Category: Politics

Working Class Hero is Under Attack

On By Anne LeonardIn PoliticsLeave a comment

http://youtu.be/njG7p6CSbCU

“The National Labor Relations Act prohibits companies from taking any actions, whether firing employees or relocating a factory, against workers for exercising federally protected rights that include forming a union or going on strike.”

“It makes it easier to shift jobs overseas,” he said. “It eliminates the only remedy to force companies to bring back work from overseas. This outsourcers Bill of Rights is not only bad for the interests of workers, it’s bad for the economy at large.”Yep, that about sums it up…

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/business/house-approves-bill-restricting-nlrb.html

LET EM’ ALL DIE!

On By Anne LeonardIn PoliticsLeave a comment

If Democrats can’t win when Republican are bragging about letting poor people die because they don’t have  insurance, we don’t deserve to win! -@Pres_Bartlet Fictional Former President

WordPress Political Blogger

FED UP…

On By Anne LeonardIn PoliticsLeave a comment

“The Indifferent Do Not Grieve”

On By Anne LeonardIn PoliticsLeave a comment

Indulge in a momentary lapse of utopian thought, that will (no doubt) fade, faster than the next headline appears…Perhaps,the collective reflection on the anniversary of 9/11  will spark familiarity of the commons.   And, perhaps this new enlightenment will become the light house beckoning us from the churning sea of political division.   

The anniversary has been marked with memorial offerings & somber reflections.   One of the most compelling-a brilliant reflective summation by Leon Wieseltier …

 On Thursday night, The New Republic, in partnership with the Kennedy Center and the Pentagon, commemorated the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. The event (which can be viewed in its entirety here.)  Remarks by Leon Wieseltier, The New Republic’s literary editor, on what we, as Americans, affirm:

“Though we encounter it as suffering,  grief is in fact an affirmation. The indifferent do not grieve, the uncommitted do not grieve, the loveless do not grieve. We mourn only the loss of what we have loved and what we have valued, and in this way mourning darkly refreshes our knowledge of the causes of our loves and the reasons for our values. Our sorrow restores us to the splendors of our connectedness to people and to principles. It is the yes of a broken heart.  In our bereavement we discover how much was ruptured by death, and also how much was not ruptured. These tears lead directly to introspection…
….The obscenities of September 11, 2001 exposed the difference between builders and destroyers. We are builders. Let us agree, on this anniversary, that it is an honor to be an American and it is an honor to be free.”  Read the entire moving speech.

 Interesting reads:

 http://www.tnr.com/article/94786/tnr-kennedy-center-9-11-ten-years-later-madeleine-albright-colin-powell-condoleeza-rice

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/94154/september-11-the-changed-world               

http://www.tnr.com/article/94796/peretz-miami-herald-evidence-9-11

WAR IS BUSINESS…

On By Anne LeonardIn ANTI WAR, Democrats, peace, Politics1 Comment

US War Profiteering: Coup de grâce to the sanctimonious ‘American Dream’ hyperbole.

Nothing captures the essence of ‘war as business’ better than the satirical brilliance of War Inc. (2008). Corporate sponsorship of war (depicted in the film) may seem far-fetched, but the industrial military complex of our current reality is proof that this far fetched notion is disturbingly accurate. Perhaps, serving up the truth with a side order of satire helps to make the unspeakable reality of wars for profit (in spite of human devastation) easier to stomach. But, off screen, the harsh reality doesn’t end when the credits roll.

Funding contrived, perpetual wars in the name of greed… is the new American way. Our leaders (past and present) sell the notion of war by exploiting the villain, victim, hero frames deeply embedded in the psyche. The ever looming threat of terrorism (fueled by metaphors of fear) provide the necessary level of political brainwashing to gain supporters. Soon, the war mongering puppet masters execute murder-for-profit contracts, written in blood.

Support war or suffer the consequences-opposition will be labeled treasonous, unpatriotic, or un-American. But, anti-war activists are immune the tactical framing and political brainwashing of the war mongers.

