tagged w/ Socialism
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May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON, May 10 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced today that he introduced legislation to provide health care for every American through a Medicare-for-all type single-payer system.
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) filed a companion bill in the House to provide better care for more patients at less cost by eliminating the middle-man role played by private insurance companies that rake off billions of dollars in profits.
The twin measures, both called the American Health Security Act of 2011, would provide federal guidelines and strong minimum standards for states to administer single-payer health care programs.
"The United States is the only major nation in the industrialized world that does not guarantee health care as right to its people," Sanders said at a press conference on Capitol Hill. "Meanwhile, we spend about twice as much per capita on health care with worse results than others that spend far less. It is time that we bring about a fundamental transformation of the American health care system. It is time for us to end private, for-profit participation in delivering basic coverage. It is time for the United States to provide a Medicare-for-all single-payer health coverage program."
McDermott said, "The new health care law made big progress towards covering many more people and finding ways to lower cost. However, I think the best way to reduce costs and guarantee coverage for all is through a Single-payer system like Medicare. This bill does just that - it builds on the new health care law by giving states the flexibility they need to go to a single-payer system of their own. It will also reduce costs, and Americans will be healthier."
Sanders and McDermott were joined at the press conference by leaders of organizations supporting the measure, including Arlene Baker-Holt, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO; Jean Ross, co-president of the National Nurses United; and Greg Junemann, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.
While making the case for a single-payer system nationwide, Sanders applauded the Vermont Legislature which earlier this month voted to put the state on the path toward a single-payer system. Vermont, Sanders said, could become a model for the nation.
Last year's health reform law is projected to cover 32 million more Americans. Despite that important step forward, however, 23 million people living in the United States will remain uninsured by the end of this decade while health care costs continue to skyrocket. Some 60 million Americans, both insured and uninsured, have inadequate access to primary care due to a shortage of physicians and other like providers in their community.
Under the current health care system, 45,000 Americans a year die because they delay seeking care they cannot afford. Health care eats up one-fifth of the U.S. economy, but we rank 26th among major, developed nations on life expectancy and 31st on infant mortality.
Drug companies charge Americans twice as much or more for the exact same drugs manufactured by the exact same companies than citizens of Canada or Europe. Some insurers that gouge policy holders spend 40 cents of every premium dollar on administration and profits while lavishing multimillion dollar payouts on their CEOs.
"This is unacceptable," Sanders said. "Until we put patients over profits, our system will not work for ordinary Americans."May 10, 2011
WASHINGTON, May 10 -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced today that... more
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I am probably going to get my butt handed to me again, but I just have to say that I think the idea of this being a Christian Nation is a farce. I think it is just a political game to gain the vote of the religious right. So why do I say this?I am probably going to get my butt handed to me again, but I just have to say that I... more
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Cuba says it will allow people to buy and sell their homes for the first time since the communist revolution in 1959.
For the past 50 years, Cubans have only been allowed to pass on their homes to their children, or to swap them through a complicated and often corrupt system.
The move was decided during the first congress held by the ruling Communist Party in 14 years, aimed at breathing new life into the communist system.
No details were given on how the new property sales could work.
Cuban President Raul Castro warned that the concentration of property would not be allowed.
During the congress, President Castro also said top political positions should be limited to two five-year terms, and promised "systematic rejuvenation" of the government.
He said the party leadership was in need of renewal and should subject itself to severe self-criticism.
The proposal is unprecedented under Cuban communism.
In an editorial published in Cuban state media, former president and leader of the 1959 revolution Fidel Castro endorsed the change.
He wrote that a new generation was needed to correct the errors of the past to ensure the communist system survived once the current generation of leaders had gone.
Cuba's Communist Party approved the reforms on Monday.
State media reported that party members also voted for a new party leadership, but the results were not immediately disclosed.Cuba says it will allow people to buy and sell their homes for the first time since... more
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H2O_4U
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1 year ago
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If there’s one constant in the elite national discourse of the moment, it is the claim that America was founded as a capitalist country and that socialism is a dangerous foreign import that, despite our unwarranted faith in free trade, must be barred at the border.
By John Nichols
http://www.thenation.com/article/159929/how-socialists-built-america
This most conventional “wisdom”—increasingly accepted at least until the recent grassroots mobilizations in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Maine—has held that everything public is inferior to everything private, that corporations are always good and unions always bad, that progressive taxation is inherently evil and that the best economic model is the one that allows the wealthy to gobble up as much of the Republic as they choose before anything trickles down to the great mass of Americans. Rush Limbaugh informs us regularly that proposals to tax people as rich as he is for the purpose of providing healthcare for kids and jobs for the unemployed are “antithetical” to the nation’s original intent and that Barack Obama’s reforms are “destroying this country as it was founded.”
