Jefferson Weeps...

Chinese Struggling Less Than Americans to Afford Basics

2011-10-15T01:08:00.001-04:00

Really interesting discovery available directly through the Gallup Polls, themselves - I believe it's safe to consider Gallup a somewhat dependable news source, that, if anything, I thought had a tendency to lean a bit right... Well, here's a story that has been a long time in coming and could significantly alter one's worldview (if one were open to such things in the first place...)

Head on over to Gallup and read more on how [The] Chinese [are] Struggling Less Than Americans to Afford Basics

Poster: 51 Ways to Spark a Commons Revolution

2011-10-04T17:09:00.001-04:00

From the fine folks over at "YES! Magazine" we get this article - a poster, really - showing 51 ways to spark a "commons" revolution.

For those not familiar with the term, here is a Wikipedia article about a (the!) classic essay dealing with the topic, entitled "Tragedy of the Commons"

As for the rest of you? Head on over to:
Poster: 51 Ways to Spark a Commons Revolution @ YES! Magazine

A Report from the Frontlines: The Long Road to #OccupyWallStreet and the Origins of the 99% Movement

2011-10-02T23:23:00.009-04:00

Been watching & waiting before discussing this, but I need to address the issue at *some* point - might as well be now! I'm still planning on getting to *one* of the "occupied zones" - be it NYC, Boston, Providence, Hartford, or even my old hometown of New Haven...

Meanwhile...

Given the delay in posting this, why don't we start with a summary of how things led to "Occupy Wall Street" and the "Occupy Together" "Occupations" around the country, Canada, (ex: Toronto, Vancouver) and other nations around the world!

Here's an article from http://ampedstatus.org that should do the job nicely: A Report from the Frontlines: The Long Road to #OccupyWallStreet and the Origins of the 99% Movement @ AmpedStatus

Freedom to die

2011-09-23T17:22:00.001-04:00

From the article: "Despite the existence of charity care and county hospitals, though, the human cost of uninsurance persists. The best estimate I am aware of is that 45,000 people die every year because of their lack of insurance.

But, f**k them, because I've got mine. Am I right? They're lazy, irresponsible, poor, probably black, certainly unwashed and they have nice cell phones, so they are subhuman pieces of shit who deserve what's coming to them. And an individual mandate is an unconscionable impingement on my personal liberty.

This is, as best I can tell, the libertarian take on the ongoing crisis of the uninsured. We are all free, and some lucky duckies are free to die."

Read the whole story at the "Movin' Meat" blog: Freedom to die

Obama to GOP: If this is `class warfare,’ then get ready for a very long fight...

2011-09-23T00:36:00.002-04:00

"The other day, Obama threw the charge of “class warfare” back in the GOP’s face, arguing that Republicans were the ones waging class warfare on behalf of the wealthy" Today he calls them out by name, and is ready for a long fight..."

Read the rest at "The Washington Post" Obama to GOP: If this is `class warfare,’ then get ready for a very long fight

A low in jobs, mobility, marriage for young adults

2011-09-23T00:35:00.004-04:00

New 2010 census data show the wrenching impact of a recession that officially ended in mid-2009. It highlights the missed opportunities and dim prospects for a generation of mostly 20-somethings and 30-somethings coming of age in a prolonged slump with high unemployment.

Here is the story from the Associated Press: A low in jobs, mobility, marriage for young adults

Live Coverage: Occupy Wall Street

2011-09-23T00:35:00.002-04:00

From "Reader Supported News'" we have a "live" feed from the financial district... Live Coverage: Occupy Wall Street

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Says Executing An Innocent Man Is Not Unconstitutional

2011-09-23T00:34:00.006-04:00

This little number comes to us via @Being Liberal and @Kelly Glover “This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is “actually” innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged “actual innocence” is constitutionally cognizable.” So, who cares that they may be innocent, they are sentenced to die so kill them."

Here's the back-story at "Addicting Info" Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Says Executing An Innocent Man Is Not Unconstitutional

Mainstream media’s failure to cover Wall Street protests

2011-09-23T00:34:00.005-04:00

Whomever controls the media controls the people... But, no, *our* (corporate-owned) networks would never engage in any coverage blackouts or partisan censorship...

Here is Will Bunch, author of ‘The Backlash,’ on mainstream media’s failure to cover Wall Street protests from the "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" show: Mainstream media’s failure to cover Wall Street protests

U.S. Justice System Murders Troy Anthony Davis

2011-09-23T00:33:00.002-04:00

Recanted testimony, no DNA match, no real evidence to speak of, and still, they go ahead with the execution of a man most likely innocent...

