Morley's New Book Sheds Light on Oswald & CIA

Mexico City was the Casablanca of the Cold War—a hotbed of spies, revolutionaries, and assassins. The CIA’s station there was the front line of the United States’ fight against international communism, as important for Latin America as Berlin was for Europe. And its undisputed spymaster was Winston Mackinley Scott.Chief of the Mexico City station from 1956 to 1969, Win Scott occupied a key position in the founding generation of the Central Intelligence Agency, but until now he has remained a shadowy figure. Investigative reporter Jefferson Morley traces Scott’s remarkable career from his humble origins in rural Alabama to wartime G-man to OSS London operative (and close friend of the notorious Kim Philby), to right-hand man of CIA Director Allen Dulles, to his remarkable reign for more than a decade as virtual proconsul in Mexico. Morley also follows the quest of Win Scott’s son Michael to confront the reality of his father’s life as a spy. He reveals how Scott ran hundreds of covert espionage operations from his headquarters in the U.S. Embassy while keeping three Mexican presidents on the agency’s payroll, participating in the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and, most intriguingly, overseeing the surveillance of Lee Harvey Oswald during his visit to the Mexican capital just weeks before the assassination of President Kennedy. Morley reveals the previously unknown scope of the agency’s interest in Oswald in late 1963, identifying for the first time the code names of Scott’s surveillance programs that monitored Oswald’s movements. He shows that CIA headquarters cut Scott out of the loop of the agency’s latest reporting on Oswald before Kennedy was killed. He documents why Scott came to reject a key finding of the Warren Report on the assassination and how his disillusionment with the agency came to worry his longtime friend James Jesus Angleton, legendary chief of CIA counterintelligence. Angleton not only covered up the agency’s interest in Oswald but also, after Scott died, absconded with the only copies of his unpublished memoir.Interweaving Win Scott’s personal and professional lives, Morley has crafted a real-life thriller of Cold War intrigue—a compelling saga of espionage that uncovers another chapter in the CIA’s history.

John McCain Sings

The Brave New Workshop Celebrates 50th Anniversary

One of my favorite things to do in the Twin Cities has become a night at the Brave New Workshop. It's a comedy theater on Hennepin Ave in Minneapolis that mainly does social and political satire. The BNW is celebrating their 50th Anniversary with a show called "Old Enought to Know Better." I just wanted to put in a huge plug for the BNW. It's a great way to spend an evening.

The Pioneer Press just ran a story of the 50 year history of the BNW.

NPR recently ran an on air feature along with a story on their website.

In the world of television, WCCO ran this story about the history of the BNW.

Even the ??Southwest Journal?? got in on the act.

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early

Non-union workers at University of Minnesota get $300 lump-sum bonus

I think the University of Minnesota just wanted to bitch slap the AFSCME workers who struck for 17 days in September. The University said all the money was on the table, and ended up putting a $300 lump-sum payment on the table for AFSCME workers. Then they magically come up with some more money for non-union workers. Wow! Shocking! Where did that come from?!

"I have to say, that this is just so brash of the U administration to do this that at this time that I don't even know what to say. Of course, it's a good thing that the U is giving more money to civil service workers - they should give more money to all U workers. But coming just months after the U refused to budge on wages after 2+ weeks of a strike by 3 unions, intense pressure from key legislators, a student hunger strike, etc, with their argument being that they had no more money for wages, this just feels like a slap in the face to us. Which of course is probably exactly what they want us to feel. Unbelievable." -Anonymous U of M AFSCME employee


By Riham Feshir, Joy Petersen
Minnesota Daily

Five months after American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees stepped off the picket lines and finished contract negotiations, the University's non-union civil workers will each receive a piece of $1.5 million come March.

Each of the University's 5,000 non-union employees, which include scientists and financial workers, get $300 in their March 12 paychecks, said Carol Carrier, vice president of the office of human resources.