When Obama offered tepid proposals to organize a private healthcare system in a more humane manner, Sean Hannity of Fox charged that “the Constitution was shredded, thwarted, the rule of law was passed aside.” Newt Gingrich said the Obama administration was “prepared to fundamentally violate the Constitution” and was playing to the “30 percent of the country [that] really is [in favor of] a left-wing secular socialist system.”
In 2009 Sarah Palin raised similar constitutional concerns, about Obama’s proposal to develop a system of “universal energy building codes” to promote energy efficiency. “Our country could evolve into something that we do not even recognize, certainly that is so far from what the founders of our country had in mind for us,” a gravely concerned Palin informed Hannity, who responded with a one-word question. “Socialism?”
“Well,” she said, “that is where we are headed.”
Actually, it’s not.......
Continue reading at:
http://www.thenation.com/article/159929/how-socialists-built-americaIf there’s one constant in the elite national discourse of the moment, it is the... more
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Washington, DC – The International Republican Institute (IRI) today released its survey and analysis of Cuban public opinion. The survey was fielded on the island January 28 – February 10, 2011
A total of 463 Cuban adults were asked questions ranging from perspectives on the economy, to the performance of the current Castro government.
Results include:
_ 78% of Cubans would be willing to vote for fundamental political change.
_ 77% are not confident in the ability of Raul Castro's government to solve their problems.
_ 93% of those aged 18-29 want fundamental political change.
_ 90.7% of Cubans want a transition to a market economy.
_ Only 5% have access to Internet.
_ Only 23% have access to E-mail services.Washington, DC – The International Republican Institute (IRI) today released its... more
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A political science fiction thriller comic comes to Android and iPhone (courtesy of the Graphicly app) from funky indie group RIE STUDIOS. A fusion of manga and traditional Western comics, this is definitely one to check out. X-men and Ghost In The Shell fans will find some common ground here but where this comic gets really meaty is in its ironic depiction of ''afterlife'' ideology being something that people would divide the human race into two for.
Many themes exist in this comic expressed with the subtlety of a independent film; communism, capitalism, warring ideologies, corruption and revolution.
Check it out today.
http://www.riestudios.com/shienkoA political science fiction thriller comic comes to Android and iPhone (courtesy of... more
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This is so awesome!
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asherp
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1 year ago
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Last week I wrote why I would not pledge my allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Not surprisingly, I received a number of emails, some all in caps, yelling at me the familiar phrase so fraught with redneck intelligence and wit (or is that an oxymoron?) “America, Love it or Leave it!” Talk about polarizing the continuum? No wonder we are in such deep shit!Last week I wrote why I would not pledge my allegiance to the flag of the United... more
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PRESENTATION
W: We’re going to hear from Steve Lerner next, of SEIU, the Architect of the Justice for Janitors campaign. Currently, he’s working on partnering with unions and groups in Europe and South America, it’s building campaigns to hold financial institutions accountable.
S. Lerner: It seems to me that we’re in a moment where we need to figure out in a much more, through direct action, much more concrete way how we really are trying to disrupt and create uncertainty for capital, for how corporations operate. And it may sound like that’s a crazy thing that in a moment of weakness we could deal with it, but the thing about a boom and bust economy, it is actually incredibly fragile, because it’s not based on real way, well, it’s based on gambling and all of that. And so there are actually extraordinary things that we could do right now that would start to de, destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement. And for example, 10% of homeowners, going back to where you started, who are under, a quarter of all people who own a home are under water. Right? Their home is under water, they’re paying more for it than it’s worth. Ten percent of those people are now in strategic default, meaning they’re refusing to pay but they’re staying in their homes. That’s totally spontaneous. Right? They figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because the mort, the foreclosure’s backed up. I’m going to say I won’t pay. It’s just what business does, it’s a good, a good business decision. If you could double that number, you would make banks, put banks on the edge of insolvency again.PRESENTATION
W: We’re going to hear from Steve Lerner next, of SEIU, the... more
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When you think about it, Mormonism rose from the liberal religious trends in the early 19th century that also influenced abolitionism, transcendentalism, early feminism, and led to the founding of schools such as Oberlin College where all of these ideas merged and developed.
