A Day Of My Life

Life is Better Than We Believe (sometimes)

2016-09-14T17:19:00.001-07:00

There is no way to be prepared to literally fight for your own life.

We do not often contemplate our own mortality until our mortality is threatened, then there is the numbing feeling that washes over the skin leaving one without words, and only mantra of “oh shit, oh shit, oh shit oh shit" running rampant through the mind.

Stunned, we make our journey into the fight to live not at all realizing how tough the struggle will be, and kicking ourselves for taking for granted the precious time we have already been given.

Remembering the times we cursed life and fell into “woe is me” moments over loss of jobs or being short on money to pay a bill, taking for granted the important aspects of life which are health and people who love us more than we have realized, and maybe we did not take the time to love them back, or care for their feelings or needs.

And then the fight for our lives begin, and we look back knowing how wrong we were.

Life is better than we believe, even through the treatments and pain and anxiety we feel while battling cancer, one more day, hour, minute, second is worth more than any million dollar winning ticket.

Living in the now is they key. Breathing in the air is joy. Seeing the beauty all around is sacred. People that love us should be our purpose.

Live and fight!

Good Luck.

Fighting Bladder Cancer

2016-03-09T13:39:00.002-08:00

I have not posted here in quite some time. Life has taken enough twists and turns, so I thought a quick update is viable. Most recently I had been battling bladder cancer for about 6 years. Fortunately there had been no migration into my lymph nodes or anywhere else and the cancer stayed stationary in my bladder. Every so many months I would go in for surgery to have the recurrent tumor scraped away, only for the tumor to grow back again (hence the name "recurrent"). I went for immuno-therapy called BCG to see if this would cause a cure, but I was in the low percentile for whom the BCG would not work. When BCG fails, the only life saving and viable option is to have the bladder removed which is called a "cystectomy". This is a major surgery where the bladder is removed and them a stoma is created from a section of intestine and the ureters from the kidneys are connected placing the urine in the stoma, which drains constantly into a plastic bag called a urostomy that covers the stoma and this urostomy pouch becomes the new bladder. I had this surgery, which damn near killed me when the sutures used to reconnect my intestines became loose, leaking waste into my abdomen. I was rushed into emergency surgery which saved my life. I am doing fine now 2 and a half months or so later, but recovery was a bitch! As I mentioned, I do feel incredible now. The urostomy pouch, just like a real bladder, needs to be drained every 2 hours or thereabout. The pouch itself gets changed every 2-3 days, which now takes me all of 10 minutes to do. The Dr. gives me a 97% chance of being cancer free going forward, and this makes me happy because I can hopefully now plan on vacations instead of surgeries and maybe go see some things I have been wanting to see, like a trip back to the mitten and a stint in D.C. to visit The House of the Temple. I am glad to be alive and fortunate to have a happy life, and I am hopeful for 30 or more years of happiness and adventures.

This Light Was On….

2011-06-25T21:50:00.001-07:00

Greetings all!!

Thanks, Dad for making sure that this sconce that shone just inside the front door of the home I grew up in was delivered to me before you passed to the other side. Neither one of us knew it at the time, but this sconce was going to be the only “thing” as close to “personal effects” that I would have to remember you after you passed away.

I cherish it greatly.

It took us both some begging and pleading to get the sconce to me. Once it arrived from Detroit to Salt Lake City, I was sad to see it was delivered broken. A clean crack down it’s side. Without hesitation, I pulled out the phone book and called a glass restoration business that was not too far away from where I live. I had an hour before the business closed to deliver the sconce there and to plead with them and hold out hope it could be fixed. “No problem!” the owner said. “We can use a UV activated glue to mend this, though you might still see where the break existed.” I was ecstatic and gave the go ahead to have the repair completed. A couple of days later, it was ready. The picture was taken as I laid it on my bed. I’ll be hanging it up this next week on the wall.

This sconce means a lot to me, Dad, as I told you. I appreciated you and Mom leaving it on for me when I’d be out late at night. Though sometimes I’d be a bit drunk, I never took any drugs. I know you’d be proud to hear that. And that light helped my drunk ass find the stairs that led to my room upstairs. That sconce that shone in the living room meant that somebody cared enough to remember me. Someone remembered I was out being an honorable young man. I never got into trouble with the law. I really never did anything WRONG, save for let a girl drive Mom’s car without a license. But, hey Dad…she was pretty! How could I say no? We got pulled over as a brake light was burned out. I had to go to court. This sconce was on when I got home late that night and feeling scared about the punishment I was going to get. Not from court, but from YOU!!

Me and Mom kept that a secret. The judge gave me a small fine and an admonishment. It worked. I never let anyone drive my car, or Mom’s car again. License or not. I don’t think you ever knew that happened. But that sconce saw me walk into the house with my head down.

I am so glad to have it here, Dad. I will pass it on to your grandkids when I am gone. Right now it is a solemn touchstone to the house you bought and where I had so many memories. Most good, Some bad, but they are my memories that you helped to form.

I’ll keep that sconce and your name shining brightly in my home.

A Winter View

2011-06-20T18:55:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite photos I took from the roof of Rose Wagner Theatre during a winter day looking across the roof to the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City.

Hey Dad, I Need To Tell You This.......

2011-06-03T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hey Dad...I'd always say "Hey Dad" when you'd call, or when I would call you.

It's been a little over 2 months since you passed to the other side, and just a couple weeks since

I was back in Michigan with your Grand-daughter to attend your memorial service. I have been

thinking a lot about you since then.

I had not seen you in many years before you passed away, but I felt close to you as you did make

every effort to keep in touch with me and your 3 Grandchildren. When Saturdays and

Sundays come now, the phone does not ring with that familiar "313-898-01.." phone number

on the caller ID anymore. I knew that number my whole life. We didn't move around growing

up. My assistant principal at Hanneman Elementary referred to our family as a "staple family"

you made sure to keep things as normal as possible for me as a kid....well, other than the

horrible fights with Mom, or your iron fist "Drill Sargent" as you called it, way you chose to

discipline me. You apologized for all of that a few months before you passed over. I told you

"It's OK. You DO better when you KNOW better". It's a line I stole from Oprah. But I find

it to be true. I have been thinking a lot about what you tried to do for the family as I was growing up.

There were always summer trips. Irish Hills, Cedar Pointe, Kentucky, North Carolina. But

Irish Hills and Cedar Pointe were always the most frequent destinations. Camping and swimming at Irish Hills. Cedar Pointe and it's roller-coasters off of Lake Erie.

I'd get so excited to go to either. You really didn't show a lot of emotions. I mostly remember you being angry at one thing or another.

You'd laugh in slight spurts, and I think other people laughing made you uncomfortable.

You hated it when I'd turn on comedy shows. "Why don't you watch something that makes

a little fucking SENSE?!" You'd say. And Oh Jayyyysuus, I would sit through so many

PBS shows. Nova...you loved Nova. Sundays brought "Wild Kingdom" and you bought the

encyclopedia set that I would sit and read for hours. Volume after volume. I used to curse you

making me sit through all of those shows. But you know what, Dad? I know A LOT of things

from watching those shows and reading those encyclopedias. I bet you didn't know why I

spent so much time reading the encyclopedias. Well, as much as you hated comedy shows,

you loved violent, action packed movies. One night I was sitting with you and Mom watching "Three Days of the Condor" starring Robert Redford.

Now, "The Condor" was an espionage expert, as you know. He was killing and tricking the bad guys and knew how to tap phones and escape..."The Condor" was a sight to behold.

There was a line in that movie where one of the bad guys asks his partner (speaking about "The Condor") "How does he know how to DO all of this shit?" The bad guys partner replied "Because he reads EVERYTHING!!"

"WOW!!" I thought. Just by READING i could DO all of this shit? So, I started to read EVERYTHING, Dad.

From ingredients on shampoo bottles and shave cream cans while in the bathroom. To the

encyclopedias, to text books...you name it. Dad, even by allowing me to watch the movies, you inspired me to keep learning.

People REFUSE to play trivia games with me. You'd be proud, Dad. I am pretty fucking smart!

This has served me well in college. Yeah, you discouraged me from going to college when I got outta high school.

"Go to Trade School" you said. I went to work for K-Mart instead. Warehouse shit. Then I went

to school to be a sound engineer...with MY hearing, that worked out great.

As you know, Dad, things were not working out well in Detroit for me. I didn't really have a good job. The factories were closing due to the greedy corporate assholes that didn't give a damn

about Detroit's future. So I moved to Utah. Your daughter lived here for years, and you warned me about her. I should have listened.

I got married, drove trucks, had 3 kids, then I took your advice and went to Trade School.

Union sponsored Trade School!! Heating and Air Conditioning and Pipefitting. 4 and a half

years of school, 6 months shy of graduating and I starting going through the divorce.

I worked hard to learn my trade. I worked excessive hours trying to feed the family.

Got re-married and became stable. Got a great job with the local government now, Dad.

Does not pay as well as the private sector, but it gives me a benefit of having time off.

I use the time off to pursue a college degree now, Dad. I thought your advice was terrible for years.

"Don't go to college". A parent never says that. But, you know what, Dad? I have always had a job. Pays the bills, my skills are in demand.

And now that I am settled and in the government, I can use a college degree to ride a desk as

my body falters and is not as adept to climbing on roof tops in summer and winter. I also

qualify now for Pell Grants, so the government helps me to achieve my educational goals

so long as I keep good grades. And as I said...I am pretty fucking smart, Dad. Except math...but you remember THAT struggle.

As much as you tried to yell and scream math aptitude into me...my mind just has a hard time grasping numbers.

I have been thinking about all of the things you did and said, Dad. I am glad you created a mind

in me that would be open to new ideas. You didn't believe in being a zealot to anything.

About 7 months ago, when I mentioned my interest in becoming a Free Mason, you encouraged

me to pursue it. You told me of you own interest in it, but you told me you never had time to commit to it fully.

When I told you how I was enjoying Gnostic gospels, you expressed a great interest in it and encouraged me to read more of it.

Dad, I need to tell you this:

I miss you. I have missed you for many years. I wish we could have fished a little more, camped a little more and maybe could have watched a few more movies.

I will bet you did not know how much you influenced me to learn and learn some more.

I wonder if you did that on purpose.

I have become a lot like you,Dad. Well, except for my kids are not afraid of me, and I laugh a lot. Maybe talk too much and bullshit frequently.

I break balls just like you did in the garage. But, just like you, I treasure the opportunities to help people.

I am unselfish just like you, Dad. Me and your Grand-Daughter were sitting waiting for the U2 show to start and we were lamenting the fact of how we did not like selfish people.

I told her that the unselfishness comes from you and your Dad. I am glad I have passed the unselfish nature on to your Grand-daughters and your Grand-son.

