.

Sanders did the right thing by speaking Truth to Power. He should be commended. Mukasey didn't die and he can oversee more inhuman detentions, more torture, and other crimes against humanity. I'm far more concerned by the victims of workplace brutality whose tyrannical bosses are shortening their lives in ways that anyone who has ever worked in an hierarchical work situation understands very well. Some say that kind of tyranny is part of human nature. Maybe it is. It's another excellent and compelling reason for strong labor unions.