Read more at "Addicting Info" U.S. Justice System Murders Troy Anthony Davis

House GOP Rejects Tax Cuts For Middle Class

2011-09-18T03:05:00.002-04:00

Well, we may be witnessing a seemingly contradictory and rather unusual tax turnabout amongst our elected officials. It seems that the Republican Party managed to find a tax cut that *they* don't like - most likely because the intended beneficiaries aren't going to be their longtime BFFs - the super-wealthy or multinational corporations. (You may still want to check outside for the arrival of flying pigs...)

The article from ThinkProgress goes on to say, "Republicans finally found a tax cut they didn’t like in the payroll tax holiday. What’s unusual about the payroll tax, which funds Social Security, is that cutting it almost entirely affects middle- and working- class people. Because the tax only applies to the first roughly $100,000 a person earns someone who makes $200,000 or $300,000 gets the same tax cut as someone making $100,000."

Read the rest of this amazing "feel-good" story (just kidding)
OK... read the rest of the article describing yet another Republican Party attack on the middle-class and working poor in its long-standing war against the working classes in: House GOP Rejects Tax Cuts For Middle Class @ ThinkProgress

Can the Middle Class Be Saved? - Magazine - The Atlantic

2011-09-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

Can the Middle Class Be Saved? - Magazine - The Atlantic

The Greater Recession: America Suffers from a Crisis of Productivity - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

2011-09-08T20:14:00.000-04:00

The Greater Recession: America Suffers from a Crisis of Productivity - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

Why the Republicans Want to Raise Your Taxes - US News and World Report

2011-09-08T20:09:00.000-04:00

Why the Republicans Want to Raise Your Taxes - US News and World Report

Why Political Reformers Should Be Careful What They Wish For - Edward Tenner - Politics - The Atlantic

2011-09-08T20:02:00.000-04:00

Why Political Reformers Should Be Careful What They Wish For - Edward Tenner - Politics - The Atlantic

Jobs Will Follow a Strengthening of the Middle Class - NYTimes.com

2011-09-08T19:54:00.000-04:00

The Limping Middle Class - NYTimes.com

20 Reasons To Thank Labor Unions

2011-09-05T14:48:00.000-04:00

20 Reasons To Thank Labor Unions | Addicting Info

REPORT: The American Middle Class Was Built By Unions And It Will Decline Without Them

2011-09-05T14:47:00.000-04:00

REPORT: The American Middle Class Was Built By Unions And It Will Decline Without Them | ThinkProgress

Hello Corporate Profits, Goodbye Worker Pay

2011-07-07T13:15:00.000-04:00

"Since World War II, there's never been a worse recovery for jobs and worker pay. And never a better one for corporate profits."

Read more from the Curious Capitalist blog at Time: Hello Corporate Profits, Goodbye Worker Pay - The Curious Capitalist - TIME.com

The final nail in the supply side coffin

2011-07-07T13:12:00.000-04:00

Taxes are low and corporate profits are high, but nothing is trickling down to the American worker.
Read more at Salon: The final nail in the supply side coffin - How the World Works - Salon.com

What 52 Years Of Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Looks Like

2011-03-29T17:59:00.002-04:00

"Why has the federal tax burden on the nation’s 400 highest annual incomes decreased by two-thirds, while the median American family’s is on the rise?"

See the infographic from MoveOn: What 52 Years Of Tax Cuts For The Wealthy Looks Like @ MoveOn.Org

Wal Mart v. Dukes and the Matter of Size

2011-03-29T15:41:00.001-04:00

"Tomorrow the Court will hear arguments in one of the most important civil rights cases in the country’s history. Their decision will pave the way for further progress or stop it dead in its tracks. In Wal-Mart v. Dukes, one million employees take on the largest public corporation in the world in a case that could cost the company $1 billion. But this case is about something much bigger than $1 billion; it is about whether or not any American citizen will have the ability to try to stop illegal bias in the workplace. In David v. Goliath, the Supreme Court will decide who gets the slingshot."

"Consider this — it is infinitely cheaper to pay off one employee (or bury her in legal fees) and to continue the illegal pay disparity than it is to pay all employees what they should have been paid all along. By limiting the ability of similar individuals to act as a group, the Court will diminish the individuals’ power to challenge a bigger (and richer) wrong-doer. It is only the ability to challenge illegal bias as a group that renders the action economically viable for the plaintiffs (and yes, for the lawyers who work for them). Similarly, it is only the threat of action by a group that makes illegal bias economically un-viable for a corporation.

As it happens, in matters of law and money, size does matter.