When we see each other again, Dad, it will be one grand sight. I won't be limping around on my shot ankles and you won't be dizzy and your hands will not be asleep.

Our hearing might be good enough to hear one another!!

I know you come around here often, Dad. I was certain you attended the U2 show with me and your Grand-Daughter. You always wondered what the appeal was with my following that band for 20 plus years. Did you like the show? I think you see the appeal now.

You are welcome to visit as much as you like, Dad. Move in if you want to.

But, I think you are enjoying your time on the other side. Blitz and Blizzard, your son, your Mother and Father. Has to be a great homecoming.

I am enjoying my time on earth, Dad. I have a lot of fun. I have fucked up some, and I have done good for people.

I can wait a lot longer to see you, but I do feel you. I wasn't there when you were dying.

You told me not to be there. You knew I was in school. You asked me to do well, to learn and pass the class.

So, I stayed home. Never missed a class, but my mind could not escape the thoughts of your death.

When you died, it was during spring break. I was in a difficult math class. Yeah, MATH.

Sorry, Dad. I failed that class. Well, I got a D..needed a C. I just could not let my mind let go of your passing. And numbers are so hard for me anyway.

But, I will pass the class in the fall. I will dedicate the semester to your memory, and I will pass the class.

I am sure this letter has been on the cusp of a rambling session for more than a few paragraphs, so I will close now.

Thanks, Dad for everything. I am sure you are very proud of me and your grandchildren.

We are you!! And we will see you later. No offense, but I hope much much later.

Thanks to what you made us, our lives are pretty good!!

Take Care,Dad (I always said "Take Care" when we'd say our good-byes, remember?)

Johnny

That's My Dad

2011-03-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings.

Late last night I got the word that my Dad passed away after battling many illnesses of late.

Weeks prior to this news, my Dad confided in me his misery battling these physical ailments and he instructed me "don't be sad when it's my time to go". It's not easy honoring that wish.

It feels too much like something is missing. Mostly there's a feeling of emptiness, but it's mixed with a feeling of relief for him as he no longer has to endure the discomfort and pain he has been through recently, and in actuality most of his life as he battled heart disease since he was in his 30's.

He told me stories of going to work on the assembly line at Fisher Body in Detroit (where I grew up) having to hold on to something as the line passed and it gave him vertigo. He told me about having to pull his car over on the way home from work when he couldn't control his heart rate and felt too dis-oriented to drive.

He would tell me of his desire to start his own auto mechanic shop(he went to trade school to learn the auto mechanic trade), but he didn't want to lose the medical benefits the United Auto Workers union had procured for the blue-collar workers in the auto industry. I remember him correcting me when I said "What a great company you work for that gives you these benefits." He quickly corrected that statement "NO! It's the UNION who got us these benefits. That factory doesn't give a FUCK if we have them or not!" He was a proud Union member. As a studied the history of the labor movement, I found out how right my Dad was about the importance of the labor movement and how Unions have protected the civil rights of the working class. He would come home and repair car problems for his friends. Doing brake jobs and anything else car related. As a young boy, I would venture out to the garage and hear the ball busting amongst my Dad and his friends, and the cursing related to doing mechanical work. If you have ever seen the movie "Gran Torino" and if you recall the barber shop scene, then you can understand life in my Dad's garage. The other aspect of my Dad's garage was excessive generosity. He never charged a lot of money to help people and rarely turned people away when they needed help.

My Dad loved westerns. He loved action movies. I was weened on John Wayne, Charles Bronson, Lee Van Cleef and the likes of them all. We'd sit on Sunday afternoons and watch movies like "The Missouri Breaks", "True Grit". We went to the theater to see "Unforgiven" and "Pale Rider" .

Me and my dad would talk often about out favorite lines in some of those movies. From "The Missouri Breaks" we liked the scene where Jack Nicholson was rudely awakened only to be told "Sorry to wake you, but your throats just been cut."

We also liked the line from "Unforgiven" where Clint Eastwood informs the rookie gunslinger "We've all got it coming, kid."

So I woke up this morning feeling the loss. But I have slowly been realizing that my Dad is still here, and will always be here.

I looked in the mirror this morning to brush my teeth, and noted the nose passed from him to me. "That's my dad", I thought.

I lost a slipper coming up the stairs to my bedroom this morning and muttered an "awwww FUCK!" That's my Dad.

I got a call this morning from a co-worker who needed help (it's my day off and he's on call) and I went to give him a hand. That's my Dad.

I love to watch "Pulp Fiction" and all kinds of movies no matter the content. That's my Dad.

When I eat corned beef hash. That's my Dad.

I have continuously questioned the words of the preachers and the content of the Bible and have sought to carve my own path of spirituality. That's my Dad.

I am a skilled tradesman and proud Union member. That's my Dad.

These same sort of virtues I have passed to my own children. I look at them and see me and my Dad in them as well. The generosity, the inquisitiveness, the love of movies, the love of music (forgot to mention the constant strumming of the 6 string my Dad would do, it was a background music to the home I grew up in.)

One day I went to my son's school and I heard my son tell one of his friends (referring to me)

"That's my Dad." Made me feel like my son was proud of me.

I am proud of you, Dad. You left behind a lot of goodness within me.

And when the world hears me curse a bit, question authority, generously give of my time, be a friend to others, break the balls of my friends, get lost in music, work hard, be chronically early to my appointments, be dependable, be quietly by myself, and above all else, when you see me loving the life I have, I am quietly telling you

"That's my Dad"

Rest Peacefully Tusco "Bill" Asher March 19, 2011

A Note From A Skilled Tradesman Employed By Local Government

2011-03-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

Greetings all!

My last post was at Christmas, so it has been awhile.

Please indulge me as I write about my experience as a skilled tradesman i n the pipe fitting and heating and air conditioning field. Everything I write in this post regarding my wages are a matter of public record as a government employee, so I am not breaching any "privacy" rules one usually finds in the private sector where employees are warned to keep their wages private or face repercussions by management.

I have been a skilled tradesman for about 15 years. Only about 3 of these years have been with the government. In order for one to become a skilled tradesman, you must attend about 5 years of schooling. My initial education in the skilled trades came from Local Union 19 Plumbers and Pipe fitters, in conjunction Salt Lake Community College, where I was attending school 3 nights a week while under the employ of a Union shop where I was an apprentice worker learning from journeyman workers (workers who have been through the schooling and work hours needed to have obtained the skills required to be self-sufficient in the trade. This is 5 plus years, usually) so I learned my trade from books, and by experience at the same time.

My starting wage as an apprentice Union member working for a Union shop was $8.25 an hour. Out of this wage I had to pay my union dues ($65 a month) and pay partial education costs (the Union paid a fair percentage) and also help to support my family. I took a pay cut from driving a truck making $15 an hour to join the apprenticeship program so that I could insure my future with a skilled trade.

By the time my apprenticeship was finished (I left the apprenticeship about a year early due to life circumstances which have been discussed previously, I will not repeat it here in this post) I was making about $16 an hour. Full health benefits, dental, etc.
The Union contract between the employees and the Union shops helped the employee exponentially by stating such things as what tools the employer must provide (heating and air tools are expensive. Vacuum pumps and recovery machines cost 200-500 dollars) the employee usually supplied hand tools, but when they broke, the employer was obligated to replace them. Most of the employees bought Craftsman tools, which have lifetime warranties, so we would only ask the employer to indulge us with the time it took to go to Sears to replace the tool. This time was granted with no qualms.

After I left the Union (under no duress, my employer at the time convinced the crew to vote to leave...long story) things changed. I worked for employers who did such things as make the begining of the work week a Saturday, so they would EXPECT us to work the weekends with no overtime pay. The expensive tools were now our responsibility to buy. "Oh just put it on our tool account at the supply house" they would say. The employers would then take amounts out of our checks PLUS 5-10 per cent as a "convenience fee" for using the account. So, now you owe money to the employer while trying to make a living for yourself.

Now, this was not true in every non-Union shop I worked for. A couple were decent. Most were not worker friendly. The last company I worked for paid a decent wage on paper ($21.75 an hour) but did the crooked things with work hours, only gave out 30 hour work weeks to the employees. Expected the employee to be available at all sorts of strange hours (sent us home during the day, then called at 6-7 at night expecting the employee to work for straight time)

Now remember. Heating and air conditioning is a SKILLED TRADE. The tradesmen spend a lot of time in educational ventures learning to be a skilled tradesman. As skilled tradesmen, we expect a bit better treatment than that. Or at least I did.

Having tired from the mis-treatment, I started looking at other ways to use my skills. I did not have the money to start my own shop, so I checked the internet and found my local government entity was looking for a skilled HVAC tradesman like myself. I applied and subsequently got the job. The position came with all the tools needed for the job. Full health coverage (though we do pay a large share in premiums). Ample time off (I will discuss this in a moment) 8 hour work days, yet still one has to be available for "pager duty" where you are "on-call" 24 hours a day for a week, about every 3 months. In the private sector, the same pager duty is expected. Many times it was a week every month, the employer did make it lucrative most of the time by offering things like $50 every time you went on call, PLUS time and a half. Many times you got $100 pager duty pay, then time and a half for every call. Pager duty is an annoyance, but in the HVAC trade, it comes with the territory.

When you come to work for the government, you do give up some things. First, the pager duty pay was sub-par to the private sector. We got 4 hours pager pay, then 3 hours minimum per call. AFSCME recently negotiated 10.67 hours compensation for pager duty pay. So now we have a day off without using our own vacation time to make up the difference for the annoyance of carrying the pager. We get 2.67 ours pay as well. So, this is in par with private sector workers, and this is something the employees in the trades asked for and got.

Employees with the local government here earn time off. 4 hours a pay period vacation, and 4 hours in sick pay. Also, there are paid holidays. When not on call, we usually only have to work 8 hours instead of the 10-12 a day in private sector jobs in HVAC trade. These set hours have enabled me to go back to college to further my education. This came with the job, was not negotiated by AFSCME. AFSCME has only been representing the trades here for about 6 mos.

Sounds great, right? And the time off is, especially as a 43 year old working the physical skilled trades job. HVAC trades are full of climbing, lifting, kneeling, being on extremely hot and cold rooftops and noisy conditions. after in the trade for many years, the body screams.

Now let's discuss the pay. I was making $21.75 after 12 years in the trade in the private sector. When I came through the door of government, I lost about$3.50 dollars an hour. My starting wage with the government was $18.28.

I got a couple of raises where I then made almost $19 an hour, BUT THEN the economy tanked and every employee of the local government took a 3% across the board pay cut. Put me back to $18.48, while at the same time my portion of the health insurance raised 10%.