The University reviews nonunion worker pay plans each spring to evaluate if bonuses are necessary, Carrier said. Conversely, AFSCME negotiations happen every two years.

"With other employee groups, it's more of a consult with and discuss the University's proposed pay plan," she said.

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800 clerical workers, said the bonuses are the University's reaction to contracts finalized last September.

"I find it really interesting that when we were in contract negotiations with the University, they told us they didn't have any more money to pay us," Walker said. "Then they came up with lump sums for civil service workers."

Walker said that by paying the $300 lump sums - the same amount the University gave AFSCME workers per their current contract - to non-union workers, current non-union workers won't have to form a union.

"If they didn't give those lump sums to civil service, it sends a strong message to civil service that the only way to get more money is to form a union," she said.

Despite Walker's disappointment, University spokesman Dan Wolter said the bonuses are to maintain competitiveness of wages paid to civil service employees, not in reaction to AFSCME contract wages.

Senior University chemistry scientist Steve Philson said he never worried too much about the competitiveness of the wages because the University is a "desirable place to work."

Philson, a 27-year University employee and non-union worker, said though he'll receive the March bonus, it won't have a drastic affect on him.

"Salaries become less and less important to me," he said, "I'm getting close to retirement. I'm not likely to be going any place else."

Unions aren't appealing to Philson because, he said, there's too much bargaining involved and he doesn't see the benefits.

"Clearly people who have unions don't do that well at (bargaining)," he said.

Five-year assistant University physics scientist Brian Sherwood will also be receiving the bonus.

He said he'd rather get a salary increase than a $300 bonus, but it "will help pay a few bills."

UIC Workers Prepare for Strike

By Joe Iosbaker

Chicago, IL - The contract fight between 1500 clerical and administrative workers at University of Illinois - Chicago (UIC) has seen hundreds of workers on picket lines in recent weeks. Members of Local 73 SEIU (Service Employees International Union) voted overwhelmingly (94%) in January to authorize a strike if negotiations fail to reach an agreement. Since then, the campus has not stopped hearing the sounds of marching feet.

While legally required to attempt to resolve differences through federal mediation, the union has kept fighting back against attacks on members by departments and by human resources. On Feb. 7, 75 people took over the street in front of the offices of the Department of Pediatrics. The marchers included Local 73 members, but also members of the Illinois Nurses Association, Graduate Employees Organization, the Laborers Union and Students for a Democratic Society.

At least eight union members had received elimination notices by the new department head the previous Friday. Sirlena Perry, executive board member of Local 73, said "Who's going to do their work? I'll bet it's Academic Professionals, since there's still ten of those in the department."

The message to management was clear: Workers are ready to fight on the picket line if things can't be settled through negotiations. "This shows why we have to have language protecting our job security," said Perry. The bargaining committee has been pressing this issue for one and a half years.

Department Heads Gone Wild?

Two weeks later, 50 workers, students and supporters rallied to support a long time employee being unfairly targeted by another new department head. Donna Dorney has been the administrative assistant in the Criminal Justice department for 15 years and has won praise and awards by UIC. However, the new department head decided she wanted a non-union academic professional, and has been making Dorney's life hell ever since, going as far as suspending her without pay for something that was the head's fault.

Gwen Pinager, a union member and old friend of Dorney's, walked a mile and a half across campus to join the picket line. "I had to stand up for her," she said.

These and many other examples show that it is more than just anti-union attitudes by new department heads. In each case, campus human resources is aware of these actions, knows that the department heads are violating civil service regulations, UIC Policy and Rules and Local 73's contract, but still gives them a green light.

This treatment by these department heads is the same treatment management at UIC has given to members of Local 73 at the bargaining table - disrespect in the form of crummy wage offers and refusal to raise the top steps for our most senior employees, while pleas for job security go unheard. The next meeting with the federal mediator is set for March 6, but union members know they have to rely on themselves to get justice, in contract negotiations and in all other conflicts with management.