They see contrived war for the scam it really is…war profiteering fraught with waste, fraud, and abuse.

Governments offer up the human sacrifices to fuel the war profiteering machine. Stop the machine. Know the truth.

“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” — Howard Zinn

Interesting reads/Sites:

http://antiwar.com/

Commission on Wartime Contracting Report

http://www.fff.org/comment/com1109j.asp

http://www.warresisters.org/warprofiteers

http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/08/29/5989/windfalls-war-pentagons-no-bid-contracts-triple-10-years-war/

http://costofwar.com/en/publications/2011/ten-years-after-911/department-defense-budget/

http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/08/31/5992/windfalls-war-pentagon-buys-choppers-russia-equip-afghan-iraqi-militaries

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0884224/

http://www.commondreams.org/category/broad-topics/militarism/war-profiteering

http://www.warprofiteering.net /

http://www.thenation.com/article/blackwater-founder-implicated-murder

http://iraqforsale.org/

http://october2011.org/

http://www.imdb.com/company/co0079035/

Labor Day

On By Anne LeonardIn PoliticsLeave a comment

The world is agreed that labor is the source from which human wants are mainly supplied.-Lincoln

Labor Day honors the contributions of working men and women to America’s
social and economic life.

Q: When was Labor Day first celebrated in the United States?

A: After the first Labor Day in New York City, celebrations began to spread to
other states as workers fought to win workplace rights and better working
conditions and wages at a time when they had little power.

In 1893, New York City workers took an unpaid day off and marched around Union
Square in support of a national Labor Day. The following year, 12,000 federal
troops were called into Pullman, Ill., to break up a huge strike against the
Pullman railway company and two workers were shot and killed by U.S. deputy
marshals.

In what most historians call an election-year attempt to appease workers after
the federal crackdown on the Pullman strike, shortly after the strike was
broken, President Grover Cleveland signed legislation making the first Monday
in September Labor Day and a federal holiday. Cleveland lost the election.

Q: When did Labor Day become a national holiday?

A: After the first Labor Day in New York City, celebrations began to spread to
other states as workers fought to win workplace rights and better working
conditions and wages at a time when they had little power. In 1893, New York
City workers took an unpaid day off and marched around Union Square in support
of a national Labor Day. The following year, 12,000 federal troops were called
into Pullman, Ill., to break up a huge strike against the Pullman railway
company and two workers were shot and killed by U.S. deputy marshals. In what
most historians call an election year attempt to appease workers after the
federal crackdown on the Pullman strike, shortly after the strike was broken,
President Grover Cleveland signed legislation making the first Monday in
September Labor Day and a federal holiday.

Q: Who founded Labor Day?

A: That’s a matter of dispute among historians. Some say Peter J. McGuire,
general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a co-founder
of the American Federation of Labor, first suggested a day to honor workers.
Others credit Matthew Maguire, a machinist who served as secretary of the
Central Labor Union in New York.

Q: Is Labor Day just about unions?

A: No. The U.S. Department of Labor describes Labor Day this way: “It is a
creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic
achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to
the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being
of our country.”

Ref: http://www.aflcio.org/upload/laborday2011/index.html?continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aflcio.org%2Findex.cfm

Sexism is a Social Disease

On By Anne LeonardIn Democrats, EQUAL RIGHTS, EQUALITY, Liberals, peace, Politics, SUFFRAGE, WOMEN3 Comments

The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins

when the doctor says, “It’s a girl.” ~Shirley Chisholm

WHAT IS WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY?


“At the behest of Rep. Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971 the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as Women’s Equality Day.”

“The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention, in Seneca Falls, New York.”

The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality.

The headlines read, “WOMEN GET THE VOTE.” The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. After decades of oppression, women’s rights advocates brought a triumphant end to the U.S. women’s suffrage movement. The movement began, simply enough, by women who gathered together to voice their frustration over social, economic, and gender disparities. The convergence of their collective intelligence, conveyed through public discourse, produced a platform to share their concerns, philosophies, and proposed solutions. Once women realized the power and influence behind their collective voices, they changed the course of politics for generations to come.