Recently, thanks to the upswing of the economy, we all got 1% back, so now I am at $18.68...BUT my portion of the health care raised another 10%.

Last year, I grossed 38k, after taxes and child support, health care, i brought home about 25k.

My pension will reflect this when I retire.

The point of this post?

Your local government employee is NOT getting rich. We get days off with pay, which is priceless, no argument there. But we are NOT the blame for the so-called "budget crisis" which you hear of. Contrarily, your government employees are usually the first ones to take cuts to insure services for the public are afforded. The libraries, the recreation centers, the garbage pick-up, the snow removal, are all done more inexpensively by your local government as these services are done by a non-profit entity.

The government employees make less to insure the public pays less for the services.

Please think twice and do your research before you blame the people on the front line for the problems some governors say they have.

I am proud to be a government employee. I consider my employ to be a service to the community I live in. I am also a proud Union member. My Union stands to protect the rights of the middle-class that so many literally fought and died for in the generations before me. The Union is not in existence to demand anything but fairness, and fairness is the only "thing" Union members expect. We are not lazy, or spoiled.

Thanks for reading this. I felt compelled to share my story so that the myths can be dispelled about how "the blame" rests with your government employee. Very contrarily, your government employee is very often the solution to keeping the services in your community affordable.

So THIS Is Christmas?

2010-12-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

So, December 25, 2010 is quickly moving in upon us all. Christmas. Most of us are darting about at double speed trying to buy somebody something to put under the proverbial tree all decorated in the living room.

Most of us have been to the gatherings where most of us have put on a pretty face so that most of us may even be able to wish the best to those least liked or not at all appreciated.

All of us have been inundated with Christmas music and "Black Friday" ads since just after HALLOWEEN!

No Thanksgiving. Halloween then CHRISTMAS!!

I wondered why this has been the case. And then it dawned on me that there is no real PROFIT in people being thankful. It seems as if the masses must be evoked as soon as possible to start shopping. Forget the turkey, the meal where at least once a year the extended family actually sits together just to eat and enjoy one another.
No profit there.
Let's get the carols pumping through the airwaves. Lets get the presses all pretty in red and green and "HALF OFF" slogans. Let's do this right away, right after Halloween. There is MONEY TO BE MADE!!

Christ, the Enlightened One, has come to bring Peace and Gnosis to the world.
So let us GO SHOPPING!!

I don't have the pretty tree. I won't be buying all sorts of gifts. There are no pretty lights along the outline of my home. BUT there is a sincere thankfulness to my god for my life, my wife, my children, and the small amount of people I call my friends.

I will do all I can to help those in my life who need help. I try to make sure everyone knows I appreciate them. I try to do this through my selfless actions.

I try to bring goodwill and peace, the spirit of the Enlightened One. Sure I fail sometimes.

But there is no profit to be made in this true spirit of Christmas.....let's go shopping instead.

A Few Words About Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

I sit here well fed the Friday after Thanksgiving watching re-runs of "Iconoclasts" on the Sundance Channel. My wife is next to me taking a nap. My son is in the downstairs portion of the house playing video games. It is a peaceful scene as we just spent yesterday all at the table celebrating the fact that we are all well, we want for nothing, and we have a lot to offer the people in our lives.

Life has been good. I have found myself entrenched in the negative lately, though. The lead up to our celebration of Thanksgiving found me worrying about the recurrence of the bladder cancer I fought this past summer. I was worried that I would not have the house cleaned up well enough to have mom-in-law over. I scrambled to find a suitable turkey while I bitched that the markets are playing xmas music right after Halloween these days, and it seems the markets don't even have a good Thanksgiving display or sales on food anymore.

The reality is as of this moment, which is the only time I have in reality, I do not have bladder cancer, the house cleaned up just fine, I found a suitable turkey and we had ourselves an excellent feast. Life is good!!

2010 has been a year full of so many victories and just a few challenges. I have been through a lot of bad years, and this really has not been one of them. The lights are on, the mortgage is not behind, my car has a full tank, my children and my wife are healthy, I am at this moment, healthy, I am affording my continued education and am keeping a high GPA, I am duly employed.

Too much to be thankful for, and so much to look forward to!!

Hope your year has been one to be thankful for as well!

An Open Letter to My Fellow Liberals

2010-11-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

To my fellow Liberals:

On November 2nd, 2010, the Democratic majority was erased from the Congress of the United States of America. The Democratic majority was also narrowed in the Senate. This leaves many of the policies protecting and intended to grow the middle-class in America in jeopardy of being overturned by the ultra right wing zealots who were elected on November 2nd. One of the laws the ultra right wing zealots seek to overturn is the Health Care Reform LAW that many Americans pressed for and saw their Congress and Senate pass to protect them from out of control for profit insurance companies who would cancel insurance coverage when an insured member got sick, or would not re-instate coverage if an insured member got sick. This left many Americans facing bankruptcy as they tried to pay their medical bills, but could not keep up with the mounting debts incurred as they just tried to stay alive using medical help they needed.

That is just one target in the scopes of the ultra right wing zealots. The Department of Education has been mentioned by the zealots as a target of "ending", Pell Grants which have allowed many in the middle-class to seek college education has been threatened by the zealots. The Department of Energy which regulates atomic power has been threatened by the zealots, The Environmental Protection Agency which protects by regulation the air we all breathe and water we all drink is on the chopping block of the zealots.

These are just a few ideas from the twisted minds of the zealots that would effect in severe monetary and intellectual ways the progress of the middle-class of America.

My fellow Liberals, this is a dark time for any progress for "We the People" disguised as light from the so-called "constitutionalists". The zealots have twisted the words of the Founding Fathers as to make many believe that the capitalists are the purveyors of freedom, while capitalism has enslaved the masses into debt and violated of human rights of the working peoples in the countries the capitalists have chosen to seek "cheap labor" where working conditions are many times dangerous and the pay is sub par while the corporations who then sell the products of what is essentially slave labor to the eager credit card carrying consumer for huge profits while at once seeing that the working class remains in debt or in poverty and in deep servitude to the communist country where they work, or to the credit card corporations to whom the consumer is now indebted to. CAPITALISM DOES NOT EQUATE TO FREEDOM!

The right wing zealots have perpetuated lies and fear as to manipulate the minds of the masses. Lies and fear only captivate the individual to one ideology; the ideology of paranoia. From the "Red Scare" of the 50's where the right wing warned of a communist in every dark corner to the "9-11 Scare" present day where the ultra right wing zealots would have the masses believe that our own president is "one of them terrorist" and not even American. When the masses are afraid of every perpetuated lie, it seems the masses are easier to control, and to manipulate with a paranoid mind. I believe fear and paranoia were the deciding factors in this last election of November 2nd, 201o. Our President, who has been working towards middle-class protections, was "the big bad wolf" this time.

So, my fellow Liberals, we can see clearly that the average American is so manipulated by fear that intellectual conversation seems to be muted by the paranoid mind. Talking points from the radio waves have interrupted individual thought or exploration. A deep investigation into ideologies take too much time for the "gotta have it RIGHT NOW" mind of the indebted consumer.

How, then, can the message of Liberalism, of fortifying and protecting the middle-class be absorbed by the people who are in most need of these protections?

Liberals MUST make the middle-class AFRAID OF CONSERVATISM!!

But, Liberals should only bring about this fear by using the truth. Use the right wing zealot's own ideologies and words to bring about this fear. Use comparisons "This is what the right wing wants for you, this is what LIBERALS want for you...see? Liberals want YOU to be stronger, and here is the Liberal plan... those right wing guys are scary! Be fearful of them!!"

This is not fear by lies. The right wing zealots ARE scary.

My fellow Liberals, let us take a short while and let us see what the zealots propose once they are seated in government..a short while, let us listen like wolves ready to pounce on any fearful, middle-class busting policy they propose, then, let us go onto every talk show IN UNISON and pick the zealots apart. Let us rightfully make America afraid of the ones that would in actuality steal the freedoms of the individual.

The zealots cannot succeed. Liberals, we must stand together and fight fear with REAL fear. We must not let the zealots succeed at any more of their lies.

We are the ones that can make a difference and protect the future of our freedom and our country. Let us not sit idle this time!!

The Struggle is Appreciated/The Struggle Continues

2010-09-05T13:45:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day!

While enjoying our three day holiday, I hope we will all take a moment to remember that the labor laws we all enjoy that keep us sane and safe were fought for by men and women and even children that risked their lives and gave their lives for the right to a living wage and safety in the workplace, anti-discrimination laws, equality for all workers.

I am the son and grandson of proud union members, and am also a proud union member myself. I am very proud of my heritage and grateful for the union wages my father and grandfather earned that enabled me to enjoy a life and career that is safer and less oppressive in the workplace because of them.

Here is a history of the labor struggle I found on the web. I hope we will never forget the struggle, and I hope we will continue the fight against the dis-mantling of the middle-class by the greedy. Rise up and be counted!

An Eclectic List of Events in U.S. Labor History

Compiled by allen lutins (allen@lutins.org)
Last Update 22 June 2010
Click here for information about reproducing this article.

Most citizens of the United States take for granted labor laws which protect them from the evils of unregulated industry. Perhaps the majority of those who argue for "free enterprise" and the removal of restrictions on capitalist corporations are unaware that over the course of this country's history, workers have fought and often died for protection from capitalist industry. In many instances, government troops were called out to crush strikes, at times firing on protesters. Presented below are a few of the many incidents in the (too often overlooked) tumultuous labor history of this country.

NOTE: Please DO NOT mail me with requests for additional information (such as assistance in locating additional resources, etc.); all that i have to offer on this topic is presented on this page, and i regret that i am unable to assist the Internet community with anything more. For additional labor resources, check out the following:

1806
The union of Philadelphia Journeymen Cordwainers was convicted of and bankrupted by charges of criminal conspiracy after a strike for higher wages, setting a precedent by which the U.S. government would combat unions for years to come.

27 April 1825
The first strike for the 10-hour work-day occurred by carpenters in Boston.

3 July 1835
Children employed in the silk mills in Paterson, NJ went on strike for the 11 hour day/6 day week.

July 1851
Two railroad strikers were shot dead and others injured by the state militia in Portgage, New York.

1860
800 women operatives and 4,000 workmen marched during a shoemaker's strike in Lynn, Massachusetts.

13 January 1874
The original Tompkins Square Riot. As unemployed workers demonstrated in New York's Tompkins Square Park, a detachment of mounted police charged into the crowd, beating men, women and children indiscriminately with billy clubs and leaving hundreds of casualties in their wake. Commented Abram Duryee, the Commissioner of Police: "It was the most glorious sight I ever saw..."

12 February 1877
U.S. railroad workers began strikes to protest wage cuts.

21 June 1877
Ten coal-mining activists ("Molly Maguires") were hanged in Pennsylvania.

14 July 1877
A general strike halted the movement of U.S. railroads. In the following days, strike riots spread across the United States. The next week, federal troops were called out to force an end to the nationwide strike. At the "Battle of the Viaduct" in Chicago, federal troops (recently returned from an Indian massacre) killed 30 workers and wounded over 100.

5 September 1882
Thirty thousand workers marched in the first Labor Day parade in New York City.

1884
The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, forerunner of the AFL, passed a resolution stating that "8 hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886." Though the Federation did not intend to stimulate a mass insurgency, its resolution had precisely that effect.

Late 1885/Early 1886
Hundreds of thousands of American workers, increasingly determined to resist subjugation to capitalist power, poured into a fledgling labor organization, the Knights of Labor. Beginning on May 1, 1886, they took to the streets to demand the universal adoption of the eight hour day.

Chicago was the center of the movement. Workers there had been agitating for an eight hour day for months, and on the eve of May 1, 50,000 workers were already on strike. 30,000 more swelled their ranks the next day, bringing most of Chicago manufacturing to a standstill. Fears of violent class conflict gripped the city. No violence occurred on May 1 -- a Saturday -- or May 2. But on Monday, May 3, a fight involving hundreds broke out at McCormick Reaper between locked-out unionists and the non-unionist workers McCormick hired to replace them. The Chicago police, swollen in number and heavily armed, quickly moved in with clubs and guns to restore order. They left four unionists dead and many others wounded.

Angered by the deadly force of the police, a group of anarchists, led by August Spies and Albert Parsons, called on workers to arm themselves and participate in a massive protest demonstration in Haymarket Square on Tuesday evening, May 4. The demonstration appeared to be a complete bust, with only 3,000 assembling. But near the end of the evening, an individual, whose identity is still in dispute, threw a bomb that killed seven policemen and injured 67 others. Hysterical city and state government officials rounded up eight anarchists, tried them for murder, and sentenced them to death.

On 11 November 1887, four of them, including Parsons and Spies, were executed. All of the executed advocated armed struggle and violence as revolutionary methods, but their prosecutors found no evidence that any had actually thrown the Haymarket bomb. They died for their words, not their deeds. A quarter of a million people lined Chicago's street during Parson's funeral procession to express their outrage at this gross mis-carriage of justice.

For radicals and trade unionists everywhere, Haymarket became a symbol of the stark inequality and injustice of capitalist society. The May 1886 Chicago events figured prominently in the decision of the founding congress of the Second International (Paris, 1889) to make May 1, 1890 a demonstration of the solidarity and power of the international working class movement. May Day has been a celebration of international socialism and (after 1917) international communism ever since.

The Bayview Massacre also took place at this time (for more detailed information visit http://www.execpc.com/~blake/rollin~1.htm), where seven people, including one child, were killed by state militia. On 1 May 1886 about 2,000 Polish workers walked off their jobs and gathered at Saint Stanislaus Church in Milwaukee, angrily denouncing the ten hour workday. They then marched through the city, calling on other workers to join them; as a result, all but one factory was closed down as sixteen thousand protesters gathered at Rolling Mills, prompting Wisconsin Govorner Jeremiah Rusk to call the state militia. The militia camped out at the mill while workers slept in nearby fields, and on the morning of May 5th, as protesters chanted for the eight hour workday, General Treaumer ordered his men to shoot into the crowd, some of whom were carrying sticks, bricks, and scythes, leaving seven dead at the scene. The Milwaukee Journal reported that eight more would die within twenty four hours, and without hesitation added that Governor Rusk was to be commended for his quick action in the matter.

23 November 1887
The Thibodaux Massacre. The Louisiana Militia, aided by bands of "prominent citizens," shot at least 35 unarmed black sugar workers striking to gain a dollar-per-day wage, and lynched two strike leaders.

25 July 1890
New York garment workers won the right to unionize after a seven-month strike. They secured agreements for a closed shop, and firing of all scabs.

6 July 1892
The Homestead Strike. Pinkerton Guards, trying to pave the way for the introduction of scabs, opened fire on striking Carnegie mill steel- workers in Homestead, Pennsylvania. In the ensuing battle, three Pinkertons surrendered; then, unarmed, they were set upon and beaten by a mob of townspeople, most of them women. Seven guards and eleven strikers and spectators were shot to death.

11 July 1892
Striking miners in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho dynamited the Frisco Mill, leaving it in ruins.

1893
The first of several bloody mining strikes at Cripple Creek, Colorado.

5 July 1893
During a strike against the Pullman Palace Car Company, which had drastically reduced wages, the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago's Jackson Park was set ablaze, and seven buildings were reduced to ashes. The mobs raged on, burning and looting railroad cars and fighting police in the streets, until 10 July, when 14,000 federal and state troops finally succeeded in putting down the strike.

1894
Federal troops killed 34 American Railway Union members in the Chicago area attempting to break a strike, led by Eugene Debs, against the Pullman Company. Debs and several others were imprisoned for violating injunctions, causing disintegration of the union.

21 September 1896
The state militia was sent to Leadville, Colorado to break a miner's strike.

10 September 1897
19 unarmed striking coal miners and mine workers were killed and 36 wounded by a posse organized by the Luzerne County sherif for refusing to disperse near Lattimer, Pennsylvania. The strikers, most of whom were shot in the back, were originally brought in as strike-breakers, but later organized themselves.

1898
A portion of the Erdman Act, which would have made it a criminal offense for railroads to dismiss employees or discriminate against prospective employees based on their union activities, was declared invalid by the United States Supreme Court.

12 October 1898
Fourteen were killed, 25 wounded in violence resulting when Virden, Illinois mine owners attempted to break a strike by importing 200 nonunion black workers.

29 April 1899
When their demand that only union men be employed was refused, members of the Western Federation of Miners dynamited the $250,000 mill of the Bunker Hill Company at Wardner, Idaho, destroying it completely. President McKinley responded by sending in black soldiers from Brownsville, Texas with orders to round up thousands of miners and confine them in specially built "bullpens."

1899 and 1901
U.S. Army troops occupied the Coeur d'Alene mining region in Idaho.

12 October 1902
Fourteen miners were killed and 22 wounded by scabherders at Pana, Illinois.

23 November 1903
Troops were dispatched to Cripple Creek, Colorado to control rioting by striking coal miners.

July 1903
Labor organizer Mary Harris ("Mother") Jones leads child workers in demanding a 55 hour work week.

23 February 1904
William Randolph Hearst's San Francisco Chronicle began publishing articles on the menace of Japanese laborers, leading to a resolution of the California Legislature that action be taken against their immigration.

8 June 1904
A battle between the Colorado Militia and striking miners at Dunnville ended with six union members dead and 15 taken prisoner. Seventy-nine of the strikers were deported to Kansas two days later.

17 April 1905
The Supreme Court held that a maximum hours law for New York bakery workers was unconstitutional under the due process clause of the 14th ammendment.

1908
The Erdman Act was further weakened when Section 10 was declared unconstitutional. This section had made it illegal for railroad employers to fire employees for being involved in union activities (see 1898).

22 November 1909
The "Uprising of the 20,000." Female garment workers went on strike in New York; many were arrested. A judge told those arrested: "You are on strike against God."

25 December 1910
A dynamite bomb destroyed a portion of the Llewellyn Ironworks in Los Angeles, where a bitter strike was in progress.

1911
The Supreme Court ordered the AFL to cease its promotion of a boycott against the Bucks Stove and Range Company. A contempt charge against union leaders (including AFL President Samuel Gompers) was dismissed on technical grounds.

25 March 1911
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company, occupying the top three floors of a ten-story building in New York City, was consumed by fire. One hundred and forty-seven people, mostly women and young girls working in sweatshop conditions, lost their lives. Approximately 50 died as they leapt from windows to the street; the others were burned or trampled to death as they desperately attempted to escape through stairway exits locked as a precaution against "the interruption of work". On 11 April the company's owners were indicted for manslaughter.

2 December 1911
A Chicago "slugger," paid $50 by labor unions for every scab he "discouraged," described his job in an interview: "Oh, there ain't nothin' to it. I gets my fifty, then I goes out and finds the guy they wanna have slugged. I goes up to `im and I says to `im, `My friend, by way of meaning no harm,' and then I gives it to `im -- biff! in the mug. Nothin' to it."

24 February 1912
Women and children were beaten by police during a textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

18 April 1912
The National Guard was called out against striking West Virginia coal miners.

11 June 1913
Police shot three maritime workers (one of whom was killed) who were striking against the United Fruit Company in New Orleans.

5 January 1914
The Ford Motor Company raised its basic wage from $2.40 for a nine hour day to $5 for an eight hour day.

20 April 1914
The "Ludlow Massacre." In an attempt to persuade strikers at Colorado's Ludlow Mine Field to return to work, company "guards," engaged by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and other mine operators and sworn into the State Militia just for the occasion, attacked a union tent camp with machine guns, then set it afire. Five men, two women and 12 children died as a result. Additional web resources are catolged at www.holtlaborlibrary.org/ludlow.html#Web%20Sites.

13 November 1914
A Western Federation of Miners strike is crushed by the militia in Butte, Montana.

19 January 1915
World famous labor leader Joe Hill was arrested in Salt Lake City. He was convicted on trumped up murder charges, and was executed 21 months later despite worldwide protests and two attempts to intervene by President Woodrow Wilson. In a letter to Bill Haywood shortly before his death he penned the famous words, "Don't mourn - organize!"

On this same day, twenty rioting strikers were shot by factory guards at Roosevelt, New Jersey.

25 January 1915
The Supreme Court upholds "yellow dog" contracts, which forbid membership in labor unions. 22 July 1916
A bomb was set off during a "Preparedness Day" parade in San Francisco, killing 10 and injuring 40 more. Thomas J. Mooney, a labor organizer and Warren K. Billings, a shoe worker, were convicted, but were both pardoned in 1939.

19 August 1916
Strikebreakers hired by the Everett Mills owner Neil Jamison attacked and beat picketing strikers in Everett, Washington. Local police watched and refused to intervene, claiming that the waterfront where the incident took place was Federal land and therefore outside their jurisdiction. (When the picketers retaliated against the strikebreakers that evening, the local police intervened, claiming that they had crossed the line of jursidiction.)

Three days later, twenty-two union men attempted to speak out at a local crossroads, but each was arrested; arrests and beatings of strikebreakers became common throughout the following months, and on 30 October vigilantes forced IWW speakers to run the gauntlet, subjecting them to whipping, tripping kicking, and impalement against a spiked cattle guard at the end of the gauntlet. In response, the IWW called for a meeting on 5 November. When the union men arrived, they were fired on; seven people were killed, 50 were wounded, and an indeterminate number wound up missing.

7 September 1916
Federal employees win the right to receive Worker's Compensation insurance.

12 July 1917
After seizing the local Western Union telegraph office in order to cut off outside communication, several thousand armed vigilantes forced 1,185 men in Bisbee, Arizona into manure-laden boxcars and "deported" them to the New Mexico desert. The action was precipitated by a strike when workers' demands (including improvements to safety and working conditions at the local copper mines, an end to discrimination against labor organizations and unequal treatment of foreign and minority workers, and the institution of a fair wage system) went unmet. The "deportation" was organized by Sheriff Harry Wheeler. The incident was investigated months later by a Federal Mediation Commission set up by President Woodrow Wilson; the Commission found that no federal law applied, and referred the case to the State of Arizona, which failed to take any action, citing patriotism and support for the war as justification for the vigilantes' action.

15 March 1917
The Supreme Court approved the Eight-Hour Act under the threat of a national railway strike.

1 August 1917
IWW organizer Frank Little was lynched in Butte, Monatana.

5 September 1917
Federal agents raided the IWW headquarters in 48 cities.

3 June 1918
A Federal child labor law, enacted two years earlier, was declared unconstitutional. A new law was enacted 24 February 1919, but this one too was declared unconstitutional on 15 May 1922.

27 July 1918
United Mine Workers organizer Ginger Goodwin was shot by a hired private policeman outside Cumberland, British Columbia.

26 August 1919
United Mine Worker organizer Fannie Sellins was gunned down by company guards in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania.

19 September 1919
Looting, rioting and sporadic violence broke out in downtown Boston and South Boston for days after 1,117 Boston policemen declared a work stoppage due to their thwarted attempts to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge put down the strike by calling out the entire state militia.

22 September 1919
The "Great Steel Strike" began. Ultimately, 350,000 steel workers walked off their jobs to demand union recognition. The AFL Iron and Steel Organizing Committee called off the strike on 8 January 1920, their goals unmet.

11 November 1919
The Centralia Massacre. Violence erupted when members of the American Legion attempted to force their way into an IWW hall in Centralia, Washington during an Armistice Day anniversary celebration. Four Legionnaires were shot dead by members of the IWW, after which IWW organizer Wesley Everest was lynched by a local mob.

22 December 1919
Amid a strike for union recognition by 395,000 steelworkers (ultimately unsuccessful), approximately 250 "anarchists," "communists," and "labor agitators" were deported to Russia, marking the beginning of the so-called "Red Scare."

2 January 1920
The U.S. Bureau of Investigation began carrying out the nationwide Palmer Raids. Federal agents seized labor leaders and literature in the hopes of discouraging labor activity. A number of citizens were turned over to state officials for prosecution under various anti-anarchy statutes.

19 May 1920
The Battle of Matewan. Despite efforts by police chief (and former miner) Sid Hatfield and Mayor C. Testerman to protect miners from interference in their union drive in Matewan, West Virginia, Baldwin-Felts detectives hired by the local mining company and thirteen of the company's managers arrived to evict miners and their families from the Stone Mountain Mine camp. A gun battle ensued, resulting in the deaths of 7 detectives, Mayor Testerman, and 2 miners. Baldwin-Felts detectives assasinated Sid Hatfield 15 months later, sparking off an armed rebellion of 10,000 West Virginia coal miners at "The Battle of Blair Mountain," dubbed "the largest insurrection this country has had since the Civil War" by The Battle of Matewan Home Page.

1920 and 1921
Army troops were used to intervene against striking mineworkers in West Virginia. Details of these events can be found in the extensive and excellent article at www.wvculture.org/history/journal_wvh/wvh50-1.html.

22 June 1922
Violence erupted during a coal-mine strike at Herrin, Illinois. Thirty-six were killed, 21 of them non-union miners.

2 June 1924
A child labor ammendment to the U.S. Constitution was proposed; only 28 of the necessary 36 states ever ratified it.

14 June 1924
A San Pedro, California IWW hall was raided; a number of children were scalded when the hall was demolished.

25 May 1925
Two company houses occupied by nonunion coal miners were blown up and destroyed by labor "racketeers" during a strike against the Glendale Gas and Coal Company in Wheeling, West Virginia.

1926
Textile workers fought with police in Passaic, New Jersey. A year-long strike ensued.

21 November 1927
Picketing miners were massacred in Columbine, Colorado.

3 February 1930
"Chicagorillas" -- labor racketeers -- shot and killed contractor William Healy, with whom the Chicago Marble Setters Union had been having difficulties.

14 April 1930
Over 100 farm workers were arrested for their unionizing activities in Imperial Valley, California. Eight were subsequently convicted of `criminal syndicalism.'

4 May 1931
Gun-toting vigilantes attack striking miners in Harlan County, Kentucky.

7 March 1932
Police kill striking workers at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan plant.

10 October 1933
18,000 cotton workers went on strikein Pixley, California. Four were killed before a pay-hike was finally won.

1934
The Electric Auto-Lite Strike. In Toledo, OH, two strikers were killed and over two hundred wounded by National Guardsmen. Some 1300 National Guard troops, including included eight rifle companies and three machine gun companies, were called in to disperse the protestors.

1934
International Longshoremans and Warehouse union strike of 1934. Two longshoremen, Nick Bordoise and Howard Sperry, were shot to death by the San Francisco Police. May 1934
Police stormed striking truck drivers in Minneapolis who were attempting to prevent truck movement in the market area.

1 September - 22 September 1934
A strike in Woonsocket, RI, part of a national movement to obtain a minimum wage for textile workers, resulted in the deaths of three workers. Over 420,000 workers ultimately went on strike.

9 November 1935
The Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) was formed to expand industrial unionism.

11 February 1937
General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers union following a sit-down strike.

26 May 1937
The 'Battle of the Overpass'. Walter Reuther and a group of UAW supporters, fresh from having organized GM and Chyrsler, attempting to distribute leaflets at Gate 4 of the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant, and were beaten up (together with bystanders) by Ford Service Department guards.

30 May 1937
Police killed 10 and wounded 30 during the "Memorial Day Massacre" at the Republic Steel plant in Chicago.

25 June 1938
The Wages and Hours (later Fair Labor Standards) Act is passed, banning child labor and setting the 40-hour work week. The Act went into effect in October 1940, and was upheld in the Supreme Court on 3 February 1941.

27 February 1939
The Supreme Court rules that sit-down strikes are illegal.

20 June 1941
Henry Ford recognizes the UAW.

15 December 1941
The AFL pledges that there will be no strikes in defense-related industry plants for the duration of the war.

28 December 1944
President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the Army to seize the executive offices of Montgomery Ward and Company after the corporation failed to comply with a National War Labor Board directive regarding union shops.

1946
Workers in packinghouses nation-wide went on strike.

1 April 1946
A strike by 400,000 mine workers in the U.S. began. U.S. troops seized railroads and coal mines the following month.

4 October 1946
The U.S. Navy seized oil refineries in order to break a 20-state post-war strike.

20 June 1947
The Taft-Hartley Labor Act, curbing strikes, was vetoed by President Truman. Congress overrode the veto.

20 April 1948
Labor leader Walter Reuther was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassins.

27 August 1950
President Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize all the nation's railroads to prevent a general strike. The railroads were not returned to their owners until two years later.

8 April 1952
President Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize the nation's steel mills to avert a strike. The act was ruled to be illegal by the Supreme Court on 2 June.

5 December 1955
The two largest labor organizations in the U.S. merged to form the AFL-CIO, with a membership estimated at 15 million.

5 April 1956
Columnist Victor Riesel, a crusader against labor racketeers, was blinded in New York City when a hired assailant threw sulfuric acid in his face.

14 September 1959
The Landrum-Griffin Act passes, restricting union activity.

7 November 1959
The Taft-Hartley Act is invoked by the Supreme Court to break a steel strike.

1 April 1963
The longest newspaper strike in U.S. history ended. The 9 major newspapers in New York City had ceased publication over 100 days before.

10 June 1963
Congress passes a law mandating equal pay to women.

5 January 1970
Joseph A. Yablonski, unsuccessful reform candidate to unseat "Tough Tony" Boyle as President of the United Mine Workers, was murdered, along with his wife and daughter, in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home by assassins acting on Boyle's orders. Boyle was later convicted of the killing. West Virginia miners went on strike the following day in protest.

18 March 1970
The first mass work stoppage in the 195-year history of the Post Office Department began with a walkout of letter carriers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, soon involving 210,000 of the nation's 750,000 postal employees. With mail service virtually paralzyed in New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia, President Nixon declared a state of national emergency and assigned military units to New York City post offices. The stand-off culminated two weeks later.

29 July 1970
United Farm Workers forced California grape growers to sign an agreement after a five-year strike.

3 August 1981
Federal air traffic controllers began a nationwide strike after their union rejected the government's final offer for a new contract. Most of the 13,000 striking controllers defied the back-to-work order, and were dismissed by President Reagan on 5 August.

October 1982
A boycott was initiated by the Industrial Association of Machinists against Brown & Sharpe, a machine, precision, measuring and cutting tool manufacturer, headquartered in Rhode Island. The boycott was called after the firm refused to bargain in good faith (withdrawing previously negotiated clauses in the contract), and forced the union into an unwanted and bitter strike during which police sprayed pepper gas on some 800 IAM pickets at the company's North Kingston plant in early 1982. Three weeks later, a machinist narrowly escaped serious injury when a shot fired into the picket line hit his belt buckle. The National Labor Relations Board subsequently charged Brown & Sharpe with regressive bargaining, and of entering into negotiations with the express purpose of not reaching an agreement with the union.

6 October 1986
1,700 female flight attendants won an 18-year lawsuit (which included $37 million in damages) against United Arilines, which had fired them for getting married.

24 October 1987
The 35-member executive council of the AFL-CIO decided unanimously to readmit the 1.6-million member Teamsters Union to its ranks. The scandal-ridden union had been expelled from the federation in 1957. President Jackie Presser was awaiting trial at the time, and the U.S. Justice Department was considering removal of the union's leadership because of possible links to organized crime.

17 September 1989
Ninety-eight miners and a minister occupied the the Pittston Coal Company's Moss 3 preparation plant in Carbo, Virginia, beginning a year-long strike against Pittston Coal. While a month-long Soviet coal strike dominated U.S. news broadcasts, the year-long Pittston strike garnered almost no mainstream press coverage whatsoever.

back to al's home page

The Despair and The Hope

2010-07-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

"The country is in deep trouble. We've forgotten that a rich life consists fundamentally of serving others, trying to leave the world a little better than you found it. We need the courage to question the powers that be, the courage to be impatient with evil and patient with people, the courage to fight for social justice. In many instances we will be stepping out on nothing, and just hoping to land on something. But that's the struggle. To live is to wrestle with despair, yet never allow despair to have the last word."
— Cornel West

I love this quote.

I would only be lying if I said or insinuated in any way that my life has always been a reflection of leaving the world a better place than what I found it, and that is my greatest despair.

I have the most grandiose ideas and dreams of the "me" that is a little more tolerant, and much calmer, and less of a provocateur. The "me" that cares a little more, and does a little more to correct injustices when I see them and to never be the catalyst for the injustices.

I dream of the "me" where the kindest words flow and the eyes rolling ceases and the frustrations are less frequent with myself and with the (few) people that I let into my life.

I wish I could blink my eyes and wiggle my nose and make this "me" appear. But I know the truth is that any transformation takes time. Any transformation that is real and true takes time.

The Buddhist philosophy that "there is no "me" and there is no "you" " holds out a beacon of hope that we can all transform into a more selfless and more tolerant beings.

My deepest hope is that I will or do somehow leave the world and the people I impact and interact with a better place than what it was or who they are as I leave them for the day or for the week, or for the years until we meet again.

Mistakes will be made, ill words said, regrets will be plentiful. But my hope will always trump my despairs. And hope, I have found, is the marrow of life.

Peace to you all.

They All Claimed God's Will or God's Plan

2010-07-18T19:00:00.000-07:00

MN-06: Bachmann: "God then called me to run" for Congress". Talking Points Memo. ... Retrieved 2009-01-23. ^ Interview with Rep. Michelle Bachmann

Bush said to James Robinson: 'I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen... I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.'

Schmidt said he asked Palin about her serenity in the face of becoming “one of the most famous people in the world.” He quoted her as saying, “It’s God’s plan.”

I believe that it was God's will to send a youth from here into the Reich, to let him grow up, to raise him to be the leader of the nation so as to enable him to lead back his homeland into the Reich.
Adolf Hitler
April 1938, closing speech of election campaign in Vienna on eve of polling

What the Climate Change "Hoax" has Brought to Consumers

2010-06-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

It seems one of the most interesting discussions in American society has been lately is whether or not there is such a "thing" as climate change, or as many like to refer to it "global warming."

I believe the whole argument of "is there " or is there not" climate change is actually a red herring used by those who stand in the corner of energy companies and benefit from energy companies profits. The idea of climate change has wrought great news for the average consumer where electrically operated devices for the homeowner now use less electricity and cost the consumer much less money to operate.

The appliance in most homes that uses the most electricity to operate is the air conditioning condenser, the use of which was once a luxury, but has become a necessity in recent years. There was a time when this device was very costly to operate and a huge drain on the local electric grid. The US government recently set standards of efficiency where the least efficient air conditioner a consumer can buy used to be the MOST efficient just 10 years ago (from 10 SEER or less to at LEAST 13 SEER present day) which means the average consumer is able to operate an air conditioner much less expensively than in years past. Efficiency standards for furnaces have also been improved costing the consumer less for natural gas in winter months to heat their homes. The savings are especially realized when the homeowner makes certain their homes are properly insulated. I would strongly advise against setting ones thermostat to higher temperatures when one is not home as it does take more work for the air conditioner to remove heat energy from the home that has accumulated during a summer day, than it takes to keep ones home a constant temperature throughout the day, whether one is at home or not. In winter months, I DO suggest turning the thermostat to cooler temps when one is away as it does not take as much energy to ADD heat energy to a space.

Another way the average consumer is able to save money on energy is by the use of compact florescent light bulbs, or their more expensive cousin the LED light bulb. The homeowner can operate a CFL bulb emitting the light of a 200 Watt "normal" light bulb while using only 55 Watts. The CFL and LED bulbs do not produce as much heat as a "normal" bulb and the CFL and LED'S last longer as well. The CFL light bulbs do contain a small amount of mercury and should be disposed of properly. Many local fire stations and city halls have receptacles for CFL disposal which makes this easier for the consumer as well.

There are many other appliances which have become less expensive to operate from refrigerators to washers and dryers as a result from this "debate" and from government mandates. The consumer has also benefited from rebates and tax credits for purchasing more efficient appliances as well. The wise consumer who chooses energy efficient appliances benefits almost immediately from using energy efficient appliances and light bulbs in their homes.

So, we may not all agree that climate change is "real" or a "man-made" event. We may not all have the same political philosophies or agree on the same ideologies.

But, most people do agree on trying to save money for themselves and their families, and higher efficiency appliances are a smart way to realize great money savings. Some savings one sees over time, but a lot of savings are almost immediate.

Your electric company will miss your hard earned dollars!!

2010-06-24T20:58:00.001-07:00

U2 360 Tour News Article

Bono to return to stage in weeks - McGuinness

June 23, 2010

Source: Evening Herald

by Aoife Anderson

BONO will be back on stage in a matter of weeks despite his recent emergency surgery, according to U2's manager Paul McGuinness.

The Irish rocker (50) was operated on after becoming temporarily paralysed -- forcing the band to cancel the start of the US leg of their 360° Tour and their headline slot at Glastonbury.

An optimistic McGuinness told the Diary: "He's making a full recovery. The doctors told me he's going to be fine. It was serious surgery but we expect him to make a full recovery. He's pretty fit."

McGuinness said there was no reason to believe the tour's massive stage production had anything to do with the singer's injury.

"It's a big stage to run around, but no," he said. "I'll be very relieved when I see him running around the stage again. The European leg of the tour starts in Turin on August 6 and that has not been postponed.

"Rescheduling the American leg is quite difficult because it is an outdoor show; we can't do it in the winter because it's the northern hemisphere.

"So what we're doing now is trying to seek availability of the buildings that we had already pretty much sold-out, so we're getting availabilities and routing a coherent tour for next summer in the US and Canada. We've nearly done it so I hope we'll be able to announce that shortly."

McGuinness insisted the rest of the band hasn't been enjoying an impromptu holiday while Bono recovers.

"No not really, they're doing some work and planning to do some recording. It never stops really," he said.

(c) Evening Herald, 2010.

Roosevelt's 4 Freedoms Speech

2010-06-15T19:22:00.001-07:00

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

To that new order we oppose the greater conception -- the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.

Since the beginning of our American history, we have been engaged in change -- in a perpetual peaceful revolution -- a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting itself to changing conditions -- without the concentration camp or the quick-lime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

From Congressional Record, 1941, Vol. 87, Pt. I.

RESOURCE: World Civilizations
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs36b.htm
Page created by Thomas Pearcy, Ph.D. and Mary Dickson.
Direct questions or comments to Webmaster.
Last revised February 4, 1997
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A Few Random Birthday Thoughts

2010-06-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday.

It seems that on birthdays or other of life's milestones it is in our nature to wax a bit nostalgic, so please indulge me as I ramble through some random thoughts of my own self serving nostalgia so that I may feel like I am actually sharing things that are relevant to you as well.

If life is about learning and doing better and climbing obstacles, then I consider my life the finest university. I have made good decisions, bad decisions, and decisions that seemingly have been neither good or bad (should I have the turkey or roast beef today?)

I have reveled in the good decisions. Learned sometimes very painful lessons from the bad decisions, and have learned that even the neutral decisions have had consequences, even if I don't realize the neutral decisions directly.

I would have learned nothing in life if I have not realized that anything I decide not only affects myself, but every decision affects others as well.

My life is a part of a grand scheme of your life, and your life is a grand scheme in my life.

We are all connected.

The myths of "rugged individualism" and "pulling yourself up by your boot straps" are myths hoarded by the greedy seemingly perpetuated to the masses so that those needing help would be too ashamed to ask for it. These myths are also the dogma for those who have received help from the time they were young, but have gotten their very large piece of "the pie" but still perpetuate the myth so that their "pie" remains very large.

You are not a "rugged individual" and you have never "pulled yourself up.." you and I have had help every step of the way throughout our lifetimes. By the very fact that you are reading this and I am writing this; the fact that you and I have survived to this age, no matter what age you are, means that someone has fed and clothed you and educated you. You are not here right now by your own merit. We all need each other to continue to exist and survive.

This day, being my birthday, has caused me to remind myself to be less selfish and exclusive, and to be more selfless and inclusive. Less dogmatic and more to seek gnosis and to find whatever the truth is no matter WHAT the truth is and to walk the path that gnosis and truth leads me to no matter what the path is.

So, welcome to my birthday nostalgia. I am hopeful you will find peace and joy and happiness in any path and in any decision you choose to take.

Saving Ducks, Eating Chicken

2010-05-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

A peculiar event happened to me today, but I must preface this with events leading to today.

Rewind to a few weeks ago when;whilst doing my job as a heating and air conditioning technician, I was on a roof of an indoor pool that is adjacent to a park that has a pond that attracts ducks. It has been mating season for the ducks so also, it has been nesting season.

While maintaining the equipment on the roof I noticed a duck that seemed to be loitering around a certain machine, and would get a little "quacky" whenever I approached the machine. Upon further inspection I realized this was the mother duck and she was protesting my vicinity of her nest and 5 eggs. "Hmm.." I thought. "How the fuck is she going to get her ducklings off of here?"

In subsequent visits to this roof, I continued to ask myself this question. I also cursed her as a bad mother duck. Though she never did abandon the nest. She stayed with the eggs every time I was there, sitting on her eggs and seemingly tending to making sure her young hatched.

Fast forward to today. Weeks have passed and I return to do a repair on a machine on this same roof that I have been awaiting (and received) a part for.

The mother duck (I recognized her because she had some unique black and white markings) was now on the ground near where I parked my vehicle. She was buzzing me and making all sorts of noise. "Shut the fuck up." I said to her as it WAS early morning and I really did not want her annoyance. I took a few steps and realized "Oh shit! I bet I am gonna find her ducklings on the roof."

I climbed the access ladder, opened the roof hatch and pulled my tools and part up on a rope I secured everything to before the climb, as I was pulling, here was the mother duck again. Now on the roof with me being noisy, seeming yelling at me that I was too close to her young.

I checked the nest and found it empty. I walked the roof, looking, searching the ground.
There they were. 4 of the 5 eggs are now ducklings.

I found myself in a dilemma of what to do. There no water on the roof. It's Friday and so even if I put water up on the roof, it will be gone by Monday, and these damned ducklings will haunt my mind all weekend. I know damned well they'd be dead by Monday if I left them where they were.

They were huddled near the edge, a small wall the only thing keeping gravity from taking them to their death. I did not know if I approached whether they could jump over, so I retreated.

I climbed off the roof and went to a fire station that is across the street and asked them if they did duck rescues. "Just leave them there." The fire man said crushing the image of any cat up a tree rescues we all have seen in the movies.
I called a co-worker who told me the same thing "let nature be nature." and he also called me "a big softy" I ignored the chiding and the advice.

I realized I had a box that my replacement part came in just downstairs. I retrieved the box and cut 2 square holes in the flaps to put my rope through. My mission was to get the ducklings, put them in the box, then lower the box down with the rope, climb down, and release the ducklings to their mom. All whilst making sure they did not do a suicide dive off the roof.

I approached, the ducklings tried to jump over the small wall, but fortunately they were too small. I gently cupped one, then two, setting them gently in the box. Three and four made a run for it, but tripped themselves on some stones that cover the roof. I quickly scooped them up, too and put them in the box. All the while they were sounding their tiny alarm to mom...who I have not seen for a while. I thought for sure she'd be screaming at me as well.

I tied a nice secure know through the flaps on the box and lowered the box to the ground. I climbed down to the box, I saw mom, took the box nearer to her while she screamed at me, and released the ducklings on some grass there.

Immediately mom got the ducklings to the pond. They followed her closely and with intent. Looks like they were swimming great and dad showed up, too.

It felt right to interfere with nature. I realize that some things should be left alone, but my conscience would not have let me have a nice weekend without helping.

On my way home, I stopped and got a chicken dinner from the market deli.

My conscience does not bother me about that.

On Being in Pain.....

2010-05-02T15:59:00.000-07:00

The most painful thing in years happened to me last week when; through bad nerves and being worried, I found myself chewing on taffy during the day, and grinding my teeth at night.

I remember the very painful culmination of my dilemma. It was in the very early morning hours when I rolled over with force while at the same time grinding my already aggravated teeth.

This was the moment when my already weakened upper left molar (which had subsequent major work on it and was already weak) became severely cracked. I tried to ignore it, but from that moment on, this cracked tooth was not only going to cause severe pain and keep me sleepless for 4 nights. This tooth was also going to get very infected as the crack exposed my gums and sinuses to all the bacteria that my own, or any other human mouth harbors.

The bacteria and infection caused the tooth to become higher than the teeth surrounding it, so that anytime I bit down, I was pressing very hard on that sole tooth and the infection behind it.

The pain was unbearable. I don't know exactly why I did not go to the dentist sooner;I think it was denial and sleeplessness that caused the mind to be irrational, as well as his absence from the office.

It's a strange situation the human psyche finds itself in when so much pain is present.
From cussing an imperfect god that would make such a thing as "these fucking teeth!!" To pleading with a more perfect god for help. To finally doing the only smart thing and going to the dentist, who with his skill can relieve the pain and set the patient on their way much happier ( though poorer) than when they came in.

So, after a few days, and a scare yesterday that made me realize just how ill I was (I got severely dizzy in the shower after pressing on to do a lot of household chores all day) I realized that the human body is a wonder and a vulnerable vessel all at the same time. I have had the good fortune in life to have escaped illnesses that many others have succumbed to. I have often taken my good health for granted, while being thankful that I rarely ever get colds of flu that many others I know seem to battle every year. Save for the occasional migraine, I have been fortunate in health and life.

So, being laid up this past week made me realize that I really AM a fortunate person. I also realized that I do at times press myself too far and in too many directions. From work to school, to the Masonic meetings to the activities with the kids....it has been a whirlwind of activity for me these past few months.

I have decided to slow it down a bit. Concentrating mostly on school and maybe not striving so hard to become a Mason. This will come in time. But graduating has to be my first goal in my personal life right now. I am very close to this goal with a graduation date of spring 2011.

Life is good!! Take stock of what you have and strive to make life better for you and everyone you care about.

Til next time!!

Heads, Sparks, and a CELL PHONE Flies at the Alice Cooper "Theatre of Death" Show

2009-10-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

Wendover, Nevada Peppermill Concert Hall Oct. 17, 2009

A Memoir/Review of Alice Cooper's Mesmerizing Performance and my Journey to that Point in Time.

The small details I will leave alone, but I must tell you that the trip to Wendover, Nevada from Salt Lake City, Utah is not a thing to get excited about. It's a white, barren, desert landscape. Miles of nothingness and nothing would ever grow in the salt that makes up the desert expanse that is the Bonneville Salt Flats.

I have driven through this desert many times, and sober except for the adrenaline thrill of the gambling that awaited me in the past, and of taking my Z24 Cavalier past 100 MPH on the way. The ride home was always less thrilling, as I would have lost money I should not have been gambling with to start with. I was in my mid twenties and I was sort of a lost soul with a gaping emptiness I really did not know how to fill. In those days I always did everything to excess. Drinking, joking, searching,needing wanting, but never caring enough about my 1st marriage and it withered away. And my 20's withered away, too.

In my 30's I found myself divorced and struggling. What material things I did not lose, I gave away. I found myself leaving Utah and my kids for about a year. I went back to Detroit to live with my Dad for awhile, ended up in Canada (long story) and eventually living in a park until a long Greyhound bus ride brought me back to Utah as a new, and lost, and very different person. I found my 2nd wife not too long after my journey back to Utah. She helped me fight my demons of self doubt and provided the shovel and dirt so I could fill in my gaping emptiness.

I don't live in excess anymore. Actually I live a very minimal lifestyle. Save for a pretty good coin collection, and a large number of books, you would never find that I could be judged by what I own. I get a thrill these days by gaining knowledge and writing rambling blogs.

I could not start to write about my trip to Wendover to see Alice Cooper without mentioning all of that. It was very heavy on my mind that day, and for me, a large part of the story of seeing Alice again. The last time I saw him was in Detroit, October, 1987, as a 20 year old, just before I moved out to Utah. When I saw the ad for his show in Wendover, I HAD to go and see him, bought my ticket right away.

That was the journey that has led me to the trip on Oct. 17, 2009 (a synopsis anyway) so now, let me tell you about that day.

This time out to Wendover (my first time in many years) I decided to take a "fun bus" which for 15 dollars picks people up in Utah and delivers them through the desert to a casino where you are given a free meal, 5 dollars cash back, a free drink, and some other amenities that is actually worth more than 15 dollars. I decided that I was going to have a few drinks before getting on the bus, too. This could only enhance the trip (and it did). You guessed it, due to Utah liquor laws, they could not serve drinks on the bus. My friend Steve agreed to meet me on the bus near his home ( this almost did not happen, damned bus drivers! Long story here, too.) but the bus did pick him up and we rode out there together. This was at about 230, the show started at 7, so there was plenty of time.

The alcohol in my system helped me greatly to tolerate the corny jokes the bus hostess felt obligated to share. The alcohol also helped me to tolerate the bingo game I could never win, and I ended up distracting Steve from his game, too. It was his own fault though for riding out there sober. We finally arrived at the casino.

When the bus pulled in, it was about 4 pm. We were given our amenties by the casino hostess and we filed into the casino searching for the rest room, slot machines, and the buffet in that order.

There was something missing for me. It was the thrill of being in a casino. This was a theme I could not get over as long as I was there. My gambling was controlled by my common sense. When I did win, I mostly cashed out. I told Steve how different this felt for me, and he tolerated my speeches, but I was mostly talking for me anyway. I think he knew that.

The buffet dinner was fantastic. Shrimp, prime rib, some mexican food, wonderful chocolate cream pie, all included with my bus ticket. I had a rum and coke, too...oh and my flask full of tequila was with me as well.

So, after Steve and I ate, we gambled a little more. Steve won about 70 dollars. I won about 40. It was then time to make our way to the concert hall, a short walk through the parking lot. I had my ticket mailed to me, Steve put his in will call, so we went and got his ticket right away. We had about 30 minutes still before the doors opened. We wandered and joked as I drank the content of my flask. We saw some stretch limos come from the gated area that was back stage. Some hefty security guards were wandering around, too. A few people kept asking us if we had extra tickets ( sold out show) and I briefly wondered if I should have bought more just TO sell.

Doors opened, we bought t-shirts and got seated. Steve sat on the other side of the very intimate venue (seats 1,950 people) I got seated and noticed a guy that looked like a 1970's version of a young Elton John....with a pretty blonde by his side. My first thoughts were if size DOES matter, certainly looks DON'T matter.

After a brief period, the houselights dimmed, and the school bell rang curtain came down and it was Alice, in top form and in an intimate venue where I could actually SEE him. SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!! But, not really. School just BEGUN. Alice taught the audience that night what a rock and roll show SHOULD BE. Not just band playing instruments and a guy singing songs, but a PERFORMANCE. From the skeleton clad stage hands that rolled out the guillotine, the huge syringe, the death spikes, the gallows that killed Alice all night, to the menacing nurse that made sure Alice was put away while she made every man in the place fall in some sort of strange love with her, to Alice's mesmerizing stage presence and his non-tolerance of having a cell phone camera from a jack ass in the front row stuck in his face (he smacked that damned camera so hard out of the assholes hand that it flew a good six feet away) Alice taught us lessons all night long.

As soon as he and his very tight band rocked you to your core with "Under My Wheels" you were soon swooning to "Only Women Bleed" and "I'll Never Cry".

Fantastic, a marvel, still at the top of his game.

Alice taught me a personal lesson that night. The thrill I did not feel in the casino was soon felt in the concert hall with Alice. Alice taught me that I really am not the same person I used to be. I have grown, I have learned and I have conquered all sorts of obstacles that had brought me to that night with him as my teacher.

I hope some day people will describe me as "fantastic, a marvel, still at the top of his game."

But I know I will never forget the night Alice, and the trip to Wendover, taught me about how the journey makes the trips in life memorable.

See him if you can!!
alicecooper.com

"All the young girls love Alice...." Alice Cooper, tomorrow!!

2009-10-16T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's a little weird to throw a few of Elton John's lines from his ode to lesbianism into a blog about Alice Cooper....but life is a little weird, too!

Tomorrow at 2 I'll be heading west on a fun bus to (1) meet up with my friend Steve, and (2) head out to see Alice Cooper at the Peppermill Concert Hall. The show is at 7, and it's a 2 hour road trip, so there will be plenty of time for some drinking, gambling and a buffet meal before the show starts.

I have been excited all week for the show. I have not seen Alice perform in 22 years, and this is the first time in about ten years I have crossed state lines. I don't get out much anymore as my financial situation and school and family obligations don't permit me as much fun as I used to have, so it will be nice to actually go have some "fun" for a change.

The road trip to Wendover, Nevada is nothing at all to write home about. It's a barren desert landscape that has three highlights. (1) There is a surreal otherwordly feel to it as the dirt around the road is mostly salt, and at dusk, and with a bright moon, it's actually (sort of) inspiring. Think Joshua Tree landscape without the band and no trees or any living thing.(2) The "famous tree". Not THAT tree, but an artists idea of a bad christmas tree, or actually bad xmas tree ornaments. Sort of Dali-ish, but not as interesting. It's only a highlight because when one sees that tree, it means you are really close to getting to Wendover and your chosen buffet or casino. It also means you are about to NOT be in Utah anymore...which is a grand thrill on it's own. (3) You (kinda) get to see the Bonneville Salt Flats. I am not a car freak so it means almost nothing to me, but hey, it IS famous and one does get to be near it. Think having a pic with Bono's hair dresser while Bono is too busy to be bothered with you, and you get how I feel.

So, I am very excited. I have read all sorts of accolades about the show, and to see the show in an intimate (1950 people hall) atmosphere is a thrilling prospect to me as well. OH and yeah, the flask will be going on the long ride, too. It can only make it better :)

I'll post a review of the show as soon as time allows.

Have fun y'all!!

The America I Know....

2009-09-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

I woke up this Sunday morning with my head full of questions about what America has become, and where America's future lies.

I cannot help but wonder where America's courage has gone when the citizenship has been encouraged to be fearful about almost everything. We have been encouraged to buy plastic sheeting and duct tape because our government wanted us to be afraid in our own homes about some "pending terrorist attack". We were constantly barraged with "Terrorist Alert red/yellow/orange...etc" and we became constantly afraid.

In America today, we cannot fly with a full bottle of shampoo or mouthwash because we must be afraid of whats in our neighbors bottle. We must be willing to take off our shoes to get through airport screening because we have been asked to fear what's (possibly) in our neighbor's shoe.

In America, we gladly accepted the infringement of our government's wiretapping our calls to our friends and family while some politicians and old white men and talk radio hosts encourage a lot of citizens to be fearful of positive freedoms a majority of citizens voted to see take place in the last election. The majority wanted to see America have the courage to change, while a noisy, and fearful group wants everyone to be afraid.

"Be afraid of health care reform!!" the old fearful crowd shouts. "Be afraid of the president of the United States talking to your children!!" The old fearful crowd proclaims loudly. "Be afraid of socialism!!" The old fearful crowd shouts while they traverse to the library, public schools, and while they call socialist programs for help...like the fire department. "Be afraid of communism!!" The old loud fearful crowd shouts out while they wear sneakers and pants and t-shirts whose tag reads "made in China".

The old loud fearful crowd proclaims to be "a christian nation" but soon forget the words of Christ "Fear not, for I am with you." No, instead we simply give lip service to "being a brave American" while we cower in our basements with our plastic wrap and duct tape awaiting our "pending doom".

The America I know is not fearful. The America I know had the courage to send men to the moon. The America I know was brave enough to face the challenges of racism in the 1960's and pass a civil rights bill into law. The America I know will pass a civil rights bill for homosexuals in my lifetime.

The America I know has the courage to actually be a free nation. Free from fear. A bold nation who will take the correct action to make certain ALL Americans have available to them an affordable health care system where we are ALL able to maintain our health so we can compete with the world around us. A bold and fearless nation that encourages it's citizens to be brave, to boldly traverse the planet with no fear and with courage. The America I know is an inclusive nation, not an exclusive nation where "if you don't look like us, or worship like us, you are NOT one of us." NO!! we are NOT that kind of nation!!

We welcome ALL people, ESPECIALLY if you do not "look" like us..or worship like us. America wants to know you and love you and welcome you.

Maybe the old loud fearful crowd is afraid of themselves. Maybe they are afraid of their own prejudices, their own inclusiveness, there own self righteousness and maybe the old loud fearful crowd wants the American legacy to be a legacy of being afraid.

As the old loud fearful crowd has the courage to stand up and make all sorts of noise about what to be afraid of...I wish to stand up and proclaim that I WILL NOT BE AFRAID!!

America, DO NOT HAVE FEAR!! Stand up and be brave and be proud of the real America.

A nation that is brave and FEARLESS!!

To a bright future!!

What College has Taught Me...So Far

2009-09-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

When I made the decision to return to college and (finally) get my degree I had all sorts of concerns. It had been over 9 years since I had attended any college classes when I left due ti a divorce and then working 50-60 hours a week and not having time to go back to school.

This left me with about 4 semesters to go to complete my AS degree in General Ed. and also I found I could get an AS degree in Political Science by taking just a few more classes, so I decided to do this.

Back to my concerns. I was afraid that maybe I was a bit too old to hold an interest in the classes, but on the contrary, I have found my maturity and age and experiences to be very helpful as I have attended my classes. My ups and downs in life have made my essays a great read, better than I could have written at 32 (ten years ago when I stopped my schooling).

I was also afraid that maybe I would not have time to pursue my schooling with working as well, but this too has been a false worry. With the advent of online courses offered through my college here in town, I have the freedom to pursue my classes after work and on my own schedule, so long as my assignments are submitted by the deadlines posted.

So what have I learned so far?

I have to say I am thoroughly amazed by the insight college courses have given me about myself and how I interact with the world around me. Some notions that I thought I did not have did rear their ugly heads, and now I know to extinguish those things in my life. I have learned to see more than meets the eye in things I would not have noticed otherwise as well.

One important lesson I learned the other night while sitting in class (I am taking a live math class at my college due to testing in to a lower math grade..details following...) listening to my math 920 teacher (pre-algebra) and watching her show us how to do prime factorization without using a calculator (calculators are not allowed in class yet) it dawned on me exactly why I never really excelled in mathematics. It's because I don't like bullshit very much.

Now, this is not a reflection on the math course or the techer, the course and the teacher are excellent. But, my mind kept asking me "why the fuck do I need to do this without a calculator?" and "why the fuck do I need to do this...PERIOD???" These were the same thoughts I had in high school. I never heard any good explanation as to why a calculator could not or should not be used. It's a great tool.

In my head I equate not using a calculator for mathematics with building a campfire in your backyard..in the middle of the lawn...to cook dinner on when you have a stove and BBQ which makes it easier and more efficient. Better yet, it's like rubbing two sticks together to even light the damned things. OH and by the way, what time does the fucking sun dial say it is?

I learned the lesson of my disdain for bullshit, and it answered my questions as to why I never excelled in mathematic in a school setting. I mean, I can DO math, my career has depended on my ability to DO math. But I can look up any formulaes that I need and better yet...I can USE THE GREAT INVENTION CALLED A CALCULATOR to do the math.

All these years I had a fear of classroom math, even at times thinking that "my brain is not wired for math" or having self doubt about whether I was good enough to excel in school.

Well, my brain is fine, and I am good enough to do anything I want to do, and smart enough to decipher what I should do or want to do.

I just don't appreciate bullshit getting in my way!! :)

Thanks for reading! I urge you all, go back to school, or go to school if you have not started college yet!!

"You Don't Have To Go It Alone" (But sometimes you WANT to)

2009-08-27T08:41:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

Well, fall semester just started and once again I have been busily studying and reading and doing assignments. I am also in the midst of a 5 day hiatus from my job; the first 5 day in a row vacation I have had since 1995. It feels good to have some time away from the job, even though I like my job and like the people I work with, it can still get dreary.

My hiatus has been good for me. Lots of time to think and be re-born. Nobody is as critical of me than I am. I believe the Genesis creation myth of Adam being formed from clay has a hidden meaning. I believe we should all be more like clay and less like stone. Easily molded versus having to be chiseled away at to change or embrace change.

Last weekend I bought my ticket to see Alice Cooper in concert at a concert hall about 120 miles (2 hours) away from here. He'll be playing in a small gambling town (Wendover, Nevada) where Utahns like to go as Utah politicians and religious zealots have decided for everyone that gambling in any form is not allowed here. I'll be hopping a chartered bus that goes to the casinos and the concert hall at about 3 PM where I should arrive just in time for a nice buffet meal, a few drinks and very minimal gambling. I'll be going alone.

Now, doing things alone does not always equate to being lonely. I have been all the way across the US by myself, I attend movies by myself, have seen 2 U2 shows by myself. It has been in the times I decided to be alone that the reconstruction process started within me. The reinvention, the seeing what has been wrong to make things right in my life. The observation of self can be a painful, birthlike experience especially when you are made of stone like I was.

Now when I take time to be reborn and reflect upon my life and my deeds (or lack thereof) it is clay I am working with. Maybe I need to mold my attitude. Maybe my ideas are old and antiquated so I mold new ideas. I am working on a better "me" and it takes time and reflection and a myriad of thoughts and inner dialogue and inner arguments....but the killer of all of the molding is regret. So I shun it during those times of reflection. I can wear it like a thorny crown at times,too.

So, as I travel on a bus through the west desert of Utah into Nevada past the Bonneville Salt Flats amongst strangers, I will not be lonely.

I'll be meeting my new self.

What does All of this Mean, Anyway? Pt 2

2009-08-13T16:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

Well, the last time I attempted to write this piece I was on call and the phone rang to send me to repair some cooling equipment at the county jail, which was a great time let me tell ya!

So, recently I have completed my summer semester classes with flying colors. I have once again started to learn more about myself and the world around me. I have always felt that the mind should be like a diary with a lot of empty pages that are waiting to be filled in. Everything is fair game in the diary of the mind from the "garbage" to the doodles to the profound to the mundane. I have always felt that the mind is best left with the unedited and undaunted queries of life no matter what those queries bring to light or what teachings that are often held so dear the queries would offend.

I don't believe in dogma ( a philosophy of already having arrived at "The Truth" so there is no need for further investigation of "The Truth"). I believe dogma kills the unique spirit inside of us all. I believe dogma too often blinds us into complacency and often times tricks us into believing in things that are just not true or right. I believe dogma is the true killer of the self and the love of life.

I have always believed more of progressive thought. Progressive thought is a philosophy that says we have not yet arrived at "The Truth" so we must always be seeking "The Truth".

Really, tell me..what IS true? what is Right? and why? and for whom? who said so?

There are no easy answers to those questions. What is true and right for me, may be blasphemy for another. Maybe, just maybe some things just ARE.

Not evil, not good, not holy, not satanic, not truth, not lies...some things are just what they are.

The human mind that has been taught certain moralities from childhood will have a very hard time accepting the idea of "things" that "just are". We tend to judge everything we see. We look at other cultures with certain disdains where maybe we would judge another culture as "godless" "sinners" "risque" and maybe the other culture passes certain judgements on another culture as well.

Think about all of the division this has caused, all the wars and misunderstandings this has caused.

Would'nt it be a freeing and uniting thing if we could all just see things as "just being"?

I don't know why, but this is what has been on my mind lately.

Peace to you all!