Joseph Smith wrote, “they did have all things in common — and there were no poor among them.” I can’t find any evidence of Beck, Buttars, Hatch, or Romney supporting that idea. I did find plenty of the opposite.When you think about it, Mormonism rose from the liberal religious trends in the early... more
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Jill Anzarut, a 35-year-old mother of two in Toronto, doesn't qualify for breast cancer treatment with a new drug that can prevent reoccurrence. Why? The lump she discovered in her breast is too small to qualify her for treatment, according to the guidelines established by Ontario's Medicare system. If she lived in British Columbia, Alberta or Saskatchewan, however, she'd receive the treatment without question.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/03/09/matt-gurney-ontario-tells-patient-to-come-back-when-shes-sicker/Jill Anzarut, a 35-year-old mother of two in Toronto, doesn't qualify for breast... more
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When it comes to life essential commodities, like energy, food, water and healthcare, why should the public not be allowed to own the rights to produce and provide them? We do not live in a constitutionally mandated PURELY capitalistic society. As a federal republic, with democratic governing principles, we are an ever vacillating blend of national characteristics and features. We foster socialistic mechanisms such as a national military, national education system, municipal police forces, municipal energy suppliers and so much more. At the same time, the public pays for business promotional departments within our government. (And why, should the public be paying business's promotion, p.r. and advertising? We protect business copyrights, patents and intellectual property. So, we are neither purely capitalistic, socialistic or purely any other "istic".
But, whenever the issue is raised of the public owning and operating any product, service or commodity, thereby competing with monopolistic corporations, and their profits, business crIes and screams FOUL! They shout "GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER!" and "GOVERNMENT CONTROL!",... What that truly means is, they don't want the public providing anything for themselves, because that would lessen they're access to our money in the form of their profits.
For decades now, the public has been "subsidizing" Big Oil both directly and indirectly. Europeans complain that we Americans are spoiled because of the cheap oil which we have been using for decades. But what they don't realize, is that in addition to the tax rebate subsidies we give Big Oil, we also subsidize them with our military efforts to protect their interests throughout the Middle East and elsewhere! To that point, we have been effectively subsidizing Europe's access to cheap oil. No other country spends trillions of dollars to protect oil interests the was the U.S. public does.
The point is, if we stop spending trillions to subsidize Big Oil, we can divert that money to a publicly owned, national buildout of alternative energy sources and supply services. Has the public not lost enough time and money, to ignore the possibility of doing and providing a few things for ourselves?
The truth is, that countries with national healthcare have better overall health than average Americans. And, their public is unanimously happy with national healthcare. But, Big Corporate Healthcare, along with Big Insurance, freaking out at the possibility that they might not be able to continue raping the public, shout, yell, kick, scream, protest and pay for protest, at the very mention of the public owning the process and delivery of healthcare. They try to discolor it as socialism, communism and even a sin against God. And all because they're afraid that their cash cow will stop producing fresh cream.
Have we, the American public, not created enough huge corporations, hugh corporate profits, multi millionaires from investing in those corporations? And what do we have to show for it in the end? Unaffordable insurance, insurance cancellation, pre-existing conditions exclusions and satellite sky high medical care costs. To top it off, reports from other than extreme right/corporate spin meisters say that we do not provide the best medical care in the world. But I bet we pay more than any other country for medical care, per capita.
Fellow Americans, have we not created enough wealth for others, to finally deserve providing life's necessities for ourselves, saving great sums of money in the process? Of course, vested corporate interests will deluge us with trumped up and falsified fact and figures suggesting that providing services and products for ourselves will cost us more than if they do it. While it is almost always false; in part because the hidden costs are never factored in, would you be willing to pay a few percent more to be guaranteed that you will always have access to that product or service when you need it? If you need a heart transplant, isn't it worth having spent a few cents more to make sure that you could have it, when you need it? If we had prolonged subzero weather, requiring unusual amounts of energy, wouldn't it be worth having spent a few cents more to make sure that you have access to as much of it as you want when you need it? and yet, it is usually nothing more that corporate propaganda, typically espoused by the extreme corporate/right, that suggests it would cost us more if we provide it for ourselves. This always makes me laugh and wonder, do the not anticipate that we will consider their profit margins as part of the costs to us for their products and services?
While very few Americans would want, or tolerate, complete communism or socialism, the public providing some of life's most essential products and services for ourselves, is neither one of the two. I think it's time we should start paying ourselves a little money. Let the corporations create other products and services to supply us, if we choose to consume them, and earn their fortunes that way. There is something a little insidious about putting the control of life's essentials in the hands of what has become, corporate vampires.When it comes to life essential commodities, like energy, food, water and healthcare,... more
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Chile to probe Allende's death
First investigation into the Socialist president's alleged suicide to be launched 37 years after he was found dead.
