After 37 days, Colombian oil employees end their strike with an agreement by the government to reverse plans to privative Ecopetrol:

An agreement was reached 26 May between USO and the Colombian government that will roll back newly written contracts with favorable terms to the oil multinationals on the exploration and production of oil fields, thus preserving the company and keeping oil reserves in the hands of the citizens of Colombia. “We extend our congratulations to the leaders and members of USO in this pivotal strike to keep in Colombia what rightfully belongs in Colombia,” stated ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs. The victory, in essence, avoids the privatisation of Ecopetrol. The new agreement calls for oil fields now operated by outside firms to revert to Ecopetrol control once the contracts expire. Some 250 USO members including President Gabriel Alvis who were sacked after the government declared the strike illegal will retain their full pension rights and have an opportunity to win their jobs back through the arbitration process. Ecopetrol management and the government had sought to eliminate oil workers’ pensions, as well as reducing the workforce.

Errol catches his Govenor in a statement which, as he says, belongs in The Onion:

He will practice what he preaches,” said Carbaugh, who noted that Schwarzenegger now owns just three Hummers, including one that is in storage and another that is being converted to run on hydrogen. “He’s going to implement all the steps that are outlined in the program.”

As Errol says:

If owning only three Hummers is something that one can boast about as showing one’s seriousness about fuel conservation, I’m not sure what one should be ashamed of.

Bonita Grubbs calls for the structural change necessary to substantively address New Haven’s affordable housing problem:

First, due to city policy, a number of buildings were razed. Some of those units were substandard and beyond rehabilitation. However, based on what I have observed, no effort has been made to replace the rental units that were lost. Second, I have talked to a number of individuals who have used the dreaded word, gentrification, as if to say that folks whose incomes are high are displacing those whose incomes are low. I have no facts to substantiate those subjective statements. But, when I hear elected officials in New Haven talking about gentrification, those statements are not to be ignored. Third, the definition of affordable has changed. Years ago, programs were developed that allowed individuals whose incomes were low to pay no more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing. Now, affordability is being defined generically as 30 percent of income. That would be fine, except that 30 percent of today’s fair market rental values exceeds what is affordable for those whose incomes are low.

Fourth, in Connecticut, funds to produce housing for those whose incomes are low have decreased. In the 1990s $125 million in bond funds was available for housing. In this year’s legislative session, the General Assembly approved $15 million in bonding for affordable housing. Fifth, at the federal level, Congress has authorized cuts in the Section 8 program, which furnishes rent subsidies for 2 million of the country’s most vulnerable families. This change has caused one financial institution to scrap an innovative home mortgage program aimed at promoting home ownership through Section 8. And, the bond market has lost faith in Section 8-related programs. Sixth and finally, the amount of emphasis on homeownership has increased and affordability has, in some cases, become synonymous with being a first-time homebuyer. As a condominium owner, I am aware of the multiple benefits of homeownership. I just know that not everyone wants to or is able to purchase and maintain a house or condominium.

And Zach calls for a renewed movement to grapple with Yale’s role in urban gentrification:

With the victory of the extension of the homebuyer program to Fair Haven and West Rock, this sounds like a clarion call for New Haven activists to revisit and rethink not only the city’s policies towards housing…but also the ways in which Yale’s presence and its actions in the community have made rents rise beyond affordability. In 1973 (i think) the Yale Faculty voted to encourage the university to replace every housing unit lost through its expansion. That would be a start.

It just keeps getting worse:

Hundreds of Iraqi prisoners were held in Abu Ghraib prison for prolonged periods despite a lack of evidence that they posed a security threat to American forces, according to an Army report completed last fall.

You read that right – last fall. Where does that buck stop again?

Sandra Feldman, President of the 1.3 million member American Federation of Teachers, distinguished for her controversial opposition to No Child Left Behind, will not seek re-election do to her ongoing struggle with breast cancer:

As you can imagine, this is not a decision I came by lightly,” she said. “You all know how much the AFT, our members and all those we serve–especially the children–mean to me.” Feldman said that she was confident the AFT would be “in great hands,” praising AFT secretary-treasurer Edward J. McElroy and executive vice president Nat LaCour as “excellent, experienced leaders.” The union’s executive council, state and local leaders and staff, she added, “are the best in the country.” The job ahead is daunting, she said, “but as a team, we’ve always risen to the occasion, and I know we will again now.” Feldman cited the union’s preparation for the November elections and its pivotal role in crucial races, as well as its role in fixing and fully funding ESEA without jettisoning standards and accountability. The AFT is also “in the fray on overtime and Medicare, prescription drugs, nurse-patient ratios and on and on–right where we should be.”