References:

http://www.nwhp.org/resourcecenter/equalityday.php (National Women’s History Project)

http://www.legacy98.org/

http://www.legacy98.org/timeline.html (Historic Timeline)

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned…

On By Anne LeonardIn Democrats, PoliticsLeave a comment

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned…

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex (Amendment XIX).

Women are passionate, effective, and extremely powerful advocates.  After all, a typical day in a Woman’s life begins seconds after the alarm breaks the silence of dawn.  Within minutes, she hits the ground running…  she starts the coffee, prepares breakfasts and lunches, and then she’ll jump in the shower.  After that, she’ll fold a load of yesterday’s laundry, load the dishwasher, and then get dressed.  Before she loads the car, she’ll feed the dogs, empty the cat litter box, and take out the trash.

On the way to her second job she’ll drop off the dry cleaning, fill up the car with gas, and stop by the post office.  But, it doesn’t end there.  She is constantly planning ahead- even running personal errands on her lunch hour.  After an eight to ten hour grind, she’ll head back home to finish the marathon that she started at daybreak-and this, is on a slow day.

(A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. A woman must do what he can’t-. Rhonda Hansome )

A woman can scale Mount Everest in the same amount of time that it takes a man to perform his morning constitutional (atop his porcelain throne- while thumbing through the sports pages). Women are obviously the movers and shakers of humanity.  Why then, are women (still) grossly underrepresented?

Kirsten Gillibrand wrote:

    Last year, as a result of the 2010-midterm elections, the 112th Congress became the first in a generation to start out with fewer women in its ranks than the Congress before it. After decades of slow incremental growth in the number of women serving in Congress, last year we actually lost ground, dropping from 93 to 92 women (thankfully Kathy Hochul’s victory last summer returned us to the previous level.)

But 2011 also saw the House of Representatives engage in an unprecedented assault on women’s reproductive rights. Whether it was their passage of a bill to defund Planned Parenthood or their legislation that would allow hospitals receiving federal funds to refuse reproductive care to women even if their life was in danger, time and again, the House of Representatives proved it was hostile toward women’s rights.

~Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned- W. Congreve (1697).

Ladies, it’s time to get serious, get mad, and get motivated. It’s time to get off the sidelines:

No words…

On By Anne LeonardIn PoliticsLeave a comment

http://www.buzzfeed.com/abrams/rick-perry-bumper-sticker-ftw

 

Forget the Boots, Save the Watches!

On By Anne LeonardIn PoliticsLeave a comment

I’ve always said that  if you want any Sh*t out of Perry, just squeeze his neck.  And, apparently, Perry has plenty to spare because his campaign trail is so littered, it’s impossible to wade through the enormous piles of manure he leaves behind at every stop.  FORGET THE BOOTS, SAVE THE WATCHES! It’s getting deep around here.

If you’re from Texas, you already know that Rick Perry is crazy.  So crazy, in fact, he’s often referred to as Straight Jacket Perry.  A glimpse into that empty pea brain of his reveals that, not only is this man one brick shy of a load, he is 100% certifiable. Here’s PROOF. Just take a peek at the whopper ideas that made the Think Progress Top 10 Weird List:

— 10. Social Security Is Evil.

—9. Conscription and Wartime Price Controls.

— 8.Medicare is Too Expensive .

— 7. All Bank Regulation Is Unconstitutional.

— 6. Consumer Financial Protection Is Unconstitutional.

— 5. Almost Everything Is Unconstitutional.

— 4. Federal Education Policy Is Unconstitutional.

— 3. Al Gore Is Part Of A Conspiracy To Deny The Existence Of Global Cooling.

— 2. Activist Judges Are a Problem.

—1. The Civil War Was Caused By Slaveowners Trampling On Northern States’ Rights.

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/08/15/295427/295427/