Last Modified: 28 Jan 2011 00:09 GMT
Allende became Chile's first socialist president when he came to power in 1970 [Reuters]
Chile is launching its first investigation into the death of President Salvador Allende, 37 years after the socialist leader was found shot through the head during an attack on the presidential palace.
Allende's death, during the bloody US-backed coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power on September 11, 1973, had until now been ruled a suicide.
The investigation is part of an investigation into hundreds of complaints of human rights abuses during Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule.
Beatriz Pedrals, a prosecutor in the appellate court in Santiago, said on Thursday that she had decided to investigate 726 deaths that had never previously been explored, including Allende's.
"What has not been investigated, the courts will investigate ... This will finally establish what happened," she said.
'More than important'
Chile's "truth commission" reported in 1991 that the Pinochet dictatorship killed 3,797 people. Most of those cases have been investigated, leading to human rights trials for about 600 military figures and a small number of civilian collaborators.
The task of investigating the previously unexamined 726 deaths now falls on Mario Carroza, an experienced investigative judge who already is handling hundreds of other human rights cases.
Judge Carroza described it as "work that is more than important, a tremendous responsibility".
He told reporters that he would seek information from a variety of sources, including a judge now investigating the deaths of Allende's comrades, who disappeared after surrendering to the military outside the palace.
Allende became Chile's first socialist president when he came to power in 1970 after winning a narrow
election victory. But his ascent to power was not welcomed by all.
Conservatives in Chile and Washington feared his attempts to pave "a Chilean way toward Socialism" - including the nationalisation of US mining interests - would usher in a pro-Soviet communist government.
Henry Kissinger, US secretary of state under then president Richard Nixon, made quite clear what US intentions were after Allende's election.
"The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves ... I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people," Kissinger said at the time.
Truth 'pending'
Allende was found dead in the presidential palace as soldiers supporting the coup closed in and warplanes bombed the building.
An official autopsy ruled that he had committed suicide, although the results have long been questioned by some politicians and human rights groups.
Osvaldo Andrade, the president of Allende's Socialist Party, applauded the decision to investigate.
"Truth and justice remains a pending subject in Chile and whatever is done so that the truth comes out will always be well received by us,'' Andrade said.
"There remains a deficit of truth and a deficit of justice in Chile and we hope that the deficit becomes ever more small.''
Pinochet governed as a dictator until March 11, 1990, and died in 2006.Chile to probe Allende's death
First investigation into the Socialist... more
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Now, I never aim to inspire defeatism, but today I aim to inspire disillusionment, which is a very different thing. I think we can all agree it’s a good thing to be without illusion, and right now there are far too many of us who believe in this illusion that the folks at the top got their through legitimate means, and maintain their position through legitimate means, that The Man’s game is a fair one.
The Man? Yeah. Normally, I don’t like abstractions like this, but for the sake of understanding our economic situation, I find it’s easier to understand if we lump the so called “captains of industry” together into one entity. If we lump the Wall Street Banks, the Globalist Chemical Companies, the Globalist Factory Farms, the Military Industrial Complex, everything that isn’t Labor, into one entity. Because it really is, us versus them.
Right now we’ve got a Republican President who is pretending to be a Democrat, and we’ve got a Republican Party who is trying to send our nation back to the time of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.” We had a regressive corporate shill in Clinton who totally fucked working people of America over with NAFTA and the WTO. We had regressive corporate shills in GW Bush and Reagan who busted unions and rolled back labor protections, environmental protections, consumer safety protections, all in the name of the fuckers at the top making shit loads of money while you die of cancer because of their pollution in your air, water and soil.
An illusion we need to dispense with is that we all share equally in our nation's prosperity, that a rising tide lifts all boats, as it were.
Truth is, as the rich get richer, we get poorer, which is clearly demonstrated by this chart you can view over at StateOfWorkingAmerica.org
The lower 90% of Americans, by income bracket, have actually seen their mean wages decline since 1977, while the top 1% by income bracket, have seen their income balloon wildly, seeing their already absurdly high income triple, while our income has declined. We’re working more today, for less money.
Another illusion is that most people you know are middle class. This is bullshit, pure and simple.
Most people who think that they are middle class are actually working poor, and hover just above the poverty line.