If the Supreme Court upholds the Ninth Circuit and agrees that “mere size does not render a case unmanageable,” regular Americans will be able to challenge illegal bias in the workplace. If the Supreme Court strikes down the Ninth Circuit’s decision, they won’t."

Read the article at Truthout: Wal Mart v. Dukes and the Matter of Size

We Are One - April 4th

2011-03-29T14:27:00.001-04:00

On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: The right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life. The workers were trying to form a union with AFSCME.

Beginning with worship services over the April 1 weekend, and continuing through the week of April 4, unions, people of faith, civil and human rights activists, students and other progressive allies will host a range of community- and workplace-focused actions.

Join us in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for: the freedom to bargain, to vote, to afford a college education and justice for all workers, immigrant and native-born. It’s a day to show movement. Teach-ins. Vigils. Faith events. A day to be creative, but clear: We are one.

Visit the website at: We Are One April 4

Why Are Republicans Frightened of Poor People and Students?

2011-03-10T22:34:00.001-05:00

"The GOP’s legislative assault on everything and everyone that it doesn’t like continues unabated. The midterms ensured that the GOP will be able to push through changes that attempt to fundamentally change the political paradigm in this country. This is nothing new, Republicans are quite good at using government and the legislative process to proscribe political power and win elections."

"These proposals are nothing but a partisan ploy to depress the turnout of people whose peers tend to vote for the other side. Students, low-income Americans, and ex-felons are watching their rights and their voice, their political power, be legislated away. It’s time for all of us to stand up and say no."

Read the rest of the story at: We Are Now.org

Someone got me started... Teachers' Unions (Are Good!!)

2011-03-01T00:09:00.002-05:00

In response to a thread on Facebook that was discussing Teacher's Unions...

Somebody said something along the lines of "If you think teachers unions care about the "kids," I got a bridge for sale ..."

Well... Here's a reply!

Teacher's Unions aren't *meant* to care about the children - they are *meant* to care about the teachers...

That's what unions are supposed to do - represent workers.
Insure a fair wage in a safe workplace, with insurance and other benefits...
Make sure that they get paid for extra hours or extra days...
Insure that the idea of "weekends" doesn't just disappear...
Make sure that there is "just cause" and a paper-trail prior to terminating someone's employment, rather than a shift in the political winds, or having irritated the wrong person...

The unions are the *only* remaining defense against the "New Robber Barons" and the workplace atrocities of years gone-by (or still here, in the Third World) - that must be it!!!

Wait! I've got it!

These people are secretly Communists looking to drag us down to create equality with our sisters and brothers in the Third World!!!
How could I have missed that for so long???
They've been saying, "The Union People should have to do "X" like "we" do..."
Always bringing the unions down to their level and never questioning why they should not be *elevated* to the Union level....
Tax cuts to the wealthy, giant loopholes for corporations, yet these same people insist that Union members should tighten their belts because other members of the working class are getting a raw deal!

OK... we shall all meet at the bottom, then!

Ah... wait.... I have to change my answer....

There is no way in hell that I would be willing to throw my entire way-of-life out the window until I see a *very* big pile of castoffs from those one-percenters who have 99% of the wealth in the entire world (Many, not *all*, but many, are people that were born on Third Base and think they hit a Triple!) They never seem willing to give up on anything, or tighten any belts...

Tell ya what - Let's fix the folks getting the raw deal, and not defame the rare few whom have managed to hang on to one of the last shreds of worker protection in the USA.... These people are not getting anything better for you, but *without* them, you'll never get anything better...

And like you may have seen posted elsewhere today, here are some words to the wise:

A unionized public employee, a member of the Tea Party and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table there is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across the table and takes 11 cookies, looks at the Tea Partier, and says,"Watch out for that union guy. He wants a piece of your cookie."

For a great look at why unions are essential, see
http://prorev.com/unions.htm

Don't drag them down... get yourself elevated, and get the greedy, filthy paws of the *rich* out of your pockets!

---- ALSO ---A JEFFERSON WEEPS EXCLUSIVE---ADDITIONAL CONTENT------

Just because it applies to the "Teachers' Union" discussion, here is another piece via Facebook that addresses the plight of our teachers... (May Be A Repost, But It Is Still Good Info!)

TITLE:
This is great... Read this if you appreciate or even hate teachers.
BY:
Eedroj Remier on Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 4:42pm

Are you sick of high paid teachers? Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only for the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan — that equals 6 1/2 hours).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now how many do they teach in day…maybe 30?
So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!!
I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 peryear. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those Special Education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour.
That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here!
There sure is!

The average teacher’s salary (nation-wide) is $50,000.
$50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student!
(A very inexpensive baby-sitter AND they even EDUCATE your kids!)

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