From CNN:

Gunmen have attacked an oil company compound in eastern Saudi Arabia, killing at least six people, including foreigners, and taking a number of hostages, according to informed sources and officials. The attackers took the unspecified number of hostages after barricading themselves into at least one building in the city of Khobar on Saturday, the sources said. The attackers released five Lebanese or American hostages, Lebanese diplomats told CNN, but police believe they are holding others, the sources said. A senior Saudi Interior Ministry official said the attackers were on a list of wanted militants, many of whom had been linked to al Qaeda. He also said it was believed they are under direction of people based outside Saudi Arabia.

Five protestors shot dead in Lebanon:

At least five people have been killed and over 60 others injured Thursday after troops from the Lebanese armed forces opened fire at demonstrators in the poor suburb of Hay al-Selloum. The demonstrators were protesting the constant rise of gazoline prices, corruption, fiscal policies and unemployment in the country…Firefighters had used water cannons to disperse about 600 demonstrators in the Hay al-Selloum neighborhood, which prompted protestors to retaliate with stones, a police statement said. Army troops at the scene then opened fire killing five protestors.

…The nationwide demonstration was called by Lebanon’s General Labour Confederation (GLC) trade union to protest government fiscal policies and fuel prices, which they want cut from about 17 dollars per 20 liters (5.3 gallons) to 10 dollars. Union leaders urged the demonstrators to conduct a peaceful and violence free protest.

Lest we should take increased terror warnings seriously as something more than a publicity stunt:

The Homeland Security Department was surprised by the announcement Wednesday by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller that a terrorist attack was increasingly likely in the coming months, officials said. The department, created a year after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is charged with issuing terrorism warnings to the public, and tension arose when Ashcroft and Mueller effectively took over that role at a news conference Wednesday when they said al-Qaida is preparing an attack inside the United States. Officials said the Homeland Security Department knew in advance about the news conference but expected it to focus on seven suspects with ties to al-Qaida who were wanted for arrest or questioning. Department officials were caught off guard when Ashcroft went further and warned that al-Qaida “is ready to attack the United States.”

After earlier rumors that a scientist highly critical both of Hussein’s regime and of the US occupation would get the nod for prime minister, looks like the job is going to a prime minister all too cozy with the CIA and the Iraqi National Congress:

The man chosen to be prime minister, Iyad Alawi, is the secretary general of the Iraqi National Accord, an exile group that has received funds from the Central Intelligence Agency. His ties with the C.I.A., and his closeness to the United States could become an issue in a country where public opinion has grown almost universally hostile to the Americans. The announcement of Dr. Alawi’s selection appeared to surprise several at the United Nations. “When we first heard the news today, we thought that the Iraqi Governing Council had hijacked the process,” said a senior United Nations official, referring to the American-picked body that voted to recommend Dr. Alawi earlier on Friday.

A senior State Department official in Washington, as well as a senior American official in Baghdad, said Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations envoy asked by the United States to choose an interim government for Iraq, had indeed selected Dr. Alawi. The State Department official suggested that the Iraqi council had merely ratified the selection after the fact in order to make it seem that the council was the kingmaker.

Looks like contra Rumsfeld’s admonition that democracy is messy, this administration is seeking a transition that will be all too clean…

My third Undernews post is up here. It’s a much-expanded version of this one, considering clashing allegations of media bias, the war, and the faces of power. Check it out.

Nathan Newman on Abu Ghraib, government employees, and civil liberties:

This is the best argument against giving officials discretion over our rights. It’s not that they will violate them out of viciousness– although they may — but because sacrificing those rights may just be seen as a way to protect their career to avoid blame. Which is why civil liberties are so useful.

As long as the standards are tough and inflexible, officials cannot be blamed if they follow such standards and release people when they have no proof of their guilt. Discretion creates a chance to blame such officials, so therefore endangers innocent people deeply, since officials then have to fear for their careers if they, by their own discretion, release a person who later turns out to be guilty, even if there was no real evidence at the time to hold them.