And to the Union Labor in WI, who is saying publicly that they’re willing to negotiate all their benefits away... This isn’t a time to be negotiating. This is a time to get aggressive. Shit is getting serious, people are losing their homes, the whole fucking economic system is collapsing, and people are suffering. This is the time to go for the whole goddamn cake.
Why? Well, there’s something you should know:
It was never in the plans for you to make any money, to make anything of yourself.
It was never in the plans for anybody but the rich, the REALLY rich, to get ahead in life.
That is an illusion started with the Horatio Algers stories of rags to riches. We love these stories here in America. They show real life examples once and a while as fluff peices on the nightly news. But these cases are extreme statistical outliers, you’re more likely to get rich playing the lotto than by working hard and keeping your head down. It doesn’t matter that it’s never going to fucking happen to you. The Rags to Riches story still a cornerstone of the American Dream. But Horatio Algers wrote fiction, and dreams are fantasies experienced while asleep.
You are poor. How do I know? I don’t. But by pure statistics alone, I’m certain you are. You might be in denial about this, but the truth remains, you’re poor.
You’re just one severe illness away from being homeless, and losing everything, but maybe you don’t know it. There are middle class people, people with insurance, who get cancer, cap out on their claims, lose everything, and die homeless. And with cancer rates rising every passing year, this is lottery game you’re far more likely to win.
Unless things begin to change, and I mean REALLY CHANGE, you're going to be poor FOREVER, too. And your kids are going to be poor. My generation is the first generation that will do worse than their parents. Not because we’re lazy, but because the free-market economic system is collapsing in on us, and we’re being forced to take shittier jobs, without union protection, without benefits, with lower wages. Thanks to NAFTA and the WTO, my generation has to compete with children in China who are literally working for rice. We have to compete with workers in Mexico who get paid 7 cents and hour. Unless we change things, we’re going to keep getting poorer and poorer.
When you get poorer, the rich get even richer.
How? That’s just the rules of the game. The game called “Free Market Capitalism.”
The Super Rich, the parasites down on Wall Street, they own the whole goddamn Monopoly game. They own the playing board, they own the shoe and the thimble and the scottish terrier, they own the dice, and they own the money. They are The Man. We all play by their rules. Don’t beleive me? Have you checked your credit score lately? Oh, it doesn’t look so good does it. Maybe that’s because you have too much credit card debt. Or not enough credit card debt. Or maybe you don’t pay your statements off fast enough. Or maybe you pay your balance off too fast. Or maybe it’s just all just fucking bullshit set up by the bankers on Wall Street to control your spending habits so they can steal even more of your goddamn money by making interest off of your debt.
So, What are the rules?
The rules go like this: you work for them your whole life, give up every waking moment to earn that money that you so desperately need to stay alive, and then when you get it, you pay rent back to your capitalist master for permission to keep living. So that you can keep living to do what? To keep working, until you get too old to work and become either social securities problem, or if social security is gone by then, you become your kids problem. And if your kids can’t support you because they’re competing against workers in Mexico who get 7 cents an hour, then you end up on the street curb with the rest of the trash that nobody wants.
You’re a fool to think that the money you earn is ever really yours. That money is owned by The Man, and he’s only lending it to you temporarily, so that you THINK you’re making progress. They’ll take it back from you soon enough. And no I’m not talking about taxes. The Man gives you just enough of their money so that you stay just happy enough, or just confused enough, that you don’t fully realize you’re being totally fucked every moment of your life.
Every breath you take, they are snatching their money back from you. You want to buy food so you don’t starve to death, you pay The Man. You pay Kraft Foods, Inc and you pay Con Agra and you pay Monsanto. You can’t get to your job by public transport so you have to buy a car. You get your loan to buy your from The Man.
The Man charges you interest on this new debt you just created, and The Man immediately begins to trade your debt with his buddies, as if it were money.
If time is money, it stands to reason that money is time, and when you are in debt, you owe your time on this earth to the Man. When the man is trading your debt like money, what he’s really doing is trading your life away. He is selling derivatives on his ownership of your every breath. He’s trading in futures of YOU, with the implicit guarantee that you’ll keep slaving your sorry ass to the bone so that The Man can turn more profits, because you promised to give The Man back all the money he just gave you and then some.
So now you’re working for The Man for free. How does it feel to be a slave? Shut up, go watch TV. Don’t talk politics. How dare you question America, the greatest best country on earth that god ever gave to man? Gave to man? Or gave to The Man?Now, I never aim to inspire defeatism, but today I aim to inspire disillusionment,... more
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asherp
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Right now in Wisconsin their Koch Brother funded, dick-wad Governor is trying to strip public employees the right to organize. What’s hidden behind the awesome demonstration in which labor has occupied the capitol building, is the fact that the labor groups have conceded to every budgetary demand, except losing their right to organize. Gov Walker won’t budge, proving that this is about one thing and one thing only: Union busting. And any attack on unions should be viewed as a full-on assault on the middle class.
This is class warfare motherfuckers.
America, we’ve been so scared shitless, and so willing to compromise away everything that we have, we’ve got nothing left to bargain with and so now begging just to hold on to our last shred of dignity. And even then we’re trying now to parse that last shred into slivers and use them as bargaining chips. We have been so passive, that we have allowed all the gains won by the labor movements of the 1920s and 30s, the socialists of the midwest, and the wobblies and the communists during the 1940s... all of it to be taken away.
Our forefathers in the labor movement must be rolling in their graves.
They were beaten, shot at, and died for your right to a 40 hour week.
They were beaten, shot at, and died for your right to a weekend.
They were beaten, shot at, and died for your right to organize.
They were beaten, shot at, and died for your right to overtime pay.
They were beaten, shot at, and died for your right to safe workplace conditions.
These are all things that we take for granted. But to get even these little consolations, they had to be beaten, shot at and killed.Right now in Wisconsin their Koch Brother funded, dick-wad Governor is trying to strip... more
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asherp
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WWH -This letter arrived the other day in response to my series on the Collapse of Capitalism. I thought I should share it with all of you.WWH -This letter arrived the other day in response to my series on the Collapse of... more
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This is the trailer for the inspiring new feature length documentary Sylvia Pankhurst: Everything is possible now available on DVD from the charity WORLDwrite. The full film is packed with little-known facts, rare archive imagery, expert interviews and exclusive testimony from Sylvia’s son, Richard Pankhurst and his wife Rita. The campaigns Sylvia led embraced far more than ‘votes for women’ as she uniquely understood the fight for democratic rights required a challenge to the system. For full details visit www.worldwrite.org.uk/sylviapankhurstThis is the trailer for the inspiring new feature length documentary Sylvia Pankhurst:... more
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President Obama is vowing to veto any bill with earmarks in the State of the Union speech to be delivered at 9:00pm Tuesday, according to his prepared remarks.
“Both parties in Congress should know this: if a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it,” the speech says.President Obama is vowing to veto any bill with earmarks in the State of the Union... more
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When is a Nazi not a Nazi? Apparently after you parse your words closely enough to find a lame loophole to avoid what you said. Like Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Stupidville), for example.When is a Nazi not a Nazi? Apparently after you parse your words closely enough to... more
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Caught in the eye of the financial crisis, underprivileged Americans have begun seeking ways to subvert system inequality by turning to the new tactic of economic disobedience.
Researchers and activists are documenting that wages in the US have been dropping while benefits and pensions are being cut. In the face of this, some have turned to a different form of protest that does not entail carrying placards or statement-making arrests. This form of resistance is happening in places hardly visible.
In poor neighborhoods in New York City, some residents organize to raise a little money to buy subway cards offering unlimited rides, and swipe as many people in as they can to give them a free ride.
For Ollie, one of the activists who organizes this form of disobedience, most importantly it is a response to an economic system that he sees as unfair.
"Taxes are cut for wealthy people and there are bailouts for banks and none of it reaches people in this neighborhood, and we think that is wrong," Ollie said.
“I think fundamentally it is a neighborhood of immigrants and it is always been that way – a neighborhood that has never had much of a political voice. If they are not going to bail us out this is what we'll do to bail ourselves out,” he states.
Lisa Dodson, an American sociologist, found this subversion of the system is happening across the country. However, she also discovered that the practice extends to middle-class businesses, where managers break rules to help their employees.
“These were managers who felt that the people working for them – doing their jobs, being responsible – were still unable to take care of their family," Dodson, from Boston College, described.
http://rt.com/news/disadvantaged-turn-disobedience-us/
In her research, Dodson found grocery store managers sending bags of food home with workers, fast food managers padding paychecks with overtime wages. Though she said most of these managers were generally opposed to breaking rules, they felt their actions were justified by the circumstances.
“Ignoring the fact that people who are working very hard for you are unable to feed their children…in the minds of some people at least, that has become a bigger wrong," Dodson added.Caught in the eye of the financial crisis, underprivileged Americans have